| 1 |
consider |
deem to be |
At the moment, artemisinin-based therapies are considered the best treatment, but cost about $10 per dose - far too much for impoverished communities. |
fashion#deliberate#witness#complete# |
A note for those considering this transition: You will hike more slowly.#“We’re actually considering moving up some of our earnings announcements as a result of it,” he said.#But if you’re in the mood for stunning gardens, first-class art and historic architecture without the crowds and traffic, consider Pasadena.#Trump’s national security adviser, HR McMaster, said Sunday that he considered the attack to be terrorism.# |
Consider is a verb that simply means to think about, look at, or judge. Consider, for a moment, the perks of house sitting for your pool-owning neighbors before you immediately refuse their request. |
Coming to us from the Latin word considerare, meaning “to look at closely" or "observe,” consider is a very common word that describes something you likely do multiple times a day: You probably consider what to wear in the morning, weigh your options for lunch, take into account the weather when deciding to grab your umbrella. Your life is full of consideration and you didn't even know it! |
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| 2 |
minute |
infinitely or immeasurably small |
The minute stain on the document was not visible to the naked eye. |
simple#little#final#complete# |
Oji gulped down 22½ 16-ounce bowls of the leafy green vegetable __ served raw with oil and vinegar __ in eight minutes during Sunday’s Kale Yeah!#After a few more minutes the pilot apologised to us all and said he would call the terminal to see what the hold-up was.#Madsen, an entrepreneur, artist, inventor and aerospace engineer, was rescued by a private boat from the submarine minutes before it sank.#The total solar eclipse on Aug. 21 will fall across 14 states, each of which will experience more than two minutes of daytime...# |
Craftsmen can paint whole villages or detailed portraits of people on a grain of rice using minute, or tiny, paintbrushes. Often the works of art are so minute that you can only see them with a magnifying glass. |
Minutus is the Latin word for "small," and it gave rise to both the adjective minute (my-NOOT), or incredibly small, and the noun minute (MIN-it), or 60 seconds of time. Though they are pronounced differently, both words refer to small measurements. An object can be minute, like a flea compared with its dog, and less concrete things can be minute, like your minute chance of winning the lottery. A minute freckle on the side of your nose is a minute detail of your whole face. |
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| 3 |
accord |
concurrence of opinion |
The committee worked in accord on the bill, and it eventually passed. |
resilience#propensity#compatibility#decorum# |
The pace of Chinese industrial output, retail and housing sales, and fixed-asset investment decelerated in July from the previous month, according...#Two assailants, believed to be Islamic militants, were shot dead, according to the Associated Press.#According to his administration, here’s what that would look like:#Today, students don’t hear about maritime jobs in high school, according to many advocates and mariners.# |
If you clean your room of your own accord, your parents will be pleased—it means you did it without having to be asked. They might even accord you an extra privilege. Warring nations make peace accords. |
A Honda Accord is a nice, agreeable car, and the word accord is all about agreement, or unity. If a whole class begs with one accord to postpone a quiz for a day to allow more review, the teacher is more likely to listen than if it was just one student asking. |
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| 4 |
evident |
clearly revealed to the mind or the senses or judgment |
That confidence was certainly evident in the way Smith handled the winning play with 14 seconds left on the clock. |
mental#surrounded#obvious#negative# |
“While his warmth and dry sense of humor were always evident, they were accompanied by the fiery competitiveness and determination that were his trademarks.”#Whether that’s reality or just spin will become evident before long.#It was painfully evident that he wanted to communicate something of value to his audience.#And as monsoons strengthen, the consequences become more evident.# |
If something is evident, it's visible. If you blush furiously and start shaking every time your crush comes near, your infatuation will be evident to everyone. |
Evident means conspicuously visible, often the mark of an action or a feeling. If a room is in total disarray, with everything pulled out of the drawers, it's evident that someone has been searching for something. If you leave the room in the middle of a tense meeting, your frustration will be evident. Evident can also simply mean visible. If you look closely at a key hole of your car door, small scratches will be evident in the paint. |
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| 5 |
practice |
a customary way of operation or behavior |
He directed and acted in plays every season and became known for exploring Elizabethan theatre practices. |
accounting#happening#transfer#exercise# |
By law and in practice they want what's best for their shareholders due to their primary fiduciary responsibility to maximize shareholder return.#The consulting and accounting firm examined the practices of companies with a median revenue of $2.5 billion.#The team provided the update Monday morning, a day after Matthews was hurt in his first practice since being acquired in a trade with Philadelphia.#The president will sign a memorandum directing US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to look into China's intellectual property practices.# |
Practice can be a noun or a verb, but either way it's about how things are done on a regular basis. You can practice shotput every day because your town has a practice of supporting track-and-field events. |
One can practice the tuba for hours on end, repeating the same song over and over, serving to both get better at the tuba and to convince the neighbors they should move to Florida. You could learn the common practice of offering a guest a beverage when they arrive at your party, if you care to be polite. One can also practice a profession or a religion, as in “I practice Buddhism and I have a booming international law practice.” |
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| 6 |
intend |
have in mind as a purpose |
“Lipstick, as a product intended for topical use with limited absorption, is ingested only in very small quantities,” the agency said on its website. |
gather#attend#influence#signify# |
He also addressed Mr. Trump’s criticism of him a few weeks ago saying that he intends to serve until the president asks him to depart.#Uber is also launching a series of changes intended to allow drivers to better control their work flow.#But perhaps that is also an intended effect of zeroing in on North Korea.#Perhaps his comment to reporters was intended as the usual “nothing is off the table” boilerplate; if so, it badly misfired.# |
If you intend to do something, you mean to do it or have it in mind as a goal. Do you plan on getting your holiday cards in the mail before February this year? Then you intend on getting them out early. |
The world is full of good intentions, meaning there are lots of people who intend to be nice, eat better, floss more, or pick up their dirty socks. But things don't always go as planned. Your actions could produce results that you didn't expect, specify, or ever intend — that might explain the well-known proverb, "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions." |
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| 7 |
concern |
something that interests you because it is important |
The scandal broke out in October after former chief executive Michael Woodford claimed he was fired for raising concerns about the company's accounting practices. |
bear on#put down#come near#hold up# |
But Kraay said the crew’s main concern was for people being sent back to “lawless, violent” Libya, and for those who remain trapped there.#The company canceled a planned all-hands meeting on Thursday, citing concern about harassment.#He says this issue is the maritime sector’s biggest concern right now.#Bring up your concern with a line such as: "My concern is..." rather than "You messed up," says Gottsman.# |
Concern is both a noun and a verb. As a noun it's something that you find particularly important. If you love pizza, getting the crust just so is a major concern during your pizza party. |
Concern can also be something or someone that makes you upset or anxious, like your concern over the quality of the pizza crust. It can be a feeling of sympathy, like when your mom expresses concern over your obsession with pizza crust. As a verb, concern means to be relevant to something. Your main goal today may concern studying for your math test. Concern can also describe worry. When you stay out past curfew, your mom will be concerned. |
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| 8 |
commit |
perform an act, usually with a negative connotation |
In an unprecedented front page article in 2003 The Times reported that Mr. Blair, a young reporter on its staff, had committed journalistic fraud. |
dedicate#cope#dominate#enthrall# |
Even as his daughter Ivanka tweeted condemnation of white supremacists and neo-Nazis on Sunday, the president was, his critics say, committing crimes of omission.#Your neighbors are walking by, some looking at you sympathetically and others like they are wondering what crime you committed.#“I certainly think anytime that you commit an attack against people to incite fear, it is terrorism,” McMaster told ABC’s “This Week.”#A Department for Transport spokeswoman said: "We remain committed to the principles agreed with the Welsh Government in 2014 to devolve rail powers."# |
To commit is to fully dedicate yourself to something. To commit yourself to being the coolest kid on the beach means spending hours at the mall trying on trunks and flip-flops. |
Commit can also mean "perform an act" — often the kind that can get you in trouble. Just ask anyone who's committed theft, or arson, or vandalism. If you are committing another person, that means you are sending that person to an institution. Someone may be committed to prison, or to a psychiatric hospital for treatment. |
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| 9 |
issue |
some situation or event that is thought about |
As a result, the privacy issues surrounding mobile computing are becoming ever-more complex. |
instance#subject#coast#memory# |
The rise of artificial intelligence combined with Google’s omnipresence in our lives is an issue that is not well understood by politicians or regulators.#“I engaged in reasoned discussion with some of my peers on these issues, but mostly I was ignored.”#He says this issue is the maritime sector’s biggest concern right now.#It depends on what the issue is and on the company.# |
One copy of "Celebrities are Cool" magazine is an issue. It is issued, or put out, by the publisher. You and your mother may argue over the issue, or topic, of whether or not you should read it. |
The original meaning of the word issue was to put something out. If a celebrity issues a statement or the post office issues new stamps, they put them out for the public. Likewise, an issue is a current topic, sometimes controversial, that is being discussed. Politicians often say they want to talk about the issues (and not their personal lives!). You might hear someone say, "He's got issues" about a person who has some problems, usually emotional ones, but this is a very new use for the word. |
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| 10 |
approach |
move towards |
Spain’s jobless rate for people ages 16 to 24 is approaching 50 percent. |
taking into custody#coup d'oeil#plan of attack#dangerous undertaking# |
Mr. Romano recently talked with The Wall Street Journal about his company’s unique approach to one of the EV’s biggest barriers.#This is good news for Essential, particularly as the company approaches the launch of its first product.#I basically approached my career, at least for the first 10 years of it, trying to re-create my DVD shelf from when I was 17.#I did not hear the thundering approach of war, but as an old man I hear it now for my grandchildren’s generation.# |
To approach is to get near something. An airplane is cleared for a final approach just as the wheels approach the landing strip. |
Approach comes from the Latin word appropriare which means "go nearer to." You can physically approach something, like a waiter going to a table. Or, you can approach a subject, usually one you're a little nervous about — like a new employee might approach her boss about getting a raise. Time can also approach, like winter, midnight, or even old age. |
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| 11 |
establish |
set up or found |
A small French colony, Port Louis, was established on East Falkland in 1764 and handed to the Spanish three years later. |
suffice#prevail#found#measure# |
The release says a perimeter was established around Beasley’s home after he threatened to shoot neighbors and responding officers.#The baseball deaths fit within established patterns in the general population: Glioblastoma is more common among men than women, and the risk increases with age.#The government of South Korea was established on the same day three years later, and the peninsula was divided.#While the Federal Aviation Administration recently established the legal space for drone experimentation, official authorization for commercial operations is still far off.# |
To establish something means to begin it or bring it about. If you want everyone in your family to bring you chocolate every evening, you can establish a “Chocolates for Me” policy requiring it. |
Establish is related to stable through its Latin roots and has many meanings, but all have the feel of building on a stable foundation. Besides the meaning of setting a policy, establish can also mean to prove one's value. You should establish yourself in a community before you try to bring change to it. Similarly, if you like to debate controversial issues, you'd best begin with facts that have been established and are not open to question. If you have a lot of money and want to build up your community, you can establish, or found, a school or library there. |
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| 12 |
utter |
without qualification |
No one can blame an honest mechanic for holding a wealthy snob in utter contempt. |
cringe#feature#emit#recoil# |
His utter lack of feeling chills my blood.#So, it certainly will not utter words unfriendly to the desires of the onlooker.#“If somebody else uttered the exact same words that I uttered, they’d say, ‘What a great statement, what a wonderful statement.’#Miller said a former museum curator was in utter disbelief and elated when she told her the painting was recovered.# |
The adjective utter is often used as an intensifier to mean "total" — often with negative connotations (like "utter failure"). As a verb, the word has a totally unrelated meaning: to speak or to articulate a sound. |
If you utter something, you give it voice. You could utter a cry or utter complete sentences; either way, you are expressing yourself. However, if you declare someone an utter moron, you are saying he is a complete and total moron; not that he is a moron expressing himself. Don't confuse the spelling of utter with udder — the latter is the part of the cow that you milk. |
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| 13 |
conduct |
direct the course of; manage or control |
Scientists have been conducting studies of individual genes for years. |
remark#convey#address#condense# |
Ms Michaelis says she plans to conduct larger investigations on the subject and include frequent flyers in future examinations.#Tran is on probation from a prison sentence for conducting “activities aimed at overthrowing the people’s administration”.#The investigation will be conducted by the Richmond FBI Field Office, the Civil Rights Division and the U.S.#Pompeo said he would not be surprised if North Korea conducts more banned missile tests.# |
Conduct is about how you behave––"conduct unbecoming"––and also about carrying something through––"the survey was conducted in May and June." |
Conduct's two senses are connected. Your conduct or your own behavior is the way you conduct or lead yourself. Think of your brain as a little man in tails and white tie, holding up a baton to conduct the various parts of you the way he would a symphony orchestra. |
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| 14 |
engage |
consume all of one's attention or time |
We had nearly two hundred passengers, who were seated about on the sofas, reading, or playing games, or engaged in conversation. |
deny#hire#falter#lose# |
“I engaged in reasoned discussion with some of my peers on these issues, but mostly I was ignored.”#Johnson, engaged to Paulina Gretzky, daughter of hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, said the back is finally pain-free.#Balvin is an engaging, witty presence online, posting all of his own messages himself.#It warns that the reader who engages in name-calling will not receive a personal reply.# |
Engage means to bind, catch, or involve. If your sink is stopped up, engage, or hire, a plumber to fix it. Otherwise the smell of rotten food in the garbage disposal will engage your attention (in a bad way). |
Engage comes from a French word for pledge. If you agree to marry your sweetheart, you are engaged to marry. If you engage the kid next door to water your plants, she will expect to be paid for it. Engagement is also used to talk about war or conflict. An army engages its enemy in battle, just as you might engage in debate with a traffic cop over whether the light was yellow or red. |
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| 15 |
obtain |
come into possession of |
He delayed making the unclassified report public while awaiting an Army review, but Rolling Stone magazine obtained the report and posted it Friday night. |
hold#surface#depend#accord# |
Further, the lawsuit says, Metro and its paratransit contractors “knowingly presented” or conspired to present “false claims to obtain government money under the . . . MetroAccess program.”#Mr. Weinberg wouldn’t even be the only convict who obtained keys to that particular unit.#Roche said he was in constant contact with and obtained assistance from the staffs of U.S.#This isn’t just a matter of remarkable disrespect — from the Netflixing no-show through the persistence in treating you like a commodity he deserves to obtain.# |
Obtain means to get something that is not so easy to come by such as knowledge, rights, or a large amount of money. You wouldn't say you obtained a pair of pants, unless they were one of a kind. |
At times in its history, obtain has meant to be victorious or to succeed. Today, it mostly means to acquire, but keeping its prior meanings in mind helps you to use it in the right way. College degrees are something that you obtain as is permission from your parents to go to a party. When you obtain something, you have worked hard to get it, so you are pretty happy to have it. |
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| 16 |
scarce |
deficient in quantity or number compared with the demand |
Meanwhile, heating oil could grow more scarce in the Northeast this winter, the Energy Department warned last month. |
covered#rare#broken#ugly# |
Fossil evidence from this part of the primate family tree is scarce, and consists mostly of isolated teeth and broken jaw fragments.#Data about the placement of shots are scarce, but they might be a better predictor of future outcomes.#But in many places, public charging remains scarce.#Instead, he wrote his critic and asked to borrow a “very scarce and curious book” from his library.# |
If something is scarce, there isn't much of it around. Crops are scarce after a long drought, or you might find babysitters scarce if your kids are a nightmare to watch. |
Scarce, meaning “restricted in quantity,” can oddly be traced back to the same Latin word that spawned the word "excerpt." Use the word scarce when you want to say that something is hard to find or practically missing. When you know you’re about to be asked to do something unpleasant, like wash the dishes or take out the trash, go ahead and “make yourself scarce,” which means to be elusive or get out of there fast. |
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| 17 |
policy |
a plan of action adopted by an individual or social group |
Inflation has lagged behind the central bank’s 2 percent target, giving policy makers extra scope to cut rates. |
passage#donation#insurance#illustration# |
Q: What is Metro Transit’s policy on adding extra buses before and after major Seattle sporting events, especially on weekends?#“Thus, preserving existing nuclear plants will improve the effectiveness of any climate policy approach, by holding down cumulative emissions.”#Trump’s opinionated statements and policy positions are all over the place, except on two issues: Vladimir Putin and white nationalists.#“We used to be progressive,” said Sharon Pillar, consultant for the Pennsylvania chapter of E2, a network of business leaders who advocate for environmental policies.# |
Did you just come up with a plan for reducing the number of paper clips your department uses at work each month? Then you’ve created a policy, a plan of action. |
The noun policy can be used to refer to a plan developed by an individual or a group. You’ll often see the word used to describe a plan developed by a government, such as a housing policy or a defense policy. A policy typically outlines a specific course of action designed to further the general goals of the group. The word can also be used to describe a formal written agreement, such as an insurance policy. |
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| 18 |
straight |
successive, without a break |
After three straight losing seasons, Hoosiers fans were just hoping for a winning record. |
widely#boldly#crisply#directly# |
Penn State has won eight straight to make its first appearance in the title game.#A victory for Oklahoma State would be its second over the Sooners in three years, and its second straight in Norman.#James and Wade played together for four seasons in Miami, leading the Heat to two titles and four straight Finals appearances.#I’ll keep the details vague; anyone inclined to seek out this movie’s dread-soaked pleasures may as well take their poison straight.# |
Arrows, sides of a rectangle, well-organized lines of people waiting to get into the theater or the ladies' room, and anything else free from curves can be described as straight. The word can also mean honest, uninterrupted, undiluted, or heterosexual. |
In Middle English, strecchen meant "to stretch." Streght "stretched" emerged from it and morphed into straight. It's easy to see the connection: If you stretch out a piece of spaghetti or a curl, it looks linear. Today the word means free from bends, breaks, or irregularities literally or figuratively. "Give it to me straight" means "just the facts, ma'am." "I was up for seven straight days" means "I haven't slept in a week." |
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| 19 |
stock |
capital raised by a corporation through the issue of shares |
In other words, Apple’s stock is cheap, and you should buy it. |
working capital#discount rate#personal effects#ground level# |
On Monday, the shares fell another 3.8 percent to $11.38 after being among the most actively traded stocks before the market opened.#In an expensive stock market, car makers are sensationally cheap.#President Trump’s war dance with North Korea appeared to send jitters through the booming stock market, prompting a 1.1% decline in the Dow Jones industrials.#NOTE: The long-term average return for U.S. stocks is 10% a year.# |
Stock is collective noun for the stuff a store or a company has to sell, be it toilet paper, automobiles or clothing. Many stores close once a year for a few days to do an inventory of their stock. |
Stock is used in all kinds of contexts, as both a noun and a verb, but always has an eye on the things that are present and available. Stock boys stock the shelves at grocery stores. Consumers stock up on toilet paper. Car thieves take stock (assess the stuff they can do) when they run out of gas and the sirens are getting louder. And finally, companies sell stock — small shares of ownership — in their companies to raise money. |
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| 20 |
apparent |
clearly revealed to the mind or the senses or judgment |
But the elderly creak is beginning to become apparent in McCartney’s voice. |
professional#earnest#enormous#evident# |
Whether or not you answer truthfully, it soon becomes apparent that you, the only literate person in the area, are destined to become their “reader.”#But the heir apparent was not seen in public until Oct. 10,#The violence, chaos, and apparent loss of life in Charlottesville is not the fault of "many sides."#With closer looking, other hands and arms become apparent, some of them reaching for a rack above the windows.# |
Apparent means obvious, but — and this is confusing — it can also mean something that seems to be true but isn't definite. "The train's arrival is apparent — it's in the station — but apparently my friend missed it because she is not getting off." |
It makes sense that apparent has the same ancient root as appear because it's about what is plain to see. Its subtle power of suggestion, however, is wonderfully useful. The "heir apparent" technically means next in line, but the ink isn't dry. The power of apparent is that it leaves the door open for a little ambiguity. Maybe the heir apparent will be the next king, or maybe he'll be overthrown in a bloodless coup by his apparently more ambitious cousin. |
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| 21 |
property |
a basic or essential attribute shared by members of a class |
Owing to these magic properties, it was often planted near dwellings to keep away evil spirits. |
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Last year, Sears sold much of its property to another publicly traded company, Seritage Growth Properties.#Estate agents Carter Jonas said it was a "historically significant" property.#The president will sign a memorandum directing US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to look into China's intellectual property practices.#To book one, Google directs you to a travel website like Booking.com or Hotels.com, or provides the contact information for the rental property owner or management company.# |
What you own or have, like a car or clothes, is your property. The qualities that a thing has are its properties. Aloe is a plant with medicinal properties — it soothes burns. |
If you see a sign that says, "Private property, keep off," the land-owner does not want you to go on his or her land. If you go on it anyway, you're trespassing. You'll often hear people talking about property values. When they say this, they really just mean how much the land they own is worth. People like to talk about property values when they are on the rise. When they are falling, not so much. |
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| 22 |
fancy |
imagine; conceive of; see in one's mind |
For a time, indeed, he had fancied that things were changed. |
take down#take to#make do#wait on# |
When she’s done, though, there will be no fancy displays.#It’s delicately poised, and plenty of players will fancy their chances at Quail Hollow, Charlotte, North Carolina.#And in the age of giant combines and fancy machinery, the Parishes like the fact that they are preserving pieces of American farming history.#" Fancy trying to evacuate a whole army from a shallow beach with the aid of paddle steamers and sailing barges!"# |
Fancy can be an adjective, noun, or a verb. As an adjective, it’s the opposite of plain. The noun names something that isn’t real. When someone likes or wants something, the verb can be used: “I fancy a cup of tea.” Doesn’t that sound fancy? |
Fancy is an old contraction of the word fantasy. You’ll often see this word used in the phrase “flights of fancy.” This phrase refers to an unrealistic goal or idea such as, “He has flights of fancy about running off to Hollywood and becoming a movie star.” Fancy can also be used as an expression of affection. If you have a crush on someone, for instance, you could say that you “took a fancy” to him or her. |
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| 23 |
concept |
an abstract or general idea inferred from specific instances |
As a psychologist, I have always found the concept of speed dating fascinating. |
difference#tally#exception#notion# |
Tourism was an alien concept, and the village was in a general state of dilapidation.#Health coaches weave the concept of mindfulness and day-to-day wellness into the treatment of chronic pain, diabetes, insomnia or post-traumatic stress disorder.#In his Chicago store, he appealed to the working classes by dreaming up the concept of the "bargain basement".#“In the bigger picture, none of these concepts are necessarily either/or,” said Caroline Samponaro, the group’s deputy director, referring to gondolas versus bus lanes.# |
A concept is a thought or idea. If you're redecorating your bedroom, you might want to start with a concept, such as "flower garden," or, if that's too femme, "black hole in outer space." |
It's a general idea about a thing or group of things, derived from specific instances or occurrences. It often applies to a theoretical idea in science: Einstein's contribution to the concept of relativity. Concept was borrowed from Late Latin conceptus, from Latin concipere "to take in, conceive, receive." A concept is an idea conceived in the mind. The original meaning of the verb conceive was to take sperm into the womb, and by a later extension of meaning, to take an idea into the mind. |
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| 24 |
court |
an assembly to conduct judicial business |
When Brown pleaded not guilty to assaulting Rihanna, their violent past came out in court. |
an advertisement#an election#a conviction#a press conference# |
No attorney information is available in online court documents.#A court extended Steinmetz and Silberstein’s custody later on Monday.#Every supreme court case is a creature of its times.#He was remanded in custody to appear at the city's crown court on Tuesday.# |
A court is a room where justice is administered. Many popular television shows feature scenes in court, although it’s debatable whether these depictions are realistic. |
Court can refer not just to the courtroom but also to the judges who preside over it, as in the example of the U.S. Supreme Court. Court can also refer to monarchs and their attendants, as in the phrase "royal court." As a verb, court means “try to win the affections of someone,” as, historically, people sought to win the favor of royalty. (But if you try courting anyone in a modern courtroom, you'll probably be accused of bribery.) |
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| 25 |
appoint |
assign a duty, responsibility or obligation to |
In 1863 he was appointed by the general assembly professor of oriental languages at New College. |
comprehend#memorialize#idolize#nominate# |
Mr. Sessions was an outspoken conservative senator from Alabama before President Trump appointed him attorney general, and many civil rights advocates view him with suspicion.#On the campaign trail, Mr. Trump vowed to appoint a special counsel to investigate Mrs. Clinton.#Sen. Luther Strange was appointed to the position in February.#In 2009, the governor of Michigan appointed an unelected emergency manager to supposedly rescue Detroit’s public schools from a spiraling set of crises.# |
The President can appoint someone as ambassador to another county; that means to give them the job or recommend them for it. |
It must be nice to be appointed. Usually, people who want a job have to send in applications, do interviews, and jump through lots of hoops. Appointing is different: someone with the power to appoint can usually just give you the job. In some cases, appointing isn't a sure thing and means something closer to "recommending" — but it still beats filling out all those applications. It takes power to appoint people, which is why world leaders are often the ones appointing. |
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| 26 |
passage |
a section of text, particularly a section of medium length |
His interpretation of many obscure scriptural passages by means of native manners and customs and traditions is particularly helpful and informing. |
transit#campaign#search#design# |
The occasion brought new passion to a well-worn passage in Northam’s stump speech, which draws on his work as a pediatric neurologist.#The bill must now pass a second vote before being submitted to a clerical body for final approval and passage into law.#The expanded Panama Canal opened just more than a year ago, providing larger passage for ships traveling between Asia and the Gulf Coast.#When we reach a pile of skulls blocking the passage ahead, he moves a few aside and helps us through the opening.# |
Passage describes the act of passing or traveling from one place to the next. |
People often use the word passage to specifically refer to a journey by ship, as in, "The passage to America was long and hard." A section of written work or music can also be called a passage. You can think of a passage of music as moving the listener from one part of the piece to the next. And, finally, you can call a path a passage or passageway, especially when it's narrow. A street is not a passage, but the little tunnel behind the secret door in your closet is certainly a passage. |
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| 27 |
vain |
unproductive of success |
An attempt was made to ignore this brilliant and irregular book, but in vain; it was read all over Europe. |
#### |
He called to to several passing ships, apparently in vain.#Police say the woman saw the jogger running back across the bridge about 15 minutes later and tried in vain to speak to him.#Trump is also violent, moody, vain and impulsive.#At least not as vain or self-important as I’d thought.# |
If you spend all day admiring yourself in reflective surfaces — mirrors, pools of water, the backs of spoons — people may think you are conceited or vain. |
If, to your horror, you have searched everywhere for a reflective surface but can't find one, you have made a fruitless or vain search for a mirror. Vain is from Latin vanus "empty," and in English it originally meant "lacking value or effect, futile"; we still say "a vain attempt" using that sense, and the phrase "in vain" means "without success." Normally, though, vain means "conceited, too proud of oneself." Carly Simon's line "You're so vain, you probably think this song is about you" is an excellent illustration of this use. |
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| 28 |
instance |
an occurrence of something |
In many instances large districts or towns would have fewer representatives than smaller ones, or perhaps none at all. |
case#stream#instruction#campaign# |
It runs on an open-source Linux operating system and is programmed to recognize when a high-radiation event is occurring, for instance.#For instance, as consumers add solar panels and battery storage, combined with increasing energy efficiency, demand decreases for electricity from traditional utility companies.#In some instances, too, the arrangements for a star’s substitute are even more highly customized, as in the current smash revival of “Hello, Dolly!”#“I teach them a lesson. Them and anyone in league with them. Kitchen-Girl, for instance.”# |
An instance is a specific example or case of something. One instance of being chased by a growling dog can make a person spend his whole life being afraid of animals. |
It's common to find instance used in the expression "for instance," meaning "for example." Bright colors — for instance, pink, green, and blue — can cheer you up when you're feeling sad. Instance can also mean "occurrence." Several instances of cheating might be reported after a math test, for example. In the sixteenth century, the Medieval Latin word instantia meant "example to the contrary," leading to an early definition of instance as "single objection." |
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| 29 |
coast |
the shore of a sea or ocean |
Martello towers must be built within short distances all round the coast. |
when one has no reason to feel guilt#when there is an opportunity for a fresh start#when there is plenty of room on the beach#when it's a good time to escape unnoticed# |
Today, many entry-level jobs require hours of training and certifications from the Coast Guard.#At its closest point, the coast of continental Europe is just 33 km away.#“She is built like a battleship,” he says, and was designed according to Coast Guard requirements to be oceangoing.#Italy also sent a naval mission to assist the Libyan Coast Guard to curb human trafficking.# |
The noun coast describes the area where the land meets the sea — the seashore. When your mom says, "We're going to the coast," pack your bathing suit, because you'll be near the ocean. |
Coast also has a verb form that describes an effortless movement, like when you're riding your bike down a hill and you don't have to pedal at all. It can also be used figuratively to describe something that's gained without much difficulty. You might coast to victory in the playoffs when your team wins 8-0 and is never threatened. |
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| 30 |
project |
a planned undertaking |
The funds are aimed at helping build public projects including mass transit, electricity networks, water utility and ports, it said. |
follow#knock#launch#accept# |
Big Ben — the huge clock bell of Britain’s Parliament — will fall silent next week as a four-year restoration project gets underway.#Khan’s refusal followed an independent report critical of the project.#The projects in Georgia and South Carolina each adopted an advanced reactor design called AP1000 developed by Westinghouse.#In the Maker Tours series, Savage visits all sorts of different creators to learn about their projects.# |
A project is a piece of work that is planned or intended. Plan a little extra time for your gingerbread house project — gluing the walls and roof can take a while. |
If you call a person your project, pronounced PRAH-jekt, it means you are trying to improve them by telling them how to behave, etc. As a verb, pronounced pro-JEKT, it means to jut out literally — The fireplace projects into the dining room — or figuratively — Try to project your ideas forcefully. If you assume another person is feeling the same things you are, you are projecting your feelings onto them. |
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| 31 |
commission |
a special group delegated to consider some matter |
The developers are now seeking approval from the landmarks commission. |
agent#generation#delegation#estate# |
However, Australia's Royal Commission says there should be no exemption for confession.#Marsh, speaking at an Aug. 1 hearing before the South Carolina Public Service Commission, said a loan “doesn’t help the situation we’re in.”#But the governor said he may also ask the Constitution Revision Commission to consider the proposal.#The royal commission is the nation’s highest form of inquiry.# |
The word commission has several very different meanings, but in its most basic meaning, commission is the act of passing a responsibility to someone else. If you receive a government commission, that means you have been assigned a task by the government. |
Another common meaning of commission is the amount of money an employee earns when they sell something: In addition to his salary, he gets a 1% commission on each sale. A commission is also an order for someone to do something and get paid: The artist received a commission for a new painting to hang in the building lobby. And a commission is a high-ranking position in the armed forces, or a special committee that controls or investigates something. |
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| 32 |
constant |
a quantity that does not vary |
In 1929, Hubble independently put forward and confirmed the same idea, and the parameter later became known as the Hubble constant. |
surrounded#concealed#assistant#uninterrupted# |
Vardy was sensationally good, his constant spiky pressing and the sheer rapaciousness of his straight-line sprints a lesson in what this league tends to reward.#Instead, I’m referring to the sense that there are no constants in American public life anymore.#The appetite — often from boardroom to bleachers — is for wholesale change, for constant accumulation, perpetual revolution.#In this modern world of online dating with constant text messaging, it’s important to be on guard.# |
Think of something or someone that does not change as constant. A classmate's constant drumming on the table with his fingers could be a constant source of annoyance. |
Constant derives from Latin verb meaning "to stand with," so something constant is continually standing with you and not wavering. You may be thankful for the constant companionship of your dog but not necessarily for your teacher's constant homework assignments. In math and science, a constant is a number that is fixed and known, unlike a variable which changes with the context. That idea crosses over to real life. If a friend is a constant in your life, that means they have always been with you and there for you. |
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| 33 |
circumstances |
one's overall condition in life |
The circumstances leading up to the shootings was not immediately available. |
energy#comfort#luck#security# |
Neither organization honored “Silence,” Martin Scorsese’s powerful exploration of faith, but there were extenuating circumstances.#“We are going through harsh circumstances in a state of war that continues affecting the budget.”#At its core, her work is a study of life and opportunity under straightened circumstances in the upstate New York city of Troy.#But circumstances – and attitudes – have changed since the original decision was taken to build the vast plants.# |
Circumstances are factors or conditions that play a part in determining an outcome. Given the current economic circumstances, a lot of good candidates just can't find jobs. |
The word circumstances first came onto the scene in the early 13th century, meaning “conditions surrounding and accompanying an event.” The Dalai Lama advised that “In the present circumstances, no one can afford to assume that someone else will solve their problems. Every individual has a responsibility to help guide our global family in the right direction.” Wise and timeless words, no matter the present circumstances. |
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| 34 |
constitute |
to compose or represent |
Oil and natural gas constituted almost 50 percent of Russian government revenue last year. |
adorn#represent#prey#convey# |
This network is trying to cross-brand, and the result is an integrated network of white supremacists that collectively constitute the modern Klan.#Berkshire Hathaway constitutes 11 percent of Sequoia’s assets.#Afterwards, he ignored shouted questions from reporters as to whether he would denounce white supremacism and whether the car incident constituted terrorism.#The answer isn’t yet another perfect diet, but a shift in our idea of what constitutes normal food.# |
To constitute is to make up a whole from smaller parts, or "constituents." "What constitutes a family?" means "What makes up a family?" |
Parents, kids, pets, and other family members constitute most people's idea of a family. The Constitution tells us what our country is all about and supposed to be made of — in other words, what constitutes the United States. This word can deal with the present or the future. The items listed in a recipe constitute what will be in a cake; later, the individual ingredients constitute the cake. Eleven players constitute a football team on the field. We can even say that abstract qualities are constituted. For example, some people think wearing sunglasses constitutes coolness. Since everything in the world is made up of other things, there's a lot of constituting going on. |
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| 35 |
level |
a relative position or degree of value in a graded group |
Only last month did the men’s and women’s unemployment rates reach the same level. |
talent#rank#selection#award# |
Most of the 3.5bn passengers who traveled by plane in 2015 were probably exposed to at least a low level of contamination.#But both would also buy a small number of shares at the current level, allowing Uber to save face.#Of last year’s more than 400 special events that closed streets, “most did not rise to that level,” he added.#Vaguely defined subversion charges are frequently leveled against human rights activists and perceived political foes of the ruling Communist Party.# |
A level is a position in a scale. Attaining a high level of unemployment is depressing, but getting to a high level on a video game is exciting. |
The verb level also means to flatten or destroy. For example, a mighty wind will level a grove of trees or a wrecking ball can level a building. As a noun, level notes the position of something on a scale of intensity. You feel a rising level of temperature as the sun gets higher in the sky. As an adjective, level describes something that is even and flat. A level path is easy to walk on. |
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| 36 |
affect |
have an influence upon |
The central bank will start distributing low-interest loans in early March to individuals and small- and medium-sized companies affected by the flooding. |
the condition of an old building#the expression on a person's face#the color of a person's eyes#the price of a desirable object# |
The Charlottesville city website was also reportedly affected, although the site was back online at the time of writing.#No people were reported injured in the Sunday night fire at Abbey Villas Apartments in Jackson, but residents of the affected unit were displaced.#Transport for London, which issues licences, said the situation was "totally unacceptable" and would affect its decision on the review.#An outbreak of Legionnaire’s disease resulted from the switch, with around 100 affected, leading to 12 deaths.# |
Affect is most often used as a verb meaning “to have an impact on,” as in “The tornado barreling towards us will affect our picnic plans.” |
As a verb, affect can also mean “to feign an appearance,” as in, “Don’t let that surfer’s California accent fool you. Although she affects a convincing ‘Dude, that was rad,’ she is from Minnesota and just moved out West last month.” Don’t let that affect your friendship, though, she’s probably really fun. |
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| 37 |
institute |
set up or lay the groundwork for |
Corporations have to be more and more focused on instituting higher labor standards. |
bring#factor#revenge#inherit# |
But as home to the California Institute of Technology and NASA’s unmanned space effort, it’s no stranger to modernity.#One way is to drain funds from more-basic science; as a result, universities and research institutes, including RIKEN, are getting squeezed. #A second investigation, which is continuing, deals with commercials aired on Sinclair stations by the Huntsman Cancer Institute, based in Salt Lake City.#Canada isn't without leverage, says Lawrence Herman, with the CD Howe Institute, an economic think tank.# |
An institute is an organization or association designed to study or promote something. If you're interested in politics, you might want to do an internship at one of Washington D.C.'s many political research institutes. |
While you may have heard of an institute, whether it’s the National Institute for Art Advancement or the National Cancer Institute, you may not know institute in its verb form. To institute something means to establish or advance it. You might institute the hiring of Spanish-speakers at your company, or, if workers complain about being overworked, you might institute a new policy on taking breaks. |
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| 38 |
render |
give an interpretation of |
But authorities had rendered the weapon and the explosive device inoperable, officials said. |
supply#decline#plot#focus# |
One atypical painting, rendered on lace that perforates the image, is a less specific view of a meandering waterway.#Even the simplest of preseason talking points are rendered futile by the relentless speculation over the still-unfinished transfer market.#“Meanwhile, they introduce huge strategic nuclear assets into the Korean peninsula, staging reckless nuclear war games and rendering the regional situation extremely tense.”#A state bomb squad rendered the explosive harmless.# |
Render is a synonym of make––technically it means "cause to become." An illness might render you unable to walk, or a shocking site might render you speechless. |
Another basic meaning of the verb render is to give, present, or perform something: to render assistance. And a specialized sense is to formally declare a verdict in a court case. Render is from Middle English, from Old French rendre "to give back, deliver," an alteration of Latin reddere "to restore," from the prefix red-, re- "back" plus dare "to give." |
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| 39 |
appeal |
be attractive to |
To get traditional women’s accessories to appeal to men, some designers are giving them manly names and styles. |
endow#impinge#avert#entreat# |
It was bad enough that Trump constructed his entire political message around a racist dog-whistle, appealing explicitly to the “forgotten men and women” of America.#That he’s able to travel to exotic locales as well as find picture-perfect destinations in his own backyard only adds to his channel’s appeal.#Trump's proposal to build a border wall with Mexico was particularly appealing to Fields, Weimer said.#“A punitive plan to appeal to our punitive culture,” wrote novelist Elizabeth Knox on social media.# |
Appeal means to ask, or address. If you appeal to someone's better nature, you're asking them for mercy. If a shirt doesn't appeal to you, you could also say it doesn't "speak" to you, or more simply, you don't like it. |
Appeal also means to call upon a higher court to review a lower court's decision. If you appeal a court's conviction of you for shop lifting, you're asking a higher court to throw the decision out. Appeal descends from the Latin appellare "to address, call upon." |
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| 40 |
generate |
bring into existence |
Qualities such as these are not generated under bad working practices of any sort. |
look on#bring forth#think of#regard as# |
Williamson-Dickie, a private company best-known for Dickies scrubs and Walls outdoor coveralls, generated $875 million in revenue in the last 12 months.#The fact that the game’s other tasks are procedurally generated is a similarly problematic solution to regaining player interest.#Thermal solar plants use mirrors to concentrate sunlight onto a tower that heats molten salt to generate power for up to eight hours after sunset.#They’re struggling to generate higher revenues and profits from mature markets, while facing new competitive threats.# |
Generate means produce or create. A good stock pick might generate cash, and a good idea might generate the basis for an Oscar-winning film. |
Generate and the closely related word generation both come from the Latin word genus, which means "stock or race." Its root, in turn, is the Proto-Indo-European gen-, "to produce, give birth, or beget." Let's say you have two siblings. In that case, your parents' marriage has generated three children. In a hydroelectric power plant, water generates power. And you can get a paper route or babysit if you're looking to generate a little income. |
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| 41 |
theory |
a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the world |
Testing that theory begins Saturday night, as the Capitals take on Tampa Bay in another important contest. |
project#range#source#possibility# |
This theory is still debated by scientists, but increasingly more researchers are agreeing with Francis.#Is something shielding our ability to see the offset, or do we simply need a new theory?#We intended to root for the Red Sox, operating on the age-old and mindless theory that the enemy of our enemy was our friend.#The academics turned that theory into a mathematical model which they tested on several sports.# |
When you have a theory, you have a set of beliefs or principles that might not be proven yet. Does anyone have a good theory for where missing socks go when you do laundry? |
A theory is a set of accepted beliefs or organized principles that explain and guide analysis and one of the ways that theory is defined is that it is different from practice, when certain principles are tested. For example, you could be a musician who plays well but who doesn't have a lot of experience with the theory of music. This word is a noun and comes from the Greek theoria, which means "contemplation or speculation." |
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| 42 |
range |
a variety of different things or activities |
Like American community colleges, admission at an open university is not competitive, but the schools offer a range of programs, including doctoral degrees. |
departure#eternity#edition#variety# |
As accounting becomes more reliant on technology, finance chiefs across a range of sectors are reaping substantial benefits from closing their books faster.#The TV show promises a diet ranging “from exclusive stories to breaking news, showbiz, politics, crime, health and science and technology.”#Authorities say the man who shot the three men at point-blank range is still at large.#The numbers involved vary each year, ranging from fewer than 50 to more than 250.# |
The word range refers to a variety of things or to an area in which something operates. The store offers the living room set in a range of colors. What's the range of that remote-controlled airplane? |
As a noun, range can also be used to describe a set of mountains such as the Sierra Nevada or it can mean a grassy plain where cattle graze. As a verb, use range to mean a span or variety of things. Your family conversation at the dinner table probably ranges over a variety of topics. At school, you learn about many subjects ranging from English literature to calculus to European history. |
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| 43 |
campaign |
a race between candidates for elective office |
At the same point in 2004 — as an incumbent facing re-election — Mr. Bush had taken in about $145.6 million for his campaign. |
fancy#shape#advantage#press# |
A recent fund-raising campaign described them as “heroes without capes.”#The Fed acquired those assets when it embarked on its quantitative-easing campaign to boost the economy following the financial crisis.#His absence will be felt should he call it a campaign.#He ran a divisive campaign for president that stoked divisions and portrayed inner cities as lost causes.# |
A campaign is any series of actions or events that are meant to achieve a particular result, like an advertising campaign of television commercials and Internet ads that tries to convince kids to buy bubble gum-flavored toothpaste. |
The noun campaign describes any group of actions that are done with an ultimate purpose in mind. The goal of a political campaign is to put a candidate in office. The goal of a military campaign might be to take over a city, as in General Sherman's Civil War campaign to capture Atlanta. Campaign can also be used as a verb, like when an environmental organization campaigns to prevent a developer from building a shopping mall by asking people to sign petitions and soliciting their members of congress. |
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| 44 |
league |
an association of sports teams that organizes matches |
"When I broke into the big leagues until a month ago, Gary kept in touch," Mets third baseman David Wright said. |
a pop star#a business manager#a baseball player#a soldier drafted for combat# |
Sunday’s event was an unlikely partnership between the Independent Health Foundation and Major League Eating.#Ronaldo will miss Wednesday’s return leg of the Spanish Super Cup in Madrid plus the first four matches of the Spanish league season.#Championship, his first major title, and England’s Premier League opened its season after a summer of expensive player transfers.#Vardy was sensationally good, his constant spiky pressing and the sheer rapaciousness of his straight-line sprints a lesson in what this league tends to reward.# |
The two meanings of league are quite different — either it’s a group or federation joined for a common purpose (say, your bowling league or the League of Nations) or it’s a rough measurement of about three miles, usually at sea. |
One would hope that two such different meanings of the same word would have some deep connection far back in word history, but it does not seem to be the case here. The word meaning "an agreement of groups" appears to be related to the French word ligue, also found in ligature ("thing that ties"), while the league of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (an excellent adventure book if you’re in the mood) is from Middle English. We call words like these homographs — since spelling is all they seem to share! |
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| 45 |
labor |
any piece of work that is undertaken or attempted |
More labor is entailed, more time is required, greater delay is occasioned in cleaning up, and the amount of water used is much greater. |
surprise#grant#slight#undertaking# |
Jenkins said anecdotal evidence suggests child labor among Syrian refugees is on the rise, but that no statistics are available.#What’s more, because precision farming by its nature reduces the need for labor, they were able to hire just one employee.#—Nearly three quarters say they spend at least a fourth of their time on the job in “intense or repetitive physical” labor.#Authorities accused him of stealing a propaganda poster from his hotel and sentenced him to 15 years of hard labor.# |
Although the word labor seems to suggest tough, physical work that makes you sweat, any type of work, whether physical or mental, can be considered labor. |
Labor is usually associated with very hard, physical work, suggesting fatigue and aching muscles. In fact, a woman giving birth is said to be in labor, giving true meaning to the phrase "labor of love." The word can also be used as a verb, as in "He had to labor many years to pay off his debt." That sense of hard work fits in with the Labor Party of some nations, a party generally favored by and supporting the working class. |
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| 46 |
confer |
have a meeting in order to talk something over |
Ms. Stewart said Mrs. Bachmann conferred with her family and a few aides after her disappointing showing on Tuesday evening. |
cable#decline#contend#consult# |
The San Diego City Attorney’s Office said it was conferring with clients and did not comment.#“Liberals mobilizing to defend fascists on free speech grounds increases interest in their views by conferring legitimacy on them,” the representative wrote.#He was elected vice president of Hebei Association for Science and Technology and conferred the title of “most beautiful teacher in Hebei.”#Advanced degrees also confer financial reward in the long term.# |
If you gab, chat, and talk it up with someone, you have conversation, but if you're looking for input from each other as you talk, you confer, or consult, together. They had a family meeting to confer about a schedule for sharing the new laptop. |
Many uses of the verb confer involve consulting with another person or as a group. Confer has a second use meaning "bestow," which means to award or hand over something. You can confer a medal on a winner or hero, or you can confer status through a promotion or assignment. Each year the teacher would confer the special honor of summer hamster-sitter on one responsible student. |
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| 47 |
grant |
allow to have |
He had been granted entry into the White House only for the daily briefing, later that afternoon. |
yield#surprise#level#develop# |
Granted, he hasn’t been in charge of this relationship for a while now.#Granted, little more than a year ago, PSG won the title by an absurd 31 points but last season they were ambushed.#With help from a state Health Department grant, an awareness campaign, signage and plans for enforcement are now in place.#New staff are brought in as contract employees, who flit from grant to grant to stay afloat.# |
You can grant anything from a permanent restraining order to a request for time off, or, if you’re a genie, seven wishes. When you grant something you are letting someone have or do something that they are asking for. |
When you grant something, you’re typically fulfilling a request that is not an automatic entitlement. For example, if you order a plate of spaghetti with tomato sauce in a restaurant, when the meal arrives, you wouldn’t say that the chef has been kind enough to grant you the meal; it’s an order that’s been fulfilled. If you ask the chef to make it a vegan dish that doesn’t include chicken stock, however, then you’re making a request that it’s up to the chef to grant — or not. |
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| 48 |
dwell |
think moodily or anxiously about something |
But it is hardly necessary to dwell on so normal an event. |
leap#stare#live#range# |
Fagan dwells on this impulse to present a happy veneer of success, what students called “Penn Face,” or “the culture of appearing effortlessly perfect.”#His latest title is “Teaming With Fungi,” which dwells on the type of fungi that directly associate with plant roots.#The Academy Award-winning directors say that they do not usually dwell on genres.#I didn’t want to dwell too long on the epiphany of partition because their lives were composed of various other epiphanies.# |
To dwell in a home is to live in it. To dwell on something — usually something bad, like a failed romance or terrible service in a restaurant –- is to think or speak about it at great length. |
Dwell has been part of the English language for over 1,000 years. The definition of the word has evolved considerably since its first recorded use in the ninth century when Old English dwellan meant "lead astray" or "hinder." If you constantly dwell on the bad things in life, it could hinder you from seeing the good or lead you astray to the negative. If you keep complaining, your friends might tell you to stop dwelling on it or, if they're really annoyed, they'll say, "Get over it!" |
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| 49 |
entertain |
provide amusement for |
The first Super Bowl in 1967 featured college marching bands entertaining the crowds at halftime. |
a funny movie#a glass of water#a bad case of the flu#a large boulder# |
All of that said, the guy that showed up tonight was incredibly entertaining and fun.#People entertaining, informing, occasionally conflicting and sometimes supporting each other in the same way people always did.#Unfortunately, Rahm didn't hole the par putt, but he still provided fans with the most entertaining bogey of the week.#A short story about a woman who is left for dead after she entertains a man at a hotel.# |
If you want to entertain, you've got to hold people's attention, usually with something amusing. Clowns, music, silly jokes, and a good game of charades can all be used to entertain. |
Did you know you can actually entertain ideas? It's not quite the same as entertaining friends with a good home cooked meal or tickets to the ball game, but still an appropriate way to use the word. To entertain an idea means to have it in mind or under consideration. For example, you never thought of studying abroad, but after a professor said it was one of the most meaningful experiences of his life, you started to entertain the idea of living in a foreign country. |
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| 50 |
contract |
a binding agreement that is enforceable by law |
Contracts with utilities will be signed starting next month, he said. |
You scratch your back.#You jiggle your toes.#You purse your lips.#You wave your hands.# |
His contract was set to expire at the end of the season.#The Spanish club says that Paulinho will sign a contract after a medical exam on Thursday.#Pushpa discontinued the hospital's oxygen supply on Aug. 4, after the July 31 expiry of their contract.#New staff are brought in as contract employees, who flit from grant to grant to stay afloat.# |
When you and someone else have agreed on something and that agreement is both binding and enforceable by law, you have a contract. When you rent an apartment, you and your future landlord sign a rental contract. |
You can also use the word in this sense as a verb meaning "to hire." Wouldn't you like to contract someone to clean your room for you? In other verbal uses of contract, place the accent on the second syllable — kun-TRAKT. If you contract a disease, you catch it, but only use this if it's something serious. You catch a cold, but contract malaria. Contract also means "shrink." When the economy contracts, consumers stop buying things, and people lose their jobs, and if you freeze water, it contracts too. |
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| 51 |
earnest |
characterized by a firm, humorless belief in one's opinions |
Too much praise cannot be given to the earnest and efficient missionaries who founded and have maintained this mission. |
clumsy#hesitant#pricey#solemn# |
BERLIN—Germany’s general election campaign kicked off in earnest over the weekend and it promises to be a nail-biter—for third place.#That procedure began in earnest with the Aug. 3 Hall of Fame game between Dallas and Arizona.#In the 1990s, scientists began pursuing the idea in earnest.#That procedure began in earnest with last week’s Hall of Fame game between Dallas and Arizona.# |
If you are earnest, it means you are serious about something. Your parents might not want you to drop out of school to follow some fly-by-night dream, but if you're earnest about wanting a career in show biz, they'll support you. |
If you are earnest, you pursue your purpose in a steady, sincere, and eager way. The phrase in earnest uses earnest as a noun, as in, "Once you stop fooling around and start studying in earnest, you'll find you learn the material quickly." Oscar Wilde's classic play, "The Importance of Being Earnest," plays on the fact that Ernest is also a man's name. |
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| 52 |
yield |
give or supply |
It is a very important honey plant, as it yields an exceptionally pure nectar and remains in bloom a long time. |
a spotlessly clean house after a vacuuming#a lunch purchased on the run from a fast food cafe#the outcome of a close high school football game#the profit a woman makes when she sells her house# |
That helped banks, as higher bond yields mean higher interest rates and greater profits on mortgages and other loans.#Saturday night's Powerball drawing did not yield a winner, pushing the jackpot up to a whopping $430 million for the next drawing on Aug. 16.#Treasury yields, which already declined on the North Korean concerns, fell further on Friday on the soft U.S. consumer prices data.#Sequoia’s 20 analysts therefore yield about 120 or so proposals a year for consideration.# |
Yield has two meanings that seem quite different: "an amount" or "to give way." The yield of the recipe was twelve brownies. To avoid being tripped, Mary was forced to yield to the children on her way to the brownie plate. |
While these meanings seem quite different, they both essentially mean "to give." The recipe gives twelve brownies to those who follow it, and Mary is giving up her right to go first. Yield can also mean the rate of return on an investment. A bond yields an interest rate of 2%, or gives an investor $2.00 for every $100 invested. |
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| 53 |
wander |
move or cause to move in a sinuous or circular course |
While each animal wandered through the maze, its brain was working furiously. |
argue#ramble#defeat#conceal# |
Wolf McLellan stumbled into the facility after a day of wandering the streets.#No one was left alone to wander the store.#If you notice that your mind has wandered, bring your attention back to the warmth of the water.#Imagine Bill Belichick wandering into a tent midway through a game.# |
The verb wander describes something that has lost track. If you're watching a boring movie, your mind might begin to wander. If you don't have a clear goal, you could wander too — meaning you drift aimlessly. |
When you wander mentally, your thoughts get lost. And when you wander physically, you don't have a destination, so it's also possible to lose your bearings and not know where you are — or how to get back. That's why wander is also used to describe someone who drifts from place to place or job to job without a sense of direction or purpose. |
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| 54 |
insist |
be emphatic or resolute and refuse to budge |
Interior Department officials insisted that they had conducted an extensive scientific inquiry before moving ahead with the spill response plan. |
uncertain#jealous#stubborn#gentle# |
The five were later exonerated by DNA evidence, but Trump continued to insist last year: “They admitted they were guilty.”#In comments on Monday, President Moon insisted on dialogue to resolve differences with the North, "whatever ups and downs we face".#These treatments would prevent otherwise inevitable strokes, heart attacks and blindness, Valadakis insisted.#Of course, he insists he will use good judgment, return only when fully healthy.# |
To insist on something is to demand or swear to it. You can insist that you didn't eat the last piece of cake, and then insist that your brother show your mom the bits of frosting on his fingers. |
The verb insist comes from the Latin insistere, meaning “persist,” “dwell upon,” or “stand on.” To insist on something, like a room with a view, is to say that you must have it. To insist that you never met that man before in your life — even though there's a picture of the two of you together — is to claim that you're telling the truth. To insist on tapping your foot on the chair leg is annoying. |
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| 55 |
knight |
a person of noble birth trained to arms and chivalry |
The knight was gallant not only in war, but in love also. |
the principal of a school#the Queen of England#the President of the United States#the CEO of a large corporation# |
“Transformers: The Last Knight,” grossed $228.8 million in China, the most of any American movie this summer.#Knight said he was “speechless” when he saw video of the fireball around his car.#In his review, Knight offers some compelling history and context you won’t hear in the movie.#Jamie Brown, a singer in the band Boogie Knights, which performed earlier this summer, said the group was unaware of any photo policy.# |
Traditionally the noun knight means someone born of the nobility and trained to fight, usually in heavy metal armor. As a verb, if a king decides to knight you, that means the king wants to make you into a knight. |
Real life knights haven’t been around since the Middle Ages, which ended around 600 years ago. These days knight is an honorary title awarded by nations with royal families like the UK. These nations will knight anyone they think is deserving from a rock star to a politician. More casually, you can use knight to describe anyone who acts chivalrous, or bravely. If you are rescued from a burning building, you might call your rescuer, a “knight in shining armor.” |
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| 56 |
convince |
make realize the truth or validity of something |
But though he listened he was not convinced. |
a bank teller totaling customer deposits#a judge declaring a defendant guilty as charged#a bully holding a smaller child in a headlock#a salesperson talking a shopper into buying a dress# |
Of course, no one is really convinced the case is closed.#She convinced a discouraged friend to stay in school and led an impromptu dance aboard a sightseeing boat around Manhattan.#But as president, he said he became convinced the U.S. needs Ex-Im in order to match other countries.#Park science teacher Julie Rogers said she hopes to convince U.S. government research agencies to chip in, too.# |
"How again was it that you convinced me to do this?" the boy said to his friend before they jumped out of the plane on their first sky dive. Convince means to talk someone into something, or win someone over. |
A person convinces by making an argument—you can convince your parents to let you go to the movies by promising you'll do all your homework the next day. A thing can convince as well. The cash prize convinced me to enter the contest. The threat of failure convinced the kids to study. |
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| 57 |
inspire |
serve as the inciting cause of |
His surprising performance inspired an outpouring of fan adoration that has been dubbed "Linsanity." |
rout out#lie in wait#pick up#pep up# |
Celebrities aimed to inspire young people at yesterday's Teen Choice Awards.#Almost a year to the day since its controversial release, No Man’s Sky is still frequently awe inspiring.#Typically, they’re divided into three categories, with names inspired by the tropes of Western movies.#A childhood friend said she was inspired by Heyer’s mix of backbone and heart.# |
The Olympics often inspire people to take up a sport, but they can also inspire patriotism. Inspire means to excite, encourage, or breathe life into. |
Inspire comes from the Latin word that means to inflame or to blow in to. When you inspire something, it is as if you are blowing air over a low flame to make it grow. A film can be inspired by a true story. Studying for your test will inspire confidence in you. Successful people often have a role model who inspired them to greatness. Who inspires you? |
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| 58 |
convention |
a large formal assembly |
Last year, the industry’s main trade convention, the Inside Self-Storage World Expo, organized workshops in Las Vegas focusing on lien laws and auction sales. |
rule#confirmation#attitude#philosophy# |
He is speaking Tuesday before real estate professionals in Orlando ahead of the Florida Realtors’ convention and trade expo.#At 24 he was selected as one of five young people to represent Britain during the European Parliament’s Youth Convention.#It was as menacing as an accountants’ convention.#As you’ve likely heard by now, “The Terms of My Surrender” really is a Broadway show, with a few whimsical gestures toward the relevant conventions.# |
A convention is a meeting, usually of a particular group. Political parties, teachers, plumbers, gardeners, toymakers and computer designers all hold conventions. |
In fact, lots of cities have built Convention Centers in hopes of attracting convention-goers. The best-known conventions happen every four years when the Democrats and Republicans meet to nominate presidential candidates. A convention can also be used to describe the normal or accepted way of doing things. It's the convention, for example, for your employer to give you a three-day weekend around the Fourth of July, even if it falls on a weekend. |
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| 59 |
skill |
an ability that has been acquired by training |
He says many new drivers are terrified of motorway driving because they do not have the skills or confidence needed. |
distress#ability#imagery#evidence# |
One minute Matic was beating three players with sublime skill and racing down the right touchline.#Some schools add a lot, some a little, but all edtech adopters promise it’s a way for students to gain essential digital skills.#Mr. Fields, Colonel Johnson said, “was never awarded a military occupational skill nor was he assigned to a unit outside of basic training.”#Mr. Cotton honed his negotiating skills over more than two decades as a lawyer and executive at NBC Universal.# |
If you have an ability that required practice, training, or experience, you have a skill. His welding skill allowed him to create wonderful pieces of art out of metal plumbing pipes. He called his best work "Peace Pipes." |
Chess is a game of skill, but Old Maid is a game of luck. The noun skill comes from an Old Norse word, skil, which means distinction. His swimming skills left a lot to be desired: he flailed around in the pool, churning up water like an egg beater. It kept him from drowning, but it didn't look pretty. You're supposed to learn basic math and reading skills in elementary school. |
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| 60 |
harry |
annoy continually or chronically |
There’s something uplifting about hearing a string instrument when I’m feeling ragged or harried. |
exercise#flame#abandon#plague# |
The 14th Century cottage used as the fictional birthplace of Harry Potter is back on the market for almost £1m.#Harry Kane struck the post in injury time as Newcastle fell apart late on.#Cases near the front of the museum showcase the work of Harry Marwood of Clearwater who collected arrowheads and arranged them for display.#“Following Harry Potter, there seems to be a strange fascination even among the urban middle classes for presenting their children with owls,” he noted.# |
When one army sends raiding parties into another's territory, they're harrying them. They're not making an all-out attack, they're just trying to bother and distract the other army. |
Although harry is not a word you hear commonly now, it does frequently occur as harried — which is an adjective used to describe what it feels like to be asked for things from all sides. You might feel harried during final exams, or two days before Christmas, if you haven't yet started your shopping. |
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| 61 |
financial |
involving fiscal matters |
Meanwhile, universities have raised tuition every year, putting many students in a financial bind. |
commuting#creating a budget#shopping#rearing children# |
The Fed acquired those assets when it embarked on its quantitative-easing campaign to boost the economy following the financial crisis.#In April, Sadiq Khan said he would not provide the financial guarantee needed for planning permission.#But what may lead to the company’s collapse is financial engineering.#May he accept financial benefits from foreign governments?# |
If you are short on cash, you might say you have a financial problem. Talking about finances is a polite and formal way to refer to money. |
The similarity between the words financial and finish is no accident. Both come from the Old French word fine, which was generally used to mean "end" or "finish" and more specifically to mean "end a debt." If you pay a fine, you end the debt you owe society for, say, spitting your gum on the sidewalk, or failing to clean up after your dog. |
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| 62 |
reflect |
show an image of |
Teens ranting over chores and whatnot can often reflect deeper feelings of alienation or perceived uncaring on the part of parents. |
show#begin#trust#demand# |
The attorney general said a more sweeping condemnatory statement released by the White House on Sunday, a day after Trump’s remarks, reflected the president’s views.#If that’s accurate then Consumer Reports’ next annual survey should reflect that, but until then Microsoft is on damage control.#Surrounded by a tall fence, the park sits under the shade of large trees and reflects its Delta locale with tall, metal cattail structures.#The frozen north plays a crucial role in cooling the rest of the planet while reflecting some of the sun’s heat back into space.# |
Something that reflects comes back to you. If you look in a mirror, you will see your reflected image. If you reflect on your past experiences, you look at them once again thoughtfully. |
Reflect also means to give evidence of the character or quality of something. Most parents want their children to reflect their own strengths by emulating their behavior. A set of telling statistics could reflect the buying trends in an economic cycle. Reflecting can mean seeing something original in another form or image. |
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| 63 |
novel |
an extended fictional work in prose |
Before Robert Barr publishes a novel he spends years in thinking the thing out. |
refreshing#vicious#ordinary#jealous# |
His first novel not in the Doctor series was about a plastic surgeon between the wars, which was published in 1967,#“Choosing to write a genre novel is like fencing the universe because you are afraid of space,” said Gregory, loftily.#Her latest novel, “Exposed,” centers on Simon Pensiera, a young widower fired from his job at a cubicle manufacturer ironically named OpenSpaces.#Kessler said on his webpage that he’s a graduate of the University of Virginia and the author of a novel and a book on poetry.# |
If something is so new and original that it's never been seen, used or even thought of before, call it novel. The noun novel describes a book-length work of fiction. |
New and novel come from the same Indo-European root but by different paths. Whereas new is a Germanic word coming from Old English, novel is based on Latin novellus "new, young, fresh." If something is novel, it is new but also original, fresh and unique. Companies are always looking for that novel idea that will earn them millions and skydiving is a novel experience, especially if you're not adventurous. |
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| 64 |
furnish |
provide with objects or articles that make a room usable |
Instead, according to court documents, the money went toward furnishing mansions, flying in private jets, and retaining a $120,000-a-year personal hairstylist. |
equip#empty#combat#signal# |
Authorities say she admitted spending money on clothes, extravagant vacations and home furnishings.#Unlike most new, furnished properties for sale, this contemporary home wasn’t built on spec.#The house was beautifully renovated and furnished in the modernist style; not a single object lay awry.#On top of that, United will furnish him a contract of more than $1 million annually through 2020, according to sources familiar with the pact.# |
If you provide something needed, you furnish it. You can furnish an answer to a question in an interview, furnish the snacks at a party, or furnish a room by filling it with couches and chairs. |
Just as furniture fills a room or a building, to furnish is to fill a need. Another word for furnish is "provide." A furnace furnishes heat (try saying that ten times fast). A job furnishes you with an income. Your parents furnish you with a place to live, furniture included. |
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| 65 |
compel |
force somebody to do something |
But the flames grew too large, compelling firefighters to call off the rescue. |
eat peanuts#read a magazine#wear seatbelts#throw up# |
The Premier League will be as wildly chaotic and as feverishly compelling as ever this season, precisely because of the emphasis on spending.#Truth compels me to acknowledge that the Yankees of today are not so easy to root against.#People are so much more compelling than their one- or two-word answers to questions on a form.#Scholar and journalist Herb Boyd also revives that era in his comprehensive and compelling new book, “Black Detroit: A People’s History of Self-Determination.”# |
Compel means to force or drive someone to do something. Even if you don't like toast, when you visit the toast-eating natives of Shrintakook Island, you'll be compelled to eat it, or they will not trust you. |
You don't want to be compelled to go to a classical music concert if you'd rather listen to rap. School officials might be upset if a winter storm compels them to cancel classes, but you'd be okay with that. A compelling mystery forces you to pay attention because you want to find out "whodunit." |
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| 66 |
venture |
proceed somewhere despite the risk of possible dangers |
Clearly he would not venture to descend while his enemy moved. |
stake#mend#brush#anchor# |
One of the most active is Blu Venture Investors, a consortium of entrepreneurs who fund and mentor new companies.#But DIUx continues to face questions from Republican leaders in Congress and others who view it as a still-unproven and possibly unnecessary venture.#Lu does not seem to begrudge her son his venture into extreme sports that ultimately caused the end of his life.#Venture capitalist Bruce Sherman of Naples, Florida would be the controlling owner.# |
A venture is a risky undertaking. If your latest venture is a dog food store, you hope there are some hungry dogs around. Also, to venture is to go somewhere possibly dangerous, like if you venture out into a snowstorm. |
Venture is a shortened form of adventure. This happened sometime between 1100 AD and 1400 AD during the time that Middle English was spoken. While the two words are similar in meaning, when you subtract the "ad," you lose a teaspoon or two of fun, and add a heaping tablespoon of risk. |
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| 67 |
territory |
the geographical area under the jurisdiction of a state |
On Friday, West Africa regional group Ecowas condemned the rebels, urging them to end hostilities and surrender all occupied territory. |
depth#district#track#section# |
Around that time, the Caddo Indians expanded their territory into the area.#The Russian annexation of the territory from Ukraine, which led to sanctions and a fallout between Moscow and the west, was denounced internationally as illegal.#The two states share a tense relationship, primarily over the disputed territory of Kashmir, which sparked two wars between the sides.#Baker said that in 1978 he was responsible for inspecting 73 Old Dominion operations just in his assigned territory.# |
A certain area that's owned or under the control of someone is called a territory. Countries defend their territories during wars and dogs mark their territory in the yard by peeing on it. |
Although the territory of a country includes its entire area, the noun can also specifically refer to an area governed by a country, but one that isn't a state or province. Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States, for example. The noun territory can also be used to describe any assigned region or area, such as a salesman whose territory is the Midwest — that means that he's in charge of business in there. |
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| 68 |
temper |
a characteristic state of feeling |
Oscar Wilde, to do him justice, bore this sort of rebuff with astonishing good temper and sweetness. |
confidence#impishness#courage#surliness# |
When eaten as part of the tea ceremony, the sugar in wagashi both tempers and is subsumed by the bitterness of the tea.#But the challenges Flake faced in recent months helped temper some of that nastiness and dysfunction, at least temporarily.#This year, the response to Kenyatta’s victory appears more tempered, with security forces more prepared than they were a decade ago.#He was tested, tempered, and tried before he was deemed fit to rule.# |
Temper can refer to a tendency to become unreasonably angry. If you’re not sure whether you have a temper, ask your friends — but don’t get mad if you dislike what they have to say. |
Temper has a number of related yet distinct meanings. In addition to describing a tendency to anger, temper can also refer to one’s mood in general; if you use the word in this sense, you might describe someone's temper as "angry" or "mild." Temper can also be used as a verb meaning “to restrain.” If you have a nasty temper, you might try tempering your temper by counting to ten whenever you’re tempted to throw a "temper tantrum," or fit. |
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| 69 |
bent |
fixed in your purpose |
The business-oriented constituency of the Republican Party, Jacobs said, has been weakened by a faction bent on lowering taxes and cutting spending. |
resolute#valuable#strident#brusque# |
Harcourt writes: “The black man, at this point very compliant, ‘ bent over, and spread his cheeks’.#One falls towards the ground, his arms and legs akimbo, one of them bent at a sickeningly impossible angle.#We sat on the ground with our knees bent, at the edge of Julia’s yard.#It shows a bunch of dirty, snarling hippies bent on mayhem: hurling bricks, dancing atop cars, torching a mailbox.# |
If you have a knack or aptitude for doing something, you can say you have a bent for it. Perhaps you have a bent for woodworking, creating fabulous desserts, or writing poetry, you are good at it. |
The noun bent can also refer to a strong inclination to react to something in a specific manner. If you have a strong scientific bent, you won't be inclined to believe reports of alien spaceship landings and Loch Ness Monster sightings. As an adjective, bent describes someone very determined, and in this case, the word is usually followed by "on." You may be bent on the kids going to bed early, but they may have other ideas: party in the living room! |
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| 70 |
intimate |
marked by close acquaintance, association, or familiarity |
The female spider can choose when to cut off intimate relations by eating her partner, or kicking him out. |
sultry#curious#close#prying# |
It’s intensely intimate – “which some might find uncomfortable” – and hyper-local.#One week, home sick, I explored the mysterious side two. It began with “Almost Blue”: spare, intimate, melancholy, gorgeous.#It is pioneering a model of social networking that feels more intimate and authentic than the Facebook-led ideas that now dominate the online world.#Studies have shown children who grow up in homes where abuse occurs are more likely to be violent with their intimate partners as adults.# |
Intimate means being close. A small restaurant is called intimate because you're sitting close to the other people, and your best friends are considered your intimate friends. |
This adjective can mean very friendly, or very personal or private. The original spelling was intime, from French, from Latin intimus "innermost," from intus "within." The related verb intimate means to hint or suggest. Intimate is also a noun meaning a close friend or associate. And when you get intimate with someone, it can mean that you're sexually involved. |
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| 71 |
undertake |
enter upon an activity or enterprise |
An autopsy has reportedly been undertaken but the results are not expected for several weeks. |
wipe out#weight down#confer with#take on# |
The rally was by far Mr. Kessler’s largest undertaking yet.#It was the largest single exhibit undertaken by any Smithsonian museum, up to that time.#Yet, unlike some who undertake literary tours through historical landmarks, Smucker maintains an affectionate attitude toward his subject, not a mocking or ironic one.#Security is a major undertaking with every Olympics, and each staging of a Summer or Winter Games presents unique challenges and potential threats.# |
When you undertake a task or challenge, you attempt to accomplish it. If you want to undertake a verbal challenge right now, try saying “sushi chef” ten times quickly without messing up. |
Way back in the 13th century, undertake meant “seize” or “entrap.” Of course, the meaning has shifted significantly since then, and we hope you don’t feel entrapped when you decide to undertake a project. However, undertake does convey a level of commitment and involvement that’s somewhat stronger than the words try or attempt might suggest. |
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| 72 |
majority |
more than half of the votes in an election |
Republicans need just four seats in the Senate to take control as the majority party. |
medium#matter#most#memory# |
Under its majority investor and chief executive, Edward S. Lampert, Sears borrowed heavily to buy back shares.#Vigor hires the majority of the graduates from this program.#Looking for an easier legislative win ahead of the 2018 midterm elections, most lawmakers in the Republican majority want to cut individual incomes taxes.#Indeed, a majority also wanted a Democratic Senate.# |
Majority means “most of,” or the biggest part. Does the majority of what owls eat — mice, rats, squirrels, moles — sound appetizing to you? If not, you’re probably in the majority of people. |
In an election, victory usually goes to whoever wins the majority of votes, or more than half of them. The opposite of majority is minority. A majority of the more than one billion Roman Catholics in the world live in Latin America; a small minority of all Roman Catholics live in Asia. |
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| 73 |
assert |
declare or affirm solemnly and formally as true |
In your talk you asserted the pill's risks of blood clotting, lung artery blockage, heart attack and stroke are minimal. |
consult#repair#affirm#justify# |
So, are principals triumphant, eager to assert their assessment responsibilities, show some spine and rate teachers honestly?#“Reporters and pundits,” Mr. Carafano wrote, “stampede to find some sentence that will allow them to assert that the secretary ‘breaks with the president.’”#Democrats frequently assert that Trump sees a political advantage in courting the support of the far right.#The reason they paraded yesterday through my neighborhood with their flags and signs wasn’t just because they were asserting power.# |
Asserting is all about standing up for what you believe. You might assert an opinion, your innocence, or even your authority over someone else. |
The verb assert can be used for both opinions and for oneself. When asked, you can politely assert your desire to go to the amusement park for your birthday. If no one listens to you, you can assert yourself and forcefully state that you really want to go to the amusement park for your birthday. If that fails, you should just take yourself to the amusement park for your birthday. And get better friends. |
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| 74 |
crew |
the men and women who man a vehicle |
Several pilots and crew members would have to escape at once, while safety divers watched, ready to rescue anyone who became stuck. |
chamber#crowd#scheme#colony# |
But Kraay said the crew’s main concern was for people being sent back to “lawless, violent” Libya, and for those who remain trapped there.#A helicopter crew spotted the bodies a short time later.#Jackson firefighter Joe Smith told the Jackson Citizen Patriot that crews were able to control and isolate the blaze, sparing about 40 other units.#Highway crews will be pre-deployed to respond to any incidents in the heavy traffic.# |
A crew is an organized group of workers. A crew might keep a ship sailing smoothly or pave a road smoothly. Either way, crew implies cooperation among workers. |
If you're hired as a member of a ship's crew, it will be your job (along with the other crew members), to keep the boat running smoothly, and the passengers happy and well-fed. Crews are usually a group of people who work together on a ship, airplane, or movie — but the word is also a slang term for a group of friends who hang out together — like a crowd or posse. |
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| 75 |
chamber |
a natural or artificial enclosed space |
"Today," said the old man, "you must push through with me into my most solitary chamber, that we may not be disturbed." |
a slab of concrete#a long ponytail#a human heart#a measuring stick# |
It was unclear if the chamber would be able to muster the 71 votes required for an override.#But the broad outline of its ideas are in keeping with the “alt-right” echo chamber.#On Friday, Damore used a Wall Street Journal article to denounce what he called a “particularly intense echo chamber” at his former employer.#Yet, in some secret chamber of self-awareness, I was conscious that, like Prospero in The Tempest, I should now begin to acknowledge an inevitable rendezvous.# |
A chamber is an enclosed space, often where a specific event usually takes place — such as a sleeping chamber or a torture chamber. |
The history of the word chamber is an interesting one. The Latin word for room was camera. The original word for camera was camera obscura, or "dark chamber," since it was a big black box. Now, the word chamber can refer to any enclosed space — such as the chamber of a gun or the four chambers of your heart. |
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| 76 |
humble |
marked by meekness or modesty; not arrogant or prideful |
“Challenging yourself, playing up against stronger, tougher, and overall better competition will keep you humble.” |
A teenager is sullen around her mother.#A woman throws a surprise party for her sister.#A teacher shames a misbehaving student.#A young man sings a song to his friend.# |
“And that’s humbling, too. It’s a big responsibility.”#Farrar rose from a humble upbringing to the top tier of college football based on his ability to recruit, especially in Mississippi.#No chance whatsoever if they carry last season’s away form into the new campaign, is my humble opinion.#“It’s a humble space, but I wanted it to look nice,” Mr. Le Hay said.# |
A person or a place can be humble, but a person who brags about being humble, or not proud, may have too much pride in being "humble" to actually be humble. |
Sometimes fictional characters try to earn favor by saying "I'm just a humble man in search of...," when it is obvious they are the opposite. Truly humble people keep quiet about the good things they do and about their humble, or poor and simple, backgrounds. In the Bible, Jesus is described as humble because he was born in a stable, served the poor, and sacrificed himself without bragging about it — and he gave all the credit to his dad. |
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| 77 |
scheme |
an elaborate and systematic plan of action |
Some companies in the Globe District of Arizona have started extensive underground schemes for mining large tonnages very cheaply by "caving" methods. |
an elaborate plot to rob a bank#a text message from a friend#an earthquake#a bad case of the flu# |
That’s reason for optimism, too, considering Reid is one of the best in the game at scheming up plays.#“It reminds us how small we are in the big scheme of things,” he said.#Buffett called it a “Wall Street scheme” with an “enormously flawed” business model.#Authorities say conspirators in the scheme stole more than $930,000 in mortgage loans, home equity credit lines and a car loan.# |
A scheme is an elaborate plan or plot. It's going to take a really solid scheme, probably involving teleportation or some sort of temporary cloning, to make an appearance at both parties at once. |
Scheme comes to us from the Latin word for "figure." And it's still used today to refer to a set of drawings and figures used to map out something. Or maybe you’ve heard people talk about something in the scheme of life." In that case they're talking about something that fits into the bigger picture. But don't forget that schemes often carry a negative connotation — the word brings to mind devious plans and secret plots organized by scheming bad guys. |
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| 78 |
keen |
demonstrating ability to recognize or draw fine distinctions |
Not one of his movements escaped her keen observation; she drank in every shiver. |
involved#perceived#piercing#desperate# |
Britain is keen to start talking about its post-Brexit relationship with Europe, wary of the need to reassure anxious businesses, citizens and investors.#European curators and their west African counterparts are also keen to establish a legal framework that would guarantee the artefacts immunity from seizure in Nigeria.#Keen for her wedding to reflect what she regards as their shared Scottish heritage, Sabrina convinced Sam to wear a kilt.#The trouble with the movie — and it’s significant — is that Mr. Saleh is so keen to survey Egypt’s dysfunction that his pacing wanes.# |
If you have a keen interest in something, you are really, really into it. Keen is an adjective that describes something that is intense, sharp, or focused. |
The adjective keen comes from the Old English word cene that translates to "bold and brave" and while the spelling is now really different, the sounds are similar. Variations of keen as being "bold" and "strong" show up in other languages like Old Norse, German, Dutch, but apparently only English has the meaning of "sharp" — relating to "an edge or blade." Keen has a lot of close — and brutal — synonyms, such as caustic, cutting, piercing, and penetrating! |
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| 79 |
liberal |
having political views favoring reform and progress |
Romney’s actually done well in open primaries where fiscally conservative yet socially liberal independents have backed him over his opponents. |
a brilliant kindergartner#a pleasant lunch lady#a skilled jeweler#a progressive politician# |
All over the world, liberal, progressive people are confronted by plebeian movements that want to roll back the social changes of the past 50 years.#Perceived foes here would presumably range from climate scientists to liberal academics to university campuses that ban offensive speech.#Until then, conscience requires me to treat this president, this singular existential threat, as I’ve never treated any president — liberal, conservative, Democrat, Republican — before him.#“The notion of convincing people is a liberal idea,” Carrefour said.# |
A liberal is someone on the left wing of politics — the opposite of a conservative. Also, a liberal attitude toward anything means more tolerance for change. |
There are many meanings for liberal, but they mostly have to do with freedom and openness to change. A teacher with a liberal policy toward attendance is going to be forgiving of missed days. A bank with a liberal attitude toward your money would probably be bad: some things are awful if they're loose and free. But no one will give you a hard time if you use a liberal amount of catsup on your fries. |
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| 80 |
despair |
a state in which all hope is lost or absent |
There were wounded love, and wounded pride, and despair, and coming madness, all in that piteous cry. |
distress#abandon#hope#devotion# |
Now is an era of sadness and despair in America.#Looking back, I’m surprised at how fast I unravelled, how the energyless fog of depression condensed into an electric psychosis, how despair became madness.#The prognoses might change from month to month but the fear, anxiety and despair steadily metastasize.#Helene puts her fingers over my mouth, her anger replaced with something like despair.# |
Despair is the feeling of not having any hope left. If you completely forgot to study for your final exam in math, you might feel despair when your teacher passes out the test. |
Despair can also refer to someone or something that causes you to worry or be sad. Unfortunately, some children are the despair of their parents. The verb despair means to lose hope. Despair is from Latin desperare "to be without hope," from the prefix de- "without" plus sperare "to hope," from spes "hope." |
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| 81 |
tide |
the periodic rise and fall of the sea level |
In the case of mobile connectivity, a rising tide does not lift all boats. |
creep#surge#recall#slope# |
The attempt at damage control did little to stem the tide of public revulsion.#While two paramedics began their first inspection, time swept me forward on a tide of questions: Date of birth?#“Rising Tides” depicts bays, rivers and deltas from the sort of airborne vantage points unavailable before the invention of aircraft and satellites.#Did increasingly overt critical coverage of McCarthy turn the tide against him?# |
The tide is the daily rise and fall of the sea level. You can count on the regular changing patterns of the tide, unless of course a tsunami is headed your way. |
In a figurative sense, tide can mean a rising swell of support or unified feeling about a certain opinion or topic. So you may surf at high tide but also enjoy the rising tide of enthusiasm about surfing. If there is a wave of anything — immigration, inflation, terror — it can be referred to as a tide. No surfboards can navigate those tricky waves. |
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| 82 |
attitude |
a complex mental state involving beliefs and feelings |
"Behaviours have changed and attitudes have changed," Mr Taylor said. |
column#position#border#convention# |
Some of the attitudes of conservative evangelicals are primarily tribal.#Moreover, Lynch believes the primary goal of such training is often not to change attitudes but to reduce any legal liabilities from workplace incidents.#I should state that my position and the attitude in Abutia is not universal in Ghana.#But more than scale, what set Selfridges apart was attitude.# |
An attitude is somewhere between a belief, a stance, a mood, and a pose. If you've got an attitude about something, it can be hard to change it because you think you're right. |
You'll often hear Happy Hour referred to as "Attitude Adjustment Hour," because cheap drinks are one of the best ways to change your attitude. If you're in a bad mood, cocktails can make it better (or worse). An attitude is a way of thinking that you can express just by standing a certain way. For example, putting your hands on your hips and rolling your eyes expresses one kind of attitude, while kneeling with your palms together expresses a very different one. |
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| 83 |
justify |
show to be reasonable or provide adequate ground for |
He felt sure that if the circumstances justified it, the necessary proceedings could be taken.” |
repair#excuse#document#consult# |
Soprano Summer Hassan appeared in both operas, and the glories of her voice fully justified the prominence.#Such objections may occasionally be justified in regular tournaments.#This scene is critical to establishing a premise that the cops were justified in searching for “snipers.”#However, there are different kinds of awesome Gods, says Lehner, who calls Jeffress’s argument that the ends justify whatever means “not theology.”# |
To justify is to make excuses for one's actions, like the dieter who has to justify the few tiny pieces of chocolate she's sneaked in between salads. |
Anyone who has ever made excuses for his or her actions knows the meaning of justify, like the bank robber who justifies his latest heist by claiming he needs the bank's money to support his charitable foundation. He might think he's got a good reason for holding up the bank, but he's going to have a hard time convincing the bank's owner of his reason, or justification. To justify a line of text is to space it so that it lines up with the margin. |
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| 84 |
flag |
a rectangular piece of cloth of distinctive design |
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared three days of mourning and ordered flags flown at half staff. |
#### |
The Daily Stormer, a popular neo-Nazi website, encouraged rally attendees to bring shields, pepper spray, and fascist flags and flagpoles.#The killer, Dylann Roof, was seen on one website holding a gun in one hand and a Confederate flag in the other.#He added: “When someone marches with a Nazi flag, that’s unacceptable, and I think that’s what the president said yesterday.”#Some attending the rally donned protective vests and helmets, and waved American flags or signs with slogans like “Christian Values.”# |
A flag is a piece of cloth that represents a country, group, or institution. If you're particularly proud of your Irish heritage, you might fly an Irish flag in your front yard. |
A real flag enthusiast might fly the American flag, their state flag, their city's flag, and the flag of their parents' birth countries. There are also flags used for signaling on ships at sea and during races and sporting events, and flags that represent armies or advertise products. When flag is used as a verb, it means "to lose energy or enthusiasm." When students start to flag in the afternoon, they tend to take a quick nap — sitting up at their desks. |
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| 85 |
merit |
any admirable or beneficial attribute |
Thus far in our inquiry extraordinary merits have been offset by extraordinary defects. |
worthiness#disturbance#calmness#illegality# |
There will be much discussion of the merits and implications of various candidates for the job.#Affirmative action, which originally meant the assurance of truly equal opportunity, turned into quotas based on race, not merit.#China’s decision to back harsher UN economic sanctions against Pyongyang suggests there was some merit in this approach.#“Would some people still be discussing the merit of the memo's arguments or would there be a universal call for swift action against its author?”# |
Merit means "worthiness or excellence." If you receive a certificate of merit in school, you are being recognized for doing a good job. As a verb, merit means "deserve." Your certificate might merit a prominent place on your bulletin board! |
You will often hear the phrases merit-based promotion and merit-based pay, which come up when employees are pushing against a system in which time on the job––and not job performance––determines when workers are promoted and how much they are paid. Using the word merit suggests impartiality and objectivity––such as when you swear off a prejudiced approach to something and vow to "judge it on its merits." |
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| 86 |
manifest |
reveal its presence or make an appearance |
A too rapid transformation of existing conditions might very easily lead to an economic crisis, symptoms of which are already beginning to manifest themselves. |
expend#increase#descend#appear# |
He described it is an administrative error that resulted from an incorrect manifest mistakenly being sent along with correctly packaged waste.#“When it manifests and when it happens, it happens. I see both individuals competing exceptionally, exceptionally hard.”#Sometimes, this dependency manifests itself in odd ways.#Of greater concern: both players' shortcomings manifesting in a week where minimizing mistakes is key.# |
Choose the verb manifest when someone shows something for everyone to notice. You might manifest your dislike of school food by stirring it around into a big pile of slop on your tray. |
Coming from the Latin manifestus "caught in the act," manifest can be used as an adjective or a noun as well as a verb. As an adjective, manifest is a formal way to say that something is apparent to the senses and is synonymous with evident, apparent, or clear. If you have strong feelings about something, they will be manifest on your face. A ship or plane's manifest is the list of cargo or passengers on a particular trip. |
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| 87 |
notion |
a general inclusive concept |
Does that old notion that defense wins championships still hold up these days? |
opinion#skill#constant#tradition# |
I also don’t necessarily buy the notion that basic evolution automatically insures that athletes in all sports will simply keep getting better.#There were echoes of some white South African politicians who still occasionally float the notion that colonialism wasn’t all bad.#I reject the notion that the government should step in to punish Google for its foolish debacle.#To subscribe to the notion that Zionism is somehow abnormal, however, reflects a basic illiteracy in the history of the development of nationalism.# |
If you have a notion that you can swim across the ocean, you are probably wrong. A notion is an idea, often vague and sometimes fanciful. |
A notion is lighter than a theory and embraces a whimsy that a simple idea never could. You might have the notion that you can slow global warming by taking public transportation and reusing plastic bags. If you share a far-fetched idea with others, someone might respond with a "Where'd you get that notion?!" Notions can also refer to the buttons, thread, zippers, and pins necessary for sewing things. So if you have a notion to create your own Halloween costume, you better pick up some notions from the craft store. |
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| 88 |
scale |
relative magnitude |
And there might not be much money, so fashion shows are done on a much smaller scale. |
a symbol key#a latitude line#1 inch represents 1 mile#blue corresponding to water# |
A recent study from the University of Stirling and the University of Ulster reveals the scale of the problem.#It added that “the scale of the challenge remains huge.”#But more than scale, what set Selfridges apart was attitude.#United Equipment Co. was ordered to provide tags for a sliding scale.# |
A scale is a series that climbs up or down. Think of scaling, or climbing, a mountain; a musical scale: do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do; or a scale you weigh yourself on––it counts up the pounds one after another after another. |
Scale can be a ratio too––when maps are drawn "to scale," that means one mile of real road might translate to one inch of road on the map. Even fish scales can be understood this way––they repeat the same shape row after row after row. You can also rate something using a scale: "How much do you love pizza? Rate it on a scale of one to ten, with one being blech and ten being amazing." |
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| 89 |
formal |
characteristic of or befitting a person in authority |
A formal decision to call off the search is likely on Wednesday, rescue officials said. |
a five-year-old's drawing of her family#the length of time it takes to eat a hot dog#a sled made out of scraps of lumber#the wording of a wedding invitation# |
Bryant thinks it more likely that Britain will end up cutting all formal ties with the EU.#Both reports compared the formal district evaluations principals submitted with how those principals assessed the same teachers in confidential surveys.#Within a few hours of that strongly worded statement, Coutinho submitted a formal transfer request, according to reports.#She refers to my familial house, one of the oldest and most respected in the Empire, by its formal title.# |
Being formal is all about being taken seriously. If you're invited to the White House, you'll want to make a good impression, so it's a good idea to adopt a generally formal demeanor. No jeans or trash talking allowed. |
In our casual world, there are still many times we need to be formal, like at weddings or funerals. Adopting a formal manner — i.e., dressing up and not eating with your hands — will help you make a good impression on job interviewers or future in-laws. Being formal doesn't have to mean being stiff or unnatural; it's basically just using good manners and following the rules. |
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| 90 |
resource |
a new or reserve supply that can be drawn upon when needed |
“Economists assume that, under normal conditions, markets will allocate resources efficiently,” he added. |
innocence#inventiveness#cheerfulness#prejudice# |
Capt. Robert McCullough of the state Department of Natural Resources says the collision happened Saturday around 6 a.m. on Lake Murray northwest of Columbia.#The National Register of Historic Places is an official list of historic and archaeological resources deemed worthy of preservation.#Preservation League, which listed the bridge as an endangered site, said repurposing the trestle would help preserve a “rare historic resource.”#Even as resources continue to proliferate for the youngest start-ups, the average deal size appears to be getting smaller.# |
A resource is any personal talent or outside supply that can be tapped for help or support. |
Resource comes from an old French word meaning "relief" or "recovery," which certainly ties in with the idea of a resource being something that offers necessary aid. However, the word resource also refers to the natural resources available in and on our Earth — things that we are constantly drawing on and depleting, such as our trees, ores, and atmosphere. Once such a natural resource is used up, it’s usually gone forever, and is no longer a resource. |
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| 91 |
persist |
continue to exist |
Old ideas, long after the conditions under which they were produced have passed away, often persist in surviving. |
spread out#fight down#measure up#hang on# |
A yawning racial gap persists in education, employment, finances, business ownership, housing, leadership, health, criminal justice and other areas.#“Since CO2 emissions persist for many years in the atmosphere, near-term emission reductions are more helpful for climate protection than later ones,” the study said.#The scars and horrors endured by Charlottesville this weekend will persist, but so will its heroes.#Regarding the Aug. 9 news article “Trump warns N. Korea of ‘fire and fury’ if threats persist”:# |
When someone persists they keep going or hang on. If you want finish a marathon, you have to persist and keep running, no matter how many blisters you have. |
The great Roman poet Ovid once advised: “Endure and persist, this pain will turn good by and by.” As Ovid’s quote hints at, persistence is often associated with hardship and the reward that comes with not backing down. Synonyms include endure, follow through, and persevere, while antonyms include cease and give up. |
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| 92 |
contempt |
lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike |
And with his backhanded contempt for all things ordinary, Blake is making some of the catchiest, most difficult music in recent memory. |
questioning#singing#whispering#swearing# |
Some treat you with honor, others contempt, others become simply fun to run into.#He was in fact describing not our president but Napoleon, for whom the Russian author harbored a magnificent contempt.#Some early humans likely ate their relatives’ remains—not with ferocious contempt like some imagine, but rather with a touch of ceremony.#Virtually every objective investigation of a US law enforcement agency finds that the police, as policy, treat African Americans with contempt.# |
Reserve the noun contempt for an extreme lack of respect: a food snob has nothing but contempt for mass-produced burgers and fries at a fast-food joint. |
Contempt has nothing to do with the verb condemn, despite the similarity in sound and meaning; it is from Latin temnere "to despise," and if you despise someone, you have contempt for them. It's a harsh term and should be used with care; it's stronger than either disdain or scorn. It suggests you find someone or something utterly worthless. That food snob might say the words "Big Mac" or "Whopper" with a voice dripping in contempt. |
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| 93 |
tour |
a route all the way around a particular place or area |
He typed in “South Park” and took senior executives on a tour of Web sites offering pirated episodes. |
large number#tidy sum#round of drinks#term of enlistment# |
His son Deacon filled in on guitar and vocals at the concerts and will join the band on tour in the fall.#PGA Tour players are not fond of consolation prizes, especially at majors.#On Thursday and Friday, Pence will visit Panama City, where he will meet with President Juan Carlos Varela and tour the newly expanded Panama Canal.#Question: Where does the tour find you today?# |
Use the noun tour to describe a route taken while sight-seeing or the act of experiencing a place, like a tour of Italy in which travelers tour museums and churches. |
Not all tours have to do with vacations. In fact, a tour can be quite the opposite, such as a snowplow driver whose tour during a blizzard lasts until the streets are clear, or military personnel who serve a tour of duty in the place they are assigned. These kinds of tours involve a commitment of work or service for a certain period of time. |
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| 94 |
plead |
enter a defendant's answer |
Aria pleaded not guilty, but he acknowledged that he had violated some laws. |
slip#dwell#race#beg# |
He pleaded guilty to fraud charges and in July 2015 was sentenced to six years in prison.#Mr. Bentley resigned in April after pleading guilty to two misdemeanor charges for improper handling of campaign funds.#State authorities say John Campbell recently pleaded guilty to theft.#Here he is pleading with the state board of Connecticut for a change in the laws regarding rabies vaccines.# |
To plead with someone is to try to convince them to see it your way. Your kids may plead with you to let them go on the super-huge outrageous roller coaster built in 1968, but you know better. |
The term plead comes from the word plea, which is from the legal system, where lawyers make a plea to the court and argue a case for their client. To plead is to ask for something from someone, often on the verge of begging. You may plead with the phone company to give an appointment time that spans only three hours, but, regardless of your pleading, they will make you wait eight hours for the technician to finally show. |
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| 95 |
weigh |
be oppressive or burdensome |
So far, the political turmoil has not appeared to have discouraged visitors, but prolonged strife could weigh on tourism. |
vanish#freeze#argue#press# |
Big Ben weighs 13.7 tons and strikes to the note of E. every hour.#Like Ms. Rivera, immigrants across the U.S. are weighing whether to stay, hide or leave.#The Great Bell, popularly called Big Ben, weighs 13.7 tonnes and strikes every hour, to the note of E natural.#“She talked about these things constantly. It weighed on her,” he said.# |
To weigh is all about judging; you could be seeing how heavy something is or if it is a good choice. You could weigh the tomatoes you're buying or weigh your options when applying to college. |
To weigh something can mean to physically assess its weight — is it 3 pounds? 40 kilos? 22 grams? But it's no accident that the symbol for justice is often a scale. That's because all of the facts of a case need to be weighed or evaluated for justice to be served. And hopefully the decision will be balanced and fair. |
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| 96 |
mode |
how something is done or how it happens |
Speaking of science, he says, in language far in advance of his times: ‘There are two modes of knowing—by argument and by experiment. |
request#fault#illusion#fashion# |
The Canadian was in full struggle mode before flipping the switch for a remarkable four-hole stretch.#“The only difference today is we’re back in training camp mode.”#Your default mode is to threaten and sue and demean and lie — as you’ve done your entire career.#To enable the selfie flash, tap on the Flash icon when in front-facing camera mode and select automatic or on.# |
You can describe the specific style of doing something as your mode. If you're in vacation mode, for example, it might mean you say everything in a super-relaxed voice and spend all of your classes daydreaming. |
From the Latin modus or "manner," it has been popular since the 1400s. Since the 1600s, people have been using it as another word for "fashionable." The French term "a la mode" literally means "in the fashion," or "fashionable," but is more commonly used to describe as specific way of serving dessert (ice cream on the side). |
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| 97 |
distinction |
a discrimination between things as different |
But such a distinction is quite external; at heart the men may be very much alike. |
disgrace#divinity#differentiation#disadvantage# |
Perhaps a more important distinction is that the first sentence is emotionally neutral, but the second is not.#A certain exhaustion sets in well before the end, collapsing any meaningful distinction between camera-hogging self-indulgence and critical scrutiny.#Americans’ right to free speech is protected by the constitution but does not exist legally at work, though many do not understand the distinction.#But it’s not a moral distinction I’m drawing here between me and our erstwhile president.# |
When you are marked for distinction, it means you are someone who is going to do well in life. You will set yourself apart from others. Distinction means being set apart, often by excellence. |
When things are distinct from one another, they are different. It is the distinctions that make them this way. In your school, an outside observer might at first be unable to see the distinctions among the kids, but with a little time they'll be able to see how kids are identified and associated with their peculiar qualities. |
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| 98 |
inclined |
at an angle to the horizontal or vertical position |
Such an inclined passage following a seam of coal is known as a slope. |
internal#immense#horizontal#apparent# |
I also think part of the confusion around terms is partly because people were inclined to use the euphemism “alt-right.”#Sonata 1962 Staged reading of a new musical about a woman coping with her musically inclined daughter’s mental illness.#Security Council were already inclined to support such a resolution.#So I doubt Kim will be inclined to strike first.# |
If you're inclined to do something, you want to do it, you like doing it, and you may even have an inherent talent for doing it. Alternatively, if the sidewalk outside your house is inclined, that means it slopes upward. |
Inclined means that you're likely to do something, you're leaning toward doing it, or you do it habitually. If you're inclined to eat too much at Thanksgiving, you're not alone. If you're inclined to want to join the Iditarod dog sled race, get a warm jacket. Inclined can also be an adjective describing something that's at an angle. If a ramp is inclined, it's on a slant, sloping up toward something else. |
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| 99 |
attribute |
a quality belonging to or characteristic of an entity |
The authors found that when the available prospects varied more in attributes such as age, height, occupation and educational background, people made fewer dating proposals. |
connection#scheme#quality#policy# |
Harper attributed it to his double-jointedness, which he credited his mother for passing down.#Instead, the delayed statement was attributed to an unnamed White House spokesperson.#It was not attributed directly to Mr. Trump, who often uses Twitter to communicate directly on controversial topics.#The manipulation of the mainstream media is attributed to a rise the far-right neo-Nazi movement, according to the Data and Society Research Institute.# |
An attribute is a quality or characteristic given to a person, group, or some other thing. Your best attribute might be your willingness to help others, like when you stopped traffic so the duck family could cross the street. |
Attribute comes from the Latin verb attribuere, which is made up the prefix ad, meaning "to," and tribuere meaning "give or bestow." As a verb, to attribute is to give credit, like if you attribute the A on your test to all that hard studying. In Greek and Roman mythology an attribute will often stand in for a character such as Zeus's lightning bolt or Poseidon's trident. |
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| 100 |
exert |
make a great effort at a mental or physical task |
School boards may come to exert even greater influence over what students read. |
adorn#introduce#wield#conceive# |
And the episode again proved the limitations of Mr. Trump’s family, which was once expected to exert a moderating influence on his presidency.#Taken-for-granted language was not innocent; it exerted power over the social groups that were increasingly represented on campus.#That is largely focused on China, and here sanctions are meant to inconvenience, cajole and otherwise persuade China to exert greater pressure on North Korea.#The bizarre episode is heightening concern about China’s efforts to exert greater control over the semiautonomous city.# |
Exert basically means to put forth effort to do something. For example, when you exert yourself in a workout, you can really feel the burn in your muscles. |
The Latin verb exserere — with its derivative form exsertus, which is the source of our word — means to "put forth." That's where exert gets its meaning of physical force — consider that when you try hard at something, you put forth effort to do it, you push yourself. But exert can refer to other ways you "push": you exert your influence to convince others to think your way; when one nation exerts its power on another; and gravity exerts its force on us, holding us down on earth. |
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| 101 |
oppress |
come down on or keep down by unjust use of one's authority |
Those who managed to survive were later oppressed by Poland's post-war communist authorities. |
a nurse who has to take blood from his sick patient#a merchant who keeps a store closed on Sundays#a leader who does not tolerate the opinions of others#a writer who likes to describe violence in her novels# |
The ad offered ideas for questions: Are women oppressed in Islam?#A belief that white people in America are “victims” of “racism” and are somehow “ oppressed” is the worst type of magical thinking.#The Martials conquered Scholar lands five hundred years ago, and since then, they've done nothing but oppress and enslave us.#Also, the war on drugs became a “new Jim Crow,” a way to imprison and oppress a major segment of black America.# |
When you oppress someone, you use your authority to keep them down. If you oppress people long enough, they might decide to fight back and then decide to oppress YOU. |
There is a saying that "power corrupts," meaning that once someone gains power, they tend to misuse it in self-serving or brutal ways. Tyrants tend to oppress those beneath them, by limiting their rights. In the fairy tale Rapunzel, the evil old woman tried to oppress Rapunzel by keeping her locked in a tower. Another use of oppress means to cause to suffer. If the ninety degree heat outside will oppress you, you should stay inside in the air conditioning. |
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| 102 |
contend |
compete for something |
But eight men, however bold and stout-hearted, could not long contend with an enemy at least four times their number. |
debate#adjourn#invent#construct# |
The suit contends this was done to “clear the path for his eventual return as CEO.”#An administration official who confirmed that Trump would sign the order contended it was unrelated to the showdown with North Korea.#He was asked four times on Sunday about finally contending, and each time Reed dismissed it with an almost disdainful reply.#Snyder will begin his 26th season on Sept. 2 with a team expected to once again contend for a title.# |
To defend a belief or keep affirming that it's true is to contend. People used to contend that the earth was flat, but eventually, when no one dropped off the edge no matter how far they traveled, the "round" theory won. |
One of the meanings of contend is from the French "to strive with," and it is a literal fighting, as in "to contend with fists." Most contemporary uses of the verb contend illustrate competitions of proof or defense, where a person will contend that something is true, or better, or wrong. It is still a striving but more of a verbal kind, where what you contend is what you hope to convince others is correct. |
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| 103 |
stake |
a strong wooden or metal post driven into the ground |
His remains were buried in Cannon Street, and a stake was driven through the body. |
when eating a bowl of soup#when brushing teeth at night#when propping up a tomato plant#when cutting up fresh fruit# |
That conflict also began with a border dispute in the Himalayas — and there is more at stake this time around.#The result would illustrate the real-world stakes of the Trump administration’s pursuit of dismantling regulations across government.#It was the third stakes victory of the Emerald season for Citizen Kitty, who was second in her other two races at the meet.#For carmakers trying to address deteriorating driver skills, the stakes are immense.# |
A stake is a wooden stick, sharpened on one end and used to mark property lines (or slay a vampire). |
In the Middle Ages, people would gamble by placing their bets on wooden posts, or stakes. Eventually the bets themselves became known as stakes. Today, you can use the word as a verb to describe any risky endeavor — for example, "Geoffrey staked his sandwich-making reputation on a six-foot hero with salami and pickles." A stake can also be an investment. If you say that "Bill has a stake in the business," it means he’s a part-owner. |
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| 104 |
toil |
work hard |
He toiled in the sweat of his brow, tilling the stubborn ground, taking out stones, building fences. |
a pot of spaghetti cooking on the stove#a man digging a ditch in the hot sun#a bell that is ringing loudly#a child taking a nap after lunch# |
UCLA’s offensive linemen did not toil in anonymity last season.#Klopp’s side frequently faced, and toiled against, opponents who sat back en masse and played on the counterattack last season.#The answer to that question may seem obvious to those toiling away.#They recognized hard, pointless, idiotic toil when they saw it.# |
Toil is another word for work. You toil as a customer service rep all day, but you'd prefer to work as a rock goddess. Unfortunately, there weren't many ads in the employment section for goddesses — rock or otherwise. |
Although toil means "work" (in both its noun and verb forms), it usually has the added meaning of hard work, especially physical labor. If you'd lived during the Great Depression, you might have toiled on roadwork and conservation projects. Your toils would have created roads in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, for example. Thanks for all your hard work! Now, relax and enjoy the scenery. |
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| 105 |
perish |
pass from physical life |
Simon Wiesenthal's parents are long since deceased, with his father dying in World War I and his mother perishing in the Holocaust. |
pass#boast#network#display# |
The British explorers all perished on their way back to base.#But people still try to cross, and many perish in the attempt.#Huntford portrayed Scott as a bumbler whose Englishmen-know-best ineptitude doomed not only himself but also four companions, all of whom perished on the return trek.#Ultimately the 73,000 who perished in Nagasaki were the unfortunate casualties of their own political and military leaders.# |
Perish means to die, but it suggests a slow, gradual, nonviolent death. Starving to death is perishing. Getting hit by a bus is just plain getting killed. |
Perish is the kind of word you can imagine being spoken by a helpless princess in a fairy tale or any other damsel in distress––"If I am not rescued soon by my valiant knight," she might say, "I shall perish if I'm left alone up here in this tower to starve." |
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| 106 |
disposition |
your usual mood |
Melancholia — the state of mind — can hide behind seemingly sunny dispositions. |
structure#temperament#grain#function# |
The disposition of his case allows Morgan to concentrate fully on football until classes begin Aug. 21.#Whatever the final disposition of Mr. Phills’ case, it did reveal problems at Stanford that the university was forced to acknowledge.#Unlike oceanic whitetip sharks, reef whitetip sharks are relatively harmless to people thanks to their more docile disposition and small teeth.#The vapid disposition, profanity, arrested development, and the fact he's disliked and ridiculed by the rest of the club.# |
Someone's disposition is their mood or general attitude about life. If your friend woke up on the wrong side of the bed, tell her that she might need a disposition makeover. |
Disposition means the positive or negative way a person views the world. In contrast, your character is determined by your inner moral values, and your personality reflects what you're like as an individual. An animal with an excellent disposition is friendly towards people. If you are cheerful, you're often said to have a sunny disposition. Disposition can also mean "getting rid of something," so cleaning your room might involve the disposition of empty pizza boxes and soda cans. |
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| 107 |
rail |
complain bitterly |
Mr. Gray railed against lengthy stage directions, saying he crossed them out in scripts before he would begin rehearsals with his actors. |
a conference#a garden#an interview#a crime# |
He ordered his troops to rip up miles of rail track, torch the farms of slave-owners who resisted and burn Atlanta.#The Medway towns sit in the southeastern county of Kent, home to the Channel Tunnel rail link with France and Dover ferry terminal.#The answer is no, according to Owen Johns at Network rail.#A £1bn funding row is set to delay the new rail franchise process in Wales - with the project "in jeopardy", according to the Welsh Government.# |
The verb rail means to criticize severely. When you rail against increased taxes at a town meeting, you speak openly and loudly about how wrong the increase is and point out the problems it will cause. |
Rail can also mean "to complain." When your mom asks you to vacuum the house, you might rail against this chore by saying that you ALWAYS do the vacuuming, that vacuuming is SO hard, and that you hate the stupid vacuum! Rail can also mean to spread negative information about someone in an abusive way. If your "friends" rail against you to everyone in school, they're spreading nasty rumors about you, and you should find new friends! |
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| 108 |
cardinal |
one of a group of prominent bishops in the Sacred College |
Each time he names cardinals he puts his stamp on Roman Catholicism's future by choosing men who share his views. |
#### |
Phillips is still booed by Cardinals fans for his part of a bench clearing brawl when he played for Cincinnati in 2010.#This is just me riffing, but Stanford fits that bill, and Huge worked for Cardinal athletic director Bernard Muir when both were at Delaware.#The Cardinals starters did not play in the team’s 20-18 loss to Dallas in the Hall of Fame Game.#The Cardinals turned double plays in each of the first three innings.# |
In Catholicism, a cardinal is a high-ranking bishop. In math, you use cardinal numbers to count. A cardinal rule is one that is central and should not be broken. |
Okay, that's a lot of definitions. How exactly are they related? In all cases, cardinal means central or essential. It's a cardinal principle that you use it to describe words of behavior like rule or sin. In the Church, cardinals form the central governing body, and in math the cardinal numbers (one, two, three) are the numbers you learn and use first. |
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| 109 |
boast |
talk about oneself with excessive pride or self-regard |
Mr. Estes was also well connected politically, boasting that the president of the United States took his calls. |
A student copies test answers from a classmate.#A woman goes on a solo sailing trip around the world.#A man talks excessively about his accomplishments.#A teenager tries out for the varsity basketball team.# |
“Not in our wildest dreams, never did we expect to get everything,” boasted an industry leader.#I think of how the Commandant’s eyes shine when she whips a student, how Grandfather boasts of his body count.#They often boast small class sizes, innovative teaching styles or a particular academic focus.#Wednesday: Mr Trump boasts that the US nuclear arsenal is "more powerful than ever"# |
When you boast you are bragging about yourself and your accomplishments (or maybe those of your family), often to the boredom and annoyance of your audience. |
Used as either a noun or a verb, boast usually suggests exaggeration, vanity, or pride. Along those lines, English poet Sir Thomas Overbury, who died in 1613, once said, "The man who has nothing to boast of but his illustrious ancestry is like the potato — the best part underground." However, the word can also be used in a positive way: a town can boast a new library, or a school can boast a high graduation rate. |
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| 110 |
advocate |
a person who pleads for a person, cause, or idea |
Well, safety advocates, consumers and the government dragged the automobile industry toward including seat belts, air bags, more visible taillights and other safety features. |
marketer#supporter#perfectionist#linguist# |
Today, students don’t hear about maritime jobs in high school, according to many advocates and mariners.#Advocates also point to other problems with the system.#“We used to be progressive,” said Sharon Pillar, consultant for the Pennsylvania chapter of E2, a network of business leaders who advocate for environmental policies.#Wilson and other industry advocates say a better way to boost U.S. manufacturing jobs is through policies aimed at expanding vehicle exports.# |
An advocate (AD-və-kit) is someone who supports a cause, like an advocate for outdoor recess. Advocate (AD-və-kate) is also a verb meaning to speak in favor of, so you can advocate for that outdoor recess by urging your school to play outside! |
As a noun, an advocate is a person who represents another person’s interests, like a lawyer does. In fact, the word comes from the courtroom – it’s from Latin advocare, to “add” a “voice.” To advocate is to add a voice of support to a cause or person. An advocate is anyone who adds that voice by representing another person in court, or by supporting or working toward a particular course of action. |
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| 111 |
bestow |
present |
He bestowed public buildings and river improvements in return for votes. |
languish#giggle#burrow#confer# |
Tin Lizzie, the nickname once bestowed upon the Model T.#Last week, Xi bestowed newly created “Aug. 1” honors on servicemen in a further elevation of the armed forces’ stature.#The prize is bestowed by a board consisting of respected banjoists, including Mr. Martin, and his wife, Anne Stringfield, a journalist.#The best-known attempts are military prototypes that hewed closely to the science fiction vision of bestowing superhuman strength on the person wearing the contraption.# |
When you present an honor or gift to someone, you bestow it, which is the same as giving it, but often classier and more respectful. |
Bestow comes from the Middle English stowen, "to place." Placing something really valuable or honoring in the hands of another, or conferring a position of responsibility on them, is to bestow it. For example, "She gave her teacher a ceramic apple she had made, knowing that her whole class would bestow the big honor of Teacher of the Year later that day," or, "The king praised her for working with the poor, and he would later bestow the medal of honor on her in a ceremony." |
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| 112 |
allege |
report or maintain |
It is being fired into enclosed areas and homes, the human rights group alleges. |
assist#admire#assert#abandon# |
And social media isn't so good for complex issues like an alleged error on your telecom bill five months ago.#Prosecutors allege that before Hutchins won acclaim he created and distributed a malicious software called Kronos to steal banking passwords from unsuspecting computer users.#Three of the defendants were 17 years old when the alleged crimes were committed.#Another former student alleged that the Brother John Derham sat him on his lap in the school library and kissed him on the mouth.# |
If you accuse someone of committing a crime but the proof of the wrongdoing isn't yet found, use the verb allege. You might allege that your sister broke a vase, just because no one else was home when you heard the crash. |
If you ever watch news programs, you often hear the verb allege. A reporter might say that detectives allege that a certain person, who is now being held without bail, set a fire. This can be confusing: If the person is in jail, then he or she must have set that fire, right? In reality, the person is a suspect, awaiting trial. In our country, people are assumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. That's why we used allege until we know for sure. |
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| 113 |
notwithstanding |
despite anything to the contrary |
He seems to have taken things easily enough, notwithstanding the sorrow and suffering that surrounded him on every side. |
still#aloof#gingerly#amok# |
He refused to arm anti-Russian factions in Ukraine; he didn’t want to confront the Russians in Syria notwithstanding a bipartisan demand that he do so.#It’s why, the amateur president’s bluster notwithstanding, the Trump administration is effectively reading from Obama’s script on both North Korea and ISIS.#Notwithstanding these encouraging findings, I still worry that the program may reinforce racial and economic segregation in some cities.#Trump is also right to try to objectively evaluate the situation today, notwithstanding our enormous sunk costs, to determine the best strategy.# |
Notwithstanding means "in spite of something." Your boasts about having memorized the entire textbook and bribing the teacher with apples notwithstanding, you still managed to fail the final exam with flying colors. |
You don't have to look too closely at the word to be able to break it into three parts: not- + withstand (to successfully oppose or resist) + the participial ending -ing. In the most literal sense, notwithstanding actually means to successfully oppose or resist. Top-of-the-line wet-traction tires notwithstanding, the car still got stuck in the mud. Notwithstanding works just as well in a more figurative context. His reputation for charm and tact notwithstanding, he offended everyone in the room. |
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| 114 |
lofty |
of imposing height; especially standing out above others |
He found himself in an enormous hall with a lofty ceiling. |
wild#gleaming#rugged#soaring# |
Emmanuel Macron, France’s new president, ran on lofty promises to overhaul the labor market to stimulate economic growth.#The man’s father, a conservative from the lofty Brahmin caste of Hindus, strongly opposes building the toilet.#Those lofty ambitions face numerous challenges, including one practical consideration for consumers: If they buy electric cars, where will they charge them?#Mr. Renton is the museum director, though the title might be slightly lofty.# |
Lofty is a good word for describing something that's high above the ground, or someone who acts like she's high above everyone else. |
Dating from the 15th century, lofty originally meant "exalted," or spiritually high, but soon came to mean physically high as well. A towering mountain can be called "lofty." So can someone who walks around with her nose in the air and speaks in a fake English accent. Even if she's only five-foot-two. |
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| 115 |
multitude |
a large indefinite number |
Department store chains in general have been strained in recent years as a " multitude" of alternatives has emerged, all competing for customers. |
lunar time period#large number#ordered series#term of enlistment# |
Ms Spielman said every minute enforcing a ban on conkers and yo-yos was a minute away from tackling a multitude of real dangers.#This multitude represents at least 25% of the world’s plant genetic resources.#A commander exhorted fighters to lower their gaze to avoid the multitude of cameras.#The next Uber CEO will be charged with sweeping up multitudes of corporate sins.# |
A multitude is a very large number or a huge crowd. If you see a multitude of zombies approaching, you're in trouble. |
Sometimes the word multitude refers to the common people, or the masses — that is, everyone in a society apart from the political elite. There are a lot of words and phrases for this, like hoi polloi, which is Greek for "the many," and "the great unwashed." Those last two terms are usually used in a disapproving way, but multitudes is generally a positive term. If you were to say that a leader inspired the multitudes to rise up against their oppressor, we'd assume that you sympathized with the multitudes. |
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| 116 |
steep |
having a sharp inclination |
It was narrow and very steep, and had precipices in all parts, so that they could not mount upward except one at a time. |
abrupt#enclosed#basic#crucial# |
Matt Broniec says the preliminary investigation indicates the woman was driving the ATV up a steep hill when the vehicle rolled backward and crashed.#And like everything in the Balkans, the region is steeped in history.#Normally such a high-profile snub would carry a steep political price, shutting doors to the new administration.#This time last year, "Suicide Squad" suffered a steep second weekend drop to $43.5 million.# |
Steep means sharply angled. When hiking trails lead straight up mountainsides, they've got a steep incline. Steep also means "to soak in," as in steeping a tea bag in boiling water. |
You often hear steep used as an adjective to describe cliffs, hills, or even water park slides that have a perilous slope. Steep can apply to curves on a chart––you might say when someone who has a lot to learn that their learning curve is going to be steep. Steep also comes up to describe exorbitant changes in costs or spending. Everyone would love to travel more, but sometimes plane fare is too steep. |
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| 117 |
heed |
pay close attention to |
But Cain was already too far gone to heed the warning voice. |
a large house#a sudden rainstorm#a piece of good advice#a tasty dessert# |
Consumers recognize the perils of relinquishing control, even if they don’t always heed their own advice.#But not many people are heeding their advice, and medication errors run rampant.#This was a novel idea at the time, and should still be heeded today.#Another consequence is public policies that pay little heed to their needs, for example on immigration.# |
Heed is an old word, meaning to listen to and follow. It can also be used as a noun: "Take heed of my instructions, little boy," said the old bearded man. "My potion will only work for the one who wears the ring." |
The most common use of heed is with warnings. The word derives from Old English hēdan and is related to the Dutch hoeden and German hüten––from Germanic cultures where fairy tales with mysterious warnings and magical consequences abound. |
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| 118 |
modest |
not large but sufficient in size or amount |
A healthy person living in an unfashionable city with no student loans to pay off can get by on a fairly modest income. |
a mom-and-pop store#a shopping mall#a giant corporation#a fast-food empire# |
Its town hall is in a converted house a few miles from a modest post office.#Production costs were far above the price fetched by the oil, and Mr. George was told only modest reductions in those costs were possible.#But it’s a good sandwich, and, in this modest setup, Ma’ono seems to strive for nothing more than that.#The modest outlook was still broadly explained by slower spending due to sluggish wage growth even though the economy is close to full employment.# |
A person is modest if he or she is very successful but does not call attention to this. |
Modest generally means "big enough but not huge" — like a modest house or a modest income. An ambitious person will not be satisfied with modest progress. Around the turn of the 17th century, modest referred to proper or decent dress and behavior especially in women. Although this is considered dated today, modest is still used for people who are shy about showing their body. If you are modest, you might wear your t-shirt when you swim. |
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| 119 |
partial |
being or affecting only a segment |
Generalizations of this sweeping order are apt to contain only partial truth. |
half of an apple pie#the freezing point of water#the finale of a popular TV show#a tall mountain# |
Or grab your eclipse glasses and track the partial eclipse that will be visible across Washington state.#In Columbus, the partial eclipse will start around 1 p.m., peak about 2:30 p.m., and end around 4 p.m.#Among the other subjects are police shootings of African American youths and the partial ban on arrivals from seven majority-Muslim nations.#A stroke on the right side of her brain caused partial paralysis on her left side.# |
If you describe something as partial, you're usually saying it's just part of the whole, or incomplete. Say someone asks how you started your band and you say, "I bought a guitar." That would be a partial answer, at best. |
Partial has another meaning, too. If you say you are partial to something, you are expressing a fondness for it. Or not. If someone asks you whether you still love your husband after 50 years of marriage, for example, and you say, "I'm partial to him," you're either joking or politely saying "Not really." Being partial to something is to love as a warm stove is to a bonfire. |
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| 120 |
apt |
naturally disposed toward |
Another reason to display beds at an electronics show: consumers are apt to use high-tech devices while tucked in. |
an off-topic statement#a thoughtful response#a hard stare#a period of silence# |
The juxtaposition of these two timelines seems at first like an apt choice for this unusual, messy story.#APT 28 logged into the guest's web-based Outlook email account 12 hours later, it said.#In a New York Times interview, the duo called the show “the nightmare version of television.” Which was apt, I think.#There are also $60,000 chairs — “thrones” is probably a more apt term — upholstered in crocodile for lounging clients.# |
Something apt is perfectly appropriate, clever and well-suited to the matter at hand. A "Cinderella story" might be an apt metaphor for an underdog team that makes it to the championships. |
The wee cousin of aptitude, apt has the same root meaning of strength and ideal appropriateness. It can also be used in the form "to be apt to" meaning "to be likely to" do something: "With his dark, brooding persona, actor Christian Bale is an apt Batman, and audiences are apt to come to the theatres in droves to see him fight villains." |
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| 121 |
esteem |
the condition of being honored |
Despite being held in the highest esteem by his fellow poets, Redgrove never quite achieved the critical reception or readership he deserved. |
sensation#welfare#regard#haste# |
Men like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates were held in high esteem.#Afterward, Judith Jamison, the company’s esteemed former artistic director, introduces the film.#Puns are widely held in low esteem, a justifiable consideration.#Reagan was revered for both, and even those disappointed with either Bush hold them in esteem on these two accounts.# |
Esteem is all about respect and admiration. If you have high self-esteem, it means you like yourself. When you say, "My esteemed colleagues," you are saying you have nothing but the highest respect for them. |
Esteem derives from the same Latin word that gives us estimate, and back in the day, esteem, like estimate meant "to assess, or judge the value of something." That sense lingers today. When you say you hold someone in high esteem, it means you give them a high value. Unless you're a politician, in which case, when you say, "I hold my opponent in high esteem," you are most likely to follow that statement with a big "But...." |
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| 122 |
credible |
appearing to merit belief or acceptance |
Mike Mullen, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has acknowledged receiving the memo but said he ignored it as not credible. |
pedestrian#illiterate#intensified#flimsy# |
But international election observers said they considered the vote to be credible.#“Our credible combat forces continue to support U.S. diplomatic efforts towards the peaceful denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” the statement said.#John Mahama, chief election observer for the Commonwealth and former president of Ghana, said the voting and counting system appeared “ credible, transparent and inclusive.”#“We want the actual results...If they are credible, we will accept them.”# |
Someone who's credible is honest and believable. A pathological liar, for example, might not be the most credible witness for your case against the bank robber. |
Similar to words like reliable and plausible, credible is an adjective that comes to us from the Latin credibilis, meaning “worthy to be believed.” A credible reputation is often earned through consistent good behavior and an overall trustworthy personality. Spill a secret you promised to keep, or lie under oath in a courtroom, and you lose all credibility. |
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| 123 |
provoke |
provide the needed stimulus for |
It provoked a bigger reaction than we could ever have anticipated. |
attire#congratulate#rebuke#harass# |
Moon said North Korea must stop issuing menacing statements and provoking.#This would provoke fury among Leavers and civil war within the Tories.#Scott’s shooting provoked days of civil unrest in North Carolina’s largest city, leading to a death, dozens of arrests and millions of dollars in damage.#Months later, the saga continues to provoke a much wider discussion, writes Kathy Marks in Sydney.# |
Anything that brings about a strong reaction can be said to provoke. You can provoke that lion if you want. But if he responds by attacking, don't come running to me. |
Let's consider some people who have been known to provoke. Lenny Bruce, was more than just a comedian. He was a "provocateur" who used humor to deliver his controversial diatribes. Humor was his way to provoke people to think. Madonna made her name not only by producing a memorable catalogue of great pop songs, she proved herself to be a master at provoking people through her outrageous attire and lyrics. The moral of this story? It's possible to provoke both positive and negative responses. |
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| 124 |
tread |
a step in walking or running |
The farmer went down, his clumsy boots making no sound on the uncarpeted stairway, so careful was his tread. |
correspond#fare#step#steer# |
A lion curiously strolling through the savanna may tread a little more lightly the next time it encounters a hippopotamus.#But I tread with caution, worried that there may be a new religious ruling that I’m not yet aware of.#Wide treads on the staircase accommodated Victorian gowns.#Some were sparked by a fake news report on Turkish TV, showing pictures of the Koran being trodden on in her mosque.# |
When you tread on the earth, you walk on it. The next time your pal thinks you have it too easy, you might ask him, “Why don’t you tread in my shoes for a day?” |
Tread usually implies stepping with force, but it can also simply mean placing your feet, one after the other, on the ground. You might try to tread lightly on the moss in the backyard so you don't damage it. Tread is also a noun that means the mark that a tire leaves on the ground, or the actual grooves on the tire. You might be relieved that the tread marks at the crime scene didn't match your brother's truck after all. |
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| 125 |
ascertain |
learn or discover with confidence |
Health care providers and manufacturers can ascertain alternative treatment more effectively by tackling predicted drug shortage incidences early in the process. |
marvel#check#cable#concede# |
“The government is actively working — including with U.S. and Cuban authorities — to ascertain the cause.”#It said Canada was working with U.S. and Cuban authorities to “ ascertain the cause.”#In spite of experts' skepticism, commercial companies are marketing the use of functional MRI- and electroencephalography-based technology to ascertain truth and falsehood.#Generally speaking, these criteria ascertain that the final networks are not dominated by high-degree nodes and that they predominantly contain proteins supported by the data.# |
Ascertain is a verb that means to find out something. You might have to go to the bank to ascertain if there is any money in your account. |
This is a formal word that often applies to discovering the facts or truth about something through examination or experimentation. Information that is ascertained is certain beyond a doubt. If you want a less formal synonym, use discover. |
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| 126 |
fare |
proceed, get along, or succeed |
A recent study breaks down how graduates with various college degrees are faring in today’s difficult job market. |
plead#compact#do#excavate# |
One recent poll showed that Likud would fare better in an election without him.#By comparison, the fare to New Orleans typically starts at $200.#But they also think marginalized groups will fare worse under the Trump administration.#As far as the Hengesbachs are concerned, “Hamilton” is more than worth the fare.# |
It's not fair that fare means three unrelated things. As a verb, it means to proceed or get along, as in "Fare thee well." As a noun, it can refer to the cost of travel ("Train fare is ten dollars") or to food ("Tatertots are typical cafeteria fare"). |
To remember fare's different meanings, think of how, for people living close to the bone, the question "How are you eating/faring?" is not so different from "How are you getting along/faring?" And when you pay plane fare and fly to France, you will most assuredly be eating French fare once you get there. |
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| 127 |
cede |
relinquish possession or control over |
Some militia chiefs say they will only cede command of their fighters once an organized military and security apparatus is in place. |
grant#terminate#ignore#parallel# |
This approach suggests that Democrats refuse to cede the mantle of “populism” to Trump and the Republicans.#Guam was ceded to the US by Spain in 1898, and later the islanders suffered under three years of Japanese occupation.#"We will never cede to foreign powers," he said.#This is no way for the U.S. to restore leadership in the Asia-Pacific region, where Trump’s myopia and incompetence is ceding authority to China.# |
To cede is to give up or surrender land, position, or authority. "She reluctantly ceded the coveted position as the baby of the family to her brother when he was born. She would not, however, cede her bedroom to him." |
Cede is a word often used in discussing diplomatic issues. It is more commonly used in reference to actual physical things, like geographic areas or objects, but can also be used in reference to attitudes or opinions. "The rebels ceded territory after the siege failed." "Dad tried but finally ceded control and let me have my own Facebook account." |
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| 128 |
perpetual |
continuing forever or indefinitely |
The river is a perpetual enjoyment, always something going on. |
clad#alternative#constant#patent# |
The appetite — often from boardroom to bleachers — is for wholesale change, for constant accumulation, perpetual revolution.#“When experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual.”#That’s because they reinforce the prevailing white way of thinking about the perpetual U.S. wars on people of color both foreign and domestic.#“And let perpetual light shine upon him,” the marchers would answer back.# |
Use the adjective perpetual to describe something that never ends or changes. If you're a perpetual procrastinator, your dilly-dallying ways are never going to improve. |
It may be true that the only constant is change, but English nevertheless has no shortage of words to describe things that never change: everlasting, eternal, and permanent, for example — and this word, perpetual, from the Latin perpetuus, "continuous." In casual usage, though, you might hear someone say "This perpetual bad weather needs to clear." Maybe it should come as no surprise to find people using the word to describe things that are not truly everlasting — since so few things really are. |
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| 129 |
decree |
a legally binding command or decision |
While the decree takes effect immediately, it requires Parliament’s approval within 60 days to remain in force. |
edict#device#frown#code# |
After the bombing of Nagasaki, Emperor Hirohito overruled his generals and decreed that Japan would surrender.#The EIP relied on consent decrees, news releases by the Justice Department and the Federal Register to compile its figures.#The assembly passed a decree declaring itself superior to all other branches of government.#Lawmakers voted unanimously Monday not to recognize any of the new super-body's decrees.# |
Look carefully! A decree isn't something you get when you graduate. That one little letter change makes it something else altogether: a legally binding command or the announcement of such a thing. |
If you go back far enough, a decree referred to a decision handed down by the Roman emperor. In more modern usage, a divorce decree is the document issued by a court that terminates a marriage. And if you want to go out with someone on a date, but things keep preventing you from having the chance to ask, you could say that fate did not decree it to be so. |
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| 130 |
contrive |
make or work out a plan for; devise |
The wily Roc, never taken much by surprise, contrived to escape, but old Tributor and his men were all captured. |
harbor#plan#complicate#tense# |
GM said in a statement it would fight the settlement in court, calling it a “ contrived scheme” doomed to fail.#The term carves the world neatly into parts: There are real concerns, and there are contrived, theatrical ones.#But if you should survive to 105, Think how well you’ll connive with the stuff you contrive.#It was probably as contrived as everything else about him.# |
When you contrive, you make a plan or a plot. It may take you longer to contrive your way out of doing your homework than would to actually do it. |
Even though contrive often has a false or cunning feel to it, it is not always a bad thing. Mental effort is always required though, as contrive is often used in connection with inventing schemes and plans to make something happen. Contraption, a complicated mysterious device that does something, is related to contrive. Have you ever seen a Rube Goldberg contraption? When you contrive to do something, your plan may end up being that complicated. |
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| 131 |
derived |
formed or developed from something else; not original |
Modern kale, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and kohlrabi are all members of the same species, derived from a single prehistoric plant variety. |
hostile#original#inevitable#definite# |
Indeed, the use of the word “hack,” signifying a clever or innovative use of something, is derived from this original meaning.#These proteins grab a light-sensitive molecule – derived from vitamin A – that changes its structure when exposed to light.#Gojira, as the monster was called in Japan, derived its name from the word gorilla and kujira, a Japanese word for whale.#He pleaded guilty last year to two counts of wire fraud and one count of monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity.# |
When something is derived from something else, it is made from that. Ham is derived from pork, and the active ingredient in aspirin is derived from the bark of the willow tree. |
It's best to use derived when you can still see the parts of the original in something. Some people believe baseball was derived from the game of cricket. Both games involve batting and runners, but cricket was around first. Derived is also the past tense of the verb, derive, which can mean to figure out or get. After six tries, Lucia derived the answer to the difficult math problem. |
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| 132 |
elaborate |
marked by complexity and richness of detail |
But the tobacco industry and owners of other convenience stores say tribal cigarette manufacturing is just an elaborate form of tax evasion. |
entangle#transcend#deviate#complicate# |
Police wouldn’t elaborate on the specifics of the current investigation.#The bill calls for the Defense Ministry and the Guard to increase spending, without elaborating.#Mr. Withuhn helped coordinate the installation of all these vehicles, often requiring elaborate hydraulic lifts, winches and vast amounts of patience.#“All employees are fully aware that host government hostility extends to an elaborate, aggressive intelligence apparatus,” the report said.# |
Use the adjective elaborate when you want to describe how something is very detailed or especially complicated, like a devilish prank planned out weeks in advance. |
The adjective elaborate is used to describe when something is planned with a lot of attention to detail or when something is intricate or detailed itself. The word comes from the Latin elaborare, which means "to produce by labor" but it has come to mean a lot of labor, especially work that is very complicated and precise. To imagine this word, think of a painting with lots of flourishes or a story with many sub-plots and characters that all fit together in extensive ways. |
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| 133 |
substantial |
real; having a material or factual existence |
Defence lawyers said the large number of forensic tests which had been carried out had failed to find any substantial evidence linked to the accused. |
a sturdy log cabin#a cancelled television show#a faint memory#a piece of tissue paper# |
Establishing a Medicare for All single payer program will improve the health of the American people and provide substantial financial savings for middle class families.#As accounting becomes more reliant on technology, finance chiefs across a range of sectors are reaping substantial benefits from closing their books faster.#“Not because it was one or two but because it’s four substantial plays.’#His approval ratings are so low that Republicans should brace for substantial losses, big enough to cost them the House.# |
Something substantial is large in size, number, or amount: If you want to say someone spent a lot of money without being too specific, you could say they spent a substantial amount of money. |
The adjective substantial derives from the Latin substantia "substance," which means "stuff." A substantial meal is large enough to satisfy hunger. A substantial structure is strongly made or built. And a substantial man possesses wealth and property. Related to this last sense, "a man of substance" refers to a wealthy man with property. |
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| 134 |
frontier |
a wilderness at the edge of a settled area of a country |
Adding to the precarious security situation, tribesmen kidnapped 18 Egyptian border guards along the frontier with Israel in Sinai Peninsula. |
a bank robber#a wealthy politician#a fearless explorer#a serious student# |
It seems like the next frontier as far as creativity.#“I talked to the teak company about building wildlife corridors,” says Hinde, who monitored the impacts for the conservation NGO Frontier.#As China rises in economic and military power, their frontier becomes more in focus as they attempt to settle old land disputes.#Professor John Findlay of the University of Washington’s department of history is co-author of a book titled “Atomic Frontier Days: Hanford and the American West.”# |
A frontier represents uncharted territory. It could be a remote piece of land or a new field of study, but if someone calls it "the frontier," you are challenged to explore it. |
The noun frontier has several meanings. It can refer to the wilderness at the edge of a settled area (picture covered wagons pushing westward) or it can mean a field of study that has not yet been explored (picture genetically engineering pet dinosaurs). Deriving from "the front line of an army," a frontier can be thought of as an offensive line in a battle — always pushing forward, trying to conquer new territory. |
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| 135 |
facile |
arrived at without due care or effort; lacking depth |
As one teacher remarks about a troubled student, “There is no facile solution.” |
traditional#superficial#substantial#offensive# |
Scapegoating Google for societal passiveness and for unscrupulous males seems a facile response.#She radiates rawness, and is facile with costuming.#The facile energy of social media transformed the personal outburst into a national issue.#Ultimately, they are facile actions that will hurt the city.# |
If someone does something easily, or shows ease, it is described as facile in a good way, but if someone takes the easy way out and shows a lack of thought or care, it is facile in a bad way. |
While it is a lovely sounding French word, facile is both a compliment and an insult depending on how it's used. Something that shows ready skill is facile, such as being facile with text messaging. But if something is too simple and superficial, or shows little care, it can also be called facile, or lame. "Being too cowardly to tell the truth and admit he didn't do it, he used the facile and sarcastic excuse that the dog ate his homework." |
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| 136 |
cite |
make reference to |
The Federal Reserve has pledged low interest rates until late 2014, citing in part the weakness of the job market. |
an atmosphere#a condition#a perception#a paragraph# |
Mr. Frazier announced his resignation in a statement Monday, citing Mr. Trump’s reaction to the Charlottesville, Virginia, protests over the weekend.#The company canceled a planned all-hands meeting on Thursday, citing concern about harassment.#The man was sentenced to two years in prison, and his case is one of several cited in the accusations against the bank.#Amazon cited a "decreasing demand" for the discs and a growing number of customers who were streaming movies and TV series instead.# |
To cite something means to do right by whoever said it and give them credit — for instance, if you add a brilliant statement to a paper but you’re not the one who originally wrote it, you should cite, or point to, the original author. |
Using cite with the meaning "to reference" or "to note" is just one of several similar uses. A military or other official report can cite someone for an outstanding act of service, and a legal representative can cite individuals, or summon them, to show up in court. To cite a source when writing or verbally repeating something first spoken by someone else is to give a "citation" or "notation" that gives credit where credit is due. |
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| 137 |
warrant |
show to be reasonable or provide adequate ground for |
In the United Kingdom and Europe the devices are not used unless the need is warranted by the patient's medical condition. |
symphony#endorsement#catastrophe#obstacle# |
Police say witnesses and undisclosed evidence led detectives to a suspect who was arrested on a first-degree murder warrant.#The warrants say those weapons were a shotgun and a knife.#A judge approved a search warrant for investigators to examine the smartphones of two Minneapolis police officers in the shooting.#If the evidence is strong enough to warrant a suspension, say so, and say why.# |
If you watch cop shows, you know that a warrant is something police need to get into your house — a permission slip from a judge. |
It's a noun! It's a verb! It's a word that warrants our attention! As a noun, it's the piece of paper they show you through the keyhole during an investigation. It's also a reason for doing something, or a promise (think of the warranty on your new car, the promise that it'll work for a certain amount of time). As a verb, it means to make something seem reasonable or necessary, such when the ticking suitcase warrants bringing in the bomb squad, or when the teenager's sneaking in late again warrants a stricter curfew. |
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| 138 |
sob |
weep convulsively |
He cried and trembled, sobbing, while they spoke, like the child he was. |
excitement#grief#boredom#surprise# |
The smell of singed flesh fills my nostrils, and I hear myself begging for mercy, then sobbing, then screaming.#But this is not a sob story, or autism explainer, or after-school special about the importance of tolerance.#"I did not murder my husband. My father did not murder my husband," she said before sobbing.#In the damp, narrow hallway outside the courtroom, Kwan, who was 26 at the time and the oldest of the fraternity brothers, broke down sobbing.# |
If you're so upset you're crying loudly, taking in big gasps of air and heaving your chest, you are sobbing. |
Picture a child on the playground who has fallen and can't find his or her mother. The child's face is red and streaked with tears, and he or she is gasping from crying so hard. This poor little boy or girl is sobbing uncontrollably. Sometimes, while trying not to cry, you might let out a single sob. A "sob story" is a story meant to make you feel bad for someone, so bad you might sob for them. |
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| 139 |
rider |
a traveler who actively sits and travels on an animal |
In horseback riding, a rider will give commands by squeezing or lengthening the reins and altering the position of his legs. |
a spectator#a spy#a stylist#a jockey# |
"This means riders don't need to carry cash if they want to tip their driver."#Riders began complaining to Metro about the advertisement.#It’s not an easy race to win, and winning it is momentous in any rider’s life.”#Fire for failing to provide a faster response to rescue the trapped riders.# |
Riders are people who are in motion — riding bicycles, subways, horses, roller coasters and much more. Another kind of rider is a special list that attaches to, or "rides along" with, a contract. |
The noun rider means "one who rides," but its other meaning is "a document that is added to legal or official documents." On Capitol Hill, lawmakers add riders to legislation documents to try to get certain stipulations to be part of new laws. You may have heard of touring musicians who demand that certain rare flowers be placed in their hotel rooms, which must have Italian linen sheets on the bed, and be exactly 71 degrees. It's all in the rider of the tour contract. |
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| 140 |
dense |
permitting little if any light to pass through |
Dense black smoke rose in the distance as demonstrators burned tires in Shiite villages. |
innocent#unintelligent#cooperative#deceptive# |
Geologists say this huge region is likely to dwarf that of east Africa’s volcanic ridge, currently rated the densest concentration of volcanoes in the world.#Like Trump, the retired movie star preferred the silver screen to dense policy briefings.#That emerging slab would impinge on the third and most important morphology Bécel and her team found: a surface-level triangle of dense rock.#“The bread is tough, overly chewy and dense. Was still chewing bread after swallowing everything else.”# |
When woods are dense, the trees grow close together. When fog is dense, you can't see through it. And if someone calls you dense, they think nothing can get into your thick skull. |
Dense comes from the Latin densus which means thick and cloudy. In general, the word means packed tight and gives the sense that something is difficult to get through. Text can be dense in two different ways: when the words are packed closely together on the page, and when the text is filled with big words and complicated thoughts. Either way, reading dense text is just no fun. |
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| 141 |
afflict |
cause physical pain or suffering in |
Melanoma globally afflicts nearly 160,000 new people each year. |
interrupt#skirmish#plague#condone# |
The number of wildfires ratcheted up from seven in the space of a few hours, with most afflicting areas in central and northern Portugal.#It allowed the state to sterilize 7,000 people “ afflicted with hereditary forms of insanity that are recurrent, idiocy, imbecility, feeble-mindedness or epilepsy.”#Apparently it afflicts nations as well as people.#Our world is afflicted by widespread infertility and childless civilisations are left hovering on the brink of collapse.# |
To afflict is to cause suffering, pain, or misery. It’s often associated with medical conditions. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is most likely to afflict someone who spends many hours every day typing on our computers. |
We get afflict from the Latin word affligere, meaning “to strike down,” which is an old fashioned way of saying to get sick, or to have a condition of some kind. You could argue that chronic indecision was the main problem to afflict Hamlet, or that saying "um," "like," and "you know" are speech tics that afflict teens. |
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| 142 |
flourish |
grow vigorously |
His business had been all along steadily flourishing, his patrons had been of high social position, some most illustrious, others actually royal. |
right before an important event takes place#while having a picnic#after striking out while playing baseball#after sitting in traffic for a long time# |
And the feeling remains he needs the right partner to flourish.#The Klan soon flourished in the south before spreading nationwide in the 1900s.#Arsenal twisted the tale with a theatrical flourish as late strikes from Aaron Ramsey and Olivier Giroud sent shudders through north London.#I do believe it was an extraordinarily corrupt state which, among other things, allows criminal undertakings like drug dealing to flourish.# |
A flourish is an extra touch — a trumpet's "ta-ta-da!" announcing a king's entrance, a fancy carving atop an otherwise utilitarian pillar, a wave of a flag or a cheerleader's pompom. |
Flourish can also mean "growth": "With the right teacher, a child will flourish." To understand how the two meanings of flourish connect, remember that the word "flower" (spelled flour-) is hiding inside it. Flowers are used for decoration and ornamentation, but they also grow. Get it? Good for you! Imagine a cheerleader shouting out your name, flourishing her pom-poms. |
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| 143 |
ordain |
invest with ministerial or priestly authority |
One of the present bishops was consecrated when quite a young boy, and deacons are often ordained at sixteen, and even much earlier. |
enact#repeal#correct#dishonor# |
He entered the seminary at 13 and was ordained a priest in 1918.#He was ordained into the priesthood in July.#Nurek is an immigrant from Poland and was ordained into the priesthood in July.#Many Christians lay hands on those who are being ordained in the church.# |
To ordain is to make someone a minister, priest, monk, or other member of the clergy. In the Catholic church, for example, a bishop ordains new priests. |
When you say that people have been ordained, you usually mean that they've been invested with special religion-related powers. In many Buddhist traditions, senior monks ordain new monks and, increasingly, female monks (or nuns) as well. Occasionally, this chiefly religious verb is used to mean "officially declare" or "decree" in a secular matter, as when a court ordains desegregation. |
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| 144 |
pious |
having or showing or expressing reverence for a deity |
Mother, you see, is a very pious woman, and she attributes it all to Providence, saying that it was the Divine interference in her behalf. |
continuous#justified#typical#wicked# |
Both precedents were considered carefully by the judge who was pondering the case of the pious prison gardener.#While the government allowed the first non-Christians to sit in Parliament, pious scientists vehemently opposed Darwinian evolution.#And the very poorest, however pious, are unlikely to pay a premium for peace of mind.#In his Turkey, the state banished religion to the private sphere and discriminated against pious citizens.# |
If someone is deeply religious and visibly follows all the moral and ethical codes of his religion, he is pious. Don't become a priest if you're not prepared to live a pious life. |
Pious comes from the Latin pius, which means dutiful. It doesn't always have to be used to talk about organized religion. If someone believes deeply in something, and lets everyone see it through their behavior, then they are pious, whether they're pious Christians or pious environmentalists. It differs from its synonym devout, which implies deep religious sentiment, whereas pious emphasizes the public display of feeling. |
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| 145 |
vex |
disturb, especially by minor irritations |
There are vexing problems slowing the growth and the practical implementation of big data technologies. |
stun#corrupt#coax#bother# |
They would rant on Facebook about the latest news, then do little to solve the problems that vexed them.#That’s not to deny the real and vexing challenge posed by North Korea’s nuclear weapons capability.#Our old friend “Deep Woods” — a long time ally of Inside the Beltway — is now officially vexed.#Despite strides in maternal medicine, premature birth remains a vexing problem for obstetricians worldwide.# |
If something vexes you, it brings you trouble or difficulty. In other words, it annoys, worries, distresses, irritates, bothers, or puzzles you. |
Vex can be used as an adjective: for example, a vexing issue is not easily solved. The verb vex, the corresponding adjective vexatious, and the noun vexation are all slightly old-fashioned though still in current use. Vex descends from Middle English vexen, from Middle French vexer, from Latin vexare "to shake, attack, trouble." |
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| 146 |
gravity |
the force of attraction between all masses in the universe |
Once captured, the combined object will have a new center of gravity and may be spinning in an uncontrolled way. |
a comedian giving a performance#a hostess throwing a party#a minister giving a sermon#a child playing a card game# |
The Great Clock, comprising the Great Bell and quarter bells, is operated by a Victorian mechanism, which relies on gravity to trigger the hourly chimes.#Be sure to visit nearby Gravity Hill, an optical illusion where your car appears to roll uphill.#But old and drawn and defeated by gravity, looking old the way athletes, once young, suddenly look old.#Thus writes astronaut and physician Scott Parazynski on climbing Everest with severe back pain, brought on by exposure to zero gravity.# |
In physics, gravity is the natural force that causes things to fall toward the earth. The noun gravity can also mean seriousness or solemnity. |
Someone who conducts themselves with an air of gravity is someone who takes what they are doing seriously. You might be amused to see a three year old serving her dolls tea with an air of gravity appropriate to the Queen of England. Gravity was borrowed through French from Latin gravitās, from gravis "heavy." |
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| 147 |
suspended |
supported or kept from sinking or falling by buoyancy |
Frustrating enough at ground level, but can you imagine the agony about a stranded, ever-soggier Oreo being suspended 11 feet above the ground? |
a student missing school#a life buoy in a lake#a successful bachelor#an anchor dropped in the sea# |
He eventually regained his suspended law license and now represents people with foreclosure and bankruptcy problems.#Only about 1,000 spectators returned to the old venue after Saturday’s regularly scheduled match was suspended by storms in the 29th minute.#A person familiar with the situation tells The Associated Press the players were suspended for misusing school-issued funds.#The players were suspended for misusing school-issued funds, according to a person familiar with the situation.# |
Suspended particles seem to float in liquid. You may have seen hand sanitizing gels with tiny suspended dots throughout the clear liquid. |
Particles that are suspended seem to hang in a liquid. In fact, Old French and Latin define pendere as "hang." Think of other words you know that are like suspended, such as that word's other definition, "to put off temporarily." A student suspended from school has not been kicked out, but instead is left hanging between periods of enrollment. Then there is pending: a decision that is pending hasn't been made yet, so people wait, hanging on until they know what will happen. |
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| 148 |
conspicuous |
obvious to the eye or mind |
Its bright scarlet fruits are conspicuous in late autumn. |
it's hiding something#it's easy to see#it's fun to work in#it's a government building# |
Charm is a dangerous literary gift, but White’s work is conspicuous for its philosophical equanimity and moderate spirit.#She wants to argue with me, but her presence is conspicuous, and I'm not budging.#In Taylor Sheridan’s movies, motorized vehicles are conspicuous.#His very conspicuous lack of political correctness notwithstanding, on Wednesday he was mostly heaped with praise.# |
Keep your eye on the adjective conspicuous for something that stands out so much you notice it right away — like that zit in the center of your friend's forehead. |
Conspicuous comes from the adjectival form of the Latin verb, conspicere, meaning "to look at." Conspicuous can mean either very obvious to the eye (like something that is conspicuous from a distance) or attracting attention (like conspicuous consumption). If you are doing something wrong, it's wise not to be conspicuous about it! |
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| 149 |
retort |
a quick reply to a question or remark |
Having put him in ill humour with this retort, she fled away rejoicing. |
repeat#respond#remove#recoil# |
“She lost her personal slave—” “The girl threw herself off the cliffs a week ago,” Keenan retorts, defying Mazen’s glare.#Many cited as their favorite moment Mr. Trump’s retort that Mrs. Clinton would “be in jail” if he were president.#“Magical,” Sweet retorts, to laughter from the other four guys.#“It’s breast size that increases the risk of breast cancer,” she wrote in retort.# |
A retort is a short, clever response to someone's comment or question. If you want to keep the peace during dinner, you should probably bite your tongue instead of making sarcastic retorts to everything your little sister says. |
Today retort is used as both a noun and a verb, and both come from 16th- and 17th-century sources meaning "to twist or turn back." To retort is to make a comeback, or a quick, witty answer or remark. It can be a form of payback when someone tries to insult or tease another person, and often, the perfect retort doesn't occur to you till later, when you think "Oh! I wish I had said that earlier!" |
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| 150 |
jet |
an airplane powered by gas turbines |
Typhoon fighter jets, helicopters, two warships and bomb disposal experts will also be on duty to guard against security threats. |
on a runway#in a pet store#in the ocean#in outer space# |
Brown was signed by the Jets on Aug. 5 after being waived by Seattle.#Biological clocks that maintain regular physiological cycles – and cause the discomforts of jet lag – nearly always are controlled by these photoreceptors.#Unlike the Titans, the Jets’ quarterback situation is more muddled.#The whites of the Augur’s eyes are demon-red, vivid against his jet irises.# |
A jet is an airplane that can rapidly travel long distances. To jet is the act of getting somewhere quickly, by jet or any other way, as in, "Do you see what time it is? We better jet!" |
A jet is an aircraft that gets its power from jet engines rather than propellers. Jets are fast — that's probably why as a verb, jet means "to move quickly," either by taking a jet, like the celebrities who jet around the world, or the more ordinary "if I don't jet, I'll be late for school." Dishwashers and certain kinds of tubs have jets, tiny openings that push water out with great force. The streams of water are also called, you guessed it, jets. |
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| 151 |
bolt |
run away |
The blare of bugles was heard, and a few seconds afterwards Jackson, still facing the enemy, shouted: "By Jupiter, they're bolting, sir." |
recoil#persuade#wander#flee# |
That is not how I want to remember Bolt!#It was Felix’s 11th world gold medal, tying her with Usain Bolt for most in the history of the championships.#Being a mentor to youngsters, particularly in his native Jamaica, is something Bolt intends to occupy much of his time in retirement.#Felix strengthened her record as the most decorated athlete in World Championships history by winning her 11th gold to equal Bolt's haul.# |
We love words that sound like what they mean, and bolt is no exception. It's a quick, sharp word that either means to move quickly or refers to a stroke of lightning, as in "lightning bolt." |
The god Zeus was fond of tossing bolts of lightning down upon mortals who angered him. If you were one of those mortals, you'd have been smart to bolt inside as soon as the rain began. To bolt is to run as quickly as you can. Racehorses are often described as bolting out of the gate. Other uses of bolt include the lock in your door, the act of locking that lock, and what a dog does when it gulps down his food. |
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| 152 |
assent |
to agree or express agreement |
His two companions readily assented, and the promise was mutually given and received. |
a nod of the head#a quizzical look#a shake of the head#a burst of laughter# |
Under the terms of the pact between the two cable operators, each must assent to a deal that the other strikes with a wireless company.#McMaster also enraged the right by his assent to the renewal of a security clearance for Obama administration’s national security adviser, Susan Rice.#As the other Senate Republicans look at his example, they might ponder this truth: Silence equals assent.#President Johnson assents—not so enthusiastically, but he does say “Yes.”# |
Assent means agreement. If you nod your head in assent, you agree to something or you assent to it. |
As a verb, assent is generally followed by a phrase beginning with the word "to:" You assent to a plan, an agreement, or to an idea. Assent is also something that you can give. You can give your assent to marry your partner if he or she asks really nicely. The opposite of assent is dissent –– which means disagreeing, or even protesting in a formal way. |
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| 153 |
purse |
a sum spoken of as the contents of a money container |
She watched over her husband, kept his accounts, held the family purse, managed all his affairs. |
pump#punish#pursue#pucker# |
Who would risk the Commandant's wrath to save a slave's life, even for a fat purse?#Criminals will often look for cell phones, tablets, laptops, firearms, purses, tote bags, loose change and other items of value that are in a car.#Best moment: When she pursed her lips to apply lipstick in a mirror, only to reveal her dad in the reflection.#She appears wearing a simple tan chemise and a Miu Miu patterned fur hat, holding a purple and green purse.# |
Though purses are mostly carried by women, this is the kind of purse anyone would love to bring home: it's a prize, usually consisting of money. |
The most common meaning of purse, as a woman's bag, can definitely help you remember the "prize" meaning of purse, because a woman who won a purse could carry her winnings in a purse. The non-bag type of purse is usually associated with sporting events: boxers and jockeys win purses. Other times, purse is used to describe money won in another context, like a photography contest. Another meaning is totally different: if you pucker or contract your lips, you're pursing them. |
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| 154 |
plus |
the arithmetic operation of summing |
The survey’s margin of error was plus or minus four percentage points. |
liability#increase#question#victory# |
Ronaldo will miss Wednesday’s return leg of the Spanish Super Cup in Madrid plus the first four matches of the Spanish league season.#The figures include live viewing plus three days of recorded viewing.#Plus, it is easier to move around by boat and helicopter — avoiding paparazzi stakeouts.#“Everybody just thinks solar and storage are toys for the rich. The utilities run around Sacramento and call solar plus storage the ‘Cadillac class.’”# |
A plus is an “advantage” or an “asset.” You might look silly walking around with flippers all day, but if you lived underwater, they would definitely be a plus. |
In Latin, the route plus means “more.” The word plus in English can have many senses, all relating to this idea of more, addition, or positive. This noun sense of the word means “a positive quality.” In the same way a number above zero on a number line is positive, and can use a plus sign, a plus is "a positive asset," like a superhero’s ability to fly or a spy’s ability to speak several languages. |
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| 155 |
sanction |
give authority or permission to |
The Securities and Exchange Commission said last year it had sanctioned 39 senior officers for conduct related to the housing market meltdown. |
bewitch#innovate#replicate#penalize# |
Also on Monday, China, North Korea’s main trading partner, announced that it would begin enforcing tough new United Nations sanctions against Pyongyang on Tuesday.#Just 10 days ago, China supported a U.S. resolution at the United Nations Security Council to impose tougher economic sanctions on North Korea.#Gen Joseph Dunford said the US priority was diplomacy but added that military options were being prepared should sanctions against the North fail.#North Korea, which is angry over new United Nations sanctions condemning its rapidly developing nuclear and missile program, continued its tough stance on Monday.# |
Sanction has two nearly opposite meanings: to sanction can be to approve of something, but it can also mean to punish, or speak harshly to. Likewise, a sanction can be a punishment or approval. Very confusing––the person who invented this word should be publicly sanctioned! |
See if you can guess the meaning of sanction in the following contexts. Before invading Iraq, the US and its allies first imposed sanctions on the country, refusing to supply the country with much-needed trade items. Did you guess sanction=punishment? You were right! But by trading with China at the same time, the US quietly sanctioned that nation's known instances of human rights abuses. Did you guess sanction=approval? You're right again! |
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| 156 |
proceeding |
a sequence of steps by which legal judgments are invoked |
Chu attended the special court-martial proceeding on Monday in Hawaii, Hill said. |
a divorce#a novel#a marriage#an engagement# |
That is an argument for proceeding with care, not refusing to attend to the dam.#I face no legal proceeding; no prison sentence is in the offing, nothing like that.#At a mediation proceeding last month, the lawyer Douglas H. Wigdor asked for the double-digit settlement figure, according to two people familiar with the matter.#The 2015 Open Internet Order is likely to be shot down in the next few months, which would change the facts of this proceeding.# |
The noun proceeding (often pluralized as proceedings) is used in legal settings to show something is happening, or moving forward: "During the legal proceedings the judge declared him mentally unbalanced." |
Most of the time, the noun proceeding is used in law to show that a sequence of actions have taken place, leading up to judgment day in court. If you move forward with legal proceedings, you might start by filing a lawsuit or a claim against someone. Outside of the law, the noun is also used to show the steps taken, that there is involvement with a process or venture, or that progress is being made: "He took the necessary proceedings to make sure everything was okay." |
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| 157 |
exalt |
praise, glorify, or honor |
Some exalt themselves by anonymously posting their own laudatory reviews. |
exhilarate#examine#exasperate#exhaust# |
The reality show, after all, exalts risk-taking entrepreneurs who pitch their visions and startups to a panel of deep-pocketed investors.#In it he pledged "to discharge all the high duties of my exalted station according to the best of my ability".#Mason Bates’s exalted style is a rich blend of opera and electronics, melting the boundaries of classical music and ushering it into the digital age.#But in this exalted company, one dinner surpassed them all.# |
You might like your manager, but if you exalt her, it means you really put her on a pedestal and treat her like royalty. |
To exalt is to hold or raise someone up to a high position or status. It doesn't have to mean literally putting that person into a high position, but instead treating them almost like nobility. Overly doting parents exalt their infant to the point where they praise him every time he wets his diaper and call the neighbors over every time he coos. |
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| 158 |
siege |
an action of an armed force that surrounds a fortified place |
Rebellion broke out, and finally the aged Caliph, after enduring a siege of several weeks, was murdered in his own house. |
undermine its political system#surrender#set up camp a mile away#surround its walls# |
Marcus Junius Brutus used these pigeons to protect his city during the siege of Modena by sending messages to his allies.#The world was on the move; old barriers were under siege; new possibilities were opening up.#They like the attention and it all underlines their point that they are under siege by the Americans.#Your body physically and automatically reacts as if it is under threat of siege.# |
Your city is under siege if it is surrounded on all sides by an opposing force on attack. Think of a castle surrounded by a legion of armed knights. |
Like many military words, siege can be used metaphorically. If you start getting thousands of e-mail messages trying to sell you canned meat, you might feel like you're under a siege of spam selling spam. In this case, you have been besieged by spam. And even more unfortunately, if you are having a siege of bad luck, you have been besieged by bad luck. |
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| 159 |
malice |
feeling a need to see others suffer |
He viewed the moths with malice, their fluttering wings fanning his resentment. |
delight#respect#spitefulness#despair# |
Marcus's yellow eyes are troubled, his lack of malice so profound that I barely recognize him.#Rakoff says he must decide if there are sufficient allegations of actual malice in the lawsuit.#He contended Friday there was no malice in the pause.#In court papers, prosecutors say Mullis killed Lucas without malice, but the killing was unlawful because he failed to use “due caution and circumspection.”# |
Malice is the intention to cause harm. If someone feels malice toward you, look out! They've got bad intentions. |
Just like the Spanish mal, this is a word for badness or evil. Malice isn't just any evil, though: it's evil done intentionally by someone seeking to do harm. People feel malice for people they hate. Malice is even stronger than spite. Out of all the emotions and thoughts you can have, malice is one of the most dangerous. Just about every villain in every movie and TV show is full of malice. |
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| 160 |
extravagant |
recklessly wasteful |
Advisers say new millionaires are prone to mistakes, like making extravagant purchases or risky deals with friends. |
casual#exuberant#contracted#overall# |
Authorities say she admitted spending money on clothes, extravagant vacations and home furnishings.#And then he did what John Daly does, which is implode in extravagant fashion.#We are not extravagant, but we live a comfortable life and want to do fun things with the kids.#Sometimes what you need is something opulent, extravagant, even downright baroque.# |
Extravagant is an adjective that means expensive, excessive, and over the top. A modest chandelier in your dining room is normal. But crystal-studded walls and gold-plated goblets? That's a bit extravagant. |
If you’re prone to lavish behavior or spending, you’re extravagant. It’s an adjective associated with extremes, sometimes even to the point of absurdity. Fees at a bank can be extravagant, and so can a person who insists on drinking only bottled French mineral water out of a golden chalice. Remember that the only ‘e’ is at the beginning — the remaining three vowels are all ‘a.’ |
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| 161 |
wax |
increase in phase |
Carols had existed for centuries, though their popularity waxed and waned as different governments and religious movements periodically declared them sinful. |
rise#scratch#ban#divide# |
Dude Perfect is heavy on the testosterone, but if you wax nostalgic for shenanigan-filled summers with friends, it may be for you.#Mr. Bogost, a professor of interactive computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology, waxes more ruminative.#“I want the audience to almost smell the costumes. Here they were waxed and frosted so they belonged to the landscape.”#The island owes its existence to Icarus’s plunge into the sea after the wax of his wings melted.# |
The verb wax is most often found in the company of its opposite, "wane." To wax is to grow larger or increase, whereas wane means to grow smaller or decrease. |
As the moon grows towards fullness, it waxes. It wanes, or diminishes in size, as the new moon approaches. This is the most common context for the verb wax, but it is also used to describe other phenomena that grow or increase, particularly those that are cyclical. Figuratively, if you wax eloquent, lyrical or poetic about something, you talk about it at great length and with growing enthusiasm. The noun wax refers to chemical compounds that can be shaped and molded, for example into candles, when warm. |
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| 162 |
throng |
press tightly together or cram |
Deafening cheers rent the air as he landed; hundreds thronged around him to clasp his hand. |
debt#crowd#notion#limit# |
“Instead, we were met with sky-high prices, in-and-out access and an elbow-to-elbow confrontation with throngs of people from all over the planet,” he recalls.#We push through the throng of students toward Blackcliff’s front gate.#But to most people who dive there, they represent much more: miraculous refuges, thronged with creatures that thrill and astonish.#Nairobi bus stations are thronged with Kenyans trying to leave the capital, fearing new violence.# |
A throng is a crowd of people or animals. On the crowded platform, the throng of passengers attempted to push their way into the already overcrowded subway car. |
When used as a noun, throng means a tightly packed crowd of people or animals. As a verb, it means to push together or squeeze into an area. The science fiction movie fans thronged into the auditorium when they heard their favorite actor had entered the building. The word comes to us from the Middle English term meaning "push" or "force one's way," which is exactly what you'd have to do if you got stuck inside a throng of people. |
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| 163 |
venerate |
regard with feelings of respect and reverence |
He venerated me like a being descended from an upper world. |
revere#roil#placate#improvise# |
This place is among the oldest and most venerated coffee-producing regions of East Africa.#Far from venerating military valor, Trump is on record mocking prisoners of war, saying he likes those “who weren’t captured.”#He became a propagandist for communists, venerated Chairman Mao and yearned for revolution.#He is venerated across the nation for surviving more than five years of captivity and torture during the Vietnam War.# |
To venerate is to worship, adore, be in awe of. You probably don't venerate your teacher or boss; however, you may act like you do! |
The word hasn't come far from its Latin roots in venerari, "to worship." Although you can certainly venerate a deity, a person can deserve it, too. Find part of the word Venus in there, meaning "love, desire" and dang, if someone venerates you, you're doing okay. We don't usually venerate our sweethearts; we often save it for those higher powers, or for remarkable people we're in awe of. Mother Teresa was venerated for her work with the poor, and Gandhi was venerated for his efforts for peace, but most people aren't venerated for normal stuff, like being someone's sweetie. |
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| 164 |
assail |
attack someone physically or emotionally |
His campaign even issued a press release assailing other rivals for, in Mr. Paul’s view, taking Mr. Romney’s quote about firing people out of context. |
criticize#restore#disguise#exhibit# |
Let him watch “Fox & Friends” to his heart’s content; let him even assail the Russia “witch hunt” or the “Fake News Suppression Polls.”#And they are a good indication of the health of the Obamacare market, which Trump frequently assails as failing or dying.#And they are a good indication of the health of the Obamacare market, which Mr. Trump frequently assails as failing or dying.#He’d also assail the “fake news” media for not panning cameras to show the full size of the crowds.# |
To assail is to attack or assault — with throwing stars, fists, words or, less tangibly but just as violently, with troubles or doubts. |
Believe it or not, assail evolved from the ancient Latin word assilire, which means "to jump on." So picture an attacker jumping on you, throwing punches and maybe some insults, too. Because assail also means to ridicule or heap your worries upon someone. As novelist Charlotte Bronte noted, “Conventionality is not morality. Self-righteousness is not religion. To attack the first is not to assail the last.” Think on that. |
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| 165 |
sublime |
of high moral or intellectual value |
He was uneven, disproportioned, saying ordinary things on great occasions, and now and then, without the slightest provocation, uttering the sublimest and most beautiful thoughts. |
intrinsic#tempting#intangible#glorious# |
One minute Matic was beating three players with sublime skill and racing down the right touchline.#By the end, the two instruments are in sublime retreat, harmonies humming and washing away, still conjoined.#It would be a sublime act of American vanity to infer anything other than serendipity in the eclipse's occurring when we so need the uplift.#Instead, what mattered, what compelled, were the hours I spent in isolation, poring over, for instance, Immanuel Kant’s thoughts on “the sublime.”# |
In common use, sublime is an adjective meaning "awe-inspiringly grand, excellent, or impressive," like the best chocolate fudge sundae you've ever had. |
You might describe a spine-tingling piece of music as "a work of sublime beauty." With the, the word also functions as a noun meaning "something that strikes the mind with a sense of grandeur or power": "Never need an American look beyond his own country for the sublime and beautiful of natural scenery," wrote Washington Irving. The beauty of music or nature can be awe-inspiring, but sublime is also useful for describing everything from an impressive serve in tennis to a jaw-droppingly good taste sensation. |
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| 166 |
exploit |
draw from; make good use of |
As humans increasingly exploit the deep seas for fish, oil and mining, understanding how species are dispersed is crucial, Copley said. |
pose#feat#resignation#occurrence# |
Canadian employers cite such economic success stories while dismissing suggestions that the program exploits workers.#“But in trying to exploit fears over North Korea, Abe, like Trump, is also seen as adding to the danger.”#A court heard that the vulnerable victims, some as young as 14, were exploited by a "cynical organisation".#A holistic, 360-degree approach to exploiting new properties Monetizing various intellectual properties across multiple mediums is part of the company’s great success.# |
An exploit is a heroic act or notable deed. The King Arthur legends are full of stories of the exploits of the Knights of the Round Table, including Sir Lancelot and King Arthur himself. |
This noun is from Middle English expleit, exploit "outcome," from Latin explicitus "unfolded, set forth." The verb exploit means to use someone or something, usually selfishly or for profit––workers who are tired of being exploited by factory owners form unions that allow them to stand together as a powerful force. |
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| 167 |
exertion |
use of physical or mental energy; hard work |
One day overcome by exertion, she fainted in the street. |
effort#perception#repose#fatigue# |
The Carnegie Mellon team is pursuing a new approach that improves endurance by lowering the wearer’s energy exertion—a long-standing challenge for the field.#Roberts suggested that how Gonzalez felt on Monday, after a day’s worth of exertion, was more important.#It is 248 steep steps to the top of the Pyramid of the Sun, but the views are worth the exertion.#After yesterday’s unexpected tension and ridiculously hard exertions, an absolute monster of a stage awaits today - the first leg of an Alpine double-header.# |
Exertion is effort. Exercise requires physical exertion. Listening to great jazz requires mental exertion. What kind of exertion does jazzercise require? Perhaps too much. |
Ex– means out. Exertion means energy is coming out—so much so that when you’re done, you may feel exhausted. The opposite of ex- is in-, as in inertia—something you need exertion to overcome. |
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| 168 |
kindle |
catch fire |
Then a match was kindled and fire applied. |
a campfire#a slice of cake#a new pair of jeans#a surgeon# |
Kindle Summer Monthly deals: Keep up with your summer reading with up to 80 percent off over 1,000 top Kindle books.#It also offers automatically placed ads on external sites using its own technology and data, and marketing on Amazon packages and devices like Kindles.#But the Kindle app is always front and center on my screen.#In fact, one of the only single-use devices seemingly left untouched is the Amazon Kindle - an ebook reader that pretty much does nothing else.# |
When you start a fire burning, you can say you kindle the fire. Knowing how to kindle a campfire is an important survival skill. It can help keep you warm at night, and keep you from eating cold beans for dinner. |
The verb kindle not only means to start a fire, but also to catch fire. Another meaning for kindle is to arouse interest or passion. A dynamic music teacher could kindle the students' interest in learning an instrument. Or, romance can also be kindled: "As they danced together, a spark of romance kindled between them." |
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| 169 |
endow |
furnish with a capital fund |
The grammar school here, founded in 1533, is liberally endowed, with scholarships and exhibitions. |
overwhelm#gift#sting#adorn# |
And those of us endowed with normal sight are used to thinking of our eyes as vital to how we experience the world.#Also, more Caucasian, Asian or Indian, the latter endowing some male users with a distinguished gray mustache.#She was their virtuoso method actor, mining her life to endow their art with deeper meaning.#The University of Maryland's School of Medicine plans an endowed professorship to honour both Brodies.# |
To endow is to furnish, but not with furniture. If you've been endowed with something, it means you've been given a gift — most likely a gift that can't be returned or exchanged, like a sense of humor or athletic ability or trust. |
We usually use endow to refer to an ability or a quality, but you can endow someone with money, too. Endow is related to the word dowry, which is a gift that a man -– or sometimes a woman -– receives from his or her fiancé’s family before the wedding. The practice of giving dowries has fallen out of fashion in most Western countries, but there are still many parts of the world where it's common for the bride's family to provide the groom with an endowment of land and livestock. |
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| 170 |
imposed |
set forth authoritatively as obligatory |
The Arab League has already suspended Syria and imposed economic sanctions. |
a suggested donation#a dinner menu#a personal day#a dress code# |
The US imposed sanctions after a ballistic missile test in January.#Economic sanctions are imposed, a trade war erupts and China’s credit bubble bursts.#Trump signed a sanctions bill earlier this month that included new measures imposed on Iran.#The new U.N. sanctions imposed on North Korea this month ban countries from increasing the current numbers of North Korean laborers working abroad.# |
Something that is imposed is usually unwelcome and unpleasant and is expected to be endured — like higher taxes or unwelcome guests. |
The adjective imposed comes from the Latin imponere, "to place upon, to inflict or deceive." An imposed tax is one placed upon you by law. The English word comes by way of the Middle French verb imposer, meaning "to lay a burden." So if you are imposed upon by an unwanted guest, you'll have to endure an imposed visit. |
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| 171 |
humiliate |
cause to feel shame |
The letter claims pensioners are too often patronised, humiliated, denied privacy or even medical treatment. |
chagrin#intercept#stimulate#support# |
It’s either the mother of all coincidences or a transparent effort to save face by a humiliated neo-Nazi.#“It's a humiliating experience to be accused of something that despicable,” he said.#Cops routinely hurt and humiliate black people because that is what they are paid to do.#"I admit it was a bit humiliating," he said.# |
Humiliate means to make someone feel ashamed or stupid, often publicly. It would humiliate all but the most self-assured person to realize that everyone else in the room has noticed their fly is down. |
For many, the experience of high school seems designed to humiliate teens––under the microscope of public scrutiny that is the high school community, every break up, every bad-hair day, every forgotten homework assignment humiliates kids in ways adults rarely understand. |
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| 172 |
suffrage |
a legal right to vote |
There has been a great deal said in this country of late in regard to giving the right of suffrage to women. |
delusion#vote#strand#category# |
For a large part of American history, suffrage for noncitizens in local elections was the rule, not the exception.#With the campaign for women's suffrage suspended during the war, nurses saw the opportunity to improvise with what was a strictly-defined role at home.#In this hands-on activity for the whole family, discover how women’s suffrage was achieved.#And, as laws about alien suffrage changed, the narrative of the illegal immigrant vote emerged — as did steps meant to prevent that problem.# |
Suffrage is the right to vote in public elections. Universal suffrage means everyone gets to vote, as opposed to only men, or property holders. Suffrage has nothing to do with "suffering," unless the wrong person is elected. |
Female supporters of women's suffrage in 1906 were called suffragettes, because the French suffix –ette was trendy back then. But nowadays words with -ette are shunned because they imply the inferiority of women. So it seems that female supporters of a woman's right to vote were referred to by a sexist term. |
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| 173 |
ensue |
issue or terminate in a specified way |
An uproar ensued months after the approval, when opponents realized the online gambling measure had been slipped in. |
a high school graduation ceremony#expulsion#middle school#the first day of high school# |
The ensuing trial and error killed much of the game’s momentum.#They walked to a statue where a group of counterprotesters was gathered, and a brawl ensued.#McIlroy hit his ensuing pitch to tap-in range for a par that kept him at one over for the tournament.#In the ensuing months, Martin said detectives managed to hide his identity during the highly publicized investigation.# |
If something happens after something else, it will ensue, meaning it will follow after or be the result. When a sneeze comes out, and he hears the "Achoo!," a "Bless you" or "Gesundheit" soon will ensue. |
One way to remember the verb ensue is to rhyme it with "due." A happening that is due to happen will ensue, "Throwing a glass of ice water in his face guaranteed that a chase would ensue." Often what follows is a response to words or actions, so what will ensue is what will happen as a consequence. A struggle might ensue if a thief grabs a purse, and a discussion might ensue if two sides disagree. |
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| 174 |
brook |
a natural stream of water smaller than a river |
He walked across the little bridge over the brook and at once his mood changed. |
stand#sting#contend#ascertain# |
The Bear Brook facility features 15 targets and a four-target practice range that is universally accessible.#Tuesday at precincts in Senate District 45, which stretches across portions of Oklahoma City, Mustang and Valley Brook.#On a second call, officers determined that the group was at Jefferson Brook, about a quarter-mile from Jefferson Notch Road, in Thompson and Meserve’s Purchase.#Leading the pretour was Frances Brook, a redoubtable Englishwoman with an authoritative manner and a flowery hat.# |
A brook is a small stream. On a hot day, you might enjoy wading in a babbling brook. As a verb, brook is a rather stuffy word for "put up with." The lord of the manor might say, "I will brook no trespassing on my land." |
Brook is tailor-made for talking about what you won't stand for—it's always "brook no..." If you brook no criticism of your friend, it means you won't let people speak ill of her. If you brook no brooks, it means you've developed a bizarre stream-hating fetish and will spend the rest of your days trying to stop their flow. |
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| 175 |
gale |
a strong wind moving 45-90 knots |
The gale was accompanied, as usual, by incessant rain and thick weather, and a heavy confused sea kept our decks always flooded. |
a hurricane force which knocks over trees and houses#an event that raises money for a charity#a cool wind that breaks a heat wave#a heavily-foritified prison surrounded by barbed wire# |
Coast Guard assisted in transporting the whale, nicknamed Gale, on the Cutter Joshua Appleby.#"I just spoke with Linda Gale White to express our sorrow for the passing of a great Texan & long time friend," Abbott said on Twitter.#White’s wife, Linda Gale White, and his son Andrew White confirmed his death.#But my best friend, Gale Hawthorne, and his family will be depending on today’s haul and I can’t let them down.# |
If there’s a gale coming your way, you better hold onto your new hat and your little dog, Toto, too, because this is an extremely strong wind. |
The word gale possibly originates from the Old Norse word galinn, which means “mad”, “frantic” or “bewitched.” Weather forecasters sometimes use the term “gale-force winds” to describe conditions that aren’t quite as extreme as hurricanes or tropical storms, but probably fierce enough to snap your kite in half. It can also refer to other kinds of strong outbursts. For example, if someone erupts into gales of laughter, it means her friend probably said something very funny. |
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| 176 |
muse |
reflect deeply on a subject |
Musing about the Big Picture may be a lot more gratifying than focusing on the details of the specific policies that aren’t working. |
flesh out#run off#think over#run out# |
Cook’s eyes are quiet, as if she’s lost in an inner musing.#After nearly 20 years living in the Northern Virginia community of Broadlands, Jim Fowler mused recently about whether the neighborhood still fit his needs.#Still, it’ll be something to muse urbanely over as the ashes fall.#He’s a mainstay of Marvel, a veteran of both “Star Wars” and “Jurassic Park,” and the dependable muse of Quentin Tarantino.# |
As a verb, to muse is to consider something thoughtfully. As a noun, it means a person — especially a woman — who is a source of artistic inspiration. |
In mythology, the Muses were nine goddesses who symbolized the arts and sciences. Today, a muse is a person who serves as an artist's inspiration. Often filmmakers talk about a certain actor being a muse — meaning the actor inspired a movie. Writers, painters, musicians, and other artists have muses. Muse can also refer to thinking deeply. If you muse about something, you're giving it serious thought. You can't muse in five seconds. People muse on certain ideas for years. |
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| 177 |
satire |
witty language used to convey insults or scorn |
There’s plenty of humor on Russian television, though not much political satire; Mr. Putin put a stop to that long ago. |
irony#grievance#precept#quotation# |
It is not an exaggeration to say that satire is the political idiom of many voters in the U.S., especially young ones.#Their show is the best satire of free market fundamentalist culture — or neoliberalism, if you will — on television in this decade.#Other people seemed to be genuinely convinced that they were producing satire.#Schumann’s work is full of irony and satire; Chopin’s is not.# |
Satire is a way of making fun of people by using silly or exaggerated language. Politicians are easy targets for satire, especially when they're acting self-righteous or hypocritical. |
Even though the ridiculous language of satire isn't intended to be taken seriously, well-made satire can use mockery to get at more serious truths. Sometimes satire can even overtake reality: when the television sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live presented a mock debate between Al Gore and George W. Bush during the 2000 presidential campaign season, the satire was so dead-on that it influenced the way people thought of the candidates. |
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| 178 |
intrigue |
cause to be interested or curious |
Designing and building models that intrigue and educate without overwhelming has been challenging. |
wander#compare#scheme#simplify# |
Sunday night's Game of Thrones was full of revelations, reunions and intrigue.#The results are equal parts intriguing, funny and counterintuitively informative.#That was quite the hour of soapy intrigue and revelation on “Game of Thrones” on Sunday.#While there are any number of players who will be intriguing to watch, here are some I’ll be keeping a particularly close eye on:# |
An intrigue is a secret plot. If you ever become the monarch of a small island kingdom, keep watch for signs of any intrigue against you. |
Intrigue comes from the Latin verb intricare, to entangle, and is related to intricate. It can be a noun, meaning underhanded plot, or a verb for the act of plotting. Agents of two opposing powers intrigue against each other. In the late nineteenth century it also came to mean the feeling of curiosity or interest. If someone's ideas intrigue you, you want to know more about them. |
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| 179 |
indication |
something that serves to suggest |
Authorities said an autopsy found no indications of foul play or obvious signs of trauma on Houston. |
transit#security#conversation#evidence# |
And, if The Daily Stormer, a white nationalist publication, is any indication, these people are quite satisfied with what Trump said.#Police said the cause of the crash is still under investigation but there was “no indication of foul play.”#There are many indications that human rights and international justice are not priorities for President Donald Trump’s administration.#Moller Jensen said there are indications that the Danish inventor deliberately sank his submarine.# |
An indication is a sign––it indicates, or suggests, some conclusion. The way you blush furiously when a certain someone talks to you is an indication that you have a crush on them. |
An indication is like a clue, or a suggestion, but it's not proof. If someone is weaving all over the place when they walk, that could be an indication that they’re drunk. But then again, it could indicate an inner-ear infection that has ruined their balance. The verb, indicate, literally means to point out, by using your index finger. But indications don’t require actual fingers pointing to a cause. |
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| 180 |
dispatch |
send away towards a designated goal |
More than one assassin was dispatched by the Turkish authorities to murder Napoleon. |
a messenger#a babysitter#a maid#a president# |
Senior aides were dispatched to the morning news shows, yet they struggled at times to explain the president’s position.#The Italian government agreed last month to dispatch a naval mission to assist the Libyan coastguard with anti-smuggler patrols.#The day before, he told the St. Paul Dispatch he thought he was fighting “some farm kid from Minnesota.”#The army dispatched about 500 soldiers to several towns near the border with Bangladesh on Thursday, sources said.# |
Anything that needs to be mailed, sent off, or quickly shipped needs to be dispatched. Letters, official reports, teams of police — if it has somewhere to be, you can dispatch it to get there. |
Sometimes spelled despatch, this word was first used in the early 1500s as a verb meaning “to send off in a hurry.” These days we get hurried dispatches in noun and verb form, from journalists sending in their war zone stories to emergency squads getting dispatched to the scene of an accident. And in its most sinister sense, dispatch means to kill off without delay. |
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| 181 |
cower |
crouch or curl up |
The knaves lowered their weapons and shrank back cowering before him. |
creep#discriminate#cooperate#coalesce# |
The new fad is living underground, cowering in a sewer or abandoned public toilet.#These fossils underscore that early mammals were not merely cowering at the feet of dinosaurs but boasted a range of body plans and lifestyles.#The black man cowers, but the white officer looks at his battered body in disbelief and asks, “who would do such a thing to you?”#Other residents fled into a field of okra and cowered there until the police left.# |
To cower is to shrink in fear. Whether they live in the country or city, any mouse will cower when a huge, hungry cat approaches. |
When you cower, you're not just afraid. You're so terrified that your whole body cringes, crouches, and shrinks in on itself to hide from the source of your fear. Victims of a school bully cower whenever he comes near. They're in no rush to have their lunch money stolen again, or to get another wedgie, so they cower to avoid being seen. Although a coward might cower in fear, the two words aren't related. |
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| 182 |
wont |
an established custom |
He made his customary slick feeds to open teammates, but as is their wont, the Nets struggled at times to convert points on his passes. |
equivalent#substitute#habit#compass# |
Get blindingly drunk at home; you wont notice where you are anyway.#When, at 14, she recoils from his touch, as teenagers are wont to do, he squirms in distress.#Calling me ‘sweetie’ wont help me save your life.#As is his wont, President Trump tweets his reaction immediately and also announces his intent to put U.S. forces on alert.# |
A wont is a custom or habit, like my wont to drink at least ten cups of coffee a day. (In this particular example, some people might call my wont an addiction.) |
Wont is a tricky word, in terms of pronunciation; some people argue it sounds like want, while others insist it's pronounced like won't. Perhaps the confusion over pronunciation explains why this word is used relatively infrequently in everyday speech. It's most people's wont to use a synonym like custom or habit. |
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| 183 |
tract |
a system of body parts that serve some particular purpose |
When probiotics flourish in the digestive tract, nutrients are better absorbed and bad bugs are held at bay, research suggests. |
piece of ground#line of latitude#neck of the woods#focal point# |
For other types—like melanoma and cancers of the gastrointestinal tract—the connection remained.#Such large tracts of open land in high-demand suburbs, he said, “are few and far between.”#Bevin appealed, arguing he purchased 10 acres of a 19-acre tract and said the home required significant repairs.#Medical experts say salmonella is caused by bacteria that live in the intestinal tracts of humans and animals.# |
A tract is a large, open piece of land — like that tract of farmland you bought when you decided your dream in life was to raise llamas. Tract is also a word for a short pamphlet or booklet, like that tract you recently read entitled "The Care and Feeding of Llamas." |
In addition to referring to areas of land and small booklets, the word tract can describe complicated systems or structures in the body. If you were to unwind your intestine, an important part of your digestive tract, it would not stretch across a large tract of land, but only 25-28 feet — but that's still pretty long! (You probably don't need to read a tract on human anatomy to realize this would be an unhealthy experiment.) |
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| 184 |
canon |
a collection of books accepted as holy scripture |
For me, all novels of any consequence are literary, and they take their place, high and low, in the canon of English literature. |
whispering a secret#applying lip balm#experiencing an allergic reaction#telling a funny story# |
And just like that, there's a new tidbit to add to the canon of her relatable moments.#The process for being named a saint in the Catholic Church is called “canonization,” the word “ canon” meaning an authoritative list.#Like the Goodbye Tour, the song is unique in the country canon.#Sklute recommends three Canon models at different price points and skill levels, as shown in the video above.# |
Canon is all about authoritative standards—for literature, sainthood, or behavior. Don't confuse it with cannon with two n's, the big gun that shoots bowling-size balls at the enemy. |
College students used to read what was called the "literary canon," until they noticed that they were written by dead white men. Pretzels dipped in Coke may be tasty, but they're not ready to be entered into the canon of two great tastes that go well together: oreos + milk, donut + coffee, apple pie + ice cream. |
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| 185 |
impel |
cause to move forward with force |
Some power beyond his comprehension was impelling him toward the neighboring city. |
A teacher asks if there are any volunteers to read aloud.#A waiter serves lunch to a customer.#A girl meets her friend at the mall.#A parent demands that his children clean their rooms.# |
Both proposals are impelled by fear, nativism and the use of national security as a pretext for indulging xenophobia.#But what impels those who move, at least when it is voluntary, is often a desire to migrate between social classes.#“Climate change is impelling a universal redistribution of life on Earth.”#“Their silence helped to impel the very strategic concept they opposed,” McMaster wrote.# |
Impel means to force to move forward. A person sleep walking might move as if impelled by a force beyond their control. Loneliness might impel you to talk to someone you don't know. |
Impel derives from the Latin in- "toward" + pellere "to drive," which also brings us compel "to force" and propel "to drive forward." The boy was propelled by his fears, but when he said fear of bullies impelled him to stay home on Halloween, his mother compelled him to dress and go outside. |
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| 186 |
latitude |
freedom from normal restraints in conduct |
Great employees often get more latitude to bring up controversial subjects in a group setting because their performance allows greater freedom. |
a boss who docks your pay when you're late#a parent who is not very strict#a cranky child who needs a nap#a security guard checking passports at the airport# |
Scientists predict that a warming Arctic will affect lower latitudes, because of the role it plays for global weather.#Five days later I was sitting on a bus to the Latitude festival with a bag of clothes I'd spent far too long considering.#Nearly 99 percent of them outside Antarctica reside in sediments along continental slopes, more than 500 meters underwater in midlatitudes, 300 meters in higher latitudes.#Latitude might be correlated with language diversity, but it certainly did not create it.# |
Use the word latitude to describe how much freedom you have in making choices. For example, if a teacher gives you latitude in writing your paper, you might get to choose the topic and how many sources to include. |
Latitude is related to the Latin word latitudo, meaning "breadth, width, extent, size." You might already know that latitude is used to indicate the distance an object is from the equator, measured from north to south. Latitude can also be used to mean "be given the space to act and decide for oneself," like the latitude parents might give responsible kids. |
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| 187 |
vacate |
leave behind empty; move out of |
Their number diminished sharply after Villaraigosa announced last week that he wanted protesters to vacate the grounds by Monday or be forcibly removed. |
predict#empty#scold#flourish# |
He works for the government body that oversees properties vacated by people who fled to India in 1947.#If Louisville’s penalties are upheld, the school noted that it would mark the first time a Division I men’s basketball title would be vacated.#The upstairs front bedroom was “slightly massaged and enlarged just enough” after an earlier staircase vacated, says Pelletier, creating breathing room for a cozy nook.#Among the unusual stock is a healthy amount of plaster-patching supplies for renters in the area to fix holes before vacating.# |
If someone asks you to vacate the room, you'd better pack up your things and go. When you vacate something, you leave it behind, usually empty. |
When you stay at a hotel, you're required to vacate the room at check-out time. The same goes for the last day of your lease on your apartment or after closing on the sale of your house. In all of these cases, you've got to get going and take all of your stuff with you. The verb vacate can also be used in conjunction with leaving a job, often an appointed office. |
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| 188 |
undertaking |
any piece of work that is attempted |
"Let my epitaph be, Here lies Joseph, who was unsuccessful in all his undertakings." |
label#overthrow#project#stall# |
The rally was by far Mr. Kessler’s largest undertaking yet.#Security is a major undertaking with every Olympics, and each staging of a Summer or Winter Games presents unique challenges and potential threats.#I do believe it was an extraordinarily corrupt state which, among other things, allows criminal undertakings like drug dealing to flourish.#The institute is an incredibly complex and expensive undertaking, no doubt.# |
Painting a house is a serious undertaking––it looks simple but involves a lot of preparation and hard work. An undertaking is a job or a task you commit to. The word also can mean the profession of funeral management. |
When you take something under consideration, it means you're not necessarily going to do it, you're just going to think about it. When you take something on, you've undertaken to actually do it. The word undertaking suggests something that involves quite a bit of work. Organizing an Oxfam hunger-day at your school is a significant undertaking, but it's worth all the effort. |
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| 189 |
slay |
kill intentionally and with premeditation |
"It were shame," said Lancelot, "for an armed to slay an unarmed man." |
kill#mix#leap#rush# |
The woman was charged with murder in the gunshot slaying of her 3-year-old son and the drowning of her 4-year-old daughter.#Hill was charged in November with aggravated murder for a slaying in Cleveland.#King, now 42, was the first of three white men convicted of capital murder for the hate slaying.#He said he fled El Salvador after a gang killed his brother and kidnapped him, his wife and teenage daughter when they witnessed the slaying.# |
Slay means to kill in a violent way. It has a mythic quality. You might slay the red knight. You might slay the dragon. You might slay the demon. But you probably wouldn't slay an annoying mosquito. |
Slay is an old word associated with knights and dragons. Like many old words it has some funky forms. When you killed someone or something in the past you say slew, as in "St. George slew the dragon." When you've already done it, you say you have slain. |
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| 190 |
predecessor |
one who precedes you in time |
Heller fills in the blanks about Taft, overshadowed by colorful predecessor Teddy Roosevelt. |
tract#chart#applause#herald# |
Professional golfers are reaching the intersection of physical ability and emotional maturity that identifies the playing prime sooner than their predecessors.#For President Trump, who views the agreements as bad deals struck by his predecessors, saving them is a hard sell.#Reynolds was sworn in after her predecessor, former Gov. Terry Branstad, stepped down in May to become U.S. ambassador to China.#Like its predecessor, it’s the longest bridge at the garden and will retain the name “Walgreen Bridge.”# |
A predecessor is something that came before the current version. The person you replaced at work is your predecessor, just like Pac Man is the predecessor of modern video games. |
If you break the word predecessor down to its Latin roots, you get pre, meaning "beforehand," and decessor, which means "retiring officer." So that's how we get to our definition of "someone who has held an office or position before the present holder." But predecessors aren't just found in the business world: these days predecessors include our ancestors, earlier car models, and all kinds of other forerunners. |
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| 191 |
delicacy |
the quality of being exquisitely fine in appearance |
This refinement appears in his works, which are full of artistic grace and dainty delicacy. |
mercy#piety#frailty#fantasy# |
I cut open her shirt with my dagger, jolted for a moment by the delicacy of her skin.#As with Europe after the second world war, what was damaged irreparably in 1947 was a modern civility that possessed a remarkable delicacy.#They’ve prepared my favorite, lamb stew with dried plums, among other delicacies.#Bun & Oc does escargot 10 different ways, a Vietnamese delicacy that never became mainstream.# |
A ballerina's quick, perfect steps? An antique porcelain teacup? A tiny sentence etched inside a silver locket? All of these have delicacy, or fineness that comes from being light, beautiful, or small. |
A delicacy can also be a prized dish that is eaten on special occasions or is especially loved by those in a certain culture or place. But what is a delicacy to some (chocolate-covered crickets, anyone?) might disgust others. Remember to use delicacy, or tact, in turning down someone else's delicacies. This could help you avoid hurting someone's feelings. |
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| 192 |
forsake |
leave someone who needs or counts on you; leave in the lurch |
"I'm surprised," said Philip, cautiously opening fire, "that you were ever allowed to forsake your native land." |
desert#wrestle#cherish#remind# |
The forsaking of such a specific vision is a necessary step on the path toward wide-scale growth.#But Rutabaga’s dedication to produce is less about forsaking meat than it is part of a natural evolution toward flexitarian, or occasional vegetarian, eating.#He joked that he replaced turbot with burbot, a cheaper fish, and forsook truffles but not imagination.#The surprising thing about this bill is not that it forsakes the indigent, elderly and vulnerable.# |
To forsake another person is to leave them entirely, usually in a moment of need. |
Forsake may mean simply giving something up, such as a way of life or a homeland, for something better or more appropriate. But it is often a mean word, suggesting leaving something or someone behind when they need you to stay. One way to remember the meaning of this verb — to abandon or desert — is to remember this little sentence: "For heaven's sake, don't leave me, or heaven is lost!" Lose the heaven, and you have forsake. |
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| 193 |
beseech |
ask for or request earnestly |
Utterly distraught, he ran up and down the bank, hunting for his clothes, calling, crying out, imploring, beseeching help from somewhere. |
beg#brag#benefit#bewitch# |
I turned beseeching eyes to the social worker.#Sanders, who will turn 79 before the next election, was beseeching people not to wait on him to save them.#Basically, they beseeched conservatives to show a little decency – and they were ignored.#I beseech you to shop the farmers market and eat the seasonal produce in all of its beautiful — and sometimes ugly — glory!# |
If you're begging for something but you want to sound formal and a little old-fashioned, say "I beseech you!" It really captures how urgent and desperate you are, yet perhaps saves a shred of your dignity. |
Beseech sounds a little like seek, which is appropriate. To beseech is to seek for something, or for permission. It is commonly used when people have an urgent request of clergy, or of a formal elder. It definitely adds dramatic undertones to whatever you're talking about. When your very life is on the line, it's your last hope, and you have nowhere else to turn, it's time to start beseeching. |
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| 194 |
philosophical |
relating to the investigation of existence and knowledge |
His arguments, like Einstein’s, were qualitative, verging on highly philosophical. |
vehement#unemotional#meek#compact# |
Charm is a dangerous literary gift, but White’s work is conspicuous for its philosophical equanimity and moderate spirit.#Or he might ponder more philosophical issues such as how big science differs from small science.#“A lot of the foundational philosophical approaches of tech leaders are actually all about decentralization of power,” he said.#This is a beautifully shot film whose visuals work well with its philosophical approach to life and relationships.# |
To be philosophical is to stay detached and thoughtful in the face of a setback, or to approach a tough situation in a level-headed way. When his girlfriend left him, Bernard was philosophical: "If she loves me, she'll return." |
In ancient Greece, philosophy literally meant a love of knowledge and wisdom. In modern times, the field of philosophy is more specifically the study of how we think through problems. Great philosophers have all sorts of theories about how and why we think and act the way we do, but the word philosophical often just means that you choose to be more thoughtful and look at the 'big picture' when dealing with challenges. |
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| 195 |
grove |
a small growth of trees without underbrush |
Soon after we came to Pasadena, father bought an orange grove of twenty-five acres. |
#### |
Union Grove is about 25 miles south of Milwaukee.#Route 50/John Mosby Highway; and the Grove and the Greens south of it.#Her car was found in the town of Cottage Grove, which is about 10 miles south of Creswell on the I-5 corridor.#Investigators say the victim was ambushed late Sunday at a Bank of America branch in Garden Grove.# |
A grove can be an orchard or a clump of trees that doesn't have much undergrowth and occupies a contained area, like an orange grove or a small shady grove of oak trees where you can have a picnic. |
You wouldn't call a forest or a large woods a grove — that's too big. And you wouldn't call two or three trees a grove either — that's too small. A grove is somewhere in between. You'll often hear the word refer to a group of trees cultivated by humans, often for commercial purposes, such as an apple grove planted to supply produce to grocery stores. |
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| 196 |
frustrate |
hinder or prevent, as an effort, plan, or desire |
Frustrated after two years of missed budget targets, finance chiefs demanded Greek officials put their verbal commitments into law. |
simplify#discourage#condense#immunize# |
But Beijing is increasingly frustrated with Pyongyang and supported a U.N.#But Beijing is increasingly frustrated with Pyongyang and joined in approving a U.N.#Conte is short on numbers after a frustrating summer in the transfer market.#“Voters are frustrated, they are disappointed and they expect action,” Jordan said.# |
When you frustrate someone, you do your best to annoy, confuse, or even torment that poor person. Maybe you constantly change your mind — that's sure to frustrate anyone who tries to make plans with you. |
If you have ever been frustrated while writing, you may have dropped your pen — or pushed away your keyboard — and stared angrily out the window, thinking, "How will I ever do this?" Well, that pent-up doubting that has made you stop is a sure sign you are frustrated. Plans, too, can be frustrated, like the snow that frustrates our efforts to run our errands. |
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| 197 |
illustrious |
widely known and esteemed |
She will be joining an illustrious list of recipients that include Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela, Pope John Paul II and Princess Diana. |
credulous#minimum#famous#classical# |
He was buried in Havana, where a plaque outside the Church of San Cristobel says he is one of Canada’s “most illustrious sons.”#Nicklaus would complete the slam two more times in his illustrious career.#A three-time overall and two-time defending Top Fuel world champion, Brown is in position this season to add championship No. 4 to his illustrious résumé.#Just as illustrious, Richard O. Pollard was solidly in charge as LIFE's director of photography.# |
Something that's Illustrious is well known or famous, leaving a trail of glory in its wake. An illustrious career, for example, is full of impressive achievements and celebrated contributions to society. |
Coming from the Latin illustris, meaning “bright, distinguished, famous,” illustrious is a powerful adjective. It's similar to luster, which is a brilliant shine — so imagine that something illustrious is as wonderful as a sparkling diamond. Use this word to describe the career or reputation of someone really successful, like a bestselling author or business mogul. |
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| 198 |
device |
an instrumentality invented for a particular purpose |
You’ve probably also noticed that the telephone and computer are no longer the only devices on your employees’ desks. |
a person who presides over a court case#a person bestowing money on a charity#a person suing a company for damages#a person who serves to protect citizens# |
And now, please strap this futuristic helmet device on and look into the camera...#Some of the technologies used in the collars—GPS, onboard data storage, phone or satellite receivers—are found in everyday devices, including smartphones.#“You need an AI-first device to solidify an emerging base of ecosystems.”#A judge also ordered him to surrender his passport and barred him from using any device with access to the internet.# |
A device is really anything that has a specific use. It might be a tool or object, or a plan that is devised to accomplish something. If it has a purpose, it is a device. |
A device is a noun that can be used to describe anything, simple or complex, that is used for a specific purpose. You might have one device for opening bottles, and another for opening cans. You probably even have a device for turning on your TV. While these have specific names (bottle opener, can opener, remote), you can cover each with the generic term device. We can see its root in the Old French word devis, which meant “purpose” or “contrivance.” |
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| 199 |
pomp |
cheap or pretentious or vain display |
Throughout U.S. history, Americans have been fascinated by royal pomp -- even on a movie screen. |
a volunteer at a soup kitchen#a fan at a football game#a contestant in a local beauty pageant#an absent-minded professor# |
Shawn Wen: Movement, expression, death, the body, evasion, obsessiveness, materialism, pomp and sad clowns. #When Microsoft was in its pomp it was happy to occupy a bland scattering of low buildings on the edge of Seattle.#As often happens these days, Trump allowed his explosive tweets to overshadow the kind of pomp and ceremony that most presidents, including Trump, relish.#Yet amid the usual pomp and toasts hailing the importance of cooperation, there were indications of rising tensions.# |
Pomp is a ceremonial display, such as you'd find at the Independence Day parade in your town, where brass bands and men and women in full military dress march to patriotic songs, while citizens wave flags and cheer. |
Graduation ceremonies–-with gowns, invocations, speeches, and the ceremonial conferring of degrees––are full of pomp. In fact, graduates traditionally march to a tune called "Pomp and Circumstance." Pomp used to be much more closely linked to the word pompous, or self-important, than it is now––an archaic meaning of pomp is over the top, ostentatious or vain. |
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| 200 |
entreat |
ask for or request earnestly |
"Let me go now, please," she entreated, her eyes unable to meet his any longer. |
announce#beseech#license#endow# |
He repeatedly put the mic to the crowd, entreating them to accompany the band on “Join Together” and “You Better You Bet.”#“Senator, senator!” the correspondents entreat in low voices.#Petitions entreating President Trump to do one thing or another are many.#Mr. Spencer said the difference was that the Quran entreats followers to violence.# |
To entreat is to ask for something that is really important, like when you entreat the jury to spare your life. |
The verb entreat implies that the person doing the entreating is really serious about what has to happen. Maybe it's even a matter of life and death, like when parents entreat their children to never drive drunk. Synonyms for entreat are plead, beg, beseech, and implore — all of these are words not to be used lightly. They carry more weight than ask and request. |
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| 201 |
impart |
transmit, as knowledge or a skill |
Long before writing and books were in common use, proverbs were the principal means of imparting instruction. |
rescue#express#witness#decline# |
And unless the manager is a licensed attorney representing your board, no legal advice should be imparted.#If there is a lesson imparted by boredom studies, it is that there are hundreds of kinds of boredom.#I wanted to understand how the nation’s largest private employer was imparting new skills on its vast work force of 1.2 million people.#This way, she says, it might be possible to impart on the jellies different flavors.# |
Let me impart a little bit of knowledge to you about the word impart. It means to pass on, transmit, or bestow. If you share this with your study partner, you are imparting your new wisdom. |
Studying imparts confidence as well as information, long life imparts wisdom, and anise seed imparts the flavor of licorice. Your mother can impart the importance of dressing neatly each and every day. Though it shares a root with the word part, impart doesn't mean to split into pieces, but rather to divide or share with another. Let me impart this message to you — always do your part! |
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| 202 |
propriety |
correct behavior |
I felt a trifle doubtful about the propriety of taking a short cut across private grounds, and said as much. |
illegality#correctness#authority#individuality# |
But to Trump – demanding of absolute loyalty, ignorant of constitutional checks and unconcerned with ethical propriety – the recusal was a personal betrayal.#If the propriety police tut tut, he shows no sign of concern.#With the Russia investigation continuing to widen, Trump’s lawyers are working to corral the probe and question the propriety of the special counsel’s work.#It happens most memorably to young women whose high spirits propel them over the line of propriety.# |
Propriety is following what is socially acceptable in speech and behavior. If you are someone who cares about always doing the right and proper thing, your friends might accuse you of being obsessed with propriety and beg you to loosen up. |
In the Victorian Age, both sexes had well-defined roles and were expected to exercise self-restraint. Except for the men. Everyone looked the other way when they went out on benders. Their wives at home however, were so confined by the era's standards of propriety that if a woman so much as referred to the fact that she was pregnant, everyone would cover their mouths and gasp. She'd committed an impropriety. |
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| 203 |
consecrate |
render holy by means of religious rites |
The building was consecrated as a Protestant Episcopal church in May, 1814. |
obtain#mistake#sanctify#require# |
Two months later, Libby Lane was consecrated as its first woman bishop.#Slightly more than 60 years ago, the debut public reading of Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl” consecrated this Marina District landmark.#More jaunty than jaded, she’s still a firm believer in “moments of grace” that transform an ordinary marriage into something consecrated.#In both of those earlier instances, the tension around art’s ostensible capacity to consecrate the profane was partly at issue.# |
Consecrate means to make holy or to dedicate to a higher purpose. You need to consecrate a building to turn it into a church, but you can also consecrate a week in New York City to the pursuit of the perfect bagel. |
The secr part of consecrate comes from the Latin sacer "sacred." Remember that something consecrated is dedicated to God and thus sacred. And then remember that the meanings of words tend to stretch; over time this one moved from "dedicated to God" to "dedicated to whatever": jelly donuts, the perfect tan, finding a solution to Rubik's Cube. |
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| 204 |
proceeds |
the income or profit arising from a transaction |
His own share in the proceeds was about a hundred thousand dollars. |
odds#take#maintenance#freight# |
Seattle is emulating a gun tax Chicago approved in 2012, with proceeds dedicated to funding research into the effects of gun violence and prevention.#Proceeds from the festival will support the house building projects of Habitat for Humanity in Etowah County.#"Without the proceeds from the note offering, Tesla's liquidity position would be stressed," analysts at Moody's said, warning of risks to potential investors.#Trial evidence showed Neba used the proceeds from fraudulent Medicare claims to pay kickbacks to patient recruiters for referring Medicare beneficiaries to her agency.# |
Proceeds are the money brought in from a transaction or event. The money you make from your lemonade stand are the proceeds from lemonade sales. |
You'll often hear something like, all proceeds from this raffle will go to help the Save the Puppies Charity. Proceeds can mean either the gross money earned (all that was brought in) or the net (the money left after expenses). If you are very concerned about where the money you donate to charity goes, this is a good question to ask. |
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| 205 |
fathom |
come to understand |
But after flying for so many years, the idea of hanging up his sparkling wings is hard for him to fathom. |
the distance between the ocean's surface and a sunken ship#the length of time required to walk ten city blocks#the difference between your height and your little sister's#the temperature of the desert on an extremely hot day# |
Fathom Events and TCM present “Bonnie and Clyde,” various theaters, Aug. 13, 2 and 7 p.m.;#The film borrowed heavily from a recent American picture, “The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms,” but put a distinctly Japanese spin on the allegory.#Unable to fathom that the man on the bike might possibly be the US ambassador, security guards initially barred him from the government compound.#I can't begin to fathom the kind of PC muscle you'll need to pull this off at buttery smooth frame rates.# |
To fathom something is to understand it thoroughly, and is usually used in the negative, as in "I can't fathom why he doesn't want to go along with us." |
Fathom is from Middle English fadme, from Old English fæthm "outstretched arms." The Old English and modern English noun also refers to a unit of length used to measure the depth of water. To understand something thoroughly is "to get to the bottom of it." |
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| 206 |
objective |
the goal intended to be attained |
The objective was to mobilize students from 18 high schools across the city to provide community services and inspire others. |
liberated#exhausted#isolated#biased# |
Radicalising moderates is a key objective for groups at the heart of this movement.#There’s a clearer objectives system that far better ties together all of your ongoing tasks.#Sinclair rejects suggestions that its stations push right-leaning views, and says the company’s mission is to be objective in its news coverage.#That’s a major objective of the initiative, which McGinley described as “complementary” to other military-research organizations but with a distinctly different mission.# |
An objective is something you plan to achieve. A military objective is the overall plan for a mission. The objective for a bake sale is to raise money. If your objective is to learn a new word, you have succeeded. |
An objective is the point of something. If you don’t understand the objective of a class, then you don’t know what you were supposed to learn. The word itself is often used in business or work. Another meaning of objective is “looking at things in a detached, impartial, fact-based way.” If a police officer falls in love with a witness, it might be hard for her to stay objective. The word comes from the Latin ob "against" + jacere "to throw.” |
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| 207 |
clad |
wearing or provided with clothing |
A few of the villagers came behind, clad in mourning robes, and bearing lighted tapers. |
elegant#alternative#suspended#clothed# |
Hundreds of them, clad in black clothes and masks, rioted through the downtown.#He’s clad in the loose robes of his people and looks more like a kindly old uncle than a Resistance operative.#"To all Venezuelans, the message is to continue in this struggle," said a bearded Muchacho, clad in a white T-shirt emblazoned with the Venezuelan flag.#Ayling is what in Britain is called a “glamour model,” specializing in scantily clad or topless photo shoots.# |
Clad means "dressed or covered." Most kids go to school clad in jeans and t-shirts, but students in the Shakespeare club might show up clad in velvet gowns or leather breeches. |
As it applies to what a person is wearing, clad is the past participle of clothe. If you wanted to talk about the day your friend commanded you to clothe yourself in green and you obeyed, you'd say, "I clad myself in green." Of course, it sounds archaic. Like talking about your shoes by saying shod. |
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| 208 |
partisan |
devoted to a cause or party |
But given the bitter partisan divide in an election year, Democrats said they would never be able to get such legislation passed. |
lump#enthusiast#mute#researcher# |
"This is too important to let partisan games get in the way," he said.#Hensarling spokesman Sarah Rozier said in a statement to The Washington Post that the congressman would refuse the request, which she called “blatantly partisan.”#I don’t actually think that there’s limited value even in people who pretend to care about issues only for partisan opportunism and gain.#Even the most mindless Republican partisans should find this impossible to defend.# |
If something is prejudicial towards a particular point of view, you can call it partisan. You'll often hear of the partisan politics in the U.S.— since politicians seem to be completely devoted to the agendas of their own parties. |
Partisan can be used to describe rabid supporters of any person or activity. In American English, however, it is most often used to refer to politics and the American two-party system of Democrats and Republicans. A bill introduced may have partisan support from the party that introduced the bill, or — more rarely it seems to American voters — the bill may even have bipartisan support. The prefix bi is added to show the support from both parties. |
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| 209 |
faction |
a dissenting clique |
One faction declared it would begin an armed struggle against the government of the United States. |
a sold-out film screening#a story that is not true#a group of anarchists#a swimming pool full of children# |
Insurgent fighters banded together under the name Shabab, which was one of the Islamist factions in Somalia at the time.#Fighters from both factions eye their leader warily.#He refused to arm anti-Russian factions in Ukraine; he didn’t want to confront the Russians in Syria notwithstanding a bipartisan demand that he do so.#A top goal for any functioning political party is to work with its factions to avoid a damaging primary.# |
Fractions are smaller parts of whole numbers: one-quarter, one-tenth, one-half, and a faction is a smaller portion of a larger group that breaks away from it. A faction might take a fraction of the people from a large group and start a new group. |
The Latin source of the word faction means to "do" or "make," though a faction can seem to be a taking away or un-doing. Politics is one area where faction gets a lot of use, because a political party often starts with a large group but has some members who disagree with a belief or direction. These members separate from the larger party and become a faction of their own, with many of the same beliefs as the original group but with a few new differences, too. |
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| 210 |
contrived |
artificially formal |
In lesser hands the story about a young man who discovers life among the dead could be impossibly cute and contrived. |
ungracious#natural#able#nauseous# |
GM said in a statement it would fight the settlement in court, calling it a “ contrived scheme” doomed to fail.#The term carves the world neatly into parts: There are real concerns, and there are contrived, theatrical ones.#It was probably as contrived as everything else about him.#It’s a tough ask, and runs the risk of seeming contrived, but the potential for genuine drama is clear.# |
If you see something that seems fake since it was too perfectly planned out, call it contrived. If you can easily predict the final minutes of a made-for-TV movie, then call it contrived. |
The adjective contrived describes something that is artificially planned, especially in an obvious way, so it comes across as faked or forced. It's not just drama that can come off as contrived. Someone's speech habits, wardrobe, or even personality can seem contrived. Whenever someone appears as if he or she is "trying too hard," they might seem contrived, or the opposite of "natural." |
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| 211 |
venerable |
impressive by reason of age |
Thus, after much more than two hundred years, the venerable building looks almost as it did when the first students entered its doors. |
worldly#amiable#revered#eloquent# |
His curatorial stints at such venerable institutions as the Corcoran Gallery and the Smithsonian never managed to turn him into a conventional museum professional.#But when Netanyahu attacks the media, he is referring to Israel’s venerable established publications and the main private broadcast channels.#Admirers of Microsoft Paint mourned en masse when the company announced that it would be “deprecating” the venerable program.#It was, by any measure, a grotesque injection of vicious partisan hate into a venerable American institution.# |
To be venerable is to be admired and respected because of your status or age. You become venerable by achieving great things or just by living long enough. |
The adjective venerable means "admired" and "respected" — it should describe how you feel about old folks and bosses, for example. It describes the wise old man at the top of the mountain who tells you the meaning of life. As a noun, the Venerable refers to someone high up in a religion, usually Christian. In fact, Saint Bede, who is sometimes called the Father of English History, is often referred to as the Bede the Venerable. |
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| 212 |
restrained |
not showy or obtrusive |
By contrast, Mr. Pei’s restrained design took time to claim my attention, particularly since it sat quietly next door to Saarinen’s concrete gull wings. |
evident#frequent#controlled#worthwhile# |
Venezuela’s chief opposition coalition issued a restrained criticism of Trump’s talk of using a “military option.”#Right now, they shine with barely restrained mirth.#But few analysts are confident he would be restrained.#“We see that Hamas is deterred and restrained, and is reining in others,” General Zamir told reporters in a telephone briefing.# |
Use the adjective restrained to describe something that's kept under control, such as strong emotion or even physical movement. If you're angry but you don't want it to show, you might speak in a restrained manner. |
Restrained can describe someone or something that is physically immobilized or held back. For example, an angry crowd might have to be restrained by riot police. Or it can mean a different kind of holding back and describe something that is understated and discreet. Actresses who walk the red carpet often avoid attention-getting gowns in favor of more restrained outfits in times of war or national crisis. |
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besiege |
harass, as with questions or requests |
He can’t trot down the street without being besieged by paparazzi. |
surround#integrate#precipitate#recur# |
An oncologist working in a clinic in besieged Eastern Ghouta, the site of chemical attacks, already reported significantly rising rates of cancer in her patients.#It’s simple: A vision of the nation besieged provides clear justification for policies that will advance Sessions, Bannon and Miller’s divisive nationalism.#Indeed, when a museum dedicated to the suffering of the besieged opened up, it was immediately shut down and its directors arrested.#The agreement aims to halt attacks by all sides and allow relief supplies and medical aid into besieged areas.# |
To besiege means to attack with an army, or to pester with many requests. When all your teachers ask you to hand in assignments on the same day, you can end up feeling besieged. |
The source of the word besiege in its military sense is the Latin word for "seat." When an army settles down in front of a fort or other site of attack, they are besieging it or taking a seat there. Picture them continually bombarding the fortress with arrows and cannon shot, and you've got the picture of the figurative sense of the word, "to pester with requests, etc." If you get a lot of spam in your e-mail, you are besieged with advertisements — and maybe also besieged with worries that you'll get a virus! |
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| 214 |
manifestation |
a clear appearance |
Singing and dancing are manifestations of what many Syrians describe as a much broader cultural flowering. |
appreciation#expression#exclusive#procedure# |
It is the most visceral manifestation of the state in their lives.#The public manifestations of Corbynmania may fit the same template.#House Speaker Paul Ryan would never tolerate such a high rate, which he’d no doubt see as an unsavory manifestation of class warfare.#I was charmed to behold a concrete manifestation of an invisible phenomena: polarized light interacting constructively or destructively with crystalline domains.# |
A manifestation is the public display of emotion or feeling, or something theoretical made real. |
Manifestation's origins are in religion and spirituality because if something spiritual becomes real, it is said to be a manifestation. The word's usage has spread to include all aspects of life. "The submarine is a manifestation of da Vinci's sketches." "The crowd's cheering hysteria was the manifestation of years of allegiance to the now victorious soccer league." |
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rebuke |
an act or expression of criticism and censure |
Afterward, the leaders fought court orders to release records showing what they had done, drawing an uncommonly sharp rebuke from a federal judge. |
gape#farce#reproof#conceit# |
Trump isn’t especially concerned by criticisms of the United States, but affronts to him personally are nearly always met with swift and angry rebukes.#At a podium, Trump read a statement rebuking the violence, but without specifically mentioning or faulting the role of white nationalists.#But the tweets were quickly met with public and private defenses of McConnell — and rebukes of Trump.#His policies are also a sharp rebuke to predecessor Barack Obama, the first black president, and a vocal advocate for diversity.# |
If you receive a rebuke, it means that you have been reprimanded, or scolded. You're sure to get a rebuke if you forget to do your math homework four days in a row. |
The word rebuke can be a verb, meaning to sternly reprimand or scold, but it can also be a noun, because a rebuke is the result of being scolded. The root comes from the Old French rebuchier and means "to hack down," or "beat back." A rebuke, then, is meant to be critical and to chide — in today's terms, a rebuke is verbal smack-down! |
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| 216 |
insurgent |
in opposition to a civil authority or government |
The Free Syrian Army, an insurgent group made of defecting soldiers and based in southern Turkey, claimed responsibility for both attacks. |
cosmopolitan#narrator#guerrilla#plaintiff# |
Last month it defeated rebels in the insurgent enclaves near the border in Lebanon and forced the hardline Islamist Nusra Front group to leave.#That resulted in the deal to transfer an estimated 9,000 insurgents and civilians from Lebanon to rebel-held areas in Syria.#Insurgent fighters banded together under the name Shabab, which was one of the Islamist factions in Somalia at the time.#This squares with Trump’s insurgent election campaign and his continued attacks on the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, and other establishment Republicans.# |
An insurgent is a rebel or a revolutionary, someone who takes up arms against the authorities. |
Insurgent is from the Latin word “insurgentem,” literally meaning “to rise against,” so think of an insurgent as a fighter who rises against the people in power. Often insurgents are considered terrorists because they use violence to intimidate people. |
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| 217 |
rhetoric |
using language effectively to please or persuade |
His fiery rhetoric in support of limiting cuts to projected defense spending has surprised and impressed some of Obama's toughest Republican critics. |
condescension#luminescence#grandiloquence#indiscretion# |
North Korea showed no sign of dialing down its rhetoric on Monday.#The sanctions were introduced in response to a wave of missile tests and increased military rhetoric from North Korea.#Shares rose in early trade as investors welcomed a cooling in rhetoric between the US and North Korea.#McMaster on Sunday played down the risk of the rhetoric escalating into conflict.# |
Rhetoric is speaking or writing that's intended to persuade. If your goal is to write editorial columns for "The New York Times," you should work on your rhetoric. |
Rhetoric comes from the Greek meaning "speaker" and is used for the art of persuasive speaking or writing. When people listened eagerly to long speeches and studied them in school, rhetoric was generally used positively; now it is often a negative term, implying artfulness over real content. If someone gives a clever speech but doesn't really address the problem, you might say, "That's just a lot of rhetoric." |
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scrupulous |
having ethical or moral principles |
The reason is that the vast majority of businesses are scrupulous and treat their employees well. |
thorough#basic#reversible#mundane# |
Here, though, is knowledge work at its most astonishingly scrupulous.#Mr. Hersch plays the piano with a scrupulous momentum, especially when he’s with his trio.#American lawyer Charlie, director of a shoestring nonprofit called the Refugee Relief Project, is less scrupulous.#Other, less scrupulous powers, like China and Russia, will rush to fill the vacuum of leadership.# |
Scrupulous means very careful to do things properly and correctly, such as paying friends back for money borrowed right away, or not returning a pair of shoes after they've been worn outdoors. |
A scrupulous person is full of scruples, which are concerns about doing things that are morally right. Such a person is hesitant or doubtful, and might have trouble deciding what is morally right or wrong. The adjective scrupulous is from Latin scrūpulōsus, from scrūpulus "scruple." A near synonym is punctilious. |
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| 219 |
ratify |
approve and express assent, responsibility, or obligation |
Company officials at Safeway said those replacement workers will remain on standby until the agreement is ratified by union members. |
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To ratify a treaty or contract is to officially approve it by signing or voting for it. You and your brothers and sisters might devise a plan for a family vacation to Disney World, but it would need to be ratified by your parents. |
You are most likely to hear the word ratify when talking about laws. In the US, Congress writes bills, but they need to be ratified before they become law. An amendment to the U.S. Constitution must be ratified by three-fourths of the states, either passed by the state legislatures or by state conventions. |
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| 220 |
stump |
cause to be perplexed or confounded |
Though family members long suspected Evans, a local handyman who frequently hired local youths, the case stumped investigators for years. |
an alcoholic drink#a moving truck#a difficult math problem#a long political speech# |
The occasion brought new passion to a well-worn passage in Northam’s stump speech, which draws on his work as a pediatric neurologist.#Everywhere you look, there are blackened stumps and cleared land, marking the new arrivals creating new farms.#Everywhere you look there are blackened stumps and cleared land, marking the creation of new farms.#One area that still stumps him a little, though, are the OPIs.# |
There are three ways to stump: you can ask someone a question they can't answer, you can travel making political speeches, or you can stomp. |
Stump can mean many things as a verb. The most common use is when someone — like a teacher — asks a question that no one can answer. That's a case of the teacher stumping the class. Also, politicians traveling through a district, making speeches are stumping, giving what are called stump speeches. Once in a while, to stump means the same thing as two similar words, stomp and stamp. If you're stumping, stomping, and stamping around, you're making a lot of noise with your feet. |
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| 221 |
discreet |
marked by prudence or modesty and wise self-restraint |
Sarkozy has attempted to tone down his image, becoming more discreet about his private life. |
wistful#spontaneous#prudent#imposing# |
“But most of that intervention was more discreet and almost clandestine,” Ms. Golinger said.#Her lawyer says she wanted to keep the situation " discreet and quiet and confidential".#He was a fantastic presence in London at that time – discreet, but remarkable, with a different level of creativity.#That one brief, discreet conversation, held in a room full of their peers, was enough to spark a frenzy.# |
Discreet describes someone or something that is appropriately quiet, prudent, and restrained. If you are wearing a discreet gray suit, it is unlikely that anyone at that business meeting will notice you. |
Often people use discreet not only to indicate modesty or carefulness, but also to show a sort of secretiveness along the lines of “You're going to keep this a secret, right?” If no one in your family knows that you like to dress up as a bear, but then your cousin finds out, you may ask him to please be discreet. |
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| 222 |
imposing |
impressive in appearance |
These buildings were grand and stylized with intricate details and a bit of an imposing presence. |
logical#stately#pathetic#trifling# |
Last month, internet giant Tencent began imposing restrictions on gaming hours for young users of one of its most popular games.#At 14 to 18 feet high, the fence is an imposing obstacle.#But, in the final analysis, boards should be wary of imposing too many requirements or too many hurdles for the owner seeking that comfort animal.#A Butler County Court judge on Thursday agreed to delay imposing Schaffer’s sentence until Aug. 31, attorney Mike Allen said.# |
Imposing is an adjective reserved for those things that are impressive in the sense that they are large or serious, as in the US Capitol Building or even, say, a professional wrestler. |
When you look at the word imposing you see the word pose, which is useful in remembering what it means. A person who is imposing might strike a pose because they feel they have a lot to show. In fact, imposing is derived from the French verb imposer, which means "to inflict." Its French roots may inspire you to envision the enormous and expensive wigs worn by members of the French court. The larger the wig, the more imposing it was. And all the more reason to strike a pose! |
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| 223 |
wistful |
showing pensive sadness |
She turned toward him, her face troubled, her eyes most wistful. |
imposing#sad#spontaneous#dusty# |
“End of an era,” she said, with a wistful smile.#In his physical place are wistful rural vistas, close-ups of artisans at work and interviews with farmers.#Must poor Less — dismissed by his own editor as “too wistful” — settle for a life of convivial loneliness?#For some, the assembly was a wistful reminder about how the current council is far more staid and wonkish than previous incarnations.# |
Only one letter separates the two words, but "wishful" is having hope for something, and wistful is having sadness or melancholy about something. "Wist" isn't even a word that's used anymore, but you can still be wistful. |
People who appear wistful often show a longing for something or a look of serious reflection. One way to describe the adjective wistful is as the sad appearance of someone looking back and thinking "if only..." A thoughtful or pensive mood centered on something good in the past that is missed or something not so good in the present that could have been better "if only" something had gone differently — these things make for a wistful outlook. |
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| 224 |
mortify |
cause to feel shame |
Intensely mortified at this humiliation, the king fell sick, and henceforth his health failed rapidly. |
purge#nip#extol#humiliate# |
He said this week that he was less mortified by a whiff than, say, a shank.#Frances mortifies her ego operatically, cutting holes in her flesh, starving her body, ignoring her terrible menstrual pain.#Other nations would be mortified by the scale of its wealth and income inequality.#Like a lot of Republicans—and I count myself among them—the junior senator from Arizona is mortified by Donald Trump.# |
To mortify someone is to cause them extreme embarrassment. Your mother may not have been trying to mortify you when she showed up at your senior prom with a bunch of unicorn balloons, but she did. |
The root of the verb mortify is from the Latin word mors, which means “death.” To mortify something used to mean to destroy its life, but now mortify is mostly used when you feel so ashamed or embarrassed you “want to die.” To punish yourself through deprivation from food or another desire, you can mortify that compulsion, but it’s probably best to just mortify your parents by showing up at their work place with a new mohawk. |
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| 225 |
ripple |
stir up so as to form small waves |
That could precipitate higher interest rates that would ripple across the economy. |
#### |
A ripple of excitement flowed through the room.#“Across the world, there are these disruptions and ripples — deep, deep anguish and deep, deep bursts of action, all of which is necessary,” she said.#Kenya is the leading economy in East Africa and stability would be likely to ripple through the region.#The ripple effects of trading Bruce were immediate.# |
A ripple is a small wave on the surface of something, such as a ripple that forms a ring around the spot where you threw a pebble into the pond. |
Ripple can also be a verb. For example, you might see raindrops ripple on top of a puddle. Ripple was first used in the 1670s to describe something that causes a ruffled surface, sort of like how water seems to momentarily gain texture as it's stirred. Ripple later came to describe a very small wave, but you've probably heard of the "ripple effect" in which tiny waves spread, setting off more and more waves. |
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| 226 |
premise |
a statement that is held to be true |
Success, real success, comes to the jack of all trades, a major premise handed down from pioneer days. |
barter#introduce#ration#irritate# |
The series serves the same purpose as any talk show, but the premise allows for more relaxed conversations.#The first factor at work is a striking lack of understanding of the basic premises that underpin free speech.#This scene is critical to establishing a premise that the cops were justified in searching for “snipers.”#I never cease to be amazed at the capacity of human beings for denial when their fundamental premises are challenged.# |
A premise is what forms the basis of a theory or a plot. When you called 911 on the guy in your back yard, it was on the premise that he was a thief and not the meter-reader. |
In logic, the premise is the basic statement upon whose truth an argument is based. Criticize alternative theories by demonstrating their false premises. In a more general sense, it's a basic assertion. On the premise that people are generally good, you keep your doors unlocked. Premise is also used more loosely for the starting point for a plot. A movie's premise could be that two people trapped on a desert island will inevitably fall in love. |
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| 227 |
subside |
wear off or die down |
Affliction is allayed, grief subsides, sorrow is soothed, distress is mitigated. |
elapse#abstain#ripple#lessen# |
The Kilombero river runs through the red soils of the valley, flooding in November or December and subsiding by June.#Once the rain subsided, the real dreariness set in.#Many key structures are built on permafrost, which is also melting, causing the buildings to subside or even crumple completely.#But as the latest waves of indignation subside, Bannon’s ideas are sure to return.# |
To subside is to die down or become less violent, like rough ocean waves after a storm has passed (or your seasickness, if you happened to be sailing on that ocean). |
Subside comes from the Latin prefix sub- (meaning "down") and the Latin verb sidere (meaning "to settle"). Subside is often used when a negative situation has improved significantly. For example, violence, disease, and unemployment can all subside. Here's hoping that they do. |
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| 228 |
adverse |
contrary to your interests or welfare |
High doses can have adverse effects and even cause death. |
realistic#distinctive#valid#contrary# |
But re-zoning and adverse possession and Jim Crow no longer preserve Emancipation Park for white people.#But the appeals court disagreed, saying the initial firing itself constituted the adverse employment action.#Physicians tend to want more time talking to patients and less time scanning screens — and some of them are tech adverse.#Even workaday cable news appearances run the risk of rousing the First Viewer, especially if adverse weather upends executive tee times in New Jersey.# |
Steer clear of anything adverse. If it's adverse, it's working against you — like adverse weather conditions or the adverse effects of eating too much sugar. |
Coming from the Latin adversus meaning "turned against," adverse is an adjective describing a factor that seems to work against or actively harm something. Think of the related word, adversary, which means enemy or opponent, so that if something is adverse, it acts as if it were the enemy. Often you can find expressions such as "he is risk adverse" as a way to say that someone doesn't like taking risks. |
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| 229 |
caprice |
a sudden desire |
Nobody is really in charge, and decisions are made on whim and caprice.” |
humility#pang#impulse#anticipation# |
You’ll also be reporting to Kelly’s own boss, who rewards loyalty, mendacity, caprice and excellent television ratings.#Funding from commercial entities presents its own ethical questions, including potential conflicts of interest, a lack of oversight and a dependence on benefactors' caprices.#First, the Federal Aviation Administration’s funding is volatile, subject to the caprices of Congress, and hasn’t kept up with technology and large-scale capital improvement needs.#As an encore, Mr. Hadelich played Paganini’s solo Caprice No. 1, a whirlwind of nonstop arpeggios, dispatched with precision and panache.# |
On a whim, he sold everything and left the city for the beautiful wilderness of Alaska, but his act of caprice felt a lot less whimsical when he realized how freezing cold Alaska is. |
The word caprice has its roots in the French for "whim," which comes from the Italian word capriccio for "fright" or "sudden start." A caprice can be just a fun impulsive act, but it also can be something done on a quick whim, without thinking it through or preparing for the change in direction. Having a sudden liking, or caprice, for someone or something can be short-lived too. |
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| 230 |
muster |
gather or bring together |
Yet Fox needed all the strength that he could muster. |
yoke#rally#premise#sway# |
It was unclear if the chamber would be able to muster the 71 votes required for an override.#But he never fully explained how the witness passed muster with the police and prosecutors and was allowed to testify against the men at trial.#Ibrahim Malikzada, the district’s parliamentarian and a hardened anti-Taliban fighter since the 1990s, arrived from Kabul to try to muster a final defense.#The Muster Grounds usual focus is on the Revolutionary War period, and so “we try to bring some Civil War history,” each year, Wolfsberger said.# |
Originally meaning only to gather soldiers, muster's definition has been expanded to include gathering up just about anything––you can muster up some dinner, some friends, or even some ketchup, pickles and mustard. |
Remember that muster used to involve getting reluctant soldiers out of bed and into the field of battle––it involves overcoming a certain inertia. When you muster up the courage to face something, it's clear that this is pretty scary for you. |
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| 231 |
comprehensive |
broad in scope |
The United States Army developed a comprehensive plan to address problematic race relations in the 1970s, recognizing that they were hampering military effectiveness. |
expensive#deceptive#protective#inclusive# |
The calendar isn’t comprehensive, and that’s by design, says Times Senior Staff Editor for Science editor Michael Roston, who was one of the calendar’s creators.#Scholar and journalist Herb Boyd also revives that era in his comprehensive and compelling new book, “Black Detroit: A People’s History of Self-Determination.”#At the same time, though, they said they needed more comprehensive research.#A growing body of evidence points to the importance of comprehensive, whole-child education approaches, such as those provided in full-service community schools and Promise Neighborhoods.# |
When you want to describe something that includes all or most details, you can use the adjective comprehensive. If you get the comprehensive treatment at a spa, it might include massage, manicure and a facial. |
Comprehensive is from Latin comprehensivus, from comprehensus, the source of English comprehend. In business, comprehensive insurance is insurance that covers a broad range, offering protection against most risks of a certain type. It applies mainly to car insurance. |
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| 232 |
accede |
yield to another's wish or opinion |
Therefore he made up his mind to accede to his uncle's desire. |
yield#dodge#betray#enlarge# |
House Speaker Paul Ryan seemed to accede to the demands but said it was now the Senate's job to produce a plan.#Mr Romanenko acceded, removing his microphone and shaking hands with his host before walking off the set.#He vetoed the state budget and another bill because lawmakers did not accede to his health care demands.#So Sen. McConnell, trying to shore up his right flank, acceded and added language very similar to the Consumer Freedom amendment.# |
If you accede, it means you agree with someone or give in to his or her wish. The word is often used in a political context — the Queen acceded to the Prince's demands for more territory, a larger army, and funnier jesters. |
Accede can also be used for everyday situations. If you accede to your mother's request that you come home before ten, it means you'll be missing that midnight movie with your friends. Accede comes from the Latin accedere, meaning to "approach or enter upon." It differs slightly from concede, which also means consent, but a more reluctant kind. If you were to concede to your mom's 10 PM curfew rather than accede to it, you'd be doing so against your will. |
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| 233 |
fervent |
characterized by intense emotion |
But, to fervent applause and scattered fist pumps from two sets of worshipers, he pledged to legally challenge the claims against him. |
modern#serene#pompous#intense# |
Few besides the most fervent government loyalists ever saw truth in the plots.#Weber’s wild-eyed performance as the fervent and fanatical Geraldus drives home the questionable influence of this relic.#After all, snobs dismiss all kinds of pop culture — from hip-hop to sitcoms — but romance novels elicit a special degree of fervent condescension.#One, played by Carmichael, is a fervent Christian, while the other, played by Doctor Who's Freema Agyeman, is a materialistic soap actress.# |
Use fervent to describe a person or thing that shows very strong feelings or enthusiasm. If you have a fervent desire to become an actress, you'll stop at nothing to realize your dream. |
The adjective fervent and the noun fervor are often associated with the feelings aroused by patriotism, religion, or a belief that you support or oppose. A near synonym for the adjective is ardent. Fervent is from Middle English, from Old French, from the Latin verb fervēre "to boil, glow." |
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| 234 |
cohere |
cause to form a united, orderly, and consistent whole |
Two antagonistic values may cohere in the same object. |
replace#blink#muddle#unite# |
Her sentences flow, her people seem real, her plots more or less cohere.#The outlines of buildings gradually cohere, some close, some farther away.#Here, at least, there is something resembling normalcy, a sign that the center might hold, that reality might cohere.#For all its riotous color and energy, the movie ultimately coheres quite readily as a parable of personal and social liberation.# |
When things cohere, they come together in a meaningful way. It wasn't until we won a game that our team finally cohered, and we actually felt like a unit. |
Co- means "together," and here is from the Latin haerēre, "to stick." Put them together and you have "to stick together." When people work together on a project, it's important that their ideas cohere, otherwise the work can seem disjointed and awkward. The beauty of the dance was in the timing: everyone was so in step that they seemed to cohere into one great mass of humanity. If the president's staff doesn't cohere into a cohesive unit, his policies will never come together either. |
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| 235 |
tribunal |
an assembly to conduct judicial business |
The military has historically been protected from civilian courts, with any crimes committed by soldiers being decided in closed military tribunals. |
rash#court#aristocracy#yoke# |
It coordinated U.S. policy toward the International Criminal Court and led efforts to provide logistical and financial support to other international tribunals.#Sharia councils are tribunals that seek to apply Islamic laws to settle disputes.#Senators from the coalition brought the suit now being considered by the constitutional tribunal.#A “ tribunal of individual rights”, guided by international conventions, will protect residents.# |
A tribunal is like a court. If you've done something wrong and you get caught it's likely you'll be brought before a tribunal, although not all tribunals are there to determine guilt. |
Say, for example, you'd like to join a secret society. That society might convene a tribunal to determine whether you're worthy of joining. One way to remember tribunal is to focus on the tri at the beginning of the word. A tribunal is there to "try" a case. A tribunal is a group of people who oversee a trial. Your mom and dad could be a tribunal. You could also think of it as the group who oversees their tribe, which is, in fact, where the word comes from. |
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| 236 |
austere |
severely simple |
A certain austere simplicity was noticeable all over Longfellow's house. |
strict#scanty#astute#futile# |
The school sprawls atop Serra’s eastern cliffs like a colossal vulture, a jumble of austere buildings enclosed by a black granite wall.#Resolutely unsmiling and studiously austere, “The Untamed” behaves like a quiet horror movie with a lot on its mind.#The films are accompanied by austere wrought-iron benches, linoleum and men’s padded pullovers in a progression of colors.#The scenery through the rugged, rocky and sometimes austere Massif Central also will be spectacular.# |
The adjective austere is used to describe something or someone stern or without any decoration. You wouldn't want someone to describe you or your home as austere. |
Austere is not usually a positive word because it means that a person or a thing isn't pleasurable. For example, if you go on an austere diet, it's likely you wouldn't ever get to have candy. The adjective comes into English by way of French, Latin, and Greek, meaning "harsh" and "dry." It's pronounced as "ah-STEER," with an emphasis on the second syllable. |
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| 237 |
recovering |
returning to health after illness or debility |
“The recovering economy is bringing more people back into the market. |
a pilot landing a plane#a priest during confession#an accountant in tax season#a patient in rehabilitation# |
Austin, who received a $42-million extension before last season, did not catch passes during offseason workouts while recovering from wrist surgery.#Later, they called Hayes’ sister, who was recovering from a motorcycle accident.#Her mother was recovering from a stroke, she said, with swift, disarming candour.#Both are recovering workaholics craving better life balance.# |
If it's on the mend, it's recovering. If you're getting better after being sick or injured, you can be described as recovering. When the unemployment numbers start looking up, you can refer to a recovering economy. |
If you like the verb to recover, then you're going to love the adjective recovering — which simply describes something that's returning to a state of health, well-being or former glory. You might hear this adjective used in front of alcoholic as in "recovering alcoholic" to describe someone who has sought treatment for alcoholism. |
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| 238 |
stratum |
people having the same social or economic status |
She belonged to the upper stratum of the profession, and, knowing it, could not sink. |
socio-economic class#battleground#country of origin#dead end# |
Over time, the residue tends to acquire one stratum after another.#White progressives do not want to believe that people in their strata voted for Trump.#They might also represent strata of history, society and culture.#After the Six Gallery reading, he ascended into a rarefied stratum.# |
A stratum is a layer of something, whether abstract, like a social stratum composed of only billionaires, or physical, like the different strata (that’s the plural version) of clouds that an airplane passes through. |
Stratum comes from the Latin meaning "something that has been laid down," like asphalt or a bedsheet, but we generally use it to describe layers of something. If you go into geology, you will probably investigate different strata of the soil. If you start out in life poor and try to become rich, you are trying to get into a different social stratum. |
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| 239 |
conscientious |
characterized by extreme care and great effort |
A conscientious hostess would be very much mortified if she served chicken out of its proper course. |
foreboding#painstaking#ferocious#shady# |
“It’s not like he walked away and said, ‘I’m a conscientious objector to the president’s agenda.’#During the Vietnam War, he spent his time trying to avoid the draft as a conscientious objector.#"The vast majority of our staff work hard, are conscientious and do a great job, but we will not tolerate any wrong-doing."#“Over-serious as a matter of fact, too conscientious, but when he turns it loose, it’s extremely impressive to watch.”# |
If someone is conscientious, that person strives to do what's right and to carry out his duties. Conscientious people show care and put in a big effort. |
Being conscientious has to do with being careful, thoughtful, and decent. A conscientious doctor will do everything possible to help a patient. A conscientious teacher will spend extra time with students, just to make sure they're learning. A boss wishes every worker could be conscientious: it's a rare and wonderful trait. To be conscientious, you have to be willing to do the right thing even when it's difficult. Unfortunately, many people aren't conscientious. |
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| 240 |
arbitrary |
based on or subject to individual discretion or preference |
Sandra Nurse, a member of Occupy's direct action working group, said police treated demonstrators roughly and made arbitrary arrests. |
summary#insignificant#prescribed#prodigious# |
Those recommendations are “completely arbitrary,” according to Dr. Richard Ford, a professor of medicine at North Carolina State University.#These are arbitrary numbers that, while impressive, often speak to longevity as much as they do dominance.#Only 30 stocks are included in the index, which uses a measuring system so simple that it seems arbitrary: Stocks are weighted by price.#This system was meant to eliminate the arbitrary nature of the coin toss.# |
Something that's arbitrary seems like it's chosen at random instead of following a consistent rule. Team members would dislike their coach using a totally arbitrary method to pick starting players. |
Even though arbitrary comes from a word meaning "judge" (arbiter), that doesn't mean judges are always fair. Calling a decision-maker arbitrary is usually a negative thing, suggesting the person is making rules based on whim rather than justice. A coach who selects starting players arbitrarily isn't strictly applying a rule; he could just be picking names out of a hat. |
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| 241 |
exasperate |
irritate |
Shopkeepers, exasperated at the impact of higher taxes and reduced consumer spending, are planning to close down for the day. |
evade#reassure#annoy#absorb# |
Farah, speaking calmly but looking exasperated, said his achievements spoke for themselves.#The majority leader thus seemed understandably exasperated with the president Wednesday, citing his “excessive expectations.”#This week, in an unsigned editorial in the English-language newspaper China Daily, the government sounded an exasperated note.#She became exasperated when reporters pressed her recently on reports of likely job and program cuts.# |
To exasperate someone is to annoy him or her to the point of impatience, frustration and irritation, like when you exasperate a busy waiter by asking questions like "what are all the ingredients in the salad dressing?" and making him repeat the specials five times. |
The verb exasperate comes from the Latin word exasperatus, which means “to roughen,” “irritate,” or “provoke.” To exasperate is to make something that is already bad even worse, like when sitting in traffic that is sure to make you late, you exasperate the person who is driving by bringing up an unpleasant topic, or the addition of twenty more students that exasperates the crowding in the cafeteria. |
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| 242 |
conjure |
summon into action or bring into existence |
Vacation homes typically conjure up dreams of blue skies, pristine sand and crystalline waters. |
show off#call down#shrink from#cut back# |
Based on its opening performance, “Annabelle: Creation” will easily push the “ Conjuring” series past $1 billion in ticket sales worldwide.#For many, the idea of a library catalog conjures up the image of card catalogs.#That something is what editors are paid to conjure up.#“Annabelle: Creation” is a horror movie that’s part of the “ Conjuring” franchise.# |
If your mom can magically conjure up the most delicious meals from the most random ingredients in the kitchen, she might just be the best cook in the neighborhood. |
Sometimes the mere sight or smell of something can conjure or stir up long lost memories, magically transporting you back to another place and time. But in the early 13th century, conjure was a bit more sinister — it meant using a spell to capture a demon to do one's bidding. In our modern day, conjure still carries the meaning of summoning a spirit, but it more regularly means to summon an idea or bring something into existence. |
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| 243 |
ominous |
threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments |
The Count's words were so ominous, so full of sinister meaning that for the moment he felt like crying out with fear. |
unscrupulous#rugged#menacing#transmitted# |
The finding, the analysts said, “raises new and potentially ominous questions.”#This follows a curious season-long pattern for the Nats — either ominous or quite a silver lining, depending on your inclinations.#The potential season-altering play occurred minutes into a game that started at 10:06 p.m. after ominous clouds, torrential downpours and lightning rammed the area.#A wider danger resonates in more ominous forecasts on Saturday and Sunday.# |
If something looks or sounds ominous, be careful: a threat or an unpleasant event is at hand. If you see an ominous frown on your boss's face, you're in trouble! |
Ominous, and the related word omen both come from the 16th century Latin word ōmen "foreboding." However, unlike omen, which is a sign of something good or bad to come, ominous always describes something unpleasant or threatening. If the future looks ominous, you've got nothing to look forward to. Figuratively, an ominous sky or ominous clouds promise rain or a storm. |
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| 244 |
edifice |
a structure that has a roof and walls |
They are here erecting a fine stone edifice for an Episcopal Church. |
a malevolent scheme#an office building#a very effective teacher#a class on ethics# |
It carefully assembles readable historical materials, revealing the edifice upon which Dylann Roof built his plan to murder African-American congregants within their religious sanctuary.#There, they seemed to be putting on an opera, rather than an edifice.#Africa’s future is the new station a short drive away, a yellow-and-white edifice with grand pilasters, arched windows and a broad flagstone square.#The plan is for it to meet in the neoclassical edifice that houses the legislature, which is controlled by the opposition.# |
Edifice means a building, but it doesn't mean just any building. To merit being called an edifice, a building must be important. A mini temple can be an edifice, or a towering sky scraper. |
The meaning of edifice has expanded to include a system of ideas––when it is complicated enough to be considered to have walls and a roof, then it is an edifice. You could say that basic facts of addition and subtraction are the foundation on which the edifice of higher math rests. |
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| 245 |
elude |
escape, either physically or mentally |
But despite racking up world titles, Olympic gold was eluding him. |
triple#enhance#duck#articulate# |
On the course, his driving deteriorated and his normally reliable short game eluded him.#The two eluded police for eight days before their separate surrenders Friday evening in the Bay Area.#His grand slam wait dates back to his US PGA success in 2014, with only the Masters eluding the Northern Irishman.#He faces charges including eluding police and reckless driving.# |
Elude means evade, or be hard to grasp. "Tom eluded his captors by hiding under a table. Martha tried to understand chemistry, but the subject continued to elude her." |
Elude has a slippery feeling to it. You elude the police, math can elude you — and that yak you went to see on safari but never got a glimpse of, you might say that he has eluded you as well. Delude means "to deceive," and there are times when someone can both delude and elude you — like when the conman took your money and then escaped out the back door. |
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| 246 |
pervade |
spread or diffuse through |
An air of intense anticipation pervaded the General’s dining room. |
diffuse#savor#unify#repulse# |
A sense of languor pervades: a sluggish Seine, sculpted chestnut trees billowing in the breeze and noticeably fewer people.#The new survey suggests the findings may extend globally, and it finds that the same kinds of suspicion pervade even highly secular societies.#A “mix of intentional resonance and discovered resonance pervades culture right now,” he explained.#He was also, in several works, ballet’s greatest dramatist — there is no contradiction here, for drama pervades his non-narrative work.# |
To pervade means to be present throughout, to exist in every part of. If you have too many cats, the horrible smell of cat pee will pervade your house. |
You can use pervade both for external things like smells and sickness, and for more internal things like feelings. For instance, you can say that a feeling of doom pervaded the army as they caught sight of the opposition’s superior forces. Despite efforts to prevent bullying, peer pressure and clique mentalities pervade the school environment. |
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| 247 |
foster |
promote the growth of |
Mr. Horne accused the district’s Mexican-American studies program of using an antiwhite curriculum to foster social activism. |
divide#promote#evaluate#minimize# |
It is dominated by discussion of innovation, and how to foster greater interaction between businesses and academia to achieve it.#My foster brother, Shan, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, bewildered, asking when I would return.#Locally, drug-addicted newborns stay at Mercy Medical Center in Roseburg until they are healthy enough to be transferred to a foster home.#That ordinance passed on a 4-3 vote and was aimed at fostering trust and cooperation between immigrant communities and city and police officials.# |
To foster is to nurture something. A teacher could foster creativity by providing crayons to every student. You can also foster a child, which means the child lives in your home for a time. |
You may have seen photos of a cat taking care of a baby rabbit, or a pig nursing a litter of puppies: those are little foster families. Foster can be a verb (to foster someone or something) or an adjective used to describe a foster family, child, or parent. The word is from the Old English fostrian meaning "to supply with food, nourish, support," which sounds like what those mama hogs were doing. Unlike adopt, foster has a time limit. |
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| 248 |
admonish |
scold or reprimand; take to task |
"Children, children, stop quarrelling, right here in public!" admonished Mrs. Dering, in a low, shocked tone. |
adhere#recompense#caution#locate# |
A fortnight later, when Bolt crossed the line first in the 200m, he held his finger to his lips, admonishing everyone who doubted him.#On visiting Dachau in 2015, she said the horrors of the camps “ admonish us never to forget.”#The Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless admonished leaders for setting up voucher recipients to fail, often cycling them back into homelessness.#Mr Trump admonished Mr Nieto for publicly denouncing the wall during a 27 January phone call, transcripts obtained by the Washington Post show.# |
To admonish is to scold. If you want to show someone you're not happy with his behavior, admonish him. It sounds better than "scolding," and it's less painful than spanking. |
Coming to English through Old French from the Latin admonere "to advise, remind," admonish is always used with an eye on improving someone's behavior. The exact meaning of this formal verb varies in intensity depending generally on who is being corrected. If a child or subordinate is being admonished, it means "scold" or "rebuke" whereas if someone admonishes a person with equal standing, warn or advise are closer synonyms. |
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| 249 |
repeal |
cancel officially |
If Republicans repeal the law, Ms. Schakowsky said, they would be “taking away benefits that seniors are already getting.” |
complexity#prediction#enchantment#annulment# |
We spend $25 billion more on medical devices due — which were taxed under Obamacare and the Senate still may yet repeal.#In 2015, 46 Democrats joined Republicans in approving a House bill to repeal the tax.#Instead, Congress was focused on repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act.#The vote to repeal and replace the Obama health care law looms large for 21 GOP lawmakers, including Iowa Reps.# |
To repeal something — usually a law, ordinance or public policy — is to take it back. For example, dog lovers might want the town council to repeal the law that says residents can have no more than four dogs. |
The verb repeal comes from the Anglo-French word repeler, “to call back.” Repeal is almost always used in the context of law: When a government decides to get rid of an ordinance or law, that ordinance or law is repealed. That means it is no longer in effect, like if the weather becomes unseasonably hot, the schools might repeal the part of the dress code to permit students to wear shorts. |
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| 250 |
retiring |
not arrogant or presuming |
Foster was an extremely modest, unworldly, retiring gentleman. |
infrequent#handsome#delicious#outgoing# |
Bolt pulled up while running the anchor leg for Jamaica in the 4x100 relay, his final race before retiring.#She considered retiring, running for office or switching employers.#Down the block, Thelma Carter said her husband was looking forward to retiring from his job as a salesman for Utz.#When asked why he is retiring, he said, “I wanted to do something different.”# |
If you are a retiring person, you avoid being at the center of attention. You can often be found in the library and other quiet places, and if someone compliments you, you're likely to blush and change the subject. |
If you call someone retiring, it isn't necessarily clear whether you mean it as a compliment or something closer to a put-down. Usually, the word is used to describe someone who is shy or modest to a fault. But it can also be used to suggest that someone isn't arrogant, which is usually a good thing. And, of course, retiring can also refer to someone who stepped down from their last job and doesn't intend to work anymore. |
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| 251 |
incidental |
not of prime or central importance |
The models themselves are incidental on “Scouted,” merely empty planets around which revolve some fascinating characters and plenty more dull ones. |
shifting#chaste#frail#subsequent# |
Indeed, the power of storytelling is the series' underlying incidental theme.#Mueller’s boss said the DJ told him during an internal investigation that any contact during the photo op was incidental or accidental.#Early ‘Radiolab’ is just riddled with that old incidental music that I would warp and tweak.#The use of incidental music, which includes a Woody Guthrie song heard on a car radio, is notable.# |
Incidental means secondary in time or importance. If you lose weight because you moved and must walk further to school, the weight loss was incidental to the move. |
When something is incidental, it is never the main thing. It's okay to include incidental details as they can add depth to your storytelling, but they are never crucial to the story. A company might pay your main expenses when you travel for business but will probably not reimburse you for the incidental ones. The music you hear between acts of a play is called incidental. It's not crucial to the action, but it makes the waiting easier. |
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| 252 |
acquiesce |
to agree or express agreement |
American officials initially tried to resist President Karzai’s moves but eventually acquiesced. |
admonish#accelerate#flit#assent# |
On Tuesday, North Korea barely held back its disdain for its traditional allies, China and Russia, for acquiescing to American pressure to impose tougher sanctions.#But there were no signs the U.S. would acquiesce to China's call for a quick return to negotiations.#But there were no signs the U.S. would acquiesce to China’s call for a quick return to negotiations.#“We are left in a situation where they believe we will ultimately acquiesce,” he said at the KentPresents ideas festival in Kent, Conn.# |
To acquiesce is to agree to something or to give in. If your kid sister is refusing to hand over the television remote, you hope she acquiesces before your favorite show comes on. |
The verb acquiesce comes from the Latin word acquiescere, meaning “to rest.” If you “rest” or become passive in the face of something to which you object, you are giving tacit agreement. In other words, you acquiesce. If you want to go hiking with your family and your children are not interested, it will be a very tough day on the trail until they acquiesce. |
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| 253 |
slew |
a large number or amount or extent |
In fact, intense focus may be one reason why so-called savants become so extraordinary at performing extensive calculations or remembering a slew of facts. |
harp#heat#heap#half# |
Johnston is one of a slew of digital media influencers reshaping the millennial tourism market.#The same is true of Dieter Roth’s bound volume of comic books, each page punctured by a slew of perfectly cut circles.#A slew of wild fables about a witch, a human cannonball, and more.#It’s since been joined by a slew of other revelations and accusations.# |
Of all the many nouns referring to a large group of things, one of the most fun is slew, as in "I saw a whole slew of birds in the tree by the river." |
American English is constantly evolving, its richness coming from the many languages feeding into it. The noun slew, for instance, is from the Irish Gaelic sluagh, meaning "multitude." As an unrelated verb, it's the past tense of slay. |
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| 254 |
usurp |
seize and take control without authority |
More than anything, though, officials expressed concern about reigniting longstanding Mexican concerns about the United States’ usurping Mexico’s authority. |
flesh out#bring forth#take over#come down# |
Amazon is widely expected to usurp Macy’s this year as the country’s largest apparel retailer.#Now Facebook wants to usurp Twitter’s role as a hub for online socialization around video and TV.#The last time fans saw the King of the Iron Islands was last season when he usurped his brother.#His dynasty lasted until Robert’s Rebellion usurped the throne from its Targaryen rulers.# |
If you take over your neighbor's backyard and claim his in-ground swimming pool as your own, you might seize control of, or usurp his yard, but he'll probably call the cops on you. |
Leaders who usurp power don't ask for permission to take control of their country. They seize power, often with the help of a large army of followers. A usurper doesn't have to be human. A brand-new radio station can usurp the most popular station in town by playing a better mix of music. |
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| 255 |
sentinel |
a person employed to keep watch for some anticipated event |
The prisoners undressed themselves as usual, and went to bed, observed by the sentinel. |
#### |
The Daily Sentinel of Nacogdoches reports the arrests Saturday night are the result of a sting operation involving multiple police units.#The Orlando Sentinel reports that neither SeaWorld nor Universal Studios create similar merchandise for closing attractions.#The walls of Blackcliff rise around us like impassive sentinels.#The Orlando Sentinel reports that court documents said the girls joined Cruz Abreu as he sold drugs from his car.# |
A sentinel is a guard, a lookout, a person keeping watch. It's often a soldier, but not always. If you're watching a pot, waiting for it to boil, you're standing sentinel over it — and incidentally, it won't boil until you leave. |
Etymologists think sentinel stems from the Old Italian words sentina, meaning "vigilance," and sentire, "to hear or perceive." It's a close cousin of sentry, which means the same thing. You can use sentinel as a noun or a verb. A kid in a snowball war might be the sentinel, patrolling the entrance to the fort. Wolves stand sentinel over their kill, stepping aside only for the alpha male, who always eats first. |
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| 256 |
precision |
the quality of being reproducible in amount or performance |
At this time, home ranges of small rodents can not be measured with great precision, therefore any such calculations are, at best, only approximations. |
an educated guess#a loud moan#a marching band#a skinned knee# |
What’s more, because precision farming by its nature reduces the need for labor, they were able to hire just one employee.#But it lacked precision in the final third despite some spirited moves.#Highlights of the show include the Air Force Thunderbirds precision flying team, the Army Black Daggers parachute team and several aerobatics squads.#But to him, the gnarly Bermuda rough puts a paramount on precision.# |
Use the noun precision to describe something that's exact, such as the work of a carpenter who's made 100 identical pieces of railing for a grand staircase. |
Precision is similar to perfection in that both words suggest that something could not possibly be better. However, perfection describes something that's flawless, such as a beautiful sunset. Precision, on the other hand, is more about accuracy, like computing the exact second that the perfect sunset will occur. |
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| 257 |
depose |
force to leave an office |
Late Wednesday, Mr. Touré, the deposed president, spoke out from hiding for the first time. |
force out#get to#get at#tell apart# |
Indeed, it was Eastwood, bringing to life Leone’s vision, who deposed Wayne and the other just-add-water cowpokes, by introducing an entirely new kind of hero.#Parris eventually decided to provide legal help to the plaintiffs and, in the process, got a chance to depose Ledford.#We are aware of no precedent for a sovereign pardoning himself, then abdicating or being deposed but being immune from criminal process.#But it is seeking to depose witnesses and obtain campaign emails and other documents during the discovery process that is a standard part of lawsuits.# |
When you force someone in authority out of office — a politician, a king, or a cheerleading captain — you depose them. |
The word almost always associated with an act of deposition is coup, meaning a sudden act of overthrowing of the government. Sometimes bloodless, more often not. On a less dramatic scale, lawyers depose less exalted folk every day; it means they take evidence from them under oath, possibly to be used in a court case later. Often those giving evidence (mobsters, murderers, financial scammers, etc,) are unwilling to talk to lawyers, hence the suggestion of a stripping away of power and dignity implicit in the term depose. |
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| 258 |
wanton |
unprovoked or without motive or justification |
I am not a sentimentalist by any means, yet I abominate wanton cruelty. |
unfortunate#overwrought#predetermined#motiveless# |
McCullum was convicted of murder, wanton endangerment and tampering with evidence.#The judge said those words constituted " wanton and reckless conduct" under the manslaughter statute.#The judge said those words constituted “ wanton and reckless conduct” under the manslaughter statute.#In addition to murder, Paz-Salvador also pleaded guilty to other charges including wanton endangerment and leaving the scene of an accident which resulted in death.# |
Wanton describes something excessive, uncontrolled and sometimes even cruel. The principal sees a food fight as a wanton act of vandalism done with wanton disregard for the rules, but the kids might just see it as fun. |
Wanton comes from the Old English wan- "lacking" and togen "to train, discipline," in other words, "lacking in discipline." Wanton extravagance is excessive and uncontrolled, whereas a wanton act of terrorism is random and intentionally cruel. Sometimes in older novels, you will see wanton used as a disapproving term to describe a sexually active person, particularly a woman, a usage that is considered old-fashioned today. |
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| 259 |
odium |
state of disgrace resulting from detestable behavior |
This was one of the men who bring odium on the whole class of prisoners, and prejudice society against them. |
serenity#conceit#solace#loathing# |
The invidious utterance or person invites odium more openly.#It’s hard to feel excited or even relieved, though, when her road to victory is so slick with the odium of Donald Trump.#Corruption simply does not carry the same odium as stealing or thievery.#She later wrote that the move had "incurred the maximum of political odium for the minimum of political benefit."# |
That shivery feeling of disgust and hatred that you get when you see something senseless and horrible is called odium. |
Odium made its way into the English language through Latin, and the word’s root od-, meaning “hatred,” might tip you off that this word involves extreme dislike of some sort. Odium is a little more immediate than hate and usually describes a negative response to a specific action rather than a long-held, sustained hatred. Your dislike of broccoli, for example, wouldn’t be described as odium. Instead, think of odium as hate mixed with repulsion and condemnation, what you feel, for example, if you hear a racist speech or a news story about a terrorist act. |
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| 260 |
precept |
rule of personal conduct |
The law of nature has but one precept, "Be strong." |
scruple#statistic#teaching#dimension# |
Nor does Eisinger address the precept that guided me, as a public-corruption federal prosecutor in the 1990s, to decline many more cases than I pursued.#The precepts are so broad as to be meaningless—and wide open to abuse.#The Chinese precept, concluded the American researchers, was “do not engage on controversial issues.”#There is another, related precept, relevant to climate change: the classic understanding of the relationship between government and industry.# |
A precept is a rule or direction, often with some religious basis, dictating a way you should act or behave. |
Precepts are little life lessons that are usually passed down to children by authority figures such as parents, teachers, or religious figures. They are not as simple or practical as "eat your vegetables"; they tend to be more weighty and pretentious. In Hamlet, the character Polonius dished out a few choice precepts to his son Laertes: "neither a borrower nor a lender be" and "give every man thy ear, but few thy voice." Of course Laertes never lived long enough to benefit from Polonius's sage advice, since Hamlet offed him with his own poisoned blade. |
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| 261 |
deference |
a courteous expression of esteem or regard |
Other rules, as indicated in Mr. Collins' book, concerned deportment, and demanded constant deference to superiors. |
a doctor to her nurse#a customer to his salesperson#a teacher to her student#a servant to his employer# |
One consequence of governments’ fading deference towards tech firms is a more muscular approach towards taxation.#The latest ruling is also a test of the courts’ level of deference to federal agencies.#They are owed “considerable deference” in defining “intangible characteristics, like student body diversity.”#Winning requires a show of deference, answering officers’ questions, not raising your voice and saying as little as possible.# |
Sure you wear ripped jeans to school every day, but you don't wear them to your grandmother's house out of deference to her. When you show deference to someone, you make a gesture of respect. |
The noun deference goes with the verb defer, which means "to yield to someone's opinions or wishes out of respect for that person." If you and your dad disagree about the best route to the grocery store, you might defer to him, and take his route. You're taking his route out of deference to his opinion and greater experience. |
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| 262 |
fray |
a noisy fight |
Armed rebels have joined the fray in recent months. |
choke off#wear out#clog up#put down# |
The Mask removes himself from the fray, rubbing his jaw.#Holmgren stepped into the ring in his worn tennis shoes, frayed trunks and a bathrobe he stole from a nearby Holiday Inn.#Chargers defensive players from the other field rushed over to join the fray.#Donald Trump poses himself as above the political fray and is a Republican in name only.# |
Fray is all about friction––a frayed rope has been rubbed so much its fibers are wearing away. People experiencing friction––fighting loudly––are involved in a fray. |
If you have had a long day and feel like you're about to break down, you might say you are frayed. If students are arguing in class about whether nature or nurture is to blame for human problems, a teacher might stay out of the fray, letting the students reach their own conclusions. |
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| 263 |
candid |
openly straightforward and direct without secretiveness |
The actor was candid about his own difficult childhood growing up with alcoholic parents. |
injurious#labored#judicious#blunt# |
It was an unusually candid exchange, providing reporters with a behind-the-scenes look at his club as well as insight into how he sees the world.#There’s something almost too psychiatrically candid about nuclear scientists always being called “the father” of the bomb, or “the father” of their country’s atomic programmes.#I liked Douglas a great deal; he was candid and funny.#An ELeague crew essentially lived with them for two weeks, gathering reality-TV staples like candid scenes interspersed with one-on-one interviews.# |
Straightforward and truthful talk might be described with the adjective candid. If you're always candid, your parents will know that they can trust you. |
A serious-minded politician might suggest engaging in a "candid discussion" about a complicated topic like health care or the environment, because candid means "open" or "frank." Remember that TV show Candid Camera? It was called that because its hidden cameras supposedly showed a candid view of reality. In photography, candid has become a noun meaning "an unposed photo." The word comes from Latin candidus, meaning "white," which was later extended to mean "pure." Candid talk provides the pure, unvarnished truth. |
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| 264 |
enduring |
unceasing |
What makes the galumphing hubby such an enduring stock character? |
abiding#manual#funny#random# |
Thirty years separation and no progress in this country in supporting or assisting the dying or their families in enduring these events.#I spent every leave training with Grandfather, enduring beatings and harsh discipline but gaining, in return, a distinct edge over my classmates.#“The enduring image of their time together is the two of them, sitting alongside each other, isolated,” writes Trynka.#How quickly optimism faded as Arsenal’s enduring defensive flaws were exposed so soon.# |
Many people have an enduring love for ice cream, that is, they have loved it for a long time and will continue to love it into the future. Enduring means long-lasting. |
Enduring has roots that go back about 1,500 years to the Late Latin period. It is quite an enduring word! The original root meant hard, so your enduring friendship or your enduring interest in sports is solid enough to stand the test of time. Besides meaning long-lasting, enduring sometimes means long-suffering as when someone has an enduring disposition, but this meaning is found in the verb more than in the adjective. |
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| 265 |
impertinent |
improperly forward or bold |
Imagine calling a famous writer by his first name—it seemed impertinent, to say the least. |
goofy#balky#whiny#sassy# |
It did not provide details, but described him as “ impertinent and independent.”#The Times reviewer, Howard Taubman, condescended approvingly to the show, calling it “a wild, indiscriminate explosion of exuberant, impertinent youthful talents.”#And then they were subject to what they are not used to: hard questions some might deem impertinent.#But it’s definitely the kind of outside entertainment that can make a young mind impertinent, skeptical of authority, disinclined to join the rat race.# |
If someone's rude without being openly nasty, like a kid in the back row of class quietly heckling his teacher, you can call him impertinent. |
Impertinent originally meant just what it sounds like, "not pertinent, irrelevant," but it also came to mean "inappropriate, out of place" and therefore "intrusive, presumptuous; behaving without proper respect; insolent." It still carries a condescending air, so it's best used of or to a child being snippy to a grownup: "Don't be impertinent!" The stress is on the second syllable: im-PERT-inent. |
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| 266 |
bland |
lacking stimulating characteristics; uninteresting |
Many critics were less than enamored with the kind of “easy listening” Mr. Williams embodied, deriding his approach as bland and unchallenging. |
natural#slippery#flavorful#repetitive# |
“ Bland. Maybe because the fillings are so tightly concentrated in one part of the bread?”#“I think a lot of guys are keeping it pretty bland,” he said with a smile.#With the exception of the valiant effort of the single anchovy flopped on top, it tasted bland.#It may be more effective in the hands of a bland capitalist.# |
When you have a nasty cold and you’re very congested, food can taste unappealingly bland. That means dull, flavorless, or just plain “blah.” |
Bland comes to us from the Latin word blandus, meaning “mild, smooth, flattering, alluring.” Funny, because today you wouldn't say there's anything "alluring" about something bland. People still use bland to mean pleasant and tranquil, but it more often has a negative connotation. Use it to describe plain old oatmeal before you’ve added brown sugar and berries to it, or to depict the forgettable, uninteresting personality of the lunch lady who served it to you. |
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| 267 |
insinuate |
suggest in an indirect or covert way; give to understand |
"Good heavens, do you mean to insinuate that I did anything crooked?" said Bojo loudly, yet at the bottom ill at ease. |
pacify#hint#strike#inspect# |
Porter’s approach is to insinuate himself into the native community from which the research center draws its support staff.#They will cook quicker and insinuate themselves so well with the saucy leeks, shrimp and almonds.#After the debate, Mr. Trump accused Ms. Kelly of being unfair to him, and insinuated that she was menstruating.#Where Jay-Z is inclined to be passive, the music insinuates.# |
Insinuate means you imply or suggest something that may or may not be true. If you say things seemed to go wrong about the time your brother took over, you insinuate that he had something to do with the decline. |
There's another way to insinuate. Suppose you're in line to get into a popular dance club when a celebrity appears, surrounded by a big entourage. If you strike up a conversation with one of the entourage, you may be able to insinuate that you're part of the group and go in with them. Don't feel bad — people have been doing it at least since the 1520s, when insinuate evolved from the Latin word insinuare, meaning "wind one's way into." |
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| 268 |
nominal |
insignificantly small; a matter of form only |
He sought nominal damages of one dollar from each defendant. |
engaging#minimum#bland#adjacent# |
Consider a stock split; some companies with high nominal share prices issue new shares on a pro-rata basis.#Trump’s new favorite, Anthony Scaramucci, struts around more like a chief of staff than a communications director, which is his nominal role.#Aren’t their characters just as important as the nominal white leads?#Essentially, what Real Eats is offering is only sous vide in the strictest, most nominal sense, in that it’s offering food in vacuum-sealed bags.# |
Schools, libraries, and other organizations often ask you to make a nominal donation to their cause. While you want to support many causes, these nominal donations soon add up to a substantial portion of your budget! |
Another meaning for the adjective nominal is "in name only" or only having a title. The CEO is the nominal head of the company, but you know his assistant is one who is really in charge of the day-to-day business of the company. He is the go-to person for signing invoices, purchase orders, and resolving personnel issues. |
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| 269 |
suppliant |
humbly entreating |
The colonists asked for nothing but what was clearly right and asked in the most respectful and even suppliant manner. |
languid#consecutive#imploring#infernal# |
"That media show they want - of us suppliantly giving over our weapons - that show will not happen," he says.#What's more, "The Suppliant Maidens" needs a director with a complete theatrical vision.#Slowly he put his suppliant hat on his head.#No longer are they suppliant to the fifth estate to disseminate their news.# |
Suppliant means someone who is asking humbly. You enter church as a suppliant, asking God to spare you from illness. You ask in a suppliant (humble) manner, because you know God is stern and demands total faith. |
Suppliant is not a word you hear often these days–-it was tailor-made to be used in the days when common people spent much of their lives on their knees in big stone buildings begging for things from monarchs or from God––think hair shirts, prayer, suppliants begging the lord of the manor not to kill them for missing a payment on the rent. |
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| 270 |
languid |
lacking spirit or liveliness |
Many viewers, bored by the languid pace of the show, tuned out early. |
resourceful#unenergetic#distinctive#incredible# |
The shows share a languid, small-town vibe, but “Eyewitness” was more conventionally structured.#It’s up to Huppert, though, to inject the languid proceedings with frissons of mystery and delight.#SZA's languid R&B offers a wealth of contradictions: self-assured in delivery but insecure in emotion, casual in tone but cutting in content.#What resulted are dozens of images of languid summer days in the Hamptons, which are now on view in a photographic exhibition.# |
Describe a slow-moving river or a weak breeze or a listless manner with the slightly poetic adjective, languid. |
Languid comes from the Latin verb, languere "to be weak or faint" and is a somewhat literary word for something that doesn't use much energy. If someone says goodbye to you with a languid wave of the hand, there's not too much movement involved. You can describe yourself as languid when you have that feeling of not being entirely awake — kind of lazy in the mind. |
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| 271 |
rave |
praise enthusiastically |
I have heard lots of women simply rave about him. |
overpraise#understand#swelter#immigrate# |
Vela, who said he received rave reviews about MLS from Giovani, fired back at those critics Friday.#Whose Streets? debuted at Sundance in January, where it received rave reviews.#Critics were impressed, with one raving that Crippa is still “a brilliant singer”.#She ended up breaking up with her EDM DJ boyfriend, so the raves stopped for a while.# |
If you rave about a book you just read, you're telling people you think it's great, or you're giving it a rave review. |
Rave has two levels, one that implies you're very excited about something and the other that you are too excited, so you seem crazy. While raving about a movie means to talk it up, being a raving lunatic means you are engaging in a lot of crazy talk. When you rave about a performance, you talk enthusiastically about it. Take that enthusiastic talking to the next level, and you might be called raving in the crazy sense. |
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| 272 |
monetary |
relating to or involving money |
A hundred years ago, monetary policy – control over interest rates and the availability of credit – was viewed as a highly contentious political issue. |
immediate#abstract#financial#regional# |
President Trump celebrated action of a monetary kind when the UN agreed new sanctions against Pyongyang.#Inflation remains tame despite the labor market being near full employment, a conundrum for the Fed as it contemplates tightening monetary policy further.#But critics warn of environmental and monetary costs.#The Fed is not only responsible for monetary policy.# |
If it has to do with money or currency, it’s monetary, like your childhood toy collection that has no monetary value, but you love it nonetheless. |
The adjective monetary is related to a Latin word that means “mint,” which is not just a refreshing gum or ice cream flavor but, in this case, where money is made. Anything that pertains to money can be described as monetary, like a country whose monetary system consists of metal coins of different denominations or an antiques expert who can tell you the monetary value of the old things in our attic. |
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| 273 |
headlong |
in a hasty and foolhardy manner |
“They may not be wishing to rush headlong back into the same sort of risks just yet.” |
deadened#sorry#rushed#pitiful# |
Three steps later, I was pitched headlong towards the opposite of joy.#Everything they do, they do as a herd – even when it’s running headlong over a cliff.#Why haven’t I ever just walked headlong into a rude white woman?#Hoffer wrote, “For men to plunge headlong into an undertaking of vast change, they must be intensely discontented yet not destitute.”# |
Headlong describes something done headfirst, rashly, or really quickly. If you’re the star batter on your baseball team, it’s expected that you'll make a headlong dive for the base. |
Headlong can refer to hasty actions, but it can also be used more figuratively to describe decisions are reckless or made in hurry. Your sister may tend to weigh all the options, but you make headlong decisions. When you decided headlong to move to Florida for a chance to play professionally, your sister thought you’d gone off your rocker — but the day you sign a major contract, she’ll be singing a different tune. |
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| 274 |
infallible |
incapable of failure or error |
But conductors are no more infallible than other people, and once in a blue moon in going through a train they miss a passenger. |
uncaring#unerring#incoming#inviting# |
But as much as we’d like to think we are infallible, untethered, luminous, we are only human, and eventually we must be still.#I’d never labored under the false notion that my mom was infallible.#The pope is considered to speak infallibly, “without error,” under specific conditions concerning doctrine and morals.#Without a belief that experts are, if not infallible, generally more reliable than people with no idea what they’re talking about, medicine can’t function.# |
"Fallible" means capable of making mistakes — or, easier to remember — capable of failing. Infallible means exactly the opposite — incapable of failing. |
This word is often used to describe human capacity for error — no one is infallible. And yet, we are able to be infallible in certain ways: children are infallibly curious, teenagers infallibly hungry. Interestingly, infallible derives from the Latin in- "not" + fallere "deceive." When did making a mistake and deception become the same thing? |
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| 275 |
coax |
influence or urge by gentle urging, caressing, or flattering |
He used his most enticing manner and did his best to coax the little animal out again. |
"Please eat your dinner, my dear."#"If you don't eat your dinner, I'm going to punish you."#"Do not even think about touching that dinner."#"I am going to eat your dinner."# |
It fades when cool hands coax my mouth open and pour liquid down.#A poetic turn of events when you consider she needed coaxing to even tackle it.#They ran down smoke-filled stairs, tossed children off balconies to strangers below and were coaxed down firefighters’ ladders.#He coaxed weak contact and received some help from his defense to preserve the no-hit attempt.# |
When you coax someone, you try to convince him gently, with pleasant words and maybe a little flattery. You’ll have to be patient, as you can’t rush someone you’re trying to coax. |
When you coax, you have to be nice about it – you can’t threaten or force. You put on a little charm and gently urge, so that the person or thing is happy about being coaxed. You might coax the runaway elephant back into the zoo by patting her gently and talking into her ear. If you wake up with a terrible bedhead, you might coax your hair back into place with the help of a little hair gel and a comb. |
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| 276 |
explicate |
elaborate, as of theories and hypotheses |
He urged judges to resist the rigid guidelines and to write opinions explicating their reasons for doing so. |
covet#explain#aggravate#propagate# |
His particular focus was in explicating the thoughts of the great Chinese sage Confucius as they were interpreted over the centuries.#Though he means to keep the autobiographical painting to himself, Pace wonders if its purpose — a certain connective or explicating energy — might be lost.#But unlike the reading of the DNA scroll, explicating the contents can’t easily be automated.#In his dispassionate HAL-like voice, David explicates his feelings of android superiority to ordinary humans.# |
To explicate is to explain or interpret something, maybe putting it in plain terms to make it more comprehensible for others. It might help to remember that it begins with "ex-," like the word explain, which is similar in meaning. |
The verb explicate comes from the Latin explicāre, which means "to unfold or unravel." This is a good description of a word that means to explain something to make it clearer and more easily understandable. Think of a puzzle or mystery: when you solve it, you sometimes have to explicate how you arrived at the solution, telling how you used the clues given to find the answer. |
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| 277 |
gaunt |
very thin especially from disease or hunger or cold |
Gaunt, starved, and ragged, the men marched northwards, leaving the Touat country upon their left hand. |
lean#morbid#controversial#aloof# |
Jackson was gaunt, not in playing shape and seemingly overcome with emotions and a growing spirituality.#Looking gaunt, he calls for action against Mr. Maduro, whose socialist government is supported by the communist government of Cuba.#The men — American Kevin King and Australian Timothy Weeks — later appeared, gaunt and tearful, in a hostage video.#“The big picture is pretty obvious,” said David L. Steelman, a lead attorney on the case, and managing partner at Steelman, Gaunt & Horsefield.# |
You can never be too rich or too thin, but you certainly can be too gaunt. It means you look skinny like you're sick, not skinny like you have a personal nutritionist slapping your hand when you reach for a bonbon. |
A good way to remember gaunt is that it rhymes with haunt, and gaunt people look pale, drawn, and wasted — like you'd expect a haunting ghost to appear. Another way to remember it is that g- + aunt is like great-aunt, and often when you appear to be gaunt you look like you're old — like your Great Aunt Mildred. |
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| 278 |
morbid |
suggesting the horror of death and decay |
Earlier in the day, however, his demise was watched by spectators with a morbid fascination. |
social worker#construction worker#magician#undertaker# |
A morbid part of me wants to ask her how she lost her eye.#It’s largely a statement, he says, about the morbid fan culture around his murder trial.#Meanwhile the mood at the department is morbid, he said.#“Everyone would think it’d be very morbid. It was peaceful.”# |
If the first section of the newspaper you read is the obituaries, you could be considered morbid. Morbid is a word used to describe anyone who spends too much time thinking about death or disease. |
A lot of English words relating to medicine and science come from Latin, and the adjective morbid is one of them; it comes from the root morbidus, meaning "diseased" or "sick." Morbid can also be used to describe other nouns besides people. If you wear Goth clothing, your wardrobe might be described as morbid. And if you hang tombstones on your walls, your taste in art could also be described as morbid. |
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| 279 |
ranging |
wandering freely |
His detective work is fascinating and wide ranging. |
confined#spiritual#simmering#graduated# |
The TV show promises a diet ranging “from exclusive stories to breaking news, showbiz, politics, crime, health and science and technology.”#The numbers involved vary each year, ranging from fewer than 50 to more than 250.#Hanging over HBO now is the daily threat of leaks of sensitive information, ranging from show content to...#The sheriff’s office says the library serves 1,400 inmates and typically houses about 3,500 volumes ranging from self-help books to mysteries.# |
If you're driving in the country and have to stop the car to let a bunch of cows slowly cross the road, you'll be sitting there for a while admiring a herd of ranging, or freely wandering, cattle. |
When ranging is used as an adjective, it can describe anything that wanders or varies or moves freely, from chickens to a bookmobile to your own thoughts. It can also be a verb, and in that case it's more likely to mean "varying." You could say, for example, that the ages of the people who show up at your family reunion are ranging from two and a half to ninety-seven. |
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| 280 |
pacify |
ease the anger, agitation, or strong emotion of |
How they pacified him I don’t know, but at the end of two hours he had cooled off enough to let us go aboard. |
disperse#fracture#undermine#appease# |
Violent protests become ubiquitous, and the National Guard is called in to pacify the situation.#He is remembered as a flexible, pacifying figure who liked to negotiate.#Nov. 8 is his “Groundhog Day,” on endless repeat, in a way that pleases and pacifies him.#The response followed a similar pattern too, with authorities quick to send in the National Guard, which tended to escalate, not pacify, the situation.# |
If you are bringing peace or calm to a state of unrest, you are pacifying the situation. Just think of the transformation a squalling baby undergoes when a pacifier is placed within his mouth, and you will remember the power of the verb to pacify. |
If you work to establish peace in a certain location between factions at war, then you are working to pacify a country or region. The U.N. has specially trained workers, called peace keepers, who go into to trouble spots to try to pacify rebellions factions and restore order. Or, one can pacify a disgruntled crowd: "The store manager attempted to pacify the restless crowd of shoppers by promising the popular out-of-stock item would soon be back on the shelves." |
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| 281 |
pastoral |
idyllically rustic |
He made a considerable reputation as an accomplished painter of quiet pastoral subjects and carefully elaborated landscapes with cattle. |
frogs#coyotes#sheep#mice# |
Father Paul Farren is administrator of Saint Eugene’s Catholic cathedral, and his pastoral domain includes the Bogside area, long a heartland of armed Irish Republicanism.#I wouldn’t stray from the classics: “American Pastoral,” “The Ghost Writer” and “Operation Shylock.”#"That's not the direction or advice that is compliant with a compassionate pastoral response which is the stated policy of the Church," he added.#“In many pastoral lands, pastoral livelihoods are no longer viable,” said Samir Wanmali, the deputy country director for the World Food Program.# |
Pastoral refers to the countryside, particularly an idealized view of the country. If you draw cheery pictures with lush grassy fields, calm skies, a farm animal or two, and some flowers, you draw pastoral scenes. |
Pastoral can also mean something done by, you guessed it, a pastor. If a pastor writes a letter to his congregation, it is a pastoral letter. How are they related? Shepherds, of course. Pastors are often referred to as shepherds of their flock (i.e., the members of their church congregation). Actual shepherds, the kind who tend sheep, work in pastoral settings. |
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| 282 |
dogged |
stubbornly unyielding |
Some analysts expect Mr. Falcone, who is known for his dogged determination, to just continue to limp along while slashing costs. |
heedless#pallid#sluggish#persistent# |
Even before the latest in a series of injuries that have dogged his campaign, Evans’ role had been diminished.#Smith became a dogged pursuer of information about the company, looking far and wide.#One question in particular has dogged some early social-impact bond programs: how to measure whether they are successful.#Injuries have dogged Beal throughout his first four years in the league.# |
Someone who's dogged is stubbornly persistent. In the old Looney Tunes cartoons, Wile E. Coyote's pursuit of the Road Runner is dogged. He simply will not give up. |
You can see the word dog within the word dogged. It's no trick. If you're dogged, you are as obstinate and tenacious as a dog who smells a bone. An earlier definition of this adjective was more general, meaning "having the qualities of a dog." Today, though, if someone describes you as dogged, they simply mean that you won't stop until you get what you want. |
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| 283 |
ebb |
fall away or decline |
Although Gardner’s competitive appetite ebbed after 2004, other cravings did not. |
enjoy#seek#wane#battle# |
The sage grouse population ebbs and flows, usually with weather patterns, and a 2015 report from the...#Planning begins on Mondays, once farmer Blake Mennella, of Ebb Tide Produce, furnishes a list of what’s ready to pick that week.#We’ve seen trust in media ebb and flow over many years but there’s been nothing like this before.#“If you look at the history of immigration, it actually ebbed and flowed,” Miller said.# |
When something ebbs, it is declining, falling, or flowing away. The best time to look for sea creatures in tidal pools is when the tide is on the ebb — meaning it has receded from the shore. |
Ebb is often used in the phrase, "ebb and flow," referring to the cyclical changing of the tides from low to high and back to low again. This sense of cyclical change can also be applied to other things. If you want to make money investing, you have to weather the ebb and flow of the stock market. |
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| 284 |
aide |
someone who acts as an assistant |
She later found work as a teacher’s aide in a Head Start program in Harlem. |
consumer#assistant#barbarian#ancestor# |
Short is a former aide to Pence and one-time president of Freedom Partners, a Koch-aligned group.#The president’s daughter and White House aide, Ivanka Trump, tweeted Sunday morning: “There should be no place in society for racism, white supremacy and neo-nazis.”#The president's daughter and White House aide, Ivanka Trump, tweeted Sunday morning: "There should be no place in society for racism, white supremacy and neo-nazis."#A senior White House aide is defending President Donald Trump’s remarks after a violent clash with white supremacists in Virginia left one person dead.# |
Remember that aide with an "e" at the end is a noun. It refers to a person who helps or acts as an assistant, such as a nurse's aide or a presidential aide. |
The noun aide is actually a shortened form of the 17th century French phrase, aide-de-camp, which meant "camp assistant" and was the title given to the secretary of a high-ranking military officer. It was used extensively throughout the Revolutionary War, and the shortened form is considered an Americanism. Today, we apply the word aide to anyone who serves as an advisor or as an assistant. |
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| 285 |
appease |
cause to be more favorably inclined; gain the good will of |
The king also has tried to appease public anger over corruption. |
a very small meal#an ad for a food product#a promise for a future meal#a substantial meal# |
At long last, many fellow Republicans realized that there would be no appeasing him, that the senator would do anything to stay in the limelight.#And I’m trying to appease everybody, and every word is calculated.#But that remediation may not appease regulators and lawmakers, who remain on high alert after the bank’s past misdeeds.#Witch-hunt or not, Shkreli did little to appease his persecutors.# |
Appease means to make or preserve peace with a nation, group, or person by giving in to their demands, or to relieve a problem, as in "the cold drink appeased his thirst." |
Appease often implies abandoning your moral principles to satisfy the demands of someone who is greedy for power: think of British Prime Minister Chamberlain's attempt to appease the Nazis at Munich. The verb appease comes from the Old French apaisier, "to pacify, make peace, or be reconciled," from the phrase "a paisier," which combines a-, or "to," and pais, "peace," from the Latin pax. |
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| 286 |
stipulate |
make an express demand or provision in an agreement |
The mayor has an executive order in place stipulating that all top officials, except those granted a waiver, live in the city. |
demolish#guarantee#invalidate#compress# |
The laws in Arizona, New York and Washington also stipulate that kids may bring and use sunscreen at summer camps.#In addition, they stipulated that a special counsel would be appointed to investigate and report back to the board.#Finally, the Constitution stipulates impeachment - not presidential executive orders - as the method for removing federal judges.#The Legislature in 2015 approved construction of the new mansion, stipulating that 20 percent of its cost be funded by private donations.# |
To stipulate something means to demand that it be part of an agreement. So when you make a contract or deal, you can stipulate that a certain condition must be met. |
Anytime you draw up a legal agreement, you can stipulate a requirement that has to be met for that agreement to be complete. This stipulation might put some sort of limit on the agreement. For example, if you run a fencing company and offer a sale, you can stipulate that to get the sale price, the fence must be ordered by a certain date. Your customer, in turn, might stipulate that the work must be finished before the ground freezes. |
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| 287 |
recourse |
something or someone turned to for assistance or security |
Bargain hunters and holiday shoppers are bad guys’ favorite targets and have little or no recourse when shoddy or fake merchandise arrives. |
sequence#discord#resort#immigration# |
That, he says, is the main cause of gender-specific issues in technology – at least, those that reach the stage of requiring a legal recourse.#One of the few recourses for employees is to file a job discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.#For the others, the only recourse to get financial restitution was filing lawsuits or seeking payment through legislative bills.#The Blacks called the Las Vegas police, and the officers who showed up told Mrs. Black that her only recourse was obtaining legal guardianship.# |
Recourse is a source of help. If you're failing trigonometry in spite of studying until your brain hurts, you may have no recourse but to hire a tutor. |
Recourse comes from the Latin word recursus, meaning “to run back or retreat.” People seek recourse from such difficulties as debt, illness and legal woes, so you can think of recourse as the words "retreating from curses" squished together. For the record, though, the cursus in recursus means course, not curse. Actually, no one knows where the word curse comes from. There may be some connection between cursus and curses, but then again, there may not be. |
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| 288 |
constrained |
lacking spontaneity; not natural |
All his goodness, however, will be of a forced, constrained, artificial, and at bottom unreal character. |
spontaneous#virtuous#intermittent#steadfast# |
He might be a nightmare, Mr. Snyder said, because he would not be constrained by norms that would favor acquiescence over military force.#But about 80 percent of the company’s sales are still constrained to the North American market.#When due process and equal protection are constrained for immigrants, this eventually affects citizens as well.#If they are constrained by a thrifty budget, Republicans in Congress will find it hard to deliver the big tax cuts they promise.# |
Something that's constrained is forced, unnatural and not very spontaneous — kind of like a linebacker trying to perform the ballet Swan Lake. |
Constrained contains the word strained for a reason. Mostly because anyone that's constrained is feeling a fair amount of strain because of it. In addition to referring to unnatural or uncharacteristic behavior, being constrained can also mean being held back or forced to do something you don't want to do. If your budget has taken a hit, for example, you may feel constrained financially. If you are on a diet, you may feel constrained by the Weight Watchers point system. |
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| 289 |
bate |
moderate or restrain; lessen the force of |
“You called her ‘an interfering, disagreeable old woman’!” whispered Bertha with bated breath, glancing half fearfully at the door as she spoke. |
confuse#complain#constrain#corrode# |
Bates, one day shy of his 41st birthday.#Bates of the state police died when the helicopter in which they were monitoring the violence crashed.#The younger Bates, who died one day short of his 41st birthday, worked for years as a trooper, first in Florida and then in Virginia.#Bates, who was one day shy of his 41st birthday.# |
To bate means to hold back or restrain, and you may see it in language that's either old or meant to sound old. A relative of bate appears in the phrase "with bated breath," which describes what you do when you anxiously wait. |
If you're awaiting the results of your hot-dog eating contest "with bated breath," you're so anxious and excited that you're holding your breath (and maybe you had too many hot dogs). Bate also turns up in the obscure vocabulary of falconry, a sport that involves training birds of prey to hunt. When a falcon is sitting on its perch and excitedly beats its wings as if to fly away, the bird is said to bate. |
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| 290 |
aversion |
a feeling of intense dislike |
Already my passive dislike had grown into an active aversion. |
consternation#conceit#distaste#isolation# |
Gold prices were nudged away from recent highs as broader risk aversion receded somewhat.#This despite a supposed aversion to flying which means his holiday of choice is said to be a family vacation in a super-sized Winnebago.#Another of your aversions is treadmills in gyms.#This is heady stuff in a nation with an alleged hereditary aversion to the world’s most popular sport.# |
If you have an aversion to something, you have an intense dislike for it. Commonly it's food, but you could have an aversion to black and white movies, driving with the windows open, or taking calls from salespeople. |
An aversion is also the person or thing that is the object of such intense dislike: her aversions included all kinds of vegetables and fruits. This noun is from Latin avertio, ultimately from avertere "to turn away," from the prefix a- "from" plus vertere "to turn." Near synonyms are repugnance and antipathy. |
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| 291 |
conceit |
an artistic device or effect |
An urban panorama is viewed from a high vantage point, a conceit used in topographic art to render vast perspectives. |
sneak preview#rhythm and blues#stream of consciousness#turn of phrase# |
If, that is, politically motivated shootings and bombings in big cities were fantastical tropes or metaphorical conceits, like zombie epidemics or extraterrestrial invasions.#But it’s the woozy, dreamy groove that sells the song’s conceit.#This is the conceit at the heart of the Los Angeles premiere of “Any Night,” co-written by Daniel Arnold and Medina Hahn.#His books are frequently constructed around some clever conceit.# |
If you’re always boasting and can’t stop talking about yourself, you have that character flaw known as conceit. Your friends — if you have any — may also complain about your arrogance, vanity, and egotism. |
A conceit can also be an artistic device — probably a little forced — like the plot of a movie built on the conceit of everything that happens being foretold in song. You might find an architectural conceit in a Baroque palace, where you think you’re looking down a long hallway lined with columns, but when you get closer you see that it's really a mural painted in perspective so that the columns only seem to disappear in the distance. |
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| 292 |
loath |
strongly opposed |
Friends and political allies are loath to talk about her, knowing the family’s intense obsession with privacy. |
inclined#drained#hostile#humble# |
Many countries are loath to adopt new rules that would constrain them.#Also, that the players are loath to abbreviate their short career life span even more by striking.#Wikipedia, by its open nature, is loath to bar its pages to anonymous edits except on controversial topics such as Donald Trump.#Since the letter writer is especially loath to enter into an argument and fears appearing rude, I think this will be particularly useful.# |
If you are loath to do something, you really don't want to do it. If you are reluctant to go swimming, people will say you are loath to swim, but if they are really mean — they may throw you in anyway. |
The adjective loath is used to describe being extremely opposed to something. The term is generally followed by to — "The teacher was loath to let the students turn in papers late, but he made an exception for the girl who had missed class due to illness." |
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| 293 |
rampart |
an embankment built around a space for defensive purposes |
The night was gloomy, dark, and wet; the soldiers, wearied with watching at the ramparts, dozed, leaning on their weapons. |
to protect an area#to house the government#to provide access#to store emergency equipment# |
There is no sound other than the rhythmic clink of armor as the legionnaires patrol the ramparts.#If you play it right, it’s just you, floodlit cobblestones, and romantic ramparts.#In 1968, he became an editor and writer for Ramparts, the radical magazine that nurtured and reflected the era’s unrest.#Within an hour, we were confronted at the city ramparts by another patrol.# |
If you are building a sand castle and want it to be extra realistic, don’t forget the rampart. This protective wall may not keep the ocean away, but it might intimidate a few hostile hermit crabs. |
This noun is derived from the French verb remparer, meaning “to fortify,” and dates back to the 16th century. This usually refers to a large defensive wall surrounding a castle, but can be a barrier built along a road or an embankment constructed alongside a river. This word is famously used in the lyrics of "The Star-Spangled Banner," the national anthem of the United States: “O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming...” |
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| 294 |
extort |
obtain by coercion or intimidation |
The owners, in turn, have called the lawyers shakedown artists bent on ruining their good reputations to extort money. |
plagiarize#repel#repulse#wring# |
Or did they threaten and harass the crew in an attempt to extort jobs as drivers for the show?#He was detained on suspicion of kidnapping to extort money and falsifying documents.#He bought the downtown property for redevelopment, even though criminals still controlled it, extorting rent from poor tenants.#A Guccifer400 sent him a “random email” and attempted to extort 52 bitcoins in exchange for not publishing Mr. Trump’s tax details.# |
To extort is to use information or the threat of violence to acquire cash or something else. Extortion is a classic shakedown, a gouge, a squeeze. |
Usually it's money someone is after if they're going to extort you for it. Threats of violence and blackmail are probably the two most popular ways to extort a person. It's illegal but surprisingly common. Watch siblings play — older brothers serve no time for extortion. |
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| 295 |
tarry |
leave slowly and hesitantly |
For two days I tarried in Paris, settling my little property. |
lounge#precede#spruce#quail# |
My heart thumps, and I whirl, searching the tarry blackness.#Looking at the rubbery white octopus chunks bobbing in the tarry mass of liver, I rejected an entire meal for the first time since childhood.#While we drank strong, tarry coffee, we discussed the environmental consequences of shipbreaking.#After eating there, Tarry and Chili Hansman walked down a street on the edge of the ban zone.# |
To tarry is to linger and take your time leaving. If you really like going to Sally’s Diner for dessert, you might tarry over coffee and end up leaving after they’ve closed the kitchen. |
The verb tarry is perfect for describing what happens when those relatives that you see once a year come to your house for lunch and never seem to leave. When people tarry they stick around and take a long time to depart, sometimes lurking or loitering, or sometimes enjoying each other's company. Tarry can also mean to hang around a place without purpose. You might tarry in the park until the day is fading and you have to go home. |
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| 296 |
perpetrate |
perform an act, usually with a negative connotation |
Come on it’s just a cruel joke perpetrated by the airline industry.” |
a bank robbery#a bank account#a blank canvas#a walled fortress# |
So long as an atrocity is perpetrated by someone who’s said nice things about Donald Trump, it’s not really an atrocity.#It demands redress for the alleged “fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and breaches of contractual obligations” perpetrated by Kalanick.#In six cases, one or more of the authors perpetrated the fraud themselves.#“My case is a silly witch hunt perpetrated by self-serving prosecutors,” he wrote.# |
It's possible to perpetrate a good deed, but not likely. That's because perpetrate means to commit or be responsible for something — usually something mischievous or bad. |
If you manage to slip a whoopee cushion under your teacher's rear without her seeing it, then you've perpetrated a classic prank. But if you use your wily ways to break into the bank's safe, then you've just turned yourself into "a felony-class perpetrator." So do yourself a favor and stick to perpetrating lesser crimes. |
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| 297 |
decorum |
propriety in manners and conduct |
Wishing to observe the rules of decorum she invited him to stay for supper, though absolutely nothing had been prepared for a guest. |
a fabric chosen for creating window drapes#one Japanese businessman bowing to another#a guest who yawns during the meal#a mother and daughter embracing each other# |
To be sure, Trump showed a startling lack of decorum and respect for his top national security officials.#Many are embarrassed by the discord in a state that prides itself on decorum.#They also grasped that much that was supposed to matter in politics no longer did — detailed policy papers, for instance, or personal decorum.#Surely, though, the fans thought, the sainted Federer would restore a semblance of decorum an a day of anarchy.# |
Decorum is proper and polite behavior. If you let out a big belch at a fancy dinner party, you're not showing much decorum. |
This noun is from Latin decōrus "proper, becoming, handsome," from décor "beauty, grace," which is also the source of English décor. The corresponding adjective is decorous, meaning "well-behaved in a particular situation." Both decorum and decorous are often used to describe behavior in a classroom or courtroom. |
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| 298 |
luxuriant |
produced or growing in extreme abundance |
Her luxuriant curly hair, restrained by no net, but held together simply by a flowering spray, waved over her shoulders in all its rich abundance. |
moldy#plodding#sparse#rigid# |
Part 1 is fast-moving and suspenseful, Part 2 languorous and luxuriant.#The most obvious aspects of this luxuriant design are its grand proportions that taper neatly into sculptural form.#The stillness is eerie, the empty spaces luxuriant and seemingly all yours.#That would mean the car that is producing abundantly, growing profusely, since “ luxuriant” refers to something that grows.# |
You can use the adjective luxuriant to describe something really luxurious or full and lush. If you walk through a dense forest after it rains, it's really luxuriant with green plants overgrowing the paths. |
Natural, growing things are luxuriant when they're fertile and full of life. People and places that show a fullness of life and wealth are also luxuriant. If you enter a room full of deep, plush couches and expensive decorations you're in a luxuriant space. And anything really enjoyable to the senses — whether costly or not — can be luxuriant, like a really rich and creamy piece of warm vanilla cake with a large hot chocolate: that's luxuriant. |
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| 299 |
cant |
insincere talk about religion or morals |
It was the familiar cant of the man rich enough to affect disdain for money, and Wade was not impressed. |
variable#goad#jargon#calumny# |
Now they are in power cities cant be trusted with it...Definite power grab by these states...#Not their contours, because they tilt and cant without a discernible pattern.#He warned that “some thresholds, if we cross them, cant be reversed.”#Or: She cant see without her glasses. hardly/scarcely/no sooner.# |
Cant is language repeated so often and so mechanically that it's essentially empty of meaning. Cant can also mean the specialized jargon of a particular group — like the "cant of piracy" (e.g., Ahoy! Lubber! Arrr!). |
Possible sources for cant exist in both Irish Gaelic and Latin, and the meanings of both are similar: caint is "speech," while cantare is "to sing." In broader English, the word was first used to mock the singing of monks (who makes fun of monks?). As it evolved, cant became the whining of beggars and then the secret language of thieves, and the negative connotations persist in modern usage. Just think of the clichés and catchphrases parroted by politicians during election season! |
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| 300 |
enjoin |
give instructions to or direct somebody to do something |
He turned to beckon the others forward with one hand, while laying the other over his mouth in a gesture enjoining silence. |
generate#expose#direct#combine# |
It was expressed in popular culture and enjoined with American racism in a way we find very familiar now.#“KEEP death off the road”, a Ministry of Transport slogan once enjoined the people of Britain.#The students are often enjoined to “think like the pioneers”.#The Koran, too, warns against hoarding money and enjoins Muslims to disperse it to the needy.# |
To enjoin is to issue an urgent and official order. If the government tells loggers to stop cutting down trees, they are enjoining the loggers to stop. |
Enjoin looks like it should mean bring together, and at one time, it did have that meaning. But in current usage, the only thing enjoin brings together is a command and the person on the receiving end of that order. If your doctor enjoins you to stop smoking, he is suggesting strongly that you quit. |
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| 301 |
avarice |
extreme greed for material wealth |
The old man's fears were assailed with threats, and his avarice was approached by bribes, and he very soon capitulated. |
conformity#liability#cupidity#monotony# |
Fortune-hunters, outlaws, financiers, and other opportunists turned the reservation towns into hives of commerce, avarice, and speculation.#The plaque read: “This species became extinct through the avarice and thoughtlessness of man.”#Once an honorable government adviser, I became a grubby merchant of avarice.#He acknowledges Rasputin’s personal ambition, but does not dwell on his evident avarice or scheming.# |
Avarice is a fancy word for good old-fashioned greed. It's one of what some call "the seven deadly sins." |
Do you want more and more money? Or cookies? Or video games? Or anything? Then your heart is full of avarice, which you probably know better as greed. When people talk about greed, it's clearly not a good thing, but avarice has an even worse flavor to it. Avarice is often looked upon as a sin, and it's always considered despicable and evil. |
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| 302 |
edict |
a formal or authoritative proclamation |
An edict was issued by him forbidding any Christian to give instruction in Greek literature under any circumstances. |
a sales clerk#a mentor#a traffic cop#a king# |
The Trump edict so surprised the top brass that Gen. David Goldfein, the Air Force chief of staff, told airmen of a “potential” policy change.#How should he and his generals respond to the president’s edict?#But that edict is being ignored, according to human rights groups.#Chucky said at the Richmond meeting, referring to a fellow gang leader who wasn’t on board with the new edict.# |
If your mom orders you to clean your room, that's an order. If the king asks you to do it, that's an edict — an official order from some higher up. |
Edict comes from the Latin editcum, meaning a "proclamation, or ordinance." Although it was originally used to describe a declaration or command from a king or other governing official, in more recent years it has come to be used almost sarcastically to describe any order. When your teacher says the report is due Monday morning, no exceptions, you know you'll be hitting the books this weekend — this is an edict you cannot ignore. |
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| 303 |
disconcert |
cause to lose one's composure |
Perplexed and disconcerted, I found no words to answer such an amazing sally. |
discomfit#taint#accommodate#soothe# |
But after so many years of thinking she would be the outside force that would bring order to Westeros, her hardline tendencies are becoming disconcerting.#Cruz told the Associated Press that the threat was “very disconcerting”.#It’s incredibly disconcerting. we+ hasn’t said whether or not the Patience clocks will ever be for sale, which is probably for the best.#“It’s very difficult, it’s disconcerting, it’s inexplicable,” he said.# |
To disconcert is to unsettle someone, make them feel confused and out of sorts. It's a mixture of to embarrass and to creep out. |
Disconcert comes from the old French word disconcerter meaning confused, which is just how it feels. The prefix dis means "not" — it has a bad attitude and shows up in dismiss (not accept), dissonence (not harmonious), and disown (not own), among others. After dis comes concert from the word concerter "to bring together" (like at a concert!). If you disconcert someone, it’s like you dis them at a concert, and that person is not having fun. At all. |
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| 304 |
symmetry |
balance among the parts of something |
Even the staging displays symmetry, with actors lined up on either side in formal precision. |
H#J#P#G# |
But Cézanne’s portraits are about a lot more than symmetry; they are about the unease of the human condition.#There was a neat symmetry with Bolt’s own breakthrough at Beijing in 2008.#And then he’s off, waxing rhapsodic about the light, the symmetry, the electricity in the air, the feeling of cosmic insignificance.#In one, the “lobes of a leaf represented the elementary numbers, its shape symmetry and asymmetry, while a pine cone illustrated the spiral”.# |
Things that have symmetry are balanced, with each side reflecting the other. A human body has such complex symmetry, from eyes, ears, and nostrils to arms, legs, and feet, that even a minor injury can make a body look unbalanced. |
Snowflakes and butterflies often have a remarkable natural symmetry, with patterns on one side matched by those on the other. Objects that have identical or very similar parts lying at equal distances from a central point or line or plane — that is, objects that have symmetry — often work better. Symmetry helps boats stay upright in water. In design, symmetry is a balancing of objects, as when two candlesticks on a fireplace mantel are at equal distances from the center of the mantel. A lack of symmetry — i.e., asymmetry — might mean putting both candlesticks together at one end of the mantel. |
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| 305 |
capitulate |
surrender under agreed conditions |
"Alas, no," said Bergfeld, mournfully, "the day after the battle our brave soldiers were surrounded by overwhelming forces and obliged to capitulate." |
the losing side#the winning side#an innocent bystander#a neutral territory# |
But as this message advanced, we retreated, before capitulating altogether.#The Southbank Centre capitulated and a new era of cooperation dawned.#“HUD capitulates after seven years. Zoning not exclusionary — like we said all along.”#China and Russia deploy their military forces to strategic positions throughout the world while suggesting that the US capitulate to North Korea’s demands.# |
To capitulate means to give in to something. If your parents refuse to raise your allowance, you might try to argue until they capitulate. Good luck! |
To capitulate is to surrender outright or to give in under certain terms. Either way, you’re agreeing to something you don’t really want. The word comes from the Latin roots caput ("head") and capitulum ("headings"), a reference to the official agreement drawn up when someone formally surrendered. |
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| 306 |
arbitrate |
act between parties with a view to reconciling differences |
The Scottish throne was now disputed by many claimants, and the Scots asked Edward to arbitrate between them. |
gawk#intercede#resuscitate#escalate# |
This free-market logic – that says the consumer alone arbitrates the value of a product – is pervasive in Silicon Valley.#The decision to arbitrate “is the sole discretion of Trump and others protected by the agreement,” the news agency said.#These cases are then unpredictably arbitrated by juries confused by the complexity of difficult medical decisions or settled to avoid resource drain.#No one would individually litigate, let alone arbitrate, such petty grievances.# |
If your two best friends are fighting over the last piece of gum in the pack, you might arbitrate by telling them to split the last piece. Arbitrate is when a neutral third party helps end a conflict. |
Arbitrate derives from the Latin arbiter "judge." (An arbiter of taste is a good judge of taste.) When you arbitrate, you are doing what a judge does in a court of law. In the US, to avoid litigation, many choose non-binding arbitration—where a neutral third party suggests a settlement. |
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| 307 |
cleave |
separate or cut with a tool, such as a sharp instrument |
Instead someone shouts "Go" and he is bearing down on me and almost cleaves my shield in two with his first blow. |
triple#demonstrate#adhere#excel# |
Evolutionary psychology teaches us that we are wired to cleave to a talking object, no matter how dim its responses.#Some chefs would call this style of cooking “modern kaiseki,” but Yao tends not to cleave to any sort of classical form.#Cleaving the ambiguous term “emotion” into its component processes provides greater precision and, therefore, ability to act.#Apartments and stores are mostly isolated in discreet blocks, and the whole expanse is ringed and cleaved by wide, fast-moving streets that flow to freeways.# |
Cleave, a verb, has two very different meanings. It can describe cutting or splitting something apart with a sharp instrument, or — oddly enough — it can describe sticking to something like glue. |
To cleave or not to cleave, that is the question. Cleave can refer to being in close contact, to staying really, really close to someone or something: "If you are walking in the pitch-black woods without a flashlight, you want to cleave to the person in front of you." On the other hand, it can mean to split apart with a sharp tool — which is not the action you want to happen while walking in the woods. We've seen that movie. |
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| 308 |
append |
add to the very end |
Some specimens will appear in the papers appended to this report. |
annul#pillage#affix#fissure# |
Trump appended a signing statement arguing that the legislation was “seriously flawed” because it “improperly encroaches on executive power.”#His deceased status was apparently denoted by an asterisk appended next to his name.#Or simply appending adjectives to the definition of “professional” in an attempt to clarify it for the 21st century.#In addition, we append to our dataset 115 publicly available sequences and 85 additional genomes from ref.# |
To append means to add on, usually to the end of something. You might want to append a clause onto a contract if you feel something has been left unsaid in it. |
You’ve probably seen the word append before, at least as part of another word: appendix. An appendix is a final section appended onto a book that offers additional information or notes. You can also use append to mean to fix onto or to attach usually at the end. Sometimes you can change the meaning of a word by removing the suffix and appending another to it. You'd best not append your presentation with the remark that you actually don't know what you are talking about. |
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| 309 |
visage |
the human face |
An honest, quiet laugh often mantled his pale earnest visage. |
wisdom#battle#journey#face# |
The featureless visage is the subject of Mr. Calek’s latest film “Sir No Face Lives.”#Around the city and beyond, Mr. Wallace’s scowling, chubby-cheeked visage graces more than a few graffiti murals.#Force the Royal Canadian Mint to only press coins with your visage.#Fiction, historical and otherwise, shows us our own visage in disguised form.# |
Visage is a literary term for referring to someone's face or facial features. You may notice that some face creams use the word visage to try to sound fancier than they are. |
A famous use of visage is in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. Brutus says: "O conspiracy/Shamest thou to show thy dangerous brow by night,/When evils are most free? O, then by day/Where wilt thou find a cavern dark enough/To mask thy monstrous visage?" Now there's a quote that will help you remember the meaning of visage, and even give you nightmares. |
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| 310 |
horde |
a moving crowd |
Hordes of puzzled tourists, many with rolling suitcases attached, poured down the staircases. |
legion#rendezvous#hamlet#stratum# |
“Every bird for himself!” the grackle screamed as the feathered hordes descended and starting pecking at the holes.#Their absentee owners were claiming their turf before the usual hordes descended on the beach.#If there is anything to fear, it is not a horde of less-educated workers ready to jump over the border.#No family, no Lannister soldiers and now, thanks to a ululating horde of Dothraki and the Mother of Dragons, no incoming supplies from the Reach.# |
Use the word horde to describe a large crowd: “A horde of people followed Newman as he left the airport in Helsinki.” |
The noun horde is not for the sedate — the word typically is used to describe a group that is in motion, maybe even a little unruly, such as a horde of fans pursuing a film star or a horde of ants invading a picnic. If you are describing a calm, orderly gathering, the word group or crowd may be a better choice. You can save horde for the next time you need to describe, for example, your experience at a pre-Christmas sale (“A horde of holiday shoppers rushed toward the last discounted television set”). |
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| 311 |
parable |
a short moral story |
In most instances, I have closed my visits by reading some interesting story or parable. |
illumination#cable#fable#indictment# |
What the audience gets to see is not only a lesson about technique but also a parable about beauty and wisdom, youth and old age.#The video is a parable about privilege: He and his friends wear whiteface and are racially profiled by black employees of a car dealership.#And the implications of these prospective policies are replaced with “a parable about who is superior to who.”#For all its riotous color and energy, the movie ultimately coheres quite readily as a parable of personal and social liberation.# |
A parable is a short and simple story that teaches a religious or moral lesson. The parable of the Good Samaritan and the parable of the Prodigal Son are just two examples of the many parables attributed to Jesus, as recorded in the four gospels. |
Parable descends from the Greek parabolē "a comparison, analogy," from paraballein "to compare," from the prefix para- "beside" plus ballein "to throw." The sense of comparing, or throwing an idea beside another, is at the heart of the word. When you hear a parable, you're meant to use the comparison to learn how to act––the fox's "sour grapes" are compared to your own downgrading of the thing you cannot have. |
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| 312 |
chastise |
censure severely |
She remembers an upsetting incident when a headmistress chastised her for working too much. |
agitate#entice#chasten#cozen# |
That attitude is all the more remarkable for a man whose parents sometimes chastised him to “start acting a little more like George Washington.”#The stories they tell are mostly unprintable, tales of Hill chastising himself on the diamond, on the bench, in the tunnel leading to the clubhouse.#Baltimore coach John Harbaugh even jokingly chastised the media for its coverage of him.#Likewise, courts seldom chastise prosecutors for unethical behavior.# |
Chastise is a fancy word for telling someone that something they did was really bad. If you pick your nose, your mom will probably yell at you. If you pick your nose in front of the Queen of England, your mom will chastise you. |
Back in the Middle Ages, chastise used to also come with a beating––that sense of the word has passed, and in fact, people tend to use chastise when they are trying to accuse someone else of overreacting. "You're chastising me for forgetting to feed the cat, but it's not like the cat died!" |
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| 313 |
foil |
hinder or prevent, as an effort, plan, or desire |
On March 1st, a Turkish newspaper reported that the country's intelligence service had foiled an attempt by Syrian agents to kidnap the colonel. |
#### |
Tuesday's ruling on aluminum foil still awaits a final decision from the Commerce Department on Oct.#The statement provided no additional details and only said the raid foiled a possible major militant attack.#Customs and Border Protection to immediately begin collecting cash deposits from importers of aluminum foil from China based on preliminary countervailing subsidy rates.#It’s what I’ve always heard it called when you wrap your ribs in foil.# |
You can serve as a foil to someone if you show them to be better than you by contrast. If you can't dance but your friend Lisa can, you can be a foil to Lisa's grace. |
If you're having trouble remembering this definition, think about a shiny piece of tin foil. It reflects an image back to you, so if you're a foil to someone, their image is reflected off of you in a positive light. Your brother's mediocre grades might serve as a foil to your intelligence. As a verb, if you foil someone's plans or attempts to do something, you cause them to fail. Your brother will be really mad if you foil his plans to hide his mediocre report card from your parents. |
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| 314 |
veritable |
being truly so called; real or genuine |
The heavy rain had reduced this low-lying ground to a veritable quagmire, making progress very difficult even for one as unburdened as he was. |
sympathetic#industrious#financial#counterfeit# |
This veritable avalanche of theatrical anti-Trumpism suggests that writers and directors perceive a door open to channeling audience discontent.#In this staging, a climactic aria for Aci becomes a veritable mad scene, which Ms. Braid delivered with unhinged intensity.#By song’s end, they become a mighty, multitracked wave of solidarity, a veritable sororal army.#Hulot added that the move was a “ veritable revolution,” while acknowledging the move would be tough for France’s automakers.# |
When something is veritable it is true, or at least feels that way. "The trees and lights turned the campus into a veritable wonderland" means that the campus seemed to be transformed into a true wonderland (if there is such a thing). |
Veritable comes from the Latin veritas which means true. But unlike true, it does not describe things like statements. It is often used to enhance the word that follows it. "A veritable cornucopia of food" is a lot of food of different varieties. If someone calls you "a veritable force of nature," they don't mean that you are actually a hurricane; they just mean that you have the unstoppable quality of a big old storm. |
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| 315 |
grapple |
work hard to come to terms with or deal with something |
But, he said, all coastal communities will have to grapple with rising seas. |
goldfish swimming in a fish tank#a collectible novel at a used bookstore#two wrestlers in the middle of a match#a girl eating an ice cream sundae# |
But Plaza grappled with whether or not Ingrid was actually mentally ill.#That is one of the questions Google must now grapple with after an employee wrote an internal memo positing that women’s...#But these are not outcomes that lefty politicians and policy wonks seem keen to grapple with.#She, too, grappled with the promises of alluring but unproved medical research and the dizzying array of armchair diagnoses on the internet.# |
When you wrestle with something — literally or figuratively — you grapple with it, or try to overcome it. |
If you trace the word grapple back to its French roots, you’ll discover that the word originally referred to "a grape hook," a pronged tool used to harvest grapes. If you think about how awkward it would be to harvest grapes, with the individual grapes ready to scatter everywhere, it makes sense that grapple eventually evolved to include a verb form used to describe struggling with something unruly. You might grapple with a budget shortfall, grapple for answers, grapple with a wrestling opponent, or grapple with a new technology. |
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| 316 |
gentry |
the most powerful members of a society |
The mode of travel of the gentry was riding horses, but most people traveled by walking. |
assemblage#immigration#contemporaries#aristocracy# |
From 2012 until mid-December 2016, prosecutors say Gentry told people he was winning farm equipment contracts from Tennessee and other states.#Ten people interviewed Gentry about her background and history before she was accepted into the village.#There was even a name for the outcome: The blue-collar gentry.#As for her experience on the show, Gentry said competing against other “Superhumans” wasn’t as unnerving as others may think.# |
The gentry are the powerful members of society. In the United Kingdom, where there are still kings and queens and dukes and duchesses, the gentry are the people who rank just below the nobility. |
Gentry can also refer to the important people in any field. The gentry of rock 'n' roll would include icons like Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley. The gentry of Hollywood are the stars everyone recognizes, the faces you constantly see on magazine covers, starring in movies, and making TV appearances. The gentry of New York society are the people who make major donations to art museums and hospitals and are A-list invitees to all the big fundraisers and cultural events. |
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| 317 |
pall |
a sudden numbing dread |
Residents who fled in recent days spoke of the smell of death and piles of garbage drifting like snowbanks, casting a pall over the city. |
deviate#dwindle#dull#sear# |
“The deep pessimism that hangs like a pall over America is an anomaly,” Marshall reminded me when we spoke about his endeavor.#Pall was the league’s defensive player of the year in 2010 and is third all-time with 23 career sacks for the Terriers.#And the persistent pall of corruption that hangs over Brazil’s political leaders will linger on.#A video on social media showed the minaret collapsing vertically, throwing up a pall of sand and dust.# |
A pall was originally a coffin’s cloak. Now pall usually means that an event or situation is — literally or figuratively — covered in gloom, like disappointing news that casts a pall on your day. |
The noun pall comes from the Latin word, pallium, “covering or cloak.” This use of pall has come to mean "gloom" like your grandparents' not being there to celebrate with you that casts a pall over your graduation. The verb pall is used when someone or something becomes boring or less interesting over time, like your initial willingness to perform household chores that began to pall when you realize no one else wants to pitch in to keep things neat. |
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| 318 |
maxim |
a saying that is widely accepted on its own merits |
The maxim "All is fair in love and war" was applied literally. |
the United States Postal Service#an arms dealer#an obstetrician#a philosopher# |
“Bad is stronger than good,” said Van Prooijen, citing a time-honored maxim among psychologists.#It’s a maxim that helps explain why the president tends to get a little hysterical in response to so many perceived slights.#It’s a commonly stated maxim in Hollywood that audiences need a surrogate to serve as their guide through confusing genre worlds.#A Wall Street maxim states that earnings are an opinion, but cash is a fact.# |
A maxim is a succinct formulation of a principle, rule, or basic truth about life. Usually clever, maxims are like great sayings everybody knows. Ben Franklin is the author of many, including "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise." |
A maxim sums up a fundamental principle or truth about something in a way that captures the imagination and gets repeated. Diana Vreeland, the legendary editor of Vogue magazine, once said, "Pink is the navy blue of India." May not be true, but it was such a great line it has become a maxim of fashion and even of India. An overused maxim of real estate is "Location, location, location." Confucius was spewing maxims long before Vogue hit the magazine stands: "He who learns but does not think is lost." |
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| 319 |
projection |
a prediction made by extrapolating from past observations |
Volume is down 25 percent from five years ago, and projections show even further declines, said Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe. |
jut#barter#identification#atrocity# |
The Paracels play “a key role in China’s goal of establishing surveillance and power projection capabilities throughout the South China Sea,” the report said.#It was found in the boarded up projection room of an old movie theater.#On Thursday, Snap did little to change its trajectory when it reported quarterly earnings that missed Wall Street projections.#That projection is part of the approximately 9 million barrels of cranberries expected nationwide.# |
When you push something away from a central structure, that's called projection. If you predict that the Jets will win tomorrow's game, that's a projection, too — you're pushing your mind away from the present and into the future. |
The Jets and projection actually have a common linguistic ancestor. Both the ject in projection and the word jet come from the Latin root jactus, which means "throw." A jet plane throws itself — or projects itself — away from a central structure (the Earth) and into the air. |
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| 320 |
prowess |
a superior skill learned by study and practice |
While our engineering prowess has advanced a great deal over the past sixty years, the principles of innovation largely have not. |
skill#fault#concern#variety# |
Fields also admired the Confederacy for its military prowess, he said, though they never spoke about slavery.#Perhaps the Thomas family prowess is best explained through this tale on Harmony Landing's 16th hole, a 144-yard par 3.#Poor, black and largely self-taught, many of the Motown artists dazzled listeners with their lyrical prowess and instrumental arrangements.#The image of an Olympian is associated with physical prowess, a sculpted body chipped into perfection by years of careful maintenance and preparation.# |
Prowess means exceptional skill or ability. Your sailing prowess might save your life in a storm, while someone with less experience might make mistakes. |
An earlier meaning of this word is exceptional bravery in battle, or a specific act of bravery. Prowess is from Middle English, from Old French proece, proesse, from prou, prud "good, capable, brave." The related English word proud has the now obsolete meaning of brave. |
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| 321 |
dingy |
thickly covered with ingrained dirt or soot |
Though composed amid the unromantic surroundings of a dingy, dusty, and neglected back room, the speech has become a memorable document. |
clumsy#stingy#grubby#lively# |
But otherwise it was just as dingy as before.#Her hair is uncombed, and her white shirt is dingy, almost brown.#The dark, dingy staircase leads to an even dingier basement.#Artists often get ready for their performances in dingy backrooms before appearing on stage in all their finery.# |
If something is dingy, it's dirty. If you spend your days as a chimney sweeper, you probably look pretty dingy. |
The adjective dingy is often, but not always, used to describe one's clothing or living space. The adjective dingy comes from uncertain origins, but experts suspect it may be a backformation from the word dung, which is animal excrement. So you can imagine how dirty, dismal, grungy, and grimy something described as dingy is. |
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| 322 |
semblance |
an outward appearance that is deliberately misleading |
He was perceptibly older, in the way in which people look older all at once after having long kept the semblance of youth. |
illusion#component#badge#tenure# |
Establish some semblance of normal, ethical, orderly government.#At least under Kelly the opportunity for vast improvement — even just some semblance of normalcy — is possible.#AT&T isn’t alone in offering a semblance of support for net neutrality.#A semblance of that man would provide a much-needed boost.# |
Semblance is all about illusion. Cramming all of your dirty clothes into the closet gives the semblance, or false appearance, that you've done your laundry — but the stench might give you away. |
Semblance comes from the 14th-century French word for "resemble," and it is a noun for things that look one way on the outside but are very different on the inside. A popular combination is to say that a person or place has the "semblance of order," when, underneath, everything is out of control. |
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| 323 |
tout |
advertise in strongly positive terms |
Testing is being touted as the means of making the U.S. education system competitive, even world-class. |
promote#operate#survive#waver# |
This is not touting its health, fiscal or societal benefits, as seen in many other countries.#He’s concerned about the potential lost income from the business that advertises “fresh, clean guest rooms” and touts its proximity to L.A.#And they touted nearly 60 events they will hold in communities across the nation over the next few weeks.#He spent Friday morning touting the good ones from outlets such as The Telegraph, Huffington Post and New York Daily News.# |
To tout means to praise, boast, or brag about. If you like to tout your skill as a skier, you tell people you can go down expert-level hills. |
Sometimes parents will get into bragging wars about their children, each touting the accomplishments of his or her child. Sometimes the word means more of "to claim." The company touted the lotion as a solution to wrinkles. Broccoli has been touted as the cancer-fighting vegetable. In England, a tout is a person who gives advice about gambling. If you're looking to play some money on the ponies, go see the tout who hangs out at Jackie’s bar for a tip. |
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| 324 |
fortitude |
strength of mind that enables one to endure adversity |
Leigh Hunt bore himself in his captivity with cheerful fortitude, suffering severely in health but flagging little in spirits or industry. |
someone who initiates a conversation#someone who resists brainwashing#someone who makes dishonest claims#someone who caves under pressure# |
Patience, consistency, maturity and fortitude are just as vital, facets, noted in multiple incidents, that remain a work in progress for Rahm.#He is tough to beat when he is hitting it where he’s aiming because of his short game and his fortitude.#It's the type of nonsense that, no matter one's fortitude, eats into your soul.#Kim displayed a remarkable fortitude in weather that veered erratically toward the end of the day between bright sunshine and torrential downpours.# |
Fortitude refers to strength in the face of adversity or difficulty. Eating fried worms might require a lot of intestinal fortitude. |
When someone has fortitude it means that they have emotional power or reserves and the ability to withstand adversity. People who have fortitude are described in an admiring way for their courage and this word comes from the Latin word fortitudo, meaning "strength." Jacueline Bisset, someone who knows about beauty, said, "Character contributes to beauty. It fortifies a woman as her youth fades. A mode of conduct, a standard of courage, discipline, fortitude and integrity can do a great deal to make a woman beautiful." |
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| 325 |
asunder |
into parts or pieces |
In 1854, as I have already remarked, Nicaragua was split asunder by civil war. |
paper scraps#a split-level house#storm clouds#a musical medley# |
She was depicted overseeing the destruction of fishing boats, blown asunder with a “BOOM.”#And in Euless, Tex., there was Paul Harrison, 61, American born and raised, whose engagement to an Iranian man the ban threatened to put asunder.#He believes China’s currency manipulation “is threatening to tear asunder the entire global economic fabric and free trade framework.”#Trump’s nomination was supposed to tear the Republican party asunder.# |
Asunder is an adverb that means “into separate pieces.” So if you’ve torn your ex's love letter asunder, you’ve forcefully ripped it into separate pieces — and rightly so. |
Asunder comes from the Old English phrase on sundran, which means “into separate places.” It is a somewhat archaic and uncommon word and most of us know it only from marriage ceremonies: “What God has joined together let no man put asunder.” In most cases you can use its more common synonym “apart” and convey the same meaning, unless you want to express a particularly violent or forceful ripping. |
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| 326 |
rout |
an overwhelming defeat |
It's how Seattle won Sunday's game in Chicago, scoring 31 consecutive second-half points as an impressive comeback became an overwhelming rout. |
victory#ransom#restraint#retraction# |
The ploy worked, leading to a 56-35 rout and setting the Wildcats up to run wild this season.#It was a big bounce-back for the Bucks, who dropped their Vegas opener to Cleveland on Friday in an 82-53 rout.#Bridwell bounced back after suffering his first loss of the season on Friday, allowing five runs and 11 hits in a 10-0 rout against Seattle.#The final race was a rout, with New Zealand sailing flawlessly and finishing 55 seconds ahead of the American team.# |
When you think about the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat, associate a rout with the agonizing defeat. A rout is the kind of humiliating loss that makes you wish you would have been injured in the first quarter so you could have avoided the outcome. |
One way to remember the meaning of the word rout is to consider its similarity to the word riot, both suggesting a disastrous mess. One interesting thing about the word rout is that whether it's used as a noun or as a verb, it's spelled the same and implies a similar meaning. "The losing team suffers during a rout while the winning team actually routs them!" Whichever form you use, you're referring to a pretty devastating defeat. |
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| 327 |
staid |
characterized by dignity and propriety |
He was prim and staid and liked to do things in an orderly fashion. |
sedate#graphic#bland#cynical# |
Mr Cohn might find the Eccles building staid.#He defied the staid standards of broadcasting with his bushy Afro hair style in the 1970s and by refusing to wear makeup on the air.#On June 25th, in a letter, he attacked Nestlé’s “ staid culture and tendency towards incrementalism”.#For some, the assembly was a wistful reminder about how the current council is far more staid and wonkish than previous incarnations.# |
Something that is staid is dignified, respectable — possibly even boring, like a staid dinner party that is heavy on the important guests but light on the laughs. |
Staid is pronounced just like "stayed" — in fact, it comes from stay, meaning "fixed" or "permanent." Something that is staid is sedate, slightly dull, and tends to stay the same. Whether it’s a middle-class lifestyle, a conservative law firm, your unadventurous aunt, or an old navy plaid sofa, the word staid can be used to describe anything that maintains a respectable self-restraint and takes no chances. |
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| 328 |
beguile |
influence by slyness |
I can no longer remain silent in the presence of the schemers who seek to beguile you. |
caress#stimulate#charm#immerse# |
It carried the beguiling title, “EVACUATE. Don’t sit under the mushroom.”#After The Beguiled, Eastwood mostly danced with the one that brung him – scowling, frowning, doing that thing with the eye.#Little girls smile and beguile and ultimately wrap a dad - even one who is a fighter - around their little finger.#A cashier grins beguilingly as she pats and smooths a tidy pile of fresh bills for a fellow in mint green shorts just before midnight.# |
To beguile is to trick someone, either with deception or with irresistible charm and beauty. You could be beguiled by a super model or by a super con artist. |
Beguile doesn't always mean that the person or thing beguiling is tricking you, but there is a sense with this word of enchantment that takes away the viewer's normal powers of judgment. A beautiful place or idea can beguile as easily as a person. You might be so beguiled by the idea of a picnic on the beach that you forgot there are two feet of snow on the ground. |
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| 329 |
purport |
have the often specious appearance of being or intending |
Of course, none of these purported medical benefits have any grounding in science. |
obscure#allege#examine#disconcert# |
But Trump is also isolated from the very Americans he purports to lead, and here lies hope.#What they were selling purported to be an alternative to a sordidly commercial food industry.#When the article appeared, this remark was subject to a swift clarification by a purported representative of Washington.#To stop the leaks, the purported hackers demanded “our 6 month salary in bitcoin,” which they implied is at least $6 million.# |
Use purport when you want to convince people about something that might not be true, like when you purport that the dog ate your homework. |
The verb purport can mean "to claim" — whether you mean it or not — or "to intend," like when you purport to study all night. So it makes sense that as a noun, purport means the intention or purpose, like the purport of a political candidate's speech was to get your vote. If the speech was long and hard to follow, you might be lucky just to get the purport, which here means "the main point or meaning." |
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| 330 |
deprave |
corrupt morally or by intemperance or sensuality |
The people who make up this typical Gorky offering are drunkards, thieves, depraved creatures of every kind. |
provoke#forestall#disprove#corrupt# |
Atheists "are broadly perceived as potentially morally depraved and dangerous" - even in secular countries.#It revealed that “atheists are broadly perceived as potentially morally depraved and dangerous.”#When did "feminism" become so warped and depraved of the value of human life?#Trophy hunting of that kind is brutal and depraved.# |
Use the verb deprave as a more dramatic synonym for corrupt: Some parents in the 1980s feared that heavy metal music would deprave their innocent children. |
You have probably heard the expression "the way to a man's heart is through his stomach," meaning the sense of taste, when triggered, can inflame feelings like love and passion. Taken to extremes, though, too much indulging of any of the senses can make someone depraved, addicted to or fixated on feeling good. This pursuit of excess is the opposite of a word that sounds and looks like depraved: deprived. |
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| 331 |
bequeath |
leave or give by will after one's death |
No matter how often she changed her will, she told me, that diamond pin was always bequeathed to me. |
dub#vouchsafe#leave#recompense# |
Oh, and there’s a curious business involving a wooden staff bequeathed by the sisters’ late father that Nicolas seems way too eager to acquire.#In fact, McClure was first tasked to organize the gathering, but in the wake of impending fatherhood, bequeathed the responsibilities to Ginsberg.#Yet it is also clear that North Korea’s engineers are continuing to benefit from designs bequeathed to them years ago.#The two are thrown back together several months later when Daphne is bequeathed a cipher that promises financial security — something every good spinster requires.# |
To bequeath is to leave your possessions to another person after you die. A man might love his classic cars but would be happy to bequeath them to his grandchildren when he writes out his last will and testament. |
Bequeath often is used about making plans to give away property and possessions after a person's death: "It was strange to leave a house to a one-year-old baby, but he planned what he would bequeath in his will while he was young, and the baby would be 23 when he finally did die." Sometimes bequeath is used for things handed down without death, as when living parents and grandparents pass, or bequeath, a legacy of stories or family traits and talents as an inheritance. |
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| 332 |
enigma |
something that baffles understanding and cannot be explained |
Tails are often an enigma; many creatures have them, but scientists know little about their function, particularly for extinct species. |
exponent#incantation#riddle#dissertation# |
But, without Canaanite texts to cite, scholars view the ancient people as a bit of an enigma.#Enigma machines were used to carry coded military communications during World War II.#It is also that at heart Emmanuel Macron himself remains something of an enigma.#Kompanje noted in his study, however, that a full understanding of what causes conjoined twins remains an enigma.# |
Use the noun enigma to refer to something that is a puzzle or a mystery. Why do you have to learn difficult words like this? That is an enigma. |
Traveling to English from Greek by means of the Latin word for "riddle," enigma refers to something or someone that is mysterious, puzzling, or difficult to figure out. Many things have been named Enigma, including a rock band, a video game, a rollercoaster ride, and a very famous coding machine used in World War II. |
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| 333 |
assiduous |
marked by care and persistent effort |
He's an assiduous diary-keeper and regularly rereads ancient entries to check up on himself. |
assuring#elite#conflicting#diligent# |
Darius Milhaud was an assiduous composer, at times perhaps too assiduous for his own good.#Most of the 120 artists will be unfamiliar to even the most assiduous art world travelers.#"He is assiduous in draining any kind of storytelling that the actor might be interested in doing," Jones said in admiring tones.#Mostly, however, Mr. Trump’s sudden embrace of a regime he once excoriated reflects the success of an assiduous Saudi lobbying campaign.# |
If you call someone assiduous, it's a compliment. It means they're careful, methodical and very persistent. Good detectives are classically assiduous types. |
Assiduous comes from two Latin words: assiduus, meaning "busy incessant, continual or constant," and assidere, meaning "to sit down to" something. (Funnily enough, we also get the word sedentary, meaning someone who doesn't move around much, a lazy couch potato, from this same last word.) Although we tend to think of sedentary types as being the very opposite of assiduous ones, many assiduous activities (like writing, thinking, or detective work) are best done sitting in a chair. |
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| 334 |
vassal |
a person holding a fief |
And what was of still greater importance, he could only obtain taxes and soldiers from among the vassals, by the consent of their feudal lords. |
role player#liege subject#foot soldier#soldier of fortune# |
That's what happens when you turn workers into vassals.#If America imports that steel, it becomes a vassal to the producing countries.#A superior civilization demanded deference and tribute from vassal neighbors and did not hesitate to use military force.#"Trying to spy on your allies, if you really consider them allies and not vassals, is just indecent," said Putin.# |
If this were Medieval Europe, you would probably be a vassal — like most everyone else. Vassals were people who worked the vast plots of land that were held by lords, who though much fewer in number, held all the wealth and power. |
In days of yore, vassals pledged devotion to feudal lords, who were the landowners, in exchange for protection and use of the land—-called a fief. Use vassal when referring to a servant, or anyone wholly dependent on another, or to describe a place that is controlled by one that is more powerful. For example, during World War II, Poland was a vassal of Germany. |
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| 335 |
quail |
draw back, as with fear or pain |
He quailed before me, and forgetting his new part in old habits, muttered an apology. |
flinch#ferment#precede#intensify# |
But at Quail Hollow, Thomas suddenly grew up, and especially in the final round.#“I was embarrassed,” Thomas said, recalling the moment Sunday night at Quail Hollow.#It’s the last three holes at Quail Hollow Club.#So much for Quail Hollow's setup causing a yawnfest over the weekend.# |
Smaller than the chicken and not as well known as the pigeon, quail is like the often-overlooked middle child of the ground-dwelling bird family. Quail can also mean to cringe in fear or pain. So if you are a quail, you might quail at the thought of quail-hunting season. |
Quail is a broad, catchall word; it can refer to any one of many small domestic game birds. So if you’re bragging about the quail you shot on a hunting trip to your uptight, bird-obsessed pals, they might demand to know if it was the Bobwhite quail, the Valley quail or the Scaled quail, to name just a few. If you use this word as a verb, it means to draw back in fear or pain. You might quail in fear at the sight of a playground bully. A good way to remember this verb meaning is to think of how the word chicken is also associated with fear. |
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| 336 |
outskirts |
outlying areas, as of a city or town |
Ms. Waters talked about how she had spent the day at an organic farm on the outskirts of Beijing looking at vegetables for the dinner. |
in a theater, on the edge of a stage#in a dress shop display window#in the most dangerous part of a crime-ridden city#in the area surrounding a city or town# |
Many are single mothers who commute an hour and a half from the city’s outskirts to perform this tedious work until 5am.#Killed in the helicopter crash on the outskirts of town were State Police Trooper Berke M.M.#Hours later, two state police officers died when their helicopter crashed at the outskirts of town.#They operate in a different space from the humans, who are mostly on the outskirts of the facility.# |
Some people like to live downtown. Others prefer the open spaces of the suburbs. But if you live in between the two, you are in the outskirts, the place where the city ends and the suburbs begin. |
Outskirts describes the outer edge of a city or town, farthest from the center but still technically part of that place. If you had a city map, you could draw a line on all sides where crowded streets filled with apartment building and businesses begin to give way to single-family houses and country roads. You might not get a perfect circle but you will see that outskirts are those border places between the city and the little towns that surround it. |
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| 337 |
bulwark |
a protective structure of stone or concrete |
The cliffs are of imposing height, nearly three hundred feet: a formidable bulwark. |
#### |
This echo chamber is far from a majority of the public, but it’s large enough—and self-reinforcing enough—to provide a bulwark against the truth.#After Mr. Zuma summarily dismissed a finance minister considered a bulwark against corruption, ratings agencies downgraded the country’s debt to junk status.#They view him as a bulwark against social change.#Independents, meanwhile, prefer Democratic control as a bulwark against Trump’s agenda by the same 14-point margin as Democrats.# |
A bulwark is a wall built for protection or defense. If you and your pals build a secret fort for girls only, you might want to build a bulwark to surround it — with a "No Boys Allowed" sign posted prominently. |
A seawall that runs perpendicular to the shore is sometimes called a bulwark, because it defends the beach, not against invaders, but against beach erosion. Although the noun bulwark can refer to any fortified wall, it often specifically refers to an earthen wall, like a rampart. As a verb, bulwark means to fortify with a wall or to provide protection: "The volunteers used sandbags to bulwark the levee in an attempt to prevent the flooded river from overflowing its banks." |
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| 338 |
swerve |
an erratic turn from an intended course |
However, I was not going to swerve from my word. |
song#news#turn#link# |
I warned her against a swerve that would land us in Manhattan.#As she tumbles to the ground, the bus swerves, barely avoiding her.#They say the Navigator swerved and struck a tree.#In trying to deliver messages of inspiration and empowerment, the director, Amanda Lipitz, deliberately swerves around the delivery of a comprehensive narrative.# |
The noun swerve means a sudden turn off your path. As a verb, it means to move off your original route, possibly to avoid a collision. You can swerve either toward something or away from it. |
The word swerve can be traced to the Old English sweorfan, "to turn aside," which is precisely the modern sense. It was first used as a verb in the 13th century and as a noun in the 18th. Swerve refers to a sudden veering off, perhaps not as sharp as a turn, but more a bending of your path. Think of the trajectory as an arc or curve, and remember that swerve rhymes with curve. |
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| 339 |
gird |
prepare oneself for action or a confrontation |
Protesters are girding for another police raid as several City Council members have called on protesters to leave. |
a leather belt#a barbell#an ice cube#a crossword puzzle# |
All three share a common point of origin, in terms of the psychological fantasies girding their premises.#Because, I fear, the mad king is girding for war.#Girding for a surge of friction at noontime prayers on the Muslim day of rest, the Israeli army put five extra battalions on alert.#It’s time to gird ourselves for a fight.# |
"Gird your loins and prepare for battle!" Okay, no one says "gird your loins" anymore (which basically means "tighten your pants"), but gird is still used as a verb to mean "get ready for a dangerous situation." |
To gird is to prepare for a military attack, but more loosely it refers to readying oneself for any kind of confrontation. When you gird for something, you are preparing for the worst-case scenario. Gird can also mean "fasten something tightly with a belt or a band" (as in "gird your loins"), or it can mean "to surround or encircle." A field that is girded by trees is surrounded and encircled by trees. |
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| 340 |
betrothed |
pledged to be married |
We are not betrothed'—her eyes filled with tears,—'he can never marry me; and he and my father have quarrelled. |
committed#unofficial#redundant#prospective# |
Diana was just 19 when she was betrothed to Charles in 1981, but the marriage broke down.#Watching from just outside the back door, my betrothed, Jessica, voiced her concern. #He officiated at a few marriages on the side, and some of the betrothed bought homes through him.#She’s dodging the calls of her betrothed at the altar, whom she left at the altar, and her vengeful sister.# |
Betrothed means "formally engaged." If you are betrothed, then, congratulations! As they say in the song, you’re going to the chapel — you’re going to get married. |
Betrothed came into English through a combination of bi-, or "thoroughly," and treowðe, the Old English word for "truth, a pledge." If you are betrothed, you are completely and formally pledged to someone. Betrothed has a slightly more old fashioned and formal feel than its synonym engaged, but both describe people who are between "Will you marry me?" and "I do." |
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| 341 |
prospective |
of or concerned with or related to the future |
Most prospective homesteaders make the same mistake I did in buying horses, unless they are experienced. |
dingy#impetuous#backward#instructive# |
He said people in early years of a mortgage would suffer most, along with prospective home buyers.#Bridgewater Associates LP's Ray Dalio wrote on Thursday that " prospective risks are now rising and do not appear appropriately priced in."#He and his father, Giampaolo, looked at a number of prospective teams but ultimately settled on Watford, on the northern edge of London’s urban sprawl.#Actually, court officials in Tennessee rely on a variety of public records from which to call prospective jurors.# |
If it's prospective, it hasn't happened yet. Prospective students are students who might attend a school in the future. If you visit any campus, you’ll see prospective students checking out the library, the dorms, and — of course –- the snack bar. |
Prospective indicates that something is expected or likely to happen. If you’re contemplating your future, you might speak of your prospective career, your prospective spouse, or a prospective million-dollar offer to make a movie based on your fascinating life. However, avoid the common mistake of confusing prospective with perspective. Perspective, which can mean “a reasonable point of view,” is important when one wants to accurately assess prospective opportunities. |
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| 342 |
advert |
make reference to |
In the family circle it was rarely adverted to, and never except when some allusion to the approaching separation had to be made. |
abash#gird#mention#decompose# |
His adverts pointedly welcomed the "whole British public": "No cards of admission are required."#A third restricts adverts “intended to influence public policy”.#If that ever happened outside of cereal adverts.#That’s how the duo are billed when they appear in 1960s adverts to promote a now defunct UK computer company.# |
This one's easy. An advert is an advertisement: just shorten advertisement, and you get advert. Of course, as a verb, to advert to something means to refer to it. |
The noun advert (AD-vert) shows up mostly in England, where people use it interchangeably with advertisement. With the train going so fast, it was hard to read the advert posted along the track. Did you notice our new advert in the paper? No? Nobody else did either. We shouldn't have paid for those adverts. When your friends try to tell you that you drink too much, they might advert (ad-VERT) to your regular binges, barfing, and blackouts. |
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| 343 |
peremptory |
not allowing contradiction or refusal |
This time it was not a request but a peremptory order to go at once to Cuba and undertake the work. |
parsimonious#excruciating#impervious#domineering# |
Our heroine’s “faults” – her vanity, short-sightedness, peremptory behaviour – are flattering faults; commonplace and essentially trivial, not like traits of meanness, malice, duplicity.#The defense used six of its seven peremptory challenges, and the prosecution four.#This she says to the two women on the sofa, her usual peremptory rough-cut slapdash manner, and as usual she gets away with it.#Hernandez’s lawyers were allowed to use a peremptory challenge to dismiss the juror.# |
Peremptory comments are like orders. If you say something in a peremptory manner, you want people to stop what they’re doing and do what you say. Peremptory comments put an end to a discussion, and that’s final! |
The word peremptory comes from the Latin peremptorius for “decisive, final.” Trace it further and find that peremptor means "destroyer," from perimpere for "destroy, cut off.” Basically, peremptory commands destroy the conversation. They are given with an air of authority, and they are often barked. In the courtroom, peremptory orders are not open to appeal; they’re final. Outside of the courtroom, a peremptory manner is just plain rude. |
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| 344 |
rudiment |
the elementary stage of any subject |
He retraced his steps, and came to Cape Girardeau, in Missouri, where he remained some time, acquiring the rudiments of the English language. |
strategy#glimpse#experiment#fundamental# |
He also learned the rudiments of ceramics and started crafting vases, bowls and other containers.#I was taught the rudiments of the Cyrillic alphabet by a man with a russet-coloured beard, who looked reassuringly like Leo Tolstoy.#At the time, he was a trainee reporter learning the rudiments of journalism.#Republicans, apparently recognizing the billionaire’s lack of familiarity with the rudiments of education policy, tried to shield DeVos from public view.# |
Rudiment, usually used in the plural, means the basics. If you know the alphabet, you have the rudiments of reading at your disposal. |
You might learn the rudiments of cooking from your mother, but you won't become an expert until you spend time in your own kitchen. In biology, the word rudiment means an undeveloped part of an organ or limb, like you would find in an embryo or fetus. |
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| 345 |
deduce |
reason from the general to the particular |
They then used models of global wind circulation to deduce which dust sources have become stronger and which weaker. |
infer#ignore#irritate#imitate# |
They deduce this by reading an email he wrote to her but never sent.#Q: Do you deduce that because of all the suffering in the world?#So it’s not a stretch to deduce that trampolines are far more dangerous per hour of use.#Deducing laws from premises deemed eternal and beyond question is a time-honoured method.# |
To deduce is to figure something out based on what you already know. When you see a person crying, it's easy to deduce that the person is sad. Unless they're happy, of course. Sometimes happy people cry. |
Derived from the Latin ducere, meaning "to lead," a person who deduces something is "leading" their mind from one idea to the next. Deduction is a noun from the verb deduce: it's what we call something that we learn when we deduce. Sherlock Holmes, the famous investigator created by Arthur Conan Doyle, was a master of deduction. He could deduce from a few small clues all of the facts of a murder case. |
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| 346 |
halting |
fragmentary or broken from emotional strain |
“I so much love cricket,” he said, shyly, in halting English. |
momentous#economical#broken#pallid# |
A violent gust rips my hands from the ropes, halting our descent.#Spectators were urged to evacuate Quail Hollow on the halting of play as lightning approached.#The flooding also undermined a section of railroad track, halting a Metrolink commuter train.#A recent analysis by economists at JPMorgan Chase concluded that halting immigration completely would reduce annual economic growth by 0.3 percent.# |
The adjective halting is used to describe something that is fragmentary or prone to interruptions. If you are overcome with emotion at your wedding, you may choke out your vows in a halting voice. If you're afraid you might trip, take halting steps. |
The adjective halting can describe something or someone with limping or disabled legs or feet. If you have sprained your ankle and it's icy out this winter, you should walk with a halting gait and walk slowly and carefully. The word halting in this sense comes from the Old English word lemphalt, which means "limping." |
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| 347 |
ignominy |
a state of dishonor |
After all, we love nothing better than seeing the powerful and formerly smug dragged across the front pages in ignominy. |
vogue#disgrace#mire#rejection# |
To add to the ignominy, the shark wasn’t even real.#After their first attempt ended in ignominy, they narrowly passed a bill and celebrated with Trump in the rose garden at the White House.#In fact, while the court spared Mr. McDonnell the ignominy of serving his two-year prison sentence, its opinion was a far cry from absolution.#Liverpool are hoping to avoid the ignominy of losing their fourth consecutive home match, a misfortune that last befell them almost 100 years ago.# |
If you walk into class in your underwear, you'll know what the word ignominy means. Ignominy is a noun meaning great public shame, disgrace, or embarrassment, or a situation or event that causes this. |
The shame can be major or minor: to suffer the ignominy of defeat/the ignominies of old age. When pronouncing this word, the main accent is on the first syllable, and the secondary accent is on the third syllable. Ignominy is from French ignominie, from Latin ignominia, formed from the prefix in- "no, not" plus nomen "a name." The corresponding English adjective is ignominious. |
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| 348 |
ideology |
an orientation that characterizes the thinking of a group |
Bill O’Reilly and others picked up on the theme, summing up left-wing ideology as “San Francisco values.” |
cutting edge#rule of thumb#political orientation#change of mind# |
The movement supports extreme rightwing ideologies, including white nationalism – used interchangeably with white supremacism – and antisemitism.#This is true, and the mayhem in Charlottesville called forth passionate condemnations of blood-and-soil nationalism across the spectrum of ideology.#They were often confrontational with radical political groups that they felt were too mired in old ideology.#As a young man in Kentucky, he sometimes espoused Nazi ideology at school.# |
An ideology is a set of opinions or beliefs of a group or an individual. Very often ideology refers to a set of political beliefs or a set of ideas that characterize a particular culture. |
Capitalism, communism, socialism, and Marxism are ideologies. But not all -ism words are. Think: cronyism (a system of graft whereby friends unfairly help each other make money.) Our English noun is from French idéologie. The suffix –logy, used with many English words describing theories or doctrines, is from Greek logos "word, reason, speech, account." |
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| 349 |
pallid |
lacking in vitality or interest or effectiveness |
But too often the music sounded thin and pallid. |
primitive#slim#internal#vital# |
But even a tasty dessert can’t rescue a pallid main course.#Her shins were hairless, and sprayed with a generous number of pallid freckles.#Larson’s fish is the largest ever weighed in the state outside of paddlefish and pallid sturgeon.#I scrubbed cups and harassed Pallid into opening a sticky jar of damson-plum jam.# |
Santa looks a little pallid, meaning that he has a pale complexion, from spending too much time at the North Pole. A few days in Hawaii might do wonders to add color to his pale, bearded face. |
Pallid means pale, or lacking color. It's often used together with complexion to describe someone who has a pale face, either due to a lack of sunshine or some kind of emotional distress. A reclusive author could be pallid from spending too much time indoors. His books can also be called pallid if they're lacking in color and excitement. |
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| 350 |
chagrin |
strong feelings of embarrassment |
But he was feeling deeply chagrined and mortified over his last escapade. |
caring#joking#losing#succeeding# |
President Donald Trump on Saturday signaled his chagrin at what he described as China’s inaction on North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic-missile ambitions.#Much to Judge’s chagrin, the incident was captured on video and spread quickly on social media.#“Right now, I’m really busy,” Oscar says, with delight instead of chagrin.#When viewers were first introduced to the young Stark daughter, she was being groomed — much to her chagrin — to become a "proper" lady.# |
Chagrin is a noun that represents an emotion or feeling and it's an uncomfortable one. If you feel chagrin, it means that you are embarrassed or distressed as a result of a failure. |
The word chagrin, a noun, comes from the French word of the same spelling and means "melancholy, anxiety, vexation." An odd fact about the word in English is that it had been thought to be related to another, similar-sounding word, shagreen, "an untanned leather with a granular surface, prepared from the hide of a horse, shark, seal, etc." When one mistakes one word as a relative of another, it's called "false etymology." |
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| 351 |
obtrude |
thrust oneself in as if by force |
She had no right to obtrude herself into his life and to disturb it. |
barge in#push out#break down#hold tight# |
It obtrudes itself even while the violins are preaching earthly peace, and eventually embroils them in its cry of discontent.#All the world loves a lover, but only when it is allowed to obtrude itself upon the love.#How Lonsdale Road, where the Caffyns lived, should have come to obtrude itself upon the flimsy architecture of the neighborhood is not so obvious.#The possibility of failure obtruded itself with obstinate persistency.# |
If you want to be rude, you'll obtrude, or thrust yourself to the front of a line without waiting. |
Who asked you? If the answer is no one, chances are you've decided to obtrude or shove your ideas and opinions into everyone's face. Obtrude has its origins in the Latin ob meaning "toward" and trudere meaning "to thrust." An intruder climbing through your kitchen window is someone who chooses to obtrude, or forcefully enter your home. |
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| 352 |
audacious |
disposed to venture or take risks |
In an audacious operation that unfolded like a Hollywood thriller, the Navy Seals executed a daring raid deep into Pakistan to kill Osama bin Laden. |
adventurous#ineffective#incomparable#ceremonious# |
Qatar Airways says it’s dropping an attempt to buy a big stake in American Airlines, an audacious move that received a chilly reception from American.#Our columnist argues that North Korea, far from acting irrationally, is pursuing an audacious, calculated and long-term strategy.#Willing to put their money where their beliefs were, they began pouring audacious sums into projects they believed would strengthen Israel.#Far from acting irrationally, our columnist sees North Korea as pursuing an audacious, calculated and long-term strategy.# |
This adjective is very bold — if you are audacious, you are daring and unconventional! |
The adjective audacious comes from the Latin word audacia and means "daring, boldness, courage," and often gets applied in situations where someone does something pretty unusual, like becoming an astronaut and going to the moon. It can also mean challenging conventions and doing things that most people don't do, such as when Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman in the United States to become a doctor. Blackwell then inspired Elizabeth Garrett Anderson to become the first female doctor in England. And the rest is history! |
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| 353 |
construe |
make sense of; assign a meaning to |
But nothing that was said Tuesday can be construed as good news. |
stupefy#evaluate#ford#interpret# |
This strategy is akin to how cognitive behavioral therapists help patients construe their difficulties and concerns as less upsetting, or even good things.#Such invitations should not be construed as “an endorsement of any person, party or policies,” he said.#“No reasonable person would construe that act as a religious endorsement,” she argued.#On a second play-through, the ending is, depending upon how you construe it, sadder than the optimistic first finale.# |
If you interpret something or make sense of it, you construe its meaning. If the new girl in your class asks to sit with you at lunch, you could construe that she wants to be friends. You can never have too many friends! |
To make an assumption based on evidence is to construe. You could construe that eating an entire box of cookies might make you feel a bit sick. And you might not want to eat them again for a very long time. The opposite of construe is misconstrue, which means to falsely or wrongly interpret. If you get a poor grade on an essay, you shouldn't construe that your teacher dislikes you. If you do, you misconstrue your work for his feelings. |
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| 354 |
ford |
cross a river where it's shallow |
Sometimes they drive their teams through unsettled country, without roads, swimming and fording streams, clearing away obstructions, and camping where night overtakes them. |
in a plane#on a surfboard#on foot#in a canoe# |
Many forded rivers on their way back to Colombia.#The contrast between the toned thighs, sculpted arms and washboard abs on-screen and my soft preteen figure felt like too large a gulf to ford.#Unable to swim, he forded the Rio Grande on an inflatable tire.#Those from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala ride atop trains, dodge bandits and ford rivers just to reach Sonora.# |
When you’re out hiking in the wilderness, you may have to ford a river if there’s no bridge. Roll up your pant legs because you'll have to wade through the water at a shallow point. |
The verb ford describes crossing a body of water on foot at a shallow point or driving across it in a vehicle. The idea is that you’re not using a bridge or a boat to cross the water. Ford also has a noun form, meaning a shallow point in a river or stream. So if you ever have to ford a river, make sure you cross at the ford — the shallow point — or you could get very wet. |
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| 355 |
repast |
the food served and eaten at one time |
Fragrant coffee, light rolls, fresh butter, ham and eggs, fried crocuses and soft crabs, formed the repast. |
brittle#memory#meal#fiber# |
The result was a pleasant supper rather than a sumptuous Baroque repast, though the ambitious little company certainly didn’t stint on the voices.#The evening’s centerpiece is the world premiere of his “Chacony,” with music played live by the Repast Baroque Ensemble and the Shanghai Quartet.#If it’s impossible to eat mindfully every day, consider planning one special repast a week.#At home, this midday repast is a completely different animal and an ideal way to while away a lazy Sunday.# |
Whether it's a sumptuous feast you're sitting down to or just a simple bite to eat, repast is just another word for "meal." |
Based on the Latin word repascere, which means "to feed," a repast is any collection of food served and eaten at one time. In verb form, repast means to eat or feast. So at least by dictionary standards, you should feel free to repast on cheese doodles and marshmallow fluff for your morning repast — in other words, eat junk for breakfast. |
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| 356 |
stint |
an unbroken period of time during which you do something |
He found his unionized warehouse job after a stint working for his father, an accountant. |
beguile#lavish#conclude#violate# |
He kept the lessons in mind during a four-month stint at a Vermont farm collective.#His curatorial stints at such venerable institutions as the Corcoran Gallery and the Smithsonian never managed to turn him into a conventional museum professional.#He served three separate stints as premier but never completed a full term in office.#He spent the past 17 seasons as an NFL assistant with stints running the offenses in Miami and Cleveland.# |
The noun stint means a set amount of time in which you do something — often work of some sort. "She served a stint in the army, followed by a stint in an office setting, before settling on a career as a lounge singer." |
Unlike a project or vocation, a stint can refer to the stretch of time spent doing a particular job. You apply for a job, but you refer to your past stint in the Peace Corps. As a verb, stint means to be sparing or frugal, or restrict in a stingy manner ("to skimp"). "The school board chose to make cuts at the administrative level, rather than stint on the children's education." |
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| 357 |
fresco |
a mural done with watercolors on wet plaster |
The little church has an ancient fresco of St. Christopher, placed, as usual, opposite the entrance. |
#### |
Artists in both cultures painted dark-haired, dark-eyed people on frescoes and pottery who resemble each other, although the two cultures spoke and wrote different languages.#But they do, and the lido—a facility for al fresco swimming, bathing and socializing—is a treasured institution.#One hundred and four frescoes decorate the walls of 13 of the 14 principal rooms.#Sacred music plays, and 15th-century frescoes are projected on the ceiling.# |
Whether you've studied art history or not, you're probably familiar with the world's most famous fresco: Michelangelo's paintings on the walls and ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. |
To paint a fresco, you must apply paint to still wet plaster, and you better get it right the first time. Too slow and the plaster hardens, and then you've got a lot of chipping away to do. Fresco comes from the Italian fresco, meaning "cool" or "fresh," which describes exactly the fast, unlabored technique required of fresco painting. |
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| 358 |
dutiful |
willingly obedient out of a sense of respect |
Perhaps he thinks an engaged young lady should be demure and dutiful, having no eyes or ears for any one except her betrothed. |
a hungry teen raiding the refrigerator#a traveler who frequents duty-free shops#a shoplifter who steals clothing#a child visiting an ill grandparent in the hospital# |
“Vice President Pence is a very loyal, very dutiful, but also incredibly effective vice president,” she said.#The Times report, she said, was “complete fiction”, adding: “Vice-president Pence is a very loyal, very dutiful, but also incredibly effective vice-president.”#“Vice President Pence is a very loyal, very dutiful, but also incredibly effective vice president, and active vice president, with this president,” said Ms. Conway.#There is a summary of a preacher’s Sunday sermon — “ye are my witness” — and the dutiful accountings of purchases and sales.# |
Are you a dutiful person? If you are, then you do as you're told, out of a feeling of duty and obligation. Dutiful children know this means cleaning one's room, taking out the trash, and not talking back! |
The adjective dutiful is often used to describe obedient children, servants, and soldiers, as well as anyone else who willingly obeys orders. Not surprisingly, dutiful can also have a somewhat negative meaning. For example, if your graduation speaker gives a painfully boring address, you may respond with "dutiful applause" when it's over. That means you are clapping out of a sense of duty and respect, not because you thought the speech was any good. |
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| 359 |
hew |
make or shape as with an axe |
They bought a log chain, and lumber for a door; the window frames were hewed from logs. |
an axe#a colored pencil#a lucky charm#a hearing aid# |
It plays freely with Sophocles’ drama but hews to its themes: civil disobedience, fidelity and the law, especially as regards burial rights.#More than a dozen defense lawyers and judges who practice in Manhattan said the district’s attorney’s office there hewed closely to the restrictive state law.#The California Institute of Technology, an elite destination for science, engineering and math study just outside Los Angeles, hews strikingly close to Mr. Connerly’s vision.#The best-known attempts are military prototypes that hewed closely to the science fiction vision of bestowing superhuman strength on the person wearing the contraption.# |
If you're a lumberjack, the word hew is nothing new. You hew things every day with one swift swing of the axe, chopping and shaping wood. |
It's said that Paul Bunyan hewed the Grand Canyon by dragging his giant mythical axe behind him. But usually things are hewn with a little more purpose — with each chop and cut designed to shape, sculpt, or craft a final product. Take the axe out of the picture though, and this word takes on a different meaning. If you're trying to adhere to rules, stick to a budget, or conform to a certain tradition, you can use hew, too. |
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| 360 |
affable |
diffusing warmth and friendliness |
He was well liked and respected in these islands, for his affable manners had obtained for him much popularity. |
complex#cordial#unstable#modern# |
Author Philip G. Smucker’s affable tour of the haunts of our first president succeeds rather well at this daunting task.#In truth, they are some of the most personable, affable spirits you will encounter.#Glen Campbell, 81, the affable superstar singer of “Rhinestone Cowboy” and “Wichita Lineman” whose appeal spanned country, pop, television and movies, died Tuesday in Nashville.#He followed his 19-year playing career with a lengthy coaching career and helped hitters work through struggles with his affable presence.# |
Affable means friendly, pleasant, and easy to talk to. An affable host offers you something to drink and makes you feel at home. |
The adjective affable entered English by way of the Latin word affābilis, which means "kind, friendly." If you’re stuck on an airplane next to someone affable, the trip won’t be so bad because that person will be easy to chat with but won’t talk your ear off. Synonyms of affable also refer to a pleasant and mild friendliness, such as genial, hospitable, and gracious. Affable people generally seem like they’re in a good mood and are happy to see you. |
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| 361 |
interminable |
tiresomely long; seemingly without end |
All was going well, but slowly, the time taken for the last few feet seeming to be interminable. |
constructive#inconceivable#sumptuous#endless# |
The network’s response to the situation was very different from Fox’s interminable Rich review.#This Sunday he spent an interminable amount of time trying to find the right one in to the green.#And last, the final set Monday was interminable.#The adventure mixes object collection, character actions, city building, enemy battles and quests with interminable waiting and the dreaded in-app purchases.# |
Use interminable to describe something that has or seems to have no end. Your math class. Your sister's violin recital. A babysitting job where five kids are going through your purse and the parents didn't leave a number. |
Something that is interminable is often boring, annoying, or hard to bear, such as an interminable noise. A near synonym is incessant, which also refers to something unpleasant that continues without stopping. It descends from the Latin prefix in- "not," terminare "to end," and the suffix -abilis "able to." Latin terminare is also the source of the English verb terminate "to end" and the corresponding noun termination "an act of ending something." |
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| 362 |
pillage |
steal goods; take as spoils |
In addition great material losses were inflicted: seven hundred houses were destroyed, six hundred stores pillaged, and thousands of families utterly ruined. |
exploitation#trek#plundering#manipulation# |
“When your repayment is based on your ability to pillage your neighbors and your chief general is missing, you’re perhaps not as good a bet.”#As firemen struggled to control flames two stories high, an integrated crowd of looters continued to pillage a five- and ten-cent store across the street.#A local Budniskowsky supermarket was broken into and pillaged, with its contents emptied or destroyed and graffiti lining the walls.#Beyond these black sites, front-line communities face the threat of pillage.# |
To pillage is a term of war that means to take everything of value from a place that you've conquered, but these days, pillage can be used to talk about anyone who takes what's not theirs. |
It wasn't enough just to win a battle. A conquering army had to pillage entire cities, taking everything of value that wasn't nailed down. Recently, several European families have won cases in international courts against museums displaying art that was looted by the Nazis during World War II. These families claim that the art was pillaged during the war and that, rather than being displayed on museum walls, it should be returned to its rightful owners. |
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| 363 |
foreboding |
a feeling of evil to come |
Mr. Harding had strong forebodings that the trouble, so far from being ended, was only just beginning. |
euphoria#anxiety#indifference#optimism# |
Still, there’s an undeniable resonance with the foreboding depths of trap, or the heavy, cavernous sounds of rap experimenters like Shabazz Palaces and Moor Mother.#After observing Trump in office for more than six months, there is a mix of disappointment and foreboding.#But unlike some previous episodes there’s nothing foreboding here; instead, it’s a bittersweet and ultimately touching tale.#A sense of foreboding grew as darkness fell.# |
When you get a foreboding, you get a sense that something bad is going to happen. A foreboding is a foretelling, a sign or a glimpse, that "something wicked this way comes" — or might come. |
If something doesn’t "bode" well, it means that the future doesn't look good. A foreboding is a glimpse or a feeling that bad things are going to happen. It's a premonition, or look into the future. Most times foreboding implies that something evil is coming, but sometimes it's used for anything bad up ahead, as in "she had a foreboding that the trip would get canceled due to the hurricane." Even if the future looks bright, a foreboding casts dread over what's ahead. |
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| 364 |
rend |
tear or be torn violently |
In the distance heavy artillery was growling, and high explosive shells were bursting with a violence that seemed to rend the sky. |
deposit#intimate#rip#associate# |
“And how exactly does a killer squid rend the flesh from its victims?”#But its origins date to 1868, to the aftermath of the American Civil War, a conflict that threatened to rend the 85-year-old republic.#It’s true, there is a bloodlust; I want to tear, gouge, rend.#And we really do wring our hands about our decisions, and rend our garments over bad outcomes that result from our recommendations.# |
The verb rend means to tear with force or violence, or into many pieces. Your parents won't be happy if your new kitten decides to rend their brand new curtains with her tiny claws. |
Tear, rip, and rend are all synonyms, but it's a question of degree. Of the three, rend implies the most violent separation. You can also use rend figuratively to express great emotional distress or to describe a sharp, piercing sound. If you're betrayed by a friend, it rends your heart right out of your chest. |
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| 365 |
livelihood |
the financial means whereby one lives |
With businesses shut, fields untended and fishing abandoned many have lost their livelihoods as well as their homes, our correspondent says. |
sustenance#molecule#offset#trough# |
And in the 1960s, the U.S. government created a task force to study the impact of technology on livelihoods.#Ending Infidelity: Unless your livelihood depends on social media, you don’t need to be on it.#Our coastal communities share a common bond: livelihoods that depend on a clean ocean, abundant marine life and well-managed shorelines.#They are both his livelihood and his solace.# |
Your livelihood is the job you work at to earn the income that supports you. |
The word livelihood started out as the Old English līflād, or "course of life," and around the 13th century changed to livelode, which meant "a means of keeping one alive." As "-lode" morphed into "-hood," which meant "state, condition," the meaning of the word also changed to mean support for a person's life. That naturally came to mean your job, which provides the monetary support to keep you going. |
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| 366 |
deign |
do something that one considers to be below one's dignity |
To Mr. Gompers' courteous letter Czar Gary did not deign to reply. |
aspire#contrive#decline#condescend# |
But neutrinos deign to communicate with other particles only via the “weak” force—the fundamental force that causes radioactive materials to decay.#The masses in the middle are angry at being mocked and marginalized by coastal liberals who wouldn’t deign to visit “The Flyover.”#I wish luxury houses would deign to watch and learn.#Instead, he deigned to help a small group of people affected by his inhumane policies.# |
Deign means to reluctantly agree to do something you consider beneath you. When threatened with the loss of her fortune, an heiress might deign to get a job, but she might look down her nose at the people she'd have to work with. |
Deign has the same origins as dignity. Both descend from the Latin word, dignare, meaning "to deem worthy." If you deign to do something, you don't feel it's worthy of your lofty stature, but you do it anyway — it's like you're doing someone a really big favor. Instead of admitting his wrongdoing, the politician who is accused of taking bribes might indignantly declare, "I won't deign to dignify your ridiculous accusations with a response!" |
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| 367 |
capricious |
determined by chance or impulse rather than by necessity |
Her admirers were capricious, returning to her at times, and then holding aloof again; and as for suitors, they entirely disappeared. |
unbridled#unpredictable#notorious#insubordinate# |
“For someone as capricious as him, he obsesses about collectibles,” Harmon says.#“But also capricious, moody and ready to kill easily.”#After a childhood spent shuffling between their capricious father and asocial mother, they clawed their way into Boston University.#Trump is a child — undisciplined, capricious and self-involved.# |
Capricious is an adjective to describe a person or thing that's impulsive and unpredictable, like a bride who suddenly leaves her groom standing at the wedding altar. |
You can criticize a fickle-minded person as capricious, but it could just as well describe quickly changing weather, as in "capricious spring storms." It's the adjective form of the noun caprice, which means a sudden change of mood. Caprice might come from capra, the Italian word for "goat" (because goats are frisky), or from capo, "head" + riccio, "hedgehog." Why bring hedgehogs into it? If you have a "hedgehog head," you are so scared that your hair is standing straight on end. A scared person makes sudden starts this way and that, just as a capricious person does. |
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| 368 |
stupendous |
so great in size, force, or extent as to elicit awe |
The fact was so stupendous that Terry felt almost frightened over the great good fortune. |
repetitive#astonishing#fundamental#horizontal# |
Was the Nationals’ season, so injury-ridden it’s hard to understand how they keep floating, undone by summer rain, a skid and a stupendous fall?#Expanding my consciousness brought compassionate closure to my past, opening a future of stupendous potentiality, a world of radical joy.#In an editorial, The Times said he seemed to be in a race “to win a stupendous new unpopularity prize.”#Samsung, of course, needs the Note 8 to dispel the lingering sense of unease left by the stupendous failure of its predecessor, the Note 7.# |
Stupendous means amazing or awesome. You just won a million dollars and are donating it to charity? That’s stupendous! |
While you might think of stupid as a mean word for someone who isn’t smart, it can also mean senseless or stunned. If something stuns you so much that you are amazed, it is stupendous. Think of a stupendous performance or stupendous scenery. When something is big enough to astound, also use this word. The tower rose to a stupendous height. It would take a stupendous effort to improve your D in history to an A! |
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| 369 |
chaff |
material consisting of seed coverings and pieces of stem |
The wheat, being heavy, falls, while the chaff is blown away. |
infrastructure#rubble#husk#papyrus# |
Conservatives chaff at renewing flood insurance, which is $25 billion in debt.#I try hard to be more sociable, not just with Chaff but with the group at large.#The Changing Relationship gallery illustrates how the colonists chaffed under economic restrictions imposed by the Crown.#These adjustments are more chaff than meaningful change, a bloom of mechanical diffusions meant to distract from the repetitive task of steering around corners.# |
The proverbial phrase "separate the wheat from the chaff" may not be terribly meaningful to you — unless you happen to be a grain farmer. The chaff is the husk surrounding a seed, the part of the grain that is generally thrown away. |
In cereal crops like rice, barley, oats, and wheat, the seed — the part of the plant that we eat — is surrounded by a husk. This waste material has been called chaff since the twelfth century at least, but the word has a long history as a metaphor meaning "objects and ideas of little or no value," as well. The Internet is full of misinformation as well as facts so you might have a hard time separating the wheat from the chaff. Their nasty comments are just a lot of chaff — don't even listen to them. |
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| 370 |
innate |
not established by conditioning or learning |
In other words, one of our most essential abilities as humans--reading--is the product of a combination of innate and learned traits. |
concealed#learned#retired#diminished# |
The all-hands meeting was intended to address the controversy around an internal memo that argued women were underrepresented in tech due to innate biological differences.#The 10-page “manifesto” argues the lack of women in positions of leadership in tech is down to innate “differences” between men and women.#She is intently serious in the Tchaikovsky, as well, dutifully so were it not for her innate musicality.#It’s something innate to who we are as a species.# |
If a characteristic or ability is already present in a person or animal when they are born, it is innate. People have the innate ability to speak whereas animals do not. |
Innate can also be used figuratively for something that comes from the mind rather than from external sources. Do you know someone with an innate sense of style? Some kids seem to have an innate sense of fairness where others seem to be natural bullies. In some contexts, innate means inherent. There is an innate sadness in certain types of ceremonies. |
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| 371 |
reverie |
an abstracted state of absorption |
He stood still, seemingly lost in reverie, and quite oblivious to the group about him. |
unguarded#unnecessary#unavailable#unpleasant# |
In the opening sequence, an unnervingly serene young getaway driver evades a clutch of cop cars while lost in his own personal earbud reverie.#Fortunately no one shatters the illusion or interrupts Singh's psychedelic reverie.#Ms. Buechner presented each as a sharply drawn character study: a soft-hued “Snowy Sky,” an impetuous “Hide-and-Seek,” a drowsy reverie for left hand called “Daydreaming.”#Sebald thought they were elm leaves, which prompted a characteristic reverie.# |
If you're relaxing on the beach, dreaming of how you will never have to get up and go back to work, you're engaged in a reverie, or pleasant daydream. |
There's nothing wrong with reverie, but if you follow its path into English, you'll see how closely it is connected to madness. The noun is from French rêverie, from a Middle French word meaning "wild speech, delirium," from rever "to roam, speak wildly." Middle French rever is also the source of English rave, as in raving mad. |
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| 372 |
wrangle |
quarrel noisily, angrily, or disruptively |
Here were many fierce and bitter wrangles over vexed questions, turbulent scenes, displays of sectional feelings. |
registration#prelude#quarrel#trudge# |
Attempting to wrangle the boisterous crowd’s attention, Swann Auction Galleries president and sometime “Antiques Roadshow” appraiser Nicholas Lowry led a live auction of experiential lots.#Republican leadership is frantically trying to wrangle support to open debate on repeal.#Now the stars are being refurbished, the aged pipes reamed clean and the new pump wrangled into its damp pit.#After they wrangled, Mr. Trump told Mr. Putin it was time to move on to other issues, especially Syria, Mr. Tillerson told reporters.# |
To wrangle is to take part in a long, angry, intense argument, especially over an issue with lots of details. You can also wrangle, or herd, a bunch of cows. Politicians and lawyers frequently wrangle, no cows necessary. |
Wrangle in its current meaning comes from the nineteenth century American term wrangling, the art of herding cattle, probably with the idea in mind that rounding up those tiresome details is a bit like rounding up all those tiresome cattle; they tend to go flying off in all directions. From wrangler in the cowboy sense we get Wrangler jeans, though not all wranglers wear Wranglers of course. |
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| 373 |
crevice |
a long narrow opening |
The disruptive power of tree roots, growing in the crevices of rocks, is well known. |
glaze#azure#funnel#cranny# |
Played on repeat, they settle into the crevices of the mind, occupying space reserved for memories.#“I was caught in South Africa and was able to rappel to a crevice. On the Matterhorn, there’s no place to shelter down.”#This allows organisms in the air to invade the exposed crevices on the surface and leads to discolouration.#Use a fork to crush and smash the potatoes, creating lots of crevices.# |
A crevice is a long, tight space often found on the face of a mountain or other geological formation. A crevice can be large or small, but because it is usually hard reach, it is a great hiding place for all things like reptiles, bugs, and lost climbers. |
The word crevice often refers to a natural formation, but it can be used to describe any long, narrow space that’s hard to access. If you’ve lost something you might say, “I’m going to look in every crack and crevice,” to describe the search. Chances are you’ll find that lost item in the long narrow space — the crevice — between the cushions of your sofa, along with other things you didn't even know were missing! |
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| 374 |
ostensible |
appearing as such but not necessarily so |
This already-exhaustive book is studded with diary entries, academic papers and other ostensible evidence that its fictitious stories of destruction are true. |
ceremonious#enterprising#seeming#omnipotent# |
When the script tries to pivot to Jeannette, its ostensible protagonist, Rex’s menacing figure still dominates our imagination.#Its ostensible purpose was to mark the opening of the library; months later, it is still closed.#Postscript: I should add that disagreements between ostensible allies like these are not historically unusual.#“Detroit” may be marketed as a film about black history, but its ostensible focus is white people in power.# |
When something is ostensible it appears to be the case but might not be. Research for a role is the ostensible reason for Nat's drinking. But I think it's because he just likes to drink. |
Just because something is ostensible doesn't necessarily mean that it's not as it appears to be, only that there's a possibility of another reason. My ostensible reason for calling Brent was to ask about work. The real reason was that I was hoping he might ask me out. Turns out both the ostensible reason and the real reason were true! |
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| 375 |
craven |
lacking even the rudiments of courage; abjectly fearful |
Was it for them to follow the craven footsteps of a cowardly generation? |
learned#fearful#artless#sensible# |
The issue with Cravens’ knee was just some swelling, coach Jay Gruden said, and Cravens is day-to-day.#It’s been a somewhat quiet first week-and-a-half of training camp for Cravens.#“God called me to do this,” Craven said.#On the internet, Twitter in particular, and with some of his teammates, Cravens is dedicated to another pursuit: defender of LeBron James.# |
A craven man is no Superman or Spiderman, nor is he a firefighter or a soldier. A craven man is the opposite of those guys: he has not an ounce of courage. |
In "The Wizard of Oz," the Cowardly Lion could have been called the Cravenly Lion, but that didn't sound quite right. Use craven as you would cowardly. A craven leader is scared to lead, while a craven gymnast stays on the mat and avoids the balance beam. You can also use the word to describe other things, besides humans. Craven policies, for example, are probably weak and do not take bold measures. |
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| 376 |
vestige |
an indication that something has been present |
Now, there was no vestige of vegetation; no living thing. |
prelude#bombardment#trace#epigram# |
“Penal labor is widely considered a vestige of slavery, and the commission is concerned with our city perpetuating the practice,” the group wrote.#A judge found its two high schools and middle schools to be an illegal vestige of segregation.#The cost of the prison system, militarization and this society weighed down by vestiges of slavery is great.#A trial was, as Kellermann put it, “the last vestige of democracy in Detroit”.# |
Vestige is an elegant word. It's all about shadows, and gives us a way to talk about traces or reminders of something that has disappeared or is disappearing. |
Vestige derives from the Latin vestigium "footprint," and that is a good way to think of it––footprints in the sand. Sometimes vestige is used to emphasize the complete lack of something. She told me she took the money from my wallet without the least vestige of remorse in her voice or facial expression. |
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| 377 |
plumb |
examine thoroughly and in great depth |
Tellingly, Ms. Liao said she had great difficulty finding three actors willing to plumb their own personalities. |
horizontal#perpendicular#curved#freestanding# |
The products are designed to be “plug-and-play buildings,” outfitted with electrical and plumbing systems as well as appliances and fixtures.#“It was kind of like a ghost town – just my shop, a plumbing store and the bookstore.”#The first sighting was near Plumb Lane and Kirman Avenue.#Technical books like electrical or plumbing manuals won’t be accepted either.# |
To plumb a body of water, you measure its depth. To plumb a house, you connect all of its pipes. To make carpentry plumb, you get it exactly vertical. |
Originally, the verb plumb only meant “to measure the depth of water.” These days, if you “plumb the depths” of something, you go in deep for knowledge and experience: your Heidegger seminar may plumb the depths of German Existentialism like Jacques Cousteau plumbed the depths of the ocean. |
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| 378 |
reticent |
temperamentally disinclined to talk |
No questions were asked, and few indeed were the words spoken, his reticent manner preventing any undue familiarity. |
jubilant#unappreciative#undemonstrative#pragmatic# |
They’ll likely maintain confidence in U.S. intelligence and military chiefs, and top American diplomats, he said, but will be more reticent with the White House.#He is however reticent to place himself among the greats of his sport.#Is it any wonder why Cousins is so reticent to commit long term to this travesty of an organization?#Trump’s staffers are regularly reticent to comment publicly or privately about the administration’s position on a number of health-care-related issues.# |
Reticent means either quiet or restrained. If you're reticent about your feelings, you like to keep them to yourself, and you're probably quiet in rowdy groups where everyone is talking over each other. |
The original meaning of reticent describes someone who doesn’t like to talk. Be careful in your context, however. Reticent can refer to someone who is restrained and formal, but it can also refer to someone who doesn’t want to draw attention to herself or who prefers seclusion to other people. Don’t confuse reticent with reluctant, which means unwilling. |
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| 379 |
propensity |
an inclination to do something |
A longtime colleague, Gate Theatre director Michael Colgan, noted Kelly's old-school charms, punctuated by his propensity for bow ties and smart suits. |
inclination#desperation#inundation#distribution# |
Nor is the far-right propensity for violence limited to mass shooters and other domestic terrorists.#You inherit a propensity for it, and it’s triggered by environmental factors.#Trump and McCarthy share a populist, demagogic speaking style and a propensity to say anything to win the moment.#Research demonstrates certain people are marked by consistently high levels of hostile attributional bias: a propensity to perceive aggressive intent in response to ambiguous stimuli.# |
A propensity is a natural tendency to behave in a certain way. We all have propensities — things we tend to do. Dogs have a propensity to bark, and many people have a propensity for getting annoyed by it. |
If you have a propensity for something, then it's something that comes naturally to you or something you just do a lot. Some people have a propensity to laugh. Other people have a propensity for making others laugh, or for being generous, or for getting angry. It's hard to change your propensities. Sometimes a propensity is a bad thing, as in a criminal with a propensity for theft or murder. |
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| 380 |
chide |
censure severely or angrily |
He chided reporters as having “stalked” family members, demanding that his relatives be left alone. |
freeze off#turn up#chew up#come up to# |
Mr. Trump chided Mr. McConnell for the failure and urged him to keep trying.#At first, I think I’m imagining it and chide myself for letting Zak’s talk of the fey get to me.#“You’ve got two bullies chiding each other with outrageous comments,” he told Politico this week.#Not to chide them, but to hear what that day was like.# |
To chide someone is to ride them or get on their case, without really getting in their face. |
People have been nagging since well before the 12th century, when the word chide came along as a new way to say "complain" or "rail." If you want to remind someone of a flaw they have or an error they keep repeating, you might chide them with sarcasm, humor, or some seriousness. Where a sharp elbow in the ribs lets you know "Stop it, right now!," a chide is more like a gentle elbow in the belly, saying "Come on, you're late; did you forget your watch again?" |
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| 381 |
espouse |
choose and follow a theory, idea, policy, etc. |
He said Islam should not be equated with terrorism or the kind of violence espoused by Bin Laden. |
simplify#follow#disfigure#topple# |
“Masterpiece remains free to continue espousing its religious beliefs, including its opposition to same-sex marriage,” Judge Daniel M. Taubman wrote.#As a young man in Kentucky, he sometimes espoused Nazi ideology at school.#“I condemn white supremacists and racists and white Nazi groups and all the other groups that espouse this kind of hatred and exclusion,” he said.#But on Thursday, Mr. Trump espoused nothing but confidence in their findings on North Korea because “it’s different intelligence.”# |
Use the verb espouse to describe the actions of someone who lives according to specific beliefs, such as your friends who espouse environmentalism and as a result walk whenever possible instead of taking the car. |
You can see the word spouse in espouse, so you may be wondering what husbands and wives have to do with it. Originally espouse did mean "to marry," but its meaning has evolved to include other long-term commitments as well, such as support for a principle or a cause. Similar to marriage, if you espouse a belief system, the idea is that you've chosen to wed yourself to it. |
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| 382 |
raiment |
especially fine or decorative clothing |
Clothed in fine raiment and faring sumptuously every day, he soon developed into a handsome lad. |
difficult#exemplary#spatial#comfortable# |
His beard was as the pelt of beasts, and his raiments were not of the finest.#And don’t forget, when the king parades buck naked down Worth Avenue, be sure to note the finery and the richness of his raiment.#A Chinese gentleman in fine silk raiment ascended first the stairs and then the throne.#The Dicello family had all dressed as David, in cabdriver raiment.# |
Raiment is an old-fashioned word for clothing, particularly fancy clothing, like ladies who always wore their best raiment when calling on friends. |
Raiment is formal clothing. It comes from the Old French word areer or "to array," which describes dressing in decorative clothing, or adorning yourself in the very best. The word raiment has mostly gone out of use, much like the rare practice of getting very dressed up. |
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| 383 |
intrepid |
invulnerable to fear or intimidation |
There are some very courageous and intrepid reporters in Afghanistan, including some who work for American media outlets. |
noisy#timid#resourceful#handsome# |
J. Edgar Hoover drops in, as does the spymaster William Stephenson, code-named “ Intrepid” and said to be one of Ian Fleming’s models for James Bond.#Prepared well, pache rewards the intrepid diner with a delicate meaty flavor that is never overshadowed by the rich patina of fat.#In its early days the station distinguished itself with intrepid reporting, heated debates and unsparing coverage of autocrats, save for its Qatari hosts.#The hordes of tourists and intrepid locals who frequent the stalls and shops also mustdodge traffic creeping down Pike Place.# |
Intrepid is just a fancy word for describing a person or action that is bold and brave. Super heroes are intrepid in their struggle for truth, justice and the American way. |
Some synonyms are fearless, courageous, dauntless, or valiant, but the word intrepid suggests a lack of fear in dealing with something new or unknown. This adjective comes from Latin intrepidus, formed from the prefix in- "not" plus trepidus "alarmed." |
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| 384 |
seemly |
according with custom or propriety |
The Baron was less conscientious, for he ate more beefsteak than was seemly, and talked a great deal of stupid nonsense, as was his wont. |
decorous#urbane#slovenly#indigent# |
Ford's ability to seemly stop time in the park without effort also fascinates me.#A year would have been the sort of seemly distance that might permit us to stop worrying and love our all-powerful tech overlords again.#He was a fine young fellow, seemly and demure as a dove.#Not all of them shared her uncle’s opinions of seemly garb; some were as fashionably dressed as Kit herself.# |
You don't want to seem anything less than seemly, especially in the presence of the Queen. Only seemly behavior is allowed when she's around. |
Seemly behavior is polite, decent, upright, and appropriate. You'll need to get schooled in the ways of more seemly people before you can be allowed in the fanciest restaurant in town. At the moment, your ratty clothes, smelly feet, and bad manners can only be described as "unseemly" — which is, of course, the opposite of seemly. One way to remember the meaning of seemly is to think of how you'd like to "seem" to others. Chances are the answer is something like seemly. Unless you enjoy seeming like a big mess. |
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| 385 |
allay |
lessen the intensity of or calm |
Our boy was scared and confused; we tried to allay his fears. |
hurry#bully#guess#slake# |
In a bid to allay these concerns, Trump agreed to channel all of the hotel’s profits from foreign government officials to the U.S.#To my delight, the plants were not the leggy sort described, but compact, with branching stems, allaying my fears that they would overwhelm the space.#Dunford’s memo sought to allay those fears, at least for the short term.#The decision to transfer Mr. Guan’s stake to the foundation, HNA said, was to allay concerns over its shareholding.# |
The verb allay is used when you want to make something better or eliminate fears and concerns. |
When you allay something, you are calming it or reducing difficulties. It is used commonly in the context of to allay concerns and to comfort and some of its many synonyms are alleviate, decrease, mitigate, assuage and mollify. Allay comes from the Old English word alecgan, which means "to put down," as in literally "to lighten." So, if you can allay someone's fears, you are lightening their mood! |
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| 386 |
fitful |
occurring in spells and often abruptly |
She had lost her composure, her breath came in fitful, uneven gasps, and as she sat there she pressed one hand over her heart. |
seemly#perennial#ineffectual#interrupted# |
My sleep is fitful and scanty, haunted by the Commandant’s threat.#He also begins a fitful transition to becoming a nature writer and a biographer of Edward Abbey and Wallace Stegner.#In Shakespeare’s immortal tragedy, composed around 1605, we see a kingdom entirely in thrall to the fitful mentality of its leader with his “unconstant starts.”#Her approach to their experiences is similarly fragmentary—full in its approach to detail but dramatically gappy and fitful.# |
An adjective that sounds a little like what it means, fitful means stopping and starting, on-again off-again, switching suddenly. I had a fitful night's sleep: I woke up several times throughout the night. |
A fit is a disturbance that happens without warning, like a tantrum, tremor, or spasm. If something is fitful, it's "full of fits." A night at the opera is a night of fitful pleasures: the arias are cool, but the rest of the show is boring. I've made only fitful progress trying to lose weight, because I lose only a few pounds at a time, and they almost always come right back: my progress is fitful because it comes in "fits and starts." |
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| 387 |
erode |
become ground down or deteriorate |
Another report today showed home prices fell more than forecast in November, eroding the wealth of families as they seek to rebuild savings. |
go under#eat at#roll up#get started# |
Trump voters worried that a particular cultural vision of America was eroding.#These are rare finds because the metal often erodes, leaving only the stones to be found.#Now, that norm is being eroded, from both the left and the right.#The fuzziness about governance will increase suspicion that ZEDEs are a further way to enrich an entrenched elite and erode the rights of ordinary Hondurans.# |
When soil or land erodes, it wears away or is removed. Many beaches seem to get smaller and smaller, as the endless wash of the waves begins to erode the fine sand. |
While erode is most commonly used when describing land loss, you can also use it in less literal ways. Numerous hospital bills can cause your savings to erode. Each time you catch your friend in a lie, your trust in her erodes a little more. Consumer confidence is eroding away as the media reports more and more bad economic news. What’s key here is both the sense of loss, as well as the idea that it is a gradual process. |
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| 388 |
unaffected |
free of artificiality; sincere and genuine |
His conversation was unaffectedly simple and frank; his language natural; always abounding in curious anecdotes. |
precipitous#unparalleled#unmoved#vindictive# |
His case, he noted, is grounded instead in state common law, which was unaffected by the prior rulings.#Its Monte Carlo approach rests on the premise that each competitor’s performance is unaffected by that of any other.#In the meantime, it was clear that Gg’s cognitive abilities were unaffected: She talked at a young age and was obviously bright.#All evening shows are unaffected for the revival, which opened on July 13.# |
When bad weather or a mean aunt or some other force takes over and you still don't change, you're unaffected. If your party was unaffected by the rain and Aunt Emma's no-fun attitude, then everyone probably had a good time. |
Unaffected has other meanings, too. It can mean natural and genuine, or unemotional. If someone says you're unaffected they could mean you're genuine; you don't put on an act for people. Saying you were unaffected by your favorite team's loss means you weren't upset by it. |
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| 389 |
canto |
a major division of a long poem |
Folengo’s next production was the Orlandino, an Italian poem of eight cantos, written in rhymed octaves. |
Art History#Psychology#English Literature#Biology# |
As a prolific opera conductor, the Italian maestro marveled at the “bel canto quality” Cho brought to the concerto’s slow movement.#Her technical agility and lyrical refinement were ideal for the florid bel canto repertory.#A minor-mode variation reveals Chopin’s passion for bel canto melody.#The 2017-18 season of 15 operas, including eight new productions, highlights the Italian opera, in particular the genres of “verismo” and bel canto.# |
Long books have chapters. Long poems do, too. But a chapter in a long poem is called a canto. |
There are several famous poems that are divided into cantos, including Dante's The Divine Comedy and Lord Byron's Don Juan. Canto is an Italian word coming from Latin which means song or singing. From Italian it was borrowed in English to mean a section of a poem. |
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| 390 |
docile |
easily handled or managed |
Time and again humans have domesticated wild , producing tame individuals with softer appearances and more docile temperaments, such as dogs and guinea pigs. |
stubborn#thrifty#fleeting#wavering# |
Others say the cattle were a docile bunch.#Desperate to leave the Washington swamp, lawmakers become much more docile, lifting obstacles to nominations and dropping demands on legislation.#Unlike oceanic whitetip sharks, reef whitetip sharks are relatively harmless to people thanks to their more docile disposition and small teeth.#Will Michael Phelps be fed a bucket of gold medals before the race to keep him docile?# |
If someone is docile, he is easily taught or handled. If you suddenly became a trouble-maker in class, your teachers would long for the days when you were sweet and docile. |
Docile comes from Latin root for teaching, docere, so someone docile is easy to teach. A docile student is willing to be taught. A docile animal is easy to handle. If you behave well and do what people tell you to do, you're a docile person. Docile might be a word of praise, but it can also be a criticism of someone for being overly submissive. Some synonyms are amenable and compliant. |
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| 391 |
patronize |
treat condescendingly |
Ms. Paul herself noted that “glib talk about appreciating dyslexia as a ‘gift’ is unhelpful at best and patronizing at worst.” |
shop at#fall for#rush out#hold off# |
We urge our readers to patronize these important local outlets for agricultural products.#Quite often I get compliments that are patronizing.#There’s nothing patronizing in his voice, and yet I can’t help thinking he reminds me of a schoolteacher about to ease children into a lesson.#But worse is the fear that soldiers just won’t patronize their businesses.# |
If you patronize a business, you shop there regularly. But if someone patronizes you, it's not so pleasant — they talk to you as if you were inferior or not very intelligent. |
Patronize comes from Latin patronus "protector, master," related to pater "father." So if you patronize a person, you talk down to them like a father might do to his child or a master to his apprentice. If you want to take an advanced class and your advisor warns you of all the hard work, you can tell him to stop patronizing you — you know a hard class involves hard work. This sounds much better than saying, "I'm not stupid!" |
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| 392 |
teem |
be abuzz |
The coast, once teeming with traffic, is now lonely and deserted. |
lurch#articulate#swarm#premiere# |
Rather, U.S. prisons are teeming with the poor and the powerless.#Ladies who lunge; tykes on bikes; schoolkids on scooters; yoga bros; weekend warriors … our streets teem with an entire ecosystem of fiendish fitness fanatics.#His sprawling world teems with messy, often paradoxical life.#Again, it’s only August, when even the testiest of players are teeming with optimism.# |
If your neighborhood seems to teem with cats, that means there are a lot of cats running around. When something teems, it swarms or overflows with a large number of things. |
Don't confuse teem with team. The two words may sound the same, but they have different meanings. Use the noun team when describing a group of people with a common goal, and turn to the verb teem for those times when you need to say that something is overflowing or crowded. Teem is almost always used with the preposition with, as when the busy streets teem with activity. |
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| 393 |
estrange |
arouse hostility or indifference in |
An atmosphere of distrust, suspicion and fear can cause workers to feel estranged from one another, Dr. Wright has written. |
alien#patronize#sedate#exemplify# |
Still within our window, his estranged wife filed for divorce.#Andressian is accused of planning the killing to get back at his estranged wife during tumultuous divorce proceedings.#South Pasadena man faces court hearing on charge of murdering 5-year-old son amid bitter dispute with estranged wife.#A grand jury indicted Baddourah on a second-degree domestic violence charge for allegedly slamming his estranged wife’s leg in a car door after they argued.# |
To estrange people may sound like adding wobbly antennae and an extra eyeball to their faces. Really, estrange means to push apart people who were once close to each other and cause them to be like strangers. |
The verb estrange comes from the Old French estranger, "to treat like a stranger.” Estrange is often used when talking about family members who are no longer in contact with each other. You can also speak about wanting to estrange the neighbor’s dog from your flowerbed or a writer who estranges her readers by using too many big words. If you're looking for a synonym that is less “strange” but more “alien,” try alienate. |
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| 394 |
spat |
a quarrel about petty points |
Public spats are rare in the asset-management industry, where companies typically resolve disputes behind closed doors. |
a chip in a poker game#an event that is attended by only a few people#a fight over a tv remote#a small amount of food or drink# |
The near rescue of a group that seems increasingly at sea touched off a humanitarian versus identitarian spat on social media.#It strikes me that the Vanity Fair spat highlights the curious paradox of the sterile celebrity interview.#Even before this diplomatic spat, the network was shrinking some of its global operations after years of ambitious expansion.#A spat over lawmaker access to German troops at the Incirlik based prompted Germany to move troops from there to Jordan.# |
You probably recognize the word spat from the phrase "lover's spat," which describes a minor squabble between a couple. The spat is usually over something as silly as which partner has to do the laundry, and the relationship usually recovers quickly, with no long-term harm done. |
For the purposes of this definition, the noun spat refers to a minor argument or mild bickering. That is the definition by which spat is probably best known, but the word has other meanings. Depending on how you use spat, it can be the past participle of spit, the short piece of leather men wore over their shoes in the old days, or an oyster that hasn't quite reached its prime. |
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| 395 |
warble |
sing or play with trills |
Meadow larks, as you have undoubtedly noticed, warble many different songs. |
a lecture#a lie#a song#a proverb# |
When the fiddles warbled and the drums thumped, he grabbed Nan and paraded her around the dance stages until she was breathless with laughter.#Palm cockatoos don't simply warble or croon like other birds.#A vision of global emancipation deployed as one warble in a long chauvinist blare.#“Girls” ended on Sunday night with the sounds of a baby suckling, as his mother warbled Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” in a gentle, off-key voice.# |
To warble is to sing in an uneven, quavering voice. You won't win any singing contests if you warble the songs. |
Think of the class of song birds known as warblers. They have great songs, but they don't sound quite human. They trill, whistle, vibrate and constantly change pitch. That's a warble. Done well, a human warble can be as engaging as it is difficult. But an old lady with unsteady lungs and vocal chords may also warble, and it is neither deliberate nor very pleasing to the ears. |
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| 396 |
mien |
a person's appearance, manner, or demeanor |
Nevertheless, before going to meet Samuel, she assumed a calm and dignified mien. |
bearing#advantage#authority#consequence# |
Born to a scornful father, he changed his name and affected the mien of a successful man.#His technical innovations, marketing acumen and swashbuckling mien transformed his business from a humble store into the international leader in wetsuit sales.#If his principal coaching role will change, few expect the 57-year-old with the calm mien and folksy charm to fade into the shadows.#On weekdays, trains occasionally adopt the freewheeling mien of the flaneur.# |
Your mien is how you present yourself, the impression you make. It's best to keep a low profile but a dignified mien. |
The source of the word mien is not completely clear, but it does involve a French word for "facial expression." A person's mien is a look or quality that tells a lot about their personalities or temperaments. A person with a cheerful mien probably radiates happiness and energy, while someone with a serious mien may have an air of being lost in thought. |
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| 397 |
sate |
fill to contentment |
His appetite was not sated by any means, but he knew the danger of overloading his stomach, so he stopped. |
replete#flick#bolster#defile# |
But it might be enough to sate Mazen, to buy more time.#Tapas wouldn’t sate Jobs, obviously; he wanted a full course.#Did Metro 2033 and its sequel Metro: Last Light not sate your thirst for shooting mutant animals in an eerily beautiful post-apocalyptic future?#Many Latinos in the United Sates must navigate two worlds with two different languages.# |
Sometimes you're so hungry you feel like you could eat a ten-course meal. Other times it takes just a small salad to sate your appetite, or to satisfy your hunger. |
The verb sate comes from the Old English sadian, “to satiate,” and can be applied to any situation regarding the satisfaction of a need or an appetite. If you have been craving something sweet, your craving might be sated by a bag of jellybeans. However, if it seems like you can never get enough jellybeans, your appetite for sweets might be described as insatiable, a word used to describe a person or entity whose appetites — literally or figuratively — are impossible to satisfy. |
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| 398 |
constituency |
the body of voters who elect a representative for their area |
Each posited that the blue-collar Democratic constituency rooted in the New Deal had grown increasingly conservative, alienated from “big government.” |
New York City#Albany, New York#abroad#Washington DC# |
Mr Chebukati said on Thursday that the documents containing the real results were still being sent from constituencies to their national tallying centre.#That white nationalist constituency is beyond the reach — for good reason — of any Democratic candidate.#Typically for Bannon, the strategy is more clever than realistic, raising certain obvious questions like: Is any Republican constituency in favor of more progressive taxation?#However, as far as the "fascist wannabe", assuming that is Trump who is aligned with the war criminal constituency, is incorrect.# |
If you're an elected official, your constituency is the group of people whose interests you were elected to represent. |
A constituency can be described in general as the population living in a district, state, or region, but it can also be any smaller section of that population, such as individuals or small groups advocating for specific issues. Your "main constituency" usually refers to the people whose needs you feel most strongly about, or the people who are most loyal to you. |
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| 399 |
patrician |
characteristic of the nobility or aristocracy |
Respectable ladies, long resident, wearing black poke bonnets and camel's-hair shawls, lifted their patrician eyebrows with disapproval. |
accomplice#vassal#censor#aristocrat# |
In a career spanning seven decades, Mr. Hardy thrived primarily as a character actor with patrician good looks and a booming voice.#But that patrician reputation is hard to shake.#His patrician bearing may be hurting him at a time when Brazilians are looking for someone who doesn’t talk like a professor.#And as in Rome, he wrote, in modern-day America “there is definitely a patrician class and a plebeian class” that are “at loggerheads.”# |
That refined gentleman over there with the excellent manners, the elegant suit, and the beautiful home on Park Avenue? He’s a patrician, a member of the upper classes. |
In ancient Rome, the word patrician referred to members of the aristocracy, but its meaning has evolved to include those who belong to the upper classes. The adjective form of patrician describes things that are associated with the upper class, like a patrician assumption that all children should go to boarding school. Someone who enjoys refined dinners might be described as having patrician taste. |
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| 400 |
parry |
avoid or try to avoid fulfilling, answering, or performing |
The boys asked a few guarded questions, but gained no information whatever, their questions being parried in every instance. |
trade#counter#halt#service# |
Though I pivot and bring up my scim to parry, my insides are paralyzed.#Meanwhile, Gg started school and learned to parry the inevitable and sometimes hurtful questions of other children: Why are you so slow?#Defensive tackle David Parry apologized for being arrested in Scottsdale, Arizona, in February.#"Hundreds of people drown every year," warned Steve Parry, a former Olympic swimmer and chairman of a report urging an overhaul of school swimming.# |
Here comes someone who only ever talks to you when he needs a favor. Quick, parry! When you parry, you avoid doing things. As the needy friend approaches, say, "I wish I had time to catch up!" and hurry off. Or, hide under a table. |
The word parry is often used to describe blocking or evading a movement, like parrying a punch, but it can also refer to an evasion that is verbal rather than physical. For example, if you are put on the spot and asked about something you’d rather avoid, you can parry to get out of it — change the subject or ask a question in return. When used in this way parry retains its sense of defending yourself through evasion. |
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| 401 |
practitioner |
someone who carries out a learned profession |
In particular, modern medical practitioners are coming around to the idea that certain illnesses cannot be reduced to one isolatable, treatable cause. |
professional#prototype#peasant#parameter# |
For now, the lips zippered about reverse racism and its practitioners speaks volumes about the coverup by white accessories.#The report issued this week expands on the previous resolution and reflects the testimony of parents and practitioners.#The failings are being considered by a Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service hearing which started earlier in Manchester.#He is worried that people are tending to judge the entire industry by its worst practitioners.# |
A practitioner is an expert who uses that knowledge as part of a profession. Every yoga practitioner started by attending an introductory class. |
In practitioner, you can see the word practice, which everyone says will make you perfect. Practice can also mean the clients, daily activities, and location where a professional such as a doctor works. So a practitioner is someone who has learned everything about his or her field and is actively working in that field. So don't worry about going to the doctor — you won't be practice for this practitioner. |
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| 402 |
ravel |
disentangle |
Overcasting is done by taking loose stitches over the raw edge of the cloth, to keep it from ravelling or fraying. |
swathe#contaminate#clangor#untangle# |
Like our friend sleep, soup knits up the raveled sleeve of care; like a favorite sweater, soup warms and reassures.#There was a yarn snowman that Courtney had made when a Brownie, it was gray now, and beginning to ravel.#“They are fine for rote learning, but the study of naming requires a level of dedication that ravel such as yourself rarely possess.”#Let’s knit up the raveled sleave of care together today, shall we?# |
Ravel is an interesting verb, in that it can mean both "tangle" and "untangle." So if you work to ravel yarn into a neat ball, your cat may come along and try to ravel it again. |
The first syllable in ravel is accented and gets the short a sound, as in apple: "RA-vle" How can a word mean both one thing and its opposite? In the case of ravel, the answer is sewing: As threads come unwoven from a cloth, they become tangled on each other. Since untangling is never far from tangling, ravel covers both meanings. |
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| 403 |
infest |
occupy in large numbers or live on a host |
Many lived in dilapidated apartments with leaky pipes, broken windows, rooms full of mold, and walls infested with cockroaches and rats. |
rupture#overrun#deluge#intensify# |
It prefer maples but also will infest other hardwoods.#HUD says the buildings are infested with rodents and bugs and plumbing and heat don’t work properly.#Police say the children, who range in age from 2 to 15, were infested with fleas, bedbugs and lice.#“I was living with my mom. It was infested with roaches. I started by myself and later I hired some friends.”# |
The verb infest means to invade in large number, often resisting control and causing damage or hardship. Bedbugs can infest people's belongings and even their bodies, or mice may infest your kitchen if you leave the cheese out too often. |
Infest comes from Latin: in- means "not" and festus means "able to be seized." So infest describes something is not able to be seized, typically because it's present in such large numbers. For example, mosquitoes may infest your backyard during the summer and annoy you when you're trying to relax. Infest is usually used to describe pests, such as bugs or rodents, that overrun something in such large number that they are difficult to control. |
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| 404 |
actuate |
give an incentive for doing something |
He knew that men were actuated by other motives, good and bad, than self-interest. |
prompt#eradicate#devolve#sate# |
"My task was to design the means of allowing a customer, and only a genuine customer, to actuate the dispenser mechanism," he said.#But technology's actuating force is to destroy such constructs.#In their place, Ara is going with physically connected pogo pins and an electronically actuated latch.#"It is electrically powered and hydraulically actuated," the company explained.# |
To actuate is to put into motion. The "act" in actuate can remind you of this word's meaning — to put into action. A lever might actuate a pump, or malice might actuate a crime. |
Coming to us from the Latin word actus, which means "to act," actuate's meaning is simpler than it sounds — it just means to set in motion or activate some kind of motion. Think of one of those complex Rube Goldberg mouse traps; you know, the one where the boot kicks the ball that drops on the plank that tips over the ladder which rings a bell that cracks an egg that knocks over the cage onto the unsuspecting mouse. The boot actuates the whole shebang. |
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| 405 |
surly |
unfriendly and inclined toward anger or irritation |
But Blake, being surly and quarrelsome even when sober, gave the lapel a savage jerk, and reached out with his other hand. |
cheerful#wavy#modern#grouchy# |
Parkerson calls his bike the Surly Big, or the Big for short.#He’s surly, violent, and drunk most of the time.#But even at showpiece state hotels, surly staff sneer, as if wondering why Algeria bothered with liberation only to end up serving foreigners once again.#The climber, notable for his sparse lifestyle and surly nature, was also a prolific author of climbing guides and mountain books.# |
Surly describes behavior nobody wants to be around. Think of the irritable old guy who lives on your street and always seems to be simmering with some sullen nasty anger, whose every utterance he spits out with a rude snarl. He's the poster boy for surly. |
Surly behavior is always frowned upon, but the word's origins are in the behavior of English nobility. Surly's roots are in sirly, as in sir, meaning arrogant, haughty and superior. Its current meaning implies all that and more, none of it appealing. To be rude, snotty, sullen, mean and cranky can be added to the list. Generally speaking, if you find yourself in a surly mood, avoid your friends and loved ones. |
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| 406 |
convalesce |
get over an illness or shock |
Patients convalescing from pneumonia were evacuated to England or given Base Duty. |
staying out of prison for a considerable length of time#taking a trip abroad#resting and following medical orders#getting caught committing a crime# |
She remains at her Nairobi home, convalescing, with severe internal damage.#He spends the next two days at the hospital to rehydrate and convalesce before returning to his cramped quarters.#While convalescing, he devised plans for his new KKK, drawing inspiration from news stories about the release of Griffith’s film.#He spent time convalescing in a rehabilitation program with former Reagan press secretary James Brady.# |
Convalesce is a soft-sounding word, and it describes something you should do in a soft bed: recover from an illness. |
When someone is convalescing, you can be sure something bad happened to them. Maybe they were hit by a car, had a heart attack, or got a bad case of the flu. People convalesce in hospitals, or, if things are a little less serious, at home. A nursing home is sometimes called a "convalescent home," because the old people who live there often have health problems. When you're sick or hurt badly enough to be convalescing, the good news is that you're starting to heal and have time to catch up on books or TV. |
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| 407 |
demoralize |
lower someone's spirits; make downhearted |
The storm clobbered many communities still recovering from the flooding two months ago caused by Hurricane Irene, leaving weary homeowners exhausted and demoralized. |
discharge#dispirit#doubt#influence# |
And Secretary of State Rex Tillerson — though resented by his own demoralized department — is trying to be a calming influence.#“It’s demoralizing,” said the worker, who requested anonymity for fear of retribution.#“So when you run the same plays, they clue into the cadence and the calls. … “It does get kind of demoralizing,” he added.#It is difficult to imagine a more demoralizing job than counting the lies of a man commonly labelled a pathological liar.# |
If something demoralizes you, it makes you feel bad or hopeless. When your soccer team was trounced by the last-place team in the league, the loss seemed to demoralize everyone, from players to coaches to fans. |
Demoralize can also mean what it looks like, "to remove the morals of." For example, parents worry that R-rated movies will demoralize their children. In other words, they fear kids will lose their sense of what's right and wrong if they see glamorous actors indulging in bad behavior. |
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| 408 |
devolve |
grow worse |
As the rhetoric heated up inside, the violence outside devolved into chaos. |
fall#infuriate#demoralize#actuate# |
But the Welsh Government say it should get the cash when it gains responsibility for the franchise when it is devolved to Wales from 2018.#However, the rail infrastructure in Wales will remain in UK government hands after the handling of the franchise is devolved to Wales from 2018.#While the rules help hold the system together, sometimes the process devolves.#The argument devolves, but the man eventually compliments the idea of the character and walks away.# |
You've probably heard that organisms evolve over time. Well, life is complicated, and sometimes things devolve instead — to devolve is to get worse instead of better. |
The de- in devolve is a clue to its meaning. When things devolve, they deteriorate, degenerate, fall apart, go to the dogs, and generally end up worse. When a classroom gets loud and rowdy, a teacher might say the class has devolved. There is another, less negative, meaning of devolve. You can devolve responsibilities: for example, the U.S. government could devolve a certain responsibility to the states. The non-negative meaning of devolve is kind of like passing things on in a will. If I devolve something to you, you inherit it. |
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| 409 |
alacrity |
liveliness and eagerness |
Every one exerted himself not only without murmuring and discontent, but even with an alacrity which almost approached to cheerfulness. |
spontaneity#briskness#initiative#pluck# |
The alacrity with which Louisville and Lexington broke ranks with the rest of Kentucky is another indicator of this urban-rural dissonance.#She moves with suspicious alacrity from the world of counting bottles in restaurant cellars to the highest echelons of blind tasting sessions and high-prestige competitions.#Their alacrity in adjusting instilled them with confidence, and also pragmatism.#My mother demurred, though Dad consumed his with alacrity and chided her for being fussy.# |
Someone with alacrity shows cheerful willingness and eager behavior, like a kid whose mother has told him he can buy anything in a candy store. |
While the noun alacrity normally refers to someone's peppy behavior, it can also describe a certain mood or tempo of a musical composition, indicating how the music should be played. Alacrity comes from the Latin alacritas, and the Italian musical term allegro is a near relation. |
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| 410 |
waive |
do without or cease to hold or adhere to |
Low rates have also led retail brokerages to waive fees on money market funds to avoid negative returns for their clients. |
mystify#relinquish#adopt#mumble# |
He was waived by Atlanta last December before being claimed by New Orleans.#Also Friday, the Jaguars signed veteran running back Jonathan Grimes and waived/injured running back Tyler Gaffney.#It should allow the administration to remove some bureaucratic barriers and waive some federal rules governing how states and localities respond to the drug epidemic.#“We’re not waiving parking restrictions or parking enforcement on any subset of the population,” he said.# |
To waive is to give up one's right to do something. If you waive your right to help name your family's new puppy, you can't complain if he ends up being called "Mr. Tinkerbell Sweetheart Lovey-Face." |
Waive comes from a Middle English word meaning to abandon; the word waif, which refers to a neglected or orphaned child, shares the same root. However, while abandoning a child on a street corner is not okay, waiving one's right to do something is in most cases perfectly acceptable. A document stating one's decision to give up one's rights is appropriately called a waiver. |
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| 411 |
unwonted |
out of the ordinary |
He must rush off to see his people, who no doubt were quite confounded by his unwonted energy. |
unusual#unclean#unable#unbiased# |
A bizarre and unwonted emotion has been sweeping France these last few days.#Like anything and anyone “that was at all unwonted,” he is seen through a haze of uninformed suspicion.#"Fully, and from my heart," replied Sir Robert Croyland, with the unwonted tears coursing over his cheeks.#The unwonted life of ease had its effect.# |
Unwonted is a pretty old-fashioned word now, meaning something unusual or out of the ordinary. Nowadays, unwonted is a pretty unwonted word itself. |
Unwonted was once a particularly beloved literary term, favored by authors like Henry James and Charles Dickens, whose books were filled with "unwonted circumstances," and the like. Not to be confused — as it often is — with unwanted, meaning not wanted or desired. The confusion arises not just because the words sound identical, but because their meanings overlap: it's a safe bet that anything unwonted is generally unwanted, too. |
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| 412 |
seethe |
be in an agitated emotional state |
Outwardly quite calm and matter-of-fact, his mind was in a seething turmoil. |
divest#boil#devolve#strut# |
Her work “quietly seethes at the idea that a woman needs to be ‘likable’ — or that a man should be the judge of her likability.”#Anger seethes throughout the story, set days before the 2011 Egyptian Revolution.#Seething on Twitter, Mr. Trump attacked Mr. Ryan as “weak and ineffective” and described Mr. McCain as “very foul mouthed.”#Seething with righteous anger at the burning injustice of being excluded from the tea run may be slightly over the top, however.# |
If a liquid seethes, it is boiling, but if it's a person who's seething, watch out! He or she is really angry! |
In the cooking sense, to seethe means to boil and if you are seething with anger, you might say that your blood is boiling. However seethe can also mean filled with activity. Imagine a room seething with excited people. Now imagine that you are watching that room from a balcony. See how the people move here and there? It's almost as if they are bubbling around. |
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| 413 |
scrutinize |
look at critically or searchingly, or in minute detail |
Fans and commentators are scrutinizing every blemish: his turnovers, his weak left hand, his jump shot. |
to hide it from other people#to remember it in detail#to fit it into a suitcase#to change its color# |
Ms. Tomé relishes driving strategy while keeping a healthy cash position—a number she scrutinizes every day.#Both are widely owned stocks that are heavily scrutinized.#It was also scrutinized annually by the European Parliament, a spokeswoman added.#Last week, Singapore’s central bank announced that it was also scrutinizing coin offerings and applying a similar framework as the United States regulator.# |
If you want to examine something closely and go over every single detail, then you should scrutinize it. Like the way your mom probably assesses your outfit before you leave the house for school. |
Scrutinizing is very different from glancing or gazing. It's even more than a long, hard look. To scrutinize something, you have to look at it really critically, investigating every nook and cranny. Often things are scrutinized to verify if they're correct or authentic. So it makes perfect sense that this verb is rooted in the Latin word scrutari, which means “to search.” |
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| 414 |
diffident |
lacking self-confidence |
Shyly diffident in the presence of strangers, her head was lowered. |
decadent#reserved#decisive#naturalized# |
"Personally, I find him sort of shy and diffident sometimes," but Knoepfler "doesn't shy away from contact with the mainstream media."#Laura Linney and Cynthia Nixon trade off the lead female roles, playing the ambitious Regina and her diffident sister-in-law, Birdie.#His manner is almost diffident, yet he’s steadfast in his purposefulness.#In Bartlett’s scenario, the coronation of Joy’s initially tentative, diffident Charles is soon at hand.# |
The adjective diffident describes someone who is shy and lacking in self-confidence. If you are shy and have a diffident manner, you should probably not choose one of these professions: substitute teacher, stand-up comic, or lion-tamer. |
Diffident can describe someone who is reserved and restrained. Some may mistake your diffident manner for coolness or aloofness. Although it may be in your nature to be diffident, you will find it impossible to remain so when you visit my family. They are a big, noisy, outgoing bunch and they will make you join in the fun until you let loose and open up. Don't say you weren't warned! |
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| 415 |
execrate |
curse or declare to be evil or anathema |
When all Great Britain was execrating Napoleon, picturing him as a devil with horns and hoofs, Byron looked upon him as the world's hero. |
energize#sheathe#abominate#instigate# |
Americans execrate “outsourcing,” which supposedly involves sending “American jobs” overseas.#You may loathe, you may execrate, but you cannot deny her…No wine gives fiercer intoxication, no drug more vivid exaltation.”#Their only meed--some execrating word To blight the hour when first their voice was heard.'#Historians have treated Richardson very unfairly, and caused his memory to be execrated.# |
Just when you thought you knew every word in the book for hate, here's a new one: execrate. The word means to despise or also to curse. |
Broken down to its Latin root, the word execrate means the opposite of being sacred or devoted to. When you execrate something you, are cursing it instead of making it holy. The word is not used all that often. If you say to someone, "I execrate you!" they might think you're casting an evil spell on them. Which in a way, by cursing them, you are. |
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| 416 |
implacable |
incapable of being appeased or pacified |
This man was a savage in his implacable desire for revenge. |
opaque#relentless#joyless#captivating# |
The legitimacy of the Kim dynasty's political leadership is rooted in a narrative of defence against an implacably hostile United States.#I think of his implacable anger when Marcus nearly killed me.#His rhetoric toward South Korea, Japan and the United States is implacably hostile.#Tussling with Republican regulars wouldn’t help Trump woo Democrats in Congress, who will remain implacably opposed to him regardless of how he tries to pivot.# |
An implacable person just can’t be appeased. If you really offended your best friend and tried every kind of apology but she refused to speak to you again, you could describe her as implacable. |
Implacable is derived from the verb to placate, which means to soothe, or to appease. If you’re babysitting and the kid starts screaming the moment that his parents leave the house, and nothing you give him, be it a toy or ice cream, can calm him down, he might seem implacable. But try the TV. It tends to turn screaming kids into silent, happy zombies. |
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| 417 |
pique |
a sudden outburst of anger |
A talented youngster who smashes his guitar in a fit of pique finds it magically reassembled just in time for a crucial concert. |
stupor#temper#zest#fervor# |
Both forwards were left all alone against Pique.#As a Gen Xer, I said, I remember feeling so piqued and helpless when demographers started telling me what was wrong with my generation.#Curiosity piqued, he returned for a test excavation and sent some shell and charcoal for radiocarbon dating.#Apple's deep pockets piqued Hollywood's attention as it entered the original programming race and poached two Sony Pictures Television executives.# |
The verb pique means to make someone angry or annoyed. But when something piques your interest or curiosity, here the verb pique just means to arouse, stimulate, or excite. |
Both the noun and verb are pronounced "pēk" and were borrowed from a French word meaning "a prick, irritation," from Old French, from piquer "to prick." So you can see how something that pricks you could make you both excited and angry. But it's frustrating––enough to make you want to storm away from learning vocab. That storming away, by the by, might be called a "fit of pique." |
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| 418 |
mite |
a slight but appreciable amount |
I never saw anybody so pleased with monkeys as she is, and not one mite afraid. |
jubilee#millennium#respite#hint# |
And they are checked thoroughly for parasites and mites when they are brought to the fair, he said.#It is a subterranean community that includes worms, insects, mites, other arthropods you’ve never heard of, amoebas, and fellow protozoa.#The cause is yet unknown, but there is speculation linking it to pesticides, fungicides, mites, and parasites.#Scabies is a highly contagious skin disease caused by a parasitic mite that leads to intense itching.# |
Mite is one of many words for a very small amount, like a bit and a jot. A mite is teeny-weeny and itty-bitty. It's not much at all. |
Put away your ruler, because you can't measure a mite any more than you can measure a smidge, a tad, a speck, a tough, or a pinch — all English words for a tiny amount. Such words are useful when making polite requests. If someone's just barely blocking your car, you might ask them to move theirs just a mite. If you say you'll be back in just a mite, you won't keep the person waiting long. |
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| 419 |
encumber |
hold back |
Two others were making slower progress for the reason that each was encumbered by supporting a disabled man. |
restrain#squander#renovate#replenish# |
Even if it’s something as stupid as someone trolling movie sites and trying to encumber my work with one-star reviews.#Tesla isn’t encumbered by these relationships, preferring instead to rely on direct sales to its fan base.#Arnold and Hahn tend to encumber what seems a relatively straightforward thriller with surrealistic elements at odds with their Hitchcockian plot.#Runcie wrote in a memo that he felt " encumbered from exercising my authorities to properly lead" and was "incredibly concerned" about management issues.# |
To encumber is to weigh someone or something down with a physical or psychological burden. You may find yourself encumbered by a heavy backpack or with anxieties. Either way, it's a heavy load to bear! |
You can also use encumber to describe something that restricts you in some way: you're so encumbered by your homework load you can’t go to the concert Saturday night. The root, cumber, has several shades of meaning — including "to burden" and "to be overwhelmed." |
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| 420 |
uncouth |
lacking refinement or cultivation or taste |
He had not stopped to consider her rough speech and uncouth manners. |
supple#covetous#unrefined#lurid# |
The vases and jugs are wobbly, asymmetric, gloriously uncouth.#It would be uncouth to criticize a juvenile talent show.#Will he be so uncouth as to move past the ladies?#Activity that may be uncouth — such as brokering meetings for wealthy benefactors — is now legal.# |
When you're at a fancy dinner party, if you burp after you eat, use your fingers to spread butter on your bread, and hang spoons from your nose, people will probably say you are uncouth, meaning vulgar and ill-mannered. |
The adjective uncouth comes from Old English and it meant "unfamiliar or not well known." As the meaning developed, the word came to mean "rude, vulgar, or lacking refinement." Interestingly, the word uncouth came first and its antonym, couth, was developed to describe someone who is cultured, polished, and sophisticated. Although couth gets an entry in the dictionary, you will still hear the word uncouth used far more often. |
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| 421 |
petulant |
easily irritated or annoyed |
The black eyes emitted an angry flash, the voice that answered was sharp and petulant. |
luscious#redoubtable#nuptial#irritable# |
“I was both pleased by the positive reaction of the audience and the petulant crybabies on the panel telling me to shut up.”#The wall-to-wall coverage of his every breath is absurd, petulant and distracting from what is really newsworthy.#Petulant outbursts are not always detrimental to tennis players' legacies.#Sánchez continued his inconsistency, driving through Germany’s midfield one moment and looking petulant the next.# |
Choose the adjective petulant to describe a person or behavior that is irritable in a childish way. |
The adjective, petulant, is a disapproving term used to describe a bad-tempered child, an adult behaving like an angry child or behavior or this type. Angry or annoyed mean the same thing, but if you choose the word, petulant, you are indicating that it is unreasonable or unjustified. Petulant came to English in the late 16th century from the Latin petulantem "forward, insolent" but was not recorded to mean childishly irritable until the late 1700s. |
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| 422 |
expiate |
make amends for |
Wulphere was absolved on condition that he should expiate his crime by founding churches and monasteries all over his kingdom. |
compute#simulate#atone#fumble# |
Some people say Palermo is now in a sort of purgatory, still to expiate all its sins.#In his letter he also quoted a Buddhist text: “Can a new wrong expiate old wrongs?”#The idea of national self-preservation at all costs will always be debatable in a country seeking to expiate an inexpiatable sin.#His martyrdom, as the President suggested, must not be a cause for mourning alone, but above all for action to expiate his death.# |
In the fairy tale, the baker must expiate his father’s sins by bringing the witch three ingredients for a magic potion: a cow, a cape and a slipper. Expiate means to make amends or atone for a wrong you or someone else has committed. |
After the incident on the hill, a mortified Jill expiated her guilt by buying Jack a brand new crown. The shiny new crown served as compensation, or expiation, for the broken one. That it cost her so dearly made the expiatory gesture especially meaningful to poor Jack. |
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| 423 |
cavalier |
given to haughty disregard of others |
Some would have given Nicklaus a cavalier response: polite nod while thinking, “Yeah, whatever.” |
someone who does not understand multiple languages#someone who prefers to work alone#a successful memoirist who neglects to protect his subjects#someone who always remembers others' birthdays# |
Most outlets slammed the film, with many objecting to its cavalier violence.#So they hopped onto a golf cart and zoomed wildly around the practice field in cavalier fashion.#Seth Meyers of NBC also addressed simmering tensions with the North Korean government, exacerbated by the president’s cavalier usage of his Twitter feed.#But he was also decidedly cavalier with his spending.# |
Cavalier means snobby. Someone who is cavalier has a bad attitude and regards other people as inferior. |
The word cavalier dates from mid-16th-century French, from the Latin caballus, meaning “horse.” If you have a cavalier attitude, you look down on other people — as if you are sitting on a very tall horse and other people are sitting down there on the ground. |
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| 424 |
banter |
light teasing repartee |
Our easy banter had suddenly been replaced by strained and awkward interaction. |
bend#joke#hide#weep# |
Crammed together in a small production office adjoining their set, Ms. Ritter and Mr. Colter spent a shooting break bantering about each other’s dietary habits.#He bantered with the cashier and later danced with her to the tune of Nas’ “If I Ruled The World.”#“Underneath Nick and Meg’s banter is a half-buried spring of rage and regret,,” A. O. Scott wrote in The Times.#Bobbi, Frances, Nick, and Melissa excel at endearing banter and hesitant, vulnerable disclosure.# |
Good friends usually banter back and forth easily, like they're trying to keep a step ahead of each other in witty responses. This type of banter is their special language of friendship. |
Banter is both a noun and a verb about talking. It comes from unknown origins, but even as a word, it seems to be playful and teasing. You can engage in banter with friends, siblings, parents, and even good-natured strangers. Banter usually ends with everyone feeling better for the talk and verbal play. Joking, joshing, and teasing are all related to banter. |
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| 425 |
bluster |
act in an arrogant, overly self-assured, or conceited manner |
Slade, despite his swaggers and blustering, was at heart a coward. |
antic#bask#bivouac#brag# |
Many Web users accused India of bluster and questioned why Chinese authorities hadn’t responded more forcefully.#The current “ bluster and bluffing” on both sides probably won’t amount to much, he said, but is alarming nonetheless.#It’s why, the amateur president’s bluster notwithstanding, the Trump administration is effectively reading from Obama’s script on both North Korea and ISIS.#In the meantime, they’ll respond to American bluster with their own bluster.# |
If you tell the captain of the basketball team that you're going to beat him at a game of hoops even though you've never played, you're speaking with a lot of bluster or false confidence and bravado. |
Bluster can also mean a strong wind. On a blustery day, you'll see trees blowing and people holding onto their hats. When someone full of bluster is talking about how they can do something that you think they can't, they're blowing a lot of hot air in your direction. And coincidently, another name for that type of person is a blowhard. |
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| 426 |
debase |
corrupt morally or by intemperance or sensuality |
Long oppression had not, on the whole, either blunted their intellects or debased their morals. |
soothe#prove#corrupt#secrete# |
With every crass utterance from the West Wing, the office long viewed as a sacred trust becomes more debased.#It is myopic to think that Britain is alone in its debased new politics, galvanising to see the patterns in authoritarian politics everywhere.#To buoy his ego, they debase themselves, and what you heard them doing in that meeting wasn’t just swallowing their pride but choking on it.#His name will always be a reminder of the degree to which Republicans debased themselves and their country to maintain control of the Supreme Court.# |
To debase something is to make it corrupt or impure. If your lemonade stand sells “pure lemonade,” you’d insist on using real lemons instead of a mix; using a mix would debase your product. |
Debase is often used in the context of two things: coins and people. To debase a coin is to replace some of the precious metal in the coin with metal of lesser value. To debase a person is to corrupt them, often by driving them to perform an immoral act like (gasp!) using the lemonade mix. Just promise us you won’t do it. |
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| 427 |
retainer |
a person working in the service of another |
This faithful and trusted retainer is greatly valued by his employers. |
when conducting research online#when crossing the street#when hiring a private detective#when creaming butter and sugar together# |
According to the report, Dr. Brown was Salazar’s personal physician and was being paid a monthly retainer to work with the Oregon Project athletes.#Blair himself is paid a reported retainer of two million pounds a year, by the bank JPMorgan.#To the new panaqa belonged the Inka and his wives and children, along with his retainers and advisers.#CGM requires a retainer fee and then an agreed-upon fee for each membership secured under the program, the fee decided by class of membership.# |
A retainer is something that holds something else in place. After your braces are removed, a retainer keeps your teeth from moving out of their new perfect position. |
Professionals like lawyers or consultants are paid a retainer, which is a fee. The retainer ensures that they will be available to work for you when you need them. You will often pay an hourly rate on top of the retainer once the lawyer or consultant has worked enough hours for you to use up the retainer fee you paid. |
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| 428 |
subjugate |
make subservient; force to submit or subdue |
The Confederacy was led by thoroughgoing racists who wanted to keep blacks subjugated for all time because of the color of their skin. |
break up#carry through#keep down#try out# |
Biblical accounts generally portray Canaanites as the arch-enemies of early Israelites, who eventually conquered Canaanite territory and either exterminated or subjugated its people.#He was terrifying in his blank determination to subjugate Galatea.#During the civil war, forced disappearances and extrajudicial killings were used to subjugate poor rural communities in order to preserve land rights for the elites.#“The Mautes … trampled on our pride and our history as a people that was never subjugated by a colonial power,” Alonto said.# |
If you say you won't be kept down by the man, you are saying that you won't let the man subjugate you. To subjugate is to repress someone, or to make them subservient to you. |
In subjugate you see the word subject. In this word, it's not talking about the subject of a sentence, rather it's talking about the kind of subjects that Kings have serving them. Subjugate is to reduce someone's status to that of a subject. It's a royal demotion, often brought by force or intimidation. |
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| 429 |
extol |
praise, glorify, or honor |
How I praised the duck at that first dinner, and extolled Madame's skill in cookery! |
praise#scald#crush#worry# |
That's the upshot of extolling easy ovation: If they're not ready for the build-up, the fall becomes that much more severe.#Those were among the nine states where election administrators extolled the social network in official statements.#As it was, it was like listening as a coal miner extols the dangers of black lung.#The Iowa Republican was a Trump ally during the campaign, regularly stumping for the tweeter-in-chief and extolling his commitment to the military.# |
If you have a crush on a guy who likes your best friend, it can be very depressing to listen to him extol your friend's virtues, while you just nod and smile. If you extol something, you praise it very highly. |
The Bible says: "Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven..." Nebuchadnezzar II was king of the second Babylonian Empire, the one who sent the Jews into exile. In some translations of the Bible, the word honor is replaced with glorify. Praise, extol, honor, glorify all mean about the same. The Bible often uses five words when one would be enough. |
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| 430 |
fraught |
filled with or attended with |
But the ocean remains an unpredictable place, fraught with hazards. |
cheap#inactive#joyful#anxious# |
We just happen to be watching a very fraught history unfold – there’s no predictability now.#No doubt it will be another long one, the undeniable downside of a punishing and fraught major setup.#For many residents of today’s Charlottesville, the statues were a blight— fraught objects that anchored racist propaganda in the city’s geography.#Holding past generations responsible for a modern understanding of socially acceptable behavior is always a fraught enterprise.# |
Fraught means filled with something — often something bad. Your Thanksgiving was fraught with awkward moments when your family saw your blue hair, and it only got worse when you told them you'd quit law school to join the circus. |
Fraught is related to the word freight, and comes from the Middle English fraughten, meaning "to load with cargo." Think of a cargo ship loaded up with freight for a journey — it's full of supplies, just like Thanksgiving was filled with — or fraught with — awkward moments. Fraught can also describe a situation filled with distress. If relations between two countries are fraught, they are not getting along with each other. |
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| 431 |
august |
profoundly honored |
At all times reserved in his manner and his bearing full of dignity, never before had she realized the majesty of General Washington’s august presence. |
venerable#generous#imperious#malignant# |
And yet there on the august pages of The New York Times, Charles R. Kesler, a senior fellow of the right-wing Claremont Institute, gushes,#“It’s currently being conserved at the Chicago Art Institute, at their conservation lab, by a very august paper conservator.”#For a long time, the Harlem-born, France-dwelling Baldwin was an august figure in the literary world, but not one whose books were especially well read.#The august National, once an essential stop for important shows on their way to and from Broadway, only rarely plays that role anymore.# |
August is not just the eighth month of the year; it also describes something esteemed or regal. The 200-year-old newspaper covering the royal wedding might be called an august institution. |
The month August was named for Augustus Caesar who was an important and regal person. This is an easy way to remember the two meanings. Interestingly enough, linguists think that the word august did not descend from the same root as the month August. Find that hard to believe? August sources disagree. Oh, and don't forget to pronounce each word properly — the month has the accent on the first syllable, the adjective on the second. |
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| 432 |
fissure |
a long narrow depression in a surface |
The brown bark is not very rough, though its numerous fissures and cracks give it a rugged appearance. |
crack#bridge#risk#job# |
When I pull her into the fissure, she is wild-eyed and shaking.#But Kennedy troubles these fissures in riskier and timelier ways.#The health of any society is premised on its ability to face its fissures squarely, but that is not what anti-Muslim populists are doing.#The principal fissure within socialist party ranks is a civilian-military split.# |
A long fine crack in the surface of something is called a fissure. If you see a fissure in the ice on a frozen lake, you'll want to take off your skates and head back to the car. |
Fissure has its roots in the Latin word fissura, meaning a cleft or crack. If something breaks into fine cracks, you can describe the action with the verb form of fissure. For example, "She watched in horror as the earth fissured beneath her feet, recognizing the signs of an earthquake but powerless to do anything to save herself except throw herself to the ground and hang on." |
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| 433 |
knoll |
a small natural hill |
Opened in 2008, the park serves as a true public space; elderly couples stroll around the artificial lake as toddlers roll down grassy knolls. |
impetus#hummock#fallacy#obsession# |
Halfway to forever later, he faced a blind third shot over the rude knoll.#Psychiatric patients at Oak Knoll were a mix of Navy and Marines, many of them fresh from combat, Rippetoe said.#Hernandez was sliced in the face by his neighbor, Johnny Martinez, at his residence in Vermont Knolls, according to a memo filed by prosecutors.#Around us are rolling hillsides of bracken, patches of trees, and knolls of bare rock.# |
A knoll is a small hill or mound of earth, which makes a shady knoll a perfect spot for a summer picnic. |
The word knoll is associated with the tragic assassination of President John F. Kennedy, who was shot in Dallas just as his motorcade passed a grassy knoll. At first people thought that was where the shots had come from, but it was later determined that the assassin had fired from a nearby building instead. The "grassy knoll” became symbolic of a theory that others had participated in the assassination, and the term has become shorthand for any conspiracy theory. |
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| 434 |
callous |
emotionally hardened |
Outwardly merry and good-humoured, he was by nature coldly fierce, calculating, callous. |
scandalous#inadequate#concerted#insensitive# |
I’m expecting him to be brusque, but his hands are—not gentle, exactly, but not callous, either.#I am just someone who is deeply offended by this kind of callous reference to any aspect of what was a tragedy of immense proportion.#Trump’s disinterest in solving the big problems of health care — including cost and access — is remarkable because it is so callous.#This never felt perfunctory or callous, because it’s a logical way for Amy herself to behave.# |
A callous person is insensitive or emotionally hardened. If you laugh at your little sister while she's trying to show you her poetry, you're being callous. |
Callous comes from the Latin root callum for hard skin. If you walk barefoot a lot, your feet will become calloused. We usually use callous in the metaphorical sense for emotionally hardened. If someone is unmoved by other people's problems, you might say he shows a callous indifference to human suffering. |
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| 435 |
inculcate |
teach and impress by frequent repetitions or admonitions |
But instruction in history has been for a long time systematically used to inculcate certain political sentiments in the pupils. |
wrangle#integrate#instill#defray# |
Koestler, a disillusioned ex-communist, employs Rubashov as a metaphor for the moral bankruptcy that totalitarian ideologies deliberately inculcate in their followers.#The father embarks on a “cultural project of inculcating manliness,” but despite those efforts, the child finds “himself wanting to be her.”#“His dream was to inculcate this sense of pride into the Chileans and into the citizens of the world.”#“What if we are inculcating generation after generation to believe that low representation of women is the norm?” she asked her audience.# |
To inculcate is to teach through frequent instruction. If you repeatedly tell your brother how important it is to be responsible, then you’re trying to inculcate in him a sense of responsibility. |
The word inculcate traces back to the Latin word inculcare, meaning “to force upon or to stamp in.” If anyone has even tried to inculcate you with something, it may seem as if something is being stamped into your brain — over and over and over. A key thing to remember about this word is repetition: something, such as a value or a belief, is instilled in the brain by the persistent restating of its importance. |
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| 436 |
nettle |
disturb, especially by minor irritations |
Lincoln began these remarks by good-humored but nettling chaffing of his opponent. |
a day to enjoy a book or a new movie of one's choosing#unexpected praise and respect from one's supervisor#a gentle reminder that one should close the door#constant whining and complaining by one's coworkers# |
Streams burble down the oh-so-green hillside to feed a thicket of salmonberry and nettles.#Scientists believe its "extraordinary" success is due to climate change and the caterpillar's nettle consumption.#It offers planked artichokes as well as a nettle frittata, among other unexpected local harvests like creamy yellow mayocoba beans in tomato sofrito.#They add texture to a vibrant ensemble of pickled green strawberries, spring onions, green beans cooked in oxtail fat and nettle verde sauce.# |
If you know what a nettle is—that is, a barbed seed that gets stuck in your clothes and hair—then you'll have no trouble remembering the verb nettle: it means to annoy, bother, irritate, or bedevil. |
A kid sister, a mosquito, an angry boyfriend, or a hot, muggy day: all of these are examples of things that might nettle a person. When you nettle someone, you act like a nettle; you annoy, bother, and generally tick off a person. The person who nettles you can be called nettlesome, which means that they're acting like a nettle. I find that the very sound of his voice nettles me. The sound alone makes me wish he would just shut up. |
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| 437 |
blanch |
turn pale, as if in fear |
He is silent, as if struck dumb, his face showing blanched and bloodless, while she utters a shriek, half terrified, half in frenzied anger. |
gesticulate#parley#deflect#pale# |
The culinary arts department kitchen at CCC-Hastings recently became a processing station for several ears of Eagle corn as they were blanched, roasted and processed.#But I’ve found no need to blanch artichoke stems, or even peel them.#Although lusty subjects thrum through this novel, they’re often blanched.#“I think the president would probably watch his entire law enforcement community kind of blanch.”# |
To blanch is to turn pale, usually as the result of a physical or psychological shock. Nineteenth century literary heroines were frequently blanching — before they fainted, that is. |
Blanch has also taken on the more general meaning of to cause shock in general. A government can blanch at following through a particular reform, without the implication that an entire cabinet actually turned white. You can blanch an inanimate object, too, when you deprive it of its natural color. White toilet paper has been blanched by using bleach, for example, though environmentalists blanch at the thought. |
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| 438 |
inscrutable |
of an obscure nature |
The fashion industry is notoriously opaque and often inscrutable for outsiders, even ones as well connected as him. |
inexplicable#prolific#sensuous#callous# |
Rare diseases were once considered medical curiosities of inscrutable phenotypic complexity and negligible public-health impact.#Kanzaki soon gains local hero status for revitalizing the town, but he still remains an inscrutable character, his past and personal life a mystery.#In it, I hear nothing less than the human spirit, somewhere in a vast, inscrutable universe, daring to exist.#She looked at her questioner with one of her inscrutable looks and answered like this:# |
Any person or thing that's mysterious, mystifying, hard to read, or impossible to interpret is inscrutable. You ever notice how it's hard to tell what some people are thinking? Those folks are inscrutable. |
A good way to think about what inscrutable means is to consider cats and dogs. Dogs wear their hearts on their sleeves, shaking when they're afraid and bouncing up and down when they're happy. Dogs are definitely not inscrutable, because you can tell what they're thinking and feeling. On the other hand, cats are very difficult to read. Even longtime cat owners aren't always sure what's going on with their kitty. Cats are very inscrutable animals. |
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| 439 |
tenacious |
stubbornly unyielding |
She was a tenacious woman, one who would even hold fast a thing which she no longer valued, simply because it belonged to her. |
formulated#errant#unyielding#magnanimous# |
The pick of this tenacious orchestra’s concerts this week is a celebration of a relationship: that between Brahms and the Schumanns, Clara and Robert.#And her hope is not only tenacious; it’s educated and informed.#He was as tenacious as he was technical.#Fellow Marines described Baldassare as driven, hardworking and tenacious, but they also noted his humorous side, citing his “big, goofy smile” and infectious laughter.# |
Use tenacious to mean "not easily letting go or giving up," like a clingy child who has a tenacious grip on his mother's hand. |
A strong grip or an unyielding advocate might both be described as tenacious, a word whose synonyms include resolute, firm, and persistent. The word comes from the Latin root tenax, which means "holding fast." The basketball commentator Marv Albert, impressed by a defender's skill, once uttered the sound bite, "That's some tenacious D!" ("D" is short for "defense.") The musicians Jack Black and Kyle Gass borrowed the phrase for the name of their comedy-rock band, Tenacious D. |
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| 440 |
thrall |
the state of being under the control of another person |
Then Kiss commenced in earnest, and quickly held his audience in thrall. |
precedence#slavery#purgatory#alloy# |
The narrative that the president is not at all in thrall to the Kremlin got a shout-out Thursday from a senior Russian lawmaker.#As a governor he saw ultra-safe legislators in thrall to activists who controlled their re-selection as candidates, long before they faced general elections.#And she demonstrates that those followers and those in thrall to the Koch billions are pumping up their fight under the new administration.#Liberals, on the other hand, regarded Mr. Glazunov as an obscurantist, xenophobe and anti-Semite, in thrall to the darkest forces in Russian history.# |
When you're in thrall to someone, you are under their control in some way. If you're being held as a hostage, you're in thrall to your captor. |
You can be in thrall to anything that holds you captive or controls your thoughts or actions, like an addiction, a disease, or a cult leader. The Old English word that thrall comes from literally means "slave" or "servant." Another word with the same root as thrall is enthrall, which is sort of a friendlier version of the same idea. If you're enthralled by someone, you're captivated or fascinated, rather than "held in bondage." |
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| 441 |
exigency |
a pressing or urgent situation |
The exigency of the situation roused Mr. Popkiss' sluggish faculties into prompt action. |
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Ibsen keeps wines off menu, in reserve, on backup, to fill holes, accommodate seasonal exigencies, and broaden the range of his guests’ experience.#But atmospheric turbulence and optical exigencies often smudge the stars into bigger blurs.#On the Jersey Shore boardwalk, the U.S. students who are working for an hourly wage acknowledge the new exigencies with a nod.#The college board of trustees announced that due to financial exigency, Saint Joseph’s was “temporarily suspending” academic operations in May.# |
Think of a mix of excitement and emergency, and you have exigency, a sudden, urgent crisis. The very word conjures up danger and intrigue that demand a cool head and an immediate effort at a solution. |
The meaning of exigency is obvious from its source, the Latin noun exigentia, which means "urgency" and comes from the verb exigere, meaning "to demand or require." An emergency situation, or exigency, is urgent and demands immediate action. Our lives are filled with exigencies, both large and small, from a child stuck in a tree to lightning striking your house to catastrophic river flooding. Each is an exigency — it's all a matter of perspective. |
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| 442 |
disconsolate |
sad beyond comforting; incapable of being consoled |
Was there a bereaved mother or disconsolate sister weeping over their dead? |
confounded#sluggish#wretched#cowardly# |
When Ms. Herring finally heard from her, she was still disconsolate.#These disconsolate men and women typically connect themselves to specific policy aims.#On Wednesday, she was one of the disconsolate residents waiting outside a local morgue.#Photographers and sports writers pestered him, milking his anguish, and disconsolate cranks harassed his parents.# |
If you are sad and can't be cheered up, you're disconsolate. Why are you disconsolate after scoring a touchdown? Oh . . . for the other team. |
In addition to meaning "inconsolable," the adjective disconsolate can also mean "dejected." Most people would be disconsolate after being laid off from a job, but you're taking it right in stride since you never wanted to be a manager anyway. With your frizzy orange hair, clown college will be perfect fit for you. Good luck! |
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| 443 |
impetus |
a force that makes something happen |
Critics say it has known mixed success at best, although supporters hope the U.S. drawdown could provide just the impetus it needs to thrive. |
push#dodge#gap#prop# |
While others pointed to the Tarleys' demises as impetus for bending the knee.#Roberts cited some minor ailments in Puig’s legs as the impetus for his decision.#Once a modicum of stability returns, the impetus for further reform often fades.#The impetus is cloud computing and mobile communication.# |
An impetus is the force behind something, whether it's a boulder rolling down a hill or a person making a decision. |
Very little would get done if there were no such thing as an impetus: an impetus is some kind of force that gets something or somebody moving. If you push a car that's out of gas, you're the impetus that's getting it moving. An impetus doesn't have to be physical. Advertisers hope their commercials will be an impetus to buy the product. |
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| 444 |
imposition |
an uncalled-for burden |
On that far-away day he had considered the little, lost girl a nuisance and an imposition. |
a reminder to check one's voicemail#a stand taken on a political issue#a house guest's visit that lasts a month#the posture resulting from an uncomfortable chair# |
And so Mr Duterte will not lack reasons to extend the 60-day imposition of martial law in Mindanao that is about to expire.#Six weeks after the imposition of martial law on the island, government forces are still battling the rebels in the town.#The Nazi occupation of France would mean the imposition of the Nuremberg laws in Europe’s storied republic of equal citizens.#The imposition of tariffs would also face significant domestic scepticism.# |
Imposition means you force something — usually an unwanted burden — on someone else. If your friends invite themselves over for dinner the night before your big test, that's an imposition because you'll have to cook instead of studying. |
Imposition comes from the 14th century Old French word of the same spelling, meaning "the levying of taxes, a tax, duty." Taxes are a good way to remember the meaning of imposition. You never want to pay taxes — but you have no choice but to pay. It can be the same for other kinds of burdens: if something is an imposition, you don't want to do it, but you likely will have to. |
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| 445 |
auspices |
kindly endorsement and guidance |
In March 2009, negotiations between Israel and Hamas were held in Cairo, under the auspices of the Egyptian intelligence agency. |
occult#dint#exploitation#protection# |
In the past, journeymen traveled under the auspices of a trade association, and today many still do.#The park is managed under the auspices of Rocky Gap State Park, where Sarah Milbourne is superintendent.#The incident is threatening to complicate the crisis over the holy site, which is administered by Muslim authorities under the auspices of Jordan.#The site is administered by Muslim authorities under the auspices of Jordan but Israel maintains security control of the compound.# |
If an organization authorizes you to do a specific task, even if you don't work for them directly, you are working under their auspices. Auspices means endorsement. |
If student volunteers are helping out with disaster relief under the auspices of the Red Cross, they may be registered with the Red Cross or be using their supplies and equipment. The Red Cross is not responsible for them as they would be for their own employees, but they have given the students their blessing. |
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| 446 |
sonorous |
full and loud and deep |
His voice rang out firmly now, a deep and sonorous bass. |
a voice#a dance#a face#a writing style# |
Crippa’s voice was no longer reliably crisp and sonorous, and a burning pain lingered in her throat.#His voice, sonorous and gravelly, sounded nearly as old — like Johnny Cash’s in the morning.#Although he is slight and wiry, he raps with a sonorous and imposing voice.#His imperial presence, his passion for spreading the gospel of African dance and his sonorous voice were more than missed.# |
Used to describe sound or speech that is full, rich, and deep, sonorous is a great word for snoring, for bass voices, and for low notes on the tuba. |
Skip the first "o" and you'll see snore inside this word, which should give you a clue as to its deeply resonant character. Another way to remember sonorous is that son sounds like "sound," and that's what this word is all about. |
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| 447 |
exploitation |
an act that victimizes someone |
In a scathing report released last year, Amnesty International found there was widespread exploitation of migrants in Malaysia. |
making someone work overtime without pay#providing free health care to all employees#giving a bonus to the employee who makes the most sales#giving someone a raise even though it's not deserved# |
Her criteria included the following: exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, cultural imperialism and violence.#But the prospect also raises thorny questions about animal exploitation and welfare.#“Sadly, my government continues that shame with an insidious mixture of apathy and exploitation.”#For the brothers of “Good Time,” it’s an exploitation.# |
Have you ever seen pictures of poor sick children in advertisements and wondered if they were being used for someone's profit? If this is the case, call it exploitation. |
When you’re talking about natural resources or knowledge rather than people, exploitation meaning "the fullest most profitable use of something" is not a bad thing. The exploitation of recycled materials can only be beneficial to our pollution problems. When people suffer under exploitation, however, it means their misfortune is being used for another's profit. Child labor, sweatshop work and debt slavery are all forms of exploitation. |
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| 448 |
bane |
something causing misery or death |
Knee pain is the bane of many runners, sometimes causing them to give up altogether. |
audit#impropriety#prohibition#scourge# |
But the 17-year-old from northern Virginia is the undisputed king of that bane to office workers everywhere — the spreadsheet.#“Anything that’s a giants’ bane is good for us, right?#A lot of this may look tame when set alongside Mr. Trump’s fiery campaign speeches portraying trade as the bane of the American worker.#The Angels fired Bane, well-regarded within the industry, the next year.# |
The noun bane refers to anything that is a cause of harm, ruin, or death. But we often use it for things that aren't that bad, just feel like it. You might say mosquitoes are the bane of your existence. |
The source of this word is Middle and Old English bana, meaning "destroyer, murderer." The now obsolete meaning of "deadly poison" is seen in the names of poisonous plants such as wolfsbane and henbane. Although "bane of my existence" is a commonly heard phrase, there's something deliciously archaic about the word bane. It conjures up villages preyed upon by dragons, or witches adding one bane or another to a steaming kettle. |
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| 449 |
dint |
force or effort |
If only certain puzzles could be solved by dint of sheer hard thinking! |
contact#change#means#ethics# |
But this modern Western proved its mettle by dint of unexpectedly weird plotting and witty dialogue, becoming a word-of-mouth phenomenon among genre addicts.#Finally, by dint of running errands for them, he gains entry into their house.#It reminds us, by dint of its banality, of our common, corny American heritage.#He rose by dint of guts and grit to become a lawyer, politician, judge, general and finally president.# |
The word dint is used to indicate that something came about through a particular force or means. So if you make a lot of money, that’s probably by dint of hard work. |
Dint and dent sound an awful lot alike. The good news is that they are actually related. Dint comes from an Old English word meaning "a hit or strike," often with a sword, and dent later came about as a regional variation in pronunciation. By dint of time, however, dent has come to mean the banged-in place where something hit, and dint is only used in the expression "by dint of" to mean "through the means of." |
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| 450 |
ignominious |
deserving or bringing disgrace or shame |
The great Ottawa chief saw his partially accomplished scheme withering into ignominious failure. |
adroit#inglorious#pretentious#communal# |
Ms. Hendricks bought it several years ago, possibly saving the club from an ignominious fate as a gravel pit.#Will it be enough to allow the Seahawks’ offensive line to shed the ignominious reputation last season and justify Cable’s optimism?#Ubaldo Jimenez and the Orioles try to avoid a bit of ignominious history as they open a series at Tampa Bay.#Crystal Pepsi died a ignominious death two years later.# |
Losing a football game stinks, but losing a game where, at the end, you are lying face down in a puddle of mud and the fans are burning effigies of you in the streets? That is an ignominious defeat. |
Although ignominious can modify other words, it is nearly always attached to "defeat." It derives from the word ignominy, which means public shame or defeat. Ignominy derives from the Latin in- "not" + a variant of nomen "name." |
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| 451 |
amicable |
characterized by friendship and good will |
After a short colloquy the two men evidently came to an amicable understanding, for they shook hands. |
unaided#irreversible#impending#unpeaceful# |
Yes, we didn’t eat at each other’s houses, but otherwise we lived on amicable terms.#It’s not always so amicable of course, or done in person.#He characterized his talks with Allen as amicable.#Q. His ex lives with us: My husband was married briefly in his early 20s, and the divorce was amicable.# |
The adjective amicable means "friendly" — but in particular, use it when describing relations one might otherwise expect to be unfriendly. The end of a romantic relationship that's less than amicable might involve broken dishes or broken bones. |
Amicable, not surprisingly, comes from the Latin word for "friend," amicus. Perhaps the things most commonly described as amicable are divorces. The parties in a divorce often tend to be so childish and the proceedings so messy that it's nice to have a word that reflects the absence of those qualities. Other nouns that commonly pair with amicable include relationship, split, parting, solution, and breakup. |
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| 452 |
onset |
the beginning or early stages |
Thousands of families are living in makeshift camps as temperatures fall to freezing with the onset of winter. |
a cold day#an antibiotic#a warm cup of soup#a high fever# |
Some months later Miles developed sudden onset pneumonia.#With the onset of these later years, the fragile self finds that “less is more”, and learns to moderate its youthful egotism.#“Let’s be clear about something from the onset - inappropriate touching is offensive, it’s wrong and should never be tolerated,” Mueller’s attorney, Gabriel McFarland told jurors.#“Let’s be clear about something from the onset — inappropriate touching is offensive, it’s wrong and should never be tolerated,” Mueller’s attorney, Gabriel McFarland told jurors.# |
When something is at its onset, it's at the beginning, just getting started, and it's often something that's not so pleasant. The onset of hurricane season is probably not the best time to visit the beach. |
If you catch an infection right at the onset and treat it immediately, the infection may not last so long. You can also have an early onset of something, and that usually means something you'd rather not have at all, as with early-onset Alzheimer's, a disease that usually appears after age 65. If you begin showing signs of the disease at a younger age than usual, you're said to have early-onset Alzheimer's. |
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| 453 |
conservatory |
a schoolhouse with special facilities for fine arts |
The young instrumental talent that is coming out of local music schools and conservatories is as amazingly good as you are going to find anywhere. |
#### |
“Unfortunately, this is common when you try to introduce any new approach to a conservatory. They are conservative places,” Silvestri said.#The food court, lined with palm trees, was called the Conservatory.#The living room opens into an airy 11- by 19-foot sun-drenched conservatory outlined with windows to help bring the outdoors inside.#Over time, the gardens plan to build a new visitors center and a 22,000-square-foot conservatory.# |
A conservatory is a place to grow. It could be one of those glass greenhouses where rare and delicate plants can thrive. Or it could be a place to grow your artistic talent — like a music conservatory. |
A conservatory can conserve more than just plants; it can conserve culture, too. And so we have the conservatory as a school for the fine arts, in particular ballet and classical music — often known by their fancy French title, conservatoire. The word comes from the Latin word conservare, meaning "to preserve." |
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| 454 |
zenith |
the point above the observer directly opposite the nadir |
In other words it never reaches the zenith, a point directly overhead. |
a volcanic eruption#a debate#a state of turmoil#a star# |
Zenith Bank is the largest lender to 9Mobile, one source familiar with the matter said.#He retired the old Zenith black-and-white TV to the basement, long after the neighbors were watching color sets.#It reached its zenith in the 18th century BC, when, in 1775 BC, Zimri-Lim, the last king of Mari, assumed the throne.#This was also the zenith of the American middle class, and well-paying jobs were abundant.# |
Zenith means the high point––it comes from astronomy, where it describes the highest point in an arc traveled by a star or a planet or another celestial body. The sun reaches its zenith when it is as high in the sky as it is going to go on that day. |
Zenith — and its opposite, nadir — have been appropriated by non-astronomers and are used to describe high and low points in non-astronomical contexts. For example, you can say that the high school quarterback hit his zenith in high school, and it was all downhill from there. Do yourself a favor and try to delay your zenith so you'll have something to look forward to in your future! |
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| 455 |
voluble |
marked by a ready flow of speech |
I find him charming: shy – yet easy to talk to – voluble and funny once he gets going. |
glacial#facetious#reticent#receptive# |
The company said that the normally voluble Auguin, who is in Paris, was not available for comment.#At 73 he is charming and voluble, his mop of curly hair now gray.#Describe him in three words: Voluble, entertaining and surprising.#The Frenchman is expected – overwhelmingly so – to stay, despite the opposition of a voluble section of the club’s fanbase.# |
Voluble describes someone who talks a lot, like your aunt who can’t stop telling you to cut your hair or a political candidate who makes twenty speeches on the day before the election. |
Have you ever found it especially hard to interrupt someone who talks a lot when he or she gets on a roll? If so, it won’t surprise you that the adjective voluble traces back to the Latin word volvere, meaning “to roll.” The word voluble describes talking continuously, fluently, at great length, in a steady flow. You’ll know it when you meet voluble talkers: they just keep rolling on and on. |
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| 456 |
yeoman |
a free man who cultivates his own land |
On one extreme was the well-to-do yeoman farmer farming his own land. |
teacher#sailor#poet#farmer# |
What we heard about in the aftermath of the flooding in July was the yeoman effort of the staff to evacuate the animals.#The brewery also produces a craft lager called Yeoman 1485 also only available in the private bar.#Yeoman was last seen March 30 driving away from a friend’s home in Yuba City.#Guy Yeoman, the company’s VP of patient centricity, recently talked with The Associated Press about the trend and his company’s efforts.# |
A yeoman was a farmer who owned and worked his own land — not to be confused with "yo, man!" |
Although experts aren't entirely sure of the origin of yeoman, they speculate that it is a shortened version of young man. Yeoman is now just a historic term and it is unlikely to be used to describe a landowning farmer today. There are modern uses for the word, however, including in the U.S. Navy, the Royal Navy, a Yeoman of the Guard, and similar military terms. |
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| 457 |
levity |
a manner lacking seriousness |
The same balance of seriousness and levity runs through her plays, which put an absurdist spin on everyday problems. |
tragic news#a riddle#a birthday present#snacks# |
“Ladies first, right?” he said, continuing the levity with a smile.#In retrospect it occurred to him that the subject is not one Argentinians treat with levity. #Much more so than hitting every single note, she said, is the spirit a performer engenders in her audience and the collective levity that results.#But then the Planet of the Apes movies don’t really do levity.# |
Joking that your dead grandmother "never looked better" could inject some levity, or frivolity, into her funeral, but your relatives might find your joke inappropriate to the occasion. |
Levity literally means "lightness," and it's often an attempt to inject some lightness or humor into an otherwise somber situation. Telling your Aunt Edna a joke while she recuperates from a skiing accident could provide the levity needed to brighten her mood. Yet levity is often used to describe humor that's not appropriate to the occasion, like telling your Aunt the joke, "Two corpses walk into a bar..." after her husband has just died. |
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| 458 |
rapt |
feeling great delight |
She was watching the development of the investigation with rapt, eager attention. |
a woman enjoying a beautiful sunset#a birthday gift for an acquaintance#a television show with low ratings#a man standing on line at the post office# |
As the song progressed, more treble and sunlight crept in; by the end the room was silent and rapt around him.#For the most part, they are shown sitting in auditoriums, listening raptly to Gore’s presentation.#He snacks on a bowl of oranges, his near-naked body rapt in orgasmic quiverings of delight as juice runs over his flesh.#People were tweeting that everyone in airports was watching in rapt silence.# |
To be rapt is to be carried away, caught up, or otherwise engrossed in something. If a performer is really good or particularly mesmerizing, the audience will be totally rapt. |
Rapt developed from the Latin raptus, meaning to “seize, carry off." So imagine something so interesting that it seizes your attention and carries you off to another world. In fact, rapt is related to the word rapture, which is an experience of extreme, other-worldly happiness. So do your teacher a favor and give her your rapt attention during math class. |
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| 459 |
sultry |
characterized by oppressive heat and humidity |
New guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics arrive just as school sports ramp up in sultry August temperatures. |
sparse#impious#discordant#hot# |
He recruited Alabama Shakes’ producer Blake Mills for the project, and even duets with the Shakes’ Brittany Howard for the sultry title track.#The sultry rendition for President Kennedy's 45th birthday at a 1962 Democratic fundraiser at New York's Madison Square was one of her last public appearances.#The skin-tight dress Marilyn Monroe wore for her sultry rendition of "Happy Birthday" before then U.S.#Despite her 65 years, Miss Hynde sang with a strong voice all night, her familiar sultry vibrato soaring through the crowd.# |
Stifling, humid and downright oppressive, sultry is an adjective that has everything to do with sweltering heat and a definite need for a tall glass of iced tea. |
You know how movies about the old south always show people wilting in the shade of their front porches, mopping their damp brows? Well that's because of the sultry summer weather. A sultry atmosphere is thick, almost swampy feeling. And all that heavy heat can certainly get passions stirring — "a sultry look" is one that happens to express steamy desire. |
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| 460 |
pinion |
bind the arms of |
The prisoners having dismounted, were placed in a line on the ground facing the guillotine, their arms pinioned. |
gear#drain#jet#enclosure# |
While his companion kept Tree-ear pinioned, the first robber quickly opened the straw container.#And McMaster, for all his brilliance, is still pinioned between competing visions of foreign policy.#But in late 2016, many grilles were removed after women, pinioned in back by metal grids, reported feeling confined.#San Francisco’s Bradley Pinion, who punted 100 times, was the only player with more attempts.# |
Many cars use rack-and-pinion steering, in which the steering wheel turns a small-toothed pinion gear, which engages the larger rack that turns the car's wheels. |
Pinions make steering easy and smooth. Pinion, in the sense of a gear, comes from Middle French peignon, which comes in turn from the Latin noun pecten, "comb," reflecting the toothed appearance of a pinion. |
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| 461 |
axiom |
a proposition that is not susceptible of proof or disproof |
The fundamental axiom of scientific thought is that there is not, never has been, and never will be, any disorder in nature. |
genre#maxim#manifesto#cadence# |
The axiom in American politics that turnout is all-important is no less true down south.#The Axiom Hotel aims to reflect the city that it’s in.#He executed one of Lee Trevino’s axioms: “You’ve got to keep your birdies.”#A common axiom among investors is to save early and often.# |
An axiom is a statement that everyone believes is true, such as "supply equals demand" or "the only constant is change." Mathematicians use axiom to refer to established proofs. |
Many axioms are so widely used they become clichés—here's one to help you remember what the word means. Axioms are so widely accepted they're seen almost as facts. A police officer interrogating a witness might just as easily say, "Stick to the axioms," as "Stick to the facts, ma'am." |
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| 462 |
descry |
catch sight of |
Looking off seaward, I could descry no sails. |
the sensation of fear#the smell of garbage#the sound of a cat#the sight of a rat# |
Caddie Jimmy Johnston descried it as a “calmness.”#An instantiation, perhaps, of the last asseveration can be descried herein.#The Hampshire city was praised by the Sunday Times for its "food, festivals and feel-good factor" and descried as "a tasty slice of authentic history".#The app has caused uproar online, with web users descrying it as "creepy" and "terrifying".# |
If you spot something, you descry it. When you spy it, you descry it. It's a good verb to use when you catch a glimpse of a rare bird in the trees. Or when you finally spot Waldo in a "Where's Waldo?" book. |
Descry is very similar to "see" or "discern," but involves more than just keeping your eyes open. Usually you descry something after observing carefully for a while. Wrote Ovid, the Ancient Roman poet and author: “Time on time revolving we descry, so moments flit, so moments fly.” Apparently, even in antiquity people complained about seeing the time go by too quickly. |
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| 463 |
retinue |
the group following and attending to some important person |
Despite his retinue of security personnel, Atambaev had been poisoned during his short tenure as prime minister. |
entourage#conservatory#spectrum#junta# |
Orchestras arrive with retinues of fans, who, armed with color-coded bandannas, form good-natured cheer squads at their hometown ensembles’ performances.#Nevertheless, in the early eleventh century he was obliged to join the retinue of the Persian sultan Mahmud of Ghazni as a political prisoner.#The P1A is geared primarily towards professional athletes, such as jockeys, and a small retinue of helpers.#Four princes, each a suitor hoping for Aurora’s hand in marriage, join the throng; so does Aurora’s retinue of female companions.# |
A retinue is a group of people that accompany an important person. If you're a king or queen, you can think of a retinue as your royal crew or posse. |
Retinue shares a root with retain. This fact can help you remember the word. If you hire someone to help you out while you travel, you are retaining their services. When their services are retained, they become part of your retinue. The Secret Service could be thought of as the U.S. President's retinue. Another example: A celebrity's retinue might include a hair dresser, a personal assistant, and a toy poodle. |
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| 464 |
functionary |
a worker who holds or is invested with an office |
He was the functionary of the assize court, impaneling its juries, bringing accused men before it, and carrying out its penalties. |
plebeian#confidant#buccaneer#official# |
What does he do but befriend the functionary in charge of spare parts?#Confessing that David Atlee Phillips used that pseudonym would connect the agency—or at least one of its most important functionaries—with Oswald.#The only way to understand these characters is as functionaries within the evolving modes of capitalism.#“They were both slaughtered,” an Islamic State functionary informed her, Ziab said.# |
A functionary is someone who fills a specific role in a political party or some other organization. We tend to picture them as people in gray suits who follow the boss's orders and don't think for themselves. |
The origins of this word go back to the French Revolution, and specifically Napoleon. After conquering most of Europe, Napoleon needed lots of people to help carry out all the functions, or duties, of his huge, centralized state. To build an empire you need soldiers; to run an empire you need office workers. These desk knights, if you will, were called fonctionnaires. |
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| 465 |
imbibe |
take in liquids |
"We're cornered at last," he said suddenly, as the old man set the bottle down after having imbibed the best half of its contents. |
usher in#take up#root out#clear up# |
Whether the multinational executives who jet into international conferences, imbibing good wine and bad speeches, are well-placed to spot such opportunities is questionable.#The radler is designed for summertime imbibing: Half beer, half fruit soda and all refreshment, with a bright fruit taste and less alcohol.#Rather, let a person walk alone in the woods, where a body “ imbibes delight through every pore.”#And yet he always avoided serious legal peril, not least because he played by the lessons imbibed from Roy Cohn.# |
Imbibe is a fancy word for "drink." If you need to imbibe ten cups of coffee just to get out of the house, you might have a caffeine problem. |
Although the verb imbibe means to take in liquids of any sort, if you don't specify the liquid, people are likely to infer you mean an alcoholic beverage. You can also use it figuratively. If you have imbibed every detail about every battle of the U.S. Civil War, you must find the subject interesting. |
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| 466 |
diversified |
having variety of character or form or components |
Funds in both categories tend to be highly diversified, typically with 100 or more stocks across at least 10 industries. |
undistributed#illicit#belated#somber# |
After diverging from Old World monkeys’ ancestors between 25 and 28 million years ago, apes diversified near the middle of the Miocene epoch.#Kenya boasts the region’s most sophisticated and diversified economy.#After the settlement, Whimsic Alley diversified its offerings to more heavily feature “Game of Thrones,” “Doctor Who” and “Sherlock” merchandise and programming.#Also, the basics of the economy are important—Tunisia’s economy is diversified, it doesn’t just depend on oil.# |
When something is diversified, it is diverse, meaning varied. If your investments are diversified, it means you have put money in more than one place: real estate, stocks, bonds, race horses, gold, alligator farms, and so on. |
Diverse comes from a medieval Latin word diversificare, meaning “make dissimilar.” If you have diversified something, you have made its parts different from each other. For example, if you want to make your diet more diversified, you make it a point to eat a wider variety of foods, or at least something beyond just scrambled eggs and macaroni and cheese. |
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| 467 |
maraud |
raid and rove in search of booty |
Its reporter says armed gangs and looters are marauding the streets. |
finale#raid#tribulation#paroxysm# |
Whose Streets? captures the explosions, the tear gas, and the marauding military-style police vehicles in hair-raising detail.#John Daly rolled back the years, however, when marauding to minus one and a share of seventh.#Fish and Wildlife Service, the law in these parts as far as marauding animals are concerned.#“Wild bands of marauding men armed with sickles, axes and swords roamed the open countryside, killing and mutilating anyone they found of the opposite faith.”# |
As a verb maraud means to rove about the countryside looking for goods to steal and in general, to make mayhem and trouble. The Gilbert and Sullivan opera "The Pirates of Penzance" is about a band of marauding pirates, the daughters of Major-General Stanley, and a big misunderstanding. |
The word maraud comes from the Middle French word meant "rascal or rogue." A marauder is someone who marauds and marauding describes people who raid and plunder. As a noun, a maraud is a quick, short foray. As a teenager, you may have participated in a midnight maraud to festoon your friend's house with toilet paper or capture the mascot of your rival sports team. |
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| 468 |
grudging |
petty or reluctant in giving or spending |
Expect delays, scattered outages and surly, grudging customer service in the interim. |
swarthy#dilapidated#ethereal#stingy# |
The semi-reversal suggested a grudging acknowledgment that, whatever the political fallout or economic prospects, Britain ultimately needs a thriving London all the more after Brexit.#Still, more modest goals, like a grudging global acceptance, may be more feasible.#Another aspect of the show’s broad range is that even the most grudging Chihuly fan may find something to like.#He nodded solemnly, as though in grudging agreement.# |
If you do something in a grudging manner (or grudgingly), you do it with reluctance. Doing homework, paying taxes, and saying sorry are all commonly done in a grudging manner. |
"Grudging apology" and "grudging acceptance" are probably the two most common uses of this word, which perhaps says something about our lack of grace as a species. The word derives from the medieval French word groucher, meaning "to murmur or mumble." A related word is grudge, meaning a long-lasting sense of ill will dating to a previous incident. |
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| 469 |
partiality |
a predisposition to like something |
She still showed a partiality for bright colors, by her gown of deep crimson. |
a student realizing he forgot to eat breakfast#a scientist working on a cure for cancer#an artist painting a canvas with bright colors#a teacher only calling on boys in class# |
Ptolemaeus’s partiality for observational data did lead him astray on one crucial point.#Leaders, Caslen said, can’t show partiality to any one group of people over another and should build teams where everyone feels valued.#A conservative partiality toward following rules and norms also explains other contrasts.#“Police officers take an oath to uphold the laws of the State without partiality or prejudice,” Davitt said in a statement.# |
Partiality is the habit of favoring something — taking its part. If your parents always seem to let your little sister off the hook while you get grounded, you could accuse them of partiality in their parenting. They favor your sister over you. |
Partiality is like bias. It means that your favorite person, type of food, or way of operating tends to get priority when you’re making up your mind. A synonym for partiality is favoritism. For this reason, anyone who’s not directly benefiting from your partiality will not appreciate it. It’s unfair! |
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| 470 |
philology |
the humanistic study of language and literature |
I had determined to study philology, chiefly Greek and Latin, but the fare spread out by the professors was much too tempting. |
linguistics#ideology#limbo#credence# |
Based on its preoccupation with matters linguistic and literary— in short, on philology—we might regard the Museum as the world’s first department of classics.#A native of Leningrad like Mr Putin, Mr Sechin studied at Leningrad University’s prestigious philology department.#He attended St. Paul’s School and Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he earned a degree in classics and comparative philology in 1952.#Biology could not be reduced to physics, nor could philately or philology.# |
Philology means the study of language. Not learning specific languages per se, but grammar and history, and how sounds and meanings change over time. |
If you study philology, you don't need anyone to tell you that the word philology comes from the Greek philologia "love of learning." It's one of the words ending in -logy, which means "study." Think biology (life), archaeology (ancient things), psychology (the mind), sociology (society). |
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| 471 |
wry |
humorously sarcastic or mocking |
She also has a very understated but very wry sense of humour; watch out for it. |
injured#dehydrated#funny#old# |
Eliot’s own writing was just as funereal and just as wry.#Investigators hope the postcards' wry humour will ensure they're shared from the top of the Eiffel Tower to the shores of the Adriatic.#As her wry sculpture proclaims, we are poised to be overwhelmed.#Also, multiple secrets and masked identities, including that of the novel’s wry narrator.# |
A wry sense of humor is a sarcastic one. You were late for work, stepped into a mud puddle, and you forgot your lunch. If your co-worker asks how your morning is going, you can reply with a wry tone, "Perfectly perfect." |
The original use for the adjective wry was to describe something that was bent or twisted, so a sprained ankle could be described as "a wry ankle." Today, the word wry is often used to describe less tangible twists. Wry humor and wry wit both describe a sense of humor that is a little twisted from the norm. |
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| 472 |
caucus |
meet to select a candidate or promote a policy |
Representative Ron Paul of Texas isn’t campaigning in Florida, instead focusing on Maine, which will caucus in late February. |
in a sports arena#at the top of a lighthouse#at City Hall#in a museum exhibit# |
Schatz, firmly in his caucus’s liberal wing, dismissed his allies who are critical of Republicans for continuing to vote in a conservative direction.#“Don’t put that on the table. It’s just a nonstarter with our caucus.”#A special session would cost the state an additional $30,000 per day, according to a statement released Thursday by the House Democratic Caucus.#No votes, no caucus meetings, no reporters lurking around every corner of their workplace.# |
The noun caucus is a closed meeting of members from the same political party. The Iowa caucuses get a lot of attention during the presidential primary season. |
Who knows how we got the noun caucus? One theory is that it comes from an Algonquin word that means an elder or leader of the tribe. Another theory is that the word comes from a social and political club in Boston in the 1700s that was perhaps named for the Greek word for drinking cup. However the word slipped into American English, today it refers to a closed political meeting, often used to choose party leaders. |
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| 473 |
permeate |
spread or diffuse through |
Florida’s summertime heat permeates almost every scene, becoming something like a character. |
pervade#excise#betoken#throttle# |
A spice-laden shelf runs along one wall, and the scent of lemon and cardamom permeates the air.#Anxiety and dread no longer permeate the dugo ut in close games.#As she exhaled, a slight musty-sweet smell permeated the air.#Corruption still permeates Ukrainian bureaucracy, and oligarchs still dominate the ruling elite.# |
When you live in a big city like New York, you know all too well how the smells of spices and cooking meats can permeate a hallway, easily passing through those thin apartment doors to make your mouth water. |
The verb permeate literally means to "pass through." It's often used to describe smells or liquids that not only pass through, but also spread to fill an entire area. When you bake cookies, you'll notice that the rich, sweet smell of those cookies isn't confined just to your oven — it permeates the entire kitchen and even the whole house. In science class, you might have learned about a permeable membrane — a thin material that is porous enough to let liquids or gases to pass through. |
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| 474 |
propitious |
presenting favorable circumstances |
With the Athens stock market down nearly 30 percent so far this year, it would not seem a propitious time for initial public offerings. |
lucky#noble#worthy#rash# |
Tuesday looks propitious, with a hilly start, and here Matthews will look to get in a break, if possible with team-mates around him.#He said it was an "extremely propitious period" to be "female and from an ethnic background and preferably both".#“The Genius of Judaism” arrives at a propitious time.#Chinese pay fortunetellers to pick lucky names for their babies or propitious dates for weddings and funerals.# |
When the timing of something is propitious, it's likely to turn out well. A propitious time for taking a big test is when you've studied hard and had a good night's sleep. |
If you believe in astrology, you might check your horoscope to settle on a propitious day for your wedding. A propitious moment to ask your parents about that spring break trip to Cancun might be when you've just unveiled your straight-A report card. |
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| 475 |
salient |
conspicuous, prominent, or important |
Bullying has become an increasingly salient problem for school-age children, and in rare cases has ended tragically with victims committing suicide. |
unconstitutional#conspicuous#sustainable#wry# |
At least one of those curious provisions is suddenly salient.#The point that the statues date from later periods is a very salient one, ditto state flags and the stars and bars.#The company’s fiscal third-quarter results Tuesday will be a salient—if short-lived—reminder of that.#The salient difference between Cleveland and Trump is their private-public congruence.# |
If something stands out in a very obvious way, it can be called salient. It's time to find new friends if the differences between you and your current friends are becoming more and more salient. |
Salient, from the Latin verb salire "to leap," was originally used in English to refer to leaping animals such as a frog or deer and may still be used this way. Often, however, it is used in math or geography to mean protruding. A salient angle juts outward rather than inward. Figuratively, it means noticeable or prominent. When giving an argument, make your most salient points at the beginning or the end. |
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| 476 |
propitiate |
make peace with |
King Edward, having subdued the Welsh, “endeavoured to propitiate his newly acquired subjects by becoming a resident in the conquered country. |
appease#junket#humiliate#stabilize# |
Nationalist groups such as the IRA and PLO were somewhat propitiated by negotiated territorial compromises.#The gods had to be propitiated, and a vast industry of priests and oracles arose to make the gods less angry.#The challenges that comes with buying an engagement ring is what James Allen, the world’s largest privately held retailer of diamonds, aims to propitiate.#She was famously jealous and violent, and Hawaiians tried to propitiate her with offerings of pork, fish, liquor.# |
If you forgot flowers on your Mom's birthday, you can still propitiate her by sending a bouquet the next day. Propitiate means to appease someone or make them happy by doing a particular thing. Handy strategy for lovers, too. |
One of the most common uses of propitiate historically was in the sense of appeasing the Gods, often with a gift in the form of an animal or human sacrifice. Fortunately, for most people today flowers and candy will do the trick. But then again, some Moms can be tough to appease. |
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| 477 |
excise |
remove by cutting |
Wielding a razor, Jefferson excised all passages containing supernaturalistic elements from the gospels, extracting what he took to be Jesus's pure ethical teachings. |
expound#execrate#expunge#exhibit# |
But it omits part of the state’s leasehold excise tax collected “in lieu” of property tax.#Bauer is a retired Indiana Excise Police lieutenant whose duties included auditing alcohol sales licenses.#At the end of the day, their only coherent argument for excising the health care law was because they said they would for seven years.#To pay for expanded coverage, the ACA raised taxes on drug and insurance companies while imposing an excise tax on the sale of medical devices.# |
An excise tax is a special tax levied on specific products sold within a country. To excise something can also mean to get rid of it. Say, wouldn't it be nice if they would excise the excise taxes? |
An excise tax is simply an extra tax put on various products. Perhaps the most common examples are the taxes levied on tobacco and liquor, often called "sin taxes" because drinking and smoking are considered vices. There is also an excise tax on gasoline. To cover the tax, the seller will usually raise the price of the item. Interestingly, the word excise (ek-SIZE) used as a verb means to remove something by cutting it out. Good luck with excising the excise taxes! |
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| 478 |
betoken |
be a signal for or a symptom of |
The haggard face and sombre eyes betokened considerable mental anguish. |
portend#propel#boast#assess# |
It betokened too a certain willful blindness toward the evidence that was already emerging of a popular backlash against liberalism.#This is why oddities of skin pigmentation sometimes betoken deeper ailments.#At the time, these episodes loomed large and seemed to betoken a troubled presidency.#But what they betoken is a larger sort of intellectual dishonesty.# |
A dark sky full of clouds might betoken a thunderstorm. In other words, the clouds indicate or point to the fact that a thunderstorm is on its way. |
You're most likely to come across the word betoken in an English class or a book, since it's primarily a literary word used to express the idea of signifying or symbolizing something. There's often a sense of mystery around the word; for example, a black cat might betoken bad luck, or be an omen of something slightly scary. However, there are plenty of cheerful examples, like when a ring betokens love. |
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| 479 |
palatable |
acceptable to the taste or mind |
If nicely cooked in this way, cabbage is as palatable and as digestible as cauliflower. |
unappetizing#obtainable#askance#reticent# |
But she warns: "Most wines are palatable - it doesn't mean I am recommending it."#But the filmmakers chose to sand off all the edges, and leave something palatable and inoffensive.#Because an incredible, best-of-all-time movie gets the same red tomato from each critic as a movie that's merely palatable.#For MLS, luring fans with an American-style playoff carrot is more palatable than relegation.# |
Something that is palatable is acceptable to one’s sense of taste—literally or figuratively. If it's palatable, then you can put up with it — whether it's leftovers or a mediocre made-for-TV movie. |
The palate is the roof of the mouth, the combination of structures that separates the mouth from the nose. Early anatomists believed that the sense of taste was located in the palate, and, just as taste is metaphorically expanded to include sensibilities beyond the experience of food and drink, so palatable can be used to describe phenomena beyond the culinary. And, while palatable can mean pleasing or agreeable, it generally means merely tolerable—edible, rather than delicious. |
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| 480 |
upbraid |
express criticism towards |
When Kahn warned of a serious economic "depression", he was upbraided by the White House for using such language. |
reproach#salvage#propitiate#excise# |
Lynch, the former human resources director, confirmed that Puliafito upbraided that administrator on several occasions.#It “echoes through her brain on an endless loop,” prodding her to upbraid him during their final hours together.#The petition and essays he wrote in which he upbraided and mocked the Chinese government were cited in the verdict.#In early May, she upbraided the government for its role in violence against protesters.# |
No, upbraid isn’t what girls get done at a salon before prom. When you upbraid people, you scold them, tell them off, and criticize them. (You could, however, upbraid your stylist after a bad haircut.) |
The word upbraid comes from the Old English word upbregdan, which literally means "bring up quickly." Although this word doesn't have anything to do with hair, upbraid and braid are, in fact, related. The original meaning of braid was "to move quickly from side to side," which is what you do with your fingers when you're braiding someone's hair. When you upbraid someone, you're quickly bringing up different reasons why you're mad at them. |
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| 481 |
renegade |
someone who rebels and becomes an outlaw |
If he went off to another people he lost all standing among the Sioux and was thereafter treated as an outlaw and a renegade. |
barrister#quack#deserter#potentate# |
For nearly a decade, a renegade loner who relished being seen as an outsider dominated the news.#At various times in his career, he’s been an art house auteur, a must-have director of the moment, a renegade and a recluse.#Meanwhile, a small group of renegade thinkers on the right is trying to create a new conservative movement built on Mr. Trump’s populist appeal.#Many reside outside of Los Angeles proper, with Contreras roaming the backyard party scenes and renegade venues in search of young talent.# |
A renegade is a person who has deserted their cause or defied convention; they're rebels and sometimes outlaws, or even traitors. |
A long, long time ago, a renegade was a Christian person who decided to become Muslim. That definition is pretty outdated, as these days a renegade is anyone who breaks laws or expectations to do their own thing or join the other side. It might sound kind of cool to be a renegade, like some rogue action hero. But in general, renegade actions are frowned, not smiled, upon. |
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| 482 |
hoary |
ancient |
The device of the trapped young person saved by books is a hoary one, but Ms. Winterson makes it seem new, and sulfurous. |
chaotic#gray#exemplary#stringent# |
One of the hoariest methods of modern war propaganda remains the official body count.#The sordidness of all of this will be sugarcoated with the hoary claim that lower tax rates will spur growth.#“Ghost Light” is a spectral tour of the hoary legends, superstitions and rituals that remain sacrosanct in the hearts of even the most jaded playmakers.#The latter—that is, copping to your true values—is antithetical to the hoary journalistic principle of objectivity.# |
Use the adjective hoary to describe something that is old and worn out — like the hoary jokes your great uncle Albert clings to. |
The word hoary can also be used to describe something that is white or gray with age. Santa is usually depicted with a hoary beard and hoary hair, although sometimes mall Santas have to fake this with wigs and artificial beards. Hoary can also mean covered with white down — "The hoary leaves felt like velvet to the touch." |
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| 483 |
pedantic |
marked by a narrow focus on or display of learning |
The reader is treated to pedantic little footnotes, and given a good deal of information which is either gratuitous or uninteresting. |
scholarly#restrained#pedestrian#offensive# |
“Golden Hill” possesses a fluency and immediacy, a feast of the senses, without ever being pedantic.#In every other way it was authentic, Merifield said, noting that the foundation was “ pedantic” about everything.#A foreign detective with pedantic habits and a host of potential suspects with secrets to hide.#Comey’s testimony revealed the encounters between a skilled, sometimes pedantic student of the Constitution and an amateur with no moral governor and no prudent counsel.# |
There's nothing wrong with focusing on the details, but someone who is pedantic makes a big display of knowing obscure facts and details. |
Pedantic means "like a pedant," someone who's too concerned with literal accuracy or formality. It's a negative term that implies someone is showing off book learning or trivia, especially in a tiresome way. You don't want to go antique-shopping with a pedantic friend, who will use the opportunity to bore you with his in-depth knowledge of Chinese porcelain kitty-litter boxes. |
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| 484 |
coy |
showing marked and often playful evasiveness or reluctance |
It was funny watching such a solid person, based in faith and education, grow a trifle coy about the year of his birth. |
monthly#demure#frequent#nutritious# |
Paul Clement was coy over talk of a move for the former Swansea midfielder Joe Allen, and realises time is of the essence.#“Of course he wants us all to be on the same page,” Coy said.#Mayweather, who turned 40 in February and is returning to the ring for the first time in nearly two years, played coy on the specifics.#Catawba County Sheriff Coy Reid said earlier this week that autopsy results indicated Bruner was fatally shot.# |
Take the adjective coy for a person who pretends to be shy but really isn't, or someone who could give a definite answer but won't. Coy behavior can be playful or just plain annoying. |
Originally meaning "quiet and shy," today someone who is coy pretends to be shy in a playful manner — often as a form of flirting. If a politician is coy about something, he or she only gives vague statements on an issue for fear of committing to a position or angering his or her constituency. Common to both of these senses is the fact that a person uses coyness to subtly manipulate his or her audience. |
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| 485 |
troth |
a solemn pledge of fidelity |
She had pledged to him her troth, and she would not attempt to go back from her pledge at the first appearance of a difficulty. |
gutter#anxiety#pledge#chaos# |
More than any other industry, fashion had pledged its troth to Mrs. Clinton.#Legions have clung to this foul troth right up to last month when he declared that we really don’t need to hold an election.#One is that some once great, grass roots movements pledged their troth to a political party and lost touch with their values and their members.#One of those leaders who chose to plight his troth with Bernie Sanders is the former president of the NAACP, Ben Jealous.# |
A troth is a serious promise to be faithful, such as a pledge people make about getting married. If you and your girlfriend announce your troth at a family dinner, then that means you better be serious about your relationship. |
You can pronounce troth to rhyme with "cloth" or to rhyme with "oath." In fact, oath is a synonym for troth. Both words are related to truth, in that when someone makes a troth or an oath, what is said is taken as the truth. You can see troth in words like betrothal, which means engagement, or betrothed, which refers to a person someone is engaged to. |
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| 486 |
encroachment |
entry to another's property without right or permission |
The move may mark yet another attempt by France to rein in what it sees as the encroachment of online services on the country's culture. |
milestone#invasion#transport#pesticide# |
The two species are facing sharp drops in numbers because of habitat loss, timber cutting and human encroachment, the zoo said.#The electronic security devices were viewed by Muslims as an Israeli encroachment on their sovereignty over the site, which includes the Dome of the Rock.#Vice President Mike Pence, speaking in Montenegro, committed American support to eight Balkan nations and warned against Russian encroachment in the region.#The White House is correct that other administrations likely would share this one's reservations about congressional encroachment on the Executive Branch's foreign policy authority.# |
An encroachment is something that intrudes and has the power to influence whatever it encounters. Some might consider text messaging to be an encroachment of impersonal technology on true, heartfelt interactions. |
Encroachment carries the sense of something slowly creeping into something else's space, either literally or figuratively. An encroachment can be of the physical variety, such as the encroachment of new development into a beautiful coastal area. Encroachment typically has a slightly a negative meaning, hinting at something that intrudes on something and then spoils it in some way. |
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| 487 |
belie |
be in contradiction with |
"It is a fine morning," he said, taken aback by my sudden movement, but affecting an indifference which the sparkle in his eye belied. |
forestall#contradict#engulf#accentuate# |
But there’s also something passive and a bit sad, something that belies, indeed undoes stereotypes and the expectations of men, active and upright.#Trump’s sharp rhetoric is belied by the business-as-usual routines of the U.S.#“We will defend Eric aggressively in court, where actual facts, based on evidence, testimony, and cross-examination, will belie these anonymous accusations.”#Albanesi, however, sang with an ease that belied the strength of her highest notes.# |
To belie means to contradict. If you are 93 but look like you are 53, then your young looks belie your age. |
We get belie from the Old English beleogan, which meant "to deceive by lying." It suggests characteristics or behavior that inadvertently or deliberately hide the truth. To remember it, just think "be lying." Snow White's decision to barge into the Seven Dwarfs' home without invitation belied her gentle nature. |
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| 488 |
armada |
a large fleet |
An armada of three hundred ships manned by eighteen thousand marines assembled in the bay on their way to the conquest of Algiers. |
a presidential election#a movie premiere#a naval battle#a hurricane# |
Never mind that the armada was sailing away from Pyongyang.#In the summer of 1776, British warships sailed for New York in the largest fleet since the Spanish Armada.#So floating barges are unlikely to meet the local food demands on their own — you’d need an armada — but that’s not Swale’s goal.#From the East, an armada led by the “Mother of Dragons.”# |
If an armada is looking for you, that's not good news — it's a fleet of warships. |
Even though armada sounds a little old-fashioned, they still exist. In fact, some armadas look for pirates — another old-fashioned-sounding group that still exists. Though an armada is part of a navy, armada sounds similar to "army,", and it should: they both come ultimately from the same source, the Latin word armata, "armed." Armies and navies are two of the oldest branches of a military power, and an armada is a military fleet — another word for a group of boats or ships. |
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| 489 |
succor |
assistance in time of difficulty |
Given his health woes, succession worries and persistent isolation, Mr. Kim may simply be seeking succor from what may be his last friend on earth. |
providence#relief#stigma#discernment# |
Good people do not legitimize, humanize and offer succor to such a president, even if they do happen to be related to him.#Providing contrast are shots of the luminous nocturnal beauty of skyscrapers under construction that will do nothing to succor the lives below.#Once a crisis erupts, we see his characters in full: misunderstood, emotionally messy and so much like us, creatures needing succor despite their demons.#So sometimes the traveler is asked whence will come their succor.# |
Succor is relief or help. If you've just woken up in the midst of a lion's den, wearing nothing but raw meat pajamas — sounds like you could use some succor! |
In archaic times, succor meant a reinforcement of troops during a hard battle. These days though, those reinforcements are a bit more figurative. Succor is a helping hand in a time of need, relief when the going gets tough. Succor can also be used as a verb, as in, "After Bob fell overboard, he was saved — succored by a life preserver." |
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| 490 |
imperturbable |
marked by extreme calm and composure |
Ordinarily imperturbable, even in the face of unexpected situations, he was now visibly agitated. |
indolent#unflappable#composite#conceited# |
It is, to all appearances, a typically Russian scene of imperturbable rural tranquillity.#Judge looks more like another young star from the Bronx whose imperturbable manner didn’t stop him from becoming the biggest star of his generation.#Tact, stamina and an imperturbable, meticulous approach help.#It is, to all appearances, a typically Russian scene of imperturbable rural tranquillity.# |
If you're imperturbable you are not easily upset. If your goal is to be imperturbable, then you can't let things bother you or get you stressed, confused, or angry. |
The adjective imperturbable is the flip side of perturbable, which comes from perturb, which in turn traces back to the Latin word perturbare, meaning “to confuse” or “to disturb.” If something really annoying is going on, like one neighbor is jack-hammering his driveway and another has a dog that's barking while you're trying to sleep because you were up all night studying and you really really need a nap, but you stay calm and don’t get upset, you are imperturbable. |
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| 491 |
irresolute |
uncertain how to act or proceed |
I stood for a moment before I entered on my arduous undertaking, irresolute and hesitating, swayed by two conflicting impulses. |
hieroglyphic#limpid#illustrative#determined# |
It culminated on the upswing, with a passage of slowly rising chords reminiscent of the irresolute, parallel motion in “Skies of America,” Coleman’s major concerto.#Peter Sarsgaard is a strangely irresolute Bobby, with no suggestion of a Boston accent.#And the poems in Vievee Francis’s haunting collection “Forest Primeval” are discreet yet revelatory, irresolute yet decisive, distressed yet serene.#For an indefinite time I remain completely irresolute.# |
Irresolute describes someone who feels stuck. A decision must be made, a plan acted on, but the irresolute person just doesn't know what to do. |
Resolute describes certainty. When someone is resolute, things get done: plans are made and carried out. But add the prefix ir to resolute and you get its opposite. An irresolute person isn't necessarily a slacker — he or she just doesn't know what to do. Maybe it's confusion. Maybe it's a matter of waiting for better information to come along. Either way, if someone is irresolute, you'll need to be patient — or willing to nudge him or her into action. |
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| 492 |
knack |
a special way of doing something |
He had a special knack of hunting out farm houses, engaging madame in conversation, and coming away with bread, eggs, or cheese in his knapsack. |
a connection that cannot be logically explained#a tendency to get distracted during reading#a treat used to reward an obedient child or pet#a talent for learning a foreign language# |
High school and junior college coaches here attribute Farrar’s recruiting knack, in part, to his deep knowledge of his home state.#With the aid of vague maps posted on urbex websites and a knack for spelunking, he’s found eight entrances around the city.#He attributes his knack for big plays to hustle and preparation.#Daniel’s teammates will learn plenty about his knack for drawing fouls.# |
If you have a knack for doing something, you do it well. You may have a knack for baking cakes or a knack for cracking jokes. These things come easy to you. |
Although the noun knack refers to a special talent, the sense is that is a more innate talent — as opposed to a certain technique. So if someone instinctively has a talent for fixing plumbing, for example, you can say they have a knack for it. If, however, they unclog a sink by having a wrench in one hand and a how-to book in the other, then they may have the technique, but they probably don't have the knack. |
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| 493 |
unseemly |
not in keeping with accepted standards of what is proper |
The square mile's upbeat mood may strike some as unseemly at a time of national gloom. |
angular#unearthly#indecent#insidious# |
The unseemly saga, they say, reflects a coarsening of the national discourse on race.#While unseemly to most, the real threat is that this bitterness prevents the nation from addressing the difficult challenges it faces.#The president may be waking to the possibility that Mueller will drag this unseemly marketplace into the glare of public scrutiny.#Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina deemed Trump's treatment of Sessions " unseemly" and "a sign of great weakness on the part of President Trump."# |
Something that is inappropriate or unacceptable behavior is unseemly. It's a gentler, somewhat nicer word for "inappropriate" than its synonyms, the "in" words: "indecent, indecorous, indelicate, inelegant, inept" — well, you get the idea. |
Knowing that the "un-" prefix turns a word into its opposite, you'll see that unseemly means "not seemly." Let's look at that word (which is related to our verb seem), because it carries the real meaning. Seemly goes back to around 1200, to the Old Norse word soemr, "fitting, becoming." The negative "un-" was added in the early 14th century to denote the opposite meaning. "Seems" to make sense, doesn’t it? |
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| 494 |
accentuate |
stress or single out as important |
This sparkling marvel lies modestly nestled among the law courts, whose plainer modern buildings serve but to accentuate its wonderful beauty. |
collapse#submerge#rearrange#highlight# |
In December, Apple began to sell the Beats Solo 3 wireless headphones to accentuate its arsenal.#“It’s easier to find likeminded people, but at the same time it accentuates problems of human interaction.”#The elegant skyscrapers of the cityscape loom over Nada and his cohorts in blight, accentuating the disparity between downtown wealth and fringe poverty.#Brexiteers will put all that aside and accentuate the positive.# |
To accentuate something is to emphasize it. If you use a lot of emphasis to describe part of a meal, as in "the steak was SOOO good, and I liked the salad too," you "accent" what "-u" "-ate," or accentuate, the highlight of the meal — the steak. |
There is an old song with the lyrics "Accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative." The drawn-out pronunciation of the word accentuate (ack-SEN-chew-ate) draws attention to the word, which is exactly what accentuate does: it draws attention to something. Sometimes, though, a negative quality gets the focus, as in "his bad mood did a lot to accentuate his reputation as a grump," but the negative is usually an unintentional way to get attention. |
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| 495 |
divulge |
make known to the public information previously kept secret |
She hectors her children not to divulge personal information like phone numbers online. |
reveal#rectify#suffuse#forestall# |
When is it no longer acceptable to divulge a celebrity’s secrets?#Beyond hours worked or tips received, the workers divulged more detailed and complex aspects of their lives.#Packer told Deadline that the controversy surrounding “Confederate” pressured him to divulge the upcoming project.#When questioned, Schroeder refused to divulge details of the sale and said the new owners “want you to focus on your job.”# |
If you've been sneaking around with your best friend's boyfriend, that's probably one secret you don't want to divulge, because revealing that tidbit of information will probably cut your friendship short. |
Divulge often precedes the word secret, because it means to reveal something, and that something is often of a personal or private nature. A gossip columnist's job is to divulge which celebrities are secretly dating and which ones have been caught in embarrassing situations. Although the word comes from the Latin word for making something public to the masses, it can also be used to describe information passed from one person to another. For example, a mother could divulge to her daughter that she was adopted. |
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| 496 |
brawn |
possessing muscular strength |
He believes Hollywood has often have had an over-reliance on physical brawn as the deciding factor for portraying a strong man. |
allegiance#muscularity#forbearance#duration# |
Like most Martials, he's tall and muscled, but lanky, without the brawn I'd expect of a blacksmith.#And all that brawn was wrapped in delicious aesthetics.#“Transformers” is like the anti-“Martian”: brawn over brains.#Radwanska was junior champion here in 2006, Cornet a year later and both rely on brains rather than brawn to overcome opponents.# |
Brawn means muscular strength. Brawn is thought of as the opposite of brains, but let’s face it — people can be strong and smart! No matter how smart you are, though, you must have big muscles to have brawn. |
The word brawn is from the Old French word braon, which means “fleshy or muscular part,” referring to a part of an animal that people cook and eat. British English still uses brawn to mean meat, headcheese in particular. In American English, brawn refers to strength and heft. You may also have heard the adjective brawny, meaning strong and muscular. |
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| 497 |
burnish |
polish and make shiny |
Great cleanliness is enforced in all that belongs to a lighthouse, the reflectors and lenses being constantly burnished, polished, and cleansed. |
a torn sweater#a higher being#a silver tray#a tasty soup# |
Throughout his year-long exile from the game, Schmid clung to the idea that he might earn one last chance with which to burnish his legacy.#And even that, in its bittersweet way, burnished his legend.#From then on, Israel Hayom helped burnish Trump’s image in Israel.#They burnish the sport’s best record almost every night.# |
That seductive gleam on that Porsche behind the dealer's window? It's called a burnish, a gloss only achieved by loads of polishing. Likewise, you can burnish a resume by polishing it until it's perfect. |
A caution about usage: burnish in the physical sense is usually reserved for inanimate objects — a woman will not be happy to hear that her appearance is "burnished to perfection." But your car will thank you. Also, one of the most common non-physical things to be burnished? A reputation. People are forever burnishing them — and its opposite, besmirching them (i.e., making them dirty). |
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| 498 |
palpitate |
beat rapidly |
After supper my heart started racing, palpitating like a tick. |
sneer#portray#mutter#throb# |
Given all she’s been through, given the newborn she’s gently palpitating, her eyes are surprisingly bright, her voice strong. #Given all she’s been through, given the newborn she’s gently palpitating, her eyes are surprisingly bright, her voice strong.#Tracks murmur and thrum or surge and palpitate, flush with bleary murk and melodic curlicues reminiscent of earthen atmosphere and galactic ascent alike.#But the announcement in March that the Folger had secured it drew palpitating headlines around the world.# |
When you watch scary movies, do you ever feel your heart palpitate? This means it beats quickly. |
To correctly pronounce palpitate, say: "PAL-pih-tate." Hearts aren't the only thing that can palpitate; your whole body might palpitate, or shiver. You can also palpitate something, such as what a medical professional does to a patient's heart to make it beat, potentially saving his or her life. Palpitate comes from the Latin word palpare, "to stroke." |
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| 499 |
promiscuous |
not selective of a single class or person |
A promiscuous assembly had gathered there—men of all creeds and opinions—and an "open-air" meeting was in progress. |
inestimable#edible#rudimentary#unchaste# |
In the spirit of promiscuous speculation, we will float this notion: The moon is back!#As promiscuous in life as in art, Picabia almost always had a wife and a mistress, or two mistresses, who tended to get along.#Qin retaliates by accusing her of being promiscuous, a “Madame Bovary.”#New York, with a high incidence of intravenous drug use and promiscuous unprotected sex in the late 1970s, was hit hard by HIV.# |
The adjective promiscuous is often used pejoratively to refer to someone who has many romantic partners. However, the word can also be used in a general sense to mean "not limited, restrained, or restricted." If you're a promiscuous reader, you'll read just about anything — from biographies to science fiction to the back of the cereal box. |
Promiscuous is not limited to a romantic context. Long ago promiscuous described "a disorderly mixture of people and things," and shades of that original meaning linger. If a chef at an Italian restaurant is promiscuous, you might find him mixing ingredients from South America or Asia into his pasta. Carpet bombing as opposed to targeted invasion might be called a promiscuous use of military force. |
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| 500 |
dissemble |
make believe with the intent to deceive |
Pictures have always dissembled – there are millions of snaps of miserable families grinning bravely – but now they directly lie. |
embroider#reveal#support#encourage# |
Harvard’s admissions policy is “a figleaf”, he says, “to hide, dissemble and obfuscate racial balancing and quotas.”#To sum up: The Obama Democrats used student loans and loan forgiveness to buy votes and dissembled about the cost.#Sure, she compromises, she sometimes dissembles and at times her judgment has been flawed.#If it comes to that, Ms. Yellen will find it very hard to dissemble her way out of it.# |
To dissemble is to hide under a false appearance, to deceive. "When confronted about their human rights record, the Chinese government typically dissembles." |
Dissemble is a little more complicated than a straight lie or denial. When you dissemble, you disguise your true intentions or feelings behind a false appearance. To dissemble is to pretend that you don't know something, to pretend that you think one way when you act another way. "My boyfriend was dissembling the whole time. He was a married father of two." |
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| 501 |
flotilla |
a fleet of small craft |
She was guarded by a flotilla of boats equipped with satellites, Global Positioning System devices, advanced navigation systems and shark shields. |
for a recreational hobby#in the preparation of a meal#for transmitting signals#for a military operation# |
Saturday’s silent flotilla on Guanabara Bay coincides with the one-year anniversary of the start of the Rio Games.#The Mexican border guards ignore the flotilla below them and its duty-dodging cargoes; they bring the town a lot of business.#Fishermen paused their work to snap pictures using their mobile phones as the flotilla passed.#A flotilla of boats and ships will parade from the Ballard Locks into Lake Union in commemoration of the centennial of the Ship Canal opening.# |
If you see a boy launch a flotilla of handmade sailboats on the far side of a pond, chances are his fleet of ships won't make it to your side of the pond. |
Flotilla is from the Spanish word flota, which means fleet. The word looks like the Spanish word tortilla but is not pronounced at all the same way, even though they are both from the same language. Flotilla is pronounced like the word "float" and the "-ill" part of the word "hill," then with "uh" on the end of the word. |
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| 502 |
invective |
abusive language used to express blame or censure |
There's much more name-calling, shouting and personal invective in American life than anywhere I've ever traveled outside the United States. |
promotion#irony#fluency#censure# |
The grackle erupted in a stream of gravelly invective.#It was at the Tompkins Square Park riots’ height that the invective chant “Die, Yuppie Scum!”#Enraged arm-chair commentators heaped invective on Carter, an anorexic-looking blond, as a witch who should be locked away for years.#She doesn’t hurl invectives at you when you leave your shoes in the hallway.# |
Invective is harsh, abusive language, like, "you dirty rotten scoundrel." I'm sure you can think of harsher and more obscene examples, but we won't get into them here. |
Invective comes from the Latin for "abusive." It kind of sounds like a harsh word, actually, with those sharp, dagger-like V's. People usually put a colorful verb or phrase before it. Some examples: "She spewed invective," "She hurled invective," "She burst forth into invective." You can follow it with a phrase like, "picking up her plate and throwing it across the room." |
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| 503 |
hermitage |
the abode of a recluse |
All the rest of their time is passed in solitude in their hermitages, which are built quite separate from one another. |
someone who prefers to avoid social interaction#someone who serves the government#someone who frequently throw parties#a large, multi-generational family# |
Lake, understanding the historical significance of the moment, brought along wines from the Côte-Rôtie and Hermitage regions in France’s northern Rhône Valley.#When President Trump campaigned this spring at the Hermitage, the home of Andrew Jackson, one part of his predecessor’s approach got a special endorsement.#Each year, more than 100 brotherhoods travel to the hermitage at El Rocío from all over Andalucía.#In the northern part of the Rhône Valley, syrah rules in such famous regions as Côte Rôtie, St. Joseph and Hermitage.# |
Your summer cabin deep in the woods where you go to think about how funny life is sometimes? If you want to sound fancy, it could be called a hermitage, a dwelling removed from civilization. |
The noun hermitage has origins in the French word hermite, meaning “hermit,” a person who lives alone, far from society. Hermitage can describe the place where a hermit lives, or a dwelling occupied by an isolated religious group that prefers solitude. But the word is likely to be used more broadly to describe a secluded or remote dwelling, a place of solitude, where you won’t run into a neighbor while mowing the lawn in the backyard. |
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| 504 |
despoil |
destroy and strip of its possession |
Wherever his lordship's army went, plantations were despoiled, and private houses plundered. |
bounce#perturb#pillage#deplore# |
It involves obtaining bauxite in remote places, at the risk of being accused of despoiling the earth or exploiting poor countries.#The eight-minute “Retribution” starts with her calmly declaiming about materialism despoiling Mother Earth.#But it is difficult to imagine the villages whole again, with their emptied streets and houses lying in ruin or despoiled by the militants.#One Edenic paradise will be despoiled, but another will thrive. Creation and destruction are inextricably linked; so, for that matter, are creation and evolution.# |
Despoil is to spoil, only worse. You may spoil a dinner party by being late, but we all despoil the earth with pollution and over-consumption. |
The Latin root of despoil meant "to strip or rob" and although despoil is used more broadly now, it has that sense within it. When we despoil the earth, we rob it of its beauty and strip it of its natural resources. In the same way, invading armies despoil villages by wrecking their houses and raping, or despoiling, the women in them: robbing both of their beauty and innocence. |
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| 505 |
sully |
make dirty or spotty |
Why sully the reputation of an otherwise fascinating online community with really deeply questionable, troubling content? |
taint#transmute#wallow#chasten# |
Some students and alumni worry that the resulting notoriety will sully the institute’s name and the value of their degrees.#Unfortunately, both Bush and Obama also sullied the goodwill of our republic too.#Actual reality sullied the result, as weak performance by the two companies highlighted their increasingly tough positions in a tightening market.#But the stubborn scandal over the London real estate holdings sullied the reputation of the family.# |
To sully is to attack someone's good name and to try to ruin his reputation. If you spread false rumors that there's chicken stock in the vegetarian entree at Joe's Diner, you would sully Joe's good reputation. |
Sully can also mean to tarnish or make spotty. It's easy to remember this meaning when you know that sully comes from the Middle French word souiller, meaning, "make dirty." For example, dripping chocolate sauce onto the table will sully your mother's new white tablecloth. Another meaning of sully is to corrupt or cast suspicion on. If an automaker recalls millions of vehicles due to safety problems, it doesn't exactly inspire confidence — in fact, it may sully their brand. |
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| 506 |
malevolent |
having or exerting a malignant influence |
So you don’t believe in evil, as an actual malevolent force? |
ambivalent#turbulent#corpulent#benevolent# |
The shadows shift, and within them, two malevolent eyes flash.#Production lines that integrate computer-imaging, barcode scanners and measuring tolerances to a hair’s width at multiple points are more vulnerable to malevolent outsiders.#But less than five months into Trump’s administration, this swirl of malevolent chaos and willful incompetence is a new type of normal.#Ailes is, or was, a malevolent and baleful force in American life, although a magnificent programmer of television.# |
If someone is malevolent, they wish evil on others. If you find yourself approaching someone with a malevolent look in her eye, best to run the other way. |
Malevolent comes from the Latin word malevolens, which means "ill-disposed, spiteful"; its opposite is benevolent, which means "wishing good things for others." A malevolent person might display satisfaction at someone else's problems. But it's not only individuals who can be malevolent. If you think that television violence influences viewers to violence, you see television as a malevolent force. The stress is on the second syllable: muh-LEV-uh-lent. |
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| 507 |
irksome |
tedious or irritating |
It was pretty irksome passing the time in his enforced prison, and finally Andy went to sleep. |
florid#wearisome#effeminate#inflated# |
But software struggles to do that in a consistent way, and the inability to deal with this quirk formally is irksome. #The timing of the ban is particularly irksome for the industry, because it ought to be enjoying a golden period.#The spellings of some words were more irksome than others.#This is why it’s incredibly irksome to hear people claim such afflictions, but only as and when it’s useful for them to do so.# |
If your little brother keeps saying the same phrase over and over again, you might find it irksome — that is, annoying in a tiresome way. |
If you are a person who likes to know exactly where words come from, you might find it irksome that the etymology of irksome's 15th century ancestor irken is unknown. If you complain about this to all of your friends, they might start to find you irksome also. |
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| 508 |
prattle |
speak about unimportant matters rapidly and incessantly |
She prattled on about the gossip of the town until Penny and her father were thoroughly bored. |
nestle#huddle#maraud#babble# |
She’s a busy bee, and gleefully amoral, prattling, plotting and baking her pungent mystery-meat pies.#Our marriage is built for goofy, all-day, amazed prattle about our children.#She prattled on to her husband and dug around in her black matelassé purse.#Yet as with “The Illusionists: Turn of the Century,” this golden age prattle is strictly plating.# |
If your little sister won't stop talking about her latest crush and you don't want to hear it, you might say, "Stop prattling on about that loser!" To prattle is go on and on about something unimportant. |
Prattle can also be a noun. If your sister tattles about your comment regarding her prattling, you could defend yourself to your mother with: "I didn't mean to call Sophie's crush a loser, but she had driven me mad with her constant prattle." There are a lot of funny-sounding words with a meaning similar to prattle - chatter, blether, blather, jabber, gabble, blabber, and babble, to name a few. |
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| 509 |
subaltern |
inferior in rank or status |
The careful commanding officer of a regiment discourages his young subalterns from taking leave to Hill Stations. |
lowly#credulous#formulated#sanguinary# |
I’m drawn to the figure of the ungrateful subaltern as a trope in literature.#“I bet I am more than a subaltern,” said fire Wart, “if I am a merlin.”#To help the war effort, at eighteen, she donned overalls to train as a military truck driver and mechanic, as Second Subaltern Elizabeth Windsor.#Her recent marriage to the Tennessean John Henry Eaton, Jackson’s longtime subaltern, and new secretary of war, catapulted her to national visibility. # |
A subaltern is someone with a low ranking in a social, political, or other hierarchy. It can also mean someone who has been marginalized or oppressed. |
From the Latin roots sub- ("below"), and alternus ("all others"), subaltern is used to describe someone of a low rank (as in the military) or class (as in a caste system). Subalterns occupy entry-level jobs or occupy a lower rung of the "corporate ladder." But the term is also used to describe someone who has no political or economic power, such as a poor person living under a dictatorship. |
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| 510 |
welt |
a raised mark on the skin |
But red, itchy welts typically appear within 24 to 48 hours of being bitten. |
an allergic reaction#a good investment#a funny joke#a day off of school# |
“I really hope that was an arm,” I said, rubbing the fresh welt.#This is at odds with what Mr Hammond said in an interview with German newspaper Welt am Sonntag in January.#Walker says three people were hit, with welts on their bodies showing from the paintballs.#Up at the front of the float, Welts surveyed the crowd below.# |
If someone hits you hard with a thin stick, your skin might rise up in a welt. Ouch. A welt is a swollen bruise. |
The extra bit of stitching around the pocket of your jeans can also be called a welt as can the stitching that holds your shoe to its sole. In these cases as well as the mark on the skin, a welt is a rising where things meet –– either where a blow meets the body, or where two types of fabric meet each other. |
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| 511 |
wreak |
cause to happen or to occur as a consequence |
The burden of paying for college is wreaking havoc on the finances of an unexpected demographic: senior citizens. |
paraphrase#bring#liquidate#collate# |
Some women ask if football is worth the money and fame, and express worry that the game will wreak havoc on their husbands’ brains.#Those measures wreaked havoc with Mr. Rodriguez’s business, he said.#Earlier this week, thunderstorms wreaked havoc across the Inland Empire and prompted a flash-flood warning in the Antelope Valley in Los Angeles County.#Black bloc is often seen as mostly white males looking to wreak havoc for their cause.# |
To wreak is to cause something to happen, usually with a terrible consequence. You can make mischief, cause problems, or inflict pain, but to wreak damage suggests a deeper level of destruction. |
Wreak stems from the Old English wrecan, meaning "to avenge." Its current meaning, that of causing something to happen — usually with dire consequences — came about in the 19th century. The word is a transitive verb, often paired with the equally intense havoc, meaning "devastation." |
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| 512 |
tenable |
based on sound reasoning or evidence |
First, it is no longer really tenable – and in fact a bit disrespectful – to call a country like China an emerging economy. |
reasonable#intensive#pendant#celibate# |
“This kind of operation is not tenable according to typical business logic.”#That may be a tenable stance for a lifestyle guru or a self-help author.#In Dubai, recent high-rise building fires, including at the 79-storey Torch tower in 2015, spread because of cladding, according to fire engineering consultancy Tenable Dubai.#In Dubai, recent high-rise building fires, including at the 79-storey Torch Skyscraper in 2015, spread because of cladding, according to fire engineering consultancy Tenable Dubai.# |
If your teacher says your position on the benefits of abolishing homework is not tenable, she means it is not based in fact. To be tenable is to be evidence-based and well-founded. |
Tenable comes from the Latin root tenir which means "to hold," as in "hold together." If your plan is tenable, it will probably hold together when you execute it, or hold up to scrutiny. It's good to note that the opposite of tenable is untenable and not intenable, though throughout history both have been used. |
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| 513 |
inimitable |
matchless |
Leave aside Spain, where Barcelona breeds its own, inimitable style, and the answer might be that we are rushing toward uniformity. |
the popular songs of a generation#the sound of a barking dog#the innovation of an artistic genius#the wealth of a family# |
This picture sees the inimitable Mr Hulot unwittingly create havoc in a stuffy holiday resort town.#That tally is bettered only by the inimitable Katharine Hepburn, who secured four best actress Oscars.#Trump in his own inimitable way echoed it with his plaintive early morning whine.#"After nearly three decades, Mr Lynch's visual imagination remains inimitable," continued the New York Times' reviewer.# |
Use the adjective inimitable to describe someone or something that is so special or unique, it is impossible to duplicate, like that superstar tennis player with the inimitable serve no other player can copy. |
To correctly pronounce inimitable, accent the second syllable: "ih-NIH-muh-tuh-bul" Inimitable comes from imitabilis, meaning “imitable,” or “that which can be imitated.” Comedians, for example, find the way certain celebrities talk to be quite imitable. But add the prefix in-, meaning “not,” and you get “not imitated.” Use this word to describe things that are truly one-of-a-kind and just can't be copied. |
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| 514 |
depredation |
a destructive action |
Wild elephants abound and commit many depredations, entering villages in large herds, and consuming everything suitable to their tastes. |
a ballerina#a preschool teacher#a pirate#a hungry infant# |
He wants to help liberals turn their Post Traumatic Trump Disorder into practical action that might protect the country from four years of kleptocratic depredation.#This creative aspect to the current crisis calls into question the equation of today’s depredations with the mass extinctions of the past.#The old rules allowed a hunt only after at least four confirmed depredation events over a year or six over two years.#But the program’s purpose is to identify potential resources for beach nourishment, not to assess biological depredation.# |
The horrors of war include depredation — the plundering and ransacking of the defeated and their homes, the terrible, unrestrained preying on the conquered. The word depredation entails all of the pain humans inflict upon each other. |
The Latin language makes the noun praeda "prey" into the verb praedārī, which then means "to plunder." As if that wasn't enough — they added the prefix de-, "thoroughly," to create a word that says it all. In 15th-century French, the word became depredation, but the meaning was far from refined, describing a wholesale pillaging of those who became the "prey" and continuing the history of man’s inhumanity to man. |
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| 515 |
amalgamate |
to bring or combine together or with something else |
Where two weak tribes amalgamated into one, there it exceptionally happened that two closely related dialects were simultaneously spoken in the same tribe. |
liquidate#cull#mingle#paraphrase# |
Labor Department lawsuit against the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689, which represents more than 8,000 current and past Metro employees.#Amalgamated Transit Union Local 308 officials on Monday said a third of its membership voted and 98 percent were in favor of the strike.#But we are still left with the question of how small, simple societies actually evolve or amalgamate into large, complex ones.#After decades of unhindered suburban sprawl, its many communities were suddenly “ amalgamated” into an incoherent and ungovernable behemoth in 1998.# |
To amalgamate is to combine different things to create something new. Institutions — such as banks, schools, or hospitals — often join forces and amalgamate with one other. But other things — like musical genres — get amalgamated as well. |
The verb amalgamate original referred specifically to the mixture of metals, now however, it refers to any mixing or blending. A school board might decide to amalgamate two schools into one school due to a decrease in the student population, but amalgamating their mascots would be impossible. |
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| 516 |
immutable |
not subject or susceptible to change or variation |
We are mistaken to imagine a work of literature is or should be immutable, sculpted in marble and similarly impervious to change. |
inflammatory#equestrian#changeless#palatable# |
Mr Higashida’s latest book, “Fall Down 7 Times Get Up 8”, provides a similar guide to the “ immutable beauties” of the autistic mind.#Live with history long enough and it starts to seem immutable.#For Orthodox families, who constitute about 10 percent of the American Jewish population, the traditional bris remains immutable.#“You must respond to requests immediately” is not one of the immutable laws of thermodynamics.# |
If you can't change it, it's immutable. There are many things in life that are immutable; these unchangeable things include death, taxes, and the laws of physics. |
The adjective immutable has Latin roots that mean "not changeable." The Latin prefix for not is in, but the spelling changes when the prefix is put before the consonant m. It is im before a root word starting with m as in immutable. If you learn this rule, you'll know the immutable fact that immutable begins with i-m-m. |
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| 517 |
proxy |
a person authorized to act for another |
Ideally, everybody over 18 should execute a living will and select a health care proxy — someone to represent you in medical matters. |
an attractive woman#an alternate juror#a rebellious soldier#a sculpture in a wax museum# |
Vanguard also said investor activist Walden Asset Management withdrew a shareholder proposal requesting a review of Vanguard's proxy voting.#Taxonomy seeks natural groups by using different proxies, such as gene trees, morphology, ecology and behaviour, and testing them for strong correlations.#Others studying small circuits use various techniques to provide a proxy for which cell is firing and when.#Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia are waging a proxy war in Iraq to secure their geostrategic interests to become the region’s hegemon.# |
Don't feel like going to the grocery store today? See if you can send your brother as a proxy, meaning he's a substitute authorized to act for you. |
Now, don't get crazy about getting your brother to do everything for you. Running your errands is one thing, but if you're a historian and your brother is an accountant, he is not a good proxy for you when you don't feel like researching your book about Napoleon. And you wouldn't be a good proxy for him in his work. A proxy must be well-chosen to truly act on another person's behalf. |
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| 518 |
dote |
shower with love; show excessive affection for |
He doted on him, just dearly loved him, and thought he could do no wrong,” Kredell said. |
symptom#warrant#interpretation#dispatch# |
The truth, imperceptible to his young, doting offspring, is that he just can’t afford any of it.#Their mother, Tykia Jackson, testified that he was a doting father who spoiled the children.#Lisa Palfrey locates a heartbreaking dignity in the foolishness of Big Daddy’s doting wife.#She’d be 56 now, probably doting on her two grandchildren.# |
Who doesn't love to have someone dote on them? If you dote on someone, you shower them with love and attention. Sounds like the life! |
Parents that dote on their children too much might find themselves in trouble down the road; all that unadulterated devotion is a surefire way to spoil your kid. The problem is that those who are doing the doting are often too smitten to see when the object of their affection is acting like a complete jerk. No wonder dote is related to a German word that means "to be foolish." That connection might also explain the use of dote to mean acting senile in one's later years. |
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| 519 |
reactionary |
extremely conservative |
Old people are often accused of being too conservative, and even reactionary. |
liberal#far-right#anarchist#militarist# |
But the fact that he will now be a reactionary culture hero is bad for the rest of us.#Instead, she said, it’s a way for those on the right to express reactionary values “in a more socially acceptable fashion.”#Organizers say they reject President Trump’s “ reactionary agenda,” “Democratic Party elites” and “15,000 lobbyists who constitute a shadow government in Washington,” the organizers say.#But the fantasy that the rising diverse electorate would close off reactionary homogenous voters was futurizing as destiny.# |
Reactionary describes people on the far right politically. Reactionaries are extremely conservative and oppose reform or change. |
A reactionary is someone reacting (in horror) to what other consider to be progress. No one describes themselves as reactionary––you will hear it more often as a condemnation, as in "I cannot support the reactionary policy of mandatory military service for 18-year-olds." |
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| 520 |
rationalism |
the doctrine that reason is the basis for regulating conduct |
Offering a religious rationale for policy goals threatens what for many has become the cherished principle of secular rationalism in public life. |
realizing that you have neglected saving for retirement#ingesting too many desserts right before dinner time#writing a letter to a pen pal in a foreign country#watching a humorous movie with a close friend# |
But he said that last year’s election presented a false choice between the emotions of populism and the rationalism of policy.#We pretend to rationalism yet we curse at stoplights.#It revolted against rationalism, the autonomy of the individual, and all that unites people: their condition as rational beings with natural rights.#The answers to these questions, especially regarding the role of Christianity in the decline of ancient rationalism, naturally provoke intense controversy.# |
Rationalism is a doctrine that prioritizes reason over emotion. If you're scared of the dark and convinced there's a monster in your closet, your parents will beg you to be rational, and rely on what you know (empty closet) instead of what your fear (monster!). |
French philosopher René Descartes, who wrote "I think therefore I am," is considered the father of rationalism. He believed that eternal truths can only be discovered and tested through reason. The "scientific method" is one of rationalism's great gifts to mankind––if something cannot be proven through a repeatable experiment, you do not consider it to be true. |
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| 521 |
endue |
give qualities or abilities to |
To say the least of it, he was endued with sufficient intelligence to acquire an ordinary knowledge of such matters. |
scream#pause#instill#dance# |
All its phenomena, all its catastrophes, were read in a new light, were endued with a new significance, acquired a religious sanctity.#She hath endued man with hatred of solitariness, and with love of company.#With amplest gifts endued, A being of flesh and blood.#He could not be said to be ‘native and endued unto that element.’# |
You probably hope that your years of ballet classes will endue you with the ability to dance like Baryshnikov. In other words, you're dreaming that all of those arabesques and pirouettes will provide you with the dancing talent you wish for. |
Endue is a fancy literary term that shows up most often in formal writing, but you could impress someone by using it to mean "endow," "invest," or "empower." Less often, endue is used to mean "to put clothes on," or "dress," which makes sense when you know that endue comes from the Latin word induere, or "to put on." |
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| 522 |
discriminating |
showing or indicating careful judgment and discernment |
Jobs’ Apple specializes in delighting the most discriminating, hard-to-please customers. |
vindictive#relative#perceptive#lucrative# |
Gould's advice to businesses is to "be less picky" and, in some cases, to stop discriminating.#In 2014, a group that opposes affirmative action sued Harvard, accusing it of discriminating against Asian-Americans in its admissions process.#It is under investigation by the Department of Labour for discriminating against women by paying them less than men.#And a new lawsuit against Harvard accuses the school of discriminating against Asian-Americans by imposing penalties for their high achievement.# |
Someone discriminating has fine-grained judgment and can tell, for example, the difference between pretty good cookies and incredibly great cookies — a valuable skill. |
There are many areas of life where being discriminating can help you. A discriminating TV watcher will only watch the best shows, while someone undiscriminating will watch anything that's on. When eating, being discriminating is especially useful: why eat food that's badly prepared or unhealthy if you don't have to? A discriminating person can pick up on the small differences between things and use those differences to make better choices. We should all try to be more discriminating. |
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| 523 |
brooch |
a decorative pin |
Upon her breast she wore a brooch of gold set with many precious stones. |
on her hair arrangement#around her wrist#on her blazer#on an undergarment# |
There are other clues, too, in their belt buckles and the brooches on their ties.#And the women are all meant to look delicate and ultra-feminine, with crown braids, corsets, bows and brooches.#A Times story from 1912 reports that Mrs. Hiram Johnson, wife of the vice-presidential candidate, dropped a diamond brooch in the elevator.#This exhibit of more than 50 pieces includes a 1920s Cartier pendant brooch with more than 250 carats of emeralds.# |
That fancy pin your Grandma used to wear on her blouse or lapel? It's a brooch, held in place by a sharp needle clasp. |
Okay, it's a bit unfair to say Grandmothers alone wear brooches, but they do tend to be worn more by powerful older women — witness Margaret Thatcher and Madeleine Albright (both noted brooch wearers). Not surprisingly, brooch is derived from the old French word brooch, meaning "a long needle." |
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| 524 |
pert |
characterized by a lightly exuberant quality |
Her pert, lively manner said she hadn't taken any wooden nickels lately. |
inordinate#bereaved#irreverent#forte# |
Early success as a pert blond Broadway ingénue were followed by years of near-unemployability as she battled weight issues and alcoholism.#In one: Radishes, pert and peppery, join forces with sweet snap peas and carrots.#The chefs, dressed in white double-breasted jackets and pert caps, tread lightly, never clatter their implements, and speak to each other in soft, accented English.#They show her with wide eyes and a pert mouth, devilish and innocent at once.# |
This sassy little adjective pert is lively and bold, like your pert best friend who storms in and demands to borrow your favorite jacket. |
Although pert is found inside its synonym impertinent (rudely bold), pert can also mean stylish, like that pert fedora cocked at a jaunty angle. Someone healthy and bright-eyed is pert, too. You might be pert after a strong cup of coffee and a pep talk, or after a visit from the celebrity stylist. Although pert has been around since the 1300s — from Middle English, “unconcealed, bold” — it is also the name of a shampoo that embraces all shades of meaning of this four-letter word. |
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| 525 |
disembark |
go ashore |
The immigrants disembarked from their ships tired and underfed—generally in poor health. |
labor#board#benefit#suffer# |
Waits of up to two hours for assistance disembarking flights were recorded on a number of occasions, the CAA said.#It is up to those places to put a limit, ,as did Venice, on the number of passengers permitted to disembark.#Dusk was falling when the convoy stopped suddenly beyond the city limits and the troops ordered everyone to disembark.#In another episode from the last series of Doctor Who, the Doctor and Bill disembark the Tardis in London, 1814.# |
Use the verb disembark to describe leaving a ship, airplane or other type of vehicle, like making sure you haven't left anything in the plane's overhead compartment before you disembark. |
Embark means "putting passengers in a plane or on a boat." Disembark is its opposite. When you disembark, you leave a ship or a plane, like when you can't wait to disembark at the port in order to go sight-seeing. When you disembark, there is a transition — you walk down a gangplank to go from water to land or down a special corridor to get from the runway to the airport terminal — unlike when you get out of a car. That's why you wouldn't use disembark for getting out of a car. |
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| 526 |
aria |
an elaborate song for solo voice |
Ms. Netrebko sang an elegantly sad aria with lustrous warmth, aching vulnerability and floating high notes. |
at an airport#at a poetry reading#at a pianist's solo show#at an opera# |
Here are subject-by-subject highlights of the session, which the New York Times columnist Frank Bruni described as a “melodious aria” of self-praise:#There, she heard glimpses of perfect arias from older, mostly Italian opera singers who learned their craft in the early 20th century.#Her arias on Sunday were steady, careful, earnest.#He was swept up with enthusiasm for the heritage of French grand opera, with its massed choral scenes, romantic effusions and elaborate arias.# |
An aria is an elaborate song written specifically for a solo voice. If you find yourself belting out "Che gelida manina" from La Boheme in the shower, you’ve just been performing an aria. |
The word aria comes from the Italian and means "air." The word is often used to describe songs from operas. Two famous ones include “L’amour est un oiseau rebelle” — "Love is a rebellious bird" — and “O mio bambino caro” — "Oh my dear Papa!" It is sometimes used almost metaphorically to describe someone’s impressive solo performance of any type. Arias within opera, and classical music in general, are almost always accompanied by instrumental music, but there is only one voice. |
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| 527 |
trappings |
ornaments; embellishments to or characteristic signs of |
They were caparisoned in Indian fashion with gay colors and fancy trappings. |
equilibrium#paraphernalia#calisthenics#sanctification# |
Some exhibited Pepe the Frog insignia and other trappings of the so-called alt-right, a fringe movement that embraces white nationalism.#“I hate the bus!” she once shrieked merrily at an interviewer who wondered if she didn’t miss the trappings of being broke and anonymous.#The trappings of the Presley legacy do echo religious ceremonies.#“I cease to believe in one aspect of it, but I continue to believe in the trappings.”# |
Big house, shiny new car, a custom-made suit, an expensive watch, cool sunglasses... If you have these things, you have the trappings of success, which means you own things that give you the outward appearance of success. |
The word trappings originally described the decorations people attached to their horse's bridle and saddle. The goal was to make a statement about the rider's power and privilege. Today, we still have trappings, but they take other forms, such as expensive clothing with big logos or big diamond earrings. Trappings are material items that tell the world that someone has money — or a credit card — but not about who he or she is on the inside. |
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| 528 |
abet |
assist or encourage, usually in some wrongdoing |
"Since YouTube, digital culture has aided and enhanced -- or maybe the better word is abetted -- the celebrity meltdown," said Wired magazine senior editor Nancy Miller. |
awarding an employee a promotion#driving the get-away car in a robbery#preparing a meal for a sick relative#passing the ball to another player# |
Both were charged with aiding and abetting unlawful immigration.#His victory was abetted by the interventions of a foreign power with whom his campaign at least attempted to collude.#A third charge of aiding and abetting wire fraud was rolled into the conspiracy charge.#If on principle you believe your silence abets obnoxious behavior, then you need to speak up.# |
To abet is to help someone do something, usually something wrong. If you were the lookout while your older sister swiped cookies from the cookie jar, you abetted her mischief. |
The verb abet can be used to generally mean encouragement, but people usually expect to see it in relation to some crime. "The singer was abetted by a pianist in her rendition of Silver Bells," for example, is a harmless construction. However, people more often expect abet in a sentence like this: "She was charged with aiding and abetting the burglar because she drove the getaway car." Abet comes from an Old French word abeter meaning "to bait." |
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| 529 |
clandestine |
conducted with or marked by hidden aims or methods |
For Jordan, this is a clandestine relationship it would much prefer to have kept secret. |
covert#continual#conjoined#colorful# |
“But most of that intervention was more discreet and almost clandestine,” Ms. Golinger said.#By and large, the public is in the dark about its own country’s clandestine military operations.#After the mill was closed, it became a clandestine canvas.#Fish and Wildlife Service and other agencies are investigating clandestine harvesting and sales.# |
Use the adjective clandestine to describe something that is done in secret, like your clandestine attempts to steal your brother's Halloween candy. |
Clandestine, an adjective imported from Latin, describes a secret, usually illegal activity. Often these things have to do with political and spy organizations. The CIA might run a clandestine operation to infiltrate terrorist organizations. Words with similar meanings include secret; covert, used especially for military matters; undercover, common in espionage; and surreptitious which emphasizes a person's efforts to keep something secret. |
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| 530 |
distend |
swell from or as if from internal pressure |
Some kids said LaNiyah's distended abdomen looked like she was carrying a baby. |
mitigate#dilate#emulate#utilize# |
The maximum human capacity for even a grossly distended belly is about four liters when full.#But prosecutors allege that the girl showed signs of prolonged malnourishment, including a distended stomach and muscle wasting.#But Lyonne, belly grossly distended with alien progeny ... well, she carries it.#Elsewhere, soft geometries meet bodies battered, bound or distended.# |
A soda and pizza binge might make your stomach distend, meaning your stomach will swell as a result of pressure from the inside. |
If you’ve ever eaten too much food it won’t surprise you to learn that the verb distend traces back to the Latin words dis-, meaning “apart,” and tendere, meaning “to stretch.” Your stomach will certainly feel stretched out if you do something — like overeat — that causes it to distend. The word distend often applies to stomachs — a pregnancy would also cause a stomach to distend — but it can also refer to anything that is stretched out as a result of internal pressure. |
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| 531 |
glib |
having only superficial plausibility |
The other sort of engineer understands that glib comparisons between computers and humans don't do justice to the complexities of either. |
profound#morbid#vengeful#craven# |
But despite his crass creative impulses and glib comments, Roth is an unlikely cheerleader for the alt-right.#Eh; it’s tough to care about the struggles of the glib and powerful.#“Do Not Become Alarmed” is a bit glib to be an incisive social novel.#Any idea how to stop the glib references?# |
A hiring manager might think you're being glib, or slick and insincere, if you say you've led a successful multinational corporation when you were actually in charge of flipping burgers for a fast-food restaurant chain. |
The word glib might be used to describe the slick car salesman who uses his polished sales pitch to talk his customers into buying lemons. In fact, the word comes from old German and Dutch words for "slippery," another word that could be used to describe the very same salesman. In addition to meaning "smooth" and "persuasive," glib can be applied to the kind of thoughtless comment that could get you into big trouble. Telling your boss that you had a "hot time" with his daughter is the kind of glib remark that could end your career. |
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| 532 |
pucker |
gather something into small wrinkles or folds |
Godmother,' she went on, puckering her forehead again in perplexity, 'it almost feels like feathers. |
one's money#one's ego#one's lips#one's saliva# |
Wong is tall and handsome, with sharp cheekbones and a puckered mouth that twitches when he’s anxious.#Paige liked the sour pucker of lemon and ginger, though she found the texture gritty.#Most concerning was tardive dyskinesia, a potentially irreversible reaction characterized by involuntary lip-smacking and puckering movements.#Carlos closed his eyes and puckered his lips as if he was remembering some passionate kiss.# |
Pucker is a verb for what happens when something smooth or flat gets folded up into little wrinkles, like how you pucker your lips when you go to kiss someone — you, wild flirt, you! |
When you use a sewing machine, sometimes the cloth puckers in wrinkly clumps that make it hard to sew in a straight line. Most of the time, it’s lips that do the puckering, maybe because you want a kiss, but also sucking on a lemon can make your lips pucker. If someone tells you to “pucker up,” they might want to kiss you, or they might throw a sour pickle at your head. Either way, get ready. |
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| 533 |
rejoinder |
a quick reply to a question or remark |
"Not at all!" was Aunt Susannah's brisk rejoinder. |
enormity#motivation#metamorphosis#return# |
This rejoinder would fit if Flake, Sasse, and others were more measured in their rhetoric.#Some of the copycatting is overtly political, intended as turnabout or a rejoinder directed at the polarizing president.#Then, about nine hours later, the DoJ replied to Hawaii’s response with a 15-page rejoinder.#That’s a fitting rejoinder to anyone who believes our internal disarray and partisan politics are reason to doubt U.S. staying power.# |
A rejoinder usually means a witty comeback. If someone asks you a silly question like, "Are you painting?" when you are holding a paint can and a brush, your rejoinder could be, "No, I'm just doing my nails." |
The word rejoinder comes from the Middle French word rejoindre, which meant to answer a legal charge. The meaning of a witty retort developed from the legal meaning. You often think of the best rejoinders long after the crucial moments have passed, which can be really frustrating. |
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| 534 |
spangle |
adornment consisting of a small piece of shiny material |
Magdalen's garments are rich with spangles; her mantle is scarlet; she has flowers in her luxuriant tresses, and looks a vain creature. |
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Steering toward the Belknap County jail, past homes spangled with Christmas lights, Adams admitted that he felt wary.#Then, in the seventh inning, a band from the Navy training station north of Chicago started to play “The Star Spangled Banner.”#Then the fans booed “The Star Spangled Banner,” dispensing with niceties.#Hinds said they’ll be opening concert with the Stars Spangled Banner, Stars and Stripes Forever and America the Beautiful.# |
Do you like your outfits to have flair? A little sparkle? Then you're probably a fan of spangles, or small, shiny decorative things like sequins. |
Vegas showgirls and beauty queens know all about spangle. Their outfits are usually covered in the sequins, crystals, golden beads and sparkly frills that are all considered kinds of spangles. And if you want to use spangle as a verb, go right ahead — as in, "all that glitter certainly makes those showgirls spangle up on stage." |
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| 535 |
blighted |
affected by something that prevents growth or prosperity |
Hudec, whose career has been blighted by knee injuries and operations, won for the first time in more than four years. |
flourishing#intermittent#frugal#simulated# |
Those laptops get blighted by even the hint of any sunlight over your shoulder, whereas the ThinkPad maintains its legibility in unfavorable environments.#On a recent afternoon, Mr. Carson strolled through a blighted, predominantly black neighborhood just south of downtown.#They call attention to and propose elimination of unsightly or blighted conditions adversely affecting properties and property values.#The park would be developed on the city-owned “Massey” property on East Baltimore Street, where two blighted buildings were demolished about two years ago.# |
Use the adjective blighted to describe something that has a condition that makes it weak or unable to grow, like a blighted lawn with more brown patches than green. |
Language experts can’t agree on the exact origins of the word blighted, but when it entered English in the sixteenth century it was used to describe a skin condition. Today, you’ll hear the word applied to plants that are affected by a condition that causes them to wither and die, like a blighted tomato crop, or to describe the neglect and decay of places, such as blighted buildings that pose safety hazards. |
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| 536 |
nicety |
conformity with some aesthetic standard of correctness |
They accepted the invitation; but Mrs. Rowlandson did not appreciate the niceties of Indian etiquette. |
incantation#shade#vernacular#barrage# |
“Usually, certain niceties are observed to smooth over a rupture,” said Galston, who served as a domestic policy aide in the Clinton administration.#But the unconstitutional provisions in the sanctions bill should matter even to those who are less focused on legal niceties.#Then the Arizona Republican, done with the niceties, delivered a 15-minute excoriation of the modern Senate.#He was manic, eccentric, too smart — or too arrogant — to suffer the niceties of Congress.# |
Clearly, you're interested in the nicety of a word's meaning if you're checking out this website. A nicety is a fine detail or shade of meaning that anything — not just a word — can possess. |
Even the word nicety has niceties. The emphasis on detail can also refer to a precision or accuracy of sorts; if someone has judged something "to a nicety," they've judged it exactly. Yet another common meaning is in the sense of a minor aspect of polite behavior. Washing your hands before dinner is a "social nicety." So is covering your mouth when you cough. Now where would we be without niceties? |
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| 537 |
aggrieve |
infringe on the rights of |
Some fallout appears evident in donations from Wall Street executives, who feel particularly aggrieved by Mr. Obama’s criticisms and policies. |
oblige#mystify#elude#sadden# |
James Morris, defending, said: "She is aggrieved that he actually ended their relationship some six weeks ago."#On one side, these aggrieved auto workers are demanding better pay and benefits via unionisation.#She is at once naïf, savant, aggressor, aggrieved — and equally compelling in all guises.#South Koreans felt aggrieved this year when Trump called Xi and Abe — but not their acting president — over one of North Korea’s provocations. # |
To aggrieve someone is a lousy thing to do. Not sure why? See the "grieve" in there, and you'll see why. It means to bring someone sorrow. |
Which one of us is the aggrieved party? Well, considering it was you who let your pigs run roughshod over my lawn, I think it's clear that it's you who aggrieved me. Or, to put it another way, I've been aggrieved by you and your horrible hogs. When you're talking about interpersonal issues, to aggrieve someone is to hurt their feelings, but in the legal sense, it means something slightly different: it's not feelings that are hurt when one is aggrieved, but one's rights. |
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| 538 |
vestment |
a gown worn by the clergy |
And then a priest, arrayed in all his vestments, came in at the open door, and the prince and princess exchanged rings, and were married. |
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He wore crimson-colored vestments for the day commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus.#Cloaked in purple vestments, Francis clutched his pastoral staff as he walked in procession in the fading afternoon sun.#And, in Russian Orthodoxy, red vestments are worn for this solemnity.#Those looms make clerical clothing whose sale adds to Mariendonk’s funds. A priest’s embroidered vestment sells for around €3,000.# |
A vestment is a garment worn at special ceremonies by a clergy member. For example, a priest would wear a vestment in church, but out in the community, he would wear a shirt and pants. |
You know that a vest is a piece of clothing — a sleeveless shirt or sweater. Vest can also be a verb that describes putting on clothing, typically garments related to a religious ceremony. Both vest and vestment come from the Latin word vestimentum, meaning "clothing, clothes." Vestments include ankle-length robes called cassocks and strips of fabric that go around the neck, which are called stoles. |
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| 539 |
urbane |
showing a high degree of refinement |
Polished, urbane and gentlemanly—his manners were calculated to refine all around him. |
old-fashioned#cruel#vibrant#refined# |
Marshaling extensive and persuasive documentary evidence, and writing in a clear, urbane style, Mr. Smith told a less romantic story.#Like most people associated with today’s global City, he is smart and urbane.#As he moved farther away from the countryside, his work became more and more urbane, and so did he.#Even more depressingly, Hull seem certain to lose Marco Silva, their version of the urbane, innovative continental manager currently masterminding the Spurs “project”.# |
Urbane people are sophisticated, polished, cultured, refined. Spend enough time in an urban setting–-going to concerts and museums, spending time in crowds––and you'll be urbane too. |
Both urbane and urban derive from the Latin urbanus, "city," but while urban has connotations of gritty living and crime, urbane assumes that everyone sees the city from the roof deck of their penthouse apartment, drinking champagne and exchanging bon mots with friends. Add a Cole Porter soundtrack and the image is complete. |
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| 540 |
defray |
bear the expenses of |
The legislation also calls for $1.6 billion in spending cuts to help defray the disaster costs. |
hiring additional staff members#finding a financial sponsor#buying elaborate decorations#advertising the event# |
A yes vote backed a measure that would create a $100 billion fund to defray out-of-pocket costs for persons moving from Medicaid to private insurance.#The county’s sheriff department vowed to find new revenue sources to help defray the cost of the new lockup and locked onto working with ICE.#Hilferty also is concerned about whether government cost-sharing reduction payments that help defray expenses for many exchange customers will return.#DHS officials hope to defray costs through partnerships with airlines that are incorporating biometrics to boost efficiencies.# |
If your mother says she will defray the cost of your next move, say thank you. She means she will take on some of the expenses for you. |
Your school band might hold a bake sale fundraiser to defray the cost of new band uniforms. When they do this, the amount raised will be taken off the total cost of the uniforms so that each individual band member has to pay less. If you live in New York and are invited for a job interview in California, the company may defray the expenses of your plane ticket and hotel, especially if they really want to hire you. |
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| 541 |
spectral |
resembling or characteristic of a phantom |
Hawthorne’s figures are somewhat spectral; they lack flesh and blood. |
supernatural#convertible#adulterate#institutional# |
André becomes eager to film the mediums at work, with the hope of recording evidence of a spectral presence.#The infrared instrument aboard the plane will gather detailed spectral information at several locations around the solar corona.#The responses observed should not be directly compared to traditional spectral lines or to the calculated distributions in the inset to Fig.#Every delicate branch and spindle is etched in white across the ultramarine background of the paper, jagged and yet spectral, like so many lightning bolts.# |
When something is spectral, it has a ghostlike quality; it seems to vanish or disappear. You may have heard of ghosts referred to as "specters": that means that they're spectral. |
You may recognize the spect part of the adjective spectral from words like "spectacle," "spectrum," and "spectacular." All of these words share a similar meaning, which comes from the Latin verb specere, "look at, view." When something is spectral, think of it as something you can see but not touch — though it won't always mean that literally. The young model was so skinny she had a spectral quality: she almost seemed to disappear. |
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| 542 |
munificent |
very generous |
They have shown themselves very loving and generous lately, in making a quite munificent provision for his traveling. |
a professor who has spent many decades at a university#a corporation that makes large donations to charity#an inventor who patents a mechanical device#an audience that is critical of a musical play# |
Courtney Lee played the role of munificent veteran, organizing regular movie nights, some in the New York area and others on the road.#The initial awards for physics, for example, were followed by equally munificent prizes in life sciences and mathematics.#His many munificent mutterings include: the Shadowy Shades of the Seraphim, the Seven Rings of Raggadorr and — who can forget? — the Hoary Hosts of Hoggoth.#The dictator fancied himself as a munificent overseer of the continent below.# |
If you give your best friend a bracelet for her birthday, then you’re a good friend. If you give her a diamond bracelet, a racehorse, and an oil well, then you’re a munificent friend, meaning you are very lavish when it comes to giving gifts. (And it’s possible you may also be broke.) |
If you’re the generous type, you may already know that the word munificent traces back to the Latin word unificus, meaning “generous, bountiful, liberal,” which in turn originated from the word munus, meaning “gift or service.” Put those two concepts together and you have big-time gift giving on a lavish scale. Use the word munificent to describe instances of over-the-top generosity — think Oprah on a gift-giving binge at Christmastime. |
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| 543 |
dictum |
an authoritative declaration |
In other words, they seemed fully subscribed to Andy Warhol’s dictum that business art is the best art. |
a post office employee#a sporting goods store owner#a writer of a fashion magazine#a judge in a court of law# |
“Libertarian means to traditionalist ends” was the dictum for right-leaning intellectuals, while fighting the “San Francisco Democrats” was the sales pitch for the conservative masses.#They’re a modern embrace of Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.’s famous dictum: “Taxes are what we pay for civilized society.”#Still, if Mr. Trump lives by any management dictum, it may be this: The only indispensable employee looks back from his mirror.#President Donald Trump seems willing to follow British economist John Maynard Keynes’ dictum about changing your mind when the facts change.# |
"You are what you eat" is a dictum, and so is a law requiring you to curb your dog. A dictum is a formal pronouncement, a rule, or a statement that expresses a truth universally acknowledged. |
Dictum dates from the 16th Century. It descended from a Latin word that means "something said." In contemporary use, it means more like "something that is officially said." If the principal of your school issues a dictum declaring "no jeans in school," it's time to go shopping. |
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| 544 |
fad |
an interest followed with exaggerated zeal |
According to Chinese media, the hottest new fad in China involves selling small live-animal key chains. |
rudiment#craze#stench#machination# |
The dismissal of eSports aligns with the constant dismissal of what occupies young people as “ fads” or unimportant activities older people scoff at.#“Now, it means diet, it means fad,” she complained.#The new fad is living underground, cowering in a sewer or abandoned public toilet.#Millau preached against food fads and for a focus on fresh products and minimal sauces and seasonings.# |
If it’s all the rage, everybody’s into it, your parents don’t get it, and teenage girls across the globe are trying to outdo each other with it, it’s officially a fad. |
From hairstyles to hula hoops to saying “that’s hot,” fads are known to rise to crazed levels of popularity seemingly overnight. But they fade out just as fast, leaving late adopters with outdated sayings and some seriously uncool shoes. Much like a fad itself, no one has any real idea where this word came from. But it’s still in fashion some 144 years later. |
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| 545 |
scabbard |
a sheath for a sword or dagger or bayonet |
Drawing his own sabre from its scabbard, he pointed to a stain on it, saying, "This is the blood of an Englishman." |
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Her eyes widen when she catches sight of the scabbards on my back.#Most guys would look pretty awkward walking around with a scabbard strapped to their jeans, but on Jason it seemed perfectly natural.#In his ATV, police found a rifle, still in its scabbard.#Officials say the scabbard was torn away from the statue’s rifle and the statue itself was loosened from its base.# |
A scabbard is a sheath for a sword, dagger, or other type of knife. Some cooks wear their French knives in a scabbard so they'll be ready to chop no matter where they are in the kitchen. |
You’ve probably seen a scabbard in an older movie. The hero sheaths his sword in a long wooden, metal or leather scabbard hanging from his belt. The origins of the word, however, are not that manly. Scabbard comes from an old Germanic compound meaning "blade protector." |
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| 546 |
adulterate |
make impure by adding a foreign or inferior substance |
Shady dealers along the supply chain frequently adulterate olive oil with low-grade vegetable oils and add artificial coloring. |
unobtrusive#impure#exorbitant#munificent# |
Closed June 19 because of rodents and adulterated food.#My inner wine purist screams “No!” at the thought of adulterating a nice rosé with fruit juice.#It drew the attention of heraldic officials in Scotland when Mr Trump attempted to brand a new golf course in Aberdeen with the adulterated crest.#He was accused of attempting to falsify a drug test by adulterating or substituting a urine sample, a misdemeanor.# |
If you adulterate something, you mess it up. You may not want to adulterate the beauty of freshly fallen snow by shoveling it, but how else are you going to get to work? |
The verb adulterate comes from the Latin word adulterare, which means “to falsify,” or “to corrupt.” Whenever something original, pure, fresh, or wholesome is marred, polluted, defaced, or otherwise made inferior, it has been adulterated. Your grandfather may, for instance, believe that bartenders adulterate the name “Martini” by applying it to combinations of vodka, chocolate or anything other than a mixture of five parts gin to one part dry vermouth, on the rocks, with a twist. |
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| 547 |
beleaguer |
annoy persistently |
Rock concert ticket sales dropped sharply last year, sounding another sour note for the beleaguered music industry. |
ferret#modulate#besiege#adulterate# |
When Simon’s former boss turns up dead, the beleaguered Simon is the prime suspect.#The American Foreign Service Assn., a nonprofit group that advocates on behalf of U.S. diplomats, voiced its support for an often beleaguered work force.#As for the president’s relationship with Mr. Sessions, whom he described last month as “ beleaguered,” Mr. Trump was brief.#Some of their ageing and beleaguered clients described it to me as a kind of fountain of youth.# |
Beleaguer means to pester or badger with persistence. A babysitter might find annoying the children who beleaguer her with requests for candy, cookies, games, and piggyback rides all at the same time. |
Beleaguer originally meant to lay siege to, and originates from a 16th century Dutch term which meant to camp all around. It was not until later that beleaguer came to mean harass or bother in a determined way. Remember that there is a league in the middle of be-league-r and the spelling will be easy. |
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| 548 |
gripe |
complain |
If America is going to gripe about the yuan’s rate, then China will complain about the dollar’s role. |
cope#foray#dote#retract# |
If you listen closely to their gripes, you’ll find they all want one thing: consistency.#For the past two seasons — especially last year — fans griped about the lack of capital allocated toward Seattle’s offensive line.#“I do get that fiscally it’s kind of hard. My gripe is with extending guys like Tavon Austin, who’s never been to a Pro Bowl.”#Selfish son’s gripes bring his mother to tears and anger his father.# |
The word gripe, as both noun and verb, refers to a minor complaint. Why gripe about the size of the portions when the food is so awful? |
The key to gripe is that as complaints go, it's trivial. You don't gripe about your house burning down or the cost of medical care. You gripe about your friend's status updates and the fact the Yankees have too much money. A gripe can last a while. For example, the city has been hearing gripes about parking rules for a generation, but as complaints go, it's just not getting a lot of traction. One person's gripe, however, can be another person's major headache. It all depends on your point of view. |
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| 549 |
remission |
an abatement in intensity or degree |
After a few hours there is a remission of the pain, slight perspiration takes place, and the patient may fall asleep. |
#### |
She was briefly in remission in February, but tumors were found in her lungs later.#Leah celebrated two years of her cancer being in remission on March 25, with a gala in Philadelphia for their “Still Strong Foundation” in Philadelphia.#Even when her doctors said her cancer was in remission, I still felt the weight of death in Nana’s house.#That's a lot of trial and error to end at a place where 30% of patients don't experience remission at all.# |
Remission refers to a stage of lesser intensity, when something subsides or improves. Remission is usually a good thing — like when your cancer is in remission, it means that it is manageable and not getting any worse. |
Remission comes from the Latin remissionem, meaning "relaxation, a sending back." If something difficult lets up, you'll be able to relax a little. For example, if are being pelted non-stop during a dodgeball game, you'd hope for a remission, so you have a minute to take a breath and find your glasses. Another meaning of the noun remission is a payment. Your college tuition remission must be taken care of before you start classes. |
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| 550 |
exorbitant |
greatly exceeding bounds of reason or moderation |
Soon, stories began trickling across the Atlantic of crazed fans paying exorbitant sums to get into London gigs. |
exquisite#excessive#expected#expandable# |
But economists also call the dollar’s premium status an exorbitant privilege.#Those willing to pay the exorbitant fees are shifted backward in time to view history firsthand.#But large salaries and generous benefits, including at the MTA, saddle taxpayers with exorbitant costs.#But he spends $50 to $100 a week on a single meal plan, considered an exorbitant amount in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.# |
Use the adjective exorbitant when you want to describe something that is really just too much! You'll often hear people griping about exorbitant bank fees or exorbitant interest rates. |
The adjective exorbitant was originally a legal term to describe a case that was outside the bounds of the law. It comes from the Latin roots — the prefix ex, meaning "out of," and orbita, meaning "wheel track." You can see how the word now has come to be described as something that has gone way off the beaten track, especially in terms of price and value. |
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| 551 |
invocation |
the act of appealing for help |
These dances are prayers or invocations for rain, the crowning blessing in this dry land. |
supplication#acquittal#hobby#onset# |
Lena Schmid’s large, carefully textured landscape on paper might be a pictorial response to Hexagram 62’s invocation of “Thunder Over the Mountain.”#Why did people respond to Waters’ recent invocation so fervently?#But the president’s smug invocation of the Western symphonic heritage also pressed a sore spot for me as a music critic.#Even without the thoughtless invocations of gunfire, they are the change that many people resent.# |
An invocation is an appeal to a higher power for help, such as a prayer for serenity or a plea to the rain gods during a drought. |
An invocation often refers to an appeal to something not of this world, such as a god or a spirit, but it can involve an appeal to any higher power, even one that is flesh and blood. During a close basketball game, for example, you may mutter an invocation to the former NBA star Michael Jordan asking that your team’s star player somehow gain the power to hit his jump shots. The word invocation can also be used in the sense of invoking a notable authority to support a position. If you say, “But my mom said I should never wear cheap clothing,” for example, that is an invocation of your mom in support of your desire to buy designer jeans. |
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| 552 |
cajole |
influence or urge by gentle urging, caressing, or flattering |
Hamilton, however, was not to be cajoled into friendliness by superficial compliment. |
"You're never going to be able to figure this out!"#"Stop procrastinating already!"#"If you don't do your homework, I'm going to punish you."#"You're so smart; this won't be too difficult for you."# |
That is largely focused on China, and here sanctions are meant to inconvenience, cajole and otherwise persuade China to exert greater pressure on North Korea.#For the next 21 minutes, Pence cajoled the trio.#They cajole, embarrass, use the fatherly approach, beg, bother, annoy.#And then he teaches, cajoles, explains - part pastor, part science teacher, part tour guide.# |
To cajole someone is to persuade them by using insincere compliments or promises. If you say "Please, pretty-please, I'll be your best friend," when asking for a stick of gum, you are cajoling the gum holder. |
The origin of this word is probably a blend of two French words meaning "to chatter like a jaybird" and "to lure into a cage." When you cajole that guy into lending you some money, picture him as the bird going into the cage. In fact, the word cajole may be associated with another French word meaning "to put in jail." |
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| 553 |
inclusive |
encompassing much or everything |
We are going to adhere to our basic programing strategy of nonpartisan information inclusive of all different points of view. |
investigative#restive#aromatic#selective# |
“We want our slate to be inclusive. We want it to be diverse.… And we believe that we will get that,” CBS’ Sherman assured reporters.#John Mahama, chief election observer for the Commonwealth and former president of Ghana, said the voting and counting system appeared “credible, transparent and inclusive.”#I guess growing up like Baldwin did in an inclusive society in New York, was very different.#But the answer is not to cling to rigid and simplistic race-based preferences; it is to embrace a fairer, more inclusive understanding of equity.# |
Call something inclusive when it's designed or inclined to include. An exclusive club might let you in, but an inclusive one will ask you to join, no strings attached. |
Inclusive is an adjective with several meanings: It can be used to describe something that's broad or extensive, such as thorough, inclusive research project. Or it describes a group that's particularly welcoming to all kinds of people. And an inclusive range is one where the limits are included along with what lies in between: a survey of “20-40 year-olds, inclusive” tells us 20 and 40 year-olds were counted, too. |
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| 554 |
interdict |
command against |
Failing to satisfy his examiners, he was interdicted from practice, but ignored the prohibition, and suffered more than one imprisonment in consequence. |
veto#dissimulate#decant#interpolate# |
North Korea said its Hwasong-12 missiles were designed to interdict such an attack from the American base in Guam.#And law enforcement should be enabled to interdict supply from overseas, focused especially on the flow of deadly fentanyl from China.#Without those things, strategies to interdict drug traffic and treat substance abuse may never be enough.#Adolescent drug use is down, the percentage of users seeking treatment is up, and Portugal is interdicting increased quantities of illegal narcotics.# |
Interdict means to forbid, to nix, to veto. If your parents find out you're planning a party for a time when they're away , they will interdict it. |
If your principal has interdicted gum-chewing at school, he might set up a few random check points, interdicting gum-chewing students with detentions and a command to instantly spit out their offensive, long-lasting candy. To interdict, pope-style, is to in essence excommunicate, or prohibit a person or especially a place from the functions and privileges of the church. |
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| 555 |
abase |
cause to feel shame |
Ashamed, abased, degraded in his own eyes, he turned away his head. |
sequester#ameliorate#mortify#extirpate# |
The more consequential one was last week’s Cabinet meeting in which almost all but Defense Secretary Jim Mattis abased themselves before a totally hallucinogenic Trump.#Twenty-two years earlier, he had saved his career by addressing a supposed scandal with his nationally broadcast “Checkers speech,” which was mawkish, abasing and effective.#“Should I abase myself? Rub ashes in my hair? Tear my clothes?”#He abases our democracy — and Republican elected officials abase themselves by supporting him.# |
To abase something or someone is to humiliate them — no, more than just humiliate them. If you abase another person you are bringing them low, humbling them in a mean, base manner. Not nice at all. |
Abase means to bring someone down, often either in their job or their self-esteem. The early Latin bassus, which meant "thick, low," evolved into the Old French abaissier, meaning "to make lower in value or status." The important clue to the word is "base." Consider that the base of anything is the bottom, and you get an idea as to the meaning of the word abase, which means to make someone feel low. |
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| 556 |
obviate |
do away with |
Comfortable sleeping-cars obviate the necessity of stopping by the way for bodily rest, provided the traveller be physically strong and in good health. |
preclude#execrate#renounce#implore# |
So Mr. Schumer turned to an opposition agenda, doing everything within his limited powers to slow, block or obviate Mr. Trump’s agenda.#Self-driving cars would obviate those problems, even if they would introduce new fears.#The ambition, according to the company’s founder, is to “completely obviate” human workers.#“The parties continue to discuss measures that would obviate the need for judicial determination of this appeal, including potential legislative action,” the report said.# |
To obviate means to eliminate the need for something or to prevent something from happening. If you want to obviate the possibility of a roach infestation, clean your kitchen regularly. |
The prefix ob means "to go against." That makes sense when you look at the words obstruct and obstacle, but how about obstetrics? Why does the name of the branch of medicine dealing with birth have the same root as words that mean "stop" or "get in the way"? Because a midwife stands opposite to, or against, the woman giving birth. |
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| 557 |
hurtle |
move with or as if with a rushing sound |
The hurricane was expected to hit Washington in the early hours of Sunday before hurtling toward New York City. |
lunge#waddle#obtrude#toady# |
North Korean indoctrination in anti-Americanism begins early, Oliver reports, infiltrating everything from elementary school math questions to stamps depicting missiles hurtling toward the U.S.#Presley's own contradictions were similar to the country's as it hurtled through a difficult and self-involved decade.#The rain that evening was hurtling down in sheets.#Indeed, reaction to a study of male infertility, published last week, suggests we may already be hurtling towards such a fate.# |
If you forcefully throw or fling something, you hurtle it. In a food fight, you may hurtle chocolate pudding across the room, but be prepared for someone to launch peas at you in retaliation. Duck! |
The verb hurtle also means to move rapidly, often with a rushing sound, and sometimes with seeming lack of control. If you are driving on wet, slippery roads at night, try not to drive fast and skid out of control — if you do, your car may seem to hurtle through the darkness! By the way, even though we can't feel it, the earth hurtles through space at approximately 67,000 miles per hour as it orbits the sun. |
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| 558 |
unanimity |
everyone being of one mind |
On all other points of colonial policy, Mackenzie declared, people would be found to differ, but as regards the post office there was absolute unanimity. |
impurity#necessity#agreement#discomfort# |
On the issue of refugees, the suffering of displaced persons and the desperate plight of South Sudan, there is complete unanimity.#Alaska is a long way away from local unanimity on these fundamental oil drilling and mining proposals.#The EU needs unanimity to impose or extend any sanctions.#The people of the respectable east coast press loathe the president with an amazing unanimity.# |
When there is unanimity, everyone agrees. When it comes to opinion, unanimity is the opposite of disagreement. |
Unanimity is a word for a group of people all being of one mind. If everyone in the country voted for the same person for president, that would be complete unanimity. Just like uniforms make people look alike, this similar word indicates people are thinking alike. Unanimity doesn't happen often, because people tend to disagree about everything. When there is disagreement, there's no unanimity. |
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| 559 |
mettle |
the courage to carry on |
The deployment will also test the emotional mettle of soldiers and their families. |
infrastructure#disparity#multiplicity#spunk# |
And with less-than-stellar Sunday showings at Augusta National and Erin Hills, whispers are growing, justifiably or not, on Fowler's mettle.#But Trump’s ultimatum allows the boy-tyrant in Pyongyang to test the president’s mettle.#In Act 2, trouble and abuse pile on, and Toulou’s mettle is sorely tested.#He is desperate to prove his mettle and join the team of Avengers.# |
Mettle is the courage to carry on. If someone wants to "test your mettle," they want to see if you have the heart to follow through when the going gets tough. |
Having the mettle to do something means you have guts. In short, you're a pretty impressive person. If you have the intellectual mettle to enter a political debate, not only do you know a lot about politics, but you have the spunk to show it off. Metal and mettle were used interchangeably meaning a solid material like gold, and the "stuff a person is made of" until everyone got confused and the words went their separate ways. |
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| 560 |
interpolate |
insert words into texts, often falsifying it thereby |
Most scholars agree that these lines are interpolated, since they do not fit in with the rest of the poem. |
a bookseller#a reader#a courier#an editor# |
Gupta embeds those monotonic relationships in sprawling databases called interpolated lookup tables.#“Diamond,” says the artist, “needed to be interpolated into cinematic history – the history of cinema owes black life something.”#As she sang the lyrics of redemption — about being carried home by angels — she interpolated “even Donald.”#The interpolated Porter numbers include “Night and Day” and “You’ve Got That Thing.”# |
In math, to interpolate means to estimate the value of something given certain data. If you are looking at a chart that gives the level of pollutants in a lake on Jan. 1 and Feb. 1, you must interpolate the level for Jan. 15. |
At a bake sale, if you check the cash box and look at how many cookies are left over, you can interpolate the results of your fundraiser. When you interpolate words into a text, you alter the text by adding words in. Scholars can identify the original text from material interpolated at a later date. If you are describing an author's work, you might want to interpolate a few examples of his writing into your description. |
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| 561 |
surreptitious |
marked by quiet and caution and secrecy |
He noticed that the peddler was eying the bag Scotty had picked up, and was trying to be surreptitious about it. |
unsuccessful#undercover#unnecessary#unconventional# |
This implies a gradual, surreptitious, hardening of the border in Ireland, as UK standards begin to diverge from EU standards.#But the term usually refers to the act of providing confidential information to the public in a surreptitious way and without official authorization.#His campaign chairman caught the Justice Department’s attention for similarly surreptitious work.#Nunes reviewed the material during a surreptitious visit to the White House grounds last week.# |
When someone behaves in a surreptitious way, they're being secretive. They're doing something that they don't want to be seen doing. |
While surreptitious means secret, it has the added sense of "sneaky" or "hidden." During the Jewish Passover meal of Seder, an adult will surreptitiously place a piece of matzoh somewhere in the house for the children to hunt for later in the meal. You'll see surreptitious applied mostly to actions, rather than to things or ideas. We do things surreptitiously. The members of the secret society hold surreptitious meetings because, well, they're a secret society. I was very surreptitious in how I organized the surprise party: she never knew! |
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| 562 |
dissimulate |
hide feelings from other people |
From infancy these people have been schooled to dissimulate and hide emotion, and ordinarily their faces are as opaque as those of veteran poker players. |
put on a pair of dark sunglasses#take out her house keys#tell the bus driver why he is sad#cry in front of fellow passengers# |
The “silent majority” will meet its match in this “affected majority,” who increasingly demand a certain humility as well as responsiveness from their dissimulating congressmen.#Dissimulating his preoccupation, he invited his mistress to read a flattering notice on her performance from the pen of Monsieur de Boigne.#Since her fifteenth year this desire had been fixed, calculating design, dissimulated under apparent recklessness.#The old theology did not dissimulate this kinship of origin; it rather exaggerated it.# |
Your wife gave you socks for Christmas and you smiled happily and kissed her? You, my friend, know how to dissimulate — that is, cover up your true feelings. Unless you happen to really, really like socks. |
Sometimes confused with dissimilar, meaning "not alike", or "different," or a form of simulate, meaning "to pretend to do or feel something." Being able to dissimulate is a useful trick, not just if your wife gives you socks. After all, the whole political process depends on it. As Louis XI once said, "He who knows not how to dissimulate, can not reign." Wikipedia would probably agree with that. |
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| 563 |
ruse |
a deceptive maneuver, especially to avoid capture |
Overseas criminals use elaborate ruses, including phony websites, to trick job-seekers into helping transfer stolen funds. |
rebuff#distortion#artifice#fluctuation# |
A well-constructed Russian maskirovka ruse, like a good Russian play, typically builds an underlying narrative before introducing the plot twist.#The intruders used an undisclosed ruse to get inside.#“It’s a ruse to get to full repeal,” the New York Democrat said.#Wednesday’s meeting demonstrated that the president, the vice president, and Kobach’s co-commissioners are willing to play along with the ruse.# |
Movie bank robbers always seem to pull some kind of ruse, a deceptive trick or tactic like hiding the money underneath the bank while they drive off in the getaway car to avoid capture by the police. |
You'd use a ruse if you were up to something sneaky and were trying to get away with it without being discovered. The wife planning a surprise birthday party for her husband could send him out to the supermarket as a ruse, a trick so she could sneak one hundred of his closest friends into the house without him noticing. |
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| 564 |
specious |
plausible but false |
You might be tempted to think of the biggest airline as the one with the most aircraft, but capacity differences make this reasoning specious. |
giving#varying#mindful#truthful# |
For now, any argument that self-driving cars will be an antidote for congestion may be, at best, uninformed and specious.#The argument against the individual health-insurance mandate as federal overreach is specious at best, ignorant at worst.#Senator Susan Collins of Maine criticized the Trump administration’s often specious descriptions of what the bill would actually do, bolstering other more quiet critics’ resolve.#Voters need to understand that this cost objection is specious.# |
Use specious to describe an argument that seems to be good, correct, or logical, but is not so. We live on the earth, therefore the earth must be the center of the universe has been proven to be a specious theory of the solar system. |
Specious is pronounced "SPEE-shuhs." Something that is specious is attractive in a deceptive way, and if you follow the word's etymology, you'll see why. In Middle English, this adjective meant "attractive," from Latin speciōsus "showy, beautiful," from speciēs "appearance, kind, sort." Latin speciēs is also the source of English species. |
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| 565 |
revulsion |
intense aversion |
After a first instinctive cry of horrified revulsion, the men reached down under water with their hands and drew out—a corpse. |
introversion#aversion#diversion#conversion# |
The attempt at damage control did little to stem the tide of public revulsion.#I hug the crypt-pocked walls, swallowing my revulsion at the reek of rotting bones.#It is a fate that should also elicit revulsion and profound anxiety.#The video prompted immediate disgust and revulsion; some users of Snapchat called on Snap, its parent company, to investigate.# |
Revulsion means an intense, violent, sometimes physical dislike of something. People feel revulsion to different things. You may feel revulsion at the thought of seeing a horror movie, but other people can't wait to be scared by the latest zombie or slasher flick. |
The noun revulsion comes from the Latin word revellere, meaning to pull away or to pull back. So, if you think of pulling back in horror when someone suggests going on a roller coaster after lunch, you'll remember the definition for revulsion is an intense aversion. Synonyms for revulsion include abhorrence, disgust, horror, and repugnance. After getting the stomach flu after eating raspberries, you now feel a revulsion to anything raspberry flavored. |
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| 566 |
hale |
exhibiting or restored to vigorous good health |
From a hearty, hale, corn-fed boy, he has become pale, lean, and wan. |
functioning#whole#concave#abortive# |
All this as the nation's job outlook is what economists describe as "full employment" and as employers display a hale appetite for summer help.#At one point the miniaturized siblings are haled into court for boarding a train without tickets.#Not so much for those who appear hale and hearty.#Officials insist that Buhari is “ hale and hearty,” and he was well enough this week to speak by telephone with U.S.# |
If you're hale, you’re strong and in good health. Think "hale and hearty," the well-known phrase to describe someone who can lift a piano or work ten hours in a field without blinking an eye. |
Don't confuse hale with hail. Hale, again, is healthy. Hail is for hailing a cab, or hailing to Caesar, and it also means a kind of precipitation where frozen ice balls pour down from the sky. Hale is a word that conjures up country folk, farming stock, people who swear that they haven’t had to go to a doctor in ten years because they sleep with the windows open 365 days a year. |
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| 567 |
palliate |
lessen or to try to lessen the seriousness or extent of |
Divisions and inequalities persist, but government can palliate their effects with hard cash. |
accentuate#abridge#disfigure#alleviate# |
The solution to terrorism is not to pass imperfect laws that will palliate the masses until next time.#His role, he said, was “not to ‘sell’ the U.S.A. but to ‘explain’ it, not to palliate its blemishes but to contextualize them.”#Doctors are trained first to diagnose, treat and fix — and second, to comfort, palliate and soothe.#Results palliate everything, but without them significant fault lines are exposed.# |
When you palliate something, you try to make something less bad: “City leaders tried to palliate effects of the trash haulers' strike by distributing extra large garbage cans with tight-fitting lids.” |
Palliate is the word to use when you want to make something feel or seem better. Palliate doesn’t mean “cure” or “solve.” Instead, something that palliates relieves the symptoms or consequences of something, without addressing the underlying cause. Your dentist might give you pain-killing drugs to palliate the discomfort caused by an impacted molar, but that molar is still there, waiting to cause more trouble. |
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| 568 |
obtuse |
lacking in insight or discernment |
The affair had been mentioned so plainly that it was impossible for the most dense and obtuse person not to have understood the allusion. |
humble#glum#dumb#lumpy# |
The leaves are huge, simple, obtuse in shape with undivided blades; they are thick and slightly sandpapery to the touch.#The militant obtuse are becoming more of a worrying online phenomenon than trolls.#On the DB11, this obtuse wheel is the first of its kind equipped with electric power-assisted steering.#The idea that Silicon Valley no longer funds big things isn’t just wrong, but also obtuse and fairly dangerous.# |
The adjective obtuse is good for describing someone slow on the uptake: "Don't be so obtuse: get with the program!" |
The adjective obtuse literally means "rounded" or "blunt," but when it's used for a person, it means "not quick or alert in perception" — in other words, not the sharpest tool in the shed. It's not just for dull people, but also dull angles: in geometry, an obtuse angle is one that is not so sharp (between 90 and 180 degrees). |
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| 569 |
querulous |
habitually complaining |
He was, at times, as querulous as a complaining old man. |
an obedient child#a picky eater#an exhausted soldier#a shy man# |
In fact, his move was met with an explosion of querulous partisanship.#Sometimes he becomes querulous, at other times philosophical; or he wishes to explain things, justify himself.#President Trump’s querulous demands for compensation are the stuff of fantasy.#In past years, he acknowledges, a few querulous baseball sorts asked pointedly if he risked tiring himself out with his charities.# |
Querulous means “having a tendency to complain” or, more directly put, “whiny.” Sure, no one can be happy all the time, but that’s no excuse for being querulous. |
Querulous may remind you of the word query, which means “question.” However, the two words are not closely related. It’s perfectly reasonable to make a query; just don’t be querulous if you don’t like the answer you get. Querulous does share its origins with the word quarrel, which means “argument” -– and that’s what’s likely to happen if you complain too much. |
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| 570 |
vagary |
an unexpected and inexplicable change in something |
Today such acquisitions are more likely to stay put, destined to survive both market fluctuations and the vagaries of style. |
whim#intrusion#burglary#detection# |
Tobin suggests that the circuit's wiring is compensating for vagaries of development that led to the two halves looking slightly different.#It’s not an intuitive route, but Coppola is wryly accepting of the vagaries of marketing.#It seems more likely that he’s suffering from the vagaries of youth rather than WBC overload.#Speaking to local reporters for the first time, Fister preferred to offer platitudes about the vagaries of his profession.# |
A vagary is an unexpected and unpredictable change, and the word is usually used in the plural. You might know from experience that the vagaries of winter weather make planning a vacation in February a risky proposition. |
Vagary traces back to the Latin root meaning "wander," and you can think of a vagary as something that wanders. Events or situations that seem to change at random have vagaries. Whether the hottest new boy band will succeed or not is dependent on the vagaries of teenage enthusiasms. The vagaries of the real estate market will determine whether that swamp property you just bought is a gold mine or a disaster. |
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| 571 |
incipient |
only partly in existence; imperfectly formed |
Above all, medical teams will need to establish quick surveillance to identify health needs and pinpoint incipient outbreaks before they explode. |
a fire escape#more construction#security guards#fewer tenants# |
Not all of the incipient energy is being directed toward the electoral arena.#But in December, even dubious stocks were rising, lifted by the promise of incipient deregulation.#A third test, tonometry, measures intraocular eye pressure for evidence of incipient glaucoma, or pressure buildup inside the eye.#It believes, correctly in my judgment, that incipient inflation is a greater risk than recession.# |
Incipient means something is in an early stage of existence. In its incipient form, basketball was played with a soccer ball and peach baskets for goals. Bouncy orange balls and nets came later. |
Incipient comes from the Latin incipere "to begin." The related, and more commonly used, word inception means the beginning or the start. It is important to note that when something is in an incipient stage, there is a chance it will never come to completion. So be on the lookout for incipient trouble or an incipient crisis — you might be able to prevent it from happening. |
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| 572 |
obdurate |
stubbornly persistent in wrongdoing |
Several appeared deeply affected, with tears of repentance standing in their eyes, others sullen and obdurate. |
unrepentant#immature#apostate#hectic# |
Her photograph shows an aged and obdurate man with a tinge of uncertainty in his face.#They were disciplined and obdurate in defence, confident in midfield and, when possible, enterprising in attack.#These weekend warriors form the obdurate bedrock of Trump Nation: white, rural and working class.#The predestination here is to perennially reckon with unruly and obdurate feeling: people cannot help what moves them, what makes them feel alive.# |
Obdurate is a formal word meaning stubborn. If you want to major in English, but your parents are obdurate that you should go premed, they might go so far as to threaten not to pay your tuition. |
This adjective descends from Latin obdurare "to harden." A near synonym is adamant, from Latin adamas "hard metal, diamond." So both of these synonyms derive from the quality of hardness being associated with a stubborn personality. |
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| 573 |
grovel |
show submission or fear |
The two young men who drove them had fallen flat and were grovelling and wailing for mercy. |
#### |
Seizing him by the hair, 8-Deer forced the teenager to grovel before him.#The way Republicans gloat about the new president is disgusting — it’s the lowest form of groveling I’ve ever seen.#Yet it is a matter of the utmost commercial and political importance to grovel as far as the Kardashians are concerned.#Most coaches probably do not enjoy groveling, but recognize its value nonetheless.# |
To grovel is to beg like a hungry dog. You don't have to be a canine though; you might grovel for a better grade (please don't). |
If you grovel you risk getting the opposite of what you want, because people (like teachers) don't like people down at their feet begging for something. But if you cheat on your date, you may have to grovel to get him or her back. Grovel also means to crawl around on your belly — you could grovel on gravel, but that might really hurt. The word comes from the Vikings; in Old Norse the word grufe means "prone" (lying flat) which is probably how Vikings liked to see the people they were conquering. You grovel when you want something but also when you're afraid. |
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| 574 |
refractory |
stubbornly resistant to authority or control |
Beyond them the gardener struggled with a refractory horse that refused to draw his load of brush and dead leaves. |
a sympathetic grandmother#a defiant teenager#a dedicated civil servant#a charismatic math teacher# |
One refractory remains in neighboring Sproul with about 80 workers, he said.#Faecal transplants for refractory Clostridium difficile infections are now becoming accepted in human medicine.#Large multigene families are a defining feature that distinguish the genomes of malaria species but are refractory to detailed analysis in non-curated draft genome data.#It’s like a refractory period for your nose.# |
Imagine yourself pulling a dog who doesn't want to walk. The dog is refractory, or stubbornly resisting your authority. |
The word refractory comes from a Latin word meaning obstinate and can also be used to mean not responsive to something. If you have a cold you can't shake, you could say you have a refractory cough. The word can also be used to describe a material that maintains its strength at very high heats. The outside of the space shuttle is made of refractory material, so that it can reenter the atmosphere without burning up. |
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| 575 |
dregs |
sediment that has settled at the bottom of a liquid |
"Right got to go," Ali says, draining the dregs of his beer. |
disproportion#funding#skill#settlings# |
Miami and Cincinnati aren’t just beating the dregs of MLS either.#The dregs of the so-called “alt-right” championed Carlson’s promotion because they think he is actively working to mainstream their despicable beliefs.#"You are the dregs of a free society," she told the faux reporters in the spoof.#There are two glasses, one with a few dregs in it and the ghost of lipstick.# |
Those little grains of tea or coffee left at the bottom of the cup are known as the dregs. The dregs are the least wanted portion, or the residue. |
Literally speaking, dregs refers to sediment at the bottom of a liquid such as tea, but figuratively you can use dregs to mean “a small amount left.” If you are running out of food in your refrigerator, you might say, “We’re down to the dregs in here.” Dregs is also used in the same way as the expression “bottom of the barrel.” The “dregs of society,” for instance, is a negative phrase that describes people whom the speaker considers to be useless. |
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| 576 |
ascendancy |
the state when one person or group has power over another |
But in a few days he had secured an almost incredible ascendancy over the sullen, starved, half-clothed army. |
ordination#dominance#sobriety#arrears# |
The ascendancies of the D.C. metro area’s cybersecurity industry is because of a combination of government cybersecurity talent and newfound interest from corporate America.#While China’s military ascendancy is a distinct challenge to American hegemony, there are significant side benefits.#Like the 9/11 attacks, Trump’s ascendancy was a startling rupture in the official narrative of upward-trending Western civilization.#It regards itself as upholding the ascendancy of a Protestant monarch in the UK.# |
When you assume ascendancy over someone else, you become more powerful than they are. Ascendancy is the state of being in a higher position. |
If you look at ascendancy, you see the word, ascend, which means to go up. Ascendancy is not so much about going up, but about being up. Another word for it is dominance, especially in the context of foreign or domestic relations. In school, if you question a teacher's ascendancy, you might be told to go to the principal's office. In this case, you're challenging the teacher's authority. |
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| 577 |
supercilious |
having or showing arrogant superiority to |
A supercilious, patronizing person—son of a wretched country parson—used to loll against the wall of your salon—with his nose in the air. |
spiteful#advantageous#impatient#prideful# |
Plenty in Brussels find this supercilious thought admirable.#She was speaking on the Victoria Derbyshire show after being asked why " supercilious celebrities like Lily Allen and Bob Geldof do not take in refugees".#It’s also clear, as Schur acknowledges, that the first draft of that history was written in a supercilious tone and pockmarked with errors and omissions.#He is a stern and supercilious man who would clearly rather be reading Jane Austen.# |
Supercilious people think very highly of themselves, more highly than of others. If your sister tends to act snobby and superior, you can describe her as supercilious. |
You might expect Nobel Prize winners to be supercilious — after all, they've reached the very heights of their profession. But one-on-one, your famous physics professor might be humble and fun to talk to, anything but supercilious. Most often, it's people who have no right to be arrogant, rude, and holier-than-thou who behave in the most supercilious ways. The Latin root supercilium means "haughty demeanor," but also "eyebrow" — as in an eyebrow raised in a haughty, supercilious expression. |
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| 578 |
pundit |
someone who has been admitted to membership in a field |
Pundits of agricultural science explore the sheds, I believe, the barns, stables, machine-rooms, and so forth, before inspecting the crops. |
subversive#savant#suppliant#denizen# |
"Cuthbert was the center of a much cherished and glorious part of Australian sporting history," prominent local pundit Patrick Smith wrote in The Australian newspaper.#“Reporters and pundits,” Mr. Carafano wrote, “stampede to find some sentence that will allow them to assert that the secretary ‘breaks with the president.’”#What are those national security pundits on the shows in Washington thinking?#It’s pundits who allowed the Islamic State terror group to thrive?# |
Beware the pundit, a supposed expert who imparts deep knowledge to us more ignorant folks. Pundits are often blowhards, mere hacks, and you might well want to take what they say with a pinch of salt. |
Why not call them simply experts? Because pundit is a lovely word that has a slightly mocking sense to it. Classic examples of the pundit are talk radio show hosts and professional sports commentators, all brilliant dispensers of hot air amongst the odd insight and statistic. Our modern day pundit is a far cry from the original meaning of the word, a "learned man, master, or teacher," from the ancient Hindi word payndit. |
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| 579 |
commiserate |
to feel or express sympathy or compassion |
We had spent countless hours together drinking wine and commiserating about child-rearing, long Wisconsin winters and interrupted sleep. |
a wedding party#a funeral party#a tourist group#a crowd at a concert# |
Rudy Anderson was commiserating with the visitors about rabbits eating their crops.#The problem is the number of people who tell me to stop saying sorry—especially when I use it in the commiserating sense.#They sometimes commiserated over the declining popularity of letter writing due to the advent of email.#Taenak's departure left Neuville more than a minute clear and the Belgian was quick to commiserate with his rival after the 21st stage.# |
When you commiserate with your buddies, you're sharing your lousy feelings. People who commiserate have the same negative feelings about something. |
Take a look at how commiserate is built: it's from Latin "com-," which means "together with," and miserārī, "to pity." Put them together, and you get "to pity one another, commiserate." When you commiserate, you and your fellow commiserators talk about how badly you're all feeling. After the layoffs, we all went to the bar to commiserate. |
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| 580 |
alcove |
a small recess opening off a larger room |
They showed him where he would sleep, in a little closet-like alcove screened from the big room by a gay curtain. |
bay#antenna#arctic#frieze# |
We reach the amphitheater gates, and once through, the woman sets me on my feet in an alcove.#Around the back side of the room, opposite the stairwell, nine alcoves were carved into the wall.#Two years later, when their son was 26, they found him an alcove studio in Greenwich Village.#The bedroom is on one side of the house, separated from the master bathroom by an alcove, den and double-door linen closet.# |
Chapels in churches are often alcoves. Picture one set off to the side with a vaulted ceiling, separated by pillars and a small railing. See that and you see an alcove, defined. |
If your bed is in an alcove in a studio apartment, it is in a recessed area of the room, separated by an arch or a half wall but not by a door. Think of an alcove as a sidecar to a room or even a cave. It's a separate smaller area that is still attached, but feels cozy because it is partially enclosed. |
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| 581 |
assay |
make an effort or attempt |
He decided to assay one last project before giving up. |
weep#punch#try#end# |
Microarrays for running assays on large numbers of genes at once were brand-new.#He assayed characters from each of the nominated musicals and finished up in the number, in versatile style, tap dancing in a tuxedo.#The detection limit in the plaque assay is 10 p.f.u. ml−1 in cell supernatant, and 100 p.f.u. ml−1 in serum.#The assay works by color: Insulin turns a sample very slightly yellow, a change researchers detect using a specialized instrument.# |
An assay is a breakdown of a material, examining the individual parts that make up the whole. When you assay a situation, you look at all the elements that created the problem in order to come up with a solution. |
The word assay comes from the French word essai, which means "trial," an appropriate sense for a word that means to examine for analysis. As a noun, assay means a test or appraisal to determine the components of a substance or object. As a verb, it refers to the act of analyzing, or of conducting that test. It is usually used in chemistry-related fields like metallurgy and pharmaceuticals, but you can also assay a poem. |
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| 582 |
parochial |
narrowly restricted in outlook or scope |
But Republicans in Pennsylvania also have narrower and more parochial things to worry about. |
provincial#officious#perfunctory#conjugal# |
Reinforcing their advocacy, the Isleys and Santana close shop with parochial school and Christmas stalwart “Let There Be Peace on Earth.”#She attended Annunciation Catholic Church in the District, volunteering as a parochial school librarian.#This isn’t a parochial issue affecting just my fellow Jersey residents and me.#Like Mr. Kang, I am an immigrant, without any long family or parochial sports traditions to follow.# |
If an issue or a matter is parochial, it is trivial or only concerns a local area. Likewise, a person with a parochial mentality is narrow-minded, or not open to new ideas. |
Parochial comes to English from Greek through Latin with the meaning "of a parish." As a parochial school is a school that is affiliated with a particular church, the connection is easy to see. In general though, parochial refers to a narrow or limited point of view — that is, an outlook that extends no further than the limits of the parish. You may feel that there is no room in your life for the parochial attitudes of the older generation. Let's hope you remain open-minded as you age! |
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| 583 |
conjugal |
relating to the relationship between a wife and husband |
They even had conjugal visits for prisoners — five hours in a private room every three months with your wife. |
pet and owner#customer and salesman#husband and wife#teacher and student# |
Bodies were discovered throughout the unit, including inside the kitchen and in an area for conjugal visits, said Roberto Álvarez, a state security spokesman.#Authorities discovered bodies throughout the wing, including inside and just outside the kitchen, as well as the area for conjugal visits, he said.#She freely chooses Adario, and everyone rejoices in the restoration of peace and conjugal bliss in harmony with nature.#Needless to say, Bibi was delighted by the diagnosis, and began at once to prepare for conjugal life.# |
The adjective conjugal describes all husband-and-wife matters, so if someone who is married says, "Single people don't understand how I feel," you can be sure it's a conjugal situation. |
The word conjugal comes from the Latin word, conjux, meaning "husband, wife." You’ve no doubt heard of the term “conjugal visits,” to describe private visits between a prisoner and a spouse. But it can describe anything that happens between married people, such as conjugal obligations, which are the things you do to keep a marriage going, or just general conjugal, or married, life. |
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| 584 |
abjure |
formally reject or disavow a formerly held belief |
The caste abstain from liquor, and some of them have abjured all flesh food while others partake of it. |
depreciate#exasperate#jibe#recant# |
He vowed that he would “ abjure, curse and detest” his findings.#He vowed that he would “ abjure, curse, and detest” his findings.#In a sober ceremony, the Mexica abjured their old religion and embraced Christianity.#Shun these places, abjure the philosophies that extol them.# |
Abjure means to swear off, and it applies to something you once believed. You can abjure a religious faith, you can abjure your love of another person, and you can abjure the practice of using excessive force in interrogation. |
Abjure is a more dramatic way to declare your rejection of something you once felt or believed. When you see its Latin roots, it makes sense: from ab- (meaning "away") and jurare ("to swear"). When you abjure something, you swear it away and dissociate yourself with it. You might abjure the field of astrology after receiving a bad fortune, or you might abjure marriage after a bitter divorce. |
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| 585 |
frieze |
an ornament consisting of a horizontal sculptured band |
All the doorways mentioned above have cornices, and in those at Palmyra and Baalbec richly carved friezes with side corbels. |
#### |
Unlike its fellow big gun, the Frieze Art Fair, the Biennale’s focus is on pavilions sponsored by nations.#Frieze is not the only game in town this week.#To visit Frieze is to be confronted with the most energetic art being produced today.#Unlike you, kids may not appreciate the magnificence of a Michelangelo statue or the significance of the Parthenon frieze.# |
A frieze is a decorative band, usually, but not always, above a doorframe or on the wall near the ceiling. You may find a frieze of sculptured angels too formal for the trim of your bedroom wall. |
You might not think of a frieze in the same category as a painting or a statue, but it can be a true work of art. One famous frieze is painted in a large circle on the inside of the United States Capitol building; it shows famous events in American history. Another is at the Parthenon, a temple from ancient Greece. Don’t confuse frieze with the more common term freeze, though they are pronounced the same way. |
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| 586 |
ornate |
marked by complexity and richness of detail |
Unlike his literary icon, Herman Melville, he doesn’t adorn his writing with ornate flourishes or complicated scaffolding. |
popular#simple#fresh#private# |
I find it just off the main street, marked only by an ornate iron T hammered into the door.#Also, clean and simple shapes near items with ornate, exuberant detail, like the red square contrasted with the patterned fabrics.#Such mosaics would only appear in " ornate, important churches," Notley observes.#People bought dead corals as curios, valued for their ornate skeletons but not as living critters.# |
If something is ornate — whether it's a ball gown, a set of dishes, or a poem — it seems to be covered in ornaments. It's lavish, flowery, or heavily adorned. |
Look at the first four letters of ornate, and you'll spot the beginning of its close relative ornament. Ornate most often describes how something looks, but it doesn't have to be visual. The prose in Victorian love letters was more ornate than the email messages people send today. The ornate gilded mirrors and enormous chandeliers in the palace at Versailles were the height of fashion in Marie Antoinette's time, but home decor is simpler today. Now, it seems too ornate. |
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| 587 |
inflammatory |
arousing to action or rebellion |
We don't know whether inflammatory language or images can incite the mentally ill to commit acts of violence. |
equestrian#immutable#incendiary#infantile# |
It’s also true that obesity causes asthma, probably both from inflammatory factors and that you’re just squeezing the lungs.#The left-wing Haaretz newspaper described it as “wild, inciting and inflammatory.”#Despite Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric this week, the path ahead is really about finesse: Both the military and diplomatic paths require close cooperation with regional partners.#Delury said Trump’s inflammatory proclamation would complicate his efforts to get China on board.# |
In medical terms, something that is inflammatory causes a local reaction that shows up by swelling, heat, pain, and redness. If you are stung by a bee, you may have an acute inflammatory reaction to the sting. |
The noun inflammatory also refers to something that excites anger, violence, rebellion, or similar strong emotions. In this case, the noun usually refers to speech or writing. If you are a politician, inflammatory speeches may be one tool you use to incite your constituents to vote against the corruption of your opponent. After all, a stirring speech about rights people may lose if an election goes a certain way is more likely to get out the vote than a more understated discussion. |
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| 588 |
machination |
a crafty and involved plot to achieve your ends |
He was continued a member of Congress until 1777 when his enemies succeeded in their long nursed machinations against him. |
vow#deal#need#plot# |
But, in light of the news this week about Pence’s political machinations, the remarks seem worth revisiting.#Whether by design or as an act of casual selfishness, Trump enlisted 35,000 children in his political machinations.#It’s this arrogant assumption that usually provokes extreme machinations by which they, eventually, learn humility.#It is Saudi-inspired and -educated machinations of deviousness that keep hitting Western targets.# |
When a James Bond villain comes up with a plan to destroy the world, he doesn’t use a simple plan. No, he uses a machination — a complex plot that relies on numerous elements coming together to work. |
Not surprisingly, machination derives from the Medieval French machina, meaning "machine." And, like many a machine, a machination is subject to going wrong, often comically (see James Bond movies). Politicians love a good machination, and their machinations are frequently exposed in the press as scandals. |
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| 589 |
mendicant |
a pauper who lives by begging |
In others are the broken-down mendicants who live on soup-kitchens and begging. |
the medic who delivers aid to injured soldiers#the wealthy man who donates money to the poor#the woman who survives by selling her art#the homeless man who asks for money for food# |
He became a mendicant and began wandering India, and was “driven mad with mental agonies” over what he encountered: ritual, poverty, disease.#But what are the proper prerogatives of a mendicant legislature avidly seeking maximum leeway to repudiate debts?#Details on the progress of the company’s Mendicant acquisition will also be expected as will the company’s expense controls and international business prospects.#It is a mendicant reduced to hoping to “extend and pretend” forever.# |
People who live off begging can be called mendicants. However, you probably wouldn't call your kids mendicants, even though they beg you for stuff, because the word mendicant also implies extreme poverty. |
The noun mendicant can also refer to a man belonging to a religious order, such as the Franciscan Friars — who do not own personal property but live together in a monastery and survive off alms donated by others. As an adjective, mendicant describes someone who lives such an existence. |
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| 590 |
meander |
move or cause to move in a sinuous or circular course |
They paused beside one of the low stone walls that meandered in a meaningless fashion this way and that over the uplands. |
achieve#wander#collapse#settle# |
We would do well to remember that evolution always meanders.#One atypical painting, rendered on lace that perforates the image, is a less specific view of a meandering waterway.#And in true Friday fashion, there’s no need for a meandering preamble ahead of a long, long second round.#At almost 2½ hours, “4 Days in France” is a meandering journey, driven less by plot and more by the episodic nature of Pierre’s travels.# |
To meander means to wander aimlessly on a winding roundabout course. If you want some time to yourself after school, you might meander home, taking the time to window shop and look around. |
Meander comes from a river in modern-day Turkey, the Maiandros, which winds and wanders on its course. Today, a stream or a path meanders, as does a person who walks somewhere in a roundabout fashion. If your speech meanders, you don't keep to the point. It's hard to understand what your teacher is trying to impart if he keeps meandering off with anecdotes and digressions. Pronounce meander with three syllables not two — me-AN-der. |
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| 591 |
bullion |
gold or silver in bars or ingots |
In times of economic turmoil, more people tend to invest in bullion gold. |
#### |
"We remain committed to offering a solution to the London bullion market."#About 75 percent of that is held in illiquid gold bars as a result of Chavez’s fetish for bullion over the “imperialist” dollar.#This replaced by the current electronic alternative in 2015 because of regulatory pressure and U.S. lawsuits alleging rigging by the banks that set bullion prices.#There’s one thing almost all gold traders and analysts agree on: Now is a great time to own bullion.# |
If you wanted to rob Fort Knox and take all of its gold, you'd plan a heist to get the bullion. Bullion is gold or silver in bulk, often in the shape of a bar. |
Once upon a time, coins were made of actual precious metals. Before the coins were made, the gold and silver for them was stored bulk, in bullion. Try not to confuse this word with, bouillon, which is broth, or a cube of beef or chicken flavoring used to make broth. If you see the OU in the first syllable, it's a clue that it's the sOUp. If you just see a "bull," think of the stock market and glittery gold. |
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| 592 |
diffidence |
lack of self-assurance |
His grave diffidence and continued hesitation in offering an opinion confirmed me in my own. |
a marathon runner who has reached the 26 mile mark#a child who cannot decide between flavors of ice cream#a salesman who is practicing his pitch with colleagues#an insecure freshman entering high school# |
Her fear translated on TV screens as coldness and diffidence.#She possesses an uncanny ability to turn her natural charisma into diffidence.#In “Certain Women,” a much better movie, she slouches onto the screen with self-effacing diffidence.#Whether out of deference or diffidence, Bergner offers readers precious little of himself.# |
The noun diffidence refers to a lack of self-confidence. Your diffidence might be the reason why you never say "hi" to the cute guy or gal in the elevator or why you never ask for a raise. |
The noun diffidence comes from the Latin word diffidere meaning "to mistrust" or "to lack confidence." Diffidence is often mistaken for snootiness because people don't understand that the diffident person is shy and lacking in confidence. "They asked him to be the team leader, but he expressed diffidence, saying that he didn't think he had enough time to do the job justice, nor did he think he had enough experience." |
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| 593 |
makeshift |
done or made using whatever is available |
The house was still under construction, so he climbed up a ladder being used as a makeshift stairway, fell and injured his leg. |
unexceptionable#impermanent#utmost#signal# |
He uses various photographic chemicals in his home, makeshift darkroom to develop the large 4-by-5 sheet negatives and crystal sharp paper prints.#In the makeshift gallery in Lake City, watercolor paintings and ink drawings fill the walls.#I'm hovering in a makeshift kitchen, watching one of Italy's most eminent marine biologists gleefully playing chef.#After immediately being arrested, they are bussed to the makeshift camp.# |
If you have to use a garbage can lid as a sled or a set of drapes as a ball gown, then you know what it means to put together a makeshift creation. Something makeshift has been improvised, thrown together with whatever is around. |
What's interesting about makeshift is the way it can vary in meaning from approval to criticism. Those people trapped in the island in Lost? They came up with some pretty cool makeshift tents and survival ideas. But a government described as makeshift, for example, probably has little going for it. |
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| 594 |
husbandry |
the practice of cultivating the land or raising stock |
The U.S. can take a lesson from Denmark, which has efficiently raised livestock without hurting farmers, by using better animal husbandry practices. |
agriculture#imposture#usury#duplicity# |
There is vast investment here, a supernumerary population and wildly nationalistic good husbandry.#Looking after this menagerie taught me a lot about animal husbandry, but in retrospect my motives were selfish.#He was too often away working in London, and too ignorant of bird husbandry.#Mr. Perry studied animal husbandry and led cheers at Texas A&M University.# |
Husbandry has nothing to do with being a husband, and a lot to do with being a farmer. If you cultivate the land or breed animals, you are practicing husbandry. |
Long before husbands were hen-pecked guys who cut the grass on weekends and played with the kiddies after school, they were robust men of the Earth — farmers, in other words. That meaning died out, but its current meaning survives as a remnant of it. Today, you most often hear of "crop husbandry", which refers to raising crops; however, if you practice toad husbandry — you must be raising toads. |
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| 595 |
podium |
a platform raised above the surrounding level |
Leyva beamed as he stood atop the podium, nodding as the American flag was raised and “The Star-Spangled Banner” played in his honor. |
cube#pendant#overlap#dais# |
Immediately after the president walked away from a White House podium, Fox News Channel anchor Harris Faulkner said this should satisfy his critics.#At a podium, Trump read a statement rebuking the violence, but without specifically mentioning or faulting the role of white nationalists.#They are not getting their moment on the podium, at least not yet, and they are not receiving prize money of their own.#Neither runner wound up on the top step of the podium.# |
A podium is a raised platform like the kind Olympians stand on when they win a medal or like the overturned crate in the garage where you pretend to accept your Academy Award. |
Stepping up to a podium means taking center stage. A person might be receiving an honor or giving a speech and the added height of a podium makes that person the focus. If you wave a baton as the conductor of an orchestra or band, you'll need to stand on a podium so the musicians can see you. And, if you deliver a rousing message in a church you might use a podium, but probably shouldn't be waving a baton. |
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| 596 |
dearth |
an insufficient quantity or number |
A continuing dearth of snow in many U.S. spots usually buried by this time of year has turned life upside down. |
modernity#elegance#chatter#paucity# |
This is a small but important step to offset the unconscionable dearth of federally funded research into the effects and prevention of gun violence.#Whatever the reason, the dearth of excitement for these post-tax policies is a strategic mistake.#That search is in a bit of a rut, which reports of meddling by former CEO Travis Kalanick and a dearth of female candidates.#And a dearth of capital is not a problem: investors are keen on such assets.# |
If there is a dearth of something, there is not enough of it. A dearth of cupcakes is unfortunate, but a dearth of nutritious food is a serious problem. |
Dearth is an Old English noun formed from the adjective deore, "precious, costly," and the noun-forming suffix -th. Though the relationship of dearth meaning "lack, insufficient amount" to the adjective dear is not so obvious, it is still easy to imagine that something precious is probably also in short supply. Dearth is used almost exclusively in the phrase "a dearth of." |
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| 597 |
granary |
a storehouse for threshed grain or animal feed |
Here is where he does his husking, and the "clear corn" produced is stored away in some underground granary till It is needed. |
graphite#barn#apiary#grave# |
And at other locations in the district: the railroad, the granary, the power station, and the armory.#The granary needed to be supervised—an invitation to develop centralized power.#Others are turned into shops and granaries to store farm products.#There are no chickens in the hen house, no grain in the granary or animals in the barn.# |
If you're wondering where to store your grain, the simple answer is — in a granary. Not much more to say, really. A granary is where grain is stored. |
One clear way to remember the meaning of granary is that it sounds like what it is. If I were to ask you to invent a word that means "the place where grain is stored" you'd very likely come up with granary — though admittedly, the spelling is a little different. In the same way that wine comes from a winery, you'll find granaries the world over filled with, well, grain. |
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| 598 |
whet |
make keen or more acute |
While he described the fishing as “pretty good,” the silver salmon running in the creek only whetted his appetite to return to Alaska. |
dramatize#reimburse#quicken#circumscribe# |
But that's why marketing teams, in hopes of whetting your appetite, release photos like this:#Olympic team in the 1980s, which whetted his appetite for working with coaches internationally.#Yet Princess Diana’s violent death also seemed to whet the media’s appetite for celebrity sensationalism, Ligier.#Sweet or dry and infused with herbs, spices and botanicals, this often misunderstood fortified wine whets the appetite.# |
To whet is to sharpen. You could whet a knife's blade with a whetting stone, or you could whet your appetite by having some Doritos. |
The verb whet can mean "to stimulate or make more acute," and the word is often used in the phrase "whet [your] appetite," which can be used literally or figuratively. You could serve light appetizers to whet everyone's appetite for dinner or you could whet an actor's appetite by giving him a small role that inspires him for greater roles. You can whet other things in this sense as well — such as curiosity, fear, or pleasure. |
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| 599 |
imposture |
pretending to be another person |
He got somebody to prosecute him for false pretences and imposture, on the ground that Madame was a man. |
usury#impersonation#nuptials#stealth# |
Marianne explains that part of her method is to make sure that, whatever the details of the imposture, the feeling is real.#Let’s recap — not the election or imposture of Mr. Trump, but the trajectory of the mass-distributed personal update.#A more recent imposture, which is still having harmful effects, is the vaccine scare that began in 1998.#He did not wish to suggest in anyway that the Laphams had any part in the imposture—they were very humble, honest, pious folk.# |
Imposture is the act of pretending to be someone else. Everyone knows the Elvis impersonator isn’t really Elvis himself, but your imposture as Elvis’s long-lost daughter might actually fool some people. |
Imposture comes from the verb, to impose, and it has the sense of deliberately deceiving someone. Someone who perpetrates an imposture is an imposter. If you go to a job interview and pretend that you graduated from Harvard when really you never even went to college, that is an act of imposture. If the interviewer finds out, she might disgustedly say to you, “Get out, you imposter!” |
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| 600 |
diadem |
an ornamental jeweled headdress signifying sovereignty |
I dethrone monarchs and the people rejoicing crown me instead, showering diadems upon my head. |
a queen#a school principal#a chef#a sea captain# |
Still, that vision of decorative femininity, complete with flowing capes and diadems, most resembles a live-action version of “Frozen” meets ”Game of Thrones.”#You just don’t get to be the diadem in this particular movie.#A Great General The commander wears a diadem, a ribbon of leather around his head.#TV aristocrats, random models and Keith Urban’s brilliant wife can also sport a sparkling diadem.# |
A diadem is a crown, or something on a crown. If you’ve just won the Miss America pageant, reach up your hand — that’s right — that rhinestone encrusted circlet on your head? That’s a diadem. |
While diadem is a straightforward word meaning "crown," it can also refer to the jewels or other ornaments on a crown. It also sounds like diamond, which is handy for remembering the meaning, because a crown might well have diamonds on it. Or, the diadem could be the diamond on the crown. Technically, you could have a diadem on a diadem, but it would be confusing to say it that way. It comes from the Greek diadema, which was cloth tied around the head to signify royalty. Not as nice as diamonds though, really! |
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| 601 |
fallow |
undeveloped but potentially useful |
Several new prostate cancer drugs have been approved in the last couple of years, after a long fallow period, and others are in advanced development. |
a field that is being left unplanted for a year#a lake that has very little water in it#a busy office that is hiring new employees#a person cooking a three-course dinner# |
The former industrial area, cluttered with derelict structures and thousands of tons of concrete debris, lay fallow for the next 15 years.#Soon, villagers stopped farming, leaving their yam and cassava fields fallow.#We’re back here to James Fallows, the extraordinary writer for the Atlantic, who was a speechwriter in the Carter White House.#Fast-growing populations mean that many African families can’t afford to let land sit fallow and replenish.# |
Something that is fallow is left unused. If you’re smart but lazy, someone might say you have a fallow mind. |
We use the word to talk about any unused resource, it started as a work about land. Fallow comes from the old English word for plowing, and refers to the practice of leaving fields unplowed in rotation––when a field lies fallow, the soil regains nutrients that are sucked up by over-planting. |
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| 602 |
hubbub |
loud confused noise from many sources |
There was some good-humoured pushing and thrusting, the drum beating and the church bells jangling bravely above the hubbub. |
cession#imposture#uproar#duplicity# |
Breakfast at the cafe meant eating at a table in the lobby walkway, in the fray of the morning hubbub.#It tries to tame the exhausting and depressing political surround, a hubbub of collusion and interference and corruption.#There was also a hubbub in the midafternoon when a small plane strayed into the restricted airspace above the club.#You may recall a general feeling of confusion from the whole hubbub and noisy soundtrack.# |
Hubbub is a fun, rhyming word for an uproar, a brouhaha, or another crazy situation that has gone completely higgledy-piggledy. |
No one would say, "What's the hubbub?" at the library, unless it was the loudest, most bonkers day ever in a place that is usually quiet. A hubbub is chaotic, disorganized, loud, and distracting. Sometimes, hubbub can mean a controversy, as in "What's the hubbub over this new law?" If you like peace and quiet, stay away from hubbubs — a word that sounds as loud and unruly as its meaning. |
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| 603 |
dispassionate |
unaffected by strong emotion or prejudice |
The commission sitting by, judicial, dispassionate, presided with cold dignity over the sacrifice, and pronounced it good. |
impartial#fickle#emphatic#brutal# |
Cregan-Reid is no dispassionate scientist, however; his quest for understanding is rooted in his own emotional and creative relationship with running.#We should worry because his commission is the furthest thing imaginable from a dispassionate investigation into voting procedures.#Thus, though our national political narrative is that we’re more divided than ever, a dispassionate second look suggests otherwise.#So much for our dispassionate examination of the germ’s interests.# |
Dispassionate describes someone who is not getting carried away by—or maybe not even having—feelings. It's something you'd want to see in a surgeon, who keeps cool under pressure, but not in a romantic partner. |
Dispassionate is the opposite of passionate, and while passions are said to run "hot," dispassionate people are often described as "cold." A city marshal whose job is it to evict people behind on their rents must conduct their job with dispassionate fairness, but still, no one wants to be their friend. |
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| 604 |
harrowing |
causing extreme distress |
Belgium found itself in turmoil as hundreds of people came forward to offer harrowing accounts of abuse over several decades. |
expansive#mural#periodic#excruciating# |
An American working for the Kenyan opposition describes his harrowing abduction and deportation »#No serious damage was done, but the image of John lying face down and motionless on the track was a harrowing one.#One of the most harrowing scenes positions the viewer inside a train carriage full of men.#It’s been quite the harrowing year for Jimmy Kimmel — but things are looking up.# |
Being attacked by a hungry shark or being chased by an unruly mob on the streets can be described as harrowing, which means "provoking feelings of fear or horror." |
The adjective harrowing is often used to describe a firsthand experience that is terrifying, such as a harrowing drive home in icy weather, but it can also refer to a secondhand experience, such as reading or watching something that is very frightening or disturbing. If you read someone’s account of being shipwrecked in Antarctica, you might describe that as a harrowing story. A harrowing experience typically unfolds over a period of time. For example, if you bump into a shark while swimming, that’s merely scary. If the shark attacks you, then it becomes a harrowing ordeal. |
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| 605 |
askance |
with suspicion or disapproval |
A secret marriage in these days would be looked upon askance by most people. |
indirect#harrowing#unwieldy#predatory# |
Looking askance at Gillian Anderson when she, clearly and without malice, pities you, is, for me, a definitive act of insanity.#She continued to concertize in Germany and other European countries, even though the communist authorities looked at her askance.#Some funding agencies look askance at supporting this class of professionals; after all, graduate students and postdocs are paid much less.#Yet Slattery said some “name brand” hotel chains looked askance at the Western Avenue location.# |
You may have trouble looking directly at the human specimens onstage at the freak show, but you also won't be able to look away. Find a happy medium by looking askance, or subtly out of the corner of your eye. |
First used in the 1500's, no one is quite sure where the cockeyed, slanting adverb askance came from. Some people suspect that it evolved from the Latin a scancio, meaning “obliquely, slantingly,” while others argue that it’s just a variant of the word askew. How fitting for a word that describes a suspicious or distrusting manner of looking that we can't trace its etymology with any surety. |
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| 606 |
lancet |
a surgical knife with a pointed double-edged blade |
His left arm was held by the second physician, while the chief surgeon bent over it, lancet in hand. |
#### |
The number is 50 times more deaths than reported now, the study in The Lancet Planetary Health journal said.#The trial on 62 patients, published in the Lancet, hints the medicine halted the progression of the disease.#The study, in the Lancet, found this raised the rate of diagnosis four-fold.#In a recent study published in the Lancet, this kind of therapy was shown to be as effective as CBT.# |
The noun lancet describes a small, double-edged surgical knife used to make incisions. |
A lancer is a soldier bearing a long spear, called a lance, while a lancet is like a tiny spear — sharp on two sides and meant to pierce things. And though a soldier could wield a lancet, it's more likely to be used by a surgeon. A lancet arch is an architectural term used to describe an arch that peaks at the top. Most buildings with lancet arches are not places where you’d use a lancet, though. |
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| 607 |
rankle |
gnaw into; make resentful or angry |
He was feeling more like himself now, though the memory of the bully’s sneering words rankled. |
a new colleague#a colleague who constantly criticizes him#a colleague who is always a team player#a colleague who constantly compliments him# |
The company’s unusually generous salaries and benefits for workers rankled Wall Street stock analysts, and the partners publicly characterized their retail rivals as Scrooges.#The move rankled the tech industry, which owes much of its plenitude to the work of enterprising immigrants.#Even a scrub in pro basketball might, and those possibilities rankle the receiver.#What rankles is that city leaders led on the beleaguered South End by holding a dog-and-pony show down there in the first place.# |
Rankle is a cranky-sounding verb that means to eat away at or aggravate to the point of causing anger. If you want to rankle a cat, try splashing it with water and then putting it in the bathtub. |
Rankle goes back to the French verb rancler, which comes from an old word for "festering sore," which paints a pretty negative picture of what it means to rankle. A sore that festers gets worse and worse, or more infected, and if you rankle someone, they will get more and more angry. "Ankle" rhymes with rankle, and if you were to prank a friend and hold him by his ankles over a trash can every day for a week, it would definitely rankle him. |
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| 608 |
ramify |
have or develop complicating consequences |
Cometary science has ramified in unexpected ways during the last hundred years. |
attenuate#incubate#exude#fork# |
In my case, these take the form of a steadily ramifying doubt that extends to every aspect of the journey.#The story Simonds originally told, about making old-fashioned, human-scale stories, had given rise to its own sequel, about ramifying digital exploitation.#Because it is possible to think of the Internet itself, in all its incomprehensible vastness, as an exponentially ramifying network of commentary and metacommentary.#I need to know that ramify and bifurcate are synonyms, if they even are?# |
The verb ramify describes something that branches off or spreads, like the new subway lines that ramify across your city and reach even the neighborhoods farthest from the center. |
Ramify came into English through French, but it traces all the way back to the Latin word ramus, meaning "branch." It can describe things that literally branch out in segments, or it can be used figuratively to describe things that spread, like the effects of a new policy that ramify through your school. Ramify might seem like a strange word, but you probably know the related word ramification, a consequence that stems — or branches — from some other action. |
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| 609 |
gainsay |
take exception to |
That Whitman entertained a genuine affection for men and women is, of course, too obvious to be gainsaid. |
classify#surprise#support#unearth# |
But she framed her attack in a way no one could gainsay.#There can be no gainsaying his message; it was impeccable.#But there’s no gainsaying the increasingly anti-Israel tilt of progressive politics.#Why should their conclusions be gainsaid by clicks on the internet?# |
Gainsay, a verb, means "contradict" or "speak out against." When you challenge authority, you gainsay, as in teachers don't like it when unruly students gainsay them. |
Gainsay comes from an Old English word that means "contradict" or "say against," as in, no one dared gainsay the principal, who is well-known for giving detention to students who so much as frown at him. If you know someone who constantly corrects others, tells them that they're wrong, and says, "That's not true," more than anyone else, you have first-hand experience with the art of the gainsay. |
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| 610 |
polity |
a governmentally organized unit |
China needs a polity that can address its increasingly sophisticated society, and to achieve that there must be political reform, Mr. Sun said. |
mental rejection#civil order#the true#Sturm und Drang# |
“Donald Trump shows no respect for anything or anyone but himself, and it’s poisoning our” polity, he said.#By contrast, “The Ministry of the Utmost Happiness” is about India, the polity, during the past half century or so, and its griefs are national.#His legacy, Justin Peters writes, is “a diminished network, a paralyzed polity, and a country that is worse off than he found it.”#His legacy is a diminished network, a paralyzed polity, and a country that is worse off than he found it.# |
The noun polity refers to a political group of any size or shape — it can be a government, a state, a country, or even a social group. |
When you hear the word polity, think politics and you're on the right track. The prefix for polity dates all the way back to Greece, from the word politeia, which means "citizenship" or "government." Any group run by politics can be called a polity. The Democratic Party is a polity, but hopefully your birthday party isn't. |
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| 611 |
credence |
the mental attitude that something is believable |
"Well-known brand names that promote new products receive more credence than newcomers that people don't know about." |
ethnology#acceptance#creativity#cognizance# |
It's hard to see why anyone would place credence in a poll based on such a silly premise.#“It doesn’t speak to the moon per se, but it adds credence to the idea that we are interpreting the lunar data correctly.”#The insurers’ statement backs up that assertion, lending credence to wary senators’ worries and complicating McConnell’s task of winning them over.#The insurers' statement backs up that assertion, lending credence to wary senators' worries and complicating McConnell's task of winning them over.# |
Credence means truthfulness, or believability. A video of a funnel cloud entering Central Park would give credence to rumors of a tornado in Manhattan. |
Generally, credence is given to an idea or topic by something else. You'll see it often coming after words like lend, give, and impart. When something is given credence, it is made more believable. But it can also be used like this: Mary talked a lot about the poltergeist in her house. To most, her story had little credence, but I like a good ghost story, and so, decided to believe. |
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| 612 |
indemnify |
make amends for; pay compensation for |
She put her affairs in order and left instructions that those whom she had unwittingly wronged should be indemnified out of her private fortune. |
by visiting a car wash#by painting his car a bright color#by getting into a car accident#by buying car insurance# |
HuffPost is not named in the summons; Mr. Ali said he was indemnified by the news organization.#“Some people need to believe this to indemnify themselves—against miscarriage, or misfortune in general,” she writes.#The government won’t allow waivers from state gun laws or indemnify companies whose workers use deadly force.#Whether a homeowner is suing the association or the board itself, both are indemnified so an owner is effectively suing the association’s insurance company.# |
To pay compensation for a loss, damages, or similar expense is to indemnify. "The insurance company indemnified its customers for their claims after the severe storm — one customer lost three cars, a row boat, and a golf cart." |
The verb indemnify also means to secure against future loss. The farmers bought insurance to indemnify themselves and their animals against catastrophic loss. The word indemnify comes from the Latin word indemnis, which means "to unhurt." The city wanted to shut down an old local landmark because they were afraid it no longer met modern safety standards, but local citizens wanted it to remain. In a compromise, the owners agreed to indemnify the city against possible loss and the landmark was allowed to remain. |
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| 613 |
ingratiate |
gain favor with somebody by deliberate efforts |
He became kindly and coaxing, leaning across the table with an ingratiating smile. |
by questioning her co-worker's beliefs#by buying her co-worker lunch#by asking her co-worker a question#by telling her co-worker all about herself# |
But the film, which also stars Sally Field, ingratiates itself like a prankster cousin.#Handing an assassin’s knife to her brother is a weird, weird way to ingratiate himself.#Ingratiating language aside, that was the right instinct.#The role of a hectoring sideshow attraction is not the opera’s most ingratiating element, but this production puts a twist on it.# |
To ingratiate is to make obvious efforts to gain someone's favor, in other words — to kiss up to someone. |
Ingratiate has not strayed much from its Latin roots, in gratiam, (in plus gratia meaning "favor") which means "in favor" or "for the favor of." To ingratiate is to gain the favor of someone by doing lots of favors to the point of being a nudge. Like the teacher's pet who answers every question, stays after class to clean the chalkboard, and brings the teacher an apple every day. When you ingratiate yourself to people, you risk annoying them — like a little dog nipping at their heels. |
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| 614 |
declivity |
a downward slope or bend |
In this frightful condition, the hunter grappled with the raging beast, and, struggling for life, they rolled together down a steep declivity. |
vengeance#capture#declination#summit# |
Later, I had screeched to a halt at the lip of a sharp declivity and, unable to find a foothold, simply timberrrrrrrrred into the sagebrush.#But Jack was pointing to the high declivities that led down from the mountain to the flatter part of the island.#Siddhartha wandered along a strange, twisted path of this last and most base declivity through the game of dice.#The dead and wounded tumbled together, lining the bottom of the declivity that would be known thereafter as Bloody Lane.# |
If you're standing at the top of a hill looking down to the bottom, you're staring down a declivity, a downward slope of any kind. |
The word declivity comes from the Latin words de, which means "down," and clivus, which means "slope." If you're at the bottom of the hill looking up, you'll see the opposite of a declivity. From that position you'll be looking at an acclivity, an upward slope. |
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| 615 |
importunate |
making persistent or urgent requests |
The young man was then passionately importunate in the protestations of his love. |
a driver#a performer#a beggar#a monarch# |
He begged his wife for a few nights’ peace but Lourdes’s peals only became more urgent, her glossy black eyes more importunate.#Like the “hate retweet,” a like without context can seem importunate, mocking or outright aggressive.#“I am King Under the Mountain!” he roars, in ‘s majestically importunate voice.#When an importunate caller suggested that there was a need for PayPal for ordinary Internet transactions, the company single-mindedly spurned him.# |
Importunate means annoyingly persistent or relentless, like a cranky child's importunate demands for candy in line at the grocery store checkout. |
Importunate rhymes with unfortunate, and importunate questions, in their irritating persistence, are unfortunate indeed. Importunate restaurant patrons tend to inundate their unfortunate waiter with demands, and one student's importunate questions can keep a teacher busy through an entire class period. You'll see in importunate the Latin root port, which means "harbor." From this came importunus, "troublesome," but also "having no harbor." |
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| 616 |
passe |
out of fashion |
My friend is very keen on the new crowd; everything else he declares is " passe." |
importunate#unstylish#jocular#clairvoyant# |
Disconnecting is passé, which is bad — and good.#Atwood’s original novel passingly references the “resettlement of the Children of Ham”, but black characters are otherwise absent.#The music was disconnected from life, and his materialism sounded passé even for hip-hop.#Democrats, led by presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, declared their jobs passe.# |
Passé describes something that's out of style or "so yesterday!" What your parents think is cool is usually very passé, but sometimes their old stuff is stylish again, like the Lynyrd Skynyrd T-shirt you borrow from your mom. |
From the French passer, "to pass," passé came into English use in the 18th century, and its accented "é" is still used in the 21st century. Pronounced "pass-AY," the adjective passé is a classier way to call something outdated, unfashionable, and so out of touch with trends. Your floppy pop-star haircut may be passé if a crew-cut band becomes all the rage, but even saying "all the rage" is itself probably passé. If it's current and in style, it's not passé. |
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| 617 |
whittle |
cut small bits or pare shavings from |
Tad followed, whittling on a stick with his knife and kicking at the shavings as they fell. |
rock#wood#steel#diamond# |
A national contest brought more than 10,000 designs for a new flag, which were whittled down to 40 by a jury, then to four.#The outcome will whittle the competition to a one-on-one election on Nov. 7.#Lipitz captured more than 400 hours of footage during that school year, eventually whittling it down to the film’s trim 83 minutes.#Inspired by stories of the ocean liners her grandparents once traveled on, she whittles a little wooden boat, the S.S.# |
To whittle is to pare or carve away. Wood carvers whittle pieces of wood, removing bit by bit until what's left is a sailor with a yellow raincoat or a lone wolf howling at the moon. |
Whittle can also mean to reduce an amount or number of items. In this sense, it is commonly paired with the words away or down. A courtroom attorney might "whittle away" at a defendant's alibi until the truth emerges. You might "whittle down" a to-do list or "whittle away" at your student loan debt every month. But only a highly skilled wood carver can whittle a chunk of pine into that old salty dog with a yellow raincoat. |
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| 618 |
repine |
express discontent |
Those poor fellows above, accustomed to the wild freshness and freedom of the sea, how they must mourn and repine! |
a long conversation#an excellent report card#a happy coincidence#a terrible misfortune# |
Far from repining in the sheltered world of the rectory, she was surrounded by sensational, exotic, dramatic life.#We are republishing Patterson’s repine in honor of the holiday.#Yet why repine where so much is left?#Spare no pains, and repine at no difficulty.# |
The verb repine describes expressing gloom or discontent. Brooding, fretful, and sad — these are the traits of people who repine at their circumstances in life. |
Early American poet Anne Bradstreet used repine in her well-known poem, "Upon the Burning of Our House July 10th 1666," describing how the speaker got over the loss: "And when I could no longer look, / I blest His grace that gave and took, / That laid my goods now in the dust. / Yea, so it was, and so 'twas just. / It was his own; it was not mine. / Far be it that I should repine." |
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| 619 |
flay |
strip the skin off |
Once at the moose and hastily flaying the hide from the steaming meat my attention became centered on the task. |
deniable#infinite#novel#grasping# |
But Trump still publicly flayed Bannon, insulting him as a guy “who works for me.”#But Mr. Trump still publicly flayed Mr. Bannon, insulting him as a guy “who works for me.”#At least her death was relatively quick — stabbed, not flayed.#But analysts questioned whether Flay’s celebrity would translate internationally.# |
Nasty word, flay. It means to peel or beat the skin of a person or animal, and not necessarily a dead one, either. Nowadays it more commonly means to criticize harshly someone or something, usually in public, leaving them raw and wounded. |
To be flayed alive was a common punishment in ancient times for political enemies or traitors. The ancient Assyrians and the Chinese were particularly good at it. Today, if you want to have your skin — metaphorically — peeled in public, you go on reality TV. It can be equally nasty. |
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| 620 |
larder |
a small storeroom for storing foods or wines |
Mr. Goncalves’s larder holds staples like beefsteak, salt cod, sardines, olives, artichokes, hot and sweet peppers and plenty of garlic. |
conduit#buttery#frieze#holster# |
Mr. Perrin follows a similar philosophy to that of Mr. Charles: local ingredients and a menu dictated by the larder.#Redzepi’s reputation was forged in Copenhagen, where Noma employed professional foragers to fill the restaurant’s larder.#Tavern will serve its à la carte menu with Larder Baking Company pastries.#Permanent settlement and a predictable larder allowed larger communities to form complex societies.# |
When your mother buys groceries, she puts them in the larder or the pantry. A larder is a room or cabinet where you store food. |
Larder is an old-fashioned word, created back when people used lard — rendered animal fat — to grease pans and cook food. The larder is where they kept their bacon and their lard. Now it's where you keep your potato chips and your cookies. |
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| 621 |
threadbare |
thin and tattered with age |
They were all poor folk, wrapped in threadbare cloaks or tattered leather. |
askance#mutinous#culinary#hackneyed# |
I led her to a threadbare couch, ignoring and ignored by the other patients.#When synthetic turf is laid directly on a floor like a carpet, it quickly becomes threadbare.#If Republicans succeed, their threadbare replacement faces a tough road test.#Young rebel soldiers in frayed T-shirts with AK-47s slung over their shoulders stroll through threadbare market stalls.# |
Those jeans you wear every day that have holes in the knees and thin patches in the rear? They're threadbare. Threadbare means thin from overuse. |
Furniture, clothing or a rug is threadbare if the fabric is thin and worn through. If your father tells the same jokes over and over again, you might accuse him of having a threadbare sense of humor. A friend who chooses to live a threadbare lifestyle doesn't have a lot of things, and what they do have is not in the best of shape. When you see this word, picture your childhood stuffed animal with the fur rubbed thin from too much cuddling. |
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| 622 |
grisly |
shockingly repellent; inspiring horror |
Television video showed a heavily damaged building and a grisly scene inside, with clothing and prayer mats scattered across a blood-splattered floor. |
alarming#untoward#jocular#lank# |
Even by these grisly standards, East St. Louis later that same summer was shocking.#Mr. Fedrid shared the blanket with five other prisoners, probably saving their lives during a grisly winter march.#The mother opened the bathroom door on the grisly scene of her children in the bathtub, prosecutors say.#You say there were no heroes and heroines in this grisly tale.# |
Grisly means disgusting and bloody, absolutely repulsive and horrible. There’s a wonderfully creepy movie about a man who suffers a grisly death at the hands of the grizzly bears he was studying. |
Do you like grisly horror movies? You might think that the reason the word grisly is so creepy, gruesome, and terrifying is somehow related to gristle, those really nasty tough parts you find in meat. But no, this is not the case. Old English grislic, the root of the word, means "horrible, dreadful." If something is gory and gross, it’s grisly. |
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| 623 |
untoward |
not in keeping with accepted standards of what is proper |
Responding to criticism that cash payments are a classic means of tax evasion, he said he had done nothing untoward. |
delightful#uninjured#motivated#indecent# |
The reporters spent two weeks looking into Gonzalez but found nothing untoward.#A Pritzker campaign statement Wednesday said there was “nothing untoward” about the conversations.#McMaster, who told reporters in a news conference Tuesday that Trump didn’t do anything untoward.#“Those were just exchanges and no untoward incident happened,” Lorenzana told reporters, adding that those normally transpire amid the unresolved territorial conflicts.# |
The adjective untoward describes something offensive or inappropriate, like the rumors of untoward behavior that can shatter a Hollywood icon's reputation. |
Untoward also describes things that are not good for you, such as untoward advice from someone your parents always said was a bad influence. Think about what you do when you move toward something: you get closer to it. Suppose you're moving toward a goal. You are, as they say, "on the right path." But when you add the prefix un- you reverse that, and you're no longer on the path to that goal — you're untoward. |
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| 624 |
idiosyncrasy |
a behavioral attribute peculiar to an individual |
One of his well-known idiosyncrasies was that he would never allow himself to be photographed. |
a standardized test#a political movement#a coincidence#an interesting individual# |
The answer lies not only in the game’s potential in America, but also the idiosyncrasies of Stateside soccer.#The result, for all its idiosyncrasy, rings authentic.#But even I was surprised, again and again, by the idiosyncrasies of the Wallowa region.#Each event also is proud of its idiosyncrasies.# |
If a person has an idiosyncrasy, he or she has a little quirk, or a funny behavior, that makes him or her different. If you only say goodbye in French, never in English, that would be an idiosyncrasy. |
Idio seems like it means stupid, but really it is Latin for "one's own," as an idiosyncrasy is one's own particular, usually odd, behavior. Putting salt in your hot chocolate or needing the light on to sleep or tapping your head while you think are all idiosyncrasies. A machine such as a DVD player has an idiosyncrasy if you have to do something weird to it to make it work like having to bang it on the back left-hand side to stop it from skipping. |
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| 625 |
quip |
make jokes or witty remarks |
"I could have joined the FBI in a shorter period of time and with less documentation than it took to get that mortgage," she quipped. |
loss#hope#core#joke# |
“Today a Wall Street Journal reporter compared President Trump to a goldfish, because he forgets what happened 10 seconds ago,” Jimmy Fallon quipped.#Asked when the indispensable Miller will pitch once he’s activated, Francona quipped: “Five minutes after he’s off the disabled list.”#“The White House does need some work,” James Corden quipped.#Mencken once quipped that the happy man is one who earns $100 more than his wife’s sister’s husband.# |
A quip — a short, witty comment — can be pleasant, wise, or sarcastic, but usually carries an element of humor. |
A quip, often taken as a sign of cleverness, is a witty remark that sounds spur-of-the-moment. A successful quip must sound offhand, as though it were an afterthought, even if the speaker has been honing the statement for days. Dorothy Parker was a famous writer known for her quick quips, such as, "The best way to keep children home is to make the home atmosphere pleasant — and let the air out of the tires." |
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| 626 |
blatant |
without any attempt at concealment; completely obvious |
There was no blatant display of wealth, and every article of furniture bore signs of long though careful use. |
insurmountable#conspicuous#untoward#slovenly# |
More important is the blatant disregard for both the Constitution and tradition.#The object of blatant racial profiling, she is cross-examined, condescendingly and relentlessly, by immigration officials who begin with the question, “Do you consider yourself British?”#What the audience, however, completely chooses to ignore is the blatant misogyny and sexism of the character.#If the situation is as blatant as you suggest, this shouldn’t be hard.# |
Something blatant is very obvious and offensive. Don't get caught in a blatant lie, because you won't be able to weasel your way out of it. |
Blatant acts are done without trying to hide them. This adjective is probably from Latin blaterare "to chatter, croak" or Latin blatīre "to chatter, gossip." A near synonym is flagrant. |
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| 627 |
stanch |
stop the flow of a liquid |
She did not attempt to stanch her tears, but sat looking at him with a smiling mouth, while the heavy drops fell down her cheeks. |
exude#substantiate#halt#feint# |
Under pressure by President Trump to stanch unauthorized disclosures of classified information to the media, Atty.#Zac’s nose was gushing blood, and Mr. Baker was trying to stanch the flow with a handful of napkins.#That means it’s time to implement revenue fixes that stanch the bleeding from Alaska’s savings accounts.#Dance said she tried to stanch Sabrina Titus’s wounds with her hands.# |
Use the verb stanch to describe stopping a liquid from spreading. A bandage can stanch bleeding and thick towels can stanch the flow of water across the kitchen floor when you drop a full glass of water. |
The vowel sound in stanch most frequently sounds like on: "stonch." Stanch can also be pronounced to rhyme with branch. Though it's a verb mostly commonly associated with keeping blood from flowing from a wound, the origin is likely the Latin word stagnum, meaning "pond, pool." This word is related to stagnate, describing water that has no movement. |
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| 628 |
incongruity |
the quality of disagreeing |
Hanging out wet clothes and an American flag at the North Pole seemed an amusing incongruity. |
two students working on a group project#two lawyers arguing for opposite sides of a case#two lawyers working at different firms#a waitress and a customer at a restaurant# |
“Manhunt: Unabomber” might seem an incongruity in a schedule anchored with shows like “Naked and Afraid” and “Deadliest Catch.”#It’s the incongruities that perplex and provoke so many of us.#The recent escalation in the Gulf is another source of incongruity.#It’s a movie that not only puts human imperfections and incongruities on display, but also revels in them.# |
Incongruity means out of place — something that doesn't fit in its location or situation. The art show patrons couldn't help but chuckle at the incongruity of a toilet sitting in the middle of an exhibition of Renaissance paintings. |
An incongruity is very different from everything around it, to the point of being inappropriate to the situation. A cat at a dog's birthday party would be an incongruity, as would a pacifist at a meeting of the War Lovers' Society. Incongruity is the idea that something is incongruous, or inappropriate. A purple towel is an incongruity in an all black-and-white bathroom. |
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| 629 |
perfidious |
tending to betray |
The perfidious Italian at length confessed that it was his intention to murder his master, and then rob the house. |
a boxer who gets knocked out in the first round#a student who is the teacher's pet#a baseball player who joins a rival team#a child who clings to his mother# |
“It is especially perfidious that this man played on public fears by acting like a terrorist.”#I’d thought my perfidious memory was the result of chemotherapy, or just of ageing.#The Japanese attack—boldly conceived, assiduously plotted and rehearsed, shamelessly perfidious—torpedoed not only battleships, but American complacency.#And because he believes Clinton uniquely perfidious, this investigation would lead to her prosecution, conviction, and imprisonment.# |
If someone accuses you of being perfidious, you should probably be offended — it means underhanded, treacherous, deceitful — even evil. |
If you betray people often, you're perfidious: traitors are extremely perfidious. Besides betrayal, this word implies lying and maybe other kinds of awful behavior, like stealing and taking bribes. Everyone tries to avoid perfidious people. Perfidious is kind of an old-fashioned word, but being perfidious will never go out of style, unfortunately. |
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| 630 |
platitude |
a trite or obvious remark |
But details are fuzzy and rebel leaders often resort to platitudes when dismissing suggestions of discord, saying simply that "Libya is one tribe." |
profanity#banality#paraphrase#fable# |
Maybe that’s true, but cliché platitudes rarely help.#In lesser hands, such a platitude would likely land with a maudlin thud.#Nescient platitudes like this harken back to another war without strategy — Vietnam.#All platitudes, jingoism and bear traps, it was it was like the document you produce when you think you can’t lose, just before you do.# |
If an executive gives a speech that begins, "This business is all about survival of the fittest. You need to burn the midnight oil and take one for the team," his employees might get sick of listening to these meaningless clichés and tell him to cut the platitudes. |
The English language contains many old, worn-out clichés, or platitudes. Phrases like "ants in your pants" and "as American as apple pie" are so overused that they've almost lost their meaning. People rely on these tired old remarks when they can't think of anything original to say. Be warned: if you throw too many platitudes into your conversations, people are eventually going to get tired of listening to you. |
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| 631 |
revelry |
unrestrained merrymaking |
But all this revelry — dancing, drinks, exuberant youth — can be hard to manage. |
fallacy#festivity#rehearsal#retaliation# |
Sure, Dionysus was the god of revelry and out-of-control parties.#But airstrikes and sniper fire continued amid the revelry, and the extremists stubbornly held small patches of ground west of the Tigris River.#The old man seemed shattered by the noise and revelry.#“None of us touched on that bacchanalia,” Lavrov said, an apparent reference to the Roman festival of drunken revelry.# |
Revelry is a wild, fun time. If you enjoy the revelry of a New Year's Eve party, you might pay for partying hard the next day. |
The noun revelry means merrymaking, but because it comes from the French word reveler meaning to rebel, its tone indicates carousing or noisy partying. It's not your grandparents' tame, sedate cocktail party: revelry is a full-throttle festive gathering, where people outwardly enjoy themselves. In fact, a wild party was once called a "revel," though you don't hear that term used much today. |
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| 632 |
delve |
turn up, loosen, or remove earth |
So she did what any reporter would do: she delved into the scientific literature and talked to investigators. |
dig#glower#attenuate#disburse# |
They are also confined to very short televised segments, so delving into complex climate topics is challenging.#Trump disavowed hate but did not delve into details.#Many of Mr. Peterson’s popular lectures delve into diversity politics and the biological differences between men and women.#On Tuesday, after delving further into the data, she and her co-authors identified “a true and perplexing escalation in disease occurrence.”# |
The verb delve means to dig into, loosen, or investigate. She delved into her family's history and discovered an inventor, a checkers champion, and a circus equestrian in her ancestry. |
Delve has a literal meaning of to dig into the earth ("to delve the soil," as in preparing a garden, for example), but this sense is rare now. The verb is most often used in the more figurative sense — like to delve into a problem or into someone's personal life. |
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| 633 |
extenuate |
lessen or to try to lessen the seriousness or extent of |
Prosecutors often spend time weighing mitigating and extenuating circumstances before deciding to seek the death penalty. |
exacerbate#excavate#impersonate#incinerate# |
Neither organization honored “Silence,” Martin Scorsese’s powerful exploration of faith, but there were extenuating circumstances.#Klinsmann’s supporters will point to a number of extenuating circumstances to argue the coach deserves to stay.#There is no economic analysis that can extenuate bigotry.#“The first order was very clear that it had to be extenuating circumstances,” Hogan said.# |
To extenuate is to make less of something or try to minimize its importance. The fact that you walked your little sister to school because she missed the bus might extenuate your teacher's response when you show up late. |
Extenuate goes back to the Latin verb extenuāre, meaning "to thin" or "make thin." Someone might have a strong case against you for doing something wrong, but an added consideration can make less serious, or extenuate, the circumstances that led to it. If you give an excuse that doesn't really relate to what was done, it won't extenuate the punishment. If something has a real bearing on what went wrong, it will extenuate the response, and you'll get in less trouble. |
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| 634 |
polemic |
a verbal or written attack, especially of a belief or dogma |
Would it be a polemic that denounced Western imperialism for using cinema to undermine emerging nations like Kazakhstan? |
a cheerleader's support for her team#one of the seven continents#a speech against capital punishment#the North Pole# |
Dawkins, the author of anti-religious polemic The God Delusion, called the decision “truly astonishing”, and a “matter of personal sorrow”.#Within Christianity, Pope Francis is a radical moderate trying to create a climate for dialogue instead of diatribe and polite conversation in place of polemics.#Built around a sample of N.W.A’s most incendiary cut, “… tha Police,” “Good Cop Bad Cop” is another polemic against police brutality.#But those people also seemed OK with a film that was not overly polemic. # |
A polemic is something that stirs up controversy by having a negative opinion, usually aimed at a particular group. A piece of writing can be a polemic, as long as it gets someone's goat. |
Polemic comes from the Greek polemikos meaning "warlike, belligerent." It's like challenging someone to a duel of ideas. These days a polemic is usually a piece of writing, such as if the Grinch published a powerful polemic against Christmas. It's like a debate, and philosophers from Nietzsche to Voltaire are known for theirs. The British philosopher John Stuart Mill had this to say about it: "The worst offense that can be committed by a polemic is to stigmatize those who hold a contrary opinion as bad and immoral men." |
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| 635 |
enrapture |
hold spellbound |
I was delighted, enraptured, beside myself--the world had disappeared in an instant. |
slur#instill#incarcerate#ravish# |
Most of all, they were enraptured by the anti-racist potential of a black president.#ABC’s “World News Tonight” was most “ enraptured” by the Russia story, devoting nearly two-thirds of its Trump news to the subject.#ABC’s “World News Tonight” was the most “ enraptured” by the Russia story, devoting nearly two-thirds its Trump news on the subject.#Journalists mostly shrugged at the presentation, but fans were enraptured by it, and snowy confetti fell from the sky.# |
To enrapture someone is cast an irresistible spell over them, to make them feel "rapture." I was enraptured by her gorgeous voice and stunning way of interpreting a song. |
When you see the word "rapture," you know you're dealing with a pleasure so great it borders on the divine. The Rapture is, after all, what believers call the time when Jesus is meant to return and take them all to Heaven. So when someone enraptures another person, they're creating a feeling of wonder, enchantment, and delight that recalls that heavenly feeling. On our first date, I was so enraptured by his charm, humor, and good looks, I knew we would spend our lives together. |
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| 636 |
virtuoso |
someone who is dazzlingly skilled in any field |
Each of the seven instrumentalists was a virtuoso in his own right and had ample opportunity to prove it, often in long, soulful solos. |
thrall#ace#miscreant#bigot# |
She was their virtuoso method actor, mining her life to endow their art with deeper meaning.#I think he chose each of us for very simple reasons, not because we were virtuosos – although we were very good.#The triple-double—attaining double-digit totals in three separate statistical categories in a single game—is basketball’s standard benchmark of virtuoso versatility.#The two are virtuosos in their respective forms, but also in the shared art of listening.# |
A virtuoso is an incredibly talented musician. You can also be a virtuoso in non-musical fields. |
A politician who helps pass a lot of bills might be called a legislative virtuoso. A baseball player who hits a lot of home runs is a slugging virtuoso. Usually, this word applies to music. It's very common for a talented pianist or guitarist to be called a virtuoso. Whatever your talent, it's a huge compliment to be called a virtuoso. |
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| 637 |
glower |
look angry or sullen as if to signal disapproval |
A moment later he would collapse, sit glowering in his chair, looking angrily at the carpet. |
resuscitate#glare#gibe#delve# |
For every pristine Carrie Underwood, in essence, we need the balance of a little more grit and glower.#My cheek stung, and I touched my jaw while she glowered at me.#He tugged his arms free and glowered at Percy.#His glowering demeanor is at odds with his sensitive, vibrant lyric tenor.# |
If you see someone glower at you, you might consider glowering back, but no one likes an angry staring contest. To glower is not only to stare, it's to stare angrily, as if you're going to throttle someone. |
You might already have guessed that glower isn't of Greek or Latin origin, since it doesn't ring any of those bells. Chances are that glower comes from northern Europe, where it's related to some old words that mean to "glow." It was probably in the 18th century that it took on the meaning "stare at angrily or sullenly." You can use its root, glo, to recall its meaning: a person that glowers seems to glow with anger. |
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| 638 |
mundane |
found in the ordinary course of events |
Now, it would seem, that the Chinese are getting back to their everyday concerns, paying attention to events more mundane and less cataclysmic. |
traitorous#worldly#begrimed#forbearing# |
He tends to think the worst even when the mundane hits.#As we discussed at the time, it seemed obvious that Trump wasn’t especially interested in rolling up his sleeves and doing actual, mundane, unglamorous work.#Around it lie mundane bric-a-brac: pens, markers, a notepad, a Rubik's cube.#Patten began the effort last month, offering mundane replies to the always-tweeting commander in chief.# |
An ordinary, unexciting thing can be called mundane: "Superman hid his heroic feats by posing as his mundane alter ego, Clark Kent." |
Mundane, from the Latin word mundus, "world," originally referred to things on earth. Such things were supposed to be uninteresting when compared to the delights of Heaven; hence the word's present meaning. Writing about reality TV shows, a Newsweek writer opined, "In reality bizarro-world, the mundane is presented as the spectacular" — in other words, people's everyday routines are now televised as entertainment. |
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| 639 |
fatuous |
devoid of intelligence |
They're too stupid, for one thing; they go on burning houses and breaking windows in their old fatuous way. |
inane#unilateral#obtrusive#unctuous# |
And the president’s decision to withdraw from the accord is similarly unconscionable and fatuous.#Sometimes a leader says something so fatuous that when his acolytes hail his brilliance, they leave us breathless.#President George W. Bush did not pay for his false statements about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction or his fatuous “mission accomplished” declaration.#You’re right, my questioning was totally fatuous because it gets more complicated because your client moves to Michigan.# |
Fatuous means lacking intelligence. When your mother outlaws calling your brother stupid, use fatuous instead. |
Fatuous derives from the Latin fatuus meaning "foolish." It sounds like it should have something to do with being fat, but it actually has no relation to size. Fatuus itself comes from a root that also gave us "debate" and this might be a good way to remember it. You want to debate someone who's fatuous, because they are unintelligent, silly and even a bit conceited, so they probably won't be very persuasive debaters. Just don't call them fatuous to their face. Even if they don't know what it means, it's just not nice! |
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| 640 |
incorrigible |
impervious to correction by punishment |
She scolded and lectured her sister in vain; Cynthia was incorrigible. |
repeat the behavior for which he was punished#never again commit the behavior for which he was punished#write a letter of apology for his bad behavior#become a positive role model for other children# |
It appears that the incorrigible Archie Bunker was modeled on Lear himself, unable to get along with everyone.#He was an NHS-specs wearing introvert and an incorrigible show-off.#That incorrigible cheerfulness carried her to the very end.#And of course Hitler’s propaganda chief, Joseph Goebbels, was an inveterate and incorrigible liar.# |
Someone incorrigible seems to be beyond correcting, improving, or changing. When you talk about an incorrigible bully, you're saying they're always going to push other people around. |
Even though incorrigible implies a person is kind of hopeless, it's often used as a light-hearted word. When we describe someone as an incorrigible flirt or as an incorrigible gossip, we mean that this is just the way they are, and it would be foolish to try and change them. If someone is just being obnoxious as usual, you could say "You're incorrigible!" |
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| 641 |
postulate |
maintain or assert |
In fact, when Einstein formulated his cosmological vision, based on his theory of gravitation, he postulated that the universe was finite. |
waive#donate#pilfer#posit# |
Reid asks a bold question by postulating a world where privacy no longer seems to exist.#The theory then turns an observed rough correlation in time into a postulated chain of cause and effect.#The second, “democratic transition theory”, postulated a great global momentum towards democracy.#Kant’s key postulate was “the creation of an international community based on commerce and free trade.”# |
Assume something or present it as a fact and you postulate it. Physicists postulate the existence of parallel universes, which is a little mind-blowing. |
Anyone who has suffered through geometry class is familiar with some of the greatest hits, like Euclid's postulate and the point-line-plane postulate. Those are propositions that have to be assumed for other mathematical statements to follow logically. As a verb (pronounced "POST-you-late") it describes the act of presenting an idea, theory, belief, or concept. |
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| 642 |
gist |
the central meaning or theme of a speech or literary work |
The syntax was a little off, even comical at times, but I got the gist of what was going on. |
long distance#nitty-gritty#sequence#turnabout# |
Stoplights do what they’re supposed to do, that was the gist of the explanation.#That’s kind of the gist of your piece.#On The Gist, she rebuts Mike’s assertion that comics are more likely to struggle with depression.#THE FACTS: The headline falsely describes the gist of a National Public Radio story published four years before the 2016 presidential election.# |
When you need a quick summary of the essentials, rather than the whole story or a thorough explanation, you're looking for the gist. |
The word gist has had a variety of meanings in English, but most of them have become obsolete. The surviving sense of the word entered the language by way of the law: The gist of any legal action is the factor on which the action depends — that is, an alleged assault might be the gist of an indictment. The meaning of gist has evolved, though, and now it can be used to describe the core component of any matter, as in, "He watched the trailer, but he still didn't get the gist of the movie." Or, "She was having trouble writing a headline that conveyed the gist of her article." |
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| 643 |
vociferous |
conspicuously and offensively loud |
The complaints grew so loud and vociferous that even President Obama was forced to address the backlash from Lisbon on Saturday. |
aspirant#noisy#mutinous#inviolable# |
Mr. Zuma’s defenders were less vociferous on Tuesday this his critics.#Asked what would finally elicit vociferous objections from Republicans, Flake said the firing of special prosecutor Robert Mueller.#More than six months into his presidency, Donald Trump continues to function as a Rorschach test, even to his most vociferous critics.#His fellow Kentucky Republican, Sen. Rand Paul, was a constant thorn and the most vociferous opponent of McConnell's effort.# |
Vociferous describes loudmouths, such as the vociferous mob at the soccer game. |
Vociferous is from the Latin vociferari meaning "to shout, yell." If you break it down to the first part, take vox meaning "voice" and add it to ferre meaning "to carry," then vociferous describes voices that carry; you can hear a vociferous person from across the room at a dance party. Vociferous isn't just loud, but annoying, too, like when the vociferous fans of the opposing team chant insults in unison. Try yanking a cookie out of a little kid's hand if you want to hear a vociferous reaction. |
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| 644 |
purvey |
supply with provisions |
And we will agree also to purvey food for these horses and people during nine months. |
adulate#provision#subpoena#sabotage# |
Many of his adherents simply dismiss the damaging stories about Trump as “fake news” purveyed by a biased liberal media.#In the summertime, purveys his work at the Livingston Farmers Market.#The president proceeded to circle back to the press time and again during the news conference to complain about “fake news” purveyed by “dishonest” reporters.#Of all golden-age fallacies, none is dafter than that there was a time when politicians purveyed unvarnished truth.# |
Use the verb purvey to describe the activities of businesses that supply things like food, like the bakery that purveys the best bread in the city. |
Purvey, which rhymes with survey, is something that a restaurant or store does: offer us food or supplies that we pay for, like the airport shop that purveys books, magazines and other things that travelers need for their flights. A second meaning refers to spreading an idea — like gossip — usually to a large audience, like when someone purveys embarrassing details about your dating life. Ouch. |
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| 645 |
baleful |
deadly or sinister |
“But he is dead,” put in Fanning, wondering at the baleful expression of hatred that had come into the man’s face. |
transitional#maudlin#ominous#aspirant# |
Ailes is, or was, a malevolent and baleful force in American life, although a magnificent programmer of television.#Are these giant events now just baleful warnings?#As the Macedonians gathered to watch, the shadow spread across the moon’s face, stealing its light and changing its color to a baleful red.#It was shocking: a baleful black chamber the color of new asphalt, or volcanic rock, or Mordor.# |
Baleful means the foreshadowing of tragic or evil events. If no one's listening in class and your teacher reprimands you with a baleful glance, expect a pop quiz. |
If your car breaks down and you take refuge in a deserted mansion, you might huddle under a dusty blanket and find yourself thinking that the wind moaning at the windows sounds baleful — maybe it's really the voice of a young woman murdered in the very bed where you sleep? |
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| 646 |
gibe |
laugh at with contempt and derision |
So much did their taunts prey upon him that he ran away from school to escape their gibes. |
jeer#scurry#glower#disembark# |
The words jibe, gibe, and jive are all verbs meaning to “kid” or “heckle.” lay/lie.#O’Reilly later apologized on his program about the gibe comparing the congresswoman’s hair to the soul singer’s.#Mr. Ryan said in a gibe at Ms. Tavenner that drew laughter from his audience at the Library of Congress.#Four years later, Mr. Bloomberg said, he is still met at speaking engagements with Big Gulp cups, a gibe at his failed soda regulation effort.# |
"Loser! Bonehead!" the kids shouted, tossing those words and other gibes at the people who offered themselves up to the annual humiliation of the harvest-fest dunk-tank. A gibe is an insulting comment. To gibe is to insult. |
Gibe can be a noun or a verb, but it’s usually a noun meaning an insult, a dis, something to be hurled at enemies, bad drivers, or ex-boyfriends. Gibe is sometimes spelled jibe, but that word has a different meaning and is usually a verb. Keep the g in gibe when referring to the mean words you utter at people who have done you wrong. |
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| 647 |
dyspeptic |
irritable as if suffering from indigestion |
One may begin with heroic renunciations and end in undignified envy and dyspeptic comments outside the door one has slammed on one's self. |
he is pessimistic#he reads with great difficulty#he belches frequently#he lies compulsively# |
These days, Penn Station is prone to leaving most travelers feeling dyspeptic.#And it brought together dewy-eyed adolescents, not dyspeptic acolytes of the Heritage Foundation.#In his most recent try, the Masters, Reed submitted dyspeptic digits of 76-77 to miss his fourth major cut and second in his last four.#On this splendidly dyspeptic song, Mr. Callinan, an Australian musician with a penchant for creative provocation, splits the difference between industrial clangor and disco slither.# |
Dyspeptic is an old-fashioned word not often used anymore. It describes someone who is irritable due to depression or indigestion. |
Nowadays we separate people who are depressed from people who are cranky because of indigestion, but dyspeptic rolls both these conditions into one ball of fun. A common dyspeptic type would be an old man shouting "Get off my lawn!" to kids playing on the street. |
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| 648 |
prude |
a person excessively concerned about propriety and decorum |
Criticising high-profile programmes about teenage sex education often means risking being written off as a prude. |
a student who tries to cheat on a final exam#a chef who likes to experiment with exotic recipes#a woman who exercises daily to improve her health#a man who covers his ears every time someone swears# |
Ms. Merkerson, a hilarious prude at the start, blossoms beautifully, and the joy she gets in lifting a fancy wristwatch off a date is delicious.#Robins writes that “Radcliffe turned her into a prude,” not into an intellectual.#One issue was that he was raised as a bit of a prude and was always dead silent during the act.#Eventually she wrote just one line back to me: ‘Apparently you are more of a prude than I am’.”# |
Use prude to describe someone who is too concerned with being proper or modest. It is a derogatory label affixed most often to girls or women who are not forthcoming romantically––it's not very nice. |
Prude was borrowed from French, short for prude femme "wise and good woman," from Old French prud "wise, good" plus femme "woman." Though the word prude took on a disapproving or negative meaning, Old French prud also meant "capable, brave," and is probably the source of English proud. |
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| 649 |
luminary |
a celebrity who is an inspiration to others |
Founded in 1947, the group's members have included such luminaries as Walt Disney, Spencer Tracy and another American president, Ronald Reagan. |
miner#carrier#notable#minister# |
And with Glen Campbell’s passing, the musical and vocal talents of three luminaries are lost.#Several Broadway luminaries sent recordings after Ms. Martzinek sent word about Ms. Cook’s health.#Art world luminaries are fawning over the images, sharing their thoughts in the comments underneath each post.#Among the luminaries at the ballpark on Friday, Rosario was way down in the pecking order.# |
In scientific writing, Stephen J. Hawking is a luminary. People look up to this well-known scientist and author for his knowledge and insight. |
Although luminary can mean an object or celestial body that gives off light, you'll often hear people talk about parties at which there were many luminaries in attendance. In this case, luminary means celebrity or well-known person in sports or politics, science or the arts. Think of them as being bright lights that make a party sparkle. |
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| 650 |
amenable |
disposed or willing to comply |
He, Jean Boulot, being so amenable to sensible argument, would at once fall in with his views. |
redoubtable#conformable#ostentatious#canine# |
I actively resisted plenty of material that might otherwise be amenable to me politically.#It was intended to provide two nuclear reactors to North Korea of a type less amenable to the diversion of nuclear materials for bomb-making.#If the league were amenable, this idea might well work.#Many of those problems would be amenable to policy or legislative fixes.# |
If your friends want to try sky diving and you're amenable to the idea, sounds like you're going to be jumping out of a plane. If a person or thing is amenable to something, they are ready, willing, or responsive. |
Note that amenable is often followed by the preposition to, which makes amenable mean "able to be controlled or affected by something," as in "They are usually amenable to our wishes;" or "Her heart condition is not amenable to treatment." An amenable personality is open to influence or control and is willing to agree or yield. |
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| 651 |
willful |
habitually disposed to disobedience and opposition |
I crossed my arms like a willful child. |
a sportscaster intently following a sports game#a child who refuses to move after being asked to move#a mother saddened by seeing her son leave for college#an elderly man engaged in estate planning# |
He was convicted in July of first-degree kidnapping and willful injury.#Fraudulent failure to file — meaning an overt act of evasion — may elevate willful failure to a felony .#Fascists, by contrast, renounced the Enlightenment and offered willful fictions as the basis for a new form of politics.#Morin was being arraigned Wednesday on charges of driving after suspension, breach of bail and resisting arrest, in addition to drug and willful concealment charges.# |
Willful means "deliberate" or "stubborn." A child who exhibits willful disobedience knows she is doing something wrong (even if she tries to convince you otherwise). |
While being full of will, or determination, doesn’t necessarily seem like a bad thing, the word willful is negative in meaning. Use it when someone is behaving in a stubborn or uncooperative manner. To describe someone who possesses dedication or perseverance in a positive sense, consider determined, driven, or decisive — and that’s just the d's! |
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| 652 |
overbearing |
having or showing arrogant superiority to |
"True; but——" "Just so," interrupted Mr. Fauntleroy, in his decisive and rather overbearing manner. |
negligible#unreliable#haughty#heinous# |
Ms. Walls didn’t spare the reader from her father’s drinking, his overbearing nature and refusal to relinquish control as his children grew into adulthood.#But overbearing security and a building sense of pressure did not seem to ruffle the mood.#They are supposed to be strong but not overbearing; professional, but nurturing.#Alternately crass and treacly, overbearing and under-finessed, the film, penned by headhunter-turned-screenwriter Bill Dubuque and directed by Mark Williams, is on life support from get-go.# |
Overbearing means domineering. You might find it difficult to play the piano as your overbearing instructor criticizes every key you touch. |
The adjective overbearing typically describes a person who is haughty and dictatorial. Someone considered to be overbearing or arrogant would unlikely also be called “kind” or “modest,” which are antonyms of overbearing. Overbearing also means “repressing” or “overwhelming.” Thomas Jefferson uses this definition in his decree, “If the freedom of religion, guaranteed to us by law in theory, can ever rise in practice under the overbearing inquisition of public opinion, then and only then will truth, prevail over fanaticism.” |
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| 653 |
dais |
a platform raised above the surrounding level |
The throne was elevated on a dais of silver steps. |
a lecture hall#a corporate office#a dressing room#a living room# |
My blood falls to the dais in a rapid drip.#Find yourself on the dais at the festival of all things fantasy, and the potential box office multiplies exponentially.#Find yourself on the elevated dais and the commercial potential of your project multiplies exponentially.#About a hundred yards away, he spotted a raised dais with two empty oversized praetor chairs.# |
A speaker stands on a dais, or a platform, when giving a presentation. If you were speaking at the Coffee Lovers of America's conference, you'd step onto the dais so the audience could see you over their enormous cups o' joe. |
Dais comes to us from the Old French word deis, which was originally pronounced with only one syllable — more like days than the current day-us. If you take a course in a lecture hall, your professor will need to stand on the dais so everyone can see her better. |
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| 654 |
automate |
operate or make run by machines rather than human action |
And because leap seconds are needed irregularly their insertion cannot be automated, which means that fallible humans must insert them by hand. |
necessitate#mechanize#scrutinize#demonstrate# |
But Trump reiterated his support for Strange in an automated phone call to voters on Monday.#Among her most famous is an automated arm meant to whip up breakfast, but instead just knocks over the milk and cereal.#And for what, a few jobs in a rapidly automating industry?#The number of highly automated cars as a share of everything on the road will grow over time, but only relatively slowly.# |
When you design a machine to complete a process once done by a human, you automate the process. Standardized tests once had to be graded by hand, now they're automated, i.e. done by computers. |
If you automate a factory, workers might lose jobs to robots and machines. A century ago, if you did laundry, you had to turn the clothes in the drum by hand. It was really hard work, so hard that in many families one day was set aside as laundry day and everyone had to help. In 1937, the first electric, or automated, washer was sold, with a motor that turned the drum. Since then, the job has become much easier, though most of us still find it a chore. |
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| 655 |
enervate |
weaken mentally or morally |
The reviewers have enervated men’s minds, and made them indolent; few think for themselves. |
eradicate#weaken#pierce#absorb# |
Liberals complain about being enervated, unable to concentrate.#An enervated marriage and a strained father-daughter relationship are observed from three perspectives.#“You are shaken and insecure, and simultaneously enervated.”#But, as the activism increased, the classroom discussions occasionally seemed enervated, the participants vaguely distracted.# |
To enervate is to weaken, wear down, or even bum out. A three-hour lecture on the history of socks might thrill someone, it would enervate most people. So would a too-long soak in a hot tub. With your parents. |
Trace enervate back far enough and you'll discover that it comes from the Latin enervare which means basically “to cut the sinew” or “to cause to be cut from the muscle.” That would certainly weaken someone. These days, there’s no need for violence. To enervate someone is to sap their energy, like by reading your ex all the love letters your new sweetheart wrote you. When something enervates you, it does more than get on your nerves; it brings you down. |
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| 656 |
wheedle |
influence or urge by gentle urging, caressing, or flattering |
On one level, I expected incessant flattery in attempts to wheedle equipment or even money from American forces. |
galvanize#bluff#coax#bludgeon# |
The statuette was included in the 1881 exhibition of the Impressionists — a group that Gauguin wheedled his way into as a collector.#THE young woman with the microphone cajoles, hectors and wheedles customers with the breathless enthusiasm of a livestock auctioneer at a county fair.#Jordan begged and wheedled and cajoled to get his grandmother to part with the recipe.#As Raymond’s family nags and wheedles and bickers, his desire to escape the lot of them is the most urgent and understandable emotion onscreen.# |
To wheedle is to sweet talk, or flatter someone in the hopes of getting something in return. You might try to wheedle a meter maid into not giving you a parking ticket. Good luck with that. |
If you want your parents to do something for you that they don’t want to do, you may have to wheedle them with breakfast in bed and a shower of compliments in order to get what you want. To wheedle someone is to “charm” that person, though it’s a little more on the “suck up to” side than it is charming. The teacher’s pet might try to wheedle her way into a better grade. |
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| 657 |
gusto |
vigorous and enthusiastic enjoyment |
The audience, surprisingly large given the inclement weather, responded with gusto, applauding each song, including those within the Shostakovich cycle. |
singing#whining#reading#panting# |
When we talk on the phone, she conveys a mix of Miss-World-contestant bubbliness and Thatcherite gusto.#A book that sits unread on a bookshelf is a thing; a book you plunge into with gusto, savoring every plot twist, is an experience.#Voters cheered Trump’s exaggerated promises with typical gusto.#Prime Minister Theresa May adopted their agenda with gusto.# |
You can do many things with gusto, or hearty enthusiasm, whether it's eating a steak, playing table tennis, or cheering on your favorite team. Some people live their whole lives with gusto. |
Since the seventeenth century gusto has been helping English speakers describe things that are done with vigor and enthusiasm. Gusto is Italian for “taste,” and its Italian origins are evident both in its spelling, with its “o” ending, and its sense of “a taste for life." Use this word to describe vigorous activities — you probably wouldn’t "take a nap with gusto," even if you really enjoy napping. You're more likely to score goals and dance the Macarena with gusto. |
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| 658 |
bouillon |
a clear seasoned broth |
The meat soups are called broths, bouillon, or consommé, according to their richness. |
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Crush enough of the bouillon cube to yield ½ teaspoon, then add it to the bowl, along with the sugar and salt, whisking to incorporate.#Pour over the broth and add one cube of bouillon for a stronger flavor.#Next, heat your broth and add the mushroom bouillon, basil, chilis, lemongrass, turmeric and ginger.#I now add fat-free flavored bouillon to vegetables cooking in water.# |
Bouillon is a clear broth made by simmering meat, fish, or vegetables in water with herbs. A nice cup of bouillon will make you feel better if you have a cold or a stomachache. |
Bouillon comes from a 17th-century French word that means "liquid in which something has been boiled." It is a common base for soups and stocks. Real cooks may turn up their noses, but if you don't have time to make your own, you can always use bouillon cubes when making soups and sauces. Don't confuse this word with bullion, a term for gold or silver in the form of bars or ingots. |
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| 659 |
omniscient |
infinitely wise |
Robbe-Grillet responds that his work is in fact far less objective than the godlike, omniscient narrator who presides over so many traditional novels. |
a toddler#a large city#a deity#a four-course dinner# |
So, should we leave it Google’s “ omniscient algorithm” or IBM’s cognitive computer, called Watson, to decide about what is to be done?#In the absence of narrative tension, then, we are left with this thresh of rival perspectives, all generously delivered in the same third-person omniscient.#The countless complex interactions necessary to produce a single maple, he discovered, need involve nothing intelligent, omniscient or all-seeing.#When Mr. Ahmad questioned why the people he and his colleagues cited were missing from the list, Mr. Press replied, “The government is not omniscient.”# |
To be omniscient is to know everything. This often refers to a special power of God. |
If you combine the Latin roots omnis (meaning "all") and scientia (meaning "knowledge"), you'll get omniscient, meaning "knowledge of all." It would be nice to be omniscient: then you would know absolutely everything in the world. Many religions have a god who is all-powerful and omniscient. This is how a god is supposed to know when you sinned, or what's going to happen in the future. |
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| 660 |
apostate |
not faithful to religion or party or cause |
They are atheist conservatives — Mr. Khan an apostate to his family’s Islamic faith, Ms. Mac Donald to her left-wing education. |
unfaithful#reliant#traceable#ephemeral# |
The group said it killed 68 " apostates" and captured one soldier.#The Sunni militant group considers Shiite Muslims as apostates.#Sunni extremists view Shiites as apostates deserving of death.#The Druze follow an offshoot of Shiite Islam and are seen by some Sunni militant factions as apostates.# |
An apostate is someone who has deserted his cause. |
The word apostate originally comes from a Greek word that meant "runaway slave." Now, apostate has a religious or political tone to it, so someone might call you "a political apostate" if you ran for office as a Republican during one election and then ran as a Democrat in the following election. |
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| 661 |
carrion |
the dead and rotting body of an animal; unfit for human food |
Habitually his diet is not carnivorous, but he will eat at times either carrion or living flesh. |
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“J’ouvert centers around an organized event; it would be like showing up at a parade before it starts,” Mr. Carrión said.#Sometimes, that means scavenging carrion; on rare occasion, it means eating small mammals.#Board chairman Jose Carrion said he respected Bishop’s perspective but that he believes the process is working.#Ted Jefferson, also on the board, was chairman of Mr. Carrión’s transition team when he assumed the borough presidency in 2001.# |
The noun carrion refers to the dead and rotting flesh of an animal. Ever seen a dead opossum or cat in the road? You can call that road kill carrion. |
The word carrion comes from a Latin word caro, which means "meat," but carrion is usually considered unfit for human consumption. Birds of prey and other opportunistic animals will often have carrion as part of their diet, however. Sometimes the word carrion is used a little more metaphorically: "The soldiers were unable to retrieve the bodies of their fallen brothers, so they were left on the field of battle like so much carrion." |
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| 662 |
emolument |
compensation received by virtue of holding an office |
As the TUC has pointed out, those incomes – except for senior executives, whose emoluments seem to know few bounds – are rising more slowly than prices. |
a paycheck#an antibiotic ointment#a poetic ode#a legal defense# |
Though ingenious, this approach is both unlikely to find favor with state courts and, at least as to the emoluments question, is ultimately rather pointless.#During the Virginia ratifying convention, Randolph was even more explicit about the problem of “the president receiving emoluments from foreign powers.”#But Trump hasn’t filed a tax return for 2017, the year he became president and the emoluments clause began to apply to him.#The very first emoluments suit is beginning to provide an answer to those questions.# |
Not many workers think of their paychecks as emoluments, but they certainly could. Emolument is another word for the money you receive for working. |
Pronounce emolument with a long e sound in the first syllable and the accent on the second: "e MALL you ment." Emolument traces back to the Latin word emolumentum, meaning "profit, gain," which is believed to have referred to payments made to millers for grinding corn — emolere means "grind out." Today, perhaps coincidentally, people refer to work as "the grind." |
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| 663 |
ungainly |
lacking grace in movement or posture |
Thomas looked up furtively and saw that an ungainly human figure with crooked legs was being led into the church. |
translucent#septic#utilitarian#clumsy# |
The 12th was Hunter Pence, an ungainly but effective player for much of his career, a three-time All-Star mired in his worst season ever.#In late April, Pioneering Spirit lifted the ungainly structure off the legs and carried it off like a spider grasping prey.#Matty tucked him inside his jacket, curling the ungainly legs and feet, and the puppy nestled there against his chest.#It’s frustration guaranteed, especially after the belt clip on your Walkman breaks off and you’re forced to carry the ungainly device in your hand.# |
Ungainly is the opposite of graceful, convenient, or easy. A clumsy dancer boogies in an ungainly or awkward fashion. |
Though you see gain in ungainly, the word does not have to do with growing, or getting ahead. Ungainly comes from an Old Norse word meaning not convenient or, in other words, awkward. If you want to impress your gym teacher or sports coach, first appear ungainly and then surprise him with your great athletic ability. Applying to college can be an ungainly process without an advisor to help. |
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| 664 |
impiety |
unrighteousness by virtue of lacking respect for a god |
That, however, is unbelief, extreme impiety, and a denial of the most high God. |
plagiarizing an essay#dressing outlandishly#burning a Bible#stealing a candy bar# |
Whenever panic about my hidden impieties set in, which was rather often, I told myself: It’s just a small community in a big Manhattan.#Anaxagoras, Protagoras, and of course Socrates were hauled up on charges of heresy and impiety.#For her presumed impiety, Ann Moore was said to have sinned against Christianity.#There were cries, like those voiced about Anaxagoras and Bruno and Galileo, that he be condemned for impiety.# |
Impiety is a disrespect for the sacred. For example, visitors are advised not to wear shorts or tank tops when touring certain churches and cathedrals in Europe, because doing so is viewed as impiety by those who worship there. |
English offers many options to describe disrespect. Impudence, insolence, sass, and irreverence are a few choices. Impiety sets itself apart from these in that it describes a lack of respect for a deity, like a god or God, or for worship itself. Piety is devotion or reverence, so impiety is a lack of devotion or reverence — such as making fun of other people's religious beliefs. |
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| 665 |
decadence |
the state of being degenerate in mental or moral qualities |
But there are people who really do not want to import what they regard as Western decadence, especially public drunkenness. |
insecurity#defection#unification#degeneracy# |
The state TV station also said some partygoers published video from the event on social networks to “encourage decadence.”#So we’re right back to the version of Twin Peaks where the town’s kids are doomed to decadence and decline.#In Iran, Islamic clerics view canines as unclean and symbolic of Western decadence.#One of Goya’s main themes was social injustice, with satirical scenes of aristocratic decadence contrasting with drawings of famine and hardship in the countryside.# |
Whether in reference to chocolate cake for breakfast or wild all-night parties, decadence means extravagance, luxury, and self-indulgence with a sense of moral decline. |
The Latin root of decadence means "to fall down," and this may help you understand the full sense of the word. Decadence is not simply a synonym for excess; it also suggests that one's morals have gone down. The word is usually negative but not always. When hostile critics called a group of French writers and artists in the late 1800s decadents, these poets and painters embraced the label. When a pastry chef calls her creation Chocolate Decadence, she is promoting a mildly guilty pleasure, not announcing the end of Western civilization. |
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| 666 |
homily |
a sermon on a moral or religious topic |
In his New Year's homily, the pope said "words were not enough" to bring about peace, particularly in the Middle East. |
violation#preachment#breach#insubordination# |
But there are too many lumpy homilies in “The Locals,” sections that read like monologues from lesser Arthur Miller plays.#The early worship will be Holy Eucharist with a homily.#For all his decency, and his homilies about winning not being all that important, Wooden most certainly wanted to win.#Our priest, a straight-backed, snow-haired man, is delivering a homily on the attributes of the thunder god.# |
A homily is a sermon or religious speech offering encouragement or moral correction. Isn’t it strange how sometimes, when you're struggling with something, a preacher comes on TV giving a homily on that same problem?! Too bad it happens when you do bad stuff, too. |
In many churches and lecture halls, a homily is just a short message on a religious topic or moral issue that's meant to encourage those who hear it. Another type of homily, though, is one that's judgmental or condemning. If you hear a homily and feel better afterward, even if it delivers hard truths about right and wrong, you've heard an uplifting homily. One that leaves you mad and frustrated, however, might make you need another homily on forgiveness and self-control. |
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| 667 |
avocation |
an auxiliary activity |
Unlike many retired doctors, whom he says often have no life outside their profession, he always knew sailing would become his avocation. |
mischance#pursuit#homily#demolition# |
His avocations included collecting and researching Confederate firearms.#He once combined his vocation and avocation by teaching a course on navigation by the stars.#“During all this time engraving was my true avocation, my artistic interest,” he said.#It is also a year-round avocation for him.# |
An avocation is an activity that you pursue when you're not at work — a hobby. Pretty much anything can be an avocation: tennis, sudoku, writing poetry. If you're the journalist Clark Kent, your avocation is changing into a skintight red and blue jumpsuit and fighting crime. |
A vocation is the work you do because you have to; an avocation is what you do for pleasure, not pay. The ancient Latin root is a vocare a calling away from one's work, or a distraction. Today we use the word more to refer to a serious hobby. If you like knitting beautiful sweaters, then you, my friend, have an avocation — as long as you're not making your living from it. |
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| 668 |
circumvent |
avoid or try to avoid fulfilling, answering, or performing |
Mr. Bloomberg said he would take several steps to circumvent obstacles to his proposals posed by city labor unions. |
expatiate#evade#concentrate#revolutionize# |
The lawsuit similarly accuses city officials of circumventing state environmental laws.#The request, filed to a lower court in an apparent attempt to circumvent the government-stacked Supreme Court, was dismissed Friday on procedural grounds.#Thursday’s request was filed to a lower court, apparently to try to circumvent the government-stacked supreme court.#The request, filed to a lower court in an apparent attempt to circumvent the government-stacked Supreme Court, was almost certain to be denied.# |
To circumvent is to avoid. Someone who trains elephants but somehow gets out of picking up after them has found a way to circumvent the cleaning of the circus tent. |
Circum in Latin means "around" or "round about," and vent- comes from venire, "to come," but painting a picture from these two parts of the word helps. Picture someone circling around a barrier instead of climbing over it. That's what you do when you circumvent. You find a smart way around rules or barriers, or avoid doing something unpleasant altogether. |
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| 669 |
syllogism |
reasoning in which a conclusion is derived from two premises |
The conclusions arrived at by means of syllogisms are irresistible, provided the form be correct and the premises be true. |
She sells seashells by the seashore.#Her eyes are as beautiful as sapphires.#The sun rises in the east. The sun sets in the west.#All dogs have fur. Rex is a dog. Therefore, Rex has fur.# |
The syllogism is a way of combining two premises and drawing a fresh conclusion that follows logically from them.#But the Times is not obliged to make front-page climate propaganda out of a false syllogism.#Watching him complete the syllogism in his head, and watching Juan’s reaction, is heartbreaking.#Complex because intelligence rarely tosses a tight syllogism at a policymaker, a series of incontrovertible “statements” followed by some inevitable “therefore.”# |
A syllogism is a type of logical reasoning where the conclusion is gotten from two linked premises. Here’s an example: An apple is a fruit. All fruit is good. Therefore apples are good. |
Used properly, syllogism can be a good way of reasoning, but it’s very easy to make sloppy syllogisms by messing up the middle term that links the premises together, as in: "President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was an Aquarius. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was great. Therefore all Aquariuses are great." Because so many are made poorly, the syllogism has a bad reputation. Poor, misleading, or tricky reasoning is often called “mere syllogism.” |
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| 670 |
collation |
assembling in proper numerical or logical sequence |
In the case of early printed books or manuscripts, which are often not paged, special knowledge is needed for their collation. |
generalization#alteration#organization#segregation# |
Very few curricula acknowledge that some European scientific “discoveries” were in fact collations of borrowed indigenous knowledge.#Mr Gabriel represents the Social Democrats, the junior party in the ruling collation.#However, the regional and national collation of vote tallies are done electronically.#A chief superintendent was appointed to "organise the collection and collation of evidence".# |
A collation is the collection and ordering of materials, usually paper. It can be tedious and repetitive work, so most people are more than happy to let a copy machine do the job for them. |
Collation actually has two separate and very different meanings. After you finish the collation of all those document pages, you might grab a quick collation. (That is, you deserve a light snack after all that organizing.) That's right, a collation is also a light meal, usually cold, and often set out for people to take at their leisure. It sometimes refers to a small meal eaten on fasting days. |
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| 671 |
haggle |
wrangle, as over a price or terms of an agreement |
Obama said while officials can haggle over the makeup of spending cuts, the policy issues have no place in the measure. |
a haunted house#a soccer game#an outdoor market#atop a horse# |
For some, the uncertainty will remain until the final moment before the deadline, as teams haggle over potential deals.#Trump understands these voters, even if he doesn’t understand just how difficult the initial North American Free Trade Agreement was to haggle.#There, Uighur, Kazakh, Kyrgyz and Tajik herders haggled over horses, donkeys, sheep and camels.#Between those realities, economists, activists and politicians haggle endlessly.# |
If you want a great deal on a used TV, then you can try to haggle with the sellers to see if they’ll bring the price down. To haggle is to negotiate or argue over something, usually a price. |
You can haggle at a flea market or anywhere where the price of items is flexible. But haggle doesn’t always refer to price. You can haggle over a job, a contract, or who gets to ride in the front seat. Haggling is relatively aggressive behavior, and this word is closer in meaning to wrangle than it is to negotiate. You’ll rarely hear of anyone haggling quietly. Haggle implies an argument in which both parties want the best deal for themselves. |
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| 672 |
waylay |
wait in hiding to attack |
Sir Samuel Clithering was not, of course, a member of it; but he lurked about outside and waylaid us as we went in. |
call down#lie in wait#dress down#chew up# |
“Told her that Cook sent us to get crowleaf from the storage room by the barracks and that Marcus waylaid us on the way back.”#But the plans were waylaid when shells, bones of fish and birds, and cultural materials were unearthed.#So then I waylaid shoppers as they left the store to gauge their reactions.#The wildness mirrored his extended bout with “the yips” last summer, a struggle that waylaid him as he returned from Tommy John surgery.# |
When you waylay someone, you stop them from doing what they were going to do, either by using violence or some other tactic. |
To waylay, or to be waylaid, is usually not a good thing: Mom would not be proud. Robbers waylay their victims. Outlaws waylaid stagecoaches in the Old West. The verb's origin, from wegelage, means "lying in wait, with evil or hostile intent." You might also use waylay to show someone being interrupted from finishing the task at hand: "I should’ve been studying, but was waylaid by my friend's invitation to go bungee jumping." |
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| 673 |
savant |
a learned person |
Frank had studied something of almost everything and imagined himself a savant. |
intellectual#assistant#revolutionary#companion# |
Murphy is a hitting savant, an obsessive who grumbled during the Home Run Derby when the contestants hit grounders.#Hoffman's character in the 1988 film is an autistic savant with exceptional mental abilities but difficulty relating to other people.#But up on Capitol Hill, the fashion savants in the House still deem sleeveless dresses, sneakers and open-toe shoes verboten.#She is at once naïf, savant, aggressor, aggrieved — and equally compelling in all guises.# |
You know that girl in your school with a GPA over 100? She is a savant in the making. A savant is someone over-the-top smart, a scholar. It might take a savant only five minutes to do an entire math test. |
Savant is the French word for "learned" and it goes back to the Latin word "to be wise", sapere. There are savants who are wise and learned, and then there are idiot savants, who are brilliant in very specific areas, but not in others, like an idiot savant who knows absolutely everything about the American Civil War but has no ability with learning a foreign language. |
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| 674 |
cohort |
a group of people having approximately the same age |
The current cohort of college students is, as many have pointed out, the first truly digital generation. |
a new television show that has very low ratings#a buffet offering a variety of main dishes and desserts#a group of students graduating college at the same time#a classical pianist who is famous around the world# |
They relied mostly on their cohorts for treatment until emergency personnel arrived.#That’ll teach the national security adviser to cross Trump’s Kremlin cohort.#Literally, Mr. Obama and his leftist cohorts would not allow animals to be treated in this manner.#Last fall’s entering class was the most polarized cohort in the 51-year history of the freshman survey by the Higher Education Research Institute.# |
A cohort is a group of people who are around the same age, like a cohort of college students who have similar experiences and concerns. |
The word cohort was originally used to describe a military unit in ancient Rome. You can see how this retains traces of the word’s origins: cohorts are bound together by similar circumstances just like a group of soldiers in a military unit. Some language purists insist that the word only describe a group, such as a cohort of accountants, but it can also refer to companions or supporters, such as “Susie and her cohorts.” |
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| 675 |
unction |
excessive but superficial compliments with affected charm |
"You couldn't ask too much of me," he returned, with no unction of flattery, but the cheerfully frank expression of an ingenuous heart. |
cantata#allocation#flight#acrobat# |
“Did you call a priest to give him extreme unction?” he asked.#"Extreme Unction also went on a UK-wide tour, allowing Cambridge to share the painting with the nation at large," he said.#Accepting it, he joked: "I knew that being made a Saoi... is extreme unction; it is a final anointment - Aosdana's last rites."#I know it’s Extreme Unction and that means I’m going to die and I don’t care.They wake me again to receive Communion.# |
Unction is a specially-prepared substance meant to bless or heal — the use of special oils in a religious ceremony or the medicine you might put on your chest if you are congested. |
Unction refers to a religious leader placing special oils, usually on the forehead, of people during a ceremony of healing or blessing. Another meaning of unction describes people who are very pleased with their own good works, maybe even bragging about all the people they help at the homeless shelter or soup kitchen. This kind of unction is also called oily, almost like these smug people are oozing self-centeredness. |
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| 676 |
adjure |
command solemnly |
“I adjure thee,” she said, “swear to me that you will never go near those Christians again or read their books.” |
enervate#condescend#bequeath#press# |
Then another surprise: He adjured the name “Pius XIII” in favor of his father’s, John.#On the conclusion of his discourse he adjured them: “Repent, then, all ye who have been contaminated.#Jeremiah, I adjure you, Leave me not again.#She had hoped to band all women together to adjure tyrannic man.# |
The verb adjure is a heavy-duty synonym of the word "ask," with more of a demanding tone. For example, you might have to adjure someone to tell the truth. |
You get a strong sense of the word adjure when you realize that the jure part is similar to "jury." Both come from the Latin jūrāre "swear," which in turn comes from jūs, jūr- "law" (as in justice and jurist). In 14th-century Middle English, the word suggested someone affirming something by swearing with an oath. So adjure means to command solemnly, as in "She adjured him to present the events precisely as he witnessed them." |
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| 677 |
acrimony |
a rough and bitter manner |
Relations with India have been slowly improving, although talks ended in acrimony last July with the two sides indulging in a public spat over Kashmir. |
timidity#change#marriage#rancor# |
There doesn’t appear to be any acrimony about Wilson or his impending return for the Aug. 31 season opener.#Ruppel says “there’s been a lot of acrimony” over how much methane from hydrates would interact with the air.#The spoils of even a tenuous recovery remain the subject of bitter acrimony.#The decision sparked bellowing acrimony that required the county sheriff to step in to restore calm.# |
Acrimony is bitterness, or ill will. Acrimony is a spiteful word. It sounds bitter, like acid. |
Acrimony comes from the Latin word acrimonia, meaning basically "sharpness." Although it sounds like matrimony, the only thing the words have in common is the suffix from monium which means "state, condition." So it's the state of being acrid, or bitter. It's not just for married folks, though — this slightly dusty noun can refer to any sharp, bitter feeling. After a drawn-out court case, there might be lingering acrimony stirred up during the trial. Not surprisingly, it's also the name of a British heavy metal band from the '90s. |
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| 678 |
clarion |
loud and clear |
“He has been the single, clarion voice for commuter rail in central Florida for 20 years,” said Mayor Ken Bradley of Winter Park. |
dispirited#loud#autocratic#turbid# |
The incident followed an argument with Burton at the Clarion Inn motel near Murfreesboro, according to court documents.#Evans says officers responded to a report of Prichard and her husband arguing at a Clarion Inn motel a few hours after they were married.#Salon spoke to Tamarkin about the film, a harrowing clarion call if there ever was one, and the grim state we’re in.#When our state and our country need clarion leadership, our governor remains silent.# |
If you hear the clarion call of the stage, it means you want to be an actor. Clarion means loud and clear, and a clarion call is a call to something that is hard to ignore. |
A clarion is a medieval horn with a clear sound. Hard to ignore, but also pure and clear in tone. There's nothing shrill about a "clarion call." Martin Luther King Jr.'s clarion call for all races in the U.S. to live together in peace and harmony has lived on after his death. |
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| 679 |
turbid |
clouded as with sediment |
The thick turbid sea rolled in, casting up mire and dirt from its depths. |
cloudy#clarion#dispirited#succinct# |
“If it’s turbid maybe hold off for a while.”#It is much more turbid than recent five-year average for late March.#It is much more turbid than recent five-year averages for late March.#The Cowlitz was high and turbid near the mouth yesterday.# |
If a liquid is dark and murky and you can't see through it, it's turbid. It’s usually used as a criticism — a turbid river is generally a polluted one, but then again a good pint of real ale should be turbid. Go figure. |
Turbid comes from the Latin word turbidus, which means "muddy, full of confusion." Although it’s usually used to describe liquid, like that turbid creek your rain boot disappeared in, it can also be used to describe writing that’s unclear. If your teacher says your essay for English is turbid, it’s time to go back to work! Outlines and thesis statements can help clear up turbid prose. |
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| 680 |
cupidity |
extreme greed for material wealth |
Well educated, but very corrupt at heart, he found in his insatiable cupidity many ways of gaining money. |
effrontery#avarice#effulgence#legality# |
To my immediate right, A blasting DVD With violent movie clips And gropers' cupidity.#The cupidity of the government and white real estate developers leaves working-class locals, women especially, with few options.#Cupidity and corruption perform, year after year, their reverse magic.#Proclaiming morality while practicing cupidity, states have tried to hit the sweet spot of cigarette taxes — high enough to maximize revenue without excessively discouraging smoking.# |
Remember the saying “Greed is good”? It could just as easily be “Cupidity is good,” though admittedly it doesn’t roll off the tongue quite the same way. Cupidity means a burning desire to have more wealth than you need. |
Though it sounds like it might have something to do with the little winged figure who shoots arrows and makes folks fall in love on Valentine’s Day, cupidity is all about the love of money. It comes to us from Latin cupidus, which means "desirous." It’s not a word that crops up a lot in conversation, though you might run across it in newspapers and magazines, particularly those blaming Wall Street’s unbridled cupidity for America’s economic woes. |
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| 681 |
disaffected |
discontented as toward authority |
The financial crisis, largely caused by banker incompetence, has created legions of disaffected customers. |
students who enjoy challenging assignments#citizens who are critical of the government#professional athletes who earn very high salaries#patients who have been cured of an illness or disease# |
Those who will vote for him are the disaffected.#Green, like many observers, sees Trump’s embrace of birtherism as a conscious, strategic appeal to latent racist tendencies among disaffected Americans.#He said the Chamber would continue to operate the program and “will not consent to the demands of a group of disaffected individuals.”#He got 25 in the league last season, more than anybody other than Harry Kane, and that despite looking disaffected during the run-in.# |
The adjective disaffected describes someone who is dissatisfied or rebellious. Usually if you're disaffected, you're upset with people in authority. You and your fellow disaffected workers might become so upset about the lack of raises that you decided to boycott work. |
You might have heard the term "disaffected youth," which refers to young people rebelling against some aspect of society. For example, disaffected youth might fight against their lack of political freedom. Disaffected can also be used to describe things rather than people, like the disaffected lyrics in a song or the disaffected mood of a poem describing an unhappy or bitter state of mind. The word disaffected comes from disaffect, meaning "estranged, hostile." |
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| 682 |
preternatural |
surpassing the ordinary or normal |
In fact, they regarded the Spaniards as superior beings endowed with preternatural gifts. |
otherworldly#wholehearted#self-evident#sorrowful# |
It is hard to say whether Abugali is directing Lazer, or simply responding to the training and preternatural instincts of his horse.#Johnson points to Bolt’s training partner Yohan Blake, whom Bolt nicknamed the “Beast” for his preternatural work ethic.#A preternatural degree of confidence, focus and ambition propelled him from the forest village of Thal to triumph in bodybuilding, Hollywood and US politics.#Yet he’s thrived anyway thanks to a preternatural sense of timing and a hockey I.Q. gleaned from a lifetime around the game.# |
Preternatural describes something that seems oddly abnormal and out of sync with everything else. If you hear a preternatural dog's barking, maybe it sounds like a police siren instead of a howl. |
Note that preternatural contains the word natural. Preter comes from the Latin word praeter which means "beyond"; so something preternatural is beyond nature. It is less commonly used than unnatural or supernatural but means the same thing. If you lift a truck off the ground and hold it above your head, people will marvel at you and say you have preternatural strength. |
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| 683 |
eschew |
avoid and stay away from deliberately |
Morrissey is among those seniors who are eschewing nursing homes in favor of independent living. |
knell#hone#shun#deify# |
As Americans eschew soda, they are looking for replacements that claim to deliver nutritional value, said Michael Bellas, chairman of Beverage Marketing Corporation.#He eschewed a political career and instead spent much of his time mentoring dozens of men and women and supporting the children in his neighborhood.#"What About Us" eschews Pink's more bombastic tendencies, instead mining the depth of her feelings and showcasing the range of her voice.#In the meantime, Diplo's been eschewing more mainstream events to travel the world and play in unusual destinations for U.S.# |
If you eschew something, you deliberately avoid it. If you live the bohemian life in the city, then most likely you eschew the suburbs. |
Eschew comes from a word meaning dread, or shun. So to eschew something isn’t simply to avoid it, the way you would avoid walking in a puddle––it's stronger than that. You eschew things that you find morally or aesthetically wrong, or that you have chosen to find wrong. A dieter might eschew a chocolate sundae, not because he doesn’t like it, but because he’s afraid of what it will do to his waistline. |
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| 684 |
expatiate |
add details, as to an account or idea |
He then expatiated on his own miseries, which he detailed at full length. |
quibble#hone#elaborate#eschew# |
When the baron expatiated upon the superior practices of Europe, the Indians were baffled.#When the question is general enough, they move quickly from answering it to expatiating on general themes.#It was suddenly cool to know stuff, to expatiate on the causes of the Spanish Civil War.#Groucho expatiated on Lear’s relationship to his daughters.# |
The verb expatiate means "to add details to in order to clear up." If your story is confusing to everyone who hears it, certain key parts must be missing. Better expatiate so that people can understand it. |
To pronounce expatiate correctly, accent the second syllable: "ex-PAY-she-ate." When you expatiate on a piece of writing, you add details. The goal is to make your ideas clearer to readers, perhaps by offering an example to help them understand. Teachers can tell when you are expatiating and when you are just adding to what you've written, say, to reach a certain length requirement. That's usually called "padding." |
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| 685 |
didactic |
instructive, especially excessively |
Let us have a book so full of good illustrations that didactic instruction shall not be needed. |
a rock concert#a pet snake#a sermon#a bridge# |
He showed us the experiment of Animal Farm, but it’s not didactic.#Doing so may require some low-down politics as well as didactic exhortations as he faces the threat of a “social coup d’état” from Mélenchon.#There is quite a bit of awkward, didactic dialogue here.#If someone wrote these events into a novel, literary critics would call the plot excessively didactic.# |
When people are didactic, they're teaching or instructing. This word is often used negatively for when someone is acting too much like a teacher. |
When you're didactic, you're trying to teach something. Just about everything teachers do is didactic: the same is true of coaches and mentors. Didactic is often used in a negative way. If you heard that a movie is overly didactic, that's probably not good. Most people want to see a story and be entertained when going to the movies, and if it feels like the movie is just telling you what to think, that's didactic in a bad way. |
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| 686 |
sinuous |
curved or curving in and out |
In origami parlance, Mr. Joisel was a wet-folder, dampening his paper so that he could coax it into sinuous curves. |
gigantic#agitated#curving#illustrious# |
When inspired, Snoop is a sinuous rapper, seeking the comfort of a warm pocket, of which there are many here.#But these plot lines are united by a sinuous blend of athleticism, artistry and storytelling.#On last autumn’s “Oddara” album, the beat tended to be more sinuous than pounding, and improvised variations more gradual than abrupt.#Each of these songs is sinuous enough to end up on the radio, and that’s the real asymmetry.# |
Sinuous means winding or curvy. If you get lost on a sinuous mountain path, you'll need a compass or a GPS to figure out which direction leads back to camp. |
The adjective sinuous comes from the Latin word sinus, which means to curve or bend. If you have a sinuous body, then you have lots of curves. Snakes use sinuous movements to travel. Live Oak trees have particularly sinuous branches. We usually use sinuous to talk about physical shapes of bodies or pathways, but you could also describe someone's logic as sinuous if it wanders all over the place when they're trying to explain something. |
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| 687 |
rancor |
a feeling of deep and bitter anger and ill-will |
The current session of Parliament has so far produced only rancor, as opposition parties have shut down proceedings with angry, theatrical protests against corruption. |
malice#pathos#mirth#elation# |
The rancor of the Trump era wages on, unabated.#He generated no such rancor when he competed in the same stadium in the 2012 Olympics.#Of course, cultural divides are nothing new — and our nation bears the bitter scars of our historic internal rancor for them.#The companies often cared less about the men than the commodity, a story the museum subtly reveals through its artifacts, without rancor or editorializing.# |
The word rancor is best when you're not just talking about anger, you're talking about a deep, twisted bitter type of anger in your heart. The open rancor in political discussion prevents cooperation between political parties. |
The most helpful way to remember rancor with all its dark, miserable bitterness is to think of how rancor rhymes with canker, as in canker sore, the horrible painful burning on your lip. Or, you might want to remind yourself that rancor has its roots in the word rancid meaning "rotten." Rancor refers particularly to the sort of ill-will associated with resentment, envy, slow-brewing anger, and a very personal sort of hatred. |
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| 688 |
puissant |
powerful |
The ship was not fighting now, but yielding—a complacent leviathan held captive by a most puissant and ruthless enemy. |
a servant#a child#a king#an assistant# |
“You should utter a cry of “gardyloo” before unloading such invective on the shiny pate of Dean, he of the puissant peninsula of Wirral.#His black sorcerer was more puissant than all of Euron’s three, even if you threw them in a pot and boiled them down to one.#The piece is impressively designed by Jean-Marc Puissant, with an elaborately evolving set composed of feathery driftwood boards.#Despite Mali, the sense that there is a French prerogative in Africa is not as puissant as it once was.# |
Puissant means powerful and in possession of authority, and is often used to describe the political power of someone, like a prince or president. |
Said the English poet, historian, and arguably puissant scholar John Milton, “Methinks I see in my mind a noble and puissant nation rousing herself like a strong man after sleep, and shaking her invincible locks.” Synonyms for this somewhat rarely used adjective include forcible, mighty, strong, steady, unyielding, and vigorous. |
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| 689 |
homespun |
characteristic of country life |
His rural, homespun demeanor ordinarily might elicit snickers from India’s urban elite. |
a renovated kitchen with granite counters and a tile floor#a cellar full of preserves and picked vegetables#a brand new desktop computer and printer#a living room carpet that is stain resistant# |
At first, clean eating sounded modest and even homespun: rather than counting calories, you would eat as many nutritious home-cooked substances as possible.#Millvale’s business district also is home to enough homespun pastry shops and eateries to earn an entire Rick Sebak-WQED documentary.#The Tour was more carefree, less managed, more homespun.#These folk preachers blended homespun sermon and song to offer life lessons on how to survive in a world of inequality and virulent racism.# |
Something homespun has a simple, coarse feel, like your homespun plan to bring about world peace by giving everyone a daily spoonful of your aunt’s delicious strawberry jam. |
Homespun literally means spun at home. If you spin the wool from your sheep into yarn, and then make a dress out of it, it won’t be as fine or precise as fabric spun in a factory. Back in the day when large portions of the population couldn't afford milled cloth, homespun fabric marked you as poor, or just a farmer living off the land. Today we use homespun to describe anything that seems homemade, simple, or folksy, from homespun linens to homespun philosophies of life. |
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| 690 |
embroil |
force into some kind of situation or course of action |
But Mr. Marbury, often embroiled in controversy during his N.B.A. days, seems to have found some measure of peace in China. |
chastise#inhibit#stereotype#tangle# |
Today, the legislature is embroiled in another stalemate, this time over schools.#Yet four years later, Swift and Mueller are embroiled in a widely publicized federal court case.#Yet four years later, Swift and former DJ David Mueller are embroiled in a widely publicized federal court case.#Mr. Netanyahu is embroiled in two investigations that allege he directly received bribes in exchange for political favors.# |
To embroil is to drag someone into a mess. If you're embroiled, you're in deep. Being embroiled is far worse, far messier, and generally far more long-term, than simply being "involved" with something. Nothing good can come of being embroiled. |
Embroil can refer to any sort of situation — romantic entanglements, political events, scandals — but it's probably most commonly used in reference to lawsuits. The classic lawsuit that embroiled its participants was the fictional case of Jarndyce. v. Jarndyce, in Dickens's novel Bleak House — which went on for so many generations that all the characters' money was eaten up entirely by lawyers' fees. Let us repeat: nothing good comes of getting embroiled. |
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| 691 |
pathological |
caused by or evidencing a mentally disturbed condition |
"Fixated individuals" — mentally ill people with a pathological focus on someone, often a stranger — make up the first group. |
resonant#therapeutic#unhealthy#saline# |
There’s nothing about Trump that inspires trust or confidence, because the man himself is as much an egomaniac as he is a pathological liar.#What separates a serial liar from a pathological liar?#The similarities between the two of you are unavoidable: the preening, the insecurity, the pathological narcissism, the chronic lying, the bad haircuts.#Based on their findings the team proposed a number of pathological criteria for the diagnosis of CTE, similar to those for Alzheimer’s disease.# |
If something is caused by a physical or mental disease, it is pathological. Someone with a pathological compulsion for cleanliness might scrub the floors for hours every night. |
Pathological comes from a Greek word, pathologikos, which means “treating of diseases” — pathos means "suffering." Anyone who studies or works with diseases, from their causes to their symptoms, identifies how the disease affects its victims, in other words, its pathological effects. Remember that this is a medical distinction. If a person has, for example, obsessive-compulsive disorder, his or her repetitive actions are pathological. |
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| 692 |
resonant |
characterized by a loud deep sound |
His eyes were piercing but sad, his voice grand and resonant, suiting well the wrathful, impassioned Calvinism of his sermons. |
an adhesive surface#a fast food meal#a greedy bank executive#a man's deep voice# |
The silicon vertex detector continuously monitors for the annihilation of antihydrogen atoms that are ejected following a resonant spin flip.#On the page, Sam Shepard was seldom at a loss for words, but on the screen, he was a master of resonant understatement.#This is the most specific and resonant thing in the agenda, so far.#A new restoration, at Film Forum for a week starting on Friday, July 28, is especially resonant in this Instagram era.# |
Resonant describes sound that is deep and rich. It also can mean deeply evocative. A resonant speech moves you by bringing to mind all that is good in the world: family, friends, laughter. |
Resonant comes from the Latin re, meaning again, and sonare, meaning to sound––or literally to sound again or echo. So resonant's meanings all have that sense of reverberating or echoing. Not only does it mean echoing or evoking meaning, but it also refers to sound that echoes through a room. Don't confuse the spellings of resonant (the adjective) and resonate (the verb). |
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| 693 |
libretto |
the words of an opera or musical play |
In many great operas, composers have had to whittle down an epic literary work into a suitable libretto. |
a car mechanic#a medical student#an opera singer#a law student# |
Based on an Italian folk tale, the libretto was by Mark Campbell, although his way with words became grating after awhile.#He wrote poetry, songs, recorded two albums and once reportedly penned the libretto for an event Orson Welles directed at the Hollywood Bowl.#Mark Campbell’s libretto moves back and forth through Jobs’ life from childhood until his death in 2011 from pancreatic cancer.#With an Italian libretto, the musically rich “Aci” offers early hints of Handel’s instinctive affinity for Italian opera.# |
In opera, the libretto is the words or lyrics, as distinct from the music. Mozart composed the music to his operas, but the librettos were written by someone else. |
The life of the librettist is often a thankless one. If the opera is a success, nobody mentions the libretto. Often, the libretto of an opera or musical is called the "book" and refers to all the parts of the script except the music. This can be helpful in remembering what the word means, because libr- is Latin for "book" (as in "library"). |
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| 694 |
flail |
thresh about |
Exercise is prescribed, but when she joins an aqua aerobics class, she flails embarrassingly. |
thrash#agitate#cozen#isolate# |
Pop's body, Nan's glazed irises, Darin's flailing limbs all flash before my eyes.#“And then you flail around just like humans would.”#It’s about bringing order to a flailing administration.#When the police arrived, he kicked and flailed, according to court documents.# |
To flail means to wave around wildly. If you are stranded on a deserted island and you see a ship in the distance, it’s a good idea to flail your arms in the air to get the captain’s attention. |
Flail originates with the Latin word flagellum, which is a whip. It is also related to the noun flail, a stick with a swinging attachment to it, used to thresh grain. As a verb, it most often refers to arms, but can also involve the whole body, especially if someone is a very wild dancer. Other things can flail as well. If someone admits that his business is flailing, it’s probably lacking direction and not doing very well. |
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| 695 |
bandy |
discuss lightly |
Hillary Clinton’s name has been bandied about, but she’s made it clear she’s not interested. |
words#treats#wounds#drinks# |
“Be very careful of information that is bandied around on social media,” he added.#Though his name may be bandied about more than any of his other siblings, few are as low-profile as Jason Simpson.#Bandy hit .211 with six home runs and 18 RBIs during his first stint with Milwaukee this season.#Still, the trade for Bandy was viewed with curiosity.# |
Bandy is a verb that means to toss many ideas around without focusing on just one. If you've ever brainstormed, you know what this is like — you bandy about different ideas until you find one that works. |
Bandy also means to exchange blows, like in a professional fight. As a skilled heavyweight boxer, you are known to bandy with your opponent for several minutes before you knock him out. Bandy comes from the Middle French word bander which means "to strike back and forth." These days it's also used as a more general term to describe tossing or hitting any ball back and forth. |
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| 696 |
gratis |
costing nothing |
"Would you admit them gratis?" asked Mr. Castlemaine with a smile, "or would they have to pay, like ordinary residents in an hotel?" |
in haste#without doubt#free of charge#before long# |
The dinner menu opens with a few two-buck canapes, the sort of thing some restaurants deliver gratis as an amuse-bouche.#He’s apt to hand you a fried chicken thigh, gratis, as you wait on a meal.#In honor of the Canadian Confederation, admission to all of the country’s national parks is gratis this year for holders of its no-cost Discover Pass.#Eaton oversaw the process, gratis, until the car was sold, before the father died.# |
When there’s a concert you want to go to and your best friend gets tickets and takes you gratis, be grateful: that means you’re going for free. |
You can use gratis as a synonym for "free" or "without payment" as either an adjective or an adverb. For example, you buy a new smart phone and immediately download several free apps. You get your first bill, and see you’ve been charged for all those apps. When you call the phone company, you can say, “Those apps were labeled as gratis. I downloaded them gratis. Why are you charging me?” |
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| 697 |
upshot |
a phenomenon that is caused by some previous phenomenon |
The inevitable upshot of their growing social power was that brands wanted an expanded visual presence. |
facade#issue#unification#cabal# |
Now, the upshot of three long throws by three different quarterbacks isn’t a whole lot.#That's the upshot of extolling easy ovation: If they're not ready for the build-up, the fall becomes that much more severe.#The upshot: this dish of orzo pasta simmered in a fresh-tomato sauce.#The upshot is that modest, permanent tax cuts, financed by scrapping the state and local deduction, are achievable.# |
The upshot of an action is the end result, whatever happens last as a consequence of the original action. The upshot of reading this sentence is that you will understand what the word upshot means. |
In the 16th century, the last arrow launched in an archery competition was called the upshot. Like that final arrow, the upshot is the conclusion, the outcome. Sure, you can eat ice cream really fast, but the upshot is that you’ll have a brain freeze. The upshot of eating ice cream slowly is that it will melt. Decisions, decisions. |
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| 698 |
aphorism |
a short pithy instructive saying |
General Sherman's famous aphorism that "War is Hell," has become classic. |
hot cross buns#a watched pot never boils#weather, heather#Sally sells seashells by the seashore# |
Beyond the 60/40 rule, here are the three financial aphorisms that readers and listeners ask me about most often:#The late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia expressed a common misconception about Chinese philosophy, dismissing it as the “mystical aphorisms of the fortune cookie.”#“There’s an old aphorism that says that the law is entitled to every man’s evidence, and I’ll leave it at that,” Mr. Pompeo added.#The draft jitters with desperation, as if Fitzgerald were trying to craft, sentence by sentence and aphorism by aphorism, a hit.# |
Use the noun aphorism when you have something compact and astute to say, such as "People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones." |
An aphorism is a statement or saying that is both efficiently presented and either witty or wise. While there are loads of trite and silly statements, a good aphorism is supposed to stand the test of time and remain true and elegant — a very difficult task! Friedrich Schlegel even wrote an aphorism about aphorisms: "An aphorism ought to be entirely isolated from the surrounding world like a little work of art and complete in itself like a hedgehog." |
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| 699 |
redoubtable |
worthy of respect or honor |
Captain Miles Standish was a redoubtable soldier, small in person, but of great activity and courage. |
defunct#alarming#puerile#inane# |
Leading the pretour was Frances Brook, a redoubtable Englishwoman with an authoritative manner and a flowery hat.#Nonetheless, at 67, Bosch presents readers of the redoubtable series with a different kind of ticking clock.#Berenice Bejo, the lead actress from "The Artist" who co-stars in " Redoubtable", amused by the argument, tried to calm tempers:#So when the Red Sox added the redoubtable Sale to team with the previous year’s big-ticket signing, David Price, and the reigning A.L.# |
Redoubtable means honorable, maybe even intimidatingly so. If your grandmother worked tirelessly to raise four kids on her own and start her own taxi cab business and to this day, keeps all of her cabbies in line, she is without a doubt redoubtable. |
The adjective redoubtable traces back to the French word redute, meaning “to dread,” a combination of the prefix re-, which adds emphasis, and duter, which mean “to doubt.” But it isn't the redoubtable person that you doubt — it's yourself or your ability to compete against or be compared to him or her. That's where the dread comes in. But you can learn a lot from and be inspired by redoubtable people, if you can just get over being afraid of them. |
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| 700 |
corpulent |
excessively fat |
Obesity is very common, but chiefly among the women, who while still quite young often become enormously corpulent. |
uproarious#weighty#inane#cursory# |
James’s corpulent face, with its still-sensuous lips and coolly — wearily? regretfully? arrogantly? — appraising eyes, radiates a modern ambiguity.#Pictures of him show a corpulent replica of Nikita Khrushchev.#Andrew "Beef" Johnston, the corpulent young English bloke with the iconic beard and easy-going manner, has never attended a college football game in the U.S.#A robust Rodin sculpture of a woman stands beside equally corpulent and muscular Bacon male nudes.# |
Corpulent is a formal word that describes a fat person. If you are trying to be respectful when describing a fat man, you might refer to him as a "corpulent gentleman." |
There are certainly many other ways to describe a fat person: obese, overweight, and stout are only a few. Corpulent is from Latin corpulentus, from corpus "body." The Latin suffix -ulentus, corresponding to English -ulent, has the meaning "full of, having in quantity." |
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| 701 |
benighted |
lacking enlightenment or knowledge or culture |
I alone was magnificently and absurdly aware—everyone else was benightedly out of it. |
having been rewarded by the queen#buying a new car#not knowing the earth circles the sun#being tucked into bed by your mom# |
The bill cribs from the points systems in both Canada and Australia, neither of which are considered benighted countries.#Earlier in the week, Trump withdrew his request for billions in funding for his benighted border wall when a government shutdown seemed inevitable.#It isn’t a benighted region of unknowable people and mysterious urges.#She then shares a remarkable piece of family news that sets him on a further — but, as this is Wilson, benighted — quest.# |
Being called benighted is much like being called naive. It means lacking in knowledge or understanding—the kind you might have if you were older or more sophisticated. |
Although it sounds a lot like "being knighted", benighted has nothing to do with knights and, in fact, includes the word "night" (as in the opposite of day) and not "knight" (as in "of the Round Table"). One way to remember what benighted means is to think of a person "being nighted" or, put into the dark. A benighted person is in the dark about things: they don't know because they can't see. The Dark Ages are thought to have been a benighted time, full of primitive ideas. |
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| 702 |
sententious |
abounding in or given to pompous or aphoristic moralizing |
He is the village wise man; very sententious; and full of profound remarks on shallow subjects. |
sorrow#boredom#terror#jealousy# |
What’s more, Charles’s sententious interpretation of noblesse oblige leaves him open to the charge of overstepping the constitutional boundaries of his position.#Until the beginning of the 18th century, quotation marks were used in England only to call attention to sententious remarks.#Similarly, Ross’s scattershot vigor gives way to Lawrence’s grandiose, sententious bombast.#“Do you mind if I’m sententious for a second?” he says to an interviewer.# |
If you speak in sententious phrases, your listeners are probably falling asleep, as your speech is pompous and pretentious, and full of moralistic babble. |
When sententious first appeared in English — back in the late Middle Ages — it meant "full of wisdom," but now it usually has a negative sense, meaning heavy handed and self-important. The sententious blowhard makes people laugh, and you can probably think of at least three cartoon characters who fit the bill — often a politician or minister who drones on and on, oblivious to the fact that his audience is snickering or trying to sneak out. |
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| 703 |
cabal |
a clique that seeks power usually through intrigue |
Supposedly, see, there's this global cabal of scientists conspiring to bring about socialist one-world government. |
a cooperative of liberal thinkers that hosts debates#a political non-profit organization#a subset of a governing body that plots to gain control#a protest march on the streets of Washington, D.C.# |
Such an attack on individual and independent fixers is unprecedented — with cabals in industry after industry asserting their ownership control far after sales.#"It's the same cabal," she says of the council.#The Senate Steering Committee, despite sounding bipartisan, was actually a cabal of hard-line conservatives, and Hammond was its strategist.#This self-absorbed cabal of spoiled plutocratic brats intends to abandon our nation’s core democratic principle of “We’re all in this together.”# |
A cabal is a secret plot, or a small group of people who create such a plot. Some conspiracy theories are based on the idea that governments worldwide are in the hands of a powerful cabal. |
Cabal comes from the word cabbala (also spelled kabbala), which refers to a Jewish tradition of interpreting texts. Cabbala is often regarded as a secret and mystical practice and, as such, the word took on the additional meaning of “secret behavior.” Cabal comes from this sense of the word. A well-known cabal in 17th-century England was coincidentally made up of five members whose names’ initial letters spelled the word cabal. (Their names were Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley, and Lauderdale.) |
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| 704 |
paraphernalia |
equipment consisting of miscellaneous articles |
It's outfitted with cricket bats and other antique sports paraphernalia. |
contraband#bullion#overlapping#gear# |
According to police, the responding officer found indicators of drug use that included drug paraphernalia and residue from an unknown white powder in Fusco’s car.#Paraphernalia and equipment including treadmills, weighted vests and medical supplies were also discovered.#All three are charged with trafficking a controlled substance and possession of paraphernalia.#He also faces misdemeanor counts of unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia.# |
Having lunch in the park might require you to first gather together a lot of picnic paraphernalia, such as blankets, coolers, Frisbees, and other miscellaneous items that are relevant to that activity. |
This term dates back to the 17th century when it referred specifically to a woman’s personal belongings, not including her dowry. Now, it can refer to any gear or equipment necessary for a sport or any undertaking. For example, a hockey player’s paraphernalia would include various pieces of protective padding, while a pastry chef has a different set of articles she needs for her task, such as baking tins and mixers. |
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| 705 |
vitiate |
make imperfect |
His talent in writing is vitiated by his affectation and other faults. |
rankle#debase#adjure#impersonate# |
Progressive commitments to reproductive rights, environmental protections, workers’ rights, racial equality, and so much more are either vindicated or vitiated at the Supreme Court.#This system of filtration is vitiated by a plebiscitary presidency, the occupant of which claims a direct, unmediated, almost mystical connection with “the people.”#But even within those constraints, there’s still plenty that Trump could do to vitiate the media.#After the trials, Turkey’s secular élite was completely vitiated.# |
As some sneaky five-year-olds know, crossing one’s fingers while making a promise is an effective way to vitiate, or destroy the validity of, an agreement. |
Vitiate is often used when a legal agreement is made invalid, but it can also refer to the debasement or corruption of something or someone. If a malicious five-year-old on the playground teaches the other children to lie with their fingers crossed, she would be responsible for vitiating the playground community. The first syllable of this word is pronounced "vish," like the first syllable in vicious. |
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| 706 |
adulation |
servile flattery; exaggerated and hypocritical praise |
And celebrities get all this adulation for something that is not about character, it's about talent. |
#### |
If this is about idealism and adulation, are audiences really asking for this?#But the adulation paints an incomplete – and to a very real extent, misleading – picture for the public.#YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — President Trump was in his element and bathing in the adulation of the crowd.#You rarely see that kind of adulation in any sport.# |
If you've ever been to a pop concert filled with screaming fans you've probably been exposed to adulation — praise so over-the-top it's almost embarrassing. |
The Latin word adulatio means "flattery." It's made up of the roots ad ("to") and ulos ("tail"), and if you're thinking of a dog wagging its tail to and fro to get a treat from its owner, you're on the right track. As anyone who's seen a crazed fan drooling over a celebrity knows, adulation is one of the more doglike of human behaviors. |
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| 707 |
quaff |
to swallow hurriedly or greedily or in one draught |
Meanwhile the officers under the tree had got served, and, cups in hand, were quaffing joyously. |
a hungry pelican#a roaring brook#a thirsty person#a storage tank# |
For Medicine Man, the bartender blends black tea with blueberry, pomegranate and trendy sea buckthorn for a more complex quaff.#One bourbon-based quaff was called “How Stupid Are the People of Iowa?”#Those in first class eat sushi and quaff wine.#Hair was pulled back, in a chic twist on the styles of the Glam Rock era, in a small quaff with side parting.# |
To quaff is to gulp. You’re in a desert; you haven’t had water in days; you’re wicked thirsty. Then you find an oasis! You lean over and quaff the water. |
If you’re in a room with your favorite foods, you might stuff the food into your mouth. Quaffing is the same fun, but with beverages instead of foods. But just like with stuffing food, quaffing means you drink a little too much. Often, quaffing refers to alcoholic drinks, but it can mean any beverage in general, like milkshakes. Quaff a milkshake and you’ll get a headache, but you’ll have fun doing it. |
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| 708 |
unassuming |
not arrogant |
Parr's conduct after his most heroic actions was thoroughly modest and unassuming. |
inductive#detrimental#libertine#retiring# |
Sitting in his cozy room at Somerset Retirement Home with his daughter at his side, Stiebritz is an unassuming figure.#A few years ago, an unassuming young woman named Kelly Sun teamed up with Phil Ivey, the world’s most famous poker player.#He is the epitome of what organizations look for in their personnel: quiet, unassuming, but the aura about him is one of dignity and class.#Mr. Charles is an unassuming man, dressed like the men he grew up around while summering on Newfoundland’s Trinity Bay.# |
The word unassuming means modest, lacking in arrogance, pleasant, or polite. You'll find that some of the most unassuming people are actually the most interesting and powerful of all. They're just decent enough not to display it all the time. |
It's been said that when you assume, you make an ass of you and me: that's because when you assume you draw conclusions that you shouldn't. If you're unassuming, you don't make that mistake. Even though he was a rock star, I found Jason to be unassuming and delightful. He treated everyone like a friend. It's the height of irony that the real Wizard of Oz turns out to be an unassuming country gentleman, when the image he projected was of fearsome, raw, tyrannical power. |
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| 709 |
libertine |
a dissolute person |
Still, Mr. Awlaki was neither among the most conservative Muslim students nor among the libertines who tossed aside religious restrictions on drinking and sex. |
commensurate#irretrievable#immoral#trite# |
Sessions played a key role in getting Trump elected, herding so-called social conservatives into a libertine’s camp.#Those, in turn, serve only to recall another tiresome period piece, Terry Johnson’s “The Libertine,” to play the Haymarket within the past year.#Fans, many sat in vintage cars and trucks, then enjoyed a screening of The Libertine.#“In a way, it is playful and a way to piece and put together in a very libertine way. Spiritual, too,” Risso said backstage.# |
If you drink a lot, eat a lot, and live a wild and unrestrained life, you might be called a libertine. |
A libertine is someone who lives life unencumbered by morals. Although it can be used neutrally, often if someone calls you a libertine, they disapprove of your lack of morality. In the fourteenth century, a libertine was "a freed slave," from the Latin liber, "free." Starting in the mid-1500s, libertine had a religious and political connotation, referring to group that opposed Calvinism. By the nineteenth century, the word became strongly associated with immorality and debauchery. |
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| 710 |
maul |
injure badly |
Hundreds of concert goers were mauled as they left by what The New York Times called “bands of roving youths.” |
mangle#topple#overpower#remonstrate# |
Three visitors to Beijing Zoo were mauled between 2006 and 2009 after falling or jumping in to Giant Panda enclosures.#Millspaugh also laughed when he heard about the camera mauling, noting that elk are quite curious.#There’s been a grizzly bear mauling,’ ” recalled Gildart, now 77.#And also possibly the vicious mauling of Arya’s future enemies.# |
Maul is both the name of a heavy hammer, and also a verb meaning beating and scratching. Tigers, lions, bears––animals with powerful paws and sharp claws, will maul their victims. |
The maul came to be used as a weapon in the late Middle Ages––if your opponent is wearing armor that a steel sword-blade can't penetrate, you can still inflict damage by mauling them with a hammer. You might not be able to stab your opponent, but at least you can maul them. |
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| 711 |
adage |
a condensed but memorable saying embodying an important fact |
So he focuses on the fans and embraces the adage, “Living well is the best revenge.” |
girls just want to have fun#there once was a man from Nantucket#absence makes the heart grow fonder#she sells sea shells by the sea shore# |
There is an adage that “it’s better to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission.”#EW’s Anthony Breznican says there’s “that old adage: never meet your heroes.”#Lawrence fulfilled the adage of being born with a silver spoon in his mouth, with all of the benefits his noble birth implied.#A common adage about Putin is that he is a canny tactician but a poor strategist.# |
An adage is a saying. Moms and dads love adages such as "early to bed, early to rise" and "an apple a day keeps the doctor away." |
The noun adage comes from the Latin root, aio, meaning "I say." Like a proverb, an adage can be true or not so much. It's a folksy saying that's been passed around for so long that it doesn't even matter if it's true anymore. Adages can be wise and wisecracking, such as this quote from Alice Roosevelt Longworth: "I've always believed in the adage that the secret of eternal youth is arrested development." There's a Book of Proverbs in the Bible, but adages can show up anywhere, even cross-stitched on a pillow. |
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| 712 |
expostulation |
the act of expressing earnest opposition or protest |
He even believed he saw visions with his own bodily eyes, and no expostulations of his friends could drive this belief out of his head. |
affiliation#cuisine#remonstrance#refraction# |
At such times, I lean my head back and let my jaw hang slack, which encourages expostulations like “ha-ha” and “ho ho.”#The circle closed up again with a running murmur of expostulation; it was a minute before I could see anything at all.#With an expostulation of wonder, the Dalai Lama sat back and clasped his hands together.#Then, gently pacing and stretching out her hands, she showed the poem to be not only eloquent expostulation but also an argument.# |
Expostulation is an expression of protest, not a rant exactly, but often lengthy. If you have parents, you might be more familiar with the term "lecture," an expostulation on the why you should never do the things you actually want to do. |
If you've done any geometry proofs, you know that postulate means to put forward an assumption. Expostulate means to take that assumption away. For instance you might postulate that it's a good idea for you and your friends to drive to the beach in the middle of the night, but your parents might expostulate that it's not safe. |
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| 713 |
tawdry |
tastelessly showy |
It was a tawdry affair, all Cupids and cornucopias, like a third-rate wedding cake. |
trite#venal#irate#cheap# |
A tawdry but effective stunt to reclaim black spaces for local whites.#The next year, their tawdry row outside a hotel near Shreveport, La., attracted the attention of local authorities and then the media.#“This is a tawdry, sickening tale,” he told me.#And light is shed on more tawdry parts of his inner world.# |
Tawdry means cheap, shoddy, or tasteless. It can be used to describe almost anything from clothes to people to even events or affairs. |
You know that shiny black slip you picked up for nothing at a garage sale and used as the skirt of your lion-tamer Halloween costume? It's a bit tawdry. But it would really be tawdry if you wore it on a regular day out. Tawdry things often have a hint of desperation and immorality — like tawdry extramarital affairs or tawdry tales. With tawdry decorations and jewelry, quality has been exchanged for lots of flash and shine. |
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| 714 |
trite |
repeated too often; overfamiliar through overuse |
The subject—a deathbed scene—might seem at first sight to be a trite and common one. |
unoriginal#egregious#anesthetic#maladjusted# |
Its chief sin, however, is that it’s trite.#They discourage people from saying trite things like “forgive and forget” or “let bygones be bygones”.#Yet comparisons to Graham Greene and Paul Bowles might already qualify as trite.#It’s a trite topic, McCain’s delivery was boring, and my friends expected him to prove his insincerity by voting for skinny repeal.# |
When you want to indicate that something is silly or overused, you would call it trite. A love song with lyrics about holding hands in the sunshine? Totally trite. |
Trite has a Latin root, the past participle of terere, meaning "wear out." An old-fashioned or outdated definition of the word is "frayed or worn out by use," and you can see how the meaning for an object that is worn out can be applied to an idea that has been used to the point of being meaningless. The antonym of this word is original. |
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| 715 |
hireling |
a person who works only for money |
Why should I?—a mere police detective, who had been hired to do a service and paid for it like any other hireling. |
"Will I get to try out different skill sets over time?"#"How many unpaid sick days will I get?"#"When will I get my first paycheck?"#"Are the other people in this office nice?"# |
The third section states: "No refuge could save the hireling and slave / From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave ..."#The third stanza reads, ‘No refuge could save the hireling and slave, From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave.’#He followed his usual pattern of denial, then lies, then finger-pointing, then name-calling and ultimately blaming a hireling.#They would occupy a gated stratosphere far above the madding crowd while their political hirelings below look after their earthly interests.# |
A hireling is someone doing a job solely for the money. The work they do is therefore tainted. A hit man might be dismissed as a hireling by the FBI, who wants to go after the mafia boss who is hiring the murderer. |
If you have been raised with the idea that there is dignity in hard work of any kind, it may be hard to understand the negative connotations associated with the word hireling. Like mercenary, it implies that some jobs should be done only out of moral conviction––a hireling will never have the right attitude or love to do things right. |
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| 716 |
ensconce |
fix firmly |
Though she is firmly ensconced in a writing career, Ms. Freud, 48, said that in the early days she missed acting terribly. |
congratulate#impale#settle#inure# |
Michael quickly became ensconced within the Asian bubble of Queens.#Amar was ensconced in the family's thriving new printing business in Delhi and Agra.#Bannon and Miller are ensconced in the West Wing, as arguably the two most influential policy advisers to Donald J. Trump.#By that time, Mr. Glazunov was firmly ensconced as a kind of court painter.# |
If you ensconce yourself somewhere, you settle in for quite a while, such as when you're home with the flu and ensconce yourself on the couch with the remote control, tissues, your phone, and a big glass of orange juice. |
Ensconce dates to the 1580s, when it literally meant "to cover with a fort." It isn't quite clear whether the word can be traced to French or Dutch, which has a word schans that describes "earthwork." Today, you don't need a protective structure like a fort in order to be ensconced, but the idea of being surrounded is key to the word's meaning. |
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| 717 |
egregious |
conspicuously and outrageously bad or reprehensible |
“These offenses are very serious, even egregious,” the judge said. |
incisive#errant#cogent#glaring# |
“As I said on Saturday, we condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence,” Mr. Trump said.#Oberlin College students’ furor at the campus dining hall’s “cultural appropriation” when it served sushi is an especially egregious example.#“We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides — on many sides,” Trump said earlier.#President Trump on Saturday condemned the “ egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides” in Charlottesville.# |
Something that is egregious stands out, but not in a good way — it means "really bad or offensive." If you make an egregious error during a championship soccer match, your coach might bench you for the rest of the game. |
"My massage therapist gave me bruises," someone complained recently on Twitter, asking, "When does it cease to be deep tissue massage therapy and become egregious and unabashed manhandling?" An egregious error is hardly forgivable. Some synonyms are shocking, appalling, and intolerable. The word has made a 180-degree turn from its original sense in Latin, when it meant "exceptionally good." Word historians have speculated that the negative usage was originally meant to be ironic, but it is the only sense that has survived. Be careful not to use it to mean "outstanding," since no one wants to be called egregious. |
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| 718 |
cogent |
powerfully persuasive |
His thesis was too cogent, and appealed too powerfully to all classes of the Upper Canada community, to be anything but irresistible. |
a noncommittal response#a tearful accusation#a legal document full of jargon#a rousing speech# |
In the alt-right’s culture war, opportunistic points-scoring is more useful than cogent debate, and anything that draws fire from “snowflakes” is seen as good.#In an interview, she was hard-pressed to explain in cogent terms how it happened or what to do about it.#It’s animal life, and the movie provides a cogent explanation of how coral works.#The Left must first find a message: our only cogent candidate will be eighty-one at the next inauguration.# |
When you make a cogent argument, it means your argument is clear and persuasive. In these days of 24-hour entertainment news and sound-bite sized explanations of complex government policy, it’s hard to find a cogent argument amidst all the emotional outbursts. |
Cogent comes from a Latin word meaning to drive together, so cogent thinking is well-organized: it hangs together. If you try to convince your mayor to build a new park by saying that playgrounds are good, seeing the sky is nice, and raccoons are cool…well that’s not a cogent argument; it’s just random. But you could cogently argue that parks contribute to civic happiness by providing space for exercise, community, and encounters with nature. |
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| 719 |
incisive |
demonstrating ability to recognize or draw fine distinctions |
A half-hour of informed and incisive questioning by Mr. Russert would have demolished Mr. Trump. |
derelict#piercing#incandescent#unbridled# |
His early movies, like “Roger & Me,” represent an impish moral intelligence at its most incisive.#Now he’s bringing his pointed, incisive interview style to a weekly podcast in which he talks one-on-one with newsmakers, celebrities, and cultural icons.#Her incisive questions shaped the field as well, and will continue to shape it.#“Do Not Become Alarmed” is a bit glib to be an incisive social novel.# |
The adjective incisive describes something that is sharp, decisive, and direct. A comment that cuts right to the bone can be just as incisive as an actual knife. |
The word incisive is rooted in a Latin word that literally means "to cut with a sharp edge." To help you remember the meaning, you can think of the similar word, incisors, which are the teeth that are sharp and cut and tear. The more figurative meaning of describing something that is mentally sharp first appeared in the 1850s. Keen criticism and cutting remarks have been called incisive ever since. |
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| 720 |
errant |
straying from the right course or from accepted standards |
As the crowd voiced its displeasure, the referees made sure Wisconsin got the ball, but pass was errant and rolled out of bounds at midcourt. |
a student receiving her diploma#a car parked in a driveway#a teenager skipping school#a lake on a calm, cloudless day# |
An errant tee shot on the 16th hole and a poor decision with his second shot resulted in a double-bogey 6.#Sacking one errant employee doesn’t alter an awkward fact, though.#This might be something of a deterrent to errant behavior on his part.#Because there are numerous options between soul-crushing, emotionally devastating day job with great benefits and panicked freelancer at the mercy of every errant breeze.# |
Something or someone described as errant has gone astray or done wrong by going in an unexpected direction. An errant bird might end up in northern Canada while his friends fly to southern Mexico for the winter. |
Although errant is commonly used as a synonym for "misbehaving" or "naughty," it also refers to things that are just out of place. An errant bomb can hit a house instead of an army base, and an errant lock of hair can get in your eyes. Errant can be intentional, as in "the errant boys skipped school to go to the movies," or unintentional, as in "an errant snowball hit your neighbor instead of your arch enemy." |
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| 721 |
sedulous |
marked by care and persistent effort |
Sedulous attention and painstaking industry always mark the true worker. |
incandescent#diligent#unilateral#demographic# |
And that, following an assessment of his sedulous performance over the years, the distributor was promoting Mr. Dalai to manage the College Street branch.#While its most uncharitable detractors often deride the Council as a refuge for overpaid underachievers, Mr. Williams saw sedulous virtue in its summer schedule.#The moment when a sedulous waiter politely teleports away from you to serve another couple shows off the fine judgment of Irrational on its game.#Like every poet however original, Chesterton has "played the sedulous ape to many masters."# |
A sedulous person is someone who works hard and doesn't give up easily. If you make repeated and sedulous attempts to fix a leaky pipe and it only makes things worse, it might be time to go online and find the number of a plumber. |
There are a couple of words that basically mean the same thing as sedulous but are a little more common, namely assiduous, painstaking, and diligent. Like sedulous, all of these adjectives can be turned into adverbs by adding the suffix ly: "He assiduously tried to fix the pipe, but to no avail." |
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| 722 |
incandescent |
characterized by ardent emotion, intensity, or brilliance |
Kirkwood's anger cooled apace; at worst it had been a flare of passion— incandescent. |
gullible#grumpy#brilliant#belated# |
Like incandescent and compact-fluorescent bug lights, the LED version emits yellow light.#Mr. Edison created an incandescent light bulb that burned for more than 40 hours.#As we dodged the drug addicts and the news sank in, O’Hara became incandescent.#One of its founders, Ichisuke Fujioka, the son of a samurai, brought the incandescent light bulb to Japan and forged an alliance with General Electric.# |
When heated, coals become incandescent, which means that they glow red-hot. You could also describe a brilliant and moving novel as incandescent. |
Incandescent, like the word candle, has its origins in the Latin word candere meaning "to glow or shine." Combined with the suffix in meaning "within," its meaning can be easily pulled from the combination of its root words: "to glow or shine from within." Fire crackers are incandescent because they give off brilliant lights when heated, but look up at a blazing fireworks display, and you'll find it's quite moving, or incandescent with intensity and brilliance. |
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| 723 |
derelict |
in deplorable condition |
Others are clustered under a tin awning by a derelict railway station or in similarly run-down school buildings. |
aspirant#renter#vagrant#miser# |
Kushner details more than 70 assets that he failed to disclose Derelict in duty?#The former industrial area, cluttered with derelict structures and thousands of tons of concrete debris, lay fallow for the next 15 years.#But first, you’d be foolish and derelict to fail to consult a lawyer right away to explore your options.#PPS worked with Congress Square Park in Portland, Maine, to revitalize a once derelict area by hosting community activities there including dances and pop-up concerts.# |
If something has been abandoned, you can call it derelict. Even if a person has abandoned his responsibilities, you can say that he is derelict in his duties. But don't call a lost child derelict — unless, of course, he has neglected his chores. |
As an adjective, derelict describes something that is rundown, neglected, or in deplorable condition, but the word can also mean "negligent in duty." The politician was so busy using his office for personal gain that he was derelict in his duty to the people who voted for him; he hadn't been present at a vote in months. As a noun, a derelict means a homeless person. |
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| 724 |
entomology |
the branch of zoology that studies insects |
From the department of entomology you expect to learn something about the troublesome insects, which are so universal an annoyance. |
word origins#digestion#beetles#photosynthesis# |
Charabidze said that the future of forensic entomology will be cases beyond those requiring simply a place or time of death.#Andrew Read, Evan Pugh University Professor of Biology and Entomology at Pennsylvania State University, contributed to this article, which was originally published on theconversation.com.#It’s unusual for one insect to cause so much damage, said Donald Lewis, Iowa State University entomology professor.#Paul Guillebeau, a professor of entomology at the University of Georgia, says their populations are small and localized.# |
Entomology is the study of insects. If you want to know all about ants, roaches, scorpions, and skeeters, entomology is for you. |
From the Greek word for “knowledge,” the suffix -logy literally means “the study of,” and you see it often. Theology is the study of divine beings, anthropology is the study of human cultures, psychology is the study of the mind. Add the Greek prefix entomon, for insect, and you have the branch of biology that focuses on bugs. |
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| 725 |
execrable |
unequivocally detestable |
But minds were so overexcited at the time that the parties mutually accused each other, on all occasions, of the most execrable crimes. |
abominable#scathing#vulnerable#conventional# |
This execrable, homicidal bill must obviously be stopped.#Here are just some of them: “unacceptable”, “inexcusable”, “thrown down the drain”, “horrible”, “calamity”, “ execrable,” “absurd”, “useless”, “bad joke” and “lamentable”.#From America’s perspective, New Start is an execrable deal, a...#Nabokov’s commentary on Eugene Onegin is peppered with such jibes, calling one Pushkin translation “ execrable” and the author of another one a “toady.”# |
If something's execrable it's really and truly, unbelievably, absolutely the worst. |
Execrable is often used as a harshly critical term in the arts, when a reviewer really wants to throw the book at something. Not surprisingly, the word comes from a Latin word meaning "to utter a curse; to hate or abhor." Tough words for bad art. Perhaps part of the power and nastiness of execrable lies in the word's similarity to excrement — but that's a vocabulary word we're not touching in this entry! |
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| 726 |
sluice |
pour as if from a conduit that carries a rapid flow of water |
At 4:15 p.m., as the rain was sluicing off roofs in sheets, the firemen moved the trucks to higher ground. |
a reservoir#a water slide#a dam#a fruity beverage# |
Heavier rains caused by warmer temperatures will cause more agricultural runoff, sluicing more nutrients into rivers, lakes and oceans.#In exasperated enterprise, she grabbed the garden hose and sluiced the jam from the wall.#Also on the bill is the James Brandon Lewis Trio, led by an audacious young tenor saxophonist whose sound is a grimy sluice.#They sailed through the sluice of the Afsluitdijk and continued fishing on the North Sea, where they still fish today.# |
Anything that resembles a water slide with a gate is a sluice — a narrow channel that controls water flow. |
The word originally comes from an old English word meaning a narrow channel that controlled a flow of water, usually to a watermill, and it still has that meaning. A sluice can also mean a splash — often with cold water and usually done with some vigor. A rude, watery slap in the face. Torture victims in movies inevitably have their faces sluiced to bring them round for further questioning. |
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| 727 |
moot |
of no legal significance, as having been previously decided |
The statement from Hermitage said even in the Soviet period no defendant had been tried after death, when charges were generally considered moot. |
subordinate#established#immoral#popular# |
The Mariners needed two batters to render that run moot.#They say the new regulations render the lawsuit moot.#The trek from Long Beach up Interstate 5 was suddenly rendered moot, but Miller kept driving toward Alameda.#Such efforts now seem moot as Israelis and Palestinians refuse to budge in the showdown over the shrine and violence threatens to escalate.# |
When a point is moot, it's too trivial to think about. If your basketball team loses by 40 points, the bad call by the official in the first quarter is moot: it isn't important. |
Though moot can mean to debate endlessly without any clear decision or to think about something carefully, it most often describes ideas and arguments that don't really matter. If your plane is crashing, whether or not your socks match is a moot point. When someone accuses you of making a moot point, he's basically saying, "Come on! Let's talk about what's important." As with so many things, people don't always agree on what's moot and what's not. |
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| 728 |
evanescent |
tending to vanish like vapor |
Time seems stopped but it is moving on, and every glimmer of light is evanescent, flitting. |
peach cobbler#cement bricks#the Declaration of Independence#morning dew# |
But the effect, if any, of such positive reinforcement was evanescent.#Chromatic juxtaposition of evanescent neon and luxurious paint opens up visual space.#The applause was rewarded with an encore, an excerpt of Prokofiev’s “Cinderella,” wafting by like a pretty dream, an evanescent illusion.#But this book is a work of substance disguised as an evanescent sparkle.# |
A beautiful sunset, a rainbow, a wonderful dream right before your alarm clock goes off — all of these could be described as evanescent, which means “fleeting” or “temporary.” |
Evanescent comes from the Latin ex, meaning "out of," and vanescere, meaning "to vanish." When pronouncing this word, emphasize the third syllable and note that the c is silent. You might want to practice saying evanescent a few times right now; if you stumble over pronunciation when you need this word the most, whatever you’re describing — be it a shooting star or a whiff of fragrant perfume — will be gone. |
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| 729 |
vat |
a large open vessel for holding or storing liquids |
The cream remains in the large vat about twenty-four hours before it is churned. |
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Her hands, so steady when she stirs vats of jam or braids my hair, flutter like frantic birds, desperate for me to move faster.#I walk up to the elderly yet strong Malaysian-Chinese man dipping his sieve into the vat.#In a factory just outside San Francisco, there’s an upright stainless steel vat the size of a small car, and it’s got something swirling inside.#It’s a positive vat of goodness, sporting shrimp, scallops, mussels, clams and fish over rice.# |
A vat is a big container for holding liquids. If you're having a big party, your mom may get you to help cook a vat of spaghetti sauce to feed all your hungry relatives. |
Here is an easy way to remember that vat has a short a sound: If you eat the whole vat, you'll probably get fat. Remember, though, that vats are not always food-related. People who make pottery, for example, keep vats of glazes in which they dip their vases and cups in order to color them. No matter what a vat contains, it's often heavy and hard to move. |
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| 730 |
dapper |
marked by up-to-dateness in dress and manners |
Thoroughly dapper, he took off his black-and-white pinstriped suit jacket — with its pocket-square flair — and weaved in and out among them, his voice ever rising. |
unimaginable#unbelievable#unfashionable#unpredictable# |
A dapper native of Azerbaijan, who is worth an estimated $1.9 billion, Agalarov happens to be Trump's closest partner in the world of Russian business.#Dapper crowds surged up and down the antique stairs, the men...#And everyone seems to be falling for dapper Asahd in the process of working for him.#And judging by those hashtags, it looks like Westwood's wagering was as on the money as his dapper ensembles were.# |
A neatly and stylishly dressed man can be described as dapper. If you like to wear a well-made fedora, you appreciate clothes. Place a brightly colored feather in the brim and you’re dapper. |
Dapper is a Germanic word coming from the Middle Dutch word for elegant. Think of the words dashing, jaunty and spiffy when you think of dapper as these are all near synonyms. All of these words are used specifically to describe men. Although there doesn't seem to be a parallel term for a well-dressed woman, if you call her chic or stylish, she will be pleased. |
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| 731 |
asperity |
harshness of manner |
All this proceeds from the old man, whose proper character it is to be angry and bitter, and to exhibit rancor and asperity. |
feebleness#tardiness#harshness#candidness# |
He insists, with increasing asperity, that the half-dozen debates sanctioned by the national party aren’t enough, joining Sanders in demanding more.#Dawkins’s bracing asperities are now routinely met in kind: ‘Puffed up, self-regarding, vain, prickly and militant’ was one columnist’s string of adjectives for him.#“I’m sure I would be, if I had a chance to read anything she writes,” said the fellow with a note of asperity.#A certain dose of asperity is built into any experience that adheres so rigorously to the original instrumentation.# |
Asperity is the harsh tone or behavior people exhibit when they’re angry, impatient, or just miserable. When your supervisor’s “Late again!” greeting causes your entire future to pass before your eyes, he is speaking with asperity. |
The harshness that asperity implies can also apply to conditions, like "the asperities of life in a bomb shelter." Or even more literally to surfaces, like "the asperity of an unfinished edge." But, most often, you will see asperity used in reference to grumpy human beings. |
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| 732 |
flair |
a natural talent |
In fact, while Lamarr qualified as an inventive genius for her artistic flair, she fell somewhat short on her scientific acumen. |
someone who cooks over an open flame#someone who cooks French food#someone who hates to cook#someone who is a talented cook# |
Growing up in Illinois, her first visit to the coast inspired Park to write “Fog by the Ocean,” a poem with the flair of fiction.#Although these introductions firmly embrace utility, they maintain a refreshing air of flair and whimsy.#But in any case, rebuilding a competitive team with the same attacking flair as last season amounts to a near impossible job.#Their visual flair coincides with a flawless fit and is backed up by a musicality that’s hard to match.# |
Use the word flair to refer to someone’s knack or natural talent for something. Someone might have a flair for throwing fantastic parties, or a flair for solving complex math problems. |
Something or someone with flair is flashy, catchy and full of energy. But oddly enough, flair meant "odor" when it originated in the mid 14th century. It wasn’t until 1925 that the word came to mean a distinctive talent, elegant style or dashing ability. So maybe think of someone absolutely reeking of style and panache — but in a good way. |
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| 733 |
mote |
a tiny piece of anything |
He took his discharge out of his pocket, brushed every mote of dust from the table, and spread the document before their eyes. |
remission#molecule#rebate#pseudonym# |
Scientists like Vaughan hope the project will educate the public about Mote’s work and the importance of preserving reefs.#“It’s all about the six games in May, we say that all the time,” Mote said.#To look at, the object of her passion is just a green mote, floating in vast numbers in the world's oceans.#Mr Hughes suggests that instead of the normal closing line, "So mote it be!"# |
Say the word: mote. It's short and quick, isn't it? The word corresponds to its meaning, which is something tiny: a speck of dust, a bit of fluff, a speckle of gold in the prospector's pan. |
We're not sure of the origin of the word mote, except that it is related to Germanic words meaning "sawdust or grit, tiny dust particles." We think of a mote as the tiniest of objects, but astronomer Carl Sagan demonstrates a different perspective when he looked at a photograph of Earth taken from a great distance by Voyager I and said, "We live on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam." |
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| 734 |
circumspect |
heedful of potential consequences |
Obama administration officials argue that new regulations are forcing insurers to be more circumspect about raising rates. |
concurrent#simulated#acoustic#discreet# |
When somebody tells him he can’t do something, he’s at a minimum circumspect.”#But other, less ideologically invested scientists were far more circumspect.#Whatever the case, that leaves plenty of room for less circumspect rivals to rush in and suffer the trials of releasing technology early.#It is unusual for equity investors to be more circumspect than bond buyers.# |
If you are circumspect, you think carefully before doing or saying anything. A good quality in someone entrusted with responsibility, though sometimes boring in a friend. |
The word circumspect was borrowed from Latin circumspectus, from circumspicere "to be cautious." The basic meaning of Latin circumspicere is "to look around." Near synonyms are prudent and cautious, though circumspect implies a careful consideration of all circumstances and a desire to avoid mistakes and bad consequences. |
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| 735 |
inimical |
not friendly |
The Hindu idea is that so long as justice and equity characterise a king’s rule, even beasts naturally inimical are disposed to live in friendship. |
hostile#punctilious#pristine#clammy# |
What you are doing is harmful to your presidency and inimical to our foundational commitment as a free people to the rule of law.#The argument is not without merits because these are places that are inimical to US interests.#And a civilisation inimical to our modernity, according to this logic, is surely our enemy.#The strategy was condemned as crude, cynical and inimical to the rule of law.# |
Censorship is inimical to freedom. So, most teenagers would argue, are curfews. To be inimical is to be harmful, antagonistic, or opposed to — like smoking two packs a day is to healthy lungs. |
Inimical comes from the Latin word inimicus, meaning "enemy." It suggests acting like someone's enemy––being adverse, damaging, or downright hostile. It can refer to anything from emotions and actions to public policy. Be careful not to mix it up with inimitable, which means too good to be copied. |
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| 736 |
apropos |
of an appropriate or pertinent nature |
I found myself thinking vaguely about things that were not at all apropos to the situation. |
issuing informative bulletins during a weather emergency#engaging in loud conversation during an algebra exam#allowing a child to eat nothing but candy for dinner#including personal opinions and slang in a scientific report# |
The 1870 is smooth as all hell, and rather apropos for this place haunted by the ghosts of the Old West.#If anything -- with the weekly forecast littered with rain and windy -- it's the type of environment where pants seem apropos.#Then, apropos of nothing, he added, "Before I forget, Dynamo is the greatest magician on the planet."#More apropos considering what remains of his base...# |
Apropos means regarding or appropriate to, as in: Apropos of your interest in fishing, your grandfather gave you his set of championship lures, rods, reels and lucky tackle box. |
Apropos is a useful word to learn. But first you have to know how to pronounce it: AP-rə-pō. Then you can conveniently change the subject of a conversation by using the expression "Apropos of nothing," which is a glib way of saying, "Oh, and by the way..." If someone's remarks are suitable and appropriate to the occasion, you can get on their good side by saying: How apropos! |
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| 737 |
gruel |
a thin porridge |
He says, keep them on just two pints of Indian-meal gruel—by which he appears to mean thin hasty pudding—a day, and no more. |
a pitcher#a fork#a spoon#a spatula# |
According to Méndez, it was infested with mould, rats and snakes, and the food – typically oat gruel with soya pellets – was inedible.#A classic Cantonese breakfast, congee is, well, rice gruel.#But this is thin gruel for Castro’s victims, some of whom might have expected the president of the United States to acknowledge their suffering.#I worry the great football that’s out there—and it is out there, like those virtuoso Patriots—is getting overwhelmed by the gruel.# |
Gruel is a truly unpleasant food — weak and runny, consisting of oatmeal or cornmeal boiled in milk or water. It's the kind of "slop" prisoners and other inmates of institutions were historically forced to eat. |
Gruel was made most famous by Dickens's Oliver Twist, the little orphan boy in the workhouse, who was so hungry he even asked for seconds of it: "Please sir, I want some more." Gruel's reputation, not great to begin with, never recovered. From this delightful substance comes the adjective grueling, describing an experience that's exhausting and punishing. "To get one's gruel" was 1700s slang meaning "to receive one's punishment." Even back then gruel had a bad rap. |
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| 738 |
gentility |
elegance by virtue of fineness of manner and expression |
This was no rough bully of the seas; Carew's bearing and dandified apparel bespoke gentility. |
amusement#spontaneity#ingenuity#refinement# |
Some reviewers still felt that Mr. Gurney was terminally limited by the gentility that shaped his characters.#A mild-mannered Manhattan lawyer of unfailing gentility and civility, Howard is no fire-breathing Cromwell.#She ridiculed Allen Ginsberg, her husband’s former student, for his “shabby gentility” and “talent for self-promotion.”#The gentility I’d thought praiseworthy suddenly looked like something else.# |
Anyone can be nice. Many people have good manners. But gentility is that rare kind of graciousness that is handed down from one elegant generation to the next. |
In the early 13th century, gentility described someone's social status, coming from the Old French word gentil, meaning "high-born, noble, of good family." Over time the word's meaning broadened to include those coming from a family whose members had a refined manner and an elegant way of expressing themselves — no title of nobility required, just as today anyone can be a gentleman (or woman). |
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| 739 |
disapprobation |
pronouncing as wrong or morally culpable |
Mr Ruthven shook his head and declared that he regarded the conduct of her persecutors with grave moral disapprobation. |
oratorio#citation#condemnation#cavil# |
He reflects this incredible outpouring of disapprobation right back at the press itself.#Whatever our differences, people who summon physical violence to “settle” them should suffer our collective disapprobation instead.#On the other hand, the use of racist or sexist epithets is considered much more dangerous and subject to disapprobation.#Citizens are weighed by their economic activity, with moral disapprobation attached to those who are inactive.# |
If you show up for Thanksgiving dinner an hour late and covered in mud from a tag football game, your parents will give you a look of disapprobation. This means they seriously disapprove of your actions, despite the fact that you scored the winning touchdown. |
Disapprobation is a noun for the state of total disapproval and condemnation. It is often used in conjunction with a moral or social offense. Acts such as stealing an old lady's purse, defying your teachers or parents, vandalizing, or being a lying sneak are all things that are going to earn you disapprobation. But if you decide to change your evil ways and do something wonderful to earn praise, you'll find yourself back on the side of approbation. |
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| 740 |
cameo |
engraving or carving in low relief on a stone |
The trinket was a small round cameo cut out of mother-of-pearl and set in gold; it represented St. George and the dragon. |
a desktop#a suitcase#a beach#a ring# |
But judging by video posted online, the attendees were delighted by the presidential cameo.#Packer also peppers his movies with cameos by famous NBA players and professional boxers.#The surprise was received more warmly by fans than the aforementioned Sheeran cameo, probably because he was nearly impossible to spot.#But perhaps it’s time to remember some of Trump’s more notable movie cameos.# |
If your friend gives you a piece of jewelry that has a raised carving of a face in profile showing all the curves and shapes, that’s called a cameo. |
Often used to show a person’s head in profile, a cameo typically has two layers of color: one color for the subject and another one for the background. The detail is depicted not by color or shades but instead by the raised design, which is called a relief. A cameo is typically used for a piece of jewelry, such as a ring or a brooch, and it has an ornate, old-fashioned quality. You may have seen this type of jewelry depicted in Victorian paintings or possibly worn by your great grandmother. |
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| 741 |
gouge |
swindle; obtain by coercion |
Shortages also have raised concerns about higher prices and gouging by wholesale drug companies that obtain supplies of hard-to-get drugs and jack up the costs. |
believe#predict#waver#extort# |
She pulls up her shirt to expose the pale, taut skin of her stomach, marred by a tangle of gouges.#With his fresh eyes, he spotted the problem: The machinery used to gouge into...#“This isn’t the greedy drug company trying to gouge patients, it is us trying to stay in business,” Mr. Shkreli said.#By increasing competition in the generics market, Gottlieb aims to limit price gouging.# |
To gouge can mean to make a hole or dent in something, or to swindle or steal by overcharging. If your local gas station raises prices because a storm is coming, you may say that the station owner is gouging you — and that's illegal. |
The verb gouge means to cut or carve. You can use special chisels to gouge linoleum for interesting design in printing. As a noun, a gouge is the tool you would use — instead of a flat-head chisel, a gouge has a trough — to make the gouge marks of the design. Another meaning of the verb gouge is an indentation in the surface of something. If you're not careful with the screwdriver, you'll accidentally gouge a hole in the wall. |
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| 742 |
oratorio |
a musical composition for voices and orchestra |
Mendelssohn had no sooner completed his first oratorio, "St. Paul," than he began to think about setting another Bible story to music. |
a restaurant#a church#a courthouse#a political rally# |
It was just last year that the Music Center at Strathmore premiered his epic oratorio “I Am Anne Hutchinson/ I Am Harvey Milk.”#Longtime devotees will flock to Haydn’s oratorio “Creation,” conducted by James Levine, the orchestra’s newly appointed conductor laureate.#This produces the possibility of a Pop symphony or oratorio, with distinct but related movements.#After Esther Handel presented a further twenty-one oratorios in London.# |
An oratorio is a musical piece that is usually lengthy and based on some Biblical or religious event. It is a performance for voice and orchestra, but the story is told through the music, and not with scenery, costumes, and action. |
In Rome, musical services were presented in the church of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri. An oratory, from the Latin word oratorium, meant "place of prayer." These sorts of musical services spawned the type of music known as oratorios. Handel's Messiah is a well known oratorio that is often performed at Christmas. You are probably familiar with the part that goes "Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!" |
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| 743 |
inclement |
severe, of weather |
Be prepared for inclement weather and possible ice and snow on park roads. |
unconvinced#topical#unresponsive#mild# |
United soccer game, as the team cited both inclement weather and conditions on the field, which appeared to resemble the legendary swamp.#There’s a chance for inclement weather during practice.#Inclement weather canceled two flights and forced the team to travel on the day of games.#Unfortunately for my grandfather, when he was captain of the Procyon, bad luck combined with inclement weather.# |
Inclement usually refers to severe or harsh weather that is cold and wet. When packing for a trip to the Caribbean bring tank tops and shorts, but don't forget a raincoat in case of inclement weather. |
This adjective can also refer to a person or action that is harsh and unmerciful. Inclement is from a Latin root formed from the prefix in- "not" plus clemens "clement." This English adjective clement can mean either mild or merciful; the more commonly used noun clemency can mean mildness or mercy. |
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| 744 |
scintilla |
a tiny or scarcely detectable amount |
Gardner "never expressed one scintilla of remorse for his attack upon the victim" despite overwhelming evidence, prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo. |
a fleet of boats#a gathering of conspirators#the smallest amount of doubt#the largest portion of ice cream# |
Mrs Foster said there was not a " scintilla of evidence" to support corruption allegations over the scheme.#NANTICOKE, Pa. — Sarah Scintilla turned 18 last summer, quickly registered as a Republican and, in November, enthusiastically voted for Donald Trump.#At the very least, you need a scintilla of self-doubt.#This is also the same figure who claimed, without a scintilla of facts, that millions of illegal immigrants voted on Election Day.# |
It might take more than a scintilla of English vocabulary knowledge to know that scintilla means a tiny bit of something. |
Scintilla is a long word for describing a tiny thing. It comes sandwiched between the words a and of in phrases like “a scintilla of doubt” or “not a single scintilla of evidence.” If you’re uncertain of the pronunciation, remember: it rhymes with chinchilla and the c is silent, just like in science. Similar words you can use to talk about tiny bits of something are iota, smidgen, speck, and whit. |
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| 745 |
confluence |
a flowing together |
And indeed, before the 13th century, there was an extraordinary confluence of genius and innovation, particularly around Baghdad. |
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The style of this group, also visiting from the High School of Sports Management, represents the confluence of 1990s- and 2000-era hip-hop.#At the confluence of increasing literacy rates and ever-growing urban populations looking for recreation, cheap imprints flourished.#Searchers found the other man alive near Confluence Park about an hour later.#It was a perfect confluence of the mainstreaming of both incendiary leftist political language and the mass production of countercultural musical merchandise.# |
Confluence means a flowing together. In a literal sense, it's about rivers. But it's more often used to talk about the coming together of factors or ideas, or of cultures in a diverse city. |
Con- means "with," and -fluence sounds like "flow." When things come together like rivers do, flowing from entirely different places, you call that a confluence. If the senior class needs to raise money for a class trip, and the drama club is looking for someone to do concessions during intermission at the school play, that's a confluence of factors. |
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| 746 |
squalor |
sordid dirtiness |
What can be expected of human beings, crowded in such miserable habitations, living in filth and squalor, and often pinched with hunger? |
an investment banker#a star athlete#a homeless man#a college professor# |
Skid Row’s desperation and squalor endure in the shadow of downtown’s new towers.#He noted that Awan is an American citizen and said "this outrageous political prosecution" was forcing his children to live in squalor in Pakistan.#But the comedy in her writing barely masked bitterness and political anger, and she did not shy away from describing misery, squalor and neglect.#But sympathy for her is gained through the details of her younger years in squalor, living in hotel rooms and performing on the streets.# |
If something is extremely dirty, filthy or just plain disgusting, it falls into the territory of the noun squalor. We’re not just talking about a messy room. We’re talking about a dungeon riddled with rats and roaches. |
Squalor comes from the Latin squalere, which means “to be filthy.” This word often refers to living conditions as in, “after the disaster, the people were living in squalor.” This word can also describe a city or a building that is in general disrepair such as “ever since the budget cuts, the city has fallen into squalor.” If you know someone whose head is always in the gutter, you might say they suffer from a “squalor of the mind.” |
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| 747 |
stricture |
severe criticism |
While gratefully accepting the generous praises of our friends, we must briefly reply to some strictures by our critics. |
deviation#criticism#charity#delight# |
The reasons include the weakening hold of religion on American life as well as a loosening of strictures against cremation by some denominations.#Actually, our founders for the most part simply wanted freedom from the strictures of England’s rigid class system.#But, as with other strictures, there is a gap between Isis proclamations and an abusive, often violent reality.#Sebelius case, one that would loosen the law’s strictures without striking down decades worth of Commerce Clause jurisprudence.# |
One meaning of stricture is a nasty criticism, while the other is a sharp contraction of a tube or canal in the body. Either meaning can mean great pain to the person experiencing the stricture. |
The noun stricture finds its roots in the Late Latin word strictūra, which came from the stem stringere, "to draw tightly." You might remember that meaning by its relationship with the word constrict, meaning "to tighten or draw in." The additional meaning, that of “a critical remark,” is often used in the plural form — like "the critical strictures against cheating." |
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| 748 |
emblazon |
decorate with heraldic arms |
His coat of arms was emblazoned on the cover. |
belittle#catapult#abut#color# |
The massive banner was emblazoned with the environmental group’s name and the words “resist” and “defend.”#The words emblazoned in the tower’s bricks are so familiar I hardly notice them anymore.#Emblazoned with “Drive for our Lives,” the black-and-gray motor coach was parked in downtown Cedar Rapids for a rally with about a dozen people.#When other kids are wearing concert jerseys, he’s wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with various species of whales.# |
Emblazon means to inscribe conspicuously. If you are a knight and you are decorating your shield with your coat of arms, you are emblazoning it. |
If you are a graffiti artist and you paint your tag on a bridge, you are emblazoning the bridge. The mother of a toddler might freak out if she comes into her freshly painted dining room to find it emblazoned with her child's crayoned scribbling. |
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| 749 |
augury |
an event indicating important things to come |
This is always an encouraging sign, and an augury of success. |
He is realistic.#He is caustic.#He is joyous.#He is superstitious.# |
The recording, in all its lo-fi ambience, is like an augury of his early death.#People will look for auguries – in the weather, in birds flying overhead – for Charles’s reign.#A shot saved by Ali Al-Habsi followed and this proved an augury of what was about to occur.#Weeks before, our television critic referred to the event as “not an encouraging augury of the campaign to come.”# |
Is your team losing 15-0? Has your girlfriend just slapped your face? Dude, these are auguries — signs of how things are going to work out in the future. And these two examples don't look good. |
In fact, not every augury is an ill omen, as the common phrase "augurs well for the future" suggests, but more often than not, it seems, an augury is a sign that the future will be none too rosy. Auguries are signs of what's to come, and it's wise not to ignore them. |
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| 750 |
abut |
lie adjacent to another or share a boundary |
It depicts a mountain landscape near Kingston, a historic town abutting the Hudson River. |
impale#gouge#belittle#border# |
Elements of the U.S. military aggressively patrol the air and seas that abut China.#After nearly two hours we reached Miyun, a district in northeast Beijing abutting the dimpled mountains that ring the city.#“Tell him abut MacArthur landing,” Gene Jr. urged his father.#Texas recorded only six, all in the Brownsville area, abutting Mexico.# |
When something borders something else, it is said to abut it. The term is often used in real estate to refer to a lot line. Wouldn’t it be nice to have your back yard abut a forest preserve or park? |
The Old French word but meant "end" — think of "butt" for a crude way to remember that! — and it was joined to a-, from the Latin ad- "near to." The result was abuter, which meant "to touch at an end." The word eventually became abouter, meaning "to join at the ends, or border on." The idea of abut suggesting a common boundary comes from the late Middle English, and today we use the word when anything touches something else. |
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| 751 |
banal |
repeated too often; overfamiliar through overuse |
Highly dramatic incidents are juxtaposed with comparatively banal ones; particular attention is given to tales of doomed love affairs. |
limber#tired#impeccable#unfettered# |
But the most banal details, often of a scatological nature, are the most disturbing.#All I’m saying is that even if all of that is true, they’re interfering in this way, this is banal.#The truth is far more banal and depressing.#This may seem obvious and almost banal, but to a minimalist like me who favors converging things as much as possible, this convenience is worthwhile.# |
If something is boring and unoriginal, it's banal. Banal things are dull as dishwater. |
Ever notice how some TV shows, songs, and even phrases are boring and unoriginal? It's like you've seen or heard the same thing a million times. Anything that's unoriginal and dull is banal — a fancy word for things that bore you to tears. When you're writing, try not to be banal. Clichés and dull topics are banal. New ideas, fresh language, and unusual subject matter can keep your writing from being dreary and banal. |
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| 752 |
congeal |
become gelatinous |
Boil down the syrup to half its original quantity, but take care that it does not boil long enough to congeal or become thick. |
the sand on a beach during a hot day#the cheese on a cooling slice of pizza#the water in a pool on a cool day#the toasted bread of a sandwich# |
A congealed hunk of cheese dwarfs a thinly applied gravy that tastes more of tomatoes than chiles.#She tried it a few minutes later, when it was slightly congealed.#It's coated in a thick layer of congealed blood.#The industry may be the handmaiden of globalisation but it is congealing into regional oligopolies.# |
Congeal means to jell — to solidify or become gelatinous. Sounds gross? But wiggly Jell-O is actually congealed liquid, so it can't be that bad, right? |
This word comes to us from the Old French word congeler, which means "to freeze." So when something congeals it goes from liquid to solid form, almost like freezing. No one usually likes congealed anything — whether it's chunkified old soup in the fridge or dried blood on a wound. See? Pretty gross. Jell-O is about as good as congealed gets! |
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| 753 |
pilfer |
make off with belongings of others |
Many young people scavenge for reusable garbage, living on proceeds from pilfered construction material and other recyclables. |
mutter#steal#cheer#battle# |
Opposition activists saw it as an acknowledgement that HTS was exploiting its position in northwestern Syria to pilfer weapons from vetted opposition groups.#Some looted, loading trucks with pilfered village goods, searching dead bodies for jewelry and cash.#When ramp workers pilfer your luggage, they’re looking for valuables such as electronics.#Prosecutors allege Cochran extorted money from a store owner and pilfered funds from an activities fund to pay for gambling and his daughter’s college tuition.# |
To pilfer is to steal something, typically of small value. Minor thefts, like taking a roll of toilet paper out of a public bathroom or napkins from the Early Bird Buffet are what your grandfather, for example, might pilfer. |
The verb pilfer comes from the Old French noun pelfre, meaning “booty,” or “spoils.” Now pilfer is used when talking about the act of stealing loot: you may find that you have to really restrain yourself from the desire to pilfer your friend’s new fur-lined gloves, even though you're pretty sure she pilfered your headphones. Robin Hood was able to pilfer from the rich to give to the poor. How romantic! |
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| 754 |
malcontent |
a person who is unsatisfied or disgusted |
Now, unfortunately, some malcontents among the hands here have spread their ideas, and a strike has been called. |
similar#spatial#discontented#minute# |
These messages attract restless and bored young Muslims, some of whom are misguided idealists but many of whom are criminals or malcontents.#This is not some malcontent football player looking for attention and some sort of legal windfall.#Oscar the Grouch is as malcontent as ever, but lives next door to a recycling bin.#They see the protesters as petulant malcontents and repeat Trump’s accusation that some of them are surely getting paid to demonstrate.# |
A malcontent is someone who's always dissatisfied. The guy at the restaurant who sends back the steak because it's too rare, then sends it back a second time complaining that it's not rare enough — he's a malcontent. |
Malcontent is often used to describe people who complain about more important things than steaks — things like social and political injustice. In Shakespeare's day, the Malcontent was a popular character type. Hamlet was a classic Malcontent. He believed that his uncle, King Claudius, murdered his father for power, and it made him angry that everyone else seemed to think that Claudius was a good person. |
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| 755 |
sublimate |
direct energy or urges into useful activities |
They might instead have passionate friendships, or sublimate their urges into other pursuits. |
factor#lap#strip#subtilize# |
Woolf bucks the flu, sublimates her class disdain for Joyce, channels Proust, publishes “Jacob’s Room” and commences work on “Mrs. Dalloway.”#This is pretty beautiful writing, a moment when the self becomes sublimated to something larger.#Part of my ambivalence is a snotty theoretical resistance to women sublimating their identities into that of their children.#Meet the day in tides Avenues of choices sublimate into grayer hues.# |
When you're at a lecture and you feel restless, you've got to sublimate the desire to move around. That means you force the desire to be more subtle so you can continue listening — even if you don't want to. |
Psychologists use the verb sublimate to describe the process of channeling intense energy into something useful or appropriate. Freud sublimated his desire to live at home with his mother, and he moved into his own apartment. Sublimate is related to the word sublime — both words come from the Latin word sublimare, which means "to raise up" or "to exalt." So Freud's finally getting his own place is, arguably, a superior — a more exalted — living situation. |
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| 756 |
eugenic |
causing improvement in the offspring produced |
Eugenics was aimed at creating a better society by filtering out people considered undesirable, ranging from criminals to those imprecisely designated as “feeble-minded.” |
specialist#youth#winner#authority# |
Bioethicists fear this will lead to eugenics programs, where people sporting undesired traits are suddenly considered “unfit” for society.#There’s also the matter of the program’s resemblance to the eugenics programs that populate American history.#“If you don’t want eugenics, you just draw a line and stop there.”#While that conjures up the bad old days of eugenics, it is in fact the only way to repair most “disease genes.”# |
Something eugenic relates to the idea that self-selecting genetic characteristics, like hair or eye color, can improve a race. The Nazis' eugenic plans to create a "master race" marked one of the darkest periods in the twentieth century. |
The adjective eugenic traces its roots from the Greek word eugenes, meaning "well-born." The field of eugenics aimed in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to improve the characteristics of a race by promoting certain qualities in its offspring, which they then would pass on to future generations. But it also tried to prevent people with "unfavorable" qualities from procreating. This philosophy has greatly fallen out of favor since World War II, especially among biologists. |
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| 757 |
lineament |
the characteristic parts of a person's face |
The tears stood in Muriel's eyes, and her face was very pale, but serenity marked every lineament. |
icicle#feature#protagonist#firebrand# |
These are the lineaments of the thing called experience.#The lineaments of the central story are clear.#Even as they eventually published their work, they preserved the professional lineaments of their class.#The human lineaments of the comic characters in “Mostellaria,” skin-deep though they may be, are erased in this rollicking mash-up.# |
A lineament is a fancy, literary word that means "a part of a person's face," like his eyes, ears, or nose. |
In his poem "Manfred", Lord Byron wrote, "She was like me in lineaments — her eyes / Her hair, her features, all..." He was basically saying that a particular woman's face looked a lot like his own face, when he examined each part of it — each lineament — separately. The word comes from the Latin word linea, meaning "line." Lineaments can also refer to someone's distinctive features, not just their looks. |
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| 758 |
firebrand |
someone who deliberately foments trouble |
But Hassan is not some teenage firebrand hurling rocks; he’s a slight, graying scholar committed to peace. |
republican#elitist#provoker#volunteer# |
He’s trying to fight off a field of firebrand challengers, including U.S.#Cheering government employees became fixtures at marches to defend the leftist firebrand's "21st century Socialism".#United fans freely gush about the menacing tyro whose blistering turn of pace and firebrand mentality tore up contests.#Just don’t expect her to become a vocal feminist firebrand in the process.# |
When someone is known for being wildly devoted to a cause or idea, they're called a firebrand. A firebrand enjoys pushing buttons and stirring up passions. |
Firebrand isn't such a tough word to remember if you think of that person's "brand" being "fiery." Someone who enjoys heating up the debate around a subject or lighting a fire under other people is a firebrand. "Fire" is their "brand." Firebrands come in all shapes and sizes: conservative, liberal, militant, creative. Anyone who takes a strong, provocative stance and challenges people with heated rhetoric might be labeled a firebrand. All it takes is guts and a willingness to stir things up. |
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| 759 |
fiasco |
a complete failure or collapse |
The Stuttgart protests became a national fiasco in late September, when protesters clashed with police wielding batons and water cannons. |
boldness#tapestry#wisdom#failure# |
How quickly Samsung will emerge from the Note 7 fiasco is less clear.#The fiasco at Dunkirk became a psychic triumph in England.#“The billing scenario, that was the real fiasco and caught us off guard,” said Tom Wilbur, chief executive of Newport Hospital.#“The billing scenario, that was the real fiasco and caught us off guard,” said Tom Wilbur, the chief executive of Newport Hospital.# |
A fiasco is a disaster. It's not a natural disaster — like an earthquake or a volcano; a fiasco is usually the result of human failure. |
Fiasco comes from the Italian term that means "to make a bottle." How it came to describe an utter, embarrassing, disaster in the English language is still unknown. Today, you'll hear fiasco used in situations that have gone so horribly awry that they are almost laughable, like the Thanksgiving dinner fiasco in which the turkey burnt to a crisp, the dog ate all the side dishes, and everyone had to eat frozen pizza instead. |
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| 760 |
foolhardy |
marked by defiant disregard for danger or consequences |
Many mistakes—extravagant purchases, foolhardy investments—are made in the first months after a windfall. |
learning to speak Italian#missing a question on a quiz#asking someone to dance#drag-racing in an ice storm# |
This may be the flimsiest, most foolhardy red line in presidential history.#For bonus points, there is even a defiant takedown of Nashville itself: a city, as she tells it, of fakery, favours and the foolhardy.#With the war already being criticized as foolhardy and misbegotten, if not criminal, did you don or did you dodge? — pun absolutely intended.#Opponents say it was foolhardy, expensive and ineffective.# |
If you decide you are going to scale Mt. Everest next weekend without any training or experience, that would be a foolhardy decision. Use the adjective foolhardy to describe someone who rushes into action without considering the consequences. |
Foolhardy is a combination of the noun fool and the adjective hardy, meaning "brave" or "bold." Put them together and you’ve got “foolishly brave.” Someone who is foolhardy throws caution to the wind and takes reckless chances. A foolhardy mistake is typically the result of this kind of impulsive behavior. But foolhardy doesn’t always imply foolishness or stupidity; foolhardy can convey courage and romance, as in the case of a foolhardy passion or desire. |
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| 761 |
retrench |
tighten one's belt; use resources carefully |
But there was only one way open to me at present—and that was to retrench my expenses. |
buy new computers#stop giving out bonuses#shut down the company#hire new people# |
Tasha: Yeah, retrenching the scale down to a more human size is so important for these movies.#Rebels were retrenching on the western city limits, in the direction of the explosion, and the Islamic State lurked an hour’s drive east.#Met President Daniel Weiss says the institution needs to “ retrench” its finances.#Back then Americans, mired in foreclosures and investment losses, retrenched away from buying stuff.# |
When times are tight, it's time to retrench. That means rethink your budget, cut back on the spending, and use your pennies wisely. |
Usually when you have to retrench, it's not a good thing. Companies in the process of retrenching are usually laying off staff or cutting back on employee benefits. But even if you're making gobs of money and your bank account is full of cash, it might be wise to save for a rainy day — that way you won't have to retrench when the going gets tough. |
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| 762 |
ulterior |
lying beyond what is openly revealed or avowed |
Shop window displays may help prettify shopping thoroughfares, but any savvy retailer has the ulterior motive of self promotion. |
undiminished#distant#pivotal#foolhardy# |
In fact, that’s the ulterior motive to her venture.#“I think this either shows lack of a full, correct knowledge of the issue, or there are ulterior motives for it, trying to shift responsibility.”#The West, Russians believe, is tainted by ulterior motives and dirty hands in the North Korean conflict.#All the time he’s got an ulterior motive.”# |
An ulterior interest, argument, or revelation is one you try to keep hidden, like your ulterior motive for weeding your grandmother's garden is to have a conversation with your crush — and Grandma's neighbor — who happens to be outside, too. |
The adjective ulterior is a Latin word which means “more distant” or “future.” Something that is ulterior may lay the groundwork for what comes later, like a new friend who hangs out with you at your house but whose ulterior motive is to date one of your siblings, or the incredible popularity of a series of novels set in a real place having the ulterior consequences of that place becoming a tourist destination. |
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| 763 |
equable |
not varying |
His must have been that calm, equable temperament not easily ruffled, which goes with the self-respecting nature. |
graded#putrid#ulterior#temperate# |
But when the Falcons led by 17 on Sunday, it was the normally equable Packers who looked as if they were beginning to fret.#But there comes a point when the lies piled upon lies become too much for even the fairest and most equable of us.#I did so a few months later, he picked up the phone again, and he was again equable, good-humored, and patient.#They would operate in way that is "balanced, proportionate, transparent, fair and equable", it added.# |
The adjective equable means "not easily irritated" or "steady," like someone's equable manner that makes everyone instantly feel comfortable. |
To correctly pronounce equable, accent the first syllable: "EK-wah-bul." It comes from the Latin word aequabilis, meaning "equal, consistent, uniform." An equable person isn't moody. You wouldn't expect him or her to fly into a rage one minute and be humming a happy tune the next. Instead, someone who is equable takes things in stride — the good, the bad, and the ugly, with a smile and the occasional reminder that "this too shall pass." |
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| 764 |
inured |
made tough by habitual exposure |
But he had become inured to the rush and whirr of missiles, and now paid no heed whatever to them. |
putrid#congenital#tough#pivotal# |
In such industries Americans are inured to mistreatment.#I’m not immune or inured to it, but I understand the artistic value of what that is when you watch it.#“We become inured to a lot of these technological techniques for manipulating our emotional states.”#After a while, some people seemed to grow inured to the risks and consequences of a budget deadlock.# |
If you have gotten so many mosquito bites in your life that they no longer bother you, you have become inured to them. This means you have become accustomed to tolerating them. |
This adjective is derived from the 16th-century phrase in ure, meaning “in use” or “in practice.” When you are inured to something, you have probably had a lot of persistent exposure to it, and it’s usually something negative. People can become inured to pain, inured to violence, and even inured to the sound of a little yappy dog that won’t stop barking. |
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| 765 |
invidious |
containing or implying a slight or showing prejudice |
"After an old-fashioned, all-round team performance … it might seem invidious to single out one player," admits the paper before singling out one player. |
gregarious#unmitigated#unfavorable#inured# |
They dare not to compare, thus short-circuiting invidious social comparisons.#The invidious utterance or person invites odium more openly.#The three judges who dissented in yesterday’s decision were notably silent about this invidious elephant in the room.#But both “You’ll Never Eat Lunch” and “How to Murder Your Life” are remarkably honest in foregrounding the invidious parallelism of their subjects’ multifarious drives.# |
Something can be described as invidious when it is resentful, discriminatory or envious, as in: "Fred was angered by the invidious gossip about his divorce being spread by his ex-wife's allies." |
The adjective invidious is used to describe an act, thought, opinion or critique that is full of ill will or prejudice. It comes from a Latin word that means "hostile." When the captain of a cheerleading squad says nasty things about an opposing cheer captain's new party dress, those are invidious comments. |
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| 766 |
unmitigated |
not diminished or moderated in intensity or severity |
In order to be well directed, sympathy must consider all men, and not the individual alone; only then is it an unmitigated good. |
coarse#brittle#nutrient#eased# |
No one at Sequim High thinks Hope Academy was an unmitigated success.#In reality, the program is an unmitigated disaster.#This was an unmitigated battle of muscle, endurance and courage in the shot.#As entertainment, Candy Crush is an unmitigated train wreck that’s banking on the lasting popularity of its lead-in, Big Brother, to drive Sunday night viewership.# |
The adjective unmitigated describes something that is undiminished, unqualified, or absolute. If your new recipe for chocolate cupcakes is met by enthusiastic cheers, you can assume you have an unmitigated success on your hands. |
Unmitigated comes from the Latin roots un-, meaning "not," and mitigare, meaning "made mild, soft, or gentle." Perhaps because of these origins, although unmitigated can be used positively, as in unmitigated success, but the word is often paired more negatively. You knew the wedding was going to be an unmitigated disaster when the bride and groom didn't bother to show up at all, leaving the guests to sit waiting for hours. |
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| 767 |
concomitant |
an event or situation that happens at the same time |
The conclusion must be drawn that every epidemic of bubonic plague is caused by the concomitant rat plague. |
incidental#nefarious#recurrent#phlegmatic# |
When faced with experience, with the disorder and bewilderment of event, we are often visited by a concomitant urge to shape and understand it.#Then, too, there’s our social media problem, and its concomitant — though preexisting — celebrity problem.#In the aftermath of Seman’s death and the concomitant suspension of legal proceedings against him, many questions linger.#Scientists suspect that this decline is due in large part to a concomitant fraying of our brain’s white matter, which is its wiring.# |
Concomitant means accompanying. If you run into someone that you have a crush on you might feel nervousness with a concomitant forgetfulness. |
Concomitant is one of those Latin-based words you can break down into little pieces: con means with, and comit means companion. So something that is concomitant is like the companion of the main event. If you start training really hard at the gym, the main effect is that you become stronger, but there are concomitant effects, like better circulation, or a rosy glow, or getting happy from all those endorphins you’re releasing. |
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| 768 |
cozen |
cheat or trick |
Dicing-houses, where cheaters meet, and cozen young men out of their money. |
nourish#smother#mislead#liberate# |
Cozen O’Connor of the District appointed Karen Williams counsel in the firm’s commercial litigation department and it’s international investigation and criminal defense group.#Mr. Nash, who has taken his state attorney general practice to the Philadelphia-based law firm Cozen O’Connor, did not respond to a request for comment.#While most owners opt to live elsewhere during the chaos of construction, the Cozens chose to stay put with their two daughters throughout the project.#At Philadelphia’s Cozen & Connor, 15 summer associates balance client work with events including cocktail parties, museum nights and local sports games.# |
To cozen is to mislead, defraud, or fool someone through lies. Cozen rhymes with dozen, and if you say you had two wrong answers on your math test, but you really had a dozen, you might be trying to cozen your parents. |
While not related in roots, the first part of cozen sounds like the slang word "cuz." If someone asks why you lied, you might say "Cuz I didn't want you to know the truth." And to cozen is to keep the truth hidden and deceive or cheat. Using a trick to get something is one way to cozen, and if you tell a partial truth, there's still a part lie or an attempt to cozen and mislead. |
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| 769 |
phlegmatic |
showing little emotion |
Humanity, when surfeited with emotion, becomes calm, almost phlegmatic. |
a puzzled look#a blank expression#an angry frown#a wide grin# |
Williams however was phlegmatic on the subject in her post-match press conference.#Trump used to speak softly; his expressions were typically phlegmatic, and his gestures were minimal.#In this apparently calm and phlegmatic country, the wolf polarises opinion.#In their original form, the lyrics spoke of phlegmatic African American resignation to misery and oppression.# |
Yes, phlegmatic has roots in that colorless, mucousy stuff called phlegm, but people who are phlegmatic aren't called that because they have lots of mucus. They are just a little dull in expressing feelings or showing emotion. |
It may be their training more than their natural behavior, but those palace guards who wear the red coats and big hats and show absolutely no expression on their faces are phlegmatic. Attempts to make them laugh, smile, or twist their faces in irritation won’t work, because being phlegmatic is important to their role as stone-faced keepers of the palace. Phlegmatic people show less emotion on the outside — but who knows, they may be jumping up and down on the inside. |
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| 770 |
dormer |
a gabled extension built out from a sloping roof |
Other features, such as the front French doors and two roof dormers with curved-top windows and operable shutters, give this home a pleasing, well-balanced presence. |
#### |
While the friends group tackles smaller barn projects, such as repairing metal flashing at dormer windows, the roof work is beyond their abilities or pocketbook.#Levered windows nestle in each dormer, providing a clear view of the bay and the marina beyond.#He said he wants to redo the house’s exterior in stucco and would like to put in second-floor dormer windows.#The brick exterior, which had been painted white, was stripped, and the distinctive dormers on the top floor had to be rebuilt by hand.# |
Almost like a picture in a pop-up book, a dormer is a peaked extension, with a window, that rises up from the roof of a house. The word dormer often refers to the window itself. |
A dormer, with roots in the French dormir (“to sleep”), often extends from an upstairs bedroom. The word has a sense of old-fashioned charm about it. Though you may occasionally still see a face peeking out from a dormer, the word brings to mind old stories such as the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale, “The Snow Queen”: “They each had a little dormer window, and one only had to step over the gutter to get from one house to the other.” |
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| 771 |
pontifical |
denoting or governed by or relating to a bishop or bishops |
The high priest made no resistance, but went forth in his pontifical robes, followed by the people in white garments, to meet the mighty warrior. |
staccato#grandiloquent#sinuous#conformable# |
“He was a bit of a megalomaniac,” conceded Fabrizio Bisconti, the superintendent in charge of catacombs for the pontifical commission.#The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors says Marie Collins quit Wednesday, voicing her “frustration” at the lack of cooperation from other Vatican offices.#Pope John Paul II appointed him to the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, a group of scholars who help advise the Vatican.#He advised the Pontifical Commission for Justice and Peace, and in 1986, did work for the British and Irish bishops and the Vatican.# |
If you ever listen to talk radio you'll hear some fairly pontifical talk going on — that is, puffed up, vain, overblown speech from someone convinced he alone is right. What he's doing is pontificating. |
Pontifical also has a strictly religious meaning, in the sense of anything related to the Pope since the Pope is also known as the Pontiff, or supreme head of the Roman Catholic church. Because Catholic doctrine regards the Pope as being incapable of being wrong, his pontifical utterances are therefore deemed quite infallible. |
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| 772 |
disport |
occupy in an agreeable, entertaining or pleasant fashion |
Straightway the glade in which they sat was filled with knights, ladies, maidens, and esquires, who danced and disported themselves right joyously. |
draw close#lark about#laugh loudly#go off# |
Neither is it a crapshoot, with random particulates disporting themselves until something works.#An actress sits next to a small, plexiglass-encased platform, where two tortoises disport themselves beneath a heat lamp.#The “queer-looking structures,” as The Post described them, were intended for youngsters to “ disport themselves” in.#Not only that, but he adds a whole gallery of male nudes disporting themselves up in the chapel’s heights.# |
Visitors to an elementary school during recess may be surprised by the way the kids disport themselves. Disport means to play in a carefree way or to amuse yourself in a lighthearted fashion. |
To correctly pronounce disport, accent the second syllable: "dih-SPORT." It comes from the French word desporter, which means "to carry away" or "to entertain." Think of disport as what kids do when they have so much fun playing that they get carried away, forgetting all about school until the bell rings. You might disport yourself by frolicking at the beach with friends and enjoying lively conversation. |
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| 773 |
apologist |
a person who argues to defend some policy or institution |
Tories, and apologists for Great Britain, have written much about a justification for this action, but there is no real justification. |
psychologist#scholar#marshal#justifier# |
But it’s time to put the apologists for plutocracy back on the defensive, where they belong — not least for their own sake.#Among its leaders were nativists and Nazi apologists such as Charles Lindbergh.#Ralph Peters over whether questioning America’s relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin is analogous to Nazi apologists from the 1930s.#Despite what Trump apologists may say, it is not normal practice for a campaign to welcome information undermining an opponent, regardless of the source.# |
An apologist is a person who argues in favor of something unpopular. If you're an apologist for deep sea oil drilling, you would argue that drilling in the ocean is necessary and the benefits make up for any environmental damage. |
Apologists tend to be seen in a negative light, as defensive people who make excuses. The word apologist comes from the Greek word apologia, meaning "speaking in defense." Not all apologists are bad news; some just defend an unpopular idea. Even though apologist is similar to apology, don't confuse them — if you make an apology you're admitting to being wrong. But if you're an apologist, you justify your belief or action, and would do it all again! |
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| 774 |
abeyance |
temporary cessation or suspension |
My feelings of home-sickness had returned with redoubled strength after being long in abeyance. |
a court hearing during a recess#a species that has evolved over time#a widow's mourning period#an after-school detention# |
His characters are people emblematic of our time, when the notions of duty and sacrifice are by and large in abeyance.#In the required “status report,” the House and the Justice Department jointly asked the court to leave the case in abeyance.#Under a consent order, the board suspended Lampton’s license for six months, but held the order in abeyance.#He recently pleaded guilty to the drug charges as part of plea in abeyance.# |
An abeyance is a temporary halt to something, with the emphasis on "temporary." It is usually used with the word "in" or "into"; "in abeyance" suggests a state of waiting or holding. |
The word abeyance has a legal ring to it, and for a good reason — appearing in English in the 16th century, it comes from the Anglo-French word abeiance, a legal term for waiting or hoping to receive property. Nowadays, the word is used in a similar way. Different legal rights, like property rights, can be held in abeyance until matters are resolved. |
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| 775 |
enclave |
an enclosed territory that is culturally distinct |
And its suburban schools, rather than being exclusive enclaves, include children whose parents can't afford a house in the neighborhood. |
a Spanish-speaking neighborhood in an English-speaking city#a fruit which grows in a tropical region of the world#a small bone near the shoulder in the human body#an antique instrument used for naval navigation# |
Last month it defeated rebels in the insurgent enclaves near the border in Lebanon and forced the hardline Islamist Nusra Front group to leave.#“Banana enclaves are an example of the successful functioning of models from other states,” says Ebal Díaz, the secretary of Honduras’s council of ministers.#Moments earlier on Tuesday air raid sirens sounded in areas of southern Israel bordering the Palestinian enclave.#Separately, dozens of migrants, some pictured above, overran a border post in Ceuta, a Spanish enclave in Morocco.# |
An enclave is a separate space or group within a larger one. Imagine an enclave as a cave carved out of a big mountain. All of the bears live in the cave or enclave, while the people live on the mountainside. |
Groups of like people often form an enclave within a country or region. There is probably an enclave of Africans, Cubans, Russians, or other ethnic group in or near your hometown. It isn't usually enclosed, but it's a place where people of the same background gather and live together, such as a Chinatown or a Little Budapest. An enclave of a country may have boundaries, making it clear that it's a distinct part — and sometimes under separate government — from the larger territory it's within. |
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| 776 |
improvident |
not supplying something useful for the future |
He was industrious but improvident; he made money and he lost it. |
rakish#histrionic#shortsighted#captious# |
Indeed, he presents himself throughout Black Boy as a rebel, at odds with both his ailing mother, his faithless, improvident father and tyrannical “Granny”.#Then again, Mr. Ryan is making a similarly improvident bet on Mr. Trump.#Some will see a simple morality play here, that these people have been improvident.#To the English, Goldsmith appeared stereotypically Irish: easygoing, innocent and loquacious, but also impudent, feckless and improvident.# |
Someone who is improvident doesn't worry about the future — or plan wisely for it. If you spend all your money on video games even though you know you have to buy your mom a birthday present next week, you have made an improvident decision. |
In the adjective improvident, the prefix im- means "opposite" or "not." Provident comes from the Latin word providere, meaning "foresee, provide." Put that together and you get something that lacks foresight and consideration for the future, like an improvident town council that spends the whole budget on playground equipment, leaving nothing to cover the inevitable repairs to fire trucks or public restrooms. |
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| 777 |
disquisition |
an elaborate analytical or explanatory essay or discussion |
Cumulatively, what emerges from To Kill a Mockingbird is a thoughtful disquisition that encompasses – and goes beyond – the question of racial bias at its worst. |
at the symphony#in a baby's nursery#at the gym#in an English class# |
There is a disquisition on “ecosystem beards,” so named because they are so large they contain entire small worlds.#He often addressed an empty House chamber, boring the C-SPAN producers with his libertarian disquisitions on policy.#Wiking takes a broadly sociological approach, laced with disquisitions on interior design and cooking.#Much of the book’s power lies in Nathan’s bitter retrospective disquisitions on the Swede.# |
Disquisition is a long and elaborate word to describe a long and elaborate analysis of a given topic. If you launch into a disquisition about toe jam at a party, you'll soon be talking to a wall. |
If you write a paper that looks at every single aspect of a topic, that essay can be called a disquisition. If you have a strong interest in something, chances are your friends and family have heard you give passionate disquisitions on it. A disquisition is an incredibly thorough reporting on a topic. Think of it as a discourse or a discussion of an inquisition or long investigation. |
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| 778 |
categorical |
not modified or restricted by reservations |
"European leaders were united, categorical and crystal clear: Gaddafi must go," British Prime Minister David Cameron said. |
flat#idyllic#redolent#iridescent# |
The administration's categorical reading of this concept is overly cramped: nothing in the justices’ opinion suggested they meant to be so stingy.#He and the GOP ran on a categorical promise to obliterate Obama’s Affordable Care Act, and the president is desperate for a big legislative victory.#“To say I'm sorry about my behavior is a categorical understatement. Still, I need to say it: I am so, so sorry.”#It called the version passed by the House last month “a categorical failure” and said the Senate version is “equally troubling.”# |
If someone accuses you of stealing their lunch and you give a categorical denial, it means that you absolutely deny having anything to do with the theft. Categorical means absolute, unqualified, unconditional. |
If you ask someone to marry you and she says maybe, you might be able to persuade her. If it's no, you might still have a chance. But if she gives you a categorical no, she will never change her mind. Less often, categorical is used to describe something that is part of a certain category or group. A Doberman at the Westminster Dog Show might be the categorical winner, meaning it is the best Doberman but not the winner of the show. |
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| 779 |
placate |
cause to be more favorably inclined |
The East India Company was placated by the concession of further exemptions in its favour. |
duplicate#specify#implicate#pacify# |
But the City Council need not rush to placate people in high places.#While some Republicans played down the divergence, critics said it exemplified an incoherent policy that would unsettle allies and fail to placate Moscow.#Yet demoting Mr. McCabe, a career F.B.I. agent, would probably anger agents, who would see it as a move that placates the president.#For EU governments to jeopardise this boost to the economy, even to placate creaking European flag-carriers, would be an act of considerable self-harm. # |
When a husband shows up with flowers after he's fought with his wife, he's trying to placate her. If you placate someone, you stop them from being angry by giving them something or doing something that pleases them. |
If your little sister is mad that the dog ate her favorite teddy bear, you could placate her by buying her an ice cream cone. A near synonym for placate is appease. The origin of placate is Latin placare "to calm or soothe." The related Latin verb placere is the source of English please. |
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| 780 |
redolent |
serving to bring to mind |
Here, however, are congregated a vast number of curious and interesting objects, while the place is redolent of vivid historical associations. |
resonant#corpulent#gregarious#tractable# |
In 1984, Harper’s called it “an old Stalinist term, redolent of class struggle.”#By the time the chicken was done, he’d dunked it twice, sort of a post-barbecue brining, redolent of dead crustaceans and shark scum.#The former are light and transparent, redolent of urchin shells, clam shells and jellyfish.#Photos of the original workers are so redolent of the rough sons of the soil in Shakespeare’s play that they inspired ideas for the staging.# |
When something is redolent of something, it makes you think of that thing by making a pretty strong impression on you. He had a shifty eye redolent of years of lying and petty crime. |
People used to use redolent of something with a strong, distinctive odor. Now, think of it as "stinks of" — but in a fancy way. If you're touring an old castle, you might say that the worn carpet and handsome woodwork are redolent of the place's former glory, though otherwise it's a dump. |
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| 781 |
felicitous |
exhibiting an agreeably appropriate manner or style |
The first book is the finest, sparkling with felicitous expressions and rising frequently to true poetry. |
natty#fortunate#humdrum#gusty# |
The partnering of Ms. Biel with a character capable of savage violence seems felicitous as she strives to stretch professionally.#But it is a novel through and through – felicitous, immensely perceptive and thorough in its insights, and scrupulously humane.#These scholars examined every word to determine the most felicitous turns of phrase before sending their work to colleagues for confirmation.#The timing of Cotton's question was felicitous for Jason Matthews,whose novel "Palace of Treason" was released in paperback on Tuesday.# |
Felicitous describes something that's pleasantly apt or fitting. Felicitous words you write on your friend's birthday card are the ones that perfectly suit the occasion and make her happy when she reads them. |
Felicitous can mean "appropriate," but it also describes something that's lucky. When you plan a trip to the amusement park and it turns out that the sun is shining, that’s felicitous. If you need to mail a package by a certain date and you make it to the post office just in time, that’s also felicitous. The Latin root of felicitous is felix, "happy or lucky." |
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| 782 |
gusty |
blowing in puffs or short intermittent blasts |
Winds could get gusty, occasionally blowing at more than 30 miles per hour. |
stealthy#blustery#blistery#musty# |
“It’s very breezy and then really gusty at times.”#"It’s very breezy and then really gusty at times."#Sunday night, or more likely early Monday, may bring some of Washington’s gustiest days in a year.#But the writer David Foster Wallace knew this gusty stretch of the Midwest well.# |
Gusty, the adjective, describes what the wind is like when leaves are swirling around in the air, garbage blowing all over city streets, and hats refusing to stay put. |
Read this word too quickly and you may think it says gutsy — an entirely different word. See the base gust — as in "a gust of wind" — and you'll get more than a hint as to what gusty means. Gusty typically relates to the weather — describing blustery winds, sudden outbursts, strong on-again/ off-again blasts of cold air. Go outside the box and use it to depict a person's stormy, emotional behavior, especially if he has quick, sudden outbursts: "He was given to gusty behavior whenever you mentioned her name." |
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| 783 |
natty |
marked by up-to-dateness in dress and manners |
He wore a checked suit, very natty, and was more than usually tall and fine-looking. |
snappy#unusual#prompt#casual# |
Drenched in Champagne, he looked weirdly natty as he offered a cryptic smile.#Trump views Scaramucci as a natty combatant with a smile. #Natty Davis, a former cabinet minister, remembers “an extreme amount of goodwill”.#Drenched in Champagne, he looked weirdly natty as he offered a cryptic smile.# |
Natty means current in style, both of dress and manners. A natty dresser is someone who is very stylish and has a snappy attitude. He may even be wearing a natty fedora. |
Natty is an adjective that comes from the 18th century. Originally it was a slang term, perhaps related to the adjective neat. These days, if you say someone “looks neat,” it might sound like they look clean, but it also can mean that they look fashionable and put together. That’s what natty means, too. Someone who is natty is wearing fashionable clothes and is generally hip. |
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| 784 |
pacifist |
opposed to war |
He was, furthermore, a real pacifist, believing that war is debasing morally and disastrous economically. |
socialist#sleeper#ancient#disarmer# |
He told officers he is a " pacifist who abhors violence" and it was "a joke that was not funny".#His name was Garry Davis, a former Broadway actor and dancer, turned bomber pilot, turned pacifist.#He referred to the pacifist freedom fighter Mahatma Gandhi in insisting “there is no place for violence” in society.#This is not to say that Democrats were pacifists.# |
A person who opposes the use of war or violence to settle a dispute is called a pacifist. If you are a pacifist, you talk through your differences with others instead of fighting. |
A pacifist is a peacemaker — even its Latin origins of pax, or "peace" and facere, "to make" show it. If you are a pacifist, you avoid physical confrontations. The beliefs and actions of peacemakers can also be described as pacifist, as in someone whose pacifist beliefs lead him to take part in nonviolent protests against a war. |
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| 785 |
buxom |
healthily plump and vigorous |
Mrs. Connelly—a round, rosy, buxom Irishwoman, with a mellow voice, laughing eye, and artist-red hair—was very much taken with their plan. |
lamented#celestial#curvy#vile# |
Debbie is blonde, buxom, a new mother to an infant son and living in a pristine house in Pasadena.#Whereas Playboy centerfolds displayed buxom women, High Times centerfolds displayed beautiful buds.#Expect every comic book trope — the buxom lover, for example, or the British bad guy — but always with a wink.#Over 80 craft beers, including German beers, ciders and wine will be pouring the tasting garden and the Buxom Beer Garden.# |
Marilyn Monroe and the triple loop roller coaster: What do they have in common? Some serious curves. But you could only call the lady buxom, or totally voluptuous. |
If she's a brick! House!, then she's certainly buxom. It's a polite way of saying stacked, quite curvaceous, and especially well endowed in the bosom area. This body type used to be the ideal, long before waifish supermodels took over the catwalk. Yet busty women everywhere are certainly holding out hope that buxom makes a comeback. |
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| 786 |
heyday |
the period of greatest prosperity or productivity |
Playboy's most popular years are well behind it - the magazine enjoyed its heyday in the 1970s. |
maturity#maximum#minimum#prime# |
Though the backyard bunker lives on in the American imagination, in reality its heyday was brief.#We pass the Eclipse Center, which in its heyday in the 1960s was the biggest mall in Rock County.#“Back in my heyday, I would kill Michael Jordan one-on-one,” Ball told USA Today back in March.#The site was heavily contaminated with chemical waste, from its industrial heyday, so Gardner wore a protective suit.# |
A heyday is a peak of popularity or success. If you hear someone say "Hey! Back in the day, I was the best boxer in the city! No one could beat me!" he might be remembering his heyday as a fighter. |
If you remember a time in the past when you were doing something really well or getting a lot of attention or fame, you might be reminiscing about your heyday. A person or an organization — and even a thing — can have a heyday, or a peak time when everything goes well. The good news is that a heyday can come again and again, so while your heyday as student president might be just a memory, there might be a heyday as governor of your state years later. |
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| 787 |
herculean |
displaying superhuman strength or power |
He made herculean efforts to get on terms with his examination subjects, and worked harder than he had ever done in his life before. |
maudlin#hard#concentric#overwrought# |
The new chief of staff’s task is herculean.#We're not sure where to begin the dissection, but here's our Herculean effort to do so:#In reality, even a seemingly herculean swimmer like Phelps can't swim more than 6 mph, compared with the great white's 26 mph.#His appointment stunned analysts, with one saying that fixing Best Buy was “a herculean task even for an accomplished retail executive.”# |
Things that take great strength — like throwing a boulder or finishing math homework — are sometimes called herculean in honor of the Greek god Hercules. |
Just like Thursday comes from the Scandinavian god Thor, the god Hercules gave us this word. Herculean was first used to describe Hercules himself, and later applied to anyone or anything who showed similar strength. Herculean can be used in several ways. You can make a herculean effort to accomplish a herculean task. Any job that is a piece of cake — an easy job that that anyone could do — is totally non-herculean. Save this word for jobs that really deserve the label. |
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| 788 |
burgeon |
grow and flourish |
Brooklyn's burgeoning dining scene has even developed a following among Manhattan food lovers. |
an influx of new local residents#a new textbook adoption#an unexpected snowstorm#a decreased school budget# |
To understand why 1987 is a cultural inflection, it’s best to consider it the year a burgeoning underground movement crystallized and mobilized.#All the while, he casually winged it with North Korea, creating a burgeoning nuclear crisis that could’ve easily been avoided.#Despite Mr. Trump’s tough talk, his administration continues publicly to advocate for a diplomatic solution to the burgeoning crisis on the Korean Peninsula.#The argument, in effect, is that Trump was in a sour mood when he started winging it during a burgeoning nuclear crisis.# |
Use the verb burgeon to describe something that is growing, expanding, and flourishing. If you have a green thumb, in the spring your flower gardens may burgeon. If you don't have a green thumb, your collection of plastic plants may burgeon. |
Although burgeon means to grow and flourish, it doesn't necessarily have to apply only to plants. Your town can have burgeoning downtown development. Your tiny retirement account can burgeon into an excellent emergency fund if you invest even a small amount each month. You may have a burgeoning career as a villain if you overthrow a planet by using your mind-controlling ray gun on the populace. |
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| 789 |
crone |
an ugly, evil-looking old woman |
The aged crone wrinkled her forehead and lifted her grizzled eyebrows, still without looking at him. |
#### |
The 70-year-old Crone told The Associated Press his remarks “were intended as a joke” and were directed at friends.#The crone was, in fact, the Cumaean Sybil, and Rome would regularly turn to the remaining oracles for advice during times of crisis.#Crone pleaded guilty will be sentenced on May 25.#Crone said it’s time for the Memphis community to “step up.”# |
The haggard old woman who lives down the street in a ramshackle house, shaking her fist while chasing children out of her yard? You might call her a crone, if you’re brave. (But be careful: the term is insulting.) |
Since the late fourteenth century the word crone has been a term of abuse describing old and bad-tempered women. It traces back to the Anglo-French word charoine, meaning “dead flesh.” Most people don’t like being described as dead flesh, and if the person happens to have a bad temper also . . . well, you can see that it’s not a term you want to toss around lightly. You’re more likely to hear it used in a Shakespeare play than in real life. |
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| 790 |
prognosticate |
make a prediction about; tell in advance |
How strange it is that our dreams often prognosticate coming events! |
bode#winnow#rescind#impale# |
The May street vacation outcome was widely considered to be a surprise, so prognosticating at this point seems silly.#And that is one bit of prognosticating that actually came true.#We just kept checking our favorite prognosticating sites, and feeling reassured, even though everyone knows that poll results are not votes.#A cogent argument also can not be made in prognosticating which way the hispanic wind will blow next time.# |
To prognosticate means to predict something or at least hint at what will happen in the future. When a lot of natural disasters start happening close together, you might prognosticate that the world is ending, a prediction that's actually thousands of years old. |
From the Latin prognosticāre, meaning "make a prediction," the verb prognosticate means to foretell or predict what is coming. While a fortuneteller or palm reader might claim special powers for seeing into the future, you can prognosticate by looking at real evidence and making a reasonable conclusion about how events will unfold. Sometimes, though, what you prognosticate from a dream or a fortune-cookie message ends up happening too, which is less reasonable but pretty neat — unless the world really does end. |
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| 791 |
lout |
an awkward stupid person |
But this question was beyond the poor lout's intelligence; he could only blubber and fend off possible chastisement. |
epicure#pedagogue#fancier#goon# |
He’s even more terrified when her lout of a husband begins to stalk him.#Still, I prefer the “Silicon Valley” version of Cuban as an obnoxious lout who brought radio to the internet than the self-mythologizing on display here.#He also claimed it would serve as an ‘example’ for English fans, who he characterized as undisciplined louts and poor fighters,” the AP noted.#He also claimed it would serve as an “example” for English fans, who he characterized as undisciplined louts and poor fighters.# |
A lout is a clumsy, awkward oaf. If you want to insult the person who just stepped on your toes and belched, say, "Watch where you're going, you lout!" |
Lout originally meant a bumbling, awkward fellow, both annoying and pitiful. But if you call someone a lout today, you're also implying that he's not only stupid and clumsy, but that he's no good. Lout is almost never used for women, because the word has an implication of being bad to women — not abusive so much as selfish. If everyone thinks your boyfriend is a lowdown, disgusting lout, you might want to try dating someone else. |
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| 792 |
simper |
smile affectedly or derisively |
Mrs. Barnett's mouth simpered at the implied flattery; but her eyes, always looking calculatingly for substantial results, were studying Reedy Jenkins. |
a lioness that is chasing its prey#an employee listening to her boss's bad jokes#a teakettle that has just begun to boil#a young boy who falls off his bike and skins his knee# |
After months of simpering, “some old-fashioned ass-kicking” may be back on the cards.#“Beneath all her simpering and insinuation, there was fury, there was steel.”#Next to the simpering characters who surround him, his aggressive command style is captivating and admirable.#It is a word most often used to convey the stereotype of a simpering, but dissembling, woman.# |
To simper means to smile in an artificial, coy or self-conscious way. If you hope to please someone by simpering, you may wind up annoying him or her. |
The origin of the word simper is not clear, but it is probably Germanic as there are similar words in Danish as well as Middle Dutch. What is clear is that a simper is not attractive to those observing it. Watching your colleague simper and giggle as the boss tells a not-very-funny joke, you can be sure that she is angling for that promotion. |
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| 793 |
iniquitous |
characterized by injustice or wickedness |
This was some piece of wickedness concocted by the venomous brain of the iniquitous Vicar, more abominable than all his other wickednesses. |
sinful#piecemeal#sentient#indeterminate# |
“White Tears” is a profoundly darker and more complex story of a haunting that elucidates the iniquitous history of white appropriation of black culture.#Yes, there is the requisite zombie blob army commanded by iniquitous, all-powerful nihilists to deal with, but it all seems muddled and pro forma.#Poverty and hard work had inflicted iniquitous damage on both.#But both had weak public institutions, teeny civil societies, shady and iniquitous economies, and meaningless laws.# |
Something that is iniquitous is extremely immoral or wicked, such as an iniquitous political regime that assassinates its enemies. |
Use the adjective iniquitous to describe something that is truly bad, morally wrong, extremely wicked, or completely unfair. It’s a strong word — don't use it lightly. If you go see a movie that’s boring and too long, for example, it’s just a bad movie. But a movie that encourages people to take violent action against a minority group? That's iniquitous because the movie's message is grossly immoral. |
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| 794 |
rile |
disturb, especially by minor irritations |
The prospect of seeing Ms. Palin tour Alaska’s wild habitats may rile some people who oppose her opinions about climate change. |
elevate#soothe#produce#curtail# |
The decision to add the nine slots riled some Long Beach residents worried that the extra flights would generate more jet noise.#My atoms were all riled up, and especially sticky that day.#Progressives are riled up with renewed seize-the-day determination to turn Congress’ failure to gut Obamacare and Medicaid into a push for nationwide universal health care.#It’s not uncommon for reporters to rile their sources with persistent, even rude, questions, though they tend to do so with few witnesses.# |
To rile someone is to annoy or bother them. For example, a friend might rile you by constantly texting when you're trying to have a conversation with her. You can also rile water, meaning you make it muddy by stirring it up. |
The verb rile is derived from roil, and they basically mean the same thing. However, rile is more commonly used to mean "annoy" and roil mostly describes stirred liquid. If you rile up your sister, what you say makes gets her worked up, ready to argue with you. When a kid splashes around in the tub, the water is roiled — but if it gets all over the floor, his parents will be riled. |
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| 795 |
sentient |
endowed with feeling and unstructured consciousness |
The money fluttered from his hand to the floor, where it lay like a sentient thing, staring back as if mocking him. |
conscious#crestfallen#oracular#inept# |
And a better job of being happy and increasing the sum of sentient happiness.#Sentient beings as worthy as any of us.#But the smartest beings on the planet wouldn’t be conscious or sentient.#Though it looks like the work of a sentient vine, it’s actually a robot: a soft, plant-inspired creation that “grows” as a form of movement.# |
Someone sentient is able to feel things, or sense them. Sentient usually occurs in phrases like "sentient beings" and "sentient creatures," making it clear that things that don’t have life don’t have feelings. Explain that to a pet rock. |
Sentient comes from the Latin sentient-, "feeling," and it describes things that are alive, able to feel and perceive, and show awareness or responsiveness. Having senses makes something sentient, or able to smell, communicate, touch, see, or hear. Whether or not plants and living things other than animals and people are sentient depends on whom you ask. |
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| 796 |
garish |
tastelessly showy |
With its opulently garish sets and knee-jerk realism, the production dwarfed the cast, no matter what stars were singing. |
changeable#ancient#tacky#uncanny# |
I swore I saw him grinning through his garish alien mask.#Two women stop to stare at a garish, multicolored fur vest in the window of yet another shop with no customers.#Inside a small army-run zoo—home to toucans, a jaguar and even a manatee— garish macaws rescued from animal traffickers squawk intermittently.#It’s a wonder that such a garish display would be effective.# |
Use the adjective garish to describe something that is overly vivid, bright, showy, and in bad taste — like the DJ's garish outfit that is a flashback to the disco era. |
Garish comes to English from the Old Norse word gaurr, meaning "rough fellow." It is often used to describe colors, clothing, decorations, and other things that can be elegant and tasteful. Because the word connotes bad taste, however, it is rarely used in a complimentary way. If you say to your friend, "I like your garish hair and makeup," she is not likely to take it well, unless, of course, you are going to a 70s flashback party. |
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| 797 |
readjustment |
the act of correcting again |
While earpieces are not uncomfortable, they do sometimes come loose, requiring readjustment. |
independence#stimulation#accommodation#permanence# |
They chatted about their families and about Xie’s gradual readjustment to life outside the detention center.#Other scenes touch on post-traumatic stress, combat tactics, civilian readjustment and more.#“Trump’s call with President Tsai may signal a possible readjustment of the U.S. policy toward Taiwan and China respectively,” he said. #She later apologized and said her brand was due for a “ readjustment.”# |
If you have to make changes to something, you make a readjustment. You make readjustments all the time — like when you lower the bike seat for your little sister or set your clock forward for daylight saving time. |
The noun readjustment refers to the act of recalibrating something to match a standard. If you are a scientist, you may be constantly making readjustments to your instruments in order to obtain accurate data. If you're at home, you may have to make some readjustments to your television recording device. The clock is set wrong again and it keeps cutting off the end of your favorite shows, which is super annoying. |
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| 798 |
erstwhile |
belonging to some prior time |
Sony, whose erstwhile dominance in consumer electronics has been eroded by the likes of Samsung, could beat rivals to a potentially new generation of devices. |
sentient#sometime#oracular#inept# |
They wrote the theme song for the erstwhile hit sitcom “Malcolm in the Middle” and soon expanded into Malcolm’s age group.#But it’s not a moral distinction I’m drawing here between me and our erstwhile president.#In fact, Fox may be better off without its two erstwhile stars, O’Reilly and Kelly.#Beyond Breitbart, other erstwhile loyalists are seriously questioning Trump – some for the first time.# |
If your dad used to play in a punk band, but is now a computer programmer, you could call him an erstwhile punk rocker. Erstwhile means "former." |
Erstwhile comes from Old English and is a formal way to say "former." You can go to your class reunion 20 years after you graduate high school and see your erstwhile friends. That means that they had been your friends, but you lost touch with them, so that they weren't friends of yours anymore. Can you think of some people that you wish were erstwhile classmates of yours? |
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| 799 |
aquiline |
curved down like an eagle's beak |
The nose slightly aquiline, curving at the nostril; while luxuriant hair, in broad plaits, fell far below her waist. |
hooked#spry#erstwhile#beholden# |
“So locked up in his world that he can’t see what is on the end of his well-formed aquiline nose.”#For a start, the Ethiopian-born chef with the aquiline features, the Swedish surname and the only-in-America story, is a major employer.#Her nose was aquiline, her teeth sharp, her eyes a nonreflective gray.#The archaeologists said the townspeople sacrificed people in honor of the serpentine fertility god Quetzalcoatl, the jaguar god Tezcatlipoca and the aquiline warrior god Huitzilopochtli.# |
Aquiline means like an eagle, so if someone tells you you have an aquiline nose, it means your nose looks like an eagle’s beak. Believe it or not, this is a compliment. |
Aquiline comes from the Latin word aquila, for eagle. The ancient Greeks and Romans were crazy about eagles, and thought that if you saw an eagle flying on a significant day, like a battle, it was a sign that you were going to win. So it was a big compliment to say someone’s features were aquiline. It almost always refers to a long, curving nose. We also call it a "Roman nose." |
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| 800 |
bilious |
irritable as if suffering from indigestion |
But his sleep had not refreshed him; he waked up bilious, irritable, ill-tempered, and looked with hatred at his room. |
bad-tempered#cutting-edge#close-knit#open-ended# |
The short answer is that they all star in a bilious, minute-long video ad released by the National Rifle Assn. at the end of June.#The bilious billionaire conned the nation — and people like Jack aren’t bothered.#But as this uniquely bilious election comes into its final stretch, it was nonetheless striking how outsized and ferocious Waters' messaging was.#But it runs counter to the competitive, score-settling spirit of this frequently bilious book.# |
If an unpleasant meal has left you feeling grumpy and looking green, you're bilious in several senses of the word. This adjective can mean both "troubled by indigestion" and "irritable," and it can also be used to suggest a sickly green shade. |
The wonderfully descriptive word bilious comes from the root bile, which is a foul green fluid made in the liver and stored in the gall bladder — a fact that helps us picture something described as bilious as being really foul. Because of the connection with bile, we often refer to something that's an ugly shade of green as being bilious. Of course, the word can also be more kindly applied to someone who has a liver or gall bladder disorder. |
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| 801 |
vilify |
spread negative information about |
The trial was televised and the victim's identity became known, resulting in her being vilified by almost the entire town. |
someone praising another person's accomplishments#someone asking another person for his opinion#someone spreading a nasty rumor about a rival#someone punching another person# |
Armin Langer, coordinator of the Salaam-Schalom Initiative, an interfaith group based in Berlin, said this charge is used to vilify immigrants. #The most vilified of D.C. landlords, Sanford Capital, owns a number of large apartment buildings in the District.#This is the world Ms. Parker helped create, by vilifying Ms. Clinton throughout the campaign, and she should own it.#Trump cares not for the estimated 4,000 soldiers and sailors whom he vilified and degraded for his own political ends.# |
To vilify someone is to spread nasty stories about them, whether true or not. |
The verb vilify comes from the same root as the word vile and is a negative word if ever there was one! One way to remember the word is to think about how it sounds — like the word villain (which is unrelated and comes from villa). This suggests that when you vilify someone, you make them sound villainous. So avoid spreading vile words that vilify another and make him or her seem like a villain. |
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| 802 |
nuance |
a subtle difference in meaning or opinion or attitude |
By working so hard to simplify things, we lose any nuance or ability to deal with folks’ individual circumstances. |
hyperbole#gesticulation#lampoon#shade# |
There’s no nuance to their long-awaited reunion; it’s short and to the point.#As Ms. Ruttenberg might put it, the promise of the new is the nuance of the now.#Lacking the book’s episodic sprawl and psychological nuance, their movie clings to its essential tension.#It’s a beautiful package, but the fish was very firm and the sauce lacked the nuance that distinguished the curries.# |
Use nuance to refer to a very small difference in color, meaning, or feeling. What makes singers brilliant is not how loud they can sing a note, but how many nuances they can evoke through their approach. |
Pronounced "NOO-ahns," this noun was borrowed from French in the 18th century and derives ultimately from Latin nūbēs "a cloud." Think of clouds––subtle gradations in color to understand this word. When you say a work of art was nuanced, it means there was a lot to it, but incorporated subtly. |
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| 803 |
gawk |
look with amazement |
He speaks mainly of his humiliation at lying on the sidewalk as hipsters gawked. |
a novice player on a soccer field#a tourist witnessing a mugging in Manhattan#a theatre-goer enjoying a play#a student in a difficult class# |
People will slam on their brakes in the middle of the highway to gawk.#But on Monday, even the most jaded Aussies found themselves gawking over and swearing about the mysterious creatures that chewed up a Melbourne teenager’s legs.#But it’s mostly singletons that do the gawking, said Philip Malm.#Daddy helps me to Momma’s car, and people in the halls gawk.# |
When you stare in amazement at something, you gawk at it. You might stand frozen in one position with your mouth and eyes wide open and gawk when you see a famous movie star on the street. |
The verb gawk was first recorded in American English in 1785. It may have evolved from the word gaw, which came from the Middle English word gowen, meaning "to stare." When you gawk at something, you get completely absorbed in what you're looking at. It's usually not considered polite behavior to gawk at another person, especially if it's someone you find attractive. After all, staring is rude. |
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| 804 |
refectory |
a communal dining-hall, usually in a monastery |
Meanwhile, the soup was getting cold in the refectory, so that the assembled brotherhood at last fell to, without waiting any longer for the Abbot. |
#### |
Even when they are hard at work or eating in the refectory, they are in prayer.#The painting’s place in the refectory, which was designed by Palladio, had never been filled; Lowe installed his copy in the exact spot.#Pledged to silence, the two actors waved when they spied each other in the refectory.#"This space was used as a staff refectory, management offices, staff welfare facilities - it's something of a time warp," adds Mr Spray.# |
A fancy word for a dining hall, or a place for communal meals, is a refectory. It is usually used to describe a dining hall in a religious institution, like where monks eat together. |
The word refectory comes from the Latin word reficere which means "to restore, renew." A meal together is a great way of restoring unity to a group. Nothing renews community like a great dinner, and the conversation that occurs around it. Lunch in your school's refectory? Maybe not so much. |
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| 805 |
palatial |
suitable for or like a large and stately mansion |
The house was very large; its rooms almost palatial in size, had been finished in richly carved hardwood panels and wainscoting, mostly polished mahogany. |
demented#mincing#innocuous#impressive# |
Khan spoke to Reuters on a verandah at his palatial estate overlooking the Bani Gala hills on Islamabad's outskirts.#No surprise: the nine rooms are palatial, with floor-to-ceiling windows and period features, but sweetly homely.#He lived in a palatial house and billed himself as “Mr. Social Security” in outlandish TV commercials.#And then shortly after World War I, exhibitors began luring audiences with increasingly luxurious theaters that were definitely palatial.# |
Knowing that the adjective palatial is derived from the same Latin word as palace gives you a good sense of its meaning: magnificent, reminiscent of a home fit for a king. |
The Palatine (Collis Palatium in Latin) is the center of Rome’s famed Seven Hills. Tradition holds that it was the location on which Romulus founded the city, and it became a prestigious site for powerful Romans—including emperors—to build large, lavish homes. Palatium made its way into every Romance language and beyond: it became palazzo in Italian, palacio in Spanish, and palast in German. Palace entered English via the Old French palais. Power, affluence, extravagance: these are the qualities that should come to mind when you encounter the word palatial. |
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| 806 |
mincing |
affectedly dainty or refined |
She went, carrying her little head very high indeed, and taking dainty, mincing steps. |
clumsily knock something over#burp loudly after finishing her meal#cut her food into tiny pieces#gulp her drink down in seconds# |
Gardner was on national television over the weekend blasting President Donald Trump for mincing words about racial violence in Virginia.#She not only mined a title — the Divine Miss M — but also mastered a signature geisha-like walk of tiny, mincing steps.#El Paso County Commissioner Mark Waller, former Colorado House minority leader, is done mincing words and accepting excuses.#But nor are they mincing words about what is at stake.# |
Mincing is an adjective that describes someone who is being especially dainty or refined. The voices of older women who speak as though they're young girls can be described as mincing. |
Mincing is primarily used as an adjective meaning to be noticeably — and perhaps oddly or unnaturally — dainty or refined. You might remark, for example, on a lumberjack who takes mincing steps across a log, or a woman who speaks to her dog in a mincing voice. In these cases, the daintiness is unnatural — it's put on for show — or in the case of the lumberjack, so he won't fall off the log. |
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| 807 |
trenchant |
having keenness and forcefulness and penetration in thought |
They are written in a serio-comic tone, and for sparkling wit, trenchant sarcasm, and dramatic dialectics surpass anything ever penned by Lessing. |
a coat that is water-resistant#an in-depth critique of foreign policy#a greeting card intended for a child#a French defensive fortification# |
In so doing, she offered trenchant commentary on the social and political issues of the day.#If you’re not familiar, she’s a young, Tasmanian visual artist-cum-musician who turns her poetry into funny, trenchant and deceptively simple songs.#It’s also a trenchant, anarchist-inspired commentary on politics and personal identity in the era of Reagan and Thatcher.#Ms. Dvorak’s well-written, trenchant piece captured a telling, tragic moment in a changing city.# |
If you're trenchant, it means you think or say smart, sharply worded things that cut right to the heart of the matter. A trenchant observation is one that makes people scratch their chins thoughtfully, or wince with embarrassment for whomever you're talking about, or both. |
The word trenchant originates from tranchant, which in French means "sharp" or "cutting," and it's related to the word trench, which originally meant a line carved in wood and later came to mean a ditch carved into the earth. The word is often used to describe political commentary or cultural criticism. One person known for her trenchant wit was the author and critic Mary McCarthy, who once said of the writer Lillian Hellman, "Every word she writes is a lie, including the 'and' and the 'the'." |
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| 808 |
emboss |
raise in a relief |
Requests may also be made of the stationer to use an embossed plate so that the letters stand out in relief. |
a loyal employee#a bibliography for a term paper#a gear on a bicycle#a set of stationery# |
Using her customary circular motif, Point created “Tribal Council,” a gold-leaf embossed print.#The tags would be 2 ¾ inches by 1 1 /8 inches, embossed with the child’s name, address and an identification number unique to each family.#Daddy removes his wallet, the leather one I bought him for Father’s Day with his initials embossed on it.#This year, the gift is a small green leather zippered bag embossed with the Wimbledon logo and the words “ROYAL BOX 2017.”# |
Emboss means to carve with a design. A silver tray might be embossed with your initials and wedding date. You might give your teacher a plaque with "World's Best Teacher" embossed under their name. |
Embossing and engraving have similar effects––a raised surface. But embossing pushes the paper or metal up, working from behind, while engraving actually cuts into the surface, cutting away a bit of the media as it makes its mark. |
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| 809 |
proletarian |
a member of the working class |
As yet, the true proletarian wage-earner, uprooted from his native village and broken away from the organization of Indian society, is but insignificant. |
a senator#a heart surgeon#a plumber#a lawyer# |
A sub-par animated film sequel intended to quiet the kids for a few hours on a weekend afternoon burns with a proletarian rage.#The Soviet Union sought friends round the world in the name of proletarian internationalism.#Another newspaper account describes his “determinedly proletarian profile.”#There’s Winston’s brief hope that the proletarians might overthrow the regime because of their sheer number.# |
Working class, blue collar, plebeian and certainly not aristocratic — that's what the adjective proletarian means. |
Proletarian has roots in the Latin word proles, which means "offspring." That's because back in ancient Rome, a proletarian was a member of the proletariat, the class of society that had no wealth and didn't own property. The only thing these proletarians had to offer was their hard work and their children. Today's proletarians are a little better off; they're considered the working class and just might have better benefits through their unions than some white-collar workers out there. |
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| 810 |
careen |
pitching dangerously to one side |
I turned the steering wheel all the way to one side, and found myself careening backward in a violent arc. |
swag#forswear#inhale#legislate# |
Both Democratic and Republican policies are careening us toward economically impoverishing trade wars, and violent wars that put our very lives at risk.#North Korean leaders correctly assessed those threats as empty, never sending the countries careening into an unintended war.#North Korean leaders, correctly assessing those threats as empty, never sent the countries careening into an unintended war.#The first wild pitch careened off Sanchez’s wrist; he was examined but not removed from the game.# |
Whether it’s an unsteady ship, a speeding bus, or a person who is woozy, use the verb careen to describe something that’s teetering from side to side. |
When the word careen first entered the English language in the sixteenth century, it was used to describe a beached ship that was turned on its side for repair. The word can still refer to making those kinds of nautical repairs, but now you’re more likely to hear the word used to describe something that is swaying from side to side. You may feel like a ship out of control if you careen madly through a crowd or if you careen down a steep hill on skis. |
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| 811 |
debacle |
a sound defeat |
The Broncos are coming off their worst season in franchise history, a 4-12 debacle that included issues on and off the field. |
slaughter#atrophy#vignette#malediction# |
But as with Harper’s injury news earlier in the day, the Nationals escaped potential debacle.#I reject the notion that the government should step in to punish Google for its foolish debacle.#The egregious act of the senators shirking their constitutional responsibility caused the whole debacle.#As it was, the health care debacle split the White House from conservative organizations.# |
Use debacle to refer to a fiasco, disaster, or great failure. If several dogs run onto the field during the big baseball game, tripping players and chewing up the bases, you can call the whole event a debacle. |
Debacle is sometimes used to describe a military defeat. If your army retreats, that's one thing. If your army is outmaneuvered and ends up huddled in a valley, surrounded on all sides by the enemy, forced to sing 70s sitcom theme songs by their savage captors––that's a debacle. Debacle comes from French débâcler "to clear," from Middle French desbacler, from the prefix des- "completely, utterly" plus bacler "to block." |
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| 812 |
sycophant |
a person who tries to please someone to gain an advantage |
The people around the king are sycophants who are looking after their own personal advantage. |
opportunist#delinquent#lackey#chameleon# |
Then he said, “I told the president I can’t afford to be a sycophant to you, sir.”#“I said to the president his morning, I can’t afford to be a sycophant to you,” the Mooch told CNN.#He is, as any White House job in the current administration requires, a skilled sycophant.#It was true of the sycophants and opportunists before whom he dangled Cabinet appointments during the campaign and then, oh, never mind.# |
A sycophant is a person who tries to win favor from wealthy or influential people by flattering them. Also known as brown-nosers, teacher's pets or suck-ups. |
Sycophant is from Latin sycophanta, from Greek sykophantēs, from sykon "fig" and phainein "to show, make known." The original sense was that of an informer, a person who gives information about criminal activities. "Showing the fig" was a vulgar gesture made by sticking the thumb between two fingers. The gesture was used to taunt an opponent or to make an accusation against someone. |
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| 813 |
crabbed |
annoyed and irritable |
He grew crabbed and soured, his temper flashing out on small provocation. |
proletarian#cross#unsullied#peripheral# |
The crabbed, balance-sheet approach to the Western alliance ignores the enormous advantages the United States reaps from the existence of other democracies.#Unlike Shannon, Kevin Spacey attacks his character with jowly, slyly stylized gusto, delivering the signature Nixonian tirades with crabbed truculence and flawlessly funny timing.#As a control, researchers also surveyed the undeveloped and less crabbed Little Townsend Creek off Botany Island to the south.#His enthusiasm and generosity of spirit stand in definitive rebuke to the myth that critics are crabbed, hostile, pleasure-hating creatures.# |
If your friend fell out of bed, spilled hot tea on his socks, and tripped in the snow, you might expect him to be crabbed. Crabbed describes someone who is grumpy, or irritable, or has a generally crotchety attitude. |
The word crabbed originally meant “resembling a crab” and also takes part of its meaning from the sour-tasting crab apple. You can think of crabbed as describing what someone would be like if they were made into a crab. The word is used less often than its synonym crabby, but the meaning of crabbed is just as easy to understand: if you were covered in sand all day, you’d probably feel crabbed too! |
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| 814 |
archetype |
something that serves as a model |
Newport, R.I., looks like a perfect archetype of a small, seaside New England town. |
collusion#facet#furor#original# |
Theirs is not a collision of archetypes, but of people.#The cowboy archetype’s fundamental inner conflict is the friction between the duty to protect a lawless land, and the brutal emotional cost of that duty.#“Somewhere along the way, being white became seen as ‘relatable’, and you started to see people of colour only reflected as stereotypes or specific archetypes.#Eastwood’s themes are archetypal, and he constantly pays homage to those who developed these archetypes.# |
An archetype is a perfect example or model of something. If you have long blonde hair, a sparkly ball gown, and a fairy godmother hovering over your head, you're the archetype of a fairytale princess. |
In the psychology of Carl Jung, an archetype is an inherited pattern of thought derived from the past experience of the whole race and present in our unconscious minds––Cinderella might be an archetype for girls in our culture; the boogey man is another. This noun is from Latin archetypum, from Greek archetypon, from archetypos "of the first mold," from archein "to begin" plus typos "type." |
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| 815 |
cryptic |
of an obscure nature |
The authorities, beyond some cryptic language about the death being sudden but not suspicious, have released no details. |
derogatory#mysterious#fawning#preeminent# |
Drenched in Champagne, he looked weirdly natty as he offered a cryptic smile.#That doesn’t leave much time for playing video games or issuing cryptic tweets.#“Let’s not discount these cryptic interactions that we don’t see very often unless we put camera traps in the woods.”#With each tweet, Ms Wearne adds a link to her blog where she tries to decipher the cryptic nature of some of the epitaphs.# |
"White bunny. Moon. Square." Do you understand what that means? Of course not! It's totally cryptic. Cryptic comments or messages are hard to understand because they seem to have a hidden meaning. |
Cryptic is from Late Latin crypticus, from Greek kryptikos, from kryptos "hidden." This Greek adjective is the source of our English word crypt, referring to a room under a church in which dead people are buried. That might account for why the word cryptic has an eerie tone to it. |
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| 816 |
penchant |
a strong liking |
But sometimes, old Wall Street habits — including a penchant for expensive luxuries — are hard to break. |
qualm#tantrum#insecurity#preference# |
A penchant for visual ambiguity also saves the works from being simply pleasing or pretty.#The incident highlights Trump’s penchant for off-the-cuff tweeting — and the potential consequences for doing so now that he holds the nation’s highest office.#But in other places, The Cars’ penchant for rapid evolution leads to sonic revelations.#Lee, his older brother, is a drifter with a penchant for dogfighting and petty crime.# |
A penchant is a strong preference or tendency. If you have a penchant for pizza, you either eat it daily or wish you did. |
Penchant borrows from French, in which penchant literally means inclined. It goes back to the Latin pendere, for hanging, which is also the source of pendant. In both French and English, speakers have long used the idea of inclination metaphorically: a hillside can be inclined in one direction or another, and so can a person's thoughts. But in English, penchant is only for desires. |
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| 817 |
bauble |
cheap showy jewelry or ornament on clothing |
But men were buying Valentine's baubles for their honeys long before the first Zales ever opened its doors in a suburban shopping mall. |
a police officer#a businessman#a fire marshall#a lounge singer# |
If he wants to treat them to expensive dinners or the occasional bauble, then that’s his prerogative.#“The old-fashioned charms of the outdoors are competing with the newfangled baubles of tech,” said Cook.#For her Easter Sunday look, Perry chose white shorts, a white tank top and a fishnet coverup, with gold bauble earrings.#Main calls colorful plastic bags of canine excreta “poo baubles.”# |
Baubles are trinkets or novelty items that cost little and aren’t very important or valuable, such as a plastic ring in the shape of a daisy that covers half of your finger in hot-pink plastic. |
Baubles: the Mardi Gras beads you collected last year, the small statue of the Eiffel tower your grandparents brought back from Paris, those big glass bulbs you use to decorate a Christmas tree, a computer mouse made to look like a hamburger. |
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| 818 |
mountebank |
a flamboyant deceiver |
They are singularly clever, these Indian mountebanks, especially in sleight of hand tricks. |
charlatan#volunteer#tutor#companion# |
They appear to be the counterparts of the old mountebanks or street-doctors.”#“Fancy language, senator. I will duel you at dawn you charlatan, you mountebank, you mendacious flimflamming dissembler. Bring a pistol and a thesaurus,” he quipped.#But whether any of the other 16 mountebanks could have appealed outside of the GOP base is an enormous question mark.#One is a rank political novice, a buffoon, a mountebank, and a demagogue.# |
A mountebank has a talent for tricking people into buying things, like the mountebank who charms women into buying "magic beauty pills" for hundreds of dollars, though they are just ordinary vitamins you can buy anywhere. |
Mountebank, pronounced "MOUN-tih-bank," has an interesting origin, in the Italian phrase "monta in banco." It describes a "doctor" who would "mount a bench" in the marketplace. Standing a bit higher than the crowd enabled people to hear his sales pitch and see the potions and powders he claimed were medical cures that never failed — claims as bogus as his credentials. A mountebank is a fast-talking crook pretending to be an expert. |
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| 819 |
fawning |
attempting to win favor by flattery |
“As any cult leader, he was extremely good at milking the rich, at flattering and fawning,” Ms. Gordon said. |
unassailable#provident#obsequious#testy# |
Art world luminaries are fawning over the images, sharing their thoughts in the comments underneath each post.#Three days after his death, the Daily Press in Newport News published a fawning remembrance.#Others resented her fawning and occasional sharp elbows.#Tom Friedman, is this the same country you were writing about, praising, fawning over?# |
Use fawning to describe someone who's over the top in the flattery department. Like a fawning admirer who just won't stop complimenting your looks, showering you with gifts and otherwise kissing the ground you walk on. |
From the Old English fægnian, meaning “rejoice, exult, be glad,” fawning can be both an adjective and a noun form of the verb fawn. Fawning people are often trying to win favor with the person being flattered, and it sometimes comes off as sucking up. So do everyone a favor and don't try to boost your poor grades by fawning over your professor’s every word. |
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| 820 |
hummock |
a small natural hill |
Captain Bill leaned back on a hummock of earth, his arms folded behind his head. |
mound#innovator#brochure#apotheosis# |
Dubbed Hummock Island, the shanty is the namesake and hub for the business, as well as the destination for the oyster tours.#The atypical placement of the bunkers was a function of the distinctive topography of the site — hummocks, gorges, hills and dales that slanted and dipped.#Every so often the pilot tapped my shoulder and pointed to an anonymous, tree-covered hummock.#Soon I couldn’t see a kangaroo bounding through the desert or grazing on hummock grass without thinking of the skull behind those living, thick-lashed eyes.# |
You don't swing in a hummock, you climb one. A hummock is a hill, a mound, or a ridge. |
This word was once a nautical term describing a hill rising up on a coastline. A hummock is a perfect place for a lighthouse. Today it is either a rounded hill or an elevated place in an ice field. The origin of the word is unknown, but the ending -ock is a diminutive, meaning it gives the noun the sense of being small. That is why a hummock is a knoll and not a mountain. |
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| 821 |
apotheosis |
model of excellence or perfection of a kind |
Contrary to popular belief, however, she said Ms. Deen’s fat-laden cooking does not in fact represent the apotheosis of Southern cuisine. |
ideal#protege#innovator#lightweight# |
The apotheosis of “RSJ” is the master of communication learning how to communicate.#Sports night was the apotheosis of the rugby club’s bleak solidarity.#“To be written about in The New Yorker was apotheosis.”#That moment is apotheosis of this woman defining her relationship to the world, and its relationship to her.# |
If your teacher says the term paper you handed in last week is a work of genius that sets a new gold standard for the school, he's telling you your work is the apotheosis of term papers. The epitome. Perfection. |
Hidden in the middle of apotheosis you'll find the Greek theos, meaning god. (Theology, the study of religion, has the same root.) Combine theos with apo "from" and you get a person, place, or thing that is so out-of-this-world amazing that it seems as if it's "from God." It's divine. You could make the assertion that Leonardo da Vinci was the apotheosis of genius and that the Mona Lisa is the apotheosis of all his paintings. |
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| 822 |
discretionary |
not earmarked; available for use as needed |
Steeper prices for basic necessities have forced many to cut back on more discretionary purchases. |
complementary#lightweight#remunerative#arbitrary# |
Residents called for an audit through an online petition after The News Journal reported “the city council’s discretionary fund lacks internal controls and transparency.”#Consumer discretionary is the S&P 500 sector expected to post the smallest year-over-year earnings growth this reporting quarter, with a gain of 3.3 percent.#In June and July, according to the government watchdog group Open Accounts, the government awarded more than $1.3 billion in discretionary funding.#There also are some 20 inmates serving discretionary no-parole sentences for crimes committed while they were 17 or younger.# |
Discretionary means it's up to you to decide. Bathing regularly is a discretionary act, so you can opt not to do it if you want; note, however, that your friends might disagree with us on this. |
Discretionary is often used to describe money that isn’t designated for a particular purpose. It’s up to the people in charge to decide how discretionary funds should be spent. Discretionary comes from the word discretion, which can be used to mean “the right to decide something based on one’s own judgment.” If you're given a task to complete at your discretion, you can decide how you want to do it — or whether you want to do it at all. |
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| 823 |
pithy |
concise and full of meaning |
As Moore isolated finer points of the passing game, Keller in neat penmanship jotted down pithy phrases and punchy quotes, basic ideas and specific concepts. |
remunerative#unctuous#checkered#concise# |
First, Mr Pence threw his audience off-guard by saying something stirring, pithy but not strictly true in the literal, nit-picking sense of that word.#The Germans specialize in devising pithy nicknames for tax problems.#She also performed a pithy spoof of her "Wicked" number "Popular" in which she renamed the awards "The Chennies."#Still, Ms. Weller added, “There’s an open question about whether a short, pithy tweet falls under copyright protection.”# |
A pithy phrase or statement is brief but full of substance and meaning. Proverbs and sayings are pithy; newspaper columnists give pithy advice. |
The root of this word is pith, which refers to the spongy tissue in plant stems, or the white part under the skin of citrus fruits. Pith is also used figuratively to refer to the essential part of something: They finally got to the pith of the discussion. Pith descends from Middle English, from Old English pitha "the pith of plants." In the adjective pithy, the suffix –y means "characterized by." |
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| 824 |
comport |
behave in a certain manner |
Ironically, the one man on stage who did comport himself with dignity, John Huntsman, is now being dismissed as having not made an impact. |
careen#disgorge#waffle#behave# |
Security Council’s move last week to ban some North Korean exports is a potentially meaningful step that comports with efforts of previous U.S.> administrations.#The survey comports with the anecdotal evidence that employers are...#There’s a certain way that you comport yourself on the field, off the field, in the clubhouse and respect the game.#How you comport yourself in public as a high-ranking government official ought to matter, but the bigger problem was his judgment.# |
Comport means to behave, and particularly to behave well. If you attend a school for social etiquette, you will learn how to comport yourself properly at the dinner table. |
You’ll usually find comport in one of two phrases: with yourself, himself, etc., as in, "With all that burping, you did not comport yourself well at Aunt Edna’s party," or with the word with. When you see the second version, comport means something more like agree. For example, you could say, "I don’t think your ripped jeans and beat up t-shirt really comport with the guidelines for Casual Friday." |
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| 825 |
checkered |
marked by changeable fortune |
Both restaurants have checkered histories with the health department; they were temporarily shut down for sanitary violations that included evidence of rodents. |
changeable#bleak#nonsensical#shallow# |
In a section devoted to car racing, we are reminded that “signaling the finishing line . . . is the black-and-white checkered flag.”#An exposure to pressure from his checkered financial history?#A checkered sheet of G'Naktian steel was used as a board.#Her checkered record on progressive policies, bland centrist message and the Democrats’ presumption that Trump’s nomination sealed their victory probably did not help.# |
The author who sells a million copies of her first book, four of the second, wins a prize for the third and dies at the ceremony has had a checkered career: it's got bright spots and dark ones, like a checkerboard. |
Checkered is a funny word; it can be used to describe the red and white pattern on a classic tablecloth or the up's and down's of someone's past. You could describe the flag that's waved at a Nascar event as checkered. And if the winning Nascar driver used to work at a car wash, you could say he has had a checkered career. |
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| 826 |
ambrosia |
the food and drink of the gods |
"Frieda represents the lovely goddess, Hebe, who served nectar and ambrosia to the high gods on Mount Olympus," she explained. |
ravenous dogs#Celtic warriors#newborn infants#the Greek gods# |
In Utah, there's a company called Ambrosia Labs.#One such firm, based in California, is called Ambrosia.#Even with the nectar and ambrosia they’d managed to force-feed him, Piper couldn’t be sure he would be okay when he woke up.#Ambrosia beetles generally bore into dead or sickly trees.# |
In Greek mythology, ambrosia was the food of the gods. At a picnic, ambrosia is a dessert made with oranges and shredded coconut. While the former bestowed immortality on all who ate it, the latter tastes very refreshing after fried chicken and potato salad. |
In the Odyssey and the Iliad, Homer uses the word ambrosia for three things: the food of the Olympians, a salve used to treat corpses, and as a perfume to cover up the smell of uncured seal skins. Some scholars have identified ambrosia as honey while others feel that a type of hallucinogenic mushroom was meant in the myths. Regardless of all this confusion, the word is now used metaphorically to mean anything so fragrant, so delicious that it seems divine — including a popular orange-and-coconut confection. |
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| 827 |
factious |
dissenting with the majority opinion |
Will it be answered that we are factious, discontented spirits, striving to disturb the public order, and tear up the old fastnesses of society? |
a colony in revolt#a court in session#a truthful proposal#a negative performance# |
Would this new and factious approach to daily living bleed into the Super Bowl?#Given the factious legacy of the 2016 race, this path forward is more urgently needed than ever before.#But implementation of them remains slow and his government factious.#Already, some Democrats have privately speculated, if somewhat factiously, that a President Clinton could appoint Obama, a constitutional law professor by trade, to the court. # |
A factious group is one that breaks away, or wants to. It’s often used in politics, where people separate into smaller like-minded groups. The Confederacy was factious — they wanted out of the Union, but we know how that turned out. |
The word factious looks a lot like its cousin faction, which is a small, sometimes rebellious group. Factious, then, is easy to remember, as the adjectival form of the noun faction. To be factious is to act like a faction. Among bakers, almost all agree that you have to be precise when measuring ingredients. The Brooklyn Faction, though, disagrees. This factious bunch never uses measuring cups or spoons and has called for them to be abolished. |
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| 828 |
disgorge |
cause or allow to flow or run out or over |
There are telephone poles and cinder blocks and living room chairs and large trash bins, overturned and disgorging their soggy contents. |
filch#superimpose#forgo#shed# |
Most of the theaters disgorge at about the same time, and I joined the teeming masses on the sidewalks.#It was dark when I was finally disgorged from the airport coach.#He watched as ferries arrived from the Italian mainland in rapid succession, disgorging tourists—many budget...#She described buses that disgorge migrants, who push “overheaping cartloads” through the store’s aisles.# |
There's really no way to put this delicately. Disgorge is just a fancy word for "puke." You know... "Barf." "Spew." "Upchuck." Usually applied to birds or animals rather than people. |
Okay, actually that's not entirely true. Disgorge also has the other broader, metaphorical meanings of "emptying out," as in: "the bus began to disgorge its passengers;" or "he finally began to disgorge his secrets." So, actually, yes, it does mean a lot more than just "puke." Sorry. |
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| 829 |
filch |
make off with belongings of others |
Then, in place of the real site, it displays a fake site created to filch account numbers, login names and passwords. |
paralyze#transcribe#corroborate#swipe# |
Hands shaking, I pull on the combat boots and fatigues Izzi filched from the school’s supply closets.#Shakespeare filched parts of “Hamlet” from Thomas Kyd’s “The Spanish Tragedy.”#But I’m not sure how you get from filching photos to the idea that your niece might be engaged in catfishing.#But another way of thinking about it is that they filched her look.# |
You can filch money, time, and stuff, but I wouldn't recommend it. Filching is stealing, as in "You filched my cookies!" |
Doesn't filch just sound kind of dirty? That could be because it's one letter away from filth, but it's also true that stealing is usually considered a dirty, lowdown deed. No one wants their things to be filched. Filching is similar to pilfering, swiping, lifting, and purloining — other words for taking what isn't yours. We've all probably filched at some point, but thieves make a profession out of filching. |
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| 830 |
wraith |
a mental representation of some haunting experience |
Whichever way he turns there loom past wraiths, restless as ghosts of unburied Grecian slain. |
collusion#vertigo#ghost#reason# |
“Scholars want to close their eyes to the truth. Ghuls, wraiths, wights, jinn—they’re just stories. Tribal myths. Campfire tales. Such arrogance.”#There’s a simplicity to this 87-minute wraith of a movie that seems to demand bare-bones description rather than lavish praise.#The roof over one burial vault is composed of tiny, shriveled souls, like a coral reef of wraiths.#Wherever you are in England there could be a local wraith, ghoul or phantom waiting in the shadows.# |
If you have a vision of your grandfather just before he passes away, you have seen a wraith or a ghostly image. Wraith can also mean something thin, wispy, or ghost-like. |
You could call a wisp of smoke rising from a chimney a wraith or you could say that a sick aunt had been reduced to a wraith — a thin, ghostly, figure. Sometimes it's even a compliment, which shows how we idealize wraith-like fashion models. Wraith is of unknown origins, and there aren't any other words related to it. |
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| 831 |
demonstrable |
capable of being proved |
The linkage between deposits and trade is definite, causal, positive, statistically demonstrable. |
authoritarian#noisome#pertinacious#obvious# |
And set aside demonstrable workplace problems from behavior that annoys or appalls you.#When NRA spokespeople do address suicide, it’s usually to dismiss the demonstrable fact that easy access to guns is a risk factor.#And the White House’s account of what happened in Comey’s final days, as presented by Pence and other surrogates, is a demonstrable fraud.#“There’s no demonstrable evidence they’re actually helping results, helping kids do better in school.”# |
If you can demonstrate to me how something works, then it must be demonstrable. You might think that word should be "demonstratable," but you'd be wrong — that word doesn't exist. |
Who can say why some words change a little when we change their part of speech. They just do. The verb demonstrate means to show or instruct. The adjective shortens the root to become demonstrable. The steps for buckling a seatbelt must be easily demonstrable, or people will go flying all over the cabin. Demonstrable is often used to refer to the truth of something: if something isn't demonstrable, then we can't really say that it exists, can we? |
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| 832 |
pertinacious |
stubbornly unyielding |
His temper, though yielding and easy in appearance, was in reality most obstinate and pertinacious. |
demoniac#vacuous#demonstrable#persistent# |
Second, we are an ingenious, resourceful and pertinacious species.#The museum’s functionaries—from floor-polishing janitors to pertinacious scholars and fantastically skilled restorers—emerge as the film’s heroes.#It cost Philip fifty liras and nearly all the Italian he knew to get rid of the pertinacious and ingenious fellow.#Armathwaite, who had risen, and was staring through the window during this brief colloquy, was struck by the quietly pertinacious note in Whittaker's voice.# |
If you won’t take no for an answer, you’re pertinacious. The same holds true if you stubbornly push on a door despite a sign that says “pull.” Pertinacious means unyielding or perversely persistent. |
We get pertinacious from the Latin pertinx, which combines per- "thoroughly" with tenx "tenacious." You can impress your friends by dropping pertinacious into conversation when referring to anyone who is bullheaded and obstinately stuck in their ways and opinions. If a Girl Scout is a pertinacious salesperson you might buy fifty boxes of Thin Mints when you only wanted one. |
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| 833 |
emend |
make corrections to |
The following were identified as spelling or typographic errors and have been emended as noted. |
a reader#a reporter#an editor#a typist# |
When the nausea got worse again, he started taking a third drug, Emend, which worked better, allowing him to eat a liquid diet, he says.#Then his naturalization was cancelled, and the form on file with the court was emended to read “member of the yellow race.”#The Nicene Creed, formulated under Emperor Constantine in AD 325 and emended in AD 381, stated bluntly that Christ “was crucified under Pontius Pilate.”#It’s rife with typos and misspellings and sprinkled with attempts at emending them.# |
When you emend a piece of writing, you correct or revise it. If you are asked to emend a report, that just means you need to go through it and make revisions. |
Emend is similar in spelling and pronunciation to another word, amend, and there’s a slight overlap in meaning as well. Emend refers to changes and improvements made to a text. Amend also can refer to making minor changes to a text, but it can be used to describe improvements made to other things as well — for example, you can amend a situation. In contrast, emend’s powers are limited to words. So if you’re using emend — the one with the "e" — just make sure you’re describing improvements that involve text. |
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| 834 |
laggard |
someone who takes more time than necessary |
Corporate data centers are the slowpoke laggards of information technology. |
boss#monster#servant#idler# |
Health care and consumer-focused companies were among the biggest laggards.#Laggards, they reason, are more likely to wither in the face of competition, so their investment might be expected to fall.#Even recent laggards such as Europe and Japan seem poised for some of their best results in years.#The financial index fell 0.92 percent and was the only laggard among the 11 major S&P sectors.# |
Hey pokey! Yeah you, Mr. Slow Pants. Quit your dawdling! This is no time to be a laggard, or someone who's always lagging behind. |
So who was the bigger laggard — the tortoise or the hare? Well that turtle sure was slow moving, but at least he continued at a steady pace. The hare was speedy, but took more time than necessary, goofing around and falling behind. It's a tough call, and one that the literary community has totally been dragging their feet on. What a bunch of laggards! |
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| 835 |
waffle |
pause or hold back in uncertainty or unwillingness |
A few days of waffling back and forth and I ended up going out to a mediocre bistro with my parents. |
philosophize#waver#masticate#comport# |
Later this month, the company will release seven additional new flavors, such pancakes & waffles, cinnamon roll and mochi green tea.#Eventually Goodell resumed the waffling, puzzled response beloved of pro and college football administrators.#After I smoothed a thick batter across my waffle iron, indentations were already forming.#In the weeks leading up to the healthcare vote, Heller—who waffled over the bill—was pressured by both wings of the Republican Party.# |
You might think of a waffle as a grid-patterned pancake-like food that's tasty with syrup, and you'd be right. But the word is also a verb that means to avoid making a definitive decision. |
The verb waffle seems to have its origins in the 1690s as the word waff, "to yelp," possibly in imitation of the yelping of dogs. The word soon came to mean "to talk foolishly" and then eventually "to vacillate, to change." The food term waffle, as part of "waffle iron," appeared in 1794, a descendant of the Dutch word wafel, which comes from the same Germanic source as weave: it's easy to see the waffle pattern as similar to a woven fabric. |
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| 836 |
loquacious |
full of trivial conversation |
Pan soon found it needful to make conversation, in order to keep the loquacious old stage driver from talking too much. |
talkative#punctilious#fortuitous#omnipresent# |
Perhaps more impressively, she left her famously loquacious coach practically speechless.#But at Super Bowl LI, it seems you must either own a team or be the loquacious and quick-witted Martellus Bennett to express yourself.#Not the loquacious sort, he nonetheless spoke up when the offense needed a prod.#The folksy, loquacious coach seems every bit as hungry as his players.# |
A loquacious person talks a lot, often about stuff that only they think is interesting. You can also call them chatty or gabby, but either way, they're loquacious. |
Whenever you see the Latin loqu-, you can be sure that the word has something to do with "talking." So a loquacious person is a person who talks a lot, and often too much. Sitting next to a loquacious person at a dinner party can make dinner a real drag. Of course, if you've got nothing to say, a loquacious person might make a good dinner companion, because they'll do all the talking. All you will have to do is smile and eat. |
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| 837 |
venial |
easily excused or forgiven |
The confidence of ignorance, however venial in youth, is not altogether so excusable, in full grown men. |
forgivable#improbable#exceptional#international# |
It is the diminishment of a man by a thousand nicks, a soul that rationalizes venial sins for the sake of his only child.#That’s an awfully venial sin, and I think you’ll have to deal with your outsize feelings of grief on your own.#But as a race we have always found methods that enable us to mildly abase ourselves with generally harmless ignobility, mischievous dishonesty, venial duplicity.#His self-absorption is at worst a venial sin, and his book's failings should be charged to its editor.# |
Some crimes are unforgivable. Others are venial — venial crimes and sins are excusable. They're not a big deal. |
In school, there are so many things that are against the rules: talking during class, tossing spitballs, pulling the fire alarm, stealing a basketball, etc. Something venial would be something against the rules but forgivable. For example, if you were late for school because your parents were in the hospital, that lateness is venial. If you burned the gym down, that could never be considered venial. When you see venial, think "forgivable," "excusable," and "no biggie." |
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| 838 |
peon |
a laborer who is obliged to do menial work |
For the most part, the men were wiry peons, some toiling half naked, but there were a number who looked like prosperous citizens. |
guardian#laborer#saint#researcher# |
The civilian police are the low-level landless peasants, the peons who form the first line of defence against intruders.#No, it is NOT racist to notice that Mexican labor consists of pre-modern Hispanic peons not part of the Enlightened Modern Age.#If our premium rises, we're going to change category from insignificant peons who have to buy from the exchange to penalty-paying scofflaws.#However, in the movie’s key scene, the fearful peons decide that life under a despot might be preferable to death in a failed rebellion.# |
Pity the poor peon. He exists at the very bottom of the food chain of servitude, beneath wage-slaves, underlings, drudges, or even minions. His boss doesn't even know he exists. |
Peon was a Mexican word originally, meaning an agricultural worker in servitude to his landlord. Today, peon has a more comic ring to it and is usually used in fun — though if you are a personal assistant to a tyrannical Hollywood star, for example, it's probably no laughing matter. |
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| 839 |
effulgence |
the quality of being bright and sending out rays of light |
Then, all at once, in a way that seemed to frighten her, the sunshine had burst the clouds, and dazzled her with its effulgence. |
a morally depraved fop#a loquacious speaker#the sun#a stomach digesting food# |
Balls of apparently sentient effulgence prowl intersections like terrestrial comets.#While the word “radiant” is rightly used of many ballet dancers, Ms. Nuñez’s kind of effulgence combines sunniness and heart to a rare degree.#With that word the heat seemed to increase till it became a threatening weight and the lagoon attacked them with a blinding effulgence.#Inside parliament and out, he was a flamboyant self-advertiser who dripped superlatives, ornate insincerities and exotic effulgence.# |
Your future's so bright, you've got to wear shades. Really, it's giving off blinding, radiant rays of light — what some people would call effulgence. |
Effulgence is brightness taken to the extreme. You may be dazzled by it, stunned by it, or even overcome by it. Usually used to refer to the sun or some other mega-star, effulgence can also be used more figuratively. If you're met with the mega-watt effulgence of the most beautiful movie star, take a moment to marvel at the rays of light shooting from her perfect smile. Then snap out of it and ask for an autograph. |
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| 840 |
lode |
a deposit of valuable ore |
Such local perturbations are regularly used in Sweden for tracing out the position of underground lodes of iron ore. |
a CIA agent#a miner#a cancer surgeon#a zoologist# |
In 1963, it was the mother lode - Truman, current president Johnson, and Herbert Hoover.#He’s balding, potbellied and desperately looking for a mother lode.#Yet the Plum Book is a mother lode for job seekers, from ambassadors to secretaries, all over the world.#A user on Reddit posted a photograph of a bunch of the cars parked in a field, calling it the mother lode.# |
If you work in a mine and you find a stripe of gold that seems to stretch on forever, you’ve found a lode of gold — a supply vein of ore. You’re also rich. |
Don’t confuse lode with load. They sound exactly the same, but while load means a big pile of something, lode means that something’s original source. It usually refers to valuable metals, but you can find a lode of anything, like the lollipop lode at a candy factory or a lode of laughter at a comedy show. You’ll hear about the “mother lode,” which is a lode beyond your imagination, like "the mother lode of riches inside a dragon’s den." |
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| 841 |
fanfare |
a gaudy outward display |
It opened a month ago to considerable fanfare, with television cameras trailing government officials meandering proudly around the bright new stores filled with imported goods. |
truism#flourish#expletive#mace# |
While the bleachers were not full for Strasburg’s outing, they were more packed than usual, filled with fans who provided all the standard fanfare.#In Gainesville, Florida, workers removed a monument with little fanfare early Monday morning.#Walker negotiated the deal, which was announced by President Donald Trump with great fanfare about two weeks ago.#Fanfare does not usually accompany an NFL team’s first practice after a preseason game.# |
Fanfare is a loud, proud burst of something to get attention. If you open up a carpet store with one of those sky-sweeping lights, lots of balloons, and a brass band, you’re doing it with great fanfare. |
Originally fanfare meant a short burst of music played by trumpeters, usually when someone important entered a room. But these days we describe anything as fanfare that has the same feeling as a burst of trumpets. If you’re a TV executive with a new show you think is going to be a big hit, roll it out with fanfare–—ad campaigns, billboards, celebrity parties! |
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| 842 |
dilettante |
showing frivolous or superficial interest; amateurish |
They dabbled in politics and art in the same dilettante fashion. |
dabbler#cog#celibate#sleuth# |
Its touch guided interface is both intuitive and powerful, letting dilettantes recolor famous vignettes from iconic comics with uncanny semi-pro fidelity.#Alongside the troops his presence endangered, he looked like a spoiled, silky-haired dilettante exploiting his family’s newfound position.#The former, a dilettante Moroccan striker, spent three years at the club after joining in 2010.#Jarmusch often likes to describe himself as a “self-proclaimed dilettante,” someone who purposefully dabbles in many different pursuits.# |
Though dilettante might sound like a nice French word, don't use it on your friend who thinks he can play the guitar after several short lessons. A dilettante is an amateur, often one who pretends to be very knowledgeable. |
The meaning of dilettante has changed since it was borrowed from the Italian in the mid 1700s. Originally, it meant "lover of the arts," but began to take on a negative slant as the idea of doing something as a professional took hold strongly during the 18th century. A dilettante was a mere lover of art as opposed to one who did it professionally. Today, the word implies you're pretending to be more of an artist than you're interested in or capable of being, so if you call your friend who likes to paint a dilettante, it's like you're calling him or her a poser. |
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| 843 |
pusillanimous |
lacking in courage and manly strength and resolution |
He was described by his friends as pusillanimous to an incredible extent, timid from excess of riches, afraid of his own shadow. |
dolorous#cowardly#persisting#ingrained# |
While other Latin American presidents have been pusillanimous, he has publicly condemned the “interruption in the democratic and constitutional order” in Venezuela, for example.#Sen. Cruz and Mr. Trump hurled almost as much abuse at what they said were pusillanimous Republican leaders as they threw at Mr. Obama.#But it is important to realize that just as pusillanimous media perform no service, misanthropic ones may not perform a service either.#His honesty offered a bracing counterpoint to the pusillanimous Republican leaders who continue to insist that the reality-television star would be different once in office.# |
You can describe someone who lacks courage as pusillanimous, such as a pusillanimous student who is too afraid to speak out against someone who is bullying others. |
Its Latin origin — pusillus and animus — tells us that pusillanimous means "very small spirit." If you are pusillanimous, pronounced "pew-sill-AN-ih-mus," you don't have the spirit — or the confidence or drive — to step up when it matters. The pusillanimous person stays quiet, doesn't get involved, waits for someone else to take a stand — not out of laziness, but out of fear. |
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| 844 |
ingrained |
deeply rooted; firmly fixed or held |
The narrow prejudices of his country were ingrained too deeply in his character to be disturbed by any change of surroundings. |
dolorous#planted#persisting#pusillanimous# |
The state flagship school is a place of lofty principles, academic excellence and a deeply ingrained honor code.#Salmon is a deeply ingrained element of Washington state’s heritage and economy.#That prompted a fierce backlash in a state where high school and college football are deeply ingrained in the culture.#By this stage of his career, Mr. Jackson’s gestures are firmly ingrained in Hollywood’s master narrative.# |
Use the adjective ingrained to describe the strong beliefs of someone who has thought that way for a very long time, such as the ingrained patriotism of a 20-year military veteran. |
Ingrained comes from the word grain, which in late Middle English referred to a certain kind of dye. This type of dye was indelible — unable to be removed — much like ingrained beliefs that are so firmly fixed that they'll never change. |
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| 845 |
quagmire |
a soft wet area of low-lying land that sinks underfoot |
The heavy rain had reduced this low-lying ground to a veritable quagmire, making progress very difficult even for one as unburdened as he was. |
quake#morass#mirage#plateau# |
“We are all affected by this constant regulatory quagmire,” Mr. Cadman said.#Many drowned in the thick quagmire, caused by weeks of relentless rain.#To move from the legal to the political forum is to leave strategic high ground for a quagmire.#“The Venerable W.” and “Sittwe” offer some insight into a social and religious quagmire.# |
A quagmire is a dangerous place, like the muddy shoreline of a pond. Because it's so hard to climb out of a quagmire, the word has also come to also mean any difficult or sticky situation you find yourself in. |
Long ago, quag was a synonym for "bog" or "marsh," a swampy area where water seems to sit instead of drain out. Mire is another word to describe such a place. As a verb mire means "stuck," like someone who's mired in quicksand or mired in work — both prevent you from going anywhere. In a quagmire, you get stuck physically — or, even more commonly, in a situation that is hard to escape because there is no easy solution. |
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| 846 |
reprobation |
severe disapproval |
Mr. Conway denounced this scheme as "utterly and flagrantly unconstitutional, as radically revolutionary in character and deserving the reprobation of every loyal citizen." |
brought home a report card filled with A's#crashed the family car#asked for lunch money#accidentally spilled a glass of milk# |
His defense of the truth, however, apparently was enough to earn him Gingrich’s reprobation.#A few months ago, workmen began knocking a hole in the wall, sending social media into a flurry of commentary and reprobation.#There was no police investigation nor social reprobation.#By 1789 the tone of the pamphlets had turned, in Ms. Thomas’s words, “from laughter to reprobation.”# |
Reprobation means disapproval. Severe disapproval. If you want to find out what it means for yourself, try telling your nasty boss what you really think of him. |
Originally reprobation was a religious word meaning "rejection by God." The root word probate comes from the Latin word probare, which means "prove." A probate is someone who proves his worth. A reprobate was someone who'd proved himself to be worthless, and was therefore condemned to eternal suffering in Hell. Pretty harsh, huh? Today, a form of the word can even be used affectionately: "You old reprobate!" |
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| 847 |
mannered |
having unnatural behavioral attributes |
Nothing was mannered or pretentious; the texts came through with utter naturalness. |
displeased#unnatural#disabled#uncivilized# |
The children of the global oligarchy are curiously bad mannered.#The Gingrich bob is a shout-out to a mythic Washington: a place of order and comportment, stuffy but reliable, self-conscious, mannered, impervious.#From the mannered opening sequence of “The Sea” to its anticlimactic conclusion, the movie’s capital-L literary provenance couldn’t be more evident.#Instead, his performance is mannered and steadfast, evoking a man who trusts that humanity will survive fascism.# |
If someone calls you mannered, it's really not a compliment. It means that the way you act seems artificial or exaggerated. Chill out. |
Manners are the way we behave in society, how we speak and act with other people. Use mannered to say that someone has exaggerated or unnatural manners. In combination with other words — as in well-mannered or mild-mannered — mannered can take a positive meaning, but when it's used by itself, it's a criticism. Your pretentious classmate is mannered, and an actor's stilted, phony performance is also mannered. |
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| 848 |
squeamish |
excessively fastidious and easily disgusted |
But please note that this gunfire-fueled film is for mature audiences; given its content, young and/or squeamish viewers should avoid this one. |
churlish#dainty#fecund#offhand# |
Karin Slaughter’s new thriller, “The Good Daughter,” is not for the squeamish.#So if you are bearded, wear a hijab or are feeling squeamish, fear not: You will soon get your emoji.#Some people might be squeamish at the sight of hundreds of many-legged creatures congregating for what amounts to a giant arthropod orgy.#She laughs at the memory of being repulsed by blood in the ring because boxing is not for the squeamish or sensitive.# |
If you fainted or threw up at the sight of frog intestines in biology class, you’re squeamish — easily nauseated or shocked by unpleasant, icky things. No horror movies for you! |
We get squeamish from the Anglo-French word escoimous, meaning disdainful or shy. It can mean shy of blood or gore, or less often, it is used to describe a prissy kind of fear of confrontation with others. How can you become a heart surgeon if you’re squeamish enough to faint every time you get a paper cut? If you’re squeamish about confronting the noisy neighbors, why not slip a note under their door asking them to pipe down? |
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| 849 |
proclivity |
a natural inclination |
She received, under her father's supervision, a very careful education, and developed her proclivities for literary composition at an early age. |
perquisite#vertigo#ghoul#leaning# |
An overriding debate in this collection is over how forthright to be with children about the president’s proclivities and prejudices.#Mr. Trump’s dinner chat showed once again his proclivity to act alone, and he undoubtedly created headaches.#Nearly all the artists bend the pixels to their own purposes, aesthetic proclivities and preoccupations.#Any links to behaviours or proclivities are purely speculative, yet the media like the fiction.# |
A proclivity is a natural tendency to like something, such as your sister's proclivity for restaurants that serve hot, spicy food. |
When you have a proclivity, it feels automatic — you like what you like; you don't even have to think about it. The origin of the word proclivity supports this feeling. Proclivity comes from the Latin word proclivis, which literally means "sloping forward." You slide toward a proclivity — no effort is needed. You just give in to it, since you're headed in that direction naturally. |
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| 850 |
miserly |
characterized by or indicative of lack of generosity |
Now, my uncle seemed so miserly that I was struck dumb by this sudden generosity, and could find no words in which to thank him. |
perspicuous#squeamish#titular#ungenerous# |
But it was ready to open the vault and shed its miserly image.#The latter presides miserly over the estate, ordering Katherine to see to her wifely duties with “more vigor.”#Only Arsenal, in 2005-06, reached the final in more miserly fashion, conceding two goals before falling at the final hurdle against Barcelona.#Let us reject miserly, un-Christian policies that are also wholly impractical.# |
Miserly people are stingy with their money and not likely to be generous, like Ebenezer Scrooge himself. |
The adjective miserly evolved from the Latin word miser, which means “unhappy, wretched.” Nowadays, it's generally used to describe someone who hoards their money and presumably miserable because of it. But be careful not to mix up the word miserly with misery — even though it can often be the unfortunate mental outcome of interacting with a miserly individual. |
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| 851 |
vapid |
lacking significance or liveliness or spirit or zest |
How vapid was the talk of my remaining fellow-passengers; how slow of understanding, and how preoccupied with petty things they seemed! |
vacillating#mortifying#terrifying#stimulating# |
Spencer also dismissed Trump’s condemnation of white supremacists as “hollow and vapid . . . kumbaya nonsense.”#Shapiro shows us a vapid, childlike woman who ate very little in order to stay slender.#The vapid disposition, profanity, arrested development, and the fact he's disliked and ridiculed by the rest of the club.#It’s as inspiring and vapid as anything else on social media — and somehow manages to invoke awe and envy at the same time.# |
Reserve the adjective vapid for the airhead in your office who brings nothing to the table, except maybe the doughnuts. Vapid is an adjective to describe someone or something that is dull or uninspiring. |
"We prefer not to consider the shockingly vapid and primitive comments uttered by athletes in postcontest interviews," David Foster Wallace wrote. The word was originally used in English in a much more literal sense, describing beverages that lacked flavor. It comes from the Latin word vapidus, literally "having exhaled its vapor." |
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| 852 |
mercurial |
liable to sudden unpredictable change |
Wind energy is notoriously mercurial, with patterns shifting drastically over the course of years, days, even minutes. |
changeable#objectionable#disagreeable#unremarkable# |
Her mother was an English-born chorus-line dancer, and her French father, a former cafe owner, was mercurial and quick to rage.#And then there is Trump’s mercurial temperament and 24-hour Twitter trigger.#Mr. Quartley’s mercurial performance is quite magical enough on its own terms.#Successful deals in the mercurial world of U.S. fashion are rare, and now look even less likely to succeed as sales dip across the board.# |
Mercurial describes someone whose mood or behavior is changeable and unpredictable, or someone who is clever, lively, and quick. With a mercurial teacher, you never know where you stand. |
Mercury was the ancient Roman god of commerce and messenger of the gods, and the planet Mercury was named after the Roman god. In Middle English, this adjective meant "relating to the planet or god Mercury" and derives from Latin mercuriālis, from Mercurius "Mercury." A mercurial personality has the unpredictability associated with the god Mercury or, in astrology, is supposedly influenced by the planet. |
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| 853 |
perspicuous |
transparently clear; easily understandable |
The statements are plain and simple, a perfect model of perspicuous narrative. |
brackish#clear#biennial#problematic# |
Though she drew on the familiar and frighteningly massive catalog of offensives, her most perspicuous broadsides may have been against Trump’s lack of substance.#It would have been impossible to announce the success of my suit in a more delicate or more perspicuous manner.#One must be extremely exact, clear, and perspicuous, in everything one says, otherwise, instead of entertaining, or informing others, one only tires and puzzles them.#There is one thing in the world that must always be faultlessly perspicuous and distinct, and that is a marching order in time of battle.# |
Perspicuous is an adjective describing language that is clear and easy to understand. When you give a presentation, you should speak in a perspicuous manner so that everyone will be able to follow you. |
Someone who is perspicuous speaks in a way that makes the meaning absolutely clear. The word perspicuous dates from the 15th century and comes from the Latin word perspicuus, meaning “transparent, clear,” which comes from the verb perspicere, meaning “to look at closely." Language that is perspicuous is language that is easily understood — to the point where you can almost see it. |
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| 854 |
nonplus |
be a mystery or bewildering to |
I shook my head and rushed from his presence, completely nonplussed, bewildered, frantic. |
devastate#captivate#bewilder#edify# |
The unforgettable photo shows a flexing nude, smiling proudly, next to his thoroughly nonplused and emphatically clothed companion.#Elijah handed over his passport, but the guard was nonplussed.#Ms King said her professor, who teaches in the Department of Child and Family Studies, is not on Twitter and is nonplussed by the reaction.#Some fans seemed nonplussed by the topic of Trump, and preferred to complain about domestic politics instead.# |
To nonplus is to baffle or confuse someone to the point that they have nothing to say. Something weird and mysterious can nonplus you, like a play that is performed entirely by chickens. |
If you know a little French or Latin, you'll recognize that "non plus" means "no more." When something bewildering nonpluses you, there's no more you can say or do about it. A goal of getting poor grades, running with a bad crowd, and refusing to eat would leave your parents nonplussed. Sometimes people misuse nonplus to mean "unimpressed," but that's not correct: to nonplus is to puzzle, confuse, and dumbfound. |
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| 855 |
enamor |
attract |
Young Indian audiences are so enamored with reality television that they will not watch the soap operas and dramas that their parents or grandparents watch. |
indemnify#stabilize#fascinate#circumvent# |
But Alderson said he was not enamored of that option.#“Society’s become enamored by the romantic myth of creativity,” he says.#Image: Tamara Warren / The Verge While I wasn’t enamored by cars back then, I did appreciate my father’s enthusiasm for his life’s work.#He wanted to keep reproducing them because he was enamored of them.# |
When you are enamored by something or someone, you love it. It attracts you. You might say that you're enamored with your new car, or enamored of the new kid in school. |
Enamor is a strange verb––it doesn't mean anything on its own. One cannot just enamor––that means nothing. One cannot even enamor something––that also is a meaningless proposition. Rather, you're enamored by the thing that attracts you. The verb is almost always used in a passive construction. |
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| 856 |
hackneyed |
repeated too often; overfamiliar through overuse |
Many speakers become so addicted to certain hackneyed phrases that those used to hearing them speak can see them coming sentences away. |
extra#useful#stock#honest# |
But that play on words, hackneyed though it may be, conveys a visceral truth.#Capitol on Thursday morning was less to enter an ongoing, real-life debate of mysterious outcome than to assume your role in a hackneyed script.#"It's not the crime; it's the cover-up," may be a hackneyed political saying, but that doesn't mean it lacks a kernel of truth.#Do Not Become Alarmed proves that you don’t need hackneyed thriller devices to generate powerful momentum and suspense.# |
Hackneyed is a word for language that doesn't pack a punch since it's overused and trite. "Roses are red, violets are..." — enough already?! That's hackneyed stuff. |
Hackneyed is usually used to describe tired writing, but you can also refer to the hackneyed plots of television sit-coms or the hackneyed jokes of your Uncle Fred. But, most often, you will see hackneyed before the word phrase to refer to a specific cliché that is annoying the heck out of someone. |
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| 857 |
spate |
a large number or amount or extent |
French authorities are already reporting a rising spate of calls to emergency services by homeowners whose once-frozen water mains have now burst. |
good deal#two weeks#long time#five hundred# |
Prior to the recent spate of moves, the last time tolls were eliminated from a Texas roadway was 1977, Pickett said.#Intriguingly, this decline stems mostly from shots missing the target altogether, rather than from a spate of match-winning saves.#The current spate of North Korean agitation is hardly a new phenomenon.#Both sisters commented on how good the factory is, in the light of a spate of recent closures in the area.# |
A spate is a large number. If a spate of new coffee shops open in your neighborhood, it’ll be easy for you to stay wide awake. You’ll have easy access to plenty of caffeine. |
Though it’s now used to describe a large number or unusually large amount of something, the word spate originally described a sudden flood of water, such as a river overflowing after a downpour. Thinking about being overwhelmed by a sudden rush of water will help you remember to use spate when you encounter an unexpected overflow of anything, whether it’s books, robberies, celebrity break-ups, or corporate mergers. |
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| 858 |
pedagogue |
someone who educates young people |
His old pedagogue, Mr. Brownell, had been unable to teach him mathematics. |
a Hindu deity#a rock star#a nail salon employee#a science teacher# |
In between bursts of lethal clumsiness, the authorities have mostly left the protesting pedagogues free to man their barricades.#Pedagogues tell us that teachers are supposed to be imbued with “a desire to help.”#Our hypothetical pedagogue does not exemplify the soft bigotry of low expectations, but he’s a bad teacher for other reasons.#“What runs through a lot of these disparate pedagogues is this respect for children’s thinking,” she says.# |
Pedagogue is another name for "teacher," but one who is strict, stiff or old-fashioned, as in a pedagogue who stands in the front of the room and lectures for the entire class period, boring the students to tears. |
The noun pedagogue, pronounced "PED-uh-gog," is the Old French word for "teacher of children." The emphasis here is on "old." To call a teacher a pedagogue is a deliberate choice because it implies that he or she is "the teacher that time forgot," possibly using notes and handouts from twenty years ago, standing in that same spot, year after year, saying the same things, as students stare out the same windows. |
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| 859 |
acme |
the highest level or degree attainable |
Scientifically speaking, it is the acme of absurdity to talk of a man defying the law of gravitation when he lifts his arm. |
grove#peak#harm#outline# |
On the bright side, however, Beltre landed a product endorsement for Acme’s portable holes.#The 67-year-old landed in the cellar of Acme Windows, where workers were repairing gas lines.#Dodd describes this world as “the very acme of dreariness.”#The governing logic of Heather Rasmussen’s photographs at Acme is Surrealism, the artistic movement by which the familiar becomes dream-like and strange.# |
When something is at the very peak of perfection, reach for this noun from Greek: acme. A brilliant violinist might reach the acme of her career, but eventually she might become unstrung. |
This noun referring to the highest point of something might sound comical because it has shown up so often in cartoons as the name of a company, such as the one that makes Wile E. Coyote's contraptions in the old Warner Brothers cartoons. But the word is actually a serious-minded import from Greek. Near synonyms for high points include zenith, summit, pinnacle, apex, and peak, but acme has a special nuance for an ultimate point of perfection. |
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| 860 |
masticate |
bite and grind with the teeth |
Food should be masticated quietly, and with the lips closed. |
a glass of lemonade#a saxophone#a piece of beef jerky#a lawnmower# |
“If you want to try and just feed me like a baby bird, I’m OK with that. Just masticate that up.”#A volunteer veterinary surgeon then performed the operation to remove the dense, masticated mass of bamboo, which was preventing intestinal movement.#She just met his expressionless gaze while he finished masticating his bite of sandwich.#Well, you try it first, and based on that initial masticating, decide if you want to eat more or less.# |
To masticate is to chew your food or to bite and grind stuff with your teeth. |
While humans use their teeth, primarily molars, to masticate their food, some animals have evolved other ways to do this. Some masticate by crushing food between hard plates on the top and bottom of their mouths, and others masticate by using a spiny tongue to break down their food. |
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| 861 |
sinecure |
a job that involves minimal duties |
He would have repudiated the notion that he was looking for a sinecure, but no doubt considered that the duties would be easy and light. |
a high-paying job that requires little work#a complex math problem#a healthy and well-balanced meal#a medication that alleviates flu symptoms# |
For most press secretaries, the job opens the door to a lifetime of sinecures: lucrative speaking circuits, punditry gigs and, yes, books deals.#Indeed, many Indian applicants bribe school boards to get a job, which they treat as a sinecure rather than a career.#Nkoloso drifted through what amounts to a series of sinecures.#Finally, the party chairmanship has become a part-time sinecure for politicians on their way up or down, not a full-time position for a professional organizer.# |
If you have a cushy job — one that pays, but involves minimal work — then you have a sinecure. "Because he was the brother of the CEO, he was offered a sinecure in the company: he showed up each day and collected a pay check, but others actually did his work." |
The noun sinecure comes from the Latin root words sine cura meaning "without care." It originally was used to describe a church position that did not include caring for the souls of parishioners, but that meaning is considered archaic now. The word is now usually associated with political appointments. |
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| 862 |
indite |
produce a literary work |
She indited religious poems which were the admiration of the age. |
write#value#wonder#coddle# |
Who indited such flagrant blasphemy against the Holy Scriptures?#Future police murders of unarmed civilians will also be on the hands of the members of the Grand Jury, who refused to indite the murderer.#He could copy such simple poetry as this, and feel it too, though he could indite no original poems on his canvas pages.#Many a fair hand indited and sent billets to him, that would have turned some loftier heads than his.# |
The verb indite, rarely used today, means "compose" or "put down in writing," like when you find a quiet place to sit down with your notebook and pen and indite a journal entry or a first draft of a short story. |
To indite is to write something creative — you indite a letter, and jot a grocery list. Don't confuse indite with its homophone indict, which means "to charge with a crime." Both come from the Latin word dictare, meaning “to declare.” Even if you indite a really bad poem, critics won't indict you. |
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| 863 |
emetic |
a medicine that induces nausea and vomiting |
The juice of this herb, taken in ale, is esteemed a gentle and very good emetic, bringing on vomiting without any great irritation or pain. |
ingestion of poison#preparing for air travel#surviving a car accident#battling cancer# |
Nearby, in the Continental Army Encampment, a Colonial surgeon showed us the various knives, scalpels, saws, tonics and emetics of her trade.#Please tell me the most emetic fact about Zika that you know.#The market had overindulged in speculation and borrowing, and it was issuing its own emetic.#They named a drink after this, some emetic concoction of Galliano and white wine, with which we toasted each other all night.# |
An emetic is a medicine or potion that makes you vomit, which you might be given if you've taken poison or some other harmful substance. |
You can also use the word emetic in a more figurative sense to describe anything that makes you feel sick — the motion of a boat rocked by a storm could easily be an emetic, and the tuna sandwich the guy sitting next to you on the bus has just unwrapped might also be an emetic for everyone sitting nearby. |
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| 864 |
temporize |
draw out a discussion or process in order to gain time |
So he temporized and beat about the bush, and did not touch first on that which was nearest his heart. |
avoid taking an exam#humiliate his peers#flatter his teacher#get his question answered# |
It’s the stuff of high drama — the temporizing ethicist meets the amoral bulldozer.#But Trump throws such temporizing into sharper relief.#Infinitives are timeless and tenseless, “infinite” until human action temporizes and personalizes them.#There is an odd new law of U.S. politics: You can lie, as Trump does all the time, egregiously, but you can’t temporize.# |
The verb temporize describes stalling in order to gain time in the hopes of avoiding or preventing something. Your class might temporize so your teacher won't have time to give the pop quiz you all think she's going to give. |
Accent the first syllable of temporize: "TEM-puh-rise." Tempor- means "time," which you probably recognize from other time-related words such as temporary, temporal, and contemporary. Temporize comes from the Middle French word temporiser, meaning "to pass one's time, wait one's time." |
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| 865 |
unimpeachable |
beyond doubt or reproach |
Whether we agree with the conclusions of these writers or not, the method of critical investigation which they adopt is unimpeachable. |
insuperable#irreproachable#nondescript#esoteric# |
The natural world is an unimpeachable witness, and we would be wise to heed its testimony.#When you are on top, or racing there, this is an unimpeachable approach.#After all, it’s easy to assume your judgment and decisions are unimpeachable.#An actor’s actor, a stage athlete, a gritty comic performer with an unimpeachable work ethic, Metcalf describes herself simply as “an interpreter.”# |
Unimpeachable describes someone or something that is totally, completely, without any doubt, innocent and good, like an unimpeachable role model who avoids bad influences and sketchy situations. |
Impeach means "to accuse, or charge with a crime." It is a verb usually reserved for when high-ranking officials like presidents do something wrong. So, when you add the prefix un- and the suffix -able, the result is an adjective that means "not able to be accused," in other words, beyond doubt or question. If you run for public office and your past is unimpeachable, your opponents will have nothing to use against you in their advertisements. |
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| 866 |
genesis |
a coming into being |
He found himself speculating on the genesis of the moral sense, how it developed in difficulties rather than in ease. |
compensation#commencement#interpolation#abridgment# |
A shortage of hotel rooms for people visiting the city during the 1974 World’s Fair became the genesis for RLH Corp.#These philosophical dilemmas and legal repercussions don’t much trouble “Operation Finale,” whose overly pat narrative may reflect its genesis within an Israeli government institution.#It is sometimes hard to locate the genesis of a catastrophe.#Those trailblazers became the genesis for the rich cultural tapestry here in the Pacific Northwest.# |
When you talk about the genesis of something, you're talking about where it began. The genesis of hip-hop music was the party scene in New York City’s South Bronx in the 1970s. |
The Jewish Torah and the Christian Scriptures begin with the book of Genesis, which describes God separating light from darkness and creating the universe. Genesis is the very start of something, its birth. But you probably wouldn't refer to your own birth as a genesis. When you describe something as a genesis, you're usually referring to the beginning of a movement or an idea. |
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| 867 |
mordant |
harshly ironic or sinister |
Even Morgan himself, intrepid as he was, shrank from the awful menace of the mordant words. |
stingy#egotistical#unassailable#grim# |
Asaf's mordant wit was on magnificent display as he shared the news about their friends.#And it’s just here, with perfect timing, that Beattie offers an example of her signature mordant humor:#With what is presumably a mordant sense of irony, they call their system Quixote.#English slang is a field rich for tillage, as Max Décharné proves in “Vulgar Tongues,” a triumph of philological research and mordant social commentary.# |
If you like Edgar Allan Poe and "The Addams Family," you have a taste for mordant entertainment — that is, anything particularly grim or dark in nature. |
The original meaning of mordant (which comes from the Latin word modere, meaning "to bite or sting,") was that of a physical substance that literally bit into something, such as the one used to set dye into fabrics, or etch lines into a copper plate. Now, mordant generally refers to a dark or biting artistic style, sense of humor, or psychological outlook. |
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| 868 |
smattering |
a small number or amount |
Only a smattering of fans remained for all four ghastly quarters. |
in a vault#on a nightstand#in a travel bookstore#at a library# |
The inside of the house is as gloomy as a dungeon, the smattering of candles providing little illumination against the dark stone walls.#Instead, Hubble observed a smattering of bright clouds in the north.#Vinder’s website, which launched in February, is used by a smattering of backyard gardeners, farmers and their customers in 21 cities across 11 states.#It’s time everyone stopped pretending and time we started acknowledging humanity’s impending diminishment into a ragtag smattering of survivors.# |
A smattering is a small but inexact amount of something. If you know a smattering of things about Australia, then you don't know much. |
A smattering is a small amount of something, but it's hard to say how much. It's probably less than a bunch, but it's not much more than a whit or a jot. If you said "There's a smattering of squirrels in the park," then there are only a few squirrels. This word also implies that you don't understand a subject very well — a smattering of knowledge is only a tiny bit of knowledge. |
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| 869 |
suavity |
the quality of being charming and gracious in manner |
His combativeness was harnessed to his suavity, and he could be forcible and at the same time persuasive. |
a tow truck#a virus#a butler#an angry child# |
Yet the word “labor” hardly characterizes the suavity, swiftness and economy of its text.#In the title role, baritone Michael Adams was more of a work in progress, relying on generic suavity rather than vocal command and characterization.#The youngish new foreign minister displayed a suavity that was absent a dozen years ago.#At one point, Plácido Domingo glides past with such suavity, I barely register that he is cutting the line entirely.# |
Suavity is the art of making people like and want to be around you, like the celebrity whose suavity helped him land great movie roles — even though he wasn't the most talented actor to audition. |
Suavity, pronounced "SWAH-vuh-tee," depends on saying all the right things to "get in good" with everyone around. So, though it is a graceful and often helpful thing to have suavity, it also might be a little less than real: In avoiding any topic that might get the conversation moving in a more lively and even heated direction, those who possess great suavity may also make things a little boring, fake, even. Talking about the weather and where everyone went on vacation does get a bit old. |
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| 870 |
stentorian |
very loud or booming |
If a hundred voices shouted in opposition, his stentorian tones still made themselves heard above the uproar. |
a cricket's chirp#a fussy infant's cry#a drill sergeant's voice#a woman's whistling# |
The television journalists with their trench coats and stentorian inflections.#Zullo proceeded to play a short video called “Nine Points of Forgery,” in which an unnamed stentorian voice alleges various problems with Obama’s birth certificate.#Doctorow novel — the playhouse allows a potentially stentorian piece to sing out with renewed fervor.#The first things one notices about the choreographer and director Bill T Jones are his stentorian voice, his beauty and his razor-sharp intellect.# |
The adjective stentorian describes a booming voice. If you're teaching a group of unruly kids, you'll need to practice a stentorian voice to be heard above the din. |
The adjective stentorian comes from Greek mythology. Stentor was a herald in the Trojan War, mentioned in Homer's "Iliad." Homer wrote of brazen-voiced Stentor, whose cry was as loud as that of fifty men together. So anyone with a stentorian voice has a voice like the mythic Stentor. You can also use stentorian to describe a style of speaking that emphasizes boom and power. |
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| 871 |
junket |
a trip taken by an official at public expense |
Mr. Abramoff arranged for junkets, including foreign golfing destinations, for the members of Congress he was trying to influence. |
corollary#malediction#stalemate#outing# |
We are at a press junket for the film.#Mom asked, as though Grandma, a onetime Fifth Avenue milliner, was on one of her many European hat-buying junkets.#The only time I don't play is doing press junkets like this.#The first is through junkets, essentially by being middlemen who lend money and collect on debts.# |
A junket is a pleasure trip, often funded by someone else. You've probably heard of a politician taking a junket to a fancy resort, all paid for using taxpayer money. |
A junket can be used as a gift to try to get something from the person going on the trip. If you're a travel reporter and resort owners pay for your junket to check out their new property in Hawaii, you might feel like you owe them a good review. A junket isn't always devious: the word can simply mean a journey taken for pleasure, like when you take your boat out and sail down the coast for a couple days. |
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| 872 |
appurtenance |
a supplementary component that improves capability |
In the center of this space stood a large frame building whose courtyard, stables, and other appurtenances proclaimed it an inn. |
nostrum#accessory#junket#patois# |
In fact, it is the whole package — the dress, the background, the appurtenances of wealth and power — that matters.#A small bed, two pails for waste and a child’s table and chairs are its only appurtenances, aside from a few books.#He had all the appurtenances—the black hat, the white moustache, heaps of old eastern money.#Still, the only major appurtenances missing are cameras.# |
Something that is an accessory to something but not an integral part of it is an appurtenance. If you buy a car, you may want to purchase a few appurtenances for it, like an ice scraper and fuzzy dice to hang from your rear view mirror. |
The noun appurtenance does not only refer to tangible objects, such as appurtenances of a certain lifestyle. It can also mean equipment or gear for a certain task. By the time you fill your locker with all the appurtenances of a high school student, you won't have room for a coat. Perhaps the appurtenances you should invest in are heavy sweatshirts. |
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| 873 |
nostrum |
patent medicine whose efficacy is questionable |
Just here a native "medicine man" dispenses nostrums of doubtful efficacy, and in front a quantity of red Moorish pottery is exposed for sale. |
a black hole#a podium#suspenders#a prescription drug# |
“You propose an expedition to Greece in your warship. You do realize that the ancient lands—and the Mare Nostrum—are dangerous?”#Iberia and Air Nostrum, which like BA are part of the broader International Airlines Group and share some data, canceled more than 320 flights Monday.#They offer nostrums, which is what the existentially panicked crave.#Maybe these nostrums are important for Mr. Trump but they seem to have little to do with making a country rich.# |
Though you try many medicines that claim to cure your cold, none of them work. They turn out to be nostrums, or ineffective drugs. |
Nostrum refers to a cure-all, a drug, or a medicine that is ineffectual. Before drugs were regulated by the government, there were many nostrums sold to the public. “Snake oil” is one of the most well-known. Said to cure any ailment from achy joints to hair loss, snake oil concoctions could contain a number of ingredients — including camphor, red pepper, and turpentine. |
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| 874 |
immure |
lock up or confine, in or as in a jail |
Political prisoners, numbering as many as three or four hundred at a time, have been immured within its massive walls. |
immolate#pummel#imprison#manumit# |
Winnie, the central character — really the only one — is immured in earth up to her waist.#Only when Marina is brought to draw out Pericles does Mr. Carr show a man immured in his own grief gradually awakening to life.#She concludes that it must be “because she had not married. No man had taken her away and immured her in some comfortable suburb.”#She concludes that it must be “because she had not married. No man had taken her away and immured her in some comfortable suburb.”# |
When you immure someone or something, you put it behind a wall, as in a jail or some other kind of confining space. |
You may recognize the -mur- in immure as the root for "wall," as in mural, which is a painting on a wall, or intramural, literally "inside the walls," as, for instance, the walls of a school — intramural sports are played among teams from the same school. You don't need a jail to immure someone. Rapunzel was immured in her tower. At the end of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, the lovers are immured in the tomb. |
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| 875 |
astringent |
sour or bitter in taste |
There was something sharply astringent about her then, like biting inadvertently into a green banana. |
apocalyptic#ramshackle#disposable#sour# |
European officials here reacted astringently, threatening to retaliate.#Adding bitter blockers is one of the ways to hide astringent flavors that are inherent in some common food ingredients, such as grains.#After intermission, Ravel’s early A Minor Sonata provided the perfect astringent foil to the more thickly textured Central European works of the first half.#As the tannins fade, the wine becomes less astringent and tastes sweeter.# |
You know that vinegar-like liquid teens put on their faces in order to tighten their pores and dry up their pimples? That's astringent. An astringent personality, on the other hand, is perceived as bitter and perhaps even a bit toxic. |
Astringent may be a lifesaver for an acne-prone teen, but when the term is used as an adjective and applied to you personally, it's less positive. Since astringents are acid-based, an astringent personality can also be corrosive. If someone is prone to biting sarcasm and cynicism, he probably has an astringent view of the world. |
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| 876 |
unfaltering |
marked by firm determination or resolution; not shakable |
Still unfaltering, the procession commenced to trudge back, the littlest boy and girl bearing themselves bravely, with lips tight pressed. |
unrequited#sere#unwavering#billowing# |
“How’s your mommy? And your granddaddy?” she asked Ms. Davis, who was rapidly braiding with unfaltering concentration.#His strong recent debut album, “Aria,” reflects his unfaltering foothold in the jazz firmament.#In unfaltering, measured tones, Carney explained that the bank had drawn up extensive contingency plans and that things more moving smoothly.#Basically, most of the grade-A hit singles you hear on a loop on the radio carry Martin’s usually unfaltering Midas touch.# |
Unfaltering means unwavering, not changing. As an adult, you might thank your mother for her unfaltering support of your education, never letting you skip a night of homework. Now, not so much. |
To falter means to almost lose strength or momentum, but not necessarily lose it entirely. If you are standing at the entrance to the stage, and thinking "I just can't go out and make a speech," you're faltering. If you never have that moment of doubt, your desire to give the speech could be described as unfaltering. |
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| 877 |
tutelage |
attention and management implying responsibility for safety |
It will do so under German leadership that grows less hesitant with each crisis, and without the American tutelage it enjoyed for so many decades. |
stabilization#care#regicide#resurgence# |
But there was no greater validation of Fox’s influence, under Ailes’ tutelage, than the victory of Donald Trump that November.#We should now look to France for inspiration and tutelage.#Under his tutelage, Houston shook off last year’s disappointing season where it finished eighth in the West and was eliminated in the first round.#A part of the prohibition movement actually intersected with this, the sense that these immigrants needed the social tutelage of their betters.# |
If you babysit and tutor younger children after school, the kids are under your tutelage. You are responsible for their care and education. |
Tutelage can mean guardianship as well as teaching and sometimes it's difficult to tell which sense is meant. If an athlete is under the tutelage of his coach, the coach teaches him but is also responsible for the athlete's health and well-being. When the word describes a situation where one country or culture takes charge of another, it's more clear that management and guardianship are meant. |
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| 878 |
testator |
a person who makes a will |
This will was drawn up by me some years since at the request of the testator, who was in good health, mentally and bodily. |
when administering an exam#when taking one's temperature#when estate planning for your family#when bull fighting in Spain# |
The willingness of some courts to set aside wills of gay testators sometimes led partners to settle for a fraction of their inheritance.#The judge said the testator had signed using a light blue ink pen, while the witnesses used dark blue ink.#Other convents are mentioned once only and in some cases a testator leaves legacies to nuns by name, without mentioning where they are professed.#"And," I added, "I understood, my lord, that the testator's personalty was sworn under four hundred thousand pounds."# |
When you make your last will and testament, you are the testator, and if the will is written and witnessed according to the law of the land, your estate will be divided in the way you, the testator, requested. |
The noun testator comes from the Latin verb testari, meaning “make a will,” “be witness,” or “declare.” Perhaps your aunt, as testator of her will, indicated that she wanted you to inherit her collection of garden statuettes to keep her daughter from “smashing them to bits and heaving them in the dump.” |
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| 879 |
elysian |
of such excellence as to suggest inspiration by the gods |
Life seemed an elysian dream, from which care and sorrow must be for ever banished. |
inspired#unexceptionable#apocalyptic#unassisted# |
Firefighters on Tuesday night were battling a small vegetation fire in Elysian Park, officials said.#Ms. Belilove herself often exemplifies the genre’s tragic, heroic side: Orpheus entering the Elysian fields, Liberty leading the people.#And maybe not everything is reconcilable by his magnificent Elysian fiat.#Carrie Sutkin, who serves on the Elysian Valley Riverside Neighborhood Council, said she too welcomes the completion of the span.# |
The adjective elysian describes a blissful state, like the one most people hope to enjoy on a Hawaiian vacation. |
The word elysian comes from the idyllic Greek mythological place called Elysian Fields. While it might seem at first like a place a tourist might want to see, don’t try to book airline tickets! Although the term is now often equated with a paradise, the Greek Elysian Fields were a heavenly resting place to go in the afterlife. The concept was probably originally conceived to encourage valor in soldiers during battle. Nowadays, people tend to use elysian to describe any heavenly scene — even a golf resort or a spa. |
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| 880 |
fractious |
easily irritated or annoyed |
He was a fractious invalid, and spared his wife neither time nor trouble in attending to his wants. |
gauche#maudlin#astringent#petulant# |
That is not how those in attendance reacted, describing it as profound moment in a fractious relationship.#Britain is now consumed with fractious divorce proceedings that seem likely to end its inclusion in Europe’s vast common marketplace, threatening its exports.#It courses with the often fractious history of the island.#It is perhaps not surprising that its alumni are a fractious group.# |
If you're prone to picking fights, making snarky comments, and being frustratingly stubborn, you're fractious. And odds are you're not invited to too many parties. |
Someone who is fractious is cranky, rebellious and inclined to cause problems. Tempers and children are commonly described as such. In To Kill A Mockingbird, author Harper Lee uses the word to describe the trouble-making Calpurnia: "She had always been too hard on me, she had at last seen the error of her fractious ways, she was sorry and too stubborn to say so." |
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| 881 |
pummel |
strike, usually with the fist |
Another, with rubber bands wrapped tightly around his face, is pummelled by a plastic boxing kangaroo. |
a deep hole in the ground#a personal bankruptcy#a crushed nose#a decorated cake# |
On command from their leader, the young men charged and pummeled their ideological foes with abandon.#Opposition leaders called instead for an early presidential election, which Maduro would likely lose as his popularity gets pummeled by the country's economic woes.#I think of the first time I looked into those eyes, as a freezing six-year-old getting pummeled in the culling pen.#But General Haftar is free to keep pummelling terrorists, which is what he labels most of his opponents.# |
The best pummelers in the world are probably boxers, as to pummel means to repeatedly beat someone down, especially with fists. |
The main sense of pummel is physical, but you can use it figuratively when something is taking a beating. During a stock market crash, the economy is being pummeled. A heavy rain can pummel the earth. If you get three bad math grades in a row, it feels like numbers themselves are pummeling you. When many bad things happen at once, it feels like you're being pummeled by life. |
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| 882 |
manumit |
free from slavery or servitude |
Moreover, manumitted slaves enjoyed the same rights, privileges and immunities that were enjoyed by those born free. |
a slave#a baseball glove#an independent contractor#an instruction manual# |
If they were faithful and hardworking, the master would set them free, manumit them, when he died.#Even when manumitting such slaves, the company exacted an annual tribute from adults and retained ownership of their children.#Manumiss′ion, act of manumitting or setting free from slavery.#Not inferior to their white comrades were the manumitted negroes.# |
To manumit is to set free, or to release a slave from slavery. During slavery in the United States, it was rare for a slave owner to manumit his slaves. |
Manumit comes from a Latin word meaning “set forth from the hand,” which happens when a slave owner frees a slave. The terrible history of slavery includes stories of owners who might manumit a slave as a reward for serving in their stead in the Revolutionary War, or simply to appear benevolent. While slavery is a sensitive topic, it’s especially difficult to talk about if you can’t pronounce manumit correctly, so try it like this: man-yuh-MITT. |
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| 883 |
unexceptionable |
completely acceptable; not open to reproach |
All cowboys are from necessity good cooks, and the fluffy, golden brown biscuits and fragrant coffee of Red's making were unexceptionable. |
acceptable#available#essential#extraordinary# |
“If a President should pardon an accomplice, that accomplice then would be an unexceptionable witness,” Iredell wrote.#Likewise, that tone should vary without clashing and be euphonious without being soporific is pretty unexceptionable advice.#Many novel verbs that set purists’ teeth on edge become unexceptionable to their grown children.#A form response would be marked as F+ for a well-seen form, F– for the opposite, F for the unexceptionable.# |
If something is unexceptionable, don't bother trying to find something wrong with it — you won't. Your unexceptionable character makes you the perfect candidate to run for public office, but if you run, people will be looking for things to criticize. |
If you break it down, exceptionable describes something objectionable or unacceptable. Put an un on it, for “not,” and unexceptionable is something no one can object to. If your baking is unexceptionable, your muffins are light and fluffy and melt in your mouth. In this arena, even a top baker would be unable to find fault. As for your run for public office, if your character is truly unexceptionable, you won’t mind those reporters snooping around! |
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| 884 |
triumvirate |
a group of three people responsible for civil authority |
This triumvirate approach has real benefits in terms of shared wisdom, and we will continue to discuss the big decisions among the three of us. |
an elderly man who competes in athletic competitions#a group of three classic motorcycles#a state's governor, majority leader, and minority leader#an army that wins a decisive battle# |
He and the Wizards will step into next season with a clear triumvirate.#It was the third in a triumvirate of disasters to befall the nation following on from the Great Plague and Great Fire of London.#They offered multiple interpretations of the sphere and of the triumvirate of world leaders bathed in its light.#The impromptu conference call seemed to connect a progressive power triumvirate that never was.# |
A triumvirate is a group of three people who share power. In America's early days, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison were a triumvirate — three men whose leadership helped shape America. |
The prefix tri means "three," so it makes sense that triumvirate refers to a group of three. In this case, the three in question are powerful men who share authority. The word comes to us from ancient Rome, where two groups of three important men shared power over the Roman Republic. The First Triumvirate was made up of Julius Caesar, Pompey the Great, and Marcus Licinius Crassus, and the Second Triumvirate consisted of Marc Antony, Lepidus, and Octavian. |
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| 885 |
sybarite |
a person addicted to luxury and pleasures of the senses |
He was not used to travelling on omnibuses, being something of a sybarite who spared nothing to ensure his own comfort. |
#### |
The Sybarites in sixth-century southern Italy “taught their warhorses to caper to the sound of flutes”.#But his admirers should know he remained a sybarite even in his waning days.#A sybarite could easily shell out three digits for a soup to nocciole dinner with wine and cocktails.#At once confessional and curatorial, the book portrays Oswalt as not just a celluloid sybarite, but someone dead serious about the art.# |
If you know someone who's totally addicted to luxurious things and all of life's pleasures, call her a sybarite. Unless she's inviting you over for champagne brunches and showering you with gifts — in which case you should keep your mouth shut. |
Sybarite was first recorded in the 1600s, meaning a “person devoted to pleasure.” The literal translation of this noun is “inhabitant of Sybaris,” which was an ancient Greek town full of citizens who loved nice things. Today, the word still has the same two meanings: it's either a person who could be described as addicted to pleasures and luxury (like a hedonist), or an actual person who lives in Sybaris. |
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| 886 |
jibe |
be compatible, similar, or consistent |
Contemporary art has never quite jibed with mainstream media. |
match#implode#granulate#careen# |
Yet if a weaker dollar is part of the administration’s designs, it does not appear to be jibing with other elements of its plans.#Christie says Joseph heckled him once, and that he confronted him after a second jibe.#Bergen said that jibes with several recent studies in which people were asked to rate vulgar words from most offensive to least offensive.#Trump used a familiar approach with senators — mixing friendly banter with pointed jibes.# |
To jibe with someone is to agree with them. Jibe can also mean “be compatible with or similar to.” If two people jibe, they get along quite well. |
A jibe can also be an insulting remark as another way to spell gibe. If someone directs that kind of jibe at you, the best response is a really good comeback. And in nautical terminology, jibe refers to a particular manner of changing the course of a ship. How did this word come to have such different meanings? Your guess is as good as ours. Just try to remember that if you want to jibe with others, don’t insult them. |
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| 887 |
magisterial |
offensively self-assured or exercising unwarranted power |
“Now look here,” he said, making believe to take down my words and shaking his pencil at me in a magisterial way. |
meteoric#imposing#histrionic#unfaltering# |
White’s specificity is at once magisterial and enchanting, for example, in this report on the survival instincts of the squirrel and the nut-hatch:#Both suspects appeared separately by video link for their arraignments in a small courtroom in Buckingham presided over by Magisterial District Judge Maggie Snow.#When Ervin refers to “Fallout 4” and “No Man’s Sky” as “ magisterial,” he implies that they are uncontested masterpieces; they are not.#When Ervin refers to “Fallout 4” and “No Man’s Sky” as “ magisterial,” he implies that they are uncontested masterpieces; they are not.# |
A person who is magisterial can be distinguished and grand, or possibly just conceited and bossy. You will learn a lot if you listen to a magisterial presentation of early American history. |
The Latin word for teacher is magister, so think of magisterial as describing a person with the great authority of a teacher or learned person. It can also mean related to the office of magistrate — think of magisterial documents or inquiries into a matter. If, however, someone calls you magisterial, he or she may think you are a bit pompous. It will irritate you if a person speaks to you in a magisterial tone! |
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| 888 |
roseate |
of something having a dusty purplish pink color |
Behind the trees rough, lichened rock and stony slopes ran up to a bare ridge, silhouetted against the roseate glow of the morning sky. |
the ocean#a lawn#a smile#a sunset# |
Its nest, its pallet, was of every kind of precious feather— Of lovely cotinga feathers, roseate spoonbill feathers, quetzal feathers.#Roseate spoonbills are one of six species and the only one with the mysterious bubblegum color.#The report noted that roseate spoonbill nesting shifted over the last five years from small islands within Florida Bay to the mainland.#President Reagan made that roseate tableaux the centerpiece of his 1984 reelection campaign, and it endures as a model of political buoyancy and radiance.# |
As its sound might suggest, roseate has to do with "rosy." Anything that's roseate is rose colored or pinkish. It's often used in the term "roseate glow," typically to describe a sunset. |
Ever heard of the phrase "seeing life through rose tinted glasses," meaning seeing life way too optimistically and unrealistically? Well, roseate can have that sense as well. If you're painting "too roseate" a picture of what college is like to your parents, you're either deliberately or unintentionally giving them a picture that's a bit too good to be true. |
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| 889 |
obloquy |
a false accusation of an offense |
This is the real history of a transaction which, by frequent misrepresentation, has brought undeserved obloquy upon a generous man. |
automation#reprobation#opprobrium#nonentity# |
Not content with his role in that obloquy, he now seems determined to shame his state by clinging to office.#As a result, she became an unwilling media figure and victim who, long after her father’s conviction and imprisonment, was subjected to obloquy and harassment.#They also point out that “ obloquy” — a noun — means “strongly condemnatory utterance,” “invective” or “abuse.”#After 15 years of grinding war with no obvious end in sight, U.S. military operations certainly deserve such obloquy.# |
If you are on the receiving end of obloquy, then society has turned against you and you are in a state of disgrace. Poor Hester Prynne who was forced to wear a red "A" on her chest for "adultery" knows all about obloquy. |
If you break the word obloquy into its two Latin roots, you have ob, meaning “against” and loqui, meaning "to speak" — so obloquy means “to speak against," in an especially mean way. Obloquy can also be the result of public shame, or criticism. Get scolded in front of the other shoppers by the grocery store manager for knocking over a display of bottles, and you will understand what obloquy is! |
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| 890 |
hoodwink |
influence by slyness |
The stories of the saints he regarded as preposterous fables invented to hoodwink a gullible and illiterate populace. |
quash#beguile#evaluate#underestimate# |
Eric Trump, too, was briefly hoodwinked by the prankster emailing as his older brother, Donald Trump Jr, about a long-range hunting rifle.#But the picture was a fake, a poorly done Photoshop that hoodwinked Twitter and the editors at a major newspaper.#Today, Biscardi claims he was hoodwinked by the men and lost more than $100,000 as a result of the hoax.#"Their capability to hoodwink youngsters - it's like a magician," he said.# |
To hoodwink someone means to trick or mislead them. Beware of fake ATMs that try to hoodwink you into giving over your bank card and your code, only to keep them both and steal all your money. |
An excellent, old-fashioned word is hoodwink, and you’ll be happy you know it when you have to read Victorian novels in which characters are repeatedly hoodwinked. It is an Old English compound which meant "to blindfold" 600 years ago but quickly began to be used figuratively. Think about the expression, to pull the wool over someone's eyes, as having the same image and meaning. Has your big sister ever hoodwinked you into doing her chores for her? |
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| 891 |
striate |
mark with stripes of contrasting color |
The body is striated with clearly defined, often depressed lines, which run longitudinally and sometimes spirally. |
a face with freckles#a sky with stars#a lawn with a lawnmower#a blouse with polka dots# |
The “Persians” are cupped disks with similar wavy edges and striated patterns but brighter and more opaque.#Swollen, throbbing, and pale purple, Beatrice’s left leg looked less like a limb and more like an oversized, striated eggplant.*#The article features an eyewitness video from Reuters, which appears here both striated, thanks to low ink, and bisected at the painting’s center.#An accent wall in a beige striated wallpaper adds texture.# |
If a field is plowed into furrows, it's striated––or, technically, it's marked with striae, which are stripes or grooves. |
When you see striate, think of stripes. When you draw a row of stripes in clay with the tines of a fork, you're striating it. A striated rock surface might show evidence of the movement of glaciers thousands of years ago. Striated muscle has a striped appearance. |
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| 892 |
arrogate |
seize and take control without authority |
Japanese manufacturers were accused of arrogating American technologies to churn out low-cost electronics. |
pass through#take over#mess up#screw up# |
Arrogate, astonishingly, lumbered to the line a staggering 15 ¼ lengths off the pace.#And, on a smaller scale, even Arrogate himself surprising Chrome last November.#It lined up Arrogate, however, to bank nearly $17.1 million and crush earnings records away from the spotlight.#The late-1950s version of Arrogate, who won 20 of his labor-intensive 83 career starts, propelled jockey John Longden to racing history.# |
To arrogate is to take over. When the teacher steps out of the classroom and some bossy student marches up to the chalkboard and begins scolding the other kids? The student is trying to arrogate the teacher's authority. |
When someone takes control of something, often without permission, such as when a military general assumes the power of a country's government after getting rid of the previous leader, they arrogate power or control to themselves. Occasionally the verb arrogate means something like "assert one's right to," or take something that is deserved, but more often it implies a taking by force. |
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| 893 |
rarefied |
of high moral or intellectual value |
The debate over climate science has involved very complex physical models and rarefied areas of scientific knowledge. |
down-to-earth#over-the-top#run-down#thin-skinned# |
It leaves the reader to wonder: Is an impressive accomplishment, unexpected interest or second career the exclusive domain of the rarefied, “very curious person”?#More importantly, he's 36 holes away from completing the third leg of the career Grand Slam, an achievement that puts him in rarefied territory.#Mr. Trump fit that mold, but he was far from her only client in the rarefied world of New York real estate.#Instead of the rarefied, sterile walls of a Chelsea gallery, users swipe to browse.# |
Use the adjective rarefied to describe things that are so stylish, smart, or moral that they seem elevated above the ordinary, like the rarefied conversation of brilliant scholars. |
To correctly pronounce rarefied, accent the first syllable: "RARE-uh-fied." In addition to high-minded conversation, the word rarefied can also describe the air in high elevations that has less oxygen, like the rarefied air that can be challenging to mountain climbers. Sometimes the quality of airlessness shades the other meaning of the word, implying that the rarefied world of elegant people isn't comfortable to everyone. |
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| 894 |
chary |
characterized by great caution |
There was no independent verification of the figure; the authorities have been chary of releasing death tolls for fear of inflaming further violence. |
cautious#superannuated#dappled#unconvinced# |
Back at the house, McTeer told me that she is chary of media attention.#If investors become chary of risky assets again, even those with half-decent fundamentals will get dumped.#However, any kind of social cohesiveness outside CCP parameters makes the Party very chary, including demonstrations of civic solidarity such as Gay Pride events.#But in more than 600 pages, charming stories, celebrity cameos, and creative exegesis become exhausting without some unifying themes, and Costello is chary about them.# |
Being chary (pronounced CHAIR-ee) is being wary or cautious. If you lost two teeth in last year’s rugby season, you should be chary of signing up again this year. |
Chary comes from the Old English word cearig for "sorrowful, careful," which is basically what you are if you’re chary. If you’re a little suspicious of something and mulling it over, you’re being chary. A synonym of chary is wary, and both include caution, but some definitions suggest that it's obvious when someone is wary — it shows — while being chary is more of an inside, or hidden, distrust. |
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| 895 |
credo |
any system of principles or beliefs |
She preferred to hang out with everyone but was best friends with no one, holding to the credo: “You should be nice to people.” |
rubric#connotation#creed#irreverence# |
It’s here that I also learned that my summer credo, foot nudism, may be inherently antithetical to the best podiatry practices.#That’s right: it’s a reference to the so-called skills gap, one of the most backward but fact-resistant articles of faith in the Washington credo.#Dutifully practicing the credo of physician heal thyself, he lived to 105.#Mr. DeVitto told The Washington Times recently, adding that old percussionist credo that any band is “only as good as its drummer.”# |
Credo is Latin for, literally, "I believe," and originally meant a particular religious belief. Now it has the far broader meaning of any system of principles that guide a person or group. |
There's often a faintly jokey air to the word as used today, perhaps in recognition that it once popularly held such a high-minded meaning. A hedonist's credo might be simply "party on," or "enjoy the ride;" an actor's "the show must go on." Politicians have credos, and so too, presumably, do rappers and weather forecasters. |
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| 896 |
superannuated |
too old to be useful |
Civil servants are superannuated at fifty-five years of age and are sent home on a pension, seldom enjoying life longer than two years afterward. |
impolitic#unconvinced#chary#old# |
She walked me through a hallway that seemed to double as a museum of superannuated filing cabinet technology.#The superannuated Southern belle Amanda, Tom’s garrulous and desperate mother, is allowed few of the fantasist flourishes that usually embellish the character.#Using audio spliced from dubbed versions of Disney movies, news footage and old feature films, the 30-minute work raked up troubling, superannuated visions of empire.#In this year’s primaries young Democrats voted overwhelmingly for the superannuated yet childlike Bernie Sanders, who is too old even to be a baby boomer.# |
If a friend describes your dot matrix printer as superannuated, then you should probably plan a shopping trip for electronics. Your friend has just pointed out that your printer is obsolete. |
The word superannuated, pronounced "su-per-AN-you-ay-ted," comes from the Medieval Latin word superannuatus, which means “to be too old.” You can use this word to describe things that are obsolete because of age, like a superannuated car you can't fix because replacement parts are no longer made. You also might be tempted to call the word superannuated, well, superannuated, because you don’t hear it used very much anymore. |
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| 897 |
impolitic |
not marked by artful prudence |
Bill Maher has always been a vocal critic of Islam, even at times making impolitic statements about the religion. |
hackneyed#egotistical#carnivorous#diplomatic# |
He stepped down from coaching the women’s team after some impolitic comments to The Los Angeles Times the next year caused a furor.#It’s an unfussy portrait of a famously fussy king who finds tragic dignity in poetic language only after his impolitic behavior costs him his throne.#He followed up Saturday with an impolitic double-barreled tweet shot, writing that Germany owes America “vast sums of money” for NATO.#During his 44 years in uniform, part of Mattis’ attraction was his willingness to offer his unvarnished, and sometimes, impolitic, opinions.# |
If you've ever put your foot in your mouth, you've probably said something impolitic. If you have made an impolitic statement, it was a politically unwise one. |
It is impolitic to fail to remember flowers for your beloved on Valentine's Day, or to fail to show up in class when your grade point average is hanging by a thread. Remember back in 1981 when then U.S. Secretary of State Alexander Haig informed the press after the assassination attempt on President Reagan that "I am in control here?" Well that was a classic impolitic statement. Poor guy resigned the following year. |
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| 898 |
aspersion |
a disparaging remark |
Lord Sanquhar then proceeded to deny the aspersion that he was an ill-natured fellow, ever revengeful, and delighting in blood. |
interpretation#escalation#segregation#denigration# |
The project is a sort of snark-laden salute to a president who communicates primarily in 140-character aspersions, an undiluted look into his many grievances.#The aspersions are breathtaking and at odds with reality.#He continued: “The cast casting aspersions before Pence can hit ’em back with some gay conversions,” rapped Colbert.#We cannot have it both ways, touting VR’s realness while casting aspersions on people who complain of abuse in VR.# |
An aspersion is a disparaging remark. It almost invariably appears as a plural, following the word "cast" — when you cast aspersions on someone, you are questioning their abilities or doubting them. |
Finding out that a field-hockey coach had never played the sport might cast aspersions on her ability to coach it. Wendy's ads don't come out and say that McDonald's hamburgers are made out of cardboard, but through shot after shot of their own thick and juicy and oddly square offering, they cast aspersions on the quarter-pounder. |
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| 899 |
abysmal |
resembling an abyss in depth; so deep as to be immeasurable |
After all, many Americans regard this Congress as dysfunctional, with abysmal approval ratings. |
impolitic#recoverable#deep#superannuated# |
But that is the point: Congress’s recent record is abysmal.#Neither is high enough, but Washington’s graduation rate is abysmal.#Will the arrival of graduate transfer Sunny Odogwu from Miami save the offensive line from another abysmal season?#It all fomented into an abysmal half against Minnesota last Oct.# |
If you want to say something is really, really bad — then call it abysmal. If one person shows up to your party, well then that is an abysmal turnout. The 1958 Ford Edsel? An abysmal failure. |
When someone describes the hole you just dug as abysmal, you may not know whether to take it as positive or negative feedback. That's because starting in the 1650s, abysmal simply meant “resembling an abyss in depth.” By that definition you've just received a compliment on your deep digging skills. But since the early twentieth century, abysmal has been more commonly used to identify something as "extremely bad." So it's more likely that your hole has just been insulted. |
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| 900 |
poignancy |
a quality that arouses emotions, especially pity or sorrow |
They were curious about the “near loss” experience—specifically the feelings of poignancy that occur when what we cherish disappears. |
pathos#solstice#indentation#protuberance# |
“The Skate” gets at both, as Ms. Childs runs a sly shell game with playfulness and poignancy.#The poignancy of the moment was not lost on Spieth.#Greer is an exceptionally lovely writer, capable of mingling humor with sharp poignancy.#Groups march every July 1, but this milestone year held more poignancy.# |
The noun poignancy refers to something that is deeply touching, especially something that brings forth strong emotions like sympathy, sadness, or sorrow. The poignancy of the movie may bring you to tears. Bring tissues. Lots of tissues. |
The noun poignancy is from the Old French word poindre, which means "to prick or sting." Related words include the adjective poignant. Similar words include pathos and bathos, although both of these words often imply a sort artificiality that poignancy does not. Pathos can imply a trick by the writer or speaker to produce sympathy or sadness and bathos can imply artificial sentimentality, so poignancy is often the preferred word when genuine emotion is involved. |
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| 901 |
stilted |
artificially formal |
But thanks to the stilted writing and stiff acting, the characters still feel very much like one-dimensional figures from a dutiful fable. |
jocund#procedural#rakish#unnatural# |
She slips away, and I grit my teeth as Grandfather coerces me into a stilted discussion with the governor.#Kyle’s constantly exposing me and a number of friends to just how silly and stilted and bizarre a lot of classic kids’ shows really were.#But such moments of visual beauty only call attention to the stilted dialogue and maudlin plot that otherwise define the film.#The lingering moment from Trump’s meeting with Republicans, however, is likely to be the stilted hug.# |
The adjective stilted describes something—usually a style of writing or speaking—that is unnaturally formal. |
Imagine someone walking awkwardly on a pair of stilts and you have a good impression of the word stilted — wooden and stiff. Stilt is found in the mid-15th century, referring to walking on wooden stilts across marshy ground. A hundred years later, the word stilted came to refer to the posts holding up a building. It wasn't until 1820 that the word was used as we use it now, to describe writing or speaking that does not flow smoothly. |
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| 902 |
effete |
excessively self-indulgent, affected, or decadent |
John Bull was an effete old plutocrat whose sons and daughters were given up to sport and amusement. |
overwhelming#disingenuous#self-indulgent#altruistic# |
His disrespect for property rights is what ultimately does him in, not his effete manner.#You probably think oenophiles are pretentious, effete, and snobbish.#Ray always cut an effete figure beside his marauding sibling, the estimable Kinks guitarist, Dave Davies.#I am a social liberal, an effete east-coaster with a graduate degree, a multilingual person with international business experience.# |
Effete is a disapproving term meaning decadent and self-indulgent, even useless. The stereotype of the rugged Westerner is just as false as the one of the effete East Coast liberal. |
The origin of the word effete is a little unexpected. Coming from the Latin effetus "out of, past childbearing," effete meant "exhausted, spent" long before it acquired the sense of morally exhausted and overly refined. This is the main use of the word today. Do you ever wonder why some effete party girls are considered celebrities? Star athletes run the risk of losing their edge and becoming effete posterboys for their sports. |
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| 903 |
provender |
food for domestic livestock |
"Fools!" she cried, looking in her magic crystal, "he was in the big sycamore under which you stopped to give your horses provender!" |
stalk#kernel#chaff#feed# |
We met him in the village of Toller Porcorum, donned rubber boots and light waterproof jackets, and set off in search of wild provender.#We saw that tents were purchased, and there w'as talk of provender, and transportation cases for the astronomical instruments.#The railway, that brought people, also brought their provender....#Provender for my beast; a cup of spiced ale for myself.# |
Provender is food that might not be fancy but it keeps you from going hungry, like the long-time provender of college students: rice, pasta, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and the occasional discount pizza. |
The noun provender comes from the Latin word praebenda, meaning "things to be furnished or provided." Provender is a supply of food meant to sustain people, like a hearty stew that is lunch for military troops who need to keep their energy up. Provender can also describe a food supply for animals such as cows or horses. No matter who or what the provender feeds, the point is, it provides nutrition. |
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| 904 |
endemic |
of a disease constantly present in a particular locality |
Mean-spirited chants and songs are also endemic in British soccer. |
a drug that produces a stimulating effect#a dangerous disease that has spread quickly#a tree that can only be found on one island#a surgeon that performs a particular operation# |
Cholera is endemic in Yemen, which is on the tip of the Arabian Peninsula and across the Gulf of Aden from Somalia.#Hospital doctors said it was encephalitis, which is endemic in the region.#This sort of ostentatious concern is, according to some diagnoses, endemic to the political left.#Violence in his world is endemic, sudden, omnipresent and brutal.# |
If you want to underscore just how commonly found and present something is within a particular place, try the word endemic. Tight pants are endemic in my lunch room! |
Although endemic meaning "prevalent" often describes a plant or disease, it can also refer to something less tangible and more unwanted such as violence or poverty. Many complain of endemic corruption in the local government. Despite its -ic ending, endemic can also be used as a noun to signify a plant or animal that is prevalent in a certain region. If an endemic is brought to another area which it takes over, destroying the local population, it's classified as an invasive species. And researchers have cataloged several new African endemics. |
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| 905 |
jocund |
full of or showing high-spirited merriment |
Her jocund laugh and merry voice, indeed, first attracted my attention. |
joyous#stilted#viscid#effete# |
The stragglers are also referred to as the laughing group, and on Tuesday it lost arguably its most jocund member.#But however jocund her life, her hats were chaste, and however sharp her play, her name was honorable.#Hither flock the jocund burgesses, and dance to the sound of harp and viol.#In one of his satires, Horace gives us an idea of the manner in which slaves burlesqued their lords at this jocund time.# |
You know that teacher who always has a goofy smile on his face and a bad pun for the kids? He's got a jocund personality, meaning he's merry and cheerful. |
The word jocund came from the influence of two Latin words, jocundus, which means pleasant, and jocus, which is just what it sounds like: a joke. Usually the word is used to describe people, but not always. Say your family gets together every year for a big, merry barbecue — you could describe it as a jocund gathering, or a jocund weekend. It's a sort of old-fashioned word, though, so use it sparingly. |
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| 906 |
procedural |
of or relating to processes |
In other words, the rejection was a bureaucratic/ procedural decision. |
confine#allocate#irritate#define# |
The fact that the game’s other tasks are procedurally generated is a similarly problematic solution to regaining player interest.#Without Flake, it was impossible for Republicans to hold a procedural vote to advance the bill.#The predominance of cases in which the arbitration’s defense was based on procedural mistakes or missed deadlines — not flawed or incomplete investigations — was dismaying.#But the movie isn't intended to be a strict procedural record of who did what, when.# |
If you have to follow so many rules at work that it seems like nothing ever gets done, you could say that the procedural requirements of your job are getting you down. The adjective procedural describes something related to a required or standard course of action. |
Legal types are probably already familiar with the word procedural, which is often used to describe matters related to the law. The Senate, for example, may cite procedural roadblocks as the reason why nothing has been accomplish in a session. So that would give the Senate something in common with your workplace: having too many rules to follow — "procedural overload" — makes things take a long time. |
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| 907 |
rakish |
marked by a carefree unconventionality or disreputableness |
She wore her red cap in a rakish manner on the side of her head, its tassel falling down over her forehead between her eyes. |
opportunist#climactic#removable#jaunty# |
From 1962 to 1969, Moore starred on TV’s “The Saint” as the rakish Simon Templar, a modern-day Robin Hood who targeted wealthy villains.#And then there are the dozens of artists ripping off ’70s looks — signifiers such as wild ‘n’ wooly facial hair, rakish suits and loud-patterned shirts.#Behaviour that might be considered rakish in a man, however, was unacceptable in a woman of 50.#He dressed with a mix of the rakish and the regal, just as I imagined a sophisticated Cambridge-educated diplomat would on an Atlantic crossing.# |
Ladies, the rakish fellow you met last night with the suave dance moves, smoothly rehearsed lines, and your number listed as “Goddess #14” in his phone is fine for a flirt, but probably isn’t meet-the-parents material. |
Used as an adjective to describe a dashing ladies’ man or a streamlined ship, rakish comes from the fusing of rake + -ish. Don Juan, the famous Spanish nobleman immortalized in 17th century Spanish tales, is the epitome of rakish: stylishly handsome and prone to saucy, fast behavior. Synonyms include charming, flashy, and immoral. |
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| 908 |
skittish |
unpredictably excitable, especially of horses |
That combined with his calm and reassuring tone made me think of an animal trainer trying to woo skittish wild animals. |
a bowl of hot soup#a piece of gum#a young horse#a very friendly person# |
Yet he also says that these feathered friends resist anthropomorphism, since they are skittish and nomadic.#Skittish U.S. energy customers are putting some solar projects on hold.#Even when I don’t trust the process very well — because I’m very skittish — it forces me to trust the process.#Moderates were always skittish about the drastic Medicaid cuts opposed by many of their governors.# |
If you're skittish, you're unpredictable and excitable. You've probably seen skittish horses in parades — the loud noises and crowds of people make them very nervous and jumpy. |
The adjective skittish isn't just for animals — humans can be skittish too. If you're sleeping in a haunted house, for example, you're likely to be skittish, jumping at every moving shadow. Skittish can also mean flighty in thought — like your boss who's skittish about giving you a raise and avoids discussing it. The word is thought to have come from the Scandinavian word skyt, meaning "very lively, frivolous." |
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| 909 |
peroration |
a flowery and highly rhetorical address |
He had little hope that Gallagher, once embarked on a peroration, would stop until he had used up all the words at his command. |
settle#fund#aid#map# |
Her peroration contained the word “together” no fewer than six times.#But as Mr. Gaines delivered a speech that echoes Joyce’s beautiful peroration, I remained detached.#In their addresses to Congress, American presidents typically proclaim the strength of their union in rousing perorations met with hearty rounds of applause.#The peroration that closes the opinion in Barnette speaks only of the power of government, but the same idea applies to the N.F.L.# |
If you attend a political convention, be prepared to hear a peroration — a long, lofty speech. If the speech really drags on, you might find yourself hoping for its peroration, as peroration can also refer to a speech's conclusion. |
Peroration comes from the Latin root orare, meaning "to speak." This ancestry places peroration in the same word family as oration, meaning "a formal speech," and perorate, meaning "to speak at length." A peroration is usually a step above your run-of-the-mill speech, or even a typical oration, as it involves an extended spoken spectacle filled with elaborate and persuasive language. |
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| 910 |
nonentity |
a person of no influence |
Was he such a nonentity in every way that she could remain unconcerned as to any fear of danger from him? |
a warm-up band#a nameless fan#a record producer#a rock star# |
A person who fills a place, but is of no importance or worth, a nonentity, a “mere nothing.”#Her portrait subjects included both celebrities and nonentities, all swathed in the same luxe wrapping.#Carter’s family deems him a nonentity and can’t fathom what he wants or why Carter keeps him around.#The host of the Grammy Awards is almost a nonentity, usually present for only about 15 minutes of a three-and-a-half-hour broadcast.# |
The noun nonentity refers to a person of no significance or importance. If you are a member of a sports team, but spend all your time sitting on the bench watching the rest of the team play, you will probably feel like a nonentity. |
Something that is an entity exists, and if you are considered a nonentity, you might as well not exist. A political nonentity has no power, and a social nonentity blends in with the wallpaper. Not only people are considered nonentities; groups or things can be nonentities too. If a nonentity beats a nationally ranked team, that's a real upset. The cereal brand that stays on the shelf and is ignored can also be considered a nonentity in the cereal market. |
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| 911 |
abstemious |
marked by temperance in indulgence |
Raw, boozy, untethered performances are heralded as real; the abstemious professional is yawned off the stage. |
austere#rancorous#inhospitable#susceptible# |
Everyone drank it, constantly, with the exception of the rather abstemious Hitler himself.#Denis, who died this week at the age of sixty-seven, was resolutely sober, abstemious, but not at all grave.#For people with children, the idea of an abstemious festive season might prove difficult.#Today’s teenagers might be our most abstemious yet.# |
Reserve abstemious for someone who exercises restraint, especially with regard to alcohol. A rock musician may sing about enjoying wine and women, but in his private life he may be abstemious. |
You might get the idea that abstemious is a relative of abstain with a change of consonant, but in fact the two words only share the abs- prefix, meaning "away." The -temious bit in this adjective is from Latin temetum, "intoxicating drink," so it came to refer to someone who keeps alcohol (or other temptations) at arm's length. This word has the vowels a, e, i, o and u in alphabetical order; the adverb abstemiously adds the y! |
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| 912 |
viscid |
having the sticky properties of an adhesive |
Roads were quagmires where travellers slipped and laboured through viscid mud and over icy fords. |
jocund#removable#disingenuous#adhesive# |
But he also plays trombone, piano and electronics — and he’s just as interested in exploring slow, viscid harmony, or music that verges on silence.#This fight between the old and the new is at the viscid, romantic heart of Chazelle’s gooey, seductive film.#I could hear the creature breathing in the dark, a viscid leaking like faulty pipeworks.#His sound was untutored, inexact, viscid and full of scrabbling solos, delivered with force and wobbly relation to the beat.# |
The adjective viscid is used to describe something that is sticky or a thick, slow-moving liquid. If you bake bread and you get flour all over your counters, clean it up carefully because adding water can turn the flour into a viscid paste, and then you'll really have a mess! |
The word viscid is from the Latin word viscum, or birdlime. Birdlime is a sticky substance made from sap and is smeared on branches. Small birds land on the branches and are trapped, allowing someone to easily catch them. The word viscous comes from the same root and has a similar meaning — think of lava and how it moves slowly and thickly down a mountain. |
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| 913 |
doggerel |
a comic verse of irregular measure |
He sang, with accompanying action, some dozen verses of doggerel, remarkable for obscenity and imbecility. |
a humorous poet#a historical novelist#a classical violinist#a political speech writer# |
A lot of it’s radical poetry, pretty lousy stuff: doggerel is a better description of it.#Back in the day, depressed Qing writers would share self-mocking doggerel verse in the newspaper.#Perhaps no children’s form is more ancient than the book of verse, those compilations of light doggerel meant to entertain and instruct.#The tepid little anecdotes and doggerel in The Canadian Readers found no love in his heart.# |
We're not sure why poor dogs always seem to get used to describe something really dreadful, but it's the case with doggerel — meaning irregularly rhyming, really bad poetry, usually comic in tone and fit only for dogs. |
Sometimes doggerel has a non-critical meaning: plenty of popular comic poets (like Lewis Carroll or any limerick inventor) had no aim to make great art, just great light verse, and they succeeded brilliantly. They were masters of doggerel. But pity the earnest highbrow poet like the immortal Scotsman William McGonagall whose doggerel was so bad his audience frequently pelted him with eggs and rotting vegetables. Now his poetry was only fit for the dogs. |
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| 914 |
sleight |
adroitness in using the hands |
The trick was performed Tuesday by Russell Fitzgerald, an amateur magician known to open meetings with a little sleight of hand. |
protuberance#primacy#dexterity#nonentity# |
A rhetorical sleight of hand meant to trap the critic in a corner and to hide the speaker’s true intent.#This is the genius sleight of hand of the project: the legacy was being implemented already.#What keeps "Dunkirk" from being completely straightforward is a kind of temporal sleight of hand.#He does not exist in the same fug of fury, raging perpetually against sleights real and, more often than not, imagined or exaggerated.# |
The noun sleight refers to being able to use your hands with ease, especially when doing a trick. Sleight is often used in the phrase "sleight of hand." If you are a good magician, you can make a coin disappear with sleight of hand. |
The noun sleight refers to cunning or cleverness, especially when used to trick or deceitfully. You can use a sleight of mind to trick yourself into believing that if you eat a box of cookies at dinnertime it counts as dinner. The word sleight with its meaning as being sneaky has a long history and comes from the Middle English word, sleghth, which also meant cunning. Back then people would have pronounced the "gh" even though today we don't. |
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| 915 |
rubric |
category name |
Ms. Moss took issue, not surprisingly, with the notion that grouping the performances under the rubric of spirituality was a marketing ploy. |
a tennis shoe missing its mate#a street corner that is dark#a cake that is only half baked#a large unsightly building# |
Teachers study the rubrics and imitate the behaviors.#See Further Reading for links to Shannon’s poetic masterpiece, “A Rubric on Rubik Cubics,” and other posts related to information theory.#I’m talking about holding him accountable under the rubric of impeachment.#Returning to “Action/Adventure,” the selection under that rubric reflects a wide and arguably generous interpretation of the category.# |
A rubric is a heading or a category in a chart, or a rule of conduct. A teacher's grading rubrics may include participation, homework completion, tests, quizzes, and papers. |
A rubric can also mean a rule or a procedure. If you use "might makes right" as the rubric for the formation of a list of classroom rules, you'll have a different-feeling classroom culture than if your rubric is "everyone deserves respect." |
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| 916 |
plenitude |
a full supply |
Of course at that season, amid the plenitude of seeds, nuts, and berries, they were as plump as partridges. |
a Thanksgiving dinner table#a supermarket before a big storm#a bank account during a recession#an airplane hangar# |
The move rankled the tech industry, which owes much of its plenitude to the work of enterprising immigrants.#The filmy white garb, the glistening avocado, the melting calla lilies — all arrayed in Edenic plenitude — add up to an alluring, sensory glamour.#A half century ago, Susan Sontag wrote, “All the conditions of modern life—its material plenitude, its sheer crowdedness—conjoin to dull our sensory faculties.”#And Marius was born at a time of giraffe plenitude in Europe.# |
The noun plenitude means the state of being full or complete; also, an abundance. After the thirty inches of snow your town got over the weekend, you may joke that you have a plenitude of snow. |
You can remember the meaning of plenitude if you remember that both plenitude and the word plenty come from the same Latin word plenus, meaning full or complete. Note that the spelling of plenitude has only one "t," although people misspell the word as plentitude because they closely relate plenitude and plenty. You can even find the variant spelling in some dictionaries. |
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| 917 |
rebus |
a puzzle consisting of pictures representing words |
They wrote at times with pictures standing for sounds, as we now write in rebus puzzles. |
obituaries#sports news#front-page stories#games and puzzles# |
Linguists term this decisive innovation, which also underlies puns today, the rebus principle.#After the first Rebus novel, Rankin wrote a spy novel and a thriller.#Rebus bends the rules and ignores his superiors while battling his own personal issues.#The author of “Rather Be the Devil” will celebrate 30 years of Inspector John Rebus at 7 p.m.# |
A rebus is a puzzle that uses symbols or pictures to represent the sounds of words. A picture of an eye, a heart, and a ewe might be used to say "I love you." Isn't that sweet? |
A rebus uses pictures and symbols to convey a message in what may be considered a fun code. The letters ICU might be used to stand for the sentence “I see you.” The word rebus could be depicted with the letters RE followed by a picture of a school bus. Some children's books use rebuses as a way of introducing kids to the reading process, but rebuses can also be quite challenging, even for the adult mind. |
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| 918 |
wizened |
lean and wrinkled by shrinkage as from age or illness |
Kim Jong Il may be increasingly wizened and frail, with fingernails white from kidney disease, but his propaganda apparatus is as vigorous as ever. |
wrinkles#wisdom#riches#depression# |
Wall posters depicted a wizened old woman in the midst of the bombing, declaring “American imperialists – wolves.”#His hair is so short, and he’s so skinny, that he looks like a wizened old man.#In “Passage,” a wizened Ethiopian man ends a pilgrimage for absolution, while a Connecticut woman with emphysema extols the value of prayer.#He may be supporting, but Bridges steals the show as a wizened, maverick Texas Ranger.# |
"You're looking quite wizened today," is a something you should never, ever say to your grandmother, no matter how shriveled with age she might be. Think of a caricature of a witch — not your beloved granny. |
The verb wizen has fallen out of usage, but the past participle, wizened, continues to function as an adjective meaning wrinkled and shrunken with age or disease. You will see lots of elderly, wizened faces at the park feeding the birds and watching the children play. Although you might expect that folks with lined faces have learned a thing or two, there is no etymological connection between wizened and wise. |
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| 919 |
whorl |
a round shape formed by a series of concentric circles |
The flowers are waxy, tubular, fragrant, turning their yellow petals backward in a whorl. |
a rectangle#a fingerprint#a pyramid#a person's profile# |
I trace my finger through the air, marveling at the whorls of dust dancing in the soft moonlight.#It rather resembles a white lily, with three layers of petals, called “ whorls.”#Spindle whorls documented a high culture including weaving arts, fine carving and body ornamentation, including labrets.#He felt it in the tips of his fingers, in the whorls and crevices of his outer skin.# |
Whorl describes something that looks like loops — a strand of curly hair that boings back up when you pull in then let it go, a corkscrew, even the track of a roller coaster that spins you in every direction. |
Use whorl to describe a thing that swirls or curls — the loops of icing on a birthday cake, the spiral curves of a mountain road, or a lock of curly hair. Whorl is also a good word to describe a flower whose petals form layer after layer of circles. Don't confuse the noun whorl with its homophone whirl, a verb that means "to spin in a circle." |
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| 920 |
fracas |
noisy quarrel |
Other cops were battling each other, going after the kids and clutching empty air, cursing and screaming unheard orders in the fracas. |
vendetta#altercation#prognosis#inferno# |
The fracas that followed resulted in a $3.8-million tort claim filed July 5, with details provided exclusively to the education watchdog Campus Reform on Tuesday.#After the ensuing fracas settled down, both players were shown red cards, leaving Salt Lake with 10 players and Portland with nine.#While customers looked on, yelling for the demonstrators to leave, some tried to shield their children from the fracas.#Eleven people were hurt in the fracas, nine of whom needed hospital treatment.# |
If your marching band gets into a fight with another school's pep squad, your principal might say the fracas was uncalled for and undignified. A fracas is a noisy quarrel. |
Fracas comes from an Italian word meaning uproar or crash. Two people in a quiet little spat is not a fracas, but a schoolyard rumble definitely qualifies as one! Sometimes fracas means the large amount of outraged discussion that an event causes. Imagine the fracas if your school decided to ban sneakers! |
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| 921 |
iconoclast |
someone who attacks cherished ideas or institutions |
Jobs is a classic iconoclast, one who aggressively seeks out, attacks, and overthrows conventional ideas. |
someone who is a well known spiritual leader#someone who defaces a church with graffiti#someone who is a famous role model in popular culture#someone who establishes his reputation by breaking a record# |
Ever the iconoclast, Wie compiled her unprecedented round in a manner best described as “eccentric.”#“You were called a zealot, an iconoclast or an early adopter.”#The most poignant segment of “American Valhalla” follows news of the death of Mr. Pop’s friend and fellow iconoclast, David Bowie.#He became an icon even though he was an iconoclast.# |
Are you always challenging the establishment? Or provoking popular thought by attacking traditions and institutions? Then you're definitely an iconoclast. |
To be called an iconoclast today is usually kind of cool — they're rugged individualists, bold thinkers who don't give a hoot what tradition calls for. But back in medieval Greece, the iconoclasts had a more thuggish reputation. Stemming from the Greek words eikon, meaning "image," and klastes, meaning "breaker," an iconoclast was someone who destroyed religious sculptures and paintings. |
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| 922 |
saturnine |
bitter or scornful |
Only when Bill Lightfoot spoke did he look up, and then with a set sneer, growing daily more saturnine. |
wizened#ambivalent#tenacious#brooding# |
My father, Godfrey, was a saturnine, distant and troubled young man, a legacy of his lonely childhood.#Cattelan himself, tall and saturnine in slim jeans and a salmon-colored shirt, was on hand for last-minute activities on the day before the press opening.#He had a dark complexion and a small, wise, saturnine face with mournful pouches under both eyes.#Slowly, though, it is Skarsgård who takes charge, positioning Dima—ruthless, jovial, and doomed—at the heart of this saturnine tale.# |
Medieval alchemists ascribed to the planet Saturn a gloomy and slow character. When people are called saturnine, it means they are like the planet––gloomy, mean, scowling. Not exactly the life of the party. |
Saturnine is a word you don't hear often nowadays, though you probably know people with saturnine dispositions. The ultimate saturnine character in literature is Heathcliff––and for clarification's sake, that would be the brooding, bitter, obsessed hero of "Wuthering Heights," not the lovably pudgy cat of comic-strip fame. |
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| 923 |
madrigal |
an unaccompanied partsong for several voices |
Nevertheless we learn from Malvezzi's publication that the pieces were all written in the madrigal style, frequently in numerous voice parts. |
a rock concert#an acrobatics demonstration#a Christmas pageant#a French novel# |
Witness Luis Madrigal told reporters that the children’s father threw the kids to him through a window.#The harmonic progressions in Monteverdi’s madrigals challenged conventions of the time and prompted an attack from the conservative theorist Giovanni Artusi.#Border Patrol officials say Madrigal was arrested Wednesday near the Lukeville Port of Entry.#Al Madrigal: Shrimpin’ Ain’t Easy The actor and former “Daily Show” correspondent returns to his stage roots for this new stand-up comedy special.# |
A madrigal is a specific kind of song, one that you won't often hear on the radio. The madrigal developed in 16th-century Italy and is sung in musical counterpoint, by several singers at once. |
You're only likely to sing a madrigal if you're in a club or musical group that has an interest in old choral music that is sung a capella (without instruments), with several intertwining voices at once and following a strict poetic form. If you enjoy going to the Renaissance Fair, you'll hear lots of madrigals, because the madrigal form was most popular during the Renaissance. Even though few people sing them today, some of the musical forms and structures from madrigals can be heard in contemporary pop songs. |
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| 924 |
discursive |
tending to cover a wide range of subjects |
“Tabloid,” like his previous films, consists largely of long, discursive conversations — in effect monologues directed at an unseen, mostly unheard interlocutor. |
somnolent#grueling#ebullient#logical# |
This John Cassavetes feature from 1970 is, for better and worse, the least diluted example of his discursive style, which is often mistaken for improvisation.#In a discursive interview with Julie Pace of the Associated Press, Mr. Trump suggested that the responsibility of his job indeed may be sinking in.#When young jihadis speak of “truth”, it is never in reference to discursive knowledge.#These are the president’s people, and this is the discursive swamp they dwell in.# |
If people accuse you of rambling from topic to topic in your speech or writing, they may say you have a discursive style — with changes in subject that are hard to follow. But it's okay because unicorns are shiny. |
The adjective discursive is often used to describe speech or writing that tends to stray from the main point, but the word can also have almost the opposite meaning. Discursive can also be used to describe an argument based on reason instead of intuition: "Her discursive dissertation on Colonial American women was well-argued and well-reasoned. Her professors were most impressed with her work." |
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| 925 |
zealot |
a fervent and even militant proponent of something |
"The public is going to just think of us as these zealots who want to ban smoking everywhere," he said. |
fanatic#traveler#pauper#narrator# |
Our government is run by fools and zealots who are rebranded as “the best people.”#“You were called a zealot, an iconoclast or an early adopter.”#There are the myriad murderous Islamist zealots who are animated by an apocalyptic and interpretive Salafi-Wahhabi-Jihadist creed.#“I was crazed . . . obsessed . . . a zealot,” a preservationist admits after meeting with a developer.# |
The hamburger zealot was so fanatical about his burgers that he camped outside his favorite fast-food joint for hours every morning, waiting for it to open. And he would never put mustard on them, only ketchup. |
The original zealots were a group of first-century Jews who were absolutely determined to overthrow Roman rule in Palestine. Today, anyone who is goes overboard in their zeal, or enthusiasm, for a particular cause, a religion, a sports team, or a charitable organization — can be called a zealot. The coffee lover was a zealot regarding where his coffee was grown, who grew it, and how it was roasted. |
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| 926 |
moribund |
not growing or changing; without force or vitality |
The entertainment sector there is booming, while Pakistan's is moribund. |
carnivorous#impolitic#stagnant#complementary# |
Awards and one Super Bowl, reinvigorating moribund Rams and Cardinals franchises along the way.#It appeared to be moribund, but its champions vowed to keep trying.#None of these events should be interpreted as durable signals that liberalism is either moribund or resurgent.#She wrote to Wayne that “you are surely one of the era’s foremost practitioners of a moribund art,” saying his letters “should be kept forever.”# |
Something that is moribund is almost dead, like a moribund economy that has been stuck in a recession for years. |
In Latin, mori means "to die." You probably recognize this root in words like mortal, mortician, and mortuary. Moribund means "near death," but it can also mean something that is coming to an end, nearly obsolete, or stagnant. For example, as streaming videos over the Internet becomes a more and more popular way to watch movies and television shows, the DVD has become a moribund medium. |
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| 927 |
modicum |
a small or moderate or token amount |
He volunteered a modicum of advice, limited in quantity, but valuable. |
aversion#pathos#happiness#enmity# |
Once a modicum of stability returns, the impetus for further reform often fades.#But that would also require a modicum of consistency, an elusive target for a program that hasn’t reached 10 wins in a season since 2003.#Myers also writes that South Korea’s Sunshine Policy “failed to generate even a modicum of good will from the North.”#So this is at least a modicum of progress amid a torrent of troubling headlines.# |
If you want to describe a small amount of something, try modicum. If you have a modicum of interest in something, you are a little bit interested. |
Modicum comes from the Latin modicus, for moderate, and modus, for measure. We often use it to mean "any at all," as if "If you had a modicum of sense (i.e. any sense at all), you'd be able to see that the pencil you've spent the last five minutes looking for is tucked behind your ear." |
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| 928 |
connotation |
an idea that is implied or suggested |
In Arabic, the word “bayt” translates literally as house, but its connotations resonate beyond rooms and walls, summoning longings gathered about family and home. |
a sick child#a recipe#a pet fish#a word# |
"The engraving was a purposeful component of the cannibalistic practice, rich in symbolic connotations."#Rodrigueztook every opportunity to promote the Crystal name and its connotation of wealth and luxury.#But even in Japan, the dunes are more famous for their literary connotations than as a travel destination.#In medieval literature, says Robert Rouse, who teaches the subject at the University of British Columbia, leprosy is a disease with heavy connotations.# |
When you're talking about the implied subtext of words rather than their literal meaning, reach for the noun connotation. A political boss might not want to be called "boss" because of the negative connotations. |
From the Latin com- "with" + notare "to mark," this word is all about reading between the lines. The literal meaning (or denotation) of Wall Street, for instance, is "a street in lower Manhattan that's home to many financial institutions," but the same phrase's connotations may include "wealth," "power," or "greed," depending on your experiences and opinions. A closely related word is implication. |
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| 929 |
adventitious |
associated by chance and not an integral part |
The derivation of the word thus appears to be merely accidental and adventitious. |
“Fancy meeting you here!”#“Who are you?”#“Have you made your decision?"#“You’re right on time.”# |
Many commenters suggested that we establish a “threshold” for the unintended or adventitious presence of products of excluded methods in organic products.#I have also noticed two tiny eruptions of adventitious buds on what might be thought of as its main trunk.#Note that this is distinct from the adventitious breeding of swallows on British outbuildings or barns.#The so-called beauty of nature is for Hegel an adventitious beauty.# |
Adventitious is a word you use to talk about things that "just kind of happen," not because you are trying to do them, but because they just come along. |
Christopher Columbus's stumbling upon the Caribbean while searching for a new route to India was adventitious. When you make an adventitious rhyme while speaking, you might hear, "You're a poet, you didn't know it, your long feet show it." |
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| 930 |
recondite |
difficult to penetrate |
The mystery of verse is like other abstruse and recondite mysteries—it strikes the ordinary fleshly man as absurd. |
sere#deep#adventitious#fulsome# |
Then, as now, the anecdotes shared among women cut through the recondite rhetoric of social theory.#Although Gray and the Concord Four were ardent abolitionists, only Gray was interested in the recondite biological details of Darwin’s theory.#To really appreciate the bog’s recondite wonders, however, you had to pause, look down and zoom in.#This legal skirmish about one aspect of this one tentacle of the administrative state may seem recondite and trivial.# |
It's rather difficult to penetrate the meaning of recondite. Fitting, because it's an adjective that basically means hard for the average mind to understand. |
If it's really hard to comprehend, then it's safe to say it's recondite. In the same family as "abstruse," "esoteric" and "totally deep, man," recondite is a very serious word that you could use to describe obscure philosophy books, high level mathematical theory, and the series finale of The Sopranos — you know, things that make your brain hurt. |
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| 931 |
zephyr |
a slight wind |
The dwellings and public buildings throughout Cuba are planned to give free passage to every zephyr that wafts relief from the oppressive heat. |
sophist#breeze#melee#milieu# |
Or maybe not fumes — more like enigmatic, ephemeral zephyrs.#“It’s dry and hot, and we’re expecting zephyrs,” she said, referring to sometimes gusty winds that develop during summer afternoons in the high desert.#The biggest challenge is ensuring a stable supply of electricity in both zephyrs and howling gales.#The biggest challenge is ensuring a stable supply of electricity in both zephyrs and howling gales.# |
Besides being the name of Babar's monkey friend in the much-beloved picture books about the elephant Babar, a zephyr is a gentle breeze. |
In Greek mythology, Zephuros was the god of the west wind, and the bringer of light and early spring breezes. Zephyr derives from his name. That first day of spring, where suddenly you don't have to wear your jacket to school for the first time all winter? Thank the zephyr for that. |
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| 932 |
countermand |
cancel officially |
In the midst of executing this order, he got another order countermanding it, and proceeding directly from his direct superior. |
reverse#traduce#gestate#deregulate# |
Goldman said her group will seek a court to order to countermand Pruitt’s decision.#Pennsylvania’s attorney general has oversight of the trust under state law and has the power to countermand decisions regarding deals that affect the school.#Elephants have empathy and social complexity that adapt to countermand threats to their survival.#The changes are due to take effect in December, unless Congress passes countermanding legislation in the interim.# |
When an officer in the military shouts, “Belay that order, Private!” that is a countermand. A countermand is an order that cancels or reverses an earlier command. Countermand is also used as a verb meaning “to cancel or revoke.” |
Counter means “opposing” or “opposite,” and mand is short for “mandate” or “command.” Put them together and you’ve got countermand — an “opposing command.” When you issue a countermand, you cancel the original command and usually replace it with a new one. Countermand is often used in a military context, but it can be applied more widely. If your parents tell you to take out the trash, you might countermand these orders by telling your little brother to do it instead. |
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| 933 |
captious |
tending to find and call attention to faults |
Miss Burton had been very irritable and captious in class, more so even than usual, and most of her anger was vented upon Gerry. |
read aloud in class from a textbook#circle all the errors on a student's paper#take the students on a class trip#entertain students with a game of charades# |
She can be a captious and irritable mother-in-law to Ruth, and you feel the friction between the dominating women in Walter’s life.#In Harrison’s words, “she was born mean, captious, sullen, with occasional small dirty windows of charm.”#Then suddenly she had become captious and uncertain.#Why should I remain the butt of all the captious critics throughout the country?# |
If someone tends to be hypercritical and find fault with everything, you can describe that person as captious. Try not to be described as a captious person yourself, however. No one likes a carping individual! |
Captious comes from the Middle French word captieux, which is from the Latin word captiosus meaning fallacious or deceiving. This is, in fact, another meaning for the adjective captious, something is calculated to confuse or deceive — such as a captious explanation of the facts. When a person is described as captious, the sense is usually of nitpicking at faults or raising petty objections. It is usually used to imply a permanent character or personality flaw, as opposed to a momentary lapse in understanding. |
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| 934 |
cognate |
having the same ancestral language |
The synonyms are also given in the cognate dialects of Welsh, Armoric, Irish, Gaelic, and Manx, showing at one view the connection between them. |
child#kin#ally#mentor# |
Given these similarities, linguists would expect the languages to share many cognates, or words derived from a common ancestor.#"Tough" and its cognates show up 24 times in a press release that's 651 words long — that's a stunning 1.15 toughs per sentence.#A quick search of the plan brings up the word terror and its cognates in 377 places, hurricane in five.#It’s more like a 21st-century cognate of the “peace walls” that still separate Protestant and Catholic communities in Belfast.# |
When you're learning a new language, a cognate is an easy word to remember because it looks and means the same thing as a word you already know. For example, gratitude in English means the same as gratitud in Spanish. |
Just as words that are cognates have a shared origin — like gratitude and gratitud both coming from the Latin word gratitudo, meaning "thankfulness" — people can be cognates based on their shared blood. For example, you and your sister are cognates of your parents. You probably even look alike, just like word cognates. The adjective form of cognate can describe blood relations or anyone whose ancestors spoke the same language. |
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| 935 |
forebear |
a person from whom you are descended |
His forebears were Greek immigrants who opened a small sandwich shop in Brooklyn, then moved, one after another, to Providence, to sell distinct, delectable wieners. |
the writer's students#earlier writers who influenced her#the writer's legacy#the writer's teachers# |
Justin Thomas, the son and grandson of club professionals, won the PGA Championship — the major tournament dedicated to club pros such as his forebears.#As Reagan might say, our children and our children’s children will ask whether we shared the courage of our forebears.#A descendant of a notorious serial killer wants to convince you that his infamous forebear was also a second notorious serial killer.#But Boxley found plenty of examples of his forebears’ work in museums, galleries and heritage sites.# |
Your father, grandmother, and great grandfather are all your forebears. A forebear is an ancestor, or someone you are descended from. |
You might have thought that forebear means to stop yourself from doing something. The word you are thinking of is forbear. Confused? The "e" makes all of the difference here. Whereas the first is a noun, the second is a verb. Just remember that if you see fore like in before, it's the people who came before you. |
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| 936 |
cadaverous |
very thin especially from disease or hunger or cold |
He looked gaunt and cadaverous, and much of his old reckless joyousness had left him, though he brightened up wonderfully on seeing an old friend. |
unresponsive#peripatetic#skeletal#unctuous# |
Cadaverous and sinewy, with dyed blond hair, burning blue eyes and a chiseled torso, he is an extraordinary specimen.#Yet while Harris is styled to look like Brynner did, albeit with extra cadaverous features, he’s not a robot any more.#The tall, cadaverous stranger fell back in fright at the chaplain’s cry and shrieked, “Don’t hurt me!”#Mr. Wood’s cadaverous, perpetually abstracted character rarely seems to register what Erie’s saying.# |
Cadaverous means looking corpse-like, from being sick or too skinny, like an aging rock star or a Halloween ghoul. |
The adjective cadaverous literally means "like a cadaver." It's from the Latin word, well, cadaver (dead body), that comes from another Latin word cadere meaning "to fall." That's some fall! You don't have to be dead to look cadaverous, though, if your cheeks are sunken and your ribs poke through your torn tee-shirt, you look cadaverous and it's not a compliment (unless you're a Goth). On Halloween, you might go for a cadaverous look with green-tinted makeup and black circles under your eyes. |
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| 937 |
foist |
to force onto another |
Mr. Knoll added that the 3-D “Star Wars” movies are not “going to be foisted on anybody against their will.” |
chores#money#a new car#good grades# |
"I'm ready to act," Trump said, foisting the responsibility on Republican lawmakers, not himself.#"It's not a question of foisting views and the important point is this is about the rule of law," he said.#In normal times, it might not be advisable to foist such an inexact analogy between Trump and Caesar.#In the 1970s, the ADL was foisted on FBI field offices as credible sources.# |
Did your parents foist your baby sister on you when they went out? It means they forced her on you. Anything — a person or object or idea — can be foisted if it's done by force upon an unwilling party. |
Foist used to imply a degree of deception rather than just brute force, but that's a meaning that's pretty much lost now: if something's foisted upon you, you know about it. The earlier meaning comes from an old Dutch term for palming a loaded die into a game. Today we call that cheating. |
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| 938 |
dotage |
mental infirmity as a consequence of old age |
He is, as you say, a senile old man in his dotage. |
a four-year old who drinks only apple juice#a 90-year old senator who sleeps through sessions#a teenager with a crush on his classmate#an athlete who spends two hours training each day# |
Unfortunately, within a few short years, it was prematurely in its dotage.#He will be griping on his own behalf into his dotage.#I begrudge the brain space – I may need it to retain bladder control in my dotage.#What astonished, flearing, and confused mumps and mows doth this dotage stir up in our visages!# |
The noun dotage describes the mental decline that many elderly people eventually experience. Those in their dotage sometimes act silly or forgetful. |
The first syllable in dotage rhymes with go: "DOE-tage." The verb dote means "to be silly" and also "to be infatuated," both of which can at times describe those in their dotage (including a renewed interest in romance that many may not have experienced since they were giddy teenagers, in love for the first time). |
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| 939 |
nexus |
a connected series or group |
Numerous innovators are also worrying away at this nexus of problems. |
link#effluvium#sobriquet#paradigm# |
The other thing that I think about, historically, is that there is that nexus.#As noted by Google, the latest version is designed to work on recent Nexus and Pixel devices running Android 7.1.1 and above.#The joy that was in the house was like an electric current transforming a commercial show palace into a communal nexus.#That’s when Google announced the original Pixel models and when it traditionally unveiled its Nexus devices.# |
A nexus is a central link or connection. If you happen to be at the nexus of something, you are right in the middle of it, like standing in the middle of an intersection. |
Nexus entered English during the seventeenth century from the Latin word nectere, meaning "to bind or tie." People tend to use this word to describe the point where different things or ideas come together or intersect. In the field of cell biology, a nexus refers to "a specialized area of the cell membrane involved in intercellular communication and adhesion," and implies that the nexus of a cell facilitates communication among the various parts and allows it to work properly. |
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| 940 |
choleric |
characterized by anger |
Jonathan, choleric with indignation, stood by his desk, clenching his hands. |
unrequited#angry#conceptual#plenary# |
But Mr Trump is no King Lear, whose choleric old age was preceded by a long and fruitful reign.#I also liked how Newsela handled President Trump’s choleric response after the 9th U.S.#That’s largely owing to Bobby Moreno’s swaggering, choleric performance as the toothy Rex.#The Elizabethans boiled it down to four types: You were choleric or sanguine or melancholy or aggressive.# |
Are you easy to tick off? Known to have a short fuse? Then, you could be described as choleric. Don't worry; it's not a disease related to cholera. Choleric just means you're testy and irritable. |
Before the advent of modern medicine, most folks believed that health and disease were the result of the balance of "humors" in the body. If you were quick to anger, you were thought to have too much choler in your system. You were called choleric. W. C. Fields, Richard Nixon, and Ebinezer Scrooge are just a few people famous for being choleric, easy to tick off. |
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| 941 |
garble |
make false by mutilation or addition |
But the fact remains that the contradictory and inconsistent things said do reach the public, and usually in garbled and distorted form. |
distort#preen#invalidate#codify# |
It erases nuance, coarsens thought, turns into a game of “Telephone” in which original meaning becomes hopelessly garbled with every successive retweet.#Nor would he translate what the president was trying to say in the garbled message that broke off mid-sentence.#Specifically, to people on Twitter, who jumped on the president’s garbled statement with gusto.#This was followed, in a mix of Russian and garbled Czech, by gushing encouragement for street demonstrations and increasingly specific offers of cash.# |
When you garble something, you warp or distort it, making it hard to understand. Talking with marbles in your mouth is one sure way of garbling your speech. |
When garble first emerged on the scene in the early 15th century, it meant "to sift" or "sort through." So imagine a sentence so scrambled that you have to sort through each word, trying to figure out what everything means. Garbling can happen by accident, like when your radio signal is bad and the songs get all distorted. But spies often jumble up their secret messages on purpose to protect them from prying eyes and ears. |
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| 942 |
bucolic |
idyllically rustic |
Forty-four years ago, Bill Sievers moved into his neo-Colonial house in Douglaston, Queens, on bucolic Poplar Street, lined with stately trees and equally stately homes. |
a goat farmer#a hotel doorman#a bartender#a traffic cop# |
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — There was nothing haphazard about the violence that erupted on August 12 in this bucolic town in Virginia’s heartland.#Mr. Renton drives the vehicles during “armor experiences” staged by the museum on the property it shares with the bucolic Old Bethpage Village Restoration.#It is not of a university’s spire or a canal’s bucolic, shaded towpath.#It’s exposed to the elements, but after some early rain on Saturday cleared up, the weekend became bucolic.# |
As an adjective, bucolic refers to an ideal country life that many yearn for. If your parents wanted to raise you in a bucolic environment, you may find yourself living 45 minutes away from the nearest movie theater or person your age. Not ideal. |
You wouldn’t know it to look at it, but bucolic is a distant relation of cow, and all bucolic’s meanings can be connected to the bovine creature. Bucolic ultimately comes from the Greek boukolos, cowherd or herdsman. A bucolic could be a short poem about pastoral (cow) life or a country person, who is stereotyped as a cowherd. Used as an adjective, bucolic can refer to an idealized rural life (think life with cows) or to herdsmen (more cows). And that’s no bull. |
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| 943 |
denouement |
the outcome of a complex sequence of events |
Suppose the truly apocalyptic denouement happens -- no deal is reached, and taxes rise for everyone. |
in a men's magazine#at a fashion show#on the menu under "appetizers"#in the last chapter of a novel# |
“There’s something very unique about the nature of the denouement — as Churchill put it, it’s a victory within a defeat,” Nolan said.#The denouement of Montero’s time with the World Series champions transpired quickly.#It also includes inane subplots, fake friars, punster tapsters and a tiresome denouement.#Denny’s background is kept deliberately incomplete, because key parts of it are needed for the book’s cinematic denouement.# |
You know that part of every movie after the big action scene, where things get explained, and the characters tie up loose ends? That's called the denouement, or the showing of how the plot eventually turns out. |
Denouement is a French word that literally means the action of untying, from a verb meaning to untie. The English word is pronounced like the French: day-noo-MON. The last syllable has a nasalized vowel instead of the n sound. You can use it outside the context of plays or novels, too: you might describe the denouement of an argument between two friends. |
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| 944 |
animus |
a feeling of ill will arousing active hostility |
The youthful savages had each an armful of snowballs, and they were pelting the child with more animus than seemed befitting. |
bad blood#amour propre#high spirits#peace of mind# |
Such opinions are grounds for concern that animus for Israel in the Arab world translates into anti-Semitism in the refugee community in Germany.#Santa Ana was the site of a notorious episode — the 1906 burning of its small Chinatown, motivated by racial animus.#The growing animus against Asians across the country led to discriminatory laws that would remain on the books for decades.#Mr. O’Reilly, appearing on “The “Glenn Beck Program” on Friday, attributed the Arizona lawmaker’s vote to animus over a 2015 insult by Mr. Trump.# |
Saying you have animus toward a person is a fancy way of saying that you hate their guts. You could also say that an animus exists between two people. That's when they hate each others' guts. |
If you're familiar with the word animosity, meaning bad feelings, you're only a hop, skip, or jump away from understanding animus. But then it gets tricky. The word can also mean a motivating force––you could refer to the fear of infection as the animus behind a movement to sterilize public buildings. |
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| 945 |
overweening |
unrestrained, especially with regard to feelings |
He had overweening ambitions even then, along with a highly developed sense of his own importance. |
qualitative#choleric#unrestrained#unrequited# |
Real cities, she argued, develop an organic complexity and diversity over time, no thanks to overweening planners.#Conservative areas are not allowed by the overweening federal government to honour their own values.#Yes, of course there’s a gulf — but to be on the losing side of a gulf is not proof of error or overweening arrogance.#“This is not a Republican-Democrat issue. It is an issue about overweening executive branch power,” said Lee Tien, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation.# |
Overweening is a negative term meaning arrogant or excessive. People can be described as having overweening pride or overweening ambition. It's too much and not good. |
Confidence and pride are okay in moderation. Overweening means having too much of it though so that it overtakes the rest of your personality, and not in a good way. If your football team has won every game of the season, they need to watch that they don't become overweening and start playing games as if they have already won. |
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| 946 |
tyro |
someone new to a field or activity |
As yet he was merely a tyro, gaining practical experience under a veteran Zeppelin commander. |
novice#sluggard#sophist#cognate# |
Johnson was quizzed by technology bosses when he visited the Tyro Fintech Hub shared space for startups in Sydney.#Johnson was quizzed by technology bosses when he visited the Tyro Fintech Hub shared space for startups in Sydney on Wednesday.#United fans freely gush about the menacing tyro whose blistering turn of pace and firebrand mentality tore up contests.#It really was excellent work from the lanky-haired midfield tyro.# |
A tyro is a beginner, a new recruit, or someone who is just learning something. If you are the new guy at the job and you're wearing a big dorky badge that says "Trainee" on it, you are a tyro. |
Tyro isn't used much these days but it's similar to newbie, novice, or recruit. We have all been tyros at some point, but it doesn't necessarily prevent us from hazing the new kid, the next-generation tyro. Tyro can also be used as an adjective to describe someone new to a particular scene — such as "the tyro congressman" or "the tyro quarterback." |
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| 947 |
preen |
dress or groom with elaborate care |
He preened on fight nights in a tuxedo, a bow tie and no shirt, and he favored showy rings and bracelets. |
after receiving an insult#before a school dance#before taking a nap#after a football game# |
The similarities between the two of you are unavoidable: the preening, the insecurity, the pathological narcissism, the chronic lying, the bad haircuts.#"I got gas in the tank / I got money in the bank," he preens.#Like I said, only the most dishonest weasels are capable of preening at times like this.#In contrast to the yelling, preening and debating in vogue on sports shows, Tirico said, he strives to be an invisible narrator.# |
When a bird or a cat preens, it smooths its feathers or cleans its fur. When you preen, you primp and pay careful attention to how you're dressed and groomed, as if you're inviting the whole world to watch you. |
You can also preen just by puffing yourself up and congratulating yourself for something. You've just landed your triple flip on the ski jump, and, as you swoosh to a stop at the foot of the hill and take off your skis, you preen as you make your way through the adoring crowd. |
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| 948 |
largesse |
liberality in bestowing gifts |
After being saved by government largesse, they say, big banks then moved to thwart reforms aimed at preventing future meltdowns caused by excessive risk-taking. |
incompatibility#rationality#magnanimity#camaraderie# |
The many billboards around Taldykorgan touting government initiatives – nearly all of which feature Nazarbayev – attest to his fondness for reminding Kazakhs of his largesse.#Finally, she bemoans the suggestion that art “should reflect the values of the corporate entities whose largesse it depends on.”#His life in exile amounts to a lengthy speaking tour, one that relies on the largesse of foreign governments and private patrons.#The counties of Harford and Frederick also benefit from an enviable bit of stable government largesse - their biggest single employers are both military.# |
Largesse is extreme generosity. If your neighbors bring you an expensive watch from Switzerland because you fed their cat while they were traveling, thank them for their largesse. |
Though pronounced "lar JESS," the word largesse looks sort of like largeness. That's an easy way to remember what largesse means: think of it as largeness of spirit. Largesse can describe the generosity of someone giving gifts, or it can describe the gift itself. You could dispense largess by buying your brother a flashy car from your lottery winnings. |
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| 949 |
retentive |
good at remembering |
The child was very sharp, and her memory was extremely retentive. |
impermeable#monogamous#inane#demeaning# |
What really gets on the nerves of Ms. Retentive and her ilk is not verbing per se but neologisms from certain walks of life.#The Heuft oven uses thermal oil that’s extremely heat retentive.#Patsy archly described someone as so anal retentive “she couldn’t sit down for fear of sucking up the furniture!”#When someone is categorized as being anal retentive it refers to Freud’s anal psychosexual stage.# |
If something is retentive, it is able to hold something else, so be glad if you have a retentive mind and grab a sponge if you need something retentive to sop up water. |
Retentive is closely related to the word, retain. Both words come from the Latin retinere which means to hold back. If you are a farmer, it's good to know how water-retentive your soil is, or how much water it can hold and store. How much information can your brain hold and store? For someone with a retentive mind or memory or eye, it's quite a lot! |
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| 950 |
unconscionable |
greatly exceeding bounds of reason or moderation |
For generations in the New York City public schools, this has become the norm with devastating consequences rooted in unconscionable levels of student failure. |
unassailable#unbreakable#immaterial#immoderate# |
This is a small but important step to offset the unconscionable dearth of federally funded research into the effects and prevention of gun violence.#Johnson said the stop-and-search disparities are “ unconscionable, and are simply unacceptable in a progressive society.”#The price that we all pay for such a system is unsustainable and unconscionable.#Sims said Ford's conduct was unconscionable and that it sold surrendered vehicles to wholesalers and customers without disclosing the performance issues.# |
Something that is almost unimaginably unacceptable is unconscionable. Think of it as being something that no reasonable person would even think of doing or saying — something unbelievable, outrageous, and often horrible. |
The word unconscionable is related to the word conscience. Add the un-, and you can see that it refers to something done without applying good moral judgment. The word first appeared in the mid-16th century — presumably everyone up until that time had high scruples and never did or said anything beyond the boundaries of conscience. Sadly, the antonym, conscionable, is rarely used, and, in fact, has been obsolete since the 18th century, though unconscionable remains in frequent use. |
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| 951 |
badinage |
frivolous banter |
It was preposterous to talk to her of serious things, and nothing but an airy badinage seemed possible in her company. |
at a court proceeding#at a beauty salon#in a military war zone#in a cabinet meeting# |
A badinage! - and actually got nowhere near the ball, and everybody goes about their day.#Stop fiddling with your dough balls!—and cheeky badinage.#Follow this with a little badinage and dollop of persiflage.#No more cheesy skits, sorry, but there’s plenty of that highly entertaining passive-aggressive sibling badinage.# |
Stiff corporate types don't tend to be too fond of badinage, or playful conversation, during important meetings, but sometimes a witty joke about the manager's ugly tie is just the right thing to lighten the mood. |
Badinage comes from the French word badiner, which means "to joke." In literature, there is no better place to find examples of badinage and witty wordplay than in Shakespeare's comedic plays. You can also find great examples in sitcom television, stand-up comedy, and the everyday frivolous banter among siblings and friends. |
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| 952 |
insensate |
devoid of feeling and consciousness and animation |
Men also are those brutal soldiers, alike stupidly ready, at the word of command, to drive the nail through quivering flesh or insensate wood. |
unfeeling#abstemious#introspective#unintelligent# |
Cardona favored a cocktail of heavy tranquillizers and Red Bull, administered at regular intervals throughout the day, which rendered him alert but insensate.#She Was not an insensate piece of property, to be taken up or laid down at his convenience.#Seriously frostbitten, lying insensate in his tent, at least for the time being he was unable even to speak.#At the field a heavy silence prevailed, overpowering motion like a ruthless, insensate spell holding in thrall the only beings who might break it.# |
Insensate is a word to describe something without feelings or consciousness. Cars, computers, and stuffed animals are all insensate (though some of us occasionally project thoughts and personalities onto them). |
Insensate can also describe individuals who seem to lack the characteristically human emotions of kindness and generosity. A person who tears a stuffed animal out of the hands of a young child might be described as insensate. Another meaning of insensate is “lacking intelligence.” In short, insensate, in any sense of the word, is usually something that you don’t want to be. |
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| 953 |
sherbet |
a frozen dessert made primarily of fruit juice and sugar |
"One person said it looks like a big lime sherbet ice cream cone!" |
sherry liquor#choreography#orange juice#stanzas# |
The berry, developed in the 1920s and patented in 1937, inspired a flavor of sherbet and a shade of paint.#That no, bricks, tent stakes and more than 3.4 ounces of sherbet or miso paste are not permitted as carry-ons.#The pastel hues of the Sunday finery of frolicking passersby are like a sherbet medley.#Miss Marple detected traces of arsenic in the sherbet. siege.# |
Sherbet is a frozen dessert made of fruit juice and sugar. Though it looks like ice cream, sherbet is a little different since it's made with little or no milk or cream. |
Since sherbet is typically made with fruit, it often comes in shockingly bright colors like pink, orange, or green and has a refreshing taste. This delicious summer treat has been around a long time, in some form at least — the word sherbet came into English in the 17th century from the Turkish word zerbet, meaning "drink made from diluted fruit juice and sugar." Make sure you don't add an extra "r" in sherbet: the ending is spelled "bet." |
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| 954 |
beatific |
resembling or befitting an angel or saint |
She dozed at last, her face serene and beatific. |
angelic#rancid#pandemic#insensate# |
These are not glimpses of a beatific saint.#His face relaxes into a beatific smile as he recalls his first time at the helm.#For years, that prophecy and his own beatific disposition were PK’s only birthright.#The portrait confuses binary distinctions between male and female, white and black, while the figure’s beatific expression suggests a majestic transcendence.# |
That blissful grin on your face? It could be described as beatific, meaning it projects a peaceful sense of joy. |
If you have a beatific smile on your face, then the happiness it shows is the real thing. This word doesn’t describe phony smiles or quick grins that show a little amusement. Use beatific to describe something characterized by complete and perfect joy. It’s often used to describe a smile, but it can be used to describe anything in a state of bliss. |
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| 955 |
bemuse |
cause to be confused emotionally |
They were marching in the middle of the street, chanting and singing and disrupting traffic while countless New Yorkers looked on, some bemused, others applauding. |
to celebrate his birthday#to visit a playground#to see his mother laughing and crying at the same time#to put on warmer clothing in the winter# |
I look over, thinking it must be Keenan, but instead see a young man with a somewhat bemused expression on his face.#He appeared relaxed, if occasionally bemused, during his coronation.#The Travelers Aid representative at Reagan National Airport seemed surprised and bemused by my question.#Sevilla’s players milled about looking a little bemused.# |
To bemuse is to confuse or puzzle. You could bemuse your teacher by writing an essay as a series of haikus, but don’t. Usually a bemused teacher is not a happy one. |
Bemuse is not the same as amuse, which means to entertain someone or make them laugh. If you tell a joke, you don’t want to bemuse your audience because they won’t laugh, they’ll be too busy trying figure out what you just said. New situations and weird dreams bemuse some people, so they feel dazed and bemused. |
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| 956 |
microcosm |
a miniature model of something |
The building, he said, is "a microcosm of what Shanghai was all about." |
unscheduled#collapsible#vacuous#eulogistic# |
A frenetic opening five minutes was a microcosm of all of Arsenal’s weird, paradoxical sense of possibility.#“Football is a microcosm of America,” he said.#North Korea is a microcosm of what Russia looked like under Stalin.#Laikipia County, a few hours’ drive north of Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, is a microcosm of many of these complicated issues.# |
When you think of microcosm, picture your home town inside a snow globe. The teeny tiny city is a microcosm of the one you live in. It is that place in miniature. |
Microcosm can be used to describe anything that is a miniature representation of something else. Think of a specific event that symbolizes the way things always seems to go, like the way a kind act by your mom can represent the caring relationship you have with her. That weekend with your partner that started with laughter but ended in tears? That's a microcosm of the whole lousy relationship. The dance where you regretted your outfit, giggled with friends, annoyed a teacher, and missed your chance at dancing with your crush? A microcosm of high school. |
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| 957 |
factitious |
not produced by natural forces |
Indeed, the Chinese make a factitious cheese out of peas, which it is difficult to discriminate from the article of animal origin. |
unreal#kinetic#cautionary#billowing# |
Because of his specialization in factitious disorder, Feldman hears from both victims and perpetrators of Munchausen by Internet.#A New York judge said at her sentencing she suffers from Munchausen by proxy, now known clinically as factitious disorder imposed on another.#He eventually came around to the idea and has since been working to unify a factitious and raucous Republican House caucus.#It’s good that he’s sharing it with us, but it comes packaged with a theme so transparently factitious that one can’t take it seriously.# |
If you create a "diamond" out of plastic, then you’ve created a factitious diamond, meaning that it’s a phony. |
Factitious, pronounced "fac-TISH-us," means "fake," like a factitious compliment you give the person who cooked you an awful meal — you don't mean it, but you say it anyway, just to be nice. As he or she happily walks away, another friend might whisper, "Were you being facetious about the dinner being good?" Facetious, pronounced "fuh-SEE-shuhs," means "trying to be funny." Don't confuse factitious with facetious — or fictitious, which means "made up." |
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| 958 |
gestate |
have the idea for |
Mr. Lucas’s most recent project, still gestating, is a collaboration with Cuban musicians. |
limn#traduce#stymie#conceive# |
The script was still gestating when it was sent to Metcalf.#Three years later, the answer is still gestating.#"The woman who gestates the baby...is the mother."#The Zika virus, which takes about a week to gestate in a mosquito’s body, does so much less efficiently at lower temperatures.# |
It's unclear just how long it took for the idea for the website to gestate. Did he think of it right away, or did it take months for him to come up with the idea? |
When something is gestating, it's literally in the womb, developing into whatever it will be when it's finally born. Other things besides living organisms can gestate, however. Frequently, gestate is used to refer to ideas and plans while they're in the development phase. The idea for a new way to market music to a generation of kids who expect it to be free was gestating for years before iTunes was launched. A gestation period is the time it takes for something to be born. Humans, for example, gestate for nine months. |
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| 959 |
traduce |
speak unfavorably about |
For Grover Cleveland there were no longer enemies to traduce and vilify. |
stymie#malign#gestate#titillate# |
Stephens’ article criticized claims of complete certainty in climate science, saying that it " traduces the spirit of science."#But valuing a forest for that purpose traduces what forests are.#Climate change is happening, and “claiming total certainty about the science” does not “ traduce the spirit of science.”#And there’s another value that’s being traduced here, one that Old Schoolers often uphold: hard work.# |
To traduce is to badmouth someone or something. If you don't want people talking trash about you, then don't traduce them either — even if they started it. |
Among cabaret performers, there is long tradition of traducing other performers — though at its heart, it's really a way of showing affection. Showing love by being mean: such is the strange world of camp. Of course, in order to know that a person is being funny when they traduce another person, you usually have to know them both pretty well. So if you're not either very familiar or very funny, avoid traducing other people for laughs: they're likely to think that you meant all those nasty things. |
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| 960 |
sextant |
an instrument for measuring angular distance |
For example, a sextant could be used to sight the sun at high noon in order to determine one’s latitude. |
#### |
Bannon later became a navigator, guiding the ship — at times with a sextant when the electronic system lost contact with satellites — and writing reports.#Left with a sextant, chronometer, Walkers Log and paper charts.#I learned how to work the sextant, the compass, the slipstick, the abacus.#There is the lower equipment bay beneath the seats, where the navigational sextant and computer were located.# |
A sextant is a tool for measuring the angles between heavenly bodies — the kind found in outer space. Used as a navigational tool out at sea, it helps determine a ship's longitude and latitude. |
There is nothing sexy about a sextant, unless you're a sailor. Even then, in today's world of sophisticated instrumentation, it's considered quaint and old-fashioned. The noun sextant dates back to the late 16th century, from the Latin word sextans, meaning "sixth part." The sextant uses a graduated arc of 60° (there's the six reference) for measuring the altitude of the planets and stars. |
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| 961 |
coiffure |
the arrangement of the hair |
They sat down, and Saint-Clair noticed his friend's coiffure; a single rose was in her hair. |
a hair salon#a French restaurant#a shoe store#a dermatologist# |
Images of a chicken with a Trump-like coiffure spread on social media and then to news outlets across the nation.#Rep. Maxine Waters, a fierce woman I call “Mad Max,” certainly doesn’t need me to defend her — or her coiffure.#Her bolder wardrobe and new coiffure rated a Vanity Fair analysis.#And now, at her first opportunity, she’s in it – dressed up, coiffured, staring unflinchingly at an eminent lens.# |
Coiffure is a fancy French word for hairdo. If you spend a lot of time working on your coiffure, you spend a lot of time in front of the mirror fixing your hair. |
The word coiffure originally meant hairstylist, now it means the style. The word implies an elaborate style, not just a regular haircut. A beehive hairdo, for instance, would be rightly called a coiffure. A military-style buzz cut is just a trim. The word can be shortened to coif, but be careful as this word has other meanings as well. |
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| 962 |
malleable |
easily influenced |
“The Americans are seen as naïve malleable tools in the hands of the Brits.” |
sleazy#platonic#unconscionable#tensile# |
But Kaiser found that opinions were “ malleable,” and that if, for example, respondents heard single-payer coverage would increase taxes, a majority opposed it.#Of course, the new, more malleable Joker wasn’t the only big shift in season 1.#"If ultimately our principles were so malleable as to no longer be principles, then what was the point of political victories in the first place?"#Her long limbs brush the air in endlessly malleable sculpture; her presence seems both ethereal and deeply powerful.# |
A malleable personality is capable of being changed or trained, and a malleable metal is able to be pounded or pressed into various shapes. It's easier to learn when you're young and malleable. |
Similarly, there are ductile metals that can be hammered out into wire or thread; gold, silver, and platinum are examples. The adjective malleable dates back to Middle English, from Old French, from Medieval Latin malleābilis, from malleāre "to hammer," from Latin malleus "a hammer." |
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| 963 |
rococo |
having excessive asymmetrical ornamentation |
The upper part of the case is decorated with elaborately carved and gilt rococo motifs. |
in an Italian meal#in an 18th century French palace#in a contemporary art museum#in an epic poem# |
Perspective is minimized and a rococo palette competes with a hint of Dutch old master sobriety.#The article described the decor as “ rococo, the 18th century French style that preferred ornate details, curving furniture, and an abundance of gold.”#Jim’s plan for surviving the apocalypse seems somewhat rococo to me.#The one that assembles on Wednesday, in a rococo 19th-century office building just steps from the White House, bears no resemblance to any of them.# |
Rococo describes a very ornate style originating in Europe. If you love tons of decoration and fancy details, then you'll love the rococo style of architecture and music. |
Modern design is all simplicity: clean lines and no clutter. Rococo design — which came and went in Europe in the 1700s — is the opposite: it explodes with detail, ornament, patterns, and decoration. If something other than an actual work of design or music is described as rococo, it means wildly detailed, to the point of excess. They sat me next to Diana, who told me the whole rococo story of her divorce. Hours had passed before she even got to the part about the affair. |
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| 964 |
fructify |
become productive or fruitful |
Thence they grow, expand, fructify, and the result is Progress. |
an answer#a complaint#a bill#a long-term investment# |
He wrote that politicians are often asked to lower taxes to “leave the money to fructify in the hands of the people.”#“We’re just starting to see that interest in the sport beginning to fructify now … this fight is bankable,” Nelson said.#Or rather, it was a productive and fructifying pain.#Those discussions fructified into the present partnership more than a year later.# |
A newly planted apple tree can take years to fructify, but when it does there will be plenty of apples to go around. To fructify is to “produce fruit,” or “become fruitful.” |
Fructify means “to bear fruit,” as in “Soon the orange grove will fructify and we will harvest the oranges.” Fructify can also refer to a seed that grows or fructifies into a healthy plant. More generally, though, the verb fructify means either “to make productive” or “to become productive.” Investing money can fructify medical research, which will in turn fructify with new cures and treatments. You could say that a company will fructify, or become fruitful, if everyone works together. |
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| 965 |
nihilist |
someone who rejects all theories of morality |
“He’s a loner nihilist who believes in nothing,” Mr. Lu said. |
vote in an election#eat meat#fall in love#travel overseas# |
Trump, nonetheless, acts like a cruel nihilist in threatening the foundations of the Affordable Care Act.#What Trumpian nihilists do is something different, something darker – they negate the entire profession’s output altogether.#He brings in kooks and nihilists who don’t care about how things get done—or even if they get done.#That’s how a child becomes a nihilist, how a young mind becomes old.# |
If you reject all moral beliefs and take the view that life has no meaning, you could be called a nihilist. |
Someone who is a nihilist is a believer of nihilism which literally means "nothingism." They believe in nothing, maintaining that life has no meaning and rejecting all moral and religious values as well as political and social institutions. A movie in which human beings are shown as fundamentally evil creatures doomed to fail might be said to have nihilist themes. |
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| 966 |
ellipsis |
omission or suppression of parts of words or sentences |
He speaks in ellipses, often leaving sentences hanging, and fiddles apologetically with his BlackBerry. |
consensus#omission#foresight#sparkle# |
Yet an ellipsis follows wrapping of the show, hinting at bigger questions that transcend the characters’ storylines.#He added an ellipsis at the end but waited seven minutes to post another tweet.#He ended with an almost Shakespearean ellipsis: “Our business now is north.”#“Trump trails off. He uses ellipses and coded language. He lets his listeners fill in what they want.”# |
An ellipsis is punctuation that is used to show where words have been left out. The ellipsis is usually formed by three periods (four if the ellipsis comes at the end of a sentence). |
The word ellipsis comes to English via a Greek word, elleipein, meaning to fall short or leave out. The plural of the noun is ellipses. In the sentence, "'What the . . . !' she exclaimed.", the ellipsis replaces an expletive. The severity of the expletive is left to the reader's imagination. |
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| 967 |
accolade |
a tangible symbol signifying approval or distinction |
The Nobel Prize, considered one of the highest accolades in literature, is given only to living writers. |
detraction#docket#award#codicil# |
If it succeeds, there will be no confusion about where to direct the accolades.#I won’t bore you with the accolades of my son, but I am quite proud of him.#Whether humble or a restless perfectionist, Shepard throughout his life would downplay his own accolades.#Sam Shepard, who died last Thursday at age 73, was a polymathic writer who collected acclaim and accolades as a playwright, actor and author.# |
A knight being honored with the tap of a sword-blade was the earliest form of accolade. Today, an accolade is more than a way to bestow knighthood, it is a form of praise or an award. |
In the early 17th century, the French accoler meant to "embrace the neck," which was done as part of a knighthood ceremony. By the 19th century, accolade came to mean "award." A person who achieves a goal in research or service may receive an official paper certificate or trophy, an accolade of achievement, while a performer or speaker might get an accolade in the form of applause from the audience. Rarely does either of these types of accolade involve a sword. |
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| 968 |
codicil |
a supplement to a will |
The codicil to her will, which she had spoken of with so much composure, left three hundred pounds to Stella and me. |
credential#tautology#acrostic#addendum# |
When pressed on the details of the codicils, Secretary of State John Kerry claimed never to have read them.#"So some of the codicils here are not lawful."#However, a new codicil to the treaty, which is now on the verge of ratification, seeks to institute a similar system for rolling stock.#In a secret codicil to his report, meant for Mountbatten’s eyes only, he warned that Jinnah had begun speaking in dangerously warlike tones.# |
A codicil is a supplement to a will. If your will is already written and you want to alter it, you add a codicil. |
When your seemingly ancient neighbor marries a woman less than half his age, you might notice that his adult children suddenly stop coming to visit. This may be because he added a codicil to his will granting his new wife access to all his riches. Getting your inheritance in writing is a good idea, but a codicil can change everything. |
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| 969 |
roil |
be agitated |
Like thousands of fellow students, he was roiled with emotions, struggling to come to grips with an inescapable reality. |
a hot, sunny day#a violent storm#a sandy beach#a tiny seahorse# |
Trump’s response added another layer of controversy, following a week in which his unfiltered utterances roiled the capital and the world beyond.#A robust defense of free speech on campus should be an enlightened defense, one that is alert to the concerns and arguments roiling universities now.#Analysts say that would roil insurance markets because fewer healthy people would buy policies, leaving them with greater proportions of expensive, seriously ill customers.#Reporters called it a transparent attempt to distract from numerous scandals roiling the White House.# |
To roil means to stir up or churn. A stormy ocean might roil, or even a restless crowd. |
The word roil is often confused with rile, which has a slightly different meaning. If you roil someone you're stirring them up but not necessarily annoying them. To rile someone is to deliberately provoke or antagonize them. Usually there's no roiling without riling. Muhammad Ali roiled much of America when he refused to be drafted for the Vietnam War. |
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| 970 |
grandiloquent |
lofty in style |
A large part of his duties will be to strut about on the stage, and mouth more or less unintelligible sentences in a grandiloquent tone. |
unequivocal#imprecise#valedictory#understated# |
Brockmire speaks in melodic tones that dance between folksy and grandiloquent.#There he accused his former student of using “ grandiloquent language” to distort and misrepresent the record on brain fingerprinting.#In Sunday’s presidential debate in St Louis, Missouri, he made the grandiloquent pronouncement that “coal will last for a thousand years in this country”.#This grandiloquent psychiatrist-poet, a bear of a man with waves of white hair, has played the role of national martyr throughout the proceedings.# |
Grandiloquent is a fancy term for, well, being fancy or pretentious. In fact, you might say grandiloquent is itself a pretty grandiloquent word. |
The word grandiloquent generally refers to the way a person behaves or speaks. Politicians and schoolteachers are the usual suspects of this manner of behavior, known as grandiloquence, but it can refer to anything that's overbearing or pompous in style or manner. Architecture, especially, is highly guilty of being grandiloquent — if you check out just about anything built in the Baroque style, you could describe it as grandiloquent. |
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| 971 |
inconsequential |
lacking worth or importance |
But as the months went by, Mr. Kimura had an unexpected epiphany: His business, which he thought was inconsequential, mattered to a lot of people. |
grandiloquent#unimportant#individualist#obstreperous# |
But when a golfer get's to this stage, crossing the finish line is inconsequential.#They claim the gifts are so small as to be inconsequential, and since the gifts are disclosed, the chances for corruption are small.#And he shrugged off the endorsement of Jealous by Sanders as relatively inconsequential in Maryland, where voters backed Hillary Clinton by a wide margin.#Dismissing the referendum results as inconsequential, he called on his opponents to “sit down to start a new round of dialogue” with his government.# |
If something is considered of little worth or importance, it is inconsequential. If astronomers forecast a tremendous meteor shower, it might turn out to be no more than space junk, too inconsequential to record. |
You can use the adjective inconsequential to describe things that just don’t matter or are of no relevance, as in "the rainy forecast is totally inconsequential — the bowling tournament is inside!" It also describes things that don't make sense in a certain order, "trying to win their votes is inconsequential: the election's over." Something small or minor can be inconsequential too, though the red bump on your nose on picture-day may not seem as inconsequential to you as it does to the photographer. |
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| 972 |
effervescence |
the property of giving off bubbles |
Both were in the very sparkle and effervescence of that fanciful glee which bubbles up from the golden, untried fountains of early childhood. |
a pot of water heating on a stove#clouds circling in formation#a beautiful, ornate painting#getting a job promotion# |
Be it through acidity, alcohol, effervescence or hoppy bitterness, beer slices through oils and fats to refresh the palate in preparation for the next bite.#“It’s written fantastically well for orchestra and piano. He combines a lot of effervescence with a deep, Romantic spirit. “#With a light body and energetic effervescence, Witbiers are similar to hefeweizens, but the Belgian wheat beers are flavored with orange peel and spices.#The closer stylistic juxtaposition would be to Mozart, but Gaveaux is an epigone with little of the Viennese master’s effervescence.# |
Soda has effervescence. How can you tell? Just look for bubbles. Things that bubble have effervescence. |
Effervescence derives from French. To pronounce it correctly, say "eff er VES ence." Originally it meant "the action of boiling up," but it has also come to mean "lively," such as the effervescence of someone who has energy and charisma. It is the opposite of flatness, in which things seem slow, dead, or just "off," like all the air — or energy — is gone. |
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| 973 |
stultify |
deprive of strength or efficiency; make useless or worthless |
Far from being engines of economic growth, Egypt's leading cities are stultified. |
fructify#roil#militate#cripple# |
She found it stultifying and believes she developed her writing skill in spite of such lessons, not because of them.#Ionesco’s potentially deadly penchant for repetition is rendered skillfully enough to convey the intended message about conformity’s stultifying effect without inducing it in the audience.#The left’s group-think, from college campuses to comedy clubs, is mentally stultifying.#She is stifled and stultified at every turn, but Ms. Pugh’s alert, intelligent performance signals that rebellion is imminent.# |
When something stultifies you, it drains you of your energy, enthusiasm, or pleasure. A well-acted Shakespeare play can be a thrill. A poorly acted one can stultify like nothing else. |
The verb stultify is sometimes used in place of "bore" or "exhaust," but only if something is so boring or exhausting that it makes you feel as though you might just die. It's a very negative word. If you're in a relationship that's stultifying, you should find a way out. Relationships should make you feel more alive, not less. Constant construction noise can have a stultifying effect, leaving a person almost unable to function. |
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| 974 |
tureen |
large deep serving dish with a cover |
Soups are presented in big tureens and can be quite good. |
a Thanksgiving meal#a final exam#a fashion show#a boat race# |
Tureen Afroz, a supreme court barrister, said laws also needed to be updated to reflect new, digital crime scenes.#The floral pattern on a Limoges soup tureen vied with a Pollock drip painting on a wall above it.#Transfer puree to a medium bowl or tureen, then stir in grapes and cucumber.#Ana giggled then, a high-pitched squeal that startled Ash into nearly dropping the heavy soup tureen she was removing from the dining table.# |
If a waiter brought a big, deep serving dish to your table, removed its lid, and began ladling soup into your bowl, you could confidently call the dish a tureen. |
A tureen can be made out of earthenware or porcelain or even silver; the most famous tureen — or at least the most expensive — may have been an 18th century French model that was auctioned off in 1996 for more than ten million dollars. |
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| 975 |
pellucid |
transparently clear; easily understandable |
Caribou Island is a scant 300 pages, and written in prose as pellucid as the rivers he used to fish as a boy. |
crystal clear#in vogue#a la mode#ex post facto# |
When the Supreme Court announces a decision in a white-collar case, its statements about the law are not necessarily pellucid descriptions of what is permissible.#You move from one pellucid space to another by dint of simple start-stop controls, undulating faster by timing button taps for boosts.#His unadorned, pellucid prose may be the reason for Ken Liu’s swift rise to prominence in speculative fiction.#“There’s nobody out there who’s going to save us,” said Pellucid's president Jim Koppenhaver at a Professional Golfers Association of America gathering in January.# |
A sentence that teaches a new vocabulary word should always be pellucid, that is, its style and meaning should be easily understandable so that you can derive the definition from the sentence. |
You may have heard the word lucid, which means clear. Both lucid and pellucid derive from a Latin word that means "to shine through." Pellucid water is clear, a pellucid sky is a particularly intense shade of blue, pellucid prose is writing that's easy to understand, and pellucid singing is clear and light in tone. |
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| 976 |
euphony |
any pleasing and harmonious sounds |
It depends somewhat on usage and on euphony or agreeableness of sound. |
music#microcosm#minutia#docket# |
Viols, cousins to the modern string family, produce dainty sounds that blend together with the utmost euphony when played well.#And when he played a zither, its euphony cascaded through the room.#Its easeful euphony clearly made a strong impact on the audience.#Talitha Stevenson in the New Statesman was sceptical about Adam Phillips's Missing Out: In Praise of the Unlived Life – "Sometimes euphony is just plain phony."# |
Shakespeare's language is a good example of euphony: pleasant, musical sounds in harmony, as with “To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow / Creeps in this petty pace from day to day.” |
Use euphony to describe music or poetry. To understand it, break it down: eu- means good; phon- means sound or voice. Of course, just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, euphony is in the ear of the listener — it's subjective. Kids and their parents rarely find euphony in the same song. |
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| 977 |
apocryphal |
being of questionable authenticity |
We're reminded of the story, possibly apocryphal, that they used to play the Beach Boys' Smiley Smile in psychiatric wards to calm patients. |
a compelling closing argument in court#an encyclopedia entry on Brazil#a passport for a young child#wood splinters said to come from Noah's ark# |
Valley elites aren’t so concerned with the aforementioned shortages, which are apocryphal, and — if anything — the result of the industry’s racism and sexism.#One widely reported example may be apocryphal, but illustrates the logical extreme of these practices.#Sarah Thomason, a professor of linguistics at the University of Michigan, told me a story, probably apocryphal, set around the turn of the 20th century.#As with so many famous quotations, the story is almost certainly apocryphal: It did not appear anywhere until almost 20 years after Gandhi’s death.# |
Urban legends — stories about phantom hitchhikers, deep-fried rats, and spider eggs in bubblegum — are classic examples of apocryphal tales. They're told as if they're true, but no one can ever verify their origins or authenticity. |
Today, any dubious or unverifiable story may be dismissed as apocryphal. Originally, however, apocryphal was reserved for religious writings that were not included in the Torah or the New Testament of the Bible because the divinity of the texts was not certain. These texts are known as the Apocrypha and are included in the Septuagint (a Greek version of the Hebrew Bible) and the Vulgate (a Latin Bible edited in the 4th century). |
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| 978 |
veracious |
precisely accurate |
For proof, we cite the following veracious narrative, which bears within it every internal mark of truth, and matter for grave and serious reflection. |
industrious#confidential#thankful#truthful# |
For too long this film renders a portrait of a feminist artist in clown paint, though Tomlin hangs in with a veracious, multidimensional performance.#Oyster’s an obvious option for veracious readers, or those of us living in 300 sq ft studios.#Christian Brinton says of the art of Gari Melchers that it is explicit and veracious.#Perhaps, indeed, the approach of danger, let us acknowledge as veracious historians, had no little to do with his virtuous scruples.# |
Someone who is veracious speaks the truth — like your brutally honest friend who always lets you know what she thinks about your outfits, your hairstyle, your lasagna recipe, and your taste in movies. |
Think of a veracious person as someone who is like a witness under oath in a court of law, someone who speaks “the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.” Don’t ask a question of a veracious friend unless you really want to know the answer. The adjective veracious can be applied not just to people but also to things that are true or accurate, such as "a veracious story" or "a veracious statement." |
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| 979 |
pendulous |
hanging loosely or bending downward |
And all around, far out of reach, the trees of the forest were swaying restlessly, their long, pendulous branches, like tentacles, lashing out hungrily. |
veracious#irreversible#riveting#drooping# |
This cloud is large, low, dark and pendulous.#A huge pendulous mushroom plunges down from the ceiling, serving as both an acoustic reflector and a space-age chandelier.#Even Havermeyer had lifted his head from his plate to gape at him with his heavy, pendulous jaw.#Scientists think male proboscis monkeys' fleshy, pendulous noses create an echo chamber that amplifies its call, impressing females and intimidating rival males. # |
Walking a path with pendulous trees, the kind with hanging branches, is easier if you're five rather than seven feet tall. |
Pendulous most commonly refers to branches of trees or bushes, or other plant matter like flowers or leaves that droop or bend downward. You could hide easily in the Amazon rain forest because of all the pendulous plant life. When not referring to plants, pendulous means "saggy" or "droopy." |
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| 980 |
exegesis |
an explanation or critical interpretation |
Its musical significance has been presented with illuminating exegesis by more than one commentator. |
in church#in a bar#in a courtroom#in an art gallery# |
Her exegeses are prickly and acute, the Helen Vendler-meets-Patti Smith grad seminar you wanted but never quite got.#“A teeny thing felt deeply resonant,” he wrote in an impassioned exegesis of the artist’s words and deed.#Instead, his focus is oftentimes squandered on overwrought exegesis, and his interpretive frenzy frequently substitutes rigor for mere stylistic cleverness, even fallacy.#Something about Close seems to invite this sort of pop-psych exegesis.# |
If your teacher gives an explanation of a difficult text you are reading, she is giving you an exegesis on it. An exegesis is a critical look at a text. |
Exegesis comes from the Greek word for interpret and it's often used in connection with the Bible. Often times, religious rules are based on an exegesis of a text. For instance, some Jewish people do not eat meat and dairy in the same meal based on an exegesis of a law in the Torah that says you should not eat a calf cooked in its mother's milk. |
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| 981 |
effluvium |
a foul-smelling outflow or vapor |
However, acting on my best judgment, I struck a downward course, and then suddenly a horrible effluvium was wafted to my nostrils. |
a nuclear plant#a polluted pond#a perfume counter#an outdoor cafe# |
In her review, she commended Delillo and also seamlessly found a way to include the word “ effluvia.”#Shuttered mining operations let metal-laden effluvia seep into the waterways.#Parents lose whole days — months! decades! — to monitoring the moods and effluvia of their offspring.#Residents were forced to flee to the second floor as their kitchens and living rooms were subsumed in noxious effluvia.# |
Effluvium is a smelly gas, vapor, or an exhalation. You wouldn't want to breathe in the effluvium from a cargo ship or you might become ill. Stick to sailing. |
Not a particularly common word these days, effluvium dates back to the 1600's, meaning "a flowing out of air." Since the effluvium seeping out of the tire factory's chimney was invisible, park officials took months to realize fumes were killing hundreds of birds. The Romans were the first to invent a sewage system, thereby diverting effluvium into the drains and out of the city. Thank you, Romans. |
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| 982 |
apposite |
being of striking appropriateness and pertinence |
He was quite capable of meaningful, apposite phrases about the game, even though distant sports editors did not encourage them enough. |
agape#agog#pertinent#bellicose# |
The parallel was an apposite one, and the coincidence curious, to say the least.#It is an eerily apposite image from the year the outbreak of the Spanish civil war inaugurated a new age of slaughter.#The buyer is private equity firm Apposite Capital, which will also receive £9.45m from Mitie to fund the business's trading losses.#There are various ways a corporate name can seem apposite.# |
Something apposite is fitting or relevant. It is apposite that radio stations play Christmas carols on Christmas Eve, and that your tax accountant takes vacation after April 15th. It all makes sense. |
The adjective apposite is derived from the Latin terms appositus and apponere. Ponere means to place, and thus apponere is "well-placed or well-put." Don't confuse apposite with opposite; they have almost opposite meanings! |
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| 983 |
viscous |
having the sticky properties of an adhesive |
Sluggish, blind crawling things like three-foot slugs flowed across their path and among the tree trunks, leaving viscous trails of slime behind them. |
gummy#greedy#gloomy#gangly# |
To minimize its viscous texture, look for pods that are small and firm, avoiding okra that is overly ripe or large.#These discs, shaped like tiny whoopee cushions, contain a viscous fluid that compresses and absorbs pressure during movement, keeping the back in good working form.#“ Viscous and yet so bubbly” is how he characterizes it after the first swill.#“The texture is exceptionally round and viscous and the wine finishes with mouthwatering persistence.”# |
Viscous means sticky, gluey and syrupy. So if something is viscous, you usually don't want to stick your fingers in it — that goes for boogers and maple syrup alike. |
Not quite a solid and not quite a liquid, scientists like to say that viscous things don't flow very easily. They glop and slug around slowly, sticking to whatever they come in contact with. Think of making a batch of Rice Krispie treats: One minute the marshmallows are solid little rounds; the next minute they're melted into a web of sticky white goo that's somehow attached itself to the Rice Krispies, the spoon, the countertops, your nose, the front door, and the dog. |
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| 984 |
misanthrope |
someone who dislikes people in general |
And shaking his head like a misanthrope, disgusted, if not with life, at least with men, Patout led the horse to the stable. |
animals#people#severe heights#anthropology# |
“Richard Wilbur did his wonderful translation of ‘The Misanthrope’ 50 years ago, but that’s not how I see my job.#He is an epic misanthrope and equal-opportunity bigot whose every utterance is filled with invective or despair.#“Oh, I do,” he insists, but the reason he offers is not one that would belong to an actual misanthrope.#Two imaginative misanthropes connect over a wordless interaction on a Chicago train in the offbeat romantic drama “Fools,” written and directed by Benjamin Meyers.# |
A misanthrope is a person who hates or mistrusts other people. Your great aunt Edna who lashes out at anyone who approaches, convinced they'll steal the jewelry she keeps in her handbag on her lap? A misanthrope indeed. |
This is a formal word, derived from Greek misanthrōpos "hating mankind," from misein "to hate" plus anthrōpos "a man." From the same root, we get the English word anthropology "the study of humans." If you make a statement or do something that is particularly hostile or untrusting, you can call that misanthropic. |
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| 985 |
vintner |
someone who makes wine |
The question remains, he said, whether established vintners will change their winemaking practices or “continue to sell their schlock.” |
#### |
Local vintners offer a warm — and liquid — welcome.#This particular vintage was named after the vintner’s hometown in Indiana, and would excellently complement a tomato dish.#These two wines are from wineries with tasting rooms in Vintner’s Village in Prosser.#Touching down at Boise Airport, I am both surprised and elated to find local vintners and brewers awaiting new arrivals outside of security.# |
A vintner is a wine merchant — the very person you'd visit if you wanted to buy a nice Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon. |
Anyone who hails from France will immediately recognize the vin in vintner as the word "wine." Both vin and vintner descend from the Latin words vinum for wine, and vinetum, which means "vineyard." A vintner can be someone who simply sells wine, or who grows the grapes and produces the wine. |
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| 986 |
halcyon |
idyllically calm and peaceful; suggesting happy tranquility |
He now seemed to have entered on a halcyon period of life—congenial society, romantic and interesting surroundings. |
peaceful#wonderful#learned#religious# |
I kind of wish we lived in that halcyon era of actors disappearing into every role, but that’s just not the case any more.#The findings were music to my nerdy ears: Those halcyon early days of popularity really did matter.#The merits of Ewing returning to replace the fired John Thompson III — the son of his former coach from the halcyon days — are debatable.#One week ago, for one halcyon hour, the ACC lorded over college basketball.# |
An old man watching his grandchildren play might look back fondly on his halcyon days, remembering the peaceful, happy time of his youth. |
The word halcyon comes from a story in Greek mythology about the halcyon bird, which had the power to calm the rough ocean waves every December so she could nest. Like those calm waters, halcyon has come to mean a sense of peace or tranquility. People often use the phrase halcyon days to refer idyllically to a calmer, more peaceful time in their past. |
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| 987 |
anthropomorphic |
suggesting human features for animals or inanimate things |
The same anthropomorphic fallacy that accords human attributes to giant corporations like BP distorts clear thinking about how to limit their political influence. |
a cloudy sky just before a rainstorm#a story about rabbits who wear clothes and have jobs#a poisonous spider that lives in tropical areas#a meal that uses a variety of exotic spices# |
It’s distinctly anthropomorphic insect activity, especially where beetles are concerned.#But in almost every case, the out-of-control artificial life form is anthropomorphic.#In the game, Fox McCloud and a team of anthropomorphic animals / pilots defend their home planet from powerful alien invaders.#PennLive.com reports witness Qaisha Jacobs told the jury Britton was angry after Lee told him he looked like the anthropomorphic cartoon sponge.# |
Your favorite TV shows when you were a toddler probably had anthropomorphic characters like Thomas the Tank Engine or Arthur, who are non-human, but have human characteristics, such as human faces and the ability to talk. |
You may have heard of anthropology, the study of human beings. Like anthropomorphic, it derives from the Greek word anthrōposi, which means "human being." One thing human beings like to do is anthropomorphize animals and inanimate objects. If that sounds fancy, just think about a kindergarten student putting a smiley face on his drawing of a sun. |
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| 988 |
turgid |
ostentatiously lofty in style |
His waspish wit can make him entertaining company at a party, but there is little evidence of that in his largely turgid prose. |
swollen#quiet#leaden#blunt# |
As well meaning as this movie is, it is also a turgid, muddled one.#He didn’t write a memoir like Jefferson Davis, who wrote this long, turgid, 1,200-page defense of slavery and states’ rights.#He’s suggesting things that are genuinely innovative in the turgid world of UK politics: looking to young people; taxing old, wealthy people.#Many remained unfinished, he said, after he decided that they were “dreadful, turgid illustrations of some wonderful theme.”# |
Turgid describes something that's swollen, typically by fluids, like a turgid water balloon that's way too big to resist dropping on your friend's head. |
Turgid comes from the Latin word turgidus, meaning "swollen, inflated." Turgid can be used in a figurative sense to describe things that are overblown. That might remind you of some people's egos! If a famous singer wants to showcase his incredible vocal range and his love of yodeling in a single song, the result may well be turgid, something so swollen with notes and styles that it seems ready to burst. |
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| 989 |
malaise |
a general feeling of discomfort, uneasiness, or depression |
Initially, many doctors discounted sufferers’ feelings of generalized malaise as nothing more than stress or normal fatigue. |
despondency#affluence#independence#conspiracy# |
That Conrad’s ability to think was uncertain reflects a clinical malaise surrounding the detection and prediction of internal mental states.#But compared to the 1990s, when fires, floods, riots and earthquakes compounded economic malaise, the city was enjoying a renaissance, he said.#He never used the word “ malaise,” but the message was about a crisis of confidence in the American spirit.#Telecom Italia's fixed-line business is losing value, new competitors are appearing in both broadband and mobile and in Brazil it is grappling with economic malaise.# |
If you are experiencing malaise, chances are you are feeling blue or looking green. Malaise is a slump; you're not feeling your best — either mentally or physically. |
Mal is French for "bad," and aise means "ease." When experiencing malaise, ease yourself down on the couch to recover. Malaise is frequently used figuratively to describe slumps that other things go through as well. The 20-year economic malaise in Japan is one example, but you'll also hear of educational malaise, political malaise, and even "a general malaise." Wherever you turn, there's malaise. |
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| 990 |
polemical |
of or involving dispute or controversy |
His works include several dogmatic and polemical treatises, but the most important are the historical. |
a yoga retreat#a man on stilts#a world map#a presidential debate# |
The exhibition, at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation in St. Louis, draws together artists who put race on a spectrum from polemical to personal and poetic.#The result is a show that isn’t reductively “racial” but includes race on a spectrum of meanings that runs from polemical to personal and poetic.#He was the author of many polemical poems, written over four decades in a unique documentary style.#However illogical this framing may be, it is a shrewd polemical gambit.# |
The adjective polemical describes something related to an argument or controversy. To keep the peace, avoid discussing politics at Thanksgiving, which usually deteriorates into a polemical argument with Uncle Bob. Better stick to football or apple versus pumpkin pie. |
Polemical is the adjective form of the noun polemic, which itself comes from the Greek word, polemos, meaning "war." Use polemical to describe a controversy or argument that could end up as a huge conflict, because polemical refers to a major disagreement. The word is often used to describe speech and writing — a polemical discussion or a polemical essay — that usually starts a war of words. |
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| 991 |
gadfly |
a persistently annoying person |
Mr. Phelps is regarded here as the ultimate example of an irritating local gadfly. |
traditionalist#coeval#stickler#pest# |
The new biography “Henry David Thoreau: A Life” is the masterpiece that the gadfly of youthful America deserves.#Our reviewer, Michael Sims, calls her book a “masterpiece that the gadfly of youthful America deserves.”#A Holocaust revisionist, for a time he reinvented himself as David Stein, a conservative gadfly, and ran a group called Republican Party Animals.#I say this as an endorsement: punk would be nothing without its gadflies and instigators.# |
A gadfly is an irritating person, a nuisance who will often ask too many questions or lob lots of criticisms in order to get his or her way. |
Gadfly can also refer to an actual fly. The next time you see a cow swatting at the air with her tail, look closer because she might actually be shooing away an annoying gadfly. This is any kind of fly that likes to pester, and even bite, livestock. The prefix gad is an old word for “spike” or “pointed stick” which can be thought of, in this case, as similar to a stinger. So if your office mate is continuously buzzing around your desk with stinging comments, call him a gadfly and try to shoo him back to his own desk. |
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| 992 |
atavism |
a reappearance of an earlier characteristic |
Criminal atavism might be defined as the sporadic reversion to savagery in certain individuals. |
the tendency of weeds to spread throughout an area#a strong focus on experimentation in scientific study#a Dalmatian dog kept in a fire station as a pet#extra toes on a colt, like those on primitive horses# |
Today they are more likely to identify nationalism with xenophobia and atavism—leaving this elemental force to be captured by right-wing populists.#It pitted unchecked, anarchical emotion against stoic rationality, atavism against civilization, present against future.#The result is civilization, art, music, scientific reasoning and philosophy, which often attempt to mitigate and improve on our genetic atavism.#It pitted unchecked, anarchical emotion against stoic rationality, atavism against civilization, present against future.# |
Atavism is a return to a previous way of doing, saying, or seeing things. It can be casual, like wearing retro clothing and listening to vinyl records, or committed, like living in a straw hut without electricity. |
It makes sense that atavism comes from a Latin word meaning “forefather,” since it refers to a way of doing things like our ancestors did them. It’s often used negatively, though, to refer to behavior the speaker finds primitive or unacceptable. Atavists are often called "throwbacks." In biology, the term atavism or “evolutionary throwback” is used when animals are born with features that had disappeared, such as legs on a whale. |
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| 993 |
contusion |
an injury in which the skin is not broken |
My falling companion, being a much stouter man than myself did not fare so well, as his right shoulder received a severe contusion. |
#### |
A wrist contusion put him on the disabled list until July 19.#Rockies: 2B DJ LeMahieu was scratched from the lineup with a left triceps contusion suffered when he was hit by a pitch in Saturday’s game.#He missed six games last season with a quad contusion.#The Red Sox called the injury a right-hand contusion and said it will be further evaluated later Thursday.# |
Contusion is really just a fancy word for a bad bruise. Professional athletes are often benched suffering from contusions. After all, if they're being paid millions, it sounds kinda wimpy to pull them because they're suffering from a...bruise. |
A contusion is any damage to the body that doesn't break the skin but ruptures the blood capillaries beneath, resulting in a handsome-looking discoloration. For once, it's a medical term not used widely to describe a broader emotional or psychological state. You could talk about an "emotional contusion," but please, better not to. There are better terms around (see heartbroken, wounded, forlorn, etc.). Your audience will thank you. |
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| 994 |
parsimonious |
excessively unwilling to spend |
Pill-splitting is catching on among parsimonious prescription-takers who want to lower costs. |
dulcet#ungenerous#salubrious#anodyne# |
And this spring, it was about to open a bricks-and-mortar store in Georgetown until the rent exceeded what the parsimonious duo was willing to pay.#And freeing them to be deliver more expensive, more parsimonious products to customers who will no longer be forced to buy them won’t change that.#Ironically, the parsimonious mood of the state might be harnessed in the effort.#Yet at least his City were far more parsimonious than Guardiola’s.# |
A parsimonious person is unwilling to spend a lot of money. You know those people who count up every penny when it's time to split a restaurant bill? You can call them parsimonious. Or cheap. |
Stingy is the most common and general synonym, but there are many other near synonyms: thrifty, frugal, penurious, niggardly, penny-pinching, miserly, tight-fisted, tight. The adjective parsimonious was formed in English from the noun parsimony "the quality of being careful in spending" (from Latin parcimonia, from parcere "to spare") plus the suffix –ous "having the quality of." |
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| 995 |
dulcet |
pleasing to the ear |
Ever and anon the dulcet murmur of gurgling streams broke gently on the ear. |
melodious#garbled#salubrious#frenetic# |
Rehm’s condition, spasmodic dysphonia, creates involuntary movements in the muscles of her larynx, leaving her dulcet radio voice with a quiver.#They drifted in, to the smell of pork roasting and the dulcet tones of Billie Holiday.#Her solo catches the quality of dulcet icing that’s right for her name; its music is led by the bell-like celesta.#Oscar Isaac's dulcet tones, in a new scripted fiction podcast also starring Catherine Keener and David Schwimmer. # |
Use the adjective dulcet to describe a sound that is soothing and soft, like the dulcet harmonies in a 70s pop song or the dulcet tones of a harp. |
The word dulcet worked its way into English by way of the French word doucet, which is related to the word doux, meaning “sweet.” Originally applied to anything sweet or pleasing, such as something that tastes sweet or a sweet glance from a stranger, nowadays the word is most often used to describe sounds that are gentle and melodious — sweet sounds. |
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| 996 |
reprise |
repeat an earlier theme of a composition |
The live set reprises material from this remarkable group's earlier Aurora CD. |
underlay#addle#incinerate#repeat# |
But he was back in action this week, reprising his popular role as Beanes in his new guise as a part-time volunteer.#Her last acting credit was a reprise of her Rocky the Squirrel role in a 2014 animated short.#And that move followed a Tuesday evening campaign-style rally in Youngstown, Ohio, where Trump reprised his most popular attacks on elites, Democrats and recalcitrant Republicans.#Ford reprises his famed role as Deckard, now long in hiding.# |
Reprise means "repeat an earlier role." If you’re asked to reprise your role as "kid entertainer" at the annual family reunion, that means people want you to do it again this year. |
Early on, reprise was a part in a song or other musical composition that is repeated. The word still carries that meaning, but now it's more likely to be used as a verb to describe an action or part that is repeated, often a performance. For example, if you played a role in a wildly successful film that is going to have a sequel, you would reprise your role. The word comes from the French word repris, meaning "take back." |
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| 997 |
anodyne |
capable of relieving pain |
But philosophy failed, as it will probably fail till some far-off age, to find an anodyne for the spiritual distresses of the mass of men. |
an aspirin#a rodent#an electric shock#a gold nugget# |
The pejorative use overtook the all-tickets-sold meaning for the first time in the 1970s, even for the most anodyne topics.#Gradually, however, this “Shrew” settles down by turning Shakespeare’s story into something much more anodyne.#China’s ambitions with A.I. range from the anodyne to the dystopian, according to the new plan.#Mr. Dreher, a Catholic columnist who often writes about religious issues, found President Trump’s speech in Warsaw “not a bad speech, if somewhat anodyne.”# |
When your back is killing you from helping your friend move furniture into his new apartment, you need to take an anodyne, a painkiller. |
An anodyne doesn’t have to be actual medicine. If the pure joy of helping your friend is soothing enough to make you forget your aching back, that counts as an anodyne too (though perhaps an unlikely one). Anodyne can also be used as an adjective to describe something that relieves pain, or is at least inoffensive. When you’re stressed out or unhappy, try looking at anodyne pictures of kittens. Er, unless you had a bad experience with a cat once. |
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| 998 |
bemused |
perplexed by many conflicting situations or statements |
They were marching in the middle of the street, chanting and singing and disrupting traffic while countless New Yorkers looked on, some bemused, others applauding. |
supernatural#intransigent#polyglot#perplexed# |
I look over, thinking it must be Keenan, but instead see a young man with a somewhat bemused expression on his face.#He appeared relaxed, if occasionally bemused, during his coronation.#The Travelers Aid representative at Reagan National Airport seemed surprised and bemused by my question.#Sevilla’s players milled about looking a little bemused.# |
If you're bemused, you're muddled or preoccupied. It happens when you're lost in thought, dazed, or overwhelmed (say, on the first day of high school). |
Find the word "muse" inside bemused and imagine being under the spell of one of the muses of Greek mythology. You're so inspired to write poetry that you can't keep your mind on work or remember how to get home. Or think Wile E. Coyote, Sylvester, or another cartoon character staggering off with a vague smile after getting hit over the head by a frying pan and you'll grasp the meaning of a bemused expression. |
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| 999 |
fulminate |
criticize severely |
But with people looking for almost any excuse to fulminate against airlines these days, there's a certain risk of embellishment. |
contravene#equivocate#prevaricate#rail# |
At the Group of 20 summit in Hamburg, Western leaders spent the weekend fulminating about steelworker jobs.#While Texas lawmakers fulminate against liberal values with the rallying cry, “Don’t California our Texas!”#But by the time she’s through fulminating, grandstanding and ultimately writhing in pain, you’ve realized that her anger isn’t random, or singular.#With a polarizing new president to fulminate against, he’s calling his new show “The Resistance,” and he’s more than happy to play to type.# |
Watch a bomb fulminate or explode and hope you're under safe cover. Have your parents fulminate or blow up at you for coming home past curfew and hope you're not grounded for too long. |
The word fulminate is made up of the Latin root fulmen meaning "lightning flash." Look up at the sky during a violent thunderstorm and chances are you'll catch thunder and lightning fulminate or explode loudly and violently overhead. But you needn't look to the sky alone for this kind of intensity. If you find yourself in a room with passionate Republicans and Democrats debating, you might see them fulminate or severely rail against each other's beliefs. |
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| 1000 |
parity |
functional equality |
How many of the world’s problems would be solved, or at least greatly reduced, if women had true parity with men? |
in a newspaper#on the surface of the skin#in England#at a very high altitude# |
The US and Russia are now at rough parity.#I no longer pray for paradoxes, but for parity — for the promise of a world engineered not for normality, but equality.#There was also an undeniable sense of gender parity among the Central Perk six.#Combat in The Lost Legacy also maintains parity with previous titles, requiring players to juggle sharpshooting skills with stealth, dexterity and resource management.# |
All things being equal, parity means, basically, equality. It’s used in finance, physics, math, and even sports. When people talk about parity in a football league, for example, they mean the teams are evenly matched. Go, evenly matched team, go! |
Parity comes from the same Latin root as pair, which is par, for “equal.” Parity is an equal amount of something, or an equal rank or skill level between people or teams. During the Cold War, the word parity was used to describe the equal amount of resources the US and the USSR had. So now it also means an equal amount between enemies, which is probably why sportscasters love it. |
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| 1001 |
context |
discourse that surrounds and helps explain a word or passage |
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circumstance#dilemma#misgiving#enigma# |
It does not matter that the film lacks this guide as it is easy to discern the plot from the context.#However, without context, the letter will almost certainly create a rift between the Stark sisters.#The horror and its aftermath lends gripping context to the sole song the sisters wrote for the new album, “Is It Too Much.”#In that context, Trump’s statement that the U.S. would rain down fire and fury on North Korea, “Was not news to them,” Sorensen said.# |
Context means the setting of a word or event. If your friend is furious at you for calling her your worst enemy, remind her that the context of those remarks was Opposite Day. |
Context comes from the Latin for how something is made. It was first used to talk about writing, as in "the beautiful phrase occurs in the context of the concluding paragraph." We use it now to talk about any circumstance in which something happens. You might say that you can't understand what happens without looking at the context. When someone takes your words but makes it sound like you meant something else, they've taken your words out of context. |
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| 1002 |
argument |
an assertion offered as evidence that something is true |
|
transgression#erosion#pyramid#elation# |
And that is only the first flaw in your argument.#However political she becomes, Swift will always face arguments like these.#Tate allegedly refused to return the sneakers to the girl, and during an ensuing argument stabbed her in the arm.#He allegedly hit a 55-year-old man following an argument about Fowler’s driving, knocking off the man’s glasses and then stepping on them.# |
An argument is a disagreement between two or more people, but it can also be a statement backed by evidence, like your argument that your school doesn't need a dress code. |
Argument comes from the 14th century French word of the same spelling, meaning, "statements and reasoning in support of a proposition." An argument can be a fact used as evidence to show that something is true, like a study that shows exercise improves certain health conditions — an argument for being more active. Argument also means "a discussion between people who have contrary views." |
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| 1003 |
claim |
an assertion that something is true or factual |
|
invention#numeral#assertion#method# |
She claimed she actually saved her boyfriend’s life after he accidentally sparked the fire.#You’re probably expecting me to start by claiming that there are no differences in the average abilities, aptitudes and interests of men and women.#Lockyer boldly claimed that the emission line was from a new element that he named “helium,” after the sun god Helios.#The city denied the claim in June, but USA Today Network-Wisconsin obtained it Monday in an open records request.# |
When you express your right to something, you're making a claim to it, like telling your sister, "This bowl of cereal is mine." |
A claim is when you express your right to something that belongs to you, like your medical records or the deed to your home. When you make a claim or claim something, you're demanding it or saying it’s true. People claim dependents and deductions on their taxes. In court, you could claim you deserve money from an employer who cheated you. You could claim you can juggle chainsaws. With any kind of claim, you're going to have to prove it. |
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| 1004 |
counterargument |
an opinion offered in opposition to another position |
|
a politician in a debate#a cashier ringing up groceries#a waiter at a fancy restaurant#a doctor writing out a prescription# |
The counterargument built atop a year’s worth of lies and cries of “fake news” collapsed Tuesday under the weight of hard facts.#Mischief is, of course, an America’s Cup specialty, and there are good counterarguments.#His contract provides another string to the counterargument.#In conversation, Russell dodges cliché in real time, pulling back from overstatements and providing counterarguments to his own arguments.# |
A counterargument is the thoughtful response you give when you disagree with someone's ideas or claims. In criminal court, a defense attorney usually gives a counterargument to the prosecutor's accusations. |
A counterargument is really just what it sounds like — an argument that runs counter to someone else's original argument. In this case, counter means "against" or "in response to," from the Latin root contra, "opposite, against, or in return." A true counterargument is well thought out, countering each idea with a set of reasons proving that the opposite is true. |
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| 1005 |
evidence |
means by which an alleged matter is established or disproved |
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advantage#search#shape#demonstrate# |
Police say evidence found at the scene indicates she died of a heroin overdose.#“In what way is he a compassionate person? What is the evidence of that?” the host asked.#There is good evidence for dozens of such differences between the average man and average woman.#The agreement says police officials accepted Masiak’s resignation and agreed to clear his personnel file of evidence that he was accused of harassing fellow officers.# |
Evidence is anything that can be used to prove something — like the evidence presented in a trial, or the trail of bread crumbs that is evidence of the path Hansel took through the woods. |
The word evidence is derived from the Latin ēvidēnt-, meaning "obvious." The word evidence shows up frequently in legal documents and dramas, because evidence is necessary proof in linking someone to a crime or crime scene. Evidence is used in many ways to show that something is true, as in "your enormous belly and blue 'Baby on board' T-shirt are evidence that you're due to give birth any day." |
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| 1006 |
rhetorical |
relating to using language effectively |
|
substantive#infantile#haphazard#figurative# |
He rebuts that argument with a rhetorical question.#A rhetorical sleight of hand meant to trap the critic in a corner and to hide the speaker’s true intent.#But it appears that Trump is still waging a rhetorical war rather than preparing to launch a new one.#Critics argue that YouTube’s stated goal of blocking “extremist” content is rhetorical camouflage meant to hide the systematic silencing of popular right-leaning personalities.# |
If you ask a rhetorical question it means you don’t necessarily expect an answer, but you do want an occasion to talk about something. |
Rhetoric is the art of written or spoken communication. If you went to school a hundred years ago, your English class would have been called Rhetoric. But nowadays if we say something is rhetorical, we usually mean that it’s only good for talking. If you speak beautifully about carpentry but can’t ever actually build a cabinet, we might say you have lots of rhetorical flare, but very little real skill. |
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| 1007 |
data |
a collection of facts from which conclusions may be drawn |
|
tyranny#information#faction#banquet# |
E-commerce giant Amazon launched three cloud-computing data center sites in Ohio last year.#Others appear to believe fishing regulations are based on biased or inaccurate scientific data.#A federal judge on Monday ordered LinkedIn Corp. to allow a startup company to scrape data publicly posted by LinkedIn users.#The story mode is clever, in that it uses sensor data and other information to discard the worst shots across that time period.# |
Data is information such as facts and numbers used to analyze something or make decisions. Computer data is information in a form that can be processed by a computer. |
Data is the plural of Latin datum "something given." In scientific use, the word data is often considered to be a plural noun meaning "pieces of information": The data are reliable. But most people think of data as a mass noun meaning "information" and use the word with a singular verb and pronoun: The data is reliable because it was tested by experts. |
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| 1008 |
graph |
a visual representation of the relations between quantities |
|
#### |
Even plotted on a line graph, they fail to fully convey the trajectory we’re on.#And just try to count bars in the Polonaise-Fantaisie: It’s like trying to graph a sentence in late Henry James.#In an Aug. 1 Slatest, Ben Mathis-Lilley misidentified a graph comparing GDP growth to household income as comparing corporate profits to real income.#The study of these graphs is called graph theory.# |
A graph is a visual plotting of the relationship between two or more quantities, like a math map. To graph is to create such a chart. |
The noun graph came into use in the 1800s, when people got tired of saying graphic formula and decided to chop it down. A hundred years later, the verb form of graph was first recorded. Diagram and linear representation are two synonyms for the word. The dancer Martha Graham said, “Every dance is a kind of fever chart, a graph of the heart.” Here, she uses graph to say that dance is a visual representation of what’s in the heart. |
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| 1009 |
table |
a set of data arranged in rows and columns |
|
#### |
A series of traditional poses followed: Table top.#After every meal, I need to use a toothpick, yet she refuses to put toothpicks — even in an attractive container — on the table.#Prosecutors say Taylor left the 3-month-old unattended Sept. 18 on a changing table.#As dessert neared our table, Pierre’s nose crinkled, and his lips pursed, and by the time it landed, Pierre’s hand was slightly raised.# |
The flat surface people sit around when they eat together is a table. A table can also be a chart full of information. When doing your taxes, you might use a tax table to determine how much you owe. |
Table is a very common noun, but it can also be used as a verb. In American English, the verb table means to set a matter aside indefinitely. For example, if state senators can't come to a compromise about new zoning laws, they might simply decide to table the issue. Confusingly, British English uses the verb table in precisely the opposite way: if members of the English Parliament table a piece of legislation, they formally submit it for discussion or debate. |
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| 1010 |
author |
a person who writes professionally |
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patient#equal#source#opposite# |
The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media.#Authors of the study utilized a “retrospective study” design.#State lawmakers authorized the pilot program earlier this year.#But the authors of the report say the decline in support for charters can’t be linked directly to Trump.# |
An author is a person who writes books or articles, usually for money. It can also refer to the person responsible for something, like the author of a plan to overthrow the student government. |
Author comes from the Latin word auctorem, meaning "founder, master, leader." Bow down to the author! Well, no need for that, just make sure the author gets credit. Author usually refers to a professional writer. In fact, author can be used interchangeably with the word writer. But author packs a little more punch — an author is involved in the creation of the work and generating the ideas behind it. Strictly speaking, a writer could just execute the written product. |
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| 1011 |
narrator |
someone who tells a story |
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storyteller#poet#teacher#opponent# |
“It isn’t bravery that drives her,” a narrator explains early on.#The podcast is updated every other week, and each episode contains a kid-friendly story, read by a soothing narrator.#And the softly spoken Bolladottir, reliving it all with undisguised bewilderment, is the ultimate unreliable narrator.#The sarcastic narrator of this lawless animated series offers advice for stick-figure characters who repeatedly put themselves in unfortunate situations: “Try not doing that!”# |
A narrator is the storyteller in a book or movie. One of the most famous literary narrators is Mark Twain's character Huck Finn, who tells the story of "Huckleberry Finn." |
The narrator is the person who tells the story — in other words, she narrates it. In a fictional work, the narrator is a character who relays the story from her own perspective, which is different from the writer. If you don't trust the narrator's version of the story, you may have encountered an "unreliable narrator." The Latin root is narrare, "to tell or relate," or literally "to make acquainted with," from gnarus, "knowing." |
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| 1012 |
perspective |
a way of regarding situations or topics |
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triple#view#heresy#intervention# |
He’s right in saying that people need to see more perspectives on film.#To put in perspective: the majority of the 1,511 volcanoes in the world are thought to be dormant.#From Donohoe’s perspective, it’s not a paramedic’s fight to pick.#Ms. Smith offers a historical perspective on the underemphasized history of women’s participation in the white nationalist movement.# |
Your perspective is the way you see something. If you think that toys corrupt children's minds, then from your perspective a toy shop is an evil place. |
Perspective has a Latin root meaning "look through" or "perceive," and all the meanings of perspective have something to do with looking. If you observe the world from a dog's perspective, you see through the dog's eyes. In drawing, perspective gives your drawing the appearance of depth or distance. If we say someone "has perspective," we mean she has a sensible outlook on life. |
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| 1013 |
explicit |
precisely and clearly expressed or readily observable |
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premature#unspoken#sordid#focused# |
This more explicit material is an awkward fit with Schaefer’s upbringing in Virginia.#“Doxing an advocate of racial equality is an implicit - and often explicit - call for violence against them,” he said in an email.#"In China, it's not explicit political challenges that one faces as much as institutional," Goulder said.#Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter, was more explicit, tweeting on Sunday morning, “There should be no place in society for racism, white supremacy and neo-nazis.”# |
Anything explicit is very clear, whether it's instructions or a dirty movie. |
Thanks to parental-advisory warnings about "explicit language" or "explicit violence," you might think this word only applies to things that are dirty, naughty, or adult in some way. That is a common meaning of explicit, but it's not the only meaning. This also means anything that is clear and easy to understand. Explicit orders are easy to carry out; explicit instructions are easy to follow. When someone is explicit, they're not beating around the bush or being confusing. |
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| 1014 |
implicit |
suggested though not directly expressed |
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downcast#definitive#marred#monumental# |
But to challenge the deep-seated prejudices that shape our behavior, to unlearn our implicit biases, “we need contact,” he said.#“Doxing an advocate of racial equality is an implicit - and often explicit - call for violence against them,” he said in an email.#Indeed, after the president delivered remarks that failed to denounce the bigots specifically, a neo-Nazi publication celebrated, perceiving Trump’s comments as implicit support.#By contrast, more remote high-cost areas receive an implicit subsidy and pay less than their total costs.# |
Use the adjective implicit when you mean that something is understood but not clearly stated. You might think you and your boyfriend might have an implicit understanding that you are going to get married, but it's probably better to talk it through. |
A very near synonym of implicit in this particular meaning is the word implied. But the adjective implicit also means "complete without any doubt," so we can say that we have implicit trust or confidence in someone. The Latin root implicāre means "to involve or entangle." Another English word with a more obvious connection to the Latin is the verb implicate. |
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| 1015 |
allude |
make an indirect reference to |
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a witness under oath#a newspaper reporter#a politician speaking at a rally#a speaker with a hidden agenda# |
“Now, it’s evidence,” Mr. Daffarn said, alluding to the criminal inquiry.#The explanation for Reyes’s precise recall is the very lack of normalcy she alludes to in her childhood.#After Saturday's round, Rory McIlroy alluded to the fact he was far from 100 percent, his rib alignment suffered in winter still causing vexation.#And it’s the current political climate that Beatty alludes to when asked about the best-picture flub at the Academy Awards in February.# |
When you allude to something, you don't identify it or mention it specifically. If you allude to the fact that a cop is sitting right behind you, your friends might stop talking about their plans to rob a bank. |
Allude is from Latin allūdere "to play with, joke" from the prefix ad- "toward" plus lūdere "to play." The corresponding noun is allusion, which is often used of an indirect reference in literature: Helen, a fitting name for a woman of great beauty, is an allusion to Helen of Troy. |
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| 1016 |
imply |
express or state indirectly |
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pledge#suggest#repeat#distract# |
“We need to stop assuming that gender gaps imply sexism,” you write.#This implies a difference where none really exists.#Of course, mere presence at a rally does not imply willing participation.#“He said that we need to study why people are so angry, and implied that there was hate… on both sides!”# |
Imply means to express, suggest, or show something without stating it directly: A friend’s gruff manner would imply that she’s in a foul mood. |
The verb imply comes from a Latin word meaning “enfold or entangle” but has come to mean “to hint at.” You might imply something that you don’t want to outright say if you’re feeling coy. If you don’t call someone back after she leaves eight messages, you imply that you don’t want to chat. When you make a subtle suggestion, you imply. |
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| 1017 |
infer |
conclude by reasoning |
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insert#affirm#understand#stress# |
We don’t need to infer it from the existence of gender gaps.#We must try to infer them from what people say and do, and often their beliefs, words and actions aren’t consistent.#It would be a sublime act of American vanity to infer anything other than serendipity in the eclipse's occurring when we so need the uplift.#“Memory plays a key role here, and teaching computers to infer what the state of the world might be is super interesting for us.”# |
When you infer something, you read between the lines. To infer is to make a well informed guess — if you see your mom’s bag on the table, you might infer that she’s home. |
When you infer, you listen closely to someone and guess at things they mean but haven't actually said. It’s like guessing, but not making wild guesses. You're making deductions — guesses based on logic. Another kind of inferring is more scientific, like when a scientist has part of a dinosaur fossil and can infer what the rest of the dinosaur looked like. When you see the word infer, think "educated guess." |
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| 1018 |
foreshadow |
indicate by signs |
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foretell#eject#cube#excise# |
For others, it represents a different kind of irony, almost an inadvertent foreshadowing.#Foreshadowing her support of Planned Parenthood in the U.S.#Both events curbed population growth, foreshadowing the devastating impact of World War II, when Russia lost some 20 million people.#Trump’s support for the Planned Parenthood ban in the Senate bill is a troubling foreshadow that his administration might approve the Texas Medicaid waiver.# |
To foreshadow is to predict something or to give a hint of what is to come. Your kid sister's ability to take apart a toaster and put it back together might foreshadow a successful career in electronics. |
The verb foreshadow is often defined as "warning" or has a suggestion of something bad to come, though sometimes it's more neutral or shows examples of both good and bad predictions. Dark gray clouds foreshadow a thunderstorm, just as spring showers foreshadow May flowers. What is foreshadowed doesn't always happen, though. A story might not foreshadow a happily-ever-after ending, but then it takes an unexpected twist, and the villain turns out to be a hero. |
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| 1019 |
hypothesis |
a tentative insight that is not yet verified or tested |
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suffrage#theory#triple#sector# |
You lean on measures of interest and personality, rather than ability and achievement, presumably because the latter don’t support your hypothesis.#This hypothesis was tested by comparing different types of names.#I read the memo and it struck me that the author was genuinely interested in exploring different hypotheses for the inequality that exists at Google.#Still, West Virginia educators and policy makers are believers in the “skills gap” hypothesis.# |
In science, a hypothesis is an idea or explanation that you then test through study and experimentation. Outside science, a theory or guess can also be called a hypothesis. |
A hypothesis is something more than a wild guess but less than a well-established theory. In science, a hypothesis needs to go through a lot of testing before it gets labeled a theory. In the non-scientific world, the word is used a lot more loosely. A detective might have a hypothesis about a crime, and a mother might have a hypothesis about who spilled juice on the rug. Anyone who uses the word hypothesis is making a guess. |
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| 1020 |
capture |
succeed in representing or expressing something intangible |
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tread#seize#spear#export# |
Although Rahul received the highest marks in the first round of the knowledge show, he was not the only person to capture the public's imagination.#And Stamets is chiefly remembered now for capturing other Seattle scenes, such as the 1987 collapse of an addition to Husky Stadium.#His message helped him capture Ohio and other Rust Belt states with the support of Mays and other blue-collar voters.#The state plans to deploy a trap in the area to try and capture the bear.# |
The verb to capture means to grab, trap, or take something that doesn't want to be grabbed, trapped, or taken. Hunters, pirates, and kidnappers all capture the things they want. |
If you want that tiger, you're going to have to capture him, either by setting a trap or shooting him. Either way, his capture won't be easy. You can also capture a photograph of something—which, while it doesn't mean taking it against its will, is still a kind of taking in which the thing itself if not participating. The pirate captured his hostages, while his hostages captured the scene on their cell-phone video cameras. |
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| 1021 |
characterize |
describe or portray the qualities or peculiarities of |
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synthesize#jeopardize#confine#define# |
Some of us fought the bigotry back when it characterized too much of American culture.#He also characterized Richmond’s relationship with the team as “good.”#In a way, it’s a digital update to the surreal and absurd genres of art and literature that characterized the tumultuous early 20th century.#Not surprisingly, the foreign officials characterized the American president as erratic, ignorant, and “something of a laughing stock among Europeans at international gatherings.”# |
To characterize someone is to describe them in a certain way, to try to pin down his or her personality. If you say your dad is stingy, you are characterizing him as a miser. |
See the word character in characterize? Two meanings of character can help you understand this word. We all have character, meaning we all have unique personalities. Also, characters are people in books, movies, plays, and TV shows. Characterizing has to do with summing up how a person acts in real life or is portrayed in a work of fiction. |
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| 1022 |
item |
a distinct part that can be specified separately in a group |
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space#team#thing#color# |
There’s so much feedback, and that’s on every item.#He declined to detail how the items are priced, however.#The yard is barren, and the interior of the house is sparsely decorated with items provided by a local church.#Include pay, dividends, the sale of items, refunds, etc.# |
An item is one thing, usually in a group or a list. At a restaurant, you might find yourself interested in a particular item on the menu (until you notice the price and decide to order a hamburger instead). |
Item is a Latin word meaning “likewise.” As early as the 15th century, this word was used in formal writing to introduce each point in a list (like a medieval version of the bullet point). The meaning of item has continued to evolve. Since the 1970s, it’s been used in casual speech to refer to a romantically involved couple: "Brad and Angelina — they're a hot item!" |
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| 1023 |
summarize |
present the main points in a concise form |
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a woman spending most of her summer on a Maine island#a man opening all the windows in his house on a sunny day#a teacher listing everything the class has learned this year#a family visiting the Egyptian wing of a museum# |
What McCarthy depended on through those years was what Trump long ago summarized: All coverage is good coverage.#He summarized the conditions of the animals and their surroundings in a new report released today, on the eve of World Elephant Day.#The preliminary report summarizes the current state of the science for the upcoming National Climate Assessment.#Without summarizing it in any way, what would you say your book is about?# |
To summarize something, only include the important stuff. If your teacher asks you to summarize several events from the Civil War, she wants the important facts, not every single detail you can find. |
When you summarize something, you write or tell the general idea and only the most important points. It's a skill we often use in school or at work, but even in our personal lives, we summarize: like when a friend asks what the book you're reading is about, or someone wants to know about your recent vacation. You don't tell them every single detail, talking yourself to exhaustion. Instead, you summarize — describing just the key events that "sum up" the experience. |
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| 1024 |
analyze |
break down into components or essential features |
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During the yearlong process, the state will analyze the potential environmental consequences of the project in the Smith River watershed.#Shiffman emphasized that the goal of the study was to analyze aggregate attitudes and behaviors, not identify individual instances of law-breaking.#But the Obama administration dismantled even the paltry federal efforts that existed at the time to analyze the threat that right-wing extremism presented.#The group’s research traced it to the village of 2,300 people in central Japan by analyzing family names.# |
Analyze means to study or examine something carefully in a methodical way. If you analyze your child's report card, you may determine his strength and weaknesses (and how many times he cut class). |
This verb analyze comes from the noun analysis. The noun analysis was in turn borrowed from Greek, from analyein, or "to dissolve." If you go into analysis, it means that you will be examined and helped by a mental health professional — who will analyze your particular problems and help you find solutions. |
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| 1025 |
alliteration |
use of the same consonant at the beginning of each word |
Your poetry is alive with alliteration; bursting with evocative images; and brimming with thoughtful rhythms, unexpected wordplay and heartfelt emotion. —Seattle Times May 6, 2011 |
a winding, wandering, weird world#wind ridged with thick silt#a deep sleep heals her mind#the snap and pop of caps# |
“I guess the alliteration was too good to pass up,” said Bill Flanagan of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development.#The whole lot is thick with alliteration: “Arctic”and “Atlantic,” “Kansas to Kenya.”#To her, Kevin was a respectable saint's name and added the music of alliteration to the prosaic sound of Connolly.#Lastly, the tactful use of alliteration was tasteful, timely and almost transparent. # |
Alliteration is when you use words that have the same sound at the beginning, like "Stellar students synthesize sweet sentences." |
It's a time-honored poetic device to make a string of words start with the same consonant sound, and that is what alliteration labels. For example, in A Midsummer's Night Dream, Shakespeare broke out the B's: "With bloody blameful blade he bravely broached his bloody boiling breast." And in the song "From A to G" by Blackalicious, a verse with words beginning with the "C" sound describes a "crazy character, constantly creating concoctions." |
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| 1026 |
allusion |
passing reference or indirect mention |
She was dancing below a noose, an allusion to the hanging of dissidents under her father’s regime. —New York Times Aug 30, 2014 |
argument#principle#advice#reference# |
That followed a tweet from Pope Francis on Sunday, which many Vatican observers considered an allusion to the events in Charlottesville.#Even at a tender age, Frazee understood the power of a literary allusion.#Many allusions are rather opaque to us 100 years on, especially because families were creative.#For some, Macron’s overt allusion to Stendhal evinces a sense of humor on his part, an ironic self-awareness.# |
That little nod to a Dylan Thomas poem that you sneaked into your PowerPoint presentation? That was an allusion, a quick reference to something that your audience will have to already know in order to "get." |
An allusion often references a famous work of art or literature, or to something from your own life. For example, you might say, "I obviously am no expert at love" — an allusion to your failed relationships. The main thing to remember is that an allusion is a brief hint or a quick mention. It’s meant to bring to mind a particular subject, but it always avoids getting into it in great depth. |
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| 1027 |
apostrophe |
an address to an absent or imaginary person |
Her unfortunate position, and the singular apostrophe she had addressed to me, pierced me to the heart. —Jacques Casanova de Seingalt |
The dancers spun like tops.#I am so hungry that I could eat a horse.#O, muse! Inspire my song!#The dog darted toward the door.# |
Except that when you do, for some reason, the apostrophe key on external keyboards stops working.#In Maya, the glottal stop is indicated by an apostrophe, as in Ich'aak.#Why use the apostrophe with a single letter?#He says the real crime is putting apostrophes in the wrong places to begin with.# |
An apostrophe is a punctuation mark used in contractions to replace missing letters. The contraction "we'll" stands for "we will," with the apostrophe replacing "wi." It can also show possession, as in "Mary's car." The apostrophe indicates the car belongs to Mary. |
To correctly pronounce apostrophe, accent the second syllable: "uh-POSS-truh-fee." In addition to being a punctuation mark, apostrophe can also be a literary device in which the speaker of a poem talks to someone who is not there. A famous example of this is Walt Whitman's "O Captain! My Captain!" in which he addresses the deceased Abraham Lincoln: "O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells." |
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| 1028 |
assonance |
the repetition of similar vowels in successive words |
His work exhibits ease and elasticity of rhythm, liquid smoothness of assonance, sympathetic beauty of thought, with subtle skill in wedding sense to sound. —William Henry Oliphant Smeaton |
vowel rhyme#book token#target language#half note# |
“The internal rhyme, the assonance, the consonance — you can see all that on the page,” Dettmar added.#“For instance, The beer is never dear near here, dear,’ is unfortunate, even as an assonance.#It is hard to read Churchill’s words and not hear their assonance.#Part of that comes from the names’ purposeful assonance, sure, but Shandling also allowed his public little sense of him beyond Sanders.# |
"Blue cartoons play through the boob tube" is an example of assonance — when a bunch of words in a row share similar sounds (like the “oo” sound in the quote). |
In poetry, assonance is when vowels within a word rhyme with other words, and there are lots of examples. Here’s one from English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge: “That solitude which suits abstruser musings.” Say it out loud and you can hear assonance clearly. The word comes from the Latin assonare, which literally translates as “respond to.” If you’re reading a sentence, and the words sound like they’re responding to each other — you could be detecting assonance. |
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| 1029 |
caesura |
a break or pause in the middle of a verse line |
But the third line, with its caesura before the last foot, complicates the grandfather's absence, extends his influence, and begins to restore his existence. —The Guardian Jul 15, 2013 |
break#approach#revision#ending# |
It’s an incredibly active act of reading: you must craft some portion of the narrative yourself, filling in the caesura.#Mr. Korstvedt, the Bruckner Society president, pointed to the Fifth as an important caesura, concluding Bruckner’s earlier period with its daring fugal finale.#Their developments can be linked to the irrevocable caesura of war.#The irony is that such presentations are highly rehearsed, with each caesura calculated and every syllable stressed in advance.# |
A caesura is a break in a conversation, a line of verse, or a song. Usually, a caesura means total silence, but not for long. |
A caesura is a pause, or an interruption. In musical notation, a caesura is a break in the music, which can be a good time for a trumpet player to catch his breath. A caesura is also a break in the middle of a line of poetry. It is sometimes marked by a question mark, exclamation point, or period, as in the Sylvia Plath poem “Mirror”: “I think it is a part of my heart. But it flickers." |
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| 1030 |
consonance |
the repetition of sounds especially at the ends of words |
Occasionally the author breaks into verse, or stretches of consonance or alliteration. —New York Times Jan 9, 2012 |
a first-grade classroom#an iron foundry#a urological patient#a barber-shop quartet# |
Toward the end, the music pools into consonance in a way that viscerally evokes a clearing of the air.#And he’s probably well aware of Animal Collective; he exults in percussive, hypnotic consonance.#There’s also consonance in the way the verse itself is made.#“The internal rhyme, the assonance, the consonance — you can see all that on the page,” Dettmar added.# |
Use consonance to describe a state of agreement or harmony of parts, and is often refers to a pleasing combination of musical sounds. |
In its musical sense, the opposite of consonance is dissonance. Consonance can also refer to a repetition of consonants in words that are close together, as the "ck" in "thick sock." In this sense, the opposite is assonance, which is a repetition of vowel sounds, as the "a's" in "bake sale." |
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| 1031 |
couplet |
a stanza consisting of two successive lines of verse |
In "Keeping Hope Alive," he triggers a world of emotions in a brief couplet: "Pride and pain/Cloud my brain." —Los Angeles Times May 28, 2014 |
in a ballet#in a novel#in a pastry#in a poem# |
To do that, a comedy in verse must somehow overcome the fact that people in real life don’t converse in rhymed couplets.#It’s a thoughtful drama and a hilarious farce, a play popping with rhymed couplets and earthy f-bombs.#To avoid monotony Dawkins inverts the structure of one of the lines in this couplet.#Gimlet-eyed couplets in that vein predominate in Sleaford Mods’ music, which homes in on the gloomy ennui of lower- and middle-class British life.# |
A couplet is two lines of poetry that usually rhyme. Here's a famous couplet: "Good night! Good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow / That I shall say good night till it be morrow." |
The couplet above comes from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, which is a play, not a poem. But Shakespeare often used rhyming couplets at the end of scenes to signal the ending. Couplets are very common in poetry. Often whole poems are written in couplet form — two lines of rhyming poetry, followed by two more lines with a different rhyme, and so on. Robert Frost, one of America's great poets, wrote many poems using couplets. |
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| 1032 |
enjambment |
continuation from one line of verse into the next line |
But poetry critics have a more precise term for the kind of enjambment Obama employs: “bad line breaks.” —Salon Jul 17, 2012 |
English#physical education#cooking#chemistry# |
Martin notes that Child was thinking about an “ enjambment,” the lit-crit term for a phrase in a poem that runs over into a second line.#And then there's a further tease, a near-pun threaded through the further enjambment.#Elaborate syntax and witty enjambment ensure that a dramatic tension between the speaker's ambition and his reason is maintained.#But poetry critics have a more precise term for the kind of enjambment Obama employs: “bad line breaks.”# |
When a phrase, a clause, or a sentence in a line of poetry doesn't finish at the line break but spills over into the next line, that's an enjambment. |
If you know French, you'll recognize the word jambe "leg" — an enjambment is like a leg striding from one line to the next. You can see that leap from one line into the next in T. S. Eliot's poem "The Waste Land," where each of the first three lines ends with an enjambment: "April is the cruelest month, breeding/Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing/Memory and desire, stirring/Dull roots with spring rain." |
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| 1033 |
hyperbole |
extravagant exaggeration |
That’s not hyperbole; statistics prove this to be true. —Time Aug 17, 2014 |
forecast#exaggeration#writ#summary# |
The hyperbole is that people are now in a race to put the most expensive house on the market.#“The hyperbole and over heated rhetoric raises questions about credibility,” he said.#This is problematic, for when something is on the precipice of history, its light is dimmed by the previously employed hyperbole.#But it wasn’t clear what Trump, who is prone to hyperbole and bombast in far less grave situations, meant by the threat.# |
Praising your favorite sports team is one thing, but if you call the team the most incredible group of humans ever to walk the earth, then you're going overboard and indulging in hyperbole. |
The hyper- in hyperbole means "beyond," so it's a good sign that the word has to do with going above and beyond what's necessary. Someone who gets hyperactive about something and ends up hyperventilating (breathing too hard) might be prone to the exaggerated style of speaking known as hyperbole. If you find yourself talking about the absolutely best (or worst) thing of all time, it's time to take it down a notch and cut down on the hyperbole. |
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| 1034 |
litotes |
understatement for rhetorical effect |
Litotes describes the object to which it refers not directly, but through the negation of the opposite. —J.R. Bergmann, Veiled Morality |
allegory#fluency#exaggeration#rhetoric# |
I had never heard the word litotes, which means “words doctors use to remind you they’re smarter than you are.”#The use of tmesis, asyndeton, anacoluthon, aposiopesis, hyperbaton, hyperbole, litotes, in Latin oratory and poetry.#It is also a specimen of the Greek figure " litotes."# |
You probably use litotes every day. Ever say, "He's not the brightest bulb in the lamp," meaning "He's dumb"? Or "She's no beauty queen" meaning "She's ugly"? Well, those are examples of litotes — a way of saying something by saying what it's not. |
Beware using litotes too often, especially in written form. George Orwell, who had a lot to say about the misuses of language, once suggested that a good cure for the excessive use of the "not un-" format (a classic litotes), as in "a not unintelligent person," was to memorize the following sentence: "A not unblack dog was chasing a not unsmall rabbit across a not ungreen field." It usually does the trick. |
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| 1035 |
metaphor |
a figure of speech that suggests a non-literal similarity |
Her extreme cosmetic aesthetic has been an apt metaphor for the excesses and vanities of Hollywood. —Salon Sep 4, 2014 |
The city was a beacon of light.#The sun shone on the sand.#Clean your room or else!#Wherefore art thou Romeo?# |
Not so subtle metaphors slipped in to genre stories about the state of the working class man?#I said, “That’s a really stupid metaphor. What are you trying to do, troll the museum and academy?”#It is rich in metaphor, something Mr Mitchell was once told was beyond autistic people.#The removal of the monuments, he said, is “a metaphor for white dispossession and the erasure of our history and culture and identity.”# |
If you brag that "the world's your oyster," you're using a metaphor from Shakespeare, who knew a thing or two about figures of speech. |
Good writers know their way around a metaphor, where you make an analogy between two things to show how one resembles the other in some way. When a character from Shakespeare calls the world his oyster, that's his boastful way of saying that all the riches of the world are his for the taking, like plucking a pearl from an oyster shell. Shakespeare also wrote, "All the world's a stage." Oyster? Stage? Come on, Will, get your metaphors straight! |
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| 1036 |
octave |
a rhythmic group of eight lines of verse |
One of these [two interpretations] must be in the octave and the other in the sestet. —Joyce Kilmer |
when you are figuring out an algebra problem#when you are practicing your singing lesson#when you are laying out a vegetable garden#when you are calculating the exchange rate of currency# |
The Australian players, by contrast, recite the anthem in a droning manfully low octave.#The treble and tenor sections typically sing the same sections an octave apart.#His voice soars, and in a split second, he’s a superhero leaping from octave to octave.#For now, in the early Middle Ages, octave meaning eight is a fair definition of the relationship between Big A and Little A.# |
An octave is a musical interval of eight notes. Sing from “do” to “do” — on key — and you will have an octave. |
Like octagon and octopus, the key to an octave is “eight.” An octave may be the entire eight-note scale, or just the bottom and top notes, like C and C. Octave can also refer to an eight-line group in an Italian sonnet, or an eight-day festival; in fact, the word comes from the Latin expression octava dies, meaning “eighth day” — as in the eighth festival day after a feast. The ave in octave is usually pronounced “iv.” |
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| 1037 |
onomatopoeia |
using words that imitate the sound they denote |
What a succession of groans, hurrahs, cheers, and all the onomatopoeia of which the American language is so full. —Jules Verne |
a devastating loss#a sonnet#the phrase "a red, red rose"#the word "achoo"# |
Episode one, narrated by a character called Ben, is filled with manic onomatopoeia and Tourette’s-style tics.#She hints at the glamour of firefighters, to a child, by summoning the youthful pleasure of onomatopoeia in a siren’s “long whooing call.”#Those buzzing kazoos were just one example of Mr. Marsalis’s knack for a sort of musical onomatopoeia.#To keep one stenographer at the news conference on alert, Hayes started an answer to one question with the words “cattywampus, onomatopoeia and antidisestablishmentarianism.”# |
Boom! Bang! Crash! When a word is formed from the sound that an associated thing makes, call it an example of onomatopoeia. |
In Greek, onomatopoeia (on-uh-mah-tuh-PEE-ah) simply means "word-making," but in English it refers to a very specific process of word-making: an attempt to capture the sound of something. Examples of onomatopoeia in English include burble, buzz, slosh, ratatat, and thud. Words created by onomatopoeia can seem totally natural, but they can be surprisingly different from language to language: in Japanese, dogs say wan wan, but in Greek they say gav gav. |
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| 1038 |
paradox |
a statement that contradicts itself |
The brilliant paradox of Flanagan’s introspective novel is that a work of such powerful remembrance should so movingly capture our inmost longing to forget. —Seattle Times Aug 27, 2014 |
"Less is more."#"Hip hip hooray!"#"Don't rain on my parade."#"Gather ye rosebuds while ye may."# |
This is the paradox of American manufacturing jobs in 2017.#It strikes me that the Vanity Fair spat highlights the curious paradox of the sterile celebrity interview.#I no longer pray for paradoxes, but for parity — for the promise of a world engineered not for normality, but equality.#His colleagues chuckled, but the “Fermi paradox” perfectly frames the profound absurdity of the search for life beyond Earth.# |
Here's a mind-bender: "This statement is false." If you think it's true, then it must be false, but if you think it's false, it must be true. Now, that's a paradox! |
A paradox is a logical puzzler that contradicts itself in a baffling way. "This statement is false" is a classic example, known to logicians as "the liar's paradox." Paradoxical statements may seem completely self-contradictory, but they can be used to reveal deeper truths. When Oscar Wilde said, "I can resist anything except temptation," he used a paradox to point to our fundamental weakness to give in to tempting things (like chocolate or a pretty smile), all the while imagining that we can hold firm and resist them. |
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| 1039 |
personification |
attributing human characteristics to abstract ideas |
Gordon-Levitt may also direct and star in the film, which is to tell the story of the brooding hero Morpheus, the immortal personification of dreams. —Los Angeles Times Aug 22, 2014 |
"The boy congratulated his friend."#"The girl dreamed of being an astronaut."#"The flowers danced in the breeze."#"The cat slept near the fireplace."# |
She was the personification of my father’s demons, but he couldn’t do that himself.#"I wanted Ingrid to be the personification of that unhealthy urge to spiral, looking at other people's lives and wanting a connection," says Plaza.#Pence is the very personification of the career politician.#She was the personification of the police motto, “to protect and to serve.”# |
Personification means "giving humans qualities to an abstract idea," as in a movie villain who is the personification of evil. |
You can use the noun personification in two ways. In the first, a person who is known for a certain quality, like wisdom, is said to represent that quality in a way any can understand, like a patient, generous person who is the personification of kindness. On the other hand, personification can give human qualities to something that isn’t human. For example, you might say, “The sea is angry,” assigning it a human emotion. |
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| 1040 |
iamb |
a metrical unit with unstressed-stressed syllables |
“ ‘Feminine’ brand names, like Chanel, are often iambs; ‘masculine’ ones, like Black & Decker, tend to be trochees,” he writes. —New York Times Jul 26, 2011 |
a bricklayer#an abstract painter#a dental hygienist#a formal poet# |
The brisk, kinetic style keeps the iambs coming but doesn’t allow the characters or catastrophe to develop.#“A Sense of Where You Are:” the mysterious second-person tense, the seesawing iambs — it draws you in.#Though the actors are spirited, few can activate the iambs.#“ ‘Feminine’ brand names, like Chanel, are often iambs; ‘masculine’ ones, like Black & Decker, tend to be trochees,” he writes.# |
In poetry, an iamb is part of a line that's made up of a short syllable followed by a long syllable. In an iamb, the stress is always on the second syllable. |
Not all poetry uses iambs, but they lend a very specific, deliberate kind of rhythm and meter when they are used. Iambs show up in multiple forms, including "iambic pentameter," otherwise known as five iambs in a row, seen here in Tennyson's "Ulysses:" "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." The stressed syllables in this line are "strive, seek, find, not," and "yield." One individual iamb is "to seek." |
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| 1041 |
sestet |
a group of six lines of verse |
In the sestet usually the first line rhymes with the fourth, the second with the fifth and the third with the sixth. —Charles Herbert Sylvester |
a laboratory#a poem#a buffet#a trial# |
Polyptoton, the device which repeats the same word in a different grammatical case, continues to enliven the emotional interplay in the sestet.#The enfolded quatrain-form is itself a reference to the rhyme scheme of the Petrarchan sonnet's sestet.#The sestet begins by envisioning the time "When it is peace".#Apart from the attributive tag, the sonnet's sestet, all in the imperative case, is spoken by Liberty herself.# |
The noun sestet means the six final lines of a sonnet, or another group of six lines of poetry. You might discuss a sestet during a college literature class. |
Use sestet to talk about very specific lines of verse, the last six in a sonnet. It's most common to find a sestet in Italian sonnets, such as those written by Petrarch and Dante. In English poetry, it's more usual to see a couplet — two lines of verse — at the end of a sonnet. The noun sestet occasionally fills in for the word sextet, or group of six things. The Latin root is sextus, or "sixth." |
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| 1042 |
simile |
a figure of speech expressing a resemblance between things |
He repeatedly underlines the inhumanity of the situation prisoners face by using similes comparing them to animals. —New York Times Jul 2, 2013 |
star light, star bright#heart of gold#wily as a fox#dog tired# |
George Orwell’s advice: “Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.”#One image follows another, as if there were always the need for a richer simile.#This is so strangely funny—a klutzy raptor—that it’s comparable to a great poet dropping a comic simile into a formal design.#Implicit in his dystopic perspective is an indictment of poetic simile.# |
Use the noun simile when describing a comparison between two fundamentally different things, such as: "His voice was smooth, like butter in a warm pan." |
A simile (pronounced SIM-uh-lee) is a comparison that usually uses the words "like" or "as": "Me without a mic is like a beat without a snare," rapped Lauryn Hill in the song "How Many Mics." The word comes from similus, a Latin word meaning "the same." A simile is different from a metaphor, in which the comparison is less explicit, as in Shakespeare's line "All the world's a stage." |
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| 1043 |
supersede |
take the place or move into the position of |
VCRs were introduced in the 1970s but were superseded by DVD technology. |
replete#supplant#beguile#allure# |
The recall supersedes one issued in January that temporarily replaced older Takata inflators with the same parts.#The three-count indictment supersedes a charge filed shortly after his arrest.#The new assembly, whose powers supersede all other branches of government, voted to remove the nation’s outspoken chief prosecutor Saturday.#She found that states supersede the federal government because the states created the federal government.# |
If you click on the link after this description, a new screen will supersede, or replace, this one. A longer description will supplant, or supersede, by replacing this brief one. |
Most words that include super have something good going on. Supersede is from the 16th-century Latin for "sit on top," and it often means to replace with something better. A version 10 of a computer game will supersede, version 9, making it more exciting. Unfortunately, a person might be replaced too, as in "the younger running back will supersede the veteran player as he gets older." To supersede is generally a good thing, but being superseded is not always that great for the replaced person. |
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| 1044 |
stolid |
having or revealing little emotion or sensibility |
The child’s perfection was not just physical either — he also had a steady mind: "on the whole stolid and unemotional." |
stupendous#capricious#unemotional#justifiable# |
Western ambassadors found him to be polite, stolid and rather dull.#The prose is dry and stolid, accompanied by neither rhetorical flourish nor lavish praise.#“Finally, there are younger candidates. Finally, there are more women. And finally, there are new ideas in a staid, stolid system. That’s renewal.”#Maybe I was too stolid to track these feelings.# |
A stolid person can’t be moved to smile or show much sign of life, in much the same way as something solid, like a giant boulder, is immovable. Both are expressionless. |
It's hard to get excited about the word stolid. It refers to emotionless people or things, and it even sounds pretty dull. Your face may be stolid, as you plod through the unemotional history of the word born in the 17th century of little more than Latin words for "foolish." In some definitions, stolid does have more complimentary synonyms, such as "dependable" or "calm," but these can be overshadowed by other words for stolid — "empty," "blank," and "vacant," to name a few. |
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| 1045 |
inadvertently |
without knowledge or intention |
Before reading each story, some students first read a paragraph that appeared to inadvertently spoil the outcome of the story. |
increasingly#indignantly#independently#intentionally# |
A White House official said early Tuesday that the tweet of the train was posted inadvertently and was deleted as soon as it was noticed.#Did an employee deliberately or inadvertently place the “Own the School Year” sign on the wrong display?#The agency inadvertently triggered the spill, which tainted a river on Navajo land in New Mexico.#In 1996 factories in Xinjiang inadvertently imported more than 100 tonnes of radioactive metal from Kazakhstan.# |
Inadvertently is an adverb that means "without knowledge or intent," like when you inadvertently take someone else's coat from the coatroom because it looks just like yours. |
When you do something inadvertently, you don't mean to do it — you might inadvertently step in a puddle, leave something important at home, or hurt your friend's feelings. Some things that happen inadvertently aren't mistakes, though: They happen by chance. For example, if you just happen to park your car at the exact place that blocks a bus from hitting a pedestrian, you've inadvertently saved a life. |
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| 1046 |
apprise |
make aware of |
Nicole kept the other sisters apprised of what was going on by phone. |
arraign#notify#grouse#reprimand# |
Henderson said he’s been assured referees are being apprised of the situation ahead of time.#"Kindly apprise us of expenses and chance of success," they ask.#Last week, even shoppers at J Crew stores were apprised of the company’s dilemma.#“We are monitoring the situation closely and keeping our community apprised through regular communications,” Georgetown University said in a statement.# |
To apprise someone about something is to fill them in, to give them the scoop. If someone in your immediate family wins the mega-bucks lottery, you want to be the first one to be apprised of that event! |
Don't confuse the verbs apprise and appraise. Appraise means to determine the value of something — either its quality or its monetary worth. Apprise, on the other hand, means to inform or make aware. This word has a rather formal, weighty tone. Presidents get apprised of foreign affairs, but you will most likely not get apprised of weather conditions or dinner plans. |
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| 1047 |
efficacy |
capacity or power to produce a desired effect |
That vaccine had an efficacy of 31%, which was too low to license it for general use. |
negative side effects#recovery#an expensive price#much criticism# |
The memo also puts Google’s push to promote diversity in the spotlight, raising questions about its efficacy.#The reality of the efficacy of peacekeeping and our military role in the world are considerably short of what most Canadians imagine.#There are alternative treatments, but there is less data supporting their efficacy.#“We believe in not only its efficacy but its value to the young people of Los Angeles,” Beck said.# |
The degree to which a method or medicine brings about a specific result is its efficacy. You might not like to eat it, but you can't question the efficacy of broccoli as a health benefit. |
Efficacy is a more formal way to say effectiveness, both of which stem from the Latin verb efficere "to work out, accomplish." The effectiveness, or efficacy, of something is how well it works or brings the results you hoped for. A scientist does research to determine the efficacy of a vaccine or medicine under development. If it is efficacious, it will cure or prevent a disease. |
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| 1048 |
tractable |
readily reacting to suggestions and influences |
The diversity of the two parties made their disagreements more tractable. |
harmless#stubborn#cautious#depressed# |
“Women were seen as an easy, tractable labour force for jobs that were critical and yet simultaneously devalued.”#The new successful treatment, which was administered to the mice two to four weeks after their injury, is “more clinically tractable,” he said.#It's the darker and less tractable matters that data-mining turns up that should leave us all unsettled.#Feedback is turning the incalculable Trump into a tractable, potentially successful president.# |
If your little brother quietly obeys your instructions and waits for you at the food court while you and your friends wander around the mall, he's probably a tractable child, meaning he's obedient, flexible, and responds well to directions. |
Note the similarity between tractable and tractor. Both come from the Latin word tractare, which originally meant "to drag about." You can think of a tractable person as someone who can be dragged about easily, like a plow being dragged by a tractor. |
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| 1049 |
lethargic |
deficient in alertness or activity |
Their speech was slurred and their movements were lethargic. |
obese#astringent#dolorous#spirited# |
To say the pace is unhurried would be an exaggeration – even a gang of lethargic sloths would get fidgety here.#The cub, she said, was lethargic, barely moved.#But losses and lethargic performances even in his wins, along with legal problems outside the ring, stalled his career that once rose so rapidly.#“People become disoriented and lethargic as the body begins to shut down.”# |
When you feel lethargic, you're sluggish or lacking energy. Being sleepy or hungry can make anyone lethargic. |
Being lethargic makes it hard to get anything done: you feel weak and sleepy. Whatever the reason, a lethargic person needs to snap out of it and get some energy, maybe by eating something or by taking a nap. Being lethargic also goes well with watching TV, since that takes almost no energy at all. When you feel lethargic, you don't have any energy to spare. |
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| 1050 |
pragmatic |
concerned with practical matters |
The argument against it is as much pragmatic as moral: If we can use it on them, they can use it on us. |
relaxing#realistic#alterable#domesticated# |
Tillerson seemed pragmatic enough, implying in an August 2nd statement that eventually Washington must negotiate with Pyongyang.#He’s “smart, pragmatic, decisive,” one expert in Seoul said.#A pragmatic coach, Shakespeare is unlikely to veer too much from the tried-and-tested approach but some things might be about to change.#Then again, it’s a difficult problem, but a program that I think works in a kind of pragmatic, therapeutic sense.# |
To describe a person or a solution that takes a realistic approach, consider the adjective pragmatic. The four-year-old who wants a unicorn for her birthday isn't being very pragmatic. |
The opposite of idealistic is pragmatic, a word that describes a philosophy of "doing what works best." From Greek pragma "deed," the word has historically described philosophers and politicians who were concerned more with real-world application of ideas than with abstract notions. A pragmatic person is sensible, grounded, and practical — and doesn't expect a birthday celebration filled with magical creatures. |
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| 1051 |
ambiguous |
having more than one possible meaning |
“Funk is a feeling. It’s rhythmic, it’s movement, it’s tone color. Everybody thinks they know what it is, but I like to leave it ambiguous.” |
uncertain#religious#popular#delightful# |
States also tend to disregard any signal they perceive as unclear or ambiguous.#It would be another few years before studies appeared showing that Adderall’s effect on cognitive enhancement is more than a little ambiguous.#They tend to interpret ambiguous events in positive ways.#Her ambiguous tomboy style was characteristic of the young women we saw in SoHo that day.# |
Look to the adjective ambiguous when you need to describe something that's open to more than one interpretation, like the headline "Squad helps dog bite victim." |
Newspaper headlines can be unintentionally funny when they're ambiguous. In "Squad helps dog bite victim," is the squad helping a victim of a dog bite or helping a dog bite a victim? The ambi- prefix means "both ways," while the guous part is from the Latin verb agere, "to lead or drive." Thus an ambiguous sentence or situation drives us in two different directions at once. The accent is on the second syllable, "big," which you can remember since something that's ambiguous can lead to big misunderstandings. |
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| 1052 |
impurity |
the condition of having extraneous elements |
New methods could scrub impurities from recycled steel to make products for the aerospace and car industries, he said. |
a politician working to pass a bill#a religious leader who sacrifices for others#a strict vegetarian who just ate meat#a person who has been acquitted of criminal charges# |
Crucially, the resistance remains unchanged by fluctuations in temperature, or by impurities in the crystal.#He held patents for a method to introduce impurities into the otherwise stable element silicon, increasing its semiconducting capacity.#To do this, scientists will calculate the atoms in a silicon sphere—but this only works if the crystal is free of impurities.#They are also less sensitive to impurities than are expensive crystalline semiconductors such as gallium arsenide.# |
An impurity is something that ruins the uncontaminated nature of something. If someone accuses you of impurity, they think you or your nature has been spoiled in some way by sin. |
When water is pure, the only thing in that water is water. Add a contaminant, say salt or bleach, and you are introducing an impurity, something that turns the water impure. When used with people, the word has a religious overtone. Someone who is pure is unspoiled by sin. Think Snow White. If you convinced Snow White to rob a bank with you, you'd be spoiling her good nature with your wretched impurity. |
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| 1053 |
discredit |
reject as false; refuse to accept |
The allegations were later discredited and convictions overturned, but the actions damaged morale and fueled resentment. |
disbelieve#disguise#distract#distinguish# |
You should never discredit a good start, but it’s just that — a start.#"Despite many false rumors from those seeking to discredit us we are in no way associated with any group who organized there," the statement reads.#Opposition leaders slammed the inquiry as a political ploy to discredit Mr. Mahathir just months after he set up a new political party.#Opposition leaders slammed the inquiry as a political ploy to discredit Mahathir just months after he set up a new political party.# |
Discredit means to cause mistrust or cast the accuracy of something into doubt. If you say that schooling is important to you, but you never study, your actions discredit you and your words. |
You discredit what someone says when you choose not to believe it. You can discredit the rumors going around about your boyfriend if you are sure of his love. On a more personal level, you discredit people when you cast their authority or reputation into doubt. If you're running a tough race for class president, your opponent may try to discredit you by talking about your failures or even making up lies about you. But this would be to the discredit of your opponent — his or her own reputation would suffer for this bad behavior. |
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| 1054 |
hardship |
something hard to endure |
But after the hardships they endured early in life, this challenge isn’t that scary. |
ingenuity#obedience#sensitivity#grimness# |
The restaurants are great, it’s not a hardship to be in Kurdistan whatsoever.#The preacher commanded the worshipers to be hopeful even in the presence of hardship.#Many other kids bright with promise but burdened by hardship attended Carver alongside R’reanna, pronounced like Ariana.#As Venezuela transforms into a police state, hundreds of thousands are fleeing hardship and persecution.# |
If something is a hardship, it causes suffering or unpleasantness. After all the hardship you endured while training for the marathon, you really hope that you’ll do well — or at least finish! |
The word hard in hardship is a tip-off to its meaning: something that’s a hardship is hard. It could be hard work that you do for a larger goal — like training for the marathon — or it could be a situation that’s hard to endure. If you lose your job, you could end up experiencing financial hardship. Sometimes a hardship is something that just happens, like the hardship people suffer following a disaster. |
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| 1055 |
mar |
render imperfect |
Pacific Coast Highway remained open Wednesday, but its signature views were marred by a dark haze. |
approval#blemish#landscape#crevice# |
She pulls up her shirt to expose the pale, taut skin of her stomach, marred by a tangle of gouges.#He said in a statement that it was an attempt to mar the independence day festivities.#However, this year’s campaign was marred by hundreds of violent incidents, including the murder of a high-profile election official.#Penalties and mental errors marred last season’s start.# |
A mar is a flaw, mark, or blemish, like a deep scratch on a wooden table. As a verb, to mar is to make such an imperfection — like the pen mark that mars your crisp, white shirt. |
We often think of things that mar as immediately noticeable, like scratches, scars, and blemishes, but sometimes mar describes other ways of ruining something. For example, an unexpected run-in with a difficult person can mar your relaxing day at the beach, just as an unpleasant memory can mar a peaceful state of mind. The thing to remember is, it only takes one scratch, one mean comment, or one negative experience to mar something that is otherwise fine. |
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| 1056 |
pork barrel |
appropriations designed to ingratiate constituents |
Lawmakers use pork barrel money to finance projects for their constituencies, aiding their re-election. |
a sum of government money set aside to build a shopping mall#a shopping mall that caters to lovers of greasy fast foods#a fancy restaurant that many government officials prefer#a legislative session in which a hearty dinner is provided# |
The move by the 12-term Republican is reminiscent of pork barrel politics of the recent past.#Mary Lagnaoui, an Alexandria resident, said she realized Gillespie was at Pork Barrel after spotting protesters with signs outside.#They don't want the media looking at their pork barrel creations.#Pork barrel politics: The appropriation of government spending - or pork - pursued by a lawmaker for projects that benefit his or her constituents or campaign contributors.# |
Pork barrel refers to money set aside in a bill for a legislator's home state. It's usually considered a form of kissing up to the home voters. |
Originally, a pork barrel was an actual barrel full of pork, and it later meant any source of money. These days, it usually refers to something legislators do in Washington to please their constituents back home. Parts of a bill that set aside money for projects back home are called pork barrel. This is considered negative because the legislator is perceived as setting aside the money only to win votes back home, not for the greater good of the country. |
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| 1057 |
vicissitude |
a variation in circumstances or fortune |
As a result, they have little protection against both life's vicissitudes and volatile home prices. |
regulation#vigilance#complaint#alteration# |
A journey through the city revealed how Libyans are adapting to the vicissitudes of the civil war.#Whether individual hybrids are less fit, on average, than individual purebreds in the face of life’s vicissitudes is less easy to test.#But this summer and fall will bring, depending on the vicissitudes of publishing industry timing, the last of those Obama-era thrillers.#Her tale then spools back to the year 2000 and the onset of the condition, before chronicling the vicissitudes of her quest for a cure.# |
When you talk of the vicissitudes of life, you're referring to the difficult times that we all go through: sickness, job loss, and other unwelcome episodes. No one can escape the vicissitudes of life. |
While vicissitude comes from the Latin vicis, which means "change" and technically can mean a change of any kind, you'll find that vicissitude is almost always used to talk about an unfortunate event or circumstance. Losing a pet, crashing the car, being called in for jury duty: these are examples of vicissitudes — chapters in one's life that one would rather avoid but must get through. Some lives have more vicissitudes than others, to be sure, but no life is without events that test and challenge us. |
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| 1058 |
bibliophile |
someone who loves and usually collects books |
With a Kindle, the bibliophile in your life will be able to easily carry around their entire library wherever they go. |
in an arena#in prison#in a restaurant#in a bookstore# |
She ends up at Scroll, a company whose mission is “to reinvent reading the way Starbucks reinvented coffee” by creating lounges for bibliophiles.#“The ultimate gift for Harry Potter fans, curious minds, big imaginations, bibliophiles and readers around the world,” the website said of the books.#As one of the most influential editors in the publishing industry, Paul is no ordinary bibliophile.#“This is a quiet moment for bibliophiles to live that moment. So that is what we are doing.”# |
You can call a book lover a bibliophile. If you find it impossible to leave a book store without buying at least one book, you might be a bibliophile. |
A bibliophile usually has a huge collection of books and loves nothing more than browsing in a used book shop or a library. A love of books or a deep knowledge about them makes a person a bibliophile. The earliest use of the word bibliophile was in 1820s France, and it came from the Greek prefix biblio, or "book," and the word philos, or "friend." If you consider books to be your true friends, you are definitely a bibliophile. |
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| 1059 |
privation |
a state of extreme poverty |
Their privation is a result of artificially holding down prices, which creates shortages. |
respect#shame#want#fear# |
But amid that boom, the steel industry felt the privations of war.#The stories of privation and torture suffered by Yezidi women in this compound are some of the worst in a long catalogue of abuses.#Life spent hunting and gathering, while occasionally trying, was not a tale of constant toil and privation.#Here, where both land and life are flat, the privations of rural teenage existence yield wild and elemental bewitchments.# |
If you're lacking the basic necessities of life — food, water, political freedom, and so on — you're suffering from privation. |
Privation has become a rather old-fashioned word, and when used now is often with irony: present day privations are usually of the order of not having wireless Internet or video games. It's interesting to compare privation with the similar word deprivation, which is used more commonly now. Deprivation usually suggests that someone or something has actually caused the privation. |
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| 1060 |
conceited |
having an exaggerated sense of self-importance |
“She’s not stuck up or conceited or look down on us. I love her. She has a heart of gold.” |
discerning#academic#competitive#egotistical# |
Overweening, a useful word that we don’t see very often, means “ conceited” or “pretentious.”#In his article, Churchill wrote: “I am not sufficiently conceited to think that my sun is the only one with a family of planets.”#Churchill writes: “I am not sufficiently conceited to think that my sun is the only one with a family of planets.”#“I am not sufficiently conceited,” he writes,” to think that my sun is the only one with a family of planets.”# |
A conceited person has an inflated self-image and perceives himself as incredibly entertaining and wonderful. Talk incessantly about your accomplishments on the clarinet or amazing ability to wiggle your ears, and people are going to think you’re conceited. |
An offshoot of conceit, conceited was first recorded in 1600 as meaning “having an overwhelming opinion of oneself.” It’s a shortened form of “self-conceited” and the total opposite of "modest." In a remark about such vain people, the English Victorian novelist George Eliot once said, “I've never any pity for conceited people, because I think they carry their comfort about with them.” |
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| 1061 |
complacent |
contented to a fault with oneself or one's actions |
Surely he wasn’t complacent enough to put aside his teacher’s instinct just because of a test score. |
thankful#contented#repeated#minute# |
“Low volatility does not necessarily mean markets are complacent,” BlackRock’s global chief investment strategist and others wrote in a recent report.#“Marshawn was notorious for that: never letting anybody be complacent or be relaxed or be satisfied with their production,” Baldwin said.#“I felt like we got really complacent,” Morrow said.#For now, though, China looks anything but complacent.# |
Someone who is complacent has become overly content — the junk-food-eating couch potato might be feeling complacent about his health. |
The literal meaning of this word's Latin root is "very pleased," but even though complacent people may seem pleased with themselves, we are rarely pleased with them. They are unconcerned by things that should concern them, and they may neglect their duties. A complacent person might be heard saying, "Ehh, don't worry about it!" — when there really is something to worry about. |
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| 1062 |
fidelity |
accuracy with which a system reproduces its input signal |
This promised to be a lot better than my cheapo earplugs, with a bonus of better fidelity to the actual sounds I’d hear. |
future#length#faithfulness#conduct# |
Fidelity's Chief Executive Officer Abigail Johnson announced the company's intention to launch the Coinbase integration at an industry conference in May.#It plays freely with Sophocles’ drama but hews to its themes: civil disobedience, fidelity and the law, especially as regards burial rights.#Fidelity Investments is trying to beat Vanguard Group at its own game.#Remember that, in general, the marital fidelity of a co-worker isn’t your business, or your firm’s.# |
Fidelity is the quality of being faithful or loyal. Dogs are famous for their fidelity. |
Fidelity comes from the Latin root fides, which means faith, so fidelity is the state of being faithful. Marital fidelity is faithfulness to your spouse. If you're a journalist, your reports should have fidelity to the facts. Someone without fidelity to a religion or group belief is called an infidel. |
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| 1063 |
succinct |
briefly giving the gist of something |
I promised to be succinct, so let's not belabor this further. |
a brief summary of a novel#a famous symphony#a traffic jam#a rich dessert# |
Asked his opinion of Beijing, while on a tour of China in 1986, his reply was succinct: “Ghastly.”#Teammate Gabby Williams was more succinct on the defeat that shocked the women’s basketball world.#When asked about using words such as “crippled” or “retarded,” Mr. Yiannopoulos’ succinct response is typically brash: “That argument is retarded.”#That succinct explanation of intellectual property is as relevant today as it was 170 years ago.# |
Something that is succinct is short and clear. If you're going to be interviewed on television about your new book and only have a five minute slot, you'll need to come up with a succinct version of your story. |
Succinct, meaning "short and to the point," is from the Latin succingere, "to tuck up." Often after you write a long essay, you realize you probably could have said the same thing in one or two succinct pages. If something is too succinct, we might call it terse. Another synonym is concise, which implies that unnecessary material has been removed. It's the opposite of wordy. |
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| 1064 |
pivotal |
being of crucial importance |
He said the role would be " pivotal" and the chair would play an important part in deciding who else would be on the board. |
unmitigated#ulterior#invidious#important# |
But the study also supports the conclusion about the pivotal nature of the Obama-Trump vote.#Duke’s strikeout of Freddie Freeman to end the seventh was pivotal as Freeman entered the game 5 for 6 with two homers against Duke.#Lanciani happened to live during a pivotal time in the history of Rome.#They begin Big 12 play against Baylor, visit Texas and play TCU before a potentially pivotal showdown with Oklahoma on Oct.# |
High school graduation is a pivotal moment in most people's lives — an important point that signifies a shift in direction. |
You see the word pivot in pivotal. That is because when something is pivotal, it is central, and everything related to the topic turns or depends on it. An election can be a pivotal moment in a nation's history if the direction the country takes depends on it. Your belief in reincarnation may be pivotal to how you treat animals. Pivotal means important, but it has the sense of centrality and turning. |
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| 1065 |
feign |
give a false appearance of |
I could no longer feign being outdoorsy, so I made the only contribution I could: I became an Amazonian homemaker. |
provoke#prostrate#sham#fume# |
They will assess incidents and must unanimously agree that a player was diving or feigning injury.#Neither feigning interest nor suddenly snapping and screaming are an appropriate response to your boyfriend’s behavior.#But feigning the kind of amnesia from which Agatha Christie apparently suffered is much more difficult than it might appear.#When one player hit a long home run, others would wave a towel to feign cooling them off.# |
For a more formal way to say pretend to or imitate, choose the verb feign. You might feign indifference when you hear about some gossip, but you're probably dying to know. |
Feign comes from the Latin fingere "to devise, fabricate." The word fiction comes from the same source, so if you feign something such as sleep, you give off the fiction that you are sleeping. This can be done to be polite but also to deceive such as when you feign an injury or the flu so you can stay home from school or work. You can also feign an accent, though some are better at this than others. |
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| 1066 |
reign |
rule or have supreme power |
Here she is with Gabby Douglas, the reigning all-around champion from 2012. |
a horse#a king#a cloud#a wave# |
Oke, 36, is the reigning African champion in triple jump.#McCarthyism loosened its grip, but under official protection, white supremacy reigned supreme in the Deep South.#Satterfield’s roster is leaded with returning starters - including the reigning Sun Belt offensive player of the year, running back Jalin Moore.#Thus was born POTUS Shield, a network of Pentecostal leaders devoted to helping Trump bring about the reign of God in America and the world.# |
Rain falls from above, and people who reign rule from a position above others. They reign over countries and governments, and even over businesses and arts, as in "She used to reign over punk music, always topping the charts." |
While reign is a verb when it refers to the actions of a person or group of people, the period of time when they reign is also called a reign, as a noun: "His reign over the rodeo circuit ended when he was tackled by a bull named Princess-Maker." Sometimes a stretch of time is called a reign, even without regard to who was the leader, as in a "reign of peace," or a period of time without war and conflict, in a place or government. |
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| 1067 |
coup |
a sudden and decisive change of government by force |
“We have such a strong economy that we overcome this coup with small scratches,” Mr. Yildirim said. |
ferry#takeover#leak#trigger# |
The coup was launched after a violent confrontation between marchers in support of a general strike clashed with government forces.#Mr. Kalanick resigned as chief executive in June in the face of a shareholder coup led by Benchmark.#"The first chapter of the coup was my impeachment," she says.#In March 2012, Sanogo put his popularity and skills to use when he led a coup that overthrew Mali’s elected government.# |
A coup is a pretty major achievement, whether it involves taking over a government by force, or landing a major business contract. |
When the word coup is used on the nightly news, it's usually describing a military government takeover. In the business section of the daily newspaper, coup might refer to a big corporation landing an important contract or deal. However you use the word coup, don't say the "p" at the end. It's not pronounced like chicken coop. It sounds more like a dove's coo. |
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| 1068 |
abate |
become less in amount or intensity |
If the wind didn’t abate—and soon—the summit would be out of the question for all of us. |
spread out#slack off#fan out#fit in# |
While nausea and stomach discomfort are expected in the days immediately following the procedure, those symptoms typically abate.#It is unlikely to abate as long as:#“And these patterns show no signs of abating.”#Following the Great Depression in the U.S., there was a rise in farmer suicides, which was abated with a government-funded farmers' insurance program.# |
Something that abates becomes fewer or less intense. Your enthusiasm for skiing might abate after falling off a ski lift and getting a mouthful of snow. |
Abate comes from the Old French verb abattre, "to beat down," and means to reduce or become less intense or numerous. As an intransitive verb, it is often used with something physically, emotionally, or figuratively violent, as in "the flood of fan mail began to abate." Using it transitively, if you take measures to abate pollution or noise, you reduce them. Pronounce abate with the stress on the second syllable (uh-BATE). |
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| 1069 |
alleged |
declared but not proved |
The police are already looking into " alleged financial irregularities" surrounding the loan, because the cash has gone missing. |
layered#insensible#supposed#ideal# |
Penn Hills police alleged that she and her boyfriend argued and after he fell asleep and she threw gasoline on him and set him afire.#Penn Hills police alleged she and her boyfriend argued and after he fell asleep, she threw gasoline on him and set him afire.#Not only is challenging diversity programs not a good solution for the alleged problem, it also misses the point: race discrimination is still real.#The trial showed how some defence lawyers try to undermine the credibility of an alleged victim.# |
A claim or statement that is alleged hasn't been proven true — if you're an alleged murderer, you've been accused but not convicted. |
When a fact is alleged, there is doubt about its accuracy. The word alleged is often used in connection with court cases, because the accused is innocent until proven guilty: an alleged robber is a suspected robber but has not been proven guilty of robbery. Journalists often use alleged in news stories when someone’s guilt is suspected but not confirmed. Sometimes alleged means doubtful or dubious, as in "Who is this alleged expert?" |
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| 1070 |
neglected |
disregarded |
"We have been neglected and ignored by all the powers in the region." |
alleged#enviable#typical#ignored# |
After more than five decades, unused and neglected, the District’s last remaining streetcar trestle is crumbling.#Mr. Trump neglected to mention those actions in his tone-deaf comments.#Dolva realised just how important and neglected this issue of social solitude was when she met a woman who lost her teenage daughter to cancer.#Lewis acknowledges “it’s one of those areas, to be quite honest, that’s been neglected.”# |
If you are neglected, no one gives you the care or attention you need, like when you felt neglected on your birthday because everyone was so caught up preparing for your sister's wedding. |
To neglect something is to not take good care of it, like neglecting your pet salamander by not cleaning its cage, or fail to show your usual affection — neglecting your old friends when you make new ones. The person or thing that endures such shabby treatment is neglected — feeling unloved, ignored, and in need. Another meaning of neglected is "overlooked," like when you neglected to bring your umbrella and got soaked. |
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| 1071 |
stalwart |
dependable |
Without the involvement of these stalwarts, the spirit of party unity was hard to manifest. |
motley#legendary#responsive#robust# |
Creator David Simon, 12-year stalwart of the Sun, is questioning the sensationalist and commercial needs underlying modern news reporting.#Is Fox News a stalwart defender of the press freedoms it depends on?#Perhaps, but success leaves clues, and like the wide receiver position, volume is key to discovering these up-and-coming stalwarts.#Seattle’s stalwart lefty was placed on the 10-day disabled with a strained pectoral muscle.# |
To be stalwart is to be loyal, no matter what, like your friend who remains a devoted fan of an actor she's admired since childhood, even if that was the last time the guy made a decent movie. |
Stalwart can describe someone who's able to keep on going even when things get hard, like a marathon runner who doesn't slow down, even after spraining an ankle, or a supporter of a political cause that everyone else has long declared over. In U.S. history, the word stalwart was used in 1877 to describe Republicans who remained unwilling to trust the South, even though the Civil War was long over by that time. |
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| 1072 |
brusque |
marked by rude or peremptory shortness |
“He was passionate, opinionated, and sometimes brusque and rude,” she writes. |
irrepressible#short#pedantic#molten# |
I’m expecting him to be brusque, but his hands are—not gentle, exactly, but not callous, either.#The “freshly prepared seasonal soup” promised by the menu was, our brusque server said, chicken tortilla.#DeWerth – a stubbly, brusque guy, now in his late forties — and the creature stared at each other for a moment.#But if this brusque treatment bothered anyone, it did not show.# |
If you ask a salesperson for help finding something and all you get in response is a brusque "Everything's out on the shelves," you'll probably take your business elsewhere. A brusque manner of speaking is unfriendly, rude, and very brief. |
Brush and brusque are not related, but they sound similar––when someone is brusque, you often feel that they are trying to give you the "brush off." Near synonyms for brusque are curt, short, and gruff. Brusque (pronounced "brusk") was borrowed from the French word meaning "lively, fierce," from Italian brusco "coarse, rough." |
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| 1073 |
subordinate |
lower in rank or importance |
Executive service appointees, on the other hand, are agency heads who are subordinate to the mayor and serve at her pleasure. |
desolate#superior#urgent#tame# |
When is firing a subordinate to thwart an investigation obstruction of justice?#As the chokehold subordinates black men, it improves the status of white people.#And you accept the fact that even though you’re the boss, some of your subordinates are probably better at certain things than you are.#This quote illustrates a desire to address oft-cited white economic anxiety by subordinating issues of race and religion.# |
Subordinate means putting one thing below another––a subordinate is someone who works for someone else, and to subordinate means to place or rank one thing below another. "We subordinate our desire for popcorn to our desire to keep watching the movie." |
The ordinate part of subordinate refers to an ordering of things, and sub- means "lower." "In the army, a private is subordinate to an officer, whether that officer is his direct commander or not." When it's a noun or adjective, the word is pronounced "suh-BOR-duh-nit," and when it's a verb, "suh-BOR-duh-nate." |
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| 1074 |
apprehensive |
in fear or dread of possible evil or harm |
He didn’t know what to expect from the job and felt a bit apprehensive. |
invaluable#abject#subsidiary#uneasy# |
The deep-pocketed conservative donors, meanwhile, were rightfully apprehensive about how Trump would conduct himself as President.#“I was apprehensive about camping with a toddler, but they guided us through the entire experience,” McKoy said.#Martinez, too, was apprehensive about playing Santa, particularly about what children would ask and how he would answer.#She felt both apprehensive and hopeful about the future.# |
If you're apprehensive, you're anxious or fearful. If you just got run over by a crazy bicyclist, you might be a bit apprehensive crossing the street. |
Apprehensive is from a Latin word meaning "to seize," and it originally meant "quick to seize impressions or ideas, perceptive, intelligent." Now it means "anticipating something bad, fearful of what may happen." Synonyms are afraid, which suggest a more immediate fear, and fearful, which suggests a more general temperament ("a fearful child"). You can be apprehensive about a situation while being an optimistic and courageous person in general. |
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| 1075 |
proscribe |
command against |
The alleged offences include murder, directing terrorism, membership of a proscribed organisation and robbery. |
amplify#unpack#forbid#salvage# |
When we travel outside our proscribed boundaries, who’s a tourist and who’s a local?#The YPG is not a proscribed terrorist group in the UK and is supported in its fight against Isis by the US military.#All of them were proscribed by the government after they emerged.#Last year, Britain banned National Action, the first right-wing organization to be proscribed under the nation’s Terrorism Act 2000.# |
To proscribe something is to forbid or prohibit it, as a school principal might proscribe the use of cell phones in class. |
Proscribe sounds similar to the word prescribe, but be careful: these words are essentially opposite in meaning. While proscribe means forbid, prescribe is used when a doctor recommends a medicine or remedy. Of course, if you want an excuse for not following your doctor’s orders, you could say you were confused about the meaning of these two words — but that would be lying, which is proscribed by most people’s value systems. And it would also be bad for your health. |
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| 1076 |
meticulous |
marked by precise accordance with details |
She is a meticulous thinker who almost never leaps before looking. |
delectable#fastidious#perfidious#indigent# |
The link between comets and meteor showers was only revealed in the 19th century, through the meticulous calculations of the Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli.#The map, created by archaeologist Rodolfo Lanciani, documents the city in meticulous detail from its ancient past through the end of the 19th century.#As well as his writing and activism, he was an engineer, a surveyor, a lecturer and a meticulous naturalist.#“Yashar Ali is a careful and meticulous reporter,” she said in a statement.# |
People who are meticulous can be pretty annoying, what with their extreme attention to detail. But if that person is, say, your surgeon or your accountant, you'll want them to be meticulous. |
The Latin root of meticulous is metus, which means "fear," so it's easy to see how eventually meticulous got its meaning. Someone who's meticulous is afraid of what will happen if they're not careful enough to get every detail right. "Detail oriented" and "perfectionist" are other ways of describing someone who cares deeply about the small things and about getting things exactly right, every time. Concert pianists must be meticulous, because audiences are always listening for wrong notes. |
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| 1077 |
deferential |
showing courteous regard for people's feelings |
Throughout the season, Porzingis has been unfailingly deferential to Anthony — an approach that Anthony clearly appreciates. |
respectful#deniable#fresh#social# |
It follows a contentious battle among environmentalists over the state’s cap-and-trade law to fight climate change, which some thought was too deferential to oil companies.#I explained that in those encounters, the president’s children were unfailingly deferential and polite.#In such cases, you may need to be more deferential, and here’s hoping you saved some vacation time for yourself later.#The justices are likely to be deferential to the administration’s constitutional claims.# |
When a young person shows respect and obedience to an older person, they’re being deferential to the elder’s wisdom and experience. |
To be obedient, courteous, or dutiful are all ways of being deferential. Bowing low to the Queen is a deferential act when visiting Buckingham Palace. On sports teams, rookies are usually deferential to the veterans and star players, while all players should be deferential to the coach. All employees are expected to be at least a little deferential to their bosses. Being deferential shows respect, but also means "I know my place, and it's lower than yours." |
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| 1078 |
comply |
act in accordance with someone's rules, commands, or wishes |
On its website, Niantic says users must comply with age restrictions and applicable laws to play its games. |
helm#hatch#applaud#follow# |
They will pass the costs of complying with these targets on to customers in the form of higher electricity prices.#DreamHost is currently refusing to comply with the request and is due in court later this month.#Many of the outstanding warrants are for failure to appear in court on prior charges or for failure to comply with court sentencing orders.#But prosecutors, in court documents, argued that the request was constitutional and there was no reason for DreamHost not to comply.# |
Comply is to act according to someone's wishes or rules. Although you might like to stay out with your friends, you'll have to comply with your parents' rules and be home by midnight. |
Comply shares a root with the word, complete. In a way, when you comply with a rule or agreement, you are completing it, or completing your part in it. When someone is in compliance with an agreement or a legal ruling, that means that they have done everything they needed to satisfy the ruling. Comply with the rules of grammar or your English teacher will turn your paper red with ink! |
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| 1079 |
deploy |
to distribute systematically or strategically |
If deployed in the field, the new tool could help medical professionals detect infected patients more quickly. |
a teacher#a Siamese cat#an army general#a fisherman# |
The state plans to deploy a trap in the area to try and capture the bear.#Hundreds of U.S special operations forces are deployed in Syria, and in some cases they direct airstrikes.#As the violence waned Saturday, a state police helicopter deployed in a large-scale police response crashed outside the city.#As the violence waned Saturday, a state police helicopter deployed in a large-scale police response to the violence crashed outside the city.# |
To deploy is to move into fighting formation, the way a military commander might deploy troops in preparation for a battle. You'll almost always find the word deploy in a military context. |
The Latin plicāre means "fold." By adding dis- to it, to get displicāre, we get the idea of an "unfolding," or distributing. This is the basis of the word deploy, and it gives us a good mental image of the sending out, or "unfolding," of troops in a military plan. To deploy means more than just dispersing troops, however — there is usually a specific formation in mind, consistent with military strategies. And you can deploy nonmilitary assets, too, like accounting teams before an IRS audit. |
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| 1080 |
inept |
revealing lack of perceptiveness or judgment or finesse |
The defense lawyer was either inept or trying, actively, to throw the case. |
erstwhile#incompetent#piecemeal#indeterminate# |
Not just bad, but inept to a level of historic proportions.#All of those things only suggest the Alabama State Board of Education is inept.#Yet government research into prion diseases—which include chronic wasting disease found in deer and elk — is extremely inept.#“I am really starting to think you are inept,” Shkreli told the lawyer in one email.# |
A clumsy, incompetent person — or an ineffective action — is inept. When you're inept, you don't know what you're doing or just can't get it done. |
Someone inept is bumbling, clueless, and ineffective. Inept people are dumb or clueless; they don't understand things. More than that, inept people are bad at what they do. An inept lawyer always loses cases. An inept figure skater wipes out on the ice. An inept postal worker loses mail and puts it in the wrong box. An inept person is downright bad at something. The opposite of inept is competent. |
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| 1081 |
treacherous |
dangerously unstable and unpredictable |
During the most treacherous part of Juno’s journey to Jupiter, orbit insertion, the camera and all of the craft’s instruments were turned off. |
damaged#relaxed#arbitrary#unsafe# |
Susan Bennett, 61, died July 22 in a fall while rappelling from Forbidden Peak, one of the region’s most treacherous rock faces.#But the crisp beauty conceals fallen trees and washed-out trails, hillsides treacherous with mud and debris.#With the greens so treacherous, scrambling for par will be difficult, and three putts from distance will be common.#Jean Smart and Stephen Root playing Gary’s parents elicited some serious appreciation, particularly Root’s treacherous turn.# |
Treacherous means either not trusted or dangerous. A treacherous road might be icy or otherwise likely to cause a car accident. A treacherous friend will betray you. |
Treachery refers to harmful acts you might do to someone who trusts you. It can also refer to being disloyal to your native country, but the word treason is more common in this sense. Treachery is from Middle English trecherie, from Old French, from trichier "to trick or cheat." The English word trick is from trikier, a slightly different spelling that was used in some dialects of Old French. |
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| 1082 |
irate |
feeling or showing extreme anger |
Irate students circulated petitions, wrote editorials and posted social-media tirades. |
someone who has just gotten lost#someone who has just won the lottery#someone who has just dropped a nickel#someone who has just been punched in the face# |
And some irate commuters launched a fundraiser to recall Westside Councilman Mike Bonin.#That station, often to be found conducting phone-ins with irate Arsenal fans from Lagos, is now seen in 185 countries.#The counselor also required eight stitches after officials said Ronnie Moody, 35, became irate.#When The Morning News published stories about James Comey’s congressional testimony this past month, some readers were irate.# |
On the anger scale, first comes annoyed, then vexed, then irate. When cartoon characters are irate, they're so mad that smoke comes out of their ears. |
The first syllable of irate is ir for ire, related to the Greek word oistros which means "thing causing madness." An irate investor might sell all his or her stock in a company. Let's hope you thanked your aunt for the birthday check — otherwise you might get an irate phone call from her. When your mother is irate, you'd best get out of the way, and get busy cleaning your room. |
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| 1083 |
antecedent |
a preceding occurrence or cause or event |
Chomsky has dismissed efforts to teach apes like Koko how to sign as revealing nothing about the antecedents of human language. |
anarchist#artisan#ancestor#admirer# |
Mr. Kimball sees an ancient Greek antecedent for the president’s speech: the funeral oration of Pericles at the onset of the Peloponnesian War.#Though these rappers operate on the fringes of the hip-hop mainstream, they are not without antecedent.#Richard Nixon continues to serve as fertile historical antecedent for our present political moment.#With no reported antecedents, the flu acquired its inaccurate eponym.# |
An antecedent is a thing that comes before something else. You might think rap music has no historical antecedent, but earlier forms of African-American spoken verse go back for centuries. |
In logic, mathematics, and grammar, the word antecedent (from Latin ante-, "before" + cedere, "to yield") has the meaning "the first part of a statement." More generally, it means "something that came before, and perhaps caused, something else." The word is also an adjective: a lawyer or judge might talk about the "antecedent events" leading up to someone committing a crime. |
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| 1084 |
lucidity |
freedom from obscurity of expression; comprehensibility |
But at several moments, he produces lines of epigrammatic clarity that echo the lucidity of his photographs. |
mannerism#clearness#fairness#doubt# |
Either way, she worried that his lucidity would slip further and that Dr. Green would not be able to perform the procedure.#But it was not just Vivaldi who, musically speaking, migrated from the bustling Arcadia of Italy to the spiritual lucidity of the Protestant north.#Muscular drumming and distorted, suspended harmonies offset the almost nonchalant lucidity of Mr. Endsley’s trumpet and Ben Wendel’s tenor saxophone.#In a moment of lucidity he sits upright and exclaims, “I am sorry for my sins!”# |
A good word definition should be characterized by its lucidity, or clarity. In other words, it should be clear and easy to understand — like this one. |
Lucidity comes from the Latin lucidus meaning "light, bright, clear." Certainly when something is light, bright, and clear, it's ripe with the quality of lucidity. An easy-to-read textbook is characterized by lucidity. A person too can possess a quality of lucidity, one that would allow her to express ideas as clearly as possible. |
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| 1085 |
corporeal |
having material or physical form or substance |
Maybe it’s unfair to compare a corporeal creature with a cartoon caricature, but today, that’s what I'm doing. |
functional#material#cognizant#opaque# |
Atop is the transfiguration of Jesus’ corporeal body into light.#Not in the old way, the protracted disintegration that grinds away function, a corporeal mulching, but in the new way, by “saving” one’s life.#One of her primary themes is the nature of being a corporeal creature in the magical world, a fusion of matter and spirit.#Politics is all about presence, and Mr Kohl, a big man, was an expert in corporeal politics.# |
Use the adjective corporeal to describe something that has to do with the body, like when your teacher catches you daydreaming and says you need to bring your mental sharpness, not just your corporeal presence to the classroom. |
Corporeal describes something that has a physical form. It is the opposite of spiritual or emotional. Something that is corporeal exists in the real world. It’s sort of a fancy way of saying bodily or physical. So when you crave double-cheese pizza with sausage and pepperoni, you could blame it on a corporeal need. (It’s a way to make junk-food cravings sound a little bit grand!) |
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| 1086 |
optimistic |
hopeful that the best will happen in the future |
Physicists are optimistic the mystery will be sorted out soon with more data. |
#### |
The Nationals avoided the worst with Harper and are optimistic he’ll return this season.#Helton said the first signs on film left him optimistic, particularly on the interior of the line.#Dye says Stallings told an event organizer that he wanted to reschedule “so he’s optimistic about it.”#The stock market continues to hit record highs, unemployment is at a 16-year low, and businesses are more optimistic than ever before.# |
An optimistic person thinks the best possible thing will happen, and hopes for it even if it's not likely. Someone who's a tad too confident this way is also sometimes called optimistic. |
If you see the glass as half-full when others see it as half-empty; if you look on the bright side of things, you're optimistic. If the chain falls off your rusty old bicycle, a tire goes flat, the frame cracks down the middle, the seat keeps twisting around, and you say, "But look! The little bell still works — I'm sure this bike will be fine," you're being very optimistic, though some might venture to call you "delusional." |
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| 1087 |
pessimistic |
expecting the worst possible outcome |
“But lawyers are trained to always look for the worst-case scenario. They benefit more from being pessimistic, and that takes a toll.” |
caustic#holistic#optimistic#agnostic# |
Not everyone is so pessimistic about Saudi Arabia’s tourism future.#He's lively, cheery and bright in a world full of pessimistic commentators.#"We were quite pessimistic about this year's box office outlook before this movie, expecting even a net decline from last year," he said.#It’s the height of evil,” he said, adding that, despite his own personal spiritual growth, he is often pessimistic about the future of humankind.# |
Pessimistic describes the state of mind of someone who always expects the worst. A pessimistic attitude isn't very hopeful, shows little optimism, and can be a downer for everyone else. |
To be pessimistic means you believe evil outweighs the good and that bad things are more likely to happen. So pessimistic people are usually pretty negative. And kind of a bummer to be around. Think of Eeyore, Winnie the Pooh's perpetually gloomy friend. The word comes to us, not surprisingly, from the Latin pessimus — meaning "worst." |
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| 1088 |
neutral |
having no personal preference |
If I have strong views, I’m probably not going to be a good editor: it’s hard for me to write in a neutral way.” |
imposing#fragmentary#transitory#subjective# |
Forty-seven percent said they favor opening more public charter schools, 23 percent were opposed, and 30 percent felt neutral about it.#I try to read Sana's face as I join them, but her expression is carefully neutral.#She competed in London as a neutral athlete.#The 24-year-old, competing as an authorized neutral athlete, stretched her unbeaten streak to 25 competitions by clearing 2.03 meters to triumph in the London Stadium.# |
Commonly used to describe a person who doesn’t pick sides in disputes, neutral also pegs anything that refuses to be bold: the color beige, bland clothing, people with no preferences on where to eat for dinner. |
Being neutral sounds kind of boring. But neutrality is really important in some cases: Judges, for example, must remain totally neutral when hearing a case. Manners mavens say that it's best to remain neutral when topics like politics and religion come up during a party. And boxers can look to the neutral corners in the ring to escape a punch. |
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| 1089 |
ambivalence |
mixed feelings or emotions |
Their different responses to the unfolding economic drama underscore the strong ambivalence Americans feel about the Greek crisis. |
a close friend's sudden death#a tempting dessert during a diet#a cool drink on a hot day#a roller coaster that contains loops# |
And its large sums of money will remain a subject of discussion, ambivalence and maybe even outright frustration.#But the triumphant rhetoric belies a deep ambivalence about the proposal, largely from progressive lawmakers and environmental advocates.#The minimal commemoration conveys an ambivalence – less to the events of 1967 than to the narratives around them.#Is there any hope for the legislation when the most common feelings are ambivalence or fervent opposition?# |
Someone who shows ambivalence about a person or thing has conflicting feelings. If you love your mom but find her totally embarrassing, you might feel ambivalent about having her give a presentation at your school. |
Originally a psychological term, ambivalence was borrowed from the German word Ambivalenz, coined in 1910 by the Swiss psychologist Eugen Bleuler. The German word was formed from the Latin prefix ambi- "in two ways" plus Latin valentia "vigor, strength." |
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| 1090 |
frank |
characterized by directness in manner or speech |
She suggests that its appeal lies in its frank treatment of topics usually left undiscussed. |
acceptable#previous#direct#obliged# |
Senate Leader John Flanagan is earning more praise for his frank admission about his struggles with alcohol.#He also urged her to study the frank style of Mabel Mercer, who along with Judy Garland, became her most influential vocal role models.#“Sugarcoating doesn’t do anybody any good,” he says of the film’s frank portrayal of Native American struggles.#Most spoke on the condition of anonymity to offer frank appraisals.# |
To be frank is to be honest. Also, it's a hot dog. Eating a frank at the ballpark is, to be frank, an all-American experience. |
If you're open, honest, and candid, you're frank — that can mean refreshing honesty or too much information. Frank also has some lesser known uses. It can also mean to stamp with a postmark, or to pass someone through for free — like how your museum job lets you frank your friends into the planetarium. The most delicious meaning is for what you may know as a dog, frankfurter, hot dog, hotdog, weenie, wiener, or wiener-wurst. |
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| 1091 |
indignant |
angered at something unjust or wrong |
I seethed with envy, indignant that they enjoyed the honest freedom I had denied myself. |
#### |
“We can’t really say he’s ours anymore. He’s become a symbol for all indignant Brazilians.”#And that Zoe believes, despite the teacher’s indignant protestations, suffuses her course on the history of revolutions.#My happiness for him quickly shifted to indignant anger on his behalf as I began to read the comments under the article:#He added that he was "tired and indignant", and raged against "whiners" who demanded his attention.# |
When you're indignant, you're angry about an unfair situation. If you discovered that a teacher gave ten extra points on a test to all students who sat in the front row, you'd be indignant. |
Indignant is from Latin indignus "unworthy," and it refers to anger based on unworthy or unfair behavior rather than merely injury to one's own interests. You may be angry, even furious, if someone shoves you, but you are indignant if the shove is directed at someone weak or helpless. The related noun is indignation, and something that arouses indignation is an indignity. |
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| 1092 |
empathetic |
showing ready comprehension of others' states |
“I can feel your pain without going through it myself,” says the empathetic person. |
understanding#condescending#bathetic#pathetic# |
Here, the female gaze in virtual reality puts the viewer in the shoes of a character, offering an empathetic, sensory exploration of the female experience.#Starring as Jeannette is Brie Larson, an Oscar winner for "Room," whose empathetic performance was the heart of "Short Term 12."#Relating to the campers is a great way to develop a empathetic bedside manner, the second-year Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School attendee said.#She was ejected from the clubhouse, then rescued by an empathetic Padres player, Steve Garvey, who fed her quotes from his teammates.# |
An empathetic person is someone who can share another person's feelings. If you tell an empathetic person that your heart is broken, she might touch her own heart and gaze at you sadly through moist eyes. |
Empathetic is a recent term; it comes from empathy, which was coined by the German philosopher Rudolf Lotze in 1858. Lotze believed that when you look at a work of art, you project your own sensibilities onto it. So if you feel sad when you see a painting of a woman weeping over a dying lover, that's because you can imagine what it's like to lose someone you love. To make the word, Lotze turned to the ancient Greek empatheia, which means "passion." |
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| 1093 |
appreciation |
understanding of the nature or meaning of something |
It takes only one class of art history to learn the basic tools of art interpretation and appreciation. |
duplicate#gratitude#complication#impossibility# |
We want to express our appreciation for their efforts and encourage our fans to continue to support them.#“When, through appreciation, it grew and became a much bigger part of the portfolio, each of the outside directors expressed concerns.”#Guided trail walks and interpretive signs encourage appreciation of the outdoors.#It expands one’s understanding of history and cultivates an appreciation for diverse views and the variety of approaches to any problem.# |
When you have an appreciation for something, you can see and truly understand its good qualities. One way to show your appreciation for a particularly wonderful musical performance is to give a standing ovation when it's over. |
A slightly different kind of appreciation is having good taste or the ability to see aesthetic beauty in something, like members of a wine appreciation group or the teacher of a music appreciation class. There's also the appreciation that means a rise in monetary value—you might refer to the appreciation of the value of a house, for example. |
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| 1094 |
critical |
of a serious examination and judgment of something |
Yet someone who’s tired or distracted will likely be less critical, and will simply accept what you say as true. |
judgmental#talkative#glorious#cooperative# |
Only eight years after they boldly proclaimed the economic crisis to be a critical opportunity, Democrats lost touch with their voters.#At least one person was hospitalized in critical condition.#“The way we approach the movement of goods across our border will be a critical building block for our independent trade policy,” he added.#An injunction obtained by Learndirect against the publication of the critical report was lifted on Monday.# |
The adjective critical has several meanings, among them, "vital," "verging on emergency," "tending to point out errors," and "careful." |
If you're an emergency-room doctor with a patient in critical condition (on the highest alert), it's absolutely critical (vital or essential) that you be critical (careful and judicious) in your approach to their care, so that at the critical (decisive) moment, you can save their life. You must also be critical (that is, you must point out all the errors and flaws) of the jobs your colleagues are doing. |
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| 1095 |
scornful |
expressing extreme contempt |
A deep, scornful hatred, like black syrup pumping thick through my heart. |
glorious#racist#disrespectful#wondrous# |
Born to a scornful father, he changed his name and affected the mien of a successful man.#The Republican Party is even more scornful of its opposition, and even less willing to concede their legitimacy.#Even if the posts were scornful and acerbic, however, they were protected by the First Amendment.”#As a businessman and private citizen, Mr. Trump was a frequent and scornful critic of climate change science.# |
A scornful remark is full of contempt, disdain, or — as you might imagine — scorn. Your obsessively fashionable friends might be scornful of others who don't wear the latest styles. |
First used in the late 14th century, the adjective scornful originates from the Old French word escarn, meaning "mockery," "derision," or "contempt." You may have witnessed a contestant in a beauty pageant give scornful looks to her leading competitors. A list of scornful reviews from film critics usually precedes a film or actor's nomination for a Razzie, an award that recognizes the best of the worst in film each year. |
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| 1096 |
disdain |
lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike |
But that didn't stop the haters, who seized the new forum to rally their disdain. |
"Do you love me?"#"Do you want to get something to eat?"#"Where are you?"#"Are you still dating that idiot?"# |
She’s clad in a loose black robe that softens the disdain on her masked face.#Woolf bucks the flu, sublimates her class disdain for Joyce, channels Proust, publishes “Jacob’s Room” and commences work on “Mrs. Dalloway.”#Hence, our kids learn about him in schools and popular science books that refute his influence are treated with understandable confusion, concern or disdain.#On Tuesday, North Korea barely held back its disdain for its traditional allies, China and Russia, for acquiescing to American pressure to impose tougher sanctions.# |
If you feel that something isn't worthy of your consideration, you may disdain it (or treat it with disdain). |
In Old French, deignier meant "to treat something as worthy." To disdain something, then, is to treat it with contempt: "Management at [the company] displayed a certain disdain for safety and appeared to regard safety-conscious workers as wimps in the organization." As a verb, disdain carries an air of self-righteousness not associated with similar words like despise, abhor, detest, loathe and scorn. So if you disdain something, you might reject it with a haughty scoff, "Ha!" |
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| 1097 |
provocative |
serving or tending to excite or stimulate |
She’s not afraid to push buttons and be the provocative journalist she should be.” |
descriptive#exciting#redundant#impartial# |
The daily drama is being punctuated and animated by Mr. Trump’s provocative early morning tweets.#“Frankly, I think essentially that suggestion is merely provocative and not a real recommendation,” Bulova said.#How to cover a president’s pronouncements when they are both provocative and maddeningly vague?#Mr. Schumacher has frequently made provocative, sometimes libertarian remarks in the past, and has said in the past he favors Brexit.# |
If something is provocative, it provokes a reaction. A provocative book might get people talking about a controversial idea. A provocative statement, such as "I hate babies," will get another kind of reaction. |
The action, thought, or feeling is often a desired one, called forth on purpose. In fact, provocative is often used to describe actions or ways of dressing that cause sexual feelings. But provocative things can also call forth something unwanted: "She was angered by the provocative remarks." This adjective was borrowed from French provocatif, from Late Latin provocativus "calling forth," from Latin provocare "to call forth, challenge." |
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| 1098 |
hostile |
characterized by enmity or ill will |
There are four months left for the neighbors to patch things up, but for now the mood is hostile. |
healthy#relieved#futile#friendly# |
He urged the North to "stop all provocations and hostile rhetoric".#The American workplace is grueling, stressful and surprisingly hostile.#The statement says the deputy stopped the vehicle and noticed that the driver, Darlane Besand, appeared to be extremely drunk and was acting hostile.#Mr Moon also urged the North to "stop all provocations and hostile rhetoric immediately, instead of worsening the situation any further".# |
If something is hostile, it's unfriendly. If you are zealous about the political causes you believe in, you will be hostile to any suggestion that the other side of the argument is reasonable. |
Hostile comes from the Latin word hostis, for enemy, and you can hear its relation to the word hostage. But you don't have to be from a warring nation to be hostile. You can talk about a hostile nation, a hostile takeover, a hostile remark, or a hostile attitude. Some synonyms are inimical, antagonistic, unfavorable, unfriendly. |
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| 1099 |
amusement |
a feeling of delight at being entertained |
The most exciting aspect of this field is that we don’t know which robotic sport will ultimately drive the most attention and amusement. |
entertainment#administration#development#representation# |
Property not essential to the amusement park is being sold to pay down park debt.#The sequel's story centers around a group of animals who attempt to save their home from being bulldozed and turned into an amusement park.#The memo produced a combination of amusement and fear among analysts.#The mall’s attractions include an amusement park, an aquarium, an indoor zip line and a mirror maze.# |
Amusement is a feeling of being entertained and happy. Just think about how you feel when you visit an amusement park, and you will get the idea. |
When something amuses you, it makes you laugh, holds your attention, entertains you, or all three. An amusement is an activity that produces that type of feeling. Watching a basketball game and flying a kite are amusements. Also, doing something fun fills you with the emotion of amusement. To amuse is to entertain, and when you add the suffix -ment to the end of the verb, you get the noun or the feeling you gain from being amused. |
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| 1100 |
sympathetic |
expressing compassion or friendly fellow feelings |
Government officials and others have called for compassion and tolerance, and the overwhelming reaction to the migrants has been sympathetic. |
kind#unbelievable#fiery#musical# |
That’s reflected in the opening dedication to Brown and in the sympathetic portrait it draws of the community he represented.#Trump denies that he’s racist or sympathetic to such groups.#To the sympathetic, but delusional, white liberal, Obama was not a normal human being.#There were times when I wasn’t sure whether the movie was sympathetic to her.# |
A sympathetic person is one who's motivated by compassion. You can imagine that most of the people who work for the Red Cross are sympathetic types. |
In literature and film, the sympathetic character is the one who is likable or who evokes feelings of sympathy from the audience. The sympathetic character in a romantic comedy is probably the romantic male lead who keeps getting ignored by the beautiful women. Eventually the sympathetic character will get noticed and the leading lady will fall in love with him, then they will live happily ever after. |
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| 1101 |
affection |
a positive feeling of liking |
Far from disrespect, there is great affection for Petersen in the Boise State football complex and throughout the campus. |
terror#ambition#heart#alarm# |
In the meantime, he will carry on visiting an island which holds a special place in his affections.#The two are entwined in a figurative headlock of dependence and twisted affection.#Rachel Lindsay, a 32-year-old attorney who competed for Nick Viall’s affections on “The Bachelor,” would be the new star of “The Bachelorette.”#"Thanks for your letters, thanks for your phone calls, thanks for your outpouring of affection," McCain said in a brief video obtained by NBC News.# |
Affection is the positive feeling you may have or express for other people or things. Your grandma may show her affection for you by pinching your cheek, and you may show your affection for your dog by rubbing her belly. |
Not everybody is good at showing affection to their loved ones, like old-school dads or tough guys in action movies. If people don't get enough affection, they crave it, and will go to great lengths to get it. You might say that affection is what Luke wanted from Darth Vader all along, in Star Wars. |
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| 1102 |
reverent |
feeling or showing profound respect or veneration |
And while typically you speak in a reverent voice in respect for the dead, tonight, feel free to speak up and ask questions. |
errant#discordant#sacrilegious#repugnant# |
Not only is he reverent on the gridiron, he is at home in the sky.#More specifically, compared to other journalistic fields, tech journalism is more likely to be reverent, even fawning, toward the subjects it is supposed to critique.#In an echo of “Onegin,” she also presented him with a single rose while sliding onto her knees for a long, reverent bow.#Dutifully, the audience sang along, but with a reverent softness.# |
When you have great awe and respect for someone or something, and you show it by respectfully worshiping that person, thing, deity, or musical group, you are being reverent. |
Originally, the word reverent was used only in religious contexts, but now it works when people are just acting like they’re in a religious setting (even if the object of their worship is a sports star or political pundit). People are occasionally reverent in regard to antique cars, supermodels, spelling bee champions and giant TV screens. Reverent is related to the verb revere, which is also about having or showing respect for someone or something. |
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| 1103 |
mocking |
expressing contempt or ridicule |
Others found ways of mocking it, calling it - not so politely - a waste of time. |
peaceful#sensuous#playful#causal# |
Yet, unlike some who undertake literary tours through historical landmarks, Smucker maintains an affectionate attitude toward his subject, not a mocking or ironic one.#The woman’s eyes flicker, and for a moment, I think she’s mocking me.#He later defended his actions, saying he was mocking Nazis and fascists, and criticised CNN's decision to sever ties with him.#In subsequent tweets, he insisted he meant to be “ mocking Nazis and Fascists”.# |
When you talk to or about someone in a mocking tone, you're making fun of them in a nasty, mean way. |
But if you're a comedy writer or political satirist, a mocking attitude is a tool of your trade. If you're writing a skit about the outrageous proposal some politician has just made, you'll write it in a mocking tone, imitating the politician's voice and mannerisms in a way that makes him look as ridiculous as you think he is. Seen any mockingbirds lately? That's the bird that sings almost nonstop, imitating the calls of other birds. |
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| 1104 |
resignation |
the act of giving up, as a claim or office or possession |
They are so overwhelmed by juggling demands that many have moved from frustration and anxiety to resignation and despair, which is worse. |
a recently promoted employee of a company#a politician after a public scandal#a teacher who suspects her student of plagiarism#a recently hired employee of a company# |
Earlier today, I tendered my resignation from the American Manufacturing Council.#The agreement says police officials accepted Masiak’s resignation and agreed to clear his personnel file of evidence that he was accused of harassing fellow officers.#Ten hours later Mr Plank released another statement on Under Armour's Twitter account announcing his resignation from the advisory body.#Mr. Krzanich was the third high-profile resignation from the council Monday and the second to become public in just a few evening hours.# |
Resignation can mean either stepping down from a job or accepting an unpleasant but inevitable situation. You could even feel resignation as you announce your resignation. |
Once you've announced or handed in your formal resignation to a job, organization, or political office, you're finished. You've formally quit or stepped down. If you've left the position due to budget cuts, you'll probably leave with a feeling of resignation — acknowledging that there's absolutely nothing you can do about it. |
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| 1105 |
incredulous |
not disposed or willing to believe; unbelieving |
In the case of Guzmán, many Mexicans are particularly incredulous as this was his second escape from a supposedly high-security prison. |
jagged#trustful#broken#wicked# |
Meanwhile there was incredulous commentary on social media and TV news channels.#In the grey chill of dawn today in a south-eastern port, war correspondents watched with incredulous joy the happening of a miracle.#At times during Thursday’s hearing, Simpson was frustrated and incredulous, reminiscent of his attitude during his murder trial.#The question draws equally incredulous responses from both.# |
If you are incredulous that means you can't or won't believe something. If you tell people about those aliens you met the other night, they'll probably give you an incredulous look. |
Incredulous is the opposite of credulous, which means "believing too easily." Both words come from the Latin word credere, which means "to believe." Incredulous is stronger than skeptical; if you're incredulous of something, you refuse to believe it, but if you're skeptical, you're doubtful but you haven't ruled it out completely. If someone insists that your best friend is actually an underworld spy, you'll probably look at them with incredulous anger. |
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| 1106 |
caustic |
harsh or corrosive in tone |
Saint-Saëns was on speaking terms with practically all of them, even if his prickly temperament and caustic wit tended to discourage close friendships. |
pedantic#acidic#generic#didactic# |
Indeed, his work was so caustic that it caused him to be kidnapped.#“Brigsby” never ventures into the caustic simply for the sake of comedy.#In person, he’s a very funny, sharp, caustic, charismatic guy.#She will be a great voice of compassion and respect. And she will endure and forgive the caustic personal attacks.# |
Use the adjective caustic to describe any chemical that is able to burn living tissue or other substances, or, figuratively, a statement that has a similarly burning effect. Caustic in this sense means harshly critical. |
In the chemical sense, a near synonym is corrosive. In the figurative sense, near synonyms are biting, scathing, and sarcastic. The source of the word caustic is Latin causticus, from Greek kaustikos, from kaiein "to burn." |
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| 1107 |
elegiac |
resembling or characteristic of a lament for the dead |
It’s an elegiac message of farewell—whether to a romantic partner who is leaving or do life itself is subject to the listener’s interpretation. |
convinced#sorrowful#devoted#unapproachable# |
The term, elegiac but short-lived, was “Olympic Hills.”#But there were elegiac notes in the letter, recalling the decades when his airline was pitched as the upstart, punching above its weight.#There's more to this elegiac, nearly wordless drama than that.#More seriously, one got the feeling of a country proud of its vastness and wildness, but quietly elegiac about these qualities rather than boastful.# |
If there's one song on your playlist that always brings tears to your eyes, maybe it's because it has an elegiac quality. Elegiac means "mournful or sad." |
The adjective elegiac is useful when you're talking about music, a movie, a book, or another work of art that has a sorrowful tone. Sometimes elegiac specifically refers to something or someone that's gone: a person who's died, or a time in the past, especially if you feel a sense of longing for it. You can speak in an elegiac way, or sing an elegiac tune. The word comes from the Greek elegos, "poem or song of lament." |
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| 1108 |
vehement |
marked by extreme intensity of emotions or convictions |
Folks tend to be either hardcore cloud “fans” or vehement cloud “detractors”, and often there is not much middle ground between them. |
smoggy#amusing#bashful#violent# |
But the most resounding and vehement response from customers is that this is just a thinly-disguised money grab.#Democratic Senate aide: He was so passionate and so vehement.#Democrats can’t afford to be on the wrong side of that awakening, so nothing but vehement opposition to DeVos is advisable.#He was vehement in demanding the measure’s passage.# |
You can use the adjective vehement to describe an extremely strong, powerful, or intense emotion or force. The teenager argued for a much later curfew in a vehement speech to her parents; her parents responded with an equally vehement “No way!” |
Vehement is from Latin and was originally applied to intense natural phenomena: pain, heat, wind, etc. It is now more commonly used for intense emotions or beliefs. With the adverb form, people can be vehemently in favor of something, but the more common usage is for people to be vehemently opposed to something. Many people, for example, are vehemently opposed to politicians they didn't vote for, other people spoiling the endings of movies or books, or someone else taking the last piece of chocolate. The stress is on the first syllable (VEE-uh-ment). |
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| 1109 |
traditional |
consisting of or derived from a practice of long standing |
Classicists insist the only syrup to use is Fox’s U-bet, chocolate being the most traditional flavor, though vanilla and strawberry are certainly not unheard of. |
a patriotic pledge#a family argument#a rock song#an answering machine message# |
“There’s a lot of uses that are outside the traditional wheelhouse of our officers.”#“Missionaries emphasise the healing aspect of Christianity, trying to put an end to the traditional rituals and charismatic power of shamans.”#The tree apparently fell while a large crowd was gathered as part of a traditional religious festival.#A series of traditional poses followed: Table top.# |
Traditional can describe anything that follows tradition, or a usual way of doing things. Traditional Mexican food includes tortillas and beans. A bag of corn chips with chili and fake cheese sauce, on the other hand, is not traditional. |
A tradition can be personal or national, and the adjective traditional has tons of uses. Traditional football might require a brown pigskin ball or a white soccer ball, depending on where you live. Your traditional national costume could be a sari, while your friend's is a kimono. And that walking taco? It's traditional carnival food for some. |
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| 1110 |
raise |
move upwards |
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flee#prohibit#scoff#elicit# |
She and her eldest daughter Sydney, now 27, plan to paddle 301 miles from Port Jervis to Baltimore, raising donations and awareness along the way.#However a red flag was raised over the transitions of credit card balances into delinquency, which the New York Fed said "ticked up notably."#The deal will also increases wages by 6 percent, an increase over a previously offered 1-percent pay raise.#Together my grandparents raised three sons and ran the butchery until my grandfather died in 1987.# |
If you raise your hand, you put it up in the air. If you raise your daughter, you “bring her up” from childhood to adulthood. And, if you raise the roof, you and a crowd of people cheer wildly for a performer. |
Raise can be used almost any time you bring something up, either literally: “if you raise the lid on that trap door you will see a secret passage,” or figuratively: “please don't raise the topic of my arachnophobia.” The verb raise comes from the Old English word ræran, which means “to rear,” as in, “do you really want to raise your children in that town?” As a noun, a raise can also mean a salary increase. |
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| 1111 |
support |
the act of bearing the weight of or strengthening |
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desire#confirm#object#record# |
They work tirelessly to support the directors’ vision.#I am happy to acknowledge that you state your support for gender diversity and fairness.#“It’s another thing to get the Legislature to adopt a budget that includes very deep and painful cuts, but includes support for Connecticut cities.”#Last week Sharif held a series of rallies across the country, criticizing the court ruling and seeking to whip up popular support.# |
The verb support means to bear weight or load, or otherwise support. If you build a house with blocks, you can safely remove some of them, but if you remove one that is supporting the weight of the blocks above it, the whole structure can collapse. Timber! |
If you agree with or approve of a cause, person, idea, or the like, you support it. If you support a certain charity, you may donate your time or money to the cause. The verb support also means to strengthen with new evidence; to corroborate. When politicians make an argument, they support it by providing "facts and figures." Your job is to figure out whether their evidence has been twisted to support their positions. Good luck. |
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| 1112 |
release |
grant freedom to; free from confinement |
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audition#token#bulletin#session# |
The court said in a news release Tuesday that Cleckley died at his Morgantown home on Monday.#The city released the records to the news organization in April.#Reese Braxton with the Greensboro Police Department said in a news release that officers were called to a vehicle around 4:30 p.m.#A short time later he released a statement calling the proceedings “phony.”# |
To release something or someone is to set it free, like a caged animal or a prisoner. “I shall be released” is a famous refrain from a 1967 Bob Dylan song that has come to symbolize political freedom around the world. |
Release, which is a noun and a verb, has many different meanings. As a noun, it can mean a liberation, an unfastening, or the condition of being made available, like a movie or a CD. “When is the new Spiderman movie being released?” you might ask your best friend. As a verb, it can mean to relieve of suffering or obligation, like a debt. But it can also mean to lay off from a job, or surrender. “Release me from having to watch this terrible movie!” you could end up saying about the 16th Spiderman sequel. And who would blame you? |
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| 1113 |
sound |
mechanical vibrations transmitted by an elastic medium |
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obliged#valid#conceited#morbid# |
So this experience sounded fun in a campy sort of way.#It will still sound for important events including New Year and Remembrance Sunday.#Two South Puget Sound museums are currently hosting exhibits that explore these expressions.#Self-driving forklifts with flashing lights and constant beeping sounds, akin to R2-D2 from “Star Wars,” navigate around corners and through doors.# |
A sound is a noise, something you can hear if you're in the right spot and it's loud enough. A doorbell, a fire alarm, a cat's meow, or your brother's snoring — they’re all sounds. |
Long Island Sound is another kind of sound — it’s a branch of the Atlantic Ocean that runs between Connecticut and Long Island, New York. When you don’t know a word, you might sound out the syllables — say them aloud — to figure out the pronunciation. Sound can also mean "solid or good." Sound advice is good advice. Sound investments are secure. When you have a sound sleep, it's restful and uninterrupted — at least until your alarm sounds. |
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| 1114 |
delivery |
voluntary transfer of something from one party to another |
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pursuit#storm#birth#warmth# |
“Using the tax system to collect money for healthcare delivery is extremely efficient. No profits. No commissions. No advertising.”#However, the same can’t be said for their delivery of the weather information.#Target Corp., looking to improve its digital business amid increased competition from Amazon.com, agreed to acquire a software company that manages local and same-day deliveries.#Target said same-day deliveries will be expanded to other New York stores in the fall and to other major cities next year.# |
When you make a delivery, you bring something somewhere. A delivery can be in the form of something physical, as when you receive a delivery in the mail, or verbal, as in the delivery of a speech or address. |
Delivery once could only mean "the action of handing something to another," but it has a long history of being applied in other ways. The idea of childbirth as being a delivery came about in the 1570's, while the term was applied to a punch in the 1580's, and to throwing a ball in 1702. A verbal delivery is the manner in which a speech is presented. As a comedian, you know the importance of a good delivery — timing the punchline just right. |
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| 1115 |
figure |
the form or shape of a person's body |
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tight-fitting clothing#a survey of her opinions#open-ended exam questions#an essay about family life# |
“Stephen was an inspirational figure in track cycling, particularly in his home state of NSW,” the statement said.#For a visual tour of the historical sites that figure in Mr. Wilson’s work, turn to this book.#Mr. Milbank’s choice to use nationwide figures obscures the degree of the defection of white working-class voters from the Democrats to Mr. Trump.#Which Egyptian official figured that torturing a foreigner was a good idea?# |
Anything with form has a certain shape, or figure, but we most often use the word to suggest a human’s form. That's why all those dolls are called "action figures" — they have the physical shape of people. |
In a broad sense, the noun figure can be used to suggest anything with a physical presence. In technical writings, pictures representing some concept are usually labeled as figures. A physically attractive woman is said to have a nice figure. We also say that a prominent person is a well-known figure. The word also can refer to a number, as in "a dollar figure." As a verb, the word suggests deciphering, as when you figure something out. Go figure. |
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| 1116 |
trace |
an indication that something has been present |
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a singer performing an original song#a student speaking Spanish#an artist making a copy of a drawing#a teacher scolding a class# |
But plenty of traces remain on the West Coast.#In today’s show, we trace the weekend’s events in Charlottesville back to a 2012 question about a Robert E. Lee statue.#Yasue’s body was never returned to his siblings and the flag is now the only trace of their brother back from the battlefield.#The group’s research traced it to the village of 2,300 people in central Japan by analyzing family names.# |
A trace of something is just a hint or suggestion of it, a very small amount left behind — like the sad cookie crumbs at the bottom of an empty cookie jar. |
There are more meanings we can trace to this word trace. As a verb, trace means to follow the course or trail of something, sometimes even chasing or hunting it. It also means to draw or sketch over a picture on translucent "tracing paper." So you could say that Sherlock Holmes traced criminals throughout London, following even the smallest traces of evidence and tracing copies of the villain's notes for his files. |
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| 1117 |
base |
lowest support of a structure |
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forgetful#naughty#noble#merry# |
The Milwaukee District Attorney’s Office is considering charges based on the recommendation of jurors who heard evidence in the case in May.#A Russian politician claimed in 2014 that Sutter never actually paid up, and that Russia should reclaim Fort Ross — as a missile base.#Others appear to believe fishing regulations are based on biased or inaccurate scientific data.#This is based on "anticipated ticket sales" meaning the fewer people that enter, the better the odds of winning.# |
The base of something is usually the foundation, starting point, or main ingredient of something. A soup base is the flavoring or broth you use to get your soup started. |
If you're a soldier, you might live on a base ("place where you're stationed"). When your unit plays softball, you must touch each base before scoring. The bottom of pentagon-shaped home plate is its base ("bottom"). Yelling at or pushing the empire is considered base ("mean-spirited") behavior. At end of the season, your team might get a trophy, which sits on a base ("pedestal"), or a plaque made of brass, an alloy of zinc, which is base metal (it corrodes easily). |
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| 1118 |
casual |
without or seeming to be without plan or method; offhand |
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worrisome#stifled#superficial#worthless# |
A casual Friday atmosphere pervaded the Borders Insurance office during an interview there earlier this month.#Free-spiritedness, casual luxury, youth, popularity: These are all qualities brands would like to associate with their products.#Then it changed into something bigger — rustic setting with bridesmaids but still a bit casual.#I couldn’t help but overhear a casual job interview happening at the table next to me.# |
"Oh, no, are you kidding me? He's not my boyfriend, we're just in a casual relationship," means that our relationship lacks serious intent or commitment. |
A synonym for casual is "everyday", meaning nothing special, unusual, serious, or eventful. If you're going to your friend's house for a dinner of burgers and beer, they might say, "It's just a casual night at home." Or, "Dress casual, we're just going to be serving ourselves." Don't run out to buy a special outfit, because what you're already wearing is probably just fine. It's what you wear every day, all the time; it's casual. If you treat a person or a subject in a casual way, you're not paying close attention or treating them as special. That's not always a bad thing, by the way. |
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| 1119 |
dull |
so lacking in interest as to cause mental weariness |
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brighten#cleave#overspread#enfold# |
Its impact was also dulled by West’s own stardom, becoming merely another gossipy chapter in their tete-a-tete.#Large corporations often force employees into re-education classes, this one a dull, hourlong, 41-slide seminar supported by study after study.#You enter through a dull concourse; the prevailing aesthetic is Death Star.#There’s a sense of dull dread running through Heidecker and Wareheim’s work, but there’s also relief, an invitation to laugh at the awkward and absurd.# |
To dull something means to take away its edge, its energy, or its excitement. "Watching that movie will dull your senses, until you fall asleep." |
Let’s think of something interesting about dull. Hmm. It can be a verb or an adjective! So when you’re reading a dull or boring word description, for instance, it can dull or deaden your appetite for reading more word descriptions. That’s pretty fascinating, no? You can even use it for physical things, like a knife, which you can dull, that is, make it less sharp. You can even dull something visual, making it lacking in light, or use it describe pain — you know, the kind that is not sharp, just an ache. Exciting? No — dull. |
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| 1120 |
center |
an area that is in the middle of some larger region |
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a finished basement#a convenience store#a restaurant chain#a research hub# |
The judge says in an order that the issue centers on what Salman’s attorneys disclosed about an expert witness.#Two years after helping convince center DeAndre Jordan to stay with the Clippers, Paul changed teams without a second thought.#E-commerce giant Amazon launched three cloud-computing data center sites in Ohio last year.#Later this year they’ll move to the new Market Commons center.# |
Whether you are the center of attention or hanging out at the recreation center, you are in the middle of it all. |
You might think of a circle when you think of a center, but a center is also a building or group of buildings. One five-sided place, the Pentagon in the U.S., is actually a center of government activity. A recreation center is a place where a lot of recreation happens, just as a medical center is where a lot of doctors and nurses give medical treatment. These centers are buildings or complexes where a certain kind of activity takes place, and a word before center often tells you what the activity is. As a verb, you can center your attention on something or center a centerpiece in the middle of a table. |
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| 1121 |
secure |
free from danger or risk |
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earthy#safe#collegial#criminal# |
Ultimately, the Justice Department did not file terrorism charges in his case, but federal prosecutors secured convictions on 33 hate crime charges.#The mayor said the move is not a release but a transfer to a less secure facility.#Grebien said the move is not a release but a transfer to a less secure facility.#He watched in dismay as Japan, a central participant in the Pacific pact, secured some consolation in signing a trade deal with the European Union.# |
Secure means safe, protected. Your money is secure in a bank. Supportive friends and family make you feel secure. |
Secure can also be used as a verb. You secure the sails before you take out the sailboat, which means you tie them down. If you secure someone a ticket to a popular Broadway play, you've found them a hard-to-find seat. On an airplane, you're told that in the event you need an oxygen mask, you should secure yours — get it in place — before helping someone else. Almost all meanings contain the idea of safety: making sure things are right. |
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| 1122 |
settle |
become resolved, fixed, established, or quiet |
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bark#glow#sink#care# |
Mr. Mangold, an Annapolis resident, was born in Las Vegas and settled in the Washington area in 1963.#Eventually, he settled on a BancFirst building in Oklahoma City, the court papers say.#For currently unknown reasons, he settled on a bank in Oklahoma instead.#There are not, as Trump insisted Saturday, “many sides” to questions that were settled long ago: Racism, anti-Semitism, discrimination and white supremacy are unequivocally wrong.# |
To settle means to come to order or rest, much as snow settles on the ground or dust settles on the dining room table. |
Settle has a number of meanings. After moving several times, you'll wish your parents would settle in one place for the rest of your school years. Have you ever heard your house creaking or groaning? That's the house settling. When adults tell children to calm down, they'll often say, "Settle down kids!" And as a legal term, you settle a lawsuit when the accuser and the accused come to an agreement without going to court. |
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| 1123 |
review |
look at again; examine again |
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graduation#inspection#elevation#contradiction# |
He wants a full review to prevent similar occurrences.#A Kushner Companies spokesman said the firm was reviewing the lawsuit.#Environment Minister Mushahidullah Khan, who is in Sharif’s party, said Tuesday that the former prime minister’s lawyers filed three petitions to review the verdict.#He plans to continue writing, contributing occasional freelance articles and book reviews to the paper, and perhaps a memoir.# |
To review means to look back over something for evaluation or memory. "The year in review" is a popular form of news feature near the end of December. |
If your boss wants to give you a review, she wants to look over the history of your job performance. A doctor might review your medical record to help diagnose your sickness. The review of a book or movie often evaluates the work in question based on its strong and weak points, sometimes ending with a recommendation (or a dismissal). Before a big test, you might want to review ("brush up on") your notes. |
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| 1124 |
crash |
break violently or noisily |
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creation#estimate#wreck#contempt# |
Two state troopers involved in crowd control were killed when their helicopter crashed.#But soon after that, the chief detective on the case suggested that Regeni died in a car crash.#The impact hurled people into the air and video of the crash shows the car reversing and hitting more people.#But the other riders catch up, and everyone crashes into another scrum.# |
Boom! Bam! Pow! A crash is when two things collide, or smash, into each other. Crash and smash have similar meanings and sounds. |
You can start to worry when you hear the word crash. Many people die in car and airplane crashes every year. Other crashes are less physical yet just as bad. In a stock-market crash, a lot of people lose a lot of money. You can also use crash as a verb. You'd better not crash your bike into the coffee shop window! If your computer crashes, you will probably lose all the data in it. |
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| 1125 |
discharge |
remove the unbalanced electricity from |
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liberate#convince#enchant#mislead# |
Fire Chief Geoff Low says it appears an error caused the foam to discharge, filling the entire hangar.#The discharge turned the Niagara River near the base of the falls black on a sunny day when the area was crowded with tourists.#Fire Chief Geoff Low says it appears an error caused the foam to discharge, filling the entire hanger.#That designation initiates the need for a permit under the Environmental Protection Agency’s Pollutant Discharge Elimination System.# |
To discharge is to fire a gun or an employee, or to set someone free from a hospital or jail. You'd probably like being discharged from jail, but not from your job, unless you really hate it. |
As a verb, discharge is “to release,” and as a noun, it refers to the act of or setting free. You'd be discharged from the hospital once the discharge from your wound has stopped. Ew. The writer Ambrose Bierce jokingly defined emotion as "a prostrating disease caused by a determination of the heart to the head. It is sometimes accompanied by a copious discharge of hydrated chloride of sodium from the eyes.” Wouldn't want to cry in front of that guy! |
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| 1126 |
pitch |
the high or low quality of a sound |
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taunt#test#tone#title# |
We were dealing with four plus-plus pitches … guys looked pretty silly by the end of the day.”#Politics became more fractionalized as voters who lost faith in standard political pitches sought alternatives.#The twins were fiddling with the pitches of two butternut squashes.#Starting pitching continued to be the primary issue for Seattle.# |
In baseball, the ball is pitched (thrown). Elsewhere, writers, salesmen, and other folks make pitches (proposals). |
There's a long list of pitches, both nouns and verbs. A salesman can give you a sales pitch, when he tells you all the reasons you should buy what he's selling. A high, short golf shot is a pitch. If you are singing the right notes to a song then you are on pitch. A rocking boat is pitching. The only way to know which pitch is meant is to look at the situation and who's using the word. |
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| 1127 |
bound |
confined by bonds |
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conform#spring#delay#request# |
The program is bound to create some friction.#At Vulture, Emily Yoshida wrote, “Every generation gets the ‘Single White Female’ it deserves, and some are bound to age better than others.…#When share price disappoints, foreign investors are bound to demand that Saudi Aramco start treating domestic consumers the same way it treats everyone else.#Wires are bound to get crossed, particularly because there are so many ways to pitch songs.# |
To bound is to jump or hop — usually as you run. Bound can also mean to go or to plan to go, especially to a certain destination, as in being bound for New York or homeward-bound. |
Superman can "leap tall buildings in a single bound," but the word bound is usually about boundaries. When you're playing soccer or football, the ball goes "out of bounds." Someone can also be bound with rope — tied up. Commitments are another kind of tie. When you get married, you're bound to your partner. If you make a promise, you're bound to your word. On a less pleasant note, if you're constipated, you're bound up. |
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| 1128 |
lapse |
drop to a lower level, as in one's morals or standards |
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immerse#complain#ponder#regress# |
Pressed about public concern over medical lapses at the hospital, Nesbitt was firm.#Conservatives successfully pushed to allow Ex-Im’s charter to lapse in 2015, but moderate Republicans and Democrats rallied to revive it.#The report found security lapses, poor training and problematic leadership, and prompted the Pentagon to order an independent investigation that confirmed many of AP’s findings.#Apart from a brief lapse in 2003, when he was jailed for drink-driving, he stayed off the booze and the drugs.# |
A lapse is a temporary slip, failure or break in continuity. Eating a second helping of cake when you're otherwise doing well on your diet is a lapse. Eating the whole cake in one sitting is a serious lapse in judgment. |
First used to imply a “slip of the memory,” the noun lapse evolved in the sixteenth century from the Latin lapsus, meaning “a slipping and falling, falling into error.” The connotation of “a moral slip” developed later, and the verb form came into existence even later than that. Behaving badly one day when you're usually on your best behavior is a lapse; Behaving badly again after a short stint being well-mannered means you're lapsing back into nasty old habits. |
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| 1129 |
scratch |
cut, scrape, or wear away the surface of |
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shorten#scrimp#scrub#shuffle# |
The 1916 Summer Olympics — scheduled for Berlin — were scratched when World War I engulfed Europe.#If scratched, punctured, torn, or otherwise damaged, discard them.#The infielder was scratched from New York’s lineup and left the ballpark in the sixth inning.#The scratches on this new radius, however, are different.# |
I didn’t remember to bring my puppy, Fido, in from the snow until he began to frantically scratch at the door. A scratch is marking or marring a surface with something sharp, such as a nail against metal or fingernails across skin. |
If someone has scratch marks on their skin, you might wonder if they have been in a fight where there was scratching. Scratch can also mean to eliminate something, as in, “You can scratch our idea, the boss is going with the new guy’s plan.” And Scratch, often referred to as Old Scratch, is a longstanding nickname of the Devil. |
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| 1130 |
blast |
a sudden very loud noise |
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evade#monitor#query#criticize# |
But the “danger-close” missions also require approval from Syrian militia commanders since the missile blasts may put their ground troops at risk.#Gardner was on national television over the weekend blasting President Donald Trump for mincing words about racial violence in Virginia.#Some officials said a portion of the wall of the hotel fell from the force of the blasts.#The exchange lit up social media early Monday, with many people lauding Frazier and blasting the president.# |
A blast is an explosion, or a sudden sharp noise. When you blast someone, you either shoot them, or hit them with a verbal explosion––a tirade of criticism. |
Your teacher might blast your class for being rowdy; she’ll go on and on about how you are acting like first graders. On the Fourth of July, you might hear a different kind of blast — first your neighbors' bottle rockets, then the explosion of fireworks sponsored by your town. It's very exciting to watch a rocket launch into space––little kids love to play at the game, chanting, "5...4...3...2...1...blast off! |
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| 1131 |
fresh |
recently made, produced, or harvested |
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memorable#combative#unoriginal#fashionable# |
President Hassan Rouhani’s remarks were a direct response to Trump’s decision to slap fresh sanctions on individuals and businesses connected to Iran’s ballistic missile program.#Appearance: In this case, blond, translucent skin, in need of fresh air.#The metric - an acronym for Fresh, Tired and Even - is a major part of the NBA schedule process.#The CBI’s deputy director, Josh Hardie, welcomed the publication of fresh details of the government’s aims for a new customs deal.# |
Fresh describes things that are new or energetic, like fresh bread from the oven and fresh music from a recording artist. Moldy bread and grandpa's polkas? Not so fresh. |
There are many uses for the adjective fresh, from being flirty to being well-rested. Ripe foods taste fresh compared to freezer-burned varieties, and fresh ideas are exciting and new. Fresh water is without the bitterness of salt water. Modern and different are also synonyms of fresh, while stale and tired are opposites. |
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| 1132 |
transcript |
something that has been transcribed |
Today you will read two documents that were written at the time of the American Revolution and read a transcript of a video that gives further information about one of these documents. |
text#scribe#transverse#transom# |
Here are the video and transcript of Mr. Trump’s speech.#Following is a transcript of his remarks, as prepared by The New York Times.#Transcripts of those calls were leaked this month.#While that call was reported at the time, the Washington Post published a full transcript of the call last week.# |
A transcript is a written record of something. You could read a transcript of a speech or a transcript of all the classes a student has attended at a school (yawn). |
The word script in transcript is a clue that this word means something written. One type of transcript is a record of something spoken, such as a transcript of testimony given in court. Newspapers will often publish transcripts of major speeches by the President. Also, a transcript is a type of record, especially from a school. When applying for jobs, you might need to ask your college to send a transcript: an official record of your classes and grades. |
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| 1133 |
paragraph |
one of several distinct subdivisions of a text |
In paragraph 2, what does the phrase inherent aloneness suggest about Helga? |
a poem#an essay#a song#a stationary store# |
I, like other commenters, will remember the last paragraph for a long, long time—perhaps for eternity.#Here is a brutal paragraph from a leaflet published in 1956 by the Seattle & King County Civil Defense Departments.#The novel may indulge in a few purple paragraphs too many.#Harnick, in the liner notes to Cook’s album “All I Ask of You,” enumerates her manifold gifts in a paragraph too long to include here.# |
A full page of text with no visible breaks is hard to read. That’s why you break your ideas up into groups of sentences, called paragraphs. Each paragraph contains logically connected sentences about one main idea. |
If your teacher asks you to write a paragraph on learning vocabulary words, you will write several sentences that describe how to learn vocabulary. Each sentence will add to the topic and will connect one to the other. The length of a paragraph will vary. Your teacher might require just three or four sentences to accurately describe vocabulary learning. Unless he’s a fan of James Joyce. Then your paragraph might need to extend for pages and pages. |
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| 1134 |
quotation |
a passage or expression that is cited |
Which quotation from the text best shows the narrator moving beyond her inherent aloneness? |
mediation#allegation#citation#prescription# |
Quotations from posts were used only with the writer’s permission.#The Associated Press was more tame but still included a quotation that contained a word represented by the letter F, followed by dashes.#Photos of a battered Nicole Brown Simpson circulated on Twitter with the ironic quotation “conflict free life.”#Theater-themed quotations are on walls and scrawled on the bar.# |
A quotation is the exact words of someone else. When you like what someone said, put their quotation in your writing. |
Quotations are a big part of writing. People use quotations when something is well-said. A quotation from someone famous or smart can help make your own point sound better. When you use a quotation, always remember to put it in quotation marks and give proper credit. Also, don't change any of the words: a quotation should be exactly what the person said or wrote. |
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| 1135 |
analytical |
using or skilled in using reasoning |
As you read these texts, you will gather information and answer questions about each text individually and about the relationship between the texts so you can write an analytical essay. |
a haiku#a picture book#a scholarly article#a love note# |
Smith-Kang teaches her kids to be analytical of the news they consume and the language that’s being used.#An explanation on how to read literature in an analytical way.#Nurmi also brought a new analytical approach to running that is still felt to this day.#Yet that day, when I asked how he perceived the effect of this pernicious disease, his response shifted from astutely analytical to frustratingly forgetful.# |
What do Sherlock Holmes and Albert Einstein have in common? (No, this is not the start of a joke.) They were both analytical — meaning they were good at breaking down problems into smaller parts to find solutions. |
The adjective, analytical, and the related verb analyze can both be traced back to the Greek verb, analyein — "to break up, to loosen." If you are analytical, you are good at taking a problem or task and breaking it down into smaller elements in order to solve the problem or complete the task. The opposite type of problem-solving is called the intuitive approach in which a person senses the correct action to take without proof or reasoning. Analytic can be substituted for analytical in this sense. |
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| 1136 |
highlight |
move into the foreground to make more visible or prominent |
It highlights the reasons Helga is eager to begin a new life in Denmark. |
stress#relieve#halt#minimize# |
The documentary also highlights the financial relationships between food industry companies and national public health groups.#A recent federal report highlighted the state’s downward trend in doctors prescribing opioid-based prescription painkillers for the most part.#VisualDx, for that matter, highlights its “visual” aspect—it includes diagrams of what body parts may be affected and pictures of maladies for easier comparison.#But it also highlights the difficulties of threatening China with economic moves.# |
If you missed the big game, don't worry — you can still catch the highlights on the news. A highlight is the most important or memorable part of something. |
If you don’t have time to listen to your friend’s long, involved story, you might say, "Just give me the highlights." Highlight can also mean "a lightness or a bright area." If someone puts highlights in their hair, they are adding bright streaks to their hair. When used as a verb, highlight means "to emphasize." You may want to highlight the best grades on a report card while downplaying the lesser ones. |
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| 1137 |
essay |
an analytic or interpretive literary composition |
As you read these texts, you will gather information and answer questions about each text individually and about the relationship between the texts so you can write an analytical essay. |
a notebook and a pen#a book of sheet music#a hammer and nails#a whisk and a dozen eggs# |
A longer version of this essay first appeared in the Summer 2017 issue of the Virginia Quarterly Review.#What a beautiful essay about a great man and great family.#They might as well just read a nonfiction essay on the world.#Mr. Damore addressed his firing in an essay for The Wall Street Journal.# |
A composition that is usually short and has a literary theme is called an essay. You should probably start writing your essay on "To Kill a Mockingbird" sometime before the bus ride to school the day it is due. |
As a noun, an essay is also an attempt, especially a tentative initial one. Your essay to make friends at your new school would probably work better if you actually spoke to other students. As a verb, to essay is to make an attempt. If you essay to run for student council, you might lose to the girl who promises more recess, longer lunches, and less homework. |
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| 1138 |
description |
a statement that represents something in words |
What does this description reveal about the narrator’s state of mind at the time? |
tendency#report#figure#prayer# |
He later updated his description on Twitter as "Officially Endorsed by the President of the United States."#Mr. Chabon’s writing is elegant and vivid, as are his descriptions of Pittsburgh.#Mosqueda and another officer said the vehicle matched the description they’d heard over the radio of a car wanted in a shooting.#Er, that’s not a description of the football, rather what the day of the week is now called.# |
A description puts something in words, like a portrait puts a person in paint. The lawnmower you came home with did not quite fit the description of the dishwasher you went shopping for. |
The root for description is the Latin word descriptio, meaning “to write down.” The “script” in description tells you that a good description makes what it describes come to life, like a script for a movie. Your description of that fudge almond swirl ice cream was so good I could taste it! Unfortunately, I'm allergic to nuts. |
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| 1139 |
source |
a document from which information is obtained |
As you study these sources, pay particular attention to the rhetorical features of each source and the audience to which each one was addressed. |
a ticket-taker at a movie theater#a girl who starts a rumor#an assistant chef at a cafe#a wood stove repairman# |
The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media.#For most U.S. electricity providers, this strategy would mean increasing their investments in noncarbon power sources, regardless of the current administration’s position on climate change.#Canada and Mexico are the largest and third-largest source of imports used by American companies in producing exports.#Plants are also being investigated as a new source for the winter flu jab.# |
The noun source describes an origin, like the source who gave the journalist the information that broke a new story, or the place something originates, like the source of a river, or the Web site that is your source for celebrity gossip. |
The noun source can also refer to information obtained from documents, such as books, letters, newspapers, and journals. For example, when you write a research paper, you read, paraphrase and quote from sources. A source can also be a place where you get things, like a certain store being your source for discount sneakers or something that provides, like oranges, a good source of Vitamin C. |
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| 1140 |
document |
a representation of a person's thinking with symbolic marks |
Today you will read two documents that were written at the time of the American Revolution and read a transcript of a video that gives further information about one of these documents. |
record#suffer#pretend#glance# |
The court disqualified Sharif after documents leaked from a Panama-based law firm showed that his family held previously undisclosed overseas assets.#The judge upheld the document, although he did order Blake to provide annual accounts to the court - a more stringent measure than the usual procedure.#I currently work for Sound and Picture, a group that documents events in areas under Isis control.#The witness then fled the apartment, the charging documents state.# |
A document is a piece of paper that contains official information. Don't you wish you had a document saying that the bank owed you $5 million? |
Document comes from the Latin verb meaning "to teach," so a document instructs you with the information it contains. Legal documents such as contracts contain instructions on how the people signing it will act. Passports, driver’s licenses and birth certificates are all official documents. As a verb, document means "to record in detail," or "offer supporting evidence for." If you call a company to complain about something, make sure to document your phone calls by noting the date you called, who you spoke to and what was said. |
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| 1141 |
text |
the main body of a written work |
As you read these texts, you will gather information and answer questions about each text individually and about the relationship between the texts so you can write an analytical essay. |
baseline#schoolbook#protractor#coverage# |
They say they try to guard against errors by exchanging text messages with spotters on the ground or at a command center.#His Italian friend began trying to contact him — at first with texts, then with frantic calls.#Half an hour later, Mr. Johnson sent his friend at KGB another text, “If you’re still there, I ready to roll.”#The projections also included English translations of the texts.# |
The text, or wording, of a book or article is made up of the original words that the author wrote. |
In English papers, you have to quote from the text, or actual words in the book you're writing about. You might hear people talk about text in contrast to pictures. For example, a book's text and its pictures should get at the same ideas but in different ways. You translate, summarize or paraphrase a text, but there's only one original. |
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| 1142 |
theme |
a unifying idea that is a recurrent element in literary work |
Now that you have read and answered questions about the passages from Quicksand and The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, write an essay in which you identify a theme that is similar in both passages and analyze how each author uses the characters, events, and settings in the passages to develop the theme. |
a stock market report#a grocery list#a classic novel#an instruction manual# |
This summer, Astana hosted the “Future Energy”- themed Expo 2017, aimed at bolstering Kazakhstan’s green-energy initiatives alongside its petroleum riches.#The pace is comically speedy, fit to be set to the Benny Hill theme.#His inaugural address was shot through with Bannon/Miller nationalism and pushed a theme of “American carnage”.#This year’s fair theme is the “Wonderful World of Food.”# |
A theme can be an underlying topic of a discussion or a recurring idea in an artistic work. Anxiety about getting married is a big theme in romantic comedies. |
From ancient Greek thema (via Latin and French) we get this word, whose many related uses all have to do with the idea of "the main subject of something." In music, it can be a recurring melody in a composition, or an entire song throughout a play or film (a theme song). It can also describe the decor of a setting: "The amusement park had a Wild West theme." |
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| 1143 |
relationship |
a state involving dealings between people, parties, or ideas |
As you read these texts, you will gather information and answer questions about each text individually and about the relationship between the texts so you can write an analytical essay. |
procession#connection#misconduct#obstacle# |
They date, but Nanjiani's fear that his parents will disown him for getting serious about a white woman leads him to hide their relationship.#The documentary also highlights the financial relationships between food industry companies and national public health groups.#Beneath the conversations about development and negotiations with investors flows a much bigger undercurrent, involving Micronesia’s relationship with the United States.#Researchers are actively exploring the many facets of this symbiotic relationship.# |
When you're in a relationship, you're emotionally involved or at least connected in some way. If you're related to somebody — your parents, your aunts and uncles, your cousins — you share a family relationship with them. |
You can also use relationship to describe dealings between various groups, as “Members of the European Union have a relationship of economic interconnectedness,” or “A lease helps define your relationship with your landlord.” You'll also see relationship used with interactions that don't directly involve people. In many of these cases, the word relation is better. For example, in the sentence "We are always looking at the relationship between ticket price and sales," it would be better to use relation. |
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| 1144 |
assumption |
a statement that is held to be true |
Based on all three sources, what was a major assumption shared by Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry? |
promotion#denial#premise#salute# |
“It is a wrong assumption, and it plays into China’s own strategy.”#The yen tends to gain in times of crisis on assumptions that Japanese investors will repatriate assets.#“A lot of what we teach in constitutional law classes rests on unspoken assumptions about how people in the government will behave,” Professor Strauss said.#“I would say that in general practice, everybody’s building around the assumption that we won’t be able to rely on long-term contracts.”# |
An assumption is something that you assume to be the case, even without proof. For example, people might make the assumption that you're a nerd if you wear glasses, even though that's not true. Or very nice. |
From the Latin assumptionem, meaning “a taking or receiving,” assumption was recorded circa 1300 as a noun describing “the reception of the Virgin Mary into heaven.” The word later shook its religious roots and developed into the noun we hear more often today, usually when a person takes something for granted or literally takes possession of something. |
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| 1145 |
emphasize |
stress or single out as important |
It emphasizes the extent to which Helga was dissatisfied with life in America. |
eclipse#stress#gird#unveil# |
Shiffman emphasized that the goal of the study was to analyze aggregate attitudes and behaviors, not identify individual instances of law-breaking.#Activist uprisings followed, and filmmakers Sabaah Folayan and Damon Davis capture much of the despair by emphasizing attempts at turning things around.#Mattis himself emphasized diplomatic options during an event Aug. 11 and said that war with North Korea “would be catastrophic.”#His copper-plated armor molds to his muscles, emphasizing the power in his body.# |
To emphasize is to make something important, or stress it, like when you were little and your parents would always emphasize the importance of looking both ways before crossing the street. They told you again and again and again. And again. |
The verb emphasize works when you really want to stress a point or give extra weight to an issue. Emphasize comes from words that mean “significance” and “to present or show.” A player who finally makes the varsity team might emphasize this achievement by always wearing his practice jersey — even off the field, or you might emphasize the importance of being on time by locking the door on latecomers. |
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| 1146 |
relevant |
having a bearing on or connection with the subject at issue |
Use what you have read in the passage to provide specific details relevant to the young man and Akakiy. |
solicitous#flimsy#parochial#unsuitable# |
Google’s domain-management system is available to anyone with a Gmail account, and it’s likely the registration was shifted automatically after the relevant information was entered.#They simply want to be relevant and in the thick of fashion.#However, it also suggests that there are factors beyond bullying that are relevant to suicidal thoughts and behaviors.#The Chinese statement urged the “ relevant sides” — a reference to North Korea and the United States — to “avoid words and actions that exacerbate tensions.”# |
Something is relevant if it's appropriate or connected to the matter at hand. Relevant things are helpful and on point. |
Relevant things are appropriate and make sense at that particular time. In the middle of history class, your teacher loves to get relevant questions: questions that have to do with the material. The teacher won't be thrilled to get a question about math: that's not relevant. You can also say a song or movie is relevant if it's connected to current events or issues people are talking about. When something is relevant, it just fits what is happening. |
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| 1147 |
overall |
involving only main features |
What is Henry’s overall purpose in his speech? |
corporate#relevant#mute#gross# |
The proportion of overall debt that was delinquent, at 4.8 percent, was on par with the previous quarter.#The latest result is a good sign for overall economic growth.#That follows a tepid 1.2 percent expansion in the first quarter, which was dragged down in part because inventories subtracted from overall economic activity.#The strong advance in retail sales in July is a good sign for overall economic growth.# |
The overall meaning of the word overall is that it covers all the parts of something. For example, the individual parts don't matter as much as the overall value. |
The word overall is the sum of its parts. Take the word over, meaning "above," and add it to the word all, meaning "everything" and you get overall, meaning "above everything". But remember, it's an adjective as in the overall impression of the music, the overall effect of the new tax code, the overall direction (as opposed to individual little changes.) Remember that overalls, the clothes you wore as a kid, went "over all" your other clothes. |
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| 1148 |
setting |
the context and environment in which something is situated |
Now that you have read and answered questions about the passages from Quicksand and The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, write an essay in which you identify a theme that is similar in both passages and analyze how each author uses the characters, events, and settings in the passages to develop the theme. |
scene#possession#extremity#boundary# |
Meanwhile, his family keeps setting him up with women, in hopes of brokering an arranged marriage.#But these scientists are forbidden from setting up academies.#But setting up additional barriers and taxes on imports to reduce the trade deficit should not be the focus of our trade policy.#Simply program in your hearing aid setting preferences for office meetings, noisy restaurants, movie theaters and other entertainment venues.# |
A setting is where something is set, or placed. If you want to propose to your beloved, try to choose a romantic setting. |
To set means to put in place, so a setting is a placement. If you are a jeweler, you will spend a lot of time making silver and gold settings for precious stones. Setting can also mean context. If you tell me that you spent the whole weekend cooing and clucking, before I decide that you’re crazy, you might explain to me that the setting of that clucking was the birth of all the little chicks on your friend’s farm. |
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| 1149 |
information |
a collection of facts from which conclusions may be drawn |
As you read these texts, you will gather information and answer questions about each text individually and about the relationship between the texts so you can write an analytical essay. |
knowledge#purpose#opinion#intention# |
Under the settlement, Uber is also prohibited from “misrepresenting how it monitors internal access to consumer’s personal information.”#The story mode is clever, in that it uses sensor data and other information to discard the worst shots across that time period.#Federal prosecutors helped place him near several of the robberies using "cell site location information" obtained from his wireless carrier.#Some are even capable of automatically pulling information from a patient's current electronic records, thereby reducing the need for doctors to reenter the same information.# |
If you're unsure of whether to buy the car, you may ask for more information about it. Information is knowledge you gain from studying, investigating, or experiencing something. |
If your brother unfairly accuses you of finishing the ice cream that was in the freezer, you might respond by saying, "For your information, it was already gone when I got home!" You are conveying information to your brother, but in an annoyed and sarcastic way. Sarcastic or not, information is related to the word inform, whose Latin roots, in and form, basically mean what they sound like: "form into." When you gain information, you are forming an idea. |
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| 1150 |
similar |
having the same or nearly the same characteristics |
What is similar about the journeys taken by the main character from Quicksand and the main character from The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man? |
broad#alike#complete#considerable# |
He wants a full review to prevent similar occurrences.#Nanjiani does recognize that his movie is a stand-in for other, similar cultural experiences, but that it isn’t for everyone.#Posts about environmentalists and their shark conservation efforts tended to reflected similar negative feelings.#As for plans for US approval, Scherwitzl says the process is similar to the one in Europe.# |
Similar things are alike. If you and your best friend both like walking, mystery novels, and chocolate, and you both dislike jogging, science fiction, and Brussels sprouts, the two of you have similar tastes. |
The Latin root for similar is similis, meaning "like." If two movies have similar plots, you might like one better because it has a better script or more interesting actors. If you're tired of being told how similar you are to your long-haired, friendly mother, you could cut your hair. Or start being rude. Remember that similar ends in "lar" even though it might not sound like it. |
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| 1151 |
point of view |
a mental position from which things are perceived |
Write an imagined journal entry from the young man’s point of view as he reflects back on the situation later in life and the effects it has had on his life. |
perspective#manner#resource#legacy# |
Kennedy remembered it with a slightly different point of view.#He taught us all so well how to tell a story and how to lean into your point of view.#A spokeswoman for the Transport Ministry said: "From our point of view it's not yet necessary to talk about the date of a diesel summit."#Each chapter follows different characters, and Kennedy expertly manipulates point of view to reveal the nodes in her complex, interlocking plotlines.# |
Your feelings about the way a presidential race comes out will vary depending on your point of view, or your personal feelings, political position, and any other particular details about you that make up the way you look at the election. |
The distinctive way you see things, your individual perspective, can be described as your point of view. The phrase can also describe, literally, the way you see what's in front of you depending on where you are when you look at it. If you're standing on the roof of a tall building looking at a city, your point of view is very different from what it would be if you were standing on the ground. In a fictional story, the point of view means the perspective of the narrator, or the person who's telling the story. |
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| 1152 |
contribute |
provide |
How does this description contribute to the passage as a whole? |
tell apart#make out#chip in#pick out# |
There is another problem contributing to the flooding: the rubbish blocking the drains.#As a presidential candidate, Mr. Trump repeatedly accused the country of not contributing enough to the American military presence.#Amanat expressed regret for not being able to live in Iran and contribute more to its architecture.#He plans to continue writing, contributing occasional freelance articles and book reviews to the paper, and perhaps a memoir.# |
To contribute something is to provide a part of the whole. When your company has their annual softball game and potluck picnic, you will probably be asked to contribute a dish, like your famous macaroni salad. |
Contribute comes from a Latin word that means “to bring together, add, or unite.” When you contribute to a cause, you are adding to what other people have kicked in, which makes the effort complete. You can contribute your singing talent to a traveling a cappella group; you can contribute money or time to save rhinoceroses; you can contribute cupcakes to the gymnastics team bake sale; or you can even contribute ideas on healthcare reform to a Washington think tank. |
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| 1153 |
provide |
give something useful or necessary to |
What suggestion in paragraphs 5 and 6 provides context for understanding the answer to Part A? |
decline#supply#journey#reflect# |
Customers are encouraged to provide feedback and suggestions during the beta period.#"They provided houses, but they did not connect them to the grid - they did not connect them to jobs," Mr Hitchen said.#This game will also provide a good test for the backcourt duo of Paul and James Harden.#Then, the regular camera is used to provide normal color to the image, allowing an accurate 3D image to be created almost instantly.# |
To provide means to give or supply. When you stay in a bed and breakfast, the innkeeper will generally provide you with a meal in the morning as part of the price of the room. |
The verb provide generally means to make available or even to allow. The Constitution, for example, provides for protected freedom of speech. But you've probably also heard people talking about getting a job to provide for their family — in that case, to provide means to make money to pay for food and bills, or in other words, bring home the bacon. |
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| 1154 |
reveal |
make known to the public information previously kept secret |
What does this description reveal about the narrator’s state of mind at the time? |
unify#avenge#suppress#donate# |
In a statement, the antiquities ministry said that "works are under way in order to reveal more secrets".#But you wouldn’t just reveal him in an obvious way.#The saga began on Monday when it was revealed Joyce was a dual national on account of his father being born in Dunedin.#But she said the investigators pressured her and revealed to her that Riggins was in line for promotion to general.# |
When you make something visible or make it public information, you reveal it. For example, if you want to plan a picnic, wait until forecasters reveal the weather that is predicted. |
The verb reveal comes from the Latin word revelare meaning "unveil," like when you take off your hat to reveal your new haircut, or when you reveal information about your past that will shock or amuse your friends. You might also be familiar with the noun form of reveal, makeover show-speak for the moment viewers see the newly renovated room or someone's dramatic new look, as in saving the reveal for the end of the show so people keep watching. |
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| 1155 |
narrative |
consisting of or characterized by the telling of a story |
As you read, you will gather information about the passage and answer questions about it so you can write a narrative story. |
code#emphasis#bond#story# |
But while many sports media narratives are stupid and contrived to fuel ratings and pageviews, talking 19-0 about this Patriots team is not that.#"Their company YouTube is censoring and silencing dissenting voices by creating 'ghettos' for videos questioning the dominant narrative. We will thus be Marching on Google!"#More importantly, his lyrics trade reggaeton's gritty, underground roots for a more universal, romantic narrative.#After his death, Southerners adopted “The Lost Cause” revisionist narrative about the Civil War and placed Lee as its central figure.# |
A narrative is a story that you write or tell to someone, usually in great detail. A narrative can be a work of poetry or prose, or even song, theater, or dance. |
Often a narrative is meant to include the "whole story." A summary will give a few key details and then the narrative will delve into the details. "I hate to interrupt your narrative," is a polite way of stopping someone in the middle of a story. The origin of this noun is the Latin adjective narrativus, from narrare "to tell," from gnarus "knowing." It is related to our English verb know. |
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| 1156 |
specific |
distinguishing something particular or unique |
Use what you have read in the passage to provide specific details relevant to the young man and Akakiy. |
so-called#calculated#traditional#universal# |
Here are some reasons to be doubtful about evolutionary basis for the specific differences you cite.#Ideally, these organs would be grown from stem cells that match the specific patient for whom they are destined.#In other words, there is a danger that what works in a specific place might fail in other less interesting landscapes.#When Americans are asked about specific trading partners and trade agreements, however, opinions start to become more negative and partisan divides loom, the survey shows.# |
If you describe something as specific, you're signaling that you're being precise. Say you ask your friend to meet you at a specific time and place — it means you want to meet her at, say, Ray's Pizza at 3:00 PM, not just anywhere. |
Specific also means "detailed and exact." That's the sense of the word that comes into play when a teacher advises you to be as specific as possible. Indeed, specific writing paints a picture. Say your friend Angela lives on a soybean farm in Iowa and takes Claritin for her pollen allergy. That might not be the most interesting fact in the world, but it's a lot more interesting than saying you have a friend who lives in the Midwest and takes medicine for a problem. If the sentence about Angela's pollen allergy is interesting at all, it's because of the specifics. |
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| 1157 |
illustrate |
clarify by giving an example of |
Which quotation from the “Declaration of Independence” best illustrates this view of “the Founders’ thinking”? |
complicate#accelerate#exterminate#demonstrate# |
Nevertheless, the news illustrates beautifully one of the oldest lessons in science.#The result would illustrate the real-world stakes of the Trump administration’s pursuit of dismantling regulations across government.#The contrast between the teams is illustrated by the fact that City spent more this summer on full-backs than Brighton spent on their stadium.#To illustrate LTERN’s value, scientists rattle off a number of major findings.# |
To illustrate is to make something more clear or visible. Children's books are illustrated with pictures. An example can illustrate an abstract idea. |
The word illustrate comes from the Latin illustrare 'to light up or enlighten.' Pictures in a book enlighten the reader, and a good example can enlighten someone on a complex topic. Another use: The government's actions illustrate how out of touch it is with the people. The history of this word illustrates how language changes over time, and how knowing the original meaning can help you understand the word in a deeper way. |
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| 1158 |
meaning |
the message that is intended or expressed or signified |
What is the meaning of the word morbid as it is used in paragraph 1? |
significance#prevalence#security#calumny# |
This is based on "anticipated ticket sales" meaning the fewer people that enter, the better the odds of winning.#Inflation also continues to outstrip wage increases, meaning living standards continue to fall.#Indeed, the use of the word “hack,” signifying a clever or innovative use of something, is derived from this original meaning.#Mastne said the film looks at human trafficking on the surface, but its deeper meaning lies in the redemption of the characters.# |
Meaning is what a word, action, or concept is all about — its purpose, significance, or definition. If you want to learn the meaning of the word meaning, you just need to look it up in the dictionary. |
Meaning represents something's intent or purpose. That something can be a book, a conversation, a television show, or life itself (as in, "the meaning of life"). When you read a poem, you try to figure out the author's intended meaning by interpreting the words he has chosen. For example, if a poet describes love as "a prison," you might interpret the meaning as his feeling confined by his love. |
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| 1159 |
identify |
give the name or characteristics of |
Now that you have read and answered questions about the passages from Quicksand and The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, write an essay in which you identify a theme that is similar in both passages and analyze how each author uses the characters, events, and settings in the passages to develop the theme. |
recognize#establish#challenge#discipline# |
State investigators determined the infestation was caused by neglect, but no caregivers were disciplined because officials say they couldn’t identify the staffers at fault.#The simulations were created in-house and the training modules will test students in identifying pedestrians, parked cars, and oncoming traffic.#Shiffman emphasized that the goal of the study was to analyze aggregate attitudes and behaviors, not identify individual instances of law-breaking.#A Twitter handle identified as "@MikeHolden42" tweeted to Trump "He's a fascist, so not unusual."# |
You might identify a Ming dynasty vase, a suspect in a bank robbery, or an ivory-billed woodpecker. Whatever it is, when you recognize the identity of someone or something, you identify it. |
The word identify is easy to . . . well . . . identify when you notice how much it looks like the word identity (a noun, meaning who or what something is). Only one consonant separates the two words in spelling ("f" v. "t"), and they are close relatives in meaning as well. You can easily remember the meaning of identify, a verb, when you recognize that it’s just a way to express the act of establishing identity — in other words, saying who or what something is. |
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| 1160 |
explore |
inquire into |
Write an essay in which you explore the perspectives offered in the source documents regarding government’s purpose and its relationship to the people it governs. |
research#ease#review#track# |
Sturbridge Townships, comprised of 11 communities, offers beautiful places to hike, stroll and explore nature, with orchards, maple sugar houses and farms.#Two South Puget Sound museums are currently hosting exhibits that explore these expressions.#His column, “Tech in Real Life,” appears weekly on TIME.com and explores the ways that technology impacts people in their daily lives.#The model explores different electric power investment decisions under a wide range of future emissions limits with different probabilities of being implemented.# |
Explore is a verb that means "to travel in or through." You might explore an island, a European city, or the rooms of an unfamiliar house. |
The Latin root of explore is explorare, meaning "investigate or search out." When you explore a new place, you want to see interesting things and get to know its people. Whenever you delve into something, or investigate it, you explore it. You can even explore an interest, like when you explore African art, or explore an idea or tendency in order to understand it — you can explore your fear of snakes to try to get over it. |
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| 1161 |
basis |
the fundamental assumptions from which something is begun |
Which statement expresses a general principle that serves as a foundational basis for the argument Jefferson sets forth in the “Declaration of Independence”? |
footing#fellowship#allowance#fortune# |
These are the people communicating the directors’ vision to anyone who’s unsure of what’s happening on a day-to-day basis.#Here are some reasons to be doubtful about evolutionary basis for the specific differences you cite.#Nobody likes living under Isis’s control, being forced to follow their laws and exposed to danger on a daily basis.#Brazil said renouncing violence was the “ basis of democratic cohabitation.”# |
Basis is the underlying reason or assumption. The basis of a dictionary is that people are curious to learn the meanings of new words. You are interested, right? |
Basis can also apply to a system or pattern that has been established. For example: Since your job is so exhausting, you need vacations on a regular basis. The basis of democracy is regular free elections. Not surprisingly, as its sense of something from which other things spring, basis comes from the Latin word of the same spelling meaning "foundation." |
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| 1162 |
character |
a property that defines the individual nature of something |
How does the description of Akakiy throughout paragraph 2 add to the development of Akakiy’s character? |
quality#support#object#respect# |
We ended up creating a kind of grille above the characters, so the light would leak through like in jail, but from above.#If you find yourself crying at “Adrian Mole,” it’s partly because the agonies of its title character are as temporary as they are intense.#The school, Moorer said, will be divided into four houses, which will compete for points and rewards based on character.#In Hollywood, Mr. Bologna became a versatile character actor in comedy and drama and working both sides of the law.# |
When Martin Luther King said he looked forward to the day when all Americans would be judged solely "by the content of their character," he was talking about a person's essential qualities. |
"Just because you are a character doesn't mean you have character," a guy called The Wolf advises a young woman named Raquel in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. The line illustrates three different senses of the word, which can mean "moral strength or reputation" (what Raquel lacks), "a person in a work of fiction" (what The Wolf and Raquel literally are), or, by extension, "a colorful personality" (what Raquel has). A fourth usage is "the distinctive nature of a person or thing," a meaning reflected in the word's origins. In Greek, a kharaktēr was a stamping tool, used to give something a distinctive mark. |
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| 1163 |
purpose |
an anticipated outcome that guides your planned actions |
What is Henry’s overall purpose in his speech? |
favorite#aim#code#version# |
“The purpose of strong sanctions and pressure against North Korea is to bring it to the negotiating table, not to raise military tensions,” he said.#White adipose tissue, or white fat, comprises the majority of fat in our bodies; its purpose is to store energy for future use.#Two weeks after the fire, the City of London Corporation bought 68 apartments in a new luxury block for that purpose.#This is a team put together with a purpose and with little expense spared.# |
When you do something with purpose, you do it with determination. When your activities have a purpose, you have an aim or intention in mind. |
This noun also has a third meaning: "function, role, or use." The purpose of a fork, for instance, is to spear and scoop food from your plate, not to poke your little brother at the dinner table. Purpose can also be used as a verb meaning "to reach a decision" or "to intend," though these uses of the word are quite a bit less frequent nowadays. |
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| 1164 |
describe |
give a statement representing something |
In paragraph 1, the narrator describes the ship passing by an iceberg that “glistened like a mammoth diamond.” |
debate#depict#include#countenance# |
During sentencing, the judge described it as an "horrific crime".#You use the words “discriminate” or “discrimination” 17 times, exclusively to describe men as victims.#One of his blog posts, though, describes a challenging shift on Mother’s Day in 2015.#Seth Wispelwey, a co-moderator of the local Sojourners United Church of Christ, struggled to describe the aftermath of the attack.# |
To describe is to report details about something either out loud or in writing. "Since we can't come to Paris with you, please describe it in your letter!" |
Describe is from the Latin word describere which means "to write down." When you describe something, you're "da" scribe, the person writing things down! Writing teachers love to have students describe, using lots of details using the five senses and figurative language. It doesn't have to be written down, though — you can also describe that gold dress you saw to your friend on the phone. Or you can describe a circle, by sketching it out with a stick in the sand. |
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| 1165 |
phrase |
an expression consisting of one or more words |
In paragraph 2, what does the phrase inherent aloneness suggest about Helga? |
express#conceal#retreat#proceed# |
By the way, it's a shame Stephen King didn’t trademark that phrase.#The crowd was chanting phrases such as “We are the revolution” and “No KKK, no fascist USA.”#Then again, the phrase “too young” is getting old.#The prompts are triggered by a variety of phrases and specific words.# |
The verb phrase means to articulate. You should be careful how you phrase your criticism of your boss. Saying he can be demanding is probably okay. Saying he is an ogre is probably not. |
In grammar, a phrase is a group of words that is part of a sentence but can't stand alone. In the sentence, "We should go to your house," "to your house" is a phrase. A phrase can also be an idiomatic saying. If you told a foreign exchange student to "get off the fence" and pick a side in the debate, he might look puzzled at the phrase and say, "But I'm nowhere near a fence!" |
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| 1166 |
aspect |
a distinct feature or element in a problem |
Which aspect of the “Declaration of Independence” provides support for the answer to Part A? |
contentious#gilded#delirious#smitten# |
That’s an important aspect of what the assistant director is.#Such failures matter far beyond our industry, because tech increasingly reaches into every aspect of modern life.#“Missionaries emphasise the healing aspect of Christianity, trying to put an end to the traditional rituals and charismatic power of shamans.”#VisualDx, for that matter, highlights its “visual” aspect—it includes diagrams of what body parts may be affected and pictures of maladies for easier comparison.# |
Aspect means a part or feature of something. If you are going to vote for a candidate, you should first learn about the various aspects of her political agenda. |
At the heart of the word aspect is the Latin specere "look" (think spectacles). Later, the word became connected to the idea of what can be seen from a particular position. Whether that means you can see all of something (all aspects) or only part (one aspect) depends on where you are standing and how hard you are looking. |
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| 1167 |
gather |
assemble or get together |
As you read these texts, you will gather information and answer questions about each text individually and about the relationship between the texts so you can write an analytical essay. |
come out#go forth#come forth#pile up# |
He says his son isn’t welcome at family gatherings until he renounces his “hateful beliefs.”#The tree apparently fell while a large crowd was gathered as part of a traditional religious festival.#He liked to host gatherings of Egyptian academics and politicians, and on weekends he watched soccer games with his American counterpart, Ambassador R. Stephen Beecroft.#Then, he and other political leaders gathered in the Constituent Assembly Hall.# |
Gather is a verb with a many related meanings, most involving drawing together or assembling something. You may gather your socks into the laundry bag, or you may gather your thoughts by making a list. |
Gather often is used to describe bringing people together for some purpose, like the students who gather in the hallway awaiting an announcement. Gather can also refer to an increase or gain, like when you gather speed and go faster on your bike. Gather can describe coming to a conclusion or an understanding. After listening to your brother's comments and watching him pack up his video games, you may gather that he isn't going to be around for dinner. |
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| 1168 |
suggestion |
an idea that is proposed |
What suggestion in paragraphs 5 and 6 provides context for understanding the answer to Part A? |
fairness#goal#meeting#idea# |
Customers are encouraged to provide feedback and suggestions during the beta period.#The “new customs partnership” with the EU was one of two suggestions the government put forward in a paper detailing its thinking on customs before...#“We support everybody’s right to express an opinion but the suggestion of irresponsibility on our part is simply undeserved,” the network said.#If the prompt was “Find Music,” the webview shows your recently played Spotify songs, your playlists, and the suggestion to create a group playlist.# |
A suggestion is an idea someone proposes. You can accept or reject a suggestion. |
When someone gives an order — like in the military — it has to be carried out. On the other hand, a suggestion is an idea that's optional. At a restaurant, a waiter may make a suggestion of a good soup. A friend could make a suggestion of a fun movie. If you're new in town, you might ask for suggestions of good neighborhoods. Suggestions are ideas that can be taken or rejected; it’s up to the person who receives the suggestion. |
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| 1169 |
refer |
make a remark that calls attention to |
The transcript refers to the fact that Jefferson expunged the word “subjects” from an early draft of the “Declaration of Independence.” |
concern#purify#border#lessen# |
Coast Salish refers to a large ethnically and linguistically related subset of that group — tribes living around the Salish Sea.#“We spent most of our courting in Sardi’s,” Mr. Bologna told the New York Daily News, referring to the restaurant in Manhattan’s theater district.#In a third case, a newborn referred to as “Infant A” was not physically screened at the right time after birth.#He was referring to Timothy J. McVeigh, who was executed for the Oklahoma City bombing.# |
If you refer to something, you consult it. To check your spelling, you refer to a dictionary. If you want to know when your spring break starts, you can refer to your class schedule. |
Refer is made up of two very useful Latin roots: re- "back" and ferre "carry," and when one thing refers to another, one meaning “carries back” to the other — there’s some kind of connection. "The term “Spaghetti Western” refers to a kind of Western often filmed in Italy by Italian filmmakers, in Italian." If you have a mysterious rash, your doctor might refer you — send you — to an allergist. |
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| 1170 |
discussion |
an extended communication dealing with a particular topic |
How is the discussion of Dr. Anderson in paragraphs 5 and 6 important to the passage as a whole? |
motivation#conversation#legislation#authorization# |
Ritchie sat down in Salon’s studios recently for a discussion on her research.#Other technology sites are closely managing the discussion of incidents at Charlottesville.#Mr. Trump is no mere bit player in the discussion of political violence.#He said it was nonsensical for America’s top diplomat to be involved in any discussion on military options for North Korea.# |
If you're in an ongoing discussion with someone over, say, the best way to train a dog, that means you talk to each other over a long period of time, about all the aspects of dog training. |
Discussion comes from the Latin for "examination by taking things apart," and when you're having a discussion with someone on a complicated topic, it's like you're taking it apart and trying to understand it. Usually in a discussion, people exchange ideas. If you say, "I adore bananas," and your friend says, "me too," that's hardly a discussion. But if your friend says, "bananas are disgusting," then you can get into a discussion about it. |
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| 1171 |
suggest |
call to mind |
In paragraph 2, what does the phrase inherent aloneness suggest about Helga? |
establish#hint#exist#repeat# |
She suggested that leadership education might help with interpersonal dynamics such as “dealing with a difficult co-worker, or motivating students.”#Handily, the reports seem to suggest a clever circumnavigation.#Egypt's antiquities ministry said the discovery " suggests that the area was a great cemetery for a long span of time".#Some astronomers, at the time and in following centuries, suggested his calculations of the path of totality were inaccurate.# |
To suggest is to propose or hint. If you suggest going out for ice cream, nobody's going to object. If you suggest that your sister should get the frozen yogurt instead, she might think you are suggesting something about her weight. |
The verb suggest is also used when people speak about scientific research. Experimental results are often used to suggest whether a theory might be correct. For example, if a patient takes a new drug and starts feeling better, that will suggest the drug is working. Suggest can also mean to drop a hint. If you find a polite way to suggest that the pot roast is inedible, you don't come out and declare it directly. You wouldn't want to hurt Mom's feelings. |
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| 1172 |
throughout |
from first to last |
How does the description of Akakiy throughout paragraph 2 add to the development of Akakiy’s character? |
You will conduct the meeting outside.#You won't get a break from the meeting.#You will meet every so often.#You will start the meeting in the afternoon.# |
They continued to be posted by the National Lottery's account throughout Monday night.#A smoky haze from the blaze that started Sunday hung over much of Athens, while ash drifted throughout the capital.#Clark said deputies tried to calm Scruffs throughout the struggle but he was constantly trying to get away.#He cataloged a history of what he called “racist and insane” behavior throughout Mr. Trump’s political career.# |
Use the adverb throughout for things that keep going from beginning to end. If you mention your perfect grades several times throughout a conversation, your interviewer will know you're smart, but might also think you're kind of obnoxious. |
Throughout means "from start to finish," although it doesn't have to mean constantly from start to finish. Your brother might complain that you had to stop and pee throughout the entire road trip, but he doesn't mean you were literally doing it the whole time, just like every two hours. In academic writing, throughout, or sometimes passim ("throughout" in Latin) is a way of saying that an idea shows up all over a book, not just on a certain page. |
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| 1173 |
development |
a process in which something passes to a different stage |
How does the description of Akakiy throughout paragraph 2 add to the development of Akakiy’s character? |
#### |
“But I remind myself that it’s all about development. And there’s no rush. I’m just trying to keep tennis fun.”#A private firm, the British Newfoundland Development Corporation, built it on time and on budget and sold it in 1974 to the province’s government.#The program is a partnership between the Indiana Department of Education and the state’s Department of Workforce Development.#Iran denies its missile development breaches the resolution, saying its missiles are not designed to carry nuclear weapons.# |
Development is the act of improving by expanding, enlarging, or refining. The merging of two university departments might lead to the development of a new curriculum. |
There are many other definitions for this noun, too. Real estate development is the conversion of land or property to a specific use, like housing or retail space. To grow up, we pass through many stages of development, from infancy to old age. Breaking news is often followed by developments, that is, recent events or information that's relevant to the story. |
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| 1174 |
responsible |
being the agent or cause |
According to the passage, what is responsible for the narrator’s morbid state of mind? |
sensational#successful#accountable#defensible# |
Salman is charged with obstruction and aiding her husband, who is responsible for the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history.#Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says the group is “clearly responsible for genocide” against Christians, Yazidis and Shiite Muslims in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere.#However, she said those responsible should be punished, as a deterrent.#Durham County Sheriff Mike Andrews issued a statement Tuesday that investigators are using video footage to identify those responsible for toppling the statue.# |
If you're the responsible one, everyone is depending on you to take care of it. And, if things go poorly, it's all your fault. |
Sounds like a drag to be responsible but really it is what we all want out of life. After all, when you're responsible, you get the keys to the car, you make your own decisions, and you get all the credit. Parents love the responsible babysitter who doesn't text with her friends and feed the kids bowls of ice cream. Of course, the boy who is responsible for bringing firecrackers to the football game will not be looked upon with the same level of respect. Responsibility can bring all the glory, but all the blame too. |
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| 1175 |
indicate |
give evidence of |
It implies a yearning for physical wealth and accomplishment, indicating that the narrator has neither. |
a good night's sleep#a bowl of soup#a high fever#a biology textbook# |
Police say evidence found at the scene indicates she died of a heroin overdose.#The President then indicated that those who use drugs are also those in the vanguard of anti-American protest.#This is despite local authority safeguarding returns indicating it was the third most common form of abuse.#The records seem to indicate that he was arrested and held in juvenile detention after the November 2011 call.# |
To indicate means to point something out or to present evidence. If you feel sick during a car trip, you can indicate this to the driver by groaning loudly or announcing "I'm going to be sick!" |
Scientists rely on data from experiments to indicate whether their theories are correct. Indicate can also describe a symptom or signal of something else. For example, a stock market recovery could indicate growing public confidence — or foolishness, depending on which expert you ask. The verb indicate comes from the noun indication, which in turn comes from the Latin word indicare, meaning "something that points out or shows." |
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| 1176 |
effect |
the central meaning or theme of a speech or literary work |
Which quotation has the most similar effect to that of the answer to Part A in how it contributes to the passage? |
existentialism#socialism#sleeper#result# |
"There are many effects with CGI that will enhance the scene but in most cases, these stunts are real."#Was it simply the effects of climate change and geography, or something more avoidable?#Keeping a close eye on A68 and other icebergs in the Weddell Sea is important for understanding the global effects of climate change.#And some of these effects persisted 10 years or more.# |
Effect is the result of an action, as in those “cause and effect” papers you might write in English class. Your topic could be how your late-night tuba playing (cause) has driven your roommate insane (effect). |
Another noun use of effect describes an appearance or impression that’s created on purpose, such as the dramatic effect of the bright red walls in your kitchen, or sound effects from your favorite movie. Effect appears less often as a verb, but when it does, it means “produce.” Usually, it’s a noun. It can even refer to your belongings, like when you get kicked out and your former roomie begs you to get all of your personal effects. |
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| 1177 |
feature |
a prominent attribute or aspect of something |
As you study these sources, pay particular attention to the rhetorical features of each source and the audience to which each one was addressed. |
comment#seize#present#regret# |
His new book features 365 of his favorite messages to Mrs. Clinton.#The user's picture was incorporated into a personalised video, featuring Gary Lineker, automatically tweeted and captioned by Walkers.#These communities feature cultures and aesthetics that differ from their northern neighbors.#If the privacy mode is enabled, however, users will lose access to several features including the ability to:# |
A feature is a part of something that makes it special or able to work better, such as a bonus feature on a DVD or a smartphone feature that provides faster Internet connections. |
The word feature has both a noun and a verb form used to describe a main characteristic, as in a car's safety features or a restaurant menu that features Italian dishes. In addition, feature can refer to a newspaper or magazine article that provides in-depth information, like a feature about the First Lady and her life. You’ve probably also heard it used to describe a main part of the face, such as the eyes, nose, or mouth. |
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| 1178 |
discuss |
to consider or examine in speech or writing |
Which paragraph of the “Declaration of Independence” most directly reflects “the Founders’ thinking” as discussed in the transcript? |
talk over#put away#fool around#knock out# |
She is scheduled to appear with Mr. Shillady at an event discussing the book Sept. 7 in New York City.#One of the things Matt and I discussed at length was the images of Dothraki bursting through flame.#In a rare interview discussing his religion, Amanat, who also designed three Bahá’í administrative buildings in Haifa, called on Iran to rethink its approach.#They’ll face a tribunal or an “intervention circle” or a “harm circle” to discuss the root causes.# |
To discuss is to talk: but with a more serious intent. Discussing is a lot more substantial than chatting. |
When someone says, "I have something I need to discuss with you," most people think "Uh oh." To discuss usually implies a certain amount of serious talking. This can apply to writing as well: essays discuss topics, usually in a careful, thorough way. On the other hand, sometimes discuss means exactly the same thing as talk or converse. Like all words, the meaning depends on how it’s used. |
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| 1179 |
major |
greater in scope or effect |
Based on all three sources, what was a major assumption shared by Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry? |
suspect#vain#distant#insignificant# |
Open Thomas seized his next opportunity to win a first major.#A tradition of “lifetime employment” by major Japanese companies means they try to retrain, not replace, workers.#It's also worth noting that cable bills its customers for access to these major networks, even though they're broadcast over-the-air for free.#“This is such a historic moment,” added Ms. Locke, who retired as an Army air defense artillery major in 1995.# |
Something major is big, big, big! It's major, baby! It's large! Important! Intense! Powerful! Michael Jackson's album "Thriller" was major, eventually becoming the biggest-selling album of all time. |
A victory of 98 to 3 might well be called major. If you're a musician, you're probably also familiar with the difference between a minor scale and a major scale. A major scale sounds happy, while a minor one sounds sad. The discovery of life on another planet? Major. Getting into the college of your choice? Major. For everything else, there's "ordinary." |
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| 1180 |
principle |
a basic generalization that is accepted as true |
Which statement expresses a general principle that serves as a foundational basis for the argument Jefferson sets forth in the “Declaration of Independence”? |
influence#rule#experience#remark# |
The state flagship school is a place of lofty principles, academic excellence and a deeply ingrained honor code.#Some may also describe themselves as anarchists, people who question authority on principle.#District Judge Douglas Woodlock said presumption of innocence “is a cardinal principle of our system of justice.”#But for conservative critics, the entire episode was a betrayal of party principles and a tactical blunder.# |
A principle is a kind of rule, belief, or idea that guides you. You can also say a good, ethical person has a lot of principles. |
In general, a principle is some kind of basic truth that helps you with your life. "Be fair" is a principle that guides (or should guide) most people and businesses. A politician who tries to do the right thing rather than win votes is acting on principle. A person who has principles is a good, decent person. On the other hand, if you say someone has no principles, that means they're dishonest, corrupt, or evil. |
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| 1181 |
oppose |
be against |
Which quotation from paragraph 2 directly opposes the idea of absolute Despotism? |
flesh out#keep up#fight down#open up# |
CEO Travis Kalanick quit the business advisory council in February amid pressure from activists and employees who opposed the administration's immigration policies.#Rival political parties and the Catholic church opposed the law, joining activists and indigenous groups who marched in several cities across the country.#Washington is considering sanctions on Venezuela's oil industry in response to the ruling Socialist Party's crackdown on officials and parties opposed to the government.#Residents angry about health care uncertainty packed the room and called of Gardner to oppose his party’s health care plans.# |
To oppose something is to go against it or fight hard to stop it. A senator might oppose a bill, or a teen might oppose authority. |
Words starting with opp-, like opposite, opponent, and oppose, usually hint that there's a disagreement somewhere. You might oppose a decision if you don't agree with it or if it's the opposite of what you believe or know is right. Sometimes, though, to oppose just means to be on the other team. |
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| 1182 |
contain |
hold or have within |
Paragraph 4 of the transcript contains the claim that the discovery “reveals an important shift in the Founders’ thinking: that the people’s allegiance was to one another.” |
connect#occasion#author#control# |
Warning: This post contains spoilers for Game of Thrones.#The tombs contained a collection of different sarcophagi, or stone coffins, as well as clay fragments.#Firefighting foam containing these compounds was used during training exercises at the base, she said.#The spill reportedly happened when a forklift hit a pallet that contained the material.# |
The verb contain has many shades of meaning but it often describes something that's held back or held in by something. Kids on the last day of school may find it hard to contain their glee when summer officially starts. |
Picture Times Square on New Year's Eve. People can barely contain — or hold back — their excitement at being there. They clutch cups that contain — or hold — hot drinks that help them stay warm. The police set up barriers to contain — or restrain — the crowd to keep everyone under control. The next morning, the heaps of trash on the street will contain — or include — streamers, party hats, and cups. |
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| 1183 |
address |
direct one's efforts towards something, such as a question |
As you study these sources, pay particular attention to the rhetorical features of each source and the audience to which each one was addressed. |
police precinct#legal residence#resort area#urban center# |
Addressing the present skills gap is even more critical because the science workforce is changing.#Many political leaders and CEOs are promoting apprenticeships and other training programs as a way to help address the problem.#In addition to the IP addresses, DreamHost said that the DOJ requested the contact information, email content and photos of "thousands of visitors".#He said Mr. Trump often prefers a “counterintuitive” approach when addressing the news media.# |
When you are a student and you want to address your teacher, it's generally safer to call her Ms. and not address her by her first name, Esmeralda. |
Address is a word that's long been associated with correspondence — the street number, city, state, and postal code that must be on the front of any envelope if it's going to arrive at its destination. In the digital age, an address has also come to mean the location where you might e-mail your friend pictures of your dog dressed up in a birthday hat. If you wanted to tell that friend about your dog's birthday party in person, you might address her directly. Address to describe a way of speaking is usually reserved for more formal occasions, such as when the President addresses the nation. |
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| 1184 |
develop |
progress or evolve through a process of natural growth |
Now that you have read and answered questions about the passages from Quicksand and The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, write an essay in which you identify a theme that is similar in both passages and analyze how each author uses the characters, events, and settings in the passages to develop the theme. |
conclude#deny#grant#acquire# |
The perception from students and employers is that these skills are often poorly developed in a traditional science curriculum.#As the season develops, the storylines narrow, so all of the characters tend to be getting closer, and appearing in more scenes together.#Natural Cycles uses a specially developed algorithm and other factors, including temperature, to determine which days a woman might be fertile.#Moorer said he was glad to inherit a fully developed program.# |
When something develops, it grows. And if you develop something, you create it. Your cold might develop into a rare disease, and you might just develop the vaccine to stop its spread. |
Develop is a verb that means to build up, grow, or improve gradually over time. A developer is someone who develops land into shopping malls, schools, and skyscrapers. The process can take months, but eventually they will transform a pile of dirt into a building. Many years ago, people would develop photographs by dipping them into various chemicals. As the pictures developed, an image would gradually appear. |
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| 1185 |
according |
as reported or stated by |
According to the passage, what is responsible for the narrator’s morbid state of mind? |
use the syrup when you feel like it#use the syrup after the cough is gone#ask a doctor when to use the syrup#use the recommended dosage of syrup# |
Many of those people live in the city's informal settlements, of which there are more than 60, according to Slum Dwellers International.#The chances of winning the Millionaire Maker raffle on a Friday are about one in 2,950,000, according to lottery operator Camelot.#According to his calculations, a total solar eclipse would be visible from Maine’s Penobscot Bay on Oct.#But Strange is currently struggling to even place second in the current polls, according to a report by The New York Times.# |
If someone says, "according to the weather man, it's going to rain," that means that the weather man is the source of the information. |
Like the word accord, according comes from the Old French acorder meaning "reconcile, agree, be in harmony." According and the word to seem to be in harmony, the one always followed by the other. The term according to can be used to attribute something reported — according to the news, the airports are closed (even though according to your friend, they're still open). It also refers to agreement with a plan. If you study according to your advisor's suggestions, you'll do well. |
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| 1186 |
express |
communicate beliefs or opinions |
Which statement expresses a general principle that serves as a foundational basis for the argument Jefferson sets forth in the “Declaration of Independence”? |
a man who goes shopping for new shoes#a child who rides his bicycle to a friend’s house#a contractor who paints the exterior of a house#a woman who writes a letter to the editor# |
"It is difficult to express how heartbreaking it is to see something like this happening in our country," he admitted in his introductory monologue.#They note many posts in which fishermen expressed mistrust of scientists and environmentalists working to protect sharks.#The President nodded in agreement and expressed some surprise.#Amanat expressed regret for not being able to live in Iran and contribute more to its architecture.# |
When something goes fast, it goes express — like a train that skips many stops. You also express your feelings and thoughts. |
When you want something sent quickly, send it by express mail. When you give your opinion, you're expressing yourself. Writing music and poems are also examples of expressing yourself. Mathematical formulas express complex ideas. In genetics, a gene might be expressed by making you bald. |
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| 1187 |
similarity |
the quality of being alike |
Think about the similarities and differences in how the two authors develop the themes in each text. |
athletes competing in a race#students celebrating diversity#politicians debating a policy#siblings sharing facial features# |
His publisher, Abingdon Press, says it believes the similarities between the two prayers were unintentional.#Talking with the guys pre-date and reading their profiles, I did find basic similarities: Both are highly educated, non-religious fitness buffs.#“It’s the usual — heightened emotional intensity, craving for peer approval, novelty seeking, and oh, that frontal cortex. But that’s where similarities end.”#Compared with her radius, “the similarity was quite striking,” she says.# |
You might get annoyed if people keep saying there is a similarity between you and your older sister, particularly if you're tired of being compared to her. A similarity is a sameness or alikeness. |
When you are comparing two things — physical objects, ideas, or experiences — you often look at their similarities and their differences. Difference is the opposite of similarity. Both squares and rectangles have four sides, that is a similarity between them. Just because two things share similarities doesn't mean they are the same. |
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| 1188 |
selection |
an assortment of things from which a choice can be made |
After you have read the selections and answered some questions, you will write an essay analyzing the themes presented in the two texts. |
option#demonstration#jet#bolt# |
But when she got the call confirming Cadet Askew’s selection, she did not hesitate to celebrate.#The selection of Papadopoulos’s emails were read to The Post by a person with access to them.#We’ll use a selection of contributions in our coverage of this story.#Williamson said he’s honored by the selection and will dedicate himself to being a fair and impartial judge.# |
Selection is all about choosing. Think about a salad bar: you can make a selection from among several choices, with croutons always being a popular selection. |
Inside selection is the word select, "to choose." Selection means the act of choosing, the thing chosen, or the offerings to be chosen from among. Selection can also mean a passage excerpted (or selected) from a longer text. Church services often involve reading a day's selection from the Bible. |
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| 1189 |
summary |
a brief statement that presents the main points |
Identify three details from “Short Circuit” that provide the best summary of the conclusions in the experiment. |
complex#concise#debatable#diffuse# |
Much of it reads like a textbook or submission to a specialty publication, with summaries at the end of most chapters.#There are some other activities, but I think this summary is enough to appreciate what the Yale group is doing.#The gondola would “transport visitors and concertgoers between the fairgrounds and Onondaga County’s Lakeview Amphitheater,” according to the budget summary.#For summaries of hunting regulations, read the Small Game, Waterfowl and Big Game guides at www.OutdoorNebraska.gov/guides .# |
A summary gives a short overview, or the main points, of something longer. She talked for days about the 800-page romantic novel, but her boyfriend's summary was "Girl meets boy, boy meets girl, boy rides horse into sunset, girl meets new boy. The end." |
Summary is a noun, and "summery" is an adjective, but they sound alike and both describe something short. A summer feels like a short piece of a long year, and a summary is a short statement about a longer piece. When a long speech or writing needs retelling in a short amount of time, a summary sums up the meaning in much fewer words. Often a book cover has a summary of what's inside, and an introduction has a summary of the main points in a chapter. |
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| 1190 |
conclusion |
a position or opinion reached after consideration |
Which paragraph best summarizes the conclusions of the experiment in “Short Circuit”? |
last#reign#league#plenty# |
First, you ignore many other gender differences, basing your argument only on a few that you think support your conclusion.#The National Academies' 2015 report estimated that 10 percent of patient deaths in the U.S. result from these incorrect conclusions—and the corresponding inappropriate treatment.#But the study also supports the conclusion about the pivotal nature of the Obama-Trump vote.#At the recommendation of the State Department and the White House, the United States passed this conclusion to the Renzi government.# |
A conclusion is the last part of something, its end or result. When you write a paper, you always end by summing up your arguments and drawing a conclusion about what you've been writing about. |
The phrase in conclusion means "finally, to sum up," and is used to introduce some final comments at the end of a speech or piece of writing. The phrase jump to conclusions means "to come to a judgment without enough evidence." A foregone conclusion is an outcome that seems certain. |
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| 1191 |
response |
a statement that is made to reply to a question or request |
Support your response with evidence from each source. |
a conversation#a slice of chocolate cake#a strange dream#an interesting documentary# |
It also would require reporting of any incident with damage to public or private property exceeding $500 and incidents of emergency responses.#He laid into Trump for his vague response as well, in which the president condemned actions on "many sides."#President Hassan Rouhani’s remarks were a direct response to Trump’s decision to slap fresh sanctions on individuals and businesses connected to Iran’s ballistic missile program.#Trump deleted his retweet Tuesday after about five minutes, but not before the message sent to his 35 million followers racked up a big response.# |
A response is a reaction to a question, experience, or some other type of stimulus. If you cry at sad movies, you're having an emotional response to the drama that's taking place on the screen. |
A response can come in many forms, including an answer to a question, an emotional reaction, or a reply. If a teacher asks, "Who invented the phonograph?" She hopes her students will give her the response, "Why, Thomas Edison, of course!" When a parent tells a child not to cross the street when the light is red, he hopes the response will be compliance. |
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| 1192 |
original |
not derived or copied or translated from something else |
Write an original story that describes what Kevin does next to try to change Howie’s mind about paying for Cromwell’s training. |
continuous#ignorant#primary#soothing# |
Only three of the original class still attend.#The former substitute teacher for Community Unit School District 300 posted $10,000 bond on the original July complaint.#Regardless of what the original intentions were, these islands are now undergoing an untethering process, with feelings of unease.#Campers who might be shy or self-conscious at school perform original skits in front of hundreds of people, in costumes they design themselves.# |
When you buy a car from its original owner, you know it's only been owned by one person. Original means "the very first." |
Original comes from the Latin word originem, which means "beginning or birth." Whether you're using it as an adjective to describe something that is literally the very first, or as a noun meaning something that serves as a model for making copies, original means "first." Even when you describe an original idea, meaning "something fresh or unusual," you're talking about the first idea of its kind. |
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| 1193 |
explanation |
a statement that makes something comprehensible |
In an essay, analyze how each source uses explanations, examples, and/or descriptions to help accomplish its purpose. |
credit#entry#security#account# |
They canceled the reception, sending puzzled guests home without explanation.#There was no public explanation for Trump's delayed response, which drew fire from both Democrats and Republicans.#The explanation for Reyes’s precise recall is the very lack of normalcy she alludes to in her childhood.#“I see these detailed explanations where someone very authoritatively writes step-by-step how some video was faked,” he says.# |
An explanation is a statement about how or why something is the way it is. If you're failing math, you'd better come up with a good explanation to give to your parents. |
Explanation is from the same Latin word as explain: explanare, which means make clear. Because explanation and explain are so closely related, people often try to shoehorn an extra i into the spelling of explanation. Don't. You might think that explanation has the odd spelling, but it is really the more regular of the two because there is no i in explanare. |
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| 1194 |
sentence |
a string of words satisfying grammatical rules of a language |
Which sentence explains what the word skeptic in paragraph 3 suggests about Howie? |
She ran to the park.#swam underwater#Jessica, Ali, and Pablo#up the long, winding staircase# |
One year of his prison sentence was suspended and he was credited with 192 days served.#During sentencing, the judge described it as an "horrific crime".#Her sentencing now is tentatively scheduled for Sept. 6.#Court records say 46-year-old Terry Bloch was scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 25 after pleading guilty last week to willful injury.# |
A sentence can be a group of words that communicate a complete thought, or it can be the punishment in a criminal case. Did your pen pal in prison write a sentence or two about the length of his sentence? |
Actually, both meanings of sentence — words and punishment — are linked, coming from the Latin sententia, meaning "thought or judgment," derived from the verb sentire, "to feel or perceive." If you put some words before a period, you should give some thought to your sentence. If you receive a lengthy prison sentence, you will certainly feel it. |
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| 1195 |
accomplish |
achieve with effort |
In an essay, analyze how each source uses explanations, examples, and/or descriptions to help accomplish its purpose. |
section#action#empty#fund# |
What are you able to accomplish alongside your teammates?’#He never let anyone closer than three shots after the opening round, a feat accomplished only one other time in Masters history.#The most accomplished teachers dislike it the most because it discourages innovation and creative teaching.#It’s high time for the industry to employ these accomplished women and for the agencies to do their part in representing them.# |
To accomplish something is to get it done. People usually accomplish things that are sources of pride — like goals or records. But people accomplish immoral acts as well — like scandals or cons. |
The verb accomplish also means to bring about or put into effect. The CEO stood before the employees and outlined all she expected to be accomplished in the next year. She ended her speech by saying, "If we are to accomplish this, we must all work together — and work hard — but the rewards if we succeed will be great both for the company and for those that work here. Thank you for your efforts!" |
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| 1196 |
central |
serving as an essential component |
What is a central idea of The Count of Monte Cristo? |
midmost#solid#visible#available# |
The University of Washington, Central Washington University and University of Oregon are among those receiving grants.#Central Pennsylvania will see a partial eclipse next Monday sometime between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m.#Other efforts include Filson employee volunteers working to restore a fire lookout tower in Washington’s Central Cascades and raising awareness through storytelling initiatives.#Windows Central reports that it looks like Japan will get access to the adapter first later this month, alongside New Zealand and Australia in September.# |
Anything central is in the middle of something — or essential to it. Central things are fundamental and important. |
Think about the center of a circle: it's right in the middle, equidistant from all sides. Similarly, anything central is in the middle of something. The central part of a city is downtown. You can also say something central is an important, crucial part of something. National security is a central responsibility of the President. Communication is a central goal of writing. Central things are essential and key. |
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| 1197 |
include |
have as a part, be made up out of |
Be sure to include specific details from both selections. |
curl up#get the picture#take note#leave out# |
Other provisions include requirements that guides report client injuries that require more than “minor first-aid,” though the draft does not define minor.#The department launched a search and notified law enforcement, including the Oregon State Police.#As part of a plea agreement, prosecutors dismissed other charges including reckless homicide.#Trustees must now decide how and when to distribute the rest of the money, including awards to those who were seriously injured in the attack.# |
The verb include means to consider as a part of something. A list of your favorite things may include chocolate and friends. |
The verb include also means adding something (or someone) to a category or group. Once you try bungee jumping, you might want to include, or add, that to your list of favorite things. You may be forced to include your little sister in your party if your parents insist. |
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| 1198 |
difference |
the quality of being unlike or dissimilar |
Think about the similarities and differences in how the two authors develop the themes in each text. |
discrepancy#disinclination#despondency#deliberation# |
A boat, knowledge of the river or even the ability to recognize the difference between a salmon and a bass.#You’re probably expecting me to start by claiming that there are no differences in the average abilities, aptitudes and interests of men and women.#A big difference: Fewer of us are outside during bad weather.#Outwardly it looks almost identical to poliovirus but - like the difference between a mannequin and person - it is empty on the inside.# |
Difference is a word for things that are not the same. Identical twins have few if any differences in appearance. |
If you dye your hair green, everyone is going to notice a huge difference. People often have differences of opinion. No two people are alike, so there are all kinds of differences between individuals. In math, a difference is the remainder left after subtracting one number from another. Chimps and gorillas are both apes, but there are a lot of differences between them. If something doesn't really change an outcome, you can say, "It makes no difference." |
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| 1199 |
example |
an item of information that is typical of a class or group |
In an essay, analyze how each source uses explanations, examples, and/or descriptions to help accomplish its purpose. |
quarry#mannerism#instance#difference# |
Sometimes, if it’s the right species—a blacktip, for example—it will be slaughtered and eaten.#One elegant example in this exhibit is the untitled print that artist Robert Davidson of British Columbia’s Haida Nation created to announce his daughter’s birth.#For example, the president’s use of Twitter last night shed light on what was on his mind.#A recent article in The Washington Post by Dana Milbank, “There’s No Such Thing as a Trump Democrat,” is the latest example.# |
An example is a particular instance of something that is representative of a group, or an illustration of something that's been generally described. |
Example comes from the Latin word for "specimen." If you want an example of mainstream teen fashion, find a 13-year old in a mall. If you set a good example, then you show your peers how they should behave. But if you’re an unrepentant criminal and you keep getting in trouble, a judge might give you a really long prison sentence, as an example to other unrepentant criminals out there. |
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| 1200 |
prepare |
make ready or suitable or equip in advance |
As you read, you will gather information to prepare for writing an original story. |
thrill#transport#groom#relay# |
The Syrian army and Hezbollah are preparing for a simultaneous attack on the Syrian side of the border.#"This is not the government's preferred outcome," the paper says, "but it is essential that the UK is prepared for all possible outcomes."#A rigorous science education should prepare all students for the workforce, not just those destined for a scientific career.#The training program will also only launch for preparing employees who will drive package-delivery trucks.# |
To prepare means to get ready for something. When you prepare for a test, you'll get a better score than if you don’t. |
Look at all the variations that you find with prepare. If you prepare yourself mentally for an experience, you sent you mind on it happening. If you're going to tell your family that you're moving out, you might want to prepare them by having them sit down. Are you prepared for their reaction? Are you prepared to defend your decision? You can prepare wood to be painted by cleaning and sanding it. And if you prepare dinner, you cook it. |
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| 1201 |
explain |
define |
Which sentence explains what the word skeptic in paragraph 3 suggests about Howie? |
attract#obscure#justify#divide# |
It called on Booking.com to remove the hotel from its directory “and explain the antisemitic cause of the removal on your website”.#The class I attended was part of her studio tour, she explained, and those classes often cater to a studio’s pre-existing clientele.#Aides were dispatched to Sunday talk shows but struggled to explain the president's position.#The children are fidgety and distracted as their teacher explains decimals on the white board.# |
To explain something is to define it, show how it works, or just tell what it is. Explaining helps people understand. |
If you know football really well, then you could probably explain it to a non-fan. Explaining makes things clearer. A lot of teaching is explaining — telling how something works. Also, if you do something wrong, people will ask you to explain your actions. Explaining can help someone "get it" — whatever "it" is. |
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| 1202 |
assume |
take to be the case or to be true |
The Fed’s forecasts assume that a tightening labour market will soon translate into higher inflation. |
cease#challenge#usurp#deposit# |
“We need to stop assuming that gender gaps imply sexism,” you write.#He and the City Council Band performed at a Statehouse send-off for Mike Pence as the former Indiana governor assumed the job of vice president.#San Antonio lawmakers are looking ahead to removing a statue that many people wrongly assumed represented a famed Texas leader who died at the Alamo.#Re: Girls: The mother is assuming the daughter needs extra protection because she’s a girl.# |
Assume isn't only used to mean "accept as truth without checking"; it also means "take on the form of." It might be safer if you don't assume that the vampire standing in front of you isn't merely a person assuming that form. |
Assume always has the sense of taking on something. It may be the belief in the appearance of truth: Your mother probably assumes you do your homework right after school. It may be another form or identity: Superman assumes the identity of a city reporter. Or, it might be a physical space: If you get nervous while driving, your dad might assume control of the car. |
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| 1203 |
conclude |
decide by reasoning |
Still, candy makers have concluded that widespread changes in farming are essential to keeping up with rising long-term global demand. |
whirl#jet#close#contribute# |
That study concluded that for every new robot added to the workforce, between 3 and 5.6 jobs are lost in the surrounding area.#These programs “exist to provide patients with access to a wide variety of medications,” researchers concluded.#Yet another concluded advisers like Stephen K. Bannon must be influencing the president in dark ways.#The Huskies concluded their second week of fall camp Sunday with a closed practice at the Seahawks’ headquarters in Renton.# |
The verb conclude means two related things: coming to a decision, and bringing to a close. |
Conclude is related to the word close, which is related to an old Latin word for "barrier" or "bolt" — the kind you put on a door. When you conclude something, it's as though you're pulling a door shut and bolting it. If your girlfriend concludes an argument by leaving the room and slamming the door, you can conclude that she's angry at you. |
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| 1204 |
alternative |
one of a number of things from which only one can be chosen |
If you can't eliminate them completely, find alternatives that contain less sugar, but be sure to skip any artificial sweeteners. |
a vaccine#herbs#pain relief pills#chemotherapy# |
Politics became more fractionalized as voters who lost faith in standard political pitches sought alternatives.#Mr Lush described it as a "crusade" which "demonised" the legal alternative - the appointment of deputies by the Court of Protection itself.#“It is not a solution to obesity, but it is an opportunity to explore an alternative strategy for curbing the obesity epidemic.”#This will obviously include options for alternative management other than the KCTMO.# |
When you're facing a fork in the road, you have two possibilities, or alternatives. You could take the left fork and see where it leads, or you could choose the path that goes to the right. |
Whenever there is an alternative, it involves a choice. A wealthy student has the choice of going to a public school, or the alternative, a private school. Alternative can also refer to a different way of doing things, outside the norm. You might say that a hermit who lives in remote a cave with a pet turtle is living an alternative lifestyle. |
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| 1205 |
consist |
be composed of |
Eventually, their centaur-style robot will consist of a quadruped locomotion platform and a pair of arms. |
commend#condone#contend#comprise# |
“Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness,” Santayana wrote.#The expensive piece of kit consists of a manual chair and an attachable motor.#Fossil evidence from this part of the primate family tree is scarce, and consists mostly of isolated teeth and broken jaw fragments.#The packaging - developed by Australian winemaker Tom Angove in the 1960s - consists of a plastic bladder encased in a cardboard box.# |
Almost always used with the preposition "of," the verb consist means to be made up of, or composed of something. A heated conversation might consist of only two words: "yes" and "no." |
If you're talking about something that is made up of other things, consist is your word. A molecule consists of atoms and their bonds. Consist is often used in the past tense, so you're likely to hear it used in a sentence like "the game consisted of fourteen players and one stick." But you can use it in the present tense too. Grammar consists of many, many different rules, all of which are applied differently, depending on whether you're speaking or writing. The clubs all consist of singers, and singers only. If you play an instrument, look elsewhere, bud. |
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| 1206 |
definite |
precise; explicit and clearly defined |
They say that can be a lengthy process, and there is no definite timetable for when that part of the investigation might be completed. |
bent#intense#medium#certain# |
“It was a definite grab. A very long grab,” she added.#“That was a definite demarcation line. New airlines started popping up and fare wars started,” she said.#“It was a definite grab. A very long grab.”#“There’s no protocol. There’s no real definite answer. It’s just, ‘Please don’t play this for other people.’# |
Definite is an adjective describing something that is known for certain. For example, there is no more definite way to get into trouble with a police officer than speeding in front of the police station with a broken taillight. |
This word is from the Latin definitus meaning "defined" or "limited." Definite can also be used to mean something is very clearly planned or certainly defined. If you have definite plans for the evening to go to the theater and out for a nice dinner at a steak house, you're probably not going to end up playing miniature golf and eating fast food instead. |
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| 1207 |
distinct |
constituting a separate entity or part |
In evolutionary terms, the totoaba is quite distinct: it is the only species in its genus and the largest fish in the family of Sciaenidae. |
studied#responsible#delighted#cloudy# |
Christian Identity groups, which believe Anglo-Saxons and other people of Northern European descent are a chosen people, are distinct too.#Note that this is distinct from “extinct” — some scientists don’t like to deem a volcano “extinct” until it hasn’t erupted for one million years.#And Pantone, the standard-bearer for new developments in color intelligence, saw fit to honor the music legend by memorializing the distinct shade.#Yet there was still plenty to leave Benítez with a distinct sense of unease.# |
When something is distinct, it is easily identifiable or set apart from others of its kind. An eighth-grader who is six feet tall has a distinct advantage over the other kids on the basketball court. |
A thing can be distinct if it is easy to see, either because it is different in some way from the things around it or if it is more clear and visible, as in: “The license number of the getaway car was more distinct once I cleaned my glasses.” The word distinct comes from “to distinguish,” which is when a person or thing is set apart from the pack: “The research that she did was distinct in its attention to detail.” |
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| 1208 |
expand |
become larger in size or volume or quantity |
That was just three years after the venue was expanded to accommodate the Chargers and attract Super Bowls. |
spread out#tick over#die hard#top out# |
Russian America receded back to Alaska in the face of the expanding United States.#Mr. Drobyshevsky said the market for Russia is expanding beyond its borders to Europe and China.#Children at camp expand their autonomy in unexpected ways.#Target said same-day deliveries will be expanded to other New York stores in the fall and to other major cities next year.# |
The verb expand means to make something bigger or wider. It might refer to something concrete, as when you blow into a balloon and make it expand, or something more abstract, as when you study to expand your mind. |
Expand is a combination of the Latin words ex-, meaning "out," and pandere, "to spread." The idea of spreading out was always there, though the current idea of something actually becoming larger was first recorded in the mid-17th century. Expand is a versatile word that can refer to anything getting bigger, from a nation's growing influence in a neighboring country to a waistline that needs a larger belt. |
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| 1209 |
individual |
being or characteristic of a single thing or person |
The worlds start with training and qualifying on Thursday, followed by the two-day individual competition, and will be concluded by the team event on Sunday. |
instant#fresh#private#content# |
President Hassan Rouhani’s remarks were a direct response to Trump’s decision to slap fresh sanctions on individuals and businesses connected to Iran’s ballistic missile program.#Shiffman emphasized that the goal of the study was to analyze aggregate attitudes and behaviors, not identify individual instances of law-breaking.#The Commander in Chief publicly declared that United States military “will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity.”#The resulting video will eventually seamlessly transfer to your phone, just like the individual photos and videos you shoot.# |
The word individual is all about being a single entity that cannot be divided. It can mean person or even personal. A team is made up of individuals, and each individual has individual strengths and weaknesses. |
Sometimes individual is a way of referring to a person, quasi-formally. You might elevate the phrase "This guy walks into my shop," by saying, "This individual walks into my shop." You might also hear this word when talking about things that are divided: foods designed for lunchboxes, such as potato chips or juice boxes, are often prepackaged into individual servings. |
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| 1210 |
initial |
occurring at the beginning |
After initial setbacks, reforms of the energy sector and education seem to be progressing. |
wealthy#primitive#continuous#first# |
Then, during the initial phases of the eclipse, he noted odd activity in the region below the fort.#“From this selective intervention, additional economic inequality and political polarization may ensue, compounding and amplifying the initial political effects of the crisis,” the researchers wrote.#Exercise helps keep lost pounds off, but exercise alone can’t do the initial job of losing it.#Mr. Trump’s initial response Saturday involved calling for calm and saying “many sides” were fomenting unrest.# |
The first letter of your name is your initial. The first thing you say to someone is your initial greeting. Initial is something that occurs first or at the beginning. |
If someone asks you to initial a form, they're asking you to sign by writing your initials on it. If your name is Inna Instant, you would write I.I., and you'd probably write it really quick! The first draft of a paper might be called your initial pass at getting your ideas down. If you say that these are your initial ideas, it implies that you will be coming up with more. |
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| 1211 |
intense |
possessing a distinctive feature to a heightened degree |
Both Hotez and Vasilakis recommend intense surveillance to stop the disease from spreading within the US, and that a vaccine should be developed. |
gentle#inclined#sole#available# |
“After two days of intense public pressure, today the president was finally willing to say that Nazis are bad,” Seth Meyers of NBC began.#If you find yourself crying at “Adrian Mole,” it’s partly because the agonies of its title character are as temporary as they are intense.#“This is a little bit more intense,” he said.#Wu was one of the first lawyers and activists caught up in an intense crackdown by authorities that began in 2015.# |
Intense means strong or extreme. If you accidentally spill a cup of hot coffee on yourself, you’ll probably feel intense heat, intense pain, and — if anyone happened to be watching — intense embarrassment. |
When using intense, we often refer to a specific feeling or emotion, as in the case of “intense dread” or “intense happiness.” Intense can also be used to describe exciting experiences as well as people with strong or insistent personalities. For example, if your intense friend insists on taking you bungee jumping, you’re guaranteed to have an intense experience. Intense comes from a Latin word meaning “stretched,” implying that something has been stretched to its maximum limit. |
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| 1212 |
method |
a way of doing something, especially a systematic way |
Using an extraction method known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, the companies made the United States the world’s leading producer of oil and natural gas. |
inquiry#temper#flourish#practice# |
The recipe was familiar to me, as it would be to most home bakers: It follows the elemental cream-the-butter-and-sugar-together method.#His honors included the Commerce Department’s Silver Medal for helping develop methods for determining ocean temperatures from space.#But what really earned the Butcher their ire were his unconventional methods.#Mohamed's loyal customers say they prefer her method to the standard one.# |
There's a certain way of doing things. A systematic, logical process for accomplishing a task. And it's called a method. |
There are methods of payment, production methods, and even "method acting." If someone asks if there's a "method to your madness," she wants to make sure there's some kind of plan behind all the crazy stuff you're doing. If you've thought it through and have organized the next steps, go ahead and tell them to buzz off, it's just your method of getting things done. |
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| 1213 |
publish |
put into print |
Transcripts of the conversations were published Wednesday in Mexico City’s Milenio newspaper, and confirmed by Mexican officials as authentic. |
issue#complete#occupy#equal# |
He was arrested for sharing the profile, published by BBC Thai, two days after the new king ascended the throne in December 2016.#Their findings were published August 15 in the journal Fisheries Research.#The story was published by Israeli papers, prompting a harsh reaction from Israeli officials.#This is according to a new report, published by the Brookings Institute, which maps the distribution of these machines in the US.# |
Anyone can write something just for themselves. If you publish your writing, it's available to others. For a writer, to publish is about the best thing there is. |
Like a lot of words, publish is used in a few ways. When a writer publishes six articles, six pieces of his or her writing have been accepted for publication in books or magazines. When a company publishes an article or book, it actually prints it up and sells it to the public. If you write a blog, you can also say that you publish your writing. Or, a teacher can publish a magazine of student writing just for her class. |
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| 1214 |
structure |
a complex entity made of many parts |
During this time we go from a fertilised egg to a structure called a blastocyst, containing 200-300 cells. |
illustration#construction#yield#burden# |
“And it’s a structure not built to work,” Mr. Bronin said.#The virus-like particles prevented polio in animal experiments, and an analysis of their 3D structure showed they looked almost identical to poliovirus.#Archinaut will also feature robotic arms, which will work with the 3D printer to build and assemble structures in the final frontier.#The structure that officially opened today represents phase 1 of the long-term plan.# |
A structure is something of many parts that is put together. A structure can be a skyscraper, an outhouse, your body, or a sentence. |
Structure is from the Latin word structura which means "a fitting together, building." Although it's certainly used to describe buildings, it can do more than that. A family's structure includes the relationship of its members, your body structure can refer to how your muscles and bones fit together. Sentence structure is how a sentence is put together, including subjects, verbs, and all that stuff English teachers love to yap about. Structure is usually a noun, but it can also be a verb meaning to impose order, like if you "structure an argument to convince your parents to let you stay out later." |
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| 1215 |
exaggerate |
enlarge beyond bounds or the truth |
“But you kept saying—” “Yeah, I might have exaggerated a little, just to make the trip sound more interesting, you know?" |
"I apologize for the noise."#"7 plus 8 equals 14."#"I can't forgive you for what you've done."#"It was one million degrees today."# |
He said that calls to close the hotel were “very exaggerated,” Kreutner said.#It seemed she was whining, or at least exaggerating.#“They all want to be so fast and quick, so they get like this,” Jacoby said, adopting an exaggerated stance, his feet far, far apart.#“Look, he wants to remain a senator, doesn’t he?” the president said, drawing an exaggerated laugh from Mr. Heller.# |
When you exaggerate you stretch the truth. Fishermen tend to exaggerate the size of their fish. And children tend to exaggerate the seriousness of their cuts in order to get cute Band-Aids. |
We all have a tendency to exaggerate. It makes our stories funnier, or more dramatic. After all, when you exaggerate, you're not really lying — you're just overstating things. The word exaggerate can also suggest that a particular characteristic is overdone or almost larger than life. If you describe someone as having an exaggerated limp, he or she might be walking like a gorilla. |
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| 1216 |
approximate |
not quite exact or correct |
In this image, red outlines show the approximate locations of active burning, and fields generally appear brown. |
repel#gauge#denounce#confuse# |
According to the agency, the approximate average age of the passengers on the boat was 16.#All of the software used in drones “depends on algorithms,” Chatterjee told me, “it depends on approximate accurate results.”#They also approximate a trade embargo by targeting some of North Korea’s biggest exports, including coal.#Approximate the sound of a guitar or trumpet with your mouth, and it will whip up a riff or brass section using that melody.# |
To approximate is to calculate the value of something based on informed knowledge. A computer program can approximate the value of a house based on square footage, number of rooms, year built, and other relevant factors. |
As a verb, approximate means "to estimate." Unlike the word guess, approximate implies the use of a logical or mathematical method. You might guess how tall a friend is based on the first number that comes to mind, but you could approximate his height by using your own height as a comparison. As an adjective, approximate can mean "near" or "close together." If your friend calls to say he’s at a location approximate to your house, she’s in your neighborhood. |
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| 1217 |
complicate |
make more complex, intricate, or richer |
When a synthetic creature can be loaded with the organic, emotional information of a person, it complicates the issue of what is or isn't human. |
ravage#chafe#inculcate#perplex# |
Inter’s preparations last year were complicated by the departure of coach Roberto Mancini two weeks before the start of the season.#But his role, first assistant director, is much more complicated — especially on this series.#“This is not the old days. This is new and computerized and complicated.”#“If it is too complex, too complicated, then people lose interest,” she said.# |
To complicate things is to make them more complex, confusing, or difficult. So if you've already accepted two party invitations for Saturday night, don't complicate the situation by accepting a third. |
This verb dates back to the 17th century, when it meant “to intertwine” or “to fold together." This intertwining and folding together, however, sometimes don't work out so well. An infection can complicate an injury. A detour for road construction will complicate your usual route. And directions that are written in another language — and without pictures — complicate the assembly of furniture and toys. |
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| 1218 |
modify |
cause to change; make different |
The drought prompted the coffee federation to modify export standards in October as nearly half the country's growing regions are affected by drought. |
achieve#entreat#cage#change# |
The watchdog added that there were "reasonable grounds" for believing these undertakings, or a modified version of them, might be acceptable.#This is the first time that the modified Gulfstream V, which carries sensors and equipment for atmospheric research, will study space.#She says she's modified her behaviour to try to avoid online abuse.#"It would be better if we tried to modify the environment," she said.# |
To modify is to change or transform, but only slightly. If you miss your free-throws half the time, your coach will probably try to improve your shooting average by modifying your technique. |
Modify may mean to alter something, but it's not a total makeover. When you modify or make modifications, you're making subtle changes. These tweaks are usually needed to make improvements or make the thing being modified less extreme. So you can modify your voice if your tone is too harsh, or modify your wardrobe with a few new pairs of cool shoes. |
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| 1219 |
tradition |
an inherited pattern of thought or action |
Our traditions and values form the bedrock on which future generations stand. |
skill#custom#foundation#ability# |
A tradition of “lifetime employment” by major Japanese companies means they try to retrain, not replace, workers.#Some, such as the US National Academy of Sciences, established in 1863, are giants boasting a long history and tradition.#There is, perhaps, an irony here: a 21st-century state is being built on a tradition that resisted the very idea of centralised power.#More important is the blatant disregard for both the Constitution and tradition.# |
Traditions are longstanding customs and practices. It might be a family tradition to open Christmas presents on Christmas Eve, started because your parents were too impatient to wait. |
The noun tradition has Latin roots in the word tradere, which means hand over or hand down. So think of a tradition as something that is handed down from one generation to another. Fireworks on the Fourth of July are a national tradition, and playing your school's fight song at the start of the football game is probably a longstanding tradition designed to get the fans excited for the game. |
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| 1220 |
transmit |
send from one person or place to another |
That data is then transmitted to the robot which maneuvers accordingly. |
foul#convey#purse#elaborate# |
The illness is transmitted to people by infected mosquitoes.#One way or another, the stories will be transmitted.#The law requires court orders to be transmitted from county offices to DHS within five days.#The virus is transmitted to humans through mosquitoes, which acquire the virus by feeding on infected birds.# |
If you’re an international spy, you might transmit secret messages using a special code written in invisible ink. If you aren’t a spy, you could probably just use email. Whatever your circumstances, when you transmit information, you send. |
You can transmit things from person to person or from one thing to another. The airwaves can be used to transmit radio or TV signals, for example, and computers can transmit messages over a network. This verb often describes messages or data being sent, but you can also transmit ideas, beliefs, or attitude. In addition, transmit can describe the spread of disease, like mosquitoes that can transmit disease when they bite. |
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| 1221 |
restrict |
place limits on |
The plan, modeled after restrictions in Congress, would restrict a lawmaker’s outside income to 15 percent of the legislative salary, currently $79,500. |
a bossy child tells her friends what to do#a mail carrier stuffs a large magazine into a mailbox#a painter stretches several canvasses#a museum guard will not allow photos to be taken# |
The sanctions in place since 2014 directly restrict a narrow range of business dealings.#The statement refers to the bombing as an act of “retaliation” for government actions that he said restricted Americans’ freedom.#Marketplace restricts searches within national boundaries, mainly to avoid language confusion, Liu said.#“They are too small and too vulnerable to losing subscribers if they restrict access,” he testified, describing insurers’ efforts to control monopoly pricing.# |
To restrict is to limit. If you want to eat more healthily, you might restrict, or limit, yourself to eating only foods containing fruits and vegetables –- like carrot cake and apple pie. |
You'll often encounter different words related to restrict. A restriction is a law or rule, like the restriction against driving a car without a license. Something that is not permitted is restricted, and this word is often used to designate physical locations that are off limits to the public. You'll often see characters in movies break into restricted areas to obtain secret information. |
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| 1222 |
negative |
characterized by denial or opposition or resistance |
Drivers who accumulate too many negative reviews will get a warning and could be suspended if they fail to scrub up. |
conspicuous#massive#positive#liquid# |
Posts about environmentalists and their shark conservation efforts tended to reflected similar negative feelings.#The study only looked at “ negative self-enhancing emotions,” which include hatred, hostility, anger, and contempt.#“Trump is serving as a negative kind of role model,” Seth Spain, a professor at John Molson School of Business at Concordia University, told White.#Brittany Scott tells The Columbus Dispatch in May she saw a Twitter post by Trump that read: "Despite the constant negative press covfefe."# |
Negative means focused on what is bad or lacking. A negative ad tells you bad things about the competition. A negative person loves to complain. |
In math, a negative number is less than zero. People who see the glass half empty have a negative outlook. Ask your mom for ice cream and receive an answer in the negative? Don't be too negative back to her, or it'll be a while before you have another chance at ice cream. |
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| 1223 |
convert |
change the nature, purpose, or function of something |
A metal that poses health risks, mercury can be converted into a gas during industrial activities as well as such natural events as volcanic eruptions. |
her hairstyle#her job#her religion#her phone number# |
“There’s a church here, and another church there, and another over there,” says Kajiman BK, who converted to Christianity after surviving an unknown disease.#In 2013, Lloyd said he “reinvented” the business, converting his operations to recycling used construction materials.#These investors are hoping to convert all that classified talent into technology products for which corporations will pay top dollar.#But Paulo Dybala netted a stunning free kick in the 85th minute and converted a penalty in the first minute of stoppage time.# |
Think of the word convert as meaning "change," whether it is a person who adopts a new belief, or a changing action, such as when you convert dollars into euros. |
Many times we can catch a word's meaning by looking at its origins. In this case, the Latin con means "around," while vertere means "turn." So we can figure that convert means to "turn around," an object or one's thoughts on an idea. For example, you might convert a meat eater into a vegetarian or an empty-nester might convert the kids' bedroom into an exercise room. |
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| 1224 |
consequent |
following or accompanying as a result |
Like many cities in the Midwest, St Louis suffered from the decline of manufacturing and the consequent flight of residents to the suburbs. |
occasional#accompanying#varying#intermittent# |
The consequent boost to speculative coastal housing markets like Beijing and Shanghai is now losing steam.#And untreated hearing loss contributes to injuries, physical- and mental-health problems, isolation and loss of employment, with consequent costs to society.#Certainly, the public outcry against O’Reilly and advertisers’ consequent flight from his program are evidence of change.#“In Jewish tradition there is a prohibition,” he says, with a consequent focus on text rather images.# |
Something that happens as a result of something else can be described as consequent. Rapidly melting snow often causes consequent flooding, for example. |
A politician might talk about raising the minimum wage and consequent improvements in workers' lives — in other words, she believes the positive changes for workers would be a direct result of higher minimum pay. One thing would follow the other. You're most likely to come across the adjective consequent in formal speech or writing. The Latin root word is consequi, "to follow after." |
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| 1225 |
impact |
a forceful consequence; a strong effect |
Abu Dhabi, one of the Persian Gulf’s main oil exporters, is currently coping with the impact of low oil prices. |
bear on#take up#cut back#scare off# |
Muro notes that as the spread of industrial robots is geographically concentrated, so too is the fear of their impact.#The loss of either player would seriously impact on the team’s prospects.#His column, “Tech in Real Life,” appears weekly on TIME.com and explores the ways that technology impacts people in their daily lives.#Its impact was also dulled by West’s own stardom, becoming merely another gossipy chapter in their tete-a-tete.# |
The noun impact can refer to a physical force (like a collision), an influence (a bad role model or a hero), or a strong effect (a foot of snow will have an impact on driving conditions). |
Impact is used most often as a noun. A good teacher might have an impact (influence) on a struggling student. The moment two comets collide is called the "moment of impact." But this versatile word can also be used as a verb, though many people prefer to use its synonyms instead: "affect," "bear upon," or "touch on." Impacted teeth are wedged together or stuck behind each other. |
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| 1226 |
potential |
existing in possibility |
The Dodgers’ potential deal with Sierra was first reported by Yahoo Sports. |
converted#possible#fugitive#polite# |
We remain resolute in our potential and ability to improve American manufacturing.#During the yearlong process, the state will analyze the potential environmental consequences of the project in the Smith River watershed.#He said he met with county leaders and protest organizers beforehand and was aware of the potential for vandalism.#State Department warned travelers about potential tainted or counterfeit alcohol in Mexico in July, following the Sentinel's investigation.# |
If you can describe something as possible but not yet actual, choose the adjective potential. Companies try to reach potential customers through advertising. |
Potential, from the Latin potentia "power," sounds more complicated than it is. It describes something or someone that has the power to become something. A potential success is not yet a success but could be if circumstances are right. When a situation has the potential for disaster, it could turn bad easily. You have potential if you have a natural but undeveloped ability to do something and a building with potential will be really nice once it's fixed up. |
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| 1227 |
precise |
sharply exact or accurate or delimited |
The system uses precise 3-D measurements and imaging to compare the vehicles and buildings in the area of the crash. |
acute#objective#judicial#accurate# |
The longer Pryor waits on a route before trying to get separation, though, the more precise his timing with Cousins must be.#The explanation for Reyes’s precise recall is the very lack of normalcy she alludes to in her childhood.#Others who were injured Saturday were also treated at the hospital, although no precise number is available, she said.#He cut patches for that first quilt with scissors, as opposed to the more precise rotary cutter.# |
Precise means strictly correct or very exact. If you need something to be precise, like the positioning of a safety net for a stunt jump over a canyon, there's no room for error. |
The word precise might make you think of nerdy scientists with rulers or stiff accountants double checking their calculations. But being precise, or painstakingly accurate, has its merits. When making a grilled cheese sandwich, for example, it’s important that the arrangement of ingredients be precise: Place a tomato in each corner and ensure that the cheese covers every inch of bread so that each bite is full of gooey delight. |
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| 1228 |
specify |
define clearly |
Authorities said they had recovered some money but did not specify how much. |
mystify#justify#beautify#identify# |
He did not specify whether that meant the protests or the crash.#It said the deal would close soon, but it did not specify when.#The act specified that the academy be established along the Hudson River in New York.#Both work by allowing users to quickly swipe right for “yes” and left for “no” on users in a specified local radius.# |
To explicitly name something or state a particular detail, you specify that thing. So, when you have a craving for dessert and you send someone to the store to buy ice cream, you may want to specify a flavor. |
If you assign something for a particular purpose, this verb means that you specify. Your parents can specify for safety's sake that you can only ride your bicycle on the sidewalk and not on the street. Another use of the verb specify is to give a set of requirements. If you have your grandmother's old recipe for snickerdoodle cookies, you may wonder what the recipe means when it specifies that you should add "a smidgen of molasses." |
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| 1229 |
technique |
a practical method or art applied to some particular task |
There they learn the ancient technique of grafting new plants onto old ones to speed growth. |
progress#decision#method#occurrence# |
North Korea “is flouting sanctions through trade in prohibited goods, with evasion techniques that are increasing in scale, scope and sophistication,” reported the U.N.#We found the same was true of a range of other key passive energy-saving techniques, including solar heating, shading and natural ventilation.#Crowd-control techniques are much the same, experts said, whether demonstrators are armed or not.#However, the LSU product said he understood why his coach prefers a more conventional technique.# |
A technique is a method of doing some task or performing something. Your technique for opening drinks might be to twist the top off with your teeth. If so, your dentist better have a good tooth-repair technique. |
The noun technique can also refer to someone's skillfulness with the fundamentals of a particular task. A violinist could have excellent technique, but lack passion, for example. Writers usually have very individual writing techniques: One might need to write late at night and another early in the morning; some have to write by hand on paper, while others always use the computer. |
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| 1230 |
compensate |
make amends for |
The rare victories would more than compensate for the frequent losses. |
ordain#escort#divert#pay# |
The likely reason is that people tend to compensate for changes in food intake and non-exercise physical activities, Hall wrote.#The government normally adjusts pensions and the minimum wage to compensate for inflation.#I believe they should be adequately compensated for the enormous amount of time and resources needed to develop a new drug.#Some universities decided to compensate for past sins by reserving a certain number of positions for black students, Native Americans, Latinos and women.# |
Compensate is about correcting for an imbalance. If you step in an unmarked pothole, the city may compensate you by paying your doctor bills treating a broken ankle. |
Compensate can also mean "to adjust for." So, if you did stumble into the pothole and injure your left leg, then you might compensate by leaning heavily on your right leg. Increasingly, compensate is used in place of pay. Day laborers are paid for their time, but executives are more likely to be compensated with a suite that includes salary and other benefits––what is commonly referred to as a compensation package. |
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| 1231 |
random |
lacking any definite plan or order or purpose |
This illustrates an overlooked fact about lottery drawings: the numbers that win lotteries are 100 percent random. |
undeserving#miniscule#haphazard#irreplaceable# |
If you do decide to drive near there, you may be stopped for a random vehicle inspection at Police Department and Secret Service checkpoints.#It all seemed more random and risky than the old-fashioned way, in a back alley from a stranger.#Whatever the reason, it’s clear they don’t select at random.#In the now-deleted stream, which is almost three hours in length, the streamer appears to pick users — who are overwhelmingly women — at random.# |
Something that’s random is lacking in order, plan, or purpose. It happens totally by chance, like the random picking of lottery numbers or unplanned random acts of kindness. |
Sometime in the 1980s, teenage slang hijacked the adjective random and tried to turn it into a word meaning weird, odd or out of place. As in "Dude! That guy wearing purple spandex at the party was so random!" But don't fall for it. Something that’s truly random is totally governed by chance and has no specific pattern, like choosing a card at random from a magician’s deck. |
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| 1232 |
suffice |
be adequate, either in quality or quantity |
Convinced that the status quo is no longer viable, the board has determined that nothing short of a corporate, cultural and managerial overhaul will suffice. |
progress#prove#serve#practice# |
Suffice to say: no, it hasn’t turned into a stone-cold classic yet.#Just 10 percent of Trump voters would suffice.#Suffice it to say that the clip got more reaction than most columns I write.#Suffice to say, there will be no questions of a recount.# |
To suffice is to be enough, in either quality or quantity. It may not be gourmet all the time, but if your food is healthy, it will suffice. |
The word suffice comes from a combination of the Latin words sub ("under") and facere ("make") that together mean "meet the need of." This need is usually the bare minimum — no leftovers, nothing fancy. The common phrase "Suffice it to say" means "I'll just say" or "All that needs to be said is...." |
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| 1233 |
verify |
confirm the truth of |
They put her through a rigorous and insulting process designed to verify that she was in fact the creator of the work. |
transform#agitate#confirm#magnify# |
Verified fans will be allowed to buy tickets starting Monday; the general public will be allowed to buy starting next Tuesday.#The certificate verifies the proposed work meets the architectural and historical standards of the area.#Expertise and fact were so widely rejected that the press, which collected and verified facts for a living, proved largely powerless against McCarthy.#“Mr. Ali conducted a thorough investigation and verified his information with 14 independent sources,” she wrote.# |
When you verify something, you show that it's true. Do you have a photograph to verify your claim that there's a dinosaur in your backyard? |
Physical evidence and records are often used to verify what's happened. Your receipt verifies that you purchased the tall, striped hat you'd now like to return. You can also verify something verbally. Can you verify that your cat was home all evening on the night of the canary's "accident"? |
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| 1234 |
pertinent |
having precise or logical relevance to the matter at hand |
You can also share images, videos and files that are pertinent to your business as well as plain text messages. |
stormy#relevant#comprehensive#affecting# |
The more pertinent question might be who’s playing right field without Harper around.#There was only one question in between games Sunday that was pertinent to the first game of a split day-night doubleheader.#All of these questions, while pertinent to the values of the American justice system, are not relevant to the NFL.#One of Trump's lawyers, Jay Sekulow, told the Post, “apart from being of no consequence, the characterizations are misinformed, inaccurate, and not pertinent.”# |
Something pertinent is relevant and on-point. If you give your best friend pertinent advice, that means the advice is appropriate for the situation. |
Something pertinent is related to the current topic or situation — and probably helpful too. If you're in math class and you make a comment about World War I, that's likely not pertinent. If you're in music class and you talk about a cello, that probably is pertinent. Pertinent things are appropriate and logical. In most situations, people like to get comments and questions that are pertinent — anything else can just seem like a distraction. |
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| 1235 |
evaluate |
estimate the nature, quality, ability or significance of |
The first step in evaluating an answer choice, therefore, is to ask whether the answer choice actually describes something that occurs in the argument. |
embellish#crumple#complement#measure# |
Matthews finished practice before being escorted off the field to be evaluated.#Then we embedded it within a computer program that evaluates decisions in the electric power sector under policy uncertainty.#Ainge says his experience evaluating businesses will help him scrutinize the U.S. government’s budget for waste and to cut spending and the deficit.#Troopers say the pilot and four passengers were medically evaluated.# |
When you evaluate something, you're making a judgment, one that most likely results from some degree of analysis. |
Breaking down the nutritional pros and cons of dessert options is evaluating. Diving into a tub of Ben and Jerry's because you have a craving is not. The word evaluate was used as a mathematics term before it became part of standard usage. Thus, its wonky connotation of objectivity. |
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| 1236 |
feasible |
capable of being done with means at hand |
Creating reusable rockets is important for lowering the cost of space travel, which could make space tourism and a trip to Mars more feasible. |
homely#impersonal#implacable#workable# |
But Kelly Sparks, the university’s associate vice president of finance and strategic planning, says that’s likely no longer feasible.#The Energy Policy and Conservation Act requires NHTSA's standards to be the “maximum feasible.”#Blockchains ensure that the energy supply is traceable and that demand in one area is met by locally sourced renewable energy, where feasible.#It’s never ideal to part ways with that much talent, but the “next man up” mentality seemed more feasible.# |
If something is feasible, then you can do it without too much difficulty. When someone asks "Is it feasible?" the person is asking if you'll be able to get something done. |
Feasible things are possible. If you have enough time, money, or energy to do something, it's feasible. Something might be feasible at one time and then not feasible at another time. Because of technological advances and competition with the Russians, going to the moon was feasible for the United States in the sixties. Often, people disagree about what's feasible, especially in politics, where how feasible a project is counts for a lot. |
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| 1237 |
passive |
lacking in energy or will |
At a relatively early age, I felt the urgency to be a protagonist, rather than a passive recipient, in my own life. |
adorable#ancient#active#adult# |
The passive depth sensor also works in a fairly standard way.#As Black is reduced to passive defense, the square in front of his backward d-pawn plays a key role in Vachier-Lagrave’s final breakthrough: 40.#We found the same was true of a range of other key passive energy-saving techniques, including solar heating, shading and natural ventilation.#But there’s also something passive and a bit sad, something that belies, indeed undoes stereotypes and the expectations of men, active and upright.# |
Passive is the opposite of active. In English class, you might be advised to avoid the passive voice. In chemistry, a passive substance doesn't react. Passive resistance is a way to protest peacefully. |
When you're passive, you don't participate much and you're not very emotional. In chemistry, passive means to be "unreactive except under special or extreme conditions; inert." Gandhi used the term passive resistance in the mid-twentieth century to describe the nonviolent approach Indians should use in their quest to become an independent nation. |
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| 1238 |
simultaneous |
occurring or operating at the same time |
Attendees also will be connected to simultaneous conferences taking place in other parts of the world using technology from Skype. |
uncouth#concurrent#inextricable#erratic# |
The Syrian army and Hezbollah are preparing for a simultaneous attack on the Syrian side of the border.#It is the rare scientific education that includes a simultaneous conversation about the rise of violent, imperialist globalization during the same time period.#At the heart of NAFTA’s contradiction was the removal of barriers on capital and the simultaneous installation of new barriers on immigration.#The working class’s simultaneous fascination with the ultra-wealthy and disdain for the professional class is not only about trickle-down fantasies — it’s about proximity.# |
The adjective simultaneous describes something that is done at the same time as something else. "The teachers all assigned simultaneous projects to the students that week. The kids were grumbling and sleep-deprived due to the grind." |
The Latin root of simultaneous is simul, which also means "at the same time." One way to remember this word is to think of simulcast programs that are simultaneously available through different television networks, radio stations or Web sites — so you can catch that concert on TV while your friend is listening to it on his car radio. |
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| 1239 |
component |
one of the individual parts making up a larger entity |
Methane, the primary component of natural gas, is 84 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide over two decades. |
gait#hoard#redress#portion# |
So it begins by breaking down the script, scene by scene, beat by beat, into its component parts.#Other groups are studying brain and cell science, components of a Seattle empire that also includes an influential real-estate arm, museums and philanthropic efforts.#One of the components he and Sagan wanted to include was a map that pointed to Earth in both space and time.#There were a lot of components to the Industrial Revolution, but the most important thing was being able to get power.# |
It's the Ikea curse: You spend four hours figuring out how to piece together your new furniture, only to be left with one random component, or part, that doesn't seem to fit anywhere. |
It's not surprising that component is related to a Latin word that means "to put together." You simply can't put something together without all of the correct components. Technically speaking, a component is an element of a system or a part of a machine. But a component can also be a factor or ingredient, such as the components of a decision or the components of a really good chocolate cake. |
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| 1240 |
formulate |
come up with after a mental effort |
"While formulating this law, we referred to the laws of other countries, including the United States," he said, pointing to the U.S. |
daub#articulate#aggravate#nurture# |
Clyde Common's Amaretto Sour is great, but I've formulated the Brasilian version after several months R&D in South America.#Democratic leaders originally formulated their ideology in a time that looked to their followers much like the present.#He committed to formulating a new plan within 120 days.#But when asked about his plans for those clubs on Wednesday, he said only that he was “still formulating my next steps.”# |
To formulate is to come up with a plan. If you are locked out of your house, you'll need to formulate a plan to get back inside — preferably one that doesn't involve kicking in the door. |
You can also use the verb formulate to mean "put into words." If too many people are showing up at your work in inappropriate clothes, your company may formulate a dress code policy. They may, for example, decree that either socks or shoes must be worn. The verb can also mean to develop a formula for something. If the dog ate the chicken you were going to use in your dinner, you may need to formulate a new recipe for chicken-less pot pie. |
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| 1241 |
magnitude |
relative importance |
And news outlets including National Geographic often use the factoid to introduce the magnitude of the microbiome, the world of microbes that call us home. |
victory#mildness#mystery#vastness# |
Outside spending of that magnitude is generally only seen in deep-red Utah when Democrats and Republicans face off occasional close races.#A gap of this magnitude is unusual: The two indexes usually move within a percentage point or two of one another.#Ten months after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake, a cholera outbreak spread throughout the country.#Becker and Clancy said developing an impenetrable defense to a storm of that magnitude would require tens of billions of dollars in additional investments.# |
Earthquakes have great magnitude in that they are powerful. Their power is rated by their level of magnitude, or how much energy they release relative to other earthquakes. |
In math, magnitude compares numbers by powers of 10. If your weekly allowance was $10, but your brother's was $100, his allowance would be one order of magnitude higher than yours. If your sister's was $10,000, hers would be three orders of magnitude higher. A difference of that magnitude is just not fair! |
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| 1242 |
manipulate |
control in a fraudulent manner |
Ms. Rousseff is accused of manipulating the numbers of her government’s budget to illegally disguise its poor fiscal performance. |
core#quench#rig#quarry# |
The most immediate threat would be whoever he’s manipulating on a day-to-day basis.#"Google is a monopoly, and its abusing its power to silence dissent and manipulate election results," the March on Google website reads.#“Got close to your mother. Manipulated and used her.”#"We did not find anything deliberately manipulated," chairwoman Regina Opondo said.# |
To manipulate something means to handle it skillfully, like the way a sculptor manipulates clay or a really good politician works a crowd. |
The verb manipulate evolved from manipulation, which back in the 1700s referred to a method of digging ore. So manipulating something originally only meant moving or arranging it by hand or mechanically. It wasn't until 1864 that people started using the word manipulate to describe someone exerting mental or emotional influence on others. |
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| 1243 |
ultimate |
furthest or highest in degree or order; utmost or extreme |
“Most of us think that winning the lottery is the ultimate fulfillment. |
last#worst#hollow#formal# |
Trump is surrounded by people who echo his fantasies of ultimate power.#Cyrus is receiving the ceremony’s highest honor, the Ultimate Choice Award.#Some well-tested finance executives with enlarged duties win the ultimate promotion.#Fagan is smart enough not to offer any ultimate explanation for Madison’s death.# |
The last in a series can be described as the ultimate. A cheeky kid, when asked what she wants to be when she grows up, might say, "I want to be an actress, a singer, and a veterinarian, but my ultimate goal is to be President of the United States." |
A definition for the adjective ultimate is the furthest in space or time or the highest in degree or order. Traveling for business, you are flying first to London, then to Portugal, but your ultimate destination is South Africa. The kids ask you if they can invite friends over to play video games. It's a good idea to reply, "Mom isn't home from work yet and she's ultimate authority on the schedule." |
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| 1244 |
criterion |
the ideal in terms of which something can be judged |
There should be two main criteria for granting home loans: ability to repay a loan and ability and willingness to take care of a property. |
measure#complement#jubilee#stint# |
Each time round they asked the volunteers to rate the robot on a number of criteria including likability, anthropomorphism, and perceived intelligence.#The blood drive was organised specifically for the Indian community last year, but confusion over criteria meant many were unable to donate.#From that data, the team put together a five-point criteria to gauge how confident they were that each structure was a volcano.#Her criteria included the following: exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, cultural imperialism and violence.# |
A criterion is a standard for judging something. If you are holding a cupcake competition, your number one criterion might be the smoothness of frosting. |
A criterion is a category for judging, but can also be a prerequisite for an achievement. It might be an application requirement for a teaching job that you have taught already for two years. If you haven’t, then we say you haven’t "met the criterion" for job experience. Likewise, if you establish the model for something, say you deliver an exciting, profound graduation speech, we might say you "set the criterion" for future speakers. |
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| 1245 |
fluctuate |
move or sway in a rising and falling or wavelike pattern |
That means Jimbo’s blood sugar can fluctuate wildly depending on the time of day. |
vacillate#expostulate#vacate#rummage# |
The size of the Gulf of Mexico dead zone fluctuates annually, but increased precipitation this year amplified runoff.#Your happiness will fluctuate during a vacation, after all.#These mood disorders are triggered by fluctuating hormones, including estrogen and progesterone, that ramp up during pregnancy and then drop off sharply after birth.#This measure is particularly onerous to the city’s hospitality industry, where staffing needs fluctuate based on last-minute events, like a Seahawks playoff win.# |
Something that fluctuates varies or changes — it's the opposite of steady. Like the ups and downs of the stock market or the relationship status of a Hollywood starlet. |
Fluctuate is a verb that describes movement, sometimes irregular, but often rising and falling in a wave-like pattern. The tides fluctuate according to the weather and season, for example. Your emotions fluctuate depending on what happens throughout the day, and so does your weight. In fact, you usually weigh less in the morning, before you've eaten. You're also taller, since your spine compresses as you walk around. So your height fluctuates, too. |
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| 1246 |
innovation |
the act of starting something for the first time |
And some auto industry executives are open about their need to partner with firms that are on the front lines of innovation. |
a classic work of literature#a new invention#a form of cancer#an ancient civilization# |
However, Under Armour engages in innovation and sports, not politics.#Nor is there a formal mechanism for redress when laws or regulations thwart research and innovation.#“Under Armor engages in innovation and sports, not politics,” Mr. Plank said.#Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank resigned from the panel later Monday, saying his company “engages in innovation and sports, not politics.”# |
An innovation is the introduction of something new. If you run a magazine about new technology, then you're constantly looking out for the next innovation. |
Innovation comes from Latin innovare for renew, whose root is novus or new. It can be used for either the act of introducing something new, as in a company that rewards creativity and innovation, or something that is newly introduced, like an innovation in microchip design. It was once used politically in the sense of revolution, but now you're most likely to hear it in relation to technology, or new ways of doing something. |
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| 1247 |
respective |
considered individually |
But both Nigeria and China are the most populous countries and biggest economies in their respective continents, making them ripe for comparison. |
moral#individual#native#fitful# |
Three Lebanese and two Canadians were also killed, according to the victims’ respective foreign ministries.#They cater to the baser instincts of their respective voters.#After catching glimpses of one another in the hallway and entering their respective spaces, Mars proceeds to serenade Zendaya through the wall.#When the audience is all watching an entire season's worth of drama at their own respective paces, will the shows still resonate?# |
When two people each have something of their own, it's their respective thing. In a boxing match, the opponents each start in their respective or individual corners. |
Respective comes from the Latin respectivus meaning "having regard for." Everyone has regard for what's respectively theirs. We have respective opinions, respective responsibilities, respective anxieties. It's basically another word for individual. Each of a set of twins probably has his respective bed, even though they might share a bedroom together. |
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| 1248 |
subsequent |
following in time or order |
They said an explosion occurred and subsequent fire that could be seen for miles. |
compound#specific#marine#preceding# |
In a subsequent raid on an apartment linked to the men, the police said they discovered Regeni’s passport, credit card and student identity card.#Subsequent reports by The Times showed a pattern of financial mismanagement and poor oversight at the commission.#He passed subsequent follow-up screenings and was healthy enough to report to spring training.#Further concerns about the subsequent building's cost saw its size cut but it eventually opened in 2004.# |
For something that comes after something else in time or order, choose the adjective subsequent. If the entire class fails an exam, the teacher will hopefully make subsequent ones a little easier. |
Subsequent comes from the Latin subsequi "to follow closely" and means just that - following or coming after. If you say, "in 1990 and subsequent years," it includes 1990, whereas "the years subsequent to 1990" do not include it. When you mention a car crash and subsequent traffic jam or a scandal and subsequent investigation, one follows the other in order but a cause and effect relationship is implied too. |
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| 1249 |
benevolent |
showing or motivated by sympathy and understanding |
He later evolved into a beloved and even benevolent grandfather who motivated players 40 years his junior into champions. |
eccentric#transmitted#charitable#inadequate# |
Of the four types of God — authoritarian, benevolent, critical and distant — they found initially that authoritarian was by far the biggest group, at 31 percent.#She views paternalism as a sign of a benevolent employer who is nurturing good financial habits of its workers.#She views paternalism here as a sign of a benevolent employer who is nurturing good financial habits of its workers.#Kyle received a kidney a week earlier from a benevolent donor, a living person who volunteered a kidney.# |
Choose the adjective benevolent for someone who does good deeds or shows goodwill. If your teacher collects homework with a benevolent smile, she's hoping that you've done a good job. |
Benevolent comes from the Latin bene "well" and volent from the verb "to wish" so you can imagine that this word brings goodness with it. A benevolent society is a charity group organized to serve a community through programs, sponsorships and donations. The expression, benevolent dictatorship, may seem like an oxymoron, but it is a political term for an authoritative government that works for the good of the people under its rule. |
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| 1250 |
malign |
speak unfavorably about |
Twitter, long maligned for being less cooperative than other companies such as Facebook, updated its policies last week to explicitly prohibit “hateful conduct.” |
musty#aromatic#residential#kind# |
Hindsight in baseball is often maligned as trivial second-guessing.#But the state department said Iran's actions in the Middle East were malign and undercut any "positive contributions" from the nuclear deal.#How, exactly, would organizers differentiate between benign and malign flags?#“The United States remains deeply concerned about Iran’s malign activities across the Middle East, which undermine regional stability, security, and prosperity,” the announcement said.# |
If you malign someone, you badmouth them — just like the jilted girlfriend who tells the whole school her ex has bad breath and head lice. |
When you habitually malign people, you risk being described as "a malign influence" — in this case, malign is an adjective that describes a harmful or even evil person or thing. Whichever way you use the word, its connection to wickedness can be found in its Latin root, malignus, "wicked or bad-natured," which combines male, or "badly" and -gnus, "born." |
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| 1251 |
abstraction |
the process of formulating general concepts |
Abstraction involves the hiding of unnecessary details, so that the important work can be done at the proper level. |
removal#sacrifice#justice#generosity# |
Yet, for the vast majority of American society, these deployments are an abstraction.#Shannon’s delight in mathematical abstractions and gadgetry emerged during his childhood in Michigan, where he was born in 1916.#The hope is to raise awareness of Sanín as an artist, Treanor says, to “place her within this larger trajectory of geometric abstraction.”#The velocity of his six-year career astounds, as do his experimentations with paint handling and abstraction.# |
An abstraction is something nonspecific, a concept that isn't concrete. It can also refer to the state of mind in which a person is not paying attention to something but is lost in thought or daydreaming. |
Abstraction is the noun from the adjective abstract, which derives from the Latin abstrahere "to divert." From that, we can get the idea that an abstraction is something that is drawn away from concrete reality. In the art world, an abstraction is a painting or musical piece created in the style of expressionism, in which a subject is not realistically presented or even recognized, but rather is suggested by an emotional flow of paint or music. |
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| 1252 |
coherent |
marked by an orderly and consistent relation of parts |
This approach works well in Mr. Sullivan’s writing, which ties together a lot of different strands into a coherent narrative. |
temporary#reasonable#invisible#simulated# |
There was sweetness in many dishes and pre-dinner snacks, but always as part of a coherent package of flavors.#Amid a welter of revelations and allegations, Browder provided a coherent narrative of how and why Putin sought Trump’s help.#They still look the most interesting club at the top end of the league, a rare example of jarringly coherent elite level team-building.#Some argue that if the government adopted a more coherent negotiating strategy the damage would be less.# |
Something coherent is logical and clear. "I told you if you didn't do your homework you couldn't watch TV. You didn't do your homework so you can't watch TV." This is a coherent argument (and annoying as well). |
The thing about such coherent arguments, as your Mom well knows, is that they are also easily and clearly understood. If someone speaks coherently, they are speaking clearly and lucidly. A slight variation on the meaning comes in the sense of something that is united clearly as a whole and a recognizable entity. You might say, for example, that New York City is a "culturally coherent region" within the United States. |
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| 1253 |
emanate |
proceed or issue forth, as from a source |
And then, suddenly, the sparks emanating from the cauldron were extinguished. |
missing#obnoxious#circumstantial#changeable# |
Most documents emanating from the National Security Council amount to dryly worded policy dissertations and intricate planning documents.#Still, many residents were worried about the unpredictability of North Korea’s leader, and by the warnings of “enveloping fire” emanating from Kim’s capital.#The green is fronted by three bunkers, with multiple mounds and undulations emanating from the center of the green.#It will look like delicate threads of light emanating from the solar disc.# |
When you use the word emanate, you're usually talking about lights, sounds, or unseen forces coming out of a specific source. If you hear creepy sounds emanating from an old house, that might mean it's haunted. |
Emanate derives from the Latin e- 'out' and manare to flow. If that last word looks a little like manure to you, you might be interested to know that they're not at all related. Thank goodness, too, because the idea of manure flowing out––or emanating––is not something to be discussed in polite company. |
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| 1254 |
impervious |
not admitting of passage or capable of being affected |
This means their illness is impervious to the two strongest first-line antibiotics typically used. |
receptive#ostentatious#nuptial#inviolable# |
Hadley Freeman, in this paper, identified clean eating as part of a post-truth culture, whose adherents are impervious, or even hostile, to facts and experts.#But many of those who seek to defend the living planet seem impervious to this intelligence.#They attached seamlessly, fit cleanly in the dock and seem impervious to heat.#The Gingrich bob is a shout-out to a mythic Washington: a place of order and comportment, stuffy but reliable, self-conscious, mannered, impervious.# |
An impervious surface is one that can't be penetrated. The word is often followed by "to," as in "His steely personality made him impervious to jokes about his awful haircut." |
Most of the sentences you'll run across using impervious will be followed by the word "to" and a noun. Things are often described as being impervious to physical assaults like heat, water, bullets, weather, and attack, but just as frequently to less tangible things, like reason, criticism, pain, and pressure. The word comes from Latin: in- + pervius, meaning "not letting things through." A common synonym is impermeable. |
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| 1255 |
succumb |
consent reluctantly |
Given that cloned animals share the same genes, they have even higher risks of succumbing when diseases strike. |
preside#expire#stumble#intervene# |
“It guarantees or minimizes the possibility that these small towns will succumb or disappear with time,” he said.#The company's drive to increase output hit difficulties in 2015 when many of its fish succumbed to diseases.#Martha died twenty-one years ago with Robichaud by her side; it was only after she succumbed that conservationists realised she was pregnant.#Surely, he was, as usual, acting on impulse, succumbing to his lifelong instinct for macho talk and confrontation.# |
Use the verb succumb to say that someone yields to something they've tried to fight off, such as despair, temptation, disease or injury. |
If you succumb to cancer, it means you die of it. From this sentence you can see that this verb is usually followed by the preposition to. The Latin root is succumbere, from the prefix sub- "under" plus -cumbere "to lie down." |
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| 1256 |
transitory |
lasting a very short time |
In short, are these economic problems transitory, or are we glimpsing the beginnings of a grimmer future? |
dissident#clandestine#temporary#archaic# |
I was inert, still in my school clothes, lying on top of my sheets, dozing in a transitory space between asleep and awake.#The residents of the apartments are often transitory, and they do not vote as often.#Almost everything about his professional life is transitory, uncertain, unsettled.#In fact, for people who understand the transitory nature of this place, what happens next seems almost preordained.# |
If something is fleeting or lasts a short time, it is transitory. Your boss declared the company's restructuring to be transitory, and promised that the company would emerge stronger and better than ever. |
The adjective transitory describes something that is fleeting, temporary, or brief. Even a transitory storm that passes quickly can get you drenched. Consider it an honor to be on the transitory team that helps the president make a smooth transfer of power. When you met your first love, your parents thought that the relationship was transitory — but fifty years later, you're still married! |
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| 1257 |
empirical |
derived from experiment and observation rather than theory |
Replication allows us to ensure empirical findings are reliable and refines our understanding of when a finding occurs. |
theoretical#inured#concave#seedy# |
Legislators cited no other empirical evidence - certainly nothing about doctors removing patients’ firearms.#“The narrative Facebook is concerned with is about increasing access, but there’s a lack of empirical evidence. But that’s the whole point of the project!”#In this case, there is solid empirical evidence as to why the transgender ban is wrong.#“If this paper helps to spread that message, then that is a major win for people’s understanding of empirical evidence.”# |
If knowledge is empirical, it's based on observation rather than theory. To do an empirical study of donut shops, you'll need to visit every one you can find. |
Empirical looks like empire comes from a completely different origin: it is from the Greek empeirikos, meaning experienced. It was originally used in medicine for doctors making choices based on observation and experiment rather than theoretical ideas. It's now used for any kind of knowledge that comes from experience. Meditate all day on the origins of donuts, but until you visit the donut bakery you'll lack empirical knowledge of donut creation. |
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| 1258 |
entity |
that which is perceived to have its own distinct existence |
Better yet, the General Assembly should merge the two entities into one transportation planning organization. |
subsidy#entreaty#title#body# |
This website is hardly the first entity to amplify the greatness of “Africa.”#Singing River Hospital System is county-owned but operates as a separate entity.#Nichols said he sees some of the greatest, immediate opportunities in commercial storage systems such as at schools, large office buildings and other commercial entities.#He believed that the states were the sovereign political entities of the land.# |
If your little sister turns her lemonade stand into a lemonade empire, she might incorporate it as a company. Under the law, it would be considered an entity, or a separate being for purposes of government control. |
The word entity originally meant "being, existence," and was borrowed from Medieval Latin entitas, from Latin ens, irregular form of esse "to be, exist." The suffix –ity means "quality or state." Medieval Christian philosophers, influenced by the Church Fathers and Aristotle, discussed the concept of ens "abstract being" versus esse "actual being." |
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| 1259 |
adversary |
someone who offers opposition |
The students are united by shared suffering, and by a common adversary. |
intimate#physician#hero#resister# |
“That’s why I’m calling for vigilance, solidarity and unity of the whole nation in order to face the cowardice of our adversaries.”#The activists fought back, tossing balloons filled with paint and spraying stinging chemicals into the faces of their adversaries.#The complaint later was amended to include Kargar’s allegations and claims that Kalasho used fake social media accounts to criticize his adversaries.#“America’s leadership is being challenged by adversaries who would like to see us fail,” said Barbara Stephenson, the group’s president.# |
An adversary is someone who fights against or opposes another. In tennis, you stand across the net from your adversary. |
Adversary as in "enemy" or "opponent" is related to the words adversarial, or hostile, or adverse, meaning against or contrary. The Adversary is a specific reference to Satan, or the Devil. The word adversary is from Middle English adversarie, from Latin adversarius, from adversus "against." |
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| 1260 |
aplomb |
great coolness and composure under strain |
I wish I had handled it with aplomb. |
quickly drinking a glass of juice before school#delivering a speech perfectly#fighting loudly with your brother#pulling a muscle while running a marathon# |
So the Caribbean side endured a serious setback in the 19th minute after Altidore unleashed a fierce swerving drive that Blake saved with aplomb.#Weiss and Benioff’s script juggled a number of these main and secondary plots with aplomb, even allowing for a few entertaining surprises along the way.#Harper figures to get twice as much, maybe more, and Scherzer says Harper is handling his pending decision with aplomb.#The opening number is always a cheeky mega-mix of contemporary Broadway hits woven together with aplomb by the musical director Michael Moricz.# |
Aplomb is the ultimate test for cool: grace under pressure. Use aplomb to show great restraint under even the most trying circumstances. In retail, it's always a good idea to handle the angry customers with aplomb. |
Angry at the long lines at the grocery store? Irritated because the driver ahead cut you off? Take a deep breath, and approach life's messes with aplomb. When you think of aplomb, think cool, calm and collected. Not frazzled, furious, and fiery. Aplomb comes from the French word meaning "perpendicularity," from the phrase à plomb for "poised upright, balanced." |
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| 1261 |
aptitude |
inherent ability |
I was recently asked in an interview, what is more valued by companies – aptitude or attitude? |
an exam#a clock#a scale#a ruler# |
You’re probably expecting me to start by claiming that there are no differences in the average abilities, aptitudes and interests of men and women.#Trump is not a leader but a reality TV personality with no aptitude for a job that requires calm, steady and intelligent leadership.#The company’s leadership viewed the matter differently, firing Damore and sparing his female colleagues the need to prove their biological aptitude for working with computers.#His blog did not demonstrate much scientific aptitude.# |
An aptitude is something you're good at. A rock star might have an aptitude for energizing an audience, or for trashing his hotel room. |
When you have a talent or do something well, people say that you have an aptitude for it. But you don't have to be born with an aptitude; you can also acquire your abilities. You are probably already well acquainted with this word, since the zillions of standardized tests you have taken in school are usually called aptitude tests. |
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| 1262 |
attentive |
taking heed |
You make sure to be extra attentive to your friend. |
incomplete#unpopular#concerned#glamorous# |
I would hire these clean-cut young kids, and they would be lazy or not attentive to detail.#I must be attentive to the risks, but also present for my son.#"We became attentive to this after the introduction of sanctions."#Artists, poets and playwrights, ever attentive to such fads, were quick to pounce on the trend, incorporating reflections and doubles into their work.# |
Use the adjective attentive to describe someone who is alert and paying attention: “Attentive observers of the play used clues given in the first scenes of the play to guess the identity of the murderer.” |
You probably notice that the word attentive looks a lot like the noun attention. It’s easy to remember how to use attentive when you know that the words share related meanings. Use the adjective attentive to describe someone who is full of attention, watching and listening carefully, such as an attentive student who takes great notes and asks questions when something isn't clear. |
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| 1263 |
banish |
send away from a place of residence, as for punishment |
Napoleon loses so big that he is banished to an island. |
shake up#cast out#stir up#raise up# |
At the same time, the empire banished dissidents to Kazakhstan and resettled Chechens, Koreans, Greeks, Volga Germans and numerous other disparate populations here.#It premiered in May to low ratings and was quickly banished to Saturdays.#The shiny silver discs were meant to banish the crackle and hiss of vinyl forever and were marketed as a boon for audiophiles.#During the first half of 2017, deflation was banished, debt defaults slowed, and growth rebounded.# |
To banish is to get rid of. Think very carefully before you banish someone from your group. Someday, you may want that person around again. |
Banish rhymes with vanish, which is exactly what happens when you banish someone. Suppose a king, angry with some of his subjects, banishes them. They have to leave the kingdom and vanish — not just go home and wait for the king to change his mind. Banish comes from the Old French word banir, which means “proclaim as an outlaw.” It is serious and absolute. You can see the word ban in banish, but to ban something is not as harsh as banishing it. |
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| 1264 |
barricade |
block off with barriers |
The Secret Service ordered nearby streets and parking lots barricaded for security. |
assemble#protest#attack#obstruct# |
Police stationed sand-filled sanitation trucks as barriers around Trump's signature skyscraper and layers of metal police barricades around the main entrance.#A block south of Trump Tower, police officers with bullhorns confronted protesters pressing against and straining the barricades, telling the demonstrators to step back.#The system also alerts county when to deploy to put up barricades.#Seattle City Councilmember Mike O’Brien discovered that the hard way when the group he was marching with repeatedly was turned aside by police barricades.# |
A barricade is anything that prevents people or vehicles from getting through. Construction workers often barricade a street to block traffic. |
You know how barriers block things from getting through? A barricade is similar. Soldiers create barricades to keep enemy troops out. Police officers put up barricades around a crime scene. If an electrical wire becomes loose and dangerous, a barricade around the area will keep people from getting hurt. This can also be a verb, like when parents barricade part of their house to keep toddlers from getting into trouble. Barricading is a physical way of saying "Keep out!" |
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| 1265 |
bluff |
frighten someone by pretending to be stronger than one is |
Sporting a pith helmet, Nixon observed that “whoever is talking the loudest is pretty sure to be bluffing.” |
#### |
He meets my eyes coolly, and I hope he doesn’t call my bluff.#Occasionally, however, we as passengers call their bluff and actually all show-up, on time.#“David Young is not as conservative as some would like here in southwest Iowa,” said Council Bluffs Republican David Overholtzer, a 56-year-old accountant.#The current “bluster and bluffing” on both sides probably won’t amount to much, he said, but is alarming nonetheless.# |
Bluff can mean a high cliff, or it can describe a person who is abrupt in manner. The most common usage of bluff is as a verb meaning to pretend. If you bluff at cards, you are pretending to have a better hand than you do. |
Many a good crime story ends with a bluff—"I've already contacted the police and they're on their way," the detective will say when that is not at all the case. The expression "calling your bluff" comes from poker, where you "call" a game to see someone's actual cards. Calling someone's bluff means forcing them to admit the truth. |
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| 1266 |
brackish |
slightly salty |
Brackish water can be used, but freshwater is easier and less costly. |
biannual#sympathetic#unpalatable#standard# |
Vibrio bacteria flourish in the brackish estuaries where shellfish grow.#SWANSEA, Wales — From the brackish, brown water of the bay, Swansea’s past fortunes are plain to see.#“No wake signs” warn cars to slow to a crawl so the brackish water does not inundate lawns.#That signal slowly changes to the chemical signature of the more brackish river mouth, where the fish stop on their seaward migration.# |
Something that is brackish is unpleasant and harsh, like the coffee you left on too long or the water in a muddy pond. |
The adjective brackish has roots in the Dutch word brac, meaning salty, and the word is used literally to describe water that is salty. You’ll often find brackish water in areas where salty seawater mixes with freshwater, such as "the brackish water of a Louisiana bayou." The word can be used more generally, however, to describe something that is distasteful and harsh, not just salty. When used in this way you’ll still most likely hear the term applied to liquids, such as a brackish tea that makes you wrinkle your nose when you taste it. |
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| 1267 |
brandish |
move or swing back and forth |
Hart brandished a “Free Hugs” sign as he stood alone in front of a police barricade. |
promulgate#debase#flourish#delineate# |
On another occasion, records show, he brandished a 12-inch knife.#The clown was brandishing an ax, according to a Facebook post accompanied by a blurry photograph.#Saturday, brandished a gun and demanded cash from a female.#When officers confronted Davis he “ brandished a handgun” and climbed onto the roof.# |
To brandish something is to wave it about aggressively, as one might brandish a sword or tennis racket (if it's a particularly intense game). |
Brandish often implies that a person is wielding a physical weapon. In fact, brandish comes from the archaic French word brandir, meaning “sword.” However, it’s also possible to brandish objects that aren’t weapons. If you win a bowling tournament, for example, you might be inclined to brandish your shiny new trophy in front of the other competitors. Be careful, though; they might mistake your trophy for a "brandir" and respond accordingly. |
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| 1268 |
circumference |
the size of something as given by the distance around it |
That's almost 10 times the circumference of the Earth, which is a surprisingly small 24,859.82 miles. |
a loud noise#a hot day#a straight line#a circle# |
The sky above the circumference of the jungle is tinged a uniform pink.#He gently dabs the circumference of a hole in the original white leather binding of a rare 12th century copy of the Gospel of Luke.#The top of the park is rimmed for much of its circumference with what looks like a gigantic silver jet wing or a huge scythe.#The numbers tell the tale: On Monday, this was a massive, 75-foot-tall living organism, 65 inches in diameter with a circumference of 204 inches.# |
The distance around a circle is called the circumference, and although circumference is often used when talking about round things, it can mean a boundary of any shape that completely surrounds something. |
It’s no coincidence that the first part of circumference looks like circle. The Latin word circum means “around,” and the root ferre is the Latin verb for “carry,” so imagine carrying a puppy around a circle pit of lava: the path you walk is the circumference. If you want to buy a new hat, you’ll need to measure the circumference of your head, and patrolling the circumference of your castle is a good way to protect against dragons. |
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| 1269 |
commotion |
confused movement |
Moments later came commotion, followed by shouts of “Stop pushing me!” |
innovation#tumult#catastrophe#oppression# |
In the Living Room at the Peninsula hotel here, Mr. Jackson, 68, didn’t inspire that sort of commotion.#A law enforcement officer who heard a commotion in Edwards’ room called 911.#Another man traveling on the road saw the commotion.#“I pay my parents for it,” Ms. Lahren said over the commotion.# |
A commotion is a noisy disturbance. If you're trying to quietly concentrate on reading this, you wouldn't want the person next to you to cause a commotion, or it would distract you. |
Commotion, which comes from the Middle French word commocion, means "violent motion, agitation." It can be a disorderly outburst or disruption, like someone yelling in the street at night, or five people arguing about someone talking on a cellphone while a play is being performed in front of them. Commotion can also describe out-of-control movement, like people pushing and shoving to get to the front row of a concert. |
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| 1270 |
concoction |
any foodstuff made by combining different ingredients |
There are some food combos that blend beautifully with each other to create truly tasty concoctions. |
agent#vaccine#medicine#mixture# |
The term was “the concoction of a 19-year-old headline writer,” a university spokesman said, referring to the student reporter who broke the story.#That’s the concoction Rachel Lee, a student at Pratt Institute, was trying to capture last weekend before the summer evening turned dark.#Anything else is a concoction to delight the eyes, impress the foolish, and get alcohol into your veins as quickly as possible.#The barman nodded and replied, “I got something for you,” and whipped me up that pink concoction.# |
A concoction is a curious mixture of things, like a bunch of liquids stirred in a cup, or the elaborate and unbelievable story you make up to explain not finishing your homework. |
Mix eight different liquids in a glass and you've got a concoction. Scientists create concoctions of chemicals in test tubes, and a bicycle made of junkyard scraps is a concoction too. The word’s Latin root means “cooked together,” referring to when you heat metals in order to purify them. A concoction is also a tall tale told to get out of trouble or entertain someone. If your story has ostriches, trampolines, lasers, and Abraham Lincoln, it’s probably a concoction. |
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| 1271 |
contortion |
a tortuous and twisted shape or position |
There was tumbling, human pyramids and bodies stretched into extraordinary contortions. |
funny#mean#flexible#smart# |
The state psyche did not endure the moral contortions suffered by those who felt compelled to justify slavery.#Immediately, her body is seized by wild contortions and she falls to the ground in a horrible dance.#Corey Scott-Gilbert’s dance in the video clip, with its handsome and grotesque facial and physical contortions, is just one way to envision the music.#“It would require some amount of contortion on our part to avoid it.”# |
If you twist your body into a contortion, you might put one leg behind your ear, and clasp your arms behind your back. A contortion is a twisted position. |
Yoga can feel like a series of contortions to beginners. People who twist their bodies into contortions professionally are called contortionists. In order to become a contortionist, you need to start with a lot of flexibility and a willingness to contort your body into uncomfortable positions. You then need a lot of practice. It is not easy to achieve a perfectly freakish contortion. |
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| 1272 |
counter |
speak in response |
The seller can then accept, counter or reject the offer. |
movement#return#planning#mannerism# |
You order at the counter, sit down, and someone brings you your dumplings.#In addition, Trump should reverse his administration’s efforts to dismantle the Obama Administration’s programs to counter violent extremism.#Protesters and counter protesters colliding with violence and chaos.#On Saturday afternoon, a Dodge Challenger barreled through a street filled with peaceful counter protesters.# |
A counter is a surface used for making transactions in a store or in a home kitchen for preparing food. In a store, you pay for items at the counter. |
When counter is a verb, it means "to speak up in opposition," like when you counter your opponent's argument in a debate. When something conflicts, you can say it "runs counter to," like a fancy car that runs counter to your philosophy of living simply. You can think of this meaning as "in the opposite direction," like "counter-clockwise," meaning the direction that's opposite of clockwise. |
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| 1273 |
cunning |
shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception |
Moreover, it was no secret that Cleopatra had ruthless cunning and superior intelligence. |
agony#allegiance#contrast#craftiness# |
Despite her leadership, cunning, and bravery, even those working with her never regard her as human.#Efrits are supposed to be shy, but jinn are vicious and cunning...#This time, Mr. Gordon is directing the entire event; early on, he convinced Ms. Johnson to contain “Then a Cunning Voice” to a single site.#Corvids are cunning, and capable of stealing from an iron age camp.# |
In fairy tales, always watch out for the cunning fox or the cunning witch. Cunning means clever, in the sense of trickery. A cunning plan might involve setting traps for the innocent and pure at heart to fall into. |
This adjective goes back to the 14th century English verb cunnen, which meant "to know," and is actually related to our English verb know. In earlier times, the noun was used to mean a high level of skill in using the hands. You can be cunning, but you can also use your cunning to figure out a very clever and tricky plan. |
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| 1274 |
debris |
the remains of something that has been destroyed |
The blast rattled their homes and sent debris flying onto nearby properties, they said. |
structure#merriment#rubbish#clamor# |
Some rescue workers and volunteers were digging through the mud and debris with their bare hands in a desperate search for missing relatives.#Some are digging through the mud and debris with their bare hands in a desperate search for missing relatives.#The neighborhood was among the hardest hit by rampaging floodwaters, which washed away a bridge and left homes caked in mud and debris.#Morgues were overwhelmed, and many were still feared buried by debris and mud.# |
Debris is trash scattered around after a disaster, like shattered glass on the road after a car accident. |
Debris comes from French for "waste, rubbish." Although debris usually refers to the trash leftover after some kind of explosion or crash, it can also be what's on your floor after hosting a kid's make-your-own pizza party, or what you shouldn't leave at the park after a picnic. Sometimes Mother Nature leaves debris, such as a pile of rocks, or that car on your lawn after the flood recedes. Don't pronounce the "s": debris rhymes with "be free." |
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| 1275 |
defiance |
a hostile challenge |
Schools still could expel students for violating school rules or laws and could suspend students for willful defiance of authorities in grades 4 through 12. |
merit#rebelliousness#determination#normality# |
But in many ways, shoegaze is that period’s understated protest: one with more roots in defeat than defiance.#When contacted earlier this month, Mr. Vela, a Democrat, doubled down on his defiance.#Her eyes held a curious look of defiance.#A psychologist in a gorilla suit debunked that idea some years ago, but we pound our chests in defiance.# |
Stand up when the powers that be order you to sit down, and you've given a fine example of defiance. It happens when someone or a group of someones openly flouts or challenges authority. |
We owe this lovely descriptive term to the French — specifically to the Old French word defier, which means to defy. (Don't mix it up with deify; that means to make someone or something into a god.) If you've ever studied Latin, you'll spot the fi from fidare "to trust" that inspired the Marines' "semper fi" motto and the popular moniker for pooches––"Fido." Combining fi with de- negates it. So an act of defiance is essentially an act of not trusting. |
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| 1276 |
deft |
skillful in physical movements; especially of the hands |
To make it work requires a deft hand. |
structural#dexterous#despicable#impassive# |
Walls’s childhood was so rich in drama and her storytelling so deft, that the memoir became a quick and undeniable hit.#This is the kind of security problem that requires deft diplomacy and alliance-building — not the forte of this administration, at least so far.#School and law enforcement officials said Bell appeared to be a predator so deft that he hid the alleged crimes for nearly two years.#Slaughter’s satirical touches are as deft as her grimmer renditions of real life.# |
Deft means "showing cleverness and skill in handling things." What you want to see in football or basketball is some deft handling of the ball. |
Some people are physically deft, like accomplished athletes and ballet dancers. Their movements are fast, graceful, and deliberate. Others might be mentally or intellectually deft. You could describe a beautifully written essay as deft, or talk about a politician's deft work on an anti-bullying bill. The source of deft is the Old English gedæfte, "mild or gentle," which became deft in Middle English along with its meaning of "apt, skillful, or adept." |
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| 1277 |
destination |
the place designated as the end, as of a race or journey |
Airports get stacked up with planes that can’t take off for their destinations. |
finish#fringe#vicinity#jurisdiction# |
Madeira, a popular tourist destination, is the largest of several Portuguese islands in the north Atlantic Ocean.#The key part of the government's paper is the choice of two different destinations as it tries to negotiate a long-term solution.#Worse, is the “lack of appeal of the High Line for long-time neighbourhood residents – a destination park without being a neighbourhood amenity”, says Lange.#I aim back west on I-90, my destination a rather infamously historical former mining town to the north of Rapid City.# |
Destination can describe where you are going, like a traveler whose destination is Paris, or a place that is known for a particular purpose, such as a hip new music club that's a destination for fans of indie rock. |
The noun destination comes from the Latin word destinare, meaning "determine, appoint, choose, make firm or fast." If you choose a destination, that's where you intend to end up, the "finish line" or goal that you keep in mind, like a friend's house that is the destination of a walk that might be interrupted a number of times, as you stop in stores along the way and pause to talk to the people you meet. |
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| 1278 |
diminish |
decrease in size, extent, or range |
By Friday morning, most of the heavy rain is expected to diminish. |
extinguish#elevate#enclose#ferment# |
The 31-year-old pleaded guilty on the grounds of diminished responsibility.#Diminishing rays of sunlight streamed through the majestic white clouds hovering over the Corona Centennial High football field on a glorious evening in April.#Hugely powerful under Mubarak, it is now viewed as somewhat diminished.#Staying well hydrated becomes more difficult with age because your sense of thirst tends to diminish with time.# |
Diminish means to make smaller or lesser. If you cover a lightbulb with a dark lamp shade, the light from the lamp will diminish. |
It can also mean become less important. Once the light has been dimmed, its role in lighting the room is diminished. If you look at diminish, you see 'minis' which comes from the Latin word minus, as in subtraction. Other words that share this root are miniature and minuscule, all of which mean something that is small, or at least smallish. |
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| 1279 |
dismal |
causing dejection |
It’s been a pretty dismal month, as far as world events go, but the news wasn’t all bad thanks to some very entertaining on-air mishaps. |
confused#disputatious#sole#cheerless# |
Attendance at the school is dismal, and drop-out rates are high.#Seattle didn’t really get that in either of their wins against a dismal A’s team.#"That was very bad," he told reporters after recovering from a dismal start to win his heat in 10.07 seconds.#The nation's workaholic culture also plays a role in the country's dismal figures on annual leave.# |
Dismal is a dreary, depressing sort of bad. "With the cold rain and their team behind by six field goals, the mood in the stands was so dismal even the cheerleaders had lost their 'Rah.'" |
Dismal comes from the Latin dies mali which means "bad days." There is a hopelessness implied in the word. If you fell on the way to school and cut your knee, it would be bad, but not dismal. If you fell into a giant mud puddle and had to wear dirty, crusty clothes until you got home, it might make the school day seem pretty dismal. |
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| 1280 |
dispel |
force to go away |
For most of us, dispelling the darkness is as simple as turning on a light. |
cite#disperse#intercept#designate# |
Laura Dassow Walls’s new biography is a compelling study that dispels both these notions, revealing an enigmatic American writer worthy of reappraisal.#But any suggestion he would be a dud were dispelled 82 minutes into his debut, against Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough.#The tweets seemed to dispel any notion that Trump's new chief of staff would rein in his social media habit.#A devotion to lying is a far graver danger to this presidency, and military efficiency will not dispel it.# |
To dispel is to get rid of something that's bothering or threatening you, regardless of whether that's warts, worries, or wild dogs. |
The nifty thing about dispel is that you can use it when talking about emotional problems (such as worries and fears) as well as physical ones (such as wild dogs). Note, however, that when dispel is used in reference to physical foes, it often has the added meaning of scattering your opponents in all directions. So, while you can dispel a pack of wild dogs, you should just chase off or drive away a lone wolf. Good luck with that, by the way. |
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| 1281 |
eavesdrop |
listen without the speaker's knowledge |
They eavesdrop on the noises that other birds make while hiding food in order to steal the stash later, new research shows. |
bumble#smirk#quibble#snoop# |
Do I get unfairly angry at her for eavesdropping?#Any attempt to eavesdrop on the quantum channel would introduce detectable disturbances to the system, Pan said.#We were chatting in Punjabi when we noticed a well-dressed, middle-aged man lurking nearby, apparently eavesdropping on our conversation.#She’s about to drive Brendan to college for the first time when she accidentally eavesdrops on that nasty pillow talk.# |
When you eavesdrop, you secretly listen in on someone's conversation. A little girl might eavesdrop on her parents in an attempt to find out what she's getting for her birthday. |
Whenever you deliberately overhear a phone conversation, or two people having a quiet argument, you eavesdrop. You might eavesdrop on a funny exchange between two friends at a cafe, or eavesdrop on an important conversation between your boss and one of your coworkers. The verb eavesdrop comes from the old-fashioned noun eavesdropper, "one who listens from under the eaves," from the even more old-fashioned eavesdrop, "ground where rainwater drips off the roof." |
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| 1282 |
ember |
a hot, smoldering fragment of wood left from a fire |
“Every hot spot is an ember that, if not contained, can become a new fire,” Obama said. |
in a swimming pool#in a grocery store#in a washing machine#in a fireplace# |
We listened to a lot of great musicians who lit a fire when they were young, then stoked those same embers successfully for decades.#The scenery is so gray that fabrics, embers and dyes are just about all that pops against the background.#“There were flames and embers shooting over the hill,” Alaina said.#Cotswold Wildlife Park was criticised on social media after the three-year-old female animal, named Ember, was killed on 21 July.# |
An ember is a little piece of wood or coal in a fire that's dying. Embers are hot and glowing. When the fire is out and the embers are glowing, it’s time to call it a night. |
Embers (usually plural) are smoldering pieces of wood or coal — usually very small — that burn brightly as a fire starts to fade. When you see embers, the fire isn’t finished yet, but it’s almost done. If you’re camping and you put out a fire, don’t leave it alone until the embers go out, too. People also use embers as a metaphor for other things that are starting to fade, like the last embers of a dying friendship. |
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| 1283 |
emerge |
come out into view, as from concealment |
They say that program has helped them emerge from the shadows, making possible a work permit, a Social Security number and enhanced self-respect. |
fly high#come home#get across#come forth# |
Immediately after the incident, different accounts emerged about the extent of the injuries to the four people.#Finally the interpersonal skills developed through leadership education may be helpful for emerging researchers.#“There’s ostensibly a very quick jump into the first detail that emerges,” he said.#But Mr. Frazier emerged as a lonely voice on Monday.# |
To emerge means to come out into view or come forth. You might hope to emerge from an epic perming session looking like a beauty queen, but chances are it will just look like you got electrocuted. |
From the Latin emergere, meaning to “rise out or up, bring forth, bring to light,” emerge is an intransitive verb that might bring to mind the image of a whale rising up from the depths of the sea, or of a person popping out from a dark corner to spook you. Appear and peep are synonyms, while dip and sink are antonyms. |
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| 1284 |
engross |
consume all of one's attention or time |
I don’t know how long I was reading; I was so engrossed in the paper that I did not hear any footsteps. |
immerse#simplify#condemn#predict# |
And, when he is not working as manager at Francesa’s Pizza in Norway, he is engrossed in his hobby.#On one side is the utterly engrossing story and world, which pull you in with gorgeous visuals and haunting sounds.#They respond with enthusiasm and then watch, thoroughly engrossed, as she breaks down the process of the elaborate braided hairdo.#The group at the next table were too engrossed in their board game to notice the rising stars in their midst.# |
Engross is a verb that means to consume all of your attention or time. Once you engross yourself in the culture of high salaries and unlimited spending accounts, it's hard to go back to cooking at a sandwich shop. |
Engross first came into English in the 1400s from the Old French word en gros, meaning "in bulk, at wholesale." By the 1700s the word had taken on the meaning of "absorb the whole attention." Immersing yourself fully in something can be good or bad. If you're studying Shakespeare, you want the plays to engross you so you don't lose focus. But if your video games engross you so much that you forget to shower or eat, that's a problem. |
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| 1285 |
exasperation |
a feeling of annoyance |
Like many a teenager on his school holidays, Parys is in bed, his mother explains with exasperation. |
vivacious#tender#incendiary#spoilt# |
Yet in addition to its discomfort with the U.S. approach, China is also showing signs of growing exasperation with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.#The CommBank drama will only aggravate public exasperation with banks.#The Kremlin does not express its exasperation with the Trump White House in public.#“Then they want to call my agent,” he said, fixing his face into that familiar Samuel L. Jackson pursed-lip expression of arrogant exasperation.# |
If you've ever become so frustrated with someone or something that you feel like you're at the end of your rope, you have experienced exasperation. You are fed up! |
Exasperation goes back to the Latin verb exasperare, meaning “to make rough.” When you are in a state of exasperation, you feel like something annoying you've had to put up with has put you in a rough mood. If you take up golf, you might find it to be a source of relaxation or a source of exasperation. Watching you try to teach your dog to fetch, I'm not sure which is more amusing: his stubbornness or your exasperation. |
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| 1286 |
exhilarate |
fill with sublime emotion |
“To see Yosemite Falls coming to life this morning is truly exhilarating,” Park Superintendent Don Neubacher said in a statement. |
relate#comprehend#quote#thrill# |
I think I remember drinking rosé, and feeling stunned and slightly exhilarated by Emma’s effortless and gracious manner.#I smile at how she laughed when we danced, with a freedom of spirit I found exhilarating in its possibility.#Yet Beethoven’s 9th, while also lacking practical value, does not fail to exhilarate us.#At their best they are the most exhilarating side in the country.# |
Exciting or thrilling things might exhilarate you. If you love acting, just the thought of being on stage might exhilarate you, giving you a feeling of giddy excitement. |
The Latin word exhilarare meant "to gladden" and exhilarate still holds a similar meaning today. If you feel down, maybe imagining a high, clear sky on a fresh, cool day can exhilarate your spirit. You found out that driving a race car exhilarates you but only makes your friend carsick. I hope you brought some rags. |
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| 1287 |
falter |
move hesitatingly, as if about to give way |
“The rocket has faltered, but it won’t crash,” he said. |
inspire#stumble#yearn#crave# |
And just like that, her confident air dissolves, the knife at Marcus’s throat falters, and he grabs her face in his hands and kisses her.#The company faltered, though, when its undersea fiber optic network wasn’t the huge success it hoped it would be and debt piled up.#Even in those first faltering weeks, there were consolations.#He said that will lead to a stronger global economy and will help stocks if growth in the U.S. falters.# |
Falter means to hesitate, stumble, or waver, and everything from faith to voices can do it. So if you want to keep your bride or groom happy, it's best not to falter when it's your turn to say "I do." |
Experts may falter if you ask them where falter came from, because the origins are pretty unclear. But everyone agrees on the current meaning: someone who falters is unsteady, wobbly, or unsure. You might falter while reciting a poem if you forget some of the lines, or falter crossing a rickety rope bridge when fear gets the most of you. But you certainly won't falter when someone asks you the meaning of this word. |
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| 1288 |
foresight |
seeing ahead; knowing in advance; foreseeing |
But nobody had the wherewithal or foresight to think that day would actually happen. |
play golf extremely well#sail a boat#predict what will happen#see well without glasses# |
No other arena requires as much wisdom, tenacity, foresight and empathy.#But Allen didn’t display good foresight with Cousins’s potential and worth.#Trisha Foley, scientific support officer with North Wales Police, praised the " foresight" of the scientists dealing with the case at the time.#The changes were criticized initially, though Johnson showed his foresight for the modern game of power.# |
Use the noun foresight to describe successful planning for the future. When it starts raining hard during your long walk to school, you'll wish you had the foresight to bring an umbrella. |
The word foresight is made of two parts: fore, which means "before," and sight, which means "to perceive." People often perceive things with their eyes: this is vision, or sight. But vision can also describe what someone thinks will happen in the future — and foresight is planning for things before they happen. |
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| 1289 |
fragrance |
a distinctive odor that is pleasant |
After 30 minutes in the oven, what hits you first is the enticing, warm fragrance that fills your kitchen. |
gauge#wonder#quest#scent# |
The bowl of chicken curry, its fragrance rapidly colonizing the air around us, squats in the middle of the concave flatbread.#Both flowers are at the heart of more than a few famous fragrances, including Chanel’s breathtaking star, No. 5.#Photos showed the zoo’s male panda, Winston, curiously exploring two colorful toys that Littman said were smeared in food fragrance.#Beauty and fragrances will be moving to the second floor next year.# |
A fragrance is a smell, usually a pleasant or sweet smell. Often perfumes are called fragrances. |
If you like the fragrance of coffee, you like its smell. Unlike the word odor, which usually means a bad smell, fragrances are usually good smells. People love the fragrance of flowers and good food. A specific smell can also be called a fragrance. When celebrities come out with their own perfume, it’s often referred to as a fragrance. Any aroma you enjoy — whether it’s perfume, flowers, or food — can be called a fragrance. |
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| 1290 |
furtive |
secret and sly or sordid |
What muffled whispers do they share, what furtive games are they playing? |
a cow#a clown#a spy#a waiter# |
A flicker of furtive movement in the shadows catches my attention, and the hair on my nape rises.#In recent days, there’s been scrutiny of two documents that seem a little furtive.#These furtive video journalists became the backbone of the documentary Burma VJ, which was nominated for an Oscar as Best Documentary a year later.#At first it appears almost impossible that you will be able to get your hands on the furtive feline.# |
If you're looking for a formal adjective to describe something sly or secret, sneak in furtive. Let's hope the teacher doesn't see your furtive attempts to pass notes in class! |
The adjective, furtive, is related to fūrtum, the Latin word for theft or robbery. This is apparent as the expressions "to give someone a furtive glance" and "to steal a glance at someone" mean the same thing. If a person's manner is furtive, he or she is acting suspiciously. Secret, stealthy and sly are all similar in meaning, but they lack this image of a thief's actions. |
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| 1291 |
grueling |
characterized by effort to the point of exhaustion |
As of Dec. 19, 22 students will have made it through a grueling curriculum that requires about 700 hours of computer code. |
saturnine#arduous#discursive#ebullient# |
The American workplace is grueling, stressful and surprisingly hostile.#Two women in 2015 graduated from the Army’s grueling Ranger course.#He relies instead on the building’s two-foot-thick stone walls to insulate rooms from grueling temperatures.#“He’s there to relax after months of grueling golf at Mar-A-Lago.”# |
If a job is grueling, that means it is really difficult. If a race is grueling, that means it is really difficult. If a trip to the dentist is grueling, that means you need to toughen up. |
Once upon a time in a land far far away (like eighteenth century England) there was an expression, to “get one’s gruel,” which meant “receive one’s punishment.” This saying morphed into the word grueling, which can be applied to any punishing activity. Presumably, to “get one’s gruel” involved horrible punishments, but now the more pampered among us might even find a long tennis match grueling. |
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| 1292 |
habitation |
the act of dwelling in or living permanently in a place |
Although the area is not fit for human habitation, many poor people who work in the coal mines live here. |
elevation#domicile#condition#cubicle# |
For the most part, the area is empty, an arid wilderness of ungoverned space devoid of habitation.#When the kids reach adulthood, they will establish their own independent nuclear habitations.#“When you bring fire into a habitation, I think something pretty profound happens,” says Chazan.#Half of Mumbai’s 15 million people live in slums, which Indian census officials characterize as residential areas where “dwellings are unfit for human habitation.”# |
Habitation is the state of living somewhere. When an area has no human habitation, it means that no people live there. |
Use the noun habitation to talk about the place where a person or animal lives, or the process or act of living in a specific spot. You can say that your family's habitation in Oregon lasted for five years, although it's more common to talk in a general way about habitation. The habitation of wolves in the American west, for example, has increased recently. The Latin root is habitationem, "act of dwelling," which comes from habitare, "to live or to dwell." |
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| 1293 |
hasten |
speed up the progress of; facilitate |
Rather than wait for that day, he set out to hasten its arrival. |
decorate#incorporate#accelerate#separate# |
But none of this saved Mubarak — in fact, in the view of Sisi officials, his laxity hastened his demise.#Back in Britain, the family of Angela Murray say medical deception hastened her death.#Do they hit big cities first, where congested living conditions might hasten their spread?#Tiglon’s increasingly desperate efforts to break the bind only hasten his demise.# |
The verb hasten means to move at a high speed. If you hasten to your room, no one will know that you came in late. |
Hasten comes from the word haste, which means "excessive speed or urgency." The words hurry and hasten are synonyms. Hasten can also mean "to make happen quickly," like when you open a window in the kitchen when you are cooking to hasten the room's cooling down. Hasten also means "to be quick," like when you hasten to tell everyone that the rumor going around about you isn't true. |
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| 1294 |
headway |
forward movement |
At times, you feel like you’re struggling to run forward, going through the motions but making no headway, frozen in place. |
escape#acceptance#surprise#progress# |
North Carolina proved more welcoming; Democrats won three of four targeted races but gained little headway.#Typical rush-hour headways will be eight minutes, rather than the usual six minutes.#Tindy, an ambassador for the charity Headway, said the massive brain injury knocked her confidence.#The Urban League’s annual review found persistent racial gaps, but also notable headway toward equality, during President Barack Obama’s administration.# |
Headway is what you achieve when you move forward or make progress. When you're rowing a boat on a very windy day, it can be hard to make any headway. |
You can literally make headway, as when you move forward, fighting your way through an enormous crowd at a shopping mall or rock concert — and you can also make a more metaphorical kind of headway: "I have been trying to write this novel for three years, but I'm just not making any headway." The word meant "the main road" in the 14th and 15th centuries, and came to mean "motion forward" in the 1740s. |
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| 1295 |
ignite |
cause to start burning |
Firefighters say the blaze started when stain-soaked rags ignited on the front porch. |
back up#take fire#choke off#clog up# |
Yet Mr. Trump’s modulated tone seemed calculated to open a negotiation with China rather than ignite a trade war.#That dismissal ignited a strong backlash from commentators on the right, who accused Google of suppressing free speech.#A lightning strike ignited a fire in the forest somewhere between the lodge and the chalet.#The fire is burning near the main trail after lightning ignited it during a Thursday storm.# |
Ignite is a verb that means to start heat or a flame. Trying to ignite a match inside a dark fireworks factory is a really bad idea — one that can get you blown sky high. |
The literal definition of ignite is to cause something to catch fire or burn. Dousing a house in gasoline and putting a lit match to the front door will surely cause the home to ignite. In its more figurative sense, ignite means to inspire intense feelings. A passionate kiss can ignite a fiery romance, but if one of the people doing the kissing is married to someone else, that kiss could ignite a spouse's fury. |
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| 1296 |
illuminate |
make free from confusion or ambiguity |
The problem is that for illuminating answers, you need to ask the right questions. |
clear#infer#weave#exploit# |
Our visit to an exhibit room of dioramas that re-create death scenes illuminated the difficulty in determining cause of death.#As the torchlight illuminates her face, I gasp.#Yet flashing gems of insight illuminate mortality amid the hostile scrub and rocks.#In a special Thursday night edition, “Saturday Night Live’s” Weekend Update illuminated his extra-large persona with a stellar parody by Keenan Thompson.# |
To illuminate is to light up — with physical light or with an idea. A spotlight might illuminate an actor on stage, and a good chemistry teacher might illuminate students with a lesson on the atomic structure of hydrogen. |
Originally, the verb illuminate referred to decorating handwritten manuscripts with bright lettering or pictures. Monks illuminated manuscripts with colors like gold, silver, bright red, and blue. Nowadays you can illuminate anything in the dark — either literally or figuratively. If you are afraid of the dark, illuminate your bedroom. In the dark when it comes to organic chemistry? Get an illuminating tutor. |
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| 1297 |
impending |
close in time; about to occur |
First, he gives the enemy 12 days of warning about impending air attacks. |
detestable#forthcoming#unfaltering#courageous# |
Water-transportation workers face an impending mass retirement of almost a third of the workforce.#They were sure that the impending tax-reform package, regulatory reduction, and the repeal of Obamacare would cause the markets and economy to boom.#And no notice of an impending sale was posted on the street or delivered to any resident, he said.#He later becomes so involved in his work that he misses the signs of impending doom — the rise of fascism and anti-Semitism.# |
If something is impending, it is about to happen. If you hear thunder in the distance, you might go inside to escape the impending storm. |
The word impending often refers to something threatening or frightening: impending doom, impending disaster. Something that is impending hangs over you — you might say, "I was so distracted by thoughts of my impending failure in my exams, I couldn't study." A synonym is imminent. |
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| 1298 |
imperious |
having or showing arrogant superiority |
It was a little scary how quickly he flipped from friendly to imperious. |
invisible#arrogant#cheerful#repetitive# |
He always did look his most imperious with a rolling start and he still holds the fastest 100m relay leg time, an unreal 8.65 seconds.#As novelist Nadine Gordimer, who'd been on a jury with her at Cannes, said, she was "an unlikely combination, both imperious and lovable."#But despite her exemplary range, many American viewers maintain an image of her as an aloof, exquisite, possibly imperious, possibly enigmatic beauty.#His characters included self-satisfied corporate executives, crusty academics, imperious dowagers and bewildered teenagers on the cusp of adulthood.# |
Someone who is imperious gives orders in a way that shows they feel superior or more important than other people. You might want the smartest kid in the class as your lab partner, but not if they have an imperious attitude and boss you around. |
Near synonyms are arrogant, overbearing, and domineering. The adjective imperious is from Latin imperiōsus, from imperium "command, supreme power, empire." This Latin word is also the ultimate source of English empire "a group of countries or territories controlled by a single ruler or one government." |
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| 1299 |
jabber |
talk in a noisy, excited, or declamatory manner |
A parrot jabbered atop its cage and a monkey squealed and battered at its bronze ring, until its owner brought bananas. |
succumb#babble#grope#waddle# |
And here's the podcast link again, if you want to hear Joel and I jabber:#And here's the podcast link again, if you want to hear Joel, Steve and I jabber:#And here's the podcast link again, if you want to hear Joel and I jabber:#And here's the podcast link again, if you want to hear Joel, Steve and I jabber:# |
When someone starts to jabber, they start talking on and on about this or that, or that or this, in an excited, sometimes incoherent way. Jabber is a close cousin to blabber. |
When someone jabbers, sometimes their words seem to fly out of their mouths like quick punches (jabs!) from a boxer. Some examples of jabber? You know, like when someone has a hobby that you don’t really care about or understand but they won’t quit talking about it? Yeah, they jabber. Or your best friend is relating, without end, his excitement about the coming tiddlywinks championship and you comprehend neither the game nor its importance? That friend jabbers, too. |
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| 1300 |
jargon |
technical terminology characteristic of a particular subject |
Steer clear of jargon, me-too claims, and statements without substance. |
milestone#lingo#eulogy#effusion# |
Pyongyang is calling it an “enveloping fire” demonstration, but in military jargon it’s more commonly called “bracketing.”#In genealogy jargon, she considers herself a third cousin to the No. 2-ranked player in the world.#It’s a minefield of jargon such as first contact and umbra, and of things to look for like shadow bands and Bailey’s beads.#Yet Greene offers more than just jargon for familiar divisions.# |
Jargon usually means the specialized language used by people in the same work or profession. Internet advertising jargon includes the terms "click throughs" and "page views." |
This noun can also refer to language that uses long sentences and hard words. If you say that someone's speech or writing is full of jargon, this means you don't approve of it and think it should be simplified. In Middle English, this word referred to chattering, so its origin is probably imitative: it echoes the sound of chatter or meaningless words. |
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| 1301 |
jostle |
make one's way by pushing or shoving |
In Jerusalem, great religions have crowded and jostled their way down through millenniums. |
at a comedy show#at a church service#in a crowded marketplace#on a running track# |
The seal will lift cleanly enough, but I can’t be jostled.#But that may be about to change, as other corporations jostle for a piece of the future of television.#Teams, medics, media, police and race organisers liberally interpret road rules as they jostle for the best position.#And they jostled for space in my mind, speaking loudly, and demanding to be seen.# |
The verb jostle describes being bumped and pushed in a horde of people — or doing the bumping, like those at a concert who jostle their way to the front, and the people jostled out of their spots when the newcomers arrive. |
Jostle describes both what someone does, like an impatient person who jostles other people out of his way on a crowded bus or subway car, and what happens to those victims: They may have their bags and cups of hot coffee jostled out of their hands by the impatient one's pushing and shoving. When you say the word jostle remember to shove the t out of the way because it's silent: "JOSS-ul." |
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| 1302 |
jut |
extend out or project in space |
From its long beak juts a fearsome tooth. |
dangle#ricochet#protrude#veer# |
The cliff is pocked with knobs of jutting rock, some of which deteriorate as soon as I touch them.#Cap Bon juts off northeast Tunisia like a thumb pointing toward Sicily.#The tree I choose seems to jut higher into the air than the others.#Every few yards, ceramic pipes jutted from the walls.# |
When something juts, it extends outward. Your nose juts out from your face, just as your ears jut from your head. If you’re feeling determined, you might jut out your chin. |
The word jut applies to anything sticking out. Anything that goes beyond the main line of something juts out, like a rock on a coastline or a bump on a log. If you walk into a room with your chin jutting out, people better watch out because you mean business. |
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| 1303 |
luminous |
softly bright or radiant |
It was briefly one of the most luminous stars in the galaxy. |
impertinent#enduring#sinister#bright# |
But as much as we’d like to think we are infallible, untethered, luminous, we are only human, and eventually we must be still.#He anticipated a luminous 2017, but a Lyme disease diagnosis in April sidelined him for over a month.#Saariaho’s music is characterized by surging, luminous tones and textures, large masses of sound that move and change, more static meditations than dramatic journeys.#Meanwhile, she describes Nick as “ luminously attractive,” Bobbi as “radiantly attractive,” and Melissa as perilously charismatic.# |
Luminous means full of or giving off light. During the winter holidays, with all their emphasis on light, you can see luminous displays of candles everywhere. |
This word has several figurative meanings that are related to the basic sense of something shining. For example, luminous prose is clear and easily understood. And a luminous career is bright and inspiring. The Middle English adjective is from Latin luminosus, from lumen "light." |
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| 1304 |
materialize |
come into being; become reality |
By the time people reach their 70s, they’re beginning to look back at the plans they made and dreams they had that never materialized. |
an architect's plan for a building#a design for a flying car#a plan to redesign a city#a resolution for world peace# |
The payback period would grow longer if that many jobs do not materialize, the bureau found.#He added another one Thursday, telling WTAQ-AM there’s no timeline for when jobs will materialize.#That fight hadn’t really materialized until the teams got together for a workout lasting more than two hours.#Around the same time, a youngster named Tiger Woods materialized like a boulder in his path.# |
When you materialize, you show up suddenly after being missing, unborn, or unseen. Think of Harry Potter removing his invisibility cloak. He materializes. |
Living things aren't the only things that materialize. Car keys and reading glasses materialize when you've been searching for them for a while and then they are suddenly there on the table. If you're lucky an unexpected business deal will materialize. Like material, the word is related to the Latin word meaning "matter." Matter, is, of course, all the stuff of this earth, anything and everything that takes form. So to materialize is to take form. |
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| 1305 |
misgiving |
uneasiness about the fitness of an action |
Quite a few said they had come despite the misgivings of parents who wanted them to focus on studying. |
franchise#reverie#apprehension#maneuver# |
And last year, Mr. Pearson, a conservative Republican, yearned for a change in the White House, despite his misgivings about the candidate promising it.#I can’t recall exactly, but I expressed some misgivings about the fund’s fees.#Lee credits her background as a clinical social worker for her decision to act on her misgivings about the authorization, despite the pressure.#But even among those most devoted to changing the way teachers are trained, there are misgivings about this new path.# |
If you have misgivings about something, it means you're worried that it's not a good idea. Trying to fall asleep the night before a test, you might have misgivings about having studied so little. |
Misgivings are feelings of doubt you experience about something before you do it. As you get closer to the time you actually get on the airplane, you might begin to have misgivings about traveling far away to go to college, or you might have misgivings about joining the army to pay for your education. |
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| 1306 |
momentum |
an impelling force or strength |
Mitchell believed that a song’s momentum should always push upward, ascending like the slope of a mountain into the unknown. |
a friendship bracelet#a rolling boulder#a large hill#an analog watch# |
The South Korean leader urged North Korea to help create momentum toward dialogue by not conducting any more nuclear or missile tests.#The building certainly will help Trails & Rails build on momentum achieved with the museum’s listing on the state Department of Tourism’s Nebraska Passport program.#The ensuing trial and error killed much of the game’s momentum.#The long-shot effort gained momentum last week with support from influential outside groups.# |
Momentum is generally used to mean increasing forward motion. A boulder rolling down a hill gains momentum. So does a great idea, a team on a winning streak, or the economy. |
To find an object's physical momentum you multiply its mass by its velocity. Determining the momentum of the economy or the latest fad is much more difficult. Used figuratively, momentum implies that, like a boulder rolling down a hill, something with momentum will continue moving forward on its own. If you're running for class president, you might want to build momentum by holding a few rallies, passing out flyers and starting a website. Once you have momentum, your opponents won't be able to stop you. |
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| 1307 |
monotonous |
sounded or spoken in a tone unvarying in pitch |
Unfortunately, their monotonous verbiage reminds me of Charlie Brown’s teacher in the “Peanuts” TV shows. |
widespread#dull#destitute#superfluous# |
I tried to pay attention, but the monotonous voice of the narrator kept lulling me to sleep.#But with myriad modifications to houses here over the decades, Levittown no longer presents the same monotonous landscape.#Fishing is monotonous and repetitive, and the day lurches forward at the steady pace of the vessel’s tow.#Labeled “dry work” by pitching coaches, it’s monotonous repetition of simulating your delivery without actually throwing.# |
When something goes on and on and on and on and on, the same way, for a long time, that's monotonous. Monotonous things are boring and repetitive, like that long story you've heard your brother tell a hundred times before. |
Ever hear a song that just sounds like the same thing over and over? Ever hear a dog that keeps barking all day? Or a voice that's dull and unchanging in tone? All those things are monotonous: they don't change much, and they're dull as dishwater. Anything tedious or humdrum is probably monotonous. If someone says you're being monotonous, try to vary your tone of voice or the things you're talking about. |
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| 1308 |
narrate |
give a detailed account of |
Standing amid bags of garbage, he starts sorting, tearing open plastic bags and narrating his finds. |
request#recount#repeat#recover# |
One ad, written and narrated by poet IN-Q, showcases the different kinds of people and towns across America.#You’d been approached over the years about portraying Bette Davis, and you narrated a documentary about her.#They’ll work with Date Lab’s editors on the matching process, interview the participants, and then narrate and analyze what unfolded on the date.#Wills produces, narrates and acts in the show while Winsor writes the scripts.# |
When you tell a story or describe something out loud, you narrate. You might hire a well-known actor to narrate your documentary film about circus elephants. |
One way to narrate is to comment on or describe visual images — photographs or scenes in a film, for example. You can also narrate a story simply by relaying the details aloud. In books, a character sometimes narrates the story as well. It appears that narration, or the action of telling a story, came before narrate, from the Latin root narrare, "to tell, relate, or recount," or literally, "to make acquainted with." |
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| 1309 |
obscure |
not clearly understood or expressed |
The book contains little plot, an abundance of obscure poetry and the untimely death of three protagonists. |
immaterial#economical#monotonous#inconspicuous# |
They recently began sharing their findings via an obscure website called Disobedient Media.#Mr. Milbank’s choice to use nationwide figures obscures the degree of the defection of white working-class voters from the Democrats to Mr. Trump.#In a total solar eclipse, the moon moves directly between the Earth and the sun, completely obscuring the sun's face.#Then there were the clauses that were too obscure even for Professor Wexler.# |
If something is obscure, it's vague and hard to see. Be careful if you're driving in heavy rain — the painted lines can be obscure. |
Obscure comes from Latin obscurus, which can mean "dark, dim," "unclear, hard to understand," or "insignificant, humble." We tend to use obscure in the metaphorical senses: an obscure sound is unclear, an obscure village is hidden away in the countryside, and an obscure poet is little known and probably insignificant. Obscure can also be used as a verb. If you get really nervous when you speak during a debate, your embarrassing twitches and shaking hands can obscure your argument. |
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| 1310 |
outlandish |
conspicuously or grossly unconventional or unusual |
Not everything in the show is outlandish; some events are all too realistic. |
secretive#cooperative#eccentric#distant# |
The most bizarre thing about it is he’s one of the most outlandish and large personalities, probably in American history.#The new special “Car Country” looks at the automobile industry’s more innovative and/our outlandish designs from the 1970s to the present day.#He criticized some of Trump’s more outlandish statements, but his critiques usually were muted, and he preferred to deliver them in private.#Researchers in the 1950s dismantled hypnopedia's more outlandish claims.# |
If something is outlandish it's bizarre or unfamiliar, far outside the boundaries of expected or normal behavior. Driving around the city in a golf cart and eating spaghetti with pineapple sauce are both examples of outlandish behavior. |
It's easy to imagine how the word outlandish originated. The Old English root is utland, which literally means "out-land," or foreign. Now, it would be inappropriate to refer to a foreigner as outlandish, unless, say, he shows up to the office in a red patent-leather Speedo and a ten-gallon hat. |
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| 1311 |
persistent |
stubbornly unyielding |
It says, “together, if we face obstacles and counter the negative with a persistent positive, we might just change the world.” |
unstable#expensive#precedent#tenacious# |
He was forced to retire from playing at the age of 20 after persistent knee injuries and at around the same time his father died.#Friday night’s game was postponed because of persistent thunderstorms in the area.#They are typically fast and bright, and they occasionally leave persistent trains.#The events highlight a persistent debate in the U.S.# |
If something is persistent, it just won't stop. If you're persistent in your suggestions for a trip to Mexico, maybe your parents will eventually give in and take you there. |
Persistent comes from the Latin verb persistere which means "to continue with strength." A persistent salesman refuses to give up. A persistent ringing sound is one that repeats and repeats. Persistent rumors keep circulating, as does a persistent virus. Often something persistent is annoying. The related verb is persist, which means to continue to exist, or to go without stopping. |
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| 1312 |
plenteous |
affording an abundant supply |
"The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few." |
virtuous#lacking#insecure#principal# |
To put it succinctly, Truman took the side of a tiny people with no oil against a plenteous people with lots of it.#Giving people plenteous options in a private, free market would be the best way to make health insurance accessible and affordable.#“Little TREMBLER, fear no more, Thou hast plenteous crops in store; Seeds, by genial sorrows sown, More than all thy scorners own.#He calculated that one-fifth of the produce of years so extraordinarily plenteous would serve for the seven scarce years.# |
Something that's plenteous is abundant — there's plenty of it. If the spaghetti at dinner is plenteous, you won't think twice about having seconds, or even thirds. |
You can use the adjectives plenteous and plentiful interchangeably, although plenteous is the more literary and poetic of the two words. A farmer might say happily, "The corn harvest sure was plenteous this year!" or you could say, "My friends are so plenteous, I'm having trouble choosing just three to invite to my pool party this weekend." Plenteous was originally plentivous, from the Old French plentiveus, "fertile," from plentee, "abundance." |
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| 1313 |
precipice |
a very steep cliff |
"Every minute of every day, we were on the precipice of failure, which is an exciting place to be," Marsh says. |
in one's bank account#on a mountain#in a field#underwater# |
Complicating things is that he’s like any other “normal” teen on the precipice of adulthood — confused, irritated and dismayed.#We’ve been here before, on the precipice of freeing ourselves from messy, dangling bits, only to return to them again and again.#This is problematic, for when something is on the precipice of history, its light is dimmed by the previously employed hyperbole.#That is precisely the informational precipice upon which the rules of golf sit at the moment.# |
Cartoon characters often end up on a precipice, the edge of a steep cliff, where their chubby toes curl and cling as they totter and eventually fall, making a hole in the ground below and getting up again. Most real people avoid precipices. |
Unless you're a skilled climber or mountain-sport enthusiast, a precipice is a scary thing. Some imagine falling off and making the sharp drop, while others get dizzy just thinking about looking down. This makes sense, considering that the 17th-century English word precipice comes, through French, from Latin words meaning "headlong" and even "abrupt descent." In modern use, precipice also describes how it feels to fall, or fail, in areas of life that don't involve mountains, such as being "on the precipice of losing everything." |
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| 1314 |
pristine |
completely free from dirt or contamination |
Back at the jail, Snow White is getting under Anna's skin a bit -- shaking her once pristine view of the princess. |
retrograde#repellent#punctilious#clean# |
Nine water-dropping planes and helicopters were leading efforts to stop the fire, which ate deep into some of the few remaining pristine forests near Athens.#Awful as those times were, it did leave the surprising benefit of a pristine coastal environment.#For every pristine Carrie Underwood, in essence, we need the balance of a little more grit and glower.#Forty rooms open off pristine, white corridors, their walls adorned with pictures of women in states of glamorous undress.# |
If something is pristine it's immaculately clean or has never been used. So please check your shoes before walking on a pristine white carpet. |
A long, long time ago pristine was used to describe primitive or ancient things. It wasn’t until 1899 that the word grew to mean "unspoiled" or "pure." Ecologists strive to preserve pristine rain forests, just as vacationers are always looking for a pristine strip of beach to lounge on. A new car should arrive to you in pristine condition, and hopefully you'll do your best to keep it that way. |
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| 1315 |
quell |
overcome or allay |
The White House has tried to quell anxieties about the danger of Ebola spreading in the United States. |
transcend#aggregate#parody#quench# |
Protesters and counterprotesters converged in some pitched battles in the streets before Charlottesville police, backed by Virginia State Police, quelled the fighting.#Saturday marked the first time in 28 years the Virginia National Guard was used to help quell a civil disturbance.#Federal authorities are also looking into a helicopter crash on Saturday that killed two Virginia state police officers aiding efforts to quell the clashes.#Federal authorities were also looking into a helicopter crash on Saturday that killed two Virginia state policemen aiding efforts to quell the clashes.# |
Meaning to suppress or overcome, quell is what you have to do with nerves before a big test and fears before going skydiving. |
When it first came into existence, the verb quell actually meant “to murder.” That's a bit more serious than our modern definition, but you can use that old definition to help you imagine offing your worries or putting a permanent end to criticism. These days quell is often used to mean "pacify," as in the police quelling an angry mob or a mom quelling a kid's temper tantrum. |
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| 1316 |
recluse |
one who lives in solitude |
Long before his days as the world’s most famous recluse, Howard Hughes flew planes fast and far. |
someone who has trouble talking about his feelings#a nun living in a Catholic convent#someone living alone on a deserted island#someone who is running away from the police# |
A few years ago, he became a recluse and quit answering his phone.#At various times in his career, he’s been an art house auteur, a must-have director of the moment, a renegade and a recluse.#From that day, the vivacious and gregarious Aisha became a recluse.#Mr. Campeau retreated to Austria, where for many years he dabbled in real estate deals, living largely as a recluse.# |
A recluse lives alone, works alone, eats alone, and generally stays away from other people. Anti-social old hermits are recluses, as are a lot of students during exam time. |
In the early 13th century, a recluse was a person who shut out the world to go meditate on religious issues. But nowadays recluses can think about whatever they want while they're sitting in solitude — they're simply people who shy away from social interaction and live secluded lives. Or think of the Brown Recluse spider, who likes to hide out in dark old boots or undisturbed corners of the basement. |
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| 1317 |
recuperate |
restore to good health or strength |
Sleep is the time when your body recuperates and rebuilds from the day’s stress. |
gawk#escalate#deteriorate#dawdle# |
Yet that is where “England is Mine” succeeds: it recuperates the self-regarding yet vulnerable young artist from the 58-year-old contrarian.#Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson remained in Georgia for several weeks earlier this year as he underwent two back surgeries and recuperated.#The Senator's doctors said that he is recuperating from his initial surgery "amazingly well" and that his "underlying health" is excellent.#Mrs Buhari, who joined him earlier this month, said in June that he was " recuperating well".# |
To recuperate is to get something back that you have lost — could be good health, or money lost in a bad investment. When you recuperate, you heal and recover. |
Recuperate comes from the Latin word recuperare “to take back,” so when you recuperate you gain something back that was yours before — health or money. Recuperate is usually something people do after an illness. If you break your knee playing rugby in college, you might go home to recuperate. If you don't want to sound fancy, just say you're recovering. It also means to get money back, so you can also try to recuperate your losses by staying in the poker game. |
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| 1318 |
replenish |
fill something that had previously been emptied |
They bring in dredged sand to replenish the beach. |
an airborne volleyball#a glass cup#a raisin#an old book# |
My grandmother taught me that at night your skin replenishes all the things you lost during the day.#After replenishing their wealth, they returned to Jamaica, where her father owned property and a rum distillery.#The supply would be replenished, in just a few hours.#“In practical terms, there will be no way to replenish or recharge these systems.”# |
To replenish something is to refill it. If you have a pet pooch, you’re probably obligated to replenish his food bowl to avoid being barked at incessantly. |
Use replenish when talking about something valuable or desirable, such as money or food. For example, you might discuss replenishing your bank account, but you wouldn’t speak of replenishing a trash can. You can also use replenish in a joking way to show that something is of value to you; by noting that the jar of jellybeans on your desk needs to be replenished, you indicate that you require jellybeans to survive your day at the office. We get that. |
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| 1319 |
repugnant |
offensive to the mind |
The truth is that we need only look at recent human history to find real, live, utterly repugnant evil. |
repulsive#complacent#incoherent#omnipotent# |
The groups are " repugnant to everything that we hold dear as Americans," he said.#The groups are “ repugnant to everything that we hold dear as Americans,” he said.#He denounced “the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans.”#Paul Ryan, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, called the views on display in Charlottesville “ repugnant” and “vile bigotry.”# |
Repugnant refers to something you detest so thoroughly it threatens to make you physically sick, like the idea of marrying your sister. Or wearing last year's jeans. |
A repugnant thing is a thing offensive, detestable, or obscene. It can be repugnant to your mind or your morals. It can also be physically repugnant, like the smell that comes from a restaurant’s dumpster, which hasn't been emptied since the very exciting "Omelet Week," way back at the beginning of August. Makes you want to "re-PLUG-nant" your nose! |
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| 1320 |
restitution |
a sum of money paid in compensation for loss or injury |
While restitution is paid to the victim, criminal fines and felony assessments are paid to a crime victims’ fund. |
authorship#regaining#effusion#exploitation# |
McElwain said he was “very disappointed” with the players’ decisions, adding that paying restitution would be part of the reinstatement process.#She also was ordered to pay nearly $70,000 in restitution to Bankers Trust.#A restitution hearing for Pierce will be held at a later date.#The judge ordered him to pay full restitution.# |
Restitution is the act of making up for damages or harm. Remember the time you knocked the ball out of the park, scoring a home run but breaking a house's window in the process? You had to make restitution for the broken window, paying for its replacement. |
The noun restitution means both "restoring something to its original state" and "returning something to its rightful owner," like a public apology that leads to the restitution of a person's honor and reputation. Restitution also has a specific legal meaning — an order given by a judge to a convicted criminal to make amends for the crime. For examples, judges often order people to pay restitution for the damage they cause. |
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| 1321 |
sabotage |
destroy property or hinder normal operations |
“We want at least a district that won’t sabotage the dreams of its youths.” |
cache#bandy#subvert#feint# |
Sherman opposed the emancipation of the slaves, sabotaged his own troops efforts to free them and used slave labour on his fortifications.#“Enough to convince me that the Augurs must heal Aspirant Aquilla. But not enough to convince me that the Farrars committed sabotage.”#In an American Action Network radio spot, a man’s booming voice declares, “America’s tax code is sabotaging our economy.”#In front of an Iowa government building, two women admitted to an eight-month campaign of arson, vandalism and sabotage targeting the Dakota Access Pipeline.# |
Sabotage isn't very nice: It's when you ruin or disrupt something by messing up a part of it on purpose. Loosening the blades on your competitor's ice skates would definitely be considered sabotage. |
Sabotage comes from the French word saboter, which literally means “walk noisily.” That's funny, because the last thing you'd want to do when committing an act of sabotage is stomp around and get caught. It’s believed that sabotage came into use in 1910 as a noun, and then later in 1918 as a verb. Apparently, people only became so cruel in the last century or so. |
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| 1322 |
scarcity |
a small and inadequate amount |
Water—its scarcity, quality and the regulations affecting it—is becoming a new corporate headache. |
a picnic where many foods are supplied#an area where drought is recorded#a supermarket where the shelves are full#a mountain with a roaring waterfall# |
It sees the threat of scarcity: not enough time, not enough energy, not enough magical ability to fit everything into twenty-four hours.#It is not price but exclusivity, the scarcity model, that drives the new geeks.#Good strategy often involves trade-offs based on realism about objectives and the scarcity of resources.#In times of peril or scarcity, females tend to favor the alpha male.# |
If there is a cupcake scarcity in your kitchen, there are hardly any cupcakes around, and you're not sure that any will be appearing any time soon. |
The noun scarcity comes from the adjective scarce, which means "restricted in quantity or availability." So scarcity is the state of there being very little of something. During a war when shipping gets interrupted, there might be a fuel scarcity, pushing people to carpool or ride bikes instead of driving. If you're in a room full of super boring people, you might say there's a scarcity of good conversation. |
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| 1323 |
scurry |
move about or proceed hurriedly |
Ever wonder how cockroaches scurry around in the dark while you fumble to switch on the kitchen light? |
ruse#scramble#detriment#distortion# |
Taylor bought 50-pound bags of feed for them and offered peanuts to the squirrels that scurried by.#She finishes mopping and scurries down the stairs.#In an instant, the gossiping and eating stops, people scurry back to their cubicles, and each pretends to be doing something productive.#But it can't stay too long in the second place, or the initial colonizers might scurry away.# |
Scurry means to move quickly, at a frenzied pace, and often also implies the urge to hide. When you come upon a mouse in your house, chances are it will scurry away. |
Think of scurry this way — anytime you describe someone as scurrying, you're comparing them to a mouse. When you say troops scurried back behind their defensive lines, you're insulting them. When you say children scurry around searching for eggs during an Easter egg hunt, you think they're cute. |
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| 1324 |
serenity |
the absence of mental stress or anxiety |
The surrounding waters and beautiful pools that surround the hotel create a real sense of calm and luxurious serenity. |
formality#integrity#anxiety#curiosity# |
One example of the quest for serenity: Sundara Inn & Spa, in Wisconsin, asks guests to put away electronics.#The challenge for Matsuyama over the next week will be to maintain his serenity while his compatriots calculate his chances of winning the P.G.A.#By foot, boat, bicycle, even wheelchair, they are crisscrossing the land this summer, trying to cobble serenity from lives upended by combat.#Detectives began their investigation when officials at Serenity Lane provided business records documenting Sappe’s thefts.# |
The goal of meditation is to reach a state of serenity, when your mind is still and perfectly calm. Use serenity to mean the quality or state of being calm and peaceful. |
It is hard to believe that the ocean, whipped by winds during a storm, can ever return to a state of serenity, where its surface looks like glass. Serenity is from Latin serenus "calm, peaceful" plus the suffix -itas. The first part of the word is the English adjective serene, which means calm and peaceful. The Latin suffix corresponds to our English suffix -ity and has the meaning "quality or state." |
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| 1325 |
sociable |
friendly and pleasant |
Running with others is really sociable and great fun. |
successful#friendly#healthy#practical# |
They are looking to rent to those who want to be sociable.#The researchers repeated the experiment — this time using an opsin to turn off excitatory neurons in the prefrontal cortex — and the mice were similarly sociable.#I try hard to be more sociable, not just with Chaff but with the group at large.#Similar changes in humans are associated with a rare genetic syndrome, where people are highly sociable.# |
When you're sociable, you're willing to talk and be friendly with other people. At a party, it's a good idea to be sociable and make new friends rather than standing off in a corner by yourself. |
Sociable comes from the Latin sociabilis meaning "close, intimate." When you are sociable with others, you invite them to get close to you by being friendly and pleasant. When a place or group of people is friendly and inviting, it can be described as sociable. Certain small towns are known to be friendly and sociable. |
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| 1326 |
somber |
grave or even gloomy in character |
It was also the day before one of the most somber of American anniversaries: Pearl Harbor was bombed 73 years ago Sunday. |
vital#esteemed#prior#cheerless# |
Their words were brief, their demeanor somber, their hopes for a recovery high.#Still, he said: “Its somber elegance and cool aloofness was the kind you might find in a certain sort of funeral home.”#This somber German-language drama, based on actual events, is the story of a principled man’s doomed plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler.#Inside, the cathedral is brooding and somber, more Dark Ages than medieval.# |
Funerals are often somber affairs. Also your face after your teacher hands back an exam you failed. Somber is used to describe situations, facial expressions, or moods that are dark, gloomy, or depressing. |
Something that is somber is often thought of as "in shadow," as in "the shadow of grief," or "the shadow of a bad mood." This is not just a coincidence. Somber comes from French sombre, which comes from Late Latin subumbrāre "to cast a shadow," from Latin sub umbrā "under a shadow." |
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| 1327 |
specimen |
an example regarded as typical of its class |
The researchers detected it in older starfish samples, museum specimens from as early as 1942. |
promise#property#example#memory# |
After a whole day of being thrown around, stamped on by horses and nearly ripped in half, it’s time to retire this particular specimen.#The scientists call for more careful stewardship of DNA-rich bone specimens to ensure that they remain available to multiple research teams to study.#The recognition follows a study of 3,000 specimens by a team of experts.#Research on ancient DNA relies on the availability of rare bone specimens from archaeological excavations.# |
A specimen is a sample of something, like a specimen of blood or body tissue that is taken for medical testing. |
The noun specimen comes from the Latin word specere, meaning “to look.” Biologists collect specimens so they can get a better look at something to study it. The idea is that, with a good specimen, you can learn about an entire group: it's a good representation. That meaning is echoed in the slang use of specimen, a strong, healthy and attractive person. |
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| 1328 |
stamina |
enduring strength and energy |
A 6-year-old might not want to walk the mile into Petra, but teenagers have enough physical and intellectual stamina to appreciate going to these places. |
a light breakfast#a stretch limousine#a long-distance run#a commercial break# |
Even armed with such a substantial lead, there will be pressure on her stamina and usually reliable putting stroke.#"Labouring over his last manuscript, he courageously summoned a reservoir of mental stamina, facing each challenge that fate apportioned him."#The opposition says he lacks the stamina to run the country and should step down.#After a month of building up stamina as a starter, he was in the majors.# |
If you can run for a really long time, or carry a heavy box a really long way, you have stamina. Stamina is staying power or enduring strength. |
Stamina is not always related to physical strength and endurance. Solving a difficult puzzle or a complex problem requires your brain to work long and hard, something called mental stamina. If you have had a really tough year, but are doing generally fine, someone might say you have emotional stamina. It can also mean perseverance. Do you have the stamina to learn this word? |
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| 1329 |
swagger |
a proud stiff pompous gait |
The Giants had arrived here with the swagger of a team that had won two of the last four World Series titles. |
renege#bluster#curtsy#holler# |
The Dodgers win by slugging home runs and getting shutdown pitching, and the swagger seems to grow with every postgame fist bump.#But when he checked in for the first time last season, Stanley brought to the field an unmistakable swagger.#Offering drama, swagger and the illusion of certainties in an uncertain world, the rallies are vital in sustaining this alternate reality.#He also showed some of that swagger he brings to the basketball court:# |
Picture the confident, maybe even arrogant way a pirate, a cowboy, or even a rapper might stroll around. That style of walking is called a swagger. |
Swagger can also be used as a verb. After you ace a test you might swagger down the hall feeling pretty full of yourself. In verb form it can also refer to more aggressive behavior like bullying or intimidating others. Hopefully you wouldn’t swagger down the hall doing that though! |
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| 1330 |
swarm |
move in large numbers |
In “ Swarm” mode, the robots instead follow one another, like children chasing a soccer ball. |
#### |
Air controllers scrambled to direct swarms of planes filling the skies.#No skills to survive a country swarming with Martial patrols.#Outback pools draw immense swarms of parakeets called budgerigars.#The country was recently likened to Disneyland by a local politician who complained that the area is now swarming with tourists.# |
A swarm is a good word for a large group of bees going on the attack — not good news. Like bees, any group of people or animals can be considered a swarm if they act together and quickly — even fiercely. |
On a hot day, when an ice-cream truck shows up, it's usually greeted by a swarm of hot, hungry kids. People at a concert can be a swarm — and people in the swarm can be hurt, because there's lots of pushing and shoving. When tickets for a popular movie go on sale, a swarm of people will swarm the theater. As you can see, swarm works as either a noun or verb, and people could teach bees a thing or two about swarming. |
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| 1331 |
tactic |
a plan for attaining a particular goal |
Technology has been used as a crime-fighting tactic, but not as a tool to determine what happens during a police action. |
maneuver#souvenir#grid#prodigy# |
Thank you for exposing tactics used by elected officials and Washington State University in “A War Over Wolves.”#And the Butcher, the pre-eminent practitioner of such tactics, was one of the first to be detained.#Tactics vary, with several groups privileging the weaponisation of internet culture to reach the young.#Brandon Shearer says the officers unsuccessful tried de-escalation tactics before one officer fired.# |
Tactic is another word for maneuver or method. Looking for a way to get something done? Then you better find a tactic. |
English-speakers have been talking about tactics since at least 1640, when this word was first recorded. A tactic is just a way to do something, a plan, or an approach. Generals have to have a good grasp on military tactics to win a battle; football teams have to use strong defensive tactics to keep the other guys from scoring. One time-tested tactic for winning over a teacher? Always turn your homework in on time! |
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| 1332 |
terse |
brief and to the point |
It’s a request to which Dipper responds, with terse eloquence, “Weird.” |
astral#dapper#infatuated#curt# |
After five more strong innings Monday, Strasburg was terse, as if agitated to get back to Washington and to the majors.#“Nazi salutes are indefensible,” the network said in a terse statement.#It’s the fatal flaw in an otherwise excellent, terse, and enthralling film.#In a terse ceremony 64 years ago today at the border between North and South Korea, an armistice ended fighting in the Korean War.# |
Terse means brief, or using very few words. If your teacher tells you to make your writing in your essay style terse and to the point, he's saying use as few words as you can and be simple and clear. |
A terse reply or command may seem rude or unfriendly––but the word terse itself doesn't mean unfriendly or rude. Synonyms are succinct or concise, though these words have a more positive tone. The adjective terse is from Latin tersus "clean, neat," from tergere "to rub off, wipe, polish." Polished language is neatly concise. |
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| 1333 |
translucent |
allowing light to pass through diffusely |
It comes in several colors, including attractive translucent ones. |
a cross-country railroad#a seer of the future#a frosted windowpane#a compulsive liar# |
Appearance: In this case, blond, translucent skin, in need of fresh air.#Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are soft and translucent, 5 to 7 minutes.#The popsicle looks delicious — orange colored, translucent, with what might be a small slice of citrus suspended inside.#Most are hewed from wood, but the artist contrasts actual, veneer and engineered forest products with translucent crimson urethane.# |
A translucent material lets light pass through, but objects on the other side can't be seen clearly. Think Shrinky Dinks or stained glass. |
In contrast, a transparent material allows you to clearly see the objects on the other side. Frosted glass is translucent, and regular glass is transparent. But opaque glass doesn't let any light through at all, and so you can't see through it. The adjective translucent is from Latin translucens, from translucere "to shine through." |
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| 1334 |
uncanny |
surpassing the ordinary or normal |
The Dark Sky App tells you the weather where you are with an uncanny accuracy. |
incontrovertible#reactionary#inexcusable#extraordinary# |
Something about the combination of her loyalty and patience creates an uncanny urge to confide.#Best moment: Channeling the First Daughter's tone and eyebrow ticks, Rudolph revealed Ivanka's uncanny ability to talk through her teeth at just above a whisper.#In the increasingly uncanny alternate reality of No Man's Sky, a hamster reposes in a cage.#The searches are an uncanny virtual reflection of the eclipse itself.# |
If something is uncanny, it is so mysterious, strange, or unfamiliar that it seems supernatural. If you hear strange music echoing through your attic, you might refer to it as positively uncanny. |
You can also use uncanny to refer to something that is so remarkable that it is beyond what is natural: as in "uncanny abilities." This adjective was formed in English from the prefix un- "not" and canny "fortunate, safe." The current meaning of English canny is "careful and clever, especially in handling money." |
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| 1335 |
unsightly |
unpleasant to look at |
But that’s just a quibble, an unsightly pimple on what is a greater problem. |
dangerous#corrective#displeasing#immaterial# |
In the first image, the crowds are encroaching on their background, and there's an unsightly traffic light on the left.#We seem to be coping OK with the unhealthy air and unsightly skies.#They call attention to and propose elimination of unsightly or blighted conditions adversely affecting properties and property values.#Her implication is that dad bods are unsightly.# |
Unsightly is a gentler way of saying ugly. Often something that is described as unsightly sticks out like a sore thumb in an otherwise attractive environment. |
A yard full of weeds and broken-down cars in a well-groomed neighborhood is unsightly. Magazine advertisements highlight products that promise to remove or hide unsightly blemishes and scars, restoring your skin to its previous beauty. |
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| 1336 |
versatile |
able to move freely in all directions |
Eggs are among the most versatile foods and the proteins change when you heat them, beat them or mix them with other ingredients. |
fraught#variable#cavalier#pretentious# |
In Hollywood, Mr. Bologna became a versatile character actor in comedy and drama and working both sides of the law.#That one is good but not as versatile or easy as the Nest.#That one is good, but not as versatile or easy as the Nest.#The twin-engine bomber was the fastest and one of the most versatile aircraft to serve during the war.# |
To describe a person or thing that can adapt to do many things or serve many functions, consider the adjective versatile. |
In E.B. White's classic children's book Charlotte's Web, Charlotte the spider tells Wilbur the pig that she is versatile. "What does 'versatile' mean — full of eggs?" Wilbur asks. "Certainly not," Charlotte replies. "'Versatile' means I can turn with ease from one thing to another." Charlotte knew her etymology, because the word reflects its Latin root, versatilis, "turning around; revolving." It eventually came to describe someone who is multi-talented: a singer-songwriter-actress-model would be a versatile figure in the entertainment world. |
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| 1337 |
vigilant |
carefully observant or attentive |
Because there are so many scammers out there, banks are vigilant about verifying that you are who you say you are. |
antecedent#wakeful#naive#articulate# |
We should also stay vigilant about password hygiene and about what apps we install on our machines.#It said the events in Virginia show “we must remain vigilant about educating the public regarding hatred and xenophobia.”#Rose urged people attending mosques to remain vigilant and report any threats to the police.#But the state emergency management division advised citizens to be vigilant for any sign of the swamp thing, which was first sighted in 1998.# |
Use vigilant to describe someone who keeps awake and alert in order to avoid danger or problems. When taking the subway, be vigilant about your wallet––always know where it is, or someone might steal it from you. |
Vigilant descends from Latin vigilans, from vigilare "to be awake, watch," from vigil "awake, alert." If you stay awake all night, you're keeping watch or keeping a vigil. A vigilante (pronounced vij-uh-LAN-tee) is a person who acts outside the legal system to punish crime. |
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| 1338 |
vulnerable |
capable of being wounded or hurt |
Second, older cells are more vulnerable to this damage—or less able to repair themselves. |
assuring#effectual#veritable#secure# |
More than 99 percent of patients who reach health facilities survive but children and the elderly are most vulnerable.#Why are we most vulnerable at the endpoint?#So American companies are now vulnerable to higher tariffs on sales to Europe than those faced by its Japanese competitors.#Do we fear seeing the men in our lives as weak and vulnerable?# |
Use the adjective vulnerable to describe something or someone open to being physically or emotionally wounded, like a newborn chick or an overly sensitive teenager. |
Vulnerable is from Latin and is based on vulnus "wound." From its literal meaning, it has come to be more often used for someone who is easily hurt or likely to succumb to temptation. It's best used for a person whose feelings are so delicate that they can't withstand any criticism or pressure: "Don't speak harshly to her, she's very vulnerable today." |
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| 1339 |
waft |
be driven or carried along, as by the air |
The birds were chirping, and a warm breeze wafted through the screens. |
a rowboat#a scoop of ice cream#a steady breeze#a pit of mud# |
His scent, sharp and smoky, wafts over me.#In that context, an unlikely breeze of openness continues to waft from Annapolis.#On humid days, before a summer rain, the smell of chocolate wafted through the city.#One warm evening, music wafted in through the restaurant’s open windows.# |
When your grandmother cooks her famous spaghetti sauce, many wonderful smells may waft from the kitchen. In other words, the air will gently carry this familiar aroma throughout the house. |
Though the verb waft usually involves movement through air, it has watery roots. A "wafter" was a convoy ship in the 16th century, and these words may have derived from the similar looking wave. Waft can refer to scents, sounds, and even smoke. So, if your grandmother’s sauce begins to burn, smoke could waft from the kitchen as well. |
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| 1340 |
waver |
pause or hold back in uncertainty or unwillingness |
He is tough as nails, never wavers, speaks the truth and stays focused. |
dehydrate#welcome#fluctuate#coexist# |
But then, with the championship abruptly in his hands, Thomas understandably wavered.#Her voice is so sincere that for a moment, I waver.#But McConnell quickly boarded the Trump train once the mogul secured the GOP nomination, and unlike House Speaker Paul Ryan and others, he never wavered.#The press also suggests Trump followers are wavering in their support.# |
To waver is to move back and forth, like when you waver, one minute thinking you'll stay home, planning to go meet your friends the next, until you finally make your decision. |
Waver comes from the Old English word wæfre, which means “restless.” When the wind blows, it makes the leaves and flowers waver, or move, in that same direction. A person who wavers is much the same — affected by any influence or change. He or she isn't sure what to do or may be too shy to express a preference until time is just about up and a decision must be made. |
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| 1341 |
weather |
face and withstand with courage |
You even get subjected to ridicule, and you have to weather that storm. |
brave#wake#forget#title# |
“We are continuing to watch and continuing to monitor, when the weather allows,” says Shuman.#After checking the weather records along the predicted eclipse path, Dyson decided to observe from the Yorkshire village of Giggleswick.#On board will be raspberry pie cameras, weather sensors, and modems to stream live eclipse footage.#A big difference: Fewer of us are outside during bad weather.# |
Weather is the atmospheric conditions, including the temperature, wind, snow, rain, or anything else happening outside. People tend to talk about the weather when they can't think of anything else to talk about. |
In some places, people say, "Don't like the weather? Wait an hour and it'll change." Every day, experts try to predict the weather, but they never get it exactly right. You can also use weather to mean "endure something," as in "I weathered the storm at work." That's not a real storm, but a stormy situation. Even though the weather drives us all crazy at times, at least it gives us something to blab about. |
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| 1342 |
zeal |
a feeling of strong eagerness |
The enthusiasm has caught on among his regulars, who come often, linger and talk about pumpkins with the zeal of converts. |
ardor#wrath#indignation#hostility# |
In Eisinger’s enthusiasm for criminal sanctions, he falls prey to the same zeal for punishment that brought us the mass-incarceration culture that he correctly decries.#“But I’ve embraced it with the zeal of a convert.”#Anarchist, communist or just liberal, they oppose fascism with militant zeal.#Diego tore into the ribs with zeal, and his lips and chin, were soon slathered with barbecue sauce.# |
Zeal is dedication or enthusiasm for something. If you have zeal, you're willing, energized, and motivated. |
Zeal is often used in a religious sense, meaning devotion to God or another religious cause, like being a missionary. Zeal doesn't have to be religious, though: a feeling of gusto and enthusiasm for anything can be called zeal. People have zeal for sports teams, bands, causes, and (often, but not always) their jobs. If you have passion for something, you have zeal, which is kind of a mix of eagerness and energy and devotion. |
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| 1343 |
active |
voice in which a sentence's subject functions as an agent |
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collective#destructive#progressive#expressive# |
“For a group of physically active people who also carry one gene variant, their likelihood of obesity would be lower, at 7.3 percent.”#The officer in this particular case should be returned to active duty immediately.#No one asserted responsibility, but al-Qaeda and the Islamic State are active in southern Yemen.#For starters, pulsars are incredibly long-lived, staying active for tens of millions to multiple billions of years.# |
Something that is active is characterized by movement and action. That action might be a random or temporary movement, such as someone who is active and exercises only now and then, or something continuous, like an active strain of a virus. |
Since the adjective active suggests activity, applying it to anything implies some sort of motion or action. A person might be physically active, not sitting around and doing nothing, or mentally active, working the mind. In language, we refer to "the active voice" as one in which the subject does the action, in contrast to the passive voice, a rather boring style where the subject is the receiver of the action. Even in writing, it’s better to be active! |
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| 1344 |
adjective |
the word class that qualifies nouns |
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quality#modifier#adjunct#objective# |
One adjective that’s used a lot about your novels is “experimental”.#For much of its history, the subtext of the adjective, “American,” was “white.”#“I just wanted a job,” he added, using a colorful adjective.#It’s not clear that Mr. Trump, by upgrading the adjectives in his own threats, changes much.# |
An adjective is a word that modifies a noun (or pronoun) to make it more specific: a "rotten" egg, a "cloudy" day, a "lovely" lady, or a "tall," "cool" glass of water. |
You use adjectives to give your nouns a little attitude or to communicate clearly. Without these important parts of speech, the president would live in The House, it would be difficult to give someone directions to the store, and there would only be one size available at Starbucks. |
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| 1345 |
adverb |
a word that modifies something other than a noun |
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Colorful sashes enliven the white dresses.#My broken watch stopped at four-thirty.#Indira is usually on time for class.#My friend Tomas is allergic to shellfish.# |
Articles and prepositions indicate analytical thinking and predict higher grades; pronouns and adverbs indicate narrative thinking and predict lower grades.#Most adjectives modified by an adverb, like “highly educated”, need no hyphen.#Should any horse ever win the Derby via Dubai, people might use the same language, though probably minus “pounds” as an adverb.#The best place to put a word like finally—that is, an adverb,# |
An adverb is a word that modifies anything other than a noun, usually a verb. If you listen patiently to my grammar lesson, you will learn that patiently is an adverb in this sentence. |
Many adverbs end in –ly, like quickly, happily, or grudgingly. Sometimes adverbs are harder to spot. If I ask you to talk very loudly, then very is the adverb: it describes how you are supposed to talk. |
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| 1346 |
audience |
the part of the general public interested in something |
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#### |
But for the next few weeks, she’ll just be entertaining Edinburgh audiences and baiting Trump online.#First, Mr Pence threw his audience off-guard by saying something stirring, pithy but not strictly true in the literal, nit-picking sense of that word.#It shows an angry man on a soapbox holding court to an audience of fedora-wearing chaps as a way of warning against hatred and xenophobia.#That uncertainty may explain the film’s polarizing effect on audiences since it opened in French theaters and began playing at film festivals last fall.# |
An audience can be people watching a performance, or an opportunity to speak with someone important, like an audience with your favorite actor at a "meet and greet" event. |
The noun audience can describe all the people watching a performance, or the part of the general public interested in a specific type of information or entertainment. For example, the audience for a show about raising children might be parents or other care-givers. Finally, an audience can be a meeting or interview, like an audience with your school's principal. |
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| 1347 |
cause |
events that provide the generative force of something |
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crusade#chorus#channel#custom# |
"What was meant to be a reassuring step ahead continues to cause more uncertainty for businesses all over the country," he added.#They are people, not just collateral damage to a greater cause.#Phillips hopes that the music — so much of it about Staley’s addiction — causes people to talk about what killed him.#State investigators determined the infestation was caused by neglect, but no caregivers were disciplined because officials say they couldn’t identify the staffers at fault.# |
A cause makes an effect, and you're likely to hear the phrase "cause and effect" when people are trying to analyze how things happen. |
Cause can also mean something worth fighting for — like social justice or animal rights. You might raise money for a good cause, like ending poverty. Once the doctor determines the cause of your illness, she might make it her personal cause to discover a cure. The verb cause is all about the action of producing an effect, like when you slice onions and it causes your eyes to water. |
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| 1348 |
clarity |
the quality of being coherent and easily understood |
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jealousy#coherence#stamina#inadequacy# |
But her stance is enormously valuable in its visibility and newfound clarity, and it marks a shift in her priorities.#Here’s a look at what we’ve learned so far, plus the areas where the team still needs clarity.#But Bonello’s approach, always seeking to evoke rather than explain, doesn’t allow us either the clarity of analysis or the comforts of condemnation.#There are moments of clarity that offer a new lease on life.# |
Clarity means clearness. Clean water running down a mountain has clarity. So does a lovely singing voice: it's clear and pure. |
If you bring clarity to a situation, you help people see what really happened by clearing up misunderstandings or giving explanations. Sometimes people talk about having moments of clarity when suddenly everything about a particular situation or even about life itself comes into focus. People also talk about good writing having clarity when it is precise, clean, and easy to understand. |
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| 1349 |
clause |
an expression including a subject and predicate |
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"swimming across the pool"#"when she walks to the store"#"green, blue, and lavender"#"the big brown dog"# |
Then there were the clauses that were too obscure even for Professor Wexler.#The only thing that gets reported in the U.S. media is the second clause, not the first.”#The French league added that it “does not understand” why its Spanish counterpart “refuses to accept the payment for the buyout clause for Neymar.”#That deal, worth around £150,000 a week, does not include a release clause.# |
A clause can be a scary thing. Whether it is a stipulation in a contract or a grammatical concept, people sometimes avoid clauses because they are too difficult to grasp. |
A provision or stipulation in a contract, clause is a noun that comes to us from the old French clause, which, if we trace it way back, comes from the Latin clausula “the end, a closing termination.” Circa 1300, the “ending” implication of the word began to fade and was replaced by “article or section of a text.” Legal documents, like prenuptial agreements or job contracts, often contain a clause, or many. |
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| 1350 |
cohesive |
well integrated |
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pleasant#learned#united#ineffective# |
He added that he was for a " cohesive multi-ethnic society" which is "united under British values and British laws".#Sanctions will only work if they are part of a “ cohesive, clearer strategy”, argues a report by the Brookings Institution, an American think-tank.#I think the only way we got a shot at being cohesive and hearing each other is if we speak more freely.#We try to get a set that cohesively fits together for one reason or another.# |
When the parts of the whole work or fit together well, they are cohesive, like a cohesive family whose members pitch in with everything from making dinner to painting the house. |
The adjective cohesive comes from the Latin word cohaerere, or “to cleave together.” Cohesive things stick together, so they are unified. A cohesive neighborhood's members get together to plan things like block parties, and they work together to solve problems. A cohesive fitness plan would include menus and exercise routines designed to lose weight, build muscle, and so on. |
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| 1351 |
confuse |
mistake one thing for another |
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relieve#frighten#ignore#baffle# |
He grew up near the fort — along the Russian River — and lives in Sebastopol, Calif. — not to be confused with Sevastopol, Crimea.#“We are very much confused,” Moon Jung-in, a special policy adviser to President Moon, told ABC News on Sunday.#But there are moments in the tapes where Chase appears confused about what’s happening.#Rather than being confusing or a distraction, Rhaetic is fascinating to hear.# |
If you confuse two things, you are not correctly identifying them. If you confuse heartburn with a heart attack, you might end up at the emergency room instead of in the antacid aisle of the drugstore. |
To confuse can also mean to bewilder. If you tell a teacher that she's confusing you, you probably mean that she's being more complex than you can handle. A lot of people get confused by the differences among "their," "they're," and "there." To confuse the situation even further, there's "theirs" and "there's." |
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| 1352 |
compare |
examine and note the similarities or differences of |
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direct#produce#liken#quicken# |
The civilian analysts will be paid from $51,000 to $90,000 annually, creating savings in many cases compared with uniformed crime analysts.#The 12-mile stretch brings together people of all backgrounds, and passengers seem more apt to interact with him compared to other routes, Vass said.#And it compares with a much higher 8 percent gain for the labor force as a whole over the past decade.#But deaths were still up 8 percent compared to the first six months of 2015.# |
To compare is to look at two things and see how they are similar and different. |
People compare all the time. If you look at two products and compare prices, you're looking for the better bargain. It is hard to compare who was the better athlete, Michael Jordan or Billie Jean King, because they played different sports. At a museum, you can compare different paintings. If you like your math teacher better than your history teacher, you're comparing the two. If a TV shows is bad, you could say "it doesn't compare" to your favorite show. |
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| 1353 |
contrast |
put in opposition to show or emphasize differences |
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mental ability#dividing line#article of faith#strong belief# |
The campfire conversations of blustery teens and chest-puffing elders contrast with the shame and rage of the men conducting double lives.#By contrast, the domestic side of the economy jolted to life.#They also noticed a contrast in their humor.#LEAP, by contrast, is trying to build a culture favoring nonjudgmental conversations among educators, exposing vulnerabilities and opening avenues for feedback.# |
The verb contrast means to show a difference, like photos that reveal how much weight someone lost by contrasting the "before" and "after" shots. |
You probably know contrast in its relation to compare. To contrast something is to look for differences among two or more elements, but compare is to do the opposite, to look for similarities. It's easy to tell the difference if you remember that contrast comes from the Latin root contra, and means "against." Contrast is also a noun meaning basically the same thing — you might notice the contrast of a dark tree against a snow-covered hill. |
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| 1354 |
conjunction |
a function word that serves to conjoin words or phrases |
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dwelling#linkage#greeting#advantage# |
The scheme is being run in conjunction with the club's official charity, Everton in the Community.#Miranda created the contest in conjunction with Prizeo to raise money for the Immigrants: We Get the Job Done Coalition.#The six-week day camp programs, most in conjunction with local YMCAs, teach children the fundamentals of swimming, biking, running, good nutrition, strength and flexibility.#In conjunction with the Australian and British defence ministries, America’s Army Research Laboratory, in Maryland, is analysing the brain’s alpha, beta, delta and gamma waves.# |
"Conjunction Junction, what's your function? Hooking up words and phrases and clauses." These lyrics from Schoolhouse Rock sum it up: a conjunction is all about joining things together. |
The words and, but, and or are conjunctions, linking words and phrases together to form sentences. Other kinds of conjunctions bring groups together, such as organizations working in conjunction to present a big event; or bring objects together, like a conjunction in a house's plumbing system where pipes meet. Conjunction could also mean things happening at the same time, such as free Schoolhouse Rock screenings that are presented in conjunction with a National Grammar Day celebration. |
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| 1355 |
content |
what a communication that is about something is about |
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amendment#fulfillment#commitment#entrancement# |
The Chrome version of Sling TV offers live programming for all the channels in your monthly package and also on-demand content.#Much of the content is too offensive to display in this article.#In addition to the IP addresses, DreamHost said that the DOJ requested the contact information, email content and photos of "thousands of visitors".#People in that position are usually never content.# |
If you feel content, you're satisfied and happy. The content of a book, movie, or song is what it's about: the topic. |
This word has two main meanings. The first has to do with being pleased and satisfied (feeling content) or making someone else feel happy and at peace with things (contenting them). The other meaning has to do with subject matter: the content of a history class might be American history. The content of a math class might be geometry. As long as there's a topic or subject, there's content. |
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| 1356 |
dangle |
hang freely |
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swing#retrieve#intensify#fracture# |
A purple finch flew from a holly tree and landed atop the bird feeder, which dangled from a wire attached to a pole.#An aluminum ladder leaned against a tree, a long yellow rope dangled from a post, and a steel pulley hung from a zip line.#“That’s a huge carrot to dangle during preseason camp,” Brown said.#Maybe it is some kind of decoration that dangles from a string.# |
Dangle means to hang or swing loosely. If you dangle string above a kitten you will both be entertained. |
The verb dangle probably comes from a late 16th century Danish or Swedish word meaning “loose or pendulous,” though we don’t know for sure. You may have a taste for big, showy earrings that dangle. Or, you might even dangle a possibility — "If you were to dangle the prospect of dessert to a child, then you better follow through!" |
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| 1357 |
modifier |
a content word that qualifies the meaning of a noun or verb |
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barrier#qualifier#courier#outlier# |
Brittney is the kind of person for whom active verbs and modifiers were invented.#These days, Wigler is on to another big idea: risk modifiers.#Did The Post’s writers and editors fail to learn about misplaced modifiers, or is this a rather extreme example of an alternative fact?#Fortunately, this is one rule that need not drive anyone mad: a group of words used as a single modifier should be hyphenated.# |
A modifier is a word that describes or changes another word. Adjectives and adverbs are fun modifiers. They can turn a “man” into a “strange man” or make him “act strangely.” |
To modify is to change slightly, so a modifier is anything that makes this change. Modifiers are popular in grammar land, but you could say that chocolate is a mood modifier, for example. An editor, who alters a few sentences, can be described as a modifier of the original manuscript. In the world of science, a modifier is a kind of gene that changes the effect of another gene. Modifier comes from the Latin word modificare, "to limit or restrain." |
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| 1358 |
edit |
prepare for publication or presentation by revising |
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communicate#divert#cut#betray# |
The video appeared to be an edited clip from years ago when Mr. Trump was part of a professional wrestling event.#“We don't host this content, moderate it, or edit it,” he said.#You get all that, and in a minor stroke of editing genius, you almost never see the cook's face, just his wildly multitalented hands.#These are edited excerpts from a conversation with Ms. Moss.# |
The verb edit means to prepare writing for publication by correcting, revising, or proofreading. If you write for a newspaper, someone very skilled will edit your work before the public sees it. |
Edit can also mean to cut out. If you edit out all the references to Harry Potter from the famous series, you'll be left with much shorter books. Edit likely comes from the noun editor, meaning the person in charge of a final version of a text. You might also hear edit used when referring to video or film. If you edit a television show, for example, you assemble pieces of video or film footage to create a complete program. |
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| 1359 |
exposition |
a systematic interpretation or explanation of a topic |
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flock#exhibition#migration#function# |
The fair runs Aug. 17-27 at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville.#I’m not asking for a scene full of exposition or anything.#The Los Angeles Football Club introduced its first designated player Friday morning during a raucous event at the California Science Center in Exposition Park.#George Lucas is breaking ground on a museum in Exposition Park.# |
An exposition takes place when you "expose" something — like at a fair or convention for showing off goods, art, or similar wares. An exposition can also be the section of a story that explains the basics of the tale. |
In classical music, the first part of a piece is often an exposition, in which the composer lets you hear the tunes and themes that will get worked over during the rest of the piece. Most movies spend a lot of time at the beginning on exposition, as well. The director wants you to know where the story is set, who the characters are, and what it is they want. Exposition is important to set the scene, so the rest of the story makes sense. Exposition can also mean a big fair, often called an "expo." ComicCon is a famous exposition. |
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| 1360 |
expository |
serving to expound or set forth |
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schematic#avuncular#pharisaical#instructive# |
We labored over writing in the “ expository” style, exhausted the scientific method, and read and performed Shakespeare plays none of us understood.#In most documentaries, human speech is explanatory and expository: Much information is conveyed by means of voice-over narration and talking-head interviews.#Structural parallelism works not just in poetic and hortatory passages but also in ordinary expository prose.#No one was better in expository speaking than Kevin, though repetition crept into his remarks in recent years. # |
The first few minutes of a first date typically consist of expository chit-chat, meaning that that's when people fill each other in on the basics: where they're from, what they studied in school, and what they want to be when they grow up. It's background info. |
A synonym for expository is explanatory. It might help to relate the words, as expository dialogue usually exists to give the audience an explanation of a character's previous actions. The challenge for a playwright is to communicate exposition by crafting expository dialogue that isn't boring. It's often a sign of amateur writing when the expository information stands out as just that. The experienced writer can hide the expository information inside the action and other speeches. |
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| 1361 |
focus |
maximum clarity or distinctness of an idea |
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a microwave oven#a coffee maker#a digital camera#a ten-speed bicycle# |
Parents naturally zoom in on what their children are doing wrong, but shifting to focus on a child’s strengths is more effective.#While the report is largely focused on conversion rates, it still provides some interesting insights into how subscription-based apps are actually doing.#She wrote about her experience on her blog, BurkeDoes.com, where she focuses on personal finance and self-improvement.#The focus on inequality misses the mark on more than substance, he argued.# |
Focus is something that camera lenses and sleepy students are always being asked to do. For cameras, it means finding a point where the subject is clear or "in focus." For students, it means paying attention. |
Focus is all about finding a center — of a parabolic curve, of a lens, of a meditative state. In Latin, focus meant 'domestic hearth,' which just goes to show that not much has changed — since kitchens remain the focus of the modern home. Focus can be used as a verb, as in "I need to focus on my work, so I can play video games later;" and as a noun, as in "What is the focus of this essay? I can't tell, since the writer seems to be all over the place." |
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| 1362 |
fragment |
an incomplete piece |
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burial#carriage#shard#demand# |
The tombs contained a collection of different sarcophagi, or stone coffins, as well as clay fragments.#But the broad shift toward streaming is also proving to be a more fragmented consumer experience than many anticipated.#Consoling narratives must be patched together from transient fragments of experience.#Instead, Portugal’s forests keep getting fragmented into smaller parcels, often inherited by people who no longer live anywhere near the land.# |
A fragment is a small piece that’s come off a larger whole, and to fragment is to break. If your teacher writes "frag" on your paper, you've got an incomplete sentence. |
Fragment, meaning "a tiny, brittle shard," first appeared as a noun and later as a verb. That afternoon you hacked away at the fireplace in your parents’ living room in search of secret treasure as a child? Those dusty chunks of brick you scattered all over their shag carpet were fragments of a once-intact wall, and a happier time before you were grounded. Not only did you cause physical damage that day, but you also fragmented their trust in you. |
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| 1363 |
gerund |
a noun formed from a verb |
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abbreviation#intensifier#verbal noun#proper noun# |
Instead, Wilson and Nabokov clashed over a gerund.#Long after I attached Gs to my gerunds and bleached out the local color from my language, I stumbled over the word “on”.#He pumped the beat, a Ugandan jive, and after shouting the gerund a few more times, he finally came to its object: “Rep-re-sen-ting UUUUUUUUUU-gan-da!”#“Gerontology is the study of: A. The elderly B. Gerunds C. Germs D. Rocks and jewels.”# |
In English grammar, a gerund is a word based on a verb that functions as a noun in the sentence. For example, if you say "Sleeping is my favorite thing to do," "sleeping" is a gerund. |
Gerund comes from the Latin word gerundus, which means to carry on. In English, gerunds can be the subject of the sentence, the direct object, or the indirect object, and they always end in "ing." They are verbs that are acting as nouns. In the sentence, "You may like writing, but it's clear you don't like grammar," the word "writing" is a gerund. |
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| 1364 |
grammar |
the branch of linguistics that deals with sentence structure |
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objectives#initiatives#adjectives#conservatives# |
“Lack of or incorrect punctuation is a far greater issue than weak grammar.”#These days, she tries to spend several hours a day studying for college boards and tightening her English grammar.#Focusing on the fundamentals of grammar is one approach to teaching writing.#In the grammar of our relationship, I am the object.# |
Grammar is the set of language rules that you use, most of the time unconsciously, to create phrases and sentences that convey meaning. |
You may dread studying grammar, but in fact you already know much of the grammar of your native language. If you grew up speaking English, no one had to tell you that "Throw the ball to me," is a sentence in English, but "Ball the me to throw" is not. You may, though, need coaching to avoid common errors — “bad grammar" — like “Throw the ball to he and I,” where you should say “Throw the ball to him and me.” |
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| 1365 |
infinitive |
the uninflected form of the verb |
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"It rains."#"She declines."#"to create"#"to whom"# |
The truth is that the phrase “split infinitive” is misleading.#Encarta World English Dictionary: “There is no grammatical basis for rejecting split infinitives.”#These rules also discourage unattended anaphoric pronouns and say that split infinitives should be rarely used.#They tend to speed up, use incorrect grammar or pepper their words with split infinitives.# |
"To be or not to be?" In his most famous line, Hamlet was using the infinitive form of the verb "be." The infinitive form of a verb is its most basic form, usually its "to" version. |
The word infinitive comes from the Latin infinitus meaning "unbounded, unlimited." When a verb is in its infinite form, it's not limited or bound by its subject or tense. Contrast "to be" with "was" — was is tied to the past tense and a single person. Strip away the word to from "to be" and you have what's known as a bare infinitive. Keep the to there and you've got a full infinitive. |
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| 1366 |
informative |
tending to increase knowledge or dissipate ignorance |
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clerical#instructive#vocational#scant# |
The results are equal parts intriguing, funny and counterintuitively informative.#Every second spent on his bluster is more degrading than informative.#Another informative, large study drew on personality questionnaires completed by nearly 60,000 Swedish and Finnish people.#There’s informative audio narration, and several stops for films to be projected on the walls.# |
Use the adjective informative to describe something that gives you some kind of useful information, like an informative book about identifying the mushrooms you find growing wild in the woods near your house. |
When something is informative, it's usually educational and full of facts — like an informative text book or an informative tour of the Hindu temples of northern India. If you learn a lot from something, you can call it informative. The Latin root of informative is the word informare, which means "to shape, train, instruct, or educate." Something that does those things for you is informative. |
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| 1367 |
introduction |
the first section of a communication |
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before the first chapter#in the middle of the action#near the end of the story#in the appendix of the volume# |
The fresh start, as well as the introduction of two new players, failed to wash away old problems.#Although these introductions firmly embrace utility, they maintain a refreshing air of flair and whimsy.#Besides, Oklahoma City’s classes do encourage abstinence; they are often students’ first introduction to the very concept.#Though the European Tour introduced a similar policy in January of 2016, its introduction in the United States remains novel.# |
An introduction refers to a beginning — maybe presenting someone new to a group, or inserting a new idea into a project. In a piece of writing, the introduction makes clear to the reader the text's purpose. |
The noun introduction comes from the Latin verb introducere, meaning "to lead in." This “leading in” might be the formal introduction of a speaker, or the speaker's own introduction to his remarks. Or it might be the insertion of a new and different idea, as in British politician Lord Hailsham's remark, "The introduction of religious passion into politics is the end of honest politics, and the introduction of politics into religion is the prostitution of true religion." |
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| 1368 |
irregular |
contrary to rule or accepted order or general practice |
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implacable#worldly#thoughtful#uneven# |
He dismissed the ballot as “ irregular and unscientific polling.”#The interiors were dark and gloomy, with black, irregular slate and parquet floors, gilt and floral wallpaper and wood paneling.#Burr’s eight-page password document, titled “NIST Special Publication 800-63. Appendix A,” advised people to use irregular capitalization, special characters, and at least one numeral.#Folkenlik, a Murdoch biographer, added that the lawsuit exposed a degree of interaction between Fox News and the White House that was highly irregular.# |
Irregular describes something that's unpredictable or uneven. If your dog has irregular spots, it means that she has random splotches of color scattered across her fur. |
Anything that doesn't have a pattern or schedule is irregular, like the irregular hours of a store that's only open when the owner feels like it. In grammar, an irregular part of speech is one that doesn't stick to the usual rules. Irregular can also describe something doesn't meet standards, like irregular clothing that's sold at a discount. Irregular originally meant "not in conformity with Church rules." |
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| 1369 |
irrelevant |
having no bearing on or connection with the subject at issue |
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uncanny#adept#indefinite#applicable# |
This is true, but irrelevant — no one is arguing they did.#The only outcome is that the "activists" will be busy thinking up other irrelevant, non-productive things to do to get their names in the news.#In our view, it’s largely irrelevant because it’s not based in reality.#Only a few years ago, “writers wrote that cable news was irrelevant, that it was being overtaken by the Internet,” he said.# |
If you're talking about hockey and someone keeps trying to mention football, you might describe their comments as irrelevant. Irrelevant means not related to the subject at hand. |
If a rock star becomes irrelevant, it means people are not relating––or even listening––to his music anymore. It isn't part of what people are thinking or talking about. The opposite is relevant, meaning related. An analysis of brush strokes in Manet's painting would be relevant to a discussion of texture in painting in general. Relevant was borrowed from Medieval Latin relevare "to bear upon," from Latin, "to lift up." The prefix ir-, meaning "not," is a variant of in- before words that begin with the letter r. |
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| 1370 |
misplace |
put in the wrong position |
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shape#reserve#lose#pose# |
Critics say South Dakota’s misplaced spending priorities hurt the quality of local treatment options and contribute to staffing turnover at regional care centers.#When Cole misplaces his fastball, as he did too often in his last outing against the Marlins last week, Cole is hittable.#“He is entitled to his views but it is all based on a few studies and they are misplaced,” said MacGregor.#The urge to impute beliefs, motives and mental states to mass murderers, moreover, is often misplaced, experts said.# |
When you misplace your car keys, you can't remember where you put them. In other words, you temporarily lose them. |
You can use the verb misplace when you can't find something. If you misplace your favorite coffee cup, you'll be annoyed, but if you misplace your wallet it could cause you real problems. The word implies that the object isn't gone for good, but that you unthinkingly put it down somewhere. When you combine the prefix mis-, which means "bad or wrong," and place, you get misplace — as in placing something in a bad spot! |
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| 1371 |
auxiliary |
functioning in a supporting capacity |
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aide#recipient#visionary#operative# |
Though the auxiliary box will be outdoors, the working area will be protected by the stadium roof.#The island is plagued by fires in summer and auxiliary firefighters are paid €10 an hour by the state to help extinguish them.#That’s why these days Discovery primarily focuses on the entertainment value of sharks, with science serving as an auxiliary to that idea.#He’s one of my favorite writers and the print is a beautiful auxiliary to his writing.# |
When you're offering something in support of an already existing thing, you're offering something auxiliary. The auxiliary police will help out the regular police with things like directing traffic and crowd control when there's a special event in town. |
The Latin word auxilium means "help," and so auxiliary means something that "helps" by providing backup or support. Think of auxiliary verbs (sometimes called helper verbs), that provide support within a verb phrase, as "is" does in "Helen is playing." You can have an auxiliary engine in a car, an auxiliary cook at a restaurant, an auxiliary electrical network at a factory, or auxiliary troops standing by during battle. A "Ladies Auxiliary" functions as support for institutions such as churches, synagogues, or charities. |
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| 1372 |
organization |
a planned structure for arranging or classifying |
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closure#formation#movement#attention# |
The trees in Central Park are maintained by the Central Park Conservancy, a nonprofit organization.#The Little Rock-based nonprofit organization ARCodeKids and the Information Network of Arkansas created and developed the website at no expense to the state.#The city released the records to the news organization in April.#“Health care organizations don't really 'own' the problem of diagnostic error and don't recognize it as something they need to focus on,” he says.# |
An organization is a group of people who work together, like a neighborhood association, a charity, a union, or a corporation. |
Organization is also the act of forming or establishing something (like an organization). It can also refer to a system of arrangement or order, or a structure for classifying things. Strangely enough, this word derives from the Old French, in which organize referred to your internal organs, your liver, heart, and so on. This verb originally meant giving an organic structure to something: understanding the function some part of the larger whole is supposed to fulfill, and making that happen. |
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| 1373 |
strategy |
an elaborate and systematic plan of action |
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rain date#control room#working memory#master plan# |
One participant’s plan, for example, called for doing practice problems repeatedly until he no longer needed his notes to solve them—a highly effective strategy.#In a recent study, we proposed optimal near-term electricity investment strategies to hedge against risks and manage inherent uncertainties about the future.#Critics say the continuing rise calls into question the effectiveness of the Scottish government's drugs strategy.#“It’s very difficult to develop a global sourcing strategy based on Trump’s day-to-day whims about what he wants to do,” Ms. Hillegonds said.# |
In the game of capture-the-flag, running toward your flag screaming is not a good strategy. A strategy is any plan you make to achieve a goal. |
The word strategy was developed to describe plans people made for war, and strategies often rely on certain chief assets––the British strategy for world domination relied on its naval superiority, our strategy for this game relies on the other team's poor level of fitness. After they're exhausted, we go for the goal. |
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| 1374 |
parallel |
duplicate, correspond to, or match |
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plot of ground#focal point#piece of ground#line of latitude# |
But the low-level political violence and severe cultural dislocations of the US today contain obvious parallels with the years before the American civil war.#And yes, we are definitely stretching to find "six" parallels.#These records are part of a data ecosystem that crosses decades and parallels the evolution of information technology.#There is a parallel with the ongoing probes into whether the Trump campaign in 2016 colluded with Russian spooks attempting to influence the election.# |
In math, parallel means two lines that never intersect––think of an equal sign. Figuratively, parallel means similar, or happening at the same time. A story might describe the parallel lives of three close friends. |
Parallel is from Greek parallēlos, from the prefix para- "beside" plus allēlōn "of one another," from allos "other." As a noun, a parallel is a way in which things resemble each other––you might draw parallels between the Vietnam War and the US invasion of Iraq. In specialized use, a parallel can mean one of the imaginary circles on the surface of the Earth that are parallel to the equator––the 49th parallel divides the US and Canada. |
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| 1375 |
participle |
a form of the verb used as an adjective |
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The cat drank the milk.#The smiling boy sat down.#The girl scored a goal.#The yellow dress is lovely.# |
Yet it is the original English participle, replaced later in Britain by “got”.#In writing, as in speaking, she often dropped the “-ed” in past participles.#If so, you are a victim of the spurious rule about so-called fused participles.#It was only a singular noun, from a past participle in French, meaning “chosen”; from the same root as “to elect”.# |
A participle is a verb that acts like an adjective, like a running leap, scorned lover, or boiled egg. |
This is a technical word that will come up when you're studying grammar or linguistics. From a Greek root meaning “partaker,” a participle wants to partake of both the verb and adjective worlds. If you said, "I need a running start!" before a race, running is a participle. If you notice a trapped bear, trapped is the participle. This is a word that is a little confusing to understand, even though you use participles all the time. |
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| 1376 |
persuasion |
communication intended to induce belief or action |
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socialism#racism#effect#opinion# |
He also worked for publications of various political persuasions, among them the Mexico City dailies La Jornada and El Universal.#The claimant was of the latter persuasion and according to several people present, delivered this view rather stridently.#What remains is some combination of persuasion, negotiation and coercion.#Churches of every denomination and political persuasion run food banks, soup kitchens and shelters.# |
Persuasion is something meant to get you to do or believe something. If you’re not sure you want to go somewhere, your friend might use persuasion to talk you into it. |
Being of a certain persuasion or belief, means you already have your mind made up, as a person who is of the Democratic persuasion or the Lutheran persuasion. Another meaning for persuasion is the act of influencing someone to do something or to change their mind. For example, good salespeople use persuasion to get people to buy things, just as children use persuasion to get permission to do certain things. |
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| 1377 |
persuasive |
intended or having the power to induce action or belief |
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a chess move#a jazz dance#a campaign speech#a military order# |
It is a persuasive refutation of Mr Trump’s attempt to defend his presidential profiteering.#Marshaling extensive and persuasive documentary evidence, and writing in a clear, urbane style, Mr. Smith told a less romantic story.#Someone with clear and persuasive words, and I’m so easily tongue-tied.#But Mr. Trump did not prove persuasive in recent days.# |
If you are persuasive, then you have a knack for getting people to do things. Your most persuasive friend might be able to talk you into riding in a hot air balloon despite your fear of heights. |
People can be persuasive by using emotion or logic. A persuasive encyclopedia salesman might lead you to believe you'll be a smarter person with your own complete set of reference books. Temptations can also be persuasive. If your mom offers you ten dollars to walk her dog, you might find her offer very persuasive. Persuasive can be tricky to spell — remember that the u sounds like a w. |
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| 1378 |
predicate |
the constituent of a sentence containing the verb |
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runs swiftly#of great importance#the chief counsel#John, the coach# |
However, on an aesthetic level, they all promulgate a musical approach predicated on constant metamorphosis.#Liverpool’s success last season was predicated on a fast start.#Being a King story, “Mr. Mercedes” is a mystery predicated on an act of extreme carnage.#“That’s predicated on some false premises that I hope they hold on to.”# |
The predicate is the part of a sentence that includes the verb and verb phrase. The predicate of "The boys went to the zoo" is "went to the zoo." |
We change the pronunciation of this noun ("PRED-uh-kit") when we turn it into a verb ("PRED-uh-kate"). The verb predicate means to require something as a condition of something else, and we use this term mostly in connection with logic, mathematics, or rhetoric. To predicate your argument on certain facts is to use those facts as evidence. |
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| 1379 |
preposition |
a word before a noun or pronoun connecting to another word |
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She walked to the park.#Wow! I am getting exhausted.#They will leave tomorrow.#He really dislikes canned corn.# |
Ending on a preposition is the sort of English up with which teachers will not put.#Articles and prepositions indicate analytical thinking and predict higher grades; pronouns and adverbs indicate narrative thinking and predict lower grades.#The words in parentheses, by the way, are prepositions, words that “position”—that is, locate—other words.#In Jocasta handed the baby to the servant, the phrase the servant is an oblique object, that is, the object of a preposition.# |
A preposition is the part of speech that shows a relationship between words. Think of “anywhere a cat can go.” A cat can go “under” the table, “on” the bed, or “out” the door. Looking for a cat? Use a preposition. |
In the sentence "The car went careening into the ditch," the preposition is into: it's the word that points to the noun. "We love to chase kids around the carnival in our scary clown costumes" has two prepositions, around and in. They tell you where things are happening. The most common prepositions are of, to, in, for, on, with, as, by, at, and from. |
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| 1380 |
process |
a particular course of action intended to achieve a result |
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compute#retract#exhume#gladden# |
Reverend Buckminster descended from his pulpit and processed down the aisle.#During the yearlong process, the state will analyze the potential environmental consequences of the project in the Smith River watershed.#She also questioned if the city was following proper procedures in the bidding process.#In 2012, the Bolivian government held a consultation process in Tipnis which was widely criticised by international and national monitors.# |
A process is a procedure, something you do in order to achieve a certain result. Some people try to carefully follow all the steps in a process. Other people just wing it. |
You hear this word being used a lot to describe work. "I am in the process of drafting a memo, even if I kill myself with late nights in the process." The related word procession describes people or vehicles moving forward in an orderly way — a wedding opens with the bridal procession. |
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| 1381 |
analysis |
an investigation of the component parts of a whole |
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degradation#dilemma#blight#distrust# |
For a long time, crime analysis teams — several uniformed officers and a sergeant — manually sorted data.#A separate analysis from the voter study group found that many of these voters are Republicans whom the Democrats can’t win back.#The virus-like particles prevented polio in animal experiments, and an analysis of their 3D structure showed they looked almost identical to poliovirus.#Get his latest from the field and follow all our prep sports coverage and analysis here.# |
Use the noun analysis to refer to the way you understand something by looking at it in different ways and studying its different parts. |
Analysis is a noun that is used in many ways and by many fields. It makes sense, since it is "a method of studying the nature of something or of determining its essential features and their relations," which means everyone does it at some point. In fact, every time you solve a problem you use analysis. Analysis is also shorthand for psychoanalysis, used for understanding psychological and mental processes. |
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| 1382 |
problem |
a question raised for consideration or solution |
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faith#opinion#socialism#trouble# |
The problem of God’s not handling things well troubled Lizzie, too.#Her observation states the problem with teen births in a nutshell.#One participant’s plan, for example, called for doing practice problems repeatedly until he no longer needed his notes to solve them—a highly effective strategy.#Twin Falls County Sheriff’s deputies say the graffiti is a problem for county parks.# |
If you are facing something that will be difficult to handle, you have a problem on your hands. A problem is a roadblock in a situation, something that sets up a conflict and forces you to find a resolution. |
The meaning of the Greek word próblēma meant "to put forth," which is different from the meaning of problem today, but it reminds you that any problem becomes easier to solve once you have defined it. A math problem is easier once you have the numbers in front of you: that's why word problems can be so difficult. Problem can also be an adjective in rare cases. Once you were a problem child, but now you spend your time listening to everyone else's problems. |
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| 1383 |
solution |
a method for solving a problem |
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debate#answer#application#document# |
The key part of the government's paper is the choice of two different destinations as it tries to negotiate a long-term solution.#That is because he is not offering real solutions to their problems.#The changes will be in place while the county legislature considers long-term costly solutions, such as a pay raise for corrections officers.#But the most commonly proposed solution would severely limit regular people’s ability to communicate securely online.# |
A solution is all about solving or dissolving. If you find an answer to a question, both the answer and how you got there is the solution. If you dissolve a solid into a liquid, you've created a different kind of solution. |
This noun descends from Middle English solucion, from Old French, from Latin solutio, from solvere "to loosen." Think of solution both as a loosening of the chemical bonds that make something solid––when you loosen the structure of salt by mixing it into water, you create a solution. When you loosen the "knot" of a math problem you do the same thing––you loosen, untangle or solve it. |
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| 1384 |
pronoun |
a function word that is used in place of a noun |
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run#soft#John#he# |
Blake Grunwald was exceedingly drunk, stoned, chewing tobacco, and hurling an excess of pronouns too.#It trained on millions of pages of text from the internet and began clustering female names and pronouns with jobs such as “receptionist” and “nurse”.#The policy requires officers to address detainees by their chosen name and use the appropriate pronouns.#The school allegedly did not let the transgender girl to use the pronouns or bathroom of her choice.# |
A pronoun is a word that's used in place of a noun or noun phrase, like “he,” “she,” or “it,” in place of “Dusty,” “Carol,” or “the lemur.” |
The word pronoun originally comes from the Latin pronomen, which broken down means "for" or "in place of" and "name." The pronoun is a "stand-in" word for another noun, so you can use pronouns instead of repeating someone's name: "Charley went to the store and to Charley's office and then back to Charley's house" becomes "Charley went to the store and to his office and then back to his house." |
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| 1385 |
redundancy |
the attribute of being superfluous and unneeded |
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"on a proud round cloud"#"the best writer in the history of mankind"#"the sand glistened like diamonds"#"the single solitary sole survivor"# |
“There was never a point when I accepted this was a valid redundancy, and never a point when I didn’t fight back,” she said.#The first step was to eliminate redundancy from the message.#Today, of course, recession-linked redundancies, the 'gig economy' and the rise of robotic workforces evoke very different responses.#Again, the State Department cites redundancies and budget cuts as the reason for the reported change.# |
Use the noun redundancy to refer to something that's needlessly repeated. As much as you hate the redundancy of math drills, you have to admit that repetition is how you learned to multiply in the first place. |
The noun redundancy can also refer to something that is unneeded, or extra. If you own a circus and you want to keep costs down by eliminating redundancy, you may decide you only need two clowns, rather than the whole carload of clowns you planned on. Redundancy comes from the Latin word redundare, meaning to surge, or literally to overflow. |
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| 1386 |
revise |
reorganize, especially for the purpose of improving |
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edit#glow#seek#curl# |
May's retail sales were also revised up to show no change instead of the previously reported 0.1 percent dip.#The revised HHS policy no longer allows FDA to “assume the risk” of hiring hire PIV-ineligible candidates, according to the FDA document.#They’re working hard to revise - and, in some cases, dust off - their master plans ahead of the petrochemical giant’s arrival.#However, the data released Monday are preliminary and likely to be revised.# |
To revise means to alter or improve a preliminary draft of something, usually a text. When you want your writing to be really great, you must revise it several times until it is perfect. |
The word revise sounds like the related word revisit, and revising a piece of work does in fact require revisiting it. Planning out a project includes estimating how much it will cost and when it will be done. If something unforeseen happens, you might have to revise your estimates of cost and completion date. You can also use revise as a noun. Once you finish the first draft of an essay, you can begin working on the revise. |
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| 1387 |
simple |
having few parts; not complex or complicated or involved |
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complex#stock#content#fresh# |
"If we hurt the environment, the environment will fight back. If we fail to plan, we plan to fail. It's that simple."#If we were talking about weight-lifters or contortionists, it would be simple—and your stylised bell-curve diagram would be the whole story.#The 22-year-old Fowler was arrested July 18 in St. Petersburg and charged with simple battery and criminal mischief.#While we initially thought of the microbiota as relatively simple organisms, the fact is that they may not be so simple after all.# |
Simple refers to something that's easy and uncomplicated, without too many steps to follow. |
Simple comes from the Latin word for single (simplus). Simple things are often solo, like a simple dress or directions with one step. A teacher might advise you to KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid). What could be bad about a word for something easy? Well, it's not that simple. It can be an insult. If you call your little brother simple when he can't tie his shoes, you mean he isn't very smart. Rude! |
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| 1388 |
compound |
consisting of two or more substances or elements or parts |
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amalgam#microcosm#encumbrance#audition# |
To compound matters, he says their 45-minute journey is normally delayed by 10 to 15 minutes.#Firefighting foam containing these compounds was used during training exercises at the base, she said.#“From this selective intervention, additional economic inequality and political polarization may ensue, compounding and amplifying the initial political effects of the crisis,” the researchers wrote.#The crisis was compounded by the arrival of a high-level Italian trade delegation.# |
If you compound a problem you add something to it to make it worse, like say, putting water on a grease fire. Compound means to combine; a compound is a combination or mixture of two or more things. |
Compound has several specialized uses. A compound is either a mixture or two or more things, or a heavily guarded residence, such as a drug lord might have. In botany, a compound leaf consists of more than one part. In linguistics, a compound is a word that consists of two or more independent words. In chemistry, a compound is a substance created when atoms from chemical elements join together. |
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| 1389 |
complex |
complicated in structure |
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injured#wealthy#external#unsophisticated# |
“Darwin writes that man is liable to slight variations, which are induced by general and complex laws.”#Each team is allocated a color, and they are boarded across a very complex schedule, across many countries.#Manufacturers maintain complex websites with thousands of product and pricing options to be updated and maintained.#It’s back: One of downtown L.A.’s most celebrated and stalled projects, the Grand Avenue complex, appears to be moving ahead again.# |
People who are really good at math can handle complex math problems. The rest of us are all set with simple stuff like the times tables. Use complex to refer to something that is not simple. |
Something complex has two or more related parts, or is not simple in its structure. As a noun, a complex is a group of units, often a group of buildings. The adjective is stressed on the second syllable, but the noun is stressed on the first syllable. Complex is from Latin complexus, from complecti "to encircle or embrace." |
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| 1390 |
variety |
a difference that is usually pleasant |
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kind#ability#sensation#nationalism# |
According to Variety, the series will be set in 2018, with an apocalypse on the horizon.#These programs “exist to provide patients with access to a wide variety of medications,” researchers concluded.#A variety of militia groups around the country regard themselves as 3 percenters.#The 3.5-ounce chevre was unveiled earlier this year along with four other varieties in the brand’s Medallion Collection.# |
Variety is a quality similar to diversity or difference. Some feel having variety in life is much more exciting than doing the same routine day in and day out. |
You’ve likely heard the expression “variety is the spice of life” to describe how our days are more interesting when different things happen. Variety can also describe different things that are classified under one category or type, like varieties of apple — granny smith, pink lady, or red delicious. A variety show is entertainment that includes a number of different and unrelated acts, like fire eaters, string bands, comedians, lounge singers, and spoon players. |
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| 1391 |
style |
a mode of expression typical of a person, group, or period |
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method#volume#justice#weight# |
But these groups also differ significantly in terms of their recruitment styles, ideologies and whether and how they use violence.#The northern Northwest Coast visual style favors a strong primary line, usually black, abetted by thinner lines and shapes, with red the favored secondary color.#“This is the first time we’ve done long laces, which girls are styling in unique ways,” Chang said.#One stressed genetic factors, delivered in a supportive style.# |
Artists, musicians, and even chefs have their own personal style — a word used to describe the unique ways in which people express themselves. |
Style is a word that's often used to describe the distinctive way in which artists, designers, and other creative types practice their crafts. The designer who launches a line of cardboard bathing suits is expressing his style, even if no one else finds these soggy suits stylish, or in fashion, at the moment. When hyphenated, style can describe the qualities of a person or thing, as in "Cajun-style cooking." |
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| 1392 |
syntax |
the grammatical arrangement of words in sentences |
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sentence structure#erroneous belief#mental deficiency#solid geometry# |
Yes, we are struggling with its structure and syntax.#It’s like listening to Shakespeare, it really is . . . the grammar, the syntax, all those things.#Generally, people speak with the noun before the verb, and Trump did not, so it’s a slightly more elevated syntax than usual.#It’s not that I wasn’t deeply upset; it was just that being deeply upset didn’t preclude my remarking on his syntax.# |
One of the hardest things about learning a new language is figuring out the syntax, or the basic rules for the way that words and phrases should be arranged in a sentence in order for it to make sense. |
Syntax isn't necessarily something you think about when you're speaking, but the order of words in a sentence can make a huge difference to its meaning. If you aren't convinced, try telling a waiter that you'd like "a slice of dessert for cake." And then, as the waiter stands there looking confused, try explaining that you don't think "important is very syntax." |
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| 1393 |
subject |
one of the two main constituents of a sentence |
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to#class#Billy#went# |
These performances bring theatergoers to tears through the expression of their subjects’ deeply felt, ultimately unconquerable pain, which both maimed and inspired them.#That’s not a bad thing - especially when you’ve got a batch of charismatic personalities hamming it up in trucker hats without condescending to their subjects.#Trump should offer localities subjected to intimidation with federal resources to safeguard the removal process.#It suggested that "a particular customer" was the subject of the warrant, but does not explain why it needed so much information on other visitors.# |
Subject can mean "topic," as in "Let's change the subject." It can also mean "to make someone do something," as in "Don't let your dad subject you to an hour-long lecture on fishing." It can also mean everyone in a country who is not the ruler, as in "The king greeted his subjects when he returned from abroad." |
A subject could be a broad branch of knowledge, like Biology, or a very narrow focus, like the effects of drought on avocados. If you are painting a portrait, the person posing for you is your subject. Subject can also mean beholden, or subordinate. If you are traveling in England, but not an English subject, or citizen, then you are still subject to English law. |
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| 1394 |
verb |
a word denoting an action, occurrence, or state of existence |
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penalty#basically#splendid#punish# |
And it is mostly uninflected, allowing for verbs and nouns to switch places.#For example, “gist” is often used both as a noun and a verb meaning “gossip”.#The verbs switched from singular to plural forms.#Brittney is the kind of person for whom active verbs and modifiers were invented.# |
A verb is the part of speech that indicates what something does, or what it is. It's also the basic component of the predicate of a sentence. |
You may know that a verb is just another part of speech, like a noun or an adverb. The verb, however, can be in different tenses, meaning the action might have happened in the past or it might be now, or it could even be planned for the future. So the verb walk in the past tense would be walked, and in the future would be will walk. |
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| 1395 |
agreement |
in grammar, the correspondence between two words |
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access#accord#addition#attention# |
Airbnb says the company previously reached a separate agreement with Oklahoma to begin collecting the state’s 4.5 percent state sales tax, which began July 1.#As part of a plea agreement, prosecutors dismissed other charges including reckless homicide.#It is not clear which aspects of the streamlined arrangement would be unilateral and which would need agreement.#Prosecutors dropped a murder charge and promised to recommend a five-year prison term for Bloch in exchange for his plea and agreement to testify.# |
An agreement is made when two parties agree to something. So, for example, a mother might make an agreement with her son not to kiss him in public because, after kindergarten, well, that's just not cool. |
If people's opinions are in accord, or match one another, then they are in agreement. If a teacher assigns a ten-page paper due the next day, the students would be in agreement that the assignment was unfair. A written or verbal contract can also be called an agreement. An agreement to deliver an article a month for a publication could not be broken simply because you have writer's block. |
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| 1396 |
task |
a specific piece of work required to be done |
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portion#comfort#labor#glance# |
But there’s not much demand locally these days for the kind of repetitive tasks done in those factories by workers such as Herbie Mays.#This task became a particular priority with the early-start schedule, which added school days in the August heat.#Now, the task is to be more solid against a balanced schedule.#The district plans to focus on repairing and modernizing its more than 1,000 schools — although there’s money, there’s not nearly enough for that task.# |
A task can be big or small, easy or really hard — but it's never more than a job that needs to get done. |
Chop chop! There's a task that needs completing, and you're just the person for the job. If you're smart though, you'll figure out a way to task someone else with it, or assign it elsewhere. Task comes to us all the way from the Latin word taxare, which in its earliest days meant "to impose a tax on." So much like the filling out of your tax forms, most tasks are considered chores. |
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| 1397 |
thesis |
an unproved statement advanced as a premise in an argument |
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tradition#treatise#triumph#trademark# |
She wrote her thesis about imploding shock waves.#So does her senior thesis — a draft of which is on display — on split personalities in Dostoevsky’s “The Double” and “The Brothers Karamazov.”#A National Review piece equates the hapless engineer with Martin Luther, saying he’s nailed 95 theses to the door of the “Church of PC.”#In the early 1990s, when I was a graduate student at Berkeley, a professor tried to persuade Dr. Ratner to be my thesis adviser.# |
A thesis is the most important or foundational idea of an argument. If you write a paper with the central thesis that girls are yucky, you'll need to back that up with cooties-based research. |
The noun thesis has more than one important sense to it. One definition of thesis is that it is the most important or foundational idea of an argument, presentation, or piece of writing. But it can also mean a large work of art, criticism, or scientific research that represents original research and is generally the final requirement for an academic degree. |
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| 1398 |
tone |
a quality that reveals the attitudes of the author |
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edge#quality#speed#fault# |
The North’s state media remained belligerent, but a slight change in tone suggested some willingness to defuse tensions with the U.S.#Two other people with access to the emails confirmed the general tone of the exchanges and some specific passages within them.#Yet Mr. Trump’s modulated tone seemed calculated to open a negotiation with China rather than ignite a trade war.#This both preserves Uber’s cashless philosophy, while also blunting criticism that its tone deaf to the concerns of its drivers.# |
A tone is the kind of sound you hear in a musical note, or in a person's voice live or in writing. A newspaper article should be objective, but a poem can bring up all kinds of emotions, depending on the tone. |
The word tone often refers to sound, as in music, or the feeling conveyed by the way someone speaks: "His tone of voice told me I was in trouble." It can also be used to describe the atmosphere of a place — its flavor or spirit — or the shades of meaning in a work that might reveal the larger intentions of an author. If your body has tone, its muscular structure is strong and appears well defined. |
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| 1399 |
topic |
the subject matter of a conversation or discussion |
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stress#dispatch#subject#symptom# |
It helps overcome awkwardness when discussing personal topics.#But Rivera thinks it’s foolish to expect an entire demographic to unanimously agree on any particular topic.#So we think the online experience and the app should reflect back the values of the topics in this part of the community.#Councilman Brandon Scott said he intends to introduce legislation on the topic at Monday’s City Council meeting.# |
A topic is a subject. It's what you're discussing or what a newspaper article is about, the theme of a documentary, or the focus of your term paper. |
Green energy, the Oscar nominees, what's on the lunch menu, boxers or briefs — these are all considered topics. If something is a "hot topic," then everybody is talking about it. If it's a "topic for discussion," then someone wants to have a serious conversation about it. If you're at a dinner party, you can talk about all kinds of topics with other guests. But to keep peace at the table, avoid bringing up controversial political or religious topics. |
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| 1400 |
transitional |
of or relating to change from one state to another |
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a celebration of an anniversary#a shirt that matches many pairs of pants#a vacation to an exotic location#a training program for a new job# |
Flights will continue to operate thanks to a transitional loan of 150m euros from the German government.#Several local voters said any transitional deal allowing continued unrestricted EU immigration was unacceptable.#The debate about transitional arrangements and institutional design of our relationship with the EU craves a broader framework.#Usher, the aspiring producer, is in transitional housing.# |
Sometimes people who have been laid off from their old jobs and haven’t been able to find new ones say they are in a transitional period. In other words, they are in the middle of a change. |
The adjective transitional relates to things such as governments, office spaces, or aspects of one’s life that are in the process of changing. This is a temporary state, until a permanent solution is established, and the word is often used with a sense of hope. For example, when someone goes through a romantic breakup and is hoping to find someone new, she might also say she is in a transitional phase. A synonym for transitional is interim. |
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| 1401 |
expression |
a word or phrase that people use in particular situations |
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ending#trial#lapse#saying# |
These performances bring theatergoers to tears through the expression of their subjects’ deeply felt, ultimately unconquerable pain, which both maimed and inspired them.#Two South Puget Sound museums are currently hosting exhibits that explore these expressions.#Technology companies are becoming the reluctant gatekeepers and facilitators of political expression for much of the world.#“America’s leaders must honor our fundamental values by clearly rejecting expressions of hatred, bigotry and group supremacy,” Frazier said in a statement tweeted by Merck.# |
The look on your face — sad, happy, bored, amused — is an expression. Your expression lets people know what you're feeling, unless you're good at hiding your emotions. |
Expression comes from a Latin word meaning “to press out” and it can still be used this way. If you make fresh orange juice, your juicer helps with the expression of the juice from the fruit. If someone uses art to express their feelings about the world, that's artistic self-expression: something felt inside has been brought out and shared. We also use expression for ways of saying something, like the expression "what's up?" |
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| 1402 |
unity |
an undivided or unbroken completeness with nothing wanting |
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oneness#ability#difference#unction# |
On its surface, “ unity” is a noble endeavor.#“That’s why I’m calling for vigilance, solidarity and unity of the whole nation in order to face the cowardice of our adversaries.”#It added: “He called for national unity and bringing all Americans together.”#At a time when the U.S. needs unity and bold reforms, American businesses must be partners in building the future.# |
Unity is being together or at one with someone or something. It's the opposite of being divided. |
This is a word for togetherness or oneness. When the north won the Civil War, it assured the unity of the United States. Sports teams wear uniforms to show unity, and their fans wear team colors for the same reason. When a bunch of people act as one and are on the same page, they're displaying unity. When people are bickering and disorganized, there's no unity. In any group or cause, unity can be hard to find and maintain. |
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| 1403 |
usage |
the customary manner in which language is spoken or written |
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intention#employment#attendance#temperance# |
Violence, drug usage, dissent, protest all seem to merge in generally the same group of young people.#Antidepressants are one of the most popular classes of drugs in the United States, and their usage shows no signs of waning.#With interest, we await formal proposals from city leaders for future usage of this building.#And if that long reliever is burned up by usage, he’s sent back to Tacoma and new, fresh arm is brought up.# |
Usage is the act of using something. Your cell phone usage is something you'll want to keep track of so you don't find yourself surprised by overages and extra charges that might make you want to cry. |
Usage can also refer to the usual and correct way a language is spoken or written. If you want to make sure you're using the right word or using a tricky word correctly, you should consult a book on English usage. Usage can also mean an accepted practice or custom. An anthropologist might describe the specific time-honored usages that a particular tribe observes whenever a baby is born. |
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| 1404 |
verbal |
of a content word denoting an action, occurrence, or state |
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unbelievable#spoken#restless#indifferent# |
Instead, the repetition of “on many sides”, a characteristic Trump verbal tic used for emphasis.#The teen’s therapists recommended bringing a golden retriever named Rose to court, noting the girl was more verbal when Rose was nearby.#When the marchers reached and surrounded the counter-protesters there was a short verbal confrontation.#For South Koreans, verbal and physical threats from the North are nothing new.# |
If your friend tells you that the speech you just made was really verbal, he means you used too many words, overstated the point, went on too long, were redundant. |
Verbal simply means, "having to do with words." If you hit someone that's a physically assault, but if you say nasty things to him, it's a verbal assault. Sometimes we use verbal to mean "spoken instead of written," usually to talk about agreements we've made. A child who is verbal is a child who can speak, and we call someone who's very articulate a verbal person. |
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| 1405 |
aberration |
a state or condition markedly different from the norm |
While Tampa Bay has taken a huge nosedive a year after going 10-6, maybe that 2010 success was an aberration. |
a summer shower#a heat wave in winter#a crescent shaped moon#a cool breeze off the ocean# |
“This would be in remembrance of the aberrations that many others suffered.”#City Director Ken Richardson said Tuesday that too many people accept a high homicide rate as “normal activity” when it should be considered an aberration.#Accounting for this aberration appears to offset our peak times from NASA's by one minute in some places.#While the cross-sport jump may seem odd, it's hardly an aberration.# |
An aberration is something strange that rarely occurs. An example of an aberration is when the temperature hits 90 degrees in January — it's nice and warm, but it's really strange. |
The noun aberration often refers to something that doesn't fit with current moral standards, or is something that shows a mental lack of control. Aberration comes from the Latin word that means "to wander, go astray." Today, you'd say it was an aberration to send little children to work in coal mines and factories and not to school, which was common in the nineteenth century. There's a very old poem called "The Chimney Sweep" about a boy who cleans chimneys and is only about five years old! |
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| 1406 |
abhor |
find repugnant |
There are sane readers who abhor gratuitous violence but love Reacher’s menacing wisecracks. |
hurry#invent#predict#detest# |
Ward is unapologetically strident in her approach, embracing the tone and temperament that Flake repeatedly abhors in his book and describes as “a shatter politics.”#He told officers he is a "pacifist who abhors violence" and it was "a joke that was not funny".#This newspaper abhors antisemitism and did not intend to cause offence to Jewish people.”#The new legislation sharply limits the president’s ability to suspend or terminate the sanctions, which his administration abhors.# |
If you abhor something, it gives you a feeling of complete hatred. Chances are you abhor that kid who used to torture the frogs in biology class. |
Abhor is from Latin abhorrere — "to shrink back in horror." It is the strongest way in English to express hatred, even stronger than loathe. We only use abhor in formal contexts; you might say "I abhor that man," but you would be less likely to say "I abhor spinach" unless you tend to express yourself in highfalutin terms no matter what the occasion. |
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| 1407 |
abject |
most unfortunate or miserable |
Mr. Jobling stood wringing his hands helplessly, his flaccid features expressive of abject despair. |
the epilogue of a lengthy novel#the natural habitat of an animal living in the desert#the topic of an expository essay#the conditions in a very poor neighborhood# |
“Being comfortable with abject poverty is important for the project.”#But he did not deliver the structural changes required to address abject poverty in the Philippines.#Tyson that night was the most abject and lonely figure as he slunk away through the stunned but indifferent crowd.#In other European countries, the result she achieved on 8 June would be considered not an abject humiliation but an extraordinary triumph.# |
If it reeks of humiliation or looks like the lowest of lows, then you can safely describe it as abject. |
The pronunciation of abject is up for debate: you can decide whether to stress the first or the second syllable. But what's more important is understanding how extreme this adjective is. Abject means absolutely miserable, the most unfortunate, with utter humiliation. You might have heard the phrase abject poverty, which is the absolute worst, most hopeless level of poverty you've ever seen. |
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| 1408 |
abrasive |
sharply disagreeable, unpleasant, or harsh |
“He has always been focused, driven, demanding and, as a result, very difficult and abrasive,” Mr. Norman said. |
atheistic#internecine#rough#leonine# |
Some of American journalism’s giants, she said, showed that it was possible to be both insistent and persistent without being abrasive or sparking an argument.#But when women direct others, they’re often disliked and labeled abrasive or bossy.#She was especially intrigued by the character Arkansas, an abrasive cowboy from the book “Roughing it,” with whom she sparred during the tour.#At the same time, McGinn contends he really was not such an abrasive mayor; that’s a yarn, he says, spun by political enemies.# |
What does an obnoxious person have in common with sandpaper? Both are abrasive. Anything that grates or irritates — physically or metaphorically — can be described using this adjective. |
The history of the word abrasive illustrates how a word typically enters the English language and then changes with time. The English verb abrade "to wear down by scraping" entered the language from Latin abradere "to scrape off" in the late 1600s. Some 200 years later, the adjective form of the word — abrasive — came into use to describe a type of grinding tool. By the 1920s, abrasive had acquired the more figurative sense of annoying and infuriating. If you find someone abrasive, he or she grinds away at your nerves. |
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| 1409 |
abstain |
choose not to consume |
Griffin felt that he had better abstain from questioning, and let his host run on. |
a person typing a letter#a man eating a sandwich#a person on a strict diet#a drummer playing a solo# |
He must abstain from alcohol, drugs and nonprescription medication and needs to abide by a curfew from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.#Nine lawmakers abstained, and the remainder did not vote.#The remaining 23 lawmakers abstained or were absent.#Both abstained from voting on policy matters Thursday after being sworn in by Evans.# |
If you abstain from something, you restrain yourself from consuming it. People usually abstain from things that are considered vices — like drinking alcohol or eating chocolate. |
Roots of the word abstain are from the 14th-century French, "to withhold oneself," and the word often refers to people who abstain or keep themselves from drinking liquor. The noun form abstinence also pops up often in reference to abstinence programs that urge teens to abstain from premarital sex. Abstain can also mean to withhold a vote, and sometimes a difficult decision is held up when government representatives abstain from voting one way or another. |
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| 1410 |
abstract |
existing only in the mind |
Presenting an abstract concept, waving our arms trying to describe it, we will lose our audience right away. |
noncontroversial#nonrepresentational#noncommittal#nonpareil# |
The oil painting by the Dutch-American abstract expressionist is one in an iconic series by de Kooning that explores the figure of a woman.#Looking at the bold slashing lines of its landscape and the monumental abstracted nudes gathered under a crystalline sky, I realised something about the faces.#Emphasizing the personal, Goldstein neglects the allusive, mythological and abstract dimensions of the works.#Roughly half the 70 pieces are by artists who don’t self-identify as African-American; much of the work, across ethnic and generational lines, is abstract.# |
Use the adjective abstract for something that is not a material object or is general and not based on specific examples. |
Abstract is from a Latin word meaning "pulled away, detached," and the basic idea is of something detached from physical, or concrete, reality. It is frequently used of ideas, meaning that they don't have a clear applicability to real life, and of art, meaning that it doesn't pictorially represent reality. It is also used as a noun, especially in the phrase "in the abstract" (a joke has a person laying down a new sidewalk saying "I like little boys in the abstract, but not in the concrete"), and as a verb (accented on the second syllable), meaning "to remove." |
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| 1411 |
abundant |
present in great quantity |
Fringing and barrier reefs are abundant throughout the archipelago, surrounding nearly every island. |
rare#prior#negative#notable# |
One of the most abundant, but barely visible, arthropods in the soil are springtails.#Our coastal communities share a common bond: livelihoods that depend on a clean ocean, abundant marine life and well-managed shorelines.#According to Walker-Smith, these fleas are typically abundant in the region where the incident occurred.#"These investments reflect the increased availability of abundant, affordable supplies of U.S. light crude," Huffaker said in an email.# |
On Halloween, you can find candy in abundant supply. Use abundant to describe something that exists in large amounts that are more than what's needed. |
Near synonyms are plentiful, emphasizing "large amounts," and ample, emphasizing "more than enough." The adjective abundant is commonly followed by the prepositions with or in, to mean "filled with or rich in something": a region abundant in natural resources. Abundant comes from Middle English aboundant, from Old French abondant, from Latin abundāns, form of abundāre "to overflow." |
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| 1412 |
acclimate |
get used to a certain environment |
The Jets will leave Friday for Denver, the better to acclimate to the altitude and change in time zone. |
a higher altitude#a challenging puzzle#a tasty dessert#a suspenseful movie# |
Depending if and when Donald returns, Snead said the team would need to use caution as he acclimated to football drills.#Instead, the bigger issue might be getting acclimated to all the new faces.#“But I think Trubisky is doing a really job getting acclimated to the game.”#Like Butler, Gilmore is adopting a humble approach to getting acclimated to his new team.# |
When you acclimate yourself to a situation, you become used to it. It usually means getting accustomed to a particular new climate, but it can also mean getting used to other situations, such as a new school. |
The word climate in the word acclimate should give you a clue as to the word's meaning: to get used to a specific climate. Nature allows the human body to acclimate itself to various weather conditions. For example, people moving to higher altitudes will develop more red blood cells in order to absorb oxygen better. This is their bodies' way of acclimating to the thinner air. It takes a while for the body to become acclimated to a new climate. |
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| 1413 |
accomplice |
a person who joins with another in carrying out some plan |
Tiller, the thief, and a supposed accomplice, are under arrest. |
a bank robber#a preschool teacher#a town mayor#a marathon runner# |
More likely, Hendley says, she was "an accomplice, reloading guns and generally helping."#A woman was accused of being an accomplice and providing the pepper spray before they entered the store.#Police said they are looking for as many as four accomplices.#Police are searching for accomplices, of which there are believed to be three or four.# |
An accomplice is a cooperator or participator, commonly in criminal acts. So you’re an accomplice to the gas station robbery if you distracted the store manager while your partner in crime raided the registers for cash. |
Coming from the Old French word complice, which means “a confederate,” an accomplice is an ally or partaker, sometimes in wrongdoing. Novelist Saul Bellow famously said that "when we ask for advice, we are usually looking for an accomplice.” What he means, in more direct terms, is that we run potential plans by others because we're looking for approval or someone to go along with us, not because we truly want their opinion. |
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| 1414 |
acerbic |
harsh or corrosive in tone |
They were complaining, sometimes yelling, and maybe a bit acerbic. |
a thank-you note#a nasty comment#a personal apology#a love song# |
Kyrie Irving is merely following in the footsteps of acerbic superstars of years past.#Many of Welsh’s tweets are unprintable, but the vast majority feature the acerbic humor that would be familiar to his readers.#Ms. Glaspy’s debut album, “Emotions and Math,” released last summer, was a fine showcase for her acerbic lyrics and quietly intense guitar playing.#Even if the posts were scornful and acerbic, however, they were protected by the First Amendment.”# |
If you say something acerbic, or harshly bitter, to someone, it can leave a bitter taste in your own mouth that lingers, and the acerbic, or acidic, words can eat away at the person on the receiving end too. |
It is fitting that the first part of acerbic sounds like the first part of "acid," because the Latin source of acerbic is acerbus, "sour-tasting." Acerbic speech is like acid, because it is sour and corrodes, or weakens, relationships. There are ways to use sharp words for humor, and some comedians are known for their "acerbic wit," but just as you would take safety precautions in using acid in a science lab, you should be cautious about using acerbic language in conversation. |
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| 1415 |
acquit |
pronounce not guilty of criminal charges |
He said that in the absence of other evidence, “the accused is acquitted and discharged.” |
convict#ignore#banish#entice# |
The men were acquitted of charges of conspiracy to extort and attempted extortion.#He was acquitted Wednesday of attempting to disarm an officer, due in part to surveillance footage from inside the stadium.#He was acquitted in 1995 of a federal charge of participating in a kickback scheme with a lottery executive.#At trial, Mr. Spry was convicted of two misdemeanor counts but acquitted of the weapons charge.# |
To acquit someone is to clear them of charges. Acquitting also has to do with how you carry or present yourself. |
If you're accused of a crime, then the best thing that can happen to you is being acquitted — that means you were cleared or exonerated of the charges. A defense lawyer wants to have his client acquitted. But watch out for another unrelated meaning: acquitting can mean how you behave, conduct, or carry yourself. If you acquit yourself like a champion, then you're acting like a champion. |
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| 1416 |
acrimonious |
marked by strong resentment or cynicism |
At times, the two groups squabble like schoolchildren, and the exchange gets acrimonious. |
unresolved#supernumerary#eroded#bitter# |
“The whole point of the Olympics is to use sports as a way to bridge even the most acrimonious political divides,” Delury said.#Florida should be playing the Tigers on the road, but gets the game at home as part of last year’s acrimonious rescheduling agreement.#Trump argued with Turnbull over refugees in an acrimonious call on Jan. 28 which the new U.S. president told his counterpart was "unpleasant."#They were asked about their acrimonious divorces from their first spouses.# |
Locked in a mean-spirited, bitter argument? That's an acrimonious situation that might result in fists flying unless you and your opponent can cool down. |
If you're familiar with the adjective acrid, which means "having a strongly unpleasant taste or smell," you might guess that acrimonious probably refers to something unpleasant, too. And you'd be right. Until the mid-nineteenth century, acrimonious meant the same thing as acrid. But while acrid is still most commonly used in a literal sense (as in "an acrid odor"), acrimonious is now used to describe things like angry and bitter speeches or debates. Both words come to English from the Latin word acer, meaning "sharp." Keep sharp objects locked up if a showdown gets too acrimonious. |
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| 1417 |
acute |
extremely sharp or intense |
Labor shortages are already so acute in many Chinese industrial zones that factories struggle to find enough people to operate their assembly lines. |
a 90 degree angle#a 100 degree angle#a 180 degree angle#a 45 degree angle# |
For some Western democracies, the tension is not as acute. #The opposition boycotted the assembly, calling it a step toward dictatorship as the nation suffers from triple-digit inflation and acute shortages of food and medicine.#Many of the young patients were suffering from encephalitis, a potentially deadly illness that causes acute swelling of the brain.#For Rev. Taube, a music scholar who finds transcendent meaning in song, including the great works of German composers, the questions are particularly acute.# |
Use the adjective acute for when you want to describe something as sharp or extremely serious. |
The word acute is one word; it's not two words, nor does it have anything to do with something small, cuddly, and pretty! Acute really means "sharp" or "severe" or "intense" and modifies certain kinds of angles in geometry or describes a certain kind of illness of short duration. The English word apparently entered the language during the sixteenth century from the Latin root acutus, which means "sharp" or "pointed." |
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| 1418 |
adamant |
impervious to pleas, persuasion, requests, reason |
But high profile or no, Mr. Kors is adamant about keeping his personal life under wraps — even as his wedding day approaches. |
sylvan#inexorable#lank#unconventional# |
Mr. Hofstadter turned him down, adamant that even the latest artificial intelligence techniques were much too primitive.#He was also adamant that he would "preach" to youngsters about avoiding the evil of performance-enhancing drugs.#I was consoled by his concern, but also perplexed as to why he was so adamant about this tactic.#Jaime volunteered, but Michael was adamant he needed to show me first.”# |
If you stubbornly refuse to change your mind about something, you are adamant about it. |
This word's story begins in ancient Greece, where philosophers spoke about a legendary unbreakable stone or metal they called adamas (literally, "invincible"). In English, people began to use the word to refer to something that cannot be altered, and then in the twentieth century — after adamant had been in English for about a thousand years — it came to be used as an adjective to mean "unyielding as stone." If you're adamant about something, no amount of persuasion is going to convince you otherwise. |
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| 1419 |
adept |
having or showing knowledge and skill and aptitude |
He proved an adept playmaker, however, making several nice passes and finishing with 7 assists. |
zigzag#expert#perforate#presumptuous# |
Washington is becoming adept at dealing with leaks — Saturday was its second game affected by a faulty roof at Capital One Arena.#Trump is adept at triggering and exacerbating tribalism.#Lions are also adept at nonverbal communication, which allows them to work as a team when hunting.#Colyer gained a reputation with the group for being adept at handling high-pressure, life-and-death situations.# |
Are you looking for another word to describe a person who is highly skilled, very proficient or expert at something? Try the adjective adept! |
In the days of Medieval Latin, an adeptus was a person who had learned the secrets of alchemy. Although an adept person today cannot turn lead into gold, the adjective is still high praise meaning "skilled, expert, highly proficient." |
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| 1420 |
adhere |
stick to firmly |
Adhering to strict safety standards has kept me alive in some very dangerous situations. |
fasten on#blaze away#squeeze out#take pride# |
It is one of the few societies that still adheres to a caste system while simultaneously upholding a democratic electoral process.#For the most part, vets seem to adhere to these protocols, despite the fact that they are not based on science.#"Then we would negotiate for ages in Europe. What would we do if it is not adhered to?" she added of the quota.#These migrations would influence the Chettiars, a devout Hindu community that historically adhered to a vegetarian diet.# |
If you don't want monkey droppings to adhere to the sole of your shoe, watch where you’re walking. Maybe if you'd adhere, or stick to, the zoo rules and stay on the walking path, you wouldn't have to worry about it. |
Adhere is from the 15th-century French verb meaning "to stick." Things that are sticky will adhere, or attach, to surfaces and stay there, whether you want them to or not; in other words, they're adhesive, an adjective that comes from the same Latin source as the French verb. When a person chooses to adhere to something, it is more of a choice to stick with it or agree to abide by rules or guidelines. You can also adhere by being loyal, as when you adhere to the high moral standards or behavior expected of some organization. |
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| 1421 |
adorn |
make more attractive, as by adding ornament or color |
Old master reproductions adorn chianti-colored walls; tapestries hang in the restrooms. |
conclude#signify#sanction#embellish# |
He usually wore a black cowboy hat adorned with a skull and crossed swords.#Posters of his games “Roll Player” and “Bullfrogs” adorn a wall.#Wide silver bands that mark me as a slave adorn each wrist.#Craving even more attention, he showed up at the 49ers training camp wearing socks adorned with pigs in police uniforms.# |
To adorn is to dress something up by decorating it. You might adorn your poncho with fringe or your poodle's dog collar with rhinestones. |
Adorn shares some Latin roots with words like ornament and ornate. So it makes sense that some people adorn their Christmas trees with tinsel and lights. Others adorn their eyelids with glitter. In any case, if you want to adorn yourself with all kinds of fabulous baubles, it might be wise to follow Coco Chanel's advice: take at least one accessory off before you walk out the door. |
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| 1422 |
adroit |
quick or skillful or adept in action or thought |
Neither is he adroit in the exercise of his duty; instead performs it bunglingly; his thoughts preoccupied, and eyes wandering about. |
bungling#courteous#extraneous#discerning# |
She may become a more adroit writer, but she won’t become a younger one.#But the dialogue is adroit, the characters engaging and multidimensional.#His predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, was less adroit.#Parkinson became adroit at the social media of his age — producing periodical articles, broadsheets and pamphlets, often under the pseudonym Old Hubert.# |
Someone who is adroit is clever and skillful. An adroit leader will be able to persuade people to go with his ideas. An adroit sculptor can turn a lump of clay into an object of great beauty. |
If you've ever studied French you know that droit means "right," both as in "right of free speech" and as in "left and right," and à droit means both "turn right" and "properly." Once English people borrowed à droit, they changed the meaning slightly, from doing something "properly" to "doing something well." You may have heard the expression "surprisingly adroit," as in, "For a guy whose wife does all the cooking, he is surprisingly adroit in the kitchen." |
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| 1423 |
adversity |
a state of misfortune or affliction |
Forty years in the wilderness, meeting adversities together, fighting enemies, marching as one host, made them a nation. |
prediction#misfortune#validity#ascent# |
They are now producing record harvests and scaling new heights despite facing natural adversities.#As a general matter, “pretty straightforwardly, the more categories of adversities a child suffers, the dimmer his or her chances of a happy, functional adulthood.”#“ Adversity happens every day in life and it happens on game day. Good defenses and good football teams overcome that.”#But despite extreme adversity Miss Gilmore crossed the finishing line on Thursday - completing the race in 52 hours 38 mins.# |
When circumstances or situations work against you, you face adversity. Refugees from war-torn countries encounter terrible adversity. |
Adversity, a noun which has been part of the English language for over 800 years, comes from the Latin adversus, literally "turned against," and figuratively "hostile or unfavorable." When things seem against you — circumstances or a stroke of bad luck — you are facing adversity. Sometimes people use a form of the phrase "turning adversity into opportunity." This refers to the ability some people or companies have to take a bad situation and make it into a successful one. |
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| 1424 |
advocacy |
active support of an idea or cause |
That sentiment faded after the 1930s, he said, as consumer advocacy focused more on protecting shoppers. |
a fashion designer#a chef#an accountant#a politician# |
Smith works full-time as a spokesman for Progress North Carolina Action, a liberal policy advocacy group.#As an Indivisible group, the Kudzu Coalition hosts local forums, provides advocacy training and coordinates phone calls and emails to legislators.#Conservative advocacy organizations and industry trade groups alike are launching an August push to repeal the taxes.#They supported fighting for equal treatment, whether through Black Lives Matter advocacy or by tipping waitresses fairly.# |
When you give your active support to an idea or cause, you are showing your advocacy for that cause. Your advocacy for an animal rights group might help raise money to save stray pups. |
The noun advocacy comes to English from a term used in Roman law. An advocate was a professional whose job was to plead cases in front of a court of law. That meaning led to the verb form advocate, as well as advocacy, to describe the work of an advocate. "The lunchroom staff were advocates for healthier school lunches; their advocacy was supported by parents and the school board; however, the students were reluctant to give up their cookies and chips." |
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| 1425 |
aesthetic |
characterized by an appreciation of beauty or good taste |
In old-fashioned, aesthetic terms, his glossy, color pictures of modern housing projects in Turkish cities under moody, gray skies are beautiful. |
anxious#tasteful#deserted#palatial# |
These communities feature cultures and aesthetics that differ from their northern neighbors.#You enter through a dull concourse; the prevailing aesthetic is Death Star.#“You see that men are higher interest in ideas and women are higher interest in aesthetics.”#However, on an aesthetic level, they all promulgate a musical approach predicated on constant metamorphosis.# |
The adjective aesthetic comes in handy when the subject at hand is beauty or the arts. A velvet painting of dogs playing poker might have minimal aesthetic appeal. |
Aesthetic, from a Greek word meaning "perception," comes to us from German philosophers who used it for a theory of the beautiful. From this technical sense, it soon came to refer to good taste and to artistry in general; if something has "aesthetic value," it has value as a work of art (even if nobody will pay much for it). It does not, however, refer to the objects themselves; do not talk about an "aesthetic painting." |
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| 1426 |
affinity |
a close connection marked by community of interests |
Malaysia has a close affinity with many Middle Eastern nations through their shared religion. |
people who live within the same time zone#the citizens of city or township#the members of a religious organization#people who participate in a variety of surveys# |
For the Inauguration Day protest planning, representatives from affinity groups across the country formed a council.#Women in Brazil are not unique in their affinity for mermaiding.#“We see it as an opportunity to establish ourselves in new ways or deepen our affinity with them.”#Considering your affinity for birds, I would highly recommend the American Bird Conservancy.# |
If you get along with someone very well, you have an affinity with them. Sometimes opposites attract, so you might feel a strange affinity to someone who is seemingly very different from you. |
When you are attracted to someone or something a great deal, we say that you have an affinity, a natural connection. Likewise, scientists use affinity to describe organisms that are alike or resemble each other. Interestingly, the Middle English word, affinite, originally applied to people who were connected or related by marriage, rather than by biology. |
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| 1427 |
affliction |
a cause of great suffering and distress |
Firm and exceptional natures are thus moulded out of miseries, misfortunes and afflictions. |
a robust economy#a cancer patient#a physical therapist#a lead teacher# |
He missed it so much he got lost in a dizzying array of personal afflictions and setbacks, and eventually fell off the grid.#Ms. Schwartz seems shirk personal responsibility in her article and mistakenly assumes that most Adderall users suffer from her same addictive affliction.#This is a common affliction among signs in the Gold Butte area.#Jake’s affliction is rarely alluded to and is never described.# |
An affliction makes you suffer, but you have to deal with it anyway. Diseases are often said to be afflictions, but the word can mean just about anything that causes great suffering. |
The word afflict, which makes up the first part of the word, means to cause this type of trouble. "Tom liked to afflict pain on his brother. His brother considered Tom just one more affliction he had to bear." The word can also be used as an exaggeration of something that isn't so bad––"Homework is often seen as an affliction by students and parents alike." |
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| 1428 |
affluent |
having an abundant supply of money or possessions of value |
Affluent families can afford guns, which are more efficient for bagging some elusive animals than a poorer household’s typical snare trap. |
a wealthy business-owner#a waterfall#a life-jacket#a translator# |
Homeless camping, in vehicles or tents, is a system failure in this affluent city.#By controlling key aspects of the economy, especially education, politics and the media, the white elite often very easily manipulate less affluent whites.#Because of the luxury amenities and advertised $3 million sales price, the Survival Condos attract affluent guests.#However, people with lower household incomes were far more likely to rely mainly on cash compared with their more affluent counterparts.# |
You know you're driving through an affluent neighborhood when you see large houses, perfect landscaping, and expensive cars. Use affluent to describe wealthy people or areas. |
In Middle English, affluent meant "abundant, flowing," from Old French, from Latin affluēns, from affluere "to abound in," from the prefix ad- "to, at" plus fluere "to flow." The meaning of "abundant, flowing" is still seen in phrases such as "affluent prose." But mostly, when you use the word affluent, the thing understood to be flowing is cash. |
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| 1429 |
aggrandize |
add details to |
Louis XIV. was growing increasingly ambitious of enlarging his domains and aggrandizing his power. |
habituate#rejuvenate#embroider#prognosticate# |
He is the one with a constant need to demonstrate his might, to harp neurotically on his win, to belittle others and aggrandize himself.#“It sounds self aggrandizing. But it’s a comment that didn’t happen the same way before the election. It’s a specific reaction.”#And would the predictable reaction have been helpful, or only further aggrandized terrorism and divided society?#The result is arbitrary enforcement that aggrandizes prosecutors at the expense of the rule of law.# |
If you are a window washer, but you refer to yourself as a "vista enhancement specialist," then you are aggrandizing your job title — that is, making it sound greater than it is. |
The verb aggrandize not only means "to make appear greater"; it can also be used to mean simply "to make greater." If you buy an estate and sink millions of dollars into its improvement, then you are actually aggrandizing the estate. If you are making yourself seem greater, then people may say you are "self-aggrandizing." |
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| 1430 |
agile |
moving quickly and lightly |
Are not many beasts physically stronger, more nimble and agile than man? |
nimble#substantive#infantile#scurvy# |
Agile Solutions, a Brazilian software firm, talks of investing $200m to open a “startup village” in Tegucigalpa, creating 6,000 jobs.#"Now the aim is to be very agile on content," says Mr Lancestremere.#He is remarkably agile for his age, and lives with his pencil drawings, paintings, photographs and a boxful of memories.#By streamlining its governance, the Premier League was more agile than its predecessors.# |
On water skis she was agile and made sharp turns and long arcs cutting through the water, but she was a lot less agile on the snowboard, landing on her face and hands as she clunked down the slopes. |
People and things can be agile, or quick and graceful. Car commercials talk of "agile handling," and nature-shows feature spry creatures who survive by being agile among more slow-footed and clumsy animals. Human and virtual minds also earn the description agile when they're sharp and grasp ideas or reason with speed and easy logic. Things that are agile often are thought to be light, but even heavy machines like trains and large people like sumo wrestlers can be agile. |
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| 1431 |
agrarian |
relating to rural matters |
We’re not an agrarian society any longer, where more hands help farm the land. |
moot#unfeigned#agricultural#execrable# |
"It's a concern to depend on one market," said Santiago Bertoni, president of the Paraguayan Institute of Agrarian Technology.#In today’s post-industrial age, software controls traditional mechanical, financial and agrarian practices.#This cultivation allowed early humans to pivot from hunter-gather lifestyles to more agrarian societies.#You might be wondering at this point whether such an agrarian vision isn’t both utopian and utterly retro. # |
Use the word agrarian to describe something related to fields, farming, or rural matters. The school calendar is still based on the old agrarian calendar, when children needed to be off during the summer to help with planting and harvesting. |
The adjective agrarian comes from the Latin root word ager, meaning a field, but the word's meaning has expanded to include anything rural or farm-related. "The senator, who represented mostly agrarian communities, spent most of her time working on issues of interest to farmers. She lobbied to stabilize the price of corn and milk, fought for subsidies for working farms, and presented ribbons to the prized pig at the county fair." |
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| 1432 |
alienate |
arouse hostility or indifference in |
Keeping schools closed and blocking certain public services is not a strategy we support and could alienate public opinion and play into the governor’s hand. |
a vice president#a reclusive monk#a popular professor#a busy actor# |
Analysts say that Iran will probably be extremely careful not to alienate the other countries in the nuclear agreement.#But in doing so, they risk alienating their original customer base.#The engineer, James Damore, wrote a memo criticizing Google for pushing mentoring and diversity programs and for “ alienating conservatives.”#If Trump’s fiery rhetoric alienates Beijing rather than motivates it?# |
When you alienate people, you make them stop liking or caring about you. Show up at a conference of cat lovers with a sign around your neck that says, "I hate kittens," and you'll learn firsthand what that means. |
Back in the days of Latin, before the word alien came to mean little green men from outer space, it described something or someone that was foreign or different or not known: an alien custom, an alien nation. When you alienate people, you make them WISH you were an alien, or at least that they could send you to the moon. |
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| 1433 |
allegiance |
the act of binding yourself to a course of action |
Notwithstanding this good fortune, Pontiac daily saw his followers dropping off from their allegiance; for even the boldest had lost heart. |
grievance#loyalty#quotation#insurrection# |
After the revolution, more than 200 Bahá’ís were executed in Iran because of their religious allegiance.#Details of his allegiance to any Islamist groups were not immediately clear.#The show of strength was about “ allegiance . . . to the Constitution,” particularly the First Amendment, said Christian Yingling, leader of the Pennsylvania Light Foot Militia.#Now the new legislators are asked to pledge allegiance to an oligopoly which is a Marxist Leninist Maoist totalitarian dictatorship.# |
Every second grader knows how to pledge allegiance to the flag, but do you think they realize when they place their right hand over their hearts that they're expressing loyalty to what we call the "Red, White, and Blue"? |
You can pledge your allegiance to a flag or swear your allegiance to a government or cause. Either way you're expressing your commitment and devotion in the firmest sense of the word. The liege in allegiance comes from the Old French word meaning "lord and master," which is who you would have been swearing your allegiance to if you'd been a servant in France centuries ago. |
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| 1434 |
allegory |
a style that describes a subject by suggestive resemblances |
Achingly beautiful, quiet and graceful, his award-winning novel Waiting is a love story superimposed on a political allegory. |
pact#flick#citation#parable# |
Allegories for facts staring you in the face are not always necessary, wanted or helpful.#The film borrowed heavily from a recent American picture, “The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms,” but put a distinctly Japanese spin on the allegory.#Which may be why he views the story of the Unabomber with a political allegory.#It was both entertaining ditty and allegory for something as profound as peace and harmony.# |
The figurative style known as allegory has nothing do with alligators — unless you're telling a story where alligators represent evil forces snapping at humanity. |
An allegory is like a metaphor on steroids: a writer tells a fictional story where everything and everyone in it is supposed to represent a deeper meaning. Using a plain old metaphor, you might call death "the grim reaper," but an allegory might build a whole tale of how the grim reaper goes around in a black cloak and informs people of their impending doom. Aesop's Fables are allegories, with animals taking the place of different human character types — though Aesop never wrote an allegory about an alligator. |
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| 1435 |
alleviate |
provide physical relief, as from pain |
Lewis said he got a Synvisc shot – an injection commonly used to alleviate arthritic symptoms – in his left knee on Monday. |
merit#generalize#soothe#deliver# |
Mr. Brooks, too, said there is reason to believe Saudi Arabia will succeed as long as it alleviates security concerns and focuses on authenticity.#I slowed down even more, but it didn’t alleviate the pain completely.#Three years into this ordeal, I read news reports that psychedelic drugs were being used with some success to alleviate depression in late-stage cancer patients.#For example, municipal revenue from fees might be spent on new schools to alleviate student overcrowding problems or new parks that serve the new residents.# |
Do all these words make your head ache? If so, take an aspirin to alleviate, or relieve, your pain. |
The verb, alleviate, stems from the Latin root, levis "light" and is related to modern English words such as elevator and levitate — both words implying a lightening of one's load. Alleviate also has this sense of lightening a burden such as physical pain or emotional duress. You can take medicine to alleviate symptoms or do exercise to alleviate stress. Or if you want a bigger challenge: try alleviating traffic congestion or world hunger. |
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| 1436 |
aloof |
remote in manner |
Too much focus on official duties can make an incumbent look isolated and aloof. |
controversial#morbid#reserved#gaunt# |
There is something different about his usually aloof features—surprise?#He was obviously interested but maintained his aloof law-enforcement defense barrier.#And it's common when secretaries of state first enter the job for career officers to complain that new bosses are aloof and their staff insular.#He is a bit aloof, marked more by gravitas than familiarity.# |
Someone who's aloof isn't warm and friendly, instead being distant and reserved. That emotionally cold and detached fellow who keeps to himself, drinking espresso and reading French philosophy, would best be described as aloof. |
In Middle English, aloof was originally a nautical term; the loof (now spelled luff) is the windward side of a ship. Smart sailors wanting to avoid a hazard on the leeward side would give the order, "A loof!" From this command we get the idea of steering clear of something (or someone). In modern usage the word has taken on a negative connotation: an aloof person is often considered cold or snobby. |
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| 1437 |
altruistic |
showing unselfish concern for the welfare of others |
The gesture was not necessarily altruistic; he was hoping for a donation in return. |
nonconformist#selfish#unimpeachable#unifying# |
Despite the self-promotional nature of this phenomenon, most of these workaday video protagonists claim altruistic reasons for putting their lives under the microscope.#“It is an intelligent policy. It is not only altruistic.”#They are wondering whether microbes might be fundamentally responsible for many of the altruistic behaviors that animals show toward their own kind.#Those are the only people who need to be altruistic in order to be anti-racist.# |
Someone who is altruistic always puts others first. An altruistic firefighter risks his life to save another's life, while an altruistic mom gives up the last bite of pie so her kid will be happy. |
This word comes from the Old French altruistic and means "other people" and before that the Latin alter, which means "other." Our current word comes from the nineteenth century and comes from philosophy. It means that it's important for people to be concerned with the good of others and to act unselfishly. When the word refers to the animal world, it means behavior that may actually harm the individual animal but will benefit the species in general. This is a truly selfless act! |
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| 1438 |
ambivalent |
uncertain or unable to decide about what course to follow |
"If managers are ambivalent, or wavering, then investor uncertainty increases and the stocks become more volatile." |
somnolent#unsure#adventitious#moribund# |
He warned the US not to steal Venezuela's oil reserves and warned the opposition not to be ambivalent.#But when I met with Cornelius Harris, label manager for Submerge, he was ambivalent about the genre’s global appeal.#For the reader, the iffy scheme seems unrelated to Naomi’s newfound social conscience, and instead bound up with ambivalent relationships to her father and stepmother.#But other people are deeply ambivalent about the whole idea.# |
If you can't decide how you feel about something, declare yourself ambivalent about it. |
Ambivalent means "having mixed feelings about something." A Swiss psychologist named Eugen Bleuler coined the German word Ambivalenz in the early twentieth century, and it was soon imported into English. Bleuler combined the Latin prefix ambi-, meaning "both," with valentia, "strength." So etymologically speaking, if you're ambivalent you're being pulled by two equally strong things — but in practice, ambivalence often arises from caring very little either way. You might feel ambivalent about your lunch options if you have to choose between a murky stew and flavorless tofu. |
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| 1439 |
ameliorate |
to make better |
Possessed of broadly humanitarian sympathies, he became interested in ameliorating the conditions of imprisoned debtors. |
hurtle#sequester#obviate#better# |
The book contains many names, but not many details about the people who, pre-germ theory, worked to ameliorate real urban suffering.#And while it’s not adequate—affirmative action will not ameliorate racial or gender inequality—it remains a necessary form of distributive justice.#Bothwell said green spaces also ameliorate the heat island effect.#The blood of young animals, it seems, may indeed be able to ameliorate at least some of the effects of ageing.# |
To ameliorate is to step in and make a bad situation better. You could try introducing a second lollipop to ameliorate a battle between two toddlers over a single lollipop. |
The verb ameliorate comes from the Latin word meliorare, meaning “improve.” Food drives can ameliorate hunger. An air conditioner can ameliorate the discomfort of a stiflingly hot summer day. A sympathy card can ameliorate grief. Family therapy can ameliorate severe sibling rivalry. Anything that can lift a burden or make something better can ameliorate. |
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| 1440 |
amiable |
diffusing warmth and friendliness |
He was also remarkable for his amiable and cheerful manners. |
petty#cordial#substitute#notable# |
Perceptive of slight shifts in the social current but never condemning his sinning characters' souls, Perrotta proves an amiable guide through it all.#It’s amiable, inventive and idiosyncratic, one of this year’s most intriguing hip-hop albums and also a bold statement of left-field pop.#This was a response to the institutional slovenliness that exasperated an amiable president three decades ago.#Mr. Rush is amiable company, quick with stories about playing for next to nothing in the 1950s and ’60s.# |
A friendly, pleasant person could be described as amiable. Airline flight attendants tend to be amiable. The people monitoring the school's cafeteria? Maybe not. |
An amiable person is good-natured and easy to get along with. Add one letter and you get amicable, a word with a common ancestor (Latin amicabilis) and a similar meaning. But while amiable refers to friendly people, amicable refers to friendly relations between them; two amiable people who no longer want to be married to one another might have an amicable divorce. |
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| 1441 |
amnesty |
a warrant granting release from punishment for an offense |
After three years in prison, he was released last October in an amnesty that freed about 200 political detainees. |
soliloquy#mediation#reprimand#pardon# |
Amnesty International puts the number of disappeared at 1,700 and says that extrajudicial executions are common.#If the Seattle City Council grants parking amnesty, it moves in the exact opposite direction.#Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch also reported police using bullets and called for restraint.#In separate statements, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International also called on police to exercise restraint.# |
Amnesty can mean a pardon for a wrongdoing, or it can also signal a government's willingness to overlook something. |
Amnesty sounds a little like "amnesia," and that's because in its more specific sense amnesty means "forgetting." The government will essentially forget about whatever crime was committed, or whatever horrible things were said. As part of a truce, amnesty can be granted to opposition forces in civil disputes. Amnesty to illegal aliens means the government will deliberately overlook their illegal entry to the country. There can also be a period of amnesty when people can turn in something that they would otherwise get in trouble for. "The city offered a period of amnesty for everyone to turn in illegal guns." |
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| 1442 |
amorphous |
having no definite form or distinct shape |
The problem is that where genes are tidy bits of DNA, the environment is huge, amorphous and hard to quantify. |
mangy#equine#formless#disingenuous# |
The presence of this " amorphous" movement is online and its popularity is said to be increasing nationwide.#The tricky thing is that discomfort about the tech superpowers is amorphous.#And yet, 50 Republican senators and the far-right vice president voted to move forward toward their amorphous finish line anyway.#Even seasoned defenders of cryptic formalism may find it amorphous.# |
In a scientific sense amorphous means lacking a crystalline structure, something without solid form. In a broader sense, the word describes anything that lacks a distinct shape or organizing theme, be it a work of art, a political movement, or even someone's direction in life. |
The Latin roots of this word are clear — morph means form and a means lacking. Lacking form. When used to describe creative works or ideas, it usually refers to a lack of organization and would rarely be considered a compliment. If your writing is amorphous, it's probably not fully formed. An amorphous crowd of people seem to be random and unconnected, until they all start dancing the Macarena in unison. |
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| 1443 |
ample |
more than enough in size or scope or capacity |
Both are highly respected and well known, with ample experience in development and economic policy making. |
abundant#absolute#abnormal#appropriate# |
Article IX calls for ample funding for a uniform system of public schools for all children living in the state.#From swapping in simple drawings to more extensive hidden messages, Reddit and Twitter were quick to capitalize on these ample photo ops.#For struggling students, there is ample time to practice until they get it.#There was ample evidence of climate change before this report.# |
Ample describes an abundance of something. An ample supply of apple muffins at the bake sale is a good thing, as is ample legroom in your new van, but you probably don't want your ample waistline spilling over the top of your jeans. |
Like amplify (crank up the volume), ample is from the Latin word amplus, meaning "large or spacious" and has the word plus in it, like plus-sized models. Ample can be enough or even too much of something. It's great when there's ample parking or water for the hike, but there are things that some people don't want more of, like extra pounds. It's a cheeky insult to tell someone he or she has ample thighs, but we'd all be happy if we had ample time and money. |
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| 1444 |
anachronism |
something located at a time when it could not have existed |
Today, the British monarchy seems like even more of an anachronism, notes my friend Merida, a London bureau friend now living in New York. |
an elderly person in a nursing home#a person who always believes he is sick#a butter churner in a modern kitchen#a computer's operating system# |
The fact that they seem so much like present-day young people is less an anachronism than an aspect of the film’s hopeful, soothing attitude.#It's less than a year since King Felipe told the United Nations that it was time "to end the colonial anachronism of Gibraltar".#Describing Gibraltar as the last colony in Europe, Spain's king invited the UK to "put an end to this anachronism".#Even at the start, the cafe was already something of an anachronism.# |
An anachronism is something that doesn't fit its time period, like if you say you'll "dial" your smartphone. |
Anachronism comes from the Greek roots ana- which means "against" and chron- which means "time." Together they represent a situation in which something happens that should not because it belongs to another time period. You see anachronisms all the time in the movies — they occur when you see a jet fly over a Civil War battle! Or knights jousting over a maiden during the time of Shakespeare! |
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| 1445 |
analogous |
similar or equivalent in some respects |
The two conditions, although apparently analogous, are, in reality, very different. |
tentative#correspondent#adroit#interim# |
"That is roughly analogous to saying there are expectations that the US will not grow as rapidly as anticipated."#What is happening with North Korea is not analogous to...#It's analogous to buying a second AC adapter for a laptop that sits in a dock, eliminating the need to decouple cables.#Last week, Labour peer Lord Adonis compared leaving the EU as a mistake analogous to appeasement.# |
Use the adjective analogous to describe something that is similar to something else and can be compared to another. |
Analogous things can be compared to each other, so a near synonym is the adjective comparable. Analogous is a term used in biology to refer to body parts that have a similar function but differ in structure, such as the wings of a bird and the wings of an airplane. Analogous is from Latin analogus, from Greek analogos, meaning "according to a proper ratio or proportion." |
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| 1446 |
anecdote |
short account of an incident |
With his fourth book, “Business at 16,” Mr. Bagchi hopes to get teenagers interested in business, partly by using fictional anecdotes, including boy-meets-girl stories. |
during a formal lecture on quantum physics#in the middle of a science exam#during a friendly conversation at a party#at a performance of classical music# |
Many of Fancher's anecdotes involve the women in his life.#The July 31 front-page article “Asylum seekers’ cases failing” included anecdotes from hearings before U.S.#It will also “share yet unheard anecdotes from his long and distinguished career”.#It will contain "previously unheard of anecdotes", Flatiron Books said in a statement.# |
A short, amusing true story is an anecdote. You might come back from a crazy spring break with a lot of anecdotes to tell. |
The roots of anecdote lie in the Greek word anekdota, meaning "unpublished." The word's original sense in English was "secret or private stories" — tales not fit for print, so to speak. It can still have connotations of unreliability, as in the phrase "anecdotal information." But the most common sense today is that of "a funny story about something that happened." |
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| 1447 |
animosity |
a feeling of ill will arousing active hostility |
In this brutal contest, two opposing teams face off against each other with competing agendas, borrowed tuxedos and tight smiles concealing deep animosities. |
two feuding families#two allied countries#two teammates#two playful puppies# |
But Texas’ usually measured governor harbors animosity toward local regulations designed to protect them.#There is a long history of animosity and distrust between Moscow and Warsaw.#Much of the animosity towards Thoreau centres on the two years he spent by Walden Pond and the book they inspired.#He proposed talks for reducing animosities across their heavily armed border and a resumption of meetings between aging relatives separated by war.# |
Animosity is hatred. If your (supposed) best buddy embarrasses you in front of a big crowd, your friendship could turn into animosity. |
Animosity comes from the Latin word animus, meaning "spirit" or "mind." That's also the root of the word animated — literally, "full of spirit." So how did animosity get so negative? Over the centuries, the original meaning of "high spirits" soured into "hatred." Today we most often speak of animosity toward, between, among, or against people. Keeping your animosity in check might make steam come out your ears. |
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| 1448 |
annihilate |
kill in large numbers |
Men deployed may fall back and escape; a mass of columns under direct artillery fire must surrender or be annihilated. |
wipe out#drag through the mud#take down#plump for# |
Perhaps their senses were dulled by an overpowering low-end that annihilated not just eardrums but also sense of self.#“Home Fire” blazes with the kind of annihilating devastation that transcends grief.#Gamma rays from deep space blanket the earth and annihilate all living creatures.#Toward the end of the thirteenth century, wars between the Mongol and Mamluk empires annihilated Raqqa and its surrounding countryside.# |
Killing ends when the thing you are killing (your sworn enemy, all hope, a pesky mosquito) is dead. Annihilate goes farther—when you annihilate something, you wipe all trace of it from the earth. |
You kill a person, but you annihilate a tribe, a town, or even a species. It's nice to think that the human race made it all the way up until the 16th century before annihilate came to mean what it does now. Might this have something to do with the increasing use of gunpowder around this time? |
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| 1449 |
anomaly |
deviation from the normal or common order or form or rule |
In this view, crises can be understood only as anomalies, the consequences of unusual outside shocks. |
police officer#cave dweller#unusual person#combat pilot# |
“The deep pessimism that hangs like a pall over America is an anomaly,” Marshall reminded me when we spoke about his endeavor.#“It’s an anomaly,” Henry says of the musical’s black Burr, George Washington and Alexander Hamilton.#The anomalies she and her colleagues find are being used as a new study in what amounts to extreme forensics.#Bars representing each country’s annual average temperature anomaly pulse up and down.# |
An anomaly is an abnormality, a blip on the screen of life that doesn’t fit with the rest of the pattern. If you are a breeder of black dogs and one puppy comes out pink, that puppy is an anomaly. |
The noun anomaly comes from the Greek word anomolia, meaning "uneven” or “irregular.” When something is unusual compared to similar things around it, it’s the anomaly. If you are an Olympian who comes from a family of bookish types who all find it strenuous to walk the dog, you are an anomaly. |
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| 1450 |
anonymous |
having no known name or identity or known source |
Throughout the process, the targeted consumers are tagged with an alphanumeric code, removing their names and making the data anonymous. |
implacable#homely#faceless#hearty# |
Anon 2: Anonymous: Well said — my thanks to you both.#On opposite sides of the park, hundreds for and hundreds against the removal of a 40-foot-statue of an anonymous Confederate soldier.#In one experiment, people read an anonymous work email and then evaluated that person based on their competence.#Salazar says his faith in others was restored when an anonymous donor offered up $10,000 to fix the truck.# |
If you don't know who wrote a poem, the author is anonymous. If you don't know who donated a gift to a museum, it's called an anonymous gift from an anonymous donor. Anonymous means a person unknown. |
Alcoholics Anonymous takes its name from the fact that it's a confidential group––people use only their first names and do not identify one another as members of the group. Another related meaning of anonymous is to describe something that does not have any special qualities. If you work in an anonymous office building, its design is pretty typical and not very interesting. |
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| 1451 |
antagonism |
an actively expressed feeling of dislike and hostility |
It bred a sense of resentment and secret antagonism which he took less pains to hide, from that night. |
egality#enmity#domination#delirium# |
This is a novel, to no small degree, about class antagonisms.#The “fundamental antagonism” that drove terrorism was a matter of “triumphant globalization battling against itself.”#One expert said children were growing up in "a culture of antagonism".#In the face of deep-seated antagonisms and dug-in positions, U.S. leverage is limited.# |
Antagonism means hostility. You might feel antagonism toward your annoying little sister, particularly if she's always borrowing your stuff without asking. |
Antagonism is one of the few things you can share easily with someone you don't like. You might feel antagonism toward your school, or at least the idea of going to school. If you're an antagonistic person, you feel antagonism to lots of people and things. |
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| 1452 |
anticipate |
be excited or anxious about |
I will continue to sit here as usual, waiting, grinning, tapping and anticipating my future. |
complain#depose#foresee#induce# |
This is based on " anticipated ticket sales" meaning the fewer people that enter, the better the odds of winning.#The reading from the Office for National Statistics was slightly better than anticipated.#“It probably happened a little bit earlier than what I was anticipating,” Cornelsen said of selecting Jackson as the starter.#But the broad shift toward streaming is also proving to be a more fragmented consumer experience than many anticipated.# |
To anticipate something is to be expecting it. Your dog might be waiting by the door, anticipating his next walk or squirrel chase. |
"Anticipating something" also often implies that you are preparing to take some action because of your expectations — like when you anticipate your chess opponent's next move and plan a counterattack. The word anticipate can also mean "to come beforehand" — as in a certain musical trend anticipating another. |
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| 1453 |
antipathy |
a feeling of intense dislike |
At any rate, they had, as a matter of fact, produced widespread discontent and bitter antipathies between classes. |
levity#distaste#partiality#presentiment# |
Greene suggests that this is in part biological, with oxytocin, a neural transmitter, contributing to in-group favoritism and out-group antipathy.#Mr. Gingrich traced the roots of these supposed antipathies to the 1880s, an observation that he repeatedly tendered “as an historian.”#His antipathy toward Hillary Clinton was not personality-driven but based on her advocacy of values that would threaten his rule.#The same perception may motivate Republicans’ rising antipathy toward a free press.# |
An antipathy is a deep-seated dislike of something or someone. Usually it's a condition that is long-term, innate, and pretty unlikely to change — like your antipathy for the Red Sox. |
If you look at the Greek roots of this word — anti- (meaning "against") and pathos (meaning "feeling"), you can see that antipathy is a feeling against someone or something. In general, antipathies are considered feelings that are kept at least somewhat under wraps and are not out on the surface. |
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| 1454 |
antithetical |
sharply contrasted in character or purpose |
Memorisation has a bad reputation in education today, dismissed as antithetical to creativity. |
collapsible#different#distrait#finicky# |
It’s here that I also learned that my summer credo, foot nudism, may be inherently antithetical to the best podiatry practices.#His default mind-set is not only indifferent to these traits but also antithetical to them.#“I didn’t even say it one of the times we got to a chorus. I must be antithetical to hit.”#It requires behavior that is antithetical to free human beings.# |
Something is antithetical when it is in complete and utter opposition to the character of something. If you’re a vegetarian, eating giant T-bone steaks is antithetical to your beliefs. |
You’ll find that antithetical is a useful word when you’re trying to express an extreme contrast. If someone is trying to convince you to do something you don’t believe in, or to allow an organization you’re involved with to adopt measures you are strongly against, you can use antithetical. You go out to vote because sitting out of the voting process is antithetical to what you believe in. If you find that your club wants to adopt exclusive measures when it is supposed to be open, you'll tell them that that's antithetical to the club's purpose. |
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| 1455 |
apathy |
an absence of emotion or enthusiasm |
When not thus engaged, his days were passed in listless apathy. |
vicissitude#forbearance#ancestry#indifference# |
Then again, boredom or just plain apathy might be a factor in other cases.#Voter turnout in that election was the lowest in modern French history, indicating widespread apathy and cynicism more than anything else.#“Sadly, my government continues that shame with an insidious mixture of apathy and exploitation.”#And she never lets our apathy discourage her.# |
Use the noun apathy when someone isn't interested in the important things that are happening. You might feel apathy for the political process after watching candidates bicker tediously with one another. |
Although apathy is a lazy-sounding word indicating a lack of interest, action, or emotion, it has traveled through many languages to arrive in English. From the Greek apatheia, "freedom from suffering" or "impassibility," apathy has existed in English since the 17th century. Not just one person, but a whole segment of the population can be accused of inaction or emotional detachment: the expressions voter apathy, student apathy, and consumer apathy show just how unenthusiastic groups of people can be. |
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| 1456 |
arcane |
requiring secret or mysterious knowledge |
Not just the knowledge of world geography but the very conceptualisation of space in this late medieval map looks to us remote and arcane. |
slipshod#intransigent#barefaced#esoteric# |
President John F. Kennedy helped spur the nation’s break from hospitalization, an arcane treatment philosophy that corralled people with mental illnesses into asylums.#They’re approachable, connecting to real experiences and culture instead of throwing arcane terminology in your face.#The Kennedy-McCain bond first blossomed during arcane policy hearings of the sea power subcommittee, where they realized their shared interests often outweighed their ideological distance.#Unlike the arcane compression technology that underlines Pied Piper, the fictional startup in Silicon Valley, mobile games are universal.# |
Something arcane is understood or known by only a few people. Almost everyone knows the basics of baseball, but only an elite few possess the arcane knowledge of its history that marks the true fan. |
A near synonym is esoteric, as in remote information or knowledge. Experts in academic fields often show off the depth of their knowledge by mentioning some arcane and esoteric fact as if it was common for everyone to know. The origin of arcane is Latin arcānus "secret, closed," from arca "a chest, box." Arcana (singular arcanum) are pieces of mysterious knowledge or information. |
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| 1457 |
archaic |
so extremely old as seeming to belong to an earlier period |
There are other advantages as well to reading the classics electronically—you can tap archaic words on the screen for an instant definition. |
irreparable#implicated#primitive#pert# |
In an age of excess, even that seems almost archaic.#A law was passed in 2009 that eliminated many of the archaic exemptions to jury duty in Tennessee that were based on age or occupation.#Published this week in Nature, the findings also hint at when modern humans interacted with other archaic humans.#Deeply divergent archaic mitochondrial genome provides lower time boundary for African gene flow into Neanderthals.# |
If you use the adjective archaic you are referring to something outmoded, belonging to an earlier period. Rotary phones and cassette players already seem so archaic! |
The adjective archaic means something that belongs to an earlier or antiquated time. It can also mean something that is outdated but can still be found in the present and therefore could seem out of place. The word comes from archaic (i.e., ancient) Greek, archaikos, and literally means "from Classical Greek culture," though its meaning has broadened as it's been used in English. |
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| 1458 |
ardent |
characterized by intense emotion |
Age, study, experience, retirement, reflection, had in no wise dimmed the fire of his ardent nationalism. |
bright#common#liquid#simple# |
He ran for president as inequality’s most ardent foe.#While Klausner herself is an ardent feminist, her TV id is considerably less self-aware and more self-involved.#While a few ardent Disney critics held that view, most analysts applauded the company’s move.#Yet the PAC’s theme is that Brooks’s support of Trump is insufficiently ardent.# |
If you are ardent, you are passionate about something. A pop star's ardent admirers might go so crazy at his concert that they faint from excitement. |
Ardent is most often used to modify words like supporter, fan, advocate, admirer, and defender — but also opponent. Although you can either ardently support or oppose something, support is by far the more common use. The word literally means "burning" or "glowing" — it's from Latin ardere, "to burn." In poetic use, the word is sometimes used to mean "glowing," as Alexander Pope did in his 1718 translation of Homer's Iliad: "From rank to rank she darts her ardent eyes." |
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| 1459 |
arduous |
characterized by effort to the point of exhaustion |
He seemed about thirty-five years of age, though the trace of arduous mental and physical exertion gave him a rather worn and older appearance. |
confusing#disingenuous#impetuous#straining# |
The arduous recruiting process starts with identifying potential recruits, often before they’re in high school.#After an arduous journey that lasted a month, he arrived in the South in November 2014, settling in Ulsan, an industrial city in the southeast.#Procedures like I.V.F. are arduous and expensive, and many people want children to closely resemble themselves and their partners.#“It was pretty arduous,” said Mrs. Wallish, who wrote the lyrics.# |
Use the adjective arduous to describe an activity that takes a lot of effort. Writing all those college essays and filling out the applications is an arduous process! |
Arduous was first used in English to mean "steep" or "difficult to climb." If you're an outdoorsman, hiking up a mountain is a lot of fun, but if you're a couch potato, it's an arduous trek. Today, the word can be used figuratively for something that is difficult or takes a lot of work. If you spend an arduous week studying for your final exams, you'll do well because you've worked really hard! |
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| 1460 |
aristocratic |
belonging to or characteristic of the nobility |
Several aristocratic families were stripped of their status after World War II, limiting the number of royal matches. |
dogged#noble#honorable#minute# |
My droll, aristocratic Russian-history professor granted me an extension on the final term paper.#Too much inherited wealth is a bad thing in a country that was founded in opposition to aristocratic privilege.#And he cooks well, rustic yet aristocratic fare like terrines, fish soups, veal stews and roasted chickens.#The imposing two-storey Renaissance Revival hospice was completed in 1890, with 25 luxurious rooms to accommodate aristocratic pilgrims visiting the Christian sites of Jerusalem.# |
The word aristocratic describes a person at the highest level of society — such as a prince or a duchess — or those people or things that are so distinguished that they seem to belong to that group. |
First used around the 1560s, the adjective aristocratic has origins in the Greek word aristokratia, meaning "government, rule of the best." An aristocratic person usually gains this social status through birthright rather than demonstrated merit. Aristocratic can describe someone or something belonging to this group, like an aristocratic estate or an aristocratic leader, but it can also describe something grand and elegant. You might have an aristocratic expression on your face as you attend a formal party. |
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| 1461 |
artifice |
a deceptive maneuver, especially to avoid capture |
But small men use lying artifices and disguises to protect themselves. |
robbery#tomfoolery#effrontery#trickery# |
He earlier pleaded guilty to one count of fraudulent schemes and artifices.#Everyone, in fact, works hard to transcend the artifice, and they deserve better.#It was a world of artifice and opportunism, desperate escapism and just plain desperation.#Cinema of the 1930s was no less dominated by artifice, but it wore a luxe glow sadly missing from today’s television series and films.# |
If a politician pretends to be angry as a way of rousing the anger of the voters and getting more votes, he's guilty of artifice — a subtle and crafty trick. |
Before taking on its current meaning, artifice meant a skilled piece of workmanship. A beautiful diamond bracelet might have been considered a piece of artifice, for example; now it would only be called artifice if the diamonds were fake. |
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| 1462 |
ascetic |
characteristic of the practice of rigorous self-discipline |
Another frequent cause of visions is long-continued fasting combined with more or less ascetic devotion. |
imperious#august#austere#asunder# |
The officials swim in a fancy pool; the ascetic Salus prefers the ocean.#Born in Corbridge in Northumberland, Brown soon demonstrated an ascetic streak.#In addition to his amazing dribbling ability, he was never booked and lived an ascetic life.#They sound like an ascetic’s vow to renounce the self’s happiness for a higher cause.# |
Want to live an ascetic lifestyle? Then you better ditch the flat panel TV and fuzzy slippers. To be ascetic, you learn to live without; it's all about self-denial. |
Ascetic is derived from the Greek asketes, meaning “monk,” or “hermit.” Later that became asketikos, meaning “rigorously self-disciplined,” which gives us the Modern English ascetic. Ascetic can be a noun: a person with incredible self-discipline and the ability to deprive herself, or an adjective that describes such a people or their lifestyle. |
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| 1463 |
aspire |
have an ambitious plan or a lofty goal |
India’s leaders, eager for a bigger footprint in global affairs, now aspire to a permanent seat on an expanded United Nations Security Council. |
shoot for#set out#get down#be given# |
Together, we must embrace our shared humanity, and aspire to create a society that is filled with respect, empathy and opportunity for all.#On the side, he wrote jokes for comics and met a fellow aspiring writer, Renée Wexman, who adopted the professional surname of Taylor.#Usher, the aspiring producer, is in transitional housing.#Southeastern is a training ground for aspiring mental health care workers.# |
Does your life goal include world domination? Have an ambitious plan that involves gold medals and international fame? Then you definitely know what it means to aspire toward something big. |
The verb aspire commonly means to aim or shoot for. But it comes from the Latin word aspirare, which means “to breathe upon.” So here's a trick for remembering this word: Think of yourself reaching up towards a spire, that really tall, tapered structure at the top of a church. Or, if you’re in a poetic mood, imagine your wish as a feather that moves forward when you blow on it. |
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| 1464 |
assimilation |
the process of absorbing one cultural group into another |
On the contrary, they themselves become Americanised, thanks to that faculty of assimilation which they possess in a high degree. |
absorption#consecration#quay#regeneration# |
The lawmakers spoke candidly about their experiences as first-generation Americans, their encounters with immigration officials and their parents’ paths toward assimilation.#It’s my choice to unite all New York with a story about an older immigrant generation trying to accept the assimilation of the next generation.”#One reason immigration is continuously debated in America is that there is no consensus on whether assimilation should be about national principles or national identity.#In Hong Kong the fear is of deeper assimilation by mainland China, followed by irrelevance.# |
Whether you’re talking about ideas or nutrients, assimilation describes the act of taking something in and absorbing it fully. |
Assimilation comes from the Latin assimilationem, meaning “likeness" or "similarity.” People of different backgrounds and beliefs undergo assimilation when, through living together, they come to see themselves as part of a larger community, or when a small group is absorbed into, and made part of, a bigger group, such as the Irish immigrants in America in the 19th century. Assimilation can also refer to the absorption of new ideas into existing knowledge. |
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| 1465 |
assuage |
provide physical relief, as from pain |
Moreover, I became at rest within myself, and the gaping, aching void which has filled my vitals these many days, became assuaged. |
decipher#mollify#inhale#gainsay# |
This formula satisfies Beijing’s conditions about the future of the peninsula, and it should assuage some of Kim’s worries, too.#The ensuing MRI exam assuaged any lingering concerns when it confirmed there was no disk damage.#Assuaging the public with happy talk quite obviously isn’t a conservative thing to do.#He is a boisterous presence, capable of assuaging dismayed teammates with his indefatigable energy.# |
If you assuage an unpleasant feeling, you make it go away. Assuaging your hunger by eating a bag of marshmallows may cause you other unpleasant feelings. |
The most common things that we assuage are fears, concerns, guilt, grief, anxiety, and anger. That makes a lot of sense — these are all things we seek relief from. The word comes from Old French assouagier, from the Latin root suavis, "sweet" — think of adding a bit of honey to something unpleasant. A word with a similar meaning is mollify. |
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| 1466 |
atone |
make amends for |
But let us pause for a moment to remember what “redeeming” actually is: atoning or making up for some mistake or wrongdoing. |
demur#repent#zigzag#forage# |
The 29-year-old from South Korea atoned for her lone bogey with three birdies and an eagle on the 538-yard 11th hole.#Would this be the partisan Mr. McCain trying to atone for his occasional loyalty lapses?#His lone regret was a poor par putt on the 16th, but he more than atoned for that with his bunker shot for eagle.#The consent decree stated that the Indiana Election Division would atone for its sins by sending a mailer to every registered voter in the state.# |
To atone is to do something "right" to make up for doing something wrong. Religious believers are known to atone for their sins, but even students can atone for a past failure by acing a quiz or two. |
The word atone came to English as a contraction of the words at and one. The verb means to make amends or reparations for an offense or wrong doing. You can remember the meaning by thinking of it as a sort of Zen concept, to be "at one" or in harmony with someone, you have to atone for your mistakes and be forgiven. In a religious sense, it means to repent for sins ("to atone for his sins"). |
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| 1467 |
attest |
provide evidence for |
Anticipating compensation, thousands flooded treatment centers seeking medical certificates attesting to their cholera. |
lose it#get well#make way#bear witness# |
As the news stories around this discovery attest, humans are afraid of volcanoes.#The many billboards around Taldykorgan touting government initiatives – nearly all of which feature Nazarbayev – attest to his fondness for reminding Kazakhs of his largesse.#“That picture there sort of attests to the uniqueness of Durham,” Vann said.#Holmgren attests to the ability of boxing gyms to get kids off the street.# |
To attest is to prove or declare to be true. For example: the fact that you aced the SAT attests to the strength of your vocabulary. |
Attest and testify come from the same Latin word testari, which means "to declare." Although both words are kind of formal, you often testify in a courtroom, but attest doesn't require a court of law to function. You can attest to anything — that the funny looking shoes toned your thighs, that what someone says is true, or that the new acne medicine really works. To remember it, think of when you pass a test, you attest that you know the material. |
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| 1468 |
attire |
clothing of a distinctive style or for a particular occasion |
She was elegantly and fashionably attired, wearing rich earrings, gold chain and locket, three valuable rings in addition to her wedding-ring, and so forth. |
clothing#ridicule#payment#simplicity# |
Still elegantly attired, her graying hair set just so — but feeling the weight of her years.#From medieval attire to Victorian grandeur, historically themed weddings are popping up more often than ever.#Prince George’s County police Chief Hank Stawinski says that Martin was wearing proper motorcycle attire, and that his injuries are not life-threatening.#Residents of the southwest Brooklyn neighborhood are predominantly Orthodox Jews, whose 18th-century traditions still govern everything from custody disputes to attire.# |
The noun attire is just a formal way to say "outfit." And if you’re going outside in the middle of a blizzard, your attire should include more than a bathing suit and flip-flops. |
Attire can also refer to the antlers of a deer, but that’s a pretty obscure definition. So let's stick to the more common uses: put it into verb form and it means "to dress or clothe." Which makes sense, since it comes to us from the Old French atirier, meaning “to equip, ready or prepare.” Charles Dickens wrote that “Great men are seldom over-scrupulous in the arrangement of their attire" — meaning the clothes do not make the man. |
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| 1469 |
attribution |
assigning to a cause or source |
But borrowing from sample essays found online or other online sources without attribution, even unintentionally, might result in your application being rejected. |
ascription#cornucopia#rationalization#cynosure# |
The producer declined to speak for attribution, however.#Although the article generally attributed views and opinions to actual people, its opening paragraph included a whopper with no attribution.#“The administration doesn’t need congressional support to issue a statement of attribution or impose sanctions,” Schiff said in a recent interview.#His 2004 memoir Chronicles: Volume One is filled with unacknowledged attributions.# |
"A wise man once said..." Ever wonder who said that famous quotation? Then you're curious about its attribution. An attribution identifies a source or cause of something — in this case, the person who first said the quote. |
Attribution often involves identifying the author or source of written material or a work of art. If you want to prove that painting you found in your basement is a van Gogh, you'd produce evidence to ensure proper attribution. The word can be used more generally to indicate the source of anything, whether it's a bombing, climate change, or success. For example, attribution of your success might be hard work and the support of family and friends. |
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| 1470 |
audible |
heard or perceptible by the ear |
Tavannes answered--but his words were barely audible above the deafening uproar. |
silent#inconsistent#myriad#graphic# |
It was so quiet, players’ voices were easily audible from the mezzanine.#They devices emitted a sound that was not audible to human ears, they added.#Most fans will be able to hear quarterback snap counts and audibles.#Try as he might, those notes will exit his mouth flat or, worse, as a barely audible gasp.# |
Something audible can be heard. Sometimes things that people don't want others to hear become audible, such as a growling stomach during a quiet moment at the movies. |
Coming from the Latin audīre, "to hear," audible is an adjective meaning "heard" or "hearable." A scream is audible, a barking dog next door is audible, and a siren is audible. Why do some writers use the expression "a barely audible whisper?" Isn’t that what a whisper is — something you can barely hear? |
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| 1471 |
augment |
enlarge or increase |
Computer engineers, in high demand but short supply, can command six-figure salaries right out of college, augmented by signing bonuses and equity or stock options. |
major#puzzling#provincial#secure# |
But Archinaut isn't just about building new things: It will also be able to repair and augment existing satellites, Rush said.#They demanded that schools augment the standard ratings by principals with data on how well each teacher’s students did on standardized tests.#The app also features an app-based show lottery, stickers, camera filters, and news, with augmented reality content also on the way.#Mr Trump visits his own hotels and golf courses about twice a week, augmenting their visibility.# |
Do you need to make something bigger, better, or stronger? Then you need to augment it. To augment is to increase the amount or strength of something. |
Maybe your bike isn't getting around very well on hills: the bike needs to be augmented with a better set of tires. People augment their computers and phones all the time, adding new gadgets and apps. They augment the storage space in their cars by buying roof racks. If the President decides to augment taxes, taxes are going up. When you see the word augment, think "More!" |
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| 1472 |
augur |
predict from an omen |
But ultimately the numbers augured an inescapably grim fate: Lieberman's approval rating in Connecticut bottomed out at just 31 percent last fall. |
evolve#decorate#bode#cull# |
I've hated the mask since the day an Augur—an Empire holy man—handed it to me in a velvet-lined box.#But the violence augurs ill for the country’s stability.#The acts of defiance directed at Beijing, with some people calling for outright independence for Hong Kong, seemed to augur an especially stormy legislative term.#A surge in U.S.-Russia tensions augurs increased instability in eastern Ukraine, where Moscow-backed rebels are waging a separatist campaign.# |
To augur is to predict or indicate. A black cat passing in front of you is said to augur bad luck, but if you love cats you can choose to believe that it augurs good luck instead. |
In the past, when you said you would augur the future it meant you would predict it. That form of augur is rarely used today, but the sense of prediction — connected to an object or event — remains. Dark clouds augur a rainstorm. If you skip a dress rehearsal before opening night of a show, it won’t augur well for your performance. The Latin root stems from an ancient Roman religious official who predicted the future from omens. |
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| 1473 |
auspicious |
auguring favorable circumstances and good luck |
The coast at the point at which he reached it seemed specially designed by nature for his favorable and auspicious reception. |
presumptuous#ineffable#prosaic#unfortunate# |
Greetings from the ramparts of the Red Fort on the auspicious occasion of Independence Day.#“Trust the universe,” Little says, noting the auspicious timing.#It was both an auspicious and precipitous time for the music industry.#“The Romans would find that auspicious—the first day. of the month named for Julius Caesar. Juno’s sacred day. Yippee.”# |
Use the adjective auspicious for a favorable situation or set of conditions. If you start a marathon by falling flat on your face, that's not an auspicious start. |
If something seems likely to bring success — either because it creates favorable conditions or you just consider it a lucky sign — label it auspicious. The word is related to auspice, "a divine omen," an old word with a colorful history. In Latin, an auspex was a person who observed the flight of birds to predict things about the future. Luckily, you no longer have to be a bird-watching fortune-teller to guess whether something is auspicious or not. |
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| 1474 |
authentic |
conforming to fact and therefore worthy of belief |
This census is not considered authentic, as many transparent errors were found in various parts of it. |
side by side#unfamiliar with#close at hand#bona fide# |
The vaccine is an " authentic mimic" of poliovirus called a virus-like particle.#He bought a punch bowl - from the measurements and materials, an authentic Chinese export punch bowl - for $1.#Threlfall struggled to discover a more authentic Mexican experience, and, this year, he stumbled upon the perfect hideaway.#All around holiday firms are touching up their brands with millennial buzz words - connected, experiential, authentic - in the hope of snaring younger customers.# |
The adjective authentic describes something that is real or genuine and not counterfeit. Be careful when you are buying jewelry or watches. If you are going to buy a diamond ring, you want an authentic diamond and not glass. That would be authentic glass but a fake diamond! |
In addition to describing something real, the adjective authentic describes something reliable, based on fact, and believable. If you have to write a research paper for school, be sure to use authentic facts and figures. The teacher is sure to check if you write, "My little sister told me that the Eiffel Tower is about 10,000 feet high," when in fact it's 1,063 feet tall. |
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| 1475 |
authoritarian |
characteristic of an absolute ruler or absolute rule |
But, he said, “all the ingredients of a repressive regime, an authoritarian regime, are there.” |
pulmonary#tyrannical#pell-mell#unapproachable# |
The democratic world is itself splitting into authoritarian and pluralist camps.#Many Americans recoiled at this image of a threatening, authoritarian God.#Human Rights Watch calls North Korea “one of the most repressive authoritarian states in the world.”#Gen. Pierre De Villiers resigned and was quickly replaced, but some saw last month’s public dispute as evidence of the president’s authoritarian tendencies.# |
If your teacher orders you to detention every time you show up to class with a dull pencil, you could probably describe her as an authoritarian — a ruler who prefers order to freedom. |
Authoritarian and authority both begin with author, which comes from an ancient Latin word meaning "master," "teacher," or "leader." The connection between authoritarian and master is obvious enough, and you can think of an author as the master of the fictional world she creates. Authoritarian is also an adjective. That teacher with the rule against dull pencils? You can use the noun form to say that she's an authoritarian, or you can use an adjective and skip the "an": "She's authoritarian." |
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| 1476 |
authoritative |
of recognized power or excellence |
His plays are being revived, and an authoritative and exhaustive edition of his writings is being issued by a leading publishing house. |
important#hazardous#ponderous#indistinct# |
“My first impression of her was that she was really well-mannered, really well-educated, really polite, but really authoritative as well,” said Cai, the truck driver.#Eclipsewise.com serves authoritative predictions and data for eclipses past, present and future.#"The NSS continues to be the largest and most authoritative survey of its kind in the UK," she said.#The process for being named a saint in the Catholic Church is called “canonization,” the word “canon” meaning an authoritative list.# |
Speak with an authoritative tone, or no one will listen to you. Why would they, if you sound like you don't even believe in yourself? Authoritative means sure or definitive. |
When writing a paper, it can be useful to quote from an authoritative source, such as the encyclopedia, but you must also do enough research that you are fluent in your subject and can speak with the authoritative voice only true immersion can produce. |
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| 1477 |
avenge |
take action in return for a perceived wrong |
But Amon-Ra of Thebes avenged the dishonour that had been done him, and stirred up his adorers to successful revolt. |
the spiteful rumor a classmate spread about you#the high grade you earned on your science test#the new salad bar in the school cafeteria#the varsity softball team's practice schedule# |
The suggestion is that, as his government clashes with the EU on migration quotas, it is avenging grievances rooted in the 20th century.#Four Palestinians were killed and three Israeli civilians stabbed to death by a Palestinian who said he was avenging Israel actions at the site.#She’s a punching bag, but she’s also a fantasist’s dream girl: the avenging goddess, destroyer of men.#"But there will be justice for Barb. Barb will be avenged."# |
If you avenge your father's death by killing his murderer (thereby taking revenge for the crime), there is a good chance you'll end up in jail, if you're caught. |
Many movie plots center on a character who seeks to avenge an injury of some kind. Whether it be Simba in "The Lion King," who wants to avenge his father's death, or Erin Brockovich, who seeks to avenge the suffering caused by a crooked and polluting California power company. One trick to remembering the word is that it's similar to the word revenge, which is the thing you're going for when you're seeking to avenge a bad deed. Watch for the venge in both words, and you'll know you're in the right department. |
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| 1478 |
avid |
marked by active interest and enthusiasm |
An avid runner, Moyer eventually began arriving six hours early on game days to exercise on an underwater treadmill. |
unenthusiastic#international#sympathetic#mountainous# |
He was an avid hockey player at the University of Tennessee and afterward in minor leagues.#He was an avid hockey player at the University of Tennessee and afterward in the minor leagues.#Phelps, an avid golfer, struck up a friendship with Spieth last year in Phoenix through their mutual sponsor, Under Armour.#Besides, for those who aren’t avid book readers, “Hamilton” offers a musically irresistible alternative for absorbing American history.# |
Avid usually means very eager or enthusiastic. If you're an avid reader, it means you read as much as you can, whenever you can. |
But this adjective can also mean wanting something so much that you can be thought of as greedy. For example, a person can be avid for success or power. Avid is from French avide, from Latin avidus, from avere "to desire, crave." |
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| 1479 |
avuncular |
resembling a uncle in kindness or indulgence |
He is a consummate retail politician, given to small talk and an avuncular style. |
kind#emotional#executive#nervous# |
The tone is avuncular, aiming for that audience that was once called middlebrow.#One notice carries a photograph of an avuncular man holding a child and a baby, along with a phone number to call with any information.#His performances on television were calm and avuncular, with a touch of humor.#At 69, Hekmatyar cuts an avuncular and scholarly figure, but his name still strikes fear and horror here.# |
Everyone likes an avuncular guy, that is someone who is kind and patient and generally indulgent with people younger than he is. The Dalai Lama is an avuncular fellow. So is Santa Claus. Unless you haven't been good. |
The word avuncular originally comes from the Latin avunculus, meaning "maternal uncle," and strictly speaking the term describes the relationship between an uncle and his nephew. Uncles, by their very definition, are supposed to be avuncular to their nephews. For many uncles though, Santa Claus is pretty hard to compete with. |
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| 1480 |
awe |
an overwhelming feeling of wonder or admiration |
The aurora deeply impressed him, inspiring feelings of awe and reverence. |
determination#astonishment#disappointment#approximation# |
“You want to awe people, so you push the limits of gravity and sand sculpting,” McGrew says.#Almost a year to the day since its controversial release, No Man’s Sky is still frequently awe inspiring.#Words can’t do justice to the primal feeling of eeriness and awe evoked by this celestial event, but here’s what to expect:#We are no longer shaking in awe, with an open mouth, left speechless, he writes.# |
Awe is a feeling of fear that is mixed with respect and wonder. You might gaze at the Grand Canyon with awe, marveling at its beauty and fearing its depth. |
Awe dates back to Middle English, and was borrowed from Old Norse, a Scandinavian language. In Middle English the word referred to intense fear. The related English word awful originally meant "full of or causing intense fear." And awesome, which originally meant "inspiring awe" now is used generally as a synonym for excellent. |
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| 1481 |
abbreviate |
shorten |
Our genetic information is encoded by the nucleotides thymine, cytosine, guanine, and adenosine, abbreviated as T, C, G, and A, respectively. |
reduce#bask#cube#reverberate# |
He spent the abbreviated workout being constantly reminded he’s now a 40-year-old quarterback.#Also, that the players are loath to abbreviate their short career life span even more by striking.#Song after song, abbreviated though many were, was maybe a bit too much of a good thing, just as the L.A.#Abbreviated, intense workouts may help people of any age become healthier, a new study of old mice that ran on treadmills suggests.# |
To abbreviate is to shorten. Words are often abbreviated, like when we say sked instead of schedule. |
Though we most often think about words being abbreviated — especially terms like OMG and LOL for "oh my God" and "laugh out loud" — lots of things can be abbreviated. You just have to shorten them. Sudden rain might abbreviate a baseball game. A bomb threat would abbreviate a school day. Anytime something is being shortened or cut, abbreviation is going on. |
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| 1482 |
acronym |
a word formed from the initial letters of several words |
OMG The first recorded appearance of this breathless acronym for “Oh, my God!” comes, surprisingly, in a letter to Winston Churchill. |
etcetera#sine qua non#AWOL#Madam# |
The metric - an acronym for Fresh, Tired and Even - is a major part of the NBA schedule process.#The metric — an acronym for Fresh, Tired and Even — is a major part of the NBA schedule process.#Part of the initiative to bring back this excitement is the inclusion of the “A” in the traditional “STEM” acronym.#"Today in Raqqa, Isis is fighting for every last block... and fighting for their own survival," he said, using another acronym for IS.# |
Are the members of your after-school club tripping over the name Student Parachuting League & Aerial Team? Why not use each word's first letter to make an acronym, and call the club SPLAT? There, that’s better. |
What do NASA, sonar, and scuba have in common? They are all acronyms. Not only does each letter come from the first letter of another word, but each group of letters is easy to pronounce as its own word. Though its roots are classic (acro means “tip” and nym means “name”), acronym is fairly new as English words go; it has only been around since the early 1940s. |
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| 1483 |
alter |
cause to change; make different |
In Rome, the Canadian postulants gave me a present--a book that altered my life utterly. |
arrive#budget#purchase#vary# |
This was Fowler at his finest, a guy determined to alter his image and change his reputation.#Yes, that alters the game, but no more than the lengthy pauses for weather that burns pitchers on both teams.#The plane altered its flight plan to cross the path of totality.#He wouldn’t alter his rest stops if the bill passed.# |
After eating too many gingerbread cookies, she no longer fit into her uniform, so she had a seamstress alter it. It looked pretty much the same. |
The verb alter can also mean to neuter or spay. Think of a cat that has just been spayed: the cat you pick up from the vet is the same cat that you dropped off there, only perhaps a little groggy and unable to reproduce. While the cat has been altered, it's not a different cat. |
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| 1484 |
analogy |
drawing a comparison in order to show a similarity |
Actually, the word “recipe” points us toward a useful analogy: think of a quantum field theory as a culinary recipe. |
comparison#laboratory#technology#commitment# |
“We’ll be there to prepare the seedbed,” he said, using a farming analogy.#“A friend of mine uses the analogy that Conference USA is like NASCAR.”#The analogy to the recent health care debate is clear.#The closest analogy to the North Korea situation is Pakistan, he said.# |
When you draw an analogy between two things, you compare them for the purpose of explanation. The movie character Forrest Gump made a silly analogy famous: "Life is like a box of chocolates." |
Some standardized tests still have "analogy questions," which are given in this format: A : B :: C : ___ (read "A is to B as C is to what?"). This is a more formalized version of something we do every day: compare one thing to another. It's a useful way of speaking — if a scientist explains that the earth's forests function as its lungs, we understand the analogy to mean that both trees and lungs take in important elements from the air. But when Forrest Gump says life is like a box of chocolates because you never know what you're going to get, that's a pretty brainless analogy. |
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| 1485 |
annotate |
add explanatory notes to or supply with critical comments |
Genius, which allows users to annotate music lyrics, has thousands of songs whose explanations are continually updated and improved by its community of members. |
a business memo#a children's book#a foreign text#a newspaper# |
The hackers uploaded a text file of the Games of Thrones instalment and an annotated video of the script.#Ms. French talked through her menu, annotating it like a memoirist.#The functional effect of the mutations was annotated using Annovar43 and the variants were assessed for their confidence and split into somatic and non-somatic calls.#Students in the program learn to isolate and characterize bacteriophages, annotate the phage genomes, and then submit the sequences to a national database.# |
When you annotate, you write critical explanations to add extra insight about something. These explanations can be necessary to understanding writings in which the language might be difficult to make sense of without clarification. |
The heart of the word annotate is the word note. The Latin annotātus means "noted down," making the word a breeze to remember. A writer will annotate parts that need extra explanation in technical works or classic writings in which the language or concepts might be difficult to grasp. In fact, some works, like James Joyce’s "Ulysses," have entire separate volumes of annotations, and readers must shift back and forth from the novel to the annotations. Now that's a dedicated reader! |
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| 1486 |
application |
the action of putting something into operation |
Its application also allows users to search for points of interest such as restaurants and cinemas. |
diligence#reduction#purchase#melancholy# |
As of Tuesday, AI2, as the research unit calls itself, is seeking applications for startups to follow in those companies’ footsteps.#Government demand for military applications provided a critical bridge to bring down costs and activate broader markets.#Black Americans demanded more and got it — affirmative action in job and college applications.#The board decides once a year on new applications to open the alternative form of public schools, which are run by private nonprofits.# |
An application is a request for a job, assistance or admission to a school. Colleges might want you to submit your application by Dec. 1, but they won't let you know if you've been accepted until sometime in April. |
An application is also a form you fill out for something. If you need a handicapped parking permit, you and your doctor must first fill out an application and then submit it in the town hall. An application is also a computer program designed to perform a task or solve a problem. If you didn't get enough sleep last night, the careful application of makeup can mask the dark circles under your eyes. |
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| 1487 |
apply |
be pertinent or relevant |
On Tuesday, Qatari World Cup organizers produced a 50-page document outlining stricter measures that would apply to contractors involved in building work for the tournament. |
entrance#use#disorder#evidence# |
The conversation and cash, Haigler said recently, was what he needed to get through the night and eventually start applying for jobs.#In light of Charlottesville, Trump needs to reinvigorate efforts to combat extremist ideologies and apply these programs to all forms of extremism.#The U.S. legislation also applies terrorism sanctions to the Revolutionary Guard and enforces an existing arms embargo.#Authorities say the officer applied a tourniquet and waited for medics to arrive.# |
Apply means to put on a surface, like to apply makeup to your face before work. Apply also means to ask in a formal way. Long before you applied the makeup, you had to apply for the job. |
You can apply the word apply to many situations, including when you make use of something — like when you apply the brakes on a car. Apply also means to really put effort into a task, like to apply yourself to learning Greek or reaching the next level on your favorite video game. But then again, maybe those examples don’t apply. |
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| 1488 |
appropriate |
suitable for a particular person, place, or situation |
“Also unsure of whether #Unapologetic is appropriate for a child’s toy.” |
seize#exalt#operate#pan# |
They need qualifications to the appropriate standard in six or more categories, with at least one in the Fighting group.#The Damond family attorney, Bob Bennett, says the search was appropriate.#“We do think that history is important so we’re looking for an appropriate location for it.”#Fowler said it’s an appropriate moniker in a state where nearly 63 percent of voters backed Trump.# |
Something appropriate is correct and fits the situation. A sweater-vest with reindeer on it is appropriate holiday apparel, even if it's totally embarrassing. |
The adjective appropriate is used when something is suitable or fitting. It comes from the Latin appropriare, which means "to make something fit, to make something one's own." Going back even further, appropriate is related to the Latin word proprius, "to belong to a person, thing, or group." Another appropriate way to use this word is as a verb, meaning to steal or seize something, the way you'd appropriate your sister's sandwich if she left it sitting near you. |
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| 1489 |
argue |
present reasons to support one's views |
I could argue that nerds, being more technical, also have more vision and relevance in a more technical world. |
wander#snatch#fight#panic# |
Good business principles would argue for robust prevention.#Guy argued his colleagues deprived the public of the opportunity to attend and comment on the proposed censure.#Costco, which is to appeal against the decision, argues that "Tiffany" is now a generic term for the rings.#Penn Hills police alleged that she and her boyfriend argued and after he fell asleep and she threw gasoline on him and set him afire.# |
When people argue, they disagree with each other, sometimes loudly. You don’t always have to yell when you argue, though, sometimes you’re just trying to prove a point. If your mom tells you to be home for dinner, don’t argue! |
When you think of the word argue, you might think of angry people screaming at one another, but that’s only one meaning of this verb. The other is "to present reasons and evidence about a stance or opinion." For example, if you give a speech in support of world peace, you might argue that nations accomplish more when they work together, giving examples to support this idea. When you present reasons why you believe in something, you argue for it. |
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| 1490 |
arrange |
organize thoughts, ideas, or temporal events |
The sophistication comes with choosing the right texts and arranging them in an effective sequence that motivates and encourages the patient without alienating him. |
oppress#guarantee#order#hue# |
Meanwhile, his family keeps setting him up with women, in hopes of brokering an arranged marriage.#One of the social-media posts resembled a wanted poster or a missing-persons flyer: Photographs of men were arranged in rows, seeking their names and employers.#He delivering the statement from the White House at a hastily arranged appearance meant to halt the growing political threat posed by the situation.#Soderbergh financed and arranged to release the picture without a studio, retaining control over production and marketing.# |
Think it might be fun to be a party planner? These highly organized people arrange everything from invitations to music, food, even the lighting in the room, meaning they put everything in order. |
At a concert, you look in your program to see what piece is next. There's a title, followed by the composer's name. Under that is another name, preceded by "arranged by." What does that mean? Every piece was originally written with a certain instrument or instruments in mind. In order for that music to be played by other instruments, it first has to be adapted, meaning someone has to arrange it. A symphony for kazoos? You can arrange that. |
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| 1491 |
articulate |
put into words or an expression |
He was deeply committed to the principle of free markets, and articulated four “Internet freedoms” reminiscent of Richard M. Stallman’s four software freedoms. |
exhausted#additional#invisible#silent# |
Odogwu struggles to articulate his decision, saying only that it involved lots of prayer.#These were things that many conservative and centrist voters believe in their guts, even if they don’t articulate them.#I asked in my most articulate, mature, but nonviolent voice.#These same ideas were articulated more starkly a few years later, but with a different prescription.# |
To articulate is to say something. And, if you say it well, someone might praise you by saying you are articulate. Confused yet? It's all in the pronunciation. |
Reach for articulate when you need an adjective meaning "well-spoken" (pronounced ar-TIC-yuh-lit) or a verb (ar-TIC-yuh-late) meaning "to speak or express yourself clearly." The key to understanding articulate's many uses is to think of the related noun article: an articulate person clearly pronounces each article of his or her speech (that is, each word and syllable), and an articulated joint is divided up into distinct articles, or parts. |
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| 1492 |
assemble |
create by putting components or members together |
Sweating in green army fatigues, he praised the plan, noting its imported, prefabricated design that allowed walls to be assembled quickly, like puzzle pieces. |
deceive#disperse#bewitch#beautify# |
Instead, he assembled a war room to ensure its survival.#A thing the height of a four-story building should not be able to be assembled and disassembled overnight.#We’ve assembled an expert panel to answer your burning questions about the upcoming ‘Great American Eclipse.’#The complaint says Varnell helped assemble the device and load it into what he believed was a stolen van.# |
To assemble means to bring together, as in people or parts. The volunteers assembled to assemble the bikes for the needy kids. |
The U.S. Constitution guarantees in something in the Bill of Rights called "the right of assembly." This means that people are allowed to come together for any purpose they chose. In countries without this right, groups who assemble can be disbanded with the idea that they may be assembling a revolution. |
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| 1493 |
assess |
estimate the nature, quality, ability or significance of |
Other cars are covered with rubble, making it tough to assess the damage or estimate the cost of repairs, Doran said. |
supplement#paddle#fringe#measure# |
Supreme Court asked it to more closely assess whether he suffered the "concrete and particularized" injury needed to justify a lawsuit.#His mission was to assess the extent of police corruption in the city and the department’s efforts to combat it.#And Pyongyang said today that it would wait to assess “the foolish and stupid conduct” of the U.S. before launching missiles toward Guam.#In the meantime, authorities are assessing plans to recover the bodies of the Thai students.# |
Before you try to sell your car, you should ask an expert to assess its value––once you know what it's worth, it's easier to find a fair price. When you assess a matter, you make a judgment about it. |
The verb assess has the general meaning of determining the importance or value of something. It also has a few specialized uses having to do with amounts of money, such as fines, fees, and taxes. It can mean to set the value of property for purposes of taxation, or to charge a person or business a tax or fee. This verb came through French from Latin assidēre "to sit as a judge." |
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| 1494 |
associate |
make a logical or causal connection |
"As a visual icon the ukulele is instantly associated with Hawaii, which is why it's used so frequently in advertising." |
luxury#accident#breach#friend# |
Hotel management didn’t immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press seeking comment.#His suspicions were confirmed when Ma and three associates were indicted in September in U.S.#In a statement from the Associated Humane Society, staffers thanked the public for their outpouring of support.#In a statement, the Associated Humane Society thanked the public for their outpouring of support.# |
As a verb, associate can mean to make a connection between things or concepts. You might associate the smell of lemons with summer memories of selling lemonade. Or, with polishing your furniture with Lemon Pledge. |
As a noun, in employment, an associate is someone who is in a junior position. You might hear about associates at law firms, hoping to make partner one day. However, some companies also use associate to mean any employee, regardless of rank or seniority. The noun associate can also mean a friend or someone you keep company with. And, as a verb, associate can also mean to keep company with — like when you were associating with activists at the protest march. |
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| 1495 |
background |
information that is essential to understanding a situation |
The background: She and her husband purchased her stepson’s home at foreclosure so that he and his family wouldn’t become homeless. |
a painful sunburn on your nose#the profits of an huge company#the chatter in a crowded restaurant#a heated argument about an issue# |
And yet it’s surprisingly relatable — not just to people who share Nanjiani’s background, but to my culture and family experience as well.#Different people will desire different emotions, she adds, depending on their cultural background, their personality, and their particular situation.#The 12-mile stretch brings together people of all backgrounds, and passengers seem more apt to interact with him compared to other routes, Vass said.#As with most of their work, the focus was on her Jewish background and his Italian heritage, her neurotic firecracker personality and his volatile hedonism.# |
Background is what’s behind something — whether it’s physical, like a play’s scenery, or intangible, like a person's life story or the past facts of a current situation. If you are shy, you might try to stay in the background at parties and avoid attention. |
The original idea of background was the use of stage scenery or painted drops that established a play's setting. Later, the idea expanded to include the figurative meaning of something that was present yet not immediately noticed, such as the background music in a movie. It also came to mean material that happened earlier and contributed to something. If your new boss does a "background check" on you, it's because she wants to know all the trouble you've caused in the past. |
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| 1496 |
brainstorm |
try to solve a problem by thinking intensely about it |
The Vatican announced Tuesday it would host a workshop early in the new year to brainstorm peaceful solutions to the ongoing civil war in Syria. |
close down#keep up#sign over#think about# |
It was nine actors who are on stage at all times, brainstorming ideas for a TV series.#Cassandra Hustedt works for Brainstorm Escapes and designs the rooms.#“Let's create the coolest pool floats you’ve ever seen,” Blake said, recalling the brainstorming session.#Besson explains that while brainstorming, he collects these images as visual references, each serving to spark a creative idea later down the line.# |
As you would expect, the word brainstorm involves thought. A brainstorm can be an "Aha!" moment, while brainstorming is the process of trying to think of ideas. |
If you've ever needed to find a topic for a paper and have just started listing every idea coming to you, you know what it's like to brainstorm. People brainstorm when they need a new idea. You can also say you had a brainstorm when a good idea or solution occurs to you. Often, this kind of brainstorm happens when you're not even working on the problem. For example, a scientist might have a brainstorm for a new project in the shower. |
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| 1497 |
brief |
concise and succinct |
Hawking’s popular reputation was created through his best-selling book, A Brief History of Time, and the accompanying video program. |
short#severe#steady#economic# |
Scaramucci was also asked if he felt burned by his brief time at the White House, but the former communications director demurred.#Combine that with the software, which felt fast and easy enough, and my brief time with the device at least left me wanting more.#Google, the brief said that as individuals' data is increasingly collected through digital devices, greater privacy protections are needed under the law.#Literally dying,’” Mr. Clarkson colorfully described his brief hospitalization in his Aug. 13 column for the Sunday Times.# |
Something brief is short and to the point. If you make a brief visit, you don't stay long. If you make a brief statement, you use few words. If you wear brief shorts, you are showing a little too much leg. |
As a noun, a brief is a condensed summary or abstract, especially a legal summary of a case. Lawyers submit pretrial briefs to the court outlining the witnesses for the prosecution or defense. As a verb, brief means to give essential information to someone — like the President gets briefed on important matters. |
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| 1498 |
calculate |
make a mathematical computation |
Unaided human reason is typically very bad at calculating relevant probabilities. |
in social studies#in physical education#in math#in French# |
As the calculated moment of totality approached, at half past noon, the excitement built.#These would be carefully calculated — enough to register, but not so serious that they impinge on the interaction.#It was calculated to touch off a storm of anxiety region-wide.#Yet Mr. Trump’s modulated tone seemed calculated to open a negotiation with China rather than ignite a trade war.# |
Calculate derives from the Latin word for count––it means either to figure out an equation, i.e., to count it up, or to count on something happening. |
You might calculate on having your friends taking your side in a fight with a bully, or you might calculate on reaching home before nightfall, when you're on a road trip. You might calculate the answer to a simple equation in your head but need a calculator to figure out something more complex. |
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| 1499 |
caption |
brief description accompanying an illustration |
The photo generated captions such as: "I had fun once...it was awful." |
on a soccer player's shin#on a whaling vessel#on the top of a mountain#at the bottom of a TV screen# |
And Rickie Fowler shared a different angle of the photo -- along with a self-deprecating caption:#The user's picture was incorporated into a personalised video, featuring Gary Lineker, automatically tweeted and captioned by Walkers.#"When your friends invite you for dinner and you end up doing all the work," Hayek captioned the photo.#We were looking at what kind of stuff they post, what kind of captions they write, what emoji they use, how they talk.# |
A caption is a brief description accompanying an illustration. You know the online photo of your baby cousin face-planting into a cake? The description underneath it that says "Hugh's First Birthday" — that's the caption. |
The Latin root of caption is capito, which means "seizing" or "holding." What do captions have to do with seizing? Nothing. Centuries ago, when authorities seized someone's property for legal reasons, they presented documents that began with the phrase "certificate of caption." Eventually people began using the word to refer to the beginning of any document. Then they began using it to mean any article or chapter heading. And from chapter headings it was a short hop to picture headings. A long journey for a word whose definition includes the description "brief"! |
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| 1500 |
category |
a general concept that marks divisions or coordinations |
The Playstation 3 title is recognised in categories including action & adventure, artistic achievement, best game and game design. |
precedent#class#triple#federation# |
They need qualifications to the appropriate standard in six or more categories, with at least one in the Fighting group.#This was five times higher than the rate of people who subscribed to apps when the apps were in the low-cost category.#So she decided to swear off spending in certain categories, such as books and cosmetics, for longer stretches of time.#And, according to Mirnig, robots fit into this latter category pretty well.# |
A category is a group of things that share some commonality. Think of the game show "Jeopardy!," and how each column is a different category of questions — like "Literary Characters" or "Potent Potables." |
The noun category has the sense of ordering or sorting. In Biology, the science of taxonomy is all about categorizing all living organisms. It might be an easier task to categorize books in a library according to genre (e.g., fiction, non-fiction, mysteries, etc.) or to categorize the shoes in your closet according to season. |
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| 1501 |
characteristic |
a distinguishing quality |
All geometric objects must remain true to their unique characteristics, and each step in the proof must follow the strict rules of logical deduction. |
instinct#revelation#feature#flash# |
Instead, the repetition of “on many sides”, a characteristic Trump verbal tic used for emphasis.#Two of these characteristics are key to our infrastructure’s future: resilience and sustainability.#House said he thinks there’s value in the appearance of historic properties because people are attracted to the characteristics of the architecture.#“The behavior was not characteristic of the average car theft suspect,” Over said.# |
If something is a characteristic of someone or something, it is a feature you would expect. A characteristic of classical-style architecture is large stone columns. A characteristic of poodles is their pom-pom like tails. |
A characteristic feature needn't just be a something physically apparent, it can describe a type of personality or atmosphere as well, as in: "The characteristic of all funeral homes is their gloomy air." As their spelling and meaning implies, there is a close link between the words characteristic and character, meaning the essential nature of a thing, and in fact both words come from the ancient Greek kharackter, meaning a "symbol or imprint on the soul." |
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| 1502 |
chart |
a visual display of information |
Mr. Bateman said he was told to prepare “whiz bang” charts that detail everything from wind speeds to temperature trends. |
sprain#optimize#dignify#graph# |
If Goodwin requires a stint on the disabled list, Andrew Stevenson, who started in right field in Sunday’s nightcap, is next on the depth chart.#He exited spring practices atop the team’s depth chart, although he’s in a three- or four-man competition for the starting job, according to London.#On NAFTA, overall opinions today are actually more favorable than they were nearly a decade ago, as the chart below shows.#Murray remains ahead of Henry on the depth chart.# |
Whether it's a kind of graph, a map, or even a piece of music, a chart is a visual display of information. As a verb, chart means to make that kind of display. |
Some words' meanings grow narrower over the centuries. But in the case of chart, which comes from the French charte and Latin charta, "map," the meanings have grown a lot since the 1500s. Now, chart is a noun meaning any visual index of information, as in "that song is shooting up the charts." It's also still a map, as in "harbor chart." And it's a verb, as in "to chart your progress, make a chart." |
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| 1503 |
chronology |
a record of events in the order of their occurrence |
He uses a timeline stretching all the way round the classroom, running from 1066 to the present day, to reinforce the notion of chronology. |
a tourist on a cruise ship#a marathon runner#an astronaut#a race car driver# |
So Mr Pfordresher chooses to follow the chronology of the novel and weave in the biographical detail.#A good thing to ask about big-idea plays like this is whether what’s left after you untangle the chronology is of any special interest.#Somebody once suggested a version of “Merrily We Roll Along” told in conventional rather than reversed chronology.#What followed was difficult to align into a neat chronology.# |
A chronology is like a timeline: it tells what happened when. A chronology of your day would begin when you wake up and end when you go to sleep. Hopefully, something interesting happened in between. |
Khronos is the Greek word for "time" and that's where chronology comes from. If a movie has a lot of flashbacks or doesn't tell a story straight through from beginning to end, you might have to give it some thought in order to put together a chronology of events. If you are a detective, a correct chronology could be important to solving your case. |
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| 1504 |
citation |
a short note recognizing a source of information |
And what’s more important: tweet-ability or the traditional citation from the scientific community? |
proviso#stricture#compendium#mention# |
Police will review the images cameras capture before mailing a citation to the vehicle’s registered owner.#The cops write you up a citation for trespass.#It’s impossible to judge that claim – she does not provide citations to these studies.#The focus should be on education, not “punitive citation,” said Mr. Hayden, a dentist.# |
If you hear you’re getting a citation, wait before bragging about it. A citation can be an official award, but it can also mean something less thrilling, like a summons to appear in court. |
If you climb a tree and rescue a frightened cat, the mayor might present you with a citation for bravery. If you're hurrying to the ceremony and your mom speeds and gets a traffic citation, her insurance company might raise her premiums. Citation comes from the Latin citationem, which means “to call forward.” You can think of the mayor calling you forward to receive your plaque, or the judge calling your mom forward to receive her fine. A citation can also be a quote, like a passage in a newspaper article describing your cat-saving feat as "an act of heroism." |
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| 1505 |
clarify |
make clear and comprehensible |
Moreover, because these supernovae are used as cosmic measuring sticks, understanding them better may help clarify the shape of the Universe. |
embed#commemorate#ferret#elucidate# |
In an unsigned statement Sunday morning, a White House official clarified Trump’s initial remarks.#Damore said he wrote the memo after his bias training to clarify his thoughts.#Harvey placed a stone every 3 miles along the route to clarify the border between the two counties.#There is no dialogue, characters or discernible locations, nor any real context to clarify what happens.# |
Clarify means to clear up confusion and make it all understandable. In a heart-breaking text, she clarified that she never ever wanted to see him again. It's also means to remove impurities in a liquid; you clarify butter by gently heating it. |
Clarify and clear are related, of course, and clear means you can see right through it. If you clarify your intention or your meaning, others will understand it clearly. If you aren't clear at the outset, you might find the need to clarify what you want later. |
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| 1506 |
clue |
evidence that helps to solve a problem |
It may also give us clues to a second antimatter mystery: Why is there more matter than antimatter in the universe? |
fingerprints at the scene of a crime#contact lenses to treat bad vision#cash donations to a soup kitchen#an abandoned cat living in an alley# |
But some fans believe the fake name was a clue about what's in store for the lovable blacksmith.#Boats belonging to the Sea Rescue Society were sailing along southwestern Sweden searching for clues.#There is a big clue in today's paper.#Both may hold clues to understanding how the corona gets superheated.# |
A clue is a piece of evidence that helps solve a problem, or it's a slight hint. When you’re in the dark about the surprise party your friends are planning, they'll say, “She doesn’t have a clue!” |
When you first join the police force, you’re mostly just walking the beat. But when you’re promoted to detective, your job is to look for that big clue that will help you solve the case. The original Middle English word was clew, which meant “a ball of thread.” If you were trapped in a labyrinth, you could follow the clew to help find your way out. |
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| 1507 |
code |
a set of rules or principles or laws |
The California Vehicle Code states: "No pedestrian shall start crossing in direction of a flashing or steady "DON'T WALK" or upraised hand symbol." |
a dog#a thunderstorm#a ballerina#a spy# |
Hartford would be the first state capital to file under Chapter 9 of the federal bankruptcy code.#Amazon employees in a back room then load orders into lockers within two minutes, and customers receive bar codes to access them.#Last year, a Code of Practice was introduced by the U.K.#The state flagship school is a place of lofty principles, academic excellence and a deeply ingrained honor code.# |
A code can be a set of principles. Our laws make up our legal code, and many people govern themselves through a personal "code of honor." Code can also mean a system for sending secret messages, or programming language for computers. |
In 1303, you could only use code to mean a set of laws, such as a code of conduct. It wasn’t until 1808 that you could use code to describe a system for sending secret messages. The verb form appeared in 1815, meaning to create laws or send secret messages, and gave birth to encode. In the computer programming context, encode was shortened back again to code, meaning to write instructions for a computer program. Soon the lines of text themselves began to be referred to as simply code. |
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| 1508 |
common |
shared by two or more parties |
Thirty-six states and D.C. have agreed to field test new Common Core standardized exams. |
timely#ancient#usual#narrow# |
When these things happen, the common man develops faith that the country is for the honest persons.#It was, Turner figured, as good as a baseball game on Boston Common.#Amid the confusion of the modern Middle East, Juha is one way people find common ground.#Antidepressant use also became more common as people got older.# |
When something's common, it's usual, or it happens frequently. It's more common than you might think for little kids to be terrified of clowns. |
Things that are common happen all the time — they're ordinary. It's common for people to put ketchup on their French fries, and a pigeon is an extremely common type of bird to see in a city. Common can also refer to something that's shared by a group, like a region's common culture. In fact, a green space in the center of a town is sometimes called a common, maybe because it's shared by everyone in the town. |
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| 1509 |
compile |
put together out of existing material |
The list was compiled using tips from more than 170 music critics, DJs and bloggers. |
decrease#collect#premise#withhold# |
New York began the season with a $156.8 million payroll for its 40-man roster, according to figures compiled by Major League Baseball.#Approval data is from Gallup polls and compiled by the American Presidency Project.#Towards the end of My Year Off, an account of those convalescent years, I even compiled a list of Dos and Don’ts.#BCI compiles its information from farmers and from scientific studies about the bats.# |
When you compile something, like a recipe-book or a mix-tape, you put it together using things that already exist (recipes, songs). |
Poetry anthologies, greatest-hits albums, and world-record books are all compilations, because they're made up of things that were originally published or released somewhere else. If you want to skip out on soccer practice one day, you might compile of list of excuses. |
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| 1510 |
complement |
something added to embellish or make perfect |
“There is a big difference between our collections. We show only Dutch and Flemish paintings, so the Frick’s collection is a perfect complement.” |
accompaniment#pronouncement#tycoon#falsehood# |
Complementing the cleanness of the stage action is the style of costumes: unfussy modern dress.#Really understand your strengths and weaknesses, and surround yourself with people who complement you and challenge you.#“It’s an add-on network that should complement, not substitute for, the main offering,” he said.#Another group thought it would complement the student advising system.# |
A complement is something that makes up a satisfying whole with something else. Those shiny red shoes you just bought complement your shiny red purse. |
Complement comes from the Latin complementum, "something that fills up or completes." Complement keeps both the e and the meaning. It's also a verb; if you and your partner complement each other, you make a perfect pair. Something that complements completes or adds a little something. |
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| 1511 |
complete |
write all the required information onto a form |
Children treated with stimulants would be able to complete a worksheet of simple maths problems faster and more accurately than usual, explains Nora Volkow. |
constant#prompt#entire#various# |
By completing those 99 big projects before 2019, we shall fulfill our commitment.#The deal is expected to be completed by the end of the year.#“It’s not often we see a player her age with that complete of a game.”#The charges were dropped in December after he completed a pretrial intervention program for first-time offenders.# |
Complete means that something is finished, or has all of its necessary parts. When the mechanic hands you your keys, you hope that the work on your car is complete, and he hasn't left out a few important pieces of your engine. |
Complete can be used as an adjective to describe something that is whole or finished, like a complete turkey dinner, which includes not only the bird, but also the stuffing, potatoes, cranberry sauce, and gravy. Another way to use complete is as a verb meaning to make something whole. Adding candles completes the birthday cake. |
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| 1512 |
compose |
produce a literary work |
How do you feel about the typing indicator—“David is typing”—that appears on your buddy’s screen while you’re composing a message in chat? |
eliminate#depart#bewitch#author# |
To do so, just select the map pin icon in the box when composing a post.#They’re composed of segments that allude to the biological, whether human or insect.#And it is from this post-apartheid period that some of his most mysterious and boldly composed images arise.#“You will compose yourselves and report to the amphitheater. Any more incidents like this and those involved will be shipped to Kauf, forthwith. Understood?”# |
To compose is to put something together, like a song, poem, or even yourself. You might want to compose yourself before returning to the party after a good cry. |
The word compose began with the Latin ponere, which means "to put, place," referring to placing or arranging any piece of work. It's been in the music business since the 1590s, and it's generally still used to describe the act of writing songs. But you can use it whenever you're pulling something together: you might compose an essay for English class, or notice that the class is composed of all girls. |
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| 1513 |
composition |
an essay, especially one written as an assignment |
Some of the more somber black and white looks resembled composition notebooks--elementary, but chic. |
constitution#neglect#plus#background# |
The increasing globalization of science heralds the growth of research teams with greater international diversity and multidisciplinary composition.#A “comprehensive picture” of the composition of the hate group is crucial to understanding its wide reach.#It promises unprecedented data on the chemical composition of Saturn.#Unpretentious and easygoing, his jigsaw-puzzle compositions are as playful and engaging as cartoons — and significantly more mysterious.# |
Composition is another word for writing — the act of writing or the piece of writing that results. It also refers to what something is made of. |
The word composition comes from the Latin componere, meaning "put together" and its meaning remains close to this. Writing classes are often called composition classes, and writing music is also called composition. This can also describe things besides writing that are "put together." You could say an abstract painting has an interesting composition. Any mixture of ingredients can be called a composition. Geologists study the composition of the earth: what it's made of and how it formed. |
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| 1514 |
conceive |
have the idea for |
What we now call Obamacare was conceived at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, and birthed in Massachusetts by Mitt Romney, then the governor. |
fatigue#think#exalt#ban# |
Christina was unable to conceive because of a genetic problem.#Forget about pulling off something like that, how does one even conceive of something like that?!#They can’t conceive of primarily obsessional obsessive-compulsive disorder, where the worries never transmute into a physical compulsion but balloon instead inside the brain.#This satirical show — conceived last year as a three-minute online short — is described as a cross between “Louie” and “Spinal Tap.”# |
To conceive is to come up with an idea. If you conceive a plan for your little brother's birthday, you dream up the perfect party, complete with a magician, rented ponies, and a cake shaped like a rocket. |
Latin roots for conceive (by way of French) point to "take into" either "the womb" or "the mind." An idea is sometimes called "a seed" or "the seed of an idea," and conceive means to produce something from inside the mind — or to become pregnant. Another expression is "pregnant with ideas" or "pregnant with possibilities," and someone who can "conceive of a thousand ways" to solve a problem or design something is full of new ideas. |
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| 1515 |
concise |
expressing much in few words |
Twitter is the standard for this concept: hard-coded limits force you to be more concise, more creative. |
scheming#wordy#conjugal#dexterous# |
The goal should be a clear and concise statewide law which removes confusion for motorists.#“It taught me to be very spare and concise.”#It was a quintessential Rehnquist response: smart, concise, and to the point.#None combined history, science and eclipse lore in a concise, readable format.# |
If something is concise, it's short and gets right to the point. A concise edition of your diary might be 50 pages of the most important entries. |
Concise comes from the Latin word concidere, which means to cut down. When we use concise, we're talking about words that have been cut down. There are no concise trees, but there are concise works of political philosophy. A concise Italian-English dictionary, is shorter than an unabridged one. If you're good at quick explanations, you have a concise manner. A good synonym is succinct. |
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| 1516 |
concrete |
capable of being perceived by the senses |
“A family office is a concrete symbol that there is no one responsible for your affairs but you,” Mr. Carroll said. |
depleted#concise#convex#abstract# |
It is a concrete example of federalism in its real sense.#Supreme Court asked it to more closely assess whether he suffered the " concrete and particularized" injury needed to justify a lawsuit.#Port spokesman Perry Cooper said this amount included higher costs for electrical and communications systems and for concrete and earthworks.#Witnesses said the boat hit a concrete pylon in the river south of Brownsville, Minnesota on the Wisconsin side of the river.# |
Concrete is that pourable mix of cement, water, sand, and gravel that hardens into a super-strong building material. Sidewalks, foundations, and highways are all made of concrete. |
Though people use the words cement and concrete as if they were the same, they're not. Concrete has cement in it, but also includes other materials; cement is what binds concrete together. Construction workers hate when kids write their names in concrete before it hardens: once concrete hardens, it's going to be solid for a long time. When used as an adjective, concrete also means solid. If you've got concrete plans for Saturday, then you have a definite plan. |
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| 1517 |
confirm |
establish or strengthen as with new evidence or facts |
New figures due out this month are also expected to confirm that the winter of 2013-14 has been the wettest on record. |
route#support#exhaust#contest# |
But on Tuesday the Department for Education and the Student Loans Company confirmed the proposed increase.#Thermal images were ultimately able to confirm the iceberg and the shelf were fully separated.#His suspicions were confirmed when Ma and three associates were indicted in September in U.S.#But when she got the call confirming Cadet Askew’s selection, she did not hesitate to celebrate.# |
When you need to make sure before you leave that you have a reservation, you often call ahead to confirm, that is, to make sure that your tickets or space are set aside for you. |
The firm in confirm should give you a clue as to the word's meaning: to shore up or verify something. When you make sure something is set, or firm, you confirm it. The word comes from the Latin con- "together, altogether," and firmāre "make firm," so confirm originally meant roughly "to make (something) altogether firm." |
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| 1518 |
consequence |
a phenomenon that is caused by some previous phenomenon |
In medieval Europe, starvation was the de facto consequence of a siege. |
effect#desert#consent#administration# |
During the yearlong process, the state will analyze the potential environmental consequences of the project in the Smith River watershed.#"It is appalling that anyone should suffer legal or financial consequences because of their association with the BBC."#But he warned pointedly: “You don’t shoot at people in this world unless you want to bear the consequences.”#The Rental Housing Association of Washington opposed the measure, calling it poor policy with unintended consequences.# |
Things in a sequence come one after another, as in a number sequence of 1, 2, 3, 4. A consequence comes after, or as a result of something you do, for example, "He was given a traffic ticket as a consequence of running the red light." |
A consequence is a "result" or "conclusion," and the Latin sequī, "to follow," is part of its history. Most actions and acts of nature have a consequence that follows as a result. When people do something wrong, like rob a bank, the consequence will probably be prison time. If an organization works for good and finds a cure for cancer, on the other hand, people will get better as a consequence. When something occurs in nature, like a tornado touching down, destruction might be the consequence. |
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| 1519 |
consistent |
the same throughout in structure or composition |
No track has a consistent ice surface throughout, he said, because of ever-changing variables including the method of ice application and weather conditions. |
rural#aggressive#conflicting#somber# |
“ Consistent with past practice, a wild card was provided to a past U.S. Champion who needed the wild card for entry into the main draw. “#Senior American officials told me the letter was consistent, however, with broader intelligence reports of the fierce jockeying for power among rival security agencies.#He said he’s looking for the most consistent performer.#As the number of books and libraries grew, the increased complexity demanded a more consistent approach.# |
If you get the same Donkey Kong score every time you play, you're consistent. It's consistent with video-game addiction, however, that you will continue to play in the hopes of beating that score. |
Consistent is related to the word consist, which refers to what something is made of—"bread dough consists of flour, water, and salt." Consistency describes texture—a consistent consistency would be brownies as rock-hard in the center as they are at the edge––hopefully, next time you bake you'll get inconsistent results. |
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| 1520 |
consistently |
in a systematic manner |
And in some of our neighborhoods, the streets are consistently safe and opportunity consistently flows. |
vehemently#conversely#systematically#explicitly# |
We must start confronting the challenge more consistently and urgently.#“My son just turned 7 and we use the playground consistently,” Tisby says.#These young singers, culled through rigorous nationwide auditions, consistently deliver blazing vocalism and stagecraft of the highest quality.#“ Consistently average,” he said when asked to describe his season.# |
The adverb consistently describes something that's done the same way for a long time. If your mom consistently forgets to add sugar when she's baking cookies, it means you can count on inedible cookies. |
When something happens again and again, it happens consistently. In fact, the Latin root is consistentem, meaning "standing still." Consistently is most often used to describe something you can depend on, like consistently getting hungry right before lunch, or your dog consistently appearing by your side to cheer you up whenever you're feeling sad. |
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| 1521 |
consult |
seek information from |
She also did what a coach at any level might do: consult the technical information on the United States Figure Skating Association website. |
confer with#bring together#tucker out#draw together# |
Factories will need to fill 2 million jobs over the next decade, according to a forecast by Deloitte Consulting and the American Manufacturing Institute.#"We will, of course, consult with residents, the TMO and other potential housing partners on all options."#The county treasurer’s office was consulted about what to buy.#The consulting and accounting firm examined the practices of companies with a median revenue of $2.5 billion.# |
To consult is to give or get help or advice. When you don't know the meaning of a word, you consult a dictionary. That's why you're here, right? |
People making a big decision will usually consult their family and friends. To consult can also mean a type of professional advice: a consultant is a freelance worker paid to help a business out with something. Consulting is a complicated word that can mean to give or receive advice. When in doubt, find someone you trust to consult. |
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| 1522 |
continuum |
an extent in which no part is distinct from adjacent parts |
We are part of the continuum of life with all species. |
time#health#wealth#taste# |
“This study lends support to the idea that there is some sort of continuum from mental illness to health,” Abi-Dargham says.#“Not just a temporary Band-Aid, but a continuum of care.”#Whereas behavioral findings may call for discrete categories, he says, the brain data may fall on a continuum.#Where Krugman was derisive, others were solemn, putting the contemporary fight against the “anti-globalisation” left in a continuum of struggles for liberty.# |
A continuum is something that keeps on going, changing slowly over time, like the continuum of the four seasons. |
In addition to meaning "a whole made up of many parts," continuum, pronounced "kon-TIN-yoo-um," can describe a range that is always present. For example, in a high school, at any time, there are students who are learning algebra, then advancing to geometry, trigonometry, and calculus. Just as the ninth graders master their particular math, they move on to the next one, as new ninth graders enter the school and the seniors graduate. |
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| 1523 |
contradict |
prove negative; show to be false |
Those findings support recent research contradicting the conventional wisdom that trees capture less carbon as they age. |
carry away#go against#fall under#flow from# |
Prosecutors say Williams contradicted her previous statements by testifying she wasn’t present during a botched gun sale and that she didn’t see the shooting.#The forecasters and their data are not contradicting each other.#At the risk of contradicting myself, there is a good reason to see the movie.#The threat of military intervention would also seem to contradict the advice of Trump’s top national security adviser.# |
"Contra-" usually means "against," and to contradict is to go against or say the opposite of what someone else is doing or saying. Sometimes to contradict is to frustrate with words, like when one person says "The sky is blue" and another says "No, it's azure." |
Denying or distorting the truth is a big part of trying to contradict. It can be harmless verbal back-and-forth, like when a husband and wife disagree just to disagree, or contradict each other to make a humorous point, but at other times people contradict something to make another person look like a liar. Often, a person who has lied will later contradict himself by saying something different from what he said earlier — and sometimes the two sides contradict each other, and neither is actually right. |
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| 1524 |
control |
a standard against which other conditions can be compared |
Vehicles that were offered the stickers saw a 50% reduction in total accidents compared with a control group. |
attention#deployment#management#inspiration# |
Animal control workers safely lifted the alligator from the pool.#You don’t do what he did through the years without being mentally tough and able to control moments.”#It was brought under control about 45 minutes later.#Nearly five months later, officers at the same UK control zone found two Albanian men hidden in a car boot.# |
To have control is to have the power to run something in an orderly way. A skillful teacher maintains control over students who might otherwise waste time or be disruptive. |
A control can also be a device used to operate a machine, like the remote control for a television. The control in an experiment is the group that gets left alone so scientists can compare "before and after" changes in other groups. The verb control means "to be in charge." If you're a group's treasurer, you control its finances. It can also mean "hold back." You might need to control your hyperactive puppy when the mail carrier comes around. |
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| 1525 |
convey |
make known; pass on, of information |
Of course, tense faces, in close-ups, are one of the chief ways that actors and filmmakers convey emotion, especially in thrillers. |
oppose#confound#equip#channel# |
With this thought I convey my hearty congratulations to all of you.#It conveys an astonishing array of health benefits.#Even his approach to rumors, always a delicate matter, manages to convey insights into hypotheticals without disappearing down rabbit holes.#“He conveyed America’s readiness to use the full range of military capabilities to defend our allies and the U.S. homeland,” James said.# |
When you convey something, you carry or deliver it. Little Red Riding Hood conveyed a basket of muffins to her grandmother. Your sad smile might convey more about your feelings than words ever could. |
You can also convey a message or information, which means that you communicate it to someone directly or indirectly through your words or actions. In law, the word convey means to transfer or pass property to someone. This verb is from Middle English conveyen, from Old French conveier, ultimately from the Latin prefix com- "together" plus via "way." |
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| 1526 |
correlate |
to bear a reciprocal or mutual relation |
He lays the blame squarely on weather and bee management practices, which correlate more closely with bee survival rates than does the use of neonics. |
relate#produce#acquire#negate# |
Because while class is highly correlated with income, it’s expressed through cultural differences of which graduating from college is the single most important example.#Of the non-screen activities that were measured, they all correlated with greater happiness.#Beyond the poll’s surface-level silliness, however, it also appears to reveal some insights into how audiences correlate the ideas of “goodness” and beauty.#Whichever way cryptocurrencies move, they are likely to move together because their values are highly correlated, feeding off each other and magnifying the market effect.# |
If you notice that crumbs appear on your little brother's shirt whenever the cookies disappear from the cookie jar, you can say that you've correlated two facts, meaning that you've established or revealed that they're linked in a way that explains both of them. |
Detectives correlate pieces of evidence in order to solve crimes. For example, they might correlate a suspect’s bandaged hand with a shattered third-floor window. Correlate can also be used as a noun. Some companies promote products by suggesting that their products increase “happiness correlates,” or factors that have been shown to have a relationship with happiness, like health and friendship. |
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| 1527 |
correspond |
be compatible, similar, or consistent |
Unlike the cookie dough variety, this cookie’s flavor corresponds with its name: it really does taste like a Rice Krispies Treat. |
thrill#match#idle#blossom# |
The increase corresponded with record high miles driven by Americans as the economy improved.#The National Academies' 2015 report estimated that 10 percent of patient deaths in the U.S. result from these incorrect conclusions—and the corresponding inappropriate treatment.#The increase corresponded with record-high miles driven by Americans as the economy improved.#Meanwhile editors need to be willing to look beyond their trusted inner circles or the corresponding authors on cited papers.# |
When two things correspond, they match up or are equivalent to one another. You might come up with a code in which numbers correspond to letters of the alphabet. Correspond can also mean to send messages back and forth. You can use your code to correspond with your pen pal. |
The word correspond can mean "communicating back and forth," like using email to correspond with a far-away cousin. It can also mean "be alike," as in having friends whose interests and personalities correspond to your own. Finally, it can be "be equal to," as in getting a score on a standardized test that corresponds with those of students taking the same subjects as you but who live in other states or countries. |
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| 1528 |
credit |
approval |
"Managers take credit when they do well with players and they should take the blame when they don't." |
beginning an exercise program#getting a good night's sleep#securing a bank loan#training a new pet# |
The agency calls for decisive action to deflate the credit boom smoothly.#One year of his prison sentence was suspended and he was credited with 192 days served.#However a red flag was raised over the transitions of credit card balances into delinquency, which the New York Fed said "ticked up notably."#Today’s report marked the 12th consecutive quarterly increase in household debt, as Americans continue to re-embrace credit as the financial crisis recedes into memory.# |
The word credit can have many meanings — from giving someone the recognition they deserve, to providing goods or services for payment that comes at a later date. |
The meanings of credit don't end with borrowing money to pay at a later date or giving someone your approval. Colleges offer credits for each course in which their students enroll. A volunteer who raises thousands of dollars each year is a credit — or source of pride — to his charitable organization. Add an -s to the end of the word, and you have the scroll of names at the end of a movie. |
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| 1529 |
critique |
a serious examination and judgment of something |
In this critique of extremism, Ms. Almutawakel said that for little girls to be covered to this extent is not about religion but control. |
evaluate#surmount#dissipate#forestall# |
But to me, the hippie moment was a critique of materialism.#Smith ranks third in career sacks with Atlanta and doesn’t sugarcoat his critiques.#And if someone offers a good-faith critique of conventional views, a serious effort to get at the truth, he or she deserves a hearing.#These critiques of renaming buildings and “protecting” statues are not historically accurate or intellectually honest.# |
As a verb, critique means to review or examine something critically. As a noun, a critique is that review or examination, like an art essay or a book report. |
The French version of this word is spelled the same (meaning "the art of criticism") and came from the Greek kritike tekhne ("the critical art"). This shouldn't come as a great surprise, since it was the Greeks who gave us such masters of the critique as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Today, through book reports, argument papers, and critical essays, we carry on the tradition of the critique, which is one of the most important skills we'll ever learn in school. |
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| 1530 |
crucial |
of extreme importance; vital to the resolution of a crisis |
But while sleep is crucial for sick and premature babies to grow and recover, it can be difficult in a bright, noisy hospital. |
circumstantial#proverbial#ceremonial#essential# |
They say urgent and direct investment by the Australian government is crucial.#The council said this advisory group would be " crucial in determining the form and location of any permanent commemorations".#Horse milk and horsemeat were dietary staples, and skill on horseback was crucial for hunting, herding and warfare.#“Big Ben falling silent is a significant milestone in this crucial conservation project,” the clock keeper said.# |
The word crucial describes something that is important or essential to success, like the crucial dress rehearsals that ensure everything will run smoothly on your play's opening night. |
Usage experts insist that the word crucial should be used only to describe something that is truly critical for solving a problem or for resolving a situation, such as a crucial vote that determines a final outcome. In this case the crucial vote is decisive: it determines the outcome. But the word has gained popularity as a way to say that something is important. You might hear someone say, for example, that it is crucial to allow employees to vote on the new schedule to make them feel like they’re part of the process. In this case the sense is “important”: nothing decisive is taking place. |
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| 1531 |
cumulative |
increasing by successive addition |
Mr. Levinson recommended that Medicare officials “establish a cumulative payment threshold” and closely examine claims filed by any doctor whose total exceeded that amount. |
conservative#cohesive#collective#combative# |
“Thus, preserving existing nuclear plants will improve the effectiveness of any climate policy approach, by holding down cumulative emissions.”#She says the agency didn’t properly weigh cumulative environmental impacts from such shellfish aquaculture activities.#For years, Smith said, the Texans studied the cumulative effects of training in intense heat.#He contends that the “Obama-era regulatory explosion imposed a cumulative $890 billion in additional compliance costs on the private sector.”# |
The adjective cumulative describes the total amount of something when it's all added together. Eating a single chocolate doughnut is fine, but the cumulative effect of eating them all day is that you'll probably feel sick. |
The origin of cumulative is helpful in remembering the meaning; it comes from the Latin cumulatus for "to heap." If something is cumulative, it is heaped together so it can be counted up to get a total number. The cumulative snowfall for the whole winter isn't just the amount of snow that fell in one month, but rather the number of inches that fell every month that winter to get the total, cumulative, amount. |
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| 1532 |
debate |
a discussion with reasons for and against some proposal |
More broadly, the protests have reignited a debate about whether interventions by the international community are the solution in Bosnia--or part of the problem. |
deviate#desire#demoralize#deliberate# |
In our country, we tend to indulge in endless debates and discussions following the shutdown of companies.#After two days of public equivocation and internal White House debate, the president condemned white supremacist groups by name on Monday, declaring "racism is evil".#Rather, he said, the point is about the general tenor of political debate, which people like him believe is weighted against them.#After two days of public equivocation and internal White House debate, the president condemned white supremacist groups by name on Monday, declaring “racism is evil”.# |
Another word for formally discuss is debate. Cheese lovers often debate the merits of gorgonzola, triple creme brie, and gouda. Of course, they need to accompany their arguments with a taste test! |
A debate is a kind of respectful, well reasoned argument over opposing points of view, although tensions can run high and voices can be raised. In fact, the verb evolved from the Old French debatre, meaning “to fight.” Most formal debates, during a political campaign for example, keep the battles to a minimum. But if you find yourself in the midst of a debate between a Red Sox fan and a Yankees fan, things could get ugly! |
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| 1533 |
defend |
argue or speak in justification of |
And now this week, Nevada’s attorney general, a Democrat, and its Republican governor, announced that they too, could not defend the state’s gay-marriage ban anymore. |
tarnish#reverse#represent#destroy# |
That promoted side Leipzig pushed the defending champions the hardest last season says much about the gap in quality between Bayern and the rest.#Claiming to defend “heritage, not hate” is a standard talking point for neo-Confederates.#They also help prepare the host immune system to defend the body.#Ask the veterans who put their lives on the line defending us from this evil.# |
Defend has different shades of meaning, but it always has the sense of protecting something — your ideas, for instance, or your title as world heavyweight champion. |
If you order the blood sausage and lamb when you're out to eat with your vegan friends, you may have to defend your eating habits, meaning speak up in support of your choices. Defend can also be something more concrete, like when you defend your property or your country. The lawyer who represents someone accused of a crime is there to defend the accused person — who is called the defendant — and to argue his case in court. |
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| 1534 |
define |
determine the nature of |
His writings helped define how diabetes was viewed for decades. |
flap#repeal#derive#specify# |
Other provisions include requirements that guides report client injuries that require more than “minor first-aid,” though the draft does not define minor.#ASPEN, Colo. — Is income inequality the defining challenge of our time?#Of all the tower’s defining moments in modern Iranian history, one incident struck a chord with Amanat.#My days are blessedly free from Twitter, Facebook and the anxiety-provoking news cycle that in large part defines our current political climate.# |
If you can't define a word, turn to the dictionary. That's always the best way to learn the definition. Likewise, anything you can describe completely is something you can define. |
The early French and Latin roots of the verb mean something closer to "to limit" or "to create a boundary," but this is really what we do when we define something: we limit its meaning to something specific. So when you're thinking about the word define, remember that you're looking to create a boundary of meaning around it, whether you're specifying the meaning of a word or a larger concept. To define a word such as astronomy is to define both the word and the realm of science that it's concerned with. |
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| 1535 |
demand |
require as useful, just, or proper |
But advocates say cheerleading is a profession that demands specific skills and not everyone can land the job. |
admit#supply#foster#breach# |
The company and its competitors are facing weakening demand because car sales are slowing down from their recent record pace.#The Commerce Department reported earlier this month that orders at U.S. factories shot up in June on strong demand for civilian aircraft.#More and more factory jobs now demand education, technical know-how or specialized skills.#Jacksonville Sheriff’s officials said during a news conference Monday night that the man approached the car, holding a gun and demanding money.# |
Demand means "an urgent request," like your demand that teachers give no homework on the weekend, or the act of making the request — teachers who demand that the work get done, even if it's the weekend. |
Demand comes from the Old French word demander, meaning "ask, make inquiry." A demand is a lot stronger than that, however. When you demand something, you want action now. A demand can also mean "to require" like cold weather that demands warm coats and boots. Demand is also an economic term, meaning "the amount of an item that can be sold," like the demand for those snow boots: high in winter and nonexistent in summer. |
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| 1536 |
demonstrate |
show the validity of something, as by example or explanation |
Katz said the paper demonstrates that in a culture that eats very poorly, we need fortification to have adequate nutrient intake. |
prove#summon#respond#regiment# |
Lawyers for the men insisted they were merely demonstrating against the nonunion crew.#Despite your stated support for diversity and fairness, it demonstrated profound prejudice.#Rather, they argue that buildings need to actively demonstrate ways of living in harmony with nature.#Bless the PGA Tour’s millennials — the gym rat pack — for demonstrating that competition and camaraderie need not be mutually exclusive.# |
When you demonstrate something, you show what it is or how it works. To demonstrate how your new juicer works, you should have lots of kale, carrots, and beets on hand — and some brave friends to try your concoction. |
Demonstrate comes from the Latin word demonstrare, meaning “to point out by argument or deduction.” To demonstrate a point you must make a valid argument and give examples of why you think it's true. Demonstrate can also refer to a public protest. You can demonstrate with your comrades by marching through the streets with homemade protest signs. |
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| 1537 |
depict |
give a description of |
Biblical history 101 teaches that the texts themselves were often written centuries after the events they depict. |
increase#contradict#detest#render# |
Partly, Hajari says, that may be because of how the events were depicted by British sources.#The symbols it does depict lean heavily on Nazi iconography, not sports.#The volunteer firefighters are commonly depicted as heroes in Portugal.#North Korean indoctrination in anti-Americanism begins early, Oliver reports, infiltrating everything from elementary school math questions to stamps depicting missiles hurtling toward the U.S.# |
When you depict something, you draw a picture of it, describe it, or show what it looks like. So grab a crayon, a paint brush, or even an Etch-A-Sketch and start depicting. |
From the Latin depictus, meaning “to portray, paint, sketch, describe,” depict is a way to communicate what you see. To explain to an alien what a banana is, you can either depict it with drawings, describe it in words, or both. But be careful. Writes author Joyce Maynard, "The painter who feels obligated to depict his subjects as uniformly beautiful or handsome and without flaws will fall short of making art." |
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| 1538 |
derive |
reason by deduction; establish by deduction |
Euclid begins with 23 definitions, 5 axioms, and 5 postulates and derives all sorts of theorems from them. |
penetrate#avow#infer#plight# |
Earth-years would be perfectly meaningless, because they are derived from our planet’s particular path around the sun.#Indeed, the use of the word “hack,” signifying a clever or innovative use of something, is derived from this original meaning.#These proteins grab a light-sensitive molecule – derived from vitamin A – that changes its structure when exposed to light.#You mention that left-wing and right-wing populism derive from different economic and social conditions.# |
If you want to talk about something that comes from something else, but you want to sound sophisticated and maybe financial or scientific, use derive, like so: That scent? It's derived from a solution of roses boiled with toothpicks. |
The word derive derives from (see how we did that?) the Latin rivus or stream, as in water. That image of the stream may help you remember the meaning of derive; you may picture tracing tiny streams back to their main source. Derive is a verb, as you can see, but it's often in the news in the noun form derivative: something that is derived from something else, as in "juice is a derivative of an orange." |
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| 1539 |
detect |
discover or determine the existence, presence, or fact of |
In one sequence, RoboCop takes on about 50 bad guys in the dark by detecting them with heat vision. |
outline#decline#escort#discover# |
When a gunshot is detected, the system sends a real-time alert to the dispatch center as well as on-patrol officers.#For centuries, people used their own common sense to detect, and mitigate, nauseating smells.#Experimental accelerometers embedded in the collars detect aberrant behaviors such as “streaking”—sudden, panicked flight that might signal an attack.#All the visual cells identified in animals detect light using a single family of proteins, called the opsins.# |
The verb detect means to discover or observe the existence of something. If you walk into your house and detect the odor of burnt food, you can deduce from the evidence that you will be going out to dinner tonight! |
The verb detect comes from the Latin word detegere, which literally means "to uncover" — or more figuratively, to discover. You may detect the presence of a new dog in your house if you note a water bowl, chew toys, and grooming tools. Of course, the large woofing beast that greeted you at the door with a wagging tail might be a big clue as well. |
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| 1540 |
determine |
establish after a calculation, investigation, or experiment |
Careful questioning will help you determine what people really want, which is often different from what they say they want. |
put on#give up#find out#work in# |
An autopsy will be performed to determine the cause of death.#The government is determined to do all it says, like doing away with the interview process.#One afternoon, after another dreary Sunday, he walked home from Mrs. Cobb’s with the sea breeze determined to shove him to Malaga Island.#The council said this advisory group would be "crucial in determining the form and location of any permanent commemorations".# |
If you determine something, you figure it out or settle a question, like when, after checking paws and hands, you determine that it's not the dog that ate your candy stash, but your kid sister. |
Determine comes from the Latin for "bring to a close," and when you determine something, you have closed all the questions you have about it and are quite sure you know the answer. If you become a detective, you'll have to determine who did the crime. After working through a mathematical problem, you determine the value of X. Determine can also mean influence. Your childhood spent in your grandmother's delightful kitchen might have determined your future career as a baker. |
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| 1541 |
devise |
come up with after a mental effort |
A big breakthrough came in 1855 when Henry Bessemer devised a process for making steel on an industrial scale much more cheaply. |
ripple#debut#mandate#forge# |
The Senate voted 38-19 Sunday to reject the Republican’s amendatory veto of a newly devised financing formula.#I try to devise some way to help her.#The claims were filed under a refugee resettlement plan devised by both India and Pakistan - believed to be one of the largest in modern history.#And to analyze the maggot videos, Zlatic enlisted statisticians and computer scientists who specialize in machine learning to devise ways of classifying the larvae's movements.# |
To devise is to figure out a plan. Men twirling long mustaches might devise a plan to tie someone to the railroad tracks. |
To devise a plan is more than just making one; there's a lot of figuring out to do, such as: "Phoebe devised a bus route that picked up kids in alphabetical order." There's a method to the madness of devising. The chemistry class devised a plan to make the fire alarm go off. Devise can be positive, too, meaning to find a creative solution: "The design team devised a plan to make the trailer home look like a medieval castle." |
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| 1542 |
diction |
the manner in which something is expressed in words |
One user called "I Eat" wrote to her with the diction of a Muppet: "Would you like talk with cannibal?" he asked. |
her word choice#her background#her popularity#her main ideas# |
This perhaps accounts for the smothered, recessed diction.#“Sorry, I’ve got it now,” he says, resuming the formal diction – few contractions, quick and clear consonant sounds — that he uses for his rituals.#The English National Opera is to bring in diction coaches to ensure its productions are loud and clear.#Her diction was excellent, though, and she crested imposingly with the orchestra.# |
Diction is the way you talk, that is, the way you enunciate or pronounce your words, and the words and phrases you choose to use. |
If you've seen the musical "My Fair Lady," you know the character Eliza Doolittle struggles with her diction as her mentor tries to teach her to become a lady. Because of her accent, she has the most difficult time properly pronouncing even the most simple phrases, but in the end, she succeeds in saying things like the key phrase, "The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain." |
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| 1543 |
differentiate |
mark as distinct |
Surely there are many games involving candy that are sufficiently differentiated from Candy Crush so as to not be deemed infringing. |
dupe#chide#separate#espouse# |
“That differentiates us in a sea of a lot of competition.”#The selfie phones are differentiated by their display and processor.#“It really allows us to meaningfully differentiate in a more nuanced way.”#To the untrained eye, it’s nearly impossible to differentiate Hopkins’ simulation hospital from an actual one.# |
To differentiate is to identify the differences between things, to discriminate among them. For example, if the light is dim at the party, you might find it hard to differentiate between the spicy bean dip and the chocolate sauce. |
You can see different in differentiate. This will help you remember that it has to do with finding how things are different, or making them different. For example, identical twins look alike but if you get to know them, personality traits, speech patterns and their likes and dislikes help differentiate one from another. Also, when you wear a team uniform the number on your back helps coaches differentiate between teammates when everyone is playing fast. |
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| 1544 |
dimension |
magnitude or extent |
"We understand the shape and the dimensions of the Russia we're dealing with, and it makes it tougher to find that cooperation." |
scruple#attribute#rash#pang# |
“The military dimension today is directly in support of that diplomatic and economic effort,” Gen. Dunford told reporters in Seoul.#But what he is now busy doing is managing a global crisis with nuclear dimensions and historical precedents.#Emphasizing the personal, Goldstein neglects the allusive, mythological and abstract dimensions of the works.#Mathematic string theory will tell you that it is not only possible but probable that up to 13 different dimensions exist.# |
A dimension is the measurement of something in physical space. You might give the painters every dimension of the rooms you want painted, including depth, height, and width. |
In addition to physical objects, dimension can describe something less tangible, such as the magnitude or extent of something. You might be shocked by the dimension of damage from the explosion down the street. Dimension can also be a feature of something, such as an experience, situation, flavor, or thing. Painting your bedroom purple will add a mystical dimension to your dwelling, especially if you add unicorn accents. |
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| 1545 |
discipline |
a branch of knowledge |
It turns out there is a whole discipline of studying sports fanaticism, and it spills over into elements of psychology, sociology and physiology. |
encounter#punish#divert#construct# |
State investigators determined the infestation was caused by neglect, but no caregivers were disciplined because officials say they couldn’t identify the staffers at fault.#Cauce said the degree is designed to break boundaries between academic disciplines, and also involve business and industry partners.#The inability to maintain discipline also proved costly for Newcastle.#There were unified chants and even a disconcerting mass grunting, relatively strict formations and disciplined, ordered movement.# |
When you have discipline, you have self-control. When you discipline children, you are either teaching them to be well-behaved, or you are punishing and correcting them. |
The origins of this word offer great clues about its current meanings. The Old French descepline referred to punishment and suffering. The Latin disciplina meant "teaching, learning." The Old English version referred to a branch of knowledge or field of study (so if you're really good at word origins, you might want to make etymology your discipline). Developing discipline as a form of training is a military concept that's more than 500 years old. |
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| 1546 |
discover |
determine the existence, presence, or fact of |
Dell Curry, who spent most of his 16-year career with the Charlotte Hornets, said he wanted his sons to discover the game for themselves. |
skim over#happen upon#breeze through#crank up# |
Well, no, not really, as you will discover when you sit down and eat.#Researchers accidentally discovered a way to get kids to grow up to be voters.#However, it was recently discovered the jacket, which is not intended to leave the grounds, missing.#Officers then sent a robot into the building and discovered the man dead.# |
If you discover something, you find it unexpectedly, like when you discover your favorite childhood stuffed animal in a box of old junk. |
When you discover something, it can be by surprise or the result of a search. You might discover the fact that your dad used to travel with the circus as a trapeze artist or discover a band none of your friends ever heard of. Scientists often discover new substances, stars, or organisms. The Latin root discooperire, "uncover," combines the prefix dis-, or "opposite of," with cooperire, "to cover up." |
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| 1547 |
discriminate |
recognize or perceive the difference |
People rarely discriminate between accidental and deliberate killings. |
get at#stir up#get to#single out# |
“We don’t discriminate based on race, color or creed,” he said.#You use the words “ discriminate” or “discrimination” 17 times, exclusively to describe men as victims.#That ruling allowed White and Videckis to proceed with their lawsuit, alleging that the university harassed and discriminated against them because they were dating.#Spirit maintains it does not discriminate in hiring or termination decisions.# |
When you discriminate between two things, you can tell the difference between them and can tell them apart. |
The ability to discriminate between similar objects is important. For example, if you want to be a good root farmer, it helps if you can discriminate between a turnip and a parsnip. However, some people take it too far and discriminate against other people, treating them differently based on their physical characteristics or abilities. To be able to discriminate between a turnip and a radish is good, but to discriminate against people is not. |
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| 1548 |
distinguish |
mark as different |
American modern dance, in its early years, wanted to be taken seriously, to distinguish itself from supposedly more frivolous traditions. |
establish#unpack#recognize#distress# |
She followed up with “Scandal,” “Private Practice” and “How to Get Away with Murder,” helping create a female-friendly vibe that distinguished ABC from other networks.#Gens Veturia is a distinguished house, and Grandfather will want me to shake dozens of hands.#But even beyond the seemingly indefinite, widespread “Hamilton” craze, Friday night’s audience was distinguished in its own right.#While filming from 10,000 feet in the sky it’s “hard to distinguish one inanimate heat source from another,” the report says.# |
To distinguish means to tell apart. If you win the lottery, you’re going to need to learn to distinguish between people who really like you and people who like your money. |
To distinguish is to discern, which means to perceive or recognize the way something differs from what’s around it. It takes discerning taste buds to distinguish between Coke and Pepsi. Distinguish also means to separate yourself out from the pack, usually in a good way. You might distinguish yourself at a Comics Convention with your encyclopedic knowledge of Krazy Kat. |
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| 1549 |
domain |
the content of a particular field of knowledge |
Top CS students can also do great things by gaining domain knowledge, such as finance. |
area#flap#license#depression# |
Prominent white nationalist publication the Daily Stormer was dropped by GoDaddy yesterday, and Google also announced plans to cancel the site’s registration with Google Domains.#The Daily Stormer later transferred its domain name to Google, according to reports and a screenshot of the registration posted on Twitter.#Russia, in at least one major sports domain, remains rightfully a pariah.#On August 1, someone very quietly registered the domain name ibless.therains.downin.africa.# |
If you have a place that's all your own, somewhere real or in cyberspace that has your name all over it — literally or figuratively — it's your domain. And if you have something you really excel at, that is your domain too. You own it. |
A domain used to mean only land owned by wealthy people, such as lords in the 15th century, but modern usage is much wider, or has a broader domain in the English language. On the Internet, a domain is a space with a specific address, but a domain also can have a physical address, like a home. It can be a specialty, too, as in, "The main domain of the art school was sculpture," or "She was so good at math that algebra became her domain." |
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| 1550 |
draft |
any of the various versions in the development of a work |
He wrote his first draft of the script, based on a short story by the Danish-born writer Isak Dinesen, in 1973. |
a child putting together a puzzle#a painter planning to execute a mural#a dog breeder who helps to deliver pups#a gardener with a packet of flower seeds# |
He was drafted in the fifth round in 2012 by the Carolina Panthers and helped that team to the Super Bowl two years ago.#The draft rules are meant to bring inland guides not governed by Coast Guard restrictions closer to those standards.#With the Oval Office unavailable, he worked from the Treaty Room as aides drafted his remarks.#This is the first time that Ball, the second overall pick in June’s draft, will play at Capital One Arena.# |
Draft means to draw, both in the sense of sketching an image onto paper, but also in terms of pulling––a draft horse draws a wagon, a draft of air is drawn into your lungs when you take a breath. |
A cold draft is a current of cold air being drawn indoors. To draft someone into the army means to draw them into service, or make them serve. When you are drafting, or writing, a draft of a paper on the military draft in the US, you want to let your ideas flow freely. Then, in your next draft, you can work on filling in holes and edit the language down to what you really want to say. |
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| 1551 |
elements |
violent or severe weather |
The South West is preparing itself for another battering by the elements with strong winds and rain forecast for Friday night and into the weekend. |
in a research laboratory#in a Senate hearing#at a wrestling match#at sea in a storm# |
Those elements plus trend-driven details such as ruffles, flared hems and a ’90s-inspired high waist are dominating the look of fall denim.#Colbert also repeatedly asked if there were “ elements of white supremacy within the White House”.#Realizing that eclipses offered a helpful opportunity to search for more undiscovered elements, Lockyer became a strong advocate of eclipse expeditions.#But he hopes the expanding elements of Arccos Caddie bring about a larger discussion about the game’s future.# |
When you expose furniture to the elements — the harsh forces of the weather such as wind and rain — it often fades and begins to look worn. |
The phrase, the elements, has been used to describe the severe forces of weather since the 1500s and occurs with language that brings to mind the war between man and nature. If you brave the elements, you go out and do things regardless of the harsh weather. Rock climbers, with gear that can withstand the elements, sometimes have to battle the elements in order to reach the summit. In a less aggressive context, the elements in the field of chemistry refer to the substances on the periodic table, including metals such as gold and copper and as gases such as hydrogen and helium. |
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| 1552 |
employ |
put into service |
Their parents work diligently to help them succeed: cajoling and pleading and threatening and occasionally employing more intrusive techniques copied from mob debt collectors. |
invest#hire#suppress#split# |
These artists employ a visual vocabulary of crescents, circles and curved triangles unique to Coast Salish aesthetics.#In Toronto’s case, private philanthropists employed urban consultants to judge what Toronto actually needed in the way of parks – and where.#The restaurant chain also repudiated reports that it “knowingly employs racists and promotes racist theology.”#“Migrant workers are employed and live under a different set of legal rights than Canadians,” Mr. Ramsaroop added.# |
To employ means to use something or hire someone to work. You can employ a saw to cut a board or employ a tutor to teach you math. You can even employ your talents in study and activities. |
The Latin source of employ is the word implicāre, which literally means to enfold or be connected with. This ties in with the verb employ, which is transitive and needs a direct object. (You can't just say "I will employ — you have to employ something.) The word also suggests using something for a specific purpose: you can employ someone for a job or find something in which to employ your own interests. |
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| 1553 |
equal |
having the same quantity, value, or measure as another |
Allen said Virginia's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage violated the right to due process and equal protection of the law under the U.S. Constitution. |
equatorial#equipped#equivalent#equestrian# |
That’s why we must remember that no one among the 125 billion people is either small or big – everyone is equal.#We are equal in the eyes of our Creator.#We are a nation founded on the truth that all of us are created equal.#We are a nation founded on the truth, that all of us are created equal.# |
Things that are the same size or have the same traits are said to be equal. When it comes to people, being equal means everyone has the same rights and opportunities — and responsibilities. |
When two or more things are level or balanced, they are said to be equal. This balance can refer to volume, weight, or quantity, or any other trait being compared. In a contest in which each side has the same chance of winning, the match is said to be equal. And when a person is considered at the same level with another in some respect, he or she is said to be that person's equal. |
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| 1554 |
equivalent |
a person or thing equal to another in value or measure |
To me, Flappy Bird is the game equivalent of eating hot chiles—the pain makes you sweat and captures your attention. |
making a mistake#feeling regretful#saying sorry#blaming another person# |
To put things in perspective, it’s the dumpling equivalent of the Avengers.#The brain is the equivalent of a computer’s main processor, regulating all physiological variables, including the immune system, the body’s defense against infection and illness.#This is a rough equivalent of the FBI, but was the direct successor in domestic security to the notorious KGB.#They regarded any demand for black equality before the law as “Jacobin” – the 19th century equivalent of Marxism.# |
If two things are basically the same, you can say that they're the equivalent of each other. Like, studying advanced physics is the equivalent of banging your head against the wall. |
Equivalent's Latin roots are "equal" and "value," which suggests that the word originally was used to describe things that had the same value. Now it can be used to describe things that have the same effect, or importance, or role — for example, "England's Parliament is the equivalent of America's Congress." It can also be used as an adjective: "Eating a bowl of Sugar Pops for breakfast is equivalent to starting your day with two scoops of ice-cream." |
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| 1555 |
essential |
absolutely necessary |
Besides old age, the sewers, which are essential to the health of the city, are under assault from a nemesis above ground: grease. |
necessity#ambition#aspect#reserve# |
Certain electronic components that are essential for older military jets, for example, are no longer produced in the U.S.#Fall’s essential denim trends prove that vintage shapes and cues from the runway rule this season.#"This is not the government's preferred outcome," the paper says, "but it is essential that the UK is prepared for all possible outcomes."#But they are essential to science and society.# |
Essential means very basic or necessary. A good frying pan is one of a short list of kitchen essentials every cook must have. To prevent fires, it's essential to turn off appliances before leaving the house. |
The adjective essential is often followed by to or that: It is essential to wash your hands. It is essential that you dry them after. This adjective is from Middle English essencial, from Late Latin essentialis, from Latin essentia "the basic nature of a thing, its essence" plus the Latin suffix -alis "relating to." |
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| 1556 |
estimate |
an approximate calculation of quantity or degree or worth |
More than 200,000 people are believed to be held in North Korean prison camps, according to independent estimates. |
appreciate#champion#calculate#enable# |
The judge told the three defendants their trial would start on 14 May and was estimated to last six weeks.#As a result, he estimated that the tenant was overcharged by about $17,000 in a single year.#The estimated 70,000 people who converged there, following the lead of the astronomer royal, also benefited from Dyson’s good luck.#The National Academies' 2015 report estimated that 10 percent of patient deaths in the U.S. result from these incorrect conclusions—and the corresponding inappropriate treatment.# |
A rough calculation or appraisal is an estimate. When you hit another baseball through the kitchen window, your parents will get an estimate of the repair costs. And you should estimate being grounded for approximately 3 weeks. |
An estimate is kind of like a very educated guess. Making an estimate takes good evaluation skills, and usually estimates are pretty close to the actual outcome. If the garage bill is way higher than the estimate they gave you, for example, you have a right to be angry. But if you forgot to factor in rush hour traffic when you estimated the drive from Boston to New York, that's your own fault. |
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| 1557 |
event |
something that happens at a given place and time |
The event marked the collaboration of the denim brand and Bionic Yarn, which makes clothing materials from recycled plastic bottles. |
opportunity#desire#case#concern# |
Two Virginia state troopers also died when the helicopter they were using to monitor events crashed.#The entire nation was shocked by the weekend events in Charlottesville.#There are another 50,000 in Japan, which would likely be another North Korean target in the event of war.#Mr. Mollen was not always on the side of investigating events.# |
An event is something that happens, or might happen. In the event that you get stuck in traffic, the wedding will continue. It is too important an event to wait even for someone as important as you. |
When something is eventful, many things happen during it. In a detective story, a protagonist can protect himself by mailing an envelope to the police to be opened "in the event of his death." In the novel White Noise, Don DeLillo describes an Airborne Toxic Event, both predicting and mocking the disasters of our time. |
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| 1558 |
examine |
consider in detail in order to discover essential features |
In the past fifteen years we have seen an ever-growing stream of psychological and popular science books examining happiness and how people can increase it. |
see#peril#hail#perceive# |
It held that the police commissioners during the half-dozen years it examine were ultimately responsible for the failure.#The procedure occurred a little more than a week after Glenn was examined by Anderson.#Kim “praised the KPA Strategic Force for drawing up a close and careful plan . . . and examined the firing preparations for power demonstration,” the report said.#And it’s so throwaway, but this is a show that is pored over endlessly and every little detail is examined.# |
The verb examine means to study something carefully and in great detail. You can examine a book, a painting, a person’s face and so on. Right now, you are examining the meaning of examine. |
Examine means to look at something very closely and usually with the purpose of making a judgment. If you go to see a doctor, the doctor will examine you to see if you are healthy. Examine can also mean “question.” When the police examine a witness, they are questioning that witness. Along these same lines, examine can also be used to mean “test.” You might examine, or test, your friend’s knowledge of biology by asking him repeated questions about that subject. |
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| 1559 |
excerpt |
take out of a literary work in order to cite or copy |
The phrase people most often associate with Dr. King– excerpted from his landmark 1963 speech—is “I have a dream.” |
idiom#finale#cadence#extract# |
Here are excerpts from recent editorials in Oklahoma newspapers:#An excerpt of the interview was aired Monday.#These are edited excerpts from a conversation with Ms. Moss.#For that, consider this excerpt from the Foreign Policy article:# |
Instead of sharing all 147 lines of your favorite poem in class, you might want to read an excerpt, that is, just a part of the verses, so no one dozes off. |
Excerpt sounds a lot like "except" with an added "r," and it came into English in the 16th century from a Latin word meaning "plucked out." When the word is used as a verb, excerpt means to take a portion out, usually from a play, book, article, song, or other written work. And the part that is taken out also is called an excerpt, but it is a noun, that is, a thing. An excerpt is something you excerpt, or pluck out, from a larger piece. |
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| 1560 |
exclude |
prevent from being included or considered or accepted |
If people think that the definition of masculinity somehow excludes the idea that you could be gay, then really they need to reexamine that definition. |
call down#chew up#pack together#keep out# |
Landlords would be barred from excluding people with records in advertisements.#The Teamsters successfully lobbied to exclude vehicles over 10,000 pounds.#Core prices, which exclude food and energy to better capture inflation’s trend, were also up 0.1% on the month and 1.7% on the year.#The 12-month rate excluding volatile food and energy costs also was 1.7% through July 31, the same annual pace recorded the previous two months.# |
Exclude means to leave out — like when the cool kids won't let you in on their game of four-square or the pizza guy leaves your neighborhood out from his delivery zone. |
Exclude comes to us from the Latin word excludere, which means "to shut." So essentially, when you exclude someone you slam the door in their face one way or another: You won't let them into the party, you leave them off the invite list, or refuse to include them in the conversation once they arrive. Needless to say, excluding others is not very nice. |
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| 1561 |
exercise |
a task performed to develop skill or understanding |
He announced it during a team-building exercise in which coaches asked players to mention something about themselves that no one else knew. |
give way#move over#work out#ease up# |
Some people use tape or knee braces, but studies suggest these work best when you combine them with exercise programs.#Firefighting foam containing these compounds was used during training exercises at the base, she said.#But South Korea and the United States are planning to conduct biannual military exercises next week over the North’s objections.#This is not to say that exercise isn’t good for you; it is, in fact, great for you.# |
Exercise is physical activity, like an exercise class, or the act of practicing anything — like people who exercise caution while crossing the street. |
If your dad tells you to exercise restraint in dealing with your brother who just broke your computer, he hasn't suggested that you tie your brother up — here exercise means "use" or "practice." This might remind you of the writing exercises your teacher gave you: practice in forming letters. In many kinds of exercise, the results come from doing something over and over — just ask anyone who exercises, or works out. |
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| 1562 |
exhibit |
show an attribute, property, knowledge, or skill |
Birds, in particular, exhibit many remarkable skills once thought to be restricted to humans: Magpies recognize their reflection in a mirror. |
contrast#frequent#ease#show# |
The photos he chose will first be exhibited near the spots where they were shot.#Two South Puget Sound museums are currently hosting exhibits that explore these expressions.#The exhibit will remain on display at Ellis Island through Sept. 4.#Not enough was done to exhibit black culture and to proclaim, “This is us,” he said.# |
An exhibit is an item that is shown off for the public, such as a painting on display at a gallery or a historical document shown under glass at a museum. |
The main thing to remember about an exhibit is that it refers to something presented formally and in a public setting. For example, if you put an action figure on a side table in your apartment and your friends come by and notice it, well, it’s just an action figure on a side table. Put that same action figure on a pedestal in a fancy gallery, arrange it just so, and voilà! It’s an exhibit. People may even look it over and discuss its meaning in hushed tones. Students of law — or people who watch a lot of TV — will know that when used in a legal context, the word exhibit can also refer to an item presented as evidence in a legal court. |
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| 1563 |
extract |
a passage selected from a larger work |
They also came to "a good agreement" with David Mitchell to use the short extract from his book. |
excerpt#rider#hail#target# |
And I stopped midmix, when the extract was added, to literally smell the roses.#Strongbow Exploration will get royalties from any lithium extracted by Cornish Lithium.#Many regarded its core mission, extracting oil profitably from the gooey oil sands of the Athabasca River basin in Alberta, as impossible.#The bot being extracted from Sarah’s mouth in season 4, episode 6.# |
When you extract something, you remove it from a larger whole. You can extract a passage from a book, or a liquid essence from a vanilla bean—vanilla extract. |
Ex- means out of, and when you extract, you draw something out of something else. When listening to a complicated and long-winded story, it can be difficult to extract the truly meaningful details. |
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| 1564 |
fact |
a concept whose truth can be proved |
Actual fact: There is no bigger turnoff than an alien bursting out of someone’s stomach. |
argument#detail#trait#question# |
In fact, he was almost shocked that he immediately liked her.#Allegories for facts staring you in the face are not always necessary, wanted or helpful.#Retrieval practice often works best when students practice recalling the facts at intervals of a few minutes to several days, research shows.#In fact, meme machine Olenna stating facts means she will live forever.# |
You can't argue with facts: a fact is something proven to be true. It's important to distinguish between fact and fiction. |
When someone says, "Is that a fact?" they're asking "Is that really true?" When a detective says, "Give me the facts," he only wants information that is rock solid and confirmed. The job of science is to study things and figure out what the facts are in every field. Theories and opinions are not facts: you need to have proof for something to be a fact. |
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| 1565 |
factor |
anything that contributes causally to a result |
After that, American officials, athletes and coaches began to examine other factors, like training regimes, altitude training and mental preparation as causes for the underperformance. |
complex#privilege#ingredient#misgiving# |
Natural Cycles uses a specially developed algorithm and other factors, including temperature, to determine which days a woman might be fertile.#Deforestation for firewood and charcoal is one of the leading factors of worsening flooding and mudslides.#The cost of drugs is another major factor.#It’s also true that obesity causes asthma, probably both from inflammatory factors and that you’re just squeezing the lungs.# |
A factor is a part or element that contributes to a result. If you only fly budget airlines and refuse to stay anywhere but youth hostels, then money is probably a big factor in your travel plans. |
The word factor doubles as both noun and verb. A factor is an element that influences something, like many factors that contribute to global warming. To factor means to consider something relevant when making a decision or conclusion, like factoring in the weather and traffic when figuring out how long the drive will be. And if it's not relevant? Then you factor it out. |
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| 1566 |
figurative |
not literal |
The flag also has figurative powers; its fluttering is like a wave to the wayward golfer that beseeches, “This way, over here.” |
abusive#autocratic#irrevocable#literal# |
His figurative sculptures trigger even more conflicted emotions.#Nor is the figurative style with which Tanguma painted “The Rebirth of Our Nationality.”#The two are entwined in a figurative headlock of dependence and twisted affection.#The figurative clock is still running in this election season and will continue to tick until the polls close on 11/8.# |
When speech or writing is not literal, it is figurative, like when you say you have a ton of homework. You don't really have 2000 pounds of homework, do you? Also, when art depicts a figure from life it is figurative, like a figurative drawing of a dancer. |
The adjective figurative comes from the Old French word figuratif, which means “metaphorical.” Any figure of speech — a statement or phrase not intended to be understood literally — is figurative. You say your hands are frozen, or you are so hungry you could eat a horse. That's being figurative. In art, figure means "human or animal form," so a figurative drawing might show horses running across a field. |
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| 1567 |
format |
the organization of data according to preset specifications |
“Shallow News in Depth” follows a similar format of celebrity interviews, commentary on news and humorous dispatches by reporters on the streets of Bangkok. |
contaminate#unify#arrange#scoop# |
The ensuing format war, plus the need to buy new hardware, didn't help matters.#The move to Netflix means Rhimes will be able to work in a wider range of genres and formats, according to Variety.#Some are experimenting with new ad formats, including episode sponsorships and brand integrations with fewer standard ads.#Music publishers from other formats are stunned when they hear this exists.# |
In saving a new electronic document, you must choose a format, for instance PDF, Word doc, or XML, which dictates how the information is to be organized, displayed, and manipulated. |
To format information is to arrange it according to preexisting parameters. Electronic files require a format or, more commonly, a "file type," so computers will know how to open, read, and change them. Entertainment media are delivered in such varied formats as VHS, CD, DVD, MP3, and MOV. In the world of AM/FM radio, format is the type of music a station plays, such as top-40, urban, dance, or country. |
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| 1568 |
former |
belonging to some prior time |
They accused Ms. Park of “resurrecting the dictatorship” of her father, former President Park Chung-hee. |
old#level#complete#slight# |
A multiagency investigation found that Salinas was a former Army Ranger who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and suffered from post-traumatic stress and depression.#We are committed to restore the state to its former glory so as to experience the paradise that it was, once again.#Courtesy of a Twitter account belonging to George E. Pataki, the former governor of New York:#Scaramucci was also asked if he felt burned by his brief time at the White House, but the former communications director demurred.# |
Former refers to something that came at an earlier time, or before something else. For example, someone who believes in reincarnation might wonder about their former life — or even lives — before their present existence. |
When something or someone has changed, we can refer to them as former. For example, Mr. Smith's ex-wife could be known as the former Mrs. Smith. We could consider almost anything as former, as long as it comes first, before something else. A good way to remember the meaning of former is to consider that it comes from the Old English forma, which means "first," and that both former and first begin with "f." |
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| 1569 |
frequently |
many times at short intervals |
Reduced precipitation means forests that once burned every 100 to 150 years are now burning much more frequently. |
never#seldom#truly#before# |
Runner's knee earned its nickname because of how frequently it strikes a specific type of athlete.#Mr Trump frequently targets the so-called "fake news media" in tweets to his nearly 36 million followers.#Which is why, at camp, I frequently wait and see.#And none are particularly important to the players who currently inhabit the dugout, the clubhouse and — far too frequently — the trainer’s room.# |
If you do something frequently, you do it repeatedly, again and again. If you frequently visit the cookie jar, you might gain some unwanted pounds. |
Doctors and nurses have to wash their hands frequently, many times each day, since they touch various patients and don't want to spread germs. When you're driving in rush hour traffic, you usually find yourself stopping frequently. Things that occur over and over, especially in a relatively short time frame, happen frequently. The adverb frequently comes from the adjective frequent, which originally meant "profuse or ample," from the Latin root frequentem, "crowded or repeated." |
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| 1570 |
general |
of worldwide scope or applicability |
But beyond general nutrition, there have been few studies of the content of human breast milk and how it might vary. |
sorrowful#believable#difficult#definite# |
“Darwin writes that man is liable to slight variations, which are induced by general and complex laws.”#The winner of Tuesday’s race will be the odds-on favorite to win the November general election in the heavily Republican district.#It provided few other details about the deaths, though the attorney general’s office said there is no threat to the general public.#A group of state attorneys general in June announced an investigation into the role played by pharmaceutical manufacturers in the opioid epidemic.# |
If I ask you to give me a general sense of how a car works, I'm looking for you to describe the two or three main principals in a few minutes, not to open the hood, take apart your engine, and tell me everything you know. |
General comes from the French word générale, which means "common to all people," but we use it for more than just people. You might inquire about the general habits of schoolchildren, or the general temperature at night in the desert. And when someone's a general in the army or another organization, like the Surgeon General of the United States, for example, that means they oversee everything. So "general" is a high ranking, because generals are in charge of so many. |
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| 1571 |
genre |
a class of art having a characteristic form or technique |
So perhaps it’s unsurprising that other than romance, comedy is probably the least developed genre in video games. |
working agreement#fine structure#musical style#secret writing# |
Not so subtle metaphors slipped in to genre stories about the state of the working class man?#There were a few genres in which to lose oneself: Some involved drugs, and some involved sounds that worked pretty well with drugs.#“Choosing to write a genre novel is like fencing the universe because you are afraid of space,” said Gregory, loftily.#The move to Netflix means Rhimes will be able to work in a wider range of genres and formats, according to Variety.# |
A genre is a specific type of music, film, or writing. Your favorite literary genre might be science fiction, and your favorite film genre might be horror flicks about cheerleaders. Go figure. |
In music, genre refers to musical style such as jazz, salsa or rock. In film or literature, the genre is determined by the subject, setting or plot of the story. When you are wandering around a book store, books are usually arranged by genre. Many genres, such as "mystery" or "fantasy," overlap in film and literature, while others, such as "romantic comedy" in film or "historical fiction" in books, are specific to one or the other. |
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| 1572 |
graphic |
written or drawn or engraved |
In March 2006, cigarette packaging with graphic health warnings including photos of cancer-riddled lungs and gangrenous limbs was introduced in Australia. |
superficial#visual#frugal#usual# |
She also relays graphic details of how her husband died.#Last month, it agreed to buy U.S.-based Mentor Graphics in a $4.5 billion deal.#However these passages cannot be quoted in full in this story due to their somewhat graphic content.#In the 1980s, he worked as a consultant for Marvel Comics and Computer Graphics Laboratories.# |
Something graphic is visual. Graphic design is made of visual elements. A graphic novel tells its story with pictures. And a story that is too graphic is too good at showing you things that are, for example, shocking or violent. |
Derived from the Greek graphikos, meaning "drawn" or "written," graphic shows up often before words such as design or art. There's debate over whether Norman Rockwell was a painter or just a graphic artist. In certain cases, usually involving loaded issues such as violence or sex, graphic means overly clear in a visual way. Gruesome slasher movies could be too graphic for some viewers, leaving them feeling sick to their stomachs. |
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| 1573 |
hypothesize |
believe especially on uncertain or tentative grounds |
Jackie Mason, in an email, hypothesized that the complicated relationship between Jews and mayonnaise was probably a consequence of Jews feeling “guilty over betraying mustard.” |
substantiate#moot#suppose#quip# |
The team hypothesized that people who hear voices would be more likely to “believe” in auditory hallucinations.#Researchers hypothesize that the animal tumbled into a river and died.#To be precise, we hypothesized that each ant is willing to support the weight of a certain number of other ants, but no more.#Böckle hypothesizes that complex planning in ravens evolved thanks to two factors similar to those that shaped ape intelligence.# |
To hypothesize means simply to make a hypothesis. Which is just a scientific way of saying "make a really good educated guess." |
Ok, so when someone hypothesizes there's a little bit more involved than just guesswork. It involves using your past knowledge and available facts to try and predict what might happen. Scientists hypothesize all the time — it's the basis for every experiment. For example, doctors examining a werewolf might hypothesize that his furry face and oddball behavior stem from an illness and not the full moon. |
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| 1574 |
imitate |
reproduce someone's behavior or looks |
In the final, mocking Allegro, the violinist imitates a kind of teenage cackle through crisp fast notes embellished with grace notes. |
demonstrate#contradict#infer#copy# |
Borders’ first attempts at imitating a legend with 600 million records sold were humble.#Teachers study the rubrics and imitate the behaviors.#And sometimes books imitate lives that imitate books.#One of the recordings captured him proposing to imitate a scheme on the TV show.# |
When you imitate someone, you copy them. Youth marketers capitalize on kids' desire to imitate––tweens imitate teens, teens imitate young adults, and marketers supply the product lines to make it easy. |
Humans learn by imitating others. Babies carefully watch their caregivers' lips, learning to imitate the movements they make to create language sounds. Writers often begin their careers imitating the style of older writers they admire. |
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| 1575 |
incorporate |
include or contain; have as a component |
Stanford’s football team has incorporated yoga into its training program. |
produce#assume#constrain#absorb# |
The user's picture was incorporated into a personalised video, featuring Gary Lineker, automatically tweeted and captioned by Walkers.#When a school adopts edtech, it means that technology — computers, software, media, networks, and the like — are incorporated into teaching, communication, grading, and homework.#But the artist, who teaches at Georgetown University, also incorporates found objects.#Purvee said he intends to incorporate more real-life applications of math into his classroom, which he hopes will catch his students’ attention and interest.# |
To incorporate is to include or integrate a part into the whole. Incorporate is a more active version of the word "include"; if you incorporate, you are adding something to the mix. |
In the business world, to incorporate is a legal process. In other usages, the word incorporate really just means to include something or work something into whatever was already existing. You could incorporate your new roommate's furniture into the decor of your apartment, but you may not find a way to incorporate her cat's litter box. |
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| 1576 |
indirect |
having intervening factors or persons or influences |
Officially this method is called indirect potable use, but it’s really water recycling. |
discouraging#straightforward#unbecoming#inappropriate# |
She continued, ‘‘Change is often unpredictable and indirect.#Vinther’s evidence, acquired in tests funded by the National Geographic Society, is indirect.#When I’m barbecuing at home, doing just really basic, indirect heat, on a Weber kettle grill—#Two more died as an indirect result of the attack and a calf, days from being born, was lost.# |
Something indirect is not hitting the target exactly. Indirect sunlight doesn't shine right on you — it reflects off a window or is muted by a shade. |
If direct makes you think of a straight line, then indirect looks like a crooked one — there are turns and stops along the way. People who are sneaky might get what they want through indirect means, like going behind people's backs. If you go to school using side streets and back roads, that's an indirect path. Anything indirect is not taking the quickest or shortest route, but sometimes being indirect gets the job done. |
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| 1577 |
influence |
a power to affect persons or events |
They want to purge Thailand of the influence of her divisive brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, who they claim continues to run the country by proxy. |
scatter#determine#forget#contradict# |
But the Russian sphere of influence was tenuous: hundreds of thousands of square miles held by only 1,000 or so scattered colonists.#Even though the man died 40 years ago, at age 42, on Aug. 16, 1977, his influence continues to this day.#The driver was immediately arrested and was believed to be under the influence of drugs — and possibly suicidal.#Below, one book explores the places that influenced Mr. Wilson’s plays, and two others reimagine Pittsburgh’s people and culture.# |
Influence is the power to have an important effect on someone or something. If someone influences someone else, they are changing a person or thing in an indirect but important way. |
Sometimes a person who influences another doesn't intend to have any effect, but sometimes they are using influence to benefit themselves. An example of a personal benefit or advantage would be the use of political influence. Influence is also a verb, from Latin influere to flow in. |
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| 1578 |
inform |
impart knowledge of some fact, state or affairs, or event to |
The results lay the groundwork for future microscopic models and inform the experimental search for such materials. |
demand#enlighten#predict#acquire# |
She returned with a card and informed them that that would be impossible.#The idea of enlisting computers to help inform medical diagnoses is not new.#It is important that the public be informed about this in order to judge the health of our democracy.#Proponents like Steinberg, however, contend that informed decisions, not cost savings, are the point of the new policy.# |
To inform is to tell someone news, pass on wisdom, leak gossip, or give instruction. You've been informed that you won the raffle at the county fair. What are you going to do with all that cheese? |
The Latin verb infōrmāre means "to form or shape." The idea of passing on knowledge came about in the 14th Century, with the meaning of "teaching or instructing" coming later. Thomas Jefferson, who believed democracy to be impossible without informed citizens, said, “Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.” |
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| 1579 |
inquire |
conduct an investigation of |
So from time to time it’s good to take the focus off yourself and inquire into those around you a little more deeply. |
ask#layer#indulge#report# |
"The North Korea situation got us a 40% spike in inquires," Hall said.#He also suggested that travelers call the college’s main office to inquire about any notable events during the visit.#Years later, when Roellig was working in a shop in reunified Berlin, he realized a customer inquiring about cigars was his Stasi interrogator.#Another is that landlords inquiring about her reliability will be better able to evaluate it.# |
The verb inquire means "to ask for information." If you wonder about how the world began, you inquire about its origin. |
Inquire comes from the Latin combination of words in, meaning "into" and quærere, meaning "ask, seek." When you inquire, you look into something. You might ask a question, like inquiring if the bakery is hiring any cake decorators. Inquire can also mean "to conduct an investigation." No matter how you do it, when you inquire, you seek answers. |
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| 1580 |
instruction |
a message describing how something is to be done |
The instructor gave some very basic instructions for what sounded like some very advanced moves. |
education#attitude#investigation#conclusion# |
First, they needed to create new instructions for the plant to follow.#Read and follow any instructions printed on or packaged with the filter.#But too often that addiction began by following the advice of a doctor who, in turn, was following the drug manufacturers instructions.#No president likes being told what to do; Trump does not merely chafe at such instruction, he actively rebels against it.# |
Instruction is vital for education, as it is the transfer of learning from one person to another. Any time you are given directions or told how to do something you are receiving instruction. |
The noun instruction is related to the word structure; both share the Latin root structus, "built." The use of the word as we know it today appeared in the early 15th century from the Old French. Today it refers to the action of teaching and the job of a teacher. It can also be used to denote the directions themselves. Consider the word's connection with structure: effective instruction is presented in an orderly, structured manner. |
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| 1581 |
integrate |
make into a whole or make part of a whole |
"That's why they're integrating maps with search. When you search for Peking duck, you're seeing nearby restaurants in your results." |
desegregate#traumatize#discontinue#exonerate# |
North American supply chains are deeply integrated, and millions of workers in the three countries count on trade with each other for their livelihoods.#Its interface integrates with an over-the-air antenna and eliminates the uncertainty of losing precious local programming.#For example, in the early days of the semiconductor industry, integrated circuits were too expensive for consumer markets.#One way to measure the success of an integrated community is how quickly and deeply the newcomers become involved in the economy.# |
To integrate is to make parts of something into a whole. It also means to become one unit, or to make a place (like a school) open to people of all races and ethnic groups. |
One of the results of the Civil Rights Movement was the decision to integrate the schools of the American South. Before this point, African American students went to different schools than white students. After the decision to integrate the schools, students of all races went to the same schools. Integrate also means to make into a whole or to incorporate into a larger structure: "If your school is missing a unit on thermodynamics, your science teacher could integrate it into the curriculum." |
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| 1582 |
intent |
the intended meaning of a communication |
Whatever the intent, the sample never meshes with its soundtrack, and never inspires thought deeper than “radio evangelists were probably mistaken about rock ‘n’ roll.” |
entry#nonsense#meaning#security# |
It also concluded that he was intent on committing “suicide by cop.”#“With an intent to bring another party in that country down … I don’t think we’ve seen anything like this before.”#The intent, according to proponents, is to lower barriers to housing for people with criminal histories, who now are often rejected by landlords.#This cowardly attack was also a statement of intent and a show of strength.# |
If you are intent on doing something, you are determined to get it done. If you have an intent, you have a motive or purpose. |
Intention and intent are synonyms, but with a subtle difference. Intention implies a general desire or plan to accomplish something, while intent is a little stronger, indicating a firm resolve to get it done. Intent can be used as a noun or adjective. So you may be intent on finishing your homework, but the amount of it has you convinced of your teacher's ill intent. |
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| 1583 |
intention |
an anticipated outcome that guides your planned actions |
Satisfied with this initial success rate, the researchers then expanded their efforts with the intention of producing a few fully developed baby monkeys. |
cog#token#order#aim# |
“At the end of the day it was a mistake; it was terrible, but it was not done with any bad intentions.”#It appears it's possible that Littlefinger baited Arya into reading the scroll, hinting at his intention for creating a possible rift between the Stark sisters.#Trade experts construed that as an intention to limit imports from those countries.#Regardless of what the original intentions were, these islands are now undergoing an untethering process, with feelings of unease.# |
An intention is idea that you plan (or intend) to carry out. If you mean something, it's an intention. |
Your goal, purpose, or aim is your intention. It's something you mean to do, whether you pull it off or not. You may have the best intention of cooking an incredible meal, but if you leave the burner on and burn the house down, you will not be remembered as an excellent chef. When a father asks his daughter's boyfriend "What are your intentions?" that means something specific: Does he want to marry her? |
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| 1584 |
interact |
do something together or with others |
The law of combinations applies when there are many interacting people or objects. |
smart#shy#generous#social# |
The 12-mile stretch brings together people of all backgrounds, and passengers seem more apt to interact with him compared to other routes, Vass said.#Healthy bacteria actively interact with the host immune system in the gut.#“We videotape everything they do, from the way they run from drill to drill, the way they interact,” Jones said.#The company is also releasing "two-way talk," which lets the observer of the house interact with whoever is inside.# |
Talking, dancing, playing a game — all of these activities allow you to interact with other people. To interact means to communicate and react to the people you're involved with. |
Some video games are called interactive because they are not static, like board games, but allow players to interact with them and direct the story. If you are talking about chemicals or medicines that interact, the presence of one affects the way the other works. If someone says that you interact well with children, it means you communicate well with them and they respond to you. |
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| 1585 |
intermittent |
stopping and starting at irregular intervals |
Instead of intermittent reports, people would be able to record a steady stream of data and get warnings when they need them most. |
the country of France#the city of London#the continent of Asia#the state of Nebraska# |
Aside from those surgeries’ complications and intermittent illnesses due to a less-than-robust immune system, Jason was healthy.#Some customers tweeted about intermittent problems in package tracking on the company website.#Catching a problem that is intermittent and happens very rarely is nearly impossible to do with internal testing.#Against this turbulent backdrop, human occupation of Britain was intermittent and at times ephemeral.# |
Reach for the adjective intermittent to describe periodic movement and stopping and starting over a period of time. |
The adjective intermittent modifies things that work or stop and start at periodic intervals. An interesting use of something intermittent is a metronome, a device that marks off time in music by making a sound in a regular pattern. It provides structure for musicians, especially when there are several instruments all playing different melodies at the same time. Other intermittent things are the windshield wipers on your car and thank goodness for them when it rains! |
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| 1586 |
interpret |
make sense of; assign a meaning to |
Interpreting the Bible is a little like studying Leonardo DaVinci’s painting of the Last Supper, he says. |
induce#clutch#translate#riot# |
Fake or hoax videos also rely on poor-quality footage to hide imperfections, or ask viewers to interpret normal camera defects as inexplicable phenomena.#The Kansas City Star reports the suit filed by the City Union Mission focuses on how the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office interprets a Missouri law.#Is it fair to interpret time-consuming art that delays a meal as ceremonial behavior?#“There’s a fence just north of this gravel pit, an old fence. We’ve always interpreted it as being the state line,” he said.# |
When you interpret something, you make sense of it. You could interpret a graph, a foreign language, or even Mona Lisa's odd smile. |
If you're ordering food in a foreign land, you may need someone to interpret the menu for you. When you get tripped up or struggle to understand a subject even in your own language — like calculus, for example — sometimes you can find meaning, or interpret it for yourself. Or sometimes you'll need a teacher to work on the problem with you, showing how to interpret the mathematical language. |
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| 1587 |
introduce |
bring in a new person or object into a familiar environment |
The Girl Scouts recently introduced a gluten-free chocolate chip shortbread cookie to their annually anticipated line of sweet treats. |
hold dear#bring out#care for#spin around# |
Today a truck driver on an average is able to save 30% of his travel time from one point to another after GST was introduced.#At the same time, Juha is being introduced to a new generation.#A genius even introduced philosophical Jaden Smith tweets to Bran's creepy vibes.#Last year, a Code of Practice was introduced by the U.K.# |
To introduce something is to bring something new to a situation. If your roommate never cleans up after herself, you might try to introduce some new housekeeping policies. Or, introduce yourself to someone who is looking for a new roommate. |
Introduce has a number of related meanings. It’s often used when bringing people together for the first time, as when a talk show host introduces a guest to the audience, or when you introduce a new girlfriend or boyfriend to your parents. Introduce comes from the prefix intro-, meaning "into," and the Latin word ducere, meaning "lead" — just as you may have to lead (or drag) your new sweetheart in to meet your parents. |
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| 1588 |
invariably |
without change, in every case |
Invariably, around February of each year, coinciding with Black History Month, you’ll hear people asking, “Why isn’t there a white history month?” |
patiently#gently#indecently#irregularly# |
Invariably, the valleys follow hard winters or extreme droughts.#But it would also be a betrayal — of not only the audience’s expectations but also the spirit of these sometimes enchanting, invariably irritating proceedings.#"For many, it's simply overwhelming. Some invariably broke down," she says.#Samba’s editors, tasked with feeding the dictator’s ego, would invariably put these articles on the newspaper’s front page.# |
Invariably describes things that don't change and never vary — they're predictable. Many people invariably start each morning with a hot cup of coffee. |
This adverb is useful when discussing things that happen all the time or don't change. In football, teams that win the Super Bowl invariably have a good defense. In schools, many students invariably struggle with writing. Invariably, the weather is hard to predict. In a lot of cases, invariably means always or almost always. You can count on things that are invariable. |
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| 1589 |
investigate |
conduct an inquiry of |
The Silkworm will follow the private investigator Cormoran Strike, who Rowling introduced in Cuckoo, as he investigates the murder of a novelist. |
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Mr. Fields is charged with second-degree murder and is being investigated by the FBI and Department of Justice.#Mr. Mollen was not always on the side of investigating events.#In a statement Tuesday, the office says it is investigating the deaths in Haverhill with the State Police Major Crime Unit.#On Sunday, Democratic Assemblyman Anthony Brindisi, of Utica, asked federal health officials to investigate.# |
To investigate is to look into something systematically. If you don't understand how tornadoes work, for example, investigate the forces of wind and find out. |
Investigate still acts a lot like the word it comes from, investigationem meaning "a searching into," which came from the Latin for "to track a footprint." It's exactly what you do when you investigate. You can investigate in the name of science, which is to look into something systematically, like when you research how tornadoes work. If you investigate a person, you find out everything you can — and you might need to hire a private eye for help. |
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| 1590 |
involve |
contain as a part |
The studies involved only a small group of tagged whales and noise levels were less intense than what's used by the Navy. |
index#pluck#affect#whistle# |
"In the investigation it was revealed that four persons were involved."#She is also involved with several charities such as Save The Children and Unicef and is an official advocate for the RSPCA.#Spending in the low millions on Formula E isn’t considered much of a financial risk or burden for most of the manufacturers that are involved.#People who play sports that involve running and jumping, such as soccer and basketball, also face a high risk of runner's knee.# |
To involve means to connect. When you get involved in the Spanish Club, you attend meetings and events. If doing math well is involved in understanding advanced chemistry, that means it's a necessary part of it. |
When someone is very involved, it means they are engaged or connected to a lot of activities. When someone is self-involved, all they connect with is him or herself. If getting ice cream involves walking a mile to the ice cream shop, the exercise offsets the indulgence. When no exercise is involved, it's less healthy. |
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| 1591 |
irony |
incongruity between what might be expected and what occurs |
Irony is in plentiful supply in Thailand today: A billionaire tycoon is praised as the champion of the poor. |
annals#pomp#satire#purport# |
There is, perhaps, an irony here: a 21st-century state is being built on a tradition that resisted the very idea of centralised power.#Memes, irony and ambiguity are sometimes used in an attempt to wrongfoot critics.#The irony, of course, is that this so-called Rust Belt rebellion isn’t true.#Clive Barnes of The New York Times praised it as a “sprightly quartet of revue-style playlets,” written with “compassion, insight and irony.”# |
Reserve irony for situations where there's a gap between reality and expectations, especially when such a gap is created for dramatic or humorous effect. |
In Greek, eiron meant a dissembler — someone who hides their true intentions. Today, we do something very similar when we employ irony, often by saying the opposite of what we really mean. The word can also refer to a situation that turns out to be amusingly different from what we expected: "I thought he had stolen the Fig Newtons, but the irony was that he thought the same thing of me." Note that this is more than just an improbable coincidence! |
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| 1592 |
isolate |
set apart from others |
“We are imprisoning, we are isolating, but we are not rehabilitating the way we should.” |
set apart#draw up#conform to#keep going# |
China is by far Pyongyang’s biggest trading partner, but analysts are divided on how much the new sanctions will harm North Korea’s already isolated economy.#Traditional hearing aids isolate one speaker and suppress all others.#The individual is isolated, literally dying of loneliness.#Jackson firefighter Joe Smith told the Jackson Citizen Patriot that crews were able to control and isolate the blaze, sparing about 40 other units.# |
When you remove or set apart one thing from others, you isolate it. You could isolate yourself from people by living in a remote hut or, if you're a biologist, you could isolate a chromosome. |
The verb isolate comes from the adjective isolated, which comes from the Latin insulatas, meaning “made into an island.” You may have heard the John Donne quote, “No man is an island.” Donne was claiming that no matter how much you might try to isolate yourself from the rest of humanity, in the end people are all connected to one another. Humanity’s need for connectedness may, in fact, be illustrated by the fact that jailers frequently isolate criminals as punishment. |
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| 1593 |
label |
a brief description given for purposes of identification |
"Corn is a big problem. It is really really difficult to produce seed corn that would meet the current non-GMO verified label." |
breach#tag#vex#swamp# |
As for whether the label’s full selection — dresses, sportswear, shoes, handbags, jewelry and accessories — will be available remains to be seen.#That label was born of an effort to normalize the abnormal and the foul.#The league this year will be labeling the schedule by week - Week 1, Week 2, so on, from Monday to Sunday.#The league this year will be labeling the schedule by week — Week 1, Week 2, so on, from Monday to Sunday.# |
The saying “labels are for jars not people” means it’s OK to put a description on a jar so you know what’s inside (a label), but it’s not okay to judge people by attaching a label, or description to them, such as "nerd," "jock," or "burnout." |
Label is a busy word. It refers to the paper or identifying marks on a jar that tells you something about what’s inside the jar. Put such an identifier on the jar, and you label it. Related to that is a judgment about someone or something, a label. When you call yourself a superstar, you label yourself. Finally, you can use label as a short form of recording label, a company that produces musical recordings. |
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| 1594 |
likely |
having a good chance of being the case or of coming about |
Boys are also more than two-thirds more likely than girls to be born prematurely--before the 37th week of pregnancy. |
similarly#friendly#probable#indefinite# |
But with hundreds of billions of government procurement dollars at stake, Canada and Mexico are likely to fight to keep things as they are.#Women appear more likely to develop runner's knee than men.#“Since I was singing that hymn before your father was born, it’s likely I would. Try something snappier.”#These swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.# |
If something's probably true, it's likely. When you walk in the rain, it's likely that your shoes will get wet. |
Likely is an adjective that's perfect for describing things you can imagine happening, such as the likely destination of next summer's vacation. Any time that something is in the cards, or bound to happen, you can explain that it's likely to happen. Though it's rarely used this way today in American English, one meaning of likely since the 15th century has been "good looking or attractive." |
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| 1595 |
literal |
limited to the explicit meaning of a word or text |
Either way it is going to be mind-blowing, quite possibly in a literal sense. |
impalpable#incoherent#explicit#wistful# |
First, Mr Pence threw his audience off-guard by saying something stirring, pithy but not strictly true in the literal, nit-picking sense of that word.#Hellblade is a game about a literal descent into madness.#With threads, it’s both a literal pause between tweets and the visual break between them when you’re reading them.#Lucy Kirkwood’s thematically dense “Mosquitoes,” which recently opened at the National Theater, contemplates such a void in literal terms.# |
To describe something as literal is to say that it is exactly what it seems to be. For example, if you put up a literal barrier to keep the world out, you've actually built a real wall. |
The background of literal includes the Latin litterālis, meaning "of letters or writing." This led to the sense of exactness, suggesting something is "to the letter." Many people misuse this word, as in "Listening to that dull teacher put me in a literal coma." Possible, but highly doubtful. |
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| 1596 |
locate |
determine the place of by searching or examining |
In a conversation, O’Reilly author Matthew Gast suggested that you could extend the concept to develop a collar that would help to locate missing pets. |
avoid#dispute#shift#detect# |
Keast says the public announcement was delayed in part because an exhaustive search for next of kin failed to locate any family.#Last year the Assumption Day festival, located in botanical gardens three miles from central Funchal, was cancelled due to forest fires.#The island is located a short distance off shore between Marquette and Munising.#The rare event is also bringing a torrent of visitors to cities located in the eclipse path.# |
If you wanted to decide where to locate your car wash, you might locate a spot on a map with lots of traffic, a parking lot, and a ready source of water. Locate means to find or place. |
If your mother can never locate her keys, it means she loses them all of the time and has to look all around the house before going out. If you move to a new place, usually for a job, you relocate. But if you decide to find a job that is located in your town, you call that staying local, which, like locate, derives from the Latin locus meaning "place." |
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| 1597 |
logical |
based on known statements or events or conditions |
For many students, nine hours of sleep is so far beyond their reality that their only logical response is laughter. |
minimum#irrational#potent#pathetic# |
Brian Goodwin was the logical choice and he got the start there in Game 1 on Sunday, but then he exited with groin tightness.#Third, yesterday showed us a vision of a dystopian future that is the logical extension of our current gun laws.#I want to be logical, practical, the way Pop taught me to be when dealing with injuries.#American diplomacy bolstered by robust alliances and supporting the spread of human rights, democracy and open markets is the logical outcome of such analysis.# |
Logical describes something that comes from clear reasoning. Using a fire extinguisher to put it out a fire is a logical step. Trying to put it out with gasoline is not. |
The adjective logical is rooted in the Greek word logos, which means "reason, idea, or word." So calling something logical means it's based on reason and sound ideas — in other words, thought out with mathematical precision and removed from emotion. Sounds strict and boring, but it's the orderliness and consistency of logic that helps you write a great argument or figure out how to solve a problem. |
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| 1598 |
margin |
the blank space that surrounds the text on a page |
In a Portuguese songbook, written around 1600, images along the margins look like Australian aboriginals and possibly a kangaroo. |
coordination compound#gross profit#place name#public assistance# |
Including those independents who lean toward a party, Republicans led by a wider margin of 45 percent to 30 percent.#In part, these volcanoes’ seeming inactivity is partly because most of the newly-discovered volcanoes are not near the tectonic plate margins.#The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 2.4 percentage points for overall results; the error margin is larger for subgroups.#What happened was another test of will in a season full of them, another test the Nationals passed by a narrow margin but passed nonetheless.# |
An amount beyond the minimum necessary is called the margin. If you sell craft items, you need to build in a profit margin so that you actually make money on the sale. You'll go broke if you sell mittens for $10 that cost you $15 to make. |
The blank space around the edges of a sheet of paper — as with the page of a book — that surrounds the text is called the margin. It serves a few purposes: (1) The paper can be bound into a book without covering up the words; (2) If you are a teacher, student, or editor, you can make comments or notes in the margin. (3) If you're bored in class, you can doodle there. |
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| 1599 |
mean |
denote or connote |
The al-Qaeda-inspired militant organisation, whose name means "Champions of Jerusalem", has increasingly turned its attacks against the Egyptian police and army. |
intend#prevent#educate#avenge# |
“Really tough and really mean and really street. I believe that the other girls in the locker room will say, ‘Serena’s really nice.’#My Dear Countrymen, some schemes of the Government are meant for ensuring savings for the common man.#Turner asked, almost as if he meant it.#"What was meant to be a reassuring step ahead continues to cause more uncertainty for businesses all over the country," he added.# |
If you got a fortune cookie with the message "Your future will contain many bananas," you might ask, "What on earth does that mean?" In other words, you wonder what the intention or meaning of the fortune might be. |
Mean is one of those ordinary, everyday words with lots of different meanings. The adjective mean can describe someone who's stingy or ungenerous, but it also means "unkind or unfair," which is what a little kid intends to convey when she yells at her mother, "You're mean!" In the sentence, "She lived in a mean little house," mean has yet another meaning, this time being "shabby or poor." |
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| 1600 |
measure |
determine the dimensions of something or somebody |
The pacifier device she and her colleagues used measures the pressure and rhythm of sucking. |
criticize#restrain#worship#evaluate# |
A measure of traffic by prospective buyers also increased.#This lab is trying to measure America’s mood and health through social media.#You lean on measures of interest and personality, rather than ability and achievement, presumably because the latter don’t support your hypothesis.#Sisi justifies these measures by pointing to the danger from extremists.# |
To measure something is to figure out how much of it is there. A measure can also be a step toward a goal: take measures to ensure you don't flunk an exam by cracking the books. |
You can take measures to improve your health: limit sweets, get enough rest, get some exercise, and wash your hands to avoid the spread of germs. The noun also means a standard for comparison. You can measure your time against the good you will do if you volunteer to help out a child via a mentoring program. |
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| 1601 |
model |
a representation of something, often on a smaller scale |
A working computer model of living cells, even if it were somewhat sketchy and not quite accurate, would be a fantastically useful tool. |
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This routine may sound familiar and indeed it is, being the basic model of fast-casual restaurants from Shake Shack on down.#“Rent overcharges or rent fraud is part of a systematic business model,” he added.#“The new education model needs money to succeed,” Fernandez says.#He also, in common with one of his role models, Pep Guardiola, does not want his players to tackle too much.# |
To model something is to show it off. To make a model of your favorite car is to create a miniature version of it. To be a model is to be so gorgeous that you’re photographed for a living. |
The word model, which can be a noun, verb, or adjective, comes from the Latin word modulus, meaning “measure,” or “standard.” If you are a model student, you do everything as the school and teachers wish: you are the standard. If you model your life on your hero's, you try to do what he or she does. If you are a clothing designer you will need to hire a model to model your creations. |
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| 1602 |
monitor |
keep an eye on; keep under surveillance |
Only in the past decade have scientists had the technology to closely monitor the behavior of whales and dolphins. |
overseer#traveler#recruiter#naysayer# |
A spokeswoman for Representative Peter DeFazio from Oregon said his office received the letter and is "continuing to monitor the situation."#Two Virginia state troopers also died when the helicopter they were using to monitor events crashed.#But Uber stopped the monitoring less than a year later.#Under the settlement, Uber is also prohibited from “misrepresenting how it monitors internal access to consumer’s personal information.”# |
A monitor is a device or a person who watches or checks to see that all is going well. If you're babysitting, you might use a baby monitor so you can hear if the baby cries in its sleep. |
Monitor can be used as a noun or a verb, both of which are concerned with watching over someone or something. A heart monitor displays the rhythm of your heart. A hall monitor is a person who checks to see that students aren't wandering the halls. If you are monitoring your grades, you are keeping track of them to see if they go up or down. And some parents buy a program that will monitor your Internet use, though you might think that this is an invasion of privacy. |
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| 1603 |
motivation |
psychological feature arousing action toward a desired goal |
One never knows which “failure” will be the tipping point for an adolescent toward more effort, self-reflection, assuming responsibility, in a word, discovering inner motivation. |
reason#doubt#defense#sincerity# |
Those at the gathering in Manila speak about their motivations:#Part of the North's motivation is a rational assessment of the country's strategic interests.#Intellectualizing about the separate motivations and intent of these series would provide some interesting calisthenics for the brain.#Combatting climate change is an important motivation for many of these efforts.# |
People often need motivation to do tasks they'd prefer not to do. Do you work? Your motivation is your paycheck. Lost something? Finding it may provide motivation to tidy the house. |
At the root of the word motivation is the word motive, which is similarly defined as the reason for a particular action. Although the words are synonyms, when it comes to criminal behavior, people generally ask about the motives leading to the criminal acts, not the motivation behind them. Other synonyms for motivation include inspiration and enthusiasm, so people tend to associate motivation with positive acts. |
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| 1604 |
notation |
a comment or instruction (usually added) |
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has added Tamiflu OS to the list of resolved drug shortages on its website with the notation "no supply issues anticipated." |
in the produce aisle#in the overhead compartment of a plane#in the trunk of a car#in the margins of a paper# |
Monk’s trademark is extended vocal technique, mining the voice for expressive possibilities not contained within the established conventions of Western notation.#As for your B vitamin notation, that's what's implicated in the clause in my original post: "...when managed properly for ensuring complete proteins..."#The work includes analytic notations on site-specific photographs for the video shoot.#There was a curious notation next to the names of two of the top four players selected in the Major League Baseball draft this month.# |
Use the noun notation to describe a written note, like the comments an English teacher makes in the margins of a student's essay. |
An editor might make notations on an article, and a conductor might add notations — written reminders to herself — to the edges of a musical score. Another kind of notation is a series of symbols that represent words, numbers, or music, for example. Chemical formulas are one type of notation, and musical notes are another. Notation comes from the Latin word notationem, which means "a marking or an explanation," from the root nota, "mark." |
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| 1605 |
notice |
discover or determine the existence, presence, or fact of |
In most cases, artifacts found at construction sites are destroyed by equipment before anyone even notices them, Horner said. |
disorder#find#deface#entrance# |
“Not much. Not so that anyone would notice—unless they were up close. But not so much.”#A White House official said early Tuesday that the tweet of the train was posted inadvertently and was deleted as soon as it was noticed.#He noticed a series of letters and numbers that represented a crescendo in the static.#However, no one seemed to notice until it was too late.# |
The word notice has to do with paying attention to something. For example, you usually notice a flashing light, and an overdue bill might come with the word "NOTICE" written on it to make sure you see it. |
The Latin nōtitia, a noun meaning "something known," was the ancestor of notice. Use the verb to mean “to see or point out" and the noun to mean "formal warning." When you give “advance notice,” you let someone know early or ahead of time. In case you haven't noticed, the notice posted on your door says you've been promoted and should move to the corner office. No doubt because of your attention to detail. |
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| 1606 |
observe |
watch with care or pay close attention to |
The study was conducted in Thailand, and the researchers observed the behavior of 26 elephants in captivity over the course of a year. |
discover#entertain#wake#flag# |
Samuel Williams, the newly appointed professor of mathematics and natural philosophy at Harvard College, was eager to observe a total solar eclipse.#Institutional inertia is an issue across the U.S., observes Mark Graber, president and co-founder of the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine.#But because the eclipse will last for about three hours, there are plenty of gradual changes for students to observe and learn from.#White spoke to human resources staffers and workplace leaders who report observing the effects of Trump Toxicity among colleagues.# |
Observe is often used to mean “remark” or “comment.” When trying to start up a conversation with an attractive stranger, you might observe that it’s raining outside (but hopefully you’ll come up with something more interesting to say). |
Observe has several secondary meanings, one of which is “notice” or “discover.” If you start a conversation with that attractive stranger, you’ll probably observe whether he or she seems interested in talking to you. Observe can also mean “watch carefully with great interest”; you might be tempted to observe the attractive stranger in this manner, but that might make him or her uncomfortable. Try to stay cool. |
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| 1607 |
occur |
come to pass |
She will testify that former Superintendent Beverly Hall ordered the destruction of investigative documents that concluded the cheating likely occurred, according to prosecutors. |
shore up#sort out#make over#take place# |
Along with these technological shifts, there is a change occurring in the skills desired in the workplace.#The procedure occurred a little more than a week after Glenn was examined by Anderson.#Studies suggest that doctors often get stuck on the first diagnosis that occurs to them—the anchor—even if it is wrong.#Local authorities are still investigating other acts of violence that occurred over the weekend.# |
Use the verb occur when an event or a thought happens, like when it occurs to you that you've left home without your umbrella. Maybe you didn't hear the forecast that showers would occur this afternoon. |
The verb occur comes from the Latin, occurrere, “to meet” or “to present itself.” When something occurs, it comes into being, like a thought that seems to present itself from out of the blue, like when it suddenly occurs to you that you forgot to ask your guests if they'd like a cup of tea, or that it would never occur to your Mother that some people spend a small fortune on handbags. Events can also occur, meaning "take place," like a meeting that will occur tomorrow. |
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| 1608 |
opinion |
a personal belief or judgment |
Sharing views about pop culture is also common, with a median of 73% saying they use social networks to post opinions on music and movies. |
feeling#closure#sensation#partiality# |
“Your voice is weak! Your opinion is weak!”#David is a liberal Democrat and I’m a conservative Republican, and we are both very vocal about our opinions.#Another part of the statement noted: “We do respect our employees’ right to their opinions.#When Americans are asked about specific trading partners and trade agreements, however, opinions start to become more negative and partisan divides loom, the survey shows.# |
Who wouldn't want the job of opinion writer for the Times. You get paid to sit around and tell people how you feel about things. And you know that I've got no shortage of opinions. |
An opinion is a belief or attitude about something that isn't necessarily based on facts. You may have an opinion about Gwyneth Paltrow that I don't share. There's no way to prove who's right and who's wrong. Those are our thoughts about her, and that's the way it is. Ironically, when a judge decides a case, his or her ruling is referred to as an opinion. Even though what the judge says will become a matter of law, it's still just their opinion, based on what was presented by the two sides in a trial. |
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| 1609 |
optional |
possible but not necessary; left to personal choice |
The course is largely taught through online videos, but enrolled students are also given quizzes, optional food-preparation assignments and opportunities to collaborate with classmates. |
obligatory#abstruse#solvent#unalterable# |
Additional amenities would then be available as optional extras.#The first two items on my list are mandatory, this third one is optional but I believe it just as strongly.#We need to start a discussion about adopting optional rating, range or ranking voting methods.#Shirts were optional attire during much of his visit.# |
If you can choose whether or not to do something, it is optional. Extra credit is always optional; death and taxes are not. |
When you buy a new car, you can decide which options or choices, you would like. Things like a DVD player mounted in the ceiling are optional, you don't need them for the car to work, and it's up to you if you want to pay more for them. The opposite of optional is mandatory. If you're in high school, going to bed at 8:00 is optional, for your little sister in elementary school, it's mandatory. |
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| 1610 |
organize |
cause to be structured according to some principle or idea |
School’s strict structure—its clear schedules, clean tiles, bells and clocks—allowed me to feel organized, cared for and seen. |
debate#prepare#treasure#trace# |
Turner watched a small yellow hornet buzz listlessly around the pulpit as the priests of the Hebrew host organized their march.#That includes running for public office or organizing efforts to preserve white heritage symbols in their regions.#He noted the president did not explicitly condemn the hate groups that organized the Charlottesville rally until two days after it was held.#Do you support or oppose allowing a group of Muslim students to organize...# |
If you systematically put something in order, you organize it. Your family might not understand the way you organize your kitchen if you keep shoelaces, dental floss, and a screwdriver in your silverware drawer. |
The verb organize also means to plan or orchestrate something. If you've agreed to organize the German club's bake sale, you'll probably spend some serious time transporting cupcakes and linzer torte to school. When a group of workers forms a union, this action is also described with the verb organize. The International Ladies Garment Workers Union, for example, was organized in 1900 in New York City by immigrant factory workers. |
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| 1611 |
origin |
a first part or stage of subsequent events |
Since the origin of life on earth 3.8 billion years ago, our planet has experienced five mass extinction events. |
corner#beginning#direction#development# |
Our countries of origin were antagonistic in the past.#The possible origin was narrowed to somewhere in the constellation Sagittarius, but despite many searches the noise was never heard again.#Still, the origins of “Africa” are anything but flip.#He spends his days scouring the Net for memes, documenting their origins and, when possible, explaining to readers what they mean.# |
An origin is a start. You could say that the origin of yoga was in India, since that's where the practice began, or that the origin of the strawberries in the market is Mexico, since they were grown there. |
If your best friend asks you about the origin of your fear of mariachi bands, it means that she wants to know where your phobia came from. Your ancestry is another kind of origin — you might mention your Eastern European origin if that's where your ancestors came from. The root, start, or birth of something is its origin. The origin of the word origin is the Latin word originem, meaning "rise, beginning, or source." |
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| 1612 |
outline |
describe roughly or give the main points or summary of |
In his speech, Mr Obama outlined his priority topics for the year, including healthcare, minimum wage and the pullout from Afghanistan. |
summary#emotion#award#frown# |
At the Tripp place the sea breeze scattered last fall’s oak leaves inside the outline of foundation stones.#It’s unclear what the problem is since the judge sealed another order outlining details.#In outlining its goals for the Nafta renegotiation, the Trump administration listed as a priority shrinking American trade deficits with Mexico and Canada.#In previous rounds, the hacker released preliminary outlines for upcoming “Game of Thrones” episodes.# |
The gist, the essence, the major parts of something — that's its outline. |
The origins of outline come from the artistic practice of marking a line around the outer edge of a person or shape in a picture before filling it in. Only later, in the 1800s, did it come to be applied to verbal descriptions, too. Technically an outline suggests a condensed form of something, but as any high school or college student knows, course outlines have a habit of being pretty darn long. In 1919 H.G. Wells wrote a book called An Outline of History. Its length? 1,324 pages. |
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| 1613 |
pace |
the relative speed of progress or change |
Man is the culprit, and the pace of species die-off is accelerating at a rate unprecented in the history of life on earth. |
glance#walk#dwell#jump# |
The company and its competitors are facing weakening demand because car sales are slowing down from their recent record pace.#Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal forecast an annualized pace...#Now, he restlessly paced the long marble corridors of the Italian Embassy overlooking the Nile.#In the second half, a series of fouls slows the match to a fitful pace.# |
Pace is how fast something travels a particular distance, like a runner who tries to achieve a consistent pace, running each mile in more or less the same amount of time. |
Pace comes from the Latin word passus, meaning “a step.” Pace is a noun, meaning "the speed at which something happens." Some say city life has a faster pace because everyone hurries and there are so many exciting things to do. Pace is also a verb — if you pace yourself, you’ll have enough energy to experience all of that city's sights, from the rush of rush hour to the late-night party scene. |
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| 1614 |
paraphrase |
express the same message in different words |
He paraphrased a quotation attributed to Albert Einstein: “If an idea is not absurd, there is no hope for it.” |
to get the main idea#to learn how to operate something#to focus on the details#to enjoy the rhythm of the language# |
The inking headlines below are accompanied by either the original headline or a paraphrase.#Maybe the following paraphrase of another quote from the president would enlighten him regarding the tremendous difficulty in battling drug addiction:#“Birds neither reap nor sow, yet the heavenly father provides for them,” Smith said, paraphrasing Matthew 6:26.#I’ll just let the transcript of his answer speak for itself because, really, it’s too good to paraphrase.# |
The verb paraphrase means to sum something up or clarify a statement by rephrasing it. So to paraphrase that explanation, it means to say something in other, simpler words. |
If you break paraphrase down, you end up with the prefix para, meaning "beside," and the word phrase — so think of paraphrase as coming up with similar, more simple phrases that go beside the ones already said. You might paraphrase your teacher’s lesson because you want to simplify her complicated technical language, or because you forgot exactly what she said but remember the general meaning. |
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| 1615 |
participation |
the act of sharing in the activities of a group |
Scientists have also noted what are called “mirror neurons” in our brains, activated not just by participation in sports, but by watching others participate. |
enforcement#immigration#engagement#dissent# |
Of course, mere presence at a rally does not imply willing participation.#Ms. Smith offers a historical perspective on the underemphasized history of women’s participation in the white nationalist movement.#Increased participation - and acceptance - means any new GOP attempt to address problems with the Affordable Care Act would be unlikely to achieve deep Medicaid cuts.#Increased participation — and acceptance — means any new GOP attempt to address problems with the Affordable Care Act would be unlikely to achieve deep Medicaid cuts.# |
Participation in extracurricular activities makes you a well-rounded person. Getting involved in different groups and pursuits is not only educational, but also an opportunity to make lifelong friends. |
Notice that the first syllable in this noun is part-, as in, “take part.” Participation is the act of participating, or being related to a larger whole. Another word for this is involvement. A person can enjoy participation in a club, a celebration, or even a conversation. |
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| 1616 |
pattern |
a customary way of operation or behavior |
Florida Atlantic won the contract to produce the water resistance measurements after doing similar work predicting drift patterns of floating items in oceans. |
model#export#herd#deposit# |
This leads to deeper learning, often in a shorter amount of time, a pattern researchers call the testing effect.#In that incident, the drone nearly collided with the Navy jet while it was in a holding pattern, the Pentagon said.#Subsequent reports by The Times showed a pattern of financial mismanagement and poor oversight at the commission.#He said that in terms of factors underlying the segregation, there also seemed to be a pattern of middle class, white students avoiding some universities.# |
Something that repeats in a predictable way is a pattern. You might find a pattern in a series of numbers, in the material covering your couch, or in the habits of your upstairs neighbor. |
The noun pattern could refer to a design or to customary behavior. Your patterns of behavior might include your morning cup of coffee and exercise. The word pattern can also be used as a verb form meaning "to model." For example, your art might be patterned after the artwork of a famous artist. |
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| 1617 |
perform |
carry out an action |
Both the human hand and foot represent a triumph of complex engineering, exquisitely designed to perform a range of tasks. |
surround#brain#execute#insist# |
Katy Perry will host the show, where Pink is scheduled to perform her new single, "What About Us."#Dizzy Gillespie performed there, Aretha Franklin, and nearly countless other musical icons.#She will also perform at the awards show.#An autopsy will be performed to determine the cause of death.# |
To perform most often means to sing, dance act or put on any kind of show. Perform also means, however, to carry out almost any function or action — to do something, in other words. |
Parents love to watch their kids perform. Nothing delights mommy or daddy more than watching junior sing or dance in the school play. Later in life, though, they'll be happy when their kids perform acts of kindness or when they perform the duties required of them by their jobs. "The surgeon entertained the other doctors when he performed an aria from Rigoletto while he performed an appendectomy." Now that's impressive. |
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| 1618 |
persuade |
cause somebody to adopt a certain position or belief |
Health workers and officials have tried for years to persuade conservative Muslims to accept vaccination. |
sway#insult#mar#depart# |
“It’s one thing to persuade people around the state that cities matter,” said Luke Bronin, Hartford’s mayor.#Magnet schools continue to be one of the district’s primary strategies to persuade families not to enroll in charter schools.#However, he was persuaded to stay for a show that was broadcast a week later.#Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley for persuading China and Russia to join in a unanimous U.N. vote approving the new sanctions. # |
If you get talked into something, you've been persuaded. If your friends try to persuade you to swan-dive into a dangerous ravine, it's time to find some new friends. |
To persuade is to get your way — win the argument, convince the group to see your favorite movie, get your parents to let you borrow the car. You persuade with language, with a carefully constructed argument, and with the strength of your conviction. The word is sometimes used tongue-in-cheek to describe the very opposite of a carefully worded argument. A movie gangster might "persuade" people with the gun he keeps tucked in his pocket. |
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| 1619 |
plagiarism |
taking someone's words or ideas as if they were your own |
Brush up on the definition of plagiarism and the reason we give others credit for their work. |
mechanism#insolence#piracy#thrill# |
And plagiarism, while a major publishing no-no, is not itself a crime unless the duplicated material was copyrighted.#Resignations are usually reserved for plagiarism or worse journalistic offenses.#In the three academic years from 2013-14, 98 students from Wales' eight universities were prohibited from sitting future exams following allegations of collusion or plagiarism.#But her feel-good story soon turned defensive amid claims of plagiarism and death threats.# |
When you rip off someone else's ideas or work and pretend it's your own, that's plagiarism. |
There's a fine line between borrowing and stealing — between plagiarism and theft — and it's often open to debate what actually constitutes an outright taking of someone's material. As Einstein once said, "The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources." From the Latin word for "kidnapped," when you plagiarize, you are being an intellectual thief, kidnapping someone else's ideas or words for your own purposes. |
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| 1620 |
plan |
make a series of steps to be carried out |
To help people understand the importance of savings, many organizations are planning events for America Saves Week, Monday through March 1. |
inscribe#dedicate#capture#draft# |
Prosecutors say the website disruptj20.org was used for planning the disturbances.#“It’s the most outrageous plan,” she says in an interview with Vogue.#We support Commissioner Houston’s plan and plead that any de-licensing be done in a manner that is not easily reversed.#The relocation of TSA employees to Medford is planned as a short-term solution.# |
Do you have an idea of what you want and have thought carefully and in detail about how to get it? Then you have a plan, a series of actions required to achieve a particular goal. |
A plan can exist only in your head, or it can be a physical object, such as an architectural plan of a building, showing how you propose to build it. As a verb, plan means the act of thinking about how to achieve your aims. You might plan to apply to colleges soon. When you plan something, you're laying the seeds for a future result, so it's not surprising that plan comes from the early English word plante, meaning "seedling." |
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| 1621 |
plausible |
apparently reasonable and valid, and truthful |
Thor—and the mechanics that drive his flight—is surprisingly plausible; so is the way a dragon from The Hobbit could breathe fire. |
fervent#twinkling#unconvincing#filthy# |
It is plausible that a Chinese car maker would want to buy FCA.#It’s a plausible argument at one level, until you consider those on the far left who are black women.#“So that’s why his health effects, I think, are completely plausible.”#Still, launching a program seemed plausible because the Sequim teachers planned to apply the trauma-informed model on a very small scale.# |
If something is plausible, it's reasonable or believable. Things that are plausible could easily happen. A woman becoming President is very plausible. A giraffe becoming President is not. |
Plausible things are not far-fetched at all. Things in fantasy stories — such as wizards, dragons, and unicorns — are not plausible. On the other hand, some things in science fiction stories might be plausible: who knows where spaceships will eventually go? If something really seems like it could happen, then it's plausible. One of the many tricky parts of life is figuring out what's plausible and what's not. |
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| 1622 |
plot |
the story that is told, as in a novel, play, movie, etc. |
But minor characters just sort of die off, while major character deaths usually serve an important purpose in the plot. |
preen#plan#placate#prefer# |
His defense attorney argued last week that he’s the victim of entrapment, baited by Horne and law enforcement into becoming part of the alleged plot.#Oklahoma’s senior U.S. senator says law enforcement authorities “prevented a hateful act of domestic terrorism” by foiling a plot to bomb an Oklahoma City bank.#Varnell’s actions were monitored closely for months as the plot developed.#It does not matter that the film lacks this guide as it is easy to discern the plot from the context.# |
A plot is a scheme, a story, a map charting progress, or a piece of land (as for a garden). To plot is to devise the secret plan, order the events of the story, or track your movement on the map. |
You could make a whole movie based the word plot. This could be the plot (story): An evil so-and-so hatches a secret plot (scheme) to follow the explorer to a legendary plot (patch) of land with buried treasure. The explorer plots (draws) the best route to the treasure, but the evil so-and-so steals the plot (map) and gets to the treasure first. What a great story. All that's left is to plot (arrange) the sequence of events for maximum suspense. |
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| 1623 |
portray |
depict in words |
The book is a fast read and it does a very good job portraying the colorful personalities and exciting discoveries unearthed by general relativity. |
inflate#beg#depict#aid# |
They found this especially apparent in the case of college-bound Brown, who was portrayed on television as a “thug” and a “criminal.”#Nate Silver wrote, “It’s been extremely common for news accounts to portray Donald Trump’s candidacy as a ‘working-class’ rebellion against Republican elites.”#A speech in Poland portrayed a clash of civilisations.#As currently portrayed, he’s just a little too wholesome and honest to be real — at least, real in this world.# |
When you paint a picture of someone, either in words or in paint, you portray them. Actors portray characters too. |
Whether you're talking about acting or another art form, the idea is the same: representing a person and bringing to light their most important qualities. To portray a person is to show who that person is, giving a sense of their personality or character. Often, famous people don't like how they're portrayed. For example, Presidents usually hate how they're portrayed in editorial cartoons. When you portray someone, you can be positive or negative, accurate or inaccurate. It's up to you. |
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| 1624 |
possible |
capable of happening or existing |
U.S. officials say, however, it is possible a U.N. resolution to help relieve the humanitarian crisis in Syria could get through the U.N. |
creative#achievable#deserving#frequent# |
Police did not comment on Lam’s possible motive.#Is it possible to forget the feeling so quickly? he wondered.#The Internal Revenue Service and Justice Department are jointly looking into possible fraud and money laundering by the Management Group,...#Supposedly, the “protest” was related to the possible removal of a public statue of Robert E. Lee.# |
Something that’s possible is something that can happen, something that can be done, or something capable of existing. |
You can use possible to talk about anything that might happen. If you work really hard for a test, and you show you know the material, it’s possible that you’ll get an A. For a really hard problem like inventing a car that doesn’t use gas, you’ll need to pursue many possible solutions. If you write science fiction, you like to imagine possible worlds. Anything is possible, if you just put your mind to it! |
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| 1625 |
accurate |
conforming exactly or almost exactly to a standard |
Can I be sure the rankings are fully accurate and reliable? |
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Something that is accurate is exact and true. It's important to be accurate in the kitchen with your measurements and in the courtroom with your testimony. |
The adjective accurate comes from the Latin roots ad curare, meaning "to take care," and that is precisely what you do when you make sure something is accurate. You take care to make sure it is perfectly correct: an accurate answer, an accurate headcount, an accurate assessment of the problem. By adding the Latin root in, meaning not, you can make the antonym inaccurate (not accurate). |
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| 1626 |
truculent |
defiantly aggressive |
"She really was a most charming girl, and might have passed for a captive fairy, whom that truculent ogre, Old Barley, had pressed into his service." -Great Expectations, Charles Dickens |
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If you are quick to argue, always looking for a fight, and hard to please, you are truculent. You can also write a truculent essay, and fans upset by a loss can become truculent. |
This word has no connection to truck, but the similar sound is still a good way to remember it: truculent folks are like monster trucks, ready to run over anything that gets in their way. To be truculent is to be defiant, aggressive, and quarrelsome. A truculent student will get in trouble with teachers, and a truculent teacher might get fired. In a violent sport like football, it helps to be truculent, but it's usually not a great quality. |
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| 1627 |
whimper |
cry weakly or softly |
"I felt a slight movement against my hand, like a child's breast when it whimpers at the end of a spell of crying"- Invisible Man , Ralph Ellison |
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To whimper is to make a low, pitiful whining sound. If you've ever heard a sick puppy cry, you know what it means to whimper. |
Use the verb whimper to describe the crying you do when you're frightened or in pain. A child with a fever might whimper, or a woman with a terrible migraine headache. It can also be a noun, although in that case the word takes on a bit of a whiny meaning: "The boy gave a whimper when he realized he was only getting one cookie." Whimper is onomatopoeic, or a word that sounds just like what it means. |
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| 1628 |
abundance |
the property of a more than adequate quantity or supply |
This is made more feasible by the growing abundance of natural gas and alternative fuels that give America other resources for cutting emissions. New York Times (Jun 25, 2013) |
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To have an abundance of something is to have more than you need. It's often used to describe positive qualities, such as "an abundance of love." |
Abundance is the opposite of scarcity. An abundance of wealth is a ton of cash. An abundance of friends sounds like a good thing, but it can get overwhelming when it comes to scheduling time to hang out or buying gifts. This noun comes from to us from the mid-14th century French, via the Latin abundantia, meaning "fullness, plenty." |
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| 1629 |
abbreviation |
a shortened form of a word or phrase |
The singer has been writing in shorthand for years, using now common abbreviations like “2,” “U” and “4” since the early 1980s. |
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Abbreviation is the process of shortening something, usually a word or phrase, or the shortened version itself. “Mr.” is the abbreviation of “mister,” NASA is the abbreviation of National Aeronautics and Space Administration, etc. (hey, that's an abbreviation too). |
There are different types of abbreviations. Some are followed by a period (.) to show that the word has been shortened. Acronyms, like DNA, SAT, or NATO, which are abbreviations that are formed from the first letters of a series of words, are written in all capitals. And don’t get confused: if your friend asks to give you an abbreviation of his speech, he’s not going to shorten each word; he’s just going to leave the details out. |
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| 1630 |
mentor |
a wise and trusted guide and advisor |
I’ll be your guide—sort of your mentor. |
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A mentor is a person who trains and guides someone, like the second-grade English teacher who saw the spark of creativity in your writing and encouraged you to become a professional author. |
The original Mentor was a character in Homer's long poem Odyssey who looked after Odysseus's family, particularly his son Telemachus, while Odysseus was off fighting in the Trojan War. Today the word is used to describe any person who acts as an advisor or teacher. As a noun, mentor describes the coach who taught you to play baseball. As a verb, mentor is what the coach does to help you improve your swing. |
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| 1631 |
create |
bring into existence |
An interactive map showing the location of bombs dropped on London during the Blitz in World War II has been created. |
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To create simply means to make or bring into existence. Bakers create cakes, ants create problems at picnics, and you probably created a few imaginary friends when you were little. |
Similar to conceive and spawn and the exact opposite of destroy, create is a word that often implies a little bit of imagination. In fact, it takes a lot of creativity to create something spectacular; that is, unless you're a robot, and then your creations occur automatically. Or Mother Nature, where creation just happens naturally: Birds create nests, the tides create waves, and snowstorms create days off from school. |
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| 1632 |
absolve |
grant remission of a sin to |
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To be absolved is to be let off the hook, to be set free from a certain obligation or to be forgiven for a wrongdoing. The Church may absolve you of your sins, but that won't absolve you of the need to attend mass. |
The Latin absolvere, which means "to set free," is the root of the word absolve. In the religious sense, to be absolved means to be truly forgiven in the eyes of the Lord, which must feel like being set free. In a more mundane everyday usage, absolve can be used to describe being let off the hook. For instance, putting a campaign poster in your window does not absolve you of the responsibility to vote. |
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| 1633 |
socialism |
a political theory advocating state ownership of industry |
Colonel Qaddafi declared that his political system of permanent revolution would sweep away capitalism and socialism. |
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These days, the word socialism gets tossed around so much, it's almost lost all meaning. Originally, though, it was the bedrock of Marxism and meant that workers and their community should control the market for what they make. |
Because the Soviet state eventually strayed far from Marx's idea of socialism towards Lenin's totalitarian communism, socialism is now often used to mean everything from "fascism" to "progressivism." But in its purest form, socialism was a political, social, and economic system meant to empower the working class. In the U.S. today, though, it's often used as shorthand for "the services that government provides and which are paid for by taxes." Depending on who's talking, that idea is either a goal or a target. |
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| 1634 |
photograph |
a representation of a person or scene in the form of a print |
Mr. Weber said he liked the power that came with being able to take a photograph and then transform it. |
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When you take a picture with a camera, the result is a photograph, a picture of your subject created by a special medium’s exposure to light. The first photographs were created on metal plates coated with a special chemical. |
Although photography as we know it did not emerge until the 19th century, the word photograph evolved from the ancient Greek words phot-, "light," and graph-, "writing," which were combined to create the word for taking pictures — "light writing." Nowadays we take our photographs with electronic cameras, recording, transferring, and storing the pictures digitally. Times change, and while many people still enjoy using film cameras, they are becoming increasingly rare, and certain types of films are no longer produced. |
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| 1635 |
autonomy |
political independence |
But now, the country’s political leaders are pressing for a referendum on full independence or at least greatly expanded autonomy. |
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When a group wants to govern itself or a person wants to make independent decisions, they are looking for autonomy. |
Autonomy comes from the Greek roots auto meaning "self" and nomos meaning "custom" or "law." This reflects the political sense of the word — a group's right to self-government or self-rule. When a person seeks autonomy, he or she would like to be able to make decisions independently from an authority figure. Can you relate? |
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| 1636 |
literacy |
the ability to read and write |
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If you can read this sentence and write one of your own, you possess literacy. |
In Latin, littera means "letter." Back in the day, a person who could read and write was described as lettered. Literacy can also mean having knowledge or ability in a more specific area. Since you bought grandma that laptop, her computer literacy has really improved: she just posted her newest exercise video. |
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| 1637 |
antagonist |
someone who offers opposition |
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An antagonist is someone who opposes someone else. In the book "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," the antagonist is the Grinch, because he tries to make life miserable for every Who down in Whoville. |
The noun antagonist shows up a lot when people are talking about books, plays, or movies to mean "the bad guy," but it can also be used to talk about a real person if she acts against someone else. An antagonist is always in opposition, but she isn't always bad or mean; your opponent on the tennis court, for example, could be called your antagonist, simply because it is her priority to beat you in your tennis game. |
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| 1638 |
civic |
of or relating to or befitting citizens as individuals |
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If something is related to or benefits an individual citizen, it can be described as civic. People often say that it is your civic duty to vote. |
The adjective civic comes from the Latin word civis, which was the word for a citizen of Ancient Rome. It is also a root word for "city," so civic can also mean anything related to a city. In your town, civic leaders meet frequently and public input is always welcome. So if you have a grievance about a civic issue, you should attend a meeting — or drop by the diner where the mayor always eats breakfast. |
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| 1639 |
survival |
remaining alive |
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As a wise man once said, “The history of the world, my sweet, is who gets eaten and who gets to eat.” That’s survival in a nutshell. It’s the act of continuing to live, usually when others fail. |
As the Bee Gees put it in disco’s heyday — survival means “staying alive.” If you look closely, you’ll spot viv in the middle of survival. That’s part of the Latin verb vivere, meaning “to live.” You might recognize it from words like vivid "lively" and vivacious "full of life." Combine it with sur- (over) and you’ll grasp the essence of survival: to keep existing despite hardship or after others die. Charles Darwin’s term survival of the fittest means that only the best equipped live will reproduce and survive. |
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| 1640 |
proposal |
something suggested, as a plan or assumption |
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A proposal is an offer. When making a marriage proposal, get down on one knee. When making a business proposal, try to stay off the floor. |
A proposal is a suggested plan or offer. After overhearing the marriage proposal, everyone in the restaurant watched in silence, waiting to hear your answer. At least you said "yes" to dessert. There are other types of proposals besides marriage offers: "Your proposal that the dollar be replaced by a new currency made of cheese has gained support from the dairy industry." |
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| 1641 |
particle |
a body having finite mass but negligible dimensions |
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A particle is a small piece of anything. Particle can also refer to a subatomic particle with mass and structure, but takes up hardly any space at all. |
Particles are tiny. If you mean a subatomic particle, that's a body that you can't see because it is so incredibly small, though it does have a miniscule mass and internal structure. These particles are even smaller than atoms. You can also say a crumb or speck of something is a particle. Dust particles are piling up all the time, and vacuuming cleans up lots of particles. Those particles are little bits of things. In both cases, particles are very tiny. |
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| 1642 |
native |
characteristic of or existing by virtue of geographic origin |
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The word native has to do with where you're from. You're native to the country where you were born, and places have native plants and animals too. |
Things that are native are indigenous — they were born there. This is where the term Native Americans comes from — they were on this land before Europeans came over. Native plants were originally in a place — they weren't transplanted. The same is true of native animals. Sometimes people born in a place are called natives, as in "You are a native of Cleveland." When you see the word native, think "born there." |
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| 1643 |
mass |
the property of a body that causes it to have weight |
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Anything that has weight and shape has mass. In fact, mass is the quality that gives things weight anywhere there's gravity. |
If you think about mass being about weight and shape, you can see how many of its meanings are related. If something is very big we say it has great mass — or is massive. If we talk about a large group of people, we talk about a mass demonstration or a mass of demonstrators. We refer to poor or common people as the masses — there are a lot of them. Doctors refer to tumors inside our bodies as masses. |
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| 1644 |
fair |
in conformity with rules and without fraud or cheating |
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When used as a noun, fair refers to a traveling show with games, rides, and farmers showing off their prized pigs, similar to a carnival. As an adjective, it gets a bit trickier. |
The adjective fair, has several different meanings. If someone says, "That's not fair!” they mean whatever happened wasn't just or done in an unbiased way. If you have fair skin, you have a pale complexion. If the weather is fair, it's a gorgeous day out. If the rides at the fair were fair, then they were just so-so. And watch out if the umpire shouts "fair ball!" during the baseball game — that means it was hit within the foul lines. |
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| 1645 |
average |
compute the typical level of a group of people or things |
The rate the boat traveled in still water was r miles per hour, and the current's average speed was c miles per hour. |
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If something is average, it's ordinary and not very special. You might say a movie was average if you thought it was just okay. |
Average can describe what's true most of the time, as in, “The average rainfall in Seattle is fifty-two inches.” It can also be used in a mathematical and more precise way. On his English tests, Dylan received grades of 92%, 85% and 94%. His average grade was 90%, or the sum of the test scores divided by the number of tests taken. |
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| 1646 |
stability |
a constant order, especially of society |
After World War I, what did the U.S. government hope to achieve by lending money to Germany? A possible answer: Political and economic stability in Europe. |
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Stability is the quality of being unchanging. You know you should be congratulated on your commitment to stability when you’ve lived in the same place your whole life. |
Stability is often used to describe buildings or structures that won't collapse or fall down. Good tires will help you maintain stability on snowy or icy roads. You can use the word more figuratively for a safe environment or a healthy mental state. Financial and political stability are to be desired. Hopefully you will provide your children stability and love. When you have violent outbursts, people began to doubt your mental stability. |
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| 1647 |
diagram |
a drawing intended to explain how something works |
The diagram below shows that the colonists formed some of their political views from some historical documents. |
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A diagram is a drawing that shows the different parts of something and how they work together. If you follow a diagram for assembling bunk beds and finish with parts left over, you should ask for the top bunk, not the bottom one. |
Diagram goes back to the Greek verb diagraphein, meaning "to mark out by lines," and a diagram uses line drawings to explain something. Electronic equipment comes with a long instruction booklet and a one-page diagram, and it's usually the diagram that helps most in connecting the device. A diagram can also be a complex drawing, like an engineering plan for airplanes. When you make a line drawing of your own, you can use diagram as a verb, as when you diagram a sentence. |
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| 1648 |
ecologist |
a biologist who studies organisms and their environment |
A team of ecologists observed feeding patterns of several populations in the desert. |
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An ecologist is a scientist who studies how animals and plants interact with their environment. If you spend hours watching television shows about animals, maybe you’ve got an ecologist inside you trying to get out. |
To be an ecologist, first you have to learn about ecology — the study of organisms and how they relate to their environment. Ecology is a word that comes from the Greek oikos, meaning “house.” Basically, ecologists study the environment like it’s a big house, and all the living creatures in it are roommates. Sounds like a lot of work, and it is. |
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| 1649 |
scramble |
bring into random order |
Because in these places, all of the usual categories by which we organize our lives—like race and class—get scrambled. |
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To scramble is to move quickly in a disorganized fashion, like people running to get out of the rain. When you scramble a message, it can no longer be read. |
Have you ever run somewhere, in a hurry, with no regard for how you looked? Then you scrambled. Quarterbacks scramble when they need to escape defenders trying to clobber them. A scramble is not graceful; people scramble when they want to get somewhere fast. Also, scrambling refers to altering a message so others can't read it. Putting a message into code is a type of scrambling. Scrambled messages are like scrambled eggs: all mixed up. |
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| 1650 |
disagree |
be of different opinions |
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When two people disagree, they have completely different opinions about something. You might disagree with your sister about whether chocolate or vanilla ice cream is the most delicious. |
Use the verb disagree to talk about what happens when you have a conflict or a difference of thought about something with another person. People disagree about politics, food, sports, and movies — there is no subject that won't cause most people to find a way to disagree. The word comes from combining the Old French agreer, "to receive with favor or take pleasure in" with the Latin prefix dis, which here means "do the opposite of." |
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| 1651 |
despondent |
without or almost without hope |
Tiger's despondent press conferences will persist, and the press will hang on his words to see if there's even a glimmer of hope. |
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If you are despondent, you are discouraged, very sad, and without hope. If you are depressed, you might describe your mood as despondent. |
This adjective is often followed by over or about: He was despondent over the loss of his job. If you want a noun, use the words despondency or despondence. The adjective despondent is from Latin despondens, from despondere "to lose courage, give up," from the prefix de- "from" plus spondere "to promise." The Latin words originally referred to promising a woman in marriage. |
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| 1652 |
profound |
showing intellectual penetration or emotional depth |
For the Hawaiians, who invented the sport, surfing was no mere pastime but a profound expression of their religion and culture. |
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When you need a word that's deeper than "deep," consider profound. |
Profundus meant literally "deep" in Latin, and profound had the same meaning when it entered English in the 14th century. But even then, it also meant "figuratively deep" — that is, very great or intense: "The new laws have had a profound impact." Of people, it means "very knowledgeable or insightful," but sometimes if a person tries to sound profound they're really just giving you superficial knowledge dressed up with big words. |
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| 1653 |
insincere |
lacking the quality of being open and truthful |
Of course, if used poorly, the suggested questions can come across like bad pickup lines, rehearsed and insincere. |
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Someone who's insincere is a little bit fake or phony. Your classmate's insincere apology for interrupting you probably sounds like she doesn't really mean it. |
When you're insincere, you're not being completely honest. A losing politician often gives an insincere-sounding concession speech, and a teacher who's having a terrible day might wear an insincere smile on her face. The adjective sincere, "coming from genuine, honest feelings," is at the root of insincere — the Latin prefix in, or "not," is combined with sincerus, "sound, pure, or whole." |
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| 1654 |
eager |
having or showing keen interest or intense desire |
The good news for veterans is that, because of their service, most Americans are eager to help them succeed in their job searches and careers. |
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The adjective eager describes someone is excited about or impatient for something. If you want to be a doctor one day, you might be eager to dissect a frog in biology. Your squeamish friend? Not so eager. |
Eager derives from old words meaning "sharp, pungent or keen," and eager carries that sense of sharpness still. In fact, being overeager is a criticism; someone overeager is likely to make a mistake because they are moving too quickly or not thinking things through before they act. |
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| 1655 |
dubious |
fraught with uncertainty or doubt |
Some of the claims are dubious, though startling if true. |
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Choose the adjective dubious for something you have doubts about or you suspect is not true. That bridge you just "bought" might be of dubious value. |
Dubious stems from Latin dubiosus "doubtful" or "uncertain" and contains the Latin root duo in this case meaning "of two minds." This is apparent in that dubious generally describes something that appears one way but is truly another. A dubious claim is probably not true, whereas a dubious website or character is of questionable quality. Dubious can also be synonymous with doubtful when referring to a person as in "she was dubious about the idea." |
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| 1656 |
examination |
the act of scrutinizing something closely (as for mistakes) |
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The most familiar and unpleasant meaning of examination, known to students around the world, is a test of one's knowledge in a particular area — an exam, in short. |
The original meaning of examination was considerably more spiritual — a test of one's conscience rather than a test of one's knowledge of algebra or French verbs. Any form of close inspection or analysis is an examination, not just a set of questions on a piece of paper. A doctor will give you an examination of your body if you're sick, and don't, for pity's sake, buy a used car without a careful examination under the hood. Kicking the tires just won't cut it. |
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| 1657 |
faith |
complete confidence in a person or plan, etc. |
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When you have faith, you trust or believe in something very strongly. Some people have faith in a higher being, others put their faith behind the Red Sox. |
This noun comes from the Old French word feid, meaning “faith, belief, trust, confidence, pledge.” It's often used when describing religion or the supernatural: people have faith in God, or actually refer to the religion they practice as their faith. Some choose to have the same amount of faith in a good friend or a well written recipe — anything that will come through for them in a time of need. |
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| 1658 |
direction |
a line leading to a place or point |
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When you put something together, it's usually best to follow each direction — that is, each step in the instructions for how to do it — so that you put it together correctly. Or, you could just start putting it together, only to discover that you have extra pieces. |
The noun direction has several meanings. It can be an order given, as in, "Here are your directions: pick up your toys and make the bed!" Direction can also be something that points out a route as when you ask for directions to the lake. The course leading to a certain point is also a direction so you need to go in a southerly direction for ten miles, and then turn left at the giant chicken sign. |
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| 1659 |
split |
separate into parts or portions |
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If you and your boyfriend split, you are no longer together. If your pants split, they come open at the seam. If both of these happen in the same day, split! (Get out of here!) |
Split means to come apart or rip in two. It can be used as a verb "let's split the apple in two" or as a noun "be careful to step over the split in the earth left by the quake." It implies some violence. When firemen split open your door, they need an axe to do it. |
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| 1660 |
mimic |
imitate, especially for satirical effect |
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A mimic is someone who is good at imitating others. A gifted mimic might be able to imitate one president after another just by minimally changing facial expression and manner of speaking. |
Mimic, related to mime, an entertainer who performs using gestures not speech, can be traced back to the Greek mimeisthai "to imitate." Usually when you mimic someone, you imitate them in order to make fun of them. Performers mimic famous people to get laughs, but ordinary people mimic others when they are angry at them. Who hasn't mimicked parents or a boss who has said no one too many times?! |
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| 1661 |
absolute |
perfect or complete or pure |
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Use absolute as a noun or an adjective when you're so sure of something that you know it will never change. For example, a devout person's belief in life after death is an absolute; that person has absolute faith in the afterlife. |
Absolute can also mean "without any doubt," as in the case of an absolute beauty — such as a glamorous movie star or a supermodel — or "without limits," such as a dictator who has absolute power over the people. Or, absolute can describe a final demand that must be met, such as the absolute conditions a person buying a home might present to its seller — it's the last step and can make or break the sale. |
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| 1662 |
quiescent |
being quiet or still or inactive |
Generally, people are pretty quiescent around here on Saturday morning. |
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The adjective quiescent means "being quiet and still," like the quiescent moments lying in a hammock on a beautiful summer Sunday. |
To be quiescent, pronounced "qwhy-ESS-ent," is to be quiet, resting, which is exactly what its Latin origin quiescens means: In our busy world, it is hard to find a place to be quiescent. It has a second meaning: "causing no symptoms." For example, if a disease is quiescent, you probably won't know you have it. And finally, quiescent can mean "not activated," like quiescent cleaning products that don't get the stains out. |
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| 1663 |
decipher |
make out the meaning of |
He needed a break from observing and trying to decipher the behavior of his three charming subjects. |
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Decipher means translate from code, or more generally, figure out. If you can’t decipher your teacher's writing, it means you can't read it. You might feel like you're being asked to decipher a code. |
During World War II, the Nazis used a machine called the Enigma to encode secret messages. An operator would type the message with a keyboard, which would activate a set of rotors, giving each letter a different value. The code was difficult for the Allies to crack, but eventually the code was deciphered by the British, hastening the end of the war. |
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| 1664 |
gesticulate |
show, express, or direct through movement |
The other women were looking at her as she talked, gesticulating expressively. |
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When you gesticulate, you make sweeping and excited movements with your hands when speaking. Someone describing a scary car accident might gesticulate wildly. |
The verb gesticulate is related to the noun gesture. Gesture has stress on the first syllable, and gesticulate has the stress on the second syllable. Gesticulate, which comes from the Latin gesticulus meaning "to mimic," describes animated movements people make in conversation — with and without words. People who gesticulate could be said to talk with their hands! |
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| 1665 |
vignette |
a brief literary description |
There was that vignette due for Miss Bridget tomorrow morning at ten. |
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A vignette is a brief but powerful scene. A good vignette leaves you wanting more. |
Over the centuries a vignette has taken on different forms. Originally it was one of those small sketches you find in the front of old books, often with decorative bands of ivy around its edges (the word comes from the French vigne for vineyard). When cinema came along, a vignette became a quick portrait in film of a character. Some films, like Robert Altman's Short Cuts, are essentially just a compilation of individual vignettes. |
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| 1666 |
enhance |
increase |
These changes have greatly enhanced your intuition and your ability to understand and empathize with others of your kind. |
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Many people use the expression "enhance your chance" to point out ways to increase your chances of winning or earning a contest or prize. When you enhance something, you heighten it or make it better. |
"Hance" is not a word, but the addition of "en-" does something to enhance it and improve its sound. You can enhance the size of something, too, by altering it or raising it, which is what the word original meant (the "hance" part came via French from Latin altus, meaning "high"). When you enhance something you take it to a higher level, like adding salt to French fries to enhance flavor or adding words to enhance your vocabulary. |
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| 1667 |
implication |
something that is inferred |
That means the laws of the universe are not immutable, but changing over time. The implications are quite astounding, really. |
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An implication is something that is suggested, or happens, indirectly. When you left the gate open and the dog escaped, you were guilty by implication. |
Implication has many different senses: Usually used in the plural, implications are effects or consequences that may happen in the future. You might ask, "What are the implications of our decision?" Implication is also the state of being implicated, or connected to something bad: "Are you surprised by their implication that you were involved in the crime?" |
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| 1668 |
diatribe |
thunderous verbal attack |
“That was quite a diatribe, Simon,” Jaz said. |
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It's pretty overwhelming when you ask your friend a seemingly innocuous question, like "Do you like hot dogs?" and she unleashes a diatribe about the evils of eating meat. A diatribe is an angry, critical speech. |
This noun has its roots in the Greek diatribē, "pastime or lecture," from diatrībein, "to waste time or wear away," combining dia-, "thoroughly," and trībein, "to rub." So the origin of the word diatribe is connected to both serious study and the spending or wasting of time. With most diatribes, the speaker thinks he's well informed and knows something the listener doesn't, while to most listeners the diatribe is so angry and unhinged that it's just a waste of time. |
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| 1669 |
iconoclastic |
characterized by attack on established beliefs |
And he could be delightfully iconoclastic and independent in his thinking. |
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The word iconoclastic is an adjective referring to a breaking of established rules or destruction of accepted beliefs. It might refer to an artist with an unorthodox style, or an iconoclastic attack, either physical or verbal, on a religious doctrine or image. |
Consider the Greek word eikōn, or "image," coupled with -klastēs, "one who breaks," and you get a good image of someone who is iconoclastic. An iconoclastic approach to religion involves tearing down the icons representing the church. While this was once done physically, through riots and mayhem, today’s iconoclasts usually prefer using words. Not all iconoclasts are destructive, however. An iconoclastic approach to art and music has given rise to the development of new genres and styles through breaking the rules. |
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| 1670 |
eminent |
having an illustrious reputation; respected |
“Yeah, like Dr. Swenson, the eminent computer scientist,” Simon said. |
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Anyone highly regarded or prominent is eminent. Eminent people are very successful at their jobs. If you’ve heard of Neil deGrasse Tyson, it’s probably because he’s an eminent astrophysicist. |
Every field has eminent — impressive, famous, or accomplished — people. Two of the most eminent coaches in the history of professional basketball are Red Auerbach and Phil Jackson because they've won the most championships. Beethoven was an eminent musician. Frank Lloyd Wright was an eminent architect. Eminent people loom over a field because they're influential and you can't avoid hearing about them. It's not easy to be eminent because you have to be extremely successful. |
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| 1671 |
autonomous |
free from external control and constraint |
I mean, here you’re supposed to almost rebel against your parents, establish your own identity, be autonomous. Otherwise you’re not quite a real person in this society. |
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Autonomous describes things that function separately or independently. Once you move out of your parents' house and get your own job, you will be an autonomous member of the family. |
This adjective autonomous is often used of countries, regions, or groups that have the right to govern themselves: Vatican City, where the Catholic pope lives, is an autonomous territory located within the city limits of Rome. The corresponding noun is autonomy, referring to the state of existing or functioning independently. Autonomous is from Greek autonomos "independent," from autos "self" plus nomos "law." |
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| 1672 |
hindsight |
understanding the nature of an event after it has happened |
At the time I didn’t think it was important. I was happy in my world. But with hindsight, I realize he was right. |
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People who are able to look back on the past and understand what happened have hindsight. If you go skating on a frozen lake and it cracks, in hindsight you'd know you should've paid attention to the giant "danger" sign. |
Hindsight is like looking behind you to see what just happened (behind sight, get it?). Another way of describing retrospection, hindsight is a useful skill that can be cultivated. Hindsight often refers to a lesson learned from something going wrong. Billy Wilder, the American movie director, once commented wistfully, “Hindsight is always twenty-twenty.” It's much easier to see clearly after something happened than before. |
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| 1673 |
proverbial |
widely known and spoken of |
Sometimes an intellectual with a big idea is like the proverbial dog with his bone—he just won’t let go of it. |
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If something is proverbial, it's referred to in a familiar saying. If your little brother knocks over his milk and starts crying, you might think of the proverbial spilled milk. |
Proverb is the root of proverbial, and it comes from the Latin word proverbium, “a common saying.” Proverbs are little stories or expressions that usually teach a lesson, like "Don't cry over spilled milk," which means "It's a waste of time to be upset about something that can't be helped." You could say to your dog, "Well, aren't you the proverbial best friend?" or tell your sister, who's dyed her hair purple, "You stick out like the proverbial sore thumb." |
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| 1674 |
fastidious |
giving careful attention to detail |
He’s pretty fastidious when it comes to his barbecue. |
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If you want to describe a person who insists on perfection or pays much attention to food, clothing and cleanliness, the right word is fastidious. |
Fastidious is a funny-sounding adjective from the Latin fastidium "loathing" that has several equally strange-sounding synonyms — persnickety, fussbudgety, finicky and punctilious. Fussy and hard to please will also do the trick. Fastidious is occasionally used as a compliment to describe someone whose attention to detail gives them good organizing abilities, but it is usually used as a disapproving term. |
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| 1675 |
pensive |
deeply or seriously thoughtful |
Though it was so subtle he could barely discern it, she seemed pensive. |
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See that person staring out the window who looks so sad and lost in thought? He is pensive, the opposite of cheery and carefree. |
If you've studied Spanish, you know that the verb pensar means "to think." If you're pensive, you might simply be thinking hard about something. Having no expression or maybe even frowning can be a result of being so engrossed in your thoughts — it might not reflect a melancholy attitude. Remember this the next time you're about to ask a pensive person, "What's wrong?" It could very well be nothing. |
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| 1676 |
serene |
completely clear and calm |
“What a beautiful voice! So serene and ethereal.” |
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Choose the adjective serene to describe someone who is calm and untroubled. If you tell someone horrible news and they remain serene, you might wonder if they heard you! |
Related to the Latin word serenus "peaceful, calm, clear," serene was originally used in English, as in Latin, to describe calm weather. By the mid 1600s, however, it was used figuratively to describe a calm, untroubled person as well. Though people show their emotions pretty openly today, Victorian novels are full of characters who remain serene no matter how terrible the news. |
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| 1677 |
indomitable |
impossible to subdue |
She takes some ribbing from a lot of her friends, but she’s indomitable when she’s pursuing what she thinks is the truth. |
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Something indomitable can't be beat. People described as having indomitable spirits don't need pep talks or protein shakes; their strength comes from within. |
The adjective indomitable starts with the Latin prefix in, which means "not." The second part of the word is also from the Latin word domitare, meaning "to tame." So the word literally means "not able to be tamed." Indomitable is often teamed with the words spirit or personality to describe someone with a can-do attitude. |
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| 1678 |
transpire |
come about, happen, or occur |
All of this transpired so quickly that Simon was hardly cognizant of it. |
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Transpire is a fancy way of saying "happen." You might go to a fortune teller to find out what will transpire in the future. |
Originally used to express when information became known or came to light, many purists will tell you that's really the best way to use transpire. It can also mean releasing vapor into the air, like when a plant transpires water through its leaves on a hot day. Note: you'll usually encounter this word in its past tense: for example, "We had to watch the replay to figure out what had transpired." |
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| 1679 |
synthesis |
the combination of ideas into a complex whole |
Come to think of it, she’s sort of a synthesis of Axel and me, who are the antithesis of each other. |
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Synthesis is the act of combining elements to form something new. If you describe your bedroom decor as a synthesis of vintage and punk, we'll know you mean a mixture of these two styles. |
Synthesis can be either concrete or abstract. Scientists use the word to talk about what happens when chemicals combine — think of photosynthesis: the process by which plants synthesize light, carbon dioxide, and water to produce food. If you call a movie "Batman meets Titanic," then that's synthesis as well. Synthesis can also refer to the act of combining ideas. |
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| 1680 |
ebullient |
joyously unrestrained |
She does not seem particularly ebullient, Simon decided. |
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More than chipper, more than happy, more than delighted is ebullient — meaning bubbling over with joy and delight. |
There are two senses of the word of ebullient. One describes an immediate, and ultimately short-lived, reaction to a particular event — for example if you've just won the lottery, you are ebullient. The other describes someone who is perpetually upbeat and cheerful, for example, as in "an ebullient personality." Watch out for ebullient personalities: they can often be "over the top" as well. |
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| 1681 |
sarcasm |
witty language used to convey insults or scorn |
Sarcasm, he knew, was a hazard of the battlefield. |
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Irony employed in the service of mocking or attacking someone is sarcasm. Saying "Oh, you're soooo clever!" with sarcasm means the target is really just a dunderhead. |
Sarcasm is sometimes used as merely a synonym of irony, but the word has a more specific sense: irony that's meant to mock or convey contempt. This meaning is found in its etymology. In Greek, sarkazein meant "to tear flesh; to wound." When you use sarcasm, you really tear into them. A clever person coined the variant spelling sarchasm (a blend of sarcasm and chasm) and defined it as "the gap between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it." |
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| 1682 |
diligent |
characterized by care and perseverance in carrying out tasks |
She’s a very diligent student. |
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Someone who is diligent works hard and carefully. If you want to write the epic history of your family, you'll have to be very diligent in tracking down and interviewing all of your relatives. |
Diligent comes from the Latin diligere, which means "to value highly, take delight in," but in English it has always meant careful and hard-working. If you're a diligent worker, you don't just bang away at your job; you earnestly try to do everything right. Although being lucky and talented doesn't hurt, it's the diligent person who eventually succeeds. |
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| 1683 |
significance |
the quality of being important |
Table tennis is a serious sport in China, with deep political significance. |
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Significance means having the quality of being "significant" — meaningful, important. It also refers to the meaning of something. A certain date might have significance because it's your birthday or the anniversary of Princess Di's wedding. |
Significance starts with the word sign for a reason. An item's significance is a sign of its importance. The significance of something can be implicit or explicit — meaning it can be clear or only known with a deeper understanding of the situation. Your perfect score on the Calculus exam might have added significance for people who know that you never even opened your textbook to study. |
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| 1684 |
relevance |
the relation of something to the matter at hand |
He says it wasn’t a big issue to them--being blind has no relevance to reading. |
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To know the relevance of something is to know why it matters or how it is important. I don't understand the relevance of this discussion: it doesn't seem important to me. |
If you don't understand the relevance of the word "relevant" to the discussion of the meaning of the word relevance, we're gonna have some trouble. When something is "relevant," it matters. Its relevance is clear. Relevance is simply the noun form of the adjective "relevant," which means "important to the matter at hand." Artists and politicians are always worried about their relevance. If they are no longer relevant, they may not keep their job. Someone without relevance might be called "irrelevant." |
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| 1685 |
predict |
tell in advance |
That means that, at least in part, learning another language does predict brain health in old age, Bak said. |
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To predict is to say what you think is going to happen in the future. If you predict that you'll win the poker championship, you're either really confident in your poker skills or you're cheating. |
The prefix pre means "before." Dict comes from the Latin dicere, which means "to say," yet you can use predict to refer to things that can't say anything at all. Darkening skies can predict a coming storm, for example, and a runny nose can predict a cold. You can predict something based on factual evidence, or on a crystal-ball reading, or just on plain intuition. |
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| 1686 |
convincing |
causing one to believe the truth of something |
Lovato explains that she saw a “really convincing documentary” about mermaids. |
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When something is convincing, it makes people agree with what it claims to be true. Describe an argument as convincing if it wins you over and makes you believe in its rightness. |
To figure out what convincing means, remember that vincere is the Latin word for "to conquer." Add on the prefix con-, meaning "with," and you get something that has the ability to conquer — whether it's doubts, disbelief, or hostility. The suffix -ing tells you that the word describes the action or result of something. The result of a convincing argument is more people who have joined your side or cause. |
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| 1687 |
comparison |
relation based on similarities and differences |
Hockey ratings suffer in comparison to basketball and especially football. |
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When you make a comparison, you figure out how things are similar. |
Making comparisons is about taking a look at characteristics or qualities that show the similarities between living things, objects, or anything else. In the supermarket, people make comparisons based on price and ingredients. Lots of essays and articles make comparisons: between different politicians, bands, movies, athletes, and even whole era. Many teachers ask students to write comparisons in essays. If two things are totally different, you could say "There's no comparison!" |
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| 1688 |
aware |
having or showing knowledge or understanding or realization |
Perhaps there is a story between the two that I wasn’t aware of? |
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To be aware means to know about. I am aware of the dangers of smoking, yet I continue the habit. You can be environmentally aware or socially aware. |
Aware is a close relative of beware, "look out for." Beware the ides of March, Julius Caesar is famously warned. Too bad he's not aware of why. Beware and aware share the root ware, from an Old English word meaning "careful, wary). Be aware of your purse at all times, and beware of the snatch-and-grab thief. |
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| 1689 |
burden |
weight to be borne or conveyed |
“But Ted Lavender, who was scared, carried 34 rounds when he was shot and killed outside Than Khe, and he went down under an exceptional burden, more than 20 pounds of ammunition, plus the flak jacket and helmet and rations and water and toilet paper and tranquilizers and all the rest, plus an unweighed fear.” --The Things They Carried, Tim O' Brien |
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Getting hired as the assistant to a pastry chef seemed like a dream come true. But one week and 100 cupcakes later, it’s become a hard-to-bear burden accompanied by a permanent stomachache. |
Burden is one of those words that doubles as a noun and a verb. Defined as something you carry or withstand with much difficulty when used as a noun, and as the act of weighing down, overloading, or oppressing when used as a verb, it’s a word with a negative charge. Now that you know what it means, you’re equipped to make sure you don’t take on unnecessary burdens (getting pressured into always carrying your neighbor’s groceries upstairs), or become one yourself! |
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| 1690 |
forget |
be unable to remember |
"You forget what you want to remember, and you remember what you want to forget." --The Road, Cormac McCarthy |
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When you forget something, you can't recall or remember it. An actor who forgets his lines might need some helpful cues from the other actors on stage. |
You might forget on online password, or forget to return your library books. You can also deliberately forget something: "I've decided to forget about becoming rich and famous and focus on what I like to do." When you accidentally leave something behind, like your umbrella, you also forget it. The Old English root of forget is forgietan, "fail to remember or neglect inadvertently." |
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| 1691 |
taciturn |
habitually reserved and uncommunicative |
Daniel Day-Lewis also showed up; the normally taciturn actor looked jovial, socializing with tablemates. New York Times (Apr 24, 2013) |
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Someone who is taciturn is reserved, not loud and talkative. The word itself refers to the trait of reticence, of seeming aloof and uncommunicative. A taciturn person might be snobby, naturally quiet, or just shy. |
Having its origin in the Latin tacitus, "silent," taciturn came to be used in mid-18th-century English in the sense "habitually silent." Taciturnity is often considered a negative trait, as it suggests someone uncommunicative and too quiet. Jane Austen wrote, "We are each of an unsocial, taciturn disposition, unwilling to speak, unless we expect to say something that will amaze the whole room, and be handed down to posterity with all the éclat of a proverb." |
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| 1692 |
quixotic |
not sensible about practical matters |
That’s a quixotic task at best, intended to illustrate possible outcomes rather than to provide precise forecasts, said Mr. Masters at Bernstein. New York Times (Jun 8, 2013) |
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Use quixotic for someone or something that is romantic and unrealistic, or possessed by almost impossible hopes. Your quixotic task is easy to understand, if difficult to achieve: establish world peace. |
What a wonderful word quixotic is! While it is most often used to mean equally impractical and idealistic, it also has the sense of romantic nobility. Its source is from the great Spanish novel "Don Quixote," whose title character is given to unrealistic schemes and great chivalry. In the middle of a recession and high unemployment, it would be quixotic to imagine that you could quit your job and find another easily. |
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| 1693 |
panache |
distinctive and stylish elegance |
In one insouciant swipe, racism symbolically undone with wit, skill and panache, the banana no longer carried any terrible politica potency.T The Guardian (Mar 28, 2011) |
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To have panache is to have a stylish flair. You might wear your giant polka-dotted scarf with great panache. |
Panache comes from the Latin word pinnaculum, which means “small wing” or “tuft of feathers.” When you decorate yourself with a flourish, have an elegant appearance, or do something with style, you are said to have panache. You might wear your beret with new-found panache. Your aunt Milly may throw a party with unmatched panache. Or you brother's ability to turn a phrase may show an uncommon panache. |
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| 1694 |
eccentric |
conspicuously or grossly unconventional or unusual |
Kate looks down on Vi as a willfully contrarian flake who ever since dropping out of college has grown increasingly eccentric. New York Times (Jun 16, 2013) |
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You're most likely to encounter the adjective eccentric in a description of an unusual or quirky person — like a scatterbrained aunt who leaves her life savings to her cat. |
From the Greek ekkentros, "out of the center," this word originally had to do with the orbits of planets that were observed to be slightly out of whack. Eventually it came to describe people who were a little kooky, both as an adjective and as a noun, too: an eccentric is an unconventional, odd person. Think of them as following a slightly different orbit from the rest of society. |
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| 1695 |
debunk |
expose while ridiculing |
Everyone, as usual, put much more work into finding supporting evidence than debunking evidence. Salon (Apr 19, 2013) |
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When you debunk something you show it to be false. Many magicians, including Houdini and Penn and Teller, have worked to debunk the idea that magic is anything other than a very clever illusion. |
To debunk something is to prove it wrong. The idea that music education is frivolous and should be the first item cut from the budget is something that music teachers word hard to debunk — in fact, they've done it by proving that students perform better in schools with strong music programs. The verb debunk was first used by an American writer, William Woodward, in 1923, to mean "take the bunk out of something." Bunk means "nonsense." |
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| 1696 |
wade |
walk through relatively shallow water |
At times it was even needful to take out the loads and, wading knee-deep in the ice-cold waters, drag the boats across the many shoals. |
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To wade is to walk through water. If you've been fishing without a boat, you'll have to wade to reach your precious prize (if it gets away, you can brag about how big it was). |
When you wade, it doesn't have to literally be through a liquid; wading includes any action that involves a laborious slog through something that offers resistance. For example, you might attempt to wade through a huge book like Moby Dick. And if you want to get into a fight? Wade right on into the brawling crowd. Or if it's verbal fisticuffs you're after, wade right on in to the debate. |
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| 1697 |
ubiquitous |
being present everywhere at once |
In the run-up to the launch, Morgan has been ubiquitous, popping up all over the place to promote the show. |
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It's everywhere! It's everywhere! When something seems like it's present in all places at the same time, reach for the adjective ubiquitous. |
"Cities like Singapore aim to cloak themselves in ubiquitous, free Wi-Fi in the next few years," The Wall Street Journal reported recently — meaning that those savvy Singaporeans will find a wireless connection everywhere they go. The word, comes from the Latin ubique, meaning — you guessed it — "everywhere." The usual pronunciation is "yoo-BIK-wih-tihs," but Joseph Heller must have had the older variant "ooh-BIK-wih-tihs" in mind when he wrote in Catch-22 that a character "padded through the shadows fruitlessly like an ubiquitous spook." |
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| 1698 |
tacit |
implied by or inferred from actions or statements |
The sentiment here is not tacit, but communicable and overt. |
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Something tacit is implied or understood without question. Holding hands might be a tacit acknowledgment that a boy and girl are dating. |
The adjective tacit refers to information that is understood without needing to acknowledge it. For example, since we know that the sky is blue, that kind of assumption is tacit. Lawyers talk about "tacit agreements," where parties give their silent consent and raise no objections. |
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| 1699 |
sacrilegious |
grossly irreverent toward what is held to be sacred |
Some say the artwork blurs the line between church and state; others consider it sacrilegious to have Mexico's patron saint pictured surfing. |
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Catholics regard using the consecrated host for any purpose besides Communion as sacrilegious. If you burn a copy of the Koran, Muslims find it sacrilegious. Sacrilegious means very disrespectful towards something sacred. |
The Latin sacrilegus meaning "thief of sacred things" was used to describe robbers who plundered graves and temples. You can consider something sacrilegious to be as disrespectful as a graverobber towards things that others find holy. In modern ironic usage, any opinion that runs contrary to popular wisdom can be called sacrilegious. If you call the movie, "Citizen Kane" boring and self-indulgent, movie lovers might think you sound pretty sacrilegious. |
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| 1700 |
raconteur |
a person skilled in telling anecdotes |
He was an excellent raconteur, and his stories had a stamp of their own which would have made them always and everywhere acceptable. |
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Raconteurs are gifted storytellers, able to spin amusing tales from everyday life. Who is the biggest raconteur in your group? He or she's the one who always tells the best stories — or jumps in when another storyteller isn't being vivid enough. |
Do you make going to the store to buy groceries a fascinating experience? Do you offer witty observations of the people you pass on the street? If so, you're a raconteur, someone who can regale his or her listeners with riveting stories, usually funny, sometimes dramatic. Raconteur comes from the French word "raconter," meaning "to recount." Note its "eur" ending, signaling its French origin. |
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| 1701 |
quack |
the harsh sound of a duck |
A family of ducks were slowly paddling about in front of me, making little furrows in the quiet water and giving an occasional placid quack. |
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There are good quacks and bad quacks. A good quack is the sound a duck makes. A bad quack is someone pretending to be a doctor. (You'd be better off visiting the duck with your ailment.) |
If you ever get a chance to interview a celebrity duck, prepare to write the word quack in your notebook many, many times, because that’s all that ducks can say. The way you spell animal sounds changes depending what language you speak. In English a duck quacks, but in Danish a duck "raps," while Indonesian ducks "wek," and Romanian ducks say "mac." And that "MD" who isn’t really a doctor, but is good at pretending to be one? He's a quack. If you ever meet a quack that "quacks," please run. |
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| 1702 |
oasis |
a shelter serving as a place of safety or sanctuary |
In August, editor-at-large Leigh Buchanan and I traveled to the foundation's headquarters, an oasis of greenery and glass in sweltering Kansas City, Missouri. |
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As you walk through the desert of life, may you always find your oasis — a place where you can find safety and sustenance. |
Although the literal meaning of oasis is a green spot in the desert, it can also be used to describe a peaceful area in our everyday lives. Perhaps your home is your oasis, where you can escape life's rigors. An oasis refers to a location, but it can also be an imagined place — as in an acting exercise where an actor builds an imaginary oasis in his or her mind. The actor can then remember the image to relax on stage. |
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| 1703 |
nadir |
the lowest point of anything |
No one in that vast audience raised a word of protest, and my spirits fell to their nadir. |
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If a highly forgetful person loses his phone, his wallet, and then his car keys in separate instances all in one day, you could say that he has reached an organizational nadir. This means “lowest point.” |
This was originally strictly an astronomical term and is the opposite of the word zenith, which is the part of the sky located directly above a person’s head or, “high point.” In fact, nadir is derived from the Arabic nazir, which means “opposite to.” It is still used in astronomy to indicate the part of the celestial sphere located directly below an observer, but also more generally to describe the worst point of someone’s life or career. |
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| 1704 |
macabre |
shockingly repellent; inspiring horror |
Thus was uncovered one of history’s most macabre bouts of serial killing. |
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The adjective macabre is used to describe things that involve the horror of death or violence. If a story involves lots of blood and gore, you can call it macabre. |
This word first appeared in English in the context of the "Dance of Death," recounted in literature as the figure of Death leading people in a dance to the grave, and translated from the Old French Danse Macabre. The Macabre part of the phrase is thought to be an alteration of Macabe "a Maccabee," an allusions to the Maccabees, who were a Jewish people who led a revolt against Syria about 166 B.C. and were martyred in the process. |
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| 1705 |
jaded |
bored or apathetic after experiencing too much of something |
After so long on the road, beaches and ruins might have left me jaded, and breathtaking views might no longer take my breath away. |
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If you've done something so much that it doesn't excite you anymore but just leaves you tired, consider yourself jaded. If someone says you look a little jaded, it just means that you look tired. |
The history of jaded is not clear, but perhaps it is related to the noun jade, an old term for a worn-out horse. Even if not, picturing a tired old horse may be a nice way to remember that jaded means dulled or tired from too much of something. The word can also mean cynical because of bad experiences with something, like a jaded journalist who doesn't see the person behind the politician. |
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| 1706 |
habitat |
the type of environment in which an organism normally lives |
Peromyscus maniculatus is ubiquitous, occurring in habitats ranging from mesic boreal forests to arid southwestern deserts. |
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Your habitat is the environment you are accustomed to living in. Zoos usually try to mimic the habitats of the animals they keep, housing bats in a nocturnal house and monkeys in a cage with trees to climb and swing from. |
The origins of habitat aren't exactly what you would expect. The word goes back to the Latin habitare meaning "to live or dwell," which itself goes back to habere meaning "to have or own." It seems logical that if you own a place, it is your home. Habitat is usually used with animals and plants that live in and are adapted to a specific environment. In nature, orchids and banana plants live in a warm, humid habitat. |
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| 1707 |
gaffe |
a socially awkward or tactless act |
Later, Mr. Perry made a minor gaffe by misstating the voting age, which is 18. |
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A gaffe is a mistake that embarrasses you in front of others. If you run into a friend out with her grey-haired father, and you blurt out, "Oh, hi, you must be Tara's grandfather!" then you've made a gaffe. |
Gaffe rhymes with laugh, and you'll be lucky if that's how people respond to your social blunder. A gaffe seems to occur most often when you literally don't know your audience — you make a joke about the mayor; you didn't know you were talking to his sister. That's definitely a gaffe. And who knew your hosts come from a culture that takes offense if you refuse to try every dish? |
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| 1708 |
fabricate |
put together out of artificial or natural components |
Generally they are fabricated in that hardest of all metals—steel. |
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Do you like to construct mini airplanes from kits? Work on an assembly line? Piece together Ikea furniture? Then you certainly know how to fabricate, or to put together, things. |
While fabricate might mean the physical act of construction, it can also mean constructing a falsehood. Watch out — those well versed in the art of fabrication might have an ulterior motive. In the movies, the bad cops sometimes fabricate evidence to make the good guy look guilty. When you tell the teacher the dog ate your homework, you’ve fabricated a pretty silly excuse. So if you’re going to fabricate the truth, get some better material! |
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| 1709 |
dally |
waste time |
Too long already had the young General dallied, wasting time. |
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Dally means “to waste time.” When you dally, you will cause a delay because of your dawdling. |
You have probably heard the expression "to dilly-dally" — which means “to dawdle.” Well, if you take the dilly out of dilly-dally to get just dally — you still have pretty much the same meaning. Dally has other common definitions, such as “to flirt” (especially without care of the result) or “to play.” The light tone is probably an echo of its origin, which is likely the French word dalier, meaning “to amuse oneself.” |
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| 1710 |
cacophonous |
having an unpleasant sound |
Shoppers mingle, traders peddle their wares and children play in the street, all to a cacophonous backdrop of roaring motorbikes and honking cars. |
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The adjective cacophonous describes loud, harsh sounds, like the cacophonous racket your brother and his band mates make while trying to learn how to play their instruments. |
To correctly pronounce cacophonous, accent the second syllable: "cuh-CAW-fuh-nus." It is related to the Greek words kakos, meaning "bad, evil," and phone, or "voice." You may feel like you're facing something evil if you’re bombarded by the cacophonous sounds of, say, political pundits yelling at one another, or the chaotic sounds of traffic and voices on a busy urban street. Cacophonous is the opposite of harmonious. |
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| 1711 |
baffle |
be a mystery or bewildering to |
It baffles her physician as well, and has got doctors increasingly worried. |
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To baffle is to confuse. If you are completely puzzled as to what baffle means, you might say that this word baffles you. |
Baffle means "confuse," but it can also mean "amaze." A magician might baffle you with an impressive magic trick. Additionally, this verb can mean "to spoil, thwart, or defeat by means of confusion." In a debate, you might baffle the opposition by introducing new information that your opponents are not familiar with. Baffle can also be used like stump. If you are stumped by a question on a test, then you’ve been baffled by that question. |
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| 1712 |
aquifer |
underground layer of rock or sand that yields groundwater |
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An aquifer is an underground water supply –– one found in porous rock, sand, gravel, or the like. Your town might get its water from a lake, river, reservoir, aquifer, or some other source. |
Aquifer is from the Latin aqua (meaning "water") and ferre (meaning "to bear") –– an aquifer literally bears water. Some aquifers are massive, such as the Ogallala Aquifer in the United States that stretches across parts of eight states from South Dakota to Texas. But not massive enough –– we're draining them faster than the water can be replenished. |
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| 1713 |
axis |
a straight line through a body or figure |
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An axis is a straight line, sometimes seen, sometimes not, that is important in mathematics, art, science and our survival. The most famous axis is the one the earth spins around, giving us the 24-hour day. |
In graphs, one side is usually the "X axis" and the other the "Y axis." Axis lines are also the lines that run through spheres, like our earth, around which those spheres rotate. In a totally different area, axis is used to describe countries in an alliance. In World War II, Germany, Japan and Italy were known as the Axis Powers. More recently, George W. Bush referred to Iraq, Iran, and North Korean as an Axis of Evil. |
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| 1714 |
agriculture |
the practice of cultivating the land or raising stock |
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Agriculture describes the practice of growing crops or raising animals. Someone who works as a farmer is in the agriculture industry. |
The Latin root of agriculture is agri, or "field," plus cultura, "cultivation." Cultivating a piece of land, or planting and growing food plants on it, is largely what agriculture means. Raising animals for meat or milk also falls under the category of agriculture. If we didn't have agriculture, we'd all be running around the woods, picking berries and trying to shoot things. |
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| 1715 |
acceleration |
an increase in rate of change |
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Acceleration is the act of increasing speed. When you buy a sports car, you want one that has great acceleration, so it can go from zero to 60 miles an hour in no time. |
Acceleration comes from the Latin word accelerationem, which means "a hastening." When you hasten, you hurry, so acceleration is a speeding-up. Maybe you are walking to an appointment and realize you will be late. You pick up your pace — that's acceleration. If the rain on a stormy day begins to come down faster, that too is acceleration. As you can see, acceleration isn't just for cars. |
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| 1716 |
array |
an impressive display |
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An array is a display of something — usually something varied. So, you might encounter an array of bathing suits on the beach or an array of cereal brands in the cereal aisle of the grocery store. Which would you prefer? |
Although the word array comes from the Old French areyer, "to put in order," an array often just comes together. It can be an intentional design of people or features — everything from software packages to fashion shows can have an "impressive array" of components. Or, an array can fall together in nature or by chance: "the clouds became an array of beautiful shapes after the storm." |
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| 1717 |
addition |
the arithmetic operation of summing |
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An addition is the act of adding something new, like a baby — a new addition to your family — or what you do in math class: the addition of columns of numbers to get the sum. |
The noun addition comes from the Old French word adition, meaning "that which is added." A new room built onto your house, a new item in a store's inventory, even another baseball cap in your collection — all of these are additions. Usually thought of as improvements, you may have heard the phrase "welcome addition" to describe a new cast mate to a television show that has lost its creative spark or a new ball field at your local park. |
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| 1718 |
accelerator |
a pedal that controls the throttle valve |
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An accelerator makes things go, or accelerate. The gas pedal on a car is an accelerator, but so is a machine that scientists use to speed particles up and smash them. |
An accelerator gets things going. In a car, the accelerator is the gas pedal that you mash with your foot when you’re ready to speed off into the sunset. In physics, a particle accelerator speeds off in a different way — it takes a particle, such as an electron, and speeds it up to almost the speed of light, and smashes it into an atom. Why? To see what it’s made of. |
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| 1719 |
asteroid |
a small celestial body composed of rock and metal |
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An asteroid is a large, irregularly shaped object in space that orbits our Sun. If one of these giant rocks ends up on a collision course with Earth, we are in for big trouble. |
An asteroid is like a comet. However, while comets are mostly made of ice, asteroids are made up of rock or even metal. This makes them dangerous because they can cause a lot of damage if they collide with a planet. The craters on the Moon were formed by asteroids and some think it was an asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs. Around a million asteroids are located between Mars and Jupiter in an area called the “asteroid belt.” |
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| 1720 |
absolutism |
a form of government in which the ruler is unconstrained |
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Absolutism is the principle of complete and unrestricted government power, usually in the hands of one person, a dictator or despot. |
This word sounds big, but it's really just an extension of the word absolute. If you have absolute power, you control everything. The problem with this is that absolutism can survive only through dominance, threat of punishment, and violence — in other words, tyranny. And, as the British historian Lord Acton noted in 1887, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." |
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| 1721 |
adaptation |
the process of adjusting or conforming to new conditions |
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Some people always read the book before seeing the movie adaptation of it: They want to get the real story before it's rewritten for film and imagine what all the characters look like before the wrong actors are chosen to play them. |
Charles Darwin first used adaptation in 1859 to describe how an organism adapts and changes to become better suited to living in its habitat. Since then, the noun adaptation is often used to describe a change in behavior in response to new or modified surroundings, from learning to outrun a predator to wearing earplugs to block out your noisy neighbors. Or even changing that novel a bit to fit the demands of the big screen. |
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| 1722 |
abolitionist |
a reformer who favors putting an end to slavery |
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An abolitionist was someone who wanted to end slavery, especially in the United States before the Civil War — when owning slaves was common practice. |
Back when many landowners in the United States forced slaves to work their land, abolitionists believed that slavery violated the basic human right of freedom, and organized to make slavery illegal, writing anti-slavery literature, proposing new laws, and smuggling slaves into free Canada. The Latin root abolere means “destroy,” and an abolitionist is generally a person who wants to destroy any law or practice, like the abolitionists who fight to end the death penalty. |
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| 1723 |
anarchy |
a state of lawlessness and disorder |
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Use the noun anarchy to describe a complete lack of government — or the chaotic state of affairs created by such an absence. A substitute teacher might worry that an unruly classroom will descend into anarchy. |
From the Greek for "without a ruler" we get this word for the political philosophy that the best government is no government at all — a movement that enjoyed surprising success worldwide in the early and middle parts of the twentieth century. Today, the word is more commonly used to describe not a political ideal but a state of total disorder, chaos and even violence: "A type of bloody anarchy is beginning to reign." A good synonym would be "lawlessness." |
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| 1724 |
advantage |
the quality of having a superior or more favorable position |
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An advantage is like a head start in a race; it's that thing that gives you a better chance. |
The noun advantage also refers to a reward or benefit of some action or event. Being sick with the flu had the advantage of kick-starting your diet because you didn't feel like eating much. If you leverage the benefits, you are taking advantage of the situation. If you go on a business trip to Hawaii, you could take advantage of the opportunity and spend an extra day or two on vacation. |
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| 1725 |
almanac |
an annual publication arranged according to the calendar |
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An almanac is an annual publication devoted to the facts and statistics of a given subject. You might consult a sports almanac for the coming year's scheduled games, or information on your favorite (or least favorite) player. |
The background of the noun almanac is somewhat hazy, with some suggesting it came from the Greek almenichiakon and others suggesting it came from the Spanish-Arabic al-manakh, both meaning "calendar." The astronomical almanac was once a book of permanent tables, with the annual version appearing in the 16th Century. Perhaps the most famous almanacs were Benjamin Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanac, and the Farmer's Almanac, published continuously since 1792, which offers weather predictions as well as astronomical tables and gardening tips. |
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| 1726 |
alignment |
the spatial property possessed by things in a straight line |
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The noun alignment refers to the correct positioning of something. If you check the alignment of your feet when running, you're checking to make sure they're not pointing to either side, but going straight ahead. |
Alignment has to do with adjusting something so it's in the right place. If you take your car in for a wheel alignment, the mechanic will make sure the wheels are on straight. Alignment can also mean following directions or being in agreement. Your school has to act in alignment with state education rules. If you and your brother both believe that poodles should be banned in your town, then you are in alignment on the issue of poodles. |
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| 1727 |
a cappella |
without musical accompaniment |
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If your singing group doesn't use any instruments or recorded music, you can describe it as a cappella. A cappella music features only voices. |
Some a cappella groups include many singers making the sounds of percussion and other instruments with just their voices, but you can also describe the singing you do in the shower as a cappella. The word comes from the Italian phrase alla capella, "in the manner of the chapel," or "according to the chapel." In other words, a cappella music follows the oldest church traditions of unaccompanied vocal music. |
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| 1728 |
accent |
special importance or significance |
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An accent is a stress or emphasis on a particular part of something, usually a word. Pronounce the word "doofus" with the accent on the first syllable: DOO-fuss. |
Accent comes from the Latin accentus, which means "the intonation of singing." We use accent for different kinds of emphasis in speech. In some foreign languages, the mark above a letter is an accent that signals how to pronounce it. If you accent something, like the "t" on the end of your name, you highlight it. In music, an emphasized note is accented. A regional accent is the particular way that people from that place speak. |
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| 1729 |
acolyte |
an assistant to a priest or minister in a liturgical service |
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A person who helps with religious services is an acolyte. An acolyte is also a fan or follower of the famous, so you can find an acolyte in church or at a concert. |
Acolyte goes back to the Greek root akolouthos, meaning "follower," and it came into English in the 14th century. While an acolyte often serves in an earned and admired role within a religious ceremony, a second definition is "fan." Acolytes of movie star or pro athletes closely follow their careers — and with great admiration — and would love to be just like their heroes. |
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| 1730 |
preclude |
make impossible, especially beforehand |
He said that strong trade ties did not in themselves preclude the outbreak of war. |
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To preclude something is to prevent it from happening. A muzzle precludes a dog from biting. |
This is a very formal word, but it has a simple meaning: when something is precluded, it can't happen. See the prefix pre in preclude and in prevent? It is signaling that these words are all about things done before another action would happen — to make it impossible. Staying away from water precludes the possibility of drowning, though it also precludes any chance of having fun swimming. |
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| 1731 |
prefix |
an affix that is added in front of the word |
In traditional Afghan society religious scholars have a lot of influence--they usually use the prefix of Mullah, Maulawi or Maulana before their names. |
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A prefix is affix that's added in front of a word and often changes the meaning of it. Common prefixes include re-, un-, and mis-. |
Lots of words have a prefix, and it's sometimes easier to figure out the meaning of those words if you know the meaning of the prefix. For example, the super- means "above" or "over"; hypo- and infra- mean "under." Prefix itself has a prefix: pre-, which means "before." In fact, the Latin root of prefix is praefixus, meaning "fixed in front." (Note our word's opposite here, suffix, which describes what is fixed at the back of a word.) |
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| 1732 |
presume |
take to be the case or to be true |
Though we never see her there, I presume she takes classes and participates in extracurriculars and goes to college parties. |
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If you presume something, it means you act as though it's true before all the evidence is in. If you are presumed to be the fastest runner, don't get too cocky — that word implies that you haven't actually raced yet. |
To presume is to take something for granted. The famous quote “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” comes from the explorer Henry Morton Stanley, who ran into the explorer David Livingstone in the wilds of Africa in 1871. It’s funny because these were the only two white men known to be in that part of Africa at the time. |
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| 1733 |
preview |
a screening for an audience in advance of public release |
Instead of trying to surprise viewers, many sponsors are filling social-media platforms with previews, teasers and coming attractions in hopes of stimulating additional interest. |
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A preview gives you a look at something that hasn't been released yet. You see lots of previews at the movies. |
If you've been to a movie lately, chances are you saw plenty of previews — little highlights of upcoming movies that are designed to make you want to see them. Any little snippet designed to get you excited about something to come can be called a preview. If you're writing a novel, you could give someone a preview by reading them a few lines. And you're lucky enough to see a show before it opens to the public, you're previewing it. |
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| 1734 |
previous |
just preceding something else in time or order |
"Teenagers are motivated to make a difference in their community but the approach they take is radically different to previous generations," said Mr Birdwell. |
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Previous means the one that just came before. For instance, the previous sentence explained the meaning of the word previous. |
With previous, you first see that the prefix pre meaning "before." The second part of the word, vius, — think via — means "road," so you’re talking about the road, or thing, before. Previous, though, can be used with people, or anything else too. You will know right away if the previous tenants had cats. Do you ever wonder what you were in a previous life? Rivers are at flood stage from the previous two rain storms. |
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| 1735 |
primary |
of first rank or importance or value |
But the show’s primary model is the granddaddy of weepy teenage melodramas, “Romeo and Juliet.” |
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Primary means basically "first." When you vote in a primary, that is the first election in a series. When a matter is of primary concern, it means it's of first importance. Primary school is the first you go to (after nursery school, at least). |
There's an interesting alternate system for counting first, second, third, etc. up to tenth. It's primary, secondary, tertiary, quaternary, quinary, senary, septenary, octonary, nonary, and denary. There's also a word for twelfth, duodenary, though that — along with all the words after tertiary — is rarely used. |
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| 1736 |
prior |
earlier in time |
That said, most “open houses” were not particularly open, requiring advance registration several months prior, and spots filled up immediately. |
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Generally you should eat dinner prior to brushing your teeth. Use the adjective prior for things that exist earlier in time or that happen first in time or order. |
This is a formal word that is often used in legal language. A prior claim is a person's right to something that is considered more important or valuable because it came first. If you're looking for a less formal synonym, choose the word previous. Prior is from a Latin word with the same spelling. |
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| 1737 |
probably |
with considerable certainty; without much doubt |
Whatever you guess you think you will need in time and money, add 50-100% more and you are probably hitting the target. |
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If something probably will happen, it's likely. If it probably won't happen, don't get your hopes up. |
This is a word for things that are likely to happen or just believable. If your dinner is gone and your dog looks guilty, the dog probably jumped on the table to eat it. If someone moved all the furniture around while you were sleeping, you probably would have noticed. Given all the billions of stars in the sky, there's probably life out there, but who knows if we'll ever meet it. You probably like some foods better than others. |
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| 1738 |
procedure |
a particular course of action intended to achieve a result |
Designed to keep hunger strikers alive, the procedure involves feeding them liquid meals via tubes inserted into their noses and down into their stomachs. |
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A procedure is a tried and true process or method used to accomplish a particular task. Using sharp metal picks, dentists scrape the plaque from their patients’ teeth. While effective, it’s a procedure most people despise. |
The word procedure is often used in the fields of medicine and law, sometimes in combination with other words, as in "surgical procedure" or "legal procedure." A "Parliamentary procedure" is the set of rules that you follow at a meeting of a club or some other organization (not necessarily a House of Parliament). Procedure is also related to the word procedural, which is sometimes used a term for a genre of television drama in which the plot revolves around a technical procedure, like the solving of a police case. |
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| 1739 |
produce |
bring forth or yield |
The manipulation produced 15 normally developing embryos—of which all but one showed evidence of the desired genetic changes. |
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To produce is to create, manufacture, or cultivate. We rely on agriculture to produce food and artists to produce art. |
As a noun, produce (accented first syllable) is the product of gardening: fruits and vegetables. The verb form of this word (accented last syllable) has several meanings, all related to making, creating, bringing forth, or raising. At the airport, you might be asked to produce (show) some identification. To produce results is to get a job done or to have something to show for your work. To produce children is to give birth to them or raise them. |
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| 1740 |
profile |
biographical sketch |
Job seekers fill out profiles with years of experience, languages spoken and salary requirements. |
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If a magazine editor asks you to write a profile of an up-and-coming novelist, she's asking you to write a biographical sketch, to give the readers a sense of the novelist as a person. |
Profile comes from the Italian profilo, the thin colored border of cloth that outlines a garment. It came to mean any kind of sketch or outline, especially of faces. If someone compliments your profile means you look nice from the side (try outlining from other angles). If you have a criminal profile, your criminal record creates a picture of an active life of crime. A profile is also a drawing of the earth in cross-section, showing layers of crust. |
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| 1741 |
prompt |
serve as the inciting cause of |
The delay may prompt many healthy people to put off signing up for coverage. |
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If you're prompt, you're on time. Go ahead and be prompt to class. Also, to prompt is to inspire or make happen. Getting in trouble for being late should prompt you to get a better alarm clock. |
The adjective prompt can mean "as scheduled," or simply "quick." When you prompt someone, you motivate them in some way: you might offer a reminder, assistance, or even inspiration to do something. For example, honking your car horn prompts your friend to get moving, and speaking up in defense of your classmate might prompt a bully to change his ways. If a director prompts an actor who's forgotten his lines, she reminds him what comes next. |
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| 1742 |
proofread |
read for errors |
Projects that require paying close attention to detail, like proofreading a paper or doing your taxes, Dr. Mehta said, are performed better in quiet environments. |
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To proofread is to look over a piece of writing for errors, watching out for spelling mistakes and grammar problems. If you don’t proofread your work, you might write “ham” instead of “harm” and confuse the heck out of your reader. |
By the time you proofread a piece of writing, it should be almost done. It’s the very last step of the writing process after drafting, editing, and revising. To proofread is to look at the little details of a piece of writing, such as spelling, word choice, formatting, and sentence structure. When you proofread, you look for errors and fix them. You can proofread your own work, but sometimes it’s good to get someone else to proofread what you've written. |
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| 1743 |
propose |
present for consideration, examination, or criticism |
One proposed establishing an ostrich farm, and another suggested converting trash into accessories and furniture. |
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The verb propose means "to suggest a plan," like the most well-known thing to propose: marriage. If you propose to your girlfriend, you propose getting married, and you probably give her a ring, too. |
The word propose comes from the Old French root words pro, meaning "forth" and poser, meaning "put, place." Using propose to refer to an offer of marriage was first recorded in the 1700s but the verb also has other meanings. It can mean to present for consideration or criticism, like proposing a four-day school week or "to nominate someone for an elected office or official post." |
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| 1744 |
prose |
ordinary writing as distinguished from verse |
A drunken row over the merits of literary forms in Russia ended in a poetry-lover stabbing a champion of prose to death, investigators say. |
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Prose is so-called "ordinary writing" — made up of sentences and paragraphs, without any metrical (or rhyming) structure. |
If you write, "I walked about all alone over the hillsides," that's prose. If you say, "I wondered lonely as a cloud/that floats on high o'er vales and hills" that's poetry. See the difference? (Let's not get into prose poetry!) From prose we get the term prosaic, meaning "ordinary" or "commonplace," or lacking the specially delicacy and beauty of its supposed opposite — poetry. |
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| 1745 |
prove |
establish the validity of something |
Nuclear experts say the new results should help give the giant laser more time to prove its ultimate worth and gain more taxpayer support. |
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When you prove something, you show that it's true. If you say you love eating raw eggs, you may have to prove it by chugging a few. When someone asks you to prove something, you need evidence, also known as proof. |
Prove comes from the Latin root probare, "to test or prove worthy." The word’s meaning is clear in this quote from writer Ernest Holmes: "There was a time when a man was so convinced that the world was round that he was determined to prove it." As a transitive verb, prove requires an object to receive the action, as in "How can you prove your claim?" It can also be intransitive, as in "You might prove to be right." |
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| 1746 |
quote |
refer to for illustration or proof |
He argued points of constitutional law, quoted Shakespeare, advocated for bipartisan compromise and even quieted hecklers. |
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If a journalist is interviewing you and you blurt out something inappropriate, you will have to ask her not to quote you on that. Sometimes the word quote is used as shorthand for quotation, a passage of speech or writing that’s repeated word for word. |
As a verb, to quote means to repeat someone’s words, attributing them to their originator. If you’re giving a speech on personal organization, you might want to quote Ben Franklin in it — he’s the master. When you write out a quote, you put the other person’s words in quotation marks (“Aha!”). Sometimes a price estimate is called a quote, like when a mechanic looks at your engine and gives you a quote for the cost of repair. |
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| 1747 |
reaction |
a response that reveals a person's feelings or attitude |
Research also suggests it may slow down reaction times, with the intention of making us more vulnerable to large predators. |
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A reaction is an action taken in response to something. If you're telling your parents that you want to move out, you'll see by their reaction that they're sad about it. |
A reaction is often a physical in nature. A chemical reaction describes the way a chemical behaves when combined with another substance. The way your body responds to a medication or external influence is a physical reaction. Think of the way cold air causes you to get goose bumps on your arms. It can also describe something more emotional, for instance a person’s reaction of laughter when told a funny story. |
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| 1748 |
recall |
summon knowledge from memory |
"I remember my first camp I had a rollaway locker right in front of the shower, and I was terrified," Russell recalled. |
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When you recall something, you remember it, like telling your friend, "As I recall, you said you'd buy my lunch the next time we got together." |
The verb recall means "remember," like an older person who recalls her school days, or "call to mind," like a painter's use of colors and shapes that recall early Pablo Picasso. Recall can also be a noun — you may know someone who has great recall, or memory, of events that everyone else has forgotten. If an automaker issues a recall on your car, this is a request to temporarily "take it back" to fix something. Don't forget about this kind of recall! |
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| 1749 |
reduce |
make smaller |
But scientists say the bright moon will interfere and reduce the number of visible meteors by half. |
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You reduce something when you lessen its volume, size, or degree. That's why we say when someone goes on a diet, it's because they want to reduce; it's a polite way of suggesting they need to drop pounds and become a smaller size. |
The word reduce first appeared in Old French during the 14th Century, when it meant "bring back." From the Latin re, which meant "back," coupled with ducere, meaning "bring or lead" — we ended up with reduce. The current meaning, "to lessen," appeared in the late 1700's, drawn from the word's military use, "reduce to ranks," which meant break into smaller units. Cooks use the word reduce when they reduce a liquid, boiling it down until it has less volume and is thicker. |
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| 1750 |
relate |
make a logical or causal connection |
The mechanical problems appeared to be related to the solar-powered probe's process for shutting down for the lunar night, which lasts more than two weeks. |
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The verb relate means "to make a connection." If you can relate to someone's story, something like that has happened to you. |
Relate also means "to give an account of something verbally," like relating details of your trip to Sweden. That meaning of relate comes from the Latin word relatus, meaning "to recount, tell." If you talk about the federal budget crisis, people might not be interested until you relate it, meaning "explain the relationship between," to the possible job cuts at your local schools and police departments. |
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| 1751 |
report |
a document describing findings of some individual or group |
But reports have emerged of them being found nestled in pizza menus and other junk mail. |
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When you report something, you tell what happened. After giving the details of your groundbreaking news story, you might end by saying, “...reporting live from Washington, D.C.” |
In addition to the action of telling, what gets told is also called a report. Your report on annual snowfall in New Mexico was brief but informative. Report also applies to calling the police or other authorities. You might not like the way your neighbor trims his poodle, but that doesn't mean you should report him for animal abuse. |
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| 1752 |
represent |
serve as a means of expressing something |
Representing luck, unity, power and prosperity, these mythological birds have, for the most part, been benevolent, gentle creatures. |
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Use the word represent when something stands in for something else — whether it's your congressman representing your interests in Washington or the thimble that represents you as it makes its way around the Monopoly board. |
We live in a democracy in which we elect a few people to represent the wishes and desires of the rest of us. Their job is literally to "re-present" the voters' demands in Congress. That's why we call them our "representatives." In the world of art, however, to represent something can mean to express its essence by means of something different. For example a ball of string can represent, or symbolize, a cat. |
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| 1753 |
representative |
serving to typify |
However, because the study only looked at elephants in captivity, the findings might not be representative of all elephants, Bekoff said. |
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If you're representative of some group, you're typical, you’re a lot like most of the others. You might also be a representative for your group; you were elected to act on behalf of those you represent. |
The US and many other democracies have representative governments, in which voters elect people to act on their behalf — to represent them. In the US, the House of Representatives is the largest legislative body. Its members — congressmen and congresswomen — are elected by the voters of their districts. These representatives are supposed to listen to the views of the people from their districts and act in their best interests. |
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| 1754 |
request |
express the need or desire for; ask for |
It has requested an additional $4 million, among other increases, to cover about 4,000 cases annually in which juvenile offenders receive no representation. |
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To request something means to formally ask for it. If you're sick of always getting a middle seat on the airplane, put in a request for the aisle or window next time. |
You can request something you want, like extra cheese on your pizza, or a better parking space, but you can also "put in a request." Request has a formal quality, as in "request forms." After all, you won't find any "ask forms" out there. Asking for something is one thing, making a request is another. It's more official. If you want to request a certain professor, you'd better put in a request! |
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| 1755 |
require |
need as useful, just, or proper |
It is messy work that requires bronze brushes, cork with sandpaper, scrapers, waxing irons and surgical masks. |
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Require means to need. You require food, water, and shelter to live, but do you really require that new pair of high-fashion shoes? |
The verb require comes from Latin root words re, meaning repeatedly, and quaerere meaning to ask. The word lost the sense of asking and came to mean needing, demanding or insisting upon something. The law requires that you attend school until you're sixteen; your parents probably require you to finish high school. If you're a waiter in a fancy restaurant and the food has been served, as if your customers require anything else. |
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| 1756 |
requisite |
necessary for relief or supply |
The requisite servants for a 1920s country-estate story—including a discreet butler and a cheeky footman—also pop up. |
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Requisite is a formal or fancy word for indispensable. During your punk phase, you refused to leave the house without the requisite leather jacket, black boots, and mohawk. |
To remember this word, notice how similar it is to required. College students looking to sign up for classes they find interesting often bump up against the word prerequisite, which refers to a list of classes they will need to take before the one they're interested in. |
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| 1757 |
respond |
show a reaction to something |
Rehearse for the interview with a friend or colleague, and practise different ways to respond to those questions. |
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Invited to a great party? You might respond by shouting "Hooray!" and then letting your friend know you'll be there. To respond is to react or reply. |
Fireman, police, and EMTs are known as first responders. This is because they are the first people to respond to an emergency. If you get into an accident, an EMT might check your reflexes to see how they respond. |
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| 1758 |
restate |
to say or perform again |
China's foreign ministry restated its frequent calls for Japan to adopt a "responsible" view of its wartime history. |
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When you say something again, you restate it. If you give a speech, you might decide to express your main idea at the beginning and then restate it a second time, near the end. |
Often when you restate something, you say it in a slightly different, perhaps clearer way, with the intention of really getting your point across. A teacher might sweetly ask her class to come in from recess, and then restate her request five minutes later by saying, "If you aren't inside when I count to 30, there will be no recess tomorrow!" The verb restate combines the prefix re-, "again" in Latin, and state. |
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| 1759 |
result |
a phenomenon that is caused by some previous phenomenon |
Hot Pockets Philly Steak and Cheese have been recalled as the result of the Rancho Feeding Corporation recall of meat products. |
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A result is something that occurs as a consequence of some action. The result of your practical joke is a puddle of water on the floor and a lump on your cousin's head where the bucket hit him. |
A result is also the answer to some problem, especially one obtained by calculation or experimentation. The result you get for a math problem will be wrong if you add when you should multiply. The verb result means to follow as an outcome of some action. If you forget to book a room in advance, it will result in your having to stay at the hotel by the airport instead of one by the beach. |
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| 1760 |
root |
the place where something begins |
As a nation, we argue for and against gun reform, yet we rarely discuss the root of the violence. |
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The root is the part of the plant that's underground. Dig up a potato, and you will unearth its roots. Just pull them off before you cook the potato. |
Root comes from the Latin word radix, which means "starting point," and you can think of the root of something as the place it starts from, whether that's the root of a tree, or the root of a problem. The root of your fear of swimming might have been a scary shark attack movie. If your ancestors come from Guatemala, you have Guatemalan roots. If you dig through a pile of junk, you're "rooting around." |
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| 1761 |
scan |
examine minutely or intensely |
Astronomers have built quite a few observatories dedicated to patiently scanning the heavens looking for blips of light. |
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When you scan a subway car to see if your friend is on it, your eyes pass quickly across the riders. When you get a scan of your knee at the doctor's office, a much more detailed picture is taken, showing your bones, tendons, and muscles. |
You might need a medical scan if you are in an accident or have a terrible headache. One of the most common kinds of scans is performed on a pregnant woman, to check out the size and health of her fetus. This kind of scan is called an "ultrasound" or a "sonogram." These use sound waves to take a picture of the inside of a person's body. |
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| 1762 |
score |
a number or letter indicating quality |
Despite the tight security, the most common reason officials cancel test scores isn’t transmission devices hidden in rain boots—it’s sneaky glances at cell phones. |
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When you're playing a game, your score is the number of points you have. If the score of a basketball game is 34 to 34, it means both teams have 34 points — the score is tied. |
To score in a game is to achieve points or goals. In school, you get a score, or a grade, on your tests and papers. Another kind of score is the written part of a musical composition. And when someone asks, "What's the score?" they might also mean "What's going on?" The Gettysburg Address famously begins, "Four score and seven years ago..." In this case, a score is "twenty," from the Old English scoru, also "twenty." |
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| 1763 |
sequence |
a following of one thing after another in time |
In a popular impersonation by Italy's best-known comedian, Renzi captivates his audience with a mesmerizing sequence of catchy but totally meaningless phrases. |
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When things come in sequence, they come in a specific order. It could be a chronological sequence, a sequence following a pattern (red-blue-brown, red-blue-brown), or a cause-and-effect sequence. |
Sequence can also be a verb. When you sequence something, you put it in order. The prom committee had the task of sequencing dance music––even if playing "Celebrate" as the final dance and not the first felt out of sequence to the DJ, it was their call. |
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| 1764 |
series |
similar things placed in order or one after another |
The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co, has been plagued by a series of mishaps including radioactive water leaks and power outages. |
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The World Series consists of a series of seven games between the champions of the National and American Baseball Leagues. A series is a group of similar things happening one after the other. |
Your favorite TV drama that comes on week after week is a series. Each episode is one in a series of many. If you make one mistake after another as you try to make dinner, you could say that the meal arrived on the table despite a series of culinary mishaps. If you have several conversations with your parents about how late you can stay out, you might say your curfew was determined by a series of discussions. |
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| 1765 |
signal |
communicate silently and non-verbally |
Qualcomm has created a logo for both chargers and phones to signal to the consumer that both devices support the standard. |
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A signal is a gesture or message that people use to communicate with each other. The wave you give a good friend to call her over from across the room and the impulse that transmits your voice through the telephone to your mother are both signals. |
In the course of a single day, you probably send and receive thousands of different signals. When you want to cross the street, you wait for the green light — a signal that it's safe to cross. If you're in a relationship and you're not sure whether you like the person you're dating, you could be sending mixed signals — first acting like you're interested, and then acting uninterested. If your date finally gets tired of your mixed signals while you're at a restaurant, you'll need to signal to your server that it's time for the check. |
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| 1766 |
skim |
examine hastily |
Stone said he only has skimmed the book, though he said his wife, Livia, praised it as "surprisingly riveting" after reading all of it. |
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To skim is to remove something from the surface of a liquid. Some cooks skim the fat off of the top of their chicken noodle soup, others skim the cream off milk to make skim (or skimmed) milk. |
Cream is what you skim off the surface of milk, and if you don't like the whipped version, you might skim it from your hot chocolate. Another way to use the word skim is to mean "read quickly," like when you skim the newspaper, catching just the headlines as you search for the comics section. Skim has an Old French root, escumer, "remove scum," from escume, "scum." The "glance through a book" meaning came later, in the late 1700’s. |
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| 1767 |
solve |
find the answer to or understand the meaning of |
Americans love to solve the "Big Problems", he argues, such as cutting-edge innovation and overcoming the challenges of abject poverty. |
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To solve something is to find a solution, like figuring out the answer to a complex riddle. |
The verb solve is often used in mathematics, and it means to answer a math problem. You can solve other, non-mathematical problems too — like the question of what to wear when you've run out of clean clothes (your sibling's clothes!). The word solve originally came from the Latin solvere, which meant "to loosen or untie." If you think of any kind of complex problem as a knot, then the original definition of solve still makes sense! |
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| 1768 |
spatial |
pertaining to the expanse in which things are located |
The math and music prodigies scored higher than the art prodigies on tests of general cultural knowledge, vocabulary, quantitative reasoning, and visual spatial ability. |
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Spatial describes how objects fit together in space, either among the planets or down here on earth. There's a spatial relationship between Mars and Venus, as well as between the rose bushes in the backyard. |
Spatial has to do with the distance between things, so mathematicians and computer scientists love using the word. "They measured the spatial relations of ping-pong balls in the gravity-free room." It can also refer to how people perceive the objects in front of them. If you're not wearing your glasses, your spatial perception might be off. If you're a space cadet, you might wander off into space. Not surprisingly, spatial is from the Latin word spatium for "space." |
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| 1769 |
speculate |
believe, especially on uncertain or tentative grounds |
He speculates that the scientists were investigating the possible use of malaria--transmitted via mosquitoes--as a biological weapon. |
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When you speculate, you use what you know to make a prediction about an outcome, like when you speculate that the injury of two key players will prevent your favorite team from going far in the playoffs this year. |
The verb speculate has a specialized meaning in the world of finance — it means to take a financial risk, in the hopes of monetary gain. For example, a business owner may speculate that a brand-new kind of frozen yogurt will be really popular, so she buys a huge order of it for her ice cream store. Someone who speculates goes looking for next big thing, as seen in the word's Latin origin, speculatus, meaning "to spy out, examine." |
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| 1770 |
stance |
a rationalized mental attitude |
The facility is part of Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott's tough stance against asylum seekers but it has come under fire over human rights concerns. |
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Your stance is your posture or the way you stand. Figuratively, if you take a stance against bullying, you are standing against it. |
If you take a stance on a contentious issue, it means you believe strongly about it one way or the other. If your stance is unpopular, you'll need some courage to speak your mind. The word comes from the Italian stanza which means stopping place. Your stance is something that's not likely to change. You have stopped there, your decision is made. You're done. |
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| 1771 |
standard |
a basis for comparison |
In most states, academic standards are created by educators and approved by a state board of education or education agency. |
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A standard is an ideal or set of criteria that you use to judge things against. Colleges have certain standards for applicants, like a minimum SAT score or an above average grade point average. |
If you complain that the soup isn't up to your standard, you're comparing it to an ideal and finding it lacking. (Just don't be surprised if the chef then "accidentally" spills it in your lap.) The economy used to work by the gold standard, where one dollar equaled a fixed amount of gold. A standard can also be a military flag or banner on a pole. Or a popular old song that's considered a classic. |
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| 1772 |
state |
the way something is with respect to its main attributes |
"Now it will be possible to have near real-time updates of the state of the world's forests, open to anyone to use." |
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State can be a condition — like solid, liquid, or gas, or even sad or happy. It can also be a state as in Idaho or New York. To state is to say something. |
State comes from the Latin status, meaning "condition of a country." Interestingly, even before the Revolutionary War, Britain called the American colonies states. The “States” still refers to America, but state can refer to any country’s civil government. The idea of state as a physical or emotional condition came later. Depending on your state of mind, you can state that the state of your state is awesome. Unless it’s in a state of emergency, which is no good. |
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| 1773 |
study |
consider in detail |
Astronomers are studying how spiral galaxies could run out of gas, literally and figuratively, and turn into ellipticals. |
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It might seem as if you've gone catatonic, staring at a crack in the sidewalk for so long, but really you're observing it as closely as possible for your study of ant movement. |
Study has many different senses related to learning or concentrating. You might make a drawing of something you'll paint later — the drawing's a study. Your boss might ask you to do a study of your office's energy use. As a verb, study is for the work you do in the library, or for the act of really taking something in, the way you study your friend's face to see if she really forgot your birthday or if she's just joking. |
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| 1774 |
subjective |
taking place within the mind and modified by individual bias |
Because the changes are subjective and difficult to measure, medical professionals often do not ask patients about changes in their sense of smell. |
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Things that are subjective are open to interpretation. If you go see a movie about a jewel thief, the topic is not subjective. But whether it's a good movie or not is subjective. |
Subjective things depend on your own ideas and opinions: there isn't any universal truth. Subjective is the opposite of objective, which refers to things that are more clear-cut. That Earth has one moon is objective — it's a fact. Whether the moon is pretty or not is subjective — not everyone will agree. Facts are objective, but opinions are subjective. What's the best song, band, movie, or TV show? These are all very subjective issues. There's no right answer. |
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| 1775 |
substitute |
a person or thing that can take the place of another |
On their return, they were met by a jeering crowd who threw litter and rotten eggs as a substitute for confetti. |
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Something or someone that takes the place of another is said to be a substitute. You may be sent into a game as a substitute for an injured player, or you might substitute chocolate chips for blueberries in a pancake recipe. |
Substitute can be used as an adjective to describe something or someone that takes the place of another. Teenagers are notoriously hard on substitute teachers, sometimes giving them fake names or wrong information about classroom work. Substitute can also be used as a verb. So if you are asked to substitute for a teacher, you probably shouldn't believe everything the students tell you! |
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| 1776 |
sum |
the final aggregate |
Yet what is total output but the sum of all individuals’ work? |
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When you determine the sum, you add up all the numbers. When you sum something up, you focus on all of its important points. |
The word sum can also refer to a certain amount of money. A new car might cost you a huge sum of money. But if you sum or add up all its benefits, you might be able to justify spending so much. You calculate the total on a restaurant bill when you sum up the prices of everything you ordered. Sum doesn't have to refer strictly to numbers. When you sum something up, you're giving an overview or general statement about it. |
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| 1777 |
survey |
look over carefully or inspect |
The rover was designed to roam the lunar surface for three months while surveying for natural resources and sending back data. |
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The verb survey means to look something over. When you buy your first home, it's a pleasure to stand on the porch and survey your property. |
Survey has several meanings, all of which come from Medieval Latin and Anglo words for looking over. As a noun, survey can mean a detailed study of something, but it also means a short summary with a broad view. A survey course gives an overview of a particular subject area, but doesn't make you an expert. Survey is also a verb. If you survey an area hit by an earthquake, you look closely at it to measure the damage. |
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| 1778 |
symbolize |
express indirectly by an image, form, or model |
The Lamb on the light side of power, and the Lion on the dark side best symbolize the power extremes. |
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Use the verb symbolize when you use an image, shape, color, or other simple visual to stand for something else, like when you wear black to symbolize that you're mourning a loss. |
To symbolize is to make a symbol out of something. Symbolize traces back to the Greek word symbolon, which combines syn-, meaning "together," and bol, meaning "to throw." The earliest Christians were, so to speak, "thrown together" because of their beliefs, and so the Christian "marks" that represented their belief in one God became the first items to be described as symbols. |
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| 1779 |
synonym |
a word that expresses the same or similar meaning |
Remember that delicious and healthy is by far not an oxymoron; the words can be more like synonyms. |
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A synonym is a word that means the same thing as another word. If you replace a word in a sentence with its synonym, the meaning of the sentence won't really change that much. |
There are, of course, shades of meaning, and not every synonym is an exact substitute, but sometimes we just need a different word for a change. Some words have dozens of synonyms, such as funny: amusing, hilarious, laughable, slapstick, witty, and many others. Other words, sadly, have no synonyms, like postmodernism. Check your thesaurus (dictionary of synonyms) — it's all there! |
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| 1780 |
synthesize |
combine so as to form a more complex product |
Digital animators did motion studies, copying the movement of these animals frame by frame until they could synthesize a convincing idea of dinosaur movement. |
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When you synthesize, you combine two or more things to create something more complex. It's becoming more common for doctors these days to synthesize Eastern and Western approaches to medicine. |
While synthesize was first used in 1830, scientists and inventors were doing what it means long before that, mixing stuff together to create new materials and products. Medical researchers chemically synthesize chemicals every day in the lab, hoping to create the next wonder drug. When you write a research paper on a given topic, you must find and synthesize information related to that topic, so you can understand what it means and structure an argument in support of your thesis. |
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| 1781 |
term |
a word or expression used for some particular thing |
Perhaps as a response to the times we live in, people throughout the developed world are looking for what is commonly termed “authenticity”. |
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A term is a word or expression used with a particular meaning. "Rap," "punk," "grunge," and "heavy metal" are terms that describe particular styles of music. "Sweetie" is a term of endearment, at least to most people. |
Terms can also mean the conditions of an agreement: when you rent an apartment, you agree to certain terms — that you'll pay the rent, you won't have loud parties, etc. If you're "on good terms with someone," you like each other. Term can also be a defined period of time. Spring term at school is the spring semester, and you may be assigned a term paper — to demonstrate how brilliant you've become during that time period. |
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| 1782 |
test |
standardized procedure for measuring sensitivity or aptitude |
Too often we order unnecessary tests, to bolster revenue or to protect against lawsuits. |
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If your boss tells you not to test her patience, she means don't push her today, because she might just snap. |
Surely you're familiar with vocabulary tests? In this case, someone is giving you difficult questions to see how much you know. Test more generally means "trial." If you test a soap on your skin, you use it on one small patch, to see if you'll have an allergic reaction. A drug test looks for the presence of drugs in your system. A difficult time in life is sometimes called "a test," because it's testing your strength to persevere. |
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| 1783 |
trait |
a distinguishing feature of your personal nature |
In its spot, a more jocular narrator explains that one of the pencil’s most awe-inspiring traits is that it is extremely pointy. |
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A trait is something about you that makes you "you." When your mother says that you get all your best traits from her, she means you have the same charming smile and the same brilliant mind as she has. |
In science, trait refers to a characteristic that is caused by genetics. Having green eyes or being shorter than average are traits a person might have. In more general use, a trait is an important part of someone’s personality or appearance. Try to describe your favorite teacher in three words and you’ll probably come up with a list of her essential traits — such as compassionate, calm, and kooky. |
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| 1784 |
transition |
a change from one place or state or subject to another |
The area was colonised in the 1800s and ruled by Britain as Northern Rhodesia until 1964, when it made a peaceful transition to independence. |
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A transition is a change from one thing to the next, either in action or state of being—as in a job transition or as in the much more dramatic example of a caterpillar making a transition into a butterfly. |
Transition is awfully reassuring in its tidy reliance on regular forms. Trans means "cross," so when you hear it at the beginning of a word you know that it indicates crossing, as in transatlantic or translate. An odd thing happening with transition lately is that it is transitioning from its familiar form as a noun to a newer life as a verb, as in “We’re going to transition Gloria to that new job.” |
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| 1785 |
translate |
restate from one language into another language |
MIT’s seal includes the Latin words--mens et manus--which translates as Mind and Hand. |
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To translate is to put into a different language or interpret. If your brother says, "Gee, Mom, all of my friends have really cool pets, like snakes and stuff," you can translate that statement to mean "I want a snake." |
Translate comes from the Latin translates, which means "carry across." The word isn't limited to talking about language. You can translate sales into dollars, or a play into a movie. When used that way, translate means changing something from one form to another. |
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| 1786 |
unique |
radically distinctive and without equal |
“Given that everyone has unique DNA, it is scientifically certain that no two people will be identical in terms of capabilities,” he wrote. |
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If something is unique, it's the only one around. You might think getting a nose ring would make you unique, until you see five other people on the street with the same piercing. |
If someone calls you unique you know that you are very special. The reason is that the Latin prefix uni- means "one." (Technically speaking, it isn't possible to be "very unique" — you either are or you're not.) Think of the prefix in unicorn for a creature with one horn and unicycle for a cycle with one wheel. |
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| 1787 |
utilize |
put into service |
Current TV display technology utilizes only 30% of human color perception capability, implying that smaller displays utilize even less. |
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To utilize is to use what you have or what's available, and it's a three-syllable word meaning the same thing as the one-syllable "use." |
The word utilize is often a more formal way to express "putting something to use." If you don’t have time to go to the store but you need to come up with a science project, you might utilize what's already in the kitchen. Most of the time you can use the verb use as a synonym for utilize. You can utilize a shorter word to make a sentence easier to read. |
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| 1788 |
valid |
well grounded in logic or truth or having legal force |
This seems obvious because many cultures have traditionally institutionalized the siesta or mid-afternoon nap, but it seems to be scientifically valid. |
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A valid argument is one that is well-grounded in fact, law or logic. "Their argument for annulment was valid because they had never even met and their marriage was the result of a clerical error at town hall." |
Something is valid when it can be supported or backed-up, or if it is functional: “She figured her password was valid because she had just set it.” In a legal context, valid means that something is binding or actionable: “At the time of the accident his license was no longer valid, so they impounded his car.” The logical grounding of an argument can be valid: “That’s a valid point about Santa being too large to fit down a chimney.” |
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| 1789 |
variation |
something a little different from others of the same type |
Though the mountains may look like one massive granite blob, sharp boundaries mark chemical variations within the range. |
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Variation means a deviation from the norm, like the variation of colors in nature. |
A variation from an accepted standard can be very important. For example, a variation in a heartbeat pattern can tell a doctor that a heart attack might be imminent. The variation in weather temperatures from what is expected indicates that our climate is changing due to global warming. But not all variation is a bad thing. For example, even within breeds, there is a wide variation in the coloration of dogs, a trait that makes each puppy uniquely lovable. |
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| 1790 |
vary |
make something more diverse |
After all, it is an enormous and varied place with the genetic, linguistic, culinary and sartorial diversity which are usually found in a continent. |
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If you're tired of the same old breakfast of bran flakes and orange juice, vary your routine—put some banana slices on those bran flakes. You can vary the routine by changing the details but keeping the basics the same. |
Use the verb vary when you're talking about changing up your usual routine. If your schedule changes at work, you might have to vary your sleep habits. A good dye job will vary the tints a little to look more natural. The ambiance at Olive Garden varies from restaurant to restaurant, but the unlimited breadsticks are always delicious. You'll probably recognize the root vari, which shows up in other words with similar meanings, like various, variable, and even variegated. |
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| 1791 |
viewpoint |
a mental position from which things are viewed |
Similarly, the Economist takes the viewpoint that although “innovation kills some jobs, it creates new and better ones.” |
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Your viewpoint is the particular way you see the world, or your distinct perspective on things. It’s literally your point of view! To stop arguing with someone, try to see things from their viewpoint so you can kiss and make up. |
Use viewpoint to talk about a person's individual attitude about things. A parent, for example, often has a different viewpoint about bedtime than a child does. Conflicts in politics come up due to differing viewpoints on issues like taxes, welfare, and defense. Another way to say viewpoint is "point of view." The earliest meaning of viewpoint was in the physical sense, as when you stand on the roof of a building to get a great viewpoint of the city. |
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| 1792 |
adequate |
having the requisite qualities or resources to meet a task |
What use is a law without adequate resources to enforce it? |
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When you want to say that something is enough or good enough for a particular need, use the adjective adequate. You might have an adequate amount of flour for a batch of pancakes, but not a lot extra. |
Adequate can also describe something that is acceptable or satisfactory, but not any better than that. You might say that a student's grades are adequate but need improvement. This word is from Latin adaequāre"to make equal," from the prefix ad- plus aequare "to equal." |
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| 1793 |
brood |
the young of an animal cared for at one time |
"The mother-women seemed to prevail that summer at Grand Isle. It was easy to know them, fluttering about with extended, protecting wings when any harm, real or imaginary, threatened their precious brood. They were women who idolized their children, worshiped their husbands, and esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals and grow wings as ministering angels."- The Awakening, Kate Chopin |
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A brood is a group of young born at the same time — like a brood of chicks — but your parents might use the word for you and your siblings: "We're taking the whole brood to the movies tonight." |
Brood is also what a chicken does when she sits on her eggs to hatch them. You can also brood, when you worry and sulk and dwell on something obsessively — maybe as tedious as sitting on eggs, but no chicks when you're done. Things like clouds or silence can also brood, hanging over something ominously, as a storm that broods over the sea, sending fishermen scurrying for safety. |
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| 1794 |
dung |
fecal matter of animals |
“Whatever else is unsure in this stinking dunghill of a world a mother's love is not.” - A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce |
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Dung means animal droppings or waste. If you work at an elephant sanctuary, you're likely to spend a lot of time shoveling up elephant dung. |
Dung is a tidy word for an untidy substance — animal poop. When farmers talk about cow dung or chicken dung, they'll probably call it manure instead. Some dung causes problems, like the runoff of pig dung into lakes and rivers, while other dung is used to help fertilize vegetable gardens. Dung is an Old English word, from a Germanic root — in Old High German, a tung was an underground room that was covered with dung for warmth. |
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| 1795 |
soar |
rise rapidly |
“Man's hope can paint a purple picture, can transform a soaring vulture into a noble eagle or moaning dove.”- Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison |
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To soar means more than just to fly; it means to rise swiftly, to feel the wind slipping below you as you ride it higher, higher, higher. Flying is just moving through the air. Soaring, though, suggests exhilaration, even joy. |
Think about the anticipation you feel when you buy a lottery ticket — your hopes soar as you contemplate the possibilities. It's the same wonderful feeling you get when someone you have a crush on notices you, when you land that perfect job, when you hold your child. The word soar comes from the Latin, ex-, which means "out," and aura, meaning "breeze, air," together meaning "out of the air," which is precisely how it feels to soar. |
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| 1796 |
inclination |
a characteristic likelihood of or natural disposition |
“I have been used to consider poetry as "the food of love," said Darcy. "Of a fine, stout, healthy love it may. Everything nourishes what is strong already. But if it be only a slight, thin sort of inclination, I am convinced that one good sonnet will starve it entirely away.” ― Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen |
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You can see the word "incline" inside inclination, which clues you in to the fact that inclination has to do with leaning. Sometimes the inclination is literal; in most cases it's about what you incline toward in a figurative sense. |
An inclination is something you are leaning toward, a tendency you have. You could have a specific inclination for chocolate, or you could have an inclination that applies to a decision you are about to make: "Looking at this dessert menu, my inclination is to skip everything and just go home and have a chocolate bar." |
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| 1797 |
hack |
chop or cut away |
"Let me tell you something. A man ain’t a goddamn ax. Chopping, hacking, busting every goddamn minute of the day. Things get to him. Things he can’t chop down because they’re inside."- Beloved, Toni Morrison |
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To hack is to cut or chop something with short strong blows, like if you hack your way through a thick jungle with a machete. To hack is also to illegally break into someone’s computer. |
The Old English root word is haccian, which means “to cut into pieces,” but hack also means to cough frequently. A tickle in your throat can make you hack. If you call someone a hack, you mean they’re not great at what they do — especially writing. A mediocre writer is called a hack. Once upon a time hack was short for “an ordinary horse,” and now it’s an insult for writers. No one wants to be a hack! |
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| 1798 |
quiver |
shake with fast, tremulous movements |
“Doesn't our knowledge of death make life more precious?" "What good is a preciousness based on fear and anxiety? It's an anxious quivering thing”-White Noise, Don Delillo |
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Scaredy cats around the globe know that quivering is a trembling, shaking motion. A cold gust of wind might make you quiver, as would an icy glare from the abominable snowman. |
The verb to quiver means to shudder, wobble, or vibrate, often from fear. But the noun quiver? It's actually the carrying case for your arrows, just the kind of thing Robin Hood would have strapped to his back. So imagine one of his arrows sailing through the air, hitting a tree with a hearty whack!, and then quivering there for a few seconds. |
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| 1799 |
taint |
the state of being contaminated |
"There is a taint of death, a flavour of mortality in lies - which is exactly what I hate and detest in the world - what I want to forget.” - Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad |
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Taint means to contaminate. If your water supply is tainted with arsenic, you should stop drinking it right away. |
Tainted and "tinted" are similarly spelled words with dissimilar meanings–-"tint" is what happens when you add color to something––if you tint white with red, you get pink. On the other hand, if you taint something, you are somehow spoiling or corrupting it. If you taint meat with the salmonella virus, you have a disaster and a public panic. |
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| 1800 |
jingle |
a metallic sound |
" 'Her voice is full of money,' he said suddenly. That was it. I’d never understood before. It was full of money-that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals’ song of it.” ―The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald |
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To jingle is to make a sound like pieces of metal jangling together, like those bells people sing about at Christmas. A jingle is also a funny little poem or song. |
Have you ever heard a dog's metal tags banging together? That sound is called a jingle. A jingle is a metallic sound — a cowboy's spurs and a set of keys being shaken both jingle. If you drop a bunch of change on the ground, it will jingle. A jingle is also a bit of comic poetry, like a little song. Jingles are often made as advertisements because they tend to be catchy. |
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| 1801 |
doom |
an unpleasant or disastrous destiny |
"Janie saw her life like a great tree in leaf with the things suffered, things done and undone. Dawn and doom was in the branches" - Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston |
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Doom is death, destruction, the end of the world, the big goodbye. It can also be a verb — if a man twirling a mustache ties you to the railroad tracks, he dooms you to certain death! |
Doctor Doom is a comic book villain you do not want to mess with. He’s the doctor of death! If you feel that the world is terrible, you’re all doom and gloom. If someone dies, she meets her doom. People usually talk about doom as a type of fate — doom isn't an accident. When doom is a verb, watch out — being slack dooms careers and lies doom relationships. Stay away from all forms of doom. |
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| 1802 |
diabolical |
showing cunning or ingenuity or wickedness |
"As I stood idle by Mr. Jagger's fire, it's rising and falling flame made the two casts on the shelf look as if they were playing a diabolical game at bo-peep with me; -Great Expectations, Charles Dickens |
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Diabolical means "evil." This is a strong word. Too much math homework might seem unfair, but it probably isn't diabolical. |
Diabolical is related to the Spanish word diablo, which means "devil." In many religions and mythologies, you can't get any more evil than a devil, so diabolical is a powerful term, stronger than even despicable, which is another strong word for things that are hateful. Diabolical things are also intentional. If you got hit by lightning, that's awful and harmful, but it's not diabolical. If someone deliberately runs you over with a car, that's much more diabolical. |
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| 1803 |
snatch |
to grasp hastily or eagerly |
" Oh he was heavy, heavy; heavier than any man on earth...The current snatched him as though he had been a wisp of grass, and I saw the body roll over twice before I lost sight of it for ever." - Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad |
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When you snatch something, you grab it — either literally or figuratively. You might eagerly snatch the TV remote or your best friend's idea. Snatching can be nasty. |
You might snatch a lost balloon before it gets away, or snatch your cat before he can escape the room. The verb snatch can also be used in a figurative way, like when you snatch the first job offer that comes your way after graduating from college. The origin is most likely the Middle English word snacche, which means "to suddenly snap at," or in its noun form, "a trap." |
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| 1804 |
foliage |
the aggregate of leaves of one or more plants |
"My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods. Time will change it, I'm well aware, as winter changes the trees-my love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath-a source of little visible delight, but necessary. Nelly, I am Heathcliff-he's always, always in my mind"- Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte |
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Foliage refers to the leafy parts of a tree or plant. "Don't eat the foliage on the rhubarb plant because the leaves are poisonous and eating them can be fatal; the stems, on the other hand, are tasty." |
The noun foliage refers to leaves — either individual leaves or the collective leafy canopy of many trees or plants. Every autumn, thousands of people drive through the New England countryside to view the fall foliage, enjoying the brilliant russet and gold leaves against a crisp blue sky. The jungle foliage, on the other hand, can be so dense that one may have to slice through it with a machete in order to pass through it. |
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| 1805 |
suspicion |
doubt about someone's honesty |
"The duke he never let on he suspicioned what was up , but just went a goo-gooing around, happy and satisfied, like a jug that's googling out buttermilk"-The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain |
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Suspicion is a feeling that something might be true. If your friends seem to be keeping a secret from you, you might have a suspicion that they are planning a surprise party for your birthday. |
Suspicion can mean the same as hunch or inkling, like when you have a suspicion that your friend is hiding a flower bouquet behind his back. Suspicion comes from the Latin word suspicere, or mistrust. That's why it can mean a general bad feeling about someone or something, like neighbors who regard all new people with suspicion until they get to know them. |
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| 1806 |
impatient |
restless or short-tempered under delay or opposition |
"I asked her to let me think a minute; and she set there, very impatient and excited and handsome, but looking kind of happy and eased-up, like a person that's had a tooth pulled out." - The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain |
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If you are impatient, you don’t like to wait. Do you have a hard time teaching children new skills? Do grab the shoe and tie it yourself? You’re impatient. |
Pent-up, antsy, restless, short-tempered, constantly checking the time — all of these are qualities of an impatient person. Patient comes from the Latin word patientem, meaning "to endure," but add the prefix im- and you get impatient — the inability to endure delays, mix-ups, people walking slowly, red lights. . . |
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| 1807 |
baffled |
perplexed by many conflicting situations or statements |
"He moaned to himself like some baffled, prowling beast." -A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce |
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When you're baffled, you're confused or perplexed. Being baffled is being befuddled, bewildered, confounded, or mixed up. |
If you're baffled, you can't understand something. Some people are baffled by math; others are baffled by things celebrities do. Some are baffled at why anyone would care what celebrities do. Sometimes when you're baffled, you genuinely can't figure something out, and other times, you just disapprove. For example, a teacher could say, "I'm baffled that you missed the test!" As long as the world is full of odd things, we'll all spend part of our lives baffled. |
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| 1808 |
perch |
an elevated place serving as a seat |
"The men, like shooting stars, slid from the deck, while Ahab, not so rapidly, was dropped from his perch"- Moby Dick, Herman Melvile |
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A perch is a temporary resting place. In the middle of climbing a tree, you might find a good perch on a high branch. Bet some birds will be perching there too. |
Perch has many different meanings. A bird perch is a little stick it can balance on, and the armrest of the couch can offer you a perch during a party. It's also the name of a kind of fish with spiny fins. And it's also an old measurement of 16.5 feet. |
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| 1809 |
troublesome |
difficult to deal with |
"You were always there under my feet, like a troublesome cat" -The Awakening, Kate Chopin |
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If something is troublesome, it annoys you or gives you difficulty. Your troublesome old car, for example, might be unreliable and have a history of breaking down at the most inconvenient moments. |
Use the adjective troublesome to describe things — or people — that are worrisome or inconvenient. A troublesome stomach virus will keep you home from work, and a troublesome teenager is a constant source of anxiety and frustration for his parents. The word troublesome adds the suffix some, "tending to or causing," to trouble, which has a Latin Latin root, turbidare, "make trouble or make turbid." Turbid, by the way, means "muddy or full of confusion." |
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| 1810 |
protruding |
extending out above or beyond a surface or boundary |
"Those lights of human intelligence losing human expression, gelidly protruding like the alien eyes of certain uncatalogued creatures of the deep." - Billy Budd, Herman Melville |
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Something protruding is sticking out. When you're playing hide and seek, be sure your whole body is under the bed — a protruding arm or leg will give away your hiding spot. |
The part sticking out of an otherwise flat surface can be described as protruding. If a display is protruding from a storefront, you have to walk around it. If you have a big, red zit protruding from your forehead, you should probably see a dermatologist. And if you look up the mountainside and see rocks protruding, look out! Protruding rocks tend to fall down, which could put a damper on the hike. |
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| 1811 |
alien |
from another place or part of the world |
"Those lights of human intelligence losing human expression, gelidly protruding like the alien eyes of certain uncatalogued creatures of the deep." - Billy Budd, Herman Melville |
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Something that's alien is different or foreign. In science fiction, space aliens come from other planets. In reality, illegal aliens come from other countries. |
When we talk about aliens, or things that are alien, we're talking about things and people that are different and strange to us. Like an alien from outer space. Some people are afraid of illegal aliens from other countries. Besides people, experiences can be alien. If you've never owned a cat, then having a cat is alien to you. You can also alienate people by making them feel weird, disconnected, and alone: like an alien. |
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| 1812 |
accessibility |
the attribute of being easy to meet or deal with |
Head Puritan and songwriter Jack Barnett has guided his band through three very disparate albums united by their near complete disregard for listener accessibility. The Guardian (Jun 20, 2013) |
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Accessibility is approachability. One of the things you may want to consider in a job is the accessibility of the managers. If you have a concern, are they available to help, or are they always in meetings or "at lunch"? |
Accessibility also refers to the quality of being available when needed. You like the accessibility of the company's customer service because you don't have to wait endlessly on hold in hopes of reaching a human being. Accessibility also refers to how easily a disabled person can negotiate part of a building or structure. The stadium had wheelchair accessibility with ramps and a special seating area. |
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| 1813 |
adaptive |
having a capacity for change |
And though they were not physically more robust, they reported less difficulty in getting around, possibly because of better adaptive equipment. New York Times (Jul 17, 2013) |
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Use adaptive to describe people who are flexible — they don't lose their cool when plans change quickly and they are always willing to learn new ways to do things. Being adaptive helps you sail along in today's ever-changing world. |
What do chameleons and your grandparents who only started using computers a few years ago have in common? They are adaptive. Just as chameleons change color to match their surroundings — green when sitting on leaves, brown when climbing the tree's trunk — your grandparents learned the skills to keep up with the world around them. The opposite of adaptive is stubborn. People, lizards, or anything that refuses to change are stubborn. To welcome change is to be adaptive. |
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| 1814 |
adjacent |
having a common boundary or edge |
The games, held over four days, were set to take place in the United Center and on its adjacent parking lots. Chicago Tribune (Jul 17, 2013) |
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Adjacent means close to or near something. You may consider the people up and down your street to be neighbors, but your next-door neighbor is the person who lives in the house or apartment adjacent to yours. |
Adjacent can refer to two things that touch each other or have the same wall or border. And the adjective is often followed by the preposition to: Her office is adjacent to mine. This word is from Latin adjacere "to lie near," from the prefix ad- "to" plus jacere "to lie, throw." |
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| 1815 |
aesthetics |
the branch of philosophy dealing with beauty and taste |
Aesthetics and ethics are related in complex ways, which make art less comforting than the art market would have us think. The Guardian (Jun 8, 2013) |
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Aesthetics is the study of beauty. That might sound funny, but any interior designer or art gallery patron has a thing or two to say about aesthetics. |
The philosopher, Alexander Baumgarten, gave us our current meaning of aesthetics. In the mid-1700s, he used the word to describe artistic beauty with the added bonus of a value judgment of good or bad taste. The public embraced Baumgarten's usage, and fashion mavens and art critics got a new word to describe the marriage of beauty and taste. |
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| 1816 |
ambiguity |
unclearness by virtue of having more than one meaning |
There’s enough ambiguity that you could argue a given case in many different ways. Slate (Jul 1, 2013) |
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Something with ambiguity is unclear. Think about the sentence, "Jill saw the man with binoculars." If you are wondering whether Jill or the man had the binoculars, you are noticing the ambiguity, or the double meaning, of this sentence. |
Lawyers word contracts to avoid ambiguity, but in doing so prevent anyone who is not a lawyer from understanding what they have written! If you can't choose between two decisions because both seem somehow wrong, you are dealing with moral ambiguity. Imagine if a friend who has helped you out many times asks you to cheat. It's wrong to cheat but it also seems wrong not to help someone who has been there for you. |
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| 1817 |
anachronistic |
chronologically misplaced |
Net metering are only symptoms of this more fundamental disconnect between emerging market forces and an anachronistic model used to regulate those market forces. Forbes (Jul 16, 2013) |
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Something that's old-fashioned and maybe a little out of place is anachronistic, like a clunky black rotary-dial telephone sitting on a desk beside a sleek new smart-phone (or whatever the new technology when you read this). |
The adjective anachronistic comes from the Greek words ana, or "against", and khronos, or "time." It usually refers to something old-fashioned or antique, but it can also mean anything that blatantly clashes with the time in which it is seen. Imagine watching a movie that takes place in the 1700s and seeing one of the characters pull out a cell phone. Any phone, in the context of the movie's time period, would be anachronistic. |
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| 1818 |
astounding |
bewildering or striking dumb with wonder |
Astoundingly, Wasserman Media represented the No. 1 overall draft pick last year in five professional sports: men’s and women’s basketball, baseball, soccer and football. New York Times (Jul 6, 2013) |
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Astounding is an adjective that describes something bewildering, like the astounding sight of a dog walking on two legs. |
When something is astounding, you might find yourself unable to speak — after all, astounding comes from the Middle English word astouned, meaning "to stun." If you see something that's astounding, you might just stare and stare, speechless. Astounding also describes something so surprisingly impressive that it overwhelms, like the astounding news that you just won the lottery. |
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| 1819 |
attenuate |
become weaker, in strength, value, or magnitude |
At too low a dose, the therapeutic effects of the drug are attenuated. Scientific American (Feb 4, 2013) |
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Attenuate is a verb that means to make or become weaker. The effects of aging may be attenuated by exercise (or by drinking from the fountain of youth). |
The versatile word attenuate denotes a weakening in amount, intensity, or value. As a verb, attenuate is usually transitive, meaning it needs an object to be complete, such as in the sentence: "This tanning process tends to attenuate the deer hide, making it softer." The word can be intransitive in past tense, as in "The rain attenuated, ending the storm." And it can even be used as an adjective to describe something weakened: "Even an attenuated solution will remove the stain." |
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| 1820 |
austerity |
self-denial, especially refraining from worldly pleasures |
Unemployment and austerity measures have curbed consumer spending. BBC (Jul 25, 2013) |
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If you've ever had a teacher who was particularly stern and strict, you might have (quietly) remarked on his austerity. When you're talking about the character of a person, austerity means "sternness and severity." |
Austerity's original meaning, taken from the Greek word austeros, was "bitter or harsh taste." While it's rarely used that way anymore, it's still a great description of the word's current meanings. As well as describing a personal quality of sternness, it also means "a simple, plain manner" and "an extreme frugality." So you could talk about the austerity of a very plainly decorated room or the austerity you're forced to live with ever since your parents stopped giving you a weekly allowance. If your lack of money had a taste, it might very well be "bitter or harsh." |
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| 1821 |
ad hominem |
appealing to personal considerations rather than to reason |
To put it politely, this is a cheap ad hominem attack. |
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An ad hominem remark appeals to personal feelings instead of logical reasons. If you're debating labor laws and you criticize your opponent's extra-marital affair instead of engaging his ideas, that's an ad hominem attack. |
Ad hominem is a phrase from Latin which means "aimed at the man." It's almost always used to describe a way of arguing or criticizing that ignores the larger issues at hand and just attacks someone's character. Unfortunately, political battles in the media often boil down to ad hominem attacks instead of thoughtful debate. |
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| 1822 |
affix |
a linguistic element added to a word |
By all means, affix sensors to my toilet bowl and examine my excretions. |
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When you affix something, you stick it on to something else. You might affix a stamp to a letter or affix colorful stickers to your notebook. |
The verb affix often refers to physically attaching something — like when you affix a label onto a folder — but it can be used more broadly to describe adding on something. You might affix your signature to a contract. If you like grammar, you might already know that the noun form of affix refers to letters or words that can be tacked onto other base words to alter their meaning. For example, the prefix un- is an affix. |
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| 1823 |
antonym |
a word that expresses an opposite meaning |
The direct antonym of cause is effect, while that of antecedent is consequent. |
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A word that has the exact opposite meaning of another word is its antonym. Life is full of antonyms, from the "stop" and "go" of a traffic signal to side-by-side restroom doors labeled "men" and "women." |
Most antonyms are pretty obvious, like "good" and "bad," or "black" and "white." Some words can be transformed into their antonyms simply by adding the prefixes "un," "in," or "non," as when "likable" is changed into its antonym, "unlikable." The word antonym itself takes the Greek word anti, meaning "opposite," and adds it to -onym, which comes from the Greek onoma, or "name." So antonym literally means "opposite-name." |
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| 1824 |
autobiography |
a book or account of your own life |
My autobiography, where I talk about my childhood in the camp in Arkansas, is in that library. |
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You are writing an autobiography when you write your own life story. A writer who writes an autobiography is like a painter who paints a self-portrait. |
If you intend to write your autobiography one day, it might be a good idea to start recording notes about your life in a diary. The author Gertrude Stein was being clever when she poked fun at the very idea of autobiography when she wrote her own memoirs but titled them The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, instead of The Autobiography of Gertrude Stein. |
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| 1825 |
bibliography |
a list of writings with time and place of publication |
I was disappointed in the book's lack of a bibliography, because you mentioned about 300 writers and titles that I'm now interested in picking up. |
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A bibliography is a list of writings by an author, such as the lengthy bibliography of Joyce Carol Oates, or a list of writings someone uses in a project, like the bibliography at the end of a research paper. |
Bibliography comes from the Greek word biblio, or "book," and graphos, which is "something written or drawn." So, a bibliography is made when someone writes a list of books or other written works. You may have included a bibliography with a research paper you have written, to give credit to your sources. However, due to the popularity of using internet sources instead of books these days, some writers prefer "Works Cited" over "Bibliography." |
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| 1826 |
biography |
an account of the series of events making up a person's life |
All of the kids were read short, positive biographies of famous Americans, half of whom were black and half of whom were white. |
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A biography is an account of somebody's life written by somebody else, complete with details of the most important parts. |
These days, anyone, of any age, can be the subject of a biography: Justin Bieber, at the tender age of 17, had one written about his life. A biography is not to be confused with an autobiography, an account of someone's life written by the subject himself. You'll find biographies in printed form (remember books?), but also increasingly in the form of e-books, TV dramatizations, and cinematic "bio-docs." |
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| 1827 |
choice |
one of a number of things from which only one can be chosen |
“The key is to offer a wide variety of choices.” |
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When you come to a fork in the road, you have to make a choice. If you can't decide, maybe you should flip a coin. |
If you have to choose between two schools, the one you end up going to is your choice. If there's only one option, we say we "have no choice," while "the choice is yours" means it's up to you. Choice can also be an adjective for something of high quality, something worth choosing. The choice apples had all been picked by the time you arrived, so you had to settle for the bruised ones. |
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| 1828 |
classical |
having the form used by ancient standard authors |
But could even greater treasures--including lost works of classical literature--still lie underground? |
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Has the building got columns in front of it? Check. Has the music got lots of strings and horns? Check. Chances are both are classical — representative of a past culture. |
Often classical describes anything from ancient Greek or Roman culture, because, boy, those guys were good. Be careful when using classical and classic; they're not exactly the same. While something classical is usually a classic, it doesn't necessarily work the other way around. A classic is something exceptional that we tend to judge in a different time frame. A classic rock album? Definitely not made by the ancient Greeks or Romans. So far as we know. |
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| 1829 |
classification |
a group of people or things arranged by category |
The government had promised international sponsors that ethnic groups could choose their classification. |
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Classification is the process of putting something into a category. Classification of all your clothes by color may make it easier for you to put together an outfit, especially if you favor a monochrome look. |
Classification involves putting things into a class or group according to particular characteristics so it’s easier to make sense of them, whether you’re organizing your shoes, your stock portfolio, or a group of invertebrates. If you’re an international spy, you might know that classification also can mean a government’s system for keeping secrets. If you have a high level of security classification, then you know really top secret stuff. |
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| 1830 |
climax |
the decisive moment in a novel or play |
And thus, the climax of a romantic movie is an engagement, or a kiss, or a handprint on a foggy car window. |
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When something — like a movie or piece of music — reaches its most important or exciting part, that's the climax. A climax is a high point. |
When you're on a roller coaster and you reach the highest point, that's the climax of the ride. This word is also used often in art and entertainment. In an adventure movie, there's usually a moment near the end when there's a lot of danger, suspense, and action — a point the whole movie has been building towards. That's the climax. After a climax, tension is released and things calm down. After a climax, you probably want to say "Whew!" |
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| 1831 |
closure |
something settled or resolved |
Until wreckage is found, there can be no closure for families of the 239 passengers and crew. |
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Closure is the end or the closing down of something. It can be physical — like the closure of your local library — or emotional, like the closure you experience when you finally come to terms with the end of a romance. |
Closure comes from the Latin claus ("shut"), and it has many different shades of meaning. A road closure blocks that road from traffic. If you find closure after an emotional hardship, you're ready to move on. An obstruction in a small passage, like a pipe, is also a closure, as is the button on your sweater. In debate, closure (usually cloture), stops debate and starts the vote. |
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| 1832 |
collective |
members of a cooperative enterprise |
That’s why we’re in this collective called a society: We share costs. |
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Collective is a word that describes a group of people acting together. A prom might turn into a smashing success through the collective efforts of the student body. |
The word collective indicates a group, and is often used in opposition to the efforts or will of an individual. Your neighbor who is the only one on the block who refuses to mow her law? She's going against the collective. A commune is a type of collective living situation, in which several families might live together and contribute for the benefit of the whole. If you work well with others, then you appreciate how collective efforts can often result in better results. |
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| 1833 |
colon |
a punctuation mark used after a word introducing a series |
“13.4c” explained how to introduce quotes with a colon instead of a comma. |
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In punctuation, a colon is the mark made by stacking two periods (:). The colon can be used to separate the hour and minutes in time (7:30 a.m.) or to introduce a list or a quotation. |
A colon is also a unit of money in both Costa Rica and El Salvador. It equals 100 centimos in the former and 100 centavos in the latter. When you travel to Costa Rica, you can trade dollars for colons. In medical terms, your colon is part of your digestive system, and its purpose is to extract water from solid waste. In humans, there are four parts of the colon: ascending, transverse, descending, and sigmoid. |
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| 1834 |
comma |
a punctuation mark (,) indicating the separation of elements |
By the way, you forgot a comma there, genius. |
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A comma is a punctuation mark that indicates a pause in a sentence or separates items in a list. A comma is also used before the words "and" or "but" to join two independent clauses. |
Commas come in handy when you're writing a grocery list: "Buy candy, chocolate milk, Pop Tarts, and gum." You can also use a comma to set off an adverb at the beginning of a sentence: "Therefore, I refuse to ride the roller coaster." The word comma has been around since the 1500s, and in Latin in means "short phrase," from the Greek komma, "clause in a sentence," or literally, "piece which is cut off." |
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| 1835 |
commercial |
an ad on radio or television sponsored by a business |
Its Super Bowl commercial last year featured video of a baby getting tossed in the air with a GoPro video camera strapped to his head. |
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Commercial is an adjective describing something with money-making and marketing intentions. If you’re a bit of a book snob, steer clear of commercial fiction, which is written for the widest enjoyment. |
The adjective commercial first appeared in the 1680’s, long before television commercials, which is probably what you think of when you hear the word. An al was added to commerce, and it meant "pertaining to trade." It wasn’t until the 1870's that commercial meant “done for the sake of financial profit,” and then later in the 1930's, the noun form was refined to describe “an advertisement broadcast on radio or TV.” |
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| 1836 |
communicate |
transmit thoughts or feelings |
The internet and social media mean we can communicate more freely than ever. |
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To communicate is to exchange words, feelings, or information with others. They did communicate through texting and picture sharing, but the hug he gave his mom when he came home from college communicated more love than any instant message. |
There are countless ways to communicate! Using an exclamation point in the first sentence is a way to communicate excitement at the many ways to use communicate. A facial expression can communicate joy or anger, and something written can communicate ideas and instructions. Cave men learned to communicate by drawing on cave walls, and people in modern times communicate electronically. Up close or far away, humans and animals — and some would say extraterrestrials, too — are born to communicate. |
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| 1837 |
comprehension |
an ability to understand the meaning of something |
But both measures—vocabulary and comprehension—are well-established indicators of mental ability. |
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The word comprehension means understanding. When you lack comprehension of a difficult word, you will likely need to look up its definition and usage in a cool, down-to-earth online dictionary! |
Comprehension actually comes from the Latin term, comprehensionem, which means "a seizing." When you have comprehension of a subject, you have seized information and incorporated it into your own knowledge. Any kind of mental grasping of an idea or a subject is a kind of comprehension. You might attempt comprehension of a curious situation, like the fact that your goofy roommate always manages to date models. Sometimes, such mysteries are beyond comprehension! |
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| 1838 |
conflict |
opposition in a work of fiction between characters or forces |
“Drama is made out of conflict,” he said. |
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A conflict is a struggle or an opposition. If you and your best friend both fall in love with the same person, you will have to find some way to resolve the conflict. |
Conflict comes from the Latin word for striking, but it isn't always violent. Conflict can arise from opposing ideas. If you want to turn your empty lot into a community garden but your wife envisions a shooting range, you have a conflict. If you're torn between two different desires, you're conflicted. Conflict can also be a verb. If you schedule a dentist appointment that conflicts with a meeting, you'll have to cancel one of them. |
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| 1839 |
consonant |
a letter of the alphabet that does not stand for a vowel |
Consonants, for example, are pronounced from the back of the throat with a sudden guttural puff of air. |
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A consonant is a speech sound that is not a vowel. It also refers to letters of the alphabet that represent those sounds: Z, B, T, G, and H are all consonants. |
Consonants are all the non-vowel sounds, or their corresponding letters: A, E, I, O, U and sometimes Y are not consonants. In hat, H and T are consonants. Consonant can also be an adjective that describes things that seem like they should go together, things that are "agreeable." You could say a nation's offer of aid is consonant with their treaties. When you hear consonant sounds in music, they are pleasing, the opposite of "dissonant" sounds which are harsh. |
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| 1840 |
contemporary |
belonging to the present time |
“It is our mission to collect objects that have a relevance to contemporary culture,” said Peter Hoffmann, a spokesman for the museum in Bonn. |
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Things that are contemporary are either happening at the same time or happening now. Contemporary art is recent art. |
In history class, if you hear that one famous person was a contemporary of another, that means they lived at the same time. Contemporaries are people and things from the same time period. Contemporary can also describe things happening now or recently. It's common to speak of contemporary music or contemporary furniture, for example. Those things are new, not old. Anything characteristic of the present day can be called contemporary. |
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| 1841 |
culture |
all the knowledge and values shared by a society |
Western culture imbues us with the idea of insect as monster. |
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A culture is a specific group of people during a particular time — like the hippie culture of the 1960's. Culture can also imply exposure to the arts. Visit a museum if you are in need of a dose of culture. |
A useful thing to remember about culture is that it is closely related to cultivate, whose root meaning is "to till the soil." Even in Latin, the source language, cultura was used metaphorically (Cicero said philosophy was cultura animi, the "cultivation of the soul"), and in English it moved from the agricultural sense to training, development of language and literature, mental development through education, and finally the ideas, customs, and intellectual and artistic conditions of a society or group. |
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| 1842 |
decide |
bring to an end; settle conclusively |
There are no juries at trials in South Africa, and his fate will be decided by the judge, assisted by two assessors. |
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To decide is to make up your mind to do (or not do) something. People decide hundreds of things a day, from what to eat to what TV shows to watch. |
Deciding involves making decisions — choosing what to do. There are a lot of things in life to decide, such as where to live, what school to go to, where to apply for a job, and what kind of clothes to buy and wear. At any restaurant, there are hundreds of options: you have to decide which is right for you. You can also say that if a touchdown ended a game, it decided the game. |
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| 1843 |
dialect |
the usage or vocabulary characteristic of a group of people |
This is another fun term derived from the cuckoo, known as a gowk in some Scottish dialects. |
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If the language you speak in your region is different in vocabulary, grammar and accent than the main form of the language, you speak a dialect. If your cousin in rural Arkansas can't understand your jokes, blame it on differences in dialect. |
Both an accent and a dialect contain variations in pronunciation from the standard form of a language. When you speak a dialect, however, you also use different words and grammar, sometimes to such a degree that speakers of the dialect and the standard form of the language have a hard time understanding each other. |
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| 1844 |
dialogue |
the lines spoken by characters in drama or fiction |
A Disney actor dressed as Merlin is there, reciting dialogue—“Let the boy try.” |
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If you land a role in a local play, you will probably have to memorize several lines of dialogue. If you disagree with how that play is being produced, you may want to open up a dialogue with the director. |
Dialogue can refer to spoken lines in a dramatic performance such as a play, a film, or a television show. It is also any conversation between two or more people. On the written page, dialogue between characters is usually enclosed by quotation marks. When persons representing different political parties or different nations are said to engage in a dialogue, it means they are probably negotiating something of importance. |
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| 1845 |
dictionary |
a reference book containing an alphabetical list of words |
“The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.” |
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A dictionary is a collection of words and their definitions (and sometimes other information). Such collections are usually printed as books, but some are now designed for use on computers. |
Dictionary originally came from the Latin word dictionarius, meaning "a manual or book of words." A dictionary is most commonly used to look up the definitions of particular words, but other information, such as etymology and usage guidelines, often appears as well. Electronic dictionaries can include even more information, like slang and popular texting acronyms, such as "ttyn," which stands for "talk to you never." |
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| 1846 |
different |
unlike in nature, quality, form, or degree |
In this video, he perfectly mimics the sounds of 30 different animals, from horses and pigs to lambs and even flies. |
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Something is different whether it is only a little or completely unlike something else. Not only are your two cats different breeds, but they are also different from your pet tiger. |
Often followed by the word than or from, different describes something that contrasts with, or differs from, something else. With roots in the Latin differre, meaning “to set apart,” different can also describe something that belongs in a whole other category. More recently, the word has picked up an additional sense — for something that is special or unique, in an extraordinary or sometimes negative way. That tie your dad has with the different kinds of peppers on it is definitely... different. |
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| 1847 |
digital |
of a circuit or device that represents magnitudes in numbers |
The artist uses digital technologies in his work as well as hand-crafted skills and traditional metalworking techniques. |
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While digital refers to something that can be manipulated by the fingers (called "digits"), it also is a type of electronic signal that uses a binary code (a system using numbers, or "digits") to transmit information. |
The Latin digitus means "finger or toe," so it makes sense that by adding the suffix -al, which means "being like," we get the adjective digital, "fingerlike." The idea of the word referring to numerals began around 1938, soon becoming vital in computers. It's easy to imagine the connection between fingers and numbers, as the first mathematical "calculators" were probably fingers and toes. Digital recording appeared in 1960 to challenge analog, soon becoming the broadcasting standard for clearer signals. |
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| 1848 |
documentary |
a film presenting the facts about a person or event |
Meanwhile, Animal Planet is airing fake documentaries about mermaids. |
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A documentary is a film or video examining an event or person based on facts. The word can also refer to anything involving documents. |
The idea of documentary as meaning "pertaining to documents" came about at the beginning of the 19th century. Later, it came to mean a factual record of something. On PBS, you'll see lots of documentaries, about everything from baseball to war. Those documentaries are nonfiction films — they're showing true life. However, lots of fictional shows are filmed in a realistic documentary style. If you make a documentary about the U.S. Library of Congress, you'll be documenting lots of historical documents. |
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| 1849 |
documentation |
confirmation that some fact or statement is true |
Both Kansas and Arizona require people registering to vote to provide a birth certificate, passport or other documentation proving their U.S. citizenship. |
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Your driver's license is documentation of your age, address, and that you have passed the tests required to drive a car. Documentation is certifiable proof, or a set of official documents. |
Your new computer probably came with a packet of documentation that shows you how to use it and explains what to do when it breaks. In this sense, documentation means the official documents of your computer. If you are the person preparing a packet of information about how to use a computer program to keep attendance at school, you are preparing the documentation of that process. |
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| 1850 |
drama |
a work intended for performance by actors on a stage |
“People’s lives being good is never good drama. So we’re always looking for more problems for these people.” |
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Drama is highly emotional. It can happen on stage, like a performance of "Hamlet," or in a gaggle of 7th grade girls, breathlessly dissecting why so-and-so broke up with what's-her-name. |
The word drama comes directly from Greek, meaning "action" or "a play." Which is no surprise, since ancient Athens was a hotbed of dramatic theater. The earliest recorded actor was a Greek named Thespis, and actors today are still called "thespians" in his honor. Drama doesn't always take place on the stage, though. You can use the word, sometimes with a roll of the eyes, to describe behavior or a reaction to a situation that appears a little overly emotional. |
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| 1851 |
element |
one of the individual parts making up a composite entity |
Breaking through in a cluttered marketplace requires expertise in all of the elements of storytelling. |
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An element is something basic and important––in chemistry, an element is one of the essential molecules that everything else is made of. If a book's ending carries and "element of surprise," it means surprise is an important part of the story's end. |
One of the earliest meanings of this noun was in reference to any of four substances, earth, air, fire, or water, that were formerly regarded as a basic constituent of the universe. When you're "in your element," it means you're enjoying yourself because what you're doing is basic and important to you––stand up comics are in their element when they're performing to a crowd who loves them. |
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| 1852 |
emphasis |
special importance or significance |
So across the country there’s been an emphasis on testing and an emphasis on measurements—sometimes at the expense of an investment in education itself. |
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While the emphasis, or main focus, for walking a dog might be on "answering the call of nature," the emphasis for the dog might be on chasing squirrels. |
If you say emphasis a little louder or with extra oomph in your pronunciation, you are putting emphasis on the word. This emphasis makes it clear that special attention, or emphasis, should be given to the word. Now, having repeated emphasis so many times, the "s" sound really stands out, sort of like in the word "stress." When you stress a point, you put emphasis on something — it is the main thing, the emphasis. |
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| 1853 |
enunciation |
the articulation of speech with regards to intelligibility |
He set the benchmark in enunciation, and he emphasized key words through changing the sound of the note on which the word was sung. |
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Enunciation is the act of pronouncing words. Make sure your enunciation is clear when ordering in a restaurant so you don’t get French flies instead of French fries. |
Enunciation is from the Latin word enuntiationem, meaning “declaration.” Enunciation is more than pronouncing words clearly; it’s expressing them well, too. No one would mutter a declaration! People with excellent enunciation (also known as diction) are likely to end up broadcasters, announcers, actors, or in other jobs that require public speaking. Politicians need to have good enunciation. People who mumble or speak too quickly have poor enunciation: it's hard to understand them, because their words slur together. |
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| 1854 |
epic |
a long narrative poem telling of a hero's deeds |
In Homer’s epic Odyssey, the great dog Argus plays a seemingly small, yet very profound, role. |
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An epic is a long poem or other work of art celebrating heroic feats. After you sail around the world for seven years, fighting corruption and planting vegetable gardens, some poet will surely write the epic of your adventures. |
Epic comes from the Greek for song, because Greek poets like Homer sung their poems. We tend to use epic for long, ambitious novels or movies, especially if they involve a long journey. Epic can be used as an adjective to describe something historically important, lasting and complex. Perhaps your great-grandfather was a soldier in the epic struggle of World War One. Your three day, sleepless card poker game could be described as epic. |
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| 1855 |
exaggerated |
represented as greater than is true or reasonable |
How could a news report possibly be trusted if the author exaggerated to increase its commercial appeal? |
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Exaggerated describes something that's been overstated, or described as more impressive than it really is. Your exaggerated details stretched the truth, but they sure made your story funny and memorable. |
Something that is exaggerated is described as better or bigger than it actually is, like your exaggerated description of the terrible day you had. Exaggerated can also describe something that is oversized, like the exaggerated collar on a funky sweater. The original meaning of exaggerated, in the early 1500s, was "piled up or accumulated." To spell exaggerate correctly, think of bragger. |
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| 1856 |
factual |
existing in reality |
"There is no factual basis for such conclusions and we reject these false and misleading allegations," military spokesman Ruwan Wanigasooriya said. |
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If something is factual, it can be proven, like your mother's story about the bear that is factual because she took a picture of it standing next to the family car. |
Something factual is real. It is based in fact, meaning it can be proven, repeated or observed. In fact, fact is the root of the word factual, from the Latin word factum, meaning "event, occurrence." The factual part of a story is the part that really happened — the rests gets more outlandish and make-up every time someone tells it. Evidence makes something factual. |
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| 1857 |
fallacy |
a misconception resulting from incorrect reasoning |
It’s an inane and baseless fallacy, a conclusion with no reasoning, a judgment with no facts. |
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A fallacy is a misleading argument or belief based on a falsehood. If you oppose state testing in schools, you think it is a fallacy that educational quality can be measured by standardized tests. |
Fallacy comes from the Latin fallacia, for deceit. It technically means a flaw in an argument that makes it deceptive or misleading. In poetry, the "pathetic fallacy" is the false idea that things like rocks or stars have human feelings (pathos). Fallacy can also be used more generally for any false statement or idea. Some synonyms are misconception and error. |
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| 1858 |
feedback |
response to an inquiry or experiment |
Leaders who try to be perfect harm their reputation when it makes them seem unapproachable or not open to feedback. |
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When you give feedback, it means you offer a helpful response to someone's work or idea. |
If you were recording your first album and you asked friends for feedback on which songs to include, you'd be asking them to offer their critical opinions on your music. Feedback is almost always offered or requested with the intention of improving the final product. Another meaning of feedback is a kind of sound distortion from an amplifier or microphone. This sense of electronic feedback has been around since about 1920, while the "critical response" definition didn't come into use until 1955. |
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| 1859 |
fiction |
a literary work based on the imagination |
Science fiction has always been the world of “what if.” |
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A fiction is a deliberately fabricated account of something. It can also be a literary work based on imagination rather than on fact, like a novel or short story. |
The Latin word fictus means “to form,” which seems like a good source for the English word fiction, since fiction is formed in the imagination. Like its literary cousins fable, legend, and myth, however, fiction has a slightly darker additional meaning: a deliberate lie or untruth. When we talk about "the line between fact and fiction," we're talking about the difference between truth and lies. |
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| 1860 |
film |
a series of moving pictures that tells a story |
In his own classroom, Blecher said he’s used verbal warnings about a violent murder in a film he was about to show. |
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A film, also known as a "movie" or a "motion picture," is a series of moving images shown on a screen, usually with sound, that make up a story. Some people like to see new films at the theater as soon as they're released. |
You might pretend to be a fan of French films while secretly preferring animated films. The movie itself is a film, and you can also use the word to mean the photographic strip of plastic that runs through a camera and captures the film's images. It's also a verb, meaning to use such a camera: "Let's film a scene where you play with my cat!" The Old English root word is filmen, "membrane or thin skin." |
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| 1861 |
fluency |
skillfulness in speaking or writing |
Communication difficulties can include problems with speech sounds, language, social interaction, voice or fluency. |
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Do you have a way with words? Can you speak and write easily? Then you have fluency. |
Fluency is a type of smoothness used most often when talking about language. You could study a language — like Spanish — for years and not really gain fluency. To have fluency — in other words, to be fluent — takes a lot of practice. Fluency can't be achieved overnight. That kind of expert use of language takes time, and it helps if you get a chance to visit a country where they speak the language you're learning. |
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| 1862 |
foreign |
relating to another place or part of the world |
These dish names look pretty foreign to the average college student eye, accustomed to the likes of pad thai, burgers and Chipotle burritos. |
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If it has to do with other countries or their people, it is foreign, like a French movie receiving a British award for Best Foreign Film. |
The adjective foreign is based on the Latin word foris, meaning “outside.” A foreign exchange student goes outside of his or her country to study. When you learn a foreign language, it is outside of the one you first learned. If you sleep late on the weekends, someone might say, "Getting up early on Saturdays is a foreign concept to you." This means it's outside of your experience and knowledge. |
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| 1863 |
formality |
a manner that strictly observes all forms and ceremonies |
Formal dress puts an emphasis on formality and presentation. |
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A formality is something that follows traditional rules. Even though you knew your request for time off at work would be approved, you still went through the formality of filling out all the required paperwork. |
Formality also means to align with customs or etiquette. In this way, a formality is often something that's more symbolic than necessary. For example, when a big group sits down to eat dinner together, no one starts eating until everyone is served. That formality of dining etiquette is a sign of good manners and consideration for others. If you're British, a formality of your culture is to curtsy or bow when you meet the Queen. |
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| 1864 |
function |
the actions and activities assigned to a person or group |
It is a change in the role of the manager, not an abolition of the function. |
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In the old "Schoolhouse Rock" song, "Conjunction junction, what's your function?," the word function means, "What does a conjunction do?" The famous design dictum "form follows function" tells us that an object's design should reflect what it does. |
Function is one of those words that gets used a lot and means lots of different things. It means what something does, but also what a person does, whether something or someone is doing what they should, and crazily enough, a big party. "Your function is to bring the senator coffee at the political function. He cannot function without it." |
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| 1865 |
gesture |
motion of hands or body to emphasize a thought or feeling |
She cannot speak, but communicates volumes with her eyes, vocalizations and gestures. |
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The thing to remember about gesture, whether you're using it as a verb or a noun, is that not only is it a movement of the hands or body, but it's also a movement that has some meaning, intention, or emotion behind it. |
When you use gesture, you are entering into a whole history of human communication, because there is no language that exists entirely without gesture (a fun fact to bring up at parties). People can't communicate without gesture. It's so connected to intention that there is a phrase "empty gesture," used to mean an action or movement that is without genuine feeling. |
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| 1866 |
glossary |
an alphabetical list of technical terms in a field |
Like the sports guide, the Financial Glossary provides definitions, use, and context information for commonly used terms that may not be familiar to you. |
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A glossary is a dictionary of terms specific to a certain subject. A biology textbook might have a glossary in the back, so you can quickly look up all those technical words. |
Many fields of study use terms that are pretty much restricted to that field of study, so authors often supply a glossary to help people understand what they're talking about. The glossary is often found at the end of a book or article and is usually in alphabetical order. A glossary can also come at the end of a chapter or even in footnotes. If you're just joining the world of Dungeons and Dragons, I recommend you look over the glossary, so you can get a sense of what your fellow gamers are talking about. |
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| 1867 |
guide |
something that offers basic information or instruction |
If anything in the news upsets you, read our guide to find out what to do. |
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A guide is someone who shows you the way. You'd be lucky to have a kind older sibling to act as your guide through middle school, giving you advice and helping you figure out the school and social scenes. |
A guide often leads tourists through a city, taking them to important sites, or assists a group of mountain climbers. Another kind of guide is a book of helpful instructions about what to see in a particular country, how to get along with your teenager, or the best way to grow orchids. When you guide people, you help them find their way, whether it's through the New York subway system or through the steps of building a campfire. |
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| 1868 |
historical |
used of the study of a phenomenon as it changes through time |
He also looks at genetics, because our genes provide a historical record, just as fossils do. |
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Use the adjective historical to describe something that happened in the past, like the historical details of your ancestors' immigration to the United States. |
When you're talking about events in the past, you can call them historical. Civil War reenactors might work hard to research the perfect historical costumes, and set designers for period films try to recreate rooms with historical accuracy, making them look just like they would have in the past. The word historical traces back to the Greek word historia, "a learning by inquiry, history, or record." |
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| 1869 |
hyphen |
a punctuation mark (-) used between parts of a word |
" Hyphen" is the overall name Cabeen gives these small-scale collaborations, and four out of five pieces in this year's edition, " Hyphen 2012," are brand-new. |
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When you're writing, a hyphen is useful for forming a compound word or separating the syllables of a word at the end of a line of text. The word merry-go-round uses two hyphens. |
Often, when you join shorter individual words into one more complicated, compound word, you use a hyphen. Words like twentieth-century, well-intentioned, and high-risk are examples of hyphenated compounds. Hyphen is a Greek word that means "mark joining two syllables or words," which most likely was originally used to describe the way words should be sung. |
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| 1870 |
idiom |
expression whose meaning cannot be inferred from its words |
Ms. Li said, “You miss a lot of idioms, cultural things,” if you don’t go to middle school or high school in the language. |
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An idiom is a form of expression that is particular to a certain person or group of people. If your friend always says, "squirrelly nuteriffic!" when she means something is great, she's using her own idiom. |
Idiom comes from the Greek idios, which means personal. Idiom originally meant "speech peculiar or proper to a people or country." These days we use idiom for a specialized vocabulary or an expression that isn't obvious, like kick the bucket which means "die." If you're studying a foreign language, idioms are the hardest phrases to translate. |
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| 1871 |
illustration |
a visual representation to make a subject easy to understand |
Together, the findings show that language matters more than illustration when it comes to learning about animals’ biology and psychology. |
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When the written instructions get tough, look for an illustration — a picture — to figure out what to do. Assembling furniture? Numbered diagrams and other illustrations can help you avoid the dreaded pile of "leftover" pieces. |
An illustration can also be a helpful example that isn't visual at all. A coworker who comes to work with a terrible cold and gives it to the whole office is an illustration of what happens when a boss discourages the use of sick days. You hope that the boss isn't an illustration of management at that company! If so, maybe these workers do need a visual: an illustration that shows hand-washing techniques and other ways to avoid germs. |
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| 1872 |
image |
a visual representation produced on a surface |
State television has sought to project an image of normality, showing images of packed beaches, happy people, and officials praising Maduro. |
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An image is a picture or other representation of a person or thing, or it can be someone's public perception, like a rock star who tries to change his image by dressing like a professor and learning to play chess. |
Image has its roots in the Latin word imitari, meaning "to copy or imitate"; images are judged by how realistically they capture the person or thing they show. Images come in various forms — portraits, photographs, paintings, and sculptures. Another kind of image is what we think a public figure like a celebrity is "really like." For example, a flat-broke former millionaire who wants to maintain his image as the money-spending life of the party. |
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| 1873 |
imaginative |
marked by independence and creativity in thought or action |
He changes the world around him through the creation of new systems, new inventions, and imaginative solutions to old problems. |
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To be imaginative is to be inventive and original. If you enjoy coming up with stories, writing songs, or just thinking about things in new ways, you’re an imaginative person. |
Great painters, musicians, and writers are imaginative. However, being imaginative isn’t just limited to the arts. When you're imaginative, you can develop a unique solution to a problem or issue. For example, an imaginative engineer might develop a new, more efficient way to construct a bridge. An idea or object that’s fresh and original — like that bridge the engineer designed — can also be described as imaginative. |
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| 1874 |
inconsistency |
the quality of lacking a harmonious uniformity among parts |
But inconsistencies between those new procedures and the original papers only fueled more confusion and suspicion. |
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When there's inconsistency, things are not the same. An example of inconsistency in parenting might be when parents give different allowances to kids who are the same age. |
There's a lot of inconsistency in the world. Some restaurants will serve delicious food most of the time, but not all the time. Teachers in different classes will have different rules for what is expected. Another type of inconsistency is between ideas or propositions. For example, if you want to lose weight but cannot stop eating donuts, there is a major inconsistency between those two ideas. Anywhere you find things that are changing or varying, there is inconsistency. |
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| 1875 |
indefinite |
not decided or not known |
Death for me now is not something in the indefinite future, it is in the immediate future. |
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The adjective indefinite describes something that is vague or not clearly defined: “After injuring her knee in a riding accident, Gloria postponed her vacation for an indefinite period of time.” |
You’ve probably noticed that a big chunk of the word indefinite is made up of a familiar word, definite — which means “specific” or “clearly defined.” The two words have common origins in the Latin word definitus (“definite”), but indefinite’s in- prefix gives the word the opposite meaning — "not clearly defined". Indefinite, wonderfully vague and undefined, is your friend for those times when your plans are up in the air (“indefinite plans”) or you don’t want to be pinned down to any particular timeframe (“on indefinite hiatus”). |
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| 1876 |
inference |
drawing a conclusion on the basis of circumstantial evidence |
Much is left to our own inference, which would be okay if we were given enough information to work with. |
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An inference is an idea or conclusion that's drawn from evidence and reasoning. An inference is an educated guess. |
We learn about some things by experiencing them first-hand, but we gain other knowledge by inference — the process of inferring things based on what is already known. When you make an inference, you're reading between the lines or just looking carefully at the facts and coming to conclusions. You can also make faulty inferences. If you hear a person's weight is 250 pounds, you might make the inference that they're overweight. But what if they're seven feet tall? |
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| 1877 |
informal |
not in accord with established conventions and requirements |
They have been mostly civilians formed into informal militias with mismatched uniforms. |
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If something’s informal, it’s casual and relaxed and doesn’t follow any particular rules or conventions, whether that's a style of writing, or the dress code for your dinner party. |
If you have informal plans to see your friend, that means you’ll get together but you’re not sure when — you’ll figure it out later. Informal also means “casual,” like wearing jeans and a t-shirt. Informal writing or speech is the linguistic equivalent of wearing jeans and a t-shirt, with a relaxed tone and simple words. In an informal football club, you don't pay dues to anyone, you just show up at the park and play with whoever is there. |
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| 1878 |
interview |
the questioning of a person ; often conducted by journalists |
Pollsters are confident they can interview about 1,000 people to measure the views of a nation of over 300 million. |
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Interview can be a verb or a noun, but whatever form it takes, it involves a formal meeting and asking or answering questions. When you go to a job interview, be prepared to answer questions about your strengths and weaknesses. |
The noun form of interview refers to a question-and-answer session. You’ve probably seen a TV interview with a famous person, or you may have gone to an interview with a college admissions director. The verb form of the word describes the act of asking the questions. You might interview a local politician for your school paper. Often an interview involves some kind of evaluation, so speak carefully if someone is interviewing you, especially if it's going to be published! |
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| 1879 |
journal |
a daily written record of experiences and observations |
“The day was splendid for it,” she wrote of the session in her journal. |
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If you keep a daily––or at least somewhat regular––written account of your life, you are keeping a diary or journal. A journal is also a periodical, such as a scientific journal or a scholarly journal. |
Journal comes from an Old French word which meant daily (jour being the French word for day, as in soup du jour, or “soup of the day”). You can keep a journal in an old notebook, on the computer, or on scraps of paper, but if you keep it in a book made especially for that purpose, then that physical book (whether you've written in it or not) is called a journal. |
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| 1880 |
language |
a means of communicating by the use of sounds or symbols |
One thing you don’t get taught when you learn a language is how to swear and argue. |
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A language is a system of words and grammar used by a group of people. When we write and speak, we're using language. |
Animals have amazing forms of communication, but the unique thing about people is our ability to use language. There are hundreds of languages in the world, and you might be learning a second language in school. A dictionary is an important tool in learning a language, but the grammar — how a language is put together — is a lot more complicated. Sign languages are languages too. You can also say that music and math have their own language. |
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| 1881 |
legible |
capable of being read or deciphered |
At least one letter, and perhaps two, is legible in the new signature, although one might be hard-pressed to name three. |
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Legible describes readable print or handwriting. If someone tells you that your writing looks like "chicken scratch," it might not be legible, except to other chickens. |
Legible goes back to the Latin word legibilis, meaning "that can be read." If you can read someone's handwriting, it is legible. The person might not have perfect penmanship, but if you decipher the letters, the writing is legible. People's signatures are especially notorious for not being legible — that's why we often must print or type our names below. |
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| 1882 |
linguistic |
consisting of or related to language |
Despite all of its considerable linguistic sophistication, the novel offers a blunt message: Words are good. |
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Use the adjective linguistic to describe anything related to language, like the linguistic difficulties you might have if you visit a place where you do not speak the same language as everyone else. |
The word linguistic combines the noun linguist, meaning "a master of language, one who uses his tongue freely," with the adjective suffix -ic. It describes something that’s related to language, such as a linguistic theory about why some people drop the g sound in saying words ending in -ing. Or, if you want to brag about how good your vocabulary is, then rave about your linguistic skills. |
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| 1883 |
literary |
relating to or characteristic of creative writing |
But James Bond began as the literary creation of writer Ian Fleming, who himself enjoyed a life as remarkable as his famous protagonist. |
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Use literary when you want to indicate writing with high artistic qualities. Something doesn't have to be "literature" to be literary, but they are related. |
Literary comes from the Latin litterarius, meaning "letters," as in letters of the alphabet. Think of literary writing as writing that explores the richness of language or even contributes to it, especially in a high cultural way. The clever rhymes you invented about your grade school principal's bathing habits made your classmates laugh, but that doesn't make them great literary achievements. |
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| 1884 |
literature |
writings in a particular style on a particular subject |
During the Cold War, the CIA loved literature—novels, short stories, poems. |
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Literature is writing, usually good, creative, or smart writing, or at least we hope it is. If you love books and have stacks of them at home, then you are a lover of literature. |
Literature comes from the Latin root litterātūra, or lettered, but there are higher standards for literature than just something written down. Novels and stories are considered literature. If you're a practicing psychologist, you have keep up with the current literature on psychology, which is what researching psychologists write, not novels about shrinks. You might want your profession to be literature, but you'll probably have to teach literature while you're waiting for the book deal. |
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| 1885 |
mechanics |
the technical aspects of doing something |
State Senator Dale Schultz was a rare Republican who voted against the bill, saying the party was “fiddling with mechanics rather than ideas.” |
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Mechanics is the science of things in motion. If you're a physicist and your specialty is mechanics, you most likely study the way physical bodies are affected by forces and how they affect their environment. |
Mechanics is one branch of physics — and some mathematicians are also focused on mechanics. You can divide this field of study into classical mechanics and quantum mechanics, but in either case it involves the study of motion and the forces that cause or result from motion. You can also use the noun mechanics when you talk about the inner workings or details of something, like the mechanics of baseball or the mechanics of the banking industry. |
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| 1886 |
memoir |
an account of the author's personal experiences |
Hillary Clinton’s upcoming memoir of her time in the Obama Administration will be released on June 10, according to a website for the book. |
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The beginning of a short memoir of your life might read like this: I was born on a dark and stormy night. My days remained blustery — school was difficult for me, and my parents argued all of the time. My luck changed when... |
A memoir is a person's own account of his or her life. Memoirs allow for a bit more literary freedom than autobiographies as they involve introspection and a creative view of your past. As you go through life or a phase in life, you can write things down in your memoirs so that at a later time, you can publish a memoir about it. |
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| 1887 |
message |
a communication that is written or spoken or signaled |
But the hard part of communication is often figuring out how to make sure a message doesn’t go in one ear and out the other. |
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A message is a communication or statement conveyed from one person or group to another. If you call my house phone and I’m out running an errand, you’ll be asked to “please leave a message after the beep.” |
Generally transmitted verbally or in writing, a message can also be sent via a look or a gesture. In today’s world, people tend to use email to send a short message. But in ye olden days, pre-internet and when the post was faster, people relied on the art of letter writing to send a message. The noun can also have a moral or pointed implication. For instance, the story's moral message was to always tell the truth. |
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| 1888 |
meter |
a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in verse |
We would rather be gushing about Milton’s meter or Woolf’s rhythms than explaining how to write academic arguments. |
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The machine at the parking space that takes your quarters is a meter. A meter is also a way of organizing and counting beats in poetry or music, and in the metric system, a meter is roughly equal to a yard. |
Despite the fact that meter has many uses, they all relate to the same things: counting and measuring. The parking meter measures how long you've been parked, while a car's speedometer measures speed. Meters and kilometers measure distance. In music and poetry, the meter is the rhythm or beat. English poetry, such as the work of Shakespeare, uses a meter called iambic pentameter, which sounds like da DUM, da DUM, da DUM, da DUM, da DUM. |
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| 1889 |
mood |
a characteristic state of feeling |
But we are sometimes more surprised to discover the impact of ancestral places, often places unknown to us, on our moods and emotions. |
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Are you feeling good or bad, cheerful or irritable right now? This is your mood. |
Mood refers to how you feel at the present time. If you want to ask your boss for a raise, wait until he or she is in a good mood. Don't ask, though, if he or she is "in a mood" - that means the person is grumpy. If you are in the mood for something like ice cream or spicy food, you would like to have it now. Mood can also describe the attitude of a group of people or the feeling of a film, novel or piece of music. |
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| 1890 |
moral |
the significance of a story or event |
The moral of the fable: Don’t sell the skin till you have caught the bear. |
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The moral of a story is the lesson that story teaches about how to behave in the world. |
Moral comes from the Latin word mores, for habits. The moral of a story is supposed to teach you how to be a better person. If moral is used as an adjective, it means good, or ethical. If you have a strong moral character, you are a good member of society. If someone is a cheat and a liar, you might say, "She is not a moral person." |
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| 1891 |
movement |
a series of actions tending toward a particular end |
The anti-smoking movement has never been louder or more prominent. |
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The noun movement means a change of position or location. If you're watching a play, you might notice that an actor's repeated movement from one side of the stage to the other shows her character's nervousness. |
A campaign to create some change or achieve a goal is another kind of movement, like the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s. A major section of a musical piece is also called a movement. Each movement of a symphony can have a different tempo and feel, working to build the piece toward a dramatic finish. Beethoven's Fifth Symphony has four movements. |
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| 1892 |
multiple |
having or involving more than one part or entity |
The simplest action—say, calling up a website or sending an email—involves communicating with multiple servers and routers along numerous paths. |
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When you're talking about more than one, you're talking about multiple things. A machine with many fixtures has multiple parts. A person that seems like two totally different people on different days might have multiple personalities. |
The word multiple comes from the Latin multiplus meaning "manifold." When something exists in multiple forms, it's manifold, or has many kinds. Think of a multiplex theater that can show multiple movies at once. Walk through a garden full of flowers and you'll see multiple kinds of blooms. A multiple is also a number that can be divided into another number without a remainder. Multiples of five, for example are ten, fifteen, twenty... — you get the picture. |
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| 1893 |
myth |
a traditional story serving to explain a world view |
Creation myths from Egypt to Scandinavia involve tidal floods of all sorts of substances—including the blood of deities—purging and remaking the earth. |
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A myth is a story that’s told again and again and serves to explain why something is the way it is. A creation myth, for example, is a story that tells how the world came into being. |
You may have studied Greek or Roman myths in which gods and goddesses wage war and play tricks on each other. These myths are not necessarily true stories from the past — the main idea is that they explain certain ideas about the world and how people act. The story might be accepted as true and serve to explain some fact about the world, or it might be known to be made-up but nevertheless illustrates something about people or history. |
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| 1894 |
nonfiction |
prose writing that is not formed by the imagination |
What puts him above the rank of most nonfiction authors, even some of the better ones, is that he doesn’t merely present information. |
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When you read nonfiction, you're reading about something that really happened — it's not a story somebody made up. |
Prose is divided into the two big categories of fiction and nonfiction, and nonfiction includes all kinds of things — biographies, histories, memoirs, how-to books, self-help, books on business, even books on writing. Narrative nonfiction relates stories that really happened but in a way that draws you in just like fiction does; it tells a true story, but with lots of drama and all the interesting quirks of the characters. |
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| 1895 |
nonverbal |
involving little use of language |
Because Glass includes video, the software understands even nonverbal communication; for example, if a patient points to the part of the body that hurts. |
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Something that's nonverbal doesn't use spoken words. Nonverbal communication might consist of hand gestures or facial expressions. |
Use the adjective nonverbal when you talk about a method of communicating without spoken language, or a person who isn't able to use speech. The word verbal means "in the form of words," from the Latin verbum, "word," so anything that's nonverbal happens entirely without words. You can probably tell from a friend's nonverbal cues that she's uncomfortable — her face or body language might give her away. |
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| 1896 |
overview |
a general summary of a subject |
A quick Google or Wikipedia search can generally help me define concepts, understand acronyms and abbreviations, and get a brief overview on a topic. |
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An overview is a general summary of something. An overview gives the big picture, while leaving out the minor details. |
If you take a class on American history, the class will be an overview: it will sum up the most important events that have happened, such as famous elections, national disasters, major wars, and economic trends. When writing an overview, you have to leave out a lot of details, because you're focusing on major points. You can give an overview of a company's business, of a sport team's season, or even of your own life. |
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| 1897 |
parallelism |
similarity by virtue of corresponding |
The same words are used in order to make the parallelism as close as may be, “Through Him” was creation; “through Him” is reconciliation. |
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You find parallelism between two things that are alike, like parallel lines. If your path in life is to save the world from an evil wizard, you can remark on the parallelism between your life and Harry Potter's. |
In English grammar, parallelism is used in sentence construction to give matching structure. In the sentence, "I like to read, dancing, and fighting off Zombie attacks," the parts of the list are not parallel. You can revise the sentence for parallelism: "I like to read, to dance, and to fight off Zombie attacks." Of course, if Zombies are attacking, they probably don't care if the sentence parts are parallel or not. |
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| 1898 |
parenthesis |
a punctuation mark used to enclose textual material |
There was no grammatical punctuation like commas or periods or parentheses that would slow the reader down. |
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A parenthesis is a tall, curvy punctuation mark used to set off material that isn’t fundamental to the main topic, like an afterthought or an aside (or a funny joke). |
Parenthesis marks come in pairs: the plural is spelled “parentheses.” Parentheses look like this: ( ). When you use parentheses to set off material in a sentence, you say that the material is “in parenthesis.” Put something in parentheses if it's a comment, an afterthought, or additional information that is possibly interesting but not essential to the subject. You can also describe something as a parenthesis, like a digressive story about horses in the middle of a political speech. |
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| 1899 |
perfect |
a tense of verbs used in describing completed action |
Eugene Hicks, who learned how to make tamales at age 13, has perfected the dish. |
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Something that is perfect is complete and without defect or blemish. It might also be precisely accurate or exact. |
The word perfect can also be used as a verb meaning — you guessed it! — to make something perfect. (Note, though, the pronunciation difference: PER-fect as a noun; per-FECT as a verb.) It originally comes from the Latin word perficere, which breaks down into per- ("completely") and facere ("do"). As a noun perfect is a grammatical term referring to a tense of verbs describing an action that has been completed. |
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| 1900 |
periodical |
a publication that appears at fixed intervals |
The word “blog,” isn’t in there, but that should be OK, because courts have counted blogs as a kind of periodical. |
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If your weekend ritual includes reading the Sunday paper from front to back and then comparing stories in the latest celebrity gossip magazines, you appreciate periodicals, publications that come out on a regular basis. |
The word periodical is related to period, as in a certain length of time. Periodicals are published with regular lengths of time between issues and are described by that length of time, whether it's daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annual. They may be meant for a general audience like the ones you find on the magazine stand in the airport, or they may be more specialized for readers with specific interests, such as The Journal of the Society for Penguin Appreciation or Window Washer Gazette. |
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| 1901 |
personal |
concerning an individual or his or her private life |
These blogs raise awareness, but the latest trend has been to raise funds directly after sharing a personal narrative. |
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When something's personal, it's all about you. A personal decision is one you make on your own and it’s probably about something that concerns you, too. Your personal possessions are things that belong to you. |
No doubt you've noticed the word person, in personal. The word comes from the Latin personalis, "of a person." Personal can be your personal habits — how often your brush your teeth, whether you like broccoli — or your personal space, or a personal attack — mean-spirited criticism aimed at somebody in particular. The "Personals" section in your local newspaper is where people place ads hoping to find true love or with other personal messages. |
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| 1902 |
phenomenon |
any state or process known through the senses |
Much is to do with the fact that our ability to sense and measure phenomena across the solar system is getting better and better. |
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A phenomenon is an extraordinary occurrence or circumstance. In the 1950s, rock-n-roll was considered a new cultural phenomenon, while today we think of crop circles as a mysterious phenomenon. |
Like many words with Greek roots, phenomenon started out as a science term. Scientists used it (and still do) to describe any event or fact that could be observed, amazing or not. An earthquake, for example, was a phenomenon, because you could see it (and hear it and feel it). Phenomenon is an example of a word having a specific meaning for one group of people that gets changed when used by the general public. |
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| 1903 |
playwright |
someone who writes plays |
The Hotel Plays by American playwright Tennessee Williams is a theatre experience set in the rooms and corridors of The Langham Hotel in London. |
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A playwright is someone who writes plays. Playwrights are also known as dramatists. |
Just as a poet writes poems, a playwright writes plays. If the spelling of playwright looks odd, that's because wright is a word for a craftsperson or someone who builds things (like a shipwright builds ships). Given the juggling of characters, scenes, and plots in a play, you can see how writing a play is like building something. The most famous playwright ever in English is William Shakespeare. |
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| 1904 |
poetry |
literature in metrical form |
The words from that famous American poet mean that anyone—even you —can write poetry. |
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Poetry is a form of literature that follows specific forms to create a rhythm and/or rhyme scheme. Without those elements we have the poetic form known as “free verse,” but it retains an elevated language that still makes it poetry. |
The noun poetry goes all the way back to the Latin poesis, meaning both "poetry" and "making." It usually refers to the specific genre of poetic works, a wide variety of styles tied together by the structured use of the language, but is also used to describe any especially beautiful language. The French writer Voltaire once said, “Poetry is the music of the soul, and, above all, of great and feeling souls.” |
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| 1905 |
presentation |
a show or display |
But he was surprised that almost all the websites needed to improve their content and presentation significantly, he said. |
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The noun presentation means the official giving, or presenting, of something. The presentation of diplomas at a graduation ceremony is the part that makes many of the parents in the audience cry. |
A presentation can be a ceremony of giving some gift or award, and it can also be a demonstration or show — like a dog training presentation at your local pet store. Another meaning of presentation is a style of displaying something — like the presentation of plants and flowers in the florist's window or the presentation of food on a buffet table. In the 1600s, presentation was commonly used to mean "show or play," as in "a theatrical presentation." |
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| 1906 |
progressive |
a tense of verbs used in describing action that is on-going |
For the last eight months, I’ve been doing the backstroke for half of my daily 40-minute swim to stabilize what had been progressive scoliosis. |
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People who are progressive favor reform and civil liberties: this is the opposite of conservative, and means something close to liberal. |
Progressive people are interested in change and progress. You're a progressive thinker if you like to think up new ways of doing things and you’re open to change. You have a progressive attitude towards gender if you dress girls in blue and boys in pink to challenge stereotypes. Progressive also refers to a type of verb tense, and to taxes that increase as your income increases. This word applies to lots of things that slowly increase or keep making progress. |
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| 1907 |
pronunciation |
the way a word or a language is customarily spoken |
And when it comes to accents, nothing divides English dialects more efficiently than vowel pronunciation. |
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Pronunciation is the way you say a word or the way in which a language is usually spoken. Think accents, silent vowels, upside-down e's, and that sort of thing. |
The word pronunciation is pronounced "pruh-nuhn-see-EY-shuhn." The English language is notorious for the irregularity of its pronunciation. Take, for instance, book and look, which have a different pronunciation from spook and kook; or doll and loll, which have a different pronunciation from toll and roll. What's with the upside-down e (ə)? It's called a schwa, and it's the symbol for the "uh" sound. |
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| 1908 |
proposition |
a statement that affirms or denies and is true or false |
There’s actually hard brain science supporting the proposition that the best ideas can come from breaking laws of reason. |
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A proposition is a proposed plan of action, a detailed suggestion. You might consider your friend's suggestion to set up a neighborhood snow-shoveling business after the blizzard a winning proposition. |
The noun proposition means something presented for consideration. In some contexts, that something being offered is sexual. Therefore, don't use the term proposition loosely. If you say that you made a proposition to your teacher, people could misinterpret you. It's safer to stick with suggestion. |
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| 1909 |
punctuation |
marks clarifying meaning by indicating separation of words |
We read the words in order and then, boom, punctuation mark. |
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Punctuation is marking that clarifies sentences. if you write a sentence that is a string of words even if theyre good words but you do it without punctuation then it will look like this making your reader unhappy |
Punctuation tells you when a sentence has come to an end, or if it's a question, and you can't write a sentence without at least one punctuation mark: the period. You can also use punctuation to talk about non-verbal emphasis. If you tell your dog to stop chewing your shoe, you might stamp your foot as punctuation. A slow speaker who chews slightly at the end of each sentence has an unfortunate kind of punctuation. |
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| 1910 |
quantitative |
expressible as an amount that can be measured |
Architects and interior designers, he said, study how people interact with buildings and rooms, but without much quantitative information. |
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If your boss asks you to do a quantitative analysis of this month's ice cream sales, he's not asking you to talk about how pleasant the customer interactions were. He wants numbers: how many cones did you sell of each flavor? |
If quantitative sounds like the word quantity to you, you're on the right track. Something that's quantitative is expressed in terms of quantity. When you're trying to figure out how well your new business is doing, there are all sorts of factors you need to think about, but only some of them can be measured in numbers. Those are quantitative. The other things, like say, how pleasant the room feels, would be qualitative, a word that's often paired with quantitative. |
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| 1911 |
recognize |
perceive to be the same |
Of course, it isn’t quite as scary when it’s just a scam—that is as long as you recognize that it’s a scam. |
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When, at a meeting, you wave your hand wildly, you want to be recognized. When the chairperson finally says, “I recognize the man who is about to fall out of his seat,” don't forget what you wanted to say. |
The verb recognize comes from the Latin root words re (again) and cognoscere (to know) – literally “to know again” or “to identify.” If your own identical twin doesn't recognize you, you might be wearing too much makeup. Recognize can also mean “to acknowledge” or “to appreciate.” When you recognize the donors for their generous contributions to your fundraising event, your parents say, “You're welcome.” |
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| 1912 |
record |
anything providing permanent evidence about past events |
The fossil record, therefore, is heavily weighted toward the seas, making it appear that they were the cradle of life. |
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Record started off meaning "to register," with a record being something written down. With the invention of the phonograph, record came to mean to capture sound––and a record was something that stored that sound. |
Bands record songs. If you record (re-CORD) your thoughts in a diary, you are making a record (REC-urd) of your life. If you get caught stealing, you'll find yourself with a criminal record, but if you're under eighteen, the theft will not appear on your permanent record. We look to the historical record to learn what happened in the past. |
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| 1913 |
reference |
a book from which you can seek authoritative facts |
A dictionary, they argued, should provide references of language use and help readers. |
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If you are writing a report for school, you are probably relying on a few references, or sources, for information. Or, if you are applying for a job, you may count on a reference from a previous boss to help you get the job. |
Good references are sometimes necessary to either get a job or to get a job done well. A reference is someone you can rely on to put in a good word for you when applying for a job. Or, a reference might be an outside source you use in a research paper. Don't forget: if you reference outside work, be sure to mention it in your bibliography or "list of references" so you don't get accused of plagiarism. Give credit where it's due. |
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| 1914 |
refrain |
part of a song or poem that recurs at regular intervals |
The refrain that I heard repeated over and over was: “It’s the most beautiful place in Japan.” |
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When someone burps in a quiet classroom it can be hard to refrain from laughing. Use the verb refrain if you have a sudden impulse to do something, and you have stopped yourself from doing it. |
It's usually hard to refrain from doing something, because this word is used to describe habits, like smoking, or uncontrollable urges, like laughing. The Latin word refrēnāre is formed from the prefix re- "back" plus frēnāre "to hold a horse back with a bridle." There is a noun refrain, but that's a different and unrelated word. |
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| 1915 |
reliable |
conforming to fact and therefore worthy of belief |
Social media is not always the most reliable source of news. |
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Calling something reliable means you can count on it to come through when you need it; it's dependable. If you're headed out for an around-the-world sailing trip, hopefully your lifejacket is reliable. |
You can certainly rely on something reliable because it's trustworthy and responsible. Reliable people usually show up on time, never flake out, and always tell the truth. A reliable car isn't likely to break down and will get you from place to place safely. And if you happen to lose your trusty sidekick, good luck looking for a reliable replacement. |
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| 1916 |
research |
a seeking for knowledge |
We are only beginning to understand what the nose knows, and we imagine ensuing research will continue to surprise and baffle us all. |
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In their spare time, teenagers LOVE doing extra research, by investigating the facts of a certain subject and studying and recording what they learn. And if you believe that, you need to do more research on the habits of teenagers. |
Research comes from the Old French word recercher, meaning "seek out," or "search closely." When you do research, you are searching for knowledge and facts. Although you write plenty of research papers in college, on anything from the Industrial Revolution to the meaning behind a fur-lined teacup, the term is often used when talking about science, because scientists use step-by-step research to prove what is true, or not true, in their line of work. |
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| 1917 |
rhyme |
correspondence in the final sounds of two or more lines |
“Like Emily Dickinson, I ain’t afraid of slant rhyme / And that’s the end of this verse; emcee’s out on a high.” |
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A rhyme is when the ending sounds of two words sound alike — like "mouse" and "house" or "complain" and "sustain." If you have a knack for rhyme, you might have a bright future as a poet. |
“True wit is nature to advantage dress'd; / What oft was thought, but ne'er so well express'd”: lines of rhyme written by English poet Alexander Pope. The way “dress’d” and “express’d” sound, that’s rhyme. Rhyme shares the same Latin root as rhythm, and poetry that rhymes does have a rhythm to it, like in a song. Rhyme is a noun for similar sounds or a poem that uses rhyme, and it’s also a verb, like saying, “What rhymes with orange?” |
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| 1918 |
role |
normal or customary activity of a person in a social setting |
The other motivation is, we better darn well train our young to take their responsible role in a democratic society. |
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A role is a part you play. In school, you might take on the role of clown, in your family, the role of the responsible one, on stage, the role of Juliet. |
Role can also mean job or function. It is the role of the police to keep the community safe, and political parties often argue about the role government should play in our lives. Roles can also be played by things. You can say that computers play an increasing role in our day-to-day lives and that the role of a hat is to keep your head warm. You look up to your role model because of the important role that they play in influencing others' lives. |
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| 1919 |
salutation |
word of greeting used to begin a letter |
We still teach "whom" in high school and use it as a salutation in letters to unknown recipients. |
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A salutation is a greeting, whether it's "Dear sir" in a letter or "Hey there!" in person. |
The expression "Greetings and salutations!" contains two words meaning pretty much the same thing: A salutation is a form of greeting. In a letter, the salutation is the part that says "To whom it may concern" or "Dear John." When we talk, we give salutations like "hello," "hi there," "hey," and "welcome." Another more formal type of salutation gives honor to others — like a salute. |
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| 1920 |
semicolon |
a punctuation mark used to connect independent clauses |
The semicolon represents a division in thought somewhat greater than that represented by a comma, and somewhat smaller than that represented by a period. |
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A semicolon is a punctuation mark that shows you there's a pause in a sentence; semicolons separate two complete clauses. |
Unlike a comma, which also indicates a pause in a sentence, a semicolon is used between related independent clauses. This means wherever there's a semicolon, it can be replaced with a period; however, this results in more abrupt, shorter sentences. You can also usually replace a semicolon with a comma followed by a conjunction like and, for, or but. The first printed semicolon appeared in 1494. |
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| 1921 |
sensory |
involving or derived from the senses |
Mr. Martin said that his philosophy as a writer is to show and not tell, and doing so requires “vivid sensory detail.” |
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The adjective sensory describes something relating to sensation — something that you feel with your physical senses. Sticking a knife into a toaster will give you a sensory experience, but so will smelling a rose. Stick with the rose. |
Sensory comes from the Latin word sentire, meaning "to perceive, feel." Sampling your mom's blueberry pie is a sensory experience — you can smell it, you can taste it, and the crust has a really good texture. You may get sensory overload when you're in New York City because there's so much for your senses to take in. Sensory can also describe a nerve fiber, such as a sensory neuron, that carries impulses to the nerve centers in your body. |
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| 1922 |
sequential |
in regular succession without gaps |
The first offering is for The Phantom Menace with others following in sequential order. |
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Use the word sequential to describe something that has a particular order, like a recipe for chocolate chip cookies whose steps must be followed in a sequential order. |
If you make a list of things you need to do, starting with number 1 and continuing until all your tasks are accounted for, then you’ve made a sequential list. Something that is sequential often follows a numerical or alphabetical order, but it can also describe things that aren’t numbered but still need to take place in a logical order, such as the sequential steps you follow for running a program on your computer. |
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| 1923 |
stereotype |
a conventional or formulaic conception or image |
Boys also feel pressure to adhere to old stereotypes that dictate that academic achievement isn’t cool. |
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A stereotype is a preconceived notion, especially about a group of people. Many stereotypes are racist, sexist, or homophobic. |
Have you ever heard someone say Irish people are all drunks, or African-American people are always late, or women are bad drivers? Those are stereotypes: commonly held ideas about specific groups. You most often hear about negative stereotypes, but some are positive. For example, there's a stereotype that Asian people do better in school. One of many problems with any stereotype is that even if it's true in some cases, it's certainly not true in all cases. |
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| 1924 |
suffix |
an affix that is added at the end of the word |
For example, the suffix “ologist” refers to someone who studies a field of knowledge. |
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In linguistics, the suffix is part of the word that's added onto the end, like the -ish in foolish. |
When a suffix is added to a word, it changes the form, like when adding the suffix -y turns the noun soap into the adjective soapy. You can also use suffix as a verb. If you suffix the word cake with -less, you end up cakeless, which is pretty sad, especially if it's your birthday. |
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| 1925 |
superlative |
the form of a word denoting the greatest degree or extent |
It’s a country of superlatives: home to the world’s longest wall, largest population, and fastest-growing major economy. |
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A superlative is the highest attainable level or degree of something. As an adjective superlative means highest in quality. |
When your history test results are superlative, it means you've gotten a perfect score — you've done as well as can be done, if not better than everyone else. There are times, however, when a superlative is an exaggerated expression of praise, as when a movie reviewer gets carried away with compliments and says in January that this is "the best film of the year." |
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| 1926 |
syllable |
a unit of spoken language larger than a phoneme |
Only one pair of words in the top 100 most common rhymes is more than one syllable: forever/together. |
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A syllable can be made up of just a vowel — "a" can be a syllable — or a vowel and one or more consonants — "skip" is one syllable, but three sounds, or phonemes: sk-i-p. |
When you're figuring out how many syllables a word has, you have to listen to how it's pronounced, not look at the spelling. Household is two syllables — which you'll hear when you say the word — even though it's got four vowels. Elephant is three syllables, and hippopotamus is five. You can also use syllable for the tiniest bits of language: "I loved every syllable of your speech," or "Please don't repeat a syllable of what I told you." |
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| 1927 |
technology |
the practical application of science to commerce or industry |
Everywhere you look, there is an article, blog post or tweet about one of the mega trends in technology—cloud, big data, mobility or social. |
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Technology is using science to solve a problem or create a product. You probably have some gadgets and gizmos, like cell phones and video games, that you really enjoy. These are products of technology. |
Technology consists of all the things science allows people to make and do. New cars, new surgical techniques, new computers, and even robots are all examples of technology. Since science is always advancing, technology is too. The more scientists learn, the more technology allows us to do — it's very exciting. |
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| 1928 |
tense |
a category of verbs used to express distinctions of time |
One day we worked on verb tenses: “I surf the Net, I surfed the Net, I was surfing the Net.” |
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When something's stretched tight, it's tense. A rope can be tense. So can a muscle. When a person's tense, they're anxious. |
When a situation is tense, you might say you could "cut the tension with a knife." When a muscle tenses up, it contracts suddenly–-a person can be said to tense up also. The opposite of tense is "relaxed." If you tense up during exams, it's probably best to learn some relaxation techniques. The brain works best when it's relaxed. |
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| 1929 |
thesaurus |
a book containing a classified list of synonyms |
Visual Thesaurus is the perfect tool for those moments when the right word is on the tip of your tongue. |
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A thesaurus is a reference book (or a really cool website, like the Visual Thesaurus) with an organized list of words and their synonyms. |
An Englishman named Peter Roget published the first modern English thesaurus in 1852. Roget had severe depression, and one of the ways he coped was to put his list-making and lexicographical (word analyzing) skills to use in a reference book that would group words, not alphabetically, but according to how similar their meanings were. This being the middle of the 19th century, there were no computers: Roget compiled and sorted all of his lists by hand. |
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| 1930 |
title |
the name of a work of art or literary composition |
The titles of these tales reflect that unease: “Atomic Bomb Thief!” and “Am I Man or Machine?” |
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A title is typically the official part of your name, placed at the beginning to signify a certain status or function. So, do you prefer "Mr.," "Mrs.," "Dr." or "Ms"? Or perhaps you just go by "Grand Pooh-bah"? |
There seem to be as many ways to use the word title as there are titles on a library shelf — because a title is also what you call a book or song or work of art. Titles are even given to statutes and acts of legislature. When you buy a car, you get a title, which is a piece of paper certifying your ownership. And when your favorite team wins the championship? You often say they won the title — and the right to brag. |
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| 1931 |
understand |
know and comprehend the nature or meaning of |
“Music is not what I do; it’s how I understand the world,” he said. |
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To understand something is to comprehend or get it. The more we learn, the more we understand. |
The goal of most education is to help students understand how the world works: history, math, English, music, science, and art are all complicated subjects that you need to practice and think about before you can really understand them. Understanding requires knowledge and thought. Another kind of understanding is like sympathy. For example, you might not approve of stealing, but you could understand why a guy would steal to feed his family. |
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| 1932 |
venue |
the scene of any event or action |
As well as big venues for sport, music and theatre, the park has water fountains that react to movement and an adventure playground. |
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A venue is the place where an event or meeting is happening. If you're going to see the best band ever, you should get to the venue early to get a good seat. |
Venue is derived from the Latin for "come" (venire), and it's a place people come to. Another meaning of venue is specific to the law as the place where a trial will be held, and the area from which the jury will be selected. If you're on trial for stealing, and you're known around town as "Sticky Fingers Magoo," your lawyer would wisely request a change of venue to give you a better shot at a fair trial. |
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| 1933 |
visual |
relating to or using sight |
With robots, kids learn programming via interactive play by moving a robot in various sequences and using intuitive, visual programming on a computer screen. |
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If you want to know the meaning of visual, just look around! Anything you can see falls under the heading of visual. What "aural" is to the ears and "olfactory" is to the nose, visual is to the eyes. |
It's often said that "film is a visual medium"; it uses pictures to tell a story. You have to see it to get it. That's clearly different from, say, radio which can only use audio. Have you ever closed your eyes while watching a cartoon? If you cut out the visual parts and just listen to the music and sound effects, it's often even funnier. As zany as the sounds are, they're even funnier when you separate them from their visual cues. Visual shares its root with vision, which is (not surprisingly) the ability to see. How visual! |
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| 1934 |
vocabulary |
a language user's knowledge of words |
But good news— vocabulary is one skill that continues to improve throughout life. |
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Vocabulary is all about words — the words in a language or a special set of words you are trying to learn. Vocabulary is so important, we even created a web site to help expand yours. |
First used in the 1500s to mean a list of words with explanations, the noun vocabulary came to refer to the “range of language of a person or group” about two hundred years later. A lot of hobbies, like fishing or knitting, require that you learn their unique vocabulary before you can get the most out of them. If you're in a rush, vocab is a faster way to say vocabulary. |
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| 1935 |
bizarre |
conspicuously or grossly unconventional or unusual |
Well, for the verbal part, the most important thing you need to know is those bizarre words they’re always sticking into the test. |
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Someone or something bizarre is odd or unusual in appearance, style, or character. If your teacher walks into class wearing a purple boa, lime-green cowboy boots, and a scuba mask, you might comment, "How bizarre!" |
Things that are bizarre often involve strange contrasts or unexpected elements. Bizarre was borrowed from French, from bizarro "angry, fierce, strange," from Spanish, "bold, like a knight." The Spanish word was probably influenced by Basque bizar "a beard," since beards were taken as signs of energy and spirit. Nowadays it takes more than a beard to get you labeled as bizarre. Unpredictable behavior is often called bizarre — like when your little brother decides that he will communicate only in Pig Latin. |
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| 1936 |
charlatan |
a flamboyant deceiver |
Do you know what a charlatan is? |
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A charlatan is a quack, a person who is trying to deceive you with false claims. Beware of charlatans who try to sell you access to the fountain of youth or to a Ponzi scheme disguised as an exclusive investment fund. |
A charlatan is one who pretends to possess knowledge he or she lacks. From the 16th century Italian ciarlatano "a quack," the usage of charlatan has not shifted much. Other words for charlatan are impostor, cheat, or pretender. Charlatans are marked by the elaborate schemes they cook up. Russian playwright Anton Chekhov said, "No psychologist should pretend to understand what he does not understand...Only fools and charlatans know everything and understand nothing." |
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| 1937 |
discerning |
having or revealing keen insight and good judgment |
Anyway, Axel is a very discerning guy. |
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Discerning people pick up on subtle traits and are good judges of quality — they're the ones who can tell if your cupcakes are homemade from the finest ingredients or totally from a box mix. |
Discerning is an adjective that comes from the Old French discerner, meaning to “distinguish (between), separate (by sifting).” Which makes sense, because someone with discerning tastes or a discerning eye is good at distinguishing the good from the bad and sifting out the gems from the junk. If you're an ace at picking out fabulous fabrics, accessories, and shoes when you get dressed each morning, you probably have discerning fashion sense. |
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| 1938 |
deleterious |
harmful to living things |
He told me that my weak vocabulary would be deleterious to my academic future; in other words, it would hurt my chances of getting into a decent college. |
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If something is deleterious, it does harm or makes things worse. Smoking has obvious deleterious effects on your health, not to mention your social life. |
My parents were worried that their divorce would have a deleterious effect on us kids, but in the end it was less harmful than watching them fight all the time. For most plants, a lack of sunlight has very deleterious consequences, but there are some plants that actually do very well in the dark. It's a wonder, given how well-established the science is, that we continue to do things that are deleterious to the fragile ecosystem. We must be willing to live with the deleterious effects. |
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| 1939 |
morose |
showing a brooding ill humor |
I became kind of morose when I realized that I would have to study long lists of words. |
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A morose person is sullen, gloomy, sad, glum, and depressed — not a happy camper. |
When someone is morose, they seem to have a cloud of sadness hanging over them. This word is stronger than just sad — morose implies being extremely gloomy and depressed. We all can be morose at times, like after the death of a friend or family member. Whether you're morose due to an event or just because you're feeling blue, you should try skipping or whistling a little tune to perk things up. |
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| 1940 |
chicanery |
the use of tricks to deceive someone |
There was no chicanery involved. |
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Have you ever gotten the sense that politicians or corporate leaders will say anything to turn public opinion their way? This tricky kind of deceit and manipulation is called chicanery. |
Besides chicanery, another funny-sounding word for trickery is shenanigans. Whereas the former is always used in the singular and involves deceptive language, the latter is usually used in the plural and refers to the actions of a person. Your crazy neighbor is up to his old shenanigans if he has begun doing weird stuff again, but if a politician's chicanery is exposed, he will lose public trust and not be returned to office in the next election cycle. |
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| 1941 |
cognition |
the psychological result of perception and reasoning |
Since I find cognition a somewhat tedious process, I figured other people might too. |
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Cognition is the act of thinking, perceiving, and understanding. It's cognition that makes it possible for you to learn a foreign language. |
The word cognition is most often used in scholarly or formal writing about learning and thinking, though you can also use it to describe what happens when you use your brain power to complete a crossword puzzle or remember math equations for a test. Cognition comes from the Latin verb cognoscere, meaning "a getting to know, or knowledge," combining com-, "together," and gnoscere, "to know." |
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| 1942 |
tedious |
so lacking in interest as to cause mental weariness |
Since I find cognition a somewhat tedious process, I figured other people might too. |
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If something is tedious, it's boring. If you're anxious to get outside and enjoy the sun, even the best lecture will seem tedious. |
Tedious is the adjective from tedium, which is both Latin and English for boredom. You ordinarily wouldn't use tedious for people, just things; you might say "His speeches are tedious," but usually not "He is tedious." Something that is tedious could also be called tiresome. Shakespeare's Friar Laurence says "I will be brief, for my short date of breath Is not so long as is a tedious tale." |
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| 1943 |
unadulterated |
without qualification; used informally as intensifiers |
I said to myself, “Why not give the students coming up a break? Why should they have to go through one month of unadulterated misery as I did?” |
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Something that's pure, not mixed with other ingredients, is unadulterated. If you stand in your yard every time it rains singing "Singin' in the Rain" with unadulterated enthusiasm, your neighbors will eventually call the police. |
Food or drink that is pure is also said to be unadulterated. Some people like chocolate milk, but you might prefer the unadulterated variety. The adjective unadulterated also means "without qualifications," and it can be used in a negative way to mean "complete and utter." You'd probably feel like an unadulterated idiot if you shocked yourself by sticking a knife in the toaster after being advised not to. |
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| 1944 |
sporadic |
recurring in scattered or unpredictable instances |
(It’s rare, but it happens sporadically.) |
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Sporadic is an adjective that you can use to refer to something that happens or appears often, but not constantly or regularly. The mail carrier comes every day but the plumber's visits are sporadic––he comes as needed. |
A specialized use of sporadic is to describe a disease that appears only occasionally in random cases, and is therefore not an epidemic. English borrowed the word sporadic from Greek sporadikós "scattered." A very near synonym is intermittent. |
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| 1945 |
prodigious |
great in size, force, extent, or degree |
Together, we have a prodigious vocabulary. |
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Something exceptional, substantial, or great is prodigious. A blizzard includes prodigious wind and snow. A prodigious writer is one who can write a lot and do it well. |
Prodigious is a word for things that are impressive. If you have prodigious strength, you're very strong. If your cat had a prodigious litter of kittens, then you've got a houseful of kittens. This is a strong word that's also kind of formal. Save it for things that really blow you away because of their quality or quantity. A little drizzle isn't a prodigious rain, but a storm that floods a whole city certainly is. |
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| 1946 |
denotation |
the most direct or specific meaning of a word or expression |
This gives you the denotation of the word as it is used in the episode. |
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Denotation means the literal meaning of a word or name. Although Paris might make you think of romance, its denotation is simply the city of an old tribe called the Parisii. |
The Latin word denotare means to mark, and denotation originally meant the act of marking or the expression of something through a sign. Now we tend to use denotation in opposition to connotation, which is indirect or symbolic meaning. The denotation of rose is a particular kind of flower, while the connotation is of romantic love; the denotation of river is a body of water, while its connotation might be the unending flow of time. |
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| 1947 |
lexicon |
a language user's knowledge of words |
All of these words are the ones the guys in Princeton, New Jersey who dream up the SAT assume to be part of a good student’s lexicon. |
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A lexicon is the vocabulary of a language or subject. "No-hitter," "go-ahead run," and "Baltimore chop" are part of the baseball lexicon. |
Lexicons are really dictionaries, though a lexicon usually covers an ancient language or the special vocabulary of a particular author or field of study. In linguistics, the lexicon is the total stock of words and word elements that carry meaning. Lexicon is from Greek lexikon (biblion) meaning "word(book)," ultimately going back to legein "to speak." |
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| 1948 |
gargantuan |
of great mass; huge and bulky |
My roommates and I keep a gargantuan one on our kitchen table in the house so we can look up words we meet in our travels. |
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Whether you're talking about your gargantuan appetite or a gargantuan building, use the word gargantuan to describe something so big that big just isn't, well, big enough to accurately describe it. |
The word gargantuan can refer to an object that's physically massive in size or it can describe something that you perceive, like a feeling or an expectation. For example, you might have a gargantuan misunderstanding with your best friend. The word gargantuan came into English in the 16th century from Gargantua, a character in a series of French novels by the author Francois Rabelais. The books followed the adventures of two giants who were father and son. |
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| 1949 |
pedestrian |
lacking wit or imagination |
It would be great if you could get this pedestrian stuff out of the way so we can get to know each other better. |
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A pedestrian is someone traveling by foot. If you're walking, you might get angry at the drivers who don't stop so you can cross the street. But if you're driving, you might fight the urge to run over those annoying pedestrians! |
Pedestrian comes from the Latin pedester meaning "going on foot" but also "plain." As a noun, it's someone walking around — sidewalks are for pedestrians. As an adjective it means "lacking wit or imagination." If someone calls your new poem pedestrian, they mean it's dull. If you want to impress your friends while also making them feel worthless, mutter "these people are SO pedestrian," at a party, loud enough for everyone to hear. |
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| 1950 |
daunting |
discouraging through fear |
Hey, I know the thing looks a little daunting, but I think the meanings are quite explicit. |
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Something daunting can scare you off. If you have a lot of studying to do, it may seem like a daunting task. Good news is you can get through it by working hard. Or weasel out of it by playing sick. |
Often used in the phrases “daunting prospect” and “daunting task,” daunting describes something that you are not looking forward to doing. Having to fill out complicated tax forms every year is a daunting task for many people. Once a daunting task is complete, you no longer describe it as daunting, but instead can call it a job well done, or at least another life experience survived. |
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| 1951 |
saga |
a narrative telling the adventures of a hero or a family |
See, I use many of the words I’ve taught you in each episode later in the saga so that you learn how they’re used in different ways and to help you remember them. |
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When your friend tells you every detail of how she tripped over a rock, broke her ankle, and then got into a car accident on the way to the hospital, she is sharing a long, involved story known as a saga. |
The word saga has its origins in the Middle Ages. In those days, a saga was an historical tale of the first families who lived in Norway or Iceland. Today the word is used to describe a very complicated or detailed series of events. A saga is the kind of long, drawn-out story that can cause the people who hear it to roll their eyes in boredom. |
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| 1952 |
disseminate |
cause to become widely known |
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Disseminate means to spread information, knowledge, opinions widely. Semin- derives from the Latin word for seed; the idea with disseminate is that information travels like seeds sown by a farmer. |
Think about a teacher distributing a hand out at the beginning of a class. The dis- of disseminate and distribute come from the same Latin prefix which means "apart, in a different direction." But unlike papers distributed in class, information, once spread around in all directions, cannot be pulled back in. Think about false rumors or political smear campaigns and you'll understand that dissemination is usually a one-way process. |
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| 1953 |
latent |
potentially existing but not presently evident or realized |
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Latent is an adjective that you use to describe something that is capable of becoming active or at hand, though it is not currently so. |
The adjective latent is a tricky word to define because it refers to something there but not there. That is, latent means something that is capable of becoming active or at hand but has not yet achieved that state. The word arrived in Middle English from the Latin word latēre which means "to lie hidden." It can have somewhat negative connotations because it is often used in a medical context, as in a latent illness or infection, but it can also mean good things, such as someone discovering they have latent talents or capabilities. |
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| 1954 |
aberrant |
markedly different from an accepted norm |
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Use the adjective aberrant to describe unusual conduct. Sitting in a bathtub and singing show tunes all day long might be considered aberrant behavior. |
For conduct that departs from the norm, aberrant is at hand to describe it if you want to set a formal, or even scientific tone to the discussion. You can put the accent on either the first syllable (AB-er-ent) or the second (uh-BER-ent); both pronunciations are acceptable. The Latin root aberrare means "to go astray," from the prefix ab- "off, away" plus errare "to wander." Other descendants of errare in English, like error and errant, have that double -r- and also refer to something that's either not wanted or not expected. |
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| 1955 |
coagulate |
change from a liquid to a thickened or solid state |
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When liquid starts to thicken and become solid, it coagulates. When you get a cut, the blood flowing from the wound will coagulate: it will start to clot and form a solid scab so you will stop bleeding. |
Many liquids have the potential to coagulate. If the cream you just poured into your coffee is spoiled, you'll see the cream coagulate as it curdles into little floating chunks. If someone has a heart condition that may result in a heart attack, he or she might take medication that keep the blood in the arteries from coagulating, or dangerously thickening. |
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| 1956 |
dissolution |
separation into component parts |
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The dissolution of a relationship means that it's broken up or ended. The dissolution of your band means you better get started on your solo album. |
Dissolution comes from the Latin word dissolutio, meaning "a dissolving of something." Dissolution looks very similar to "dissolve," so to help you remember the meaning, think about what happens if you put paper in water — it breaks apart. A dissolution of a marriage is the same thing as divorce. Although it sounds like disillusion, if you try to use them interchangeably, your logic will fall apart. |
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| 1957 |
garrulous |
full of trivial conversation |
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A garrulous person just won’t stop talking (and talking, and talking, and talking...). |
Garrulous comes from the Latin word garrire for "chattering or prattling." If someone is garrulous, he doesn't just like to talk; he indulges in talking for talking’s sake — whether or not there’s a real conversation going on. If you discover that you have a garrulous neighbor sitting next to you on the plane, you might just want to feign sleep, unless you really want to hear everything going through his mind for the entire trip. |
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| 1958 |
laud |
praise, glorify, or honor |
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To laud someone means to praise them extravagantly — usually in a very public manner. A music critic might laud a new song by calling it the best summer anthem ever created. |
The word laud is from the Latin word laudere, meaning "to praise.” To laud someone is to glorify them, or to sing their praises, even if you’re not actually singing. Movie reviewers might laud Oscar-nominated films, and your high school principal might laud the class valedictorian at graduation. |
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| 1959 |
coda |
the closing section of a musical composition |
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A coda is a concluding segment of a piece of music, a dance, or a statement. It's usually short and adds a final embellishment beyond a natural ending point. Like this. |
Coda comes from the Italian word couda, and it's good to think of it as a tail tacked onto something that in and of itself is already a whole. If you tell a story about your crazy experience getting lost in the country and sleeping at a farmer's house, you might add, as a coda, that the farmer ended up visiting you too, a year later. |
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| 1960 |
dissonance |
disagreeable sounds |
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Disagreeable sounds can be called dissonance. You know it's dissonance if you have the strong desire to cover your ears with your hands. |
Racket, noise, dissonance — all can describe sounds that are not pleasant. While some musicians purposely add a little dissonance into their melodies to create an unexpected sound, others, like someone who just started drum lessons, creates dissonance by accident. Dissonance can also be a conflict between people or opinions, like the dissonance you feel when you want to do something but your parents say "no." |
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| 1961 |
goad |
stab or urge on as if with a pointed stick |
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A goad is a pointy stick or other instrument used to prod something along. To goad is to poke something with that pointy stick. Either way, the pointiness is really essential for making things leap into action. |
Originally spelled gad, meaning “spearhead,” goad first came into use as a verb in the 1570s. But say you left your pointy goading stick at home. Have no fear! You can goad people with words, too. Literally or figuratively, a goad prods and pokes and provokes people into doing something. A sheep herder might hustle his flock along with a goad, just as your mom's constant nagging and goading might finally get you sit up straight at the dinner table. |
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| 1962 |
abscond |
run away, often taking something or somebody along |
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Abscond is to escape, often taking something along. As a kid, you may have absconded from your lemonade stand — with the coffee can of cash in hand, and your bewildered sister still filling cups for your customers. |
Abscond is generally used to describe someone running from law or capture, and the word abscond has been in use since the early sixteenth century — running away and hiding being nothing new. Dogs who get off the leash and dart into the woods are not necessarily absconding; they are simply making a break for it. On the other hand, the Ponzi schemer who went to live in the South of France with his client's money? He absconded. |
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| 1963 |
levee |
an embankment built to prevent a river from overflowing |
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A levee is an embankment, like a dam, constructed to prevent the overflow of a body of water. It can also mean a formal reception. How do these two words relate? Read on... |
In French, lever means to lift and se lever means to rise, literally "lift yourself." When the king rose from his bed and received visitors, that was a levee. When you raise up dirt or other materials to build a dam or levee, that's also a levee. Now, official levees don't involve kings––but you might hear of “a governor’s levee at the state capital.” And levee can be used as a verb, meaning to make an embankment, or shore up. |
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| 1964 |
commensurate |
corresponding in size or degree or extent |
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The word commensurate has to do with things that are similar in size and therefore appropriate. Many people think the death penalty is a commensurate punishment for murder. In other words, the penalty fits the crime. |
When things are commensurate, they're fair, appropriate, and the right size. If you got a ticket for jaywalking, you shouldn't get ten years in prison — that penalty is not commensurate with the crime. The word commensurate is usually followed by with or to; one thing is commensurate with or to another. |
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| 1965 |
distill |
undergo condensation |
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When you distill something, you are boiling it down to its essence — its most important part. Whether it's alcohol or ideas, the distilled part is the most powerful. |
The original meaning of distill comes from the process of making alcohol, known as distilling, in which all the impurities of a substance are vaporized and its pure, high-alcohol condensation collected. Distill eventually came to mean any process in which the essence of something is revealed. If you take notes at a lecture and then turn them into an essay for your professor, you're distilling your notes into something more pure and exact. At least, that's what you hope you're doing. |
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| 1966 |
compendium |
a publication containing a variety of works |
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When you search an online encyclopedia, you are searching a compendium of information on just about everything. A compendium is a comprehensive collection of something. |
You can also use the word compendium to describe a collection of written works. If you gather all of the anecdotes your parents and grandparents have told you into a book, you'll have created a compendium of family stories. The plural of compendium is either compendiums or compendia. |
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| 1967 |
diverge |
move or draw apart |
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When two roads diverge, they split and go in different directions. If your opinion diverges from mine, we do not agree. To diverge means to move apart or be separate. |
The poet, Robert Frost, wrote: "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -/ I took the one less traveled by / And that has made all the difference." The word diverge in the poem carries both the meaning of separating and of being apart from the main. As a poet, it was Frost's job to use words properly. Here he does not diverge from this role. |
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| 1968 |
gregarious |
temperamentally seeking and enjoying the company of others |
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If you know someone who's outgoing, sociable, and fond of the company of others, you might want to call her gregarious. |
The word was originally used to describe animals that live in flocks — it's from the Latin word grex, meaning "herd." Not surprisingly, people began using it to describe humans who liked being in groups. Today biologists still speak of gregarious species, but you're more likely to hear it in reference to people. Despite what you might suspect, it has no historical connection to the name Gregory — but if you know an outgoing fellow with that name, you could call him Greg-arious. |
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| 1969 |
complaisant |
showing a cheerful willingness to do favors for others |
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If only the world were populated entirely with complaisant people! Complaisant means willing to do something to please others, and complaisant people or animals are wonderful to be around. |
Don't confuse complaisant with its near-homonym complacent. Both derive from the Latin complacere "to please," but while complaisant means willing to do something to please another, complacent means smug and self-satisfied, something that you want to avoid when you're on the winning team. |
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| 1970 |
divest |
take away possessions from someone |
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It could be your wine portfolio, your stake in a mining company, or even the extra coats that are taking up space in your closet. Whatever it is, when you divest something, you get rid of it. |
Divest is sort of a fancy way to say “dispose of.” It’s often used in a business context to describe companies or governments that divest some of their holdings by selling them off. It can also be used in the sense of taking something away from someone. For example if your boss becomes insane and power mad, his handlers may divest him of his title, meaning his position is taken away from him. |
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| 1971 |
guileless |
free of deceit |
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If you are guileless, you are not a liar; you are innocent, and you might be a touch on the gullible side. |
To be guileless is to be without guile. Guile is "deceit, duplicity and trickery." The young and uninitiated are the ones we call guileless, and they are the ones who often get stung by the more heartless among us. You might recall being a guileless freshman trying out for the school play, and being told by a veteran performer that it would be best to come to the audition for Our Town in a chicken costume, so you did. |
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| 1972 |
compliant |
disposed to act in accordance with someone's wishes |
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If you are willing to submit to someone's request, then you are compliant. Parents like it when their teenagers are compliant and follow the rules. Teenagers, on the other hand, are probably not as compliant as parents would like to think! |
The adjective compliant can also describe something that is agreeable. "The lawyers made sure that the man's will was fully compliant with state law, so that his children could not contest his desire to leave his entire estate to his dog, Fluffy." Or: "That software is not compliant with your operating system; you'll have to buy a different version." |
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| 1973 |
gullible |
naive and easily deceived or tricked |
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If you are gullible, the joke is on you because you are easily fooled. |
It is thought that gullible might be derived from the verb gull, meaning "to swallow." This would be a funny coincidence as gullible describes an overly trusting person who tends to swallow the stories he hears whole. The related word, gull, can be used as a noun "don't be such a gull!" or as a verb "you can't gull me into believing that!" |
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| 1974 |
lucid |
transparently clear; easily understandable |
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Something that's lucid is clear and understandable. Lucid writing is important in journalism, so that readers easily get the point of the article they're reading. |
When what you write or say is lucid, it's straightforward and its meaning is crystal clear. You can also use the adjective lucid to describe your mind or thoughts when you're thinking in a rational, sensible way: "I was worried about my grandmother's confusion yesterday, but she seems really lucid today." Another meaning is "translucent," or letting light shine through — which makes sense since lucid comes from the Latin lucidus, "light or clear," with its root of lux, "light." |
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| 1975 |
aggregate |
a sum total of many heterogeneous things taken together |
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To aggregate is to collect many units into one. If you're writing a novel, you might create a character who is an aggregate of five or six real people. |
Aggregate comes from the Latin verb aggregare, which means to add to. As a verb it means to collect into a mass or whole. You can also use it as an adjective, as in your aggregate sales for February, March and April. It can also be a noun. The mountain of foam in bubble bath is an aggregate of small bubbles. If you plan to work in economics or business, expect to see the word aggregate quite a lot. |
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| 1976 |
conciliatory |
making or willing to make concessions |
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If you're in a fight with a friend and you want to end it, you should make a conciliatory gesture, such as inviting her to a party you're having. Conciliatory describes things that make other people less angry. |
The context is often a situation in which a dispute is settled by compromise. A synonym is propitiatory, though this adjective usually refers to avoiding the anger of someone who has the power to harm. In the word conciliatory, the –ory suffix means "relating to or doing," and the root is from Latin conciliatus, from conciliare "to bring together, win over," from concilium "council." |
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| 1977 |
dogmatic |
pertaining to a code of beliefs accepted as authoritative |
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To be dogmatic is to follow a set of rules no matter what. The rules might be religious, philosophical, or made-up, but dogmatic people would never waver in their beliefs so don’t even think of trying to change their minds. |
Dogmatic goes back to the Greek words dogma, which means basically “what one thinks is true” and dogmatikos, “pertaining to doctrine.” To be dogmatic is to follow a doctrine relating to morals and faith, a set of beliefs that is passed down and never questioned. It also refers to arrogant opinions based on unproven theories or even despite facts. Someone dogmatic might insist that dinosaurs never existed or that women shouldn’t drive. Dogmatic people are usually not very popular. |
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| 1978 |
harangue |
a loud bombastic declamation expressed with strong emotion |
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A harangue is more than a speech, louder than a discussion, and nastier than a lecture. It is a verbal attack that doesn't let up, delivered as a verb or received as a noun. Either way, it's pretty unpleasant. |
The word harangue developed its modern spelling around 1530, when the word was recorded as harangue in French. The word, meaning a strong, nasty rant, appears to have evolved from the Old Italian word aringa, probably from the word for a public square or place for public speaking. This in turn appears to have evolved from a Germanic word related to ring, as in "circular gathering," which is clearly similar to the Italian meaning. |
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| 1979 |
condone |
excuse, overlook, or make allowances for |
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If you condone something, you allow it, approve of it, or at least can live with it. Some teachers condone chewing gum, and some don't. |
Things that are condoned are allowed, even if everyone isn't exactly thrilled about it. People often say, "I don't condone what he did, but I understand it." Condoning is like excusing something. People seem to talk more about things they don't condone than things they do condone. Your mom might say, "I don't condone you staying up till 10, but I know you need to read." That's a way of giving approval and not giving approval at the same time. |
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| 1980 |
dormant |
inactive but capable of becoming active |
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That old dog was dormant for so long he was confused for a furry doormat, but a doormat is likely to stay dormant, or inactive, because it is lifeless: that old dog has some life in him yet. |
Volcanoes are described as dormant when they stay cool for a long time, without spewing hot lava and ash. They may have the ability to come to life, but they remain dormant, or inactive. Dormant comes from French dormir, "to sleep," and it refers to living things that are on a break rather than things that have died. Being dormant is being temporarily at rest, although sometimes, as with some cancer cells, things become permanently — and thankfully — dormant. |
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| 1981 |
homogeneous |
all of the same or similar kind or nature |
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If a group of things are homogeneous, they're all the same or similar, like a room full of identically dressed Elvis impersonators. |
The adjective homogeneous comes from the Greek homogenes, meaning “of the same kind.” You can break down the root of the word further into two parts: homos, meaning “same,” and genos, meaning “kind, gender, race, stock.” It sounds very scientific, but if you look around the table at home and everyone is eating a bowl of oatmeal, you could safely describe your family’s breakfast tastes as homogeneous. |
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| 1982 |
magnanimity |
liberality in bestowing gifts |
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Magnanimous behavior is noble, generous, or unselfish, and to exhibit magnanimity is to be this way. He showed great magnanimity in not pressing charges when I drove his car into the pond. "Accidents happen my friend," he said, and patted me on the back. |
In Latin, magnus means "great": a magnate is a great man; a magnum is a great big bottle of champagne. Magnanimity is the generous greatness of spirit. When you are being the bigger person, you are behaving with magnanimity. "The supermodel grabbed the magnum of champagne, lifted it to her mouth and drained the bottle. With great magnanimity, her host smiled and offered her another." |
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| 1983 |
confound |
be confusing or perplexing to |
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If you have an identical twin, you've probably tried dressing alike so that people confound you with, or mistake you for, one another. You've also probably learned that, unfortunately, this trick doesn’t work on your mom. |
The verb confound means both "to mistake" and "to confuse." If you decide to treat yourself to a delicious dessert, you might find yourself confounded by the overwhelming number of choices. If you end up ordering the chocolate cake but the waiter brings you chocolate mousse, the waiter has somehow confounded those two options. Another meaning you may come across in literature is "to damn," as in "Confound it! You are the most exasperating person on the planet." |
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| 1984 |
dupe |
fool or hoax |
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A dupe is a furry, ceremonial hat occasionally worn during ancient pagan rituals... or not. Dupe actually means “trick or deceive.” We’re sorry we tried to dupe you into believing the wrong definition. |
Dupe can also refer to the victim of a trick or hoax, and — used in this sense — it sometimes conveys the idea that the victim is easily fooled. Dupe comes from the French word for a type of bird called the hoopoe, which has an extravagant crest and a reputation for being dim-witted. (And no, that's not another attempt to dupe you; it's the truth!) |
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| 1985 |
malingerer |
someone shirking duty by feigning illness or incapacity |
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Have you ever pretended to be sick or hurt to get out of taking a test or doing a chore? Then you, my dear, are a malingerer, and should be ashamed of yourself. Shape up! |
Knowing that the prefix mal is from the Latin for “bad,” we can tell right off that being a malingerer is not a good thing. This noun form of the verb malinger comes from the French malingre which means “sickly.” (Obviously, it’s bad to pretend to be sick.) In Jack London’s Call of the Wild, the new dog, Pike, is referred to as “a clever malingerer and thief,” giving a clear negative context to the word. |
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| 1986 |
connoisseur |
an expert able to appreciate a field |
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A connoisseur is a person who, through study and interest, has a fine appreciation for something, like the connoisseur who can identify the clarinet player on a jazz recording by the sound of his inhalations alone. |
A connoisseur is an authority in his field, someone who has expert knowledge and training, especially in the arts. A connoisseur may also be someone with an extremely developed sense of taste, like the connoisseur who can identify rare wine by a flavor others can't even detect. Then again, some people call themselves connoisseurs of just about anything they like — pizza, old vinyl albums, even cartoons — because they know so much about it. |
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| 1987 |
contention |
the act of competing as for profit or a prize |
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There is nothing "content," or satisfying, about being in contention, and that's probably because the word contention means being in a competition that ends with one side, usually the winning one, being content. |
"And in this corner, the contender" is heard at most boxing matches to describe each of the fighters about to go into contention in the ring. Sometimes, though, a contention can be a battle of words or a struggle between two parties over a single point. The expression "bone of contention" describes a narrow object of disagreement that reaches the level of strife, or contention. For two hungry dogs, though, the bone of contention might be a serious matter. |
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| 1988 |
eclectic |
selecting what seems best of various styles or ideas |
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She listens to hip-hop, Gregorian chant, and folk music from the '60s. He's been seen wearing a handmade tuxedo jacket over a thrift-store flannel shirt. They both have eclectic tastes. |
The English word eclectic first appeared in the seventeenth century to describe philosophers who did not belong to a particular school of thought, but instead assembled their doctrines by picking and choosing from a variety of philosophical systems. Today, the word can refer to any assemblage of varied parts. You can have an eclectic group of friends (friends from diverse groups), eclectic taste in furniture (a mixture of 18th-century French chairs, Andy Warhol paintings, and Persian rugs), or enjoy eclectic cuisine (fusion cooking that uses ingredients from different national cuisines). |
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| 1989 |
idolatry |
the worship of idols or images that are not God |
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Idolatry means the worship of images as if they were gods. Many religions prohibit idolatry, some even to the extent of forbidding any representational objects in houses of worship. |
Idol sits at the head of the word idolatry. If you worship––or even just look up to––a person or a thing, you are said to idolize them. For some modern idolaters, money is their idol, while for others it is celebrities and for still others their jobs. |
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| 1990 |
maverick |
someone who exhibits independence in thought and action |
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A maverick is a rebel, someone who shows a lot of independence. A maverick on a motorcycle might blaze his own trail, or show a maverick touch in a rough sport by wearing a helmet with the word "Mom" inside a heart. |
Samuel A. Maverick owned a lot of cattle, and he let them roam around Texas without a brand, or identification mark, seared into their skins. Samuel was a maverick for going against the common practice of tracking his animals, and his last name became part of the English language as both an adjective and a noun in the 19th century. Someone who acts very independently is a maverick, and individual actions that stand out are maverick, as in "her maverick jumping style on the ice was both wild and delicate." |
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| 1991 |
contentious |
showing an inclination to disagree |
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A contentious issue is one that people are likely to argue about, and a contentious person is someone who likes to argue or fight. |
Some issues — like abortion, the death penalty, and gun control — are very controversial. They're also contentious, because people tend to argue about them, and the arguments will probably go on forever. Contentious issues get people angry and in a fighting mood. On the other hand, some people always seem to be in a fighting mood, no matter what the issue is. People like that are contentious too. |
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| 1992 |
mendacious |
given to lying |
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A mendacious person is one who tells lies habitually and intentionally. Don't get stuck at the water cooler or bus stop next to someone you consider mendacious! |
People may tell "white lies" if they forgot your birthday or really don't like your new haircut, but if you catch someone intentionally manipulating you with a falsehood, that person is just plain mendacious. So think of the most deceptive, insincere, perfidious, duplicitous, false person you've ever met, and then add the word mendacious to that list. |
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| 1993 |
contrite |
feeling or expressing pain or sorrow for sins or offenses |
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We are sorry to inform you that the adjective contrite means regretful, remorseful, or even guilty. |
Someone who feels remorse or guilt is contrite and in addition to feeling sorry, part of the definition includes wanting to atone for having done something wrong. The word comes from the Latin roots com- meaning "together" and terere which means "to rub." It's also related to the Latin word conterere and is defined as "to bruise." In the field of theology being contrite is "being remorseful for past sin and resolved to avoid future sin." |
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| 1994 |
effrontery |
audacious behavior that you have no right to |
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If you rudely behave as if you have a right to something that you have no right to, you're committing effrontery. When a couple stroll into a crowded restaurant, demand the best table, and threaten the staff unless they're seated right away, that's effrontery. |
People have been guilty of outrageously self-centered behavior at least since 1715, when effrontery was coined. Tracing to the French word effronté, meaning "shameless," the word effrontery is also connected to brazen, which means "of brass," and describes someone so accustomed to effrontery that he's hardened to it and has no concern for the harm done to others. |
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| 1995 |
impair |
make worse or less effective |
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If you make bad decisions in the morning after drinking coffee, you might conclude that caffeine tends to impair your judgment. When you impair something, you damage it or make it work poorly. |
The root of the verb impair traces back to the Latin word pejorare, meaning “to make worse,” and that’s still what happens if you impair something. Whether it’s communication, visibility, or your marriage prospects, if you impair it, you make it worse. The word can be used for situations that describe something that has deteriorated, such as “Snow continued to impair driving conditions.” |
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| 1996 |
metamorphosis |
striking change in appearance or character or circumstances |
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In Kafka's novel entitled Metamorphosis, a man wakes up to find he has turned into a cockroach. That kind of complete and startling change pretty much sums up the word. |
When a caterpillar becomes a butterfly, it goes through a metamorphosis. An idea can undergo metamorphosis, or metamorphosize, too as can feelings. After you spend a full summer with your grandmother, your feelings about the woman may undergo a complete metamorphosis. While you were once afraid of the old woman, you now love her dearly. |
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| 1997 |
conundrum |
a difficult problem |
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The tricky word conundrum is used to describe a riddle or puzzle, sometimes including a play on words or pun. |
One of the most famous conundrums is the riddle of the Sphinx, famously in the play Oedipus the King by Sophocles. Oedipus encounters the Sphinx, a mythical beast, who asks him, "What walks on four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three in the evening?" The answer is "A person": crawling as a child, walking as an adult, and using a cane in old age. The scary thing is that if the Sphinx asked you the riddle and you didn't know, she'd eat you! |
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| 1998 |
elegy |
a mournful poem; a lament for the dead |
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An elegy is a sad poem, usually written to praise and express sorrow for someone who is dead. Although a speech at a funeral is a eulogy, you might later compose an elegy to someone you have loved and lost to the grave. |
The purpose of this kind of poem is to express feelings rather than tell a story. Thomas Gray's “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” is a poem that reflects on the lives of common people buried in a church cemetery, and on the nature of human mortality. The noun elegy was borrowed in the 16th century from Middle French élégie, from Latin elegīa, from Greek elegeia, from elegos "mournful poem or song." |
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| 1999 |
impassive |
having or revealing little emotion or sensibility |
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Someone who doesn't seem to react — who is always "taking a pass" in the conversation of life can be described as impassive. |
Impassive is tricky, as it sounds it should be the opposite of passive. It's not, though. The fact is you can be passive and impassive at the same time. When a passive person gets passed over for a promotion at work, their face might remain impassive upon hearing the news. |
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| 2000 |
converge |
be adjacent or come together |
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Use the verb converge to describe something that comes together at a common point: “Thousands of Elvis fans plan to converge on the small Arkansas town where unconfirmed sightings of the deceased superstar eating at a local barbeque restaurant had been widely reported.” |
Two roads, a roomful of politicians, or a group of rabid fans — when things come together from different points they converge. Converge traces back to the Latin word vergere, meaning “to bend or to turn." The prefix con- means "with," a good way to remember that things that converge come together. Don't confuse it with diverge, which means the opposite: "move away," because the prefix “dis-” means “apart.” |
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| 2001 |
elicit |
call forth, as an emotion, feeling, or response |
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expire#caricature#arouse#boycott# |
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When you elicit, you're bringing out a response of some sort. A good comedian elicits a lot of laughs. |
Elicit has to do with creating or provoking a response. A great speech will elicit cheers — a bad speech will elicit boos. Teachers try to elicit responses from students. If a friend smiles at you, it will probably elicit a smile of your own. In court, a lawyer might try to elicit mistakes and inconsistencies in the testimony of a witness. In all cases, whatever is elicited is some kind of response. |
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| 2002 |
impede |
be a hindrance or obstacle to |
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To impede something is to delay or block its progress or movement. Carrying six heavy bags will impede your progress if you're trying to walk across town in a hurry. |
Impede comes from the Latin impedire which literally means "to hold the feet," formed from the prefix in- "in" plus pes "foot." Think about walking with a cast on your foot––how slow and awkward that would be. If you struggle with reading, that might impede your progress in your social studies class. An impediment is something that impedes, such as a physical defect that affects speech––a speech impediment. |
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| 2003 |
convoluted |
highly complex or intricate |
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If something is convoluted, it's intricate and hard to understand. You'll need to read over your brother's convoluted investment scheme a few times before deciding whether or not to go in on it. |
Convoluted comes from the Latin convolutus for rolled up together. Its original meaning in English was exactly that, first for eaves coiled up on themselves, then for anything rolled or knotted together. Over time convoluted took on its metaphorical sense of complicated and intricate, which is how it's generally used today. People complain about convoluted legal language and the convoluted tax code. |
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| 2004 |
embellish |
make more attractive, as by adding ornament or color |
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The word "bell" shows up in the middle of embellish, and bells are something that decorate, or embellish something, making it more attractive. If you embellish speech, though, it can get ugly if you add a lot of details that aren't true. |
Embellish often has the positive meaning of adding something to make it more handsome or beautifully decorated. But, while adding bells to something looks great at first, after a couple of hours of bells ringing in the ears, what was meant to embellish and beautify can get annoying. That's what can happen when you embellish by adding too many false or exaggerated details to a story. Embellishing with true, colorful details and vivid descriptions is what can really enhance the beauty of a story. |
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| 2005 |
impermeable |
preventing especially liquids to pass or diffuse through |
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If you have a waterproof raincoat, you could say that your coat is impermeable to the rain. Something that is impermeable does not allow water or liquid to pass through it. |
Made up of the prefix im-, meaning “not,” and the adjective permeable, meaning “allowing to pass through,” impermeable is used in much the same way as impervious or impenetrable. However, more so than these words, impermeable is especially associated with liquids and is often used in a scientific or technical context. Some gadgets, like waterproof watches and underwater cameras, are designed to be impermeable. |
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| 2006 |
mitigate |
lessen or to try to lessen the seriousness or extent of |
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Choose the verb mitigate when something lessens the unpleasantness of a situation. You can mitigate your parents' anger by telling them you were late to dinner because you were helping your elderly neighbor. |
The somewhat formal verb mitigate comes from the Latin roots mītis "soft" and agere "to do/act," which add up to "to soften." It is often used with words that indicate an outcome or something harmful. When you buy car insurance, you are trying to mitigate the risks involved with driving. Sunscreen is used to mitigate the effects of the sun on your skin. |
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| 2007 |
anomalous |
deviating from the general or common order or type |
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Something that deviates from the norm is anomalous. Something anomalous can be good, such as an exciting new direction in music or art. But that anomalously low score on your math test? Not so good. |
To find the origins of the word anomalous we can go back to the Greek anṓmalos, meaning "uneven or irregular." Something that is anomalous is not just different; it is also unexpected, and may even be completely inconsistent with the norm. For example, the recent discovery of ice, and therefore water, on the moon was anomalous to all previous ideas that the moon was lifeless. . |
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| 2008 |
mollify |
cause to be more favorably inclined |
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To mollify is to calm someone down, talk them off the ledge, make amends, maybe even apologize. |
Mollify comes from the Latin mollificare to "make soft," and that's still at the heart the word. When you mollify someone, you smooth things over, even if you're maybe still a little mad: "I was angry that the guy took my seat, but I was mollified when he offered me one closer to the band." Unlike the sharp sounds of antagonize, there are only soft sounds in this word that means to make someone feel soft and cuddly. Although dryer sheets might soften your clothes, they don't mollify them (unless your clothes were really mad at you before). |
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| 2009 |
daunt |
cause to lose courage |
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The Cowardly Lion in the Wizard of Oz appeared at first to be easily daunted, but, in fact, he showed unusual courage. Still, his efforts to daunt Dorothy, the Scarecrow, and the Tin Man were less than successful. |
When bringing a new kitten home you don't want to daunt it by forcing it out of its carrier too soon—open the door and let it come out when it's ready. Daunt means to frighten or scare off and, conveniently, it rhymes with haunt, another word which means to frighten, thought in a creepier sense. Daunt often shows up as part of the adjective undaunted, which describes someone who remains unafraid or perseveres in the face of scary circumstances. |
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| 2010 |
emulate |
strive to equal or match, especially by imitating |
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When you emulate someone, you imitate them, especially with the idea of matching their success. |
When someone is impressive because of their great skills, brains, strength, or accomplishments, others will emulate them. To emulate is to imitate and model yourself after someone. People emulate role models — people they want to be like. After Michael Jordan retired from the NBA, player after player tried to emulate Jordan's game and success. It's hard to be as good as someone like that, but having a hero to emulate can be helpful in many areas of life. |
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| 2011 |
default |
an option that is selected automatically |
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As a setting, a default is automatic. You weren't sure why your new TV kept returning to the factory defaults until you realized you were sitting on the remote. |
Default can also refer to a lack of other options. You shop at Green's by default; it's the only grocery store in town. Default is also a failure to pay a financial obligation. The number of loan defaults was down this month. As a verb, it means "to fail to pay." Your credit score will go down if you default on a loan. |
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| 2012 |
negate |
make ineffective by counterbalancing the effect of |
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If something neutralizes the effect of something else, then you can say the effect is negated. Hanging a disco ball from your living room ceiling negates the sleek modern effect created by the contemporary furniture. |
If something is proved false or untrue, it has been negated. The discovery of one dinosaur jaw negated the conventional wisdom that all dinosaurs were vegetarians, since the tooth structure proved that guy definitely ate meat. The verb negate can also mean to counteract or counterbalance — so a really strong serve can negate your other weaknesses on the tennis court. |
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| 2013 |
engender |
make children |
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Engender is a fancy way of saying "to make happen," like when you engender the spirit of teamwork and cooperation by encouraging others and doing your share of the group's work. |
The verb engender has nothing to do with being male or female, though originally, it did mean "beget, procreate." Today, engender means "to produce or bring about." When students come to class prepared, meaning they've read their assignment, this engenders better class discussions, just as mutual trust and the desire to help each other engenders a meaningful friendship. |
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| 2014 |
implode |
burst inward |
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When something implodes, it explodes inward — instead of outward. With extremely large buildings, it helps to implode them rather than explode them, because by falling inward they take up less space. |
Why bother to have a word like implode when you already have explode? Well, imagine there is something deep beneath the sea, being subjected to the intense pressure there. If the pressure is high enough that the object bursts, it would collapse in rather than out. It would, in fact, implode. People also sometimes use implode to describe a person subjected to intense pressures who, emotionally at least, bursts inward: "All that stress just made Jess implode." |
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| 2015 |
neophyte |
any new participant in some activity |
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A neophyte is someone who's brand new at something. You're a neophyte the first time you pick up a guitar and start learning to play. |
Neo- means new, and -phyte is from the Greek phuton "plant"––like a baby plant, a neophyte is someone who is new to an activity. In Greek, neophytos, literally "newly planted," was used to mean "new church convert." A political neophyte is someone who is newly elected and comes to Washington D.C. not understanding how the game of politics is played. A Frisbee neophyte is someone who has just thrown the disc for the first time. |
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| 2016 |
approbation |
official approval |
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Approbation is a formal word for approval or praise. Approbation is like getting the nod in a big way. Politicians rely on the public’s approbation to get elected. |
How is it possible that approbation means approval when probation is a form of being in trouble? Probation is a testing period, to see if you can be good. Approbation means it's all good. Or you can remember this rhyme: "Filled with approbation, the audience gave a standing ovation." |
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| 2017 |
delineate |
represented accurately or precisely |
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Though you pronounce it duh-LIN-ee-ate, there is a "line" in the middle of delineate. This might help you remember that to delineate is to outline and define something in detail or with an actual marking of lines and boundaries. |
When you create an outline for a paper it usually summarizes what you will detail later. You delineate the sections, or mark the heading lines, and when you write the details, you delineate the subject of each heading. So, to delineate is both to mark lines and to fill in the lines. Using a fence to divide properties or a carpet to claim your side of the bedroom also is a way to delineate, or mark, physical boundaries. |
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| 2018 |
denigrate |
charge falsely or with malicious intent |
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To denigrate is to say bad things — true or false — about a person or thing. Your reputation as a math whiz might be hurt if your jealous classmate manages to denigrate you, even though the accusations are unfounded. |
The verb denigrate comes from the Latin word denigrare, which means “to blacken.” To sully or defame someone’s reputation, or to spread negative or hurtful information about a company or a situation, is to denigrate it. Your neighbors may denigrate your proposal for mandatory recycling in an attempt to stop your plan. Denigrate can also mean that you're making something seem less important, like when your brother tries to denigrate your athletic achievements. |
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| 2019 |
ephemeral |
anything short-lived, as an insect that lives only for a day |
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Something that is fleeting or short-lived is ephemeral, like a fly that lives for one day or text messages flitting from cellphone to cellphone. |
Ephemeral (ə-FEM-ər-əl) was originally a medical term with the specific meaning "lasting only one day," as a fever or sickness (Hemera means "day" in Greek.) The word became more general, coming to mean "lasting a short time," covering the life spans of plants or insects and then eventually anything that is fleeting or transitory. A related word is the plural noun ephemera, meaning "things that are meant to last for only a short time." Posters for a rock concert are often ephemera, unless the band is so famous that they get saved and sold on eBay. |
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| 2020 |
inchoate |
only partly in existence; imperfectly formed |
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Inchoate means just beginning to form. You can have an inchoate idea, like the earliest flickers of images for your masterpiece, or an inchoate feeling, like your inchoate sense of annoyance toward your sister's new talking parrot. |
Inchoate comes from a Latin word for beginning. When something is inchoate, although you don’t yet understand what it is fully, you have a strong sense that it is indeed coming. It’s stronger than the wisp of an idea that never turns into anything. But it’s hard to really find the language to describe an inchoate idea. That’s the whole point: you don’t have the words for it yet! |
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| 2021 |
obsequious |
attempting to win favor from influential people by flattery |
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If you disapprove of the overly submissive way someone is acting — like the teacher's pet or a celebrity's assistant — call them by the formal adjective obsequious. |
There are many words in the English language for a person or an action that is overly obedient and submissive. Obsequious people are usually not being genuine; they resort to flattery and other fawning ways to stay in the good graces of authority figures. An obsequious person can be called a bootlicker, a brownnoser or a toady. You can also say that someone gives an obsequious bow, a gesture that means, "your wish is my command." |
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| 2022 |
deride |
treat or speak of with contempt |
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The verb deride means to show a low opinion of someone or something. The jerk would deride the other kids on the bus by calling them names or pulling their hair until the driver decided to de-ride him by kicking him off the bus. |
To "ride" people is to get on their case or give them a hard time, and to deride is to do the same with insulting language or poor treatment. Deride comes from the Latin root dērīdēre, meaning "to ridicule, to scorn," and it's often used to express dislike or even hatred. Criticizing something with words is a common way to deride, and politicians often deride each other in their speeches during election campaigns. |
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| 2023 |
equanimity |
steadiness of mind under stress |
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If you take the news of your parakeet's death with equanimity, it means you take it calmly without breaking down. Equanimity refers to emotional calmness and balance in times of stress. |
If equanimity reminds you of equal, that's because the words have a lot in common. The noun equanimity was borrowed from Latin aequanimitās, from aequanimus "even-tempered, fair," formed from aequus "even, level, equal" plus animus "mind." The archaic phrase to bear with equal mind means "to bear with a calm mind," and is a translation from the Latin. The phrase a level mind also refers to calmness. A near synonym is composure. |
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| 2024 |
artless |
simple and natural; without cunning or deceit |
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Yes, artless could mean lacking in art, but more often it means lacking in superficiality or deceit. An artless person could never make a living as a con artist. |
Originally meaning "unskillful" or "uncultured," artless evolved into meaning not skilled or cultured in the art of deceit. If you are artless, you are natural and uncontrived. Young people, animals, the socially inept — these can all be artless in the way they express themselves. They seem to mean exactly what they say. |
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| 2025 |
derivative |
a compound obtained from another compound |
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Alert: shifting parts of speech! As a noun, a derivative is kind of financial agreement or deal. As an adjective, though, derivative describes something that borrows heavily from something else that came before it. |
The economic meltdown of the last decade is due largely to the mismanagement of derivatives, which are deals based on the outcome of other deal. A movie plot might be described as derivative if it steals from another film — say, if it lifts the tornado, the witch, and the dancing scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz. |
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| 2026 |
equivocate |
be deliberately ambiguous or unclear |
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When you are unwilling to make a decision and almost intentionally go back and forth between two choices, you are equivocating. When politicians equivocate, they are often afraid of upsetting, and thus alienating, voters with their decisions. |
A key part of equivocate is the root vocate which come from the Latin vocare or "voice." When you give your voice to two opposing views in order to mislead or keep your options open, you're equivocating. Think of the expression, to talk out of both sides of your mouth. If you want to go to a party and your parents keep saying "maybe, it depends," tell them to stop equivocating and give you a straight answer. |
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| 2027 |
occlude |
block passage through |
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Occlude means to obstruct, as with an opening. You hear this a lot in a medical context. Heart surgeons are looking for occlusions in blood vessels––things that occlude the flow of blood. |
Occlude does not exist only in a medical context. If you close the bathroom door so your little brother won't come in while you're trying out makeup with your friends, you're occluding the bathroom. Meanwhile, your makeup occludes your pores. |
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| 2028 |
desiccate |
lacking vitality or spirit; lifeless |
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The verb desiccate means to dry out, dry up and dehydrate. It's helpful to desiccate weeds but certainly not crops. |
As anyone who's been stuck in the desert will tell you, being desiccated by the burning sun isn't much fun. Stemming from the Latin word desiccare, which means to "dry up," desiccate also means to preserve something by drying it out. Without desiccation, raisins or beef jerky would not be possible! |
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| 2029 |
erudite |
having or showing profound knowledge |
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If you call someone erudite, that means they show great learning. After you've earned your second Ph.D., you will be truly erudite. |
Erudite is from Latin verb erudire, "to teach," which comes from rudis for "raw, unskilled, ignorant" (the source of our word rude). If you bring someone out of a raw state, you educate them, so someone who is erudite is very educated indeed (and perhaps a bit of a showoff). You can say either ER-oo-dite or ER-yoo-dite; the second one, being a bit harder to say, can seem a bit more erudite. |
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| 2030 |
officious |
intrusive in a meddling or offensive manner |
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Though officious sounds like official, it means being annoyingly eager to do more than is required. "The officious lunch lady made everyone's food choices her business, and made nasty comments when students chose cookies over carrots." |
Officious is a tricky word as it seems like it might mean something like office or official. Instead, it is a word to describe someone that acts more official than they actually are. People who are officious are busybodies. They want to make their opinions known and followed, despite not having any kind of real power. |
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| 2031 |
desultory |
marked by lack of definite plan or regularity or purpose |
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If you lack a definite plan or purpose and flit from one thing to another, your actions are desultory. Some people call such desultory wanderings spontaneous. Others call it "being lost." |
The adjective desultory comes from the word desultor, which was a circus rider who would leap from the back of one galloping horse onto another. From this literal sense of jumping from one thing to another, we get the modern meaning of desultory as jumping between things without a logical purpose. |
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| 2032 |
esoteric |
understandable only by an enlightened inner circle |
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Pssst... do you know the secret handshake? If you haven't been brought into the inner circle of those with special knowledge, esoteric things will remain a mystery to you. |
In the olden days, achieving esoteric knowledge meant getting initiated into the mystical arts, learning secrets unknown to regular folks. Now when a subject is called esoteric it's usually something not so mystical but still hard to penetrate: financial accounting might seem esoteric for people who get easily stumped filling out their tax forms. Americans might find the sport of cricket to be esoteric, but the rules of baseball can be just as impenetrable to outsiders. The infield fly rule? Totally esoteric. |
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| 2033 |
indeterminate |
not fixed or known in advance |
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Indeterminate means not known or decided. When someone contracts a rare stomach parasite but has not been traveling internationally, you might say it had indeterminate origins. |
It's important to distinguish indeterminate from undetermined, which means not yet decided. When you buy an antique vase and don't know when it dates from, you might describe it as of an indeterminate era. If you are traveling and don't know when you plan to return home, you could say that your return is as yet undetermined. |
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| 2034 |
onerous |
not easily borne; wearing |
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If one teacher gives you three hours of homework a night, that's rough. But if all of your teachers do it, that makes the task of completing your homework an onerous one, to say the least. If something is onerous, it is very difficult to deal with or do. |
A near synonym is burdensome. In legal usage, onerous describes a contract or lease that has more obligations than advantages. Onerous derives from Middle English, from Old French onereus, from Latin onerōsus, from onus "burden." In English, an onus is a task or duty that is onerous, or very difficult. |
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| 2035 |
deterrent |
something immaterial that interferes with action or progress |
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A deterrent makes you not want to do something. Let's say there's a giant pile of cookies being guarded by an angry dog — the dog is a deterrent. |
People talk about deterrents most often when discussing crime. The death penalty is supposed to be a deterrent — the idea is that people will be so scared of the death penalty that they won't commit certain crimes. Jail is another deterrent. Teachers also use deterrents — the possibility of getting detention is a deterrent that should encourage students to behave. A deterrent is the opposite of a reward. A reward encourages you to do the right thing, while a deterrent discourages you from doing the wrong thing. |
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| 2036 |
eulogy |
a formal expression of praise for someone who has died |
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At every funeral, there comes a moment when someone speaks about the life of the person who died. The speaker is delivering what is known as a eulogy. A eulogy is a formal speech that praises a person who has died. |
Usually a eulogy makes the dead person sound a lot more impressive than they really were. A couple of less common synonyms for this kind of "praise the dead" speech are panegyric and encomium. Sometimes the dead person was so unimpressive that there's nothing nice to say. And sometimes they were so awful that the only appropriate speech is a dyslogy that describes their faults and failings. |
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| 2037 |
indigence |
a state of extreme poverty or destitution |
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Indigence is a synonym for extreme poverty. If you experience indigence, you have a critical need for food, money, and other resources. |
To correctly pronounce indigence, accent the first syllable: "IN-dih-genz." It means "great lack of material resources," like money. Indigence a noun, and indigent, an adjective, are related words that have to do with need. If you are indigent — suffering from extreme poverty — you are living in indigence, the state of extreme poverty. |
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| 2038 |
opprobrium |
a state of extreme dishonor |
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If you go against or oppose what's good, you might earn opprobrium — the opposite of getting attention for something good. Bad behavior leads to opprobrium. If you throw a soft drink off the theater balcony, the opprobrium might keep you from getting dates to the movies. |
Even though the words aren't related, the "opp-" of the word opprobrium sounds a bit like the "app" part of "inappropriate." Opprobrium isn't an action that leads to disgrace, it's something that comes from the inappropriate thing that was done. A very inappropriate act leads to opprobrium for the person who did the act. "Infamy" — extreme dishonor, often with lasting consequences — is a synonym for opprobrium. |
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| 2039 |
euphemism |
an inoffensive expression substituted for an offensive one |
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Pardon me, but when a polite term is substituted for a blunt, offensive one, you should call it a euphemism. |
Euphemism is from Greek euphemismos, meaning "good speech," and it's a way that we paper over uncomfortable things with more pleasant-sounding words. These days we tend to use euphemisms when talking about anything having to do with elimination of bodily waste: toilet, bathroom, and water closet were all originally euphemisms. The military is also notorious for using euphemisms, like saying "neutralizing the target" instead of "killing someone." |
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| 2040 |
indolent |
disinclined to work or exertion |
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Indolent is an adjective meaning slow or lazy. It can take an indolent teenager hours to get out of bed on a weekend morning. Often it's noon before he finally comes shuffling down to breakfast in his pajamas. |
An indolent person is slow and lazy — not the type of person you'd want running your corporation or competing with you in a relay race. Doctors use the word indolent to describe medical conditions that are slow to progress. If you're diagnosed with an illness, you'd prefer an indolent one over one that spreads quickly. |
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| 2041 |
oscillate |
move or swing from side to side regularly |
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On a hot day, you’ll be happy to have a fan that can oscillate, meaning it moves back and forth in a steady motion. |
The verb oscillate can be traced back to the Latin word oscillum, meaning "swing," so it makes sense that oscillate is used to describe an object like a fan or a pendulum that swings from side to side. The word also can be used to describe a different kind of motion — the wavering of someone who is going back and forth between conflicting beliefs or actions. If you’ve ever had trouble making up your mind about something, you probably know what it feels like to oscillate — back and forth from one decision and to another and then back again. And again. And again. |
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| 2042 |
dichotomy |
being twofold |
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A dichotomy is an idea or classification split in two. When you point out a dichotomy, you draw a clear distinction between two things. |
A dichotomy is a contrast between two things. When there are two ideas, especially two opposed ideas — like war and peace, or love and hate — you have a dichotomy. You often hear about a "false dichotomy," which occurs when a situation is unfairly represented as an "either/or" scenario. For example, the statement "All cars are either small and efficient or large and polluting" creates a false dichotomy because there are some cars that don't fit into either category. |
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| 2043 |
exacerbate |
make worse |
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For a formal-sounding verb that means to make worse, try exacerbate. If you're in trouble, complaining about it will only exacerbate the problem. |
Exacerbate is related to the adjective acrid, often used to describe sharp-smelling smoke. Think of exacerbate then as a sharp or bitter thing that makes something worse. A drought will exacerbate a country's food shortage. Worsen, intensify, aggravate and compound are similar, but exacerbate has the sense of an irritant being added in to make something bad even worse. |
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| 2044 |
inert |
unable to move or resist motion |
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Something that's unable to move or moving without much energy can be described as inert. Wind up in a body cast and you’ll find yourself not only itchy, but totally inert. |
When motion is restricted or sluggish, or when something or someone appears lifeless, the adjective to use is inert. A dog who's playing dead is inert, as is a really boring movie. Or for those of you paying attention in chemistry class, you may have heard of inert gases — those elements that won't react with other elements or form chemical compounds. |
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| 2045 |
ostentatious |
intended to attract notice and impress others |
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Reach for the adjective ostentatious when you want a flashy way to say — well, "flashy" or "showy." |
No one wants to be described as ostentatious, a word whose cousins include pretentious, flamboyant, and gaudy. It originates from the Latin word ostentare, "to display," but in English it's often used for displays of the crass or vulgar sort. A rapper's diamond-encrusted teeth might be an ostentatious display of "bling," and someone wailing especially loudly at a funeral of a distant acquaintance might be making an ostentatious show of sorrow. |
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| 2046 |
exculpate |
pronounce not guilty of criminal charges |
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To exculpate means to find someone not guilty of criminal charges. If you've been wrongly accused of robbery, you'd better hope a judge will exculpate you, unless you want to go to jail because you've heard prison food is amazing. |
Exculpate comes from two Latin words: ex-, meaning "from," and culpa, meaning "blame." Exculpate is similar in meaning to exonerate. When you exonerate someone, you clear a person of an accusation and any suspicion that goes along with it. Exculpate usually refers more directly to clearing the charges against someone. So if that judge exculpates you from the robbery charge, everyone in town might still think you did it. Get him to exculpate and exonerate you. |
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| 2047 |
ingenuous |
lacking in sophistication or worldliness |
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Someone who is ingenuous shows a childlike innocence, trust, and openness. One of the things kindergarten teachers value is the chance to work with kids while they're still relatively ingenuous––their open, trusting natures are a joy. |
A near synonym is naive. Its opposite is disingenuous, which means "giving a false impression of being honest and sincere." Don't confuse the word ingenuous with the similarly spelled ingenious, which means "very smart or clever." Ingenuous is from Latin ingenuus "having the qualities of people born free, noble, honest, open," ultimately formed from the prefix in- "in" plus gignere "to produce." |
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| 2048 |
paragon |
a perfect embodiment of a concept |
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Paragon applies to someone who is a model of perfection in some quality or trait. We link paragon with other words that follow it, such as "paragon of virtue" or "paragon of patience." |
A paragon means someone or something that is the very best. The English noun paragon comes from the Italian word paragone, which is a touchstone, a black stone that is used to tell the quality of gold. You rub the gold on the touchstone and you can find out how good the gold is. You are hoping that it is the paragon of "goldness." |
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| 2049 |
diffuse |
spread out; not concentrated in one place |
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Diffuse means to spread out. Candlelight can diffuse a soft glow throughout a room. A diffuse idea is one that spreads from person to person, and a diffuse speech is scattered and unclear. |
As a verb, diffuse means to spread something out, but also applies to spreading things such as ideas or culture so that they become widely known. When something is diffused, it's mixed in, and when you drop propaganda pamphlets out of airplanes you're diffusing the propaganda. The adjective comes from Latin diffusus, from diffundere "to pour in different directions," from the prefix dis- "apart" plus fundere, "to pour." |
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| 2050 |
inherent |
existing as an essential constituent or characteristic |
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Use the adjective inherent for qualities that are considered permanent or cannot be separated from an essential character. |
We use the adjective inherent to describe attributes that are part of the essential nature of something. It's different from you being tall, rather than being a description, it has to be a quality and this quality is unchangeable. So, for example, if you have never been able to eat spinach, you have an inherent dislike of it. |
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| 2051 |
aver |
declare or affirm solemnly and formally as true |
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To aver is to declare something is true or to state. This verb has a serious tone, so you might aver something on a witness stand or you might aver that you won't back down to a challenge. |
The verb aver comes to English via the Latin root words ad, meaning "to," and verus, meaning "true." The word can have the sense of formally declaring something is true, but it can also mean to report positively: "The grandmother averred that her granddaughter would make a fine veterinarian because of her love and caring for animals." |
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| 2052 |
digression |
a message that departs from the main subject |
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When your essay about French cooking starts describing a childhood trip to Disneyland, it's taken a digression — it's strayed from the main topic. |
"But I digress" is a phrase often used by people when they realize they're no longer "on-topic." A digression is like a tangent, only digression often describes speech patterns, whereas tangent comes to us from mathematics. Another trick to remembering the meaning of digression is its relationship to the word progression. A progression is a series of ideas which proceeds in the same direction; a digression, logically enough, is an idea that goes off in another direction. |
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| 2053 |
extrapolation |
an inference about the future based on known facts |
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An extrapolation is kind of like an educated guess or a hypothesis. When you make an extrapolation, you take facts and observations about a present or known situation and use them to make a prediction about what might eventually happen. |
Extrapolation comes from the word extra, meaning “outside,” and a shortened form of the word interpolation. Interpolation might sound like a made-up word, but it’s not. An interpolation is an insertion between two points. So an extrapolation is an insertion outside any existing points. If you know something about Monday and Tuesday, you might be able to make an extrapolation about Wednesday. |
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| 2054 |
innocuous |
not injurious to physical or mental health |
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Something that's innocuous isn't harmful or likely to cause injury. Public figures like mayors and governors have to expect they'll get critical or even hurtful emails and phone calls, as well as more innocuous feedback. |
The adjective innocuous is useful when you're talking about something that doesn't offend or injure anyone. Innocuous remarks or comments are meant kindly, and innocuous germs won't make you sick. An innocuous question is innocently curious, rather than aimed to hurt someone's feelings. The word comes from the Latin roots in-, "not," and nocere, "to injure or harm." |
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| 2055 |
dirge |
a song or hymn of mourning as a memorial to a dead person |
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A dirge is a song of mourning, performed as a memorial to someone who’s died. As you might imagine, a dirge is usually quite sad. Another word with a similar meaning that you might know is “requiem.” |
The noun dirge comes from the Latin dirige, which means “direct,” and is the beginning of a prayer that translates as “Direct my way in your sight, O Lord my God.” Dirge can still have a religious meaning, but it can also be any sad and mournful song, poem, or hymn composed or performed in memory of someone who has died. You can also say that something mournful sounds like a dirge, using the word in a more poetic sense. |
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| 2056 |
facetious |
cleverly amusing in tone |
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If someone is being facetious they’re being playful with an edge. A knock-knock joke isn’t facetious, but if you call it the most advanced form of comedy, you’re probably being facetious. |
The word facetious comes from the French facétie for “joke,” and has come to describe a joke with a little drop of sarcasm. It used to imply “funny and witty,” as in, “Oh what a facetious chap!” But now it has taken on a darker tone, like a joke that’s not quite appropriate. Whether appreciated or not, facetious things are not for real. |
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| 2057 |
insensible |
barely able to be perceived |
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The adjective insensible is used to describe someone who is unconscious. If you keep your bowling ball on the top shelf of the closet and it rolls out and conks you on the head, you will be probably rendered insensible. |
The adjective insensible describes a lack of emotional response or being indifferent. If your friend says that the roller coaster was so scary it nearly made him vomit and you shrug and say, "Eh, it was okay," he may think you are insensible to fear. A lack of physical sensation can also be described as insensible. If your nerve endings are not acute and you don't feel much pain, you are insensible to pain. This can be dangerous, though, because you might not notice if you get hurt skateboarding. |
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| 2058 |
paucity |
an insufficient quantity or number |
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The word paucity means not enough of something. If you've got a paucity of good cheer, for example, you'd better cheer up! |
One good way to remember the meaning of paucity is that it's a bit like pauper, as in The Prince and the Pauper. The prince had too much money, and the pauper had a paucity. There are a lot of words that mean "little" or "small," but paucity is used when you mean specifically "not enough" or "too little." People in LA don't understand how New Yorkers can live with such a paucity of space. For what New Yorkers pay for a tiny apartment, Angelenos get a house and a yard. |
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| 2059 |
disabuse |
free somebody from an erroneous belief |
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Disabuse means to free someone of a belief that is not true. Many teachers of health find that when they teach, they spend as much energy disabusing kids of false beliefs as they do giving them the facts. |
Disabuse is often connected to the word notion or idea. In singing lessons, you must disabuse young singers of the idea that they can sing better by singing louder. In the first year of college, many people are disabused of the idea that the way they are is "normal," by meeting so many people who represent other ways to be. |
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| 2060 |
facilitate |
make easier |
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To facilitate means to make something easier. If your best friend is very shy, you could facilitate her efforts to meet new people. |
Facilitate comes from the Latin facilis, for easy. It means to make something easier or more likely to happen. You facilitate growth or a process, as opposed to, say, dinner. Often in business meetings someone will be assigned to facilitate a discussion so people don't just sit in awkward silence. Synonyms are ease, simplify, expedite, and assist. |
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| 2061 |
beneficent |
doing or producing good |
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Beneficent is the type of act that helps others. If you're a beneficent person, you probably spend a lot of your time volunteering at soup kitchens or homeless shelters, helping people who are less fortunate than you are. |
Beneficent shares the same root and sentiment with its fellow adjective, benevolent, which also means something that is good. The two words are so closely related that they also share the same Latin origin. Another related word, benefactor, is someone who gives support to an organization or institution or someone who takes care of another person. Kind, generous, and giving are all synonyms of beneficent. |
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| 2062 |
fallacious |
containing or based on incorrect reasoning |
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Something fallacious is a mistake that comes from too little information or unsound sources. Predictions that the whole state of California will snap off from the rest of North America and float away have proven to be fallacious — for now, anyway. |
Fallacious comes ultimately from the Latin fallax, "deceptive." The word fallacious might describe an intentional deception or a false conclusion coming from bad science or incomplete understanding. A tween's assumption that anyone over 20 can't understand her situation would be fallacious; we have all been young once too. |
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| 2063 |
insipid |
lacking interest or significance or impact |
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Something insipid is lacking in flavor or interest. You'll probably find the generic poems inside of greeting cards insipid. |
Insipid comes from the Latin insipidus, the opposite of sapidus which means flavorful. Because spices and salts are left out, hospital food is usually considered insipid. The most common use of the word is in a metaphorical sense for dull or flat. You might think that your goody-two-shoes cousin is the most insipid girl you've ever met. |
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| 2064 |
bolster |
support and strengthen |
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When you cheer up a friend who's feeling down, you bolster them. To bolster is to offer support or strengthen. |
A bolster is also the name of a long pillow you might use to make your back feel better. And the two uses are not dissimilar. When you bolster your friends, you support them and prop them up, just like the pillow does for your back. When you're trying to bolster your credibility, you find people and/or documents that support you or your view. Bolster efforts to learn this word! |
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| 2065 |
discordant |
not in agreement or harmony |
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If you believe that movies should entertain, but your friend insists that movies should inspire, then the two of you hold discordant views on the purpose of movies. That means your opinions are in conflict. |
You can see the word discord in discordant. Discord is tension felt between people who strongly disagree about something. So discordant describes experiencing discord, a lack of harmony. A discordant conversation at your dinner table may make some people upset — they want everyone to get along. Discordant can also describe harsh and unpleasant sounds, like the blaring horns in city traffic. |
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| 2066 |
insularity |
the state of being isolated or detached |
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The noun insularity refers to the quality of being isolated or detached. In fact, the word is based on the Latin word insula, for "island." The phrase "no man is an island" means that no one can be completely separate from others. |
The word insularity has a sense of detachment and insulation, but sometimes the meaning is extended to mean being narrow-minded. Parents always try to protect their kids from harm, but sometimes their insularity goes too far. If you grew up in the 1950s, for example, your parents may have wanted to protect you from the evils of Elvis and rock and roll. |
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| 2067 |
penury |
a state of extreme poverty or destitution |
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Penury means extreme poverty to the point of homelessness and begging in the streets. Economic downturns, job loss, shopping sprees, and weekends at the high rollers' table in Vegas can lead to penury. |
Penury comes from the Latin word penuria, which, though it sounds like something contagious, actually means scarcity. It's not a word that turns up often in casual conversation or even on nightly newscasts. You're more apt to spot it in a college textbook or maybe an editorial in The New York Times. |
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| 2068 |
bombastic |
ostentatiously lofty in style |
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To be bombastic is to be full of hot air — like a politician who makes grand promises and doesn't deliver. |
What does cotton padding have to do with the word bombastic? Bombast was cotton padding or stuffing in the 1500s. Bombastic evolved as an adjective to describe something (or someone!) that is overly wordy, pompous, or pretentious, but the adjective is most often used to describe language (speech or writing). Still not seeing the connection to cotton padding? Think of writing or speech that is overly padded and you'll understand how the meaning came about. |
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| 2069 |
intractable |
difficult to manage or mold |
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Can't manage your stubborn little brother who won't do what anyone says? You could call him intractable, or you could call your mother. Problems are intractable when they can't be solved. |
Intractable means not tractable. Helpful, right? No? Let's break it down. In both words you see the word tract. A contract is a written document that explains how a legal situation is to be managed together. When someone is tractable they are able to be managed or handled. When they are intractable, they are as unmanageable as a hungry two-year old. |
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| 2070 |
perennial |
lasting an indefinitely long time |
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Perennial typically describes things that are permanent, constant, or repeated. If you fight with your parents every year over whether they really must invite your annoying cousins for Thanksgiving, you could call that a perennial conflict. |
Arguing with your roommate about who cleaned the bathroom last time might be a perennial argument. There is also a perennial plant, which lasts more than two years and usually reappears each spring, because it produces flowers and seeds from the same root structure. Perennial comes from the Latin perennis, from the prefix per-, "through," plus annus, or "year." Annus is also the source of our English word annual — an annual plant lives only one year or season. |
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| 2071 |
boorish |
ill-mannered and coarse in behavior or appearance |
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If your cousin tells revolting jokes, belches, and smells like he spent the winter in a cave, he could be described as boorish — an adjective used for people with bad manners and a sloppy appearance. |
We almost always use the word boorish for men. This may be because it can be traced back to a 13th century word for “herdsman.” Herdsmen spent a lot of time alone with their sheep, sleeping in tents, and cooking over open fires, so it was no wonder that they didn't have the same refined manners as city folk. If someone offends you by acting boorishly — say, by cutting you off in traffic — you could exclaim, “What a boor!” Just don't confuse boor with bore: bad manners may be offensive, but they're rarely boring. |
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| 2072 |
discrepancy |
a difference between conflicting facts or claims or opinions |
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A discrepancy is a lack of agreement or balance. If there is a discrepancy between the money you earned and the number on your paycheck, you should complain to your boss. |
There is a discrepancy when there is a difference between two things that should be alike. For example, there can be a wide discrepancy or a slight discrepancy between two objects, stories, or facts. The noun discrepancy is from Latin discrepare "to sound differently," from the prefix dis- "from" plus crepare "to rattle, creak." |
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| 2073 |
intransigence |
stubborn refusal to compromise or change |
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If you refuse to compromise with your sister about whose turn it is to do the dishes, your mother might accuse you both of intransigence. Intransigence is a stubborn refusal to change your views. |
Inside of intransigence you see the Latin transigere which means to come to an understanding. People who show intransigence refuse to do this. Nations are often accused of intransigence when they refuse to comply with international standards or will. |
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| 2074 |
discrete |
constituting a separate entity or part |
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Discrete means separate or divided. A discrete unit is a separate part of something larger. A room is a discrete space within a house, just as the crankshaft is a discrete part of a car engine. |
If something is discrete, it has its own space. An ice cube comes from an ice tray, but it has its own discrete compartment. A student government might have discrete committees for different projects. Don't confuse discrete with its close cousin discreet, which means “appropriately private.” Billionaire Bruce Wayne, for example, is very discreet about his secret life as Batman. You could say Batman is a discrete, or separate, part of Bruce Wayne’s identity. Anything distinct and separated is discrete. |
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| 2075 |
fervor |
feelings of great warmth and intensity |
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Use fervor to describe an intensity of emotion or expression. Fans of the Los Angeles Dodgers show so much fervor that they "bleed Dodger blue." |
This noun comes to us from Latin fervere, meaning "to boil, glow." In the English word fervor, the suffix –or means "a condition or property of something." There is another –or suffix that means "a person or thing that does the thing expressed by the verb." A corresponding adjective is fervent; synonyms of the noun and adjective are ardor and ardent. |
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| 2076 |
inundate |
fill or cover completely, usually with water |
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To inundate means to quickly fill up or overwhelm, just like a flood. Your bathroom could be inundated with water if the pipes burst, and hopefully your inbox is inundated with nice emails on your birthday. |
Commonly used to refer to a deluge of water, inundate can also refer to an overflow of something less tangible, like information. Right before the holidays, toy stores are often inundated with eager parents scrambling to get the latest action figures and video games. Attempt to read the entire dictionary in one sitting and you'll inundate your mind with vocabulary. But you probably won't remember any of it tomorrow. |
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| 2077 |
perfunctory |
hasty and without attention to detail; not thorough |
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Perfunctory means done as part of a routine or duty. If you give someone a gift and they look at it like it's roadkill and say nothing about it but a perfunctory "thank you," you might not be giving them another one anytime soon. |
A person who does something in a perfunctory way shows little enthusiasm or interest in what they are doing. Many of our everyday greetings are perfunctory. For example, when we say hello and how are you, it's usually done out of habit. Perfunctory is from Latin perfunctus, from perfungi "to get through with, perform," formed from the Latin prefix per- "completely" plus fungi "to perform." |
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| 2078 |
disingenuous |
not straightforward or candid |
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Use the adjective disingenuous to describe behavior that's not totally honest or sincere. It's disingenuous when people pretend to know less about something than they really do. |
Disingenuous combines dis-, meaning not, with ingenuous (from the Latin gen-, meaning born) which was originally used to distinguish free-born Romans from slaves, and later came to mean honest or straightforward. So disingenuous means dishonest. Ingenuous is less common now than disingenuous, but we still use it for someone who is sincere to the point of naiveté. A good synonym is insincere. |
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| 2079 |
permeable |
allowing fluids or gases to pass or diffuse through |
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Something that is permeable can be passed through, especially by liquids or gases. "I wish I hadn't worn my permeable sweater to the picnic when the weatherman called for thunderstorms. The rain seeped right through the fabric, soaking me to the skin." |
A permeable surface allows materials like liquids to pass through — either in or out. Inside the body, the walls of cells are permeable membranes that allow fluids and nutrients to get in and nourish the cells. A permeable shirt is good to wear in the summer, because it helps release the sweat sticking to the skin. |
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| 2080 |
buttress |
a support usually of stone or brick |
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You can buttress an argument with solid facts or your financial portfolio with safe investments. You may find that giving compliments to everyone you meet buttresses your popularity. To buttress is to sustain or reinforce. |
A buttress is a structure that adds stability to a wall or building, and this innovation played a significant role in the evolution of architecture. Think of a medieval cathedral. It's an incredibly tall, open building filled with light from vast windows. Without buttresses supporting the walls and carrying the weight of the ceiling away from the building and down to the ground, this cathedral would be impossible. Picture this when you use buttress figuratively as a verb meaning to strengthen and support. |
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| 2081 |
disinterested |
unaffected by concern for one's own welfare |
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If you can't decide whether to purchase the shirt with orange polka dots or the purple paisley-patterned one, you might seek input from a disinterested, or unbiased, party (who will probably tell you not to buy either one). |
Depending on whom you ask, disinterested is either one of the most commonly misused words in the English language, or a perfect example of usage experts and English teachers being way too uptight. While everyone agrees that disinterested can mean “unbiased,” the debate rages on as to whether it can also mean “uninterested” or “indifferent.” Sticklers are vehemently opposed to this secondary meaning. (Of course, you’ll also find the disinterested — or uninterested? — folks who couldn’t care less.) |
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| 2082 |
fledgling |
young bird that has just fledged or become capable of flying |
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A fledgling is a fuzzy baby bird just learning to fly, or someone (like a baby bird) who's brand new at doing something. Awww. |
If you're not talking about a baby bird, fledgling is often used as an adjective describing a new participant in something, like a fledgling senator still learning the ropes of how to legislate, or a fledgling drama program trying to build audiences for its plays. It can also mean inexperienced and young, like the fledgling photographer for the school paper who accidentally erases all the pictures. If you're British, spell it fledgeling if you like, both spellings are correct. |
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| 2083 |
pervasive |
spreading or spread throughout |
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When something is pervasive, it's everywhere. Common things are pervasive — like greed and cheap perfume. |
Ever notice how certain trends seem to spread all over the place? When something — like a hairstyle — is super-common, it's pervasive. Pervasive things can't be escaped. Playing video games is pervasive among kids. Talking about the weather is pervasive among adults. Ideas, diseases, habits, and all sorts of things can be pervasive. If you're sick of seeing something because you're seeing it again and again, it must be pervasive. |
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| 2084 |
disjointed |
taken apart at the points of connection |
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Disjointed isn’t when you can bend your thumb all the way backwards — that’s double-jointed. Disjointed means "unorganized" or "disconnected." |
Disjointed is an adjective that describes something as disconnected, illogical, or just messed up. A disjointed argument is an argument that doesn’t make a lot of sense. The same can be said for a disjointed sentence or a disjointed speech. In a medical sense, disjointed means "dislocated," or “separated at the joint.” When someone gets injured, they may end up with a disjointed shoulder or a disjointed hip. |
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| 2085 |
flout |
treat with contemptuous disregard |
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To flout is to scorn or show contempt for. "I flout the law and the concept of civilian safety by making a concerted effort to jaywalk every time I cross a street." |
Oddly enough, when flout came into existence in the 1550s, it had a much different sense to it than it does now; it's believed that it evolved from the Middle English flowten “to play the flute." As a verb, it means to scorn, as in, for example, to scorn a law, person, or social norm by defying it. As a noun, it is a contemptuous remark or insult. Wrote William Shakespeare, “Flout 'em, and scout 'em; and scout 'em and flout 'em; Thought is free.” |
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| 2086 |
irascible |
quickly aroused to anger |
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If you're irascible, you get angry easily — perhaps blowing up in rage when someone brushes into you. |
Irascible comes from the Latin root ira, which means "anger" or "rage," the same root that gives us the word ire, "anger." The -sc in the middle of irascible, means "becoming," so irascible doesn't just mean you're angry — it's got action built into it. If you're looking for a fight most of the time, then you're irascible — ready for the spark that's going to set you on fire. |
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| 2087 |
dismiss |
stop associating with |
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At the end of a lesson period, your teacher says, "class dismissed." This means that you and the rest of the students are free to go. |
Dismiss means to let go. If a judge dismisses a case, it means he's saying it has no merit, and is throwing it out of court. If you are dismissed from your job, it means you've been fired. And if you've been ignoring your friends' warnings that your boyfriend is cheating, you've been dismissing their concerns. "Don't dismiss me!" is something you say when the person you're talking to is not taking you and your comments seriously. |
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| 2088 |
foment |
try to stir up |
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Stand outside the school cafeteria passing out flyers with nutritional details on school food, and you may foment a revolution––foment means stirring up something undesirable, such as trouble. |
You would never say, "Hooray, we fomented a revolution." Instead you'd say, "Those good for nothing scalawags fomented the rebellion." Don't confuse foment and ferment. Ferment can mean "to stir up" in a good way––a football game can ferment excitement in a town, or foment trouble through traffic tie-ups and litter. |
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| 2089 |
piety |
righteousness by virtue of being pious |
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Piety is devotion to God or to religious practices. Nuns who pray all day long are famous for their piety. If you have filial piety it means you're devoted to your parents. |
Piety is sometimes used in a disapproving way to mean that the person is only pretending to be devoted or good. Piety was borrowed from French pieté "piety, pity," from Latin pietas, from pius "devoted, kind." This Latin adjective is the source of our English adjective pious. |
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| 2090 |
castigation |
verbal punishment |
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If your coach yells at your team for sloppy play, her post-game speech might be called a castigation. A castigation is a harsh verbal reprimand. |
No one likes to be on the receiving end of castigation. The word comes from the Latin castigus which means "to make pure." Try to remember during castigation that the castigator is, in their own misguided way, trying to make you a better person. But that may be hard to think of when someone is bawling you out. |
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| 2091 |
disparage |
express a negative opinion of |
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If you haven't got anything nice to say, then it's time to disparage someone. It means to belittle or degrade a person or idea. |
Disparage is a specific way to describe a certain kind of insult, the kind that secures the insulter's place as superior. It often refers to an opinion or criticism lobbed in print or via word of mouth, not necessarily an act done to someone's face. If someone or something is being disparaged, you will often find a competing interest in the wings. |
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| 2092 |
forestall |
keep from happening or arising; make impossible |
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It takes a bit of planning to forestall something, meaning stop it from happening. To forestall the effects of aging, exercise and take care of your health all your life. |
You can break the word forestall into parts to figure out its meaning. The prefix fore is one you've seen in words like forewarn, which means "to warn in advance." And you probably know that stall means "delay." So to forestall is to stall in advance, or put another way, to try to prevent or put off something you don't want to happen. |
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| 2093 |
itinerary |
an established line of travel or access |
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An itinerary is your travel plan — where you will go and when you will be there. |
If you make plans to fly to Paris from Beijing or take a train to Chicago from Mexico City, you will need an itinerary. That means you will have a plan that displays how you will get from point to point in your travels and when you will be at each point. This word comes from the Middle English itinerarius and is defined as being "about a journey." Itineraries can be really useful because if you give your mother yours, she will always know where you are! |
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| 2094 |
catalyst |
substance that initiates or accelerates a chemical reaction |
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A catalyst is an event or person causing a change. Getting kicked out of your parents' house might be a catalyst for becoming more independent. |
The noun catalyst is something or someone that causes a change and is derived from a Greek word. It can be somewhat ordinary, like a hot day being a catalyst for getting your hair cut really short. Or it can be major, like how the assassination of the archduke Franz Ferdinand of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is said to be a catalyst of World War I. |
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| 2095 |
disparate |
fundamentally different or distinct in quality or kind |
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The trunk of some people's cars may contain items as disparate as old clothes, rotting food, and possibly a missing relative. Disparate things are very different from each other. |
Near synonyms are unequal and dissimilar. The adjective disparate is from Latin disparātus, from disparāre "to separate, divide," from the prefix dis- "apart" plus parāre "to prepare." Disparate in the sense of "very different" probably developed by association with the Latin adjective dispar "unequal, different." |
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| 2096 |
frugality |
prudence in avoiding waste |
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If you try to avoid waste by reusing and repurposing items that most people would throw away, your frugality will save you money. |
Some people use this word interchangeably with cheapness, but cheapness is an unwillingness to spend, while frugality is an unwillingness to waste. People who show frugality often find ways of making things useful that others do not. Even after the Depression ended, those who lived through it maintained their frugality, using old t-shirts for rags and washed-out cottage cheese containers instead of Tupperware. |
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| 2097 |
laconic |
brief and to the point |
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Laconic is an adjective that describes a style of speaking or writing that uses only a few words, often to express complex thoughts and ideas. A more laconic way to write that last sentence might be this: laconic means brief. |
There’s a friend of yours who doesn’t talk very much, and when he does, he says maybe three words and then becomes quiet again. You could describe that friend as laconic. The word comes from Laconia, a region in ancient Greece where the local Spartan rulers gave very short speeches. Being laconic can be bad when it sounds rude to be so brief, but it can be good if you’re in a rush to get somewhere. |
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| 2098 |
plasticity |
the property of being physically malleable |
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Plasticity means "changeability" or "moldability" — clay has a lot of plasticity, but a rock has almost none. |
It helps to think of plastic when learning what plasticity means. See how plastic can be molded into all sorts of things, and even when it's in a totally solid form, it's not hard like stone? Plasticity refers to things that can still change their shape or function. The brain is something with high plasticity: if you have a brain injury, other parts of the brain can change to pick up the slack. Anything that is capable of evolving or being reshaped has plasticity. |
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| 2099 |
futile |
producing no result or effect |
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When something fails to deliver a useful result, you can call it futile. Hopefully all the time you're spending studying vocabulary won't turn out to be futile! |
Futile comes from the Latin futilis, which originally meant "leaky." Although we use futile to talk about more than buckets, the image of a leaky vessel is a good illustration of the adjective. Pouring water into a leaky bucket is futile. Your exercise program will be futile if you don't stop chowing down on chocolate. Futile is fancier than its synonym useless. Other synonyms are fruitless or vain. The i can be either short (FYOO-t'l) or long (FYOO-tile). |
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| 2100 |
lassitude |
a feeling of lack of interest or energy |
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If you are feeling lassitude, you're weary and just can't be bothered. Couch potatoes make lassitude into an art form. |
Lassitude might sound like latitude, but the two words don't mean the same thing. Latitude describes the distance of a particular location from the equator. Lassitude is the weariness you'd experience after attempting to run a marathon around the equator. Lassitude can also describe a lack of interest, like deciding you'd rather lie on your couch than run that marathon along the equator. |
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| 2101 |
plethora |
extreme excess |
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Plethora means an abundance or excess of something. If you have 15 different people who want to take you on a date, you have a plethora of romantic possibilities. |
Plethora comes from the Greek for "fullness." Although it was originally used only in old-fashioned medicine to describe the condition of having too much blood, we use it to talk about any excessive supply. If you run a theater and all the seats are taken, that's a full house. But if the seats are full and people are standing in the aisles, you have a plethora of patrons. The stress is on the first syllable: PLETH-uh-ruh. |
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| 2102 |
rescind |
cancel officially |
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If get a call saying a company has decided to rescind your job offer, it's back to the classifieds for you. Rescind is an official reversal. |
Things that are rescinded: policies, court decisions, regulations, and official statements. What all these examples have in common is that they are on the record. Also, rescind usually refers to promises instead of tangible objects. You can't rescind a shirt a friend has borrowed from you, but you can rescind your offer to loan them your jeans. |
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| 2103 |
plummet |
drop sharply |
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The verb plummet means "to drop sharply," like eagles that plummet toward earth, seeking prey, or school attendance that plummets when there is a flu outbreak. |
To correctly pronounce plummet, say "PLUH-met." This verb describes something that drops sharply or quickly, like a roller coaster that plummets down a hill, temperatures that plummet overnight, or sales of roses and candy that plummet after Valentine's Day. If something plummets, this doesn't mean it will stay down or low forever, just that it has experienced a sharp drop. |
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| 2104 |
resolution |
a decision to do something or to behave in a certain manner |
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The noun resolution has a few related meanings having to do with being firmly determined about something. If you lack determination, you'll never fulfill your New Year's resolutions. |
Resolution is the noun form of the verb resolve, which comes from Latin resolvere, "to loosen, undo, settle." We can still see this meaning in resolution, in the sense of "an explanation" or "a solution"; when a problem, conflict or mystery reaches its resolution, it has been "undone," so to speak. Another common meaning is "determination, resolve": "Jose approached the task with resolution." A related sense is "a decision to do something": "My resolution is to go to the gym three times a week." |
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| 2105 |
stigma |
a symbol of disgrace or infamy |
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If something has a negative association attached to it, call this a stigma. Bed-wetting can lead to a social stigma for a six year old, while chewing tobacco might have the same effect for a sixty year old. |
Stigma, from the Greek word of the same spelling meaning "mark, puncture," came into English through Latin to mean a mark burned into the skin to signify disgrace. It did not take long for stigma to be used figuratively, as it is commonly used today, for the negative stereotype or reputation attached to something such as "the stigma of divorce." |
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| 2106 |
transgression |
the violation of a law or a duty or moral principle |
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A transgression is something that is against a command or law. Whether you are cheating on a test, or cheating on a spouse, you are committing transgressions that are not easily forgiven. |
A transgression can be a failure to do your duty. A sin is a transgression against God. The noun transgression is from Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin "act of crossing, passing over," from transgredi "to step or pass over." |
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| 2107 |
porous |
full of holes |
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If something is full of tiny holes or openings, you can describe it as porous. A sponge is porous, and if the border between countries is open for anyone to cross easily, it too can be called porous. |
You can see the word pore — meaning "a tiny opening" — in porous. When potters make a mug, they use special glazes to seal the porous clay, which otherwise would absorb the liquid you put in the mug. This meaning has expanded so porous can describe any barrier that allows easy passage in and out, like the porous border between two countries that allows residents to move easily between them. |
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| 2108 |
resolve |
find a solution or answer |
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To resolve is to settle or make a decision about something — often formal. A college's board of directors might resolve to recruit more minority students. As a noun, resolve refers to a strong determination to do something. |
If you make a New Year's resolution to exercise every day, you'll need plenty of resolve to stick with your program. The verb descends from Middle English resolven "to dissolve," from Latin resolvere "to untie." In English, the obsolete sense of "to dissolve" can be seen in this line from Shakespeare: "O, that this too too solid flesh would melt, thaw, and resolve itself into a dew." |
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| 2109 |
truculence |
obstreperous and defiant aggressiveness |
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If you get into fights all of the time, you might be accused of truculence and sent for anger management classes. Truculence is showing a fierce kind of aggression. |
If your basketball team wins a game by sheer truculence, it means that they win not by skill or talent, but by playing with ferocious aggression. It would be a dirty win, one with lots of fouls and thrown elbows. Truculence comes from the Latin word for trux meaning fierce or wild. |
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| 2110 |
pungent |
strong and sharp to the sense of taste |
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Use pungent to describe a taste or smell that gives a sharp sensation. "What is that pungent odor?" is a polite way of suggesting that someone in the room has BO. |
The ultimate source of the word pungent is Latin pungere "to prick, sting." Ginger and mustard seed are examples of pungent spices. Limburger cheese has the distinction of being the most pungent of all cheeses. And if your pet has an accident in the house, there may be a pungent odor. And pungent can be used in a figurative sense: pungent language is stimulating and expressive. |
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| 2111 |
vacillate |
be undecided about something |
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Vacillate means to waver back and forth, unable to decide. You might vacillate between ordering waffles and pancakes at your favorite diner — it’s hard to pick just one when both are so tasty! |
Something that vacillates sways or fluctuates, often quite unsteadily. So use this verb to describe the staggering motions of a person who has had too much to drink, as well as the opinions of someone who can’t make up her mind. Synonyms include vibrate, hesitate, and waver. A wise Ethiopian proverb advises, "Do not vacillate or you will be left in between doing something, having something, and being nothing.” |
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| 2112 |
preamble |
a preliminary introduction to a statute or constitution |
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A preamble is a brief introduction to a speech, like the Preamble to the Constitution that starts out "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union...do ordain and establish this Constitution." |
Preamble comes from the Latin praeambulus which means "walking before." And that's what a preamble does — it "walks" before a speech, often explaining what's coming. It's like the White Rabbit introducing the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland. Since it goes before a speech, think of it as a pre-ramble. A preamble is usually used for formal documents; you wouldn't include one in a text to your best friend. |
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| 2113 |
qualified |
meeting the proper standards and requirements for a task |
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Qualified means something depends on another action occurring. If your friend receives a qualified offer on her house, that means something else has to happen — like a bank approving the loan — before it's sold. |
Qualified is an adjective with multiple meanings. Employers seek the most qualified applicants, meaning those who have the most experience and relevant training. Being qualified might also mean you have paperwork that shows you had certain training or meet certain standards. Or qualified can mean "partial" or "incomplete." If you approve of something but others need to agree before it's final, you would give your qualified approval. |
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| 2114 |
precarious |
not secure; beset with difficulties |
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Grab for the adjective precarious when something is unstable, dangerous or difficult and likely to get worse. Are you totally broke and the people you owe money to keep calling? You're in a precarious financial situation! |
The Latin root of precarious means "obtained by asking or praying." This fits well as precarious always signals that help is needed desperately. If your life is precarious or you are in a precarious situation, things could become difficult, maybe even dangerous, for you. If your footing or hold on something is precarious, it is unstable or not firmly placed, so that you are likely to slip or lose your grip. |
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| 2115 |
quibble |
evade the truth of a point by raising irrelevant objections |
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A quibble is a small argument or fight. As a verb, it means to pick a mini-fight over something that doesn't really matter. "Let's not quibble over price," people will say, usually when they plan to gouge you. |
It's better to watch figure skating with the sound off, rather than listening to the announcers quibble over a not-fully-rotated knee or the slightly diminished altitude of a jump. Sometimes a quibble between neighbors over two feet of property can escalate into a major feud. |
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| 2116 |
sage |
a mentor in spiritual and philosophical topics |
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Use the word sage for someone or something wise and judicious. Thanks to the sage advice of your friend, you didn't write your teacher an angry e-mail! |
Although you might think of a wizard when you hear the word sage, really it means a wise man. Today you see it used to refer to someone who has insight in a particular field. If someone is a policy sage, he knows just what advice to give politicians to make them understand the issue and respond successfully to it. In a totally unrelated use, there is also a plant called sage that is useful in home remedies and cooking. |
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| 2117 |
precipitate |
bring about abruptly |
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Precipitate usually means "bringing something on" or "making it happen" — and not always in a good way. An unpopular verdict might "precipitate violence" or one false step at the Grand Canyon could precipitate you down into the gorge. |
Precipitate, as a verb, can also mean specifically, "to fall from clouds," such as rain, snow, or other forms of precipitation. When used as an adjective, precipitate means "hasty" or "acting suddenly." If you decide to throw your class project in a trash masher just because someone in your class had a similar idea, then your actions might be described as precipitate. Or if you do that sort of thing regularly, you may be a precipitate person. |
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| 2118 |
salubrious |
promoting health |
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Salubrious is a fancy way to describe something that’s good for you or is generally favorable to mind or body, but it need not be limited to describing healthy foods or liquids. |
We salute each other with the cheer, "To your health!" as we chug down something that probably isn’t that good for us. But if it were salubrious, it would be. The two words, salute and salubrious stem from the same salus, meaning "welfare, health.” Maybe next time, raise a glass of wheatgrass instead of vino! |
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| 2119 |
strut |
to walk with a lofty proud gait |
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When you strut, you walk with a proud swagger that has a little arrogance thrown in, like the prance of a running back who has just flown past the 250-pound linebackers and planted the ball in the end zone. |
You can't strut and be shy about it — when you strut, you know people are watching you. The big boss in a gangster film, a model on the runway, and the rap artist whose album has just gone platinum all know how to strut. The noun form of strut has a little less flash and refers to a vertical or horizontal support that holds something up, like the long steel bars holding up a building. |
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| 2120 |
verbose |
using or containing too many words |
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If you're verbose, you use far more words than you need to. A verbose book report goes on and on and is packed with long, complicated words that aren't at all necessary. |
If a friend asks, "Did you have fun at the party?" you can simply answer, "No." Or you can provide a verbose reply that describes just how much you hated the party, who was and wasn't there, the fact that you got lost on the way, the terrible food that was served, and the awful music that was played. Verbose is from Latin verbosus "full of words," from verbum, "word or verb." As you can guess from the spelling, the English verb is closely related. |
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| 2121 |
precursor |
something indicating the approach of something or someone |
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You've heard the old saying "Pride comes before the fall?" Well, you could just as easily say pride is a precursor to the fall. A precursor is something that happens before something else. |
You don't have to be a dead languages scholar to guess that this word springs from a Latin source — praecursor, "to run before." A precursor is usually related to what it precedes. It's a catalyst or a harbinger, leading to what follows or providing a clue that it's going to happen. Binging on holiday candy is a precursor to tummy aches and promises to exercise more. Draconian policies in unstable nations are often a precursor to rebellion. |
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| 2122 |
subpoena |
a writ issued to compel the attendance of a witness |
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A subpoena is a document that requires its recipient to appear in court as a witness. If you receive a subpoena, it doesn't mean you've done anything wrong; it just means you may have information that's needed by the court. |
Subpoena can also be a verb: You can subpoena someone by giving them a subpoena. If you receive a subpoena but fail to carry out its instructions, you're in big trouble. This fact is suggested by the Latin roots of this word: the prefix sub- means "under" and poena means "penalty." One nice thing about a subpoena is that it's not a summons; if you get one of those, it means you're being sued. |
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| 2123 |
viable |
capable of life or normal growth and development |
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When something is viable, it has the ability to grow or function properly. A viable seed can develop into a plant, while a viable company has the resources to succeed. |
The adjective viable refers to something able to function properly and even grow. It is made up of the Latin roots vita which means "life," and the ending -able which means "to be possible." In terms of science or botany, when a plant is viable it can live and flourish in an environment such as a cactus in the desert. Consider also the Wright brothers, who were the first to develop a viable airplane after many tries and spectacular failures. |
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| 2124 |
presumptuous |
going beyond what is appropriate, permitted, or courteous |
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When someone takes liberties, doing things too boldly, you can describe them with the adjective presumptuous. |
Presumptuous comes from the Latin verb praesumere which means to take for granted. It means taking for granted your access to someone or power to do something. It's a very satisfying word and effective word because it belittles someone at the same time as criticizing him. In Shakespeare's "Henry VI," Northumberland calls Warwick "presumptuous and proud" for trying to get rid of the king. It's usually pronounced with all four syllables, pre-ZUMP-choo-us, although pre-ZUMP-chus is acceptable as well. |
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| 2125 |
recalcitrant |
stubbornly resistant to authority or control |
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If someone is so pig-headed that he won't budge on an issue, call him recalcitrant. Not that it will make a difference... |
Recalcitrant is from Latin calcitrare, meaning "to kick," so someone who is recalcitrant is kicking back against what's wanted of them. Synonyms are unruly, intractable, and refractory, all referring to what is difficult to manage or control. Writers are frequently referring to recalcitrant Democrats and Republicans, since many people are stubbornly loyal to their political parties and unwilling to change. |
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| 2126 |
satiate |
fill to satisfaction |
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If you just can't get enough popcorn, even the jumbo tub at the movie theater may not be enough to satiate, or satisfy, your desire. |
Satiate is often used in situations in which a thirst, craving, or need is satisfied. However, when satiate is used to describe eating, it can take on a more negative, or even disgusted, tone. If you comment that the diners at the world's largest all-you-can eat buffet were satiated, you might not mean that they were merely satisfied. You could be implying that they've been gluttons, and that they are now overstuffed with fried chicken wings and mac and cheese. |
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| 2127 |
prevaricate |
be deliberately ambiguous or unclear |
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When you prevaricate, you lie or mislead. Now, go ahead and tell me whether you already knew that meaning, and don’t prevaricate about it — give me the story straight! |
While prevaricate basically means to lie, it also has the sense of making it hard to know exactly what the lie was. You talk in a confusing way, go back and forth, and as deliberately as possible mislead someone. Government officials, bureaucrats, and sneaky types prevaricate in the hopes that it will be too difficult to figure out whether they've been doing something wrong. Don't prevaricate with your parents — it will definitely make you look guilty, but they just won't be sure of what! |
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| 2128 |
recant |
formally reject or disavow a formerly held belief |
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If you're someone who speaks before you think, you may need to recant, or take back, that overly honest assessment of your friend's new haircut. |
Recant comes from two Latin roots: the prefix re-, meaning "back," and the verb cantare, meaning "to sing." It has been suggested that recant was first used when someone reversed a charm, curse, or some other type of magical spell that would have been chanted or sung. Regardless of whether this is true or not, we suggest that you refrain from singing when you need to recant — unless you've been casting nasty spells on people. |
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| 2129 |
saturate |
infuse or fill completely |
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The verb saturate means to cause something to be fully soaked to the point where it can't take on anything else. A heavy rainstorm can saturate the ground, leaving puddles on the lawn because no more water can be absorbed. |
The word saturate comes from the Latin word saturatus, meaning "to fill full, sate, drench." Saturate is often used to describe the aftermath of a big rainstorm, but other things can be saturated as well. If you're a workaholic, you might saturate all your free time with work, leaving no time to spend with your family. In chemistry, saturate describes causing one substance, like a solution, to take on the greatest amount of another substance. |
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| 2130 |
substantiate |
establish or strengthen as with new evidence or facts |
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To substantiate is to give support to a claim. We’d really like to believe in the Tooth Fairy; however, more evidence is needed to substantiate her existence (besides that quarter in your pocket). |
Substantiate is related to the word substantial, which means "solid." So, to substantiate a claim is to make it solid or believable. If the evidence given in support of an argument is weak and unconvincing, that evidence can be described as insubstantial. Of course, in special cases like the Tooth Fairy, having substantial evidence doesn’t seem to matter; fans just keep on believing. |
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| 2131 |
vituperative |
marked by harshly abusive criticism |
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Use the adjective vituperative to describe criticism that's so sharp it hurts. A vituperative review of a movie would make the director bitter for months. |
To correctly pronounce vituperative, remember that the first vowel sound is the long i sound, and the second syllable is accented: "vie-TOO-per-uh-tive." Being vituperative takes criticism to the next level. Vituperative criticism is harsh, scathing, even abusive. If a review or assessment is vituperative, it doesn't say "try harder next time." Instead it gives the sense of "go away and never come back." |
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| 2132 |
savor |
a particular taste or smell, especially an appealing one |
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Whether it’s a feeling of joy or a piece of pecan pie — when you savor something, you enjoy it to the fullest. |
When you savor something, you enjoy it so much that you want to make it last forever. With that in mind, savor carries a connotation of doing something slowly. If you savor that flourless chocolate tart, then you eat it slowly, bit by bit, deliberately picking every last crumb off the plate. The word is often applied to eating, but you can savor any pleasurable experience, whether it’s the winning touchdown or your moment in the spotlight. |
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| 2133 |
volatile |
liable to lead to sudden change or violence |
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Watch out when a situation becomes volatile — it is likely to change for the worse suddenly. If you and your best friend have a volatile relationship, you frequently fight and make up. |
Volatile from Latin volatilis "fleeting, transitory" always gives the sense of sudden, radical change. Think of it as the opposite of stable. A person who is volatile loses his or her temper suddenly and violently. A volatile political situation could erupt into civil war. When the stock market is volatile, it fluctuates greatly. And in scientific language, a volatile oil evaporates quickly. |
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| 2134 |
probity |
complete and confirmed integrity |
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Though probity sounds like what you might do with a sharp stick, it actually means being morally and ethically above reproach, having integrity. |
If you show fiscal probity, it means you are responsible and ethical with your money. The story of George Washington chopping down the cherry tree and refusing to lie about it is a story of probity. The story was first told by a pastor, who may have made the whole thing up according to today's scholars, possibly to sell books –– no act of probity. |
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| 2135 |
secrete |
generate and separate from cells or bodily fluids |
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Secrete is all about secrets. It means both "to hide" and "to release." When you squeeze a lemon, it secretes juice. When you stuff your money in a mattress, you secrete it there. |
It's easy to remember that secrete's all about secrets when you see the word secret inside secrete. Imagine the first person who squeezed a lemon and secreted the juice. Probably felt like he'd discovered a secret stash of citrus goodness. If he was greedy, maybe he gathered all the lemons he could find and secreted them away in a box so no one else would learn the secret of the juice-secretion. |
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| 2136 |
supposition |
the cognitive process of conjecturing |
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A supposition is a guess or a hypothesis. Your supposition that your kids will automatically wash their hands before dinner is probably false. You'd best remind them to do it or risk dirty hands at dinner. |
What's the difference between an assumption and a supposition — both nouns that are often taken as synonyms for each other? An assumption is an idea or theory that is usually made without proof. A supposition, on the other hand, has the connotation that the idea or theory is testable and provable. If you are to meet someone named Hunter, you may make the assumption that you are meeting a man. But if you know that Hunter lives in an all-female dorm, you may have the supposition that Hunter is a woman. |
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| 2137 |
unwarranted |
incapable of being justified or explained |
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When something is unwarranted it's not called-for under the given circumstances. For example, debating the merits of someone's talent is one thing, but calling them stupid is unwarranted. |
I thought the applause was unwarranted. After all, all the guy did was stand there and point for two hours. And when that lady started screaming? That was unwarranted, too: all I did was give her a flat. It was an accident! Think of it this way: when the police want to search your home, they have to get a "warrant" — a document that allows them to enter. To go into your home without a warrant would be unwarranted. A warrant is a kind of justification; without that justification, something could be called unwarranted. |
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| 2138 |
problematic |
making great mental demands |
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Something problematic poses a problem or causes difficulties. Your ambitions to become the next great leader of Spain are great, but your inability to speak Spanish might prove problematic. |
Around 1600, the word problematical was shortened and problematic was born. Perhaps they wanted to make it less problematic for spellers. It's an adjective that means tough, hard to solve, or even questionable. A flat tire in the middle of the desert would certainly be problematic, as would a star witness with a history of telling lies. |
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| 2139 |
shard |
a broken piece of a brittle artifact |
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If you break a mirror, the thin sharp pieces you want to avoid are shards. A shard is simply a broken piece of metal, glass, stone, or pottery with sharp edges. |
Don't confuse shard with shred, meaning to cut into strips, or chard, a leafy green vegetable. You could use a shard of metal to shred chard into salad, but be careful that you don't cut your hands to shreds! |
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| 2140 |
wary |
marked by keen caution and watchful prudence |
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Describe yourself as wary if you don't quite trust someone or something and want to proceed with caution. Be wary of risky things like wild mushrooms and Internet deals! |
You can trace wary through Old English back to Old High German giwar "aware, attentive." If you keep a wary eye on something, you are attentive for signs that it is becoming dangerous. Likewise, if you give someone a wary glance, your face conveys the suspicion and caution you feel. When you are wary of driving alone at night or making promises, you fear something bad might happen if you do these things. |
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| 2141 |
prodigal |
recklessly wasteful |
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Use the adjective prodigal to describe someone who spends too much money, or something very wasteful. Your prodigal spending on fancy coffee drinks might leave you with no money to buy lunch. |
Prodigal usually applies to the spending of money. In the Bible, the Prodigal Son leaves home and wastes all his money. You could also use this word to describe something that is very abundant or generous in quantity, such as prodigal praise. Prodigal comes from the Latin word prodigere, "to drive away or waste," combining the prefix prod-, or "forth" and agere, "to drive." |
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| 2142 |
refute |
overthrow by argument, evidence, or proof |
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The verb refute is to prove that something is wrong. When the kids you're babysitting swear they brushed their teeth, you can refute their claim by presenting the dry toothbrushes. |
Evidence and arguments are used to refute something. So are facts. For example, if children who eat chocolate before going to bed go straight to sleep, that refutes the idea that sugar keeps them up. Refute comes from the Latin refutare for "to check, suppress." A near synonym is confute, but save refute as an everyday word for proving something is false. |
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| 2143 |
skeptic |
someone who habitually doubts accepted beliefs |
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A skeptic is a doubter. The one who can't be convinced. The guy who's ready to poke holes in the most brilliant argument you've ever made. |
For every great idea, there are probably 100 skeptics waiting to shoot it down. These are the naysayers that didn't think rock music would last, questioned the usefulness of seat belts, and even wondered if the internet would catch on. Coming from the Greek word skeptikos, which means "thoughtful or inquiring," it's no surprise that a skeptic is someone who asks a lot of questions — and isn't easily convinced, even by the smartest answers. |
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| 2144 |
tangential |
of superficial relevance if any |
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Tangential refers to something that's not part of the whole. If you make a comment that is tangential to the story you're telling, it's a digression. The story could still be understood without it. |
In geometry, a tangent is a line that touches a curve in one spot but doesn't intersect it anywhere else. Tangential means something that goes off in one direction that way and doesn't return. People can feel tangential––as though they're inessential and not relevant to a larger group. |
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| 2145 |
welter |
a confused multitude of things |
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Use the noun welter to describe an enormous, messy pile, like the jumble of papers, coffee mugs, pens, and food wrappers on the desk of the messiest person in the office. |
Welter can also be a verb — the items in the pile on the messy desk welter every time someone tries to pull something out. This means they roll and get tossed around. Maybe the person isn't as messy as you think. Possibly his projects keep him so weltered — meaning "deeply involved" — that he doesn't have the time or energy to deal with the mess. |
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| 2146 |
relegate |
assign to a lower position |
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Relegate means assign to a lower position. If the quarterback of the football team stops making decent throws he might be relegated to the position of benchwarmer, while another kid is given the chance to play. |
Relegate rhymes with delegate––both words derive from the Latin legare "send." Relegate means to send someone down in rank. Delegate means to send someone in your place to complete a task. In the workplace, managers who can't figure out how to delegate may get relegated to a lesser rank. |
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| 2147 |
solicitous |
full of anxiety and concern |
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When you hear the word solicitous, think of your mom — attentive, caring, and concerned. It's nice when your waiter gives you good service, but if he or she is solicitous, the hovering might annoy you. |
Solicitous comes from the Latin roots sollus "entire" and citus "set in motion." If someone is solicitous, they are entirely set in motion caring for you. Your neighbors are solicitous if they try to help your family out all the time. Use this word too if you're eager to do something. A good student will be solicitous to appear interested in what the teacher says — even when it's not that interesting. |
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| 2148 |
tenuous |
very thin in gauge or diameter |
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If something is tenuous it's thin, either literally or metaphorically. If you try to learn a complicated mathematical concept by cramming for 45 minutes, you will have a tenuous grasp of that concept, at best. |
Tenuous comes from the Latin word tenuis, for thin, and is related to our word tender. Something can be physically tenuous, like a spiderweb or ice on a pond. We more often use it in a metaphorical sense, to talk about weak ideas. Tenuous arguments won't win any debate tournaments. Synonyms for tenuous, also used physically or metaphorically, are flimsy and shaky. |
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| 2149 |
whimsical |
determined by chance or impulse rather than by necessity |
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Whimsical means full of or characterized by whims, which are odd ideas that usually occur to you very suddenly. If you decide at the last minute to fly to Europe, you could say you went there on a whim. |
Whimsical can also mean tending toward odd or unpredictable behavior. Both whimsical and whim are derived from an earlier English word whim-wham, which is of unknown origin. Whim-wham had about the same meaning as whim, but could also refer to an odd object or piece of clothing. |
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| 2150 |
prohibitive |
tending to discourage, especially of prices |
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If something's so expensive you can't touch it, it's prohibitive. That Ferrari in the showroom? You may want it, but its price is prohibitive. |
Prohibitive originally referred to something (often a law) that prohibits or forbids something, but came to mean conditions (often prices or taxes) so high or great they restrict or prevent something: "To some, the cost of child care is prohibitive." The stress is on the second syllable, just like the verb: pro-HIB-itive. If it's a matter of expense, a synonym is exorbitant. |
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| 2151 |
reproach |
express criticism towards |
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Reproach means to mildly criticize. If you show poor manners at your grandmother's dinner table, she will reproach you. |
The verb reproach means to express disapproval or criticism of; as a noun it means blame or criticism. If you are beyond reproach that means no one could find anything to criticize about you. Synonyms for reproach are the verbs admonish, reprove, rebuke, reprimand. As a noun, reproach can also be shame. If you are caught lying, it is a reproach that might bother you for a while. |
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| 2152 |
soporific |
inducing sleep |
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Something that is soporific is sleep-inducing. Certain medicines, but also extreme coziness, can have a soporific effect. |
In the 1680’s, soporific, which doubles as both adjective and noun, was formed from the French soporifique. That word, in turn, came from the Latin sopor “deep sleep.” Beloved Peter Rabbit author Beatrix Potter once noted that, “It is said that the effect of eating too much lettuce is 'soporific'." |
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| 2153 |
tirade |
a speech of violent denunciation |
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A tirade is a speech, usually consisting of a long string of violent, emotionally charged words. Borrow and lose your roommate’s clothes one too many times, and you can bet you’ll be treated to a heated tirade. |
The noun tirade is related to the Italian word tirata, which means "volley." So imagine a very angry person lobbing harsh words and strings of profanity in your direction when you want to remember what tirade means. Although, tirades don't necessarily have to include bad words — any long, drawn out speech or epic declaration can be called a tirade. |
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| 2154 |
proliferate |
grow rapidly |
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When something proliferates, it's growing, spreading or multiplying really quickly. Bunny rabbits have a habit of proliferating, as do dandelions in untended gardens and funny YouTube videos on the internet. |
Proliferate was originally a biological term used to describe the growth of cells and producing offspring. It wasn’t until 1961 that we started to use proliferate more generally to talk about everything from the spread of nuclear weapons to the wide growth of Walmart. Other similar words include expand, reproduce, snowball, and spawn. |
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| 2155 |
reprobate |
a person without moral scruples |
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There's no way around it, a reprobate is a bad egg. The black sheep of the family, missing a moral compass — a reprobate's been called everything from a deviant to an evildoer to a scoundrel. |
Selfish, depraved, disreputable, a reprobate is not known for his inner goodness. In fact, reprobates were once considered "rejected by God," the meaning of the noun in the 1500s. Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, a reprobate was a popular literary character, sometimes amusing, as noted in Henry James' Daisy Miller, "What a clever little reprobate she was, and how smartly she played an injured innocence!" |
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| 2156 |
torpor |
a state of motor and mental inactivity |
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Torpor is a state of mental and physical inactivity. "After a huge Thanksgiving meal, my family members fall into a torpor; no one can even pick up the TV remote." |
Torpor can be used in everyday speech, but it's also a scientific term for a state of deep sleep that allows animals to conserve energy. Certain species of bats, birds, and frogs rely on torpor for survival during tough times. While humans don't technically belong to this group of animals, they certainly appear to, especially after a large meal and on most Monday mornings. |
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| 2157 |
repudiate |
refuse to acknowledge, ratify, or recognize as valid |
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To repudiate something is to reject it, or to refuse to accept or support it. If you grow up religious, but repudiate all organized religion as an adult, you might start spending holidays at the movies, or just going to work. |
This verb usually refers to rejecting something that has authority, such as a legal contract, doctrine, or claim. In connection with debts or other obligations, repudiate is used in the specialized sense "to refuse to recognize or pay." If referring to a child or a lover, repudiate is used in the sense "to disown, cast off." This verb is derived from Latin repudiare "to put away, divorce." |
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| 2158 |
spectrum |
a broad range of related objects or values or qualities |
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A spectrum is a broad range of similar things or qualities. Like the wide spectrum of political beliefs in this country, ranging anywhere from super conservative to uber-liberal and everything in between. |
Our modern definition of spectrum started out in the 1600s, when scientists used it to refer to the band of colors formed by a beam of light, like a rainbow. In physics, it’s a word that describes the distribution of something, like energy or atomic particles. We still use those scientific meanings today, but spectrum can also apply to non-science related groupings or ranges of related things. |
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| 2159 |
tortuous |
marked by repeated turns and bends |
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Tortuous means twisting or complicated. "James Bond drove his custom BMW 120 mph on the road that was tortuous in its twists and turns. He had to stop the evil madman's plan for world domination that was so tortuous even 007 could not understand it." |
From Latin torquere "to twist," tortuous means something with twists and turns –– a path, an argument, a story. It is important not to confuse it with torturous, which means characterized by great pain. "The contemporary string quartet was tortuous in its tonal shifts, but only torturous at the point where the violinist ran her nails up and down a chalkboard." |
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| 2160 |
spread |
distribute or disperse widely |
Nor would Ebola virus spread easily through orangutan populations. |
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When something is spread, it's stretched or extended as far as it can go. It's a beautiful sight to see a bald eagle spread its wings and fly. |
When you spread a picnic blanket on the ground, you open it and stretch it across the grass. You can also see the ocean spread out in front of you, or spread butter on toast, for example. Any way you use it, spread implies an extension across some distance, a stretching of some sort. The expression spread too thin means you are having trouble finding the time and energy to do everything in your life. |
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| 2161 |
underestimate |
make too low an approximation of |
However, as is so often the case, people underestimate how rapidly technology moves on. |
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To underestimate is to guess that something is worth less or is smaller than it really is. You might underestimate the size of a one-pound hamburger until you realize it's too big to fit in your stomach. |
When you "estimate" you take a guess at something, and when you underestimate, your guess falls short or below. If you underestimate how much something costs, you might show up at a store without enough money, and if you underestimate the strength of an opponent who is small, you might find yourself on the ground wondering what hit you. Often when we "assume" something, we make a guess based on how things appear — that's one way to underestimate. |
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| 2162 |
breakthrough |
the act of making an important discovery |
In 2008, HP scientists announced an incredible breakthrough in fashioning a circuit that had eluded others for over three decades. |
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An amazing discovery or a huge amount of progress can be called a breakthrough. The discovery of penicillin in 1928 was a breakthrough for modern medicine. |
A personal breakthrough might be overcoming your fear of spiders once and for all. A bigger breakthrough, one that affects many people, is the invention of indoor plumbing. There's a sense of suddenness and drama associated with most breakthroughs. The word started out with a military meaning of literally "breaking through a barrier" in 1918. By the 1930s, it came to have the second meaning of "abrupt solution." |
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| 2163 |
gaze |
a long fixed look |
He gazed up at a tree house he built — now being used by the protesters — turned around and walked quietly back toward his home. |
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When someone lays eyes on you and keeps looking, it is a gaze or a stare. You can gaze back or just say, "Take a picture; it lasts longer." |
Gaze is both a verb and a noun. When people daydream, they often gaze off into the distance without focusing on anything. Another type of gaze, though, is to look very intently at something, as when you gaze at the sky making pictures out of clouds. A contest to see who will blink first means taking a long gaze into someone's eyes, and this type of gaze (the noun) will leave your eyes in a bit of a haze when you're done. |
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| 2164 |
outrage |
a disgraceful event |
Measured in tone and outraged in its argument, it is an emotionally stirring, at times crushingly depressing cinematic call to witness. |
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If you consider how people are treated in airports an outrage, you get really angry over airport security or the price of airport food. Six dollars for a piece of pizza? What an outrage! |
Something is an outrage when it is shocking and makes you angry. Stealing from an orphanage? That's an outrage. Sometimes outrage leads to action. Public outrage over the latest political scandal often makes the news. |
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| 2165 |
pose |
assume a bearing as for artistic purposes |
The actor strikes familiar poses, the famous cigarette jauntily thrusting. |
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To pose is to assume a particular stance. Like a runway model strutting to the end of the catwalk, posing with her hands on her hips, and then gracefully walking back. |
The original meaning of pose from the 14th century is "to put in a certain position." The sense of pose as "to assume a certain attitude" emerged in the 1850’s. When a person poses, he presents himself in a particular way, often with the hope of impressing others. But if you're just posing objects, then the word loses the negative connotation. |
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| 2166 |
puzzled |
filled with bewilderment |
The thing that puzzled Price the most: Getting better had only made him worse. |
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If you're puzzled, you're confused or baffled — you just don't understand. Most preschoolers would be puzzled watching a Shakespeare play. |
If you're puzzled by your math homework, you might have to ask your teacher for help in school the next day. If everyone in the class has puzzled expressions on their faces, your teacher will probably pause and go over that entire section again. The adjective puzzled comes from the verb puzzle, which was originally pusle, "bewilder." |
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| 2167 |
sparkle |
reflect brightly |
Floors were going to sparkle, and greeters would welcome customers at the entrance. |
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Fairy dust, stars, Christmas lights, Hanukkah candles, freshly fallen snow, a lake when the sun hits it just right — all of these things sparkle. That means they shine with a bright, glistening, shimmering light. |
Sparkle can also refer to joy or merriment. When you're having a really good time, your face will sparkle. As a verb, sparkle means to be lively and excited, or to be so brilliant at something that you shine above the rest. It can also describe something bubbly or foamy — like when you add soap to your bath to make the bathwater sparkle. Sparkle can also describe something that produces sparks — like a magic wand. |
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| 2168 |
staggering |
so surprisingly impressive as to stun or overwhelm |
Not long ago, I chronicled their staggering decline in season-ticket sales -- 62 percent over those same 10 years. |
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A staggering amount is an astonishing, astounding, stupefying amount. Anything staggering blows your mind. |
If you know that stagger means to stumble around uncertainly, then you're close to the meaning of staggering: this is a word for things that are so hard to believe you might fall down when you hear them. If the President gets shot, that's staggering news. If there's a major earthquake, that's staggering. Alien life contacting the Earth would be extremely staggering. Anything that knocks your socks off or makes your mind reel is staggering. |
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| 2169 |
striking |
having a quality that thrusts itself into attention |
Scientists have observed a striking decline in Northeast winters. |
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Something striking grabs your attention because it’s vivid and surprising. Many twins have a striking resemblance. People in red satin evening gowns, the pyramids in Egypt, and platform heels with fish in them are also striking. |
Anything striking is hard not to notice; it almost hits, or strikes, you with surprise, like a toddler in a tuxedo. People can be striking, and so can landscapes — one of the most striking sights in the world is the Grand Canyon, which is why so many people visit just to look at it. Non-visual things can be striking too, like a striking thought that makes you shout, “Eureka!” |
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| 2170 |
barren |
an uninhabited wilderness that is worthless for cultivation |
Six years later, the barren, brown view has sprung back to life. |
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Drive through a forest that's just been destroyed by a fire, and you'll get an idea of what barren means — stripped of vegetation and devoid of life. |
Not to be confused with a baron, a kind of nobleman, barren is often used to describe an area of land that lacks any signs of life. A barren wilderness is dry and empty, with no foliage or twittering birds to be found. An old-fashioned and unflattering word for a woman who is unable to have children is barren. |
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| 2171 |
eerie |
suggestive of the supernatural; mysterious |
By early Monday, an eerie quiet had fallen over the agency. |
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Eerie means spooky, creepy or suggestively supernatural. If it's eerie, it's sure to make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. |
Back in the 1300s when eerie first came on the scene, it meant "fearful or timid." It took a good 500 years or so before it morphed into the adjective we know today, which now means "causing fear because of strangeness." And the strangeness is key: Something that's eerie isn't just scary. It's mysterious, ghostly, and gives you the creeps. Like dark old castles, misty graveyards and creaky sounds in the middle of the night. |
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| 2172 |
prestigious |
having an illustrious reputation; respected |
The Royal Gold Medal for Architecture, the most prestigious British award, followed 10 years later. |
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Eagle Scout is a prestigious position within the Boy Scouts. It requires a lot of hard work over a number of years, and if you become one, lots of people will respect you. |
The adjective prestigious has a really wonderful Latin root, praestigiae, which means "conjuring tricks." Think of the magic word, "Presto!" Even though today's prestigious doesn't necessarily mean that the person described can do magic, imagining prestigious people as magicians can help you remember the admiration and status that the word implies. |
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| 2173 |
edible |
suitable for use as food |
She often brought home “mistakes,” confections lacking the trademark swirl, or misunderstood orders, edible but wrong. |
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If it’s edible, you can eat it. Many things that you may not want to eat are, in fact, edible. Certain insects are edible, which just means that you can consume them without getting sick (if it doesn't gross you out too much). |
Edible comes from the Latin word edere, which means “to eat.” Anything that people can safely eat is described as edible. Long before there were complex labels on our packages of food, human predecessors were living in caves and sampling various plants and animals for their survival, all the while learning the hard way whether or not certain things were either edible or poisonous. You are most likely a descendant of the ones who found the edible stuff. |
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| 2174 |
grimace |
contort the face to indicate a certain mental state |
He caught it, but grimaced in pain and was unable to get up. |
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The grimace on her face when he asked her to the prom told him her answer was "no" before she said a word. A grimace is a facial expression that usually suggests disgust or pain, but sometimes comic exaggeration. |
Picture someone wrinkling his nose, squeezing his eyes shut, and twisting his mouth and you'll have a pretty solid mental image of a grimace. It can be a verb, as in "the class grimaced at the teacher's suggestion of a pop quiz." Or it words as a noun. "The class gave a grimace when the teacher suggested a pop quiz." Its forerunner was the 17th century Spanish grimazo, meaning caricature, and grima, meaning fright. |
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| 2175 |
icon |
a visual representation produced on a surface |
Public Enemy: Still ticked off after all these years, the hip-hop icons have been waging war on apathy since the ‘80s. |
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An icon is a symbol. It can be literal—–like the little trashcan on your computer screen—–or metaphorical––as in a singer so well known by ten-year-olds, he's called a pre-teen pop icon. |
Icon comes to us from the Greek word eikenai, meaning "to seem or to be like." In certain religions, statues of religious figures are referred to as icons––because they are prayed to as if they were the thing they represent. Icon can also describe a person closely linked to an idea. Mahatma Gandhi is revered as an icon of peace and humanity, while Adolf Hitler is reviled as an icon of violence and hatred. |
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| 2176 |
motivate |
give an incentive for action |
Her supporters say the impeachment charges are politically motivated. |
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To give someone the incentive to act in a certain way is to motivate that person. If you give your dad a food-processor for his birthday, you might motivate him to help out with the cooking. |
The verb motivate means to prompt or incite. By giving speeches on college campuses across the country, John F. Kennedy motivated a lot of young people to join the Peace Corps in the early 1960s. People are not always motivated in positive ways, however. When a crime is described as racially motivated, it means the perpetrators picked their victim because of the color of his skin. |
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| 2177 |
replicate |
reproduce or make an exact copy of |
But say you want to replicate America’s most famous tree in your living room. |
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Did you just figure out how to make that excellent pizza you had in Philadelphia? Then what you’ve done is replicate it, meaning you’ve been able to reproduce it. |
The word replicate carries different shades of meaning, but it generally involves repeating something. Students of biology will know that the word is often used to indicate that an exact duplicate has been made, such as chromosomes that replicate themselves. It can also be used in an unscientific sense to mean that something has been done again to match or repeat an earlier outcome, such as a political group that works to replicate a successful campaign. |
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| 2178 |
concoct |
devise or invent |
Wireless providers have concocted a particularly dizzying array of hurdles to get on their Web sites. |
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When you concoct something, you mix up different ingredients. If you want to become a mad scientist or a wizard, you'll have to learn how to concoct strange potions. |
If the word concoction makes you think of steaming caldrons or liquids bubbling in test tubes, you’ll be amused to know that it comes from a Latin word for “digestion.” Yum! On summer days, children sometimes concoct imaginative stews from grass, leaves and dirt. They may also concoct lies to explain why they tried feeding such concoctions to their little sister. |
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| 2179 |
embedded |
inserted as an integral part of a surrounding whole |
Code is embedded in our phones, ATMs, voting machines, buildings, social interactions, culture. |
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The adjective embedded describes something that is encased in a surrounding substance. On a walking tour of Fredericksburg, Virginia, you can see buildings with embedded Civil War cannonballs. |
Embedded also means to insert as part of a whole. In wartime, embedded journalists are stationed with military units so that they can make first-hand reports on the news, and so that viewers can have a more in-depth understanding of issues facing the soldiers. This use arose during the Iraq war in 2003. Embedded comes from the verb embed, which originally applied to materials embedded in rocks, such as fossils. |
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| 2180 |
laden |
filled with a great quantity |
In the clubhouse, a table is laden with flowers and sympathy notes offering "strength and support in these hard times". |
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Something that is laden is weighted down by something heavy, like an apple tree that's laden with fruit. |
Laden comes from the Old English word hladan, meaning "to load, heap." Think of the related word ladle, a big scoop you dip into something, such as soup or hot fudge. Laden can be a verb that describes using a ladle or otherwise filling or loading something up, like a teacher who ladens students with homework. Laden can be an adjective that describes the feeling of burden or stress from all that work. |
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| 2181 |
solace |
comfort in disappointment or misery |
“Some of my patients take solace in knowing that the pesticide levels are below safety thresholds,” Dr. Bravata said. |
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If something eases your disappointment or grief, consider it a solace. If you're sad, you might find solace in music or in talking to your friends. |
It is no surprise that consolation and solace are similar in meaning as they share a root in the Latin verb sōlārī "to comfort." In fact, solace and consolation are synonyms meaning relief from grief or disappointment. When you go to sleepaway camp, your parents will miss you, but they'll find solace in knowing that you are having fun. |
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| 2182 |
tolerate |
put up with something or somebody unpleasant |
These teachers, professionally trained to deal with cheeky people, tolerated my impertinent frisking. |
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The verb tolerate means "to put up with or allow." You can tolerate your sister's love of Broadway musicals but really, you prefer dramas. |
Think of tolerate as the open-minded verb. It means you allow something to happen or exist, even if you don't really like it. For example, you don't like your neighbor's loud music but you tolerate because he only blasts it on Saturday afternoons. Scientifically speaking, when your body can tolerate a drug, poison or even pollution, it means you aren't harmed by it. |
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| 2183 |
vast |
unusually great in size or amount or extent or scope |
TV still makes up the vast majority of advertising media budgets, by far. |
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If you’re in a boat out on the water and you can’t see any land, then the body of water you’re in is probably vast, or enormous. |
Things that are described as vast include oceans, seas, the heavens, deserts, and the surface of the moon. Even places that can't be seen or touched, like imaginations, are called vast, because of the endless ideas that come out of them. Someone with a vast imagination is very creative, and a place with a vast landscape is very large. Possibilities are vast, and so are the vocabularies of the world, filling vast volumes. |
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| 2184 |
capitalize |
draw advantages from |
Any transaction will need to move quickly in order to capitalize on consumer interest. |
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To capitalize is to put something in capital letters, particularly the first letters, Like This. To capitalize also means to take advantage of a situation. |
The first word of every sentence is capitalized, and to capitalize is to write in capital (or upper-case) letters. To capitalize also means to take advantage of an opportunity. Graduates try to capitalize on their degrees by getting well-paying jobs. A football team tries to capitalize on the other team’s mistakes, such as making a touchdown after an interception. It might help you to remember that capitalizing is a good thing if you know capital is also another word for money. |
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| 2185 |
prosper |
make steady progress |
Every company in the world has tightened it's belt and many are prospering, why? |
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As any fan of Star Trek knows, “live long and prosper” is good advice. The verb prosper means to do well, succeed, or thrive. |
The verb prosper commonly means to generate wealth like, “the bank aims to prosper from its new investments.” But more generally it means “grow stronger” or "flourish" — such as “after a slow start, fall crops prosper,” or “we hope the animals will prosper in their new environment.” You can prosper from good advice or a wise decision, for example, “cheaters never prosper” is one piece of advice that you can prosper from. |
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| 2186 |
reimburse |
pay back for some expense incurred |
Insurance companies do not currently reimburse private advocates' fees. |
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If you buy a basketball for your school team with your own money, and you ask your coach to reimburse you, you are asking him to pay you back. To reimburse is to compensate for an expense or loss. |
The person who collects money at a college is the bursar, a purse is where you store money, and reimburse means to pay money back. All three of these words share the Latin root bursa 'moneybag.' If you want to be paid back for overpaid tuition, ask the bursar, Mr. Moneybags, to reimburse you from the schools purse. |
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| 2187 |
proactive |
causing something to happen rather than waiting to respond |
Shariat said men should be particularly proactive about their health care. |
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The adjective proactive can describe a person who gets things done. If you are proactive, you make things happen, instead of waiting for them to happen to you. |
Active means "doing something." The prefix pro- means "before." So if you are proactive, you are ready before something happens. The opposite is being reactive, or waiting for things to unfold before responding. Think about winter cold season. A proactive person washes his hands and takes vitamins; a reactive person gets sick and takes cold medicine. |
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| 2188 |
delusion |
a mistaken or unfounded opinion or idea |
People with schizophrenia can at times have delusions that they are responsible for crimes they did not commit. |
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A delusion is a belief that has no evidence in fact — a complete illusion. The cook at the hot dog stand who thinks he is the best chef in the world? That opinion is definitely a delusion. |
The noun delusion is often used in the phrase delusions of grandeur, which expresses the belief that unattainable goals are well within reach, like a terrible actress's delusions of grandeur that she won't just land her first role in a movie, it also will make her an Academy Award winner. Delusions like that can be amusing for onlookers, but other kinds of delusions are not, like those suffered by the mentally ill. Their delusions can remove them from reality, making it hard to function. |
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| 2189 |
candor |
the quality of being honest and straightforward |
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Candor usually means the quality of being open, honest, and sincere. If someone tells you they think you are dumb, you might reply with, "While I appreciate your candor, I don't think we need to be friends anymore." |
The corresponding adjective is candid, as in "I want you to be candid. Do these pants make me look fat?" Candor is from French candeur, from Latin candor, from candēre "to shine, be white." The color white is associated with purity, which is a now obsolete meaning of candor. |
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| 2190 |
caricature |
a representation of a person exaggerated for comic effect |
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A caricature is a satirical, exaggerated portrayal of person. You'd better not caricature your father by walking bent-over and speaking in his high voice. If he catches you, you'll be in trouble! |
An exaggeration of a person's character results in a caricature. While this might help you to remember it's meaning, don't let the spelling confuse you. Character has an "h" but caricature does not. If you're so excited about something that you feel a little out of control, you might seem like a caricature of yourself to your friends. You can use this word as a verb too. Presidents and other prominent politicians are often caricatured in political cartoons. |
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| 2191 |
coalesce |
fuse or cause to come together |
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Waiting for a plan to come together? You're waiting for it to coalesce. Coalesce is when different elements of something join together and become one. |
In coalesce, you see co-, which should tell you the word means "together." The other half of the word comes from alescere, a Latin verb meaning "to grow up." So if you are trying to start up a photography club at school, once you have an advisor, some interested students and support from the administration, things will be coalescing or growing together. Another way to remember that? An adolescent is one who is growing. A lot! |
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| 2192 |
corroborate |
give evidence for |
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To corroborate is to back someone else’s story. If you swear to your teacher that you didn't throw the spitball, and your friends corroborate your story by promising that you were concentrating on math homework, she might actually believe you. |
For example, a witness in court corroborates the testimony of others, and further experimentation can corroborate a scientific theory. Near synonyms are substantiate and confirm. Corroborate, originally meaning "to support or strengthen," was borrowed from Latin corrōborāre, formed from the prefix cor- "completely" plus rōborāre "to strengthen" (from rōbur "strength"). |
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| 2193 |
congenial |
suitable to your needs |
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A congenial person is easy to get along with. If you're trying to decide which of your friends to take on a road trip, choose the most congenial one. |
Congenial means sharing the same temperament, or agreeing with your temperament. You can talk about a congenial person, place, or environment. Maybe you enjoy the congenial atmosphere of the library. Or perhaps for you the disco is more congenial. As you might expect for such a vaguely approving word, there are many synonyms: agreeable, pleasant, delectable, delightful, enjoyable, and so on. |
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| 2194 |
curtail |
terminate or abbreviate before its intended or proper end |
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To curtail something is to slow it down, put restrictions on it, or stop it entirely. If I give up cake, I am curtailing my cake-eating. |
Curtail is an official-sounding word for stopping or slowing things down. The police try to curtail crime — they want there to be less crime in the world. A company may want to curtail their employees' computer time, so they spend more time working and less time goofing around. Teachers try to curtail whispering and note-passing in class. When something is curtailed, it's either stopped entirely or stopped quite a bit — it's cut short. |
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| 2195 |
debilitate |
make weak |
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To debilitate something is to make it weaker. A bad flu may debilitate your powers of concentration, like the New Year's resolutions that temporarily debilitate bakeries' business. |
The verb debilitate traces back to the Latin word debilis, meaning “lame, disabled, crippled.” It’s often used to describe what disability or illness does to a person's health, but it can describe anything that has been weakened, like the sense of community that is slowly debilitated by people working longer hours and the lack of sidewalks that in many towns make it harder to walk around and meet the neighbors. |
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| 2196 |
decorous |
characterized by propriety and dignity and good taste |
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Something that is decorous is dignified, proper, and in good taste, like your decorous great-aunt who always wears a dress — even when she's only headed to the grocery store. |
The adjective decorous shares its origins with decoration. Both words come from the Latin word decor, meaning "beauty, elegance, charm, grace, ornament." So, something decorous is attractive. Decorous can also mean "dignified or proper," like your decorous habit of saying, "How do you do?" when you meet someone for the first time. |
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| 2197 |
decry |
express strong disapproval of |
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When you dye your hair pink and orange, your mother decries your act as a horror and bursts into tears. She criticizes your choice of colors, stating that pink and purple would have looked better. |
You might decry learning French, declaring it as a waste of time. Yet many English words come from French. When the French conquered England in 1066, they brought with them their language as well as their social system. Because French was spoken mostly by the ruling class, many of the loan words are formal. Decry comes from the Old French descrier, to cry out or announce. When you decry something, you simultaneously condemn it and discredit it, a formal act. |
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| 2198 |
demean |
reduce in worth or character, usually verbally |
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To demean someone is to insult them. To demean is to degrade or put down a person or thing. |
If you noticed the word mean in demean, that's a good clue to its meaning. To demean someone is very mean. You are demeaning your sister or brother if you run their underwear up a flagpole. A teacher could demean a student by saying "You're stupid!" To demean is to insult: no one wants to be demeaned. Insulting language is often called demeaning. We can also say a bad president demeaned his office. |
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| 2199 |
deplore |
express strong disapproval of |
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The verb deplore is used to express strong disapproval of something. If you really, really hate the way your mom makes meatloaf, then it's safe to say you deplore it. |
Deplore comes from Latin roots that mean to bewail or lament. So if you deplore something, you object to it because it brings you sorrow or grief. People often deplore things that they regret or feel bad about. You might deplore the inhumane treatment of animals or the deforestation of the Amazon. Or maybe you just deplore your wardrobe choices from middle school. |
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| 2200 |
derision |
the act of treating with contempt |
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If people are laughing at you, making fun of you, and acting as if you're worthless, they're treating you with derision. Derision is mean and attacking — it's a form of contempt. |
Derision is more than just making fun of someone — it's mocking someone so forcefully and with such venom that you discredit the person completely. Derision can include literally laughing at someone or just treating a person like a joke. You know how celebrities and politicians do embarrassing things from time to time? They're usually treated with derision afterward: people mock them, treat them with contempt, and try to make the person who messed up seem completely worthless. |
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| 2201 |
discord |
lack of agreement or harmony |
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Discord is the strife and tension that arises when two sides disagree on something, like the high-pitched screaming of two kids fighting over the front seat of the car. |
Discord can be broken down into the prefix dis, meaning "different," and cord, which stems from an old word for "heart." So that leaves us with "different hearts." So if we're talking about music, discord means a lack of harmony — tones that clash so badly your ears bleed. But when there's discord between people, their hearts are in different places — which usually results in more than a few raised voices clashing disharmoniously. |
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| 2202 |
dissipate |
cause to separate and go in different directions |
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Dissipate means "disperse" or "fade away" — as a bad smell will dissipate (usually) if you wait long enough. |
Dissipate can also mean “spend or use wastefully.” If you win the lottery, you might suddenly find yourself with a group of new friends encouraging you to dissipate your money (on them). Note that dissipate can be used with or without an object: "Once you dissipate your wealth, your new group of friends will dissipate without a trace." |
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| 2203 |
exonerate |
pronounce not guilty of criminal charges |
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To exonerate someone is to declare him not guilty of criminal charges. This word is pretty much only used in reference to proceedings in a court of law. A word with a similar meaning that might be familiar is “acquit.” |
When your next door neighbor was arrested for painting smiley faces on the front doors of all the houses on your block, evidence to exonerate him was discovered when the police found a young hooligan from the next street over with a basement full of paint canisters. The verb comes from the Latin exonerat-, meaning “freed from burden.” A criminal charge is certainly a burden, and when you're exonerated, you're freed from that burden. |
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| 2204 |
farce |
a comedy characterized by broad satire |
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A farce is a broad satire or comedy, though now it's used to describe something that is supposed to be serious but has turned ridiculous. If a defendant is not treated fairly, his lawyer might say that the trial is a farce. |
As a type of comedy, a farce uses improbable situations, physical humor and silliness to entertain. Spoof films such as "Spaceballs," a comedy based on the Star Wars movies, are farces. If a real-life event or situation is a farce, it feels this ridiculous. An election is a farce, if the outcome has been determined before the voting begins. And class can feel like a farce if your substitute teacher knows less about the subject than you do. |
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| 2205 |
flippant |
showing inappropriate levity |
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When a parent scolds a teenager for missing a curfew or blowing off a test and the teen snaps back, "Whatever," you could say the teen is being flippant. His reply was casual to the point of sarcasm and disrespect. |
When it first showed up in the English language around the 17th century, flippant meant glib and talkative. But over the years it has developed a more negative connotation. Today flippant is used to describe a blasé attitude or comment in a situation that calls for seriousness. Make a flippant comment about your friend's mother and the odds are good that they'll be offended. |
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| 2206 |
frivolous |
not serious in content or attitude or behavior |
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Frivolous things are silly or unnecessary. If something is frivolous, then you don't need it. |
Frivolous things are goofy, useless, or just plain dumb. The word is often used to describe lawsuits. A frivolous lawsuit has no value and will be a waste of the court's time, like someone suing McDonald's for making the coffee too hot (which actually happened). If someone is frivolous, that person shouldn't be taken seriously because he's always fooling around and never gets anything done. Frivolous is pretty much the opposite of essential. |
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| 2207 |
gluttonous |
given to excess in consumption of especially food or drink |
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When you cram your mouth with your favorite ice cream as quickly as you can, you are being gluttonous, that is, excessively greedy. Slow down. |
Although gluttonous usually refers to the greedy consumption of food and drink, it can also be applied to overly hearty appetites of any kind, such as a "gluttonous love of money," or even a masochistic love of pain, as in the popular phrase "glutton for punishment." Gluttonous is always used critically, and in the Christian faith especially, gluttony is considered one of the seven deadly sins. |
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| 2208 |
ingrate |
a person who shows no gratitude |
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If your kind act of buying a donut for your friend gets you nothing but a complaint that the chocolate icing looks runny, then it sounds like your pal is an ingrate, someone who is not thankful for others' kindness. |
The noun ingrate comes for the Latin word ingratus, a combination of in-, meaning “not,” and gratus, or “grateful.” That pretty much sums up an ingrate: not grateful. It describes someone who tends to act this way in general, rarely acknowledging others' generosity, or even worse, seeming to expect special treatment. You can tell someone is an ingrate by what isn't said: "thank you" and "I appreciate what you've done for me." |
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| 2209 |
larceny |
the act of taking something from someone unlawfully |
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Larceny is the legal term for stealing. Grand larceny is when you take something worth a lot of money, petty larceny when the stolen item is worth relatively little. |
Larceny is used when talking about stealing someone's property in regards to the law. If you illegally download music or plagiarize a text, that may be theft, but it is not larceny because there was no physical property involved. If you take a friend's yoyo and don't give it back, it's stealing — unless your friend calls the police and has you arrested on charges of larceny. |
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| 2210 |
meek |
humble in spirit or manner |
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The adjective meek describes a person who is willing to go along with whatever other people want to do, like a meek classmate who won't speak up, even when he or she is treated unfairly. |
A meek person can also be humble, but these words aren't quite synonyms. If you are humble, you don't want a lot of attention, like the humble athlete who has a truly excellent performance yet after the game, tells reporters that it was group effort by the whole team. A meek person, on the other hand, would never think a reporter would ever want to talk to him or her, and if asked, would probably try to get someone else, someone more "worthy," to do it. |
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| 2211 |
mutability |
the quality of being capable of mutation |
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Mutability means the quality of being changeable. Caterpillars, on their way to becoming butterflies, display a great deal of mutability. |
An easy way to remember mutability is to think about a word it sounds like, mutant. A mutant is someone who has been changed, irrevocably, so mutability is the ability to change. It's the mutability of the Internet that makes it so wonderful and confusing at the same time. You might tell your friend who was sweet and kind yesterday, but is mean and awful today, that you wish she didn't have such a tendency to mutability. |
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| 2212 |
nonchalance |
the trait of remaining calm and seeming not to care |
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Nonchalance is a casual lack of concern, a relaxed state without anxiety or enthusiasm. Like how you'd act if the girl you've had a secret crush on since grade school asks you to the prom. (Or maybe not.) |
It's hard to achieve nonchalance. If you're like most people, there's always going to be something that will rattle you. And you can forget about behaving with chalance, because chalance isn't a word. Sometimes you hear people say that so-and-so acted with "studied nonchalance," which means to sort of fake it. Oddly, the word's origins go back to the Latin calere, which is the same word as the root of calorie. A calorie is a unit of energy, and to act with nonchalance is to refrain from showing too much energy or excitement, so actually, it makes sense. |
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| 2213 |
outmoded |
out of fashion |
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Something that is outmoded is no longer cool or in style, like your dad's outmoded hairstyle that he's had since he was in high school. |
The French are known for their sense of fashion and style, so it's no surprise that they coined the word démodé to describe things that are no longer cool. De- means "out, off, away" and mode means "fashion." The English word outmoded is simply a translation of démodé: "out of fashion" or "out of style." |
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| 2214 |
perjury |
criminal offense of making false statements under oath |
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Perjury is the act of deliberately lying under oath. A defendant in a murder trial commits perjury when he swears he never met the murder victim before, even though he had a two-year relationship with her. |
Although the word perjury contains jury, members of the jury aren't likely to commit perjury, because they're not under oath and haven't sworn to be truthful. A witness in a trial can commit perjury by willfully lying about facts related to the case. Perjury isn't just a little white lie. It's a crime that can land the person who commits it in jail. |
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| 2215 |
potency |
the power or right to give orders or make decisions |
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Use the noun potency when you're talking about the strength of something. You could refer to the potency of a drug or the potency of a political leader. |
Potency is an official measurement in pharmacology, or the science of prescribing drugs. It's also useful for describing a person's power or authority over others. The Latin root word is potentia, or "power," and its origin goes all the way back to the Sanskrit word for "master or husband," patih. The word potency has historically been associated with men, but it's fine to use it to describe a woman's power too. |
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| 2216 |
premonition |
an early warning about a future event |
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Some people claim to have premonitions, such as a dream about a friend they haven't seen in years the night before the friend dies. A premonition is a warning that comes in advance, or a feeling that something is going to happen. |
Like the synonym foreboding, a premonition usually refers to something bad or harmful. This noun is from Middle French premonicion, from Late Latin praemonitio, from Latin praemonere "to warn in advance," from the prefix prae- "before" plus monere "to warn." |
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| 2217 |
prudent |
marked by sound judgment |
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Describe an action as prudent if it is the wise thing to do under the existing circumstances. If you're getting in trouble, it is probably prudent to keep your mouth closed and just listen. |
If you show good and careful judgment when handling practical matters, you can be described as prudent. Similarly, a wise and well-thought-through decision or action can be called prudent. The word comes from a contracted form of the Latin prōvidēns from the verb "to foresee." The English word provident "wise in planning for the future" is the non-contracted descendent of the same Latin root. |
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| 2218 |
relinquish |
turn away from; give up |
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If you relinquish something, you let it go. You relinquish control of the army when you resign as general. You relinquish your plan to sneak into town when your parents find out what's going on. |
Relinquish is also commonly used to mean physically letting go of something: The monkey wouldn't relinquish its grasp on the banana. Relinquish descends from Latin relinquere, from the prefix re- "again" plus linquere "to leave." |
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| 2219 |
reprehensible |
bringing or deserving severe rebuke or censure |
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Reprehensible means deserving of blame or strong criticism. It is a strong word––your mother might forgive you for doing something bad, but something reprehensible? That's worse. |
Near synonyms are blameworthy and culpable. Antonyms are blameless and praiseworthy. The adjective reprehensible is from Middle English, from Latin reprehensus, from reprehendere plus the suffix -ibilis "deserving of, capable of." If someone is reprehended, they are blamed or strongly criticized. |
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| 2220 |
stratagem |
an elaborate or deceitful scheme to deceive or evade |
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A stratagem is a scheme or a clever plot. You can have a stratagem for winning a chess game, getting the girl (or boy), and avoiding a punishment. However, your opponents, crushes, and parents may have a trick or two of their own. |
Sometimes a stratagem is a gem of an idea, really clever and worth trying. Great generals start a battle plan with a stratagem, and businesses might have a stratagem for making more money. A stratagem is often a trick or a way to deceive an enemy or get something through a plot or ploy, but it can also mean just a great idea that outwits someone. Your teacher probably has a stratagem for helping you remember and spell words. |
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| 2221 |
subdued |
restrained in style or quality |
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The adjective subdued refers to something, like a sound, that has a lowered intensity. Your loud conversation with a friend in the back of the classroom is likely to become subdued when the teacher passes out the exams. |
The word subdued is related to the Latin word, subdere, which means "to subtract from." Something that is subdued has lost some of its strength or intensity. Subdued lighting might create a romantic mood at a restaurant. And a subdued child is one who is no longer having a fit. A subdued economy is probably pretty sluggish. |
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| 2222 |
subversive |
in opposition to an established system or government |
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You might want to call someone subversive if they are sneakily trying to undermine something, from the social structure of your high school to an entire system of government. |
You can use subversive as a noun or an adjective without changing it one whit. Note the prefix sub meaning "underneath" with the remainder coming from the Latin vertere "to turn." Think about a subversive as a sneaky kind of revolutionary who tries to turn the system from underneath. Art or literature is considered subversive if it attempts to undermine the morals and traditions of a society. |
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| 2223 |
superfluous |
more than is needed, desired, or required |
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When something is so unnecessary that it could easily be done away with, like a fifth wheel on a car or a fifth person on a double date, call it superfluous. |
Superfluous (soo-PER-floo-uhs) means "more than required." Use it when pointing out something that could be removed without detracting from the quality of something: "For a climb over a glacier, the very thickest shoes are absolutely necessary; beyond these, all else seems superfluous to me," wrote the adventurer Charles Stoddard in 1899. The word comes from Latin and literally means "overflowing": super, "over" + fluere, "to flow." So you can think of a superfluous addition as flowing over the boundaries of what's needed. |
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| 2224 |
temperament |
your usual mood |
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While a mood can change, your temperament is your overall tone most of the time. Just like dogs, people have temperaments: some are aggressive; some are playful; and some are just happy to carry your slippers. |
Just as a temperature gives a reading of how hot or cold something is, your temperament gives a reading of your disposition, or general outlook. Some folks with optimistic temperaments see that glass as half full; other more pessimistic folks see it as half empty. And there are still others who prefer to drink straight from the bottle. |
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| 2225 |
thwart |
hinder or prevent, as an effort, plan, or desire |
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A villain's worst nightmare is the superhero who always seems to thwart his efforts, preventing him from carrying out his plans to take over the world. |
Thwart is a word you'll hear in a lot of action movies, and usually it's the hero who is trying to thwart the evil plan of some super-villain. Yet even mere mortals can be thwarted in their efforts; the word simply means to prevent someone from carrying out his or her plans. An aggressive driver can thwart your attempt to snag a parking space at a crowded mall by pulling into the space before you. An aggressive shopper at that same mall can thwart your efforts to buy the last Dancing Snoopy doll by grabbing it off the shelf first. |
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| 2226 |
transcendent |
exceeding or surpassing usual limits |
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Transcendent describes something so excellent that it's beyond the range of human understanding. |
Transcendent shares the prefix trans, meaning "across," with many familiar words such as transport (carry across), transcontinental (across a continent), and transparent (light shines across). Transcendental meditation carries people across to a higher consciousness. So something transcendent goes across boring reality into super awesomeness in a world all its own. It moves you. Angels are transcendent, and even your favorite novel can be transcendent. Beware of someone who finds the cheesecake transcendent; she may tend to exaggerate. |
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| 2227 |
trepidation |
a feeling of alarm or dread |
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When plain old "fear" isn't enough to get across a deep feeling of dread about something on the horizon, use the more formal word trepidation. |
"It was with a certain trepidation that I attended an advance screening of Rob Zombie's Halloween in Hollywood last night," wrote a film reviewer. Some dictionaries note that trepidation carries connotations of apprehension about an upcoming threat. In most cases, though, you can get by with the simpler word fear — why use three syllables when you could make do with one? The word comes from the Latin verb trepidare, "to tremble." |
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| 2228 |
turbulence |
instability in the atmosphere |
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Use the noun turbulence to describe instability or disturbance. If you’re on an airplane during a storm, turbulence is that horrible thing that is causing the plane (and your stomach) to bounce around. |
The word turbulence can be used to refer to atmospheric instability, such as sudden, unpredictable air movements resulting from a storm, but the word has a broader meaning as well and you will often hear it used to describe any situation characterized by unrest and disorder. If your stocks are fluctuating wildly in price, that could be a result of turbulence in the stock market. If last year was filled with unpredictable change, you could describe it as a year of great turbulence. |
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| 2229 |
voracious |
devouring or craving food in great quantities |
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Voracious is an adjective used to describe a wolflike appetite. It might be a craving for food or for something else, such as power, but the word usually denotes an unflattering greediness. |
Voracious comes from the Latin vorāre, "to devour." The word is usually associated with swallowing or devouring food in a ravenous manner, but it can be used of someone intensely involved in any activity. Pierre Salinger referred to President Kennedy as a "voracious reader," while Robert Bakker once likened the IRS to a "voracious, small-minded predator." |
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| 2230 |
communism |
a theory favoring collectivism in a classless society |
Recent polls show that instituting communism in the United States is more popular than our democratically elected congressional leaders. |
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At the opposite end of the spectrum from capitalism, communism is an economic theory favoring a classless society and the abolition of private property. |
Communism derives from the French commun (common). Ideally, according to communism, society shares all property in common, everyone shares the burden of labor, and everyone shares the profits of that labor. Or, as the German philosopher Karl Marx wrote, "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need." As a system of government, communism is often closer to a form of socialism, in which the state owns and operates industry on behalf of the people. |
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| 2231 |
altruism |
the quality of unselfish concern for the welfare of others |
At first, most people agreed that true altruism was a uniquely human characteristic requiring an awareness of one's actions as selfless. |
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If you see a stranger getting beaten up on the playground and you rush in to rescue them, you have done something unselfish to help another person, otherwise known as an act of altruism. |
Use the noun altruism to refer to feelings or actions that show an unselfish concern for other people. In science, altruism refers to animal behavior that could be harmful to the animal itself but that contributes to the survival of the animal group. It's related to the adjective altruistic. Someone known for their altruism is an altruist. |
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| 2232 |
asceticism |
the doctrine of renunciation of worldly pleasures |
Still the good monks continued to live in rigorous asceticism; and their liberality to others often reduced them to extremities of privation. |
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Asceticism is rigorous self-denial, particularly the rejection of the pleasures of the world. If you don't drink, smoke, eat sugar, see movies, use the internet, or have a cell phone, then you are already practicing a kind of asceticism. |
Asceticism comes from the word ascetic, which comes from Greek roots meaning monk, and practice or exercise. Historically, Asceticism was a rigorous, laborious lifestyle, involving the denial of pleasure and rest as a way of expressing spiritual devotion. Now we use asceticism as a synonym for austerity. |
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| 2233 |
consumerism |
the theory that increasing use of goods is beneficial |
A glittering shopping mall with an indoor ice skating rink stands as a totem of American-style consumerism. |
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The noun consumerism refers to the theory that spending money and consuming goods is good for the economy. Opponents of consumerism suggest simple living is a more sustainable lifestyle and better for the environment. |
Consumerism comes from the verb consume, which is rooted in the Latin word consumere, meaning to use up or to waste. The noun consumerism also refers to a movement that promotes the interests of consumers — that is, people who purchase goods, use them, and then buy more — especially the protection of these consumers from things like fraud or price gouging. |
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| 2234 |
despotism |
a form of government in which the ruler is unconstrained |
Henceforward free government all over the world lay crushed beneath the military despotism of Rome. |
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Despotism is a way of ruling in which the leader has total, unchecked power. Joseph Stalin purged the Soviet Union of all his opponents in order to rule the country through despotism. He didn’t have many friends. |
Despotism can also describe tyranny, the wielding of power through cruelty and terror. It's often used in reference to a country that's ruled by a dictator, but despotism can describe any situation characterized by oppression and threats. When your sister threatens to send all of your friends embarrassing baby photos of you if you don’t let her control the TV remote, that’s despotism. |
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| 2235 |
egoism |
the theory that self-interest is the basis of morality |
Consequently, as is the way of human nature, her egoism is exasperated, and becomes more firmly concentrated upon her own welfare. |
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Someone who is full of himself and doesn't give a darn about other people has a healthy supply of egoism. Egoism means "me me me me me-ism." |
Egoism has a lot to do with selfishness, which sounds like a bad thing, right? Not necessarily. Some people think that being selfish is the best thing to do for the world as a whole. In other words, if everyone is selfish, everyone will be better off. So egoism can be considered positive or negative — it all depends how someone uses the word. This makes egoism different from egotism — an always yucky type of selfishness. |
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| 2236 |
empiricism |
the doctrine that knowledge derives from experience |
Darwin is the finest fruit of English empiricism. |
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Empiricism means a method of study relying on empirical evidence, which includes things you've experienced: stuff you can see and touch. |
Empiricism is based on facts, evidence, and research. Scholars and researchers deal in empiricism. If you believe in the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, or Santa Claus, you're out of the realm of empiricism — there are no facts to support those myths. If you want to get something practical done, or to really know what the deal is with something, empiricism is the way to go. |
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| 2237 |
fatalism |
a doctrine that all events are predetermined in advance |
She never questioned but that the fault lay entirely in herself, and a sort of fatalism made her accept it all with apathetic matter-of-factness. |
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People who exhibit fatalism appear powerless to shape their own future: they believe only in fate. I sense the fatalism in you, but you CAN change things! |
You can see and hear the word "fate" in the word fatalism. It means "destiny" — the notion that all things are meant to be and that there is nothing you can do to change them. Someone "fatalistic" — who displays fatalism — sees life as a series of inevitable, predetermined events. Often, this term is used negatively to describe someone who refuses to try to shape their own lives or who gives up too easily. Fatalism may in fact be logical response to life, but that's no reason not to try to change things! |
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| 2238 |
feminism |
a doctrine that advocates equal rights for women |
In the United States, as elsewhere, feminism could be characterized as the most successful social movement of the 20th century. |
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Feminism is a movement that advocates equal rights and opportunities for women. If you think that a man and woman doing the exact same job should get equal pay, then you believe in one of the basic principles of feminism. |
When the word feminism first entered English in 1851, it referred simply to being feminine. By 1895, it had taken on its current meaning as a way to describe a theory or activity promoting women’s rights, especially back then, the right to vote. You might be familiar with the wave of feminism that took place during the 1970s, when women fought for more opportunities and equal pay. |
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| 2239 |
hedonism |
an ethical system that values the pursuit of pleasure |
In its heyday, Atlantic City was a haven of hedonism, its mystique etched onto the Monopoly board. |
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Strictly speaking, hedonism is the belief that pursuing pleasure leads to the greatest ethical good. In practice, though, the ethical part sometimes gets lost in the pleasure part. |
Hedonism originally hails from the Greek word hedone, meaning "pleasure." In Ancient Greece, hedonism really did have an ethical component, and its adherents really believed that society would be best served if you as an individual cultivated those things that gave you the greatest pleasure, instead of the self-denial inherent in other philosophies and religions. Over time the philosophical aspect of hedonism has faded and we are left an idea that looks to us very much like, well, Las Vegas. |
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| 2240 |
humanism |
doctrine promoting the welfare of mankind |
The Reformation took up the educational work of humanism, and carried it forward. |
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Do you think humans should use their brains and reason to be the best they can be, instead of relying on religion? Then you believe in humanism. |
Humanism comes from the Latin humanitas, which means "education that befits a civilized man." This belief system or cultural movement bubbled up during the Renaissance, promoting classical Greek and Roman values like reason, justice and ethics instead of supernatural religious ideas. People who follow humanism are called humanists, and they've probably studied a lot of literature, philosophy and history. |
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| 2241 |
idealism |
the philosophical theory that thoughts are the only reality |
Once more, the poet’s mysticism is tempered by a tinge of idealism. |
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Idealism, as "noble-mindedness," is the belief that we should always strive for our highest ideals. Sometimes, though, idealism is a sort of incurable optimism. |
It's one thing if you always pursue high-minded goals and right conduct — one definition of idealism. Just be careful to not get so caught up that you fail to see things as they really are — you don't want to go through life "wearing rose-colored glasses" — yet another definition of idealism. In philosophy, idealism is the theory that ideas are the only reality. |
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| 2242 |
individualism |
doctrine that government should not interfere in commerce |
Samuel Johnson should be known as the apostle of individualism. |
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Individualism is all about taking care of yourself; it is the belief and practice that every person is unique and self-reliant. A belief in individualism also implies that you believe that the government should bud out of your individual affairs. |
The concept of individualism is rooted in historical contexts where people’s personal differences were dismissed or even punished by the ruling body. In particular, the United States is known for having a strong bent towards individualism because it was founded by people who sought the freedom to practice whatever religion they chose. The counterpoints to individualism are socialism and communism (among others). Those who prefer individualism often site fear of governmental control over their life decisions as reason for that inclination. |
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| 2243 |
isolationism |
a policy of nonparticipation in international relations |
When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, the debate ended and isolationism was essentially dead. |
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A nation practicing isolationism stays out of relations with other countries and concentrates on its own business at home. |
The United States tried to maintain a policy of isolationism — staying out of other countries’ politics — until World War I and even beyond. But World War II and the Cold War ended that. The world keeps shrinking, and governments find it difficult to practice isolationism. Nowadays, nations find they have to get involved in other countries' problems, sometimes to protect their own interests and sometimes for humanitarian reasons. |
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| 2244 |
liberalism |
a political orientation favoring social progress by reform |
But San Francisco’s national reputation for liberalism and libertinism really got going after Prohibition ended in 1933. |
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Liberalism in politics favors social progress, through the agency of government, while liberalism in economics favors a free and open market, without government interference. |
Liberalism in contemporary politics is said to fall on the left-hand side of the political spectrum, which is why its adherents are sometimes called, collectively, "the Left." (Adherents of "conservatism" are called "the Right," and they are generally strongly opposed to liberalism.) "Political liberalism," which may favor more government regulation, is not interchangeable with "economic liberalism," which favors less government regulation, a strategy political conservatism often agrees with. |
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| 2245 |
materialism |
the philosophical theory that matter is the only reality |
" Materialism will be advanced as the only sound basis of rational thought and practice." |
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Materialism describes the belief that buying and having possessions is not just important, but a key to happiness in life, like the people whose materialism has so clouded their minds that they are more interested in your clothes and shoes than in what you are saying. |
Materialism has the word material in it. What is material? Well, it's stuff — anything you can see and touch, like a pile of books or a big, green lawn. To be material, a thing has to have physical form, unlike emotions, beliefs, deep conversations, thoughts. So materialism means putting all importance on stuff. Someone who suffers from materialism would rather be out spending money than spending time with loved ones. |
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| 2246 |
nationalism |
the doctrine that your country's interests are superior |
Despite a reputation for deep-rooted nationalism, Turkey has adopted liberal economic policies under Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's AK Party government over the past decade. |
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Nationalism is the belief that your own country is better than all others. Sometimes nationalism makes people not want to work with other countries to solve shared problems. |
It is important not to confuse nationalism with patriotism. Patriotism is a healthy pride in your country that brings about feelings of loyalty and a desire to help other citizens. Nationalism is the belief that your country is superior, without question or doubt. In some cases, nationalism can inspire people to break free of a foreign oppressor, as in the American Revolution, but nationalism can also lead a country to cut itself off from the rest of the world. |
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| 2247 |
nihilism |
a doctrine that advocates destruction of the social system |
In her despair she succumbed to a sort of nihilism that made her ask: “What is the reason of anything?... |
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If you're one of those people who believe there's nothing worth believing in, your doctrine is nihilism. In philosophy, nihilism is the complete rejection of moral values and religious beliefs. |
It is such a negative outlook that it denies any meaning or purpose in life. In political theory, nihilism is carried to an even greater extreme, arguing for the destruction of all existing political and social institutions. The term nihilism was borrowed from German Nihilismus, since the doctrine was developed by the German philosopher Friedrich Jacobi. The German word is formed from Latin nihil "nothing" plus the suffix –ismus "a doctrine or theory." |
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| 2248 |
pragmatism |
the doctrine that practical consequences determine value |
One homegrown tradition from the United States is pragmatism, which is focused on what works. |
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When you practice pragmatism, you accept conditions as they are and make practical decisions. Your head is not in the clouds. |
If you urge your daydreaming friend to accept that life is not a fairy tale and the only way to succeed is through hard work, that's pragmatism. This is an approach based on how things are, not on how you wish they were. This also refers to a philosophical doctrine built on the idea that something can only be true if it works. If you're known for your pragmatism, then you're realistic, logical, and know how to get things done. |
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| 2249 |
totalitarianism |
the principle of unrestricted power in government |
He denounced totalitarianism in his native land while promoting human rights. |
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If the government has complete and absolute power over the people, that's totalitarianism. This is a repressive, unfree type of society. |
We live in a democracy, where the people have a say and elect officials. The opposite is totalitarianism: a totalitarian society is usually ruled by a dictator, and there is very little or no freedom. In totalitarianism, the government controls almost every aspect of life. There is no free speech or freedom of the press: certain religions and ideas may be banned. George Orwell's novel 1984 was a brilliant look at a world of totalitarianism. |
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| 2250 |
capitalism |
an economic system based on private ownership of assets |
Capitalism’s focus on individualism and free contractual arrangements replaced a system in which familial, communal and religious bonds had greater influence over long-term relationships. |
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Capitalism is an economic system featuring the private ownership of business wealth and the free and unfettered operation of trade markets. |
Capital is usually understood to be money that is put into a business, accumulated by a business, or used in some way to produce more money. In a capitalist economy, the capital is owned by private individuals, as opposed to the government or state (as in socialism or communism). Another important aspect of capitalism is the "free market," where in theory natural competition always leads to innovation and price controls. |
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| 2251 |
repetition |
the continued use of the same word or word pattern |
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Use the noun repetition to describe something that is repeated over and over, like the repetition of singing the alphabet song several times a day to help young children learn the letters. |
To correctly pronounce repetition, accent the third syllable: "re-peh-TIH-shun." Repetition and the closely related repeat come from the Latin word repetere, meaning "do or say again." It can be a very effective tool in public speaking, such as the repetition of "I have a dream that one day . . ." in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous speech. |
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| 2252 |
ballad |
a narrative poem of popular origin |
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A ballad is a song that tells a story, and it can be dramatic, funny, or romantic. You can find ballads in a variety of musical styles, from country-western to rock n' roll. |
The ballad is an old musical form. Ballads are often by anonymous composers, passed down from generation to generation. You may know “The Ballad of Jesse James," about the notorious bank robber, which dates from the 1880s and has been recorded by everybody from Woody Guthrie to Springsteen. A ballad can also be a slow, romantic song, the kind of thing crooners like Johnny Mathis and Bing Crosby made famous. The word ballad comes from medieval French balade, a dancing song. |
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| 2253 |
stanza |
a fixed number of lines of verse forming a unit of a poem |
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Stanzas are the building blocks of formal poetry, like paragraphs in a story or verses in a song. They usually have the same number of lines each time, and often use a rhyming pattern that repeats with each new stanza. |
Shakespeare was the master of the stanza. His sonnets had three stanzas that were each four lines long, and then a two-line stanza at the end, all with a very particular rhyme and rhythm pattern. Poems with stanzas always have some sort of structure to them, but not all poetry uses stanzas, for example — free verse tends to be wild poetry without structural rules. |
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| 2254 |
rhythm |
alternation of stressed and unstressed elements in speech |
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Use the noun rhythm to refer to the regular pattern of something in a cycle or the beat in a song. In the summer, your life takes on a different rhythm than during the school year. |
Rhythm comes from the Greek rhythmos "measured movement, flow." The beat of a song or the meter of a poem is its rhythm. You can also describe the cycle of things that happen in life or nature like the ocean tide or the passing of the seasons as a rhythm. If you have no rhythm, you're not very good at dancing. And once your favorite basketball team has found its rhythm, you know it's going to win. |
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| 2255 |
epithet |
descriptive word or phrase |
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The noun epithet is a descriptive nickname, such as "Richard the Lionhearted," or "Tommy the Terrible." When it takes a turn for the worse, it can also be a word or phrase that offends. |
Don’t let epithet’s bad reputation fool you — that’s only half the story. An epithet can be harmless, a nickname that catches on, like all hockey fans knowing that "Sid the Kid" is Sidney Crosby. On the flip side, an epithet can be an abusive word or phrase that should never be used, like a racial epithet that offends and angers everyone. |
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| 2256 |
exaggeration |
the act of making something more noticeable than usual |
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If you're prone to exaggeration, it means you habitually overstate the truth. If you have a dog and a hamster, it would be an exaggeration to describe yourself as "practically Doctor Dolittle," living in a house full of animals. |
When you make something showier, or more noticeable than normal, that's also called exaggeration. The exaggeration of your hand movements might be necessary on stage so the audience can see them, but in real life it just looks silly. Exaggeration comes from the Latin word exaggerare, which means to magnify or to heap or pile on. |
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| 2257 |
lyric |
of or relating to poetry that expresses emotion |
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The word lyric claims its emotional place in music and poetry, with the words to a song being called the lyrics, while A lyric poem is one steeped in personal emotions, making it song-like. |
As with many artistic terms, the word lyric derives from the Greek, specifically from lyrikós, meaning "singing to the lyre," and today’s meanings are also rooted in the idea of music. The lyric poem was first seen in the late 16th Century, while the reference to a song’s words as lyrics appeared in 1876. If every one of your poems starts with the word "I," you might be a lyric poet. |
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| 2258 |
oxymoron |
conjoining contradictory terms |
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Jumbo shrimp? Open secret? Use oxymoron to refer to a word or phrase that contradicts itself, usually to create some rhetorical effect. |
When Shakespeare's Juliet says, "Parting is such sweet sorrow," she is using an oxymoron; her apparently self-contradictory turn of phrase actually makes a neat kind of sense. Oxymoron is sometimes used to describe a word combination that strikes the listener as humorously contradictory, even if the speaker didn't intend it that way — perhaps the most famous example is "military intelligence." The word oxymoron is itself an oxymoron; in Greek, oxy- means "sharp" or "wise," while moros means "foolish." |
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| 2259 |
pathos |
a quality that arouses emotions, especially pity or sorrow |
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Pathos is a quality that stirs emotions. A song with a lot of pathos hits you right in the heart. |
You ever notice how some songs or movies appeal to your brains, while others appeal to your feelings? The ones that are all about feeling are full of pathos, an appeal to emotions that originally meant "suffering" in Greek. Often, this word has to do specifically with pity and sympathy: when someone tells a story about people suffering that makes you feel for them, that's pathos. |
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| 2260 |
soliloquy |
a dramatic speech giving the illusion of unspoken reflection |
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Ever see someone talking to himself while on a stage? That's what you call a soliloquy — a character's speech voicing his or her own thoughts as if to himself. Shakespeare's plays are full of soliloquies. |
The noun, soliloquy, comes from the Latin roots, solus "alone" plus loqui "speak" meaning "a talking to oneself." A soliloquy is a speech a character gives of his thoughts and reflections. Some of the most famous lines in drama are taken from soliloquies. Take "to be or not to be..." and "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, Creeps in this petty pace..." as two examples of lines from soliloquies that have tortured high school students around the globe. Not the Globe Theater, Silly. |
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| 2261 |
symbol |
something visible that represents something invisible |
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A symbol can be an object, shape, sign, or character used to represent something else. A flag is a symbol of a country. English teachers never tire of talking about symbols in literature. |
A pink ribbon is a symbol of breast-cancer awareness, and a yellow ribbon is a symbol of support for U.S. troops. In literature, authors use many symbols. A character doing even a small thing, like eating a cheeseburger, might symbolize something larger about that character. Something you need to be rich to have — like a limousine — is called a "status symbol." Anytime one thing seems to represent a deeper meaning, it's probably a symbol. |
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| 2262 |
autograph |
a person's own signature |
Some foreign players find these crowds unnerving, given all the pushing and shoving, but Chandler just moves forward, signing autographs as he goes. |
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If you sign your name on something, you autograph it. You have to autograph a check before it can be cashed. |
An autograph is a signature. Famous people are asked for their autographs all the time, but you might be surprised and flattered if a little girl asked for yours after you played Dorothy in your community theater production of "The Wizard of Oz." An original manuscript or musical composition written in the handwriting of the author or composer is also called an autograph. In 1938, the Museum of Modern Art displayed an autograph of Mark Twain's "Tom Sawyer." |
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| 2263 |
inscribe |
carve, cut, or etch into a material or surface |
Several tombs are inscribed and on some external paintings are still faintly visible. |
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To inscribe means to write something in a permanent or formal way. When you have a jeweler inscribe your initials inside your new ring, she uses a machine to carve them into the metal. |
A stone carver might inscribe your grandfather's name on a memorial stone, and your best friend might inscribe his name and a favorite quote in the back of your yearbook. In geometry, to inscribe is to fit one shape inside another, like when a triangle fits neatly inside a circle with its points just touching the perimeter. The Latin root of inscribe is inscribere, "to write in or on." |
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| 2264 |
transcribe |
write out, as from speech or notes |
Hastily procuring pen and ink, he bade Sir Walter sing it over again while he transcribed the words to paper. |
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If someone asks you to transcribe something, they want you to listen to it and write down what was said, word for word. Speeches, interviews, and trials are often transcribed for records. |
From the Latin transcribere, which means “to copy, write over, or transfer,” the verb transcribe means just that: to write out a copy. You might want to transcribe a recording of an interview onto paper, or maybe you need to transcribe all the notes you collected from an important meeting. If you can remember that trans means “over” and that a scribe is a writer, you shouldn’t forget this word. Fun fact: to transcribe poorly is to transcribble. |
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| 2265 |
script |
a written version of a play or other dramatic composition |
Mr. Wells said he was inspired to work on the contest by something that happened when he was starting out as a script writer. |
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A script is a written version of a play or movie. If you're auditioning for a movie, you'll get the script to practice a scene or two. |
Script comes from the Latin scrībĕre, meaning "to write," and all its meanings have to do with something written. Your handwriting is your script. The written version of what you're supposed to say, whether for a wedding toast or a play, is a script. And if you were feeling old-fashioned you could call the grocery list you just wrote a script. It's also a verb. You can script a play. |
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| 2266 |
ascribe |
attribute or credit to |
But few of the numerous works ascribed to Pope Gregory the Great are genuine. |
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Ascribe means to give credit to, like if you ascribe the A you got on your group project to the hard work of your partners! |
Ascribe's Latin root is ascribere, meaning basically "to write in.'' Makes sense, because ascribe is often used to link writers to their words. Many a quirky quote, like "Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter," is ascribed to that famous scribe Mark Twain. It can also be a way of blaming something — you might ascribe your bad attitude to your mom because she won't let you have cupcakes for dinner. |
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| 2267 |
autocracy |
a theory favoring unlimited authority by an individual |
In some islands hereditary autocracy prevailed; in others the government was elective. |
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An autocracy is a government controlled by one person with absolute power. As unlimited power doesn't usually bring out the best in people, autocracies are often brutal regimes. |
The word autocracy comes from the Greek roots auto ("self") and kratos ("power"). If your boss dictates your every move and leaves you no say at all in how you do your work, then you're not in a democratic workplace, you're in an autocracy. |
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| 2268 |
autocratic |
characteristic of an absolute ruler or absolute rule |
Autocratic regimes would like much greater governmental control over Internet content. |
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Autocratic describes a way of ruling, but not in a nice way. An autocratic leader is one who rules with an iron fist; in other words — someone with the behavior of a dictator. |
Autocratic rulers don't tend to be popular. They use fear and control to gain total power over their people. Often, their country is left destitute as a result of their actions. The word autocratic is often used to describe the head of a country, but really, anyone who is a despotic leader can qualify — including the boss who threatens to fire you if you refuse to polish his shoes and work every holiday. |
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| 2269 |
autocrat |
a cruel and oppressive dictator |
A man cannot be an autocrat and have free people about him. |
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An autocrat is another name for a dictator, someone who wields absolute power and uses it in a cruel and despotic manner. |
This is a word for cruel, oppressive dictators. Hitler and Stalin were historic autocrats. In more recent times, dictators such as Saddam Hussein and Qaddafi were autocrats. From autocrat, we get the word autocratic, for anyone behaving like a dictator. Unfortunately, through history, there have been many autocrats: leaders who didn't give their people a say in their regime and killed their enemies. You might call your boss, parent, or teacher an autocrat, but that's probably an exaggeration. |
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| 2270 |
autodidact |
a person who has taught himself |
An autodidact, he was brought up on a Dublin housing estate that sheltered him from too much formal coaching. |
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If you're an autodidact you've done most of your learning on your own, outside of school. Having learned Greek and Latin, as well as landscape painting and auto repair, without any formal training makes you quite the autodidact. |
Auto- means "self" and "didact" comes from the Greek word for "teach," so an autodidact is a person who's self-taught. Being the autodidact that you are, instead of calling the plumber you bought some manuals and began to learn the trade yourself. You should learn scuba diving next, now that your apartment is underwater. |
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| 2271 |
automated |
operated with minimal human intervention |
Global competition requires manufacturing to be made more efficient and more automated. |
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Something that's automated is controlled by a machine rather than a person. You probably get cash from an automated teller machine, which is sometimes more convenient than going to the bank. |
Automated comes from the Greek word automatos, meaning “acting of oneself.” Something that is automated can just do what it's meant to do without having a person around to run it. Automated also can be used more figuratively to describe something that seems like it's produced by a machine, like the speeches your principal gives every year on the first day of school. |
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| 2272 |
automatic |
operating with minimal human intervention |
Automatic payments mean less trouble for companies in going after late payments. |
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If someone asks, “How are you?” and you reply, “Fine,” without really thinking about it, that’s an automatic reply. Something that’s automatic is done without thinking, almost as if you’re a well-programmed machine. |
The word automatic can be used to describe a machine that works on its own, performing its tasks with little or no human intervention, such as an automatic transmission on a car. Or, automatic can describe a person whose actions are like a machine's. If you flash a smile every time someone walks through the door, it’s an automatic smile, a natural reaction you didn't think about or plan in advance. |
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| 2273 |
automation |
the act of implementing the control of equipment |
U.S. factories boast high productivity thanks to widespread use of automation. |
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Automation means making something automatic, or mechanized. If there's smoke in your house and your smoke detector is set up to "call" the fire department, that's an example of automation. |
Car companies were the first manufacturers to use assembly lines, where the steps of building a car were divided among workers––and when those jobs started to be done more often by machines then by people, an executive at Ford coined the term automation to describe what was happening. |
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| 2274 |
automaton |
a mechanism that can move independently of external control |
Instead, he stood rigidly erect, and reeled off his injurious testimony more like a speaking automaton than a human being. |
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If you walk like an automaton you move stiffly, like a robot. An automaton is something constructed to be human-like, or a person who seems to have lost the spark of life. |
When you see the word, think of Frankenstein's monster, or C3PO from Star Wars. They're not quite human, but they were made to appear so. Used metaphorically, it's more about the loss of joy and sense of life that makes someone seem like a robot or zombie. After a bad loss, the baseball team might be sitting around like a bunch of automatons. They're mopey and lifeless. |
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| 2275 |
abdicate |
give up, such as power, as of monarchs and emperors |
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Sometimes someone in power might decide to give up that power and step down from his or her position. When they do that, they abdicate their authority, giving up all duties and perks of the job. |
The original meaning of the verb abdicate came from the combination of the Latin ab- "away" and dicare "proclaim." (Note that in the charming relationships between languages with common roots, the Spanish word for "he says" is dice, which comes directly from dicare.) The word came to refer to disowning one's children, and it wasn't until the 17th century that the first use of the word relating to giving up power or public office was recorded. |
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| 2276 |
arid |
lacking sufficient water or rainfall |
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Arid is so dry that nothing will grow. Death Valley in California features an arid climate, which is why it's called Death Valley and not Life Valley. |
Arid can also mean terribly dull or lifeless. A textbook about the climate of Death Valley might be called arid if it's written in an uninteresting way. Just like you wouldn't want to live in an arid climate, you wouldn't want to sit through an arid performance of the film-turned-musical, "Some Like it Hot." |
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| 2277 |
asylum |
a shelter from danger or hardship |
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When someone needs a refuge from a difficult or dangerous situation, they need asylum. If a government offers to protect people who have fled war or hardship in their own country, it gives them asylum. |
You may have heard asylum used to describe an institution where insane people are housed, but did you know that an asylum can also be somewhere you’d happily and willingly go? An asylum offers shelter and protection, like the awning of a building in a downpour. Or it could be a country that takes in refugees in danger of persecution — otherwise known as "political asylum." |
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| 2278 |
bias |
a partiality preventing objective consideration of an issue |
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Use the noun bias to mean a preference for one thing over another, especially an unfair one. |
Some biases are completely innocent: "I have a bias toward French wines." But most often, bias is used to describe unfair prejudices: "The authorities investigated a case involving bias against Latinos." It is also a verb meaning "to show prejudice for or against," as in "They claimed the tests were biased against women." (In British English, it takes an extra S in the forms biassed and biassing.) The word goes back at least to Old Provençal, a former language of southern France, in association with the sport of lawn bowling, where it referred to the tendency of a ball to roll in one direction or the other. |
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| 2279 |
boisterous |
full of rough and exuberant animal spirits |
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Boisterous is a word used to describe someone spirited, loud, and slightly out of control — like someone with a spring in their step and a song in their heart singing to strangers on the street. |
Boisterous means "loud, clamorous, and unrestrained." Think of children on a playground or a popular restaurant or a litter of puppies as boisterous. This word, which comes from Middle English, can also refer to very intense storms. You could call a hurricane boisterous, but you will most likely hear this word used to describe people. |
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| 2280 |
brazen |
unrestrained by convention or propriety |
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With brazen disregard for the sign that said "no cellphones please" the woman took a long call in the doctor's office waiting room. Brazen refers to something shocking, done shamelessly. |
The Middle English word was brasen "made of brass," from Old English bræsen, from bræs "brass." In fact a near synonym of brazen is our English word brassy, which has the additional meaning of being loud and showy. |
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| 2281 |
camaraderie |
the quality of affording easy familiarity and sociability |
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Camaraderie is a spirit of good friendship and loyalty among members of a group. You might not like your job, but still enjoy the camaraderie of the people you work with. |
A high level of camaraderie among the athletes on and off the field not only makes it fun to play sports, but is likely to make your team win. This noun was borrowed from French, from camarade "comrade." It retains the French spelling and Frenchlike pronunciation kahm-uh-RAHD-uh-ree. The suffix -erie corresponds to English -ery, used with nouns to indicate a quality. |
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| 2282 |
canny |
showing self-interest and shrewdness in dealing with others |
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If you're a canny investor, you know how to spend money to make money — that is, you're prudent, farsighted, and capable of protecting your own interests, particularly in matters of finance or business. |
In contemporary usage, canny is a synonym for shrewd. Both words mean smart or sharp-witted, but they also suggest that someone is smart in a self-serving and possibly even tricky way. Canny is also related to the word cunning — another adjective meaning wise, but with negative connotations. Uncanny is not the opposite of canny — it means weird or unsettling. |
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| 2283 |
capacious |
large in the amount that can be contained |
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When something is really big and holds a lot it is capacious, like a woman's capacious purse that is so big, people mistake it for a piece of luggage. |
Have you ever seen a Fourth of July hot dog eating contest? As you watch people wolf down 60 or more hot dogs in a matter of minutes, you must be thinking, "Where do they put all that food?" Well, it helps to have a capacious stomach. The suffix -ous adds "full of" to capacity; capacious is literally "full of capacity." If something is capacious, it has plenty of extra room. |
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| 2284 |
clairvoyant |
someone who can perceive things not present to the senses |
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If you can predict the future, you may want to keep your clairvoyant powers to yourself. Otherwise everyone will be knocking down your door asking for the next winning lotto numbers. |
A clairvoyant individual is believed to possess psychic abilities or a higher level of insight than other humans who can only use the regular old five senses. Through dreams, visions, Ouija boards and crystal balls, they can see what happens in the future. But before 1851, clairvoyant didn't have the same mystical meaning that it does today — it merely meant a “clear-sighted person.” |
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| 2285 |
collaborate |
work together on a common enterprise or project |
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When you work together on shared goal, you collaborate. If you don't just split a project up evenly but work together on creating solutions, you collaborate. |
Inside the word you see co-labor, or "working together." Cooperation is simply splitting up the work and getting it done. Collaboration is when you brainstorm, create, and share possible solutions. During World War II, however, Nazi collaborators were sharing ideas with the wrong side. In today's pop music scene, collaboration means featuring a guest star on a record, and it's often a surefire way to boost sales. |
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| 2286 |
compassion |
a deep awareness of and sympathy for another's suffering |
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If someone shows kindness, caring, and a willingness to help others, they're showing compassion. |
This is a word for a very positive emotion that has to do with being thoughtful and decent. Giving to a charity takes compassion. Volunteering to work with sick people or animals takes compassion. When you have compassion, you're putting yourself in someone else's shoes and really feeling for them. Anytime a disaster like a hurricane or earthquake hits, others will feel compassion for the victims. When you feel compassion for someone, you really want to help out. |
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| 2287 |
compromise |
an accommodation in which both sides make concessions |
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A compromise is a way of settling differences by everybody making concessions. If you want to stay out until 10 and your friend wants to stay out until midnight, 11 is a good compromise. |
Compromise comes from the Latin compromissum, which means "mutual promise." It can be a noun or a verb. If you compromise with your lab partner over how to analyze the experimental data, you find the middle ground between your two ideas. Compromise can also mean to erode or diminish. If you never repair your brakes, you will compromise the safety of the car. If you cheat, you compromise your integrity. |
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| 2288 |
condescending |
characteristic of those who treat others with arrogance |
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If you are being condescending, you are looking down on someone. A 10-year-old who says to his sibling, "What do you know? You're only a 6-year-old!" is being condescending. |
The Latin prefix con- means "with," and the Latin word for descend means "down," so the word condescending probably developed to describe someone who looked down on others. Condescending behavior is, not surprisingly, itself looked down upon. It's usually intended to make people feel bad about not knowing or having something, and it very often works. |
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| 2289 |
conditional |
imposing or depending on or containing an assumption |
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Something conditional is dependent on other factors. You might receive a conditional offer of acceptance from a college, depending on your high school graduation and your maintaining passing grades. |
For a clue to the meaning of conditional, look at an opposing term: unconditional surrender, which means someone surrenders and doesn't ask for anything in return. In a conditional surrender, someone will give up only if certain things happen. A conditional agreement is dependent on other factors: a company could make a conditional hire, meaning they'll hire you only if you finish your degree and take a blood test. When you see the word conditional, think "It depends." |
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| 2290 |
conformist |
someone who follows established standards of conduct |
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A conformist is a person who follows traditional standards of conduct. If you're a conformist, it's unlikely you'll join a revolution to overthrow your government; instead you'll argue that it's best to keep things the way they are. |
Conformist comes from the Old French word conformer, which means "to agree to, make or be similar, be agreeable." People sometimes use the term conformist in a negative way, as an insult implying that someone doesn't have the brains or the guts to question the status quo. Conformist can also be used as an adjective to describe something that follows convention and established customs. A conformist school board, for example, would follow the usual time-tested curriculum. |
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| 2291 |
convergence |
the act of coming closer |
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Convergence is when two or more things come together to form a new whole, like the convergence of plum and apricot genes in the plucot. |
Convergence comes from the prefix con-, meaning together, and the verb verge, which means to turn toward. We can use convergence to describe things that are in the process of coming together, like the slow convergence of your opinions with those of your mother, or for things that have already come together, like the convergence of two roads, or for the place where two things already overlap, like the convergence of your aunt's crazy wardrobe with avant-garde fashion. |
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| 2292 |
demagogue |
a leader who seeks support by appealing to popular passions |
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A demagogue is someone who becomes a leader largely because of skills as a speaker or who appeals to emotions and prejudices. |
Though the Greek root for demagogue literally means "a leader of the people," the word has for centuries had a negative connotation: it actually means a leader who has manipulated the emotions and prejudices of the rabble. The reason for the negative connotation is that in ancient Athens, "the people" were considered to be an uncivilized mob. Two of the most famous historical demagogues are said to be Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin. |
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| 2293 |
divergent |
tending to move apart in different directions |
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Something divergent is moving away from what is expected. Two divergent paths are moving in opposite directions — away from each other. |
Things that are divergent are diverging — moving away from a path or a standard. A teacher who comes to work in a clown outfit is being divergent; a clown who comes to work in a business suit is also being divergent. A stream is divergent if it is moving in the opposite direction of a river. A politician who is divergent might leave his political party. Divergent people and things are changing course — moving off the beaten path. |
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| 2294 |
empathy |
understanding and entering into another's feelings |
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Use empathy if you're looking for a noun meaning "the ability to identify with another's feelings." |
When Bill Clinton famously told people "I feel your pain" during his 1992 election campaign, some praised and others ridiculed him for displaying empathy, the sharing or understanding of feelings. Empathy is different from sympathy, which is pity or sorrow for others' misfortunes. They share a common root in -pathy, from the Greek pathos, "feeling." Where they differ is in their prefixes: sym- means "with," while em- means "in." If you can empathize with someone, it's because you have been in their place: you've "walked a mile in their shoes," as the saying goes. |
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| 2295 |
enervating |
causing weakness or debilitation |
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What do standing out in the cold rain, a pile of homework, and an emotional breakdown all have in common? They're enervating: in other words, they completely drain you of physical and emotional energy. |
A little different from similar words like debilitating or enfeebling, which primarily suggest physical fatigue; the wonderful enervating implies all that plus the terrible erosion of your soul. Not surprisingly, enervate is derived from the Latin enervatus, meaning "to weaken." |
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| 2296 |
exemplary |
worthy of imitation |
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Exemplary people excel at what they do and are excellent examples to others. Something exemplary is so good that it is an example for others to follow. |
When something is the best it can be or reaches the highest point, it is exemplary and thus worth imitating. Exemplary comes from the Latin exemplum, meaning "sample" or "example." While some people and things are held as examples of what not to do, an exemplary person or thing is always a positive example. A country can have an exemplary record of preventing pollution, and a person may have an exemplary reputation just for being all-around praiseworthy or noble. |
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| 2297 |
extenuating |
partially excusing or justifying |
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You'll be furious that your friend didn't bake the cupcakes she promised for your bake sale — until you learn the extenuating circumstances: her dog climbed onto her kitchen counter and ate all the cupcake batter. Extenuating means "making forgivable." |
The adjective extenuating is unusual because it's almost always used with the word circumstances; the phrase extenuating circumstances describes the specific reasons that excuse or justify someone's actions. The phrase became popular in the 1840s, and is even used in law to lessen punishment for crimes, but before that extenuating meant "lessening or making small." The Latin word for "thin," tenuis, combined with ex, means "to make thin", or to dilute a person's guilt because of a good excuse. |
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| 2298 |
florid |
elaborately or excessively ornamented |
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Something that's elaborate and full of extra flourishes is florid, whether it's your relatives' ornate decorating style or the way they talk, using a lot of unnecessarily long, complicated words. |
Florid is an adjective that entered English in the 17th century, via the French floride, from the Latin flōridus, "blooming." You can probably guess how Florida and flourish are related! Something overly decorated, such as a fussy living room, is florid in the flowery sense, while pale-skinned people with rosy cheeks are florid because they appear to be flourishing with good health. |
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| 2299 |
forbearance |
a delay in enforcing rights or claims or privileges |
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When a teacher says, "Bear with me for a moment," while he writes on the board, he is asking for the class's forbearance. He wants them to wait patiently during the delay. |
Forbearance also has a more technical, legal meaning — if you are owed money and you give someone extra time to get it to you, you're showing them forbearance. The word has nothing to do with actual bears, but if you think of one slumbering through its winter hibernation, that might help remember its meaning. |
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| 2300 |
fortuitous |
occurring by happy chance |
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Fortuitous means by chance, like a lucky accident. If you and your best friend's families happen to go on vacation to the same place at the same time, that’s a fortuitous coincidence! |
Something fortuitous is random like an accident, but there’s no downside. A rock falling on your head is an accident, dollar bills falling on your head is fortuitous. The meaning of fortuitous is changing from "happening by chance" to "lucky chance" because people get it mixed up with fortunate. But watch out: If you say fortuitous to mean just plain lucky without the element of chance –– that's a usage error. |
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| 2301 |
frugal |
avoiding waste |
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A person who lives simply and economically can be called frugal. Buying clothes at a consignment shop would be considered frugal. Not getting your mom a gift for her birthday — that's just cheap. |
Thrifty, spartan, and prudent are synonyms for frugal, a word that often has positive connotations when used to describe a person who lives a simple life. "The question for retailers is whether shoppers will remain frugal or slowly resume their old spending habits whenever they get more money in their pockets," wrote The Wall Street Journal. You might also speak of "a frugal meal" — a very plain, cheap one. The word is from Latin frux, meaning "fruit" (in the sense of "profit"). |
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| 2302 |
haughty |
having or showing arrogant superiority |
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Someone who is haughty is arrogant and full of pride. When you're haughty, you have a big attitude and act like you're better than other people. |
A haughty person acts superior and looks down on others. Haughty people are disdainful, overbearing, prideful, swaggering, and obnoxious. Acting amazed that others haven't heard of a hot new band is haughty. Speaking in a cocky or superior way is haughty. The word even sounds a little like its meaning: it's hard to say haughty without sounding like you have an attitude. If you're acting like others are beneath you, you're being haughty. |
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| 2303 |
hedonist |
someone motivated by desires for sensual pleasures |
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Your parents might want to visit the museum while you want to hike in the forest, but your brother, the hedonist, just wants to lounge by the hotel pool and eat cake. A hedonist values sensual pleasure above all else. |
Hedonist comes from the Greek word hedone "pleasure" and is related to hedys, which means "sweet." Although this noun did not make its first appearance until 1822, the word was created as a reference to an ancient Greek philosophical system known as the Cyrenaic school. The Cyrenaics taught that pleasure — particularly physical pleasure — is the greatest good. If you need some examples of modern day hedonists, think the many celebrities today who are only famous for going to parties. |
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| 2304 |
impetuous |
characterized by undue haste and lack of thought |
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Someone impetuous acts too hastily or carelessly. Hotheaded, impulsive folks are impetuous. |
If you're a careful person who thinks everything through and doesn't act rashly, then you're not very impetuous. Impetuous has to do with doing things on the spur of the moment — and not good things. Being impetuous usually goes along with being impatient and easily angered. If you're impetuous, you act quickly and thoughtlessly when you should just take a deep breath, relax, and think about the best thing to do. |
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| 2305 |
impute |
attribute or credit to |
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The verb impute can be used to blame someone for doing something bad, give credit for good work, or just tell it like it is, like when you impute your lateness to my not telling you where to meet me. |
When you impute something, you name the cause of something that has happened. For example, you might impute your ability to sing well to the thousands of dollars your parents spent in voice lessons. In other words, you name the source. You can also impute a person, like imputing to a teacher your love of learning — he or she helped you become more interested in school and your classes. |
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| 2306 |
inevitable |
incapable of being avoided or prevented |
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If something is inevitable, it will definitely happen, like death or tax season. |
Inevitable comes from the Latin word inevitabilis, which means unavoidable. If you say something is inevitable, you give the sense that no matter what scheme you come with to get around it, it's going to happen sooner or later. You can use all the skin products you want, but wrinkles are inevitable. |
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| 2307 |
intuitive |
spontaneously derived from or prompted by a natural tendency |
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If you're intuitive, you can probably guess what this word means just by looking at it. No? Maybe you're not so intuitive, after all. Intuitive means having the ability to understand or know something without any direct evidence or reasoning process. |
Psychics are intuitive. So are mothers when they know you're lying. A process can be said to be intuitive as well, if it can be easily learned without any prior training — like an easy-to-learn software program. In human beings, intuitiveness is often thought of as something more mystical, as in the ability psychics have to predict the future. |
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| 2308 |
jubilation |
a feeling of extreme joy |
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Jubilation is a happy word. Where there is jubilation, there are laughter, smiles, laughs, joy, and gladness. |
Few things in life are as good as jubilation — this is a word for a lot of happiness and celebration. You can find jubilation at parties, and it often breaks out on holidays. When you get good news, you might feel jubilation. When people say "Yes! or "Woo-hoo!," they are expressing jubilation and are jubilant. |
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| 2309 |
lobbyist |
someone who is employed to persuade how legislators vote |
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A lobbyist is someone hired by a business or a cause to persuade legislators to support that business or cause. |
Lobbyists get paid to win favor from politicians. For example, oil companies send lobbyists to Washington to try to make life easier for oil companies. Sometimes they do it by making a great case for their cause, but often it involves fancy dinners and golf outings. If that sounds kind of shady, it is. But remember that women's rights groups and cancer research foundations have lobbyists, too — it's just one way to get your voice heard on the Hill. |
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| 2310 |
longevity |
the property of having lived for a considerable time |
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Something with longevity has the ability to last for a long time. While tortoises are not known for their quickness, their longevity is amazing. Just ask the Hare. |
At the root of longevity is the word long. So when you see longevity, think “a long time." In fact, this word has some serious longevity, since it's been around since the 1600s. Longevity is most commonly used to describe the length of one’s lifetime, but it can also mean a long duration, such as one’s longevity working for a certain company for an extended period of time. |
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| 2311 |
nonchalant |
marked by blithe unconcern |
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If your friend is acting cool, unconcerned or in an indifferent manner, call him nonchalant — like when he saunters by a group of whispering, giggling girls and just nods and says, "Hey." |
If you act nonchalant, you are literally acting cool, as nonchalant traces back to non- "not" and Latin calēre "to be warm." Isn't that cool? Sometimes, a nonchalant person acts indifferent or uninterested, but really cares very much. If you give a girl a nonchalant smile, you definitely want her to notice you! Even though it begins with non, nonchalant has no positive form — chalant is not a word. |
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| 2312 |
opulent |
rich and superior in quality |
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Opulent is a word that you will hear a lot around rich people looking to show off. "Remember the opulent buffet at Carrie’s sweet sixteen? Sixteen chocolate cakes iced in gold leaf!" |
If you want to remember that opulent is a word describing lavish displays of wealth, you can think of the word opal to help you remember it––opal being a rare gem. And if you are lucky enough to be able to afford opulence yourself, don’t describe it that way. The word contains connotations of pretentious. And gold leaf cake aside, who wants that? |
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| 2313 |
orator |
a person who delivers a speech |
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A person giving a speech is called an orator, like the gifted orator who raised excellent points, making everyone in the audience want to join his revolution. |
The noun orator traces back to the Latin word orare, meaning to “speak before a court or assembly, plead.” Orator is really just a formal way of saying “speaker.” Technically, you can use it to describe anyone who is giving a speech, whether it’s a speaker at the United Nations or a classmate giving a short presentation. However, orator often implies that the speaker is particularly gifted. |
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| 2314 |
parched |
dried out by heat or excessive exposure to sunlight |
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Something parched is excessively dry and hot, in extreme need of water, like a desert, a neglected plant, or your throat after a five-kilometer run. |
Some foods, like corn, beans, or grains, may be parched, or toasted, to bring out their flavor and help preserve them. American Indians parched corn to make it keep and remain edible over the winter. They taught this to the new colonists, and parched corn later became a staple of explorers like Lewis and Clark, as well as soldiers during the Civil War. Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote of parched corn, "It crackled and crunched, and its taste was sweet and brown." |
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| 2315 |
precocious |
characterized by exceptionally early development |
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That high school hoops phenom who plays like an NBA pro? The sixth grader who's already asking questions about organic chemistry? They're both precocious — meaning they're way beyond their years in skill or knowledge. |
When you look at the Latin roots of precocious, it all makes sense. When pre (meaning "before") joins coquere (meaning "to ripen"), you have something that is ripening prematurely. And in the case of precocious, you are usually describing young people who have some adult-like quality about them. Maybe it's their vast vocabulary, maybe it's their ease with Calculus, or maybe it's just applying lipstick. |
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| 2316 |
pretentious |
creating an appearance of importance or distinction |
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Use the adjective pretentious as a way to criticize people who try to act like they are more important or knowledgeable than they really are. |
You might not be surprised to learn that pretentious is related to the word pretend, and it is an adjective that fits the bill for describing someone who's only concerned with making an impressive appearance. If you don't want to be accused of being pretentious, just act naturally and don't put on airs! |
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| 2317 |
procrastinate |
postpone doing what one should be doing |
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Procrastinate means to put off doing something until a future time. When people sit down to write term papers, they can find all kinds of clever ways to procrastinate: reorganizing the paperclips, calling everyone they know, typing "I am bored" fifty times in a row. |
The verb procrastinate is from Latin prōcrāstināre, from prō- "forward" plus crāstinus "of tomorrow," from crās "tomorrow." Some synonyms are defer, postpone, and delay, though these words often apply to more positive reasons for inaction. The reason for procrastination is often assumed to be laziness, or just that the task or action is unpleasant and difficult to begin. |
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| 2318 |
prosaic |
lacking wit or imagination |
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Prosaic means ordinary or dull. Most of us lead a prosaic everyday life, sometimes interrupted by some drama or crisis. |
This adjective is from Latin prosa "prose," which is ordinary writing intended to communicate ideas and information. Prose is often contrasted with poetry, which usually has a more imaginative and original style. |
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| 2319 |
prosperity |
the condition of having good fortune |
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Use prosperity to refer to the state of being successful. In the US, the decades following World War II were characterized by rising prosperity, with large numbers moving into the middle class. |
Prosperity usually means the type of success that comes from having a lot of money. Our modern English word derives from Middle English prosperite, borrowed through Old French from Latin prosperus "favorable." The Latin word also means "fortunate," and the word prosperity does have an element of good luck. |
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| 2320 |
rancorous |
showing deep-seated resentment |
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The adjective rancorous comes in handy when you're describing someone's bitter grudge, like the attitude of your cousin who still won't speak to you after the April Fool's Day prank you played four years ago. |
A story can be rancorous, if it's full of resentment, and so can an argument, if it's particularly bitter and angry. The word rancorous can be traced back to the Latin word rancere, which means "to stink." This in turn led to rancorem, "bitterness or rancidness." When you speak to your arch enemy and your words are so angry and bitter that they almost stink, go ahead and describe them as rancorous. |
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| 2321 |
reclusive |
withdrawn from society; seeking solitude |
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The adjective reclusive describes a desire for seclusion or privacy. A reclusive movie star is the one tabloid photographers dream of capturing on film. |
The root word of reclusive is recluse, which came from the Old French word reclus, originally meaning "a person shut up from the world for purposes of religious meditation." Today, maybe you just want to be alone — reclusive describes a person who is withdrawn from society or seeks solitude, like a hermit. Grocery shopping late at night is a reclusive habit, because few people are in the store then. |
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| 2322 |
reconciliation |
the reestablishment of cordial relations |
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Reconciliation is the act of getting two things to be compatible with one another. You might have a reconciliation with a former enemy, or your mom might call for a reconciliation between your spending habits and your diminishing bank account. |
If you want to do something on Friday night, but your friend is trying to save money, going to a free art gallery opening would be a reconciliation of both your desires. Reconciliation can also mean the reestablishment of civil relations after a conflict. If you and your friend got into an argument over what to do Friday night, you’d need to have a reconciliation before you go hang out. |
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| 2323 |
renovation |
the act of improving by renewing and restoring |
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Renovation is the act of renewing or restoring something. If your kitchen is undergoing a renovation, there’s probably plaster and paint all over the place and you should probably get take-out. |
The roots of renovation refer to newness and doing something again — it’s from the Latin re- for "again" and novare which means, "make new.” A rundown building is in need of renovation, or a website that's being redesigned is under renovation. After renovation, things look new and improved. Before the word underwent renovation, in the early 15th century, renovacyoun meant "spiritual rebirth,” which is how you might feel after your kitchen is redone. |
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| 2324 |
reverence |
a feeling of profound respect for someone or something |
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Reverence is a feeling of deep respect or awe — like what you have for a president, a hero, or a favorite football player. |
Reverence can be a feeling of awe, and it can also describe how you treat someone, particularly when used with the word with. To treat someone "with reverence" is to show them intense respect. Your friends may respect you for your loyalty, though they probably do not bow to you with reverence every day. |
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| 2325 |
sagacity |
the ability to understand and discriminate between relations |
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If you are wise and prone to evaluating information before making a decision, you possess sagacity, the trait of solid judgment and intelligent choices. And if that is indeed the case, then good for you! We need more sound thinkers. |
The Latin word sagācitās is the great-granddaddy of our word sagacity, giving it the meaning "wisdom." Just remember that it contains the word "sage," which means "wise one" — our wise ancestors were called "Sages." But before we get too puffed up, we need to remember that in the 17th and 18th Centuries, sagacity meant "the acute sense of smell in animals." How humbling. Still, if you display sagacity, you can sniff out a good idea from a bad one. |
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| 2326 |
spontaneous |
said or done without having been planned in advance |
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Something spontaneous happens when you're least expecting it. Spontaneous things are natural or instinctive, and they happen without warning. |
If you plan to go to a movie and then you go, that's not a spontaneous thing. Ditching the movie at the last minute to go to the park? That's spontaneous. Spontaneous things happen all of a sudden, on the spur of the moment, without being planned. Spontaneous can also refer to things that happen without outside influence. Your parents will be happy if you do your chores spontaneously instead of waiting till they nag you. |
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| 2327 |
spurious |
plausible but false |
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Something false or inauthentic is spurious. Don't trust spurious ideas and stories. Spurious statements often are lies, just as a spurious coin is a counterfeit coin — a fake. |
Anytime you see the word spurious, you're dealing with things that can't be trusted or accepted at face value. A spurious claim is one that's not backed up by the facts. A spurious argument relies on faulty reasoning — and maybe some lies. Politicians often accuse each other of saying things that are spurious and meant to deceive the voters. As long as you're honest, clear, and not trying to trick anyone, nobody can say you're being spurious. |
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| 2328 |
submissive |
inclined or willing to give in to orders or wishes of others |
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When animals live in packs, one animal is usually the dominant leader, while the others fall into more submissive roles. To be submissive is to obey or yield to someone else. |
When you are submissive, you submit to someone else's will, which literally, you put your own desires lower than theirs. You can see this in the Latin root of submit, submittere, which is formed by sub- "under" + mittere "send, put." |
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| 2329 |
subtle |
difficult to detect or grasp by the mind or analyze |
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Something that is subtle is not obvious: a professional food taster might be able to perceive subtle differences of flavor that most people don't notice. |
Subtle is used for things that are hard to describe because of their complexity or delicacy: a way of thinking, arguing, or creating a work of art. The word is pronounced like "suttle" and it was originally spelled that way when it was borrowed from Old French, but the b got imported to make the word look more like its ultimate source, the Latin adjective subtilis. If you try to pronounce the b, your ignorance of how to say the word properly won't be very subtle! |
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| 2330 |
superficial |
of, affecting, or being on or near the surface |
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Anything superficial has to do with the surface of something. If you're judging a book by its cover, you're being superficial. People who worry too much about their clothes and hair may also be considered superficial. |
The word superficial has to do with appearances and the surface. If a car is in an accident, but it only has a few scratches, you could say it has superficial damage, because the important parts are OK. If you just glance at a movie for a second, your opinion will be more superficial than the opinion of someone who watched the whole film closely. Superficial can have a negative flavor; calling someone superficial is saying that they are shallow and care too little about meaningful things. |
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| 2331 |
tactful |
having a sense of what is considerate in dealing with others |
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If you are tactful, you have a knack for saying the right thing at the right time. A tactful person is appropriate and sensitive, never rude or careless. |
Tactful means "full of tact." What's tact? It's the gift for saying the right thing because you understand what the situation calls for. So, if you are tactful, you wouldn't tell your friend that the food at her party was awful — you'd talk about the interesting conversation you had and the great music. But even when tactful people have to give criticism, they do it in such a way that the other person doesn't get offended. |
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| 2332 |
transient |
lasting a very short time |
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Use the adjective transient to describe something that always changes or moves around. If your older brother is constantly moving from city to city, you can say he's transient. |
Transient is most often used to modify nouns like nature, threat, source and cause, which suggests that the word often shows up in formal contexts, like analysis of finance or global terrorism. But it can also be used for anything that moves quickly from one thing to another, like a transient feeling or facial expression. Transient is also a noun meaning "a person who moves from place to place; a homeless person." The word comes from Latin transire, "to pass over," so you can think of it as describing things that are quickly passed over. |
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| 2333 |
vindicate |
show to be right by providing justification or proof |
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Vindicate means to justify, prove, or reinforce an idea — or to absolve from guilt. If your family thinks you hogged the last piece of pie on Thanksgiving, you'll be vindicated when your younger brother fesses up. |
Vindicate derives from the Latin vindicatus, which is the past tense of vindicare, meaning "lay claim to" or "avenge." When a physicist proves a theory that his colleagues derided, he vindicates it. When a lawyer clears her client's name in a trial, she vindicates him. Machiavelli argued that the results he got vindicated his tactics — in other words, the ends justified the means. |
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| 2334 |
interdisciplinary |
drawing from two or more fields of study |
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Something that's interdisciplinary covers more than one field of study. If you take an interdisciplinary science and literature class, you might read a science fiction novel and then explore the scientific ideas behind it. |
The word interdisciplinary can be broken into its parts: inter-, which means "between" in Latin, and disciplinary, which is from the Latin disciplina and means teaching or knowledge. Interdisciplinary means between fields, but they don't have to be unrelated disciplines. You can do interdisciplinary work between two sciences, for example. An interdisciplinary conference on biology and computer science might include workshops on both fields. |
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| 2335 |
experiential |
of or relating to direct observation or participation |
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Something experiential comes from the real world — from experience. Experiential things can be seen, touched, and verified. |
Some knowledge comes from reading about it. But experiential knowledge comes from actually doing and experiencing it. If you learned to sail by spending every summer on the water with your own boat, then you have an experiential understanding of sailing. If something is experiential, it's real, rather than conceptual. But you can't learn everything experientially. That's what books are for. |
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| 2336 |
medium |
the surrounding environment |
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Think of the word medium as something in between. In clothing, we have small, medium, and large; in communications, it's what signals travel through from broadcast to receiver; and in spiritual terms, it’s a person who converses with the dead. |
The word medium — from the Latin adjective medius, "middle" — has several meanings that all center on the idea of being in between. From the air that carries the broadcast signal, to the person who transmits messages from the dead, to the measurement of the "doneness" of your steak, medium means something that lies between two other points, people, or levels. |
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| 2337 |
blog |
an online journal where people post about their experiences |
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When your computer-loving friend takes your photograph, you might be wise to ask, "Are you planning to put that on your blog?" A blog is a personal website or online journal. |
It seems like everyone has a blog these days, or a website that's used as a personal diary for posting photos, stories, and entries about interests, families, or hobbies. Blog can also be used as a verb to mean "post something on a blog," so you could say, "I plan to blog about how delicious this slice of apple pie tastes." The original term, which was first used in the mid-1990s, was weblog, which was shortened to blog by 1998. |
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| 2338 |
curriculum |
an integrated course of academic studies |
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A curriculum is a set of courses designed to give expertise, like the shoemaking curriculum at Shoe U: Advanced Cutting, Hammering, and Stitching; History of the Heel; and A Cultural History of Walking. |
Curriculum comes from the Latin word for "running course," or "career," but when we talk about curriculum it's always about school. If you go to a school with a Liberal Arts curriculum, you'll get an education in the humanities with some science, but if you go to a technical school with a hard-core astrophysics curriculum, you probably won't have to take any courses on poetry. |
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| 2339 |
literate |
able to read and write |
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If you're literate you can read and write, and since you're reading this, that's what you are. |
Literate can also mean more than just being able to read and write, but being really fluent in a field. If you're "computer literate," you know how to use a computer with ease. If you're up on the latest advances in science, you're "scientifically literate." If people describe you admiringly as literate, they think you're widely read and know a lot about lots of different fields. The opposite of literate is illiterate. |
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| 2340 |
assimilate |
make alike |
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If you are trying to fit in, you are trying to assimilate. |
Imported from Latin, assimilate has the word similar within it and in fact, means "to become like something else." If someone moves to another country, he or she will need to assimilate by adapting to and taking in the language, culture and customs of the new place. You can also turn the phrase around to say that a country assimilates immigrants, which means that a place accepts immigrants and allows them to adapt easily. In scientific use, the body assimilates nutrients as a part of digestion. |
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| 2341 |
proficient |
having or showing knowledge and skill and aptitude |
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When someone has become good at something, they are proficient. After all those hours playing video games, you must be very proficient at them. |
Proficient comes from the Latin for making progress, so if someone is proficient, they have made so much progress that they've become good at something. Use proficient to talk about improvement through practice instead of natural ability; even a person with no inherent skill at language can become proficient in Latin. If you're proficient at tennis, you're good, but it doesn't imply the kind of mastery for which the expert is used. |
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| 2342 |
ethical |
conforming to accepted standards of social behavior |
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For someone who is honest and follows good moral standards, use the adjective ethical. An ethical teacher will grade your papers honestly — even if she catches you sticking your tongue out at her. |
Ethical comes from the Greek ethos "moral character" and describes a person or behavior as right in the moral sense - truthful, fair, and honest. Sometimes the word is used for people who follow the moral standards of their profession. An ethical lawyer or doctor does not try to take advantage of the client or patient's unfortunate situation. If something has happened and you are not sure what the right thing to do is, you are having an ethical dilemma. |
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| 2343 |
emerging |
coming into existence |
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Things that are emerging are just being born — or they're reaching an adult state. The important thing is they're growing and developing. |
You could say an improved baseball team is an emerging force in the National League, or a new disease is an emerging threat. Emerging things can be brand new but aren't necessarily: they could just be beginning to develop. Emerging means something close to sprouting — when you think of this word, think "growing." |
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| 2344 |
retention |
the act of keeping something |
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You can use retention to mean the ability to keep or hold. If you have extraordinary powers of retention, you remember everything you hear or learn. |
Are your ankles ever swollen after a long flight? This comes from the lack of movement which can cause the retention of water. The roots of the word, Latin re- "back" and tenere "to hold," say it all. You often use the word in the military or business contexts to talk about keeping soldiers, or employees, from leaving. If you're lucky, they might offer you a retention bonus to prevent you from quitting. |
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| 2345 |
embed |
fix or set securely or deeply |
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The verb embed means to implant something or someone — like to embed a stone into a garden pathway or to embed a journalist in a military unit. |
When you stick something firmly within a particular environment, you are embedding it. If you are an archeologist, you might spend a lot of your time looking for pottery shards embedded in the earth. If you are a web site designer, you might embed video clips on web pages. And if your newspaper is covering a war overseas, you might consider embedding a journalist in a military troop in order to have a source reporting back from the front lines. |
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| 2346 |
reflective |
capable of physically throwing back light or sound |
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Reflective is an adjective that can describe a person who thinks things through, or a surface that reflects light or sound, like the reflective lettering on a stop sign. |
To reflect is to bounce back an image, light, or sound. A reflective surface is one that can bounce back light — like the reflective sun shade that you put over the windshield of your car. It bounces the sun's rays away, helping the interior cool. A reflective person is a little different — he or she might have great insight due to taking the time to time carefully about things. |
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| 2347 |
manipulation |
exerting shrewd or devious influence for one's own advantage |
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Manipulation is the skillful handling, controlling or using of something or someone. Whether it's the sculpture you made in art class or how you convinced your friend to do your homework — both are considered manipulation. |
From the Latin word for "handful," manipulation certainly has much to do with using your hands to move or shape something, like a good DJ manipulating two totally different tunes into the perfect mashup. But this word also has some negative connotations — a manipulative person knows how to twist words, play on emotions and otherwise manage a situation in a sneaky fashion to get what he wants. |
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| 2348 |
cooperative |
involving the joint activity of two or more |
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As an adjective, cooperative describes working together agreeably for a common purpose or goal as in cooperative play or cooperative employee. |
As a noun, a cooperative is a jointly-owned business or enterprise where members pool their resources to purchase, do work, and/or distribute things. You might join a food cooperative, for example, which jointly purchases a farmer's labor and then every member gets a basket of fresh fruits and vegetables each week of the growing season. In this use, the word is often shortened to co-op. You might also join a housing cooperative where you own your apartment and you and the other owners jointly care for the upkeep of the building and grounds. |
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| 2349 |
values |
beliefs of a group in which they have emotional investment |
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Values are the beliefs of a social group. These are often very strongly held beliefs and they are often for something or against it. |
It's no surprise that the word values comes from a word that means "to be worth something": People often view their values as so precious that they'd be willing to fight for them. Sometimes they do fight for them. The "core values" of a company or organization, while maybe not exactly worth fighting for, do, however, represent what that organization believes in and believes its mission to be. |
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| 2350 |
creation |
the act of starting something for the first time |
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Use the noun creation to describe bringing something into existence, such as the creation of a new organization or the creation of a cutting-edge computer program. |
Creation often describes the act of producing something for the first time, but it can also refer to the thing that's produced. In this sense, it often describes something involving artistic talent. If you write a short story, you'd probably ask your friends to read your artistic creation. Creation also can be used to refer to the universe in general. If your sister does something remarkable, you might say that in all of creation there's never been a sister like that. |
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| 2351 |
partnership |
a cooperative relationship between people or groups |
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What do Lewis and Clark, Bonnie and Clyde, and Ben and Jerry have in common? They all formed partnerships — cooperative relationships where they worked as a team to reach a goal, whether it was robbing banks or inventing Cherry Garcia. |
It’s easy to spot partner hidden inside partnership. That should clue you in to the fact the word is all about the deal sealed between two or more people, groups, or even countries that agree to throw their lot in together to achieve something both want. A partnership can be a legal business relationship sealed by a contract or a casual handshake-driven agreement between friends. A marriage is a partnership. So is a corporate merger. |
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| 2352 |
professional |
of or relating to or suitable as an occupation |
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When an athlete "goes pro," she goes professional–-she is paid for her service rather than doing it on an amateur basis. Other professionals, including doctors and lawyers, are also paid for their work, which, we hope, they conduct in a professional manner. |
In the 15th century, the word profession referred to vows taken upon entering a religious order. A monk or priest professed his faith. Now, the word suggests competence and expertise and even dignity––"He can't ask me to go out for coffee. I'm a vice president. That just wouldn't be professional!" |
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| 2353 |
propaganda |
information that is spread to promote some cause |
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Propaganda is the spreading of information in support of a cause. It’s not so important whether the information is true or false or if the cause is just or not — it’s all propaganda. |
The word propaganda is often used in a negative sense, especially for politicians who make false claims to get elected or spread rumors to get their way. In fact, any campaign that is used to persuade can be called propaganda. |
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| 2354 |
access |
the right to enter |
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Most libraries provide computers you can use to access the Internet. If chemicals are being stolen from a lab, you might ask who has access to the lab. Access is approaching or making use of something, or the ability to do so |
Sometimes the word is applied to a person. If you work in the same room as your boss, you might have easy access to her. A really good boss will work hard to make herself accessible to her employees. Access is from Middle English, from Middle French acces "arrival," from Latin accessus "an approach," from accedere "to approach." |
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| 2355 |
embrace |
squeeze tightly in your arms, usually with fondness |
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To embrace something is to welcome it with open arms, hold, hug, accept completely. You might embrace your sweetheart, or even changes in technology. |
Embrace is from the French verb embrasser, which started out meaning "to clasp in the arms" (but now includes kissing). You embrace someone by giving her a giant hug, and when you embrace a new idea, it's like your brain gives it a hug. The noun and verb form are similar: If you embrace someone who isn't your sweetheart, you might get caught in an embrace. In Henry IV, Shakespeare writes about a really, really tight embrace: "I will embrace him with a soldier's arm/That he shall shrink under my courtesy." |
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| 2356 |
inquiry |
an instance of questioning |
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When you ask the guy behind the counter if they've got any aspirin, you're making an inquiry. Almost any search for information or knowledge is an inquiry, though an inquiry is often an official search. |
Though any question is, technically, an inquiry, that word is usually used to refer to an official or public search for the truth. For instance, after a plane crash, the government launches an inquiry into the cause. Politicians and government officials are often the ones who demand an inquiry when an important question needs to be answered, but a child can do the same thing. If your kid wants to know what's for dinner, she can make an inquiry about it. She can also just — you know — ask. |
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| 2357 |
risk |
a source of danger |
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A risk is an action that holds a chance of danger or failure. Although it's fun jump around on glaciers, the risk of falling down a crack into a freezing lake might deter you from ice climbing. |
Risk comes from the French for danger. As nouns, risk and danger are close synonyms. The verb risk means to run a danger, in hopes of reward. So risk is similar to gamble. If you're very ill, you might risk a dangerous surgery. We also use risk for money or security. You can risk your good health by working with infected patients without sterile equipment. Or you can risk your life savings on the stock market. |
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| 2358 |
production |
the act or process of making something |
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Production is the process of goods being made or manufactured. If people like the cupcakes you sell about school events, you might have to increase production by baking in both your kitchen and your neighbor's. |
Anything that's made or grown is the result of production, from the harvesting of grains, vegetables, and fruits to the drilling of oil. Even your crafty friend handles the production of the handmade bookmarks she sells. Another common meaning of production is the work that goes into the making of a movie, play, or album. From this meaning comes the phrase make a production of, to do something in an overly complicated, or theatrical, way. |
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| 2359 |
area |
the extent of a two-dimensional surface within a boundary |
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The area is a part of a place, usually defined by a function. If you can't stop talking, don't sit in the quiet area of the library. |
In Latin, area means a vacant piece of ground, but we use it in English to talk about a region or place that's a subset of another larger region. The boarding area in the airport is the space right next to the door. Area is also used to describe topics or subjects of study or work. Within a big history department, professors have different areas of specialty, from medieval economics to urban American politics. |
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| 2360 |
health |
the general condition of body and mind |
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Your health is the condition of your body. If you barely get any sleep and only eat frozen pizza and jellybeans, you probably have poor health. |
Health comes from the old English word for "whole," and you can think of it as the state of your whole being — both body and mind. We use health to talk about bodies and people, but also to talk about whole systems. If you lost your job, you might be worried about the health of your finances. If a bad manager provokes employees to be unproductive, investors might be worried about the health of a business. |
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| 2361 |
doldrums |
a state of inactivity |
Across most of the country, home values are stuck in the doldrums, crimping consumer spending and leaving anxious owners in search of relief. |
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Doldrums aren’t drums that you can play like the tom-toms. Rather people use this noun to describe a period of time that is boring, depressing, or characterized by inactivity. |
The noun doldrums is derived from the word dull. If you’ve been vegging out in front of the TV for hours, bored out of your mind, you might say you’re "in the doldrums." This word is often used in phrases describing a slump in the economy or as in “the summer doldrums” to describe the hot, lazy days of summer. |
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| 2362 |
dissuade |
turn away from by persuasion |
Scotland proposes to make it an offence to display tobacco products in shops so as to dissuade young people from taking up smoking. |
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When you dissuade someone, you convince that person not to do something: “When Caroline saw Peter's broken leg, she tried to dissuade him from going on the ski trip.” |
Remember the meaning of dissuade by comparing it to its more common relative persuade. The suade part that both words share has origins in the Latin root suadēre, meaning “to urge.” In the case of persuade, the prefix per- means “thoroughly,” intensifying “to urge” and giving persuade its meaning of “to convince.” Think of dissuade as the opposite of persuade: the prefix dis- reverses the action of the root, giving the meaning of not urging, in other words, convincing someone NOT to do something. |
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| 2363 |
fritter |
spend frivolously and unwisely |
The judge added she did not believe Gatti intended for his fortune to be frittered away in lengthy court proceedings. |
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A person who fritters chooses to spend their energy on things that are wasteful. You can fritter money, time, or energy, but once you've "frittered it away," you can't get it back! |
The first time you get a paycheck, you might be tempted to go on a spending spree, buying fireworks, a rabbit costume, and a giant gumball machine. But be careful, because if you fritter away your hard-earned cash like that, you won’t have any left for important things, like food and rent. The Old English root of the word means “break into fragments,” which is what happens to someone who fritters their life away. |
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| 2364 |
iota |
a tiny or scarcely detectable amount |
Speaking in his native Trinidad on Saturday, Warner told local media he's not guilty of "a single iota of wrongdoing." |
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If you don't care one iota about something, it means you don’t care about it even one little bit. An iota is something very small. |
An iota is the smallest letter of the Greek alphabet. The expression "not one iota" comes from the Bible (Matthew 5:18): "For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished." |
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| 2365 |
stoke |
stir up |
As the collective wisdom of the crowd displaces traditional advertising, the roaring engines of e-commerce are being stoked by favorable reviews. |
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To stoke is to poke a fire and fuel it so that it burns higher. It can also mean "incite"––a principal's impassive silence in the face of requests for more tater tots might stoke the flames of student anger. |
When a surfer says, "I am so stoked," it means they are excited––the fire of enthusiasm is burning hotter. It's interesting to reflect on how many words in our language have to do with the tending of fires, an activity that has become much less common in recent human history. |
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| 2366 |
galvanize |
to stimulate to action |
The evil deed shocked the public and galvanized the city's police force. |
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The verb galvanize refers to stimulating muscles with an electrical current, and this word is also used to suggest stimulating someone into action. We advise not using electricity in galvanizing children to do their homework. |
The word galvanize was coined to honor the 18th Century scientist Luigi Galvani, who found that a spark could make a frog's legs move. This discovery led to further studies in bioelectrogenesis, or what Galvani called "animal electricity," and became the basis for Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (a novel in which a mad scientist attempts to use electricity to galvanize a monster to life). Nowadays, people use this term much more figuratively, like when they describe galvanizing a political movement or even a sports team into action. |
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| 2367 |
protagonist |
the principal character in a work of fiction |
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A protagonist is the central character in a story: the protagonist of Huckleberry Finn is — guess who? — Huckleberry Finn. |
A novel, movie, or play might have many main characters, but it can really only have one protagonist — or maybe two in the case of, say, Romeo and Juliet. That's because protos means "first" in Greek, and agonistes means "competitor" or "actor." It can also mean a leading figure in a real-life situation: "Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis were the protagonists of the U.S. Civil War." Don't use it to mean "a supporter of an idea or cause"; the word you're looking for in that situation is proponent. |
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| 2368 |
epilogue |
a short speech by an actor at the end of a play |
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If you like to read the end of a book first, then maybe the epilogue is for you. The epilogue is a short piece that wraps up the end of a story. |
The noun epilogue can also refer to the short speech at the end of a play that one of the characters speaks directly to the audience. In Shakespeare's play The Tempest, the epilogue is a 20-line monologue spoken by Prospero. Epilogue comes from the Greek word epilogus meaning the conclusion of a speech. |
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| 2369 |
legacy |
a gift of personal property by will |
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Use the word, legacy, for something handed down from one generation to the next. A retiring company president might leave a legacy of honesty and integrity. |
Legacy comes from the Latin verb, legare "to appoint by a last will, send as an ambassador." Originally, the noun meant "ambassador" or "envoy" but soon shifted to mean the money and property a person leaves behind in his will. Many university scholarships are funded by the legacies of former students. In recent usage, political leaders are said to be concerned with their legacies, the historically significant achievements of their tenure in office. |
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| 2370 |
lore |
knowledge gained through tradition or anecdote |
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Lore is a body of knowledge or tradition that is passed down among members of a culture, usually orally. It's the lore in "folklore," and responsible for spreading the word on mythical figures like Santa Claus, Paul Bunyan, and even Uncle Sam. |
Most lore begins as an oral tradition, passed on by word of mouth, and only later takes on a written form. We tend to think of lore as something centuries-old, as in the British "Arthurian lore" surrounding the doings of the mythical King Arthur and his court. However, newer lore — such as baseball lore — is constantly springing up. Humans need and love their lore. |
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| 2371 |
environment |
the totality of surrounding conditions |
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Think of the environment as everything that is around you. A quiet room with good lighting and no distractions is a good environment for doing homework, or at least that's what your parents and teachers think. |
Environment generally refers to your surroundings. If something is good for the environment, it is beneficial to the complex system of plant and animal life, water and air on Earth. An environment need not be so large, however. The environment of your living room means the tables, chairs and decor that are in the room. Sometimes it refers to the general attitude of a place. Do you thrive in a competitive environment or prefer an atmosphere of cooperation? |
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| 2372 |
etymology |
a history of a word |
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Since you're reading this, then you probably have some interest in etymology, because it's the study of the history and derivations of words. |
What genealogy is to a family, etymology is to words. A genealogist studies the history of a family. A person who studies etymology does the same thing with words. Etymology looks at the roots of words — for example, whether they started out as Latin, Greek, or as some other language — and how they took on their current meaning. When you learn that the -logy part of etymology almost always means "the study of," that is, in itself, etymology. |
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| 2373 |
alibi |
proof that someone accused of a crime could not have done it |
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Your alibi is evidence that proves your innocence. If you were making cookies with your mom when someone raided your sister's piggy bank, your mom is your alibi, since she knows you were with her when the crime was committed. |
The noun alibi is the same word as its Latin root, alibi, which means "excuse." When you provide an alibi, you are giving proof — a certified excuse — that you could not have committed a crime. Alibi is easy to confuse with alias, which means "an assumed, or false, name." |
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| 2374 |
investigator |
someone who inquires carefully |
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Every crime novel has an investigator, someone whose job it is to discover the truth. Not all investigators solve crimes, but to be an investigator you need to work hard to figure things out. |
A private investigator knocks at your door. Do you let him in? He probably only wants to ask questions, because that’s what investigators do: they research. Scientists are investigators, so are police officers, and even your friend who reads lots of books about butterflies can be considered an investigator. Rooted in the Latin word vestigare, meaning “trace out,” investigators gather facts in order to trace out the whole picture. |
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| 2375 |
mystery |
something that baffles understanding and cannot be explained |
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A mystery is something that baffles our understanding and cannot be explained. The giant slabs of Stonehenge, remain a mystery to this day. |
The noun mystery comes from the Greek mysterion, meaning "secret rite or doctrine." A great synonym for secret is enigma. We use this word all the time to describe stuff we don't understand, from crop circles and UFOs to the origins of the universe and the workings of the human brain. In literature, drama, and film, a mystery is a story that centers around a crime, usually murder, which finally gets solved at the very end. |
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| 2376 |
sleuth |
a detective who follows a trail |
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Sleuth is a fun, sometimes playful, word for "detective." As a verb, it's also what a detective does. When you seek clues, you sleuth. You, sleuth, you! |
The word sleuth comes from the Old Norse sloth, meaning "trail" and sleuthing is following a trail. One type of bloodhound skilled at following trails is called a sleuthhound, and that word was shortened to sleuth in the late 19th Century, referring to an investigator. As an amateur sleuth, you caught the robber dressed as a mummy before the police did. He would have escaped if not for you, you meddling sleuth! |
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| 2377 |
suspect |
regard as untrustworthy |
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A suspect is a person who is believed to be guilty of a crime. If you leave the scene of a murder with blood on your hands and a weapon in your pocket, you’re likely to become a prime suspect. |
If others believe you have committed a crime, you are a suspect. The word can also be used as a verb and an adjective. To suspect someone of something is to believe that they probably did it. Do you ever suspect your parents of taking some of your Halloween candy? If something such as someone's excuse or motive is suspect, it seems a bit off. That bad-smelling piece of fish is suspect — you'd better not eat it. |
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| 2378 |
victim |
an unfortunate person who suffers from adverse circumstances |
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Use the word victim to describe someone who has been wronged or harmed, like the victim of the armed robbery or the stores that went out of business, victims of the slow economy. |
The noun victim refers to a person who has been harmed by a crime, accident, or other adverse circumstances, such as a victim of a tsunami or a victim of domestic violence. It can also refer to someone has been tricked or swindled, like when you paid $2 for a candy bar that should only have cost a dollar — you were the victim of someone's scheme to pocket half the money from the candy bar sale. |
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| 2379 |
witness |
someone who sees an event and reports what happened |
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If you're walking down the street and see one car run a red light and plow into another, you are a witness to the accident. You saw it and can tell someone else how the accident happened. |
The first part of a witness's role is observation. You witness the accident. The second part is telling someone about it — bearing witness. In court, you can be a witness for the defense or prosecution. You can also witness a legal document, like a will, or a wedding conducted by the justice of the peace. Religious people use this word a lot too: being a witness in that sense is being a true believer who tries to convert others. |
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| 2380 |
realism |
the attribute of accepting the facts of life |
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Realism is an approach to life that means dealing with the way things are. If you see the world through the lens of realism, you accept what's in front of you and don't pretend it's otherwise. |
For those who follow the doctrine of realism, it's "just the facts, ma'am." What you see is what you get; if you can't see it or touch it, it doesn't really exist. Realism is more than just a way of approaching life; it is a formal philosophy and a 19th-century art movement, where animals and people and landscapes are depicted as they appear — no purple and green faces or polka-dotted ponies, just people and trees and landscapes painted in proportions and colors that look like the real thing. |
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| 2381 |
conciliate |
gain the good will of or cause to be more favorably inclined |
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The verb conciliate means to placate, appease, or pacify. If you are eating at a restaurant and the waiter accidentally spills a drink on you, the manager may try to conciliate you by picking up the tab for your meal. |
You may be more familiar with the term conciliation ––it can mean the flowers you bring to conciliate your girlfriend after a fight, or a politician's conciliatory offer to fund a new playground to a community that's just lost its school. Conciliate comes from the Latin word conciliare, meaning "to unite." Conciliare in turn comes from the Latin word concilium, meaning "council." If you remember their common etymology, you can remember that, like council, conciliate is spelled with only one l. |
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| 2382 |
flagrant |
conspicuously and outrageously bad or reprehensible |
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Something flagrant is bad — so bad you can't ignore it. A flagrant foul in sports might send you to the bench, and a flagrant violation of the law might send you to the slammer. |
The current meaning of the adjective flagrant — "obviously offensive or disgraceful" — is thought to derive from the Latin legal term in flagrante delicto, which literally meant "with fire still blazing" and is used figuratively to describe a situation in which the criminal is caught red handed. Aside from a flagrant abuse of the law, the word can also be used to describe anything that is obviously bad — like flagrant bad taste or flagrant abuse of the rules of grammar. |
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| 2383 |
extraneous |
not belonging to that in which it is contained |
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Extraneous means coming from the outside, like the extraneous noise you hear when you're in a theater and a train passes by. Extraneous can also mean not relevant or essential, like all the extraneous information in your long-winded science report. |
In Latin, extra means outside, as in extraordinary "outside the ordinary," or extraterrestrial 'coming from outside earth.' (Bonus points––ding! ding!––if you knew that terra is Latin for "earth.") The meaning of extraneous also extends to more abstract things that come from the outside: extraneous details are ones that don't matter. |
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| 2384 |
tranquility |
an untroubled state that is free from disturbances |
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The noun tranquility means "a state of peace and quiet," like the tranquility you feel at the shore of a quiet lake or inside a beautiful cathedral. |
Tranquility can also describe a person's disposition. How do you reach tranquility? Make peace with yourself, your life, and the people who drive you crazy. Tranquility can also come from spending time alone, like reading in front of the fireplace on a snowy afternoon. Meditation and yoga can help bring tranquility, by clearing your mind of constant worries. |
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| 2385 |
virtue |
the quality of doing what is right |
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Virtue is the quality of being morally good. If you're writing a screenplay and you want it to be a real tearjerker, make sure your hero is full of virtue. |
The word virtue comes from the Latin root vir, for man. At first virtue meant manliness or valor, but over time it settled into the sense of moral excellence. Virtue can also mean excellence in general. One of your virtues might be your generous willingness to help out your friends. The phrase by virtue of means "as a result of" or "by authority of." You will achieve success by virtue of hard work (or by virtue of inside connections). |
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| 2386 |
lax |
without rigor or strictness |
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Those parents who let their kids eat all their Halloween candy the night of October 31st? Their parenting style might be described as lax. A paperclip chain used as a bike lock? That's an example of lax security. |
While contemplating the word lax, you may note that it's the same as the first syllable in laxative. This is not a coincidence: lax entered English as a noun describing a substance taken or administered to relax the bowels. Interestingly, the modern definition of lax is closer to the Latin source word, laxus — an adjective meaning "loose." Now, lax can refer to any phenomenon that is insufficiently stringent or so slack as to be basically ineffectual. For example, "The entire class performed incredibly well on the test, largely due to the sleepy professor's lax supervision." |
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| 2387 |
dissent |
a difference of opinion |
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To dissent is to publicly disagree with an official opinion or decision. Dissent is also a noun referring to public disagreement. |
Both verb and noun are often used in reference to a statement by a judge who disagrees with a decision made by other judges. Dissent is also used to refer to political opposition to government policies. The verb derives from Middle English, from Latin dissentire, from the prefix dis- "apart" plus sentire "to feel." |
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| 2388 |
resolute |
firm in purpose or belief |
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Use the adjective resolute to describe a purposeful and determined person, someone who wants to do something very much, and won't let anything get in the way. |
"Milo thought for just a moment and then, with a resolute 'I shall,' volunteered to go," Norton Juster writes in the classic children's novel The Phantom Tollbooth. From the way Milo said "I shall," we can infer that he was quite confident in his split-second decision, or at least made himself appear to be so. Some near-synonyms for this word include resolved, adamant, unswerving, and unwavering. If you make a "resolute refusal" of something, you're declaring you don't like it and never will. |
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| 2389 |
solitude |
a state of social isolation |
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Solitude is the state of being alone. You might crave solitude after spending the holidays with your big, loud family — you want nothing more than to get away from everyone for a little while. |
Solitude can also refer to a place where you're completely alone. The middle of the woods, the top of a big mountain, the middle of a vast desert, even your room — these are places where you might go for solitude. Solitude comes from the Latin word solitudinem, which means "loneliness," but if you have moments of solitude that doesn't necessarily mean you're lonely. The word solitude carries the sense that you're enjoying being alone by choice. |
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| 2390 |
desecrate |
violate the sacred character of a place or language |
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To desecrate means to treat a sacred place or thing with violent disrespect. The news sometimes reports on vandals who have desecrated tombstones or places of worship. |
The word consecrate from the Latin consecrare means "to make sacred." Substituting the prefix con- with de- reverses the meaning. When preparing for a foreign occupation, the military instructs troops not to desecrate sacred sites and risk offending the local population. You can also desecrate someone's memory if you spread malicious lies about him after his death. |
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| 2391 |
disparity |
inequality or difference in some respect |
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If there is a disparity between how great you think you are at tennis and how you actually play, you are probably surprised by how often you lose. Disparity is the condition of being unequal, and a disparity is a noticeable difference. |
Disparity usually refers to a difference that is unfair: economic disparities exist among ethnic groups, there is a disparity between what men and women earn in the same job. This noun derives from Latin dispar "unequal." The opposite of disparity is parity, the condition of being equal or the same. |
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| 2392 |
discern |
detect with the senses |
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If you can make out, pick out, or distinguish something, you can discern it. This is a word for recognizing and perceiving things. |
Discerning has to do with being able to see or hear something. In a loud room, it can be hard to discern one person's voice. If there's not much light, you'll have trouble discerning the words on a page well enough to read. If you have sloppy handwriting, then it's hard to discern what you wrote. When you can discern something, you can tell what it is; you can identify it. |
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| 2393 |
heresy |
a belief that rejects the orthodox tenets of a religion |
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A heresy is a belief that doesn't agree with the official tenets of a particular religion; heresy is the maintaining of such contrary beliefs. |
Heresy can be used figuratively: to disagree with the school committee's decisions is considered pure heresy by the faculty. You'll often come across this word in a religious context — the Latin root haeresis, "school of thought or sect," was used by Christian writers to mean "unorthodox sect or belief." This comes from the Greek hairesis, "a taking or choosing," from hairein, "to choose." A person who chooses to believe in heresies is called a heretic. |
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| 2394 |
hinder |
be an obstacle to |
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The verb hinder means to block or put something in the way of, so if you’re in a high-speed car chase with the police, they might put up a blockade to hinder your progress. |
The word hinder came from the Old English hindrian, which means to "injure or damage." That's a little more extreme than what it means today, because, now it just means to get in the way of something or someone. People might not like you too much if you make it a practice to hinder their progress or get in the way of things they want, even if it's a small hindrance like blocking someone from getting to the cookie jar. |
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| 2395 |
eloquent |
expressing yourself readily, clearly, effectively |
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When you're eloquent, you have a way with words. An eloquent speaker expresses herself clearly and powerfully. Even though eloquent usually describes oral speech, it can also be used to describe powerful writing. |
Being eloquent is about using words well. All the great writers from English class — such as Shakespeare, Mark Twain, Emily Dickinson, and Virginia Woolf — were eloquent. A great orator or speaker like Martin Luther King was eloquent. When something is beautifully, gorgeously, perfect said (or written), it's eloquent. Being eloquent requires your words to be smooth, clear, powerful, and interesting. To write or speak in an eloquent way takes a lot of work. |
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| 2396 |
acclaim |
enthusiastic approval |
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You know you've hit it big when you earn acclaim, or enthusiastic approval. And when you have achieved "critical acclaim," even the grouchy critics approve of you. |
The word acclaim comes from the Latin word acclamare, which means to cry out. So it only makes sense that the verb acclaim means to offer enthusiastic praise or applause. "The book was critically acclaimed, but most of the students found it to be stupefyingly boring." |
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| 2397 |
belittle |
cause to seem less serious |
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To belittle means to put down, or to make another person feel as though they aren't important. Saying mean things about another person literally makes them feel "little." |
To belittle someone is a cruel way of making someone else seem less important than yourself. A candidate for office might belittle his opponent by pointing out during a press conference that his fellow candidate has an inferior intellect. Belittling doesn't have to come in the form of verbal abuse. A manager who forces his administrative assistant to scrub his office floor with a toothbrush belittles her as well. |
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| 2398 |
repress |
conceal or hide |
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Whether you're repressing a feeling, an idea or even a revolution you're almost always going to be taking advantage of the press in repress. To repress something is to "press it down" where it can't be seen, heard or even recognized. |
Psychologists often try to help people recover memories that they've repressed so that they can feel free of them once and for all. What makes repress different from press is that repress is almost always used when you're talking about an idea, concept or something intangible. In other words, you repress, say, your emotions. You don't repress olives to get olive oil. However, you can repress someone or some group by intimidating them — like repressing the protesters by sending out cops on horseback. |
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| 2399 |
inadvertent |
happening by chance or unexpectedly or unintentionally |
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When something happens by accident, it's inadvertent, or unintentional. The gas company assured you that the error in your bill was inadvertent and that they would fix it, but not before you blew off some steam. |
If you break down the adjective inadvertent you find the word vert, from the Latin vertere, meaning "to turn." Advertent comes to mean "turning the mind to," and as the prefix in- means "not," inadvertent means “not turning the mind to,” or "not intending to." When your actions are inadvertent you're not paying attention to their consequences. Remember that inadvertent ends with -ent by remembering this sentence: “We inadvertently ripped the tent.” |
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| 2400 |
irrational |
not consistent with or using reason |
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If you're a straight-A student and still you worry about failing all of your classes, you're being irrational. Your fears are not based on fact and not likely to come true. |
Usually you use irrational to describe ideas and thoughts that are not based on reason, although emotions and behavior can be irrational too if they don't seem reasonable. Do you jump onto a chair and scream when you see a mouse? If so, you have an irrational fear of mice, or musophobia. If someone takes a swing at you for failing to say excuse me when you burp, both their anger and their actions could be called irrational. |
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| 2401 |
tentative |
hesitant or lacking confidence; unsettled in mind or opinion |
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Choose the adjective tentative to describe something you are unsure or hesitant about. On Monday, you can make tentative plans for the weekend, but it's too early to commit to one party or another. |
Tentative, from the Latin tentātīvus "testing, trying," always describes something that is uncertain. If you make a tentative appointment, write it down in pencil, not pen, because it might have to be changed. Here the opposite of tentative is definite or set. If someone gives you a tentative smile or nod, the person feels hesitant or unsure about something. In this case, its opposite is confident. |
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| 2402 |
exhaustive |
performed comprehensively and completely |
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Exhaustive means performed comprehensively and completely. When you recruit a new employee (or spouse), you undertake an exhaustive search for the best talent. |
When you are exhaustive about something, you are testing all possibilities or considering all elements. If you want to become an attorney you will need an exhaustive knowledge of the leather bound books in the law library. When you exhaust something, you use it up entirely, so something exhaustive is complete. After your exhaustive tour of Rome, you're exhausted. |
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| 2403 |
servile |
submissive or fawning in attitude or behavior |
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If you want to get someone to like you, don't offer to fetch them a Coke, rub their feet, or do their homework. They won't like you any better, and your servile attitude will only cost you their respect. |
To remember servile, just think of the word servant––they both derive from the Latin servus "slave." In fact, servile also means anything characteristic of a slave. "After winning the lottery, the ex-slave shed first his servile clothes, later his servile manner. The transformation was complete." |
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| 2404 |
incessant |
uninterrupted in time and indefinitely long continuing |
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Something incessant continues without interruption. When you're on a cross-country flight, it's tough to tolerate the incessant crying of a baby. |
In Latin, cessare means 'to stop,' so when you add the negative prefix in- you get a word meaning never stopping. A near synonym is continual, but something incessant is more relentless; ceaseless is a closer synonym. It's rare to find incessant used in a positive way. Even incessant sunshine would grow boring. |
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| 2405 |
fanatic |
a person motivated by irrational enthusiasm |
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If you’re apt to come off as a little zany and express extreme enthusiasm for a particular idea or thing, you may be described as a fanatic. "She’s a real vegetable fanatic; I’ve never seen someone so enthusiastic about gardening methods. |
From the Latin fanaticus meaning “mad, enthusiastic,” the noun fanatic means “zealous person.” You know how right before the family gathers for Thanksgiving each year, everyone warns each other not to get your Uncle Jimmy started on the role of government in everyday life? That’s because he’s a fanatic, and as Winston Churchill so aptly phrased it, “A fanatic is someone who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject.” |
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| 2406 |
perceptive |
of or relating to awareness via the senses |
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If someone calls you perceptive, they mean you are good at understanding things or figuring things out. Perceptive people are insightful, intelligent, and able to see what others cannot. |
Perceive means "to see"; so, perceptive is a word to describe someone who is good at seeing. Perceptive is derived from the Latin word percipere which means "to obtain or gather." A perceptive person is good at gathering information and using her senses to take in the world. If you are upset but trying to hide it, a perceptive person is the one who will notice. |
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| 2407 |
censure |
harsh criticism or disapproval |
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Censure is a noun referring to very strong criticism; the verb means to criticize very strongly. If you take your dad's car without telling him, you can expect him to censure you severely, and maybe even ground you as well. |
The noun and verb are most closely associated with official expressions of disapproval, as when Congress censures a senator. The noun is from Latin cēnsūra "censorship," from cēnsor "an ancient Roman censor." The job of a Roman censor was to take the census and to supervise public morals and behavior. Our English word censor––which means to suppress speech or other forms of expression––is from this Latin word. |
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| 2408 |
slander |
words falsely spoken that damage the reputation of another |
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If your classmate spreads a false rumor that you cheated on the math test, that's slander. Slander is the act of saying an untrue, negative statement about someone. |
In law, the word slander is contrasted with libel, which is the act of making a false written statement about someone. The noun slander is from Old French esclandre, escandle, or "scandal," from Late Latin scandalum "stumbling block, offense." |
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| 2409 |
deplete |
use up, as resources or materials |
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To deplete is to use up or consume a limited resource. Visiting relatives might deplete your refrigerator of food, or a pestering friend might deplete your patience. |
The verb deplete is used like “to drain.” A long, exhausting day can deplete your body of energy and a summer drought can deplete a region’s water supply. If you deplete your body of hydration after a lot of exercise, be sure to replete yourself with a nice glass of water. |
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| 2410 |
assessment |
the act of judging a person or situation or event |
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Assessment is a word you hear a lot around schools –– it means figuring out what someone knows or has learned. A test can be an assessment tool, or a term paper, or a project. |
More than just students are given assessments. You might bring your dad's plastic gnome collection to an expert for an assessment and find out it's worth all of $15.35. You might make a quick assessment of a situation –– say it's you, two bullies, your lunch money and a long hallway –– and decide to run. |
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| 2411 |
authority |
the power or right to give orders or make decisions |
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If you have the authority to do something, you have the right or power to do it. You are the big cheese. Or, if you know more about a topic than most, you are an authority on that topic. |
Giving someone authority grants them the power to make important decisions or have accepted opinions. When you leave your kids with a babysitter, you give her the authority to put them to bed at 7 p.m., no matter how much they insist you let them stay up until midnight. You'll feel more confident leaving the babysitter in charge of bedtime decisions if she's written two books on the subject and is an authority, or renowned expert, on children's sleep habits. Being an authority on children's sleep habits helps your babysitter enforce that 7 p.m. bedtime, but it may not convince the kids. |
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| 2412 |
available |
obtainable or accessible and ready for use or service |
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"Is this seat available?" "Are you available, or are you married?" As you can tell from these two examples, available means "not busy or not taken." |
Available can be used to describe anything that's ready to be used like a restaurant table or a theater seat. It can also be used to describe a person who is not involved in a romantic relationship: "Available singles use online dating websites." When you use a resource, like the school library, you can say that you "avail yourself to the research opportunities made available to students." No matter how you slice it, available means free for the taking. |
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| 2413 |
benefit |
something that aids or promotes well-being |
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A benefit is something that helps you, whether in the form of health insurance provided by an employer, welfare given by the government to those in need, or the benefit of the doubt extended to you by a friend. |
The Latin bene- "good" is at the heart of the word benefit, which derives from the Latin benefactum "good deed." When attendance at a party or an event raises money for a charity, the event is referred to as a benefit in that charity's honor. |
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| 2414 |
constitutional |
existing as an essential characteristic |
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Constitutional means having to do with the document that is the foundation of a government — in the US, a constitutional right is one provided to you by the US Constitution. |
If you break down constitutional, you’ll find the root word constitute, meaning "to make up or form." Constitution can refer to the document that forms (or organizes) the government. It can also refer to the structure of a thing, such as a species, or a person. If you go for a "constitutional walk" — in that sense, the word means having to do with your constitution or your health. |
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| 2415 |
definition |
a concise explanation of the meaning of a word or phrase |
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A good definition explains concisely what something means. Dictionaries include definitions, even for the word definition! |
A definition precisely explains the fundamental state or meaning of something, often given formally as by lexicographers writing a dictionary or legislators writing laws. It can also refer to a sharply detailed image or concept — like how clear the picture is on a high-definition TV or how cut a Calvin Klein model's abs are. |
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| 2416 |
distribution |
the act of spreading or apportioning |
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Distribution means the passing out of something. A teacher is in charge of distribution of corrected essays. A lunch lady manages the distribution of food. |
Distribution can also refer to the way something is distributed. In our country, many are concerned about the distribution of wealth, which is increasingly concentrated in the hands of the richest few. When you put money in a brokerage account, it's called a contribution. Taking it out is a distribution. |
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| 2417 |
economic |
of or relating to production and management of wealth |
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If you describe something as economic, then it relates to the economy. And the economy? It's all about money, honey. |
The adjective economic, meaning “pertaining to management of a household,” first developed in the 1590’s and might remind you of "Home Economics" classes where you once learned to cook and sew. Usually though, we use economic to describe things relating to finance. It’s not the same as financial, but if you’re talking about a town or country whose finances are in dire straits, it’s ok to say "economic ruin." |
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| 2418 |
established |
brought about or set up or accepted |
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Something or someone well established is well known, totally trusted and usually has a proven track record of success. |
Becoming established doesn't happen overnight. You've got to put in the time and effort to prove yourself, make connections and build a good reputation. So it makes sense that this adjective is related to the verb establish, which means to "create, set up, or prove." Established is a handy word to know, especially when you're looking for a dentist — you probably won't want to try Dr. Lovedrill until his practice is more established. |
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| 2419 |
export |
sell or transfer abroad |
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To export something is to move it from its current location to a different territory. Some have been trying to export the American diet overseas by spreading McDonald's fries around the globe. |
The verb export comes from the Latin word exportare which means “to carry out” or “send away.” To export something is to move it across borders. You could export locally made fabric to wealthy European cities. When something is an export, it is a good, service or idea that is sent or sold to a foreign land: diamonds are a valuable African export. |
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| 2420 |
formula |
a group of symbols that make a mathematical statement |
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A formula is generally a fixed pattern that is used to achieve consistent results. It might be made up of words, numbers, or ideas that work together to define a procedure to be followed for the desired outcome. |
Formulas, the patterns we follow in life, are used everywhere. In math or science, a formula might express a numeric or chemical equation; in cooking, a recipe is a formula. Baby formula is made up of the nutrients necessary for maintaining healthy growth, and the right formula for a fuel mixture is critical for a racing car's best performance. Everyone has their favorite formula for success. J. Paul Getty once gave his as "rise early, work hard, strike oil." |
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| 2421 |
income |
the financial gain accruing over a given period of time |
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What could be simpler than to remember that income basically refers to money that "comes in," or is earned. Your income is the money you make in a given time period, for example weekly, monthly, or annually. |
Your income might come from many sources — salary, investments, interest or annuities. Today income is used as a noun, but the Old English word incuman was first a verb that meant "to come in," and referred to the money earned through one's labor or business dealings. The first income tax was attempted in Britain in 1404, but was so unpopular it was ended. In the United States, the Federal Income Tax became law in 1913, and, unfortunately, is still in effect. |
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| 2422 |
interpretation |
the act of expressing something in an artistic performance |
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When your favorite band covers a classic tune, their version is their interpretation — their translation — of the music. Is it better than the original? That's up for interpretation. |
Interpretation is the act of explaining, reframing, or otherwise showing your own understanding of something. A person who translates one language into another is called an interpreter because they are explaining what a person is saying to someone who doesn't understand. Interpretation requires you to first understand the piece of music, text, language, or idea, and then give your explanation of it. A computer may produce masses of data, but it will require your interpretation of the data for people to understand it. |
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| 2423 |
involved |
connected by participation or association or use |
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Being involved means being a part of something or associated with it. If you volunteer on a team to clean up the playground, you're involved in making it a safer and more fun place for kids to play. |
Involved is an adjective with many different uses. It can describe something difficult or complicated, as in "really involved instructions for putting together a plane model," or it describes relationships and partnerships, like when you’re involved with someone in a serious dating relationship or are involved in helping out as a tutor after school. You can be involved in more negative situations, too, as when a country is involved in spying on another or a group is involved in plotting a crime. |
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| 2424 |
legal |
established by or founded upon law or official rules |
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Legal means having to do with the law, or following the law. Attorneys work in the legal profession but may not always be so lucky as to find a legal parking spot near their office. |
A legal scholar is someone who studies law. A legal search and seizure is when the cops come to you house with a warrant. A legal apartment is one that meets building code and is in an appropriately zoned neighborhood. Legal's opposite is illegal, which means against the law. |
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| 2425 |
legislation |
the act of making or enacting laws |
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Legislation is the act or process of making or enacting laws. Some people think there should be more legislation in the area of education and some people think there should be less — governments debates the matter periodically. |
The noun legislation refers to the actual law enacted by a legislative body at the national, state, or local level. There has been some very odd legislation over the years. In one state it was illegal to kiss on a train; in another, it was illegal to take a bath on Sunday. The sweeping legislation made radical changes to tax law, health care, and immigration law. |
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| 2426 |
percent |
a proportion in relation to a whole |
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A percent is part of something, split into a hundred pieces. For example, fifty percent of forty is twenty. |
You'll hear a lot about percent and percentages in math. A percent can go from 0 percent to 100 percent. A percent is calculated by comparing a part of something compared to the whole. A baseball player's batting average is a percent. Athletes are known for talking about numbers that are impossible, like "I gave 110 percent!" You can do that in slang, but don't try it in math class. |
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| 2427 |
period |
an amount of time |
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A period is all about defining when something begins and ends. Class periods usually last about forty-five minutes. Following the last food fight, there was a period of relative peace in the school. |
You know that dot at the end of a sentence? That's a period too. It means the sentence is over. You might say to a class forgetting to use this essential form of punctuation: In a short period of time, you will learn how to put periods on the end of sentences or I will put a period on this lesson. |
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| 2428 |
section |
one of several parts or pieces that fit with others |
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A section is a part or piece of something that fits together with the other pieces to make a whole. Like the arts section of a newspaper, or the rhythm section of the band that gets reviewed in it. |
The root of section is the Latin word sect, which means "cut." Think dissect ("cut into pieces"), or bisect ("cut in two"). Insects are called insects because they're made up of sections — the head, the abdomen, and the thorax. It almost looks like they've been carved into three separate parts. |
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| 2429 |
sector |
a particular aspect of life or activity |
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Sector sounds like section, doesn't it? That's a good way to remember that a sector is a specific part of society or the economy, made up of similar elements — like the health care sector or the education sector. |
Our most common use of the word sector refers to a society’s divisions. For example, our economy is divided into the private sector (privately-owned interests) and the public sector (government). Other than that, the word also has many technical applications in math and science. From the Latin verb secare, "to cut," sector was applied long ago to math as a section of a circle, which carried through to military language as "a circle around a headquarters." |
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| 2430 |
significant |
rich in implication |
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Use the adjective significant to describe something that is important. Your "significant other" means the person who's most important in your life. A significant result in a scientific study is a result large enough to matter. |
A less common meaning of significant is to describe something that has a special or hidden meaning. A significant smile can convey feelings or information without words. This adjective is from Latin significans, from significare "to signify," from signum "a sign, mark" plus facere "to make." |
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| 2431 |
variable |
something that is likely to change |
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The adjective variable is used to describe something that is liable to change often, such as the weather, interest rates, or your teacher's mood. |
If you mention the noun variable to people who are math-phobic, you may give them nightmares because they don't like to think about numbers or values that can change in equations. The adjective form of variable has been around since the late 1300s, applying first to people, and then, in the late 1400s, to weather. The noun form first appeared in Lacroix's Differential and Integral Calculus in 1816, guaranteeing that math students would be solving for the variable x for generations to come. |
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| 2432 |
domestic |
of concern to or concerning the internal affairs of a nation |
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Domestic generally means relating to someone's family, home, or home country. Domestic work is work done in the home––a domestic is someone who works in a home, such as a nanny or a maid. |
Domestic is also used to refer to products that are produced in your country, or policies and affairs that relate to your country. And domestic animals, such as cats and dogs, are used to living with people. Domestic derives from Middle English, from Old French domestique, from Latin domesticus, from domus "house." |
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| 2433 |
govern |
exercise authority over, as of nations |
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To govern is to rule, lead, oversee, or otherwise control. Each U.S. state has its own governor, whose job it is to govern the affairs of that state. |
While it's true that governors govern — that is, they head the executive branch of their state government — there are lots of other ways to use the verb govern. Almost anything that controls or has a lot of influence over something else can be said to govern. The rules of tennis, for example, govern the way that game is played. In mechanics, a device that controls other devices is called a governor. My dog's basic needs govern the way my household is run: his schedule is our schedule. |
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| 2434 |
encroach |
impinge or infringe upon |
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To encroach is to overstep your bounds, to take over space or rights that belong to another, like your brother whose mess always encroaches on your side of the room you share. |
The verb encroach comes from the Old French word encrochier, meaning “seize, fasten on, catch with a hook.” If people slowly take over what belongs to do, they encroach, like people who encroach on your personal space at a crowded concert, or someone whose questions get more and more personal, which encroaches on your privacy. |
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| 2435 |
prioritize |
assign a status in order of importance or urgency |
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Prioritize means to rank in order of importance. There are so many great clubs and activities to get involved in––you should be sure to prioritize the ones you like, or you'll get burned out. |
Prioritize can also mean to set something at the top of a ranking system. By prioritizing healthy eating and exercise, you can lose weight and stay in shape. In the same way, when something is a priority, it usually means it has a high priority, or as some like to say, "priority number one." |
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| 2436 |
agenda |
a temporally organized plan for matters to be attended to |
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An agenda is a list of things to do. If you're going to attend a meeting with a long agenda, you'll want to take your coffee mug along. |
The word agenda is the plural for of the Latin word agendum, which literally means "something to be done." The noun retains this meaning because an agenda is a plan — organized by time — of events or things to do. You might have a meeting, a lunch date, and a doctor's appointment on your agenda for the day. And when you run for office, you better have a political agenda — or a plan for what you want to get done if elected. |
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| 2437 |
enforce |
ensure observance of laws and rules |
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To enforce means to make sure the laws and rules are being followed. So those guys wearing striped outfits and whistles? They're in charge of enforcing the rules of the game. |
See the word force inside of enforce? It can help you remember that enforce is all about forcing others to follow the rules. The traffic police enforce the driving laws by handing out speeding tickets. Your parents hopefully enforce good behavior by grounding you when you stay out too late. It would be wonderful if everyone just followed the rules on their own, but it seems the temptation to be bad is just too strong. So thank goodness for all the enforcers that keep us in line. |
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| 2438 |
independent |
not controlled by a party or interest group |
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If your brother says you broke his guitar and you say you weren't anywhere near it, your parents may ask your sister for an independent opinion, as she has no reason to lie. An independent person is free from the control or influence of other people. |
The root word, depend, originally meant "to hang down." We use the word hang in a similar way. If the decision to build a new stadium hangs on funding, the decision won't be made till the money comes in. To be independent means that you don't depend on your parents to pay your bills. Or, for a three year old, it may mean going to the bathroom "all by yourself." It's all relative. |
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| 2439 |
incentive |
a positive motivational influence |
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If your mom wants you to mow the lawn but you don't feel like it, she might offer to treat you to ice cream after as an incentive. An incentive is something that stimulates you to take action or work harder. |
This noun dates back to Middle English, from Late Latin incentivum, from incentivus "stimulating." In Latin, incentivus meant "setting the tune," from incinere "to sing." The related English verb is incentivize. The less common verb incent was first used in the early 1980s, and has been criticized as business jargon. |
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| 2440 |
mandate |
assign under an official instruction or command |
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A mandate is an official command or a go-ahead. When a politician wins an election by a wide margin, that's a mandate to implement her ideas. |
A mandate gives authority. If the government gives schools a mandate to test more, then the schools had better give more tests. People who work for the Peace Corps have a mandate to help various countries with things like getting clean drinking water. A politician who believes in higher taxes and then gets elected considers that a mandate to raise taxes. When you have a mandate, it's like a ticket to get something done. |
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| 2441 |
agency |
the state of being in action or exerting power |
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An agency usually provides a service, like an aid organization or a government bureau. If you're looking for a job, an employment agency might be able to help. |
The Latin word agere means "to do or manage," and it's a fitting ancestor for agency, a word that means an institution that manages or specializes in something. As a secret agent, you might work for the CIA, or Central Intelligence Agency. I hope you look good in black. The noun agency also refers to the power or ability to do something, as in the William McKinley quote, "War should never be entered upon until every agency of peace has failed.” |
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| 2442 |
pressure |
exert force on someone through threats |
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You feel pressure when something presses on you –- whether a physical force or a stressful situation. If you don't crack under the pressure of witnessing the accident, you will calmly apply pressure on the driver's wound until help arrives. |
The pressure of a looming deadline might cause you to finally get to work on an assignment. Pressure can also be a verb, like when your friend pressures you to go rock climbing despite your fear of heights. The rocks you would rather not climb were formed long ago by extreme heat and pressure. While climbing, your friend's blood pressure may rise right along with yours when she sees how clumsy you are. |
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| 2443 |
dual |
consisting of two parts or components, usually in pairs |
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Dual means double, or having two elements. If you have a dual major, it means you're majoring in two subjects, like astronomy and microbiology. |
The adjective dual comes from the Latin duo, for two, and means having two parts. You can have a dual purpose, following two goals at once. To copilot an airplane, you need a cockpit with dual controls. If you're sometimes nasty and sometimes sugar sweet, people might think you have a dual personality. Don't confuse dual, though, with duel, which is a fight between two people. |
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| 2444 |
renounce |
turn away from; give up |
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To renounce is to officially give up or turn away from. People on a diet usually renounce pizza and chocolate cake, for example. |
The transitive verb renounce is a stronger, more formal way of saying that you reject or disown something. A prince who's tired of the royal life could renounce his title and become a commoner, or a senator who wanted to become an independent would have to renounce his political party ties. You'd be wise to heed the wisdom of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who said: “To renounce liberty is to renounce being a man, to surrender the rights of humanity and even its duties.” |
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| 2445 |
universal |
applicable to or common to all members of a group or set |
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Universal describes something for everything or everyone. Universal design is architectural design that accommodates every person. A universal remote can change the stations on all your home entertainment systems, but hopefully not at once. |
The uni in universal means "one" so this word is all about "one for all and all for one." If it's universal, it applies to all cases. Like the universe itself, a universal emotion is one that every human can understand or relate to. The desire for your children to be safe and happy is universal. If you are to make a universal change in a document it means that every time the specified word appears, it should be fixed. |
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| 2446 |
right |
an abstract idea of that which is due by law or nature |
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Right is a direction, the opposite of left. Most people are right-handed. Right is also correct: the opposite of wrong. |
Many times this word has something to do with what is good, proper, or correct, like the right thing to do. You can get the right answer to a question. You can be morally correct or "in the right." You can right a wrong by making up for an injustice. People have rights: in this country, we are guaranteed life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The first 10 Amendments to our Constitution are called the "Bill of Rights." |
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| 2447 |
juvenile |
displaying or suggesting a lack of maturity |
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If you're being juvenile, you're not acting your age. Unless of course you are a juvenile. In which case, carry on. |
While the noun juvenile refers to someone not physically or emotionally mature, the word is often used as an adjective to refer to anything specifically for young people, such as juvenile reading materials or movies. It can be derisive, as in "Don't act so juvenile," suggesting a silliness unbecoming an adult. The word comes from the Latin juvenīlis, meaning "youthful" — similar, but much more flattering. |
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| 2448 |
offense |
an act punishable by law; usually considered an evil act |
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The part of a team that tries to score points is called the offense. If you play forward on a soccer team, you are on offense. |
If you offend someone — that is you cause them to be upset because of your actions or words — then you may need to apologize for the offense. After all, you meant no offense when you said that disco was dead. How were you to know the guy still loved the '70s? In the eyes of the law, an offense is a crime. |
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| 2449 |
deter |
try to prevent; show opposition to |
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Deter means to discourage. Many believe that the use of capital punishment deters people from committing murder. Others think that is hogwash. |
From the Latin de meaning "away" and terrere meaning "frighten," deter means to frighten away. "Hopefully the idea of being expelled will deter kids from cheating in school." Teddy Roosevelt's foreign policy dictum "walk softly but carry a big stick" was meant to deter other countries from messing with the United States. |
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| 2450 |
condemn |
express strong disapproval of |
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You can condemn, or openly criticize, someone who is behaving inappropriately. If you are an animal rights activist, you would probably condemn someone for wearing fur. |
Condemn originally comes, through Old French, from the Latin word condemnāre, "to sentence, condemn." You may see politicians condemn each other in political ads during a campaign in hopes of improving their chances of winning an election. You also might hear of a convict being "condemned to death." In this sense of the word, to condemn still carries on its Latin meaning of "to sentence." |
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| 2451 |
incarcerate |
lock up or confine, in or as in a jail |
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Use the verb incarcerate when you need to put someone behind bars in a big way, meaning, send them to prison, like those who, after being found guilty of a crime and sentenced, become incarcerated. |
The word incarcerate entered the English language in the sixteenth century, tracing back to the Latin word meaning “imprisoned.” If you incarcerate people, that means you imprison them for a predetermined amount of time in a jail, prison, or a detention center. It’s good to know the meaning of incarcerate, but make sure you never get so close to it that you have firsthand knowledge of the word. |
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| 2452 |
custody |
guardianship over |
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When you are legally responsible for another person, they are in your custody. Most parents have custody over their children. |
The word custody brings with it the meaning of care for. When someone is in your custody, it is not just that they reside with you, it is that you are responsible for taking good care of them. If you are arrested, you will be taken into police custody. While there in jail, it is their responsibility to protect you from harm. |
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| 2453 |
discretion |
power of making choices unconstrained by external agencies |
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If you have the freedom to decide something on your own, the decision is left to your discretion. You're in charge. |
Discretion traces back to the Latin verb discernere "to separate, to discern" from the prefix dis- "off, away" plus cernere "separate, sift." If you use discretion, you sift away what is not desirable, keeping only the good. If you have the freedom to choose, something is "at your discretion." Watch out when you hear the phrase, "viewer discretion advised" on TV or at the movies, you will be watching something quite violent or explicitly sexual. |
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| 2454 |
rehabilitate |
help to readapt, as to a former state of health or repute |
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If you have been in a bad accident or have an addiction problem, you may go away for a stretch of time to rehabilitate yourself or, in other words, bring yourself back to health. |
Though we hear a lot about rehabilitation or "rehab" in the press in connection with drugs or alcohol, the word rehabilitate has a lot of other meanings. You can rehabilitate a building's structure by reinforcing it with steel beams, or rehabilitate your bad reputation by staying after school to help clean up the grounds. |
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| 2455 |
institutional |
relating to an organization founded for a specific purpose |
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Something institutional is what you'd expect from a big entity like a college or corporation, such as the institutional cinder-block dorm room walls or the institutional policy of giving employees 10 sick days per year. |
Accent the third syllable in institutional: "in-stih-TOO-shun-ul." The word institutional can be used to describe something related to an organization or a corporation, like institutional reform or institutional policies. Something that's institutional is often thought of as bland or boring, like the institutional food served to hospital patients. Institutional things often share, for better or worse, a certain sameness. |
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| 2456 |
reconcile |
bring into consonance or accord |
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Reach for the verb reconcile to make different things come together or resolve a matter. |
If you've ever had an argument with someone and then made up, you have reconciled. Reconcile is a verb that can mean "to become resigned" like if you're reconciled to getting the bottom bunk when you wanted the top. It also means to "bring into agreement and harmony." Words like it are pacify, harmonize, and accommodate — reconcile is definitely an agreeable word! |
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| 2457 |
complicity |
guilt as a confederate in a crime or offense |
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Complicity is involvement in a wrongful act — like when you drove your newly-turned-vegetarian friend to a fast food joint so that she could scarf down a hamburger. |
Complicity refers to the act of helping someone else behave inappropriately or illegally. If you find yourself accused of complicity, it's often helpful to show that you were unaware of the other person's intentions. In the case of the trip to the fast food restaurant, that's going to be hard to prove. You'll probably be scorned for being an accomplice, or someone who is complicit, in your friend's shameful act. |
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| 2458 |
confront |
deal with head on |
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Confront means either to face a situation that makes you uncomfortable, or to say something to someone about something they've done that bothers you. Rather than letting things go, when people are rude to you you should confront them. |
Confront derives from the Latin con- "with" and -front "front." You can confront a sad truth, you can confront a person by calling them on their behavior, you can confront someone with the fact that they have terrible breath. You can be confronted, too—on the trip through the mountains, we were confronted by the impassibility of the road. |
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| 2459 |
uproot |
move forcibly from a homeland into a new foreign environment |
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When you uproot people, you move them from one place to a completely new one. Your parents may need to uproot you if your mom gets a new job all the way across the country. |
One meaning of the verb uproot is "move," especially when a person is forced to move. Another way to use uproot is more literal: to pull a plant out of the ground, roots and all. You might, for example, uproot your favorite rose bush and replant it in a sunnier spot in your garden. Interestingly, the figurative sense of uproot is about a hundred years older than the literal meaning, which was first used in the late 1600's. |
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| 2460 |
dilemma |
state of uncertainty in a choice between unfavorable options |
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A dilemma is a tough choice. When you're in a difficult situation and each option looks equally bad, you're in a dilemma. |
Dilemma is from a Greek for "double proposition." It was originally a technical term of logic, but we use it now for any time you have a problem with no satisfactory solution. If you're at the mall choosing between red or blue socks, that's not really a dilemma. But if you have to choose whether to save your cat or your dog from a burning building, that's an awful dilemma. |
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| 2461 |
flee |
run away quickly |
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If you bolt, scram, skedaddle, or get the heck of out Dodge, you flee. You run away fast. Don’t confuse flee with "flea." They sound alike, but the second kind is an insect whose bites make you itch. |
We get the word flee from Old English fleon. When you flee, you get away as quickly as you can. You might even take flight to escape — usually from a dangerous place or situation. In a moment of panic after stealing a cookie from the cookie jar, you might decide to flee the scene of the crime. |
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| 2462 |
migration |
the movement of persons from one locality to another |
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Migration is the movement of either people or animals from one area to another. Look up in the trees, where you might see a Monarch butterfly make a stop on its migration to Mexico. |
Migration can be used for the journey from one place to another or for the act of movement. Thousands of mid-western farmers made the migration to California during the dust bowl. Demographers have noted the migration of young people to the big cities presumably for work. With animals, it’s almost always in reference to a seasonal change in location. On boat tours, you can see the whales during their annual migration down the West coast. |
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| 2463 |
ethnic |
distinctive of the ways of living of a group of people |
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An ethnic group encompasses a group of people with a unique culture. People from Bosnia form an ethnic group called Bosnians, and they share common cultural traditions, which often focus on hospitality and family. |
The word ethnic comes from the Greek ethnos, "nation," "people." Groups of people from specific areas who share the same or similar customs are ethnic groups. People who resettle in other countries often bring their distinctive traditions with them, including language, food, lifestyle, and music. There are ethnic restaurants, shops, and neighborhoods around the world, including Indian buffets, Italian shoe makers, and Greek Towns and China Towns. |
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| 2464 |
terrain |
a piece of ground having specific characteristics |
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An ATV, or all-terrain vehicle, is useful for people who drive on lots of different terrain, hence the name. Terrain is a noun used to talk about the ground, when you're specifically interested in how it appears or is shaped. |
In times of war, you'll often hear the term "hostile terrain" used to describe a region with lots of mountains, vast stretches of desert, or impenetrable jungles. These are all areas of difficult terrain that are hard to pass. Much of humankind's history can be traced by its effort to alter the terrain. We've made mountains into meadows, rivers into lakes, and prairies into roads, all to make the terrain more livable for us. You could even go so far as to say that a person's psyche is mysterious terrain. |
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| 2465 |
obstacle |
something that stands in the way and must be surmounted |
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When the road is blocked ahead of you, that blockage is an obstacle that keeps you from getting where you want to go. |
The Latin word that is the source of the word obstacle combines parts that mean "to stand in the way of," so an obstacle is something that stands against what you want to do. In a dramatic piece, the obstacle is the person or thing that keeps a character from achieving his or her goal. This creates the conflict in a play: since conflict is what drama is all about, the obstacle is the source of all drama. |
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| 2466 |
refuge |
a shelter from danger or hardship |
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To take refuge is to find a safe place. You might take refuge under a bridge in a hail storm, or in a basement during a tornado. |
Refuge comes from a French word meaning "to flee," and, in most cases, a refuge is a place to flee to in order to get away from people or places that are unsafe. A refuge is a safe place, such as a building or even another country, as in "they sought refuge from the war by leaving their homeland," or it is a simple, personal place of comfort — like a friend's couch. |
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| 2467 |
persecute |
cause to suffer |
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To persecute is to make someone suffer or to keep them in bad circumstances. In some parts of the world governments or military groups persecute, or punish, people for religious beliefs, often sending them to prisons or work camps. |
You can use the verb persecute to talk about abusive acts against a person or group of people. Persecute is usually used to specify the harm done to a particular group, as when a person is persecuted for his affiliation with a religious group. Those born of a certain race or culture can be targets too. Adolf Hitler became notorious for his orders to persecute the Jewish people. |
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| 2468 |
endure |
continue to live through hardship or adversity |
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If something endures, it lasts: Beethoven's fame has endured for more than 200 years. But if you endure something, you suffer through it: We endured our teacher's slide shows of her vacation photographs. |
Notice above that something that endures can be good or bad. Something you endure is always bad. And people are forever talking about what they can't or won't endure, as in "I refuse to endure any more abuse from my neighbors." Endure derives from the Latin indūrāre "to make hard," formed from the prefix in- "against, into" plus dūrus "hard." |
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| 2469 |
navigate |
direct and plot the path and position of a conveyance |
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To navigate is to determine a path or course. If you volunteer to navigate on your family’s road trip to Alaska, be sure you’re the type who’s willing to stop and ask for directions. |
Navigate, like “navy” and “naval,” comes from the Latin word navis meaning “ship.” Without the luxury of modern technology, ancient sailors had to be excellent navigators; they often relied on the stars to chart their course. (We don’t recommend that you try this method of navigation with your family in the car.) |
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| 2470 |
sustainable |
capable of being prolonged |
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If something is sustainable, then it can be maintained or continued. A 5-minute mile pace probably isn't sustainable for anyone other than Olympic marathon runners. |
These days this adjective is often used to describe something that has a low long-term effect on the environment, like "sustainable agriculture" — a method of farming that doesn’t ravage the land, deplete resources permanently, or produce a great deal of pollution. Break down the word into two parts: sustain and able, to visualize and remember that you're able to sustain something sustainable. |
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| 2471 |
ecology |
the environment as it relates to living organisms |
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The noun ecology describes the environment as it connects to living things, or the branch of biology that studies that environment. |
The German zoologist Ernst Haeckel coined the word ecology almost 150 years ago, and it should come as no surprise — his being a serious scientist and all — that he combined a couple of Greek words to do it. Oikos means "habitation" and -ology means "the study of." So ecology started off as the study of where things live. More and more, though, the word is used interchangeably with environment. |
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| 2472 |
humanitarian |
someone devoted to the promotion of welfare and reform |
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Despite many jokes to the contrary, a humanitarian is not someone who eats humans (as a vegetarian eats vegetables)! A humanitarian is a person concerned with the welfare of all humankind. |
A millionaire would be considered a great humanitarian if he donated much of his wealth for improving education, housing, and food for the poor. As an adjective, humanitarian is used to describe something or someone who displays the characteristics of someone concerned with human welfare: "The humanitarian project was developed to help women become self-sufficient in third world countries." |
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| 2473 |
relocate |
move or establish in a new place |
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When you relocate, you move to a new location and settle into a new place. If you live in New York City but you get a job in Phoenix, you'll have to relocate to Arizona to start your new career. |
The word relocate came into English in the 1800s from re, meaning "back, again," and locate, meaning "to settle." Relocate refers not only to moving to a new place but also to establishing yourself there. It typically involves finding a new place to live, making new friends, finding your way around your new town or city — even getting cable TV installed. For some people, this can be an exciting adventure; for others, it's a daunting challenge of to-do lists. |
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| 2474 |
relief |
assistance in time of difficulty |
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The noun relief means "the act of reducing something unpleasant," like medicine that brings relief from your terrible headache. |
Relief has several meanings. It can refer to help or assistance, like disaster relief, or a change for the better: it was a relief when you finally found your car keys. Relief also means "someone who takes the place of another," like a relief pitcher who steps in to finish the game. A relief is also a type of sculpture with shapes carved to stand out from the background. |
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| 2475 |
international |
concerning or belonging to two or more countries |
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International is an adjective that describes something that involves two or more countries, like international laws that multiple countries obey, or an international flight from France to Japan. |
Break international into two halves to understand its meaning. The first half is the prefix inter-, which means “among,” or “between.” In the second half, you can see the word nation. Put them together and the word literally means “among or between nations.” Driving from the United States into Canada is an international road trip since you travel from on nation to another, and an international conference has guests from all over the world. |
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| 2476 |
displace |
cause to move, usually with force or pressure |
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When you displace something, you move it to a new position — either in a concrete sense, like moving a chair, or in an abstract sense, like firing someone from a job. |
Displace means to forcefully move or remove something — or someone — but it can also mean “to take the place of,” again, with some force. If your brother is sitting in your seat, you might say, “Get out of my chair! Don’t make me have to displace you!” Similarly, when a new employee is hired at work, she might displace the person who had the job before. |
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| 2477 |
mediate |
act between parties with a view to reconciling differences |
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If your two best friends aren't speaking to each other, you might find yourself trying to mediate a peace accord between them. To mediate is to go from one to another and try to make peace. |
Mediate derives from the Latin medius "middle," and people who mediate are in the middle, between the parties. Other things that are in the middle can be said to mediate as well. Your mind can mediate between your two conflicting personalities. |
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| 2478 |
identity |
the characteristics by which a thing or person is known |
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Your identity is what makes you "you." If you are having "an identity crisis," then I guess you can't figure out who you are. Good luck with that. |
The noun identity can also refer to a name or persona. Criminals tend to use false identities so they won't get caught. If you falsely identify someone, it is a case of "mistaken identity." The word identity doesn't have to be used for a single person either. People refer to "corporate identity" when talking about what makes a company unique. |
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| 2479 |
deteriorate |
grow worse |
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When something gets worse due to neglect or an unfortunate health problem, stuff starts to deteriorate — or fall apart. |
The word deteriorate describes anytime something gets worse. Due to neglect, a relationship can deteriorate but so can the American highway system. Sadly, there seems to be no end to applications for the word deteriorate. And, the truth is at a certain age we all start deteriorating too. |
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| 2480 |
adjustment |
the process of adapting to something |
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The act of making an alteration or modification is an adjustment. If you buy a new pair of jeans, but they are too long, you can make a quick adjustment and hem them, have someone else hem them, or use safety pins. |
The process of adapting to your environmental conditions is also called an adjustment. After you leave home for college, both you and your parents will have a period of adjustment. Some people adjust easier to change than others — you may be having a ball going to class, eating cereal for dinner, and making new friends but an adjustment your parents will have to make is that they will need to stop worrying about you. |
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| 2481 |
demographic |
a statistic characterizing human populations |
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Advertising agencies like to schedule their commercials in television shows that appeal to the 18-49 demographic, because this segment of the population has a lot of spending power. |
Demographic is a word companies use when they're trying to sell their products to a particular group of consumers. A movie studio that wants to promote its new film, "Revenge of the Senior Kitties," might aim for the 65-to-85-year-old cat-lover . A demographic can consist of people who are in the same age group, such as 18-to-29-year-olds, or ethnic group, such as African-Americans. |
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| 2482 |
cope |
come to terms with |
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If you are able to cope with something, you are able to deal with it. If you can cope with waiting in long lines, you'll get the best seats. If you can cope with the stress, you will be excellent at defusing bombs. |
From the Old French couper, cope means “come to blows with." Coping can imply struggle, but it’s usually met with success or at the very least, not failure. Another word to describe the balancing act of a mother who takes care of three children while also working part-time and pursuing a graduate degree is coping. “Understanding does not cure evil, but it is a definite help, inasmuch as one can cope with a comprehensible darkness,” warns Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung. |
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| 2483 |
coordinate |
bring into common action, movement, or condition |
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The word coordinate is all about getting things in order. Are your ducks in a row? Well, then you know what it means to coordinate something. And if you know exactly where to drop the bomb, then you know what the coordinates are. |
Coordinate is one of those words that can mean very different things but is rarely misunderstood in context. It’s a great way to describe the work of organizing, planning, and strategizing. When synchronizing the needs of two distinct groups, for instance, it is necessary to coordinate priorities and schedules. And as you speed down the highway, listening to the serene voice on your GPS announce the coordinates of your destination, chances are you don’t think she’s organizing resources. |
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| 2484 |
suppress |
control and refrain from showing |
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To suppress something means to curb, inhibit, or even stop it. If the sound of your boss moving in his chair sounds like gas, you’re going to have to learn how to suppress your giggles. |
In the strictest sense, suppress means to put an end to something by force, like a government that suppresses the right to free speech by shutting down the newspapers or the military suppressing an uprising by rebel forces. But we also use suppress in less serious terms to describe an attempt to muffle or stifle something, such as suppressing a sneeze in a quiet theater or suppressing your true emotions to not cause a teary scene. |
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| 2485 |
boundary |
the line indicating the limit or extent of something |
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If you play a sport you are familiar with the term "in bounds," which refers to the boundary, or limits of the playing field that the players must stay within. It is also the outer limits of any space. |
A boundary is a border and it can be physical, such as a fence between two properties, or abstract, such as a moral boundary that society decides it is wrong to cross. If you have no sense of boundaries, you probably annoy people sometimes by getting too close to them or talking about inappropriate topics. Gustave Flaubert once said, “Earth has its boundaries, but human stupidity is limitless.” A boundary is basically what limits us. |
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| 2486 |
allocate |
distribute according to a plan or set apart for a purpose |
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To allocate is to set aside a certain amount of money for an expense. You usually hear about the government allocating funds for education or the military, but you may personally allocate some of your allowance to buying comic books. |
Aside from money, a common thing to allocate is time: "The old woman in the shoe had so many children she could only allocate 2.7 minutes per day to talk to each one individually." Resources are also often allocated. Teachers, for example, are continuously allocating their year's supply of resources so they don't run out of glue sticks and paper before the end of the school year. |
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| 2487 |
invest |
lay out money or resources in an enterprise |
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When you invest, you put time or money into something, hoping that there will be returns greater than what was originally put in. |
You commonly hear talk of investing money, but you can invest time in a project as well. You can invest your hopes or emotions in a person. The money, time, or hope is called the investment. Invest can also mean to endow with a power or quality. Laws invest police officers with abilities that regular citizens do not have. Invest originally meant to clothe. In fact, there is a room in some churches still called a vestry where priests get into their garb. |
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| 2488 |
transcend |
go beyond the scope or limits of |
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It would be nice to transcend the narrow limits of this brief definition, and go to greater lengths to describe this word's glories! Transcend means to move upward and beyond something. |
No doubt you know about the words transcontinental or maybe trans fats? The prefix trans is used to mean "beyond, across" and transcend takes this even farther by adding in a sense of upwardness with the stem cend. A pop artist with a lot of talent might transcend the genre of pop. You can't assume a person's opinion on national security by party affiliation — it often transcends party lines. |
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| 2489 |
administer |
supervise or be in charge of |
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When you administer something, you give it to others. This can apply to a dose of medicine, an order, a survey, or a punishment. Administer can also mean to run something — such as a school or an office. |
The word administer belongs to a family of words, all having to do with being in charge: administration, administrator, and administrative. Strangely, administer comes from the Latin word minister meaning "servant." So, if your boss or principal administers an instruction that you disagree with, just think of that person as your servant. Doing so will help you carry out your duties with a smile. |
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| 2490 |
seek |
try to locate, discover, or establish the existence of |
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If you seek an accordion player for your new polka band, it means you are looking for a band mate. |
When you seek something, you try to find it. It's possible to seek fame, or snacks, or a college degree, or approval — as long as you're looking for it, or longing for it, you're seeking it. The origins of the word seek go back to the Latin word sagire, which means "to perceive keenly by scent." Imagine a dog tracking a rabbit, sniffing the ground and following its scent, and you'll know exactly what it means to seek something. |
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| 2491 |
escalate |
increase in extent or intensity |
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If an argument between you and your brother progresses from mean looks to a fist fight, you could say that the tension between the two of you escalated. To escalate is intensify or increase quickly. |
When you see this word, picture an escalator that takes you up to the next floor quickly. But remember, there's something you don't like on that higher level because it's usually bad if something escalates. Prices escalate when something becomes scarce, be it a popular toy, a concert ticket, or food during a crisis. And if a war or conflict escalates, it becomes more intense and violent. |
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| 2492 |
value |
the quality that renders something desirable |
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When you value something, you consider it important and worthwhile. For example, if you value someone’s opinion, you will ask that person's advice before making a big decision. |
Value has to do with how much something is worth, either in terms of cash or importance. As a verb, it means "holding something in high regard," (like "I value our friendship") but it can also mean "determine how much something is worth," like a prize valued at $200. The noun value also relates to worth, like a used car that is a good value, the value of good health, or the ideals we have, like "My values include honesty and fairness." |
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| 2493 |
oppressive |
marked by unjust severity or arbitrary behavior |
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Think of something crushing you, and you will understand what oppressive is. It can be something that crushes your spirit, like a bad relationship, or something that crushes you with its tyranny, like the oppressive rule of a dictator. |
Oppressive comes in many flavors; laws can be oppressive, governments can be oppressive, even relationships can be oppressive. The adjective oppressive is heavy stuff; it can feel like you can't breathe, like something is choking you: "His oppressive behavior made me feel like I was being smothered." If something is just too intense, and not in a good way, that also can feel oppressive. |
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| 2494 |
revolution |
the overthrow of a government by those who are governed |
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When a new development in an industry changes everything drastically, call it a revolution. The Internet has certainly caused a revolution in the way people lead their lives. |
Stemming from the Latin revolvere "to turn, roll back," revolution originally referred to the circuit of the stars through the sky. Today, it still means circuit when talking about the RPM, or revolutions per minute, in an engine. A revolution is also a drastic change in a field such as the fashion industry or technology, or similarly, a sudden, often violent uprising from the people to change the political system. |
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| 2495 |
monumental |
of outstanding significance |
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Whether it's a monumental effort requiring vast amounts of strength or a monumental cruise ship with eleven floors and five sets of elevators, the word monumental describes something imposing or massive in size. |
Monumental can also refer to something that's of outstanding importance or significance. A monumental decision for you would be one that changes your life — like the day you got engaged or when you decided to move to New York to be an actor. The word monumental can also be used if you're talking about a monument, a statue or structure commemorating a person or event. You might admire the monumental stonework on the statue in the town square. |
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| 2496 |
surplus |
a quantity much larger than is needed |
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A surplus is something extra or left over. If your tree produces more apples than you can eat, you can make applesauce with the surplus of apples. |
The army surplus store sells old or out-of-date clothing and equipment that the military doesn't need. If you earn more money than you spend, then you have a surplus of cash. The word surplus has familiar parts: sur- is a shortened form of super, meaning "extra" or "additional," and plus just means "more." |
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| 2497 |
architecture |
an architectural product or work |
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Architecture is the process, or profession, of designing buildings and their environments. Architecture also refers to the product of this design and work. |
The root of the word architecture is the Greek arkhitekton ("master builder"), which makes sense because the ancient Greeks were very skilled at architecture — think of all those columns and stadiums and temples. The Parthenon, which was begun in 447 BC, is one of the greatest examples of architecture from Classical Greece. |
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| 2498 |
infrastructure |
the basic features of a system or organization |
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The infrastructure is the basic foundation or underlying framework of an organization or system. In your house, the infrastructure is the system of beams, weight-bearing walls and the foundation that keeps it standing. |
Infrastructure often refers to the equipment and structures required by the military or by a country or region. Roads, bridges, and school buildings are part of our nation's infrastructure, and are necessary for the continued growth of our communities. This word was formed as a compound in English, using the prefix infra- "below, underneath." |
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| 2499 |
hierarchy |
a series of ordered groupings within a system |
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Hierarchy describes a system that organizes or ranks things, often according to power or importance. At school the principal is at the top of the staff hierarchy, while the seniors rule the student hierarchy. |
Also known as a pecking order or power structure, a hierarchy is a formalized or simply implied understanding of who's on top or what's most important. All that sorting and ranking can be helpful if you're a business administrator, but if you find yourself arranging all the produce in your fridge according to a hierarchy of color, size, and expiration date, you might want to consider visiting a therapist. |
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| 2500 |
democratic |
representing or appealing to the people at large |
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Things that are democratic are ruled by the people, for the people. A basic democratic process involves letting everyone vote on what they think is best for the whole group. |
Democratic government started thousands of years ago in ancient Greece, but it's still catching on all over the world. A dictatorship or monarchy is ruled by one person, but in a democratic society, or a democracy, the people rule. Even though there is a leader — a President in the United States — he or she is elected by the people. Anything that allows people more say in the government is democratic. |
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| 2501 |
elitist |
someone who believes in rule by a high-status group |
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Elitist is another word for snob. If you wear only the finest silk suits, expect caviar at every meal, and refuse to speak to anyone who doesn't have a PhD, then you might be an elitist. |
A fairly recent addition to the English language, the noun elitist, came about from a mix of elite + ist in 1950. Carlyle, Freud, and Nietzsche were all considered to be the original elitists. Elite, from which elitist was formed, evolved much earlier, in 1823, from the French élite, meaning “selection, choice.” Synonyms for elitist include highbrow, pompous person, social climber, and stuffed shirt. |
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| 2502 |
competitive |
involving rivalry over something |
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If you're competitive, you want to be the best. No one likes to lose, but if you are a competitive person, it will be especially disappointing to see someone else win. |
People who are competitive like to compete — to find out who knows the most, runs the fastest, can eat the most hot dogs, and so on. Some people are competitive about everything. You'll know them by their constant comparing themselves to others and trying to find out what others have and do — in order to be sure they are still "ahead." Competitive can describe any contest, like a competitive sandcastle-building event. |
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| 2503 |
ostracize |
expel from a community or group |
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If you banish someone or ignore him, you ostracize him. When the Iranian president claimed that the Holocaust was a hoax, he was ostracized by the international community. |
Ostraka is an ancient Greek word for pottery shard. Thousands of years ago, in the Greek city of Athens, there was a public process where you would write the name of someone you wanted to kick out of town on a broken ceramic fragment. If enough Athenians wrote the same name, that person was sent away for ten years. This process was called an ostracism. |
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| 2504 |
conformity |
compliance with accepted standards, rules, or norms |
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If all your friends wear jeans to school and you wear checkered slacks, you could say you reject conformity — doing the same thing as everyone else. |
Conformity usually refers to people's behavior or looks, but it can also be used to describe something that matches the form of something else — for example, a one-story house built in conformity to the low-slung buildings that surround it. It's common for conformity to follow the word in. |
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| 2505 |
methodical |
characterized by orderliness |
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Methodical means following a method. If you follow the same sixteen steps in the same order when you make a fire, you could be said to take a methodical approach to this activity. |
The idea of moving slowly and orderly through a process can at times be dismissed as bureaucratic or obsessive, but when you use the word methodical to describe it, chances are you think that it's good to follow a method. The only thing missing from a methodical approach is inspiration––dancers shouldn't be too methodical; engineers should. |
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| 2506 |
descend |
move downward and lower, but not necessarily all the way |
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In its simplest sense, descend means to go or move downward, but there are a couple of subtle variations on this theme. Yes, a bird can descend from the sky, but also, humans are descended from prehistoric ancestors. |
If you've ever heard a pilot say "prepare for our descent", then you know that only one letter separates the noun descent from the verb descend. They both derive from the same Latin components de, meaning "down," and scandere, "to climb." Similarly, if someone condescends to you, they are said, derogatorily, to be coming down to your level. All Americans are descended from peoples from other continents, such as Europe, Africa, and Asia. We've all "come down" from our ancestors. |
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| 2507 |
quality |
a degree or grade of excellence or worth |
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The qualities of something are its distinguishing features, and those can be good or bad. The qualities you look for when buying a tightrope might include strength and pliability, but you probably wouldn't want one with a slippery quality. |
Quality can also be used as a purely positive term: "you're a person of quality," or "you've got a quality operation" are entirely complimentary, meaning you and your operation are superior. There's a joke about how "quality control" in fast food chains assures that whenever you order a burger in a restaurant in that chain — whether you’re in Dallas or Des Moines — the quality is always the same — bad! |
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| 2508 |
republic |
a form of government whose head of state is not a monarch |
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If you live in a republic, then you live in a country with a leader freely and democratically elected by the people, as opposed to a dictatorship or monarchy. |
Ancient Rome, before it started declining and falling all over the place, was a republic, and so is the United States. Republics have what are termed "republican" forms of government — not to be confused with Republican-with-a-big-R, as in the American political party. If you live in a "Banana Republic" you probably live in a tiny Caribbean island run by a dictator. Or you're spending too much time at the mall. |
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| 2509 |
citizen |
a native or naturalized member of a state |
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It's pretty hard to be on this planet and not be recognized as a citizen of somewhere. You can be a citizen of a city, a country, or the world. Citizen can mean "an inhabitant of a particular place." |
To be recognized as an official citizen of a town, city, or country, one typically has to meet certain requirements. In return, one gets certain rights, such as the right to vote. In other uses, a citizen may just be someone who lives in a place, such as a "citizen of the world." That's a nice thing to be, but it's not going to get you social security payments when you retire. |
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| 2510 |
irresponsible |
showing lack of care for consequences |
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If you're irresponsible, you're careless about the consequences of your actions. You can't really rely on irresponsible people. |
Being irresponsible is the opposite of being responsible and careful — you do what you like and don't care what happens afterward. Forgetting to feed your dog for a week is irresponsible. Splashing around in a mud puddle in your new white pants is irresponsible. Drug use and unsafe sex are irresponsible. When the government runs up a huge deficit, many people think that's irresponsible. If you have to work with someone irresponsible, good luck: you're going to need it. |
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| 2511 |
compelling |
driving or forcing |
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Compelling means attractive, or irresistible, or really, really convincing. You know your argument for backpacking across Europe is compelling when your parents not only let you go but also pay for all your expenses. |
To compel is to drive or force into action––you mom could compel you to finish your homework by threatening not to feed you until it's done. A compelling argument compels you to agree with its logic––it's irresistible. That cute skirt you’ve been eyeing for months is now 75% off? The price is a compelling reason to buy the skirt. |
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| 2512 |
exempt |
freed from or not subject to an obligation or liability |
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If your accountant tells you that you’re exempt from taxes this year, give him a big hug. He is saying that you don’t have to pay taxes. |
The adjective exempt traces back to the Latin word exemptus, meaning “to remove or take out” or “to free”. So if you are exempt, you are free of an obligation that others have to fulfill, such as paying taxes. But you can also be exempt from having to obey certain rules, like seniors being exempt from having to sell candy bars for a school fundraiser. |
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| 2513 |
fertile |
marked by great fruitfulness |
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The word fertile means "able to reproduce," but like so many words, that's just the beginning. The fact that she gave birth to eight kids was proof that she was fertile; her fertile imagination explained their unusual names. |
The distance between fertile's literal meaning (able to make babies) and its figurative ones (productive, prolific, full of potential) is small. A child's mind is a fertile place; an idea can grow there very easily. Rabbits are famously fertile creatures; they can spawn several generations in a matter of months. And "fertile ground" can be arable land or a situation that provides the perfect opportunity. The Latin root, fertilis, means "bearing in abundance, fruitful, or productive," from ferre, "to bear." |
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| 2514 |
atom |
the smallest component of an element |
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An atom is the basic unit of an element. When you see the chemical formula for water, H2O, it's telling you that each molecule of water is made up of two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen. |
In science class, you've probably come across atoms, the bits that make up molecules. Less scientifically, the word atom can also mean a very small piece of anything at all. The Greek root of atom is atomos, which means "indivisible," since the scientists who first gave the atom its name imagined it couldn't be split or divided into smaller pieces. Even though we know there are smaller things that make up an atom (protons, neutrons and electrons), it's still a good way to think about the word atom. |
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| 2515 |
molecule |
the simplest structural unit of an element or compound |
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A molecule, or the simplest structural unit of a substance that still keeps the properties of that substance, is a scientific word that gets used by the nonscientific, as in "Every single molecule in my body wants that chocolate cake!" |
The only problem with molecules really, is that people confuse them with atoms. Here's the thing: a molecule retains the characteristic of the substance it is from, so a water molecule, which is made up of hydrogen and oxygen, is still water, while an atom — one of the tiny units that make up elements — only has the characteristics of its element, not the larger composition. Make sense? No? OK then, just remember a molecule is something really, really small, and an atom is even smaller — since a molecule is composed of atoms! |
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| 2516 |
continuous |
moving in time or space without interruption |
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The adjective continuous describes something that occurs over space or time without interruption. Some computer fans make a continuous noise — a constant buzz — that can drive you to distraction. |
Continuous things don’t stop, not even for a coffee break. A continuous sheet of ice has no cracks, a continuous noise never pauses, and a continuous line of railroad is the kind you want if you’re on a train. Continual, on the other hand, is used to describe things that start and stop occasionally. Use continuous for anything that goes on and on. |
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| 2517 |
phase |
a distinct state of matter in a system |
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A phase is a particular period of time, like someone whose "teenage rebellion" phase lasts well into her thirties. |
The word phase can mean a stage in a person’s development or a step in a process, such as “the next phase in the Interstate 57 project.” Phase can also be a verb, usually followed by in or out, to mean slowly introducing or getting rid of something. For example, your school might phase in a new rule or phase out an old one, as new students arrive. |
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| 2518 |
heterogeneous |
consisting of elements not of the same kind or nature |
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Heterogeneous can be used to describe the diversity of nearly anything — populations, classrooms, collections. A heterogeneous array of immigrants passed through Ellis Island to help create the American "melting pot." |
An easy way to remember the meaning of this word is that homo is the same and hetero is different. So, a homogeneous group of puppies might consist of apricot-colored poodles, while a heterogeneous group might consist of a hodgepodge of different pups ranging from dachshunds to dalmatians. Anytime you are confronted with a group whose members are not all similar to one another, you have an opportunity to trot out heterogeneous. |
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| 2519 |
dilute |
reduced in strength or concentration or quality or purity |
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When you dilute something, you make it thinner, weaker, or more watered down. If you put lots of ice cubes in your soda, the ice will melt and dilute the drink. |
Think about diluting as lessening the quality but increasing the quantity. Unless you're diluting a really strong drink to make it taste better or diluting heavy paint to get a lighter shade — then the quality actually improves. Quipped President John F. Kennedy, “Public speaking is the art of diluting a two-minute idea with a two-hour vocabulary.” |
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| 2520 |
density |
the amount per unit size |
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Density describes how compact or concentrated something is. For example, suppose you have two boxes, one large and one small. However, they both weigh the same. That means the small box has a higher density than the large box. |
Density also tells how concentrated or crowded something is. You may have heard of population density. In a city, there are many people packed into a small area, giving it a high population density. In a rural area, there are more fields or wooded areas between houses. That means there are fewer people living in a larger area, which is why it has a low population density. |
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| 2521 |
concentration |
an increase in density |
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If you have great powers of concentration, that means you're able to focus all your attention on the matter at hand. Concentration can also refer to something that's clustered together or to the density or strength of a solution. |
A concentration of people means that there are many of them in one area. Your city may have a concentration of artists living in the warehouses by the river. A high concentration of a substance in a solution means that there's a lot of it relative to the volume: the Great Salt Lake has very few fish because of the high concentration of salt. To say that you have good concentration skills means that you pay attention well. |
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| 2522 |
fluid |
a substance that is liquid at room temperature and pressure |
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Something that is unstable or subject to change can be described as fluid. The fluid political situation in a particular country makes it unsafe to travel there, with the constant possibility of a violent uprising. |
A liquid is a fluid — something that flows easily when poured — although gases can also be called fluid. When your doctor told you to drink lots of fluids to help your cold symptoms, she probably meant things like water or orange juice, not root beer floats. If a movement is smooth, it can also be described as fluid. You have to make fluid arm movements in ballet so you look graceful. |
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| 2523 |
bond |
a connection that fastens things together |
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You and your best friend have a bond that allows you to trust each other with all your thoughts and secrets. A bond is a connection between two things. |
Bond can refer to a physical or emotional restraint as in a prisoner who might tear off his bonds and escape to freedom. If you are arrested, your parents will have to pay a bond to get you released from jail. If you don't show up to court, they will lose that money. A certificate of debt issued by a government or corporation is also called a bond. When you cash in the bond on a set date, you get your money back plus interest. In its meaning of "connection," bond can be used as a verb. Have you ever met someone and felt an instant connection? You can say that you bonded. |
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| 2524 |
periodic |
happening or recurring at regular intervals |
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Something periodic happens only occasionally, after a "period" of time. Lunch happens every day, after 4th period, so it's safe to say it's periodic. Something periodic doesn't have to happen at regular intervals, though. |
The word "period" is the key to the meaning of periodic, because something periodic can happen only after a period of time. Periodic visits to the vet are a good way to make sure that your pet stays healthy. Why not just use "occasional," you ask. Good question. Periodic implies that the thing will continue to happen over and over—periodically. Like comets and victories by the Yankees. These things are reliable, if periodic. |
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| 2525 |
trend |
a general direction in which something tends to move |
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A trend is what's hip or popular at a certain point in time. While a trend usually refers to a certain style in fashion or entertainment, there could be a trend toward warmer temperatures (if people are following trends associated with global warming). |
A trend simply reflects what seems to be going around at any given time. A trend can be in any area and doesn't only reflect fashion, pop culture and entertainment. There can also be a trend in the stock market to be bullish or bearish, depending on economic indicators, or a political trend reflecting a nation’s current mood. Some trends are fun, some fabulous, some appalling, but however long they last, you can be sure there will always be a new trend coming along to replace the old. |
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| 2526 |
unpack |
remove from protective material |
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To unpack is to take stuff out that's been packed, like the clothing in your suitcase or the fragile item that's been buried in ten thousand Styrofoam peanuts. |
If a large shipment arrives at a company, it may take several people to unpack the items and take stock of the contents. We also use unpack to describe analyzing something by taking it apart. This is sort of like unpacking a box or unpacking your luggage, because you're dismantling the components of something, but it's more likely an idea than a physical object. |
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| 2527 |
configuration |
an arrangement of parts or elements |
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When you position items into any spatial arrangement, you are creating a configuration, or specific shape. For example, scientists refer to the specific, bonded arrangement of atoms to make a molecule as a configuration. |
The root of configuration presents pretty much the current meaning, with the Latin configūrāre meaning "to mold or shape." You can see the word figure in the middle, which presents the idea of a physical form that's being shaped. As an example: the specific configuration, or arrangement, of the genes in your DNA is what makes you the unique individual that you are. |
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| 2528 |
positive |
having the opposite of a negative charge |
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In the simplest sense, positive means good — or the opposite of negative. If you have a positive attitude about homework, for example, you're more likely to get positive feedback on your report card. |
Keeping track of positive's many meanings can be positively confusing. For starters, if you're positive about something, you're totally sure. In math, any quantity greater than zero is positive. In medicine, a positive result on a test indicates the presence of a disease. And that isn't a very positive experience for anyone. |
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| 2529 |
kinetic |
relating to the motion of material bodies and their forces |
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If you marvel at the kinetic pace of popular cartoons, you are amazed at how lively and energetic the shows are. Kinetic comes from a Greek verb meaning "to move." |
Used generally, kinetic can simply mean "animated," "dynamic," or "lively," but it also has more specific meanings in the realms of art and science. Kinetic drawings, sculptures, and installations have moving parts. Alexander Calder's mobiles are well-known examples of kinetic art. In physics, the phrase "kinetic energy" is used to describe the energy of motion. Any object in motion possesses kinetic energy, and this energy can be harnessed, transferred, and transformed to do work: Think of wind turning turbines to generate electricity. |
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| 2530 |
friction |
the resistance when a body is moved in contact with another |
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When one thing rubs and grates against another, it causes friction. That can include two clashing personalities or simply a match striking the matchbox and causing a spark. |
A form of resistance, friction is caused by a chafing movement between two or more objects. In the 18th century, friction meant specifically a “resistance to motion,” but a few decades later grew to also describe disagreement or conflict. The friction between the brakes and your tires helps stop your car when you're going too fast. Not speeding in the first place can help avoid friction between you and the traffic police. |
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| 2531 |
velocity |
distance travelled per unit time |
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If your rocket is traveling at maximum velocity, it means it can't go any faster. Velocity is quickness of motion or action. |
A synonym is celerity; a simpler word is speed. In physics, velocity specifically refers to the measurement of the rate and direction of change in position of an object. It is a vector quantity that specifies both the speed of a body and its direction of motion. The noun velocity descends from Middle English velocite, from Old French, from Latin vēlōcitās, from vēlōx "fast." |
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| 2532 |
inertia |
the tendency of something to stay in rest or motion |
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Inertia is resistance to change. You hate looking at people's feet and yet you stay in your job as a shoe salesman year after year. Why? Inertia. |
Inertia is a physics term. Isaac Newtown discovered that a body at rest would stay at rest and a body moving through space would continue moving through space unless an external force (like friction or gravity) caused it to slow down or stop. Sometimes we need an external force to help us get going or to change direction, too, like a friend to tell us to get off the couch or to quit that job at the shoe store. |
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| 2533 |
machine |
a mechanical or electrical device that transmits energy |
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At its simplest, a machine is an invention that does a job better and faster and more powerfully than a human being. |
Despite being man-made we’ve come to think of the word machine as the very opposite of human. The Machine Age we live in is considered impersonal and overwhelming, and anything machine-like is often considered soulless or even dangerous. (Witness the countless fantasies of robots taking over the world.) Human beings working together, like "the cogs of a machine," can become more powerful than a single person. That's why sports teams or political organizations are often described as "well-oiled machines." |
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| 2534 |
lever |
a simple machine giving a mechanical advantage on a fulcrum |
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A lever is a handle, sticking out at an angle, that allows you to operate a machine or close a door . When you pull the lever of a voting booth, you both cast your ballot and open the curtain. |
All kinds of things — particularly machines — have levers. The word is also used to describe anything that you are able to use to move or influence someone else: think leverage. A headline in the New York Times said the government would use its contracts with private companies as a "wage lever," meaning the government would try to improve wages by giving work and money to companies that paid well and provided generous benefits. Levers get things done. |
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| 2535 |
force |
physical energy or intensity |
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Force describes a physical energy that can be seen or felt. If you've ever walked outside in a blizzard, you've experienced the force, or strength, of the wind. May the force be with you! |
Force has other meanings as well. A powerful person can exert a force just by using particular words or body language. Written words can exert a force, or have a strong influence, on your opinion. As a verb, force means to make something happen using physical strength or some other powerful effort, which is what you do when you try to force a square peg into a round hole through vigorous pounding. And of course, in the Star Wars movie franchise, the force refers to the mystical energy contained in all living things. May that definition of this word always be with you. |
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| 2536 |
effort |
use of physical or mental energy; hard work |
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Effort has to do with how much work you're putting into something. A great achievement can also be considered a great effort. |
Effort has to do with how hard you're trying. If something is easy, it doesn't take much effort. If it's hard, it takes a lot of effort. Effort is about trying to get something done, even if it doesn't always work out. In sports, coaches don't like losing, but they really hate it when the players aren't giving much effort. There are also large scale, collective efforts, like the effort to cure cancer. |
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| 2537 |
specification |
a description of design criteria for a piece of work |
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We sometimes call them "specs," but a specification has no relationship to eyeglasses! Instead, it is an explicit detail of a design, presenting the exact way something specific must be constructed. For example, blueprints contain the specifications for a building. |
In the 17th century, the word specification emerged with the meaning of giving something a specific quality. The technical meaning, applied to building and engineering plans, developed in the late 18th century. The meaning of the word is precise, referring to specific plans, although just because it's a specification doesn't mean it is accurate. Science-fiction writer Robert Heinlein once had his character Lazarus Long make the comment, "An elephant is a mouse built to government specifications." |
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| 2538 |
transformation |
the act of changing in form or shape or appearance |
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A transformation is a dramatic change in form or appearance. An important event like getting your driver’s license, going to college, or getting married can cause a transformation in your life. |
A transformation is an extreme, radical change. A simple haircut won't cause a transformation in your appearance, but if you dyed your hair purple and got a tattoo across your forehead, that would be another story. When a transformation occurs, we often use the phrase "undergo a transformation" in reference to the person or thing who has changed. So, if you do opt for the new hair color and tattoo, you will certainly have "undergone a transformation." |
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| 2539 |
power |
(physics) the rate of doing work |
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Someone with power has physical strength or they're in control of things. So a weakling who's in charge of a business still has a lot of power. |
Power comes from the Latin word potere, which means "to be able." But things with power are much more than able — they're able to exert a lot of force. "The powers that be" are those who hold authority, and "the power behind the throne" refers to the people who exert influence without being formally in charge. When used as a verb, power means "to supply with mechanical or electrical energy," as in a nuclear-powered submarine. |
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| 2540 |
fuel |
a substance that can be consumed to produce energy |
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What do you and your car have in common? You both run on fuel. Whether its gasoline or nutritious food, fuel produces energy to get up and go. |
Fuel can also act as a verb that has several different meanings, all related to stimulating something or providing energy. Your brother might fuel up on whole-wheat bread with peanut butter a few hours before a big game. A teacher assigns readings to fuel meaningful class discussion. Memories of your mom's delicious dinners might fuel your desire to learn to cook. |
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| 2541 |
efficiency |
the ratio of the output to the input of any system |
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Efficiency is avoiding a waste of time, effort, or resources. Many people have begun to use compact fluorescent light bulbs because of their greater energy efficiency. |
Nowadays, efficiency often refers to energy efficiency, the effort to get more energy from existing resources: making cars that can go farther with less fuel, or appliances that do the same work with less electricity. But this noun isn't restricted to an environmental context. Efficiency can also simply be a measurement of what goes into a thing versus what comes out of it. A process with high efficiency requires only a little work to produce big results. |
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| 2542 |
conservation |
careful management of the environment and natural resources |
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Conservation is when you keep something from running out — whether it's plants, animals, or resources. Your new conservation project, "Save the Pigeons," might not catch on as quickly as you'd hoped. |
Conservation is closely related to preservation. Both are positive words that give an impression of care and attention. Your habit of never leaving the couch might sound more impressive if you refer to it as "energy conservation." |
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| 2543 |
current |
a flow of electricity through a conductor |
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If it's in the past, it's not current. If it's out of date, out of style, or out of time, it's not current. If it's up-to-the-minute, right now, and in the present, it is current. |
Origins of the word current all point to the meaning "present." Things that are current are happening now; they are part of the present time. News reporting looks at "current affairs" because past affairs are no longer news; they are history. Expressions like "staying current" or "keeping up with current events" show a need or desire to know what's popular, important, or relevant now. As a noun, a current can be a flow of water, electricity, or ideas. |
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| 2544 |
population |
a group of organisms of the same species inhabiting an area |
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Population means the number of people in a geographic area. It can also be used for subgroups of people or animals. The city's population has passed 8 million––who knows what that means for the rat population living off their garbage? Ugh. |
The word population––and also the word populace––derive from the Latin populus, "people." To remember that population is connected to people, think about the words popular, populist, pop culture, pop music. Don't think about pop corn––unless you're thinking about the movie-going population that lives on it. |
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| 2545 |
interdependence |
a relation between entities that rely on each other |
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Interdependence is mutual dependence between things. If you study biology, you’ll discover that there is a great deal of interdependence between plants and animals. |
Inter- means "between," so interdependence is dependence between things. We often use interdependence to describe complex systems. Marriage creates a state of interdependence between spouses. If your dog provides you with love and happiness, and you provide your dog with food and walks (and love and happiness), then your relationship with your dog is one of interdependence. |
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| 2546 |
disturbance |
activity that is a malfunction, intrusion, or interruption |
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A disturbance is a noisy commotion that causes a hubbub or interruption. It can also be a worried mental state. |
In hotels, people put up "Do not disturb" signs when they want to be left alone. That's a good clue to what a disturbance is: something, usually noisy or rowdy, that bothers people. An audience member yelling during a piano concert would be a disturbance. Disturbances can also be interruptions, like a disturbance in cable service when the cable goes out. Disturbances can also be mental: if you're worried or anxious, that's a type of internal disturbance. |
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| 2547 |
recovery |
return to an original state |
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The noun recovery refers to the process of healing after an illness or injury. Your recovery from your broken leg will go quicker if you keep off the leg. Use your crutches and definitely no skiing or hopscotch! |
A recovery is when you save something that was lost, in danger of becoming lost, or retrieved. If something was taken from you, such as diamonds, money, or your dignity, and you get it back, you can say that you are glad for its recovery. The noun recovery also refers to a return to a natural or original state. After a devastating hurricane, an area's recovery may take many years. |
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| 2548 |
consumer |
a person who uses goods or services |
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A consumer is someone who buys or consumes, or uses up, something. An economy could not keep functioning without consumers. |
Long before smorgasbords, shopping malls, or eBay, people craved pretty and tasty things. So those who spoke Latin invented the word consumere, which meant to use up, eat, or waste. Being a consumer doesn't necessarily mean you are squandering. We're all consumers when we go through the checkout line at the grocery store, for instance. |
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| 2549 |
producer |
something that brings forth or yields |
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If you have the chance to travel to Brazil, you might get to visit the largest producer of coffee beans in the world. A producer is a maker or manufacturer of something. |
Since the 1500s, the word producer has been used to mean "one who produces." In the late 1800s it began to have a second meaning, "someone who finances and supervises a show". A movie producer oversees the making of films in various ways, including raising money, and a record producer does a similar job in the music industry, working with musicians. This kind of producer is more of a supervisor and adviser than the actual maker of the finished product. |
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| 2550 |
predator |
any animal that lives by preying on other animals |
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A predator is an animal that eats other animals — or people or companies who act like they do. Lions are predators, but so are pickpockets and some giant corporations. |
The word predator started out referring to insects that ate other insects, but has grown to include any animal that eats another animal. We humans like to think of ourselves as the top of the food chain, but scary movies love to disagree, like in the 1987 movie Predator, where creepy aliens try to kill and eat us. Predators don't have to kill and eat you, though; they can also just take your stuff. It's from the Latin word praedator which means "plunderer," which is more like something a pirate would do. |
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| 2551 |
prey |
animal hunted or caught for food |
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Prey is an animal hunted for food. If you're a delicious-looking deer during hunting season, watch your back! You're the prey for all those guys in orange jackets carrying rifles. |
Prey can also mean the human subject of an attack, or ridicule, by another person. Remember those bullies in school? The younger kids whom they shoved into lockers were their prey. Prey can also be used as a verb, meaning to hunt or go after. I bet most people would agree it's better to prey on something else than to be the preyed upon! |
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| 2552 |
dominant |
most frequent or common |
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Dominant means to be in control. In a wolf pack, one male wolf fights the others, wins, and is considered the dominant, or alpha male. The other wolves in the pack do what he tells them. |
Dominant derives from the Latin dominus which means "lord or master." If you grew up with a Latin mass, you will recognize this as one of many words for God. If you're dominant, it means you treat others as if you're their master. You can also use dominant to describe something frequent or common. For example, when cell phones first came out, their dominant use was for making calls. Now cells phone do so much more, some people hardly make calls on them at all. |
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| 2553 |
recessive |
of a gene that produces a feature if present in both parents |
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A recessive gene is a gene that can be masked by a dominant gene. In order to have a trait that is expressed by a recessive gene, such as blue eyes, you must get the gene for blue eyes from both of your parents. |
You might remember the word recessive from biology, where it most often appears. Its opposite is dominant and is always living in its shadow. A recessive allele has to team up with another recessive allele in order to show up. We can also use recessive to describe something that has the tendency to withdraw or recede, or something pertaining to an economic recession. |
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| 2554 |
inherit |
receive from a predecessor |
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When your grandmother dies, you might inherit her tea set. Regardless of her death, you might inherit her sense of humor or rather large nose. To inherit is to receive from a predecessor. |
When you are talking about property, inherit is always used to describe something you get after someone else has died. However, there doesn't have to be a death involved to use the word inherit. When you start a new job, you might inherit less than pleasant tasks from the person who had the job before you. You might also quickly inherit their desire to find a new place to work. |
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| 2555 |
offspring |
the immediate descendants of a person |
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Puppies are the offspring, or children, of a mamma dog. You're the offspring of your biological parents. |
This is basically another word for children. Baby horses, gorillas, lizards, and humans are all offspring. A woman who gives birth to quadruplets suddenly has a lot of offspring. But this word isn't limited to biological creations — you could say that a project you've been laboring over is your offspring. Albert Einstein's offspring included many groundbreaking theories, and the scientists who followed up on Einstein's ideas are considered his intellectual offspring. |
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| 2556 |
generation |
all the people living at the same time or of the same age |
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A generation can refer to a group of people who live at the same time and are about the same age. But generation is also the act of creating something, such as income, ideas or kids. |
In 1965, Pete Townsend, the guitarist of The Who, wrote a song called "My Generation." The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix and other popular musicians of the day were called “the Woodstock Generation,” because they performed at a famous music festival in Woodstock, New York. Generation is used in another way when people credit those bands — along with Elvis, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones — with the generation of rock-and-roll culture. |
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| 2557 |
skeptical |
marked by or given to doubt |
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If a friend told you that her family was perfect and they never had any problems, would you believe her? If not, you may be skeptical. Skeptical people look at the world with a certain amount of doubt. |
This word comes from ancient Greece, where a philosopher named Pyrrho taught his followers that we can never really understand the true nature of things, only how they appear to us. (So basically, we should stop searching for the meaning of life and just relax.) In Pyrrho's view, the true sage was someone who realized that it was impossible to be certain about anything. His followers were called Skeptikoi, or Skeptics; the Greek word skeptikos means “given to asking questions.” |
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| 2558 |
hybrid |
the offspring of genetically dissimilar parents or stock |
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A hybrid is a mixture of two different things, resulting in something that has a little bit of both — like the rare zedonk, a hybrid of a donkey and a zebra. |
The word hybrid gets thrown around often these days — ever heard of hybrid cars that run on both electricity and fuel? Or hybrid films that are half animation, half live action? But hybrid is really most at home in the realm of genetics and crossbreeding. It actually comes to us from the Latin hybrida, meaning the offspring of two dissimilar animals, specifically a tame sow and a wild boar. |
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| 2559 |
reproduction |
the process of generating offspring |
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A reproduction of a painting is a copy of the original that looks just like it. The act of reproduction involves making copies or having babies. |
We won't get into the birds and the bees, but reproduction is the sexual activity of producing offspring, also known as procreation. But reproduction isn't just the act of making babies. It can involve making copies or replications. Similarly, a reproduction is an identical version of something, often artwork. There are many reproductions of Picasso's paintings but in every case, there is only one original and it's worth far more than all the copies combined. |
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| 2560 |
evolution |
sequence of events involved in the development of a species |
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How did an ape turn into a man? Evolution! Evolution means the process of developing by gradual changes. Same way you went from eating with your fingers at age three to using a knife and fork by thirteen. |
Evolution usually refers to a process that produces a better or more complex form. In biology, it is the natural process by which animals and plants develop from their original or primitive state to their modern or specialized state. This noun is from Latin evolutio "an unrolling or opening," from evolvere "to roll out or forth," from the prefix e- "out" plus volvere "to roll." |
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| 2561 |
species |
taxonomic group whose members can interbreed |
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A species is a distinct group of animals or plants that have common characteristics and can breed with each other. Your poodle and your bulldog are the same species, but your hamster and your goldfish are not. |
All members of the same species have similar genes and can interbreed and produce offspring. A subspecies is a division of a species, and a genus includes several different species. Biologists use these categories to classify organisms, usually with Latin names like Canis familiaris, or "domestic dog." In Middle English, species meant "a classification in logic," borrowed from the Latin word meaning "kind or appearance," from the root of specere, "to see." |
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| 2562 |
fitness |
the quality of being suitable |
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Fitness is good physical condition. If you're a fitness nut and you're constantly working out, everybody else at the gym might be eyeing your sculpted muscles with envy and marveling at your stamina and strength. |
Fitness can also refer to your being fit, or qualified, for something. If you show up in ragged jeans and a dirty t-shirt to interview for a job in the clean room of a microchip factory, your interviewer might question your fitness for the position. For a ship, fitness is a measure of whether it's seaworthy. In biology, an organism's fitness for a particular environment is its ability to survive and reproduce in those conditions. |
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| 2563 |
breed |
cause to procreate (animals) |
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To breed is to have babies, whether you’re a human or a hermit crab. A breed is also a specific type of a domesticated species, like a poodle or Great Dane. |
The word breed comes from the Old English bredan which means to "bring young to birth," but also "cherish,” which is how most people feel about their offspring. Awwwww. But the fact is that breeding is reproducing. Also, a breed is a strain or stock of a species, such as a Siamese cat. There are many types of dog breeds, cow breeds, and even pig breeds. Members of a breed usually look and behave in a similar way. |
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| 2564 |
weight |
a unit used to measure force exerted as a result of gravity |
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The weight of a cat on your lap might not bother you, but the weight of your 156 pound Rottweiler? Oh boy. Weight refers to the heaviness of a person or object. |
In physics, weight is a precise measurement based on the force that gravity exerts on a mass. Got that? All meanings of the word weight are related to this sense of heaviness. Something that is important, like testimony at a trial or a serious conversation, can be described as having weight, even if you can't put it on a scale. |
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| 2565 |
volume |
a relative amount |
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Volume can mean how much space something takes up. You could measure a bean's volume by placing it in water and measuring the water's rise. |
You can also use volume as you measure sound or the number of books in a series. Your mom might demand that you turn down the volume on your stereo as she reaches for the next volume of Dante's Divine Comedy. She would rather read about Hell in silence. |
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| 2566 |
capacity |
capability to perform or produce |
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Capacity describes your ability to do something or the amount something can hold. If your bird cage is at full capacity, you can't stuff one more feathered friend in there without causing birdie claustrophobia. |
From the Latin word capacitatem meaning “breadth, capacity,” capacity is a noun that in the simplest sense means "ability" or "capability": the capability of a room to hold a certain number of people, the ability of a law to change crime rates, your ability to pick up foreign languages. You might hear about factories working at "full capacity" — that means at full speed, producing as much as they possibly can. |
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| 2567 |
length |
the linear extent in space from one end to the other |
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Length is a measurement of how long something is in time or space. You can measure the length of a table or the length of a movie. |
If an object has multiple distances to be measured (like a rectangle for example), then length is taken to be the longest of the measurements (as opposed to the width, in the case of the rectangle). Before babies learn to walk, they are measured for length, but once they begin to stand reliably the same measurement changes names, and become height. |
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| 2568 |
distance |
the size of the gap between two places |
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Distance is an amount of space between things. From a distance, it's hard to tell if someone's wearing a vampire costume or just a chic black outfit. |
The noun distance usually refers to physical space in between two objects, like the distance between your parking spot and the entrance to the mall. It can also mean an interval in time, like a distance of two years since you graduated. Another meaning of distance is remoteness, like the distance between you and a close friend who doesn't talk to you much these days. The Latin root is distantia, "a standing apart." |
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| 2569 |
unit |
a single undivided whole |
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A unit is a single, whole part of something, like a building block. In math class, you might do a unit on algebra before you do another unit on geometry. Also, there are units of measurement, such as inches and miles. |
The word unit started out in math but has branched out to refer to any singular thing that is part of something larger. Each apartment in a building is a unit. A unit can also be a small group that fits into a larger social organization, like a military unit or a family unit. In all cases, a unit is a small, whole part of something bigger. |
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| 2570 |
degree |
a measure for arcs and angles |
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A unit of measurement, degree describes the level, intensity or seriousness of something. So that hot coffee may not have caused 3rd degree burns, but it still took a good degree of self-control not to scream when you sipped it. |
You could say there are many degrees of appropriate usage for the noun degree. In education, it's what you earn from a college or university after passing all the right courses. When it comes to temperature, you can put your degrees into Celsius or Fahrenheit. And if you're stuck in geometry class, you'll be spending lots of time talking about the 360 degrees in a circle or the 90 degrees in a right angle. |
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| 2571 |
displacement |
the act of taking the position of another |
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Displacement occurs when one party unfairly or inappropriately replaces another. If you arrive at work to find someone else sitting at your desk, you might want to complain to your boss about your recent displacement. |
Displacement can be a depressing topic, given that it often involves people being forced to leave somewhere where they belong. However, for a more cheerful take on this word, put your foot in the bathtub and watch the water level rise. Scientifically speaking, your foot is causing displacement of the water. It was this observation that led Archimedes to develop his famous principle about buoyancy (and, perhaps more famously, to run through the streets naked in celebration). |
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| 2572 |
speed |
a rate at which something happens |
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Speed most often describes acceleration or a high rate of motion. When something picks up too much speed, it can run off course, like a kid on a bike zooming uncontrollably down a steep hill. |
Speed can be a noun or verb. As a noun, it's an indicator of pace, as in the speed of a car. As a noun, it's also a drug that keeps you awake, very awake. As a verb, it means to “move along quickly,” like how you speed around on your bike. A fun fact: while speed refers to the distance traveled by an object during a specific amount of time, velocity describes that distance, but in a specified direction. |
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| 2573 |
ratio |
relation with respect to comparative quantity or magnitude |
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A ratio is the relationship in quantity or degree between two things: “The ratio of men to women on the construction site was ten to one.” This means there were ten men present and one woman. |
Use the word ratio when you want to make a comparison between two things. A ratio basically expresses a proportion. Often used in mathematics, the word ratio has many real world uses as well. This word is useful for everything from making salad dressing (an oil-to-vinegar ratio of three to one) to selecting a school for a child (consider the student-to-teacher ratio when making your decision). |
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| 2574 |
frequency |
the number of occurrences within a given time period |
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Frequency measures how often things repeat over time. City buses often reach stops at a frequency of every 15 minutes, unless it's snowing or raining really hard. In that case, the frequency will slow. |
You probably know the word frequent, a synonym for often. So, it is tempting to think frequency describes something that happens often. However, this isn't true: frequency describes any rate of time at which something repeats. For example, from Earth, Halley's Comet is visible at a frequency of 76 years — it's not frequent, but it is on schedule. |
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| 2575 |
accuracy |
the quality of being near to the true value |
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Accuracy refers to a lack of mistakes or errors. "I type very fast, but the accuracy of my typing is n't very goode." |
Accuracy is a must for anyone who works in a precise profession. Would you trust a surgeon who lacks accuracy to remove your appendix? His lack of precision might result in the accidental removal of your spleen. A meteorologist with questionable accuracy isn't going to be popular either, especially when it rains every time he predicts a sunny day. |
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| 2576 |
substance |
material of a particular kind or constitution |
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Any material that possesses physical properties is called a substance. The word also refers to the gist or main idea of something. If you remember the main point of a lesson, you've got the substance. |
The meaning of the noun substance has evolved over time, yet it has always been related to something sound and solid — from the Latin root substare, which means "to stand firm," to the Middle English definition as an "essential nature." Nowadays, we use the word to define someone who possesses honesty and intelligence, or when we examine a message to find its essence. To be thought of as a "person of substance" is a good thing, but to be thought of as a "substance abuser" is not so good. |
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| 2577 |
qualitative |
involving distinguishing attributes |
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If you hate the color and print and style of your sister's shirt, you are making a qualitative judgment. If you hate how many shirts she has, that would be quantitative. |
Qualitative is one of those words used often in scientific writing because it makes an important distinction among characteristics. When you're making any sort of judgment or distinction, it's key to know whether it's based on the actual qualities of the thing at hand — its color, shape, temperature, etc — or on how many there are (quantitative), your own personal bias (personal), or just how you feel in the moment (random). |
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| 2578 |
system |
instrumentality that combines elements to work as a whole |
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A system is a group of things that connect and form some kind of coherent whole. All the individual buses and the separate routes they take through your city are together called a bus system. |
Any time various separate things act together in some organized way, you can call the entire group of interconnected things a system. Your veins, arteries, and heart together make up your body's circulatory system, and the group of planets which rotate around the sun are called a solar system. The Greek word systema, or "organized whole," is where system originates. |
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| 2579 |
simulate |
give a false appearance of |
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When you simulate something you imitate it. Hollywood makeup artists can use pencils and gray wigs to simulate old age in a young actor. It can also mean to model––a computer can simulate disaster scenarios in cities. |
If you really admire someone's calm-under-pressure attitude, you may try to simulate their demeanor. When opening a present, it's polite to simulate surprise and excitement about the gift item, even if you already have it or it is ugly as dirt. Don't try to simulate your parents' signatures on excuse cards, though––signatures are unique to individuals––impossible to simulate perfectly. |
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| 2580 |
controversy |
a dispute where there is strong disagreement |
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A controversy is a dispute or argument in which people express strong opposing views. When a popular TV show kills off a well-loved character, there's bound to be a lot of controversy. |
Controversy means a quarrel (often public) involving strong disagreement, but the topic can be as unimportant as a new movie. There might be a controversy in the pages of fashion magazines over whether shorter hems are really in style, or about wearing white after Labor Day. Controversy is from the Latin contrōversus, "turned in an opposite direction," from the prefix contrā, "against," plus versus, a form of vertere, "to turn." |
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| 2581 |
extend |
stretch out over a distance, space, time, or scope |
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The verb extend can have several related meanings, including thrust out, continue, broaden, expand, unfold, span, or increase in scope. |
Extend, as a verb, is used in many ways. You extend (hold out) your hand when you offer to shake. You extend (push forward) a deadline when you add a few days to it. Your belly might extend (broaden) after a holiday dinner. A telescope extends (expands) your range of vision. If the list of definitions for extend were infinite, you could extend (add to) that list forever and ever. But your patience might not extend that far. |
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| 2582 |
radical |
far beyond the norm |
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If something is considered extremist or very different from anything that has come before it, call it radical. |
The noun, radical, comes from the Latin radix "root," and in fact, radical and root are synonymous as technical terms in fields such as math and linguistics. In more everyday language, a radical is someone who has very extreme views, so you could say that their views are different from the root up. Similarly, a radical flaw or change is a fundamental one whereas a radical design or idea is very new and innovative. |
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| 2583 |
attain |
gain with effort |
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The verb attain is all about reaching some mark of achievement. You can attain a goal. You can even attain a destination. If you consistently have the highest grades in your class, you might attain a reputation for success. |
Attain derives in part from the Latin tangere "to touch," which is also at the root of retain "to keep," obtain "to get," contain "to control." One might obtain the discipline to contain one's emotions while studying, thereby attaining control and retaining more information. |
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| 2584 |
initiative |
the first of a series of actions |
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Initiative is all about taking charge. An initiative is the first in a series of actions. Initiative can also mean a personal quality that shows a willingness to get things done and take responsibility. |
An initiative is the start of something, with the hope that it will continue. Government and business start initiatives all the time. You can also talk about initiative as a personal quality. A person with initiative is motivated to do things. If you take the initiative, you're willing to get things done on your own. Taking initiative can be risky: If you do something on your own initiative, then there's nobody you can blame if it goes wrong. |
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| 2585 |
adopt |
take up and practice as one's own |
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You can adopt an air of nonchalance, a fake British accent, or even a stray dog. When you adopt something, you consciously select it and accept it as your own. |
The word adopt has many different shades of meaning, but most relate to the notion of taking something on and treating it as if it’s your own. You’re probably familiar with what happens if you adopt a child: you take on parental responsibilities and accept the child as if it’s your own. You can adopt other things — such as a plan, a method, or a point of view — in a similar way. For example, when you adopt a particular attitude — such as a respectful attitude — you select that as a way to present yourself and behave as if it is natural. |
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| 2586 |
ensure |
make certain of |
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When you ensure that something will happen, you guarantee it. All that homework will ensure that you have no time for fun this afternoon! |
Ensure comes from the Old French en- "make" plus seur "sure," and that is exactly what it means today - "to make sure or certain, to guarantee." If you ensure success or someone's safety, you are guaranteeing it. Make sure you can really come through with something before you ensure it! |
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| 2587 |
tension |
a state of mental or emotional strain or suspense |
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When things feel so tight they might snap, that's tension. If you buy your girlfriend a vacuum cleaner when she wanted diamonds, you will experience tension. Just before she storms out of the room. |
The noun tension has its Latin roots in tendere, which means to stretch, and tension occurs when something is stretched either physically or emotionally. Strained relations between countries can cause political tensions to rise. You can add tension to a rubber band by stretching it tight. You can release nervous tension by releasing that tension in the rubber band, when you shoot it at your brother. |
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| 2588 |
consent |
give an affirmative reply to; respond favorably to |
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Before you have surgery, you'd better give your consent, because the surgeon can't get his scalpel anywhere near your skin without first getting this permission from you. |
Consent is permission that can be given or taken away. A father might give his consent to allow a young man to marry his daughter, but he might refuse that consent if he learns that the prospective groom has a prison record. A homeowner who won't give a developer consent to tear down her house and build a shopping mall might finally consent after receiving a very large check from the developer. |
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| 2589 |
duration |
the period of time during which something continues |
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Duration is how long something lasts, from beginning to end. A duration might be long, such as the duration of a lecture series, or short, as the duration of a party. |
The noun duration has come to mean the length of time one thing takes to be completed. The duration of something might be known or not — in past times, the unknown length of time the current war would last was called "the duration. "Musical notes, such as whole notes, half notes, and quarter notes, have different set durations, or lengths of time for which they are held. These varying durations, when put together, create the rhythm of the music. |
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| 2590 |
patriot |
one who loves and defends his or her country |
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A patriot is someone who loves and who has sometimes fought for his or her country. “Nathan Hale was a true patriot; his only regret was that he had but one life to give for his country.” |
The word patriot comes from patrios (Greek, not Latin for once), which means "of one’s father." So, despite various references to the motherland, the word patriot more or less lands us square in the fatherland arena. And if you’re a football fan, the New England Patriots is a near-Boston-based team (Boston being a major source of American patriots in the Revolutionary War). And, if you want to get yourself in trouble, you can wander Boston with a megaphone chanting, “The Patriots stink.” |
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| 2591 |
eliminate |
end, take out, or do away with |
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As eliminate means "get rid of or do away with," it has become used to refer to the end of a problem or even an entire species. We need to eliminate sources of pollution in order to maintain a healthy world. |
The original literal meaning of eliminate was "to thrust over the threshold and out of doors, to kick out," but the 18th century saw the word expand to mean "to exclude," and later to ridding the body of waste. The verb then came to refer to getting rid of anything, such as a problem or foul odor. The word took an ominous turn in the 20th century, when we saw man-made pollution eliminate whole species, and war, hate, and famine nearly eliminate whole groups of people. |
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| 2592 |
suspicious |
openly distrustful and unwilling to confide |
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Suspicious behavior inspires distrust. Prancing around your backyard in a trench coat and fake mustache during daylight might elicit weird looks from your neighbors; do it at night, though, so that your silhouette glides past their windows, and what appeared innocent enough hours before will quickly transition to suspicious. |
Use this adjective to describe a behavior or event that arouses doubt or mistrust. How to avoid appearing suspicious? Well, for one, stop pausing mid-conversation to take covert notes in that little journal of yours. And two, don’t wear sunglasses indoors, and don’t try to walk without making a sound. That will make people cagey, which is a synonym for suspicious. Other synonyms include apprehensive, doubtful, wary, and watchful. |
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| 2593 |
regime |
the governing authority of a political unit |
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A regime is the ruling government of a country. The amount of freedom and restriction that citizens of a country have can change from regime to regime. |
Regime takes its militaristic and government feel from the Latin word regimen "to rule." A political regime has a negative association to it that makes you think of totalitarian governments. How did it come to mean "diet" or "program of exercise" as well? If you are put on a regime of exercise and healthy eating, you are ordered by a doctor to do these things and it probably feels like you're being ruled sometimes! |
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| 2594 |
stable |
resistant to change of position or condition |
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When something is stable, it's fixed and steady. If you needed advice, you'd probably go to your most stable friend, the one least likely to act crazy or be easily upset. |
Whether you're talking about an object or a person, the adjective stable implies reliability and strength. You can describe a government as stable, or a relationship, or a desk. A completely different meaning of stable is the noun "building used for housing horses or other animals." Both senses of the word come from the Latin stabilis, "firm or steadfast." |
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| 2595 |
voluntary |
of your own free will or design |
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Voluntary is an adjective that describes something you do because you want to, without being influenced or forced into it. Usually a voluntary act is something you consciously choose to do, like going into work even on a snow day. |
Voluntary comes from the Latin word voluntarius, which means "of one's free will." Voluntary can also describe a service given without any payment expected in return. For example, if your work for the community theater is voluntary, that means that you don't get paid for your time. If you're offering your voluntary help in this way, you might also be called a volunteer, someone who offers free help to assist others. |
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| 2596 |
impose |
compel to behave in a certain way |
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To impose means to force or inflict something on someone else. If you want to impose your musical taste on your parents, play your tunes all day at top volume. |
The verb impose emerged in the 1580s, meaning "to lay on as a burden," which is very similar to the modern meaning. Governments often impose taxes, legal restrictions, and other burdensome things on citizens, for example. But you should remember what Confucius once wisely said: "Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire." |
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| 2597 |
rigid |
fixed and unmoving |
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Describe something as rigid if it's really stiff and not very flexible, like a super-strict practice schedule or an unbending, uncomfortable mattress. |
The adjective rigid is actually related to the Latin word frigus, which means “cold.” So think of a rigid icicle or a rock-hard igloo to help you remember what rigid means. You can also use it to describe something that's particularly strict or unable to change, like the stubborn views of a person who just won't consider another perspective. |
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| 2598 |
regulate |
bring into conformity with rules or principles or usage |
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The on-off spigot regulates the flow of water into your bathtub. When a government regulates an industry, they set standards the industry must follow. To regulate means to impose control. |
Regulate shares a root with the word, regular. When the transit authority regulates a train schedule, it makes sure trains arrive on a more regular schedule. The pharmaceutical industry is heavily regulated –– before a drug can be marketed, it must be tested. On a more personal level, if you want to regulate your digestive system, try eating more fiber... or prunes! |
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| 2599 |
conception |
the event that occurred at the beginning of something |
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Conception means any idea or concept, or a sum of ideas and concepts. Your conception for designing the little girl's room with a princess theme was a hit. Her evil stepsisters are jealous. |
The noun conception can also mean a beginning — of anything in general, or of a pregnancy, specifically. August 15 marked the anniversary of the conception of your design business. Your parents told me their youngest child has been a holy terror since conception. So, do you get along with your older siblings? |
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| 2600 |
genetic |
relating to the study of heredity and variation in organisms |
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Anything genetic has to do with your genes and DNA. You inherited your mom's eye color because it's genetic. |
Genetic traits run in families: biological families, anyway. Anything genetic is related to your DNA, the material you inherited from your biological parents. Hair color, eye color, and other physical traits are genetic, and so are some diseases. Scientists do genetic research to see how knowing what’s in your genes could help keep you well. If you're healthy, one reason is good genetics. |
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| 2601 |
symbolic |
serving as a visible sign for something abstract |
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When one thing represents something else that's more abstract, it is symbolic, like a cowboy's black hat in western films is symbolic of his sinister intentions. |
Images and designs on flags are often symbolic of something about a country, for instance, New Zealand's flag shows four stars that are symbolic of the constellation Crux. We're not sure exactly where the word symbolic came from, because several languages have similar words with similar meanings. The word could have come from the French symbolique, the Latin symbolicus, or the Greek sumbolikos. |
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| 2602 |
efficient |
being effective without wasting time, effort, or expense |
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The adjective efficient describes function and use with the least amount of waste and most economy. |
When you want to define the adjective efficient, it's a good idea to say as much as you can in as few words as possible because to be efficient is to be economical and avoid waste in actions or uses. The word comes from the Latin efficientem which means "work out" or "accomplish." Synonyms of efficient are effective, productive, and competent. |
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| 2603 |
capable |
having ability |
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To be capable of something is to be able to do it, like your little brother who is perfectly capable of tying his own shoes, but likes having everyone else do it for him. |
When people are capable, they can handle whatever task is at hand, like a capable teacher who can explain difficult concepts and make it fun. You may also have heard that someone "isn't capable" of, say, committing a crime or hurting someone's feelings. In this case, not being capable is a compliment — it means you just won't let yourself do something to violate your own standards for behavior. |
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| 2604 |
ongoing |
currently happening |
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If something is ongoing, it is happening now. If you have an ongoing argument with your neighbor, it means you were arguing before, you’re arguing now, and it looks like you'll be arguing into the future. |
If something is ongoing, it is currently in action. Often in news reports, reference will be made to an ongoing investigation because the police are in the midst of it at the moment of reporting. Ongoing reports are currently in progress as are ongoing repairs. If your teachers say that there will be ongoing testing throughout the year, you won't be done with it until you get out of school. |
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| 2605 |
compatible |
able to exist and perform in harmonious combination |
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A word that comes up a lot in discussions of both food and people pairings, compatible speaks to a person or thing’s ability to exist agreeably with something or someone else. |
Use the word compatible to describe two things that work well together, like your Wii and your big screen TV, or peanut butter and jelly. You may have heard that opposites attract, but initial attraction doesn’t necessarily mean that opposites will be compatible in the long-term. Advised Russian novelist and philosopher Leo Tolstoy, “What counts in making a happy marriage is not so much how compatible you are, but how you deal with incompatibility.” |
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| 2606 |
gender |
the biological or cultural traits associated with one sex |
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People use the word gender to indicate your biological sex or your sense of being female, male, or a combination of both. Danica Patrick is someone who has broken many gender barriers by being a successful female race-car driver in a male-dominated sport. |
If you've learned French, Spanish, or Latin, you know these languages assign genders to nouns, such as masculine, feminine, or neuter. Besides this grammatical use, gender and sex are very often used as synonyms in everyday speech. However, while sex refers to biological differences between men and women, gender is much more complicated and changeable, influenced by society, culture, and an individual person's self-identity. |
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| 2607 |
comprise |
form or compose |
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When something comprises other things, it is made up of them or formed from them. The periodic table comprises 118 elements, because the whole comprises the parts. |
In its traditional use, the word comprise is the opposite of compose: if A comprises X, Y, and Z, then X, Y, and Z compose A. But because compose and comprise sound so much alike, people have long confused the two. So now you often hear things like "The band is comprised of a guitarist, a bassist, and a hairy drummer," whereas sticklers would prefer "is composed of" in that sentence. The word is undergoing a usage shift, making it just as hairy as that drummer! |
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| 2608 |
adapt |
make fit for, or change to suit a new purpose |
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Say you move to a country where everyone cooks with lots of hot peppers. At first the food scalds your tongue, but over time you adapt — you change in a way that allows you to deal with the new circumstances. |
Adapt comes from the ancient word ap, which means "take" or "grasp." Ap is even older than Latin — it comes from a lost language that was spoken by the common ancestors of modern-day Indians and Europeans and has since been reconstructed by linguists, who named it the Proto-Indo-European language, or PIE. So what does adapt have to do with grasp? If you adapt to, say, a new country, it's as though you're grabbing hold of its strange, slippery customs. |
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| 2609 |
paradigm |
a standard or typical example |
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A paradigm is a standard, perspective, or set of ideas. A paradigm is a way of looking at something. |
The word paradigm comes up a lot in the academic, scientific, and business worlds. A new paradigm in business could mean a new way of reaching customers and making money. In education, relying on lectures is a paradigm: if you suddenly shifted to all group work, that would be a new paradigm. When you change paradigms, you're changing how you think about something. |
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| 2610 |
vocational |
of or relating to an occupation |
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If you're learning a skill that could lead to a specific job, like how to repair cars or how to be a chef, you're getting vocational training. Vocational means "related to a career." |
A vocation is a job or career, so something vocational is related to a specific kind of work. There are vocational schools that train people for jobs, which might be what you think of when you read the word vocational, though it could describe anything related to working. Vocational comes from the Latin word vocationem, or "a calling." It originally meant a spiritual calling, but grew to include employment in the 16th century. |
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| 2611 |
inherently |
in an essential manner |
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The adverb inherently means in a natural or innate manner. Some people enjoy your inherently cheerful nature, but it drives other people crazy because they find you annoyingly perky. |
Inherently is the adverbial form of the adjective inherent. They both come from the Latin word inhaerere, meaning "adhere to," with the root haerere meaning "to stick." Synonyms for inherently include intrinsically and essentially. If you do something inherently, it is so well ingrained in you that it's become part of who you are. If you are inherently late to every meeting, you should probably set your watch 15 minutes early. |
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| 2612 |
exceed |
be greater in scope or size than some standard |
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To exceed is to go beyond expectations, or to go too far. If you exceed the speed limit, you might get a speeding ticket. |
Exceed and excess share the Latin root excedere meaning to "go beyond." An excess is too much of something, like the piles of candy after Halloween, and exceed means the action of going too far in a good or bad way. You exceed in school when you get straight A's. When Dr. Jekyll transforms into Mr. Hyde, he experiences "a grinding in the bones, deadly nausea, and a horror of the spirit that cannot be exceeded at the hour of birth or death." No thanks! It helps to remember that like speed, exceed ends with -eed. |
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| 2613 |
furthermore |
in addition |
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Just when you think your friend has finished her long list of complaints, she begins a new sentence with, “Furthermore…” a word that signals she has even more to complain about. |
Furthermore is a useful word when you have an additional point to make in an argument or explanation. It is often used at the beginning of a sentence and followed by a comma. You might tell your parents why you think you should go on a Hawaiian vacation and then add, “Furthermore, volcanic ash is excellent for the complexion.” For variety, you can also use words like moreover or additionally in the same way. |
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| 2614 |
interfere |
get involved, so as to alter or hinder an action |
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To interfere is to try to stop something from happening. If you get into a fight on the street, people passing by might try to interfere so no one gets hurt. |
Many countries resent it when other countries interfere (get involved) in their internal affairs, just as people often dislike it when others interfere in their personal affairs. In this sense interfere is the opposite of minding one's business. On airplanes you're not allowed to use cellphones because, it's said, they interfere with the plane’s navigational systems. |
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| 2615 |
contact |
be in or establish communication with |
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Contact is the act of touching or communicating with someone or something else. The question increasingly isn't whether there is other life in the universe, but how on earth we will ever make contact with it. |
"To make contact" (the noun) means to establish some form of communication, be it physical, verbal, or some other kind. To contact (the verb) means to establish that communication. If you're looking to contact Madonna, good luck. She's got people whose only job it is to prevent folks like you from making contact with her. Batteries have two contacts, one positive and one negative. They are where the battery makes contact with the thing to which it provides power. |
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| 2616 |
prime |
first in rank or degree |
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If something is in its prime, it is at its best. The same goes for a person. If you are young and healthy and in the prime of your life, you are ready to take on the world. |
Prime often means "main." The prime reason you go to concerts is to see your favorite groups perform. If your mother is angry that you came home late, tell her that this is a prime example of why you need a cell phone — so you can call her. It can also mean "of the highest quality" as in prime beef or flowers. As a verb, prime means to get ready. Hopefully you've primed yourself for your exams. Prime the pump and start the engine! |
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| 2617 |
minimum |
the smallest possible quantity |
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The minimum is the lowest or smallest amount possible or acceptable. If you do the minimum amount of work at your job, you might not get fired — but you definitely won't get promoted. |
Minimum is Latin for smallest, so clearly English speakers have done less than the minimum amount of messing with the meaning of this word. Obviously, the opposite is maximum. At minimum, you should know that the word means the smallest limit of something. At most, you should be able to talk about its Latin roots. |
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| 2618 |
revenue |
the entire amount of income before any deductions are made |
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Revenue is money earned by a business, or income received by the government from taxes. The government is always interested in dreaming up new sources of revenue, and so is the average head of a company unless she doesn't want to be the head anymore. |
Revenue is from a French word meaning "to return or come back," and dollar returns are always a welcome thing. Declining advertising revenue will doom your website, no matter how great it is. If your lemonade stand is not making a profit, you might consider lowering costs. Maybe you could get cheaper lemonade mix? Or you might look for more creative and exciting ways to increase revenue––like raiding the pantry for cookies you can sell as well. |
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| 2619 |
incident |
a single distinct event |
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An incident refers to a particular happening, sometimes criminal but always noteworthy. If there was a food fight in the cafeteria, an e-mail might be sent to the parents of all students telling of the incident at school. |
The word incident is quite vague. It can refer to a humorous occurrence or a violent one, something that disturbed one's routine or something unusual that happened. If a child screams in a library, it's not that unusual, but if an adult does, that's an incident! As an adjective, incident is used in the field of physics to describe particles or radiation that fall on a surface. The incident light showed how dirty the windows were. |
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| 2620 |
escort |
accompany |
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When you go somewhere, whether it's for fun or business, it's always nice to have an escort — someone to go along with you. Some escorts are there to protect you, some just to share a good time. |
The word escort can be a noun or a verb — "your escort escorts you." This word is derived from the Latin excorrigere, "to set out," and moved through the Italian scorgere, meaning "to guide." In the 1570s it took on a military tone as escorte, used to describe armed protectors for travelers. In the 19th century it came to mean "accompanying a person on social occasions," although we still refer to military escorts today. |
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| 2621 |
invoke |
summon into action or bring into existence |
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To invoke is to call up something such as a law, a higher power, or even a ghost. In court, you might invoke the Fifth Amendment (the right not to say something that will make you look bad) if you don't want to talk. |
You can invoke all kinds of people or ideas, alive or dead: "She invokes the spirit of good writing when she proofreads her work." In a time of need, you might invoke a higher power. You could invoke Martin Luther King when talking about equal rights. You might even invoke the spirit of your dead cat at a séance. Just make sure you don't evoke (to bring on a strong emotional reaction) your dead cat; that would just be weird. |
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| 2622 |
outweigh |
be more important or signficant than |
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To outweigh is to be heavier or more important than something (or someone). A preschooler's needs might outweigh those of his uncle, even if the uncle does outweigh him by 200 pounds. |
Your Great Dane definitely outweighs your kitten, just like your car outweighs your bicycle and you outweigh the ant you just accidentally stepped on. If someone says "the benefits outweigh the risks," they mean that what can be gained is much more significant that what might be lost or risked: "I think you should apply for that scholarship; the benefits really outweigh the risks." |
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| 2623 |
anecdotal |
having the character of a story about a person or event |
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Something anecdotal has to do with anecdotes — little stories. Anecdotal evidence is based on hearsay rather than hard facts. |
People like to share stories about things that happened to them, or that they heard about, to make a point. That kind of talk is anecdotal: based on small, personal accounts. Anecdotal stories are helpful when you’re trying to give an example of something, but there's a downside to anecdotal information: since it’s not based on facts, you never know if you can totally trust it. So it's best to go beyond the anecdotal and get more solid information. |
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| 2624 |
intrinsic |
belonging to a thing by its very nature |
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The intrinsic qualities of something have to do with its nature. An intrinsic quality of dogs is that they're loyal. |
Anything intrinsic comes from within. Doing a job for only money is not intrinsic. Doing a job because you love it is intrinsic; the motivation comes from within. It's good to treat people as having intrinsic value. If you like someone for intrinsic reasons, then you have no other motivation. The opposite of intrinsic is extrinsic, for things that come from the outside instead of from the inside. |
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| 2625 |
commodity |
articles of commerce |
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A commodity is any useful or valuable thing, especially something that is bought and sold. Grain, vegetables, and precious metals are commodities, but so are personal qualities that can be used to make money: Originality and imagination are rare commodities in the film business. |
Farmers closely follow the commodities' markets, where the future value of the crops they grow are traded, and on any given day assigned a different value. Commodity descends from Middle English commodite "benefit, profit," from Old French, from Latin commoditās "fitness," from commodus "convenient, appropriate," from the prefix com- "with" plus modus "measure." |
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| 2626 |
unethical |
not conforming to approved standards of social behavior |
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Eating the last cookie without sharing? That's just mean. But if you stole that cookie and then lied about it, that would be morally wrong, or unethical. |
The prefix un- means "not," so something or someone who's unethical is literally "not ethical." In other words, that someone is lacking principles or morals. Because being unethical involves going against social or professional expectations of what's right, it's a word that's often used to describe bad behavior or immoral conduct. So like the great philosophers, you can decide if Cookie Monster has an ethics problem — or just bad eating habits. |
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| 2627 |
rationalize |
defend, explain, or make excuses for by reasoning |
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Rationalize means to justify by developing a rationale, or a set of reasons for something. You could rationalize cutting school, saying your classes are boring, but you are still doing what you shouldn't be doing. |
Rationalize can also mean reorganizing along rational lines––a watchmaker's shop might be set up in a totally illogical way that made sense only to the old owner, whose children will rationalize the shop's organization once the old man dies. |
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| 2628 |
subsequently |
happening at a time later than another time |
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Subsequently means "afterward": You might be bummed if you bought a book for a friend and subsequently discovered that she'd already read it. |
Subsequently derives from a Latin verb meaning "to follow." We use subsequently to describe something in time that follows something else. You ran off to Mexico with your boyfriend but subsequently discovered he was interested only in your sports car. Thousands of people showed up for the rock concert and the town subsequently changed its laws to prevent such large gatherings. |
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| 2629 |
import |
bring in from abroad |
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Imports are the products shipped into our country from other places. We import Japanese autos and export our pop music to Tokyo. Import also means to signify something. Is it of import to our economic security to have so many Japanese imports on our roads? |
The origins of the word import are literally "to bring into port." The ratio of imports to exports is a big indicator of the health of a nation's economy. The word import can also refer to attitudes or behaviors that come as part of the culture of a place. "New York media is dominated by British journalists who have imported the snarky style of gossip reporting famous in London." |
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| 2630 |
participate |
be involved in |
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If you take part in an activity or organization, you participate in it. For example, you participate in a conversation by listening to and talking with others, or you participate in a sport by joining a team and taking part in practices and games. |
You can use the verb participate to mean "be involved in" or "share in." Sometimes it is easy to figure out who participates in something — the runners in a race, the people waiting their turn to audition for a part in a play. Sometimes it isn't so obvious. If two students cause trouble but the teacher punishes the whole class, it might be that in not stopping the troublemakers, she views everyone as having participated — just being there means they were involved. |
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| 2631 |
superior |
of high quality or performance |
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The salesman boasted to his customer that the $1 million car was well worth the price because it was far superior, meaning of higher quality, to any car that had come before it. This car, the salesman bragged, could fly. |
Superior comes from the Latin word meaning above and it literally means something that is above others in quality or status. Sometimes being superior can be perceived as a negative, as in the woman who acts superior to all of her friends, having a high opinion of herself just because she has millions of dollars in the bank after winning the lottery. |
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| 2632 |
resilient |
recovering readily from adversity, depression, or the like |
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When something is strong and able to recover from damage quickly, call it resilient. If you're rough on your toys, the ones that don't break are resilient. |
Formed from the Latin verb resilīre "to leap back," a resilient person is able to recover from an illness or a bad experience quickly. Politicians who are resilient to media criticism do not let critical journalists affect their focus, performance or relationship to their constituents. An object can be resilient also, but in this case, it is not damaged easily, or it returns to its original good shape quickly. |
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| 2633 |
consensus |
agreement in the judgment reached by a group as a whole |
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When there's a consensus, everyone agrees on something. If you're going to a movie with friends, you need to reach a consensus about which movie everyone wants to see. |
Ever notice how people disagree about just about everything, from who's the best baseball player to how high taxes should be? Whenever there's disagreement, there's no consensus: consensus means everyone is on the same page. When you're talking about all the people in the world, it's hard to find a consensus on anything. There are just too many opinions. However, in a smaller group, reaching a consensus is possible. |
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| 2634 |
undergo |
pass through |
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Undergo means "endure until something is complete." You might undergo testing to check your hearing or undergo special training if you want to volunteer at a homeless shelter. |
The verb undergo means "experience" or "undertake." It is often used to describe medical procedures, such as, an injured quarterback who will undergo shoulder surgery. The word implies that it is something that has to happen so that a positive change occurs, like healing in the case of the quarterback or greater communication skills for a hot-tempered person who undergoes anger management training. |
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| 2635 |
empower |
give qualities or abilities to |
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Empower means "give power or authority to." When you educate children and believe in them, you empower those kids to go after their dreams. |
Empower might seem like a new word, but it's been around since the 17th century. Today, empower often refers to helping someone realize their abilities and potential, perhaps for the first time. For example, in the 1960s, when women felt like second-class citizens, the women's movement empowered them to stand up and demand their equal rights. |
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| 2636 |
deny |
declare untrue; contradict |
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To deny means refuse to accept, recognize, or believe. You can deny your sweet tooth all you want, but the stash of candy in your desk tells a different story. |
It's hard to deny what etymologists have proven: deny is rooted in the Latin word denegare, which means “to deny, reject, refuse.” You can deny yourself of chocolate if you're on a diet, or deny the accusations that you're a chocoholic. But it's usually best to fess up. Abraham Lincoln famously admitted: “I never did like to work, and I don't deny it. I'd rather read, tell stories, crack jokes, talk, laugh — anything but work." |
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| 2637 |
underlying |
in the nature of something though not readily apparent |
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The obvious meaning of underlying refers to something beneath something else. But the word carries a more subtle meaning, that of something hidden but important, something that shapes the meaning or effect of something else, without being explicit itself. |
Consider the adjective underlying as referring to a "subtext," which is something hidden. An example is sarcasm, when a person says one thing but means the opposite. In theater, an actor develops subtext for his or her character to establish an underlying reason for what that character says and does. Life is full of underlying reasons we do things. Worry over a grandparent's illness might be the underlying reason a child fails a test. (Then again, maybe she just didn't study.) |
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| 2638 |
adequately |
in a sufficient manner |
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Something has been done adequately when basic requirements are fulfilled. Passing your driver's test probably means you parallel parked adequately; if not, you may have knocked over some cones. |
The adverb adequately is a synonym for sufficiently, or suitably. If you've adequately fulfilled your course requirements, you're probably neither the best nor the worst student in the class. But you've definitely done well enough that you can pass — so doing something adequately is generally a positive thing, unless you're an overachiever, in which case you might not like that description at all! |
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| 2639 |
harassment |
the act of tormenting by persistent attacks and criticism |
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If someone is abusing, insulting, or otherwise harming you on a regular basis, it's called harassment. Cruel and usually really annoying, harassment is also illegal in some cases. |
Harassment is a word that describes any kind of ongoing torment. At school, harassment is often known as bullying. In the workplace, employees need to be careful about sexual harassment. Harassment involves persistent attacks or abuse, and can range from shouting racial slurs to crank calling your ex-boyfriend every night at 3am. Even teasing your kid sister about her braces could be considered harassment. |
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| 2640 |
disperse |
to cause to separate and go in different directions |
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To make a crowd at a party disperse, you could take away the food, turn off the music and ask for volunteers to clean up. Disperse is to spread out people or things, making them move in different directions. |
Imagine yourself standing on a basketball court holding a cup packed tight with marbles. If you turn it over, the marbles will disperse across the floor, moving away from you in all directions. Another word for this is scatter. Don't confuse this word with disburse, which means to distribute money. Remember that false friends disperse when you cease to disburse. |
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| 2641 |
segregation |
the act of keeping apart |
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Segregation is a system that keeps different groups separate from each other, either through physical dividers or using social pressures and laws. |
The Latin root literally means “separated from the flock,” and splitting a big flock of sheep into smaller groups is segregation. For many decades in the United States, “separate but equal” was the phrase used to describe the unjust racial segregation of black people and white people. There are harmless types of segregation as well, like "the segregation of dog food and human food in your cupboards." |
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| 2642 |
reform |
improve by alteration or correction of errors or defects |
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When you reform something, you change it for the better. If you're running for President, you might promise to reform government, although it's easier to promise reform than to actually accomplish it. |
If you take the parts of reform, re- and form, you can see that it means “to shape again.” We often use it to talk about correcting what's wrong in a system, and if you reform something, you make it better and more fair. Juvenile delinquents might be sent to reform school to become better people. Someone fighting alcoholism might try to reform her ways. It's not always about morals: in chemistry, you reform molecules by breaking them apart. |
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| 2643 |
injustice |
the practice of being unjust or unfair |
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Life isn’t fair, and that quality is exactly what defines injustice: something unfair that happens, often in violation of a basic human right. |
In the early 19th century in the United States, women could not legally vote, but they fought back against this injustice and eventually won voting rights. The word comes from a Latin phrase that literally means “not right,” and injustice is the opposite of justice, which is a fair and righteous act. Injustice can be general or specific, like the injustice suffered by poor people everywhere, or an individual act of injustice committed by some unkind person. |
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| 2644 |
affirmative |
giving assent |
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Something affirmative expresses agreement or approval, like the affirmative nod your mother gives you when you ask to be excused from the dinner table. A formal way of saying "Yes" is "Affirmative!" |
Anything affirmative is approving of something: affirmative words support someone or something. Being affirmative is the opposite of being negative or contradicting. A pat on the back is affirmative so is a signature you need to complete a form. Also, you can use affirmative as a formal way of saying yes to something. This is common in the military. It might sound a little odd, but if your teacher asked, "Does 10 plus 10 equal 20?" you could answer, "Affirmative!" |
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| 2645 |
discrimination |
unfair treatment of a person or group based on prejudice |
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Discrimination means distinguishing between two or more people or things. Usually, discrimination means an unfair system that treats one group of people worse than another. |
Discrimination isn't always a bad thing. You have to use discrimination to tell a good restaurant from a bad one, or a good idea from a bad one. However, this word is very tarnished by its main use these days: as a word for unfair treatment of people, based on racism, sexism, homophobia, or another prejudice. There is a huge history of discrimination in the United States. |
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| 2646 |
retain |
secure and keep for possible future use or application |
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Retain means to hold on to or keep. People who can retain a lot of information are often mistaken for geniuses, but really they just have very good memories. |
To retain is to keep or maintain, whether in mind, possession or a certain condition. If you have a great personal assistant, you'll probably want to retain him for as long as you can. If your body is retaining water you might look a little plump. The verbs restrain and detain sound similar, but they mean to keep something by force. |
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| 2647 |
distribute |
give to several people |
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To distribute is to disperse widely, hand out, or spread around. While you're still snoozing, the paper boy is busy distributing the newspaper all over the neighborhood. |
This verb was first recorded in the early 15th century and has its roots in the Latin distributus, meaning “to divide.” Think of dividing up the last cookies in the cookie jar and passing them out to all your friends. Distribute can also mean to space out or arrange in a particular order — you'd want to distribute the chairs in even lines across the floor when setting up for a concert, for example. |
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| 2648 |
morality |
motivation based on ideas of right and wrong |
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Morality is a concern with what’s right or wrong. Your sense of morality prevents you from cheating on your school exams, on your taxes, or on your spouse. |
You’ll notice the word moral is in morality. And you might remember reading fairy tales that ended with the phrase, “The moral of the story is…” That’s because stories for children are often intended to instruct kids as to what the good or right decision is in a situation. For example, Cinderella teaches kids that if their foot fits the glass slipper, they can end up marrying a prince. How's that for morality? |
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| 2649 |
guarantee |
promise to do or accomplish |
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To guarantee is to promise or to a make binding agreement. If a baseball player guarantees his team will win the World Series, he better not lead the league in strikeouts. |
Guarantee is a word that is both a noun and a verb: the noun means "a binding agreement" and the verb is the act of making that agreement. This word seems to have come from garante, the Spanish word for "protect" and it's related to the Old French word warrant, which means "to authorize." Today, we often come across guarantee in advertisements, and you might wonder how they might guarantee to make your social life better if your teeth are whiter! |
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| 2650 |
industry |
the action of making of goods and services for sale |
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An industry is a group of manufacturers or businesses that produce a particular kind of goods or services. Workers in the textile industry design, fabricate, and sell cloth. The tourist industry includes all the commercial aspects of tourism. |
You can use industry to refer to a group of similar businesses: The automobile industry makes cars and car parts. The food service industry prepares food and delivers it to hotels, schools, and other big facilities. Industry comes from the Latin industria, which means "diligence, hard work," and the word is still used with that meaning. If you build a house in three weeks, when the same job takes everyone else three months, you're showing impressive industry. |
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| 2651 |
implement |
pursue to a conclusion or bring to a successful issue |
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Apply the noun implement when you want to use a fancy word for "tool." A knife and fork are implements for handling food. |
The noun implement is a very useful word for just about anything you want to describe as a tool or a thing that helps you do something. An implement can be as simple as chimpanzees using a stick to eat ants with or a bulldozer that moves huge amounts of earth in building. The word relates to something that "fills up" a house, as in all sorts of things that allow a house to work properly. |
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| 2652 |
enable |
provide the means to perform some task |
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When you make something possible, you enable it. Your good grades might enable you to get into your first-choice college. And a great teacher enabled you to get such good grades. |
Enable has taken on the meaning of allowing or even helping someone continue to do something they really shouldn't. If your mother writes note after note to get you out of school for no good reason, she is enabling your habit of playing hooky. While you might think she's being cool, a therapist might call her an enabler and give her part of the blame. |
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| 2653 |
inequity |
injustice by virtue of not conforming with standards |
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The noun inequity describes a situation that’s not fair. If you feel, for example, that your brother gets to do whatever he wants while you must follow the rules to the letter, you might rage against inequity. |
The prefix in- in inequity means “not” or “opposite of.” Equity, means "justice or fairness." Put it together and you get inequity: something that’s unfair or unjust. The word can be used to describe a wide range of unfair situations, such as an inequity in a school's buying new equipment for the football team while the field hockey team continues to wear uniforms from 1981. |
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| 2654 |
disproportionate |
out of proper balance |
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If three friends are out having dinner, and one disappears when the check comes, the remaining two end up paying a disproportionate share of the bill. Whenever anything is out of proportion — either too large or too small — it's disproportionate. |
If you live in New York or Los Angeles or another very expensive city, you probably spend a disproportionate amount of your income on housing — meaning you pay more than you'd expect. If you have a sweet deal somewhere and pay very little in rent, it's still disproportionate — only this time it's less than you'd expect. |
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| 2655 |
embryo |
an animal organism in the early stages of growth |
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An embryo is an animal in the phase after fertilization but before birth or hatching. Embryos still live in the womb or egg. |
Do you remember when you were an embryo? Probably not, because you were just a tiny clump of cells in your mother's womb — you weren't born yet. All animals were embryos at one point: it's a very early stage of life. Another meaning is not as literal: the beginning of an idea could be called an embryo, as in, "My plan for ice-skating robots is still in the embryo stage." That means the idea isn't very developed. |
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| 2656 |
obesity |
the condition of being excessively overweight |
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Obesity is the condition of being more overweight than is considered average or healthy. |
The noun obesity was first used around 1610 and has origins in the Latin word obesitas, meaning "fatness" or "corpulence." During the Middle Ages, obesity was a sign of wealth and prosperity indicating that you had enough money to buy and eat all the food you wanted while others starved. Nowadays, research has shown that having too much fat can cause a number of related health problems. A healthy diet and fitness regime is a great way for someone to shed excess pounds and avoid obesity. |
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| 2657 |
multidimensional |
having or involving or marked by several aspects |
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The adjective multidimensional describes anything with many different parts or aspects. You might talk about your relationship with the next door neighbor as multidimensional if, say, he's also your teacher, and if his son is married to your older sister. |
Describing something as multidimensional implies that it's complex. You could talk about a multidimensional book filled with intricate themes, characters, plots, and symbols; or you could even call a person multidimensional if she had a particularly complicated personality. The word dimension forms the root of multidimensional, so if you imagine "many dimensions," you'll have a clear idea of what the word means. |
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| 2658 |
consume |
use up, as resources or materials |
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"The Freshman 15" describes freshman-year college students who gain about fifteen pounds because they consume way too much lousy dorm food all day long. |
To consume a cake is to eat it, the idea being that you ate the whole thing. To say a fire consumed a building is to say that the entire building was destroyed. Consume means to devour, to take in, to use up. The Unites States is often referred to as a consumer society because our economy is based on things being consumed. Whether it's gas, clothes, burgers, music, or anything that we use up as we purchase it, it's something that we consume. If we consume all the oil, there will be none left to burn. |
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| 2659 |
contaminate |
make impure |
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The verb contaminate means the same as pollute. Whether it’s food, air, or water, when you contaminate something, you make it impure or hazardous. |
Contaminate comes from the Latin word contaminat-, meaning “made impure.” You can use the word to indicate that a hazardous substance has been introduced into something else, such as food that is contaminated with mold. It can also be used figuratively to describe the spoiling of a good thing, like one person's habit of gossiping that can contaminate a conversation among friends. |
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| 2660 |
recite |
repeat aloud from memory |
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You are showing off your ability to recite, or repeat aloud from memory, when you say the entire text of "The Gettysburg Address" or name all the past winners of your town’s asparagus eating contest. |
Recite entered the English language as a legal term but is now more often used in the realms of education, literature, and religion. Children in school may be assigned a famous poem to recite in front of the class or be tested on how well they can recite their multiplication tables. In many religious traditions, being able to recite passages of sacred texts is an important part of practicing the religion. |
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| 2661 |
signify |
convey or express a meaning |
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To signify means to "mean." When Paul Revere looked for the lanterns in the church tower, he knew that one would signify that the British were coming by land and two would indicate that they were coming by sea. |
When objects are endowed with symbolic meaning, they are said to signify things. A dove signifies peace, a six-pointed star signifies Judaism, a frog signifies fertility, a trident signifies the Hindu Shiva or the Greek Poseidon. |
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| 2662 |
constrain |
hold back |
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To constrain is to hold back, restrain, or confine. If you've ever had to constrain a toddler in the middle of a temper tantrum, you know you have to watch out for flailing limbs. |
The verb constrain comes from the Latin word constringere, which means to bind together or tie tightly. Constrain can imply both literal and figurative bindings. You can constrain someone by physically holding on to something like a person's shirt. Or, you can figuratively constrain someone by putting up obstacles. Your teenagers, for example, may feel constrained by your rules and accuse you of sucking the fun out of their social lives. |
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| 2663 |
xenophobia |
a fear of foreigners or strangers |
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Getting a job as a greeter with the United Nations is probably not the best career option for someone who suffers from xenophobia, a fear of foreigners or strangers. |
Xenophobia has its roots in fear — literally. Phobia comes from the Greek word meaning "fear." Given that the fear in question is of strangers, it makes sense that xeno- comes from the Greek word for — you guessed it — "stranger, foreigner." In the case of xenophobia, the fear is irrational. Someone who is xenophobic might distrust a neighbor he's never met, or a sheikh who lives halfway around the world. Xenophobia is like racism, but instead of fearing or distrusting people because of the color of their skin, you fear or distrust them because of their nationality, or because they are — or seem — foreign to you. |
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| 2664 |
amend |
make revisions to |
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When you amend something, you correct or improve it. If you confused your audience when you gave your speech, don't be afraid to amend what you said. |
Amend can also describe adding amendments to an official document, such as a constitution or law. If politicians in your state want to address the growing number of home foreclosures, they might amend the state constitution to include restrictions intended to reduce foreclosures. Amend comes from the Latin word emendare, meaning "to correct, free from fault." |
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| 2665 |
equity |
conformity with rules or standards |
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Equity is the state or quality of being fair. In classrooms, it's important to establish equity as any hint of unfairness turns everyone against the teacher. |
In finance, equity refers to the value of a business or piece of property after subtracting the amount of the mortgage. Also in finance, equities are stocks, in contrast to bonds. Equity is from Middle English equite, from Old French équité, from Latin aequitas "equality," from aequus "equal." |
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| 2666 |
legislate |
make laws or bills |
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To legislate is to make laws. If you thought there should be a law that all money should be pink instead of green, you might write to your congresswoman with a suggestion to legislate your idea. |
Formal government bodies legislate. So, while you might create a rule at home to ban phone calls at dinner, the House of Representatives would legislate communication regulations during meals. Legislate may seem like a tricky word, but you can easily remember the meaning if you notice that the word begins with the same leg as the word legal does; both words relate to the law. |
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| 2667 |
prevention |
the act of hindering |
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When an action stops something from happening, like assigning extra teachers to watch a playground during recess to prevent bullying, it's called prevention. |
The noun prevention comes up most often when people are trying to keep something bad in check, like crime, disease, or forest fires. Educating kids about nutrition is one form of obesity prevention, for example, and lowering speed limits can help with accident prevention. The word prevent is at the root of prevention, and it comes from the Latin praeventus, "anticipate or hinder." |
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| 2668 |
pursue |
follow in an effort to capture |
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Use the verb pursue when you're chasing after someone or something. A hungry lion might pursue a zebra, the paparazzi might pursue a celebrity, and a young dancer might pursue her dream of becoming a prima ballerina. |
Pursue originally meant "to follow with hostile intent," from a Latin root word, prosequi, "follow, accompany, follow after, or follow up." Today, when you pursue someone, it's not necessarily with bad intentions. A police officer, for example, might pursue a criminal, and your dog might pursue your cat around the house just for fun. If you pursue a career in journalism, you are working to achieve it. Likewise, you pursue a strategy or a hobby if you do it consistently. |
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| 2669 |
conserve |
keep in safety and protect from harm, loss, or destruction |
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To conserve is to save or protect something, like money, or your energy on a long run. People are also encouraged to conserve energy by turning off lights and not cranking the air conditioner. |
Conserve is from the Latin for "to keep, preserve, guard" (conservare). Con means "together," so "together" we can "serve" the planet by not doing doughnuts in the wetlands on our jet skis. You can conserve the planet or a little something for yourself — you might conserve hot water so you can wash your hair later, or try to conserve your old bedroom when you go off to college (and your mom is ready for a home office). |
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| 2670 |
renewable |
capable of being replaced |
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Anything renewable can be replaced or has an endless supply. Renewable sources of energy don't run out. |
Since re means "again," things that are renewable are always fresh and new: the supply can't be used up. This word often applies to energy. Fossil fuels like oil are not renewable resources; we will run out of oil someday. Energy sources like solar and wind power are renewable, because there's always going to be sunlight and wind. Anything renewable is going to last. |
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| 2671 |
proceed |
move ahead; travel onward in time or space |
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To proceed means to go or continue forward. But somehow "ready, set, proceed!" doesn't quite have the same ring to it. |
From the Latin procedere, meaning “go forward, advance,” proceed is a verb that simply means to keep going, particularly after there’s been an interruption. Synonyms include progress and advance. People who constantly interrupt make it really difficult for the conversation to proceed smoothly. And proceed with caution when crossing a busy street, but if the light turns red, you better move it fast! |
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| 2672 |
maximize |
make as big or large as possible |
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When you maximize something, you make it as big as you possibly can, the way you would maximize your chances of winning the lottery if you spent all of your money on lottery tickets. |
It seems like you come across the word maximize most often in dry, boring contexts like businesses trying to "maximize" their profits or a politician wanting to "maximize" her government's potential. Regular people probably use it more often when they're talking about their computers, to mean "display a window at its largest size." When you maximize a window on your computer, you can actually see what the word means! |
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| 2673 |
ban |
forbid the public distribution of |
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The verb to ban means to forbid something from being or happening. The word can also be used as a noun. A school board might put a ban on all books that refer to Jefferson's mistress if they don't want anyone reading about her. |
If your parents are upset by how much time you spend online, they might ban computers in the house. But if you're smart, you can just use your phone or laptop at school. To ban something is to put a ban on it. Something with a ban on it is said to be banned. A ban can vary from your grandmother's ban on people wearing shoes in her house to a government's ban on printing certain stories in the newspaper. |
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| 2674 |
design |
a preliminary sketch indicating the plan for something |
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To design is to conceive, create, sketch out, or invent something. An architect might design a new apartment building, and an inventor might design a new smart phone. |
Charles Eames, famous designer of fancy modern chairs, said "Design is a plan for arranging elements in such a way as best to accomplish a particular purpose." That's a broad definition, but then again, design is a broad field. School kids design book report posters, engineers design bridges, and politicians design arguments against their opponents. If you really want to explore design, take some time to examine the expert layout of a Picasso painting. |
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| 2675 |
evolve |
undergo development |
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When something evolves, it changes, or develops over time, like your taste in music and clothes, which evolve as you get older. |
Evolve comes from the Latin word ēvolvere, "to unroll," the perfect image to keep in mind when thinking of this verb. When something is unrolling or unraveling, it is doing so gradually, not all at once. Evolve describes a development that is taking its time to reach its final destination. Think change with a speed limit. Your taste in music evolved from the nursery rhymes you loved as a little kid to whatever you like today. Even places can evolve, like the old-fashioned coffee shops that evolved into Internet cafes as people began to bring their laptops with them. |
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| 2676 |
disclaimer |
denial of any connection with or knowledge of |
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A disclaimer is a statement that rejects a legal claim. If you're speaking on Russian history and don't want to be quoted, offer a disclaimer that all your information comes from Wikipedia and you're not responsible for its accuracy. |
A claim is the assertion that you have a right to something, so a disclaimer is the opposite: the rejection of a claim. If you don't want to keep the money you're inheriting, you can file a disclaimer and pass all the money on to a charity. Although disclaimer comes from talking about legal claims, we also use it in general to mean "denial" or "repudiation." |
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| 2677 |
prescription |
written instructions from a doctor to a druggist |
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A prescription is an order written by a doctor for someone to get a drug that is not available without this permission. If you get a bad ear infection, you'll need a prescription for antibiotics. |
When your doctor writes a prescription, she's advising you to take a medication that you can only get from a pharmacist. You can refer to the paper with the drug's name and the doctor's signature and the bottle of medicine as a prescription. Sometimes prescription is used in a non-medical way to simply mean a suggestion or recommendation, like laughter and friends — a great prescription for chasing away the blues. |
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| 2678 |
rely |
have confidence or faith in |
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To rely is to have confidence in something. You might rely on staying in bed to make you feel better and rely on your friends to tell you everything you missed when you were sick. |
Rely is a lot like the word depend. If you rely on someone for help, you also depend on her. But rely is even more powerful! When you rely on someone, you have total faith and trust that she will come through. It comes from the Latin word religare which means "to fasten or bind." You're bound to the people you rely on! |
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| 2679 |
decline |
a gradual decrease |
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When something declines, it goes downhill. If you stop working out, your health may decline. If you want it to improve, you should start climbing inclines instead of coasting down declines. |
The verb decline means refuse to accept, but the noun decline means a downward slope (the opposite of an incline), or a decrease in quality. At the gym, the treadmill has an incline button to control how steep your climb is. Sadly, there's no button for decline, which would be much easier. Both words contain cline, or "to bend." The prefix tells you which way the bend goes. Decline implies a going, or turning, down. |
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| 2680 |
orient |
adjust to a specific need or market |
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When you orient yourself towards something, you point yourself towards it, literally or figuratively. |
The Orient is an old-fashioned name for Asia, or the East. It's where the sun rises, and, sure enough, the Latin root of orient means "rising," as in the rising of the sun. If you're lost in the woods, probably the first thing you'd do is look for the sun and try to orient yourself — figure out which direction you need to walk in order to get to where you want to go. You might also take out your orienteering equipment — your compass and map. If the sun isn't out, you might have to settle in and orient yourself to your surroundings and prepare for a long night in the woods. |
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| 2681 |
privacy |
the quality of being secluded from the presence of others |
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When you're away from the prying eyes of others, you have privacy — you're alone, secluded, and not in the public eye. |
Sometimes you just don't want to be bothered by anyone, so you seek a place where you can be alone with your thoughts, free from distractions or intrusions. When that's the case, you are seeking privacy: private space and time away from others. Privacy has always been an issue for celebrities, who are followed around by photographers. If you value your privacy, don't run for office: politicians give up their privacy when they run for election. |
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| 2682 |
invasion |
any entry into an area not previously occupied |
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An invasion is the movement of an army into a region, usually in a hostile attack that's part of a war or conflict. World history is full of descriptions of invasions. |
One country's army plundering or taking over a city or piece of land in another country is an invasion. You can call other mass movements invasions as well, like a horrifying invasion of your kitchen by cockroaches, or the invasion of a stadium by excited soccer fans. A common phrase is "invasion of privacy," which means an unfair intrusion into someone's personal space or private information. |
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| 2683 |
corporal |
affecting the body as opposed to the mind or spirit |
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Corporal means of the body. Corporal punishment involves hitting, spanking, and slapping — all types of bodily hurt. A corporal is also a noncommissioned officer in the Army, Air Force, and Marines. |
In the military, a corporal is a soldier who rose through the ranks as an enlisted soldier, not going to one of the military colleges. Elsewhere, this word has to do with physical things and beings. A ghost is not corporal — it has no body. In a horror movie, corporal monsters like zombies and vampires can do more damage. You can also talk about corporal pleasures, like eating and drinking. When you see the word corporal (or corporeal), think body. |
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| 2684 |
prerequisite |
something that is required in advance |
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A prerequisite is a required prior condition. If something is required in advance of something else, like if you have to take a beginning Spanish class before signing up for Spanish II, then it’s a prerequisite. |
Add pre meaning "before" to require and you have something that's "required before." (That's helpful when trying to spell prerequisite!) Prerequisites to be able to graduate from college can seem like a pain, but most schools offer some fun ways to fulfill them. For example, you can often meet the physical education prerequisite by taking bowling. Prerequisites aren't just for school: “The most called-upon prerequisite of a friend is an accessible ear,” said Maya Angelou, the American poet. |
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| 2685 |
eligible |
qualified for or allowed or worthy of being chosen |
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If you get good grades, volunteer at the hospital, play varsity sports, and write for your school paper, you might be eligible for a college scholarship. |
If you’re eligible for something, you’re either qualified for it or allowed to do it. You’re eligible for unemployment benefits if you’ve recently been laid off, but not if you've never had a job in the first place. You may not be eligible to enter a sweepstakes if you work for the company giving away the money. Neither your dog nor your friend from Australia is eligible to run for president of the United States, but you might be! |
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| 2686 |
maintain |
keep in a certain state, position, or activity |
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Maintain means to keep the same––keep steady, keep up, or keep going. Sure, you can ride your bike super fast on a flat surface, but it can be hard to maintain that speed, or keep the same speed, going up a hill. |
When you maintain a strict study schedule, you stick to it. When you maintain your car in good working order, you take good care of it. If you maintain records of your business activity, it means you make notes of your sales and expenses. If a teacher maintains order in the classroom, she never lets disruptions get out of hand. If you maintain your family, you keep them in food, shelter and clothing. If you maintain that eating animals is cruel, you keep that position. |
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| 2687 |
resume |
a summary of your academic and work history |
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If you resume something, you start it again after stopping. You might resume singing an aria after breaking to spit out your gum. |
Resume is from Latin resumere "to take up again, take back," from the prefix re- "again" plus sumere "to take up, take." The Latin verb sumere is formed from the prefix sub- "under, up" plus emere "to take." When you pause a movie or game and then you press play again, what you're really doing is resuming play. |
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| 2688 |
responsibility |
the social force that binds you to a course of action |
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A responsibility is something you're required to do as an upstanding member of a community. If you're in a band, it's your responsibility to learn the songs and show up to practice on time. |
Responsibility comes from the Latin responsus, which means “to respond.” There are actually a few different definitions of the noun. It can be another word for trustworthiness, as in, "He demonstrated his responsibility by showing up to practice on time." And it can be used to describe the social force that motivates us to take on individual responsibilities, as in, "A sense of responsibility drove him to memorize all of the songs." |
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| 2689 |
acquire |
gain through experience |
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To acquire means to get or come to own something. You acquire an education by your own effort. You acquire a painting by paying for it, or when someone gives it you. You acquire a sense of calm in crisis through experience. |
The list of things you can acquire includes: an object, a trait, a skill, or an ability. An acquired taste is something that people usually don't like when they first experience it, but later they come to enjoy it, such as raw clams or marmite. The verb acquire was borrowed from Latin acquīrere "to add to," from the prefix ad- "at, toward" plus quaerere "to seek, get." |
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| 2690 |
perceive |
to become aware of through the senses |
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When we perceive something, we become aware of or notice it. Sometimes we perceive things by using our senses of sight, hearing, and smell. |
Or we can use our mind to perceive things, which means that we are able to recognize or understand them. We can also perceive a person or thing as having certain qualities: Do you perceive yourself as a good student? The Latin root percipere means "to receive, understand," from the prefix per- "thoroughly" plus capere "to seize, take." |
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| 2691 |
sustain |
lengthen or extend in duration or space |
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Sustain means to support something or keep it going. If you get hungry in the mid-afternoon, you might try snacking to sustain your energy through dinner. |
Beams and rafters sustain a roof––they keep it up. If you sustain a conversation over the course of hours, you keep it going during that time. If you sustain an injury, it means you are injured. If you sustain an interest in what you're studying, it means that you're just as excited about the subject after studying as you are when you began. |
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| 2692 |
guideline |
a rule that provides direction for appropriate behavior |
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A guideline is a rule-of-thumb or suggestion that shows or tells you how to behave. If you want to stay healthy, you might want to follow the government's dietary guidelines. Sample guideline: go easy on the salt. |
In the 18th century, guideline referred to an actual line that you drew on fabric before cutting. So for example, if you wanted to cut a piece of linen to make a dress, you'd draw a guideline on it first to make sure the incision would be straight. The line guided your cut; over time, the word became a metaphor for a guide to any sort of action. |
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| 2693 |
mature |
characteristic of adulthood |
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Someone who is mature acts grown up, like an adult. However, when one sister says to another, "That's so mature," she's usually using the word sarcastically, because her sister has done something very immature, like sticking out her tongue. |
The adjective mature doesn't only describe advancing age, although the residents of a senior citizens' home could definitely be considered mature. Anything that is fully developed, like an aged cheese or bottle of wine, can also be called mature. The word can also refer to something that is only appropriate for people who are considered legal adults, like the movie that is for "mature audiences only." |
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| 2694 |
status |
the relative position or standing of things or persons |
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If someone wants to know the status of something, they want to know what condition it's in, where it is, or how much progress it's made. You've probably checked the status of your flight to see if it's on time or delayed. |
Status doesn't only apply to the state of flights, projects, and traffic jams — it also can be used to refer to a person's social standing or rank. In fact, status was first used in reference to someone's height, and later, their legal standing. Someone with VIP status gets to fly first class and probably has a bunch of photographers following them. |
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| 2695 |
complexity |
the quality of being intricate and compounded |
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Is the movie simple or does it have lots of plot twists and intricate relationships between characters? If the latter is true, the movie's complexity makes it hard to understand. |
When you see the word complexity, think of something with a lot of pieces, something not easy to put into words or understand. Things that can have complexity include: the events leading up to the American Civil War, a broth made with many ingredients, your relationship with your parents. Complexity is the opposite of simplicity. When something has a lot of complexity, you say it is complex. When it has very little complexity, it is simple. |
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| 2696 |
resourceful |
adroit or imaginative |
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If you are interviewing employees for your new pet store, you may want to ask if they are resourceful. If they are, it means they are good at problem solving, and this could come in very handy. |
Think of resourceful people as “full of resources,” or tools for coming up with solutions. They adapt well to new or difficult situations and they are able to think creatively. For example, if a snake gets loose in the pet store, a resourceful person will be able to figure out how to lure it back into its cage again. |
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| 2697 |
transfer |
move from one place to another |
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If you are moving something from one place to another, like transferring money from your savings account to your checking account, you are transferring it. Or, if you've been moved from one job site to another — you, my friend, have been transferred. |
Transfer can also be a noun that means the act of moving something from one form or location to another, so that money that was shifted from one account to another is considered a transfer. If you change something from one form to another, you can say that you transferred it. "Her mother had transferred all the old 8mm home movies to video tape. Now she'd have to transfer them again using a more modern technology." |
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| 2698 |
considerable |
large in number or amount or extent or degree |
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Use the adjective considerable to describe something that is large in amount. Things you probably spend a considerable amount of time on: homework and laundry. Things you'd rather spend time on: anything that isn't homework and laundry! |
The adjective considerable can describe something of importance and is worthy of notice or respect. If you are an excellent singer, dancer, musician, writer, or similar profession, people may ask you to donate your considerable talents to charitable causes. If you're not an excellent singer, dancer, musician, or writer, they will still ask you to donate, but they are more likely to ask for money! |
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| 2699 |
sufficient |
of a quantity that can fulfill a need or requirement |
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If you have a sufficient amount of something, it's enough — not too much, not too little, just right. Goldilocks would be pleased. |
Sufficient comes from a Latin verb meaning "to meet the need." If something is sufficient it has met, or satisfied, a need. Enough is often used as a synonym for sufficient, and when something is not sufficient, it is too little to take care of what's needed. Sufficient can, however, also suggest just enough and not an abundance, as in "the money was sufficient for groceries, but we needed more to fill the gas tank." |
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| 2700 |
react |
show a response to something |
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When you react to something, you respond to it. If someone pokes you in class, you might react by sticking out your tongue at them. The teacher might then react by giving you both detention. |
If someone says to you, "act, don't react," they are telling you not to automatically respond to something that someone does. Instead, you should think about it first and then decide what you want to do. In science, the word react is used to describe what happens when two substances combine and cause a chemical change in each other. When you add baking soda to vinegar, the chemicals in each react and create a foamy lava like substance. |
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| 2701 |
proportion |
ratio of the magnitude of a part to that of the whole |
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Proportion is about balance and how things fit together harmoniously. For example "That hound dog's tiny legs look out of proportion to that big fat body." |
The prefix comes from the Latin pro meaning "on behalf of, for." If you're Proportion likes portions, and for them to be the right size. The cake's sweetness is in direct proportion to how much sugar you put in. It's a compliment to tell someone he or she has just the right proportions, but you might get slapped. It can also be a part of something, as in a significant proportion of our student body has dyed their hair purple. |
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| 2702 |
civil |
of or relating to or befitting citizens as individuals |
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Civil has several meanings. The simplest is cultured and polite, as in someone who is civilized. Civil can also describe things related to a community of people and their government, or a civilization. |
If you work for the post office, you're a civil servant. The Civil Rights movement focused on the notion that all American citizens were entitled to the same basic civil liberties. Rather than getting hysterical, someone getting divorced should follow their lawyer's advice and be civil toward their spouse when they face each other in civil court over the matter of who would get the banana plantation. |
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| 2703 |
promote |
contribute to the progress or growth of |
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If you work for a marketing firm, your job is to promote new products — to publicize them and to try to get the public to buy them. |
The verb promote can also mean to advance to a higher position. Because of your hard work, your boss might decide to promote you. In school, passing students are promoted each year when they enter a higher grade. In chess, the verb promote is used when a pawn is exchanged for a higher ranking piece. Make sure you promote your pawn to a queen, giving you two queens on the board and a strong advantage in the game. |
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| 2704 |
interest |
excite the curiosity of |
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Interest is used most often to describe something you like, enjoy or think useful. You might have an interest in African literature, or you might follow the news with interest. |
Although interest is used mainly to describe anything that is, well, interesting, it also is used in specific legal contexts. If you have an interest in a company, it means you own part of it. Interest is also the word used to describe money charged or given as part of a debt. If a bank loans you $10,000, you have to pay back the $10,000 plus the interest. If the interest rate is 5 percent annually, you would owe $500. |
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| 2705 |
statistics |
a branch of mathematics concerned with quantitative data |
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Statistics is a branch of mathematics that allows you to draw conclusions about a large group of people based on information collected from a smaller group. It's also a tough college math course. |
Say an Australian study reports that 45% of fifteen-year-old Australians like grape soda. The people who conducted that study didn't interview 45% of Australian fifteen-year-olds; they interviewed perhaps a fraction of the Australian fifteen-year-old population and based their conclusions about the entire population on that. This is the essence of statistics, and the uncertainty surrounding such studies is one reason why people who practice statistics have to take tough college courses. |
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| 2706 |
exposure |
presentation to view in an open or public manner |
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If you place someone or something in an environment that causes them to experience something, you can call this exposure. Exposure to sun and rain will cause wood to turn gray. In school, you will be given exposure to the basic principles of math, science and language. |
The exposure of film to light results in a photograph. Sometimes, exposure is used without explicitly saying what something or someone was exposed to. It is simply implied. When a celebrity is given lots of exposure, it is well-known that the media is involved. If you die of exposure, it's understood that the harsh elements of the weather was meant. And if your house has a southern exposure, you know that this is the side where the sun shines. |
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| 2707 |
fundamental |
serving as an essential component |
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When asked what the fundamental, or essential, principles of life are, a teenager might reply, "Breathe. Be a good friend. Eat chocolate. Get gas money." |
Fundamental has its roots in the Latin word fundamentum, which means "foundation." So if something is fundamental, it is a key point or underlying issue — the foundation, if you will — that the thing is built upon. Teachers argue that math fundamentals include memorizing the times tables and understanding long division. Many people would also argue that math fundamentals should include knowing how to use a calculator and knowing where the calculator's extra batteries are kept. |
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| 2708 |
diversity |
noticeable variety |
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When there's diversity, there's variety. Often, this word is used for diversity of race, class, or gender. |
To have diversity, you need a mix of whatever you're talking about. If you like science fiction, romantic comedies, cartoons, and action movies, then you like a diversity of types of films. If you like nothing but kung fu films, then you don't like a diversity of films. No matter what kind of diversity you're talking about, there needs to be a real mix, kind of like a huge box of Crayolas. |
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| 2709 |
acknowledge |
accept to be what is claimed |
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To show that you know something is to acknowledge it. Waving "hello" to acknowledge a friend and nodding your head "yes" to acknowledge that you agree with what's being said are both acts showing knowledge or acceptance of someone or something. |
Dictionaries acknowledge that the word acknowledge has roots in the 15th and 16th centuries and is a combination of roots meaning "accord," "recognize," and "understand." Whereas "knowledge" is what you know, acknowledging is showing that you know. You might acknowledge that the world is round and that the moon is not made of cheese. You also can acknowledge, or give recognition, to the people who discovered these truths. |
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| 2710 |
incidence |
the relative frequency of occurrence of something |
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Incidence means the frequency with which something bad occurs. You’ll hear of “incidences of cancer” or “incidences of war." You hope the incidence is decreasing, not increasing. |
You might confuse incidence and incident. They sound similar, but incident refers only to something that happened, not to the frequency with which it happens. After a car accident, the police file an incident report, which is a fancy way of saying they write down what happened. Looking at these reports grouped together can show you if the incidence of accidents at specific intersections in town is on the rise. |
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| 2711 |
transport |
move something or somebody around |
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Transport means to move something, often large quantities of commercial products, over great distances. Container ships transport goods made in China to the U.S., where they will be sold. |
A pipeline can transport oil. A school bus transports children. Soldiers get their postings but then must wait for news of their transport. If you are in a hurry to get something to market, you might consider using air transport, though that's expensive. Transport is from Latin words meaning "carry across." |
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| 2712 |
contrary |
exact opposition |
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Use contrary when two things are exactly opposite or entirely different. If something is contrary to something else, it is opposed to or against it. |
A contrary child is one who opposes people in authority. As a noun, the contrary means the opposite, as in "We will not give up; on the contrary, we will fight with all our power." The adjective contrary derives from Latin contrarius "opposite, opposed," from contra "against." |
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| 2713 |
prohibit |
command against |
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If a sign says "Swimming Prohibited," don't go for a dip. It's not allowed. To prohibit is to forbid, or to disallow something. |
In school, you are prohibited from leaving the premises before the end of the school day. The school administration also prohibits smoking and chewing gum. In 1920, it became illegal to sell alcohol in the United States. This time period when alcohol was prohibited is known as the era of Prohibition. Famously Prohibition did not work. When you prohibit something, you often make it seem more appealing. |
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| 2714 |
reverse |
change to the contrary |
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To go in reverse, you back up. If you reverse your position, you suddenly take the opposite side of the argument. If you reverse your fortunes, your bad luck turns good, or your good luck turns bad. Oops. |
The Latin word revertere means “turn back.” To reverse means to turn back, take the opposite direction, go the other way. Many things can be reversed: you can reverse a decision, you can reverse a car — by putting it in the gear called "reverse." You can reverse a political argument, a promotion, even some surgical procedures, but you can never reverse the steady progress of time, no matter how many Botox injections you get. |
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| 2715 |
intervention |
care provided to improve a situation |
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An intervention is the act of inserting one thing between others, like a person trying to help. You could be the subject of a school intervention if your teachers call your parents about the bad grades you've been hiding. |
Intervention comes from the Latin intervenire, meaning "to come between, interrupt." Often an intervention is intended to make things better, like the US government's intervention to give food and aid to Haiti after the earthquake. One common use of the word refers to a specific type of meeting, or intervention, that happens with the family and friends of a drug addict; they join together to try to convince the drug user to change their ways and live a healthier life. |
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| 2716 |
priority |
status established in order of importance or urgency |
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When a group or a person cares about one thing over all others, that’s the top priority. “After the flood, finding a place to live became their first priority.” |
Priority comes from the word prior, which means to come before something else. A priority is the concern, interest or desire that comes before all others. “His first priority was to establish his career and get married later.” “When seeking the perfect wave, Jeff and Wayne made it their priority to be the first surfers on the beach.” "The new CEO's top priority was firing her predecessor's hires." |
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| 2717 |
suspend |
bar temporarily |
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You can use the verb suspend any time you need to stop something. Whether it’s your judgment, a rule, or bus service, when you suspend it, you temporarily bring it to a halt. |
Suspend often describes stopping an activity for a while. A winter storm, for example, may suspend air travel until weather conditions improve. Suspend also works in a more figurative sense, such as when you suspend your doubt in order to give someone or something a fair chance. A student who is suspended is temporarily forbidden from attending class. Don't confuse this with expel, which means he or she may never return. |
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| 2718 |
abandon |
forsake; leave behind |
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To abandon something is to give it up completely. If you’re in a cabin and a forest fire approaches, you’d better get in your car and abandon your cabin, or else be prepared to abandon your life. |
If you abandon something, you let it go, so when you describe someone as "acting with abandon," it means they have let go of restrictions or inhibitions. Maybe you like to dance with abandon in the privacy of your own room. But abandon could also mean people have abandoned their senses. To "drive with abandon," for example, means to drive recklessly. |
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| 2719 |
dramatic |
sensational in appearance or thrilling in effect |
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Dramatic means having to do with a play, as in “a dramatic production.” It also means striking or exaggerated. |
Half an hour of exercise a day can have a dramatic effect on your physical well being. If you burst into tears when you get a B on a paper and wail, “Now I’m never going to get into college,” you can be accused of being dramatic, which means you’re acting out your reaction, or overly dramatic, which means your reaction is over the top. |
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| 2720 |
accumulation |
several things grouped together or considered as a whole |
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An accumulation is a gathering or increase of something over time. You might cross your fingers in hopes of a large accumulation of snow, so that you get a day off of school. |
Accumulation comes from a Latin word meaning "to heap up." The word continues to have this feeling of something growing upwards on top of itself, as if in a heap. If you keep putting money in the bank, the amount you have is the accumulation of your savings. If it is an interest bearing account, the interest will accumulate, making the total even larger. |
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| 2721 |
isolation |
a state of separation between persons or groups |
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Isolation means completely alone, like the stranded skiers who were in total isolation after an avalanche stranded them at the top of a mountain. |
People who live in isolation are completely cut off from the rest of the world, like the hermit who lives in a lonely mountain cabin because no one understands his desire to collect thimbles. A really contagious illness can land patients in isolation at their local hospital, kept separate from the rest of the hospital so they don't share their disease with the other patients. A country can exist in isolation, left alone because other nations don't agree with its policies. |
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| 2722 |
confinement |
the act of keeping something within specified bounds |
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If you're dealing with confinement to a jail cell, or your classroom, or the broom closet, you're stuck there and you can't leave. Confinement means you're being held and you can't move freely. |
Confinement doesn't have to be punishment. If you've got a contagious disease, your doctor may recommend confinement to your hospital room. Puppies sometimes prefer confinement in a crate to sleeping in an open room. You may also come across an old-fashioned use of the word confinement, referring to a woman in childbirth, which goes back to when women retired to their rooms to give birth and recuperate. Confinement contains the Latin root finis, "end, limit” — confinement certainly is limiting. |
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| 2723 |
mental |
of or relating to the mind |
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The adjective mental describes anything having to do with the mind, just as "physical" has to do with the body. Mental has to do with the intellect, the mind, or the brain. |
There's a history of mental illness in that family, which is interesting because physically they're all so amazing. Makes you wonder why they did so well in one department but not the other. Some argue that standardized tests are no measure of your mental abilities. All they do is tell you how well you did on the test. That would be like testing your emotional depth based on how tightly you hug people. A person's mental gifts are difficult to measure. |
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| 2724 |
solitary |
single and isolated from others |
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If you're a lone wolf, a one-man band, a rugged individualist, or an island unto yourself, you prefer to be solitary — in other words, alone or single. The term can be used to describe a person, a place, or a thing. |
Solitary comes to us from the Latin solus, which means alone. Note its similarity to words like solo and, for all you card players out there, solitaire. You can take a solitary walk, during which you don't utter a solitary word, but pause to admire a solitary green shoot peeping through the snow. Solitary is also common in the prison world: Inmates on Alcatraz who were deemed too dangerous to mingle with their fellows were put in solitary confinement cells. |
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| 2725 |
decade |
a period of 10 years |
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She was so nervous to see her high school sweetheart at their reunion: it had been a decade (ten years) since she'd seen him at graduation, and she still got butterflies thinking about him. |
A decade is a period of ten years. Decade contains dec, which is used in words that have to do with tens. The Marty Paich Dectet was a band with ten players. A decahedron is a shape with ten faces. And the decimal system is based on the number ten. |
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| 2726 |
incompatible |
not in harmonious or agreeable combination |
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Use the adjective incompatible to describe things or people that are too different to get along. When paired with someone you can't work with, don't criticize or get mad. Just say, "We are incompatible." |
Put together the prefix in- and the suffix -ible and what do you get? "Not able." The center of incompatible comes from Latin, compati, or "suffer with." So think of incompatible as a way to describe something you simply are not able to suffer — there's too much conflict. Things can be incompatible just like people. Just try hooking up an incompatible piece of hardware to your computer — it won't work because it was designed for a different system. |
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| 2727 |
temporarily |
for a limited time only; not permanently |
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Temporarily describes something that happens for a limited amount of time. If you agree to watch your friend's dog temporarily, you'll be surprised if it turns out that your friend will be in France for at least two years. |
Temporarily is the adverbial form of "temporary," which comes from the Latin word tempus, meaning time. Something done temporarily is supposed to be concluded in a finite amount of time. If your car is temporarily out of commission, you expect that you will be able to fix it and get it back on the road. If you drop the word temporarily from that sentence, your car may be a goner. |
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| 2728 |
unify |
bring together for a common purpose or action |
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When you bring together unlike elements, you unify them. Political movements can unify people by inspiring them to work towards a shared goal. Likewise, a shared love of a team or band can unify people who otherwise don't have much in common. |
The verb unify comes from the Latin prefix uni-, “one,” and the root facere, “to make.” When you unify things, you make them one. Often squabbling people just need someone to point out their similarities in order to unify them. If your classmates are sabotaging each other to try to win the “best-decorated locker” award, you might be able to unify their efforts suggesting a “most awesome class” award instead. |
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| 2729 |
violation |
an act that disregards an agreement or a right |
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Anytime a person crosses a boundary — a legal boundary, a moral boundary, a physical boundary, or a binding business deal — that's a violation. When a burglar picks the lock on your door, that's a violation of your property. |
A violation can be a disrespectful act or the crossing of someone’s physical boundaries. When you're forced to shake hands with your boss's wife, the way her perfume stings your eyes might feel like a violation. Violation is often used to describe an action that disregards an agreement or a basic right, such as a violation of a global climate treaty or a human rights violation. |
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| 2730 |
derogatory |
expressive of low opinion |
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Something that's derogatory is insulting or disrespectful. If you make derogatory comments, that means you say things that are unflattering, unkind, or demeaning. |
Derogatory means about the same as insulting. Derogatory language is meant to hurt, and it usually does. If you feel offended or insulted by what someone says, the person probably said something derogatory. Racial, sexist, and homophobic slurs are all derogatory. Insults that mean someone is stupid or crazy are derogatory. Making a joke about someone's mother is derogatory. |
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| 2731 |
slur |
a disparaging remark |
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A slur is an insulting remark. In a political campaign, it’s not unheard of for a candidate to launch a slur at her opponent, though doing so is usually frowned upon. |
Slur can also be used as a verb meaning “to insult,” and it has a number of additional meanings as well. To slur one’s speech is to pronounce words in a clumsy, lazy way. In the context of music, to slur is to slide smoothly from one note to another. The word history of slur is hazy, but some scholars have suggested a relationship with a Dutch word meaning "to drag." |
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| 2732 |
stigmatize |
to condemn or openly or formally or brand as disgraceful |
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If you stigmatize someone, you have given that person a label — and it's usually a label that is limiting in some way. |
In Ancient Greece, a stigma was a brand burned into a slave or a criminal's skin to symbolize disgrace. In the 1500s, the word stigmatize meant literally "to brand or tattoo." Nowadays, to stigmatize is to shame or brand a person in a more symbolic way. |
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| 2733 |
enormous |
extraordinarily large in size or extent or degree |
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When something is very, very, VERY big, it can be called enormous. “Good heavens, that pimple on your cheek is absolutely enormous; it covers half your face!” |
The word enormous contains within it, if you look closely, the root norm, as in normal. So what you’re saying when you call something enormous is that it’s beyond what is normal; you’re trying to convey a sense of exaggerated difference. You may also have heard the word ginormous, which people try to use as enormous with a dramatic flair. But, trust us: ginormous is not a good word; it’s just a blend of two words — gigantic and enormous. |
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| 2734 |
integrity |
moral soundness |
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Integrity is a personal quality of fairness that we all aspire to — unless you're a dishonest, immoral scoundrel, of course. |
Having integrity means doing the right thing in a reliable way. It's a personality trait that we admire, since it means a person has a moral compass that doesn't waver. It literally means having "wholeness" of character, just as an integer is a "whole number" with no fractions. Physical objects can display integrity, too — if you're going over a rickety old bridge that sways in the wind, you might question its structural integrity. |
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| 2735 |
reluctant |
unwilling to do something contrary to your custom |
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If the adjective reluctant applies to you, it means that you are undergoing some inner struggle and are unwilling or unable to decide. |
The word reluctant comes from the Latin reluctantem, which means "to struggle against." These days reluctant means “unwilling.” If you’re reluctant to dance to a terrible song, you’re unwilling to shake your booty, and you might even have to struggle against your friends who try to get you on the dance floor. You might offer them a reluctant smile instead (and hope it doesn’t look like a grimace). |
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| 2736 |
compensation |
something given or received as payment or reparation |
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Compensation means "making up for a something." When a restaurant offers you a free dessert as compensation for messing up your dinner order, the hope is you will leave happy and come back again. |
Compensation can also be money, a payment meant to give someone a fair exchange for their effort and output. In fact, the word comes from the Latin word compensat-, meaning "weighed against." If you receive fair compensation for your work, the money is equal to your time and effort. In other words, the scale is balanced. |
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| 2737 |
fund |
a reserve of money set aside for some purpose |
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A fund is a supply of money to be used for a specific purpose. You can start a fund for almost anything, such as your child’s education, a new car, or the establishment of the world’s largest origami collection. |
Fund can be used as a verb meaning “provide funds for something.” If you’re unable to save up the money to start your origami collection, you might ask a friend to fund it. (We predict she’ll say no.) An organization that raises money for a particular, often charitable, purpose can also be called a fund. We doubt an origami collection warrants its own fund, but there's no harm in trying. |
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| 2738 |
recover |
get or find back |
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To recover something is to get it back. After you lose your watch, you might recover it from the wastebasket. |
The re- in recover is a clue that this word has "again" as part of its meaning. We can only recover things that we had before. Often, this word applies to health. Someone who is sick needs to recover — when they're totally recovered, they're all better. If the stock market crashes, it needs to recover — this happens when the market is healthier and money is flowing again. It's good to recover, but it means something bad happened in the first place. |
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| 2739 |
candidate |
someone who is considered for something |
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A candidate is someone running for political office — or anyone being considered for a position or opportunity of some sort. |
When you hear about candidates, it's usually in discussions of politics. People are always wondering, "Who will be the candidates in the next Presidential election?" Every President, and every office-holder, was once a candidate. When you're a candidate, you raise money, hold rallies, make campaign promises, and do everything you can to win. You can also say someone is a candidate for a job, prize, and other things. Someone could jokingly say, "He's a candidate to be my next husband." |
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| 2740 |
ethics |
motivation based on ideas of right and wrong |
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When discussing a code of morals, choose the noun ethics. You might call a politician who uses taxpayer money for wild parties a little "ethics-challenged." |
Ethics can mean the study of morality — what's right and wrong. When discussing this branch of philosophy, treat the word as singular, despite the "-s": "Ethics is no longer widely taught." But in the sense of "moral correctness" or "a moral code," treat it as plural: "The ethics of capital punishment are complex." Don't confuse it with ethos, which means "the characteristic spirit of a culture." (Both words come from Greek ethos, "moral character.") |
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| 2741 |
display |
show; make visible or apparent |
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When you display something, you show everyone. If you run up to someone in the street, throw your arms around her, and plant a big kiss on her face, you're displaying your affection for all the world to see. |
Besides public displays of emotion, a display can also be common and lifeless. Department store windows often have elaborate displays of the latest fashions, and your computer screen can also be called a display. If you’re especially proud of your butterfly collection, you can put it on display in your office. When showing off for the ladies, peacocks fan out their colorful tail feathers, and that, too, is called a display — a word for male animal courtship behavior. |
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| 2742 |
accountable |
responsible for one's actions |
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If you're responsible for your own actions, you are accountable for them. You are accountable for your behavior in school. So even if your friend throws pudding at you at lunch, you don't have the right to fling mystery meat back. |
Accountable comes from the word "account," which is itself from the Old French word acont, meaning to count (as in money). While you can be accountable for monetary damages, you're most likely to be held accountable for your actions and behavior, and the actions of your children and pets. If your dog bites another dog, you may be accountable for any vet bills incurred by the other dog's owner. |
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| 2743 |
inappropriate |
not suitable for a particular occasion or use |
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The word "appropriate" means correct or proper and since the little prefix "in" turns its meaning around, something inappropriate is considered not proper or suitable. |
Nowadays, it seems, anything goes. Yet good manners and standards prevail, and some things are simply inappropriate — such as taking a toddler to a violent movie, or making jokes at someone else's expense. You wouldn't show your future father-in-law naked pictures of his daughter or wear a bathing suit to a state dinner. Those actions are simply inappropriate. |
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| 2744 |
assault |
attack someone physically or emotionally |
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An assault is an attack. Getting punched, yelled at, or bombed are all types of assault. |
To assault is to attack or bombard someone in some way. Fighter planes can make an aerial assault, while ground troops make a ground assault. Verbal assault consists of insults, swearing, or threats. A strong criticism, like a negative review in the newspaper, is a written assault. Physical assault can range from getting pushed to getting shot. You could even say "That music is so loud it's assaulting my ear drums!" |
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| 2745 |
abuse |
treat badly |
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If you abuse someone, it means you are hurting that person, mentally, emotionally, or physically. If someone else is harming you, you are yourself suffering from abuse. |
The word abuse is made up of two parts — "use," which means to employ, and ab-, a Latin prefix meaning "away" — and as a whole comes from the Latin abūsus, meaning "misuse," or "use wrongly." It began as a verb and became a noun in the mid-15th century. Abuse also refers to anything that is employed improperly or to excess, such as the abuse of alcohol or drugs. |
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| 2746 |
trigger |
put in motion or move to act |
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A trigger is a metal lever that when pulled discharges a gun. You shoot the gun by pulling the trigger. Trigger can also mean the start of a process––violent protests might trigger a revolution. |
Certain scents, places, or old love songs can be said to trigger, or activate, memories. If you get weepy when you hear the national anthem, that may be because it triggers thoughts of family, home, baseball and the Fourth of July. For someone in frail health, a seemingly minor problem like getting a common cold, might trigger a series of physical responses that end up landing them in the hospital. |
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| 2747 |
distort |
make false by mutilation or addition |
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Distort means to twist out of shape. When you look at a tree through a twisting kaleidoscope, you distort its image, making its branches and leaves look wavy and misshapen. |
Distort is a verb that means to change the shape of something. You can distort pretzel dough by twisting it into the shape of an "S" instead of a normal pretzel shape. You can also distort, or change, the meaning of something. When one distorts the truth, it might not be an out-and-out lie; it could just be an exaggeration — like telling your pals you caught a six-foot tuna when you actually landed a six-inch minnow. |
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| 2748 |
physical |
involving the body as distinguished from the mind or spirit |
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When something is physical it's really there. You can see it, touch it, taste it, hear it, or smell it. The physical world is all of the stuff around you. |
When your doctor performs a physical, he or she is checking out your physical self. They're probably going to take your temperature, draw blood and listen to your heart and lungs. You may be asked a mental health question or two, but they're not going to ask you how you feel about God or what the meaning of life is. In physical education, you do physical activity. You move your body to make it healthier. |
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| 2749 |
equation |
a mathematical statement that two expressions are the same |
Which of the following equations can be used to represent this information? |
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In an equation, the quantities on both sides of the equal sign are equal. That's the mathematical meaning of equation, but equation can also be used in any number of situations, challenges, or efforts to solve a problem. |
The "equa" at the beginning of equation will be familiar from other words such as "equal," "equality," and "equate." All of these words have to do with making things balance out. An equation is a statement of the equality of two quantities. If that equation is not a mathematical one but rather, say, an interpersonal one, it's still a situation in which you might try to make the two sides equal. For example, taking marriage out of the equation might make it easier for two people to decide to stay together for a while. |
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| 2750 |
simplify |
make easier or reduce in complexity or extent |
Charlie needs to simplify the expression below before he substitutes the values for x and y. |
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To simplify something is to make it less complex and easier to understand. When you simplify, you make things clearer. |
Since simple things have less parts or complexity, when you simplify, you're eliminating the clutter and reducing something to its essence. For example, if a speech is long and confusing, the person giving it might need to simplify their ideas: make them clearer. Teachers are good at simplifying; they take complex ideas and make them easier for students to understand. If you don't understand what someone is telling you, ask them to simplify it. |
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| 2751 |
slope |
be at an angle |
What is the slope of the line defined by the equation 8x plus 2y equals 5? |
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If you find yourself on a slippery slope, watch out: you could be sliding down a hill. Land that is not level is called a slope. Slope can also be a verb, as in land that slopes down to sea level. |
Language experts believe the word slope came from the Middle English word aslope, an adverb that means “at an angle.” The word has a noun form you can use for something that is at an angle — on a slope — like a steep hill or the ramp in a parking garage. It also has a verb form that can be used to describe something that slants, like someone's signature with letters that slope to the left or an angled haircut that slopes to cover one eye. |
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| 2752 |
diplomatic |
relating to negotiation between nations |
The photograph below shows President Richard Nixon on a 1972 overseas diplomatic trip. |
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If you have the ability to say the right thing when two friends are fighting, making both sides happy, you are diplomatic. You have tact. You are a peacemaker. |
You can be diplomatic in your personal life if you’re polite, easy to get along with, and able to deliver bad news in a kind way. You can also be professionally diplomatic — diplomats are important members of the U.S. State Department. Diplomats keep the peace and maintain good relationships with other countries, even as they try to get other countries to see and do things our way. That's why keeping the peace in smaller ways is also called diplomatic. |
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| 2753 |
primarily |
for the most part |
Which condition in society was primarily responsible for the change in urban population? |
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Primarily means "for the most part." If in the summer, you primarily work at a restaurant, this is the thing you do most, though you also might hang out with friends, exercise, and read books. |
You can use the adverb primarily any time you'd use the word "mainly" — today, many people rely primarily on the Internet to get their news. This doesn't mean they never read newspapers or watch television news, but most of the time, they learn about current events online. The Latin root of primarily is primus, which means first — most important, most likely, or what you choose before anything else. |
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| 2754 |
urban |
relating to a city or densely populated area |
Which condition in society was primarily responsible for the change in urban population? |
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Use the adjective urban to refer to cities or people who live in cities. It carries a suggestion of grittiness––urban style involves darker colors. |
The terms city and town are sometimes used inconsistently. If it is large enough, a town is considered to be an urban area. Communities where people live outside cities are called suburban. Urban is from a Latin adjective formed from urbs "city." |
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| 2755 |
prevalence |
the quality of being widespread |
Which condition in society was primarily responsible for the change in urban population? A possible answer: Prevalence of racial equality in Northern cities. |
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Prevalence means there is a lot of something. If you get a bad grade on a paper for having a prevalence of typos, you need to proofread your work more carefully. |
The word prevalence comes from the Latin praevalere, meaning "condition of being widespread or general." The word is often used to describe a phenomenon that is widespread in a community, like the prevalence of a disease across a country. Prevalence is another word for "commonness." If there's a prevalence of thefts in your neighborhood, that means the likelihood of your house getting robbed is pretty high. |
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| 2756 |
neutrality |
nonparticipation in a dispute or war |
How did this event contribute to the United States' entry into World War I? A possible answer: It became difficult for President Wilson to defend a policy of neutrality. |
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If you refuse to take sides in an argument over whether Batman or Superman is the greatest superhero, then you are practicing neutrality. Whether you admire both equally or you simply don’t care, you are a neutral party. |
Neutrality can be used broadly to describe individuals or organizations in relationship to any kind of dispute, but it most often refers to countries that don’t engage in war. For example, Sweden has a long and famous tradition of neutrality, as it has not gone to war since 1814. Referees for sporting events are also supposed to work from a position of neutrality — that is, they should never favor one team over another. |
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| 2757 |
immigration |
movement of persons into a place |
With which social issue is this cartoon associated? A possible answer: The influence of immigration quotas during the Gilded Age. |
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Immigration is the process of moving to a new country to stay. New York's Ellis Island was considered a gateway for European immigration to the United States during the early 1900's. Nowadays, people immigrate through airports instead of islands. |
The word migration is in immigration, which is something we think of birds doing when they fly South for the winter. It's not an accident — if American birds had little passports, they'd have to go through immigration when they got to Mexico. When humans immigrate, they have to follow the rules of the new country or else they risk getting in trouble. Immigration is the act of going to a new country, while emigration refers to the process of leaving one. |
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| 2758 |
quota |
a prescribed number |
With which social issue is this cartoon associated? A possible answer: The influence of immigration quotas during the Gilded Age. |
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A quota is a specific number of things. If a quota is placed on the total number of apples each visitor can pick at an orchard, it means that once you've picked a certain number of apples, you have to stop. |
Usually a quota places an upper limit on the total number or amount of some item. There are quotas placed on all kinds of things, like immigrants entering a country, goods exported, or students admitted to a particular school. Quota comes from the Latin phrase quota pars, or "how large a part". |
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| 2759 |
trade |
the commercial exchange of goods and services |
How has the relationship between oil reserves, production, and consumption influenced United States foreign policy? A possible answer: The United States is committed to trade relations with Central Asian countries. |
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When Bobby has peanut butter but wants bologna and Billy has bologna but wants peanut butter––they can make a trade. Trade also means a set of job skills––to learn a trade means to train for a certain job. |
The concept of trading––or bartering––forms the basis of modern civilization––it brings along division of labor, literacy, urbanization. Thinking in those terms you can see how tradespeople––those trained in trades end up essentially trading their services, with money being introduced when the barter system breaks down or becomes too complex. |
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| 2760 |
political |
involving or characteristic of governing or social power |
The diagram below shows that the colonists formed some of their political views from some historical documents. |
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Things that are political have to do with government, elections, and how society is run. Congress, state representatives, even county council members are all part of our political system. |
The Republicans and Democrats are the two main political parties in America — they support political candidates that run for office. The major things that politicians discuss, like balancing the budget, raising taxes, and immigration laws, are political issues. But if someone gets a promotion just because they're friends with the boss, you'd also say it was totally political. In other words, they got ahead because of their connections rather than their qualifications, just like a lot of politicians. |
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| 2761 |
federal |
of a government with central and regional authorities |
How did the U.S. Constitution solve a problem created by the Articles of Confederation? A possible answer: It prevented the amendment of federal laws. |
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Federal refers to the national government. The voting age is determined by the federal government while the driving age is decided on a state by state basis. |
Before the Constitution was ratified, the United States was a loose confederation of states, with no real federal government. The Constitution created a stronger federal government but to this day, there is a conflict between those who want power to go to the states and those who support federal control. States don't seem to mind federal subsidies though. |
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| 2762 |
obligated |
caused by law or conscience to follow a certain course |
Why are citizens obligated to respond to such documents? |
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It could be going to a baby shower, buying someone lunch, or turning in your research paper by Tuesday. If you have to do it — even if you'd rather not — then you’re obligated. |
Obligated can mean that you have to do something because the law or the rules say that you do. For example, you’re obligated to pay your taxes by April 15. It can also mean that you just feel like you need to do something because it’s the right thing to do or because you feel like you owe someone. You’re obligated to go to your best friend’s birthday party, even though you’d rather be out with your new boyfriend. |
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| 2763 |
minority |
a group of people who differ from a larger group |
What has been one long-term result of the constitutional protection of free speech? A possible answer: Fewer laws limiting minority rights. |
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If you have eight pennies and twelve dimes, the minority of your coins are pennies. The word minority is often used to describe people when their race or religion is shared by less than half of a nation. |
If you have red hair, you are in the minority as most people have blonde or brown hair. Because white people of European descent make up the majority of the population in the U.S., pundits refer to the minority vote when they talk about the political candidates that non-whites prefer in political elections. Majority is the opposite of minority. |
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| 2764 |
biased |
favoring one person or side over another |
Which type of communication is shown in this poster? A possible answer: Biased. |
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When a skirt is cut at an angle, with one side higher than the other, it has a bias cut. Being biased is kind of lopsided too: a biased person favors one side or issue over another. |
While biased can just mean having a preference for one thing over another, it also is synonymous with "prejudiced," and that prejudice can be taken to the extreme. Sometimes a person is so biased, or is leaning so far in one direction, that it's hard to see the other position, creating unfairness in an argument or decision. Often, though, it's used more lightly: "My mom makes the best brownies in the world, but I might be a little biased." |
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| 2765 |
monarchy |
autocracy governed by a ruler who usually inherits authority |
What do an absolute monarchy and an autocracy have in common? |
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A monarchy is a country that is ruled by a monarch, and monarchy is this system or form of government. |
A monarch, such as a king or queen, rules a kingdom or empire. In a constitutional monarchy, the monarch's power is limited by a constitution. But in an absolute monarchy, the monarch has unlimited power. Monarchy is an old form of government, and the word has been around a long time. It derives from Greek monarkhiā, from monarkhos "monarch." |
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| 2766 |
amendment |
a statement that is added to a proposal or document |
How did the U.S. Constitution solve a problem created by the Articles of Confederation? A possible answer: It prevented the amendment of federal laws. |
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An amendment is a change made to an original (usually a document or statement). It's meant to improve the original, but one could say the 21st Amendment (prohibition) did more to make Al Capone rich than to make Americans teetotalers. |
Can you spot the word amend, meaning "to make better" or "to cure of faults and errors" hidden in amendment? If so, you'll grasp the notion that an amendment is something intended to improve whatever preceded it. It pops up most often in formal legal contexts, where it refers to a written change to a bill, law, contract, or the U.S. Constitution. |
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| 2767 |
legislative |
relating to a lawmaking assembly |
What do an absolute monarchy and an autocracy have in common? A possible answer: A single legislative house. |
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Legislative is an adjective that describes the act or process of passing laws. Congress is the legislative branch of the United States government. They're the ones who can pass bills, which the president can sign into law or veto. |
A legislator is someone charged with creating and passing new laws in the legislature. All of these words come from the same root words — lex and legis (meaning "law") and lator (meaning "proposer"). So a legislator is literally a proposer of law, and their actions are legislative in nature. If you are interested in the legislative process, you might consider going to law school and running for office. Or you might just enjoy a movie about politics instead. |
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| 2768 |
ecosystem |
organisms interacting with their physical environment |
Which of the following best explains the difference in the amount of available energy in the trophic levels of the desert ecosystem? |
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An ecosystem is all the living things, from plants and animals to microscopic organisms, that share an environment. Everything in an ecosystem has an important role. Well, almost everything. |
The term ecosystem was coined in 1935, though ecosystems have been around as long as living things. Eco is a spin-off from the word ecology and describes anything having to do with the environment and our relation to it. You've probably heard of related terms like eco-friendly and eco-warrior. And system comes from the Greek word systema or "organized body, whole." |
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| 2769 |
organism |
a living thing that can act or function independently |
There is more available energy in the birds of prey because they have greater muscle mass for storing energy than organisms in lower trophic levels have. |
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An organism is a living thing that can function on its own. That includes your pet guppy, the tree in your backyard, and — of course — you. |
While the word organism typically indicates an actual living thing, you can also use organism to refer to anything that acts or functions like a living thing. For example, the social scene at a high school might be described as "a social organism" because it seems to have a mind of its own — like a living thing or even a vicious animal, depending on where one falls on the popularity scale. |
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| 2770 |
metabolism |
the organic processes that are necessary for life |
There is less available energy in the fourth trophic level because of the loss of energy through metabolism in each of the lower trophic levels. |
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Your metabolism is the result of all the processes in your body working together to create the energy that keeps you going. |
Your metabolism is the rate at which your body's many processes function, and it can be low, high, or somewhere in the middle. When you're younger, your high metabolism makes it easy to lose weight but as you get older your metabolism slows down and you might put on a few pounds. Exercising speeds up your metabolism. This word also refers to the sudden transformation of a larva into an adult in some animals. |
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| 2771 |
solvent |
capable of meeting financial obligations |
Which of the following properties of water enable it to move from the roots to the leaves of plants? A possible answer: Water is an excellent solvent. |
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Solvent’s meaning changes pretty drastically depending on its part of speech. As a noun, solvent is either a certain kind of chemical or an idea that solves a problem. As an adjective, solvent describes someone who's got cash on hand. |
A solvent dissolves other chemicals, which is why it's also easy to remember: solvent is a chemical used to dissolve other chemicals. The adjective solvent, on the other hand, comes from a French verb that means "loosen." In these tough economic times, only those banks that are solvent are in a position to loosen the cash flow and start lending money. No cash? You're not solvent. |
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| 2772 |
osmosis |
diffusion of molecules through a semipermeable membrane |
An osmosis investigation was conducted using chicken eggs to represent cells with semipermeable membranes. |
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Osmosis is the scientific process of transferring fluid between molecules. When molecules move in and out of a cell to achieve the same concentration of something, like salt, on both sides, then osmosis is happening. |
Osmos means "thrusting or pushing," and the scientific process of osmosis happens when fluid in a super-concentrated area thrusts through little holes in the cell's wall and heads for a less concentrated place. The fluid might go back and forth a few times until both solutions are equally concentrated. We also use osmosis outside of science to mean "subtle, gradual absorption of information." Fall asleep to enough Western movies, and by osmosis, you will eventually become a real cowboy. |
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| 2773 |
membrane |
a sheet of tissue that lines or connects organs or cells |
An osmosis investigation was conducted using chicken eggs to represent cells with semipermeable membranes. |
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A membrane is a thin layer of something. For an example of a membrane, you don’t have to look far: your skin is a kind of membrane. |
Membranes are thin and flexible, but usually still strong enough to protect what’s inside or underneath them. Biologists often study membranes, such as those that surround your cells and organs. There are also membranes that don’t have anything to do with biology. A high-tech jacket might have a waterproof membrane to keep you dry in the rain. |
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| 2774 |
investigation |
an inquiry into unfamiliar or questionable activities |
The table below shows the results of the investigation. |
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If something has gone missing, conduct an investigation to find it. To do this, seek out details associated with its disappearance, asking questions and gathering evidence in order to find out what happened to it. |
If you watch a lot of detective shows, it won’t surprise you to learn that the noun investigation traces back to the Latin words in-, meaning “into,” and vestigium, meaning “footprint, track.” An investigation may not always involve people looking for footprints at a crime scene, but that methodical gathering of details and other evidence associated with a crime or wrongdoing is at the heart of any investigation. |
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| 2775 |
experiment |
the act of conducting a controlled test or investigation |
Based on this experiment, which of the following should be inferred about cells with semipermeable membranes? |
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If you see your science-loving neighbor headed home with a power cord, a handful of test tubes, a stopwatch, and a bag of potatoes, there’s probably no need to be alarmed. There’s a good chance he’s only conducting an experiment, a scientific test conducted under controlled conditions. |
To refer to a scientific test, use the noun experiment. If you want to describe the work done in conducting such a test, experiment will do the trick as well, since it can also act as a verb, as in "scientists experiment with helium." You can also use it more generally to describe trying a new method or idea. For example, you could experiment with a new hairstyle or different routes to get to school or work. |
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| 2776 |
probability |
a measure of how likely it is that some event will occur |
Which of the following describes the probability of hemophilia in the offspring of a man who does not have hemophilia and a woman who is a heterozygous carrier? |
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Probability has to do with how likely something is to happen. If there's a 50/50 chance, then the probability is 50%. |
Probability is a part of math involving percentages and chance. The probability of a thing happening is the same as the odds or chances of something happening. When you watch a weather forecast, it might say there's a 30% chance of showers; that's probability. Gambling — on sports or something else — is also based on probability. Since most things in life are uncertain, it's helpful to know if the probability is high or low for things you want to do or try. |
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| 2777 |
mineral |
relating to solid homogeneous inorganic substances |
What is a primary function of the cell membrane? A possible answer: Generating energy from mineral nutrients. |
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A mineral is a nonliving natural substance of a definite chemical composition. A mineral like manganese may help keep you healthy; a mineral like a diamond may help keep you sparkly. |
At one time mineral referred to valuable substances obtained in mines. Although that still can be the case, today the word has several senses (both noun and adjective) and may be found almost anywhere — in the ground, in the air, or on the periodic table. And if you remember mineral when you remember animal and vegetable, you’ve got a better chance of winning Twenty Questions. |
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| 2778 |
nutrient |
any substance that can be metabolized to give energy |
What is a primary function of the cell membrane? A possible answer: Generating energy from mineral nutrients. |
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A nutrient is anything that nourishes a living being. We humans get our nutrients from what we eat, plants get theirs from the soil. While the best nutrients are natural, we can also get them from vitamins in a bottle. |
The words nutrient and nourish both come from the Latin word nūtrīre, "to feed, nurse, support, preserve." Although usually used as a noun, the word nutrient started out in 1650 as an adjective meaning "providing nourishment." It's important to your health to get the proper nutrients, so the food pyramid was developed by nutritionists to show you the balance of foods you need each day. |
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| 2779 |
photosynthesis |
synthesis of compounds in plants aided by radiant energy |
The diagram below shows the relationship between photosynthesis and cellular respiration and the organelles in which they occur. |
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Plants absorb sunlight and turn that energy into food; the process is known as photosynthesis. |
This is a compound word made up of photo (which means "light") and synthesis (which means "to put together"). Think of a synthesizer, which puts together different sounds to produce music. A plant uses light to put together chemical compounds and turn them into carbohydrates: food. Although the word can be used to describe any process that uses light to connect compounds, the word is almost always used to describe a plant's method of making food. |
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| 2780 |
respiration |
process converting nutrients into energy in a cell |
The diagram below shows the relationship between photosynthesis and cellular respiration and the organelles in which they occur. |
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Respiration is the act of breathing. You wear a ventilator if you need help with your respiration. |
Everyone who breathes has the power of respiration. There is, however, another type of respiration which occurs in cells. This is the process of taking in certain substances and putting out others that a cell undergoes to produces energy. One single breath, the inhale and the exhale together, is also called a respiration. |
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| 2781 |
organelle |
a specialized part of a cell; analogous to an organ |
The diagram below shows the relationship between photosynthesis and cellular respiration and the organelles in which they occur. |
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An organelle is one small part of a cell that has a very specific function or job. The nucleus itself is an organelle. |
The different parts of a cell, especially the ones that are separated from the rest of the cell by a membrane, are known as organelles. Chloroplast, which converts sunlight to energy, in an important organelle in plants, and mitochondria, which create energy from the breakdown of sugars, is a vital organelle in most organisms, including humans. Organelle is a diminutive of organ, from the idea that just as organs support the body, organelles support the individual cell. |
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| 2782 |
enzyme |
a complex protein produced by cells that acts as a catalyst |
HCl converts pepsinogen into pepsin, an enzyme that digests proteins in the stomach. |
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An important element in human chemistry, an enzyme is a protein manufactured by a cell, and is a catalyst in various biological functions. For example, enzymes help break down larger molecules of starch, fat, and protein during digestion. |
The word enzyme was coined by a German physiologist in the late 1800's to name a digestive process that scientists had been observing. The word was later given to the actual agents discovered to spark the reactions, taken from the Greek énzymos, which meant "leavened." (Leavening makes bread rise.) Remember that the word enzyme is spelled with a y and not an i, which makes sense, since when scientists observe chemical processes, they often ask "why?" |
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| 2783 |
gene |
part of DNA controlling physical characteristics and growth |
Genes for medically important proteins can be cloned and inserted into bacteria, as shown in the diagram below. |
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Microscopic, yet powerful, a gene is segment of DNA, the molecule that stores the code for building living bodies. |
A gene is a single unit of genetic information, stored on twisting strands in every cell of every living being. In sexual reproduction, the parents' genes mix together to make the child. Although people would like to think that genes code for discrete traits, like friendliness or mathematical genius, that's not the case. Genes control the color of your eyes and the shape of your toes, not your weird personality. |
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| 2784 |
protein |
an organic compound essential to living cells |
Genes for medically important proteins can be cloned and inserted into bacteria, as shown in the diagram below. |
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Protein makes up your nails, your hair, and the egg on your plate. This nitrogenous substance we call protein consists of chains of amino acids and is necessary for life functions. |
The linguistic origins of protein — from the Greek proteios, meaning “first place” or “primary” — are fitting for a substance that is one of life’s chief components. Although protein is a word often heard in labs and biology classes, it has everyday context too, particularly in the kitchen. Protein-rich foods like eggs, cheese, meats, peanuts or beans are an essential part of good nutrition. |
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| 2785 |
bacteria |
single-celled organisms that can cause disease |
Genes for medically important proteins can be cloned and inserted into bacteria, as shown in the diagram below. |
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Bacteria are microscopic living organisms, usually one-celled, that can be found everywhere. They can be dangerous, such as when they cause infection, or beneficial, as in the process of fermentation (such as in wine) and that of decomposition. |
In 1676, Anton Van Leeuwenhoek first observed bacteria through a microscope and called them “animalcules.” In 1838, the German Naturalist Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg called them bacteria, from the Greek baktḗria, meaning "little stick." An apt word, as the first observed bacteria were shaped like rods, although bacteria can also be spiral or spherical in shape. A grammar note: The word bacteria is the plural form of "bacterium" and so should be written as plural, as in "Many bacteria are harmless." |
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| 2786 |
chromosome |
a threadlike strand of DNA that carries genes |
Why can bacteria recognize a human gene and then produce a human protein? A possible answer: Bacterial cells and human cells contain the same kind of chromosomes. |
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A chromosome is a strand of DNA that is encoded with genes. In most cells, humans have 22 pairs of these chromosomes plus the two sex chromosomes (XX in females and XY in males) for a total of 46. |
The word chromosome was originally coined in German from the Greek words khroma, meaning color, and soma meaning body. In the late 1800s, a scientist, Wilhelm von Waldeyer-Hartz, gave chromosomes their name because chromosomes easily accept dye and take on patterns of light and dark when exposed to different stains that help identify the different chromosomes. |
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| 2787 |
energy |
a healthy capacity for vigorous activity |
The energy pyramid shown below depicts the feeding patterns the ecologists observed. |
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The general meaning of energy is the ability to be active. If you have a lot of energy, it means you like to be active. If you plan a low-energy day, it means a day of lounging around. |
Energy is from Greek energeia "activity, operation," from energos "active, effective," from en "in" plus ergon "work." Specialized senses of the word energy include the power that comes from sources such as heat or electricity, and the ability of sources such as heat or light to do work. In physics, an erg is the centimeter-gram-second unit used to measure the amount of energy or the amount of work done. |
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| 2788 |
remaining |
not used up |
And that’s with four of the seven declaring they had sent none, and two of the remaining three sending all of two texts each. |
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If you have ten words left to study for a test, you have ten words remaining, or ten remaining words. Remaining means what's left or what hasn't been done yet. |
In a basketball game, you'll often hear an announcer mention how many minutes are remaining in the quarter or the game. If you have two remaining grandparents, it means two of your grandparents have died and two remain alive. The money you have in your wallet is what's remaining from your allowance. Do you have any remaining questions? |
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| 2789 |
organized |
formed into a structured or coherent whole |
An enormous line of more than 200 voters will be organized alphabetically. |
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If something’s organized, it’s arranged in a systematic, orderly way. If you’ve got a zillion baseball cards, keeping them organized is a good idea, so you can find Hank Aaron when you need him. |
If you're an organized person, you keep your desk clean, your house is neat, and you keep track what you need to accomplish and when. If you're a member of the circus workers' union, you're part of the organized labor movement. You and your fellow clowns can benefit from the fact that organized workers can bargain for higher wages as a group, and that generally works better than if you try to negotiate on your own. Even if you’re funny. |
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| 2790 |
grammatical |
of or pertaining to the rules that structure language |
Writers of real grammars do not class mere spelling mistakes as grammatical errors. |
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If your know-it-all friend advises you not to say, "Me and John went...," she is giving you grammatical advice. In other words, she's correcting your terrible grammar. (BTW, it should be "John and I...") |
The adjective grammatical comes up most often in English classes, since it describes anything having to do with parts of speech, syntax, and other elements of a well-written sentence. The Latin root word is grammaticalis, meaning "of a scholar," which in turn comes from the word grammaticus, "pertaining to grammar." If you're an authority on the English language, you can feel free to describe yourself as a grammatical scholar. |
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| 2791 |
satisfied |
filled with contentment |
But after the first round of the search, the commissioners decided they were not satisfied with the choices presented and extended the hunt. |
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If you’re satisfied, you’re contented, and you don’t need anything more. You're not overjoyed, but you're not complaining either. |
When something is satisfied, the requirements have been met and nothing more needs to be done. When you pay back the money you owe on a loan, you have satisfied the debt. If you just had a delicious meal, your hunger is probably satisfied. If you’re an outlaw cowboy and your partner double crosses you, you won’t be satisfied until you’ve run him out of town. |
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| 2792 |
caution |
judiciousness in avoiding harm or danger |
But it would be just as dangerous to ignore history’s cautions unless one is bent on repeating its follies. |
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If you act with caution, it means you are careful. Be sure to use caution when walking across a patch of ice. Otherwise, you might end up sprawling face-first on the ground. Ouch! |
The noun caution can be used to describe something that calls for careful action and the need to avoid risk, such as a volatile political situation that requires extreme caution. The word also has a verb form with a similar meaning. It’s a more formal way of saying “warn” and usually appears with against or that, as in, "Teachers caution against waiting until the last minute to study," or, "They caution that effective studying takes a long time." |
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| 2793 |
necessarily |
in such a manner as could not be otherwise |
This conversation can be very simple, although that doesn’t necessarily mean easy. |
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Use the adverb necessarily to mean inevitably. The best man won't necessarily have to speak at the wedding reception, but he should probably have a speech ready just in case. |
Necessarily also means as a logical result or consequence of some action. Your English composition grade is necessarily based on the work you turn in for the class. If you write fairly well, you won't necessarily get an A, but you just might. Necessarily is made up of the Latin roots ne, meaning not, and cedere, meaning yield. The adjective "necessary," from which necessarily comes, originally meant no backing away. |
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| 2794 |
situation |
a condition or position in which you find yourself |
“In a situation like that, what can a parent do?” said Julia, the pain raw in her voice. |
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Situation is related to the verb "situate," which means to place. A building might be situated on the top of a hill — that's its position or situation. |
You've probably heard the term "sitcom," but may not realize it is short for "situation comedy," or a comedy where the humor is based on a set of quirky circumstances the characters find themselves placed in. A situation can also mean a set of circumstances that you find yourself placed in: holding both halves of a crazy aunt's broken vase could be a sticky situation — perfect for a situation comedy. |
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| 2795 |
undermine |
weaken or impair, especially gradually |
“Such rhetoric undermines who we are as a country and the example we set for the rest of the world,” she said. |
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To undermine literally means to dig a hole underneath something, making it likely to collapse. But we more often use the word to describe sabotage or the act of weakening someone else's efforts. |
Originally spelled with a ‘y’ instead of an ‘i’, undermine has Germanic roots and means to weaken, hinder, or impair. Accidentally undermine the foundation of a house by digging a tunnel to China beneath it and you might be forgiven. Undermine your teacher’s authority by speaking out of turn and throwing spitballs and odds are you’ll get in trouble. |
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| 2796 |
mention |
make reference to |
In fact, “The Encyclopedia of New York City” made no mention of 1625 in its entry on Manhattan. |
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To mention something is to bring it up. If your mother embarrasses you by constantly mentioning your stuffed animal that you've been sleeping with for the past 15 years, you might mention it to her. |
In the context of awards, an "honorable mention" is an official recognition but not a prize. If you enter a writing competition, the judges might not think your piece is the best, but they might mention, or briefly say, that it came very close to winning. |
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| 2797 |
prefer |
like better; value more highly |
Eighty percent of those I have surveyed prefer spending time with their friends in person rather than on the phone or online. |
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Prefer means to like better. If your parents prefer your sister to you, chances are her allowance will be higher and you'll get blamed for things she's done. |
If someone offers you hamburgers and hot dogs, it's more polite to say, "I'd prefer a hot dog," then "Blech, hamburgers. Gag me!" Note that prefer means not just to like, but to like better––you're comparing two or more things. Whether it be chocolate ice cream over other flavors, or getting going first thing in the morning as opposed to lounging in your PJs, what you prefer is called your preference. And if you like them all the same, you can say you have no preference |
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| 2798 |
denote |
have as a meaning |
They were just four words, but they denoted something that led to a wonderful swerve in world history. |
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To denote is to draw attention to something or to show what it means. All of the googly-eyed looks that a girl gives to a boy might do more to denote her feelings for him than leaving a note in his locker. |
Denote comes from the Latin root dēnotāre, "to mark out." Using a particular facial expression can denote meaning, as in, "All of the crinkled foreheads and squinted eyebrows denoted a lack of understanding among the math students." Words and symbols also point to, or denote, meaning, "If he had used PST to denote the fact that he was in the Pacific time zone, she would have known that it was only 4:00 a.m. and too early to call from New York." |
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| 2799 |
precisely |
in a sharply exact manner |
As a number, it as approximately equal to 3.14159—approximately, because to pin it down precisely, the decimals would have to go on forever. |
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The adverb precisely describes something done with complete accuracy or perfection. When you speak precisely, you pronounce each word completely and clearly — and you say exactly what you mean. |
Something that's done precisely is done with great care, the way you'd set the table according to your grandmother's demands, precisely following her instructions about where knives and forks should go. You can also use precisely to tell about an exact time, like meeting a friend under the big clock at precisely 12:30. On its own, precisely can substitute for yes or exactly. |
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| 2800 |
principal |
most important element |
"I think it’s very impressive," says Murray Campbell, an IBM research scientist who was one of the principal creators of Deep Blue. |
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For an adjective that points to the main or most important thing, your best choice is principal. Is your principal goal for the summer to have fun or to earn some extra money? |
The word, principal, comes from the Latin principalis "first in importance" and is related to the title of prince. You can see the relation when you think about its meanings — the head of a school, the starring actor in a film, and the client of an agent. Don't confuse principal with its homophone principle, a moral rule or law of nature. If you talk about a country's principal exports, you mean the main ones. |
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| 2801 |
additional |
further or extra |
Some admissions committees will determine scholarship awards based on your application materials, while others may request additional materials. |
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If your parents get you a cell phone and add it to their plan as an additional line, they are adding one more line to their bill, so additional means another or one more. |
Even though they added an additional line to their plan, your parents might ask you to pay for the additional charges. That means they will see how much more your phone usage adds to their plan, and will charge it back to you. If you complain, they might say to avoid additional conflict, you can just get your own plan and pay all of the bills! |
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| 2802 |
consecutive |
one after the other |
For the sixth consecutive year, the Honda Odyssey won Best Minivan for Families, the longest streak in the awards' history. |
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If things are consecutive, they happen one after the other with no break. If there are five consecutive snowstorms on five consecutive days, you'll have to shovel your way out on day six. |
Consecutive comes from the Latin consecutus, meaning "following closely" with no gap. Just like those snowstorms — one storm happened each day, back to back, for five days in a row. Consecutive numbers also follow each other, or advance in the right order. For example, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 are consecutive numbers. You should number the pages on a term paper to keep them consecutive so the teacher doesn't get confused. |
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| 2803 |
definitely |
without question and beyond doubt |
"If the city doesn't have enough money to hire teachers and pay them well, it will definitely impact how students learn," Aldeman says. |
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Use definitely to describe something you don’t have any doubt about. If you are certain you're going to see your friend's band play, you can assure him that you'll definitely be there. |
The adverb definitely is used to emphasize the certainty of whatever word it modifies. If you are sure you want apple pie, you could say you definitely want it. The base word definite can also mean "a certain limit," like the definite size a shelf must have to be. You wouldn't say "the carpenter definitely cuts the wood," to describe the exactness of the work; use precisely instead. AND, yes, definitely definitely has an e before the ly! |
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| 2804 |
comprehend |
get the meaning of something |
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To comprehend something is to understand it, like when you have to read a difficult passage more than once in order to comprehend it. |
When you comprehend something, you grasp its meaning. Comprehend is a verb that originates from the Latin word comprehendere, which means “catch or seize.” When an idea is clear to you and you understand it completely, you comprehend it, like doing extra problems to make sure you comprehend a difficult algebra rule, or finding it hard to comprehend why someone would paint his house neon yellow. |
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| 2805 |
connection |
a relation between things or events |
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The word connection is good for talking about the way things relate to each other. Your special connection to your cousin might have something to do with your mutual love for science fiction and barbecue. |
A connection can be physical, like the leash that provides the connection between you and your German shepherd, or emotional, like the connection you feel with your best friend. Any kind of direct relation is a connection as well, such as the connection a detective makes between a footprint at a crime scene and a suspect's favorite pair of shoes. The root is the Latin connexionem, "a binding or joining together." |
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| 2806 |
classify |
arrange or order by categories |
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Humans seem to have the need to classify things, arranging them into different classes by such unifying traits as size, color, or shape. It’s fine to do this to inanimate objects, but doing it to people can be very wrong. |
The word classify contains the base word class, which means "category" and comes from the Latin classis, which actually referred to an army or group called to arms. It eventually came to mean "a group," and thus classify means "to group." As a security measure, you can also classify information that is not to be shared. Writer Ambrose Bierce once said, “The small part of ignorance that we arrange and classify we give the name of knowledge.” |
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| 2807 |
categorize |
place into or assign to a class |
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If you decided to categorize your wardrobe, you could sort it by type (pants or shirts), or by color. To categorize is to put something into a category. |
When you think of categorizing things, imagine taking a pile of marbles and putting them into little boxes by color. You are sorting things by how they are alike. Scientists categorize animals and plants by their properties. Doctors categorize illnesses by whether they are caused by viruses or bacteria. In movies, high school students are often categorized as jocks, popular kids, troublemakers, and geeks. |
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| 2808 |
explicitly |
in a clearly expressed manner |
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When you explain something explicitly, you do it in great detail, leaving no room for misunderstanding. You could intimidate your little brother by explicitly describing what you'll do if he reads your diary. |
Something that's said or done explicitly is clear and direct, like an explicitly told story about terrible poverty in India — it leaves out no disturbing details, even if it upsets the listener. Explicitly can also refer to sexual situations or details, like a movie whose sex scenes are shown explicitly, or graphically. The Latin root is explicare, "unfold, unravel, explain." |
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| 2809 |
recount |
narrate or give a detailed account of |
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As a verb, recount can mean either "tell the story of" or "add up again." As a noun, recount usually refers to the second (or third or fourth) tallying of votes in a close election. |
The word count comes from the old French conter, which means "add up" or "tell a story." Here's a story to recount (narrate): In an election featuring Count Dracula and Count Johnson, Dracula wins by two votes, so Johnson demands a recount (an adding up of the votes again). The officials recount (count again) the votes, and this time find Count Johnson the winner. Dracula threatens to bite the officials and they quickly change their minds. |
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| 2810 |
challenge |
take exception to |
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A challenge is something that puts you to the test — like running your first marathon or reading War and Peace. |
Challenge, as a verb, is derived from a Latin word meaning "to accuse falsely," and it is still used much as it was in the 13th century, in the sense of questioning whether something is true or right. Students sometimes challenge a weeknight curfew, and lawyers might challenge the evidence submitted by the other side in a lawsuit. Challenge is also used as a noun for a competition in which people challenge one another to prove that they’re the best at something. |
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| 2811 |
emotion |
any strong feeling |
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An emotion is a strong feeling, like the emotion you feel when you see your best friend at the movies with a group of people who cause trouble for you. |
The word emotion comes from the Middle French word émotion, which means "a (social) moving, stirring, agitation." We feel many different emotions every day, like love, fear, joy and sadness — just to name a few. On its own, emotion means "the expression of feeling," like a musician who plays with great emotion, or an actor whose face conveys emotions, even when he or she is just standing quietly on the stage. |
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| 2812 |
disgruntled |
in a state of sulky dissatisfaction |
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released thousands of complaints Thursday from disgruntled customers of banks, credit card companies and other providers of financial services. |
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Disgruntled sounds like what it is — dissatisfied, grunting and grumbling. You could become a disgruntled employee if your boss swipes all your best ideas without giving you credit (or a raise). |
Disgruntled actually comes from gruntle, an old verb meaning, not so surprisingly, "to grunt." When you're disgruntled, you might grunt with dissatisfaction and anger. If you are a disgruntled customer, why not ask to speak to a manager? Unless you'd rather just stand there grunting. |
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| 2813 |
effusive |
uttered with unrestrained enthusiasm |
It’s being called both a “comedy smash” and “really funny,” among other effusive compliments. |
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Getting a compliment from your effusive Aunt Sally can be a little embarrassing. Since she's so effusive, Aunt Sally holds nothing back, gushing with enthusiasm. |
The adjective effusive means "extravagantly demonstrative," and if you know someone who expresses positive emotions in a heartfelt, bubbly way, you understand just what the word means. The word effusive has a surprisingly similar definition in geology; it describes a particular kind of volcanic eruption, one in which lava bubbles up out of the volcano and flows around it. |
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| 2814 |
laudatory |
full of or giving praise |
And yes, as we've read in laudatory profiles and seen in TV spots, the rookie is smart, studious, humble, and looks fantastic in denim. |
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Laudatory has to do with praise. If you do great things, then you've done praise-worthy acts and people will use laudatory words when talking about you. |
We all probably do something laudable at some point. If you play baseball well or just keep your room clean, then you probably receive laudatory words of encouragement. If I say, "Your dog is the cutest, nicest pooch in North America," I am saying laudatory things about your dog. When you see laudatory, think praise. |
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| 2815 |
quizzical |
perplexed |
Perhaps it is because patients fear the quizzical look and follow-up question: “You’re eating what?” |
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Quizzical usually means puzzled or questioning, though it can also mean confused, surprised, comical, or mocking. If someone's looking at you with a quizzical expression when you mention your summer, it might mean they don't know about your adventures at space camp. |
The word quiz tucked inside quizzical should help you remember the idea of questioning that this adjective often suggests. The word also comes in handy to describe being eccentric or odd, as well as skeptical or derisive. You raise a quizzical eyebrow every time you see me in my giant fur hat. Does that mean you don’t like it? |
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| 2816 |
zealous |
marked by active interest and enthusiasm |
A zealous prosecutor, Elizabeth Scheibel, went on a crusade, bringing criminal charges against six teenagers that held them directly responsible for causing...death. |
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Use the adjective zealous as a way to describe eagerness or enthusiastic activity. If you are too zealous in your efforts to decorate the house with Christmas lights, you might cause a power outage for the whole neighborhood. |
Zealous is the adjective for the noun zeal "eager partisanship"; the latter has a long e, but zealous has a short one: ZEL-uhs. It can have a slightly negative connotation, and people are sometimes described as "overzealous," meaning they try too hard. "Zealous" rhymes with "jealous" (and in fact they're from the same Greek word), but don't confuse them: a jealous person might be resentful of someone who makes zealous efforts to achieve success. |
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| 2817 |
acrid |
strong and sharp, as a taste |
But that was no moment for futile recrimination, and self-interest served to stay the acrid retort on the tip of his tongue. |
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Acrid is almost always used to describe a smell, and it ain't a pretty one. Acrid is the nasty sting that you feel in your nose when you walk by a building that just burned down––it's sulfur mixed with smoke. |
You can also use acrid to describe someone's tone or general demeanor when they are being nasty. Someone about to do something evil might first give an acrid sneer, or speak in a chillingly acrid tone of voice, or even shudder as if they'd just bit into something with an acrid taste. |
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| 2818 |
churlish |
having a bad disposition; surly |
Of course, it’s churlish to speak sourly of a guiltless, newborn child. |
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A churlish person is one whose middle name might as well be Rude. He’s the one who was never taught to mind his manners and avoid telling vulgar jokes at the dinner table. |
Churlish has its origins in late Old English, but its modern-day meaning of “deliberately rude” developed in the 14th century. It’s a fitting adjective to describe boorish or surly behavior. It can also describe a material that is difficult to work with, such as hard wood that’s resistant to quick whittling. Our prolific pal Shakespeare coined the phrase, “as valiant as the lion, churlish as the bear.” |
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| 2819 |
histrionic |
characteristic of acting or a stage performance |
The mildness of Dellavedova’s provocations only makes the histrionic local reaction to them – the impassioned denunciations, the drippingly earnest think pieces – all the more hilarious. |
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Anything that has to do with actors or acting can be called histrionic, like a Broadway actor's histrionic voice projection that would sound strange in everyday life but is perfect for the stage. |
The adjective histrionic, pronounced "his-tree-ON-ic," comes from the Latin words histrionicus and histrio which mean “actor.” It can describe things that have to do with acting on the stage, but it can also describe a person who in regular life is a little too dramatic and even over-acts, like your friend whose histrionic rantings make a trip to the grocery store seem like a matter of life and death. |
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| 2820 |
jejune |
lacking interest or significance or impact |
But in their translation into the bald language of reality—the jejune prose of fact—our dreams have a way of losing their finer essence. |
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Use the adjective jejune to describe something that is uninteresting or insignificant. Many people claim to find celebrity gossip jejune, but ask them about a recent movie star scandal and chances are they know all about it. |
Jejune can also describe something that’s immature or simplistic. All that actress could say about her latest movie was that it was “Super fun”? That’s a pretty jejune comment. Basically jejune means lacking substance. It originally comes from the Latin word jejunus, which means “fasting,” so when something is jejune, it’s figuratively empty — devoid of intellectual nourishment. |
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| 2821 |
melancholic |
characterized by or causing or expressing sadness |
As a child she was a shy, melancholic loner riddled with very early-onset teenage angst. |
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Melancholic describes sadness, or a person who feels this way. Planning to go out dancing after seeing that melancholic movie? Don't be surprised if you feel more like sitting quietly, thinking, instead. |
Melancholic means thoughtfully sad — your summer could be melancholic if you spent the whole season feeling blue, or you might have a melancholic friend who seems sad even when he swears he's having a good time. The Greek root melankholia means sadness, but it also means black bile, a bodily secretion believed in Medieval physiology to cause people to feel melancholic. |
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| 2822 |
unctuous |
unpleasantly and excessively suave or ingratiating |
When singing about searing indignities, that unctuous and unbothered voice of his makes it sound as if he’s just buttering up his adversary. |
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You might know the idea of the adjective unctuous by other words like "oily," "smarmy," or overly "flattering." When a person is unctuous, you can't trust their kindness, because they usually want something in return. |
Interestingly, unctuous is derived from the Latin unctus which means "anointed with oil," which is where the "oily" connotation comes from. Unctuous and "oily" are synonyms that both suggest that someone is trying to butter you up; they're being nice, because they're hoping you'll give them what they want. Talk-show hosts, used-car salesmen, people who want your job: all of these are people we think of (rightly or wrongly) as being unctuous. Being an unctuous jerk, he gave me a gift, hoping I'd give him a record deal. |
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| 2823 |
vivacious |
vigorous and animated |
"Patients today are unyielding in their desire to continue to be active and maintain a physically vivacious life," Grossman said. |
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A vivacious person is lively and spirited: a vivacious dancer might do a back-flip off the wall and then jump into the arms of her partner. |
Some people are just naturally fun to be around; they sparkle, they animate any group they're part of, they're full of life. That, in fact, is the root meaning of the word: it's from Latin vivere "to live." It has more of a sense of playfulness than lively or animated. Even the most sedentary slob can feel revitalized in the presence of a vivacious soul. |
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| 2824 |
curt |
brief and to the point |
There was no explanation given in the curt, two-paragraph news release that the Dodgers sent out to announce the bizarre move. |
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I’m sorry to be curt, but let's get right to the point. You should use the adjective curt to describe a way of speaking that’s brief and blunt. |
Curt often just means "terse." In fact it comes from the Latin word curtus, which means “cut short, abridged.” But sometimes it has the added sense of being rudely short, like when you’re irritated that someone’s asking a stupid question so you give a brusk, curt response. |
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| 2825 |
demure |
affectedly shy especially in a playful or provocative way |
Yes, it was see-through - and there was latex! - but it was oddly demure, covered up, with just a hint of suggestion. |
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A demure person can be described as polite and a little shy. A demure outfit is a modest one––think high neckline and low hem. |
Demure is a word you don't hear a lot these days, but it used to be a huge compliment for a woman or a girl, for them to be considered shy and quiet and modest. Those days are over, thank goodness, because demure people are nice and all, but they're also a little boring. |
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| 2826 |
seemingly |
from appearances alone |
All around us, seemingly happy celebrity couples are calling it quits, prompting many people to declare that “love is dead.” |
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Something seemingly true appears to be true. Use the adverb seemingly when you want to say "on the face of it" or "apparently." |
The word seemingly refers to how things look on the surface — how they seem — and it often suggests there's more to the story. A seemingly broken ankle might actually be sprained, and a seemingly rich man might actually be deeply in debt. While your dog is seemingly well-behaved, he may be eating the garbage when you're not home. Seemingly means about the same as apparently, ostensibly, or surely. |
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| 2827 |
vibrant |
vigorous and animated |
We know these cities, at their best, can all be inviting, vibrant, and dynamic destinations. |
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Vibrant colors are bright. Vibrant sounds are loud and resonant. Vibrant people are ones you remember––they're bright and full of personality. |
Vibrant was originally intended to describe sounds. Sound waves vibrate, and when they vibrate more rapidly, they sound brighter. Singers and string instrument players increase this effect by shaking the notes they play through a technique called vibrato that increases the vibrancy of their sound. |
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| 2828 |
befuddled |
perplexed by many conflicting situations or statements |
He has often seemed befuddled and confused, along with wrong about just about everything. |
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When you're befuddled, you're bewildered, confused, lost, or mixed-up. In other words, you don't know what's going on. |
A befuddled person is so confused that they just can't understand or figure something out. Or they've had way too much to drink. A difficult math problem could leave you befuddled. If your teacher showed up in a gorilla suit one day, you'd probably be pretty befuddled. Things that are vague and perplexing can also be described as befuddled, like a speech that makes no sense. |
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| 2829 |
contemplative |
deeply or seriously thoughtful |
Some people become more contemplative as they age and take the time to reflect on the life they have lived. |
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The contemplative life is one filled with deep and serious thought, and is often associated with monks, nuns, philosophers, and theorists. |
The adjective contemplative means "pensive," "meditative," or "brooding." Contemplative moments, of course, aren't restricted to white-bearded hermits living in caves on mountaintops. You might also hear the word when people are talking about yoga or meditation, as these are quiet activities meant to be thoughtfully performed. Some kinds of poetry and music are described as contemplative, especially if they give you space to daydream or think about their themes. A walk through nature can also be a contemplative activity. |
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| 2830 |
cynical |
believing the worst of human nature and motives |
While we know children are impressionable, they are also discerning and optimistic, often noting the best in people rather than taking a more cynical view. |
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If you think public officials are nothing but a bunch of greedy buffoons, you have a cynical attitude about politics. |
A cynical person has a bleak outlook about others, always imagining that people are ruled by their worst instincts. H.L. Mencken was famous for saying cynical things like, "Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public." The original Cynics were ancient Greek philosophers who never had a good word to say about anyone. The Greek word kynikos actually means "canine," maybe because all of that sneering seemed a little dog-like. |
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| 2831 |
forlorn |
marked by or showing hopelessness |
he image of forlorn bears on small rafts of ice has become a symbol of the dangers of climate change. |
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Sniff, sniff, boo-hoo... use the adjective forlorn to express loneliness and feeling left out. |
When someone is forlorn it means that they not only feel miserable but simultaneously desolate because they also believe they are alone. Forlorn is a very old word in English, and in fact it comes from the Old English word forlesen and means "to lose completely." Synonyms for forlorn all have fairly sad meanings: disconsolate, pessimistic, despairing, despondent, abandoned, depressed, desperate. |
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| 2832 |
negligent |
characterized by undue lack of attention or concern |
"Leaving a child unattended in a car or a house is negligent conduct," Judge Mary Catherine Cuff wrote. |
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Use negligent when you want to describe someone who just doesn't give a hoot. You can be negligent at work if you let the work pile up while you play computer games, or you can be negligent at home if you haven't fed your fish for six days straight. |
The adjective negligent comes from the Latin word neglegentia, meaning "carelessness." Other words that share the same roots include the noun negligence and neglect — which has both noun and verb forms. All three words have meanings that imply the same sort of thing — a lack of attention to the well being of something or someone. |
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| 2833 |
poignant |
keenly distressing to the mind or feelings |
But a series of poignant, heart-wrenching tweets from Parker’s boyfriend laid bare the tragic human consequences of the horrific episode. |
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Something that is poignant touches you deeply. Watching a poignant YouTube video about baby penguins chasing their mothers, for example, might give you a lump in your throat. |
Poignant comes from the Latin pungere "to prick," the same root as pungent. But something that's pungent pricks your sense of smell, whereas poignant refers to something that pricks your emotions, especially in a melancholy way. Movie critics might describe a touching portrayal as poignant if there isn't a dry eye in the house. |
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| 2834 |
solemn |
dignified and somber in manner or character |
One step at a time, in solemn synchrony, the casket team carried the coffin up the grassy hill on Tuesday at Arlington National Cemetery. |
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If you’ve ever attended a funeral, you were probably struck by how quiet, earnest, and solemn the mood was. You can use the word solemn to describe anything that's really serious and dignified. |
The adjective solemn comes from the Latin sollemnis, which means formal or ceremonial. You can still use it to describe a ceremony or event, but it's also a good word for talking about someone who's serious and sincere and maybe lacks a sense of humor about certain things. Here's a trick for remembering it: Think of a "sole man," a serious guy standing alone at a party talking to no one. |
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| 2835 |
apathetic |
showing little or no emotion or animation |
No, it's just something to encourage people to step out and stand up for themselves and not be apathetic. |
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Apathetic is an adjective that describes the feeling of being bored with what’s going on around you. If you don’t care one way or another, you’re apathetic. |
The Greek word pathos describes a type of emotional suffering that afflicts people who are super sensitive to their environment. Pathos is a root word of apathetic, but the prefix a- turns it into the opposite: emotional boredom, insensitivity, and a lack of enthusiasm. Maybe you feel apathetic because nothing around you stirs your interest, or maybe it’s because you need some coffee. |
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| 2836 |
conducive |
tending to bring about; being partly responsible for |
When they had Wally, the Ellensons decided the driving, long hours, low pay and nomadic lifestyle of coaching were not conducive to raising a family. |
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Conducive means tending to cause or produce something. Regular exercise is conducive to happiness and a feeling of well-being. |
This adjective is usually followed by the preposition to, and it refers to bringing about something favorable or helpful: A positive attitude is conducive to good health. Conducive was formed in English from the less common verb conduce "to lead or contribute to a result." The verb conduce descends from Middle English conducen, from Latin conducere, from the prefix com- "together" plus ducere "to lead." And the suffix –ive means "tending to." |
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| 2837 |
artificial |
contrived by art rather than nature |
And what is true of the biological variety should also be true of its artificial counterpart. |
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From fake flowers to faux food flavors, our world is full of things that are artificial –- that is, produced by humans rather than by nature. |
While artificial can simply mean “made by humans,” it’s often used in a negative sense, conveying the idea that an artificial product is inferior to the real thing. If you remark that your friend’s new hair color looks artificial, for example, you’re not paying her a compliment. Artificial can also describe a behavior or expression that seems insincere — much like the smile on your girlfriend’s face if you bring her artificial flowers instead of real ones. |
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| 2838 |
assertion |
a declaration that is made emphatically |
The former planned to definitively disprove Cook’s assertions, while the latter intended to defend the explorer’s honor. |
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An assertion is a declaration that's made emphatically, especially as part of an argument or as if it's to be understood as a statement of fact. |
To assert is to state with force. So if someone makes an assertion, they’re not just trying out an idea — they really mean it. An assertion can also be an act that seems to make a statement without words. When your dog urinates in multiple places up and down your block, he's making an assertion of his dominance (also called "marking") over his "territory." |
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| 2839 |
solidarity |
a union of interests or purposes among members of a group |
Elsewhere in the Hungarian capital, thousands marched in solidarity with the migrants, and demanded the government do more to help them. |
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When you see a group of citizens protesting something on the news, marching in a group, holding signs, and chanting slogans, you know they are in solidarity with each other, or united behind a common goal or purpose. |
Any time you express support of a group or the people in it, you're showing solidarity with them. The word is used most often to describe a sense of unity with a political group, a group of striking workers, or people who have been deprived of their rights in some way. You might show your own solidarity by signing a petition, joining in a protest, or simply flashing a thumbs up. |
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| 2840 |
imprudent |
not wise |
Clearly that was unwise, and to bail out management and investors, let alone reward them for imprudent decisions, is not proper. |
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To be imprudent means lacking self-restraint when it would be wise to have it, like that time you started dancing on the table during a math test. Remember that? Everybody else does. |
Prudent means "wise or shrewd," but add the prefix im- meaning "not," suddenly you have an adjective that describes the opposite of being wise or shrewd. An imprudent person doesn't think about the consequences and might cross the street without looking both ways or bring the radio into the bath for a little light listening. Careless, wild, imprudent behavior can get you into big trouble! |
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| 2841 |
aggravated |
made more severe or intense especially in law |
Alonso aggravated his existing back condition Tuesday night, while Norris’ situation was the result of a collision with Beltre at the plate on Tuesday. |
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When you see the word aggravated in the description of a crime, it's a more serious crime. Aggravated assault is more than a punch in the nose — it’s assault with the intent of causing serious bodily harm. |
Aggravated is built on the Latin root gravis "heavy," as in gravity, and with the prefix ad-, it means "to make heavy." So robbery is one thing, but aggravated robbery is not only robbing someone, but also causing physical harm, and the punishment would be harsher than for simple robbery. The word is used more casually to mean "angered" — you're likely to be an aggravated customer if you’ve been waiting in line forever and someone cuts in front of you. |
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| 2842 |
astonishment |
the feeling that accompanies something extremely surprising |
The other patients died, but Silva’s tumors virtually vanished, to the astonishment of her doctors. |
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Astonishment is what you feel when you're extremely surprised. If a cat stood up and recited the Preamble to the Constitution, you’d stare in astonishment. |
Astonishment is the feeling of being blown away and shocked by something. It’s the noun form of astonish, which is a verb meaning, basically “to have your mind blown.” A professional magician aims to create astonishment. A basketball player who hits every three-point shot might make fans feel astonishment. Many people feel astonishment when looking at something like the Grand Canyon. This is a strong word that shouldn't refer to minor surprises. True astonishment is rare. |
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| 2843 |
coarse |
lacking refinement or cultivation or taste |
Ferrell and Hart are two stars with clearly, cleverly designed personalities, but whose films are often lazy and coarse in execution. |
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Coarse can mean rough to the touch or vulgar. It's good to have coarse sand paper, but not good to have coarse manners. |
Do you lick your dinner plate, wipe your nose on your sleeve, and generally behave like an oaf? No, of course not. You're the kind of person who reads online dictionaries. But if you did do any of things, you'd be coarse — that is, unrefined, boorish, and downright vulgar. Coarse can apply to a wide variety of things other than behavior. If something is of poor quality, cheap and inferior, it's considered coarse. |
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| 2844 |
creative |
having the ability or power to make something |
Star Wars was a breakout success for many well-discussed reasons, but one powerful factor was how it easily lent itself to creative backyard play. |
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Do you like to make art? Do you like to write? Would you like to design clothes or buildings? Then you are a creative person. |
Creative has to do with new things coming into being: creative is the opposite of destructive. Art class and art schools are good places to be creative. All the artists in a place are known as the "creative community." But being creative isn't just about art — to make anything new or come up with any kind of an idea takes creativity and is therefore creative. Whenever you're making something worthwhile, you're being creative. |
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| 2845 |
ecstatic |
feeling great rapture or delight |
In photographs taken just after the baby was born, she cuddles the infant, looking ecstatic and proud. |
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The adjective ecstatic turns the noun "ecstasy" into a descriptive word. When Celine hit that high note, the audience was ecstatic. |
Originally, ecstatic had religious connotations having to do with the sheer joy of knowing God or someone truly holy. That meaning remains today, but ecstatic now includes almost anything that's really pleasurable or wonderful. I was ecstatic at the news that I'd been nominated for an award. The entire world reacted with an ecstatic sense of glee when the Berlin Wall finally came down. The hangover the next day, though, wasn't so ecstatic. |
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| 2846 |
fanciful |
indulging in or influenced by the imagination |
Despite first being proposed more than a century ago, the idea of a space elevator has always appeared fanciful. |
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Turn fanciful around and you get "full of fancy," which gives you the gist of the meaning. The adjective refers to something not quite real, usually something with a whimsical or even dreamlike quality. |
The adjective fanciful sprang from the 15th-century noun fancy, which was in turn a short version of the word fantasy. All three words contain the same elemental meaning, that of something unreal. Someone who is fanciful usually allows creative thought rather than the practical to come to the forefront. Edgar Allan Poe said, "It will be found, in fact, that the ingenious are always fanciful, and the truly imaginative never otherwise than analytic." |
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| 2847 |
hopeful |
having or manifesting optimism |
"A socially inclusive Singapore that is prosperous because it is innovative, and where people always feel hopeful about making progress in their lives." |
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If you're hopeful about something, you're optimistic. You think it's going to turn out OK. Your team has been doing well in practice, so you're hopeful that you'll win the finals. |
Hopeful comes from the word hope, meaning "optimism about a future event," and the suffix -ful, meaning "full." So if you're hopeful, you're full of hope: you think something good is going to happen. You might be hopeful that you'll be offered a job after your great interview. Used as a noun, hopeful can describe a promising person who wants to succeed at a particular goal. The charismatic young politician is a hopeful for the next election. |
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| 2848 |
inspiring |
stimulating or exalting to the spirit |
But it was exciting, and inspiring, to live in a country where people had fought and won the fight for democracy and openness. |
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If you find something inspiring, it is stimulating your spirit and making you feel hopeful and ready to do something. Do you find documentaries about overcoming struggle inspiring, or is a sale at the mall more inspiring to you? |
Inspiring is the adjective form of the verb inspire, which comes from the Latin word for "breath." When something is inspiring, it's as if the breath of life is coming into your body. People often describe religious experiences as inspiring, as well as stories about people who didn't give in to hardships that would have stopped other people. A majestic natural scene might be inspiring to you. An inspiring teacher gets her students excited about the subject. |
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| 2849 |
judgmental |
depending on assessing a person or situation or event |
Thus began one of West’s familiar monologues on the fashion industry’s judgmental nature — its bullying and mean-girl tendencies and refusal to recognize his brilliance. |
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Oddly enough, people with good judgment are not usually considered judgmental. Judgmental is a negative word to describe someone who often rushes to judgment without reason. |
The adjective judgmental describes someone who forms lots of opinions — usually harsh or critical ones — about lots of people. Judgmental types are not open-minded or easygoing. Judgmental has the word judge at its root, which itself is from the Latin word judicem, which also means "to judge." Judgemental (with an extra "e") is considered a legitimate variant spelling of judgmental. |
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| 2850 |
urgency |
an earnest and insistent necessity |
While the process can often take up to a year or more, the outbreak created a sense of urgency that could speed things up. |
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When something has urgency it requires speedy action. If your weather report is flashing red and predicting a hurricane with record rainfall, that forecast would give some urgency to getting that hole in your roof fixed. |
Urgency comes from the Latin urgere, which means "press, or drive," and it's related to the English word urge. If there's urgency to a situation, it's a pressing issue and you have to respond quickly! Urgency also means an earnest and insistent need. When your friend calls and tells you, "Get into the basement, the hurricane is coming," there would be an urgency in your friend's voice that would make you scurry downstairs to safety. |
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| 2851 |
crude |
conspicuously and tastelessly indecent |
His male supporters regard his crude sexism not as juvenile behavior but as a transgressive political statement. |
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Is it gross? Unsophisticated? Totally tasteless and positively offensive? Then you can describe it as crude. |
Crude is not rude when it’s used to describe unprocessed oil, which it first was associated with in 1865. From the Latin crudo, meaning "rough, raw," crude today can be used to describe anything or anyone that's unrefined and rough around the edges. So don’t be too insulted by the large-nosed portrait that cartoonist made for you. It’s just a quick, crude drawing meant to be funny. |
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| 2852 |
lyrical |
expressing deep emotion |
Supreme Court rulings are typically dry legalistic documents, but Friday’s decision recognizing gay marriage nationwide was more lyrical than most. |
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Something that's lyrical is beautifully full of emotion. Don't be surprised if a lyrical passage in the book you're reading makes you cry a little bit. |
The word lyric, and its connection to the words of a song, provides one hint about the adjective lyrical, which can mean "appropriate for singing." When a movie, book, dance, or work of art gives you the same feeling as the most beautiful music, you can also describe those things as lyrical. The musical connection goes all the way back to the Greek root word, lyra, or lyre. |
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| 2853 |
intentional |
done or made or performed with purpose and intent |
The police said they did not yet know if the shooting was accidental or intentional. |
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Something intentional was done on purpose. If a crime was intentional, it was no accident. |
If you bump into your little brother in the hallway because you weren't paying attention, it's unintentional. But if wait for him to walk by and then stick out your foot to trip him, it's intentional. And not very nice. Usually we let people off the hook if they do something bad accidentally. But if your evil doings are premeditated, consciously planned, or otherwise intentional, no one will take much pity on you. |
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| 2854 |
motivated |
given incentive for action |
To feel motivated to clean something, you’ve first got to notice, and care, that it’s dirty. |
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Someone who is motivated has a cause to do something. If you have a habit of eating cheesecake for breakfast, an image of clogged arteries taped to your fridge might make you a motivated dieter. |
You’ll find motive hidden inside motivated––and from detective movies you know every crime has a motive, or a reason it was committed. Racially-motivated crimes can spark riots. A killer might be motivated by jealousy, anger and greed. Being motivated doesn't always lead to crime, though. If you’re one of those rare birds that sticks to New Year’s resolutions, people probably ask, “How do you stay motivated?!” They mean, “How you avoid giving up like the rest of us?” |
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| 2855 |
reservation |
an unstated doubt that prevents you from accepting something |
In a statement, Booker voiced deep reservations but concluded: “It is better to support a deeply flawed deal, for the alternative is worse. |
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A reservation is something set aside, like a table at a restaurant or land for Native Americans. |
For fancy restaurants and hotels, you need a reservation: you call ahead and ask them to set aside a table or room for you. A reservation is also a piece of land set aside by the government for a group. In the U.S., there are Native American reservations. Sometimes a reservation is a doubt. If you have reservations about taking a trip to Australia, then you're not sure about it. You're not rushing to make reservations at a hotel there. |
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| 2856 |
unanticipated |
not expected |
“It’s unpredictable, unanticipated, and it’s simply an unfortunate accident when it happens.” |
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Unanticipated means "unexpected." Finding a candy bar in your lunchbox when your mom usually packs nothing but health food would be an unanticipated delight. |
Just as pleasure is sweetest when unanticipated, unanticipated pain is a bitter pill. Getting laid off from a job is often unanticipated––and the fact that you're blindsided by it is often the source of most of the pain. You wonder why you didn't see it coming, and worry that other unanticipated disasters lie in wait for you. |
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| 2857 |
unprecedented |
novel; having no earlier occurrence |
In an unprecedented show of military might Beijing has promised never-before-seen firepower on display. |
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Something that is unprecedented is not known, experienced, or done before. If you've never gone on a family beach vacation but you're planning one now, you could refer to it as an unprecedented decision. |
The root of this word is precedent, a noun referring to something done or said that is used as an example to be followed in the future. In law, a precedent is a legal decision that is used as a standard in future cases. So the adjective unprecedented, meaning "having no precedent," was formed from the prefix un- "not," the noun precedent, and the suffix –ed "having." |
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| 2858 |
hollow |
devoid of significance or point |
Speaking about political dialogue, Assad said any initiative that is not based on fighting “terrorism” will be “ hollow” and “meaningless.” |
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If something is hollow, it is empty on the inside. A chocolate Easter bunny looks like so much chocolate until you realize that it is hollow and quickly eaten. |
The idea of emptiness is apparent in the other uses for hollow too. A valley between mountains is called a hollow and if you're really thin, you may have hollow cheeks. Things like words and promises are hollow if the person uttering them does not intend to keep them. And a hollow victory is not very satisfying, as it means that you have reached your goal, but lost something more important along the way. |
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| 2859 |
brash |
offensively bold |
There’s a common perception of entrepreneurs as bold, brash, and exceedingly confident individuals. |
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Brash sounds like what it means: harsh, loud, and maybe a little rude. Sometimes that’s good, like when you have a serious rash on your face and give Aunt Nell a brash warning before she showers you with kisses. |
There's nothing warm and fuzzy about brash. New Yorkers are sometimes thought of as the poster children for brash behavior: they can be bold and brazen. Pushy even. You might find brashness offensive, or maybe you think it's refreshingly direct. If you're a cab driver, a tough exterior might be useful, but being brash probably won’t advance your career if you work in a hotel, where you’re supposed to be polite and welcoming. |
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| 2860 |
agitated |
physically disturbed or set in motion |
When a flight attendant tried to calm Schneider, he became more agitated, swearing at the crew member, advancing on him and then pushing him. |
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Someone who is agitated is visibly upset. If you have ever walked into a room and instantly been asked, "What's wrong?" you probably looked agitated. |
The verb agitate means "to shake up." So someone who is agitated has been shaken up by something — disturbing news, a careless driver who nearly caused a huge accident, or just a very long, very bad day. Agitated can also describe being activated, or fired up about something. For example, a political cause might be losing steam until an event like a rally gets everyone agitated all over again. |
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| 2861 |
timid |
showing fear and lack of confidence |
Where the U.S. could have been aggressive in its pursuit of additional bi- and multi-lateral trade agreements, it has been timid. |
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Timid means "overly cautious or fearful," like a timid driver who drives very slowly or avoids highways altogether. |
Timid comes from the Middle French word timide, meaning "easily frightened, shy." Those who are timid often worry that things will go wrong: a timid eater orders bland food to avoid the possibility not liking the flavor of something new, just as a timid partygoer talks to people he already knows, afraid that he won't be able to talk to strangers. |
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| 2862 |
console |
give moral or emotional strength to |
Even surrounded by family and friend to console you, the world feels empty. |
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Perhaps you avoid babysitting your baby brother because you're worried that if he starts to cry, you won’t be able to console him or make him feel better. Or maybe you just hate changing diapers. |
You usually try to console someone by providing encouragement and offering solace. Others try to console themselves with tubs of ice cream. From the Latin word consolari, meaning “to comfort,” the noun console can also describe a central control panel. In an automobile, the controls for both the radio and air-conditioning are in the same center console. |
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| 2863 |
inquisitive |
given to questioning |
He was very inquisitive — he kept asking and I kept answering. |
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If you are inquisitive that means you love to inquire; you’re always asking questions. Don’t become a private detective if you don’t have an inquisitive personality. |
The old word for question is query, which you can hear in inquire, which means to ask questions. That toddler always asking “why?” is going through an inquisitive stage of development. If someone throws relentlessly hard questions at us, we might call it an inquisition. If your daughter brings her boyfriend home to dinner, be gently inquisitive, but try not to turn it into an inquisition. You'll just make him nervous. |
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| 2864 |
elated |
exultantly proud and joyful; in high spirits |
She ended the class elated and high-fived Victoria: “I built a website! |
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If you're elated you aren't just happy — you're over the moon, absolutely excited and bursting with pride. Like the way you feel after winning a scholarship to an Ivy league school or mastering a back handspring. |
You might be elated to hear you got that dream job. That is, until you find out it doesn't come with any vacation days or health benefits. But don't let that dampen your elation. Feeling Elated is all about being so extremely proud and overjoyed, and usually happens as a result of an accomplishment. So if you've just achieved something big, feel free to be elated — and enjoy your time on cloud 9. |
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| 2865 |
engaging |
attracting or delighting |
It is seductive, engaging, and lit, despite the odds, by a vitality that is in itself a form of hope. |
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A story, song, or person that is engaging is entertaining, fun, and interesting — you want to see or hear more. |
To remember the meaning of engaging, it might help to think of what engaged means. When a couple is engaged, they've agreed to get married. When something or somebody is engaging, you want to spend more time with them too. Boring is the complete opposite of engaging. Think of your favorite movie or TV show — especially one you can't stop watching — it must be very engaging. |
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| 2866 |
exuberant |
joyously unrestrained |
He had been his father’s exuberant companion, who had, Emerson wrote, “touched with his lively curiosity every trivial fact & circumstance in the household.” |
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Are you feeling really happy and enthusiastic about something? Describe yourself with the adjective exuberant! |
Exuberant can be traced back to the same Indo-European root that has brought the word udder. If you picture the plentiful amount of milk a cow can give, it is easy to remember that exuberant always describes something that is abundant or plentiful like exuberant foliage. Abundance also comes into play in its primary use today to mean very enthusiastic, full of energy or overjoyed. When the bell rings on the last day of school, you will be exuberant. |
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| 2867 |
fleeting |
lasting for a markedly brief time |
Much work goes into the ceremonies, market officials said, though they only last a fleeting few minutes. |
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Fleeting is an adjective that describes something that happens really fast, or something that doesn’t last as long as you’d like. |
Driving in a car on the highway, you see a unicorn in the woods, but you only get a fleeting glimpse of it because you’re driving too fast. Bummer. Fleeting comes from the Old English word flēotan, which means “float, swim.” Like a ghost ship floating by on a foggy night, fleeting things disappear as fast as they appear. Fleeting love may last more than a moment, but it won’t stay for very long, and that’s why it’s called fleeting. |
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| 2868 |
jealous |
suspicious or fearful of being displaced by a rival |
When they travel, rich 20-somethings are drawn toward gregarious pleasures that can be shared on social media to make their friends jealous. |
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If you're jealous of someone, you want what they've got. This is one of the most basic human emotions, and it is not pretty. Don't be jealous of my good looks: you're cute too. |
Being jealous is among the least attractive things you can be. The word jealous is actually derived from a Middle English word related to zealous, which means emotionally intense. It conveys a sense of emotional pain at someone else's good fortune. Jealousy is a close cousin of envy, but it can also mean "fiercely guarding" — as in "I am jealous of the little money I've managed to make, so I'm not likely to blow it on a cheap toy." |
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| 2869 |
ambitious |
having a strong desire for success or achievement |
This could be a legacy project for an ambitious local politician with his eyes on bigger things. |
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Ambitious means wanting to succeed. If you want to climb Mount Everest, start your own business, and write a great philosophical treatise all before you are 30, then wow, you are really ambitious. |
Having an ambition is a good thing, like wanting to get good grades, or to become a doctor. But if we say someone is ambitious, often we mean they have too much ambition. An ambitious politician might want power so badly that he’ll abandon his ideals in order to win a race. If you hatch a business plan and someone tells you it’s too ambitious, that means you’re probably not being reasonable about how much you can get done. |
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| 2870 |
reckless |
marked by defiant disregard for danger or consequences |
It came after a night of drinking and reckless stunt driving at a construction site in which he and a passenger could have been killed. |
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If you are reckless, you don't think or care about the consequences of your words or actions, like a reckless driver who speeds while texting, knitting, and eating a sandwich. |
The word reckless comes from the Old English word receleas, meaning "careless, thoughtless, heedless." If you have a reckless attitude, you aren't concerned about what happens to yourself or others who are affected by your actions. In this usage, reckless is the opposite of considerate. Reckless friends will invite people you don't know to your house because with your parents away, it's party time. Surprise! |
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| 2871 |
disparagement |
a communication that belittles somebody or something |
The opera is no masterpiece, but disparagement of the score as uninspired has never seemed justified on the rare occasions we hear it. |
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Disparagement is belittlement. When Prince William married Catherine Middleton, there was some disparagement by the public of her non-royal background. Snobs. |
Disparagement comes from the Old French desparagier, meaning "marry someone of unequal rank." Disparagement is the act of speaking about someone in a negative or belittling way, and doesn't have to be related to weddings. If someone wins an election because of sneaky, dishonest ads, you can be sure that there will be plenty of disparagement of that candidate in the back rooms of the defeated politician. |
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| 2872 |
obstinate |
marked by tenacious unwillingness to yield |
An obstinate captive raven nearly brought photographer Vince Musi to tears last week when the bird refused to stand still for a picture. |
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When someone is beyond stubborn, use the word obstinate instead: "You obstinate old mule! Get out of my way!" |
While stubborn may have positive or negative connotations, obstinate is most definitely negative, because it implies a kind of hard-headed determination not to change your mind even when it might be best to rethink your position. "The obstinate Man does not hold Opinions, but they hold him," wrote Samuel Butler way back in the seventeenth century. The word still does the trick if you want a put-down for someone you think is being a pig-headed fool or a stick in the mud. |
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| 2873 |
opposition |
being against something that you disapprove or disagree with |
Growing up, she played football with brothers and cousins and rushed to join the team, despite opposition from relatives. |
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Opposition is something that goes against or disagrees with something or someone else. Just about any political view has opposition. |
Chances are you know the word opposite: this means something similar. The opposition to something goes in the opposite direction. There is always opposition to raising taxes in this county. The Republicans are the opposition of the Democrats (and vice versa). If you're holding a meeting, you could say, "Is there any opposition to this idea?" In war, the enemy is the opposition, and in a debate, the other speaker is the opposition. Whenever there's disagreement or confrontation, there's opposition. |
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| 2874 |
quarrelsome |
given to arguing |
He’s quarrelsome on Twitter, always ready to tussle with any old nobody who’s talking trash. |
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When you are quick to pick a fight or disagree, you are quarrelsome. Toddlers are often quarrelsome. So are couples, at least with each other. |
If you know that quarrel means to argue or fight, then this is an easy word to figure out. People who are quarrelsome seem to constantly get in fights. Quarrelsome people are often moody or sensitive: any little thing can get them upset. Other people usually don't like to work with or be around quarrelsome folks. However, any of us can get quarrelsome at times, especially when we're under stress or have an empty stomach. |
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| 2875 |
receptive |
open to arguments, ideas, or change |
Sometimes she seems receptive to advice, but more often she just has an answer for everything and gets really defensive. |
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To be receptive is to be open to new ideas or change. If you’re responsive to other people’s suggestions and not set in your ways, then you’re not only receptive, but flexible. |
The adjective receptive actually comes from a Latin word that means receive. So a receptive person is willing to receive things, especially opposing arguments, constructive criticism, and helpful hints. How receptive you are speaks to your willingness to have an impression made upon you. It can be good to be large and in charge sometimes, but you can also benefit from stepping back and being receptive to what life brings. |
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| 2876 |
seductive |
tending to entice into a desired action or state |
He finds pleasure in thinking itself, surrendering to the seductive pull of creative association. |
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Seductive is an adjective that describes the fascinating magnetic pull that someone or something has, an attractive quality that tempts you in some way. |
A seductive person catches your eye and won’t let it go. The word comes from the Latin seducere, meaning “draw aside.” When someone draws your attention aside from whatever you’re doing, that is a seductive person. Radio people often have seductive voices that lull you to sleep, and stores put their most seductive items in the front window in hopes that you’ll be tempted to come inside and buy them. |
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| 2877 |
pernicious |
exceedingly harmful |
So, while there is pressure on young men and women to look like models there is another equally pernicious trend emerging - the normalisation of obesity. |
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Pernicious means harmful and subtle, such as a poison gas that causes cancer in those exposed to it over the course of years. |
Pernicious comes from the Latin perniciosus, for destructive, which in turn comes from pernicies, for death or ruin. You might have heard your parents and teachers talk about the pernicious effects of watching too much TV and playing video games all day––they'll turn your brain to mush. |
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| 2878 |
anxiety |
a vague unpleasant emotion in anticipation of a misfortune |
She feels like she is no longer as sharp as her colleagues, causing significant anxiety and depression. |
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Anxiety is the vague, uneasy feeling you get when you're dreading something. Anxiety can also be a permanent state of nervousness that some people with mental illnesses experience, a milder version of panic. |
When a scary or unpleasant event is looming, like getting a family portrait taken the year you have braces, you might feel some anxiety. You might also feel anxiety about passing chemistry, especially if you’ve skipped a lot of classes. Someone who suffers from a mild or severe mental illness might feel anxiety all the time. Deep breathing, playing relaxing music, and medication have all been known to help reduce anxiety. |
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| 2879 |
domination |
power to defeat |
Of course football has its celebrated chess-like aspects, but the game’s primal appeal is in the physical domination of some men by some other men. |
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Domination means total control. Most comic book villains — and a few real people, too — spend their lives in pursuit of world domination. |
Domination comes from the Latin word dominus, meaning "master" or "lord." This word conveys the idea not just of leadership, but of absolute, unchallengeable authority. So, just because your boss is in charge of the office doesn’t mean she engages in domination. Wait until she forces you to remove hundreds of staples by hand while she sends your coworker all the way to Costa Rica to fetch the coffee. But we hope it never comes to that. |
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| 2880 |
sanguine |
confidently optimistic and cheerful |
As the sanguine reaction from investors indicates, amid the gloom there may be some reason to be optimistic. |
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If you're sanguine about a situation, that means you're optimistic that everything's going to work out fine. |
Sanguine is from Latin sanguis "blood" and originally meant "bloody" — in medieval medicine it described someone whose ruddy complexion was a sign of an optimistic outlook. That was back when people thought that "bodily humors" like blood were responsible for your attitudes. Now that we no longer believe in humors, sanguine has settled down as a fancy way to say someone is cheerfully confident. Experts are frequently described as feeling sanguine about a political or economic situation — or not sanguine, if they think we're going to hell in a handbasket. |
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| 2881 |
grave |
causing fear or anxiety by threatening great harm |
In an open letter, the coalition says Twitter's ban "holds grave consequences for free expression and transparency around the world." |
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A grave is the place where a body is buried. Usually, a grave is dug in the ground, and a stone with information about the deceased person marks its location. |
Grave is used as an adjective, too. It can describe something serious, or of great importance. If a situation is grave, it is serious and sad, like when a loved one is very sick. Grave can also describe causing fear or anxiety. If you are in grave danger, your personal safety is threatened. If you have a grave personality, you are solemn and dignified and don't joke around very much. |
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| 2882 |
serious |
of great consequence |
But there is one area students can accidentally get into some serious trouble: their finances. |
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Any important situation is serious, and this word is also the opposite of humorous and playful. |
If you're frowning, someone might say, "Why so serious?" This is a word for people and situations where there's no fooling around. If you're staring at the computer screen, typing quickly, you look serious. If you are in a car accident, that's a serious situation. Some people are more serious than others. If you're always making jokes and smiling, then you're not that serious. One place everyone needs to be serious is at a funeral home. |
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| 2883 |
placid |
not easily irritated |
She clasped her hands in her lap and her face was placid, the worries from a few moments ago having transformed to a deep calm. |
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Call a body of water placid if it has a smooth surface and no waves. Call a person placid if they don't tend to make waves by causing a fuss. |
Coming from the Latin placidus "pleasing or gentle," placid is most commonly used to describe a person who is not easily irritated or a body of water such as a lake that does not have waves to disturb the surface. Synonyms of placid in both meanings include calm, serene and tranquil. In other uses, placid describes something with little disruption — like "a placid neighborhood." |
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| 2884 |
severe |
unsparing and uncompromising in discipline or judgment |
Before sentencing Holmes, Samour tried to reassure victims who were upset at the lack of a death penalty that Holmes' punishment would still be severe. |
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Whether you're talking about a punishment, the weather, or how bad your flu is, severe indicates that it's at the limit of the spectrum. |
The austerity of a word like severe serves many purposes. The common usage is to describe tough or painful stuff, like icy snowstorms, merciless punishments, or grim conditions (i.e., a severe depression). If things are severe, they're serious. Severe could also describe a person's haircut if it's brutally short and angular, or their wardrobe if it tends to be all black with no flourishes. |
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| 2885 |
outspoken |
given to expressing yourself freely or insistently |
Still, it's the outspoken, go-for-broke honesty that has helped him with audiences. |
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If you often freely speak your mind, people may say that you are outspoken. How people view that particular trait in you, however, will depend on whether they agree with what you have to say or not! |
Use the adjective outspoken to describe someone candid and blunt, one who is direct in manner or speech. If you are an outspoken advocate for arts education in schools, you probably attend lots of school board and community meetings trying to ensure that the board does not cut music and drama from the school curriculum. If you are an outspoken critic of the way your boss does his job, you may not have yours much longer! |
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| 2886 |
scandalous |
giving offense to moral sensibilities |
The spy agency had a scandalous reputation in the years before South Korea embraced democracy in the 1980s, and was involved in abductions and killings. |
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Scandalous describes something that's shocking, and maybe a little embarrassing or even offensive. Your great-grandfather might be a scandalous character in your family history if he was married seven times, each time to younger and younger wives. |
The adjective scandalous can refer to something morally offensive, or even illegal, although it's used often simply to mean "shocking". It describes something that has potential to cause a scandal, which comes from the Greek skandalon, "a trap laid for an enemy." This idea of a trap or a snare is a great metaphor; you can stumble into scandal as if it's just waiting for you to make a misstep, and if you do the results will be scandalous. |
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| 2887 |
sinister |
wicked, evil, or dishonorable |
More sinister are the nameless, faceless critics lurking on social media and comments sections, giving voice to a society’s most hateful impulses. |
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People who are left-handed might feel unlucky having to use a desk designed for right-handers, but there probably wasn't any sinister, or evil, intent behind the design. Or was there? |
In the 15th century, when the word sinister came into use in English, people who were left-handed were thought to be bad luck or even evil. In his play Hamlet, Shakespeare wrote of the villain holding a human skull in his sinister — i.e., left — hand. It would seem to be sinister, or wicked, enough to see a human skull in the right hand, not to mention unlucky for the person missing a head in the first place. |
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| 2888 |
momentous |
of very great significance |
The Supreme Court is on the verge of a momentous decision that could legalize gay marriage across the country. |
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Momentous describes an important event or moment in time. It is used for a time of great consequence or for a major accomplishment, and is almost always reserved for good things. |
When a moment is so great you know you'll never forget it, you have just experienced something momentous. It can be personal — perhaps the day you were named prom queen; or something historic — like the day Elizabeth was named Queen of England. Momentous and momentary share the root word moment but momentary describes just one fleeting moment in time. A momentary occurrence can certainly be momentous, but it's not always the case. |
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| 2889 |
heroic |
having qualities appropriate for brave figures |
He said it was heroic of the officer to put himself in danger to protect the children, who were unhurt. |
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Heroic means having the qualities of a hero, such as bravery. Maybe on your daily walk, you see a house on fire, and you run into the flames repeatedly to save the family and their pets, including the fish! That’s heroic. |
Literature offers many examples of heroic characters, who by their strength or their wiles or both overcame almost impossible obstacles. In Greek mythology, Hercules was given seven seemingly impossible tasks that he completed with heroic daring, Achilles was a warrior whose accomplishments in battle were heroic, and Odysseus showed his heroic qualities as he conquered monsters and men in his journey home. |
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| 2890 |
curious |
eager to investigate and learn or learn more |
My squid dream got me curious: Can cephalopods—a group that includes squid, octopuses, and cuttlefish—dream? |
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If you’re curious, you really want to know something — like the secret ingredient that makes these cookies so crunchy. You may wish you hadn’t been so curious when you find out it’s roasted crickets. |
Curious describes someone who is eager to find out answers and to explore and learn. A curious student asks lots of questions. A curious little monkey, like the famous Curious George from the children’s book series, may be so curious to know how a clock works that he breaks it trying to get a closer look inside. Curious can also describe something unusual, like a house that is painted a curious shade of purple. |
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| 2891 |
bitter |
proceeding from or exhibiting great hostility or animosity |
A special session on a budget shortfall has so far been characterized by tensions and bitter divisions among legislators. |
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If you usually drink your coffee with lots of cream and sugar in it, you might be surprised at how bitter plain black coffee can taste. Bitter means "having a sharp or harsh flavor." |
Bitter describes a particular pungent taste, like the sharpness of very dark chocolate (which is sometimes called bittersweet for its mixture of the two flavors). If you imagine taking that bitter taste on your tongue and turning it into an emotion, you've got another meaning of bitter: a resentful, angry feeling. And if you turn that bitter flavor into a physical feeling, you've got an adjective that describes a sharp, unpleasant sensation, like a cold, bitter wind. |
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| 2892 |
insolent |
marked by casual disrespect |
“You are insolent. I suppose that is only to be expected of a wildling. We must find you a husband who can teach you courtesy.” |
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Someone who's insolent is either really doing her own thing, even if it goes against what everyone else is doing, or she’s mildly disrespectful. |
That student in your class who is constantly snubbing the teacher, snorting when he gives assignments, and rolling her eyes when he reads passages aloud from your vocabulary textbook? Insolent, definitely insolent. There might be another student who adorns her school uniform with pins and ribbons, cuts her hair shorter than the dress code allows, and rolls her socks down. This student is also insolent, in the sense that she defies the rules. |
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| 2893 |
dejected |
affected or marked by low spirits |
He has rarely looked so dejected, so beaten, so incapable of the rousing return for which many golfing fans long. |
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If you're ejected from an important game, you're going to feel dejected. If you're rejected by the love of your life, you'll feel dejected again. |
Dejected goes beyond down––it's having given up hope. "After the theater was burned down by Mrs. Jud, the deranged school secretary, the drama students were too dejected even to sing "Pore Jud is Daid" from Oklahoma, the only song that might have made them feel better." |
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| 2894 |
smug |
marked by excessive complacency or self-satisfaction |
Perhaps they would have pulled it off, had it not been for the smug, self-satisfied expressions on their faces as they pretended to be offended. |
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A smug person is self-satisfied. You can usually recognize someone who is pleased with himself by his smug little smile and self-righteous remarks. |
Smug is the opposite of modest and unsure. In cartoons, the smug character often walks around with his chest puffed out and his ego leading the way. “Too much good fortune can make you smug and unaware,” thought Rachel Field, the children’s author. What she means is that successes are appreciated much more when they don't come so often that you begin to feel entitled to them. |
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| 2895 |
irreverent |
showing lack of due respect or veneration |
She continues with a irreverent speech that blends slightly off-color jokes with sincere praise and gratitude. |
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If you are irreverent, you don’t show respect toward something, like your irreverent singing of your school's alma mater in a funny voice. |
To be irreverent doesn’t necessarily mean you don't like something; it’s just that you don’t display the same honor for it that other people do. You might have a more light-hearted approach, poking fun of the way other people seem to almost blindly show their devotion. For example, when people at the Louvre are standing in hushed awe in front of the "Mona Lisa" it would be irreverent to holler "What's so great about that?" |
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| 2896 |
vexed |
troubled persistently especially with petty annoyances |
These are questions that for years have vexed the courts, which have struggled to define the difference between permissible and illegal computer use. |
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Vexed means "difficult and much debated." If your family is having trouble coming to an agreement about where to go on vacation next summer, your holiday trip has become a vexed issue. |
When people can't resolve an issue or find a solution, it is a vexed problem — one that's become complicated because of differing and probably strong opinions. Vexed can also describe being irritated. If you borrowed your sister's car without asking permission, and if she had a fancy way of putting things, she might tell you she's incredibly vexed with you right now. |
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| 2897 |
malicious |
having the nature of threatening evil |
China’s Internet police issued warnings against those who sought to point fingers or spread malicious rumors online. |
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Someone who is malicious enjoys hurting or embarrassing others. If you're writing a book about good and evil, you'll want to come up with a truly malicious character to do all the bad stuff. |
Malicious is the adjective based on the noun malice, which means the desire to harm others. Both words come from the Latin word malus, for bad. If someone is malicious he doesn't just make bad things happen; he loves to make bad things happen. |
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| 2898 |
dismay |
the feeling of despair in the face of obstacles |
“I can’t help but cry … because I thought people would defend me and say something. Some people just shook their heads in dismay.” |
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If you discover late Sunday night that the dog really did eat your homework, you might cry out in dismay. Dismay describes an emotional state of alarm, fear, or serious disappointment. |
The first part of dismay comes from the Latin prefix dis-, which comes in handy when you want to put a negative spin on words (dishonest, discount, disenchant, etc.). The last bit of dismay most likely comes from the Germanic word magan, meaning "to be able to." You can employ the word dismay to describe how you feel in a variety of negative situations that you doubt you are able to handle. |
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| 2899 |
rejection |
the state of being turned down |
When he talked of the pain of rejection, the heartbreak of grief, he knew exactly what he was talking about, both personally and politically. |
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The noun rejection can refer to the actual act of rejecting something or to the feeling one has after being rejected. In other words, you might have feelings of rejection after experiencing the rejection of others. |
The Latin noun rēicere, which means "to throw back," is the ancestor of the word rejection. Nobody likes to feel the rejection of being excluded. The word rejection became popular in psychology in 1931, when parental rejection was seen as a motivation of bad behavior in children. The word found a medical meaning by 1943, as the body's refusal to accept a transplant. |
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| 2900 |
patronizing |
characteristic of those who treat others with arrogance |
The term "tolerance" itself is problematic for its patronizing implications, for the "tolerant" one is always the one in the dominant position. |
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If you are patronizing, you tend to speak down to others, acting as though you are smarter, classier, or just plain better than anyone else. For the record, your snobby attitude is not impressing anyone. |
A "patron" is someone who subsidizes or finances another person or organization — usually an artist or charitable institution. So the word patronizing stems from this idea of someone bestowing money or help on another. Today, the sense of condescension is strongly attached to the adjective, while the word "patron" is still a positive description of someone who gives. |
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| 2901 |
contradictory |
not able to be true at the same time |
It seems contradictory to say Watson played the match of her life in defeat, but she did. |
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A contradictory statement is one that says two things that cannot both be true. An example: My sister is jealous of me because I'm an only child. |
Contradictory is related to the verb contradict, which means to say or do the opposite, and contrary, which means to take an opposite view. When witnesses give contradictory accounts of crimes—one saying the assailant had a knife and the other a gun—police officers often assume that at least one of the witnesses is lying. |
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| 2902 |
averse |
strongly opposed |
So averse was she to weapons when her children were young that she wouldn’t let them play with water pistols. |
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To be averse to something is to be opposed to it on moral, philosophical or aesthetic grounds: my father is averse to people smoking cigarettes in the house, but he would not be averse to your smoking a cigar. |
Averse comes from a Latin word, aversus, which means "turned away from." To be averse to something is to shun it, turn away from it, or dislike it. Some people are averse to the use of cilantro in any food that comes near them, some others are averse to wearing itchy wool sweaters, and others are averse to any form of exercise. Aversions are really very personal. |
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| 2903 |
disgust |
strong feelings of dislike |
He rolled his eyes and walked away in disgust. |
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Disgust is a strong feeling of dislike. If you can't stand peas, you might wrinkle your nose in disgust when you are served a bowl of pea soup. |
Disgust is both a noun and a verb. As a noun, it's a reaction to something you think is gross or terrible, like showing your disgust at a movie by getting up and leaving. As a verb, disgust means "to offend," like when your class's bad behavior at the assembly disgusts all the teachers, or "to gross out or revolt." If you pick your nose in public, you will disgust everyone around you. |
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| 2904 |
genuine |
not fake or counterfeit |
A finance ministry official said both genuine and forged passports were in the packets intercepted in the post. |
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Genuine things are true or authentic. When you're talking about people, being genuine has to do with being sincere. |
This word has to do with things and people that are true. A genuine blonde is a real blonde — no hair dye involved. A genuine friend is a real friend you can trust when the chips are down. Genuine feelings are real feelings — not fake feelings put on as a show. A genuine hundred dollar bill is the real McCoy, not a counterfeit bill. When something is the real thing, it's genuine. |
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| 2905 |
sincere |
open and genuine; not deceitful |
It is real and sincere, a reflection of the authentic desires and feelings of the People. |
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Being sincere is being genuine. If someone compliments you on your outfit, but you notice them rolling their eyes when they think you’re not looking, they probably weren't being sincere. |
If you've been offered a sincere thanks for something you've done, the person is probably really grateful. Sometimes when people say "thank you," they don't always mean it, but when they add the adjective sincere, the emphasis is usually for a very good reason. You may hear a charity sending out a sincere thanks to sponsors for their donations, which help keep the charity running. |
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| 2906 |
enthusiastic |
having or showing great excitement and interest |
As enthusiastic as he was to climb in the Himalaya, Chin didn't know the first thing about launching an international expedition. |
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Enthusiastic appreciation for something is more than just liking it — it's loving it. You're an enthusiastic fan of Italian food if you not only like it, you can't live without it. |
Enthusiastic's Greek origins paint a vivid picture of how an enthusiastic person got that way, as the word literally means "possessed by a god." You may recognize the "god" part of the word — theos, as in theology — "the study of God." If you're enthusiastic about working on your vocabulary words, you don't have to be reminded to do it — you can't wait. |
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| 2907 |
puerile |
displaying or suggesting a lack of maturity |
Such puerile charges remind me rather of the tricks of children than actions of men. |
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Some people like their movies to have sophisticated humor and others prefer the more puerile humor of pratfalls or jokes about smelly underwear, inappropriate belching, and passing gas. |
Although the adjective, puerile can be used to describe anything related to childhood, more often than not, it is used in a derisive manner to comment on the immaturity, silliness, or juvenile nature of something or someone. So if you hear someone talk about puerile toys, they may merely be remarking on the toys of childhood, but it is more likely they are discussing whoopee cushions, fake dog poo, and the like. |
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| 2908 |
idealistic |
of high moral or intellectual value |
Today’s foreign-policy thinkers must also test their idealistic notions of American possibility on a geopolitical landscape littered with the wreckage of ideals past. |
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When you're idealistic, you dream of perfection, whether in yourself or other people. For example, you might have the idealistic goal of bringing an end to childhood poverty in the world. |
The adjective idealistic describes someone whose plans or goals of helping others are lofty, grand, and possibly unrealistic. Do you think world peace is within reach? You're idealistic. If your vision of the world is idealistic, you believe all problems can be solved and that all people can reach their full potential. Idealistic comes from the Greek idea, or "ideal prototype." |
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| 2909 |
jovial |
full of or showing high-spirited merriment |
"We're not pushing a hardcore agenda. The events tend to be very friendly and jovial, but safety is our No. 1 concern." |
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Use jovial to describe people who show good humor and are full of joy. Santa Claus, with his constant "ho-ho-hoing" is a jovial figure. |
Jocose and jocular are similar words, but they refer more to things that actually cause laughter. Jovial is from Middle French, from Late Latin jovialis "relating to Jupiter, the ancient Roman god of the sky," from Jupiter "Jupiter" plus the Latin prefix -alis "relating to." In astrology, people born under the sign of Jupiter are joyful. |
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| 2910 |
witty |
combining clever conception and facetious expression |
The whole evening was a strange yet fluid mix of witty comments and funny anecdotes with thoughtful reflection about literature and poignant personal disclosures. |
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A witty remark is clever and funny and timed just right. When you make such a remark, you are also considered to be witty. |
The adjective witty can be used to describe those quick little funny remarks that often demonstrate a sharp, biting humor delivered in a playful manner. Witty usually describes things that are off-the-cuff amusing, rather than remarks that are elaborate or carefully planned in advance. This adjective is usually used in a complimentary way, but, like its cousin clever, it can be used sarcastically, as when someone who doesn't appreciate your one-liners says, "Well, aren't we witty today." |
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| 2911 |
derisive |
expressing contempt or ridicule |
In the darkness, the players spent Saturday morning as punching bags for the coaches’ derisive comments. |
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Use the adjective derisive to describe something or someone that mocks, expresses contempt, or ridicules. You may sometimes catch your kids making derisive comments — especially if you ask them to do chores instead of whatever they think is more important. |
Derisive comes from the Latin word deridere, meaning "to ridicule," and is from the roots de-, which means "down," and ridere, which means "to laugh." The adjective derisory comes from the same Latin word, but it has a different sense. If you say something derisive, you show contempt or ridicule, as in a derisive glare at your noisy neighbors. If you say something is derisory, you mean it invites or deserves ridicule or contempt, especially if it is laughably small, such as a derisory diamond chip in an engagement ring. |
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| 2912 |
bellicose |
having or showing a ready disposition to fight |
Lewis is a magnetic and intimidating Henry VIII, accomplishing more with a harsh whisper than he does with a bellicose tantrum. |
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If you walk into a high school where you know no one, find the toughest looking girl in the halls and tell her she's ugly, them's fighting words. Or bellicose ones. Bellicose means eager for war. |
Bellicose is from Latin bellum "war." A near synonym is belligerent, from the same Latin noun. You may wonder if they're connected to the Latin bellus "pretty, handsome," which gives us the names Bella or Isabella, as well as belle "a beautiful woman." They're not. War and beauty are not related, except in the case of Helen of Troy. |
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| 2913 |
sardonic |
disdainfully or ironically humorous |
Humor must lie beneath the surface, ready to materialize in the form of a sardonic quip, or a quick dose of withering wit. |
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If someone is being scornful and mocking in a humorous way, call her sardonic. If you want to write comic sketches for late-night talk shows, work on being sardonic. |
Sardonic comes from the Greek adjective Sardonios, which actually describes a plant from a place called Sardinia that supposedly made your face contort into a horrible grin...right before you died from its poison. The Greeks used sardonic for laughter, but we only use it when someone's humor is also mocking or ironic. |
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| 2914 |
dire |
fraught with extreme danger; nearly hopeless |
The library’s executive team testified before Congress in the spring about the dire need for more storage space for its ever-increasing collections. |
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Dire refers to situations or events that cause great fear and worry. A dire calamity causes much suffering. |
If a family is in dire need, they need immediate help. Dire predictions or warnings tell us that a disaster may happen in the future. If you are trapped between the burning building behind you and the high cliffs in front of you, you might describe yourself as being in dire straits. |
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| 2915 |
grind |
reduce to small pieces or particles by pounding or abrading |
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If you like to grind your own coffee beans, it means you prefer to buy whole beans, put them in an electric grinder, and pulverize them into tiny bits before you brew your coffee. |
When you grind something, you mill or crush it into smaller pieces, the way you grind pepper or grind a grain into flour. Two things that rub up against each other also grind together, which is what your teeth do if you grind them in your sleep. Informally, grind also means boring, tedious work, often in the sense of "grind away" or "the daily grind." This sense of grind was invented in the 1800s as college slang. |
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| 2916 |
plane |
an unbounded two-dimensional shape |
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A plane is a vehicle that flies through the air, but it is also a tool used to make something smooth and flat, a kind of tree or a level surface. As a verb, to plane something is to make it flat and smooth. |
Don't confuse plane with plain, an adjective that means "simple" or a noun that means "flat land," like the plains of the American Midwest. This can be tricky because plane describes something that is flat and level, or the tool or action that makes something flat and level. If you remember that plain applies only to landforms, the difference will be plain to see — meaning obvious. |
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| 2917 |
dependent |
a person who relies on another person for support |
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Being dependent means relying on something. Many people are dependent on coffee in the morning, while a dependent is someone who relies on you for financial support. In grammar-land, a dependent clause can’t stand alone because it’s a fragment. |
Dependent comes from pendant, the French word for "hanging.” If you break your leg, you will be dependent, or hanging, on crutches to get around. Kids are dependents of their parents, since they rely on them for food and shelter. A drug addict is dependent on drugs. And if a decision is dependent on your mood, that means it depends on or will be decided by how you feel. |
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| 2918 |
digest |
convert food into absorbable substances |
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When your stomach breaks down food, it digests it. To digest is to process food so it can be absorbed into the body or information so the mind can absorb it. |
If you tell your mother some bad news, like say, that you failed your math test after studying so hard, she might say, "Let me take a moment to digest that information." She's not going to swallow the paper and let her stomach do the work. Instead, she's going to take a moment to sit with the news and understand it. As a noun, a digest is a magazine that breaks down information into understandable summaries. |
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| 2919 |
fallen |
having dropped by the force of gravity |
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Something that's fallen has dropped to the ground. You might collect fallen apples to make into cider or applesauce. |
The most literal sense of something fallen is just what it sounds like — an object that's moved from a high place to a lower place, usually due to gravity. There are also some figurative meanings: a fallen soldier has died on the battlefield, and a fallen person has committed a moral sin or ruined his reputation. In the 17th century, fallen frequently meant "morally ruined," more often describing a women than a man. |
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| 2920 |
host |
a person who invites guests to a social event |
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If you've invited people over, offered to entertain, or let someone crash on your couch, then you're a host. Throw a fabulous party and you’ll be everyone’s favorite host. Do it when you're also hosting pneumonia germs, and your guests won't be so grateful. |
The noun host refers to a person who receives and entertains guests. But hosting also has an ickier side: In biology, a host is an animal, plant or person that provides a home for another organism — like a parasite. Host also functions as a noun, meaning a multitude, horde, or great number. As in, "You will pick up a host of funky germs from drinking the water in rural India." |
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| 2921 |
blunt |
not sharp (used of a knife or other blade) |
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A blunt object is rounded — it isn't very pointy. A blunt comment is candid — it isn't very subtle. When we blunt things we make them less lively, sharp, or intense. |
Blunt and blunder ("make a stupid mistake") may have the same origins — the Old Norse blundra, meaning "to shut one's eyes." So don't be blunt ("dull" or "obtuse") — here are a few things you probably don't want to do: 1) use a blunt ("dull") knife to cut your tomatoes; 2) make a blunt ("outspoken") comment that might hurt someone's feelings; or 3) blunt ("deaden") the sound of your favorite music by sticking cotton balls in your ears. |
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| 2922 |
depart |
go away or leave |
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To depart is to go away or to choose a different direction. If you are catching a plane, you are soon to depart. And, if you are wearing a kilt instead of jeans, you depart from your usual look. |
Airports and train stations have gates for arrivals and departures. Airplanes and people coming in "arrive" while those going out depart. You also can depart without going anywhere, as when you change your mind and depart from an earlier decision. To "depart from the norm" is an expression for doing something different than expected, like giggling during a tear-jerker of a movie. |
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| 2923 |
emit |
give off, send forth, or discharge |
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To emit means to give off or let out, and it usually has a lot to do with gases, smells and noises. All of which could be potentially embarrassing, depending on where they're coming from. |
Lots of things can be emitted: body heat from your hands, high pitched sound waves from a dog whistle, nasty odors from your mouth after a garlic-heavy lunch. Coming from the Latin emitter, it simply means to “send forth.” Since global warming is such a hot topic, you've probably heard people talking about how much CO2 cars emit or how many greenhouse gases factories emit into the air. |
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| 2924 |
core |
the center of an object |
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If you're looking for the most essential part or the very center of something, you're looking for its core. Like the inedible middle of an apple or your inner circle of core friends. |
In the late 14th century, the noun core came about from the Old French coeur, meaning “core of fruit” and more literally, “heart.” So the core of something is its very heart, whether you're talking about the seed-containing center of a fruit, the central meaning of a book, or the core courses you need to take in order to graduate. |
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| 2925 |
desolate |
providing no shelter or sustenance |
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If you feel alone, left out, and devastated, you feel desolate. A deserted, empty, depressing place can be desolate too. |
If you know the word deserted, you have a clue to the meaning of desolate, a grim word that can describes feelings and places. When a person feels desolate, he feels deserted, lonely, hopeless, and sad. When a location is desolate, there's almost nothing there. Think of a rundown cabin in the middle of nowhere, with no running water and no stores or other people anywhere. That's a desolate setting. Being in a desolate place usually makes people feel desolate. |
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| 2926 |
transparent |
transmitting light; able to be seen through with clarity |
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You can see right through something transparent. A window is transparent, but so are the intentions of a Peeping Tom looking through that window. |
Obviously the glass of a window is transparent, but transparency is also a way to describe something that is clearly understood and lacks any deception or secrecy. Reporters use it these days to describe the ideal way for government to develop policy, where voters can see the process and how decisions are achieved. Some in government, however, would argue that the leaking of top-secret information takes it a step too far. |
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| 2927 |
sheer |
so thin as to transmit light |
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If people can see through your shirt, it's sheer. This can also mean something steep, like a cliff, or anything extreme, like sheer nerve. |
This word has several meanings, but they're all extreme. A sheer (see-through) shirt is an extreme way to dress — climbing a sheer cliff is almost impossible. If your car sheers, it swerves sharply, and you might crash. Maybe you've met all these meanings in a single nightmare: When the sheer cloth blew over your face as you drove, you lost control and the car began to sheer, filling you with sheer terror as you went over the sheer cliff. |
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| 2928 |
bearing |
characteristic way of holding one's body |
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When you walk into a room with your shoulders straight and your head up, people might say you have a noble bearing. Bearing is the way you hold your body, and it often means you hold it well. |
Bearing has many uses, but they mostly involve support and/or direction. Bearing, for example, is the name given to a mechanical part that supports a moving joint — like a ball bearing. In buildings, bearings are walls or beams that support the building. In the same way, when you carry your body, you are bearing yourself up. Bearing also is used to talk about direction and travel: you could step off the sidewalk and nearly be run over by a car bearing north. |
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| 2929 |
launch |
propel with force |
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To launch something is to propel it or get it going, usually from a standing position. You can launch a rocket, a career, a product or even a watermelon. Either way, you're getting it off the ground. |
Launch often means to start something, but to start it in a big way: "The launch of the shuttle was also the launch of a new era in space travel." Time was, when a singer finished making her record, the company would simply "release it." Eventually, though, that wasn't enough. Now a record needs "a launch" — a full-scale media blitz to get people excited enough to buy it. |
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| 2930 |
ripe |
fully developed or matured and ready to be eaten or used |
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When a fruit is ripe, it is time to pick it and eat it. If you say the time is ripe, then now is the time for action. Ripe means ready. |
Ripe can also describe something that is not only ready to happen but well-suited for whatever is happening. A company can expect profits if the market is ripe for its product. When a ballpark has a short field, batters will say that the field is ripe for home runs. When things are ripe, it's a good thing — the time for action is now. |
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| 2931 |
clap |
strike one's hands together |
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To clap is to strike your hands together. After an awesome play, an audience will clap and maybe even stand up and hoot. A clap is also any loud or sharp noise or collision, like a clap of thunder. |
After you see a performance, it's polite to clap — smack your hands together quickly and repeatedly. To clap also means to put something down quickly and with force, like if you clap a plate on a table. Any sharp, loud sound is a clap, like a clap caused by an explosion. Clapping two objects together quickly will cause a clap. All types of claps and clapping involve sharp movements and loud sounds. |
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| 2932 |
bleak |
unpleasantly cold and damp |
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Something that is bleak is gloomy and depressing. If it's raining and dark, you might describe the night as bleak. If you have looked for work and no one will hire you, you could describe your prospects as bleak. |
If you and the ten people sharing your lifeboat have been adrift for ten days and are down to your last cracker, your situation is bleak. A near synonym is dismal. Bleak is from Middle English bleik, from Old Norse bleikr "white, pale." This word is related to the English word bleach. |
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| 2933 |
cross |
a marking that consists of lines that intersect each other |
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When you cross something, you travel over it — like when you cross the street, after looking both ways and using the crosswalk, of course. |
A commercial pilot might cross the continent several times a week, and a boy might cross several back yards on his way to school. Another kind of cross is a written mark, an upended X on a piece of paper. There's also the adjective cross, which describes someone who is extremely cranky. The Latin root word crux means "stake or cross," but its figurative meaning, "trouble or misery," is related to to traditional use of wooden crosses to hang criminals. |
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| 2934 |
fortune |
your overall circumstances or condition in life |
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A fortune can be a large amount of money, and fortune is a form of fate. So you want to have the good fortune to make a fortune during your career. |
Fortuna was the Roman goddess of fate and luck. She was sometimes depicted with a wheel, and the random spinning of her "wheel of fortune" became a symbol for the unpredictability of fate (and, much later, the title of a popular game show). A fortune teller can look into her crystal ball or tarot cards and predict your future. But her predictions are probably about as accurate as the "prophecy" that comes inside your fortune cookie. |
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| 2935 |
nasty |
offensive or even (of persons) malicious |
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Something nasty is filthy, foul, dirty, or awful. Nasty isn't a word for anything nice. |
The main meaning of nasty is for things that are unpleasant and very gross. If someone throws up in class, at least one student will probably say, "That's nasty!" The smell of a bathroom is nasty. A song full of dirty words is nasty in a different way. Nasty can also mean "extremely." In football, a vicious hit can be called a nasty hit. A mean person is a nasty person too. |
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| 2936 |
shaft |
a long rod or pole, especially the body of a weapon |
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The noun shaft refers to something that resembles a long, thin pole, such as the long part of an arrow between the tip and the feathers. |
The word shaft can describe all kinds of things that are long and thin, such a shaft of light or a spear or the handle of a golf club or the midsection of a long bone. A shaft can also be a long narrow tunnel, generally one that runs straight up and down, such as a mine shaft or an elevator shaft. You might think these items don’t have much in common, but think about their shape: they’re all long, straight, and thin. |
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| 2937 |
smother |
deprive of oxygen and prevent from breathing |
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To smother is to overwhelm or suffocate. If you've ever had a boyfriend or girlfriend who calls you twenty five times an hour to check up on you, then you know what it means to be smothered by someone. |
The word smother literally means to deprive of oxygen, so it can be used to refer to someone who gets suffocated by a pillow. In everyday conversation, the word is often used to refer to the act of making someone feel like they’re being deprived of oxygen or personal space. If you have a mother who likes to smother you by asking where you're going every time you see her, then it's likely you’re already dreaming of moving out! |
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| 2938 |
grievous |
causing or marked by grief or anguish |
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If something is called grievous, you better take it seriously. Grievous is used to describe horrible things like tragedies or crimes. If you have a grievous wound, a band aid simply won't do. |
Grievous is derived from the noun grief, which means "sadness." When something is grievous, therefore, it's not just bad, but so bad that it causes unusually intense shock or sadness. It's often used to describe crimes and other bad deeds that go beyond mere criminality and into the world of cruelty. For example, it's harmful to steal from someone; it's grievous to steal from them and then, having stolen their stuff, beat them up or kill them. |
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| 2939 |
heave |
lift or elevate |
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When you heave something, you haul or lift a heavy object. You might not realize how fat your cat has become until you have to heave him out of the way to make room for yourself on the sofa. |
You heave a heavy object when you lift it, like when you heave piles of wet snow out of your driveway with a shovel, and you can heave yourself out of bed in the morning, if it takes a huge effort to get yourself into a vertical position. You can even heave a heavy sigh, which simply means you sigh loudly. To vomit is also sometimes described as heaving, describing the unpleasant effort of your stomach muscles. |
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| 2940 |
relation |
the state or quality of having something in common |
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Relation is a word that can describe a connection — between relatives or any two entities. You might consider your cousin as your relation, and you might have strained relations with him over your grandmother's estate. |
The way that one thing affects another is their relation like the relation between childhood poverty and poor nutrition, for example. You can also call your relative a relation, as when you describe your great-grandfather as your oldest living relation. The phrase no relation means that even though two people share the same last name, they are not related — or aren't relations. |
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| 2941 |
arise |
move upward |
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Arise is a verb that means to get up, maybe to stand or get out of bed, like when you arise in the morning to get ready for the day. |
The verb arise can apply to people when they get up but it can also apply to issues or situations that come up, like problems that arise when a leader takes away people's rights. What happens next? People might arise, meaning they rebel, protesting the leader's actions, maybe even declaring that they are no longer under his or her rule. If this happens, a new political party will likely arise, meaning "come into existence." |
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| 2942 |
buckle |
fastener that fastens together two ends of a belt or strap |
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A buckle is a clasp or fastener, such as the one on the end of a belt. In the old days, not only belts but also shoes had buckles. |
When you fasten your belt buckle, you can say you buckle it — you also buckle your seat belt and buckle a kid's bike helmet under his chin. When the ground buckles during an earthquake, it folds or bends out of shape, and when your knees buckle, you could fall. You might also buckle under pressure or stress. The Latin root word is buccula, "cheek strap of a helmet." |
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| 2943 |
extension |
act of expanding in scope |
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An extension is the act of getting more time, space, or length, like an extension of a deadline that gives you one more day to turn in a paper, or extensions that make your hair look longer. |
The noun extension comes from the Latin word extendere, meaning “stretch out.” If you’re a great gymnast, you probably have amazing extension — flexible and long-reaching limbs. If someone meets your sister and assumes you will be exactly like her, you might say, "That's a stretch," meaning this person has, by extension, drawn conclusions about you which are somewhat true but not completely accurate. |
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| 2944 |
reflection |
the phenomenon of a propagating wave being thrown back |
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Your reflection is what you see in the mirror. Other things that bounce back at you are also reflections — light waves, sound waves, even your thoughts. |
Reflection comes from the Latin reflectere, made up of the prefix re-, "back," and flectere, "to bend." So it's bending something back: your reflection in the mirror is the light waves that bounce your image back at you. When you pause for reflection — serious thinking, that is — your thoughts are bending inward. Reflection can also be a consequence of something: the way your dog mopes around when you're away is a reflection of how much he misses you. |
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| 2945 |
service |
an act of help or assistance |
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If you perform duties that help someone else, you're providing a service. If you make dinner for your neighbor's children while she's in the hospital, you're doing a good service. |
Service has many uses, all having to do with serving someone, or doing something for them. In a restaurant the waiter provides service, and if you do something nice for someone, you've done him a good service. If you're in someone's service that means you work for her. Service can also mean a verb meaning "to fix," like when the maintenance whiz services the photocopier, or the mechanic services your car. In church, a ceremony is also called a service. |
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| 2946 |
dissolve |
pass into a solution |
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To dissolve something is to break it up or weaken it, making it no longer recognizable. You could dissolve your book club or you could even dissolve a pill by dropping it into a glass of water. |
You can use the verb dissolve to describe things that are coming apart or diminishing. Dissolve goes back to the Latin root dissolvere, meaning "to loosen," and it came into English in the 14th century. Physical objects dissolve, as when bubbles dissolve in the tub or a cube of sugar will dissolve in hot tea, and intangible, or non-physical, things can fade away too: "Their friendship started to dissolve when he moved across country and they communicated less frequently." |
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| 2947 |
foundation |
the basis on which something is grounded |
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A foundation is the base for something. You often hear about the structural foundations of buildings, but a good idea can also be the foundation of a successful business. |
In the simplest sense, foundations support something else. Friendship is the foundation of a good marriage, and many svelte figures rely on girdles (known to underwear specialists as a foundation garment). But foundations are also charitable organizations. And in cosmetics, foundation is gooey make-up that's supposed to match your skin tone. |
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| 2948 |
wake |
stop sleeping |
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In the wake, or aftermath, of a death, it's traditional in many cultures to hold a wake, a vigil for the dead. There's a third meaning of wake, too, you know: it's the waves that a boat leaves behind as it slices through the water. And that's not all... |
Wake has three meanings as a noun, and, yes, just about as many meanings as a verb! So get set. To wake is come out of sleep, a verb you'll recognize from "Wake up! You're asleep at the wheel!" You can wake feelings, as well as the people who are having them. The wake before the funeral caused Mike to wake from his depression and decide to live life to the fullest. His first act was to water ski; he eventually mastered staying upright while crossing the wake of the boat that was towing him. |
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| 2949 |
cultivate |
adapt something wild to the environment |
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To cultivate is to nurture and help grow. Farmers cultivate crops, fundraising professionals cultivate donors, and celebrities cultivate their images. |
When you cultivate something, you work to make it better. Originally, the word referred only to crops that required tilling, but the meaning has widened. No matter what is being cultivated, the word implies a level of care that is reminiscent of gardening. Sometime friendships come naturally and sometimes you have to cultivate them. To cultivate anything requires an attention to detail, an understanding of what is being cultivated, and a lot of patience. |
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| 2950 |
dim |
lacking in light; not bright or harsh |
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Dim has several meanings related to a lack of light, hope, or knowledge. A room that is not well lit is dim, a slow thinker is dim, and when life looks hopeless, your prospects are dim. |
To dim a light is to dull it, like by putting a shade over it. A vague idea without a lot of specifics is also dim, since it's hard to see or understand the idea. Someone who's not very bright is dim or a dimwit. When things are hopeless, they're dim too. For example, if a football team is losing by fifty points, their chances of winning are dim. |
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| 2951 |
suffer |
undergo or be subjected to |
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The verb suffer means to feel pain or something equally unpleasant. You'd probably do anything you could to be sure your beloved cat didn't suffer when she got old and sick. |
You can suffer from the pain of a broken leg, but you can also suffer from shyness, regret, poverty, or any number of unpleasant things. You can even describe something that becomes worse using the word suffer, like when someone's grades suffer during soccer season. The root of suffer is the Latin word sufferre, to bear, undergo, or endure. That's why someone who doesn't suffer fools gladly won't put up with nonsense. |
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| 2952 |
account |
a record or narrative description of past events |
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An account can be many things — such as a story, like if you give a friend an account of what happened at the party she missed. It can also be a business arrangement, like a bank account or an email account. |
Account is one of those seemingly simple words that have a mass of different meanings. An account can be a narrative or story — a biography, for example, is an account of someone's life. Account can also mean an explanation of something, as in the phrase, "How do you account for that?" An account is also a handy arrangement whereby a store agrees to provide you goods on credit, but then you might have to account for all that debt. |
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| 2953 |
channel |
a deep and relatively narrow body of water |
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A channel is a passageway, a means of access for a thing, a communication, or an idea. |
Think of a channel as sort of a tunnel or a funnel that moves something directly through. The noun channel can be used for many such avenues. It can mean a waterway such as the English Channel — the "Chunnel" is a tunnel beneath the Channel — or a means of accomplishing a goal, as in "going through legal channels." Use it as a verb when you channel your energies to achieve success. |
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| 2954 |
hearty |
showing warm and sincere friendliness |
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Hearty describes abundant, full, and satisfying things, and lively, strong, and enthusiastic people. A bowl of thick chili with cheese and a glass of milk is hearty. A spoon of water with a grape? Not so hearty. |
You can't miss the "heart" in hearty. Words like "wholehearted" and "half-hearted" also have "heart" and are a help in remembering the adjective hearty. If you put your whole heart into anything from walking a dog to saying good morning to your friends, you're hearty and full of life. Something half-hearted is weak and not hearty. A loud laugh that fills a room is very hearty; you can almost feel its fullness. If it comes from the heart and adds well-being and happiness, it's probably hearty. |
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| 2955 |
recognition |
identifying something or someone by remembering |
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Recognition is when you remember something or someone you're familiar with — like the flash of recognition you experience at your high school reunion. |
Recognition isn't just about remembering what something looks like — it's also used to describe when you remember that someone has done something special, and decide to recognize their efforts with an award or speech. This type of recognition is a form of acknowledgment, a way to say "we approve" or "good work!" |
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| 2956 |
sensitive |
responsive to physical stimuli |
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Sensitive describes something or someone who reacts quickly and strongly. It's often something to protect — like baby skin, government documents, or a fragile ecosystem. |
Anything sensitive should be treated with special care. It can mean "raw or hurting" when talking about a part of the body. After people visit the dentist, their gums are often sensitive because of the way that big angry lady cleaned their teeth. Sensitive people get their feelings hurt easily. Sensitive documents have big secrets that shouldn't get out. A sensitive tape recorder catches all the little background sounds. Now you should have a sense of the word sensitive. |
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| 2957 |
shine |
emit light; be bright, as of the sun or a light |
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To shine is to give off a bright, glowing light. Your porch light shines at night, and if the sky is clear and cloudless, the moon will shine too. |
The sun and a light bulb both shine, and things that simply reflect light can be said to shine too, like a diamond ring or clean, glossy hair. In a more figurative way, people shine when they stand out for doing something extremely well: "The lead actress really shines in her role as Lady Macbeth." The Old English root of shine is scinan, which means "shed light, be radiant, or illuminate," and also "be conspicuous." |
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| 2958 |
sight |
the ability to see; the visual faculty |
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Your sight is your ability to see. If you're maneuvering through the house at midnight using your shins to locate the furniture, you'll appreciate your sight that much more. You could also turn a light on. |
Sight has many different senses. It can mean the range of your vision, as in when you freak out when your little puppy goes out of sight. You can "take in the sights," meaning you're seeing all the special attractions of a town (also known as sightseeing). Sight can also be a verb, as when you sight a celebrity at your local taco stand, or when you sight your target using the sight on your gun, before you shoot. |
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| 2959 |
mount |
go up, advance, or increase |
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To mount is to climb up something, like a ladder, or get on the back of something, like a horse. You can also mount something on another object, like a camera on a tripod or a sticker on a notebook. |
The word mountain can help you remember that one way to mount is to climb. You can mount a mountain or a flight of stairs. You can also mount a pony by getting on its back or a bicycle by climbing onto it. The oldest meaning of mount is, in fact, "mountain," from the Old French word mont, which has its root in the Latin montem for “mountain." |
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| 2960 |
agitate |
move or cause to move back and forth |
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Agitate means to stir up. If you watch a horror movie at bedtime, you may be too agitated to sleep. Movies like that can agitate all sorts of adrenaline responses in the body. |
Agitate derives from a Latin word that means "to drive away." The meaning has changed, but you can see where old meets new—a washing machine agitates dirty clothes in warm soapy water to drive away the dirt. You agitate or shake up salad dressing to mix it, driving the oil away into the vinegar. |
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| 2961 |
condition |
a mode of being or form of existence of a person or thing |
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A medical problem or illness can be referred to as a condition. Your skin condition isn't contagious, but it still looks bad — scabby and scaly. You won't even need makeup to dress as a zombie for Halloween. |
A condition is also a requirement or prerequisite for something. As a condition of your acceptance to college, you may have to maintain certain grades and do well on a standardized test. Condition can refer as well to the state or quality of something. The condition of your apartment building might be so appalling that your mail carrier has stopped delivering your mail. |
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| 2962 |
grim |
harshly uninviting or formidable in manner or appearance |
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Things that are gloomy, stark, ghastly, and somber are grim. Sunshine, puppies, and rainbows are not grim; zombies, reapers, and mummies are grim. Less scary things like drizzly, foggy days can also be called grim. |
Two famous uses of the adjective grim are the Grim Reaper and Grimm's Fairy Tales. Mr. Reaper shows up in movies and books wearing a long, hooded black cape and carrying a scythe, or long-handled blade used, in less grim circumstances, for mowing grass and reaping grain: he represents death. The real-life German brothers wrote some bone-chilling tales under their own name, Grimm, meaning "cruel, fierce," which is related to the English word grim. Modern grim things include crime-drama images of dead bodies and characters in horror movies. |
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| 2963 |
execute |
put in effect |
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To execute means to carry out in full or perform. If you execute all the difficult steps of the dance perfectly, you will make your instructor proud. |
Here’s what’s tricky about execute: the first thing you think of is being punished with death for criminal actions. Actually, it's more commonly used in the sense of “to carry out in full.” So don't be alarmed with visions of the hooded guy at the guillotine when someone congratulates you on a plan well executed. Think of the word executive to get a closer grasp of both the meaning and the context. |
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| 2964 |
thin |
of relatively small extent from one surface to the opposite |
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Something thin is narrow or not very thick. If you wear thin socks on a cold winter day, your toes might start to feel numb. |
Thin can describe something that is narrow and slender, like a hair or a thread. It can also describe a layer of something that is not very thick, such as paper. To thin something out is to make it lesser or weaker, like thinning out a sauce by adding water. You can also use this word figuratively. An argument that is not very convincing is thin. |
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| 2965 |
bother |
disturb, especially by minor irritations |
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The word bother has many shades of meaning, but most of them involve trouble of some sort. You might wonder why you should bother to follow a recipe, until you taste what you've made without one. |
As a verb, bother can mean that you take the trouble to do something. It’s often presented as a negative: you might not bother to lock the house, or you may wonder why you should bother reading the instructions that came with your phone. Bother can also mean that you’re bugging someone or causing a minor inconvenience. The word can also have a sense of deeper worry, especially when something is bothering you, like a nagging sense of guilt. |
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| 2966 |
depress |
press down |
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Depress means to lessen the activity or power of something. If you want to depress the spread of poverty, you need to find ways to slow it down, like by bringing education and skill-building resources into the poorest communities. |
The word depress comes from the Old French word depresser, meaning "put down by force." Depress can be used literally to describe something you push down, like when you depress the handle on a toaster to lower the bread. It can also describe a more figurative lowering, such as the lowering of a person's emotional state. Attending a funeral is likely to depress you, and watching a sad movie afterwards will just sink your spirits even more. |
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| 2967 |
forge |
create by hammering |
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Have you ever seen a blacksmith make a horseshoe? Well, no, probably not, but they use a special furnace which is called a forge, and "to forge something" is also the act of bashing that hot object into shape. |
Forge has also taken on the more general sense of creating something. A new philosophy or art form might have been forged, as might an alibi or an excuse. To forge something also has the meaning of faking something, such as a painting or a signature with the intent to deceive. It can also mean to move ahead in a steady manner, either physically or metaphorically, much like those solid, regular blows of the blacksmith's hammer. |
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| 2968 |
grace |
elegance and beauty of movement or expression |
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Grace commonly refers to a smooth and pleasing way of moving, or a polite and thoughtful way of behaving. But when someone says they were late to the airport and only made it onto their plane by the grace of God, they're talking about grace in the context of God's favor. |
When used in the plural, the social graces are the skills needed for being polite. If you are "in someone's good graces," they regard you with favor. In Middle English, the word grace originally meant "God's favor or help," a sense that we still use today. The related word gracious originally meant "filled with God's favor or help." Grace was borrowed from Old French, from Latin gratia "pleasing quality, favor, thanks," from gratus "pleasing." |
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| 2969 |
store |
a mercantile establishment for the sale of goods or services |
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As the sentence "This store stores a large store of rubber ducks" will tell you, store is a word with a lot of definitions. Among these are "a place that sells items," "the act of keeping things for future use," and "a supply of something." |
As a noun, store often refers to a place where things are sold, such as an electronics store. This meaning of the word likely sprang up from the original meaning, "a supply of something kept for future use." As a verb, store refers to the act of putting things away for later. Chipmunks store nuts in their cheeks, people store their winter clothes when springtime arrives, and techies store information on backup drives. |
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| 2970 |
accept |
receive willingly something given or offered |
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Please accept ("favorably receive") our apologies, but you're just going to have to accept ("put up with") the fact that this verb has almost a dozen different meanings. |
You might accept ("take") bribes from people who dislike multiple meanings, or they might challenge you to a duel, which you might accept ("consent to"). When historians record your story, you might accept ("officially receive") their books and accept ("hold as true") the most flattering one. When you apply to cool-people clubs, they'll accept ("admit") you, and when you go broke, they'll accept ("take on") your debt, until the day your coffin accepts ("takes") your weary accepting bones. |
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| 2971 |
clip |
a small fastener used to hold loose articles together |
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Use the noun clip to talk about a fastener that holds things together, like a paper clip or a hair clip. |
A clip keeps loose things attached to each other, but when you clip something, you cut small pieces off of it. Think of when you clip your dog's toenails or clip the dangling ends off the blanket you're knitting. You can also use the verb clip for a figurative kind of cutting, like when you clip two minutes off your marathon time or clip your words — say them quickly and tensely — when you're angry. |
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| 2972 |
slack |
not tense or taut |
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If you slow down at the end of a race, you slack off. When you use slack this way, it means to reduce your speed, to be sluggish, or to be negligent. |
If something is loose, it's also said to be slack. A clothesline, for example, is slack if it is just hanging loosely between two trees. If you pull the clothesline tight, you reduce the slack. The root word of slack is the Old English word slæc, which means loose or careless. When you scold your friend for being careless about his responsibilities, you can say, "Pick up the slack!" |
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| 2973 |
awkward |
lacking grace or skill in manner or movement or performance |
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If you are awkward, chances are you are uncomfortable. You could feel socially awkward, like when you forget the host's name. Or, you may feel physically awkward, like when you trip on your way to the podium. |
Have you ever felt clumsy and that you had two left feet? That is how it is to feel awkward — literally that you are going in the wrong direction. Awkward is an example of a word literally meaning something and then figuratively meaning something related. Its Middle English roots are awke, meaning "backhanded," and -ward, to "go in the direction of." So, if you are feeling uncomfortable, or clumsy, it's probably because your hands are connected to you the wrong way! |
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| 2974 |
expose |
show; make visible or apparent |
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To expose means to uncover or allow to be in the open air. If you take off your coat and expose your bare arms to the terrible cold, your tattoos might freeze off. (Note: We don’t actually know if this is physically possible.) |
When you pronounce expose as it’s spelled, it can mean to leave out in the air, to put in peril (when you expose someone to danger), or to uncover. All of those examples are actions. However, when you pronounce it as though there is a French accent on the final "e," ex-poh-ZAY, it means the unmasking or exposure of something hidden (and usually bad or fraudulent), as when you watch an expose on 60 Minutes about the evils of frozen orange juice or some other toxic substance. |
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| 2975 |
solid |
not soft or yielding to pressure |
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A solid, as opposed to a liquid or gas, has a size and shape to it. It doesn't flow like water or disappear into the air. |
At first glance, solid appears to be a simple word, but it really offers shades of meaning. A solid friend is dependable. If you give a solid performance, it was very good, though not quite great. Likewise, if you achieve a solid win, you win by a large, but not huge, majority. In a less figurative use, if a piece of chocolate is solid — as opposed to hollow — it is chocolate throughout. |
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| 2976 |
throw |
propel through the air |
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When you throw a ball, you toss it using your hand. When you throw a party, you buy some food and drinks, then invite your friends over. |
Throw means many things. You can throw a baseball game, even if you're not the pitcher, by deliberately trying to lose it. You can throw a baby off its schedule — that is, confuse the baby's waking and sleeping times. In basketball, when you get fouled and throw the ball from the free-throw line, you're taking a free throw. You can throw garbage out. Also, a throw is a small blanket you toss over a chair, much like a throw pillow. |
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| 2977 |
raw |
not treated with heat to prepare it for eating |
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Something that's raw is uncooked. A ripe raw tomato tastes very different from one that's slowly roasted with olive oil. |
Raw food isn't heated, and while raw fruits and vegetables are usually delicious, raw eggs and meat can be dangerous. When you use the word raw to describe things that aren't edible, it generally means "in a natural, untreated state," like raw silk or raw wood. You might also have raw feelings or raw emotions — these are basic and out in the open. The Old English root is hreaw, "uncooked," from a Germanic source. |
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| 2978 |
deliver |
bring to a destination |
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Whether you deliver a package, a baby, or a promise, you're bringing or carrying out something that was expected. |
The Post Office and UPS deliver packages, but a doctor helps deliver a baby: in that case, the doctor is helping the baby get born safely. If you promise to get an A and then you do, you delivered on your promise. Religious people ask God to deliver them from sin. Politicians often have to deliver — meaning give — speeches. In just about every case, deliver refers to something positive that's being moved, fulfilled, rescued, or carried out. |
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| 2979 |
bind |
secure with or as if with ropes |
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If you're in a bind, you have been hindered by some situation. You'll find yourself in a bind if you agree to bring dessert to a party, only to realize that you're out of fruit, sugar, and chocolate chips. |
The verb bind means to tie, secure, or fasten as with string or rope. When you put a Christmas tree on the top of your car, you need to bind it with twine to make sure it stays there while you drive. The past tense of bind is "bound." To bind is also to create an emotional attachment. Your love for your family binds you to them. |
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| 2980 |
charm |
attractiveness that interests or pleases or stimulates |
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A charm is a magical spell or an object that brings luck: it's also a quality of being attractive and pleasing. To charm someone is to attract them. |
There are several types of charms, but they mostly relate to attraction and good luck. A lucky coin is a charm. The spell of a witch that entrances you is a charm. People with magnetic personalities, who make you want to hang out with them, have charm and are therefore considered charming. Also, to charm someone is to attract them and win them over. Popular politicians charm the masses, and teachers' pets charm their teachers. |
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| 2981 |
connect |
fasten or put together two or more pieces |
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Connect means to join together. When a puzzle piece fits into another, they connect. You might fly to Chicago and then connect to a flight to LA. When you meet someone and feel comfortable with them right away, you connect. |
The uses of connect continue. A receptionist connects you to the person you want to speak to on the phone. When you are assembling something, you are often told to connect tab A to slot B. When you punch someone, your fist connects with their face. You might not connect a movie with a historical event until your teacher points it out. |
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| 2982 |
advance |
move forward |
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The experience of having a wild monkey advance on you is pretty scary. The verb advance means "move forward purposefully." |
When you move forward, you advance. You can advance a chess piece on a board, advance toward someone across a room, or observe an army as it advances into a country. Advance also means "make progress," as when you advance your knowledge of Spanish by traveling to Ecuador, or "to loan money," which a bank does by making an advance of a thousand dollars. Since the 1700s, to make advances has also meant to make romantic overtures or to flirt. |
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| 2983 |
upset |
cause to lose one's composure |
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To be upset is to be disturbed or very unhappy. You can be upset, and you can also upset someone — but you probably didn’t mean to. |
Upset has multiple senses. It generally refers to something that has been knocked over, turned upside down, or disturbed. Just as your coffee cup can be upset — knocked over or disturbed –- so can your emotions –- and your stomach. Upset can also refer to an unexpected victory. You might be so upset by the upset of your favorite team that you upset your table in frustration. |
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| 2984 |
occupy |
live in (a certain place) |
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When you spend a lot of your free time reading tea leaves, you occupy yourself with that pastime, meaning it takes up your time and keeps you busy. |
An army can invade another country and occupy its territory, and this use of the word reflects its original Latin meaning, which was "to seize." There are also less aggressive forms of occupation, as with the family of chipmunks who occupy your garden. If you are the mayor of your town, you occupy an important office. And if you're a fan of Andy Warhol, a series of Campbell's soup can paintings may occupy a prominent place on your walls. |
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| 2985 |
stall |
a small area set off for special use |
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Stall means to stop or delay. If your car stalls, it comes to a stop. When you want a horse to stop, you put him in a stall, or small enclosure inside a barn. |
The word stall implies stopping something that will start again — a horse will leave the stall eventually and start moving, a stalled car can be restarted. Remember that when you're thinking about stall in the sense of postpone or delay. You can stall your professor from giving an exam by talking about last night’s big game. Your little sister can stall going to bed by asking for one more story. If you want to delay an approaching army, you might steal their boots — they'll still come but the "stall tactic" will buy you time. |
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| 2986 |
tender |
easy to cut or chew |
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If you're tender, it means you're fragile, sensitive, easily bruised or gentle. Young, easily cut beef and a sentimental heart can both be called tender. |
The many meanings attributed to tender developed over time. In the early 13th century, the word meant soft or easily injured. About a hundred years later, its meaning expanded to include kind and loving. Skip forward another century, and tender could also imply a lack of maturity. |
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| 2987 |
patch |
a small contrasting part of something |
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When you patch something, you repair it, like when you patch a hole in the knee of your favorite jeans or when road crews use asphalt to patch a pothole in the street. |
The verb patch describes fixing by filling in a weak spot or by replacing missing material. You might patch a wall, for example, to fill in a hole before you paint it, or even “patch things up” after a disagreement with a friend. As a noun, patch describes a period of time, like a "rough path," the material used for fixing, like the patch you sew over a hole in fabric, or even a small piece of land, like a garden patch. |
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| 2988 |
command |
an authoritative direction or instruction to do something |
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A command is an order that you have to follow, as long as the person who gives it has authority over you. You don't have to comply with your friend's command that you give him all your money. |
Command, which can be a noun or a verb, combines the Latin prefix com-, meaning "with," and mandāre, "to charge, enjoin," so to give someone a command is to say something with the authority that charges him to follow it. Your mother might command you to clean your room. Command can also mean a position of power, like having command of a battleship, or possession of a skill, like having a great command of video games. |
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| 2989 |
register |
an official written record of names or events |
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Register has several meanings, but one of the most common is to write down or record officially. Like registering your car with the DMV and registering for classes at the beginning of a semester. |
Someone needs to register all the ways you can use the word register: As a noun it means the actual book that you record things in. But a register is also the range of sound your voice can make, and that thing the checkout lady uses to ring up your grocery bill. As a verb, register means to mark down officially or sign up, but also to show emotion: if cats and dogs rain from the sky, your face will likely register a look of disbelief. |
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| 2990 |
stroke |
a single complete movement |
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It's a stroke of luck, or chance event, to find a terrific parking space on a rainy day, but no one feels lucky when their grandfather has a stroke, a sudden debilitating loss of oxygen to the brain. |
Stroke is a high value word — many meanings, yet rarely misunderstood in context. You can swim a certain stroke (or just doggie paddle), you can stroke a cat's fur, you can figuratively stroke your boss's ego by flattering him, or you can have a stroke of brilliance and solve world hunger. Hopefully you won't suffer a stroke and need hospitalization. Its origin as a medical term goes back to the 1500s when it was shortened from "the Stroke of God's Hand." |
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| 2991 |
absorb |
take in a liquid |
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To absorb is to take in or suck up like a sponge. If you don't hear your mother calling because you are reading, you could say you were absorbed in the book. |
If your parents buy groceries for a party you are throwing and don't make you pay, you could say that they decided to absorb the cost of the food. Young minds absorb information easily. The word, absorbent, describes something that is capable of absorbing something else. When you go swimming on a chilly day, it's best to carry an absorbent towel so that all of the water is absorbed from the surface of your skin. |
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| 2992 |
withdraw |
pull back or move away or backward |
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To withdraw is to take something back or remove yourself from a situation. You might withdraw money from the bank or withdraw yourself from an argument if it gets out of hand. |
The word withdraw comes from Middle English and still means to draw or take back, like if you withdraw your hand when you’re done holding hands with someone. A newer definition of withdraw is to stay away from others or stop participating in something. You might withdraw from society by holing up in your house, or withdraw from school by dropping out. Another way to withdraw is to promise to do something but then change your mind. |
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| 2993 |
swallow |
pass through the esophagus as part of eating or drinking |
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When you swallow food or liquid is pushed from your mouth to the esophagus. Chew your food well before you swallow it. |
As a verb, swallow means "to enclose or envelop completely," like quicksand that swallows everything that falls into it. Swallow can also mean "to stop from expressing," like when you swallow your pride and ask for help. The noun swallow describes a gulp, though you don't always do it for digestion; sometimes a few swallows of air help you keep from crying. A swallow is also a type of small songbird. |
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| 2994 |
shift |
change in quality |
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Shift the verb and shift the noun are very similar in meaning. A shift is a change in something or an adjustment in the way something is done. You can either make a shift (that's the noun), or you can just shift (that's the verb). |
What makes a shift different from, say, a change is that it implies some kind of movement; a sense that the thing that you're shifting is still the same thing, just moving in a different direction. For example, when you shift gears in a car you're simply moving from one gear to another. If you shift your focus, you're still focused, but the focus has moved. If the government shifts its policy, that policy, while different, is still a policy. |
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| 2995 |
criticize |
point out real or perceived flaws |
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To criticize is to find what's wrong with something, like the improbabilities in a movie's plot line, or double standards in your father's rules. |
The verb criticize comes from the noun, critic, and means "to act like a critic." A critic is someone who judges, and that doesn't have to mean negative judgment (think of a glowing movie review from a movie critic), but when we use criticize we always mean finding what's wrong, instead of what's good, with something. If your friend is just learning to bake, don't criticize his first batch of burned cookies too harshly; he'll just give up. |
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| 2996 |
motive |
the reason that arouses action toward a desired goal |
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Your reason for doing something is your motive. Your motive to go to school every day is to learn. Or maybe the thought of your parents' anger and a run-in with the truant officer is motive enough. |
The word motive comes from the Latin words motivus, meaning moving, and movere, meaning to move. Think of motive as the thing that moves you to act. You often hear of motive in the context of crime––a suspect’s fingerprints may be on the murder weapon, but a detective won’t understand the crime until he understands the motive. What made the killer act? |
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| 2997 |
percentage |
a proportion in relation to a whole |
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A percentage is a portion of a whole expressed as a number between 0 and 100 rather than as a fraction. All of something is 100 percent, half of it is fifty percent, none of something is zero percent. |
To determine a percentage, you divide the portion of the whole by the whole itself and multiply by 100. So if you just ate two pieces of an eight-piece pie, and you want to know what percentage of the pie you consumed, you'd first divide 2 by 8 which equals .25. Then multiply .25 times 100 and get 25 percent. A percentage can also mean a portion of something but only when it has to do with numbers. When you buy furniture, the salesman gets a percentage of what you spend. |
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| 2998 |
dictate |
issue commands or orders for |
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When you dictate something, you are giving orders — acting a bit like a dictator. |
Dictate can also be used in a broader sense. Weather often dictates how many layers of clothes you wear, and the school rules dictate how you behave in and out of class. In a very different meaning, dictate means to say something out loud to a person or into a machine so it can be recorded. Up until fairly recently, bosses dictated letters and reports to secretaries who wrote them down. |
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| 2999 |
favor |
promote or prefer over another |
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A favor is an act of kindness, like doing your friend a favor by letting her borrow your calculator to take the big math test. |
Favor can be used as a noun: an advantage, like having experience in your favor when you apply for a job; a nice gesture, like giving your friend a ride to school; or a party favor, a little gift you get at a party. As a verb, favor means "like the most," like foods you favor, or "treat gently," like favoring your right leg when walking because it hurts to put weight on it. |
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| 3000 |
accompanying |
occurring at the same time, along with, or as a consequence |
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Someone or something that goes along with something else is accompanying. You might send an email with an accompanying photograph of your new puppy, for example. |
Accompanying is related to company or companion. So think of the word as being about keeping someone or something else company, of being its companion or its friend. If you are accompanying, then the main focus is not on you. A report on animal abuse may give us all the grim facts we need to know, but the accompanying pictures bring it all home. |
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| 3001 |
hypothetical |
based primarily on surmise rather than adequate evidence |
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Everyone who has ever taken a science class knows the word "hypothesis," which means an idea, or a guess, that you are going to test through an experiment. A hypothetical is related to that. It means something based on an informed guess. |
Hypotheticals are fun. How would you do in a hypothetical arm-wrestling competition against your Grandma? There are people in the Pentagon whose jobs are to consider all kinds of hypotheticals––what if Luxembourg armed itself with nuclear weapons? What if France developed the ability to pelt Switzerland with cannons firing cheeses? |
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| 3002 |
evoke |
call forth, as an emotion, feeling, or response |
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The verb evoke most commonly means to bring a feeling, memory, or picture into the mind. When you visit your old elementary school, the smells, sounds, and colors there can evoke memories from the past. |
Similarly, a certain reaction can be evoked by words or actions, as in "His comments evoked anger in the community." A near synonym is elicit, as in "No matter how many different ways the detective questioned the suspect, he could not elicit any response. Evoke was borrowed from Latin evocare, from the prefix e- "out," plus vocare "to call." |
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| 3003 |
supplementary |
functioning in a supporting capacity |
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Supplementary is a little something extra to fill in a gap, like when your teacher suggests supplementary reading material that you may or may not get around to checking out. |
Supplementary can be an important part of something or just extra support. The word supplement comes from the Latin supplementum for "something added to fix a deficiency" and the suffix -ary means "connected with." Put them together and you have something connected with filling in. The supplementary support of digging a moat around your sand castle might save it from a wave, but that supplementary reading on your syllabus isn't required (although it might save your grade). |
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| 3004 |
possess |
have as an attribute, knowledge, or skill |
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To possess something is to have or own it. You can possess a physical object, you can possess a particular quality or skill, or you can possess control or influence over someone. |
Related words are possessive (describing those who hold onto people or things in a controlling way), and possessed, as in a person being possessed by an idea or even by a demon. This verb is from Middle French possesser "to own," from Latin possidēre, from potis "able, having the power" plus sedēre "to sit." |
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| 3005 |
underscore |
give extra weight to |
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To underscore is to draw special attention to a fact, idea, or situation. When you're involved in a debate, it’s wise to underscore the points that best support your argument. |
Literally, underscore means “to underline,” or draw a line beneath a word to emphasize it. In common speech, to underscore something is to call attention to it. If a worker sustained an injury on the job, for instance, the event would underscore the need for workplace safety. Underscore is also used to mean "emphasize." During a job interview, you want to underscore any experience that relates to the job you are applying for. |
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| 3006 |
validate |
give evidence for |
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To validate is to prove that something is based on truth or fact, or is acceptable. It can also mean to make something, like a contract, legal. |
You may need someone to validate your feelings, which means that you want to hear, “No, you’re not crazy. It’s acceptable to be angry about that.” Or you may need someone to validate your parking ticket — which means you have to prove that you bought something, so you can get parking for free. Whatever it is you are seeking to validate needs the added support or action from someone else to make it valid. |
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| 3007 |
reinforce |
make stronger |
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To reinforce means to make stronger. You can reinforce your roof by putting some extra supports under it. |
Besides a physical structure, there are many things you can reinforce. If you want to reinforce a message, you can say it louder, rephrase and repeat it or give examples of what you expect. You use dog biscuits to reinforce certain behaviors in your dog. Bad experiences will reinforce your fears, good ones your hopes. And when military leaders reinforce their troops, they send additional soldiers to the front. |
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| 3008 |
option |
one of a number of things from which only one can be chosen |
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An option is a possibility or choice. In football, a quarterback with three wide receivers has (at least) three throwing options. |
An option is something that can be chosen — it's a possibility. Even something crazy — like jumping off a cliff — is always an option, just not a good one. There are lots of technical uses of option in business and legal writing. If you have the option on a house, you have the right to buy it. In sports, a free agent has the option of joining another team. No matter what you do, it's nice to have options. When we have no options, we feel trapped. |
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| 3009 |
tend |
have a disposition to do or be something; be inclined |
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If you manage, run, or work at a store, you can say you tend it. If you tend the bar in a restaurant, for example, you serve drinks, dry glasses, and fill dishes with pretzels. |
You can also say you tend something if you care for it. You have to tend a vegetable garden, for example, if you expect to harvest more vegetables than weeds. If you are inclined to do something, then you tend to do that thing. You might tend to let your homework go until the last minute and then stay up all night to get it done — probably not the most efficient way to go about it. |
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| 3010 |
dispute |
take exception to |
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If kids can't settle their own argument, they may need someone to mediate their dispute, or conflict. You can often tell this is the case if you hear the loud cry, "Mom!" |
The noun dispute means any conflict or disagreement. The countries were in the middle of a border dispute; both sides claimed the toxic waste dump belonged to the other. As a verb, dispute can mean to quarrel or argue, but it can also mean to take exception to something. If your boasting friend crows because you lost the trivia game to her by 150 points, you may want to dispute the facts. It was only 145 points. |
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| 3011 |
squander |
spend thoughtlessly; throw away |
But I know we won’t squander this chance. |
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To squander means to spend extravagantly, thoughtlessly, or wastefully. If you need to save for college, don't squander your income on nightly sushi dinners. |
Squander used to mean scatter, and the way we use it now implies throwing something (like money) all over the place. You can squander time as well as money. If you have a big deadline but you are chatting away or looking at social networking sites, you are squandering your time. If you have an opportunity to play for a major league baseball team but show up late to tryouts and criticize the coach, you have probably squandered your chance. |
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| 3012 |
ritual |
any customary observance or practice |
I’ve got this little ritual I do every Saturday morning before a game. |
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A ritual is a ceremony or action performed in a customary way. Your family might have a Saturday night ritual of eating a big spaghetti dinner and then taking a long walk to the ice cream shop. |
As an adjective, ritual means "conforming to religious rites," which are the sacred, customary ways of celebrating a religion or culture. Different communities have different ritual practices, like meditation in Buddhism, or baptism in Christianity. We also call the ceremony itself a ritual. Although it comes from religious ceremonies, ritual can also be used for any time-honored tradition, like the Superbowl, or Mardi Gras, or Sunday morning pancake breakfast. |
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| 3013 |
perambulate |
walk with no particular goal |
I know it sounds a little weird, but I perambulate around the campus and, eventually, I find myself at the stadium. |
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If you're fond of strolling around your neighborhood with no special destination, you like to perambulate. |
When you walk for the sake of taking a walk, you perambulate. It's an old-fashioned way to describe taking an after-dinner stroll or a meander through the zoo. The Latin word at the root of perambulate is ambulare, "to walk," and the more common word amble shares this origin. Another related word is perambulator, a mainly British term for a baby carriage or stroller, which is shortened to the more familiar pram. |
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| 3014 |
redundant |
more than is needed, desired, or required |
When you’re the quarterback you’re the head honcho. (Oops. Dr. Miller, my English professor, says “head” is redundant because honcho means “the head dude.”) |
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The word redundant applies to things that are unnecessary or could be left out. Calling a blank sheet of paper empty is redundant. |
Teachers often tell students to avoid being redundant — meaning avoid saying something twice or more. Have you ever heard someone tell a story and repeat the same thing over and over? The repeated parts are redundant. Sometimes being redundant can make things clear, but it can also be annoying. Redundant can apply to anything that's overflowing or unnecessary. If a business has two stores on the same street, one is redundant. When you hear redundant, think "Too much!" |
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| 3015 |
prescient |
perceiving the significance of events before they occur |
Now, you don’t have to be exactly prescient, but you do have to have some serious foresight because you never know what those guys on the other team are going to throw at you. |
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To be prescient is to have foresight or foreknowledge. We can use this word to describe people themselves, or what they say or do at a given moment. |
You probably know that the Latin prefix pre- means "before," so you might be able to figure out that the word prescient, from the verb praescire, means to "know beforehand." People like economists, sports commentators, and political analysts often get tagged with this word, because it's part of their job to sift through the data and make predictions — and sometimes they get it right. And when they're not just lucky, we might say they're prescient. |
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| 3016 |
peregrinate |
travel around, through, or over, especially on foot |
Did you know that a lot of those old Greek philosophers liked to peregrinate, thinking and expounding on their ideas? |
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People who peregrinate are constantly on the move, traveling from one location to another. You might peregrinate from Italy to Spain to France during your European backpacking trip. |
The most common way to peregrinate is on foot, wandering from place to place, as when you decide to peregrinate around your city's various neighborhoods pretending you're a tourist. The word is a bit old fashioned these days, and it was first used in the late 16th century, taken from the Latin peregrinatus, "traveled abroad," or figuratively "wandered or roamed," from peregrinus, "foreign." |
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| 3017 |
expound |
add details, as to an account or idea |
Did you know that a lot of those old Greek philosophers liked to peregrinate, thinking and expounding on their ideas? |
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If given recipe directions that include "some sugar," "some onions," and "some flour" as ingredients, you might ask the cook to expound by adding measurements of how much of each to use. When you expound, you explain or provide details. |
Expound came into English from a 14th-century French word espondre meaning "to elaborate" or "put forth." Often when you expound something you are clarifying or giving the particulars. A more formal way to expound is to offer exposition, often going line by line to explain precise meanings in a text or legal document. |
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| 3018 |
peripatetic |
traveling especially on foot |
Some of them who followed Aristotle’s teachings were actually called peripatetic because they discussed philosophy while they were walking around. |
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If you're reading this on a treadmill or while taking a walk, you may know about the peripatetic, or walking, philosopher Aristotle, who taught while strolling with his students. Or, maybe you just like being a peripatetic, a walking wanderer. |
Peri- is the Greek word for "around," and peripatetic is an adjective that describes someone who likes to walk or travel around. Peripatetic is also a noun for a person who travels from one place to another or moves around a lot. If you walk in a circle, you are peripatetic, or walking, but you aren’t a peripatetic, or wanderer, unless you actually go somewhere. |
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| 3019 |
digress |
turn aside from the main subject of attention |
Anyway, there I go, digressing again. I've strayed from the thread of this little story. |
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If we're talking about science fiction, and you suddenly go off on a long tangent about the cost of grape soda, you digress. When a person digresses, they stray from the topic. |
It's easy to understand why you digressed from the main topic. You were incredibly excited, speeding on caffeine, and, let's face it, you've never been at a loss for words. Don't get me wrong: I love your wanderings — how you drift from one topic to the next, letting your mind explore. The problem was that the meeting was running late and there was no time to let you digress. I had to pull you back to the main topic. I didn't want our potential new partners to get the idea that these digressions were typical. |
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| 3020 |
tome |
a large and scholarly book |
I’m no bibliophile, but I do have tremendous respect for the scholars who spent endless hours studying and writing all those tomes in there. |
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A tome is a large book. If you're pre-med, chances are you're going to have one heck of a tome for your biology class. Tome is often used to refer to a book that is not only really large but also unusually important. |
If you generally carry more than one tome to class, invest in a bag with wheels so you don't hurt your back. A tome is big and heavy. "Wow! This tome weighs a ton!" Whatever you do, don't leave your tome at home—you'll wind up in detention! You can also use tome sarcastically to describe a book that clearly isn't large or important. But sarcasm is for advanced users only. |
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| 3021 |
obsolescent |
becoming disused or outdated |
Some pundits say that books are obsolescent because this is the information age, but I think they have a pretty tenuous case. |
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Recycling bins, garbage dumps, and junkyards are filled with obsolescent stuff — computers, televisions, cars, and everything else that's discarded because it's not the latest thing anymore. |
The word obsolescent is closely related to obsolete and the words are often used interchangeably. Actually, though, the -sc- in obsolescent means "becoming." So, if you're going to use the word carefully, you can talk about your obsolescent computer that still lumbers along but will soon be obsolete and completely useless. |
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| 3022 |
missive |
a written message addressed to a person or organization |
You see, the Internet is OK for sending missives to your girlfriend, but for research (yep, even I can’t avoid having to take a peek at some data occasionally), nothing beats the good old library. |
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A missive usually refers to the old-school style of hand-written communication on paper (remember that?), but these days you also might hear an email called a missive, too. No matter how you deliver it, a missive is a message. |
The noun missive comes from the Latin word missus, meaning "to send." You may have heard the phrase, "fire off a missive," meaning a note, memo or dispatch that was written and sent with urgency and conveyed an important message. It might have been a missive sent from a commander to the troops, telling them of a change in the battle plan. Or, maybe it was an urgent love letter to the commander's wife back home, telling her to tie a yellow ribbon round the ole oak tree... |
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| 3023 |
travesty |
a composition that imitates or misrepresents a style |
Your caricature of me as a guy who’s just interested in scoping out girls is a travesty of the truth. |
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A travesty is a cheap mockery, usually of something or someone serious, such as a travesty of justice. |
A travesty is a silly imitation, like a tall young man dressed up like a little old lady. Travesty and transvestite both come from French travesti meaning "dressed in disguise," so it helps to remember the definition of travesty by thinking of that football player in drag. A travesty can be more than that, though. A travesty of justice, for example, is a court case that makes a mockery of the system, or so you might think if the verdict isn't in your favor. There are lots of examples in literature: the book Don Quixote is a travesty of Medieval Romance. |
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| 3024 |
erudition |
profound scholarly knowledge |
“Wow. Your vocabulary has certainly improved since your freshman year, Simon. Maybe you actually are acquiring erudition here.” |
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If you've read shelves of thick books, people might describe you as a person of erudition. You might find erudition to be its own reward, but if you can make a career of it, even better! |
The Latin root of erudition is the verb erudire which means "to teach or train." By showing erudition, you show that you've learned a lot. If you write with erudition, your readers will know that you are a serious scholar, as long as you're not too far over their heads. |
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| 3025 |
predilection |
a predisposition in favor of something |
My predilections certainly have changed, Dr. Larsen. |
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A predilection is a preference for or bias toward something. If you have a predilection for wool clothing, you should take up knitting. |
Predilection is based on the Latin verb praediligere, or "prefer before others," which breaks down to prae, before, and diligere, "choose or love." We often use the word predilection for tendencies that people seem to have been born with, also called predispositions. If you're a night owl, you probably have a predilection for cities, while morning people tend to prefer the country. |
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| 3026 |
peruse |
examine or consider with attention and in detail |
In consequence, my taste in the reading material that I like to peruse has become quite intellectual. |
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Traditionally, peruse has meant to read or examine something carefully. But informally, it can have the opposite meaning, to read something casually and quickly. |
To understand the two meanings, think about the way people like to talk about doing things thoroughly, even when they aren't. If you are visiting a library or a bookstore, you might find yourself perusing the shelves. Synonyms are browse and skim. Peruse is from Middle English perusen "to use up," from the Latin prefix per- "thoroughly" plus Middle English usen "to use." |
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| 3027 |
sophisticated |
having worldly knowledge and refinement |
I see that your interests really have become more sophisticated. |
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If something is sophisticated, it's complicated and intricate. The inner workings of a computer are sophisticated. Sophisticated can also refer to having good taste. Either way, sophisticated things are impressive. |
Sophisticated systems and objects are complex and tough to understand. High school math is a lot more sophisticated than grammar school math. Driving a car is more sophisticated than riding a bike. People are sophisticated if they have plenty of worldly experience and what is generally regarded as "good taste." Sometimes, that just means they have a lot of money and like things that are fancy. Going to a symphony is considered more sophisticated than going to a rock concert. |
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| 3028 |
emaciated |
very thin especially from disease or hunger or cold |
A scrawny, almost emaciated, middle-aged man sitting at a table by himself. |
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Someone who is dangerously skinny and skeletal-looking can be described as emaciated. It's probably how you'd start to look after a few weeks in the wilderness with only berries and bugs for dinner. |
The adjective emaciated evolved from the Latin emaciatus, meaning to “make lean, waste away.” An emaciated person or animal isn't just thin. They're bony, gaunt, and most likely undernourished, often from illness. So if an emaciated stray cat shows up on your doorstep, give it a bowl of milk and maybe pay a visit to the vet. |
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| 3029 |
repugnance |
intense aversion |
On her face was a look of repugnance. |
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Repugnance means strong distaste for something. If you love animals, you probably feel repugnance for people who mistreat their horses. |
The word repugnance comes from Latin root words, re, meaning back, and pugnare, to fight. When we use repugnance, we don't just mean the feeling of fighting back or resisting, but also a feeling of horror or sickness that causes you to resist in the first place. If something grosses you out, you feel repugnance for it. Repugnance can also express a feeling of moral horror: you probably feel repugnance at photographs of torture. |
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| 3030 |
astronomical |
inconceivably large |
To project psychic energy so far takes an astronomical amount of energy. |
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If you lie down on a big field or on a rooftop and look up, the sky is so wide and high, it is astronomical in size — bigger than huge. Everything in that sky, including the stars and planets, is also astronomical because it is part of a science called astronomy. |
Astra and aster are the Latin and Greek words for star, and the first four letters of astronomical, a-s-t-r, are a scramble of the word star. Astronomy includes the study of stars, but planets and other objects and happenings in space are also part of astronomical studies. Considering how large everything in space is, it makes sense that very, very large or uncountable things sometimes get the description astronomical. |
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| 3031 |
sequester |
set apart from others |
We will surround it and sequester it. |
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The word sequester describes being kept away from others. If your sister tells you to stay out of the way so she can cook dinner for her new boyfriend, you might sequester yourself in your room. |
Legal types may be familiar with the word sequester since it’s often used in relation to a jury for an important trial. In that case, members of the jury are sequestered, meaning they aren't allowed to watch the news or read articles that could influence their judgment. However, sequester can describe anyone who is isolated or hidden away from others, like a pop star sequestered in a hotel room, protected from fans' mania below. |
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| 3032 |
vanquish |
come out better in a competition, race, or conflict |
“Jets Vanquish Rams” was the headline. |
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To vanquish is to be the complete and total winner, to overpower and overcome, whether in a contest, a race, or a war. It generally suggests a total trouncing, to the point of humiliation — or worse — for the loser. |
Sometimes words for the same thing are effective in different ways because they offer different levels of meaning. For example, in a game, you can simply win, or you can vanquish your opponent. The former is enough, but the latter makes that defeat sound so much worse, like a total rout. Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche once stated, "Against war it may be said that it makes the victor stupid and the vanquished revengeful." |
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| 3033 |
repulsive |
so extremely ugly as to be terrifying |
What a repulsive-looking guy, Simon thought. |
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If something's repulsive, it's so disgusting you don't want to go near it. You may find rotting meat repulsive, but maggots find it delicious. To each its own! |
In the early 17th Century, the word repulsive simply meant something that repelled or "pushed away." For example, the like poles of two magnets are repulsive to each other, pushing each other away. Today, repulsive usually means disturbing and sickening. As manners guru Amy Vanderbilt said, "Do not speak of repulsive matters at the table." |
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| 3034 |
quarry |
a person who is the aim of an attack by a hostile influence |
Simon’s got the quarry in his sights. |
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Both meanings of quarry have to do with going after something. An animal being hunted is called quarry, and when you dig a hole in the earth looking for rocks, both the digging and the hole are called quarry as well. |
Gross fact: Quarry derives from the Latin cor "heart," because hunters used to drape the entrails of their chosen quarry on their dogs' backs. The origin in a word for "heart" can help you remember both quarries: a rock quarry is searching down toward the heart of the earth; a stag's heart is considered a hunter's greatest prize. |
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| 3035 |
stupor |
feeling of distress and disbelief when something bad happens |
He was crying, stumbling in a stupor. |
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A person in a stupor is considered barely conscious or stunned; or, if you consult Led Zeppelin lyrics: dazed and confused. |
Stupors can be brought on by drugs, alcohol, illness, or shocking news. You might doze off with a lampshade on your head if you’re in a drunken stupor. Medically speaking, a person in this state responds only to pain. You can also be in a stupor if you’re in shock, like if your boss says he's replacing you with a robot, or if Mister Ed the talking horse kicks you in the gut. Like stupid, it comes from the Latin word stupere that means basically “to be stunned.” |
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| 3036 |
paroxysm |
a sudden uncontrollable attack |
Paroxysms of anguish shook his body. |
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A paroxysm is a convulsion or sudden fit, brought on because you're freaking out or coming down with something. |
Paroxysm is from the Greek word paroxysmos, which basically means "to irritate." If you're irritated to the point of having a wild fit, like if you see someone trying to steal your car, you might go into a paroxysm of rage. When the teacher talked about private parts, the students went into a paroxysm of giggles. A paroxysm can be medical, too, like when an illness suddenly attacks, and you get symptoms like chills and a fever right away. |
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| 3037 |
wrench |
twist and compress, as if in pain or anguish |
And he had done it, though it had wrenched his soul to do it. |
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To wrench means to grab or pull something with a lot of physical force. See this teddy bear? If you want it, you’ll have to wrench it out of my hands, because I’m not willing to give it up. |
Maybe you have a wrench at home, that is, a hand tool that is used to hold or twist a nut or a pipe joint. If so, you also have a great way to remember what wrench the verb means. Just imagine you're twisting with a wrench, except instead of using a tool, you’re using your hands. If something is heart wrenching, it makes you feel very sad. If you wrench a part of your body, you strain, pull or twist it, injuring yourself in some way. |
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| 3038 |
distraught |
deeply agitated especially from emotion |
“You have a right to be distraught after what you’ve just been through.” |
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If you are upset, you are distraught. If you don't want to explain why you are pulling your hair out, just utter "Leave me alone; I'm distraught." It'll work. |
While distraught may sound like an old Germanic past participle, it is actually an alteration of distract from the Latin distrahere "to draw in different directions." If you are distraught, you are so upset that it's hard to think straight, hence your mind is "drawn in different directions." |
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| 3039 |
extensive |
large in spatial extent or range or scope or quantity |
the Group is a little more extensive than you know |
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When something is far-reaching or expansive it is extensive. When your friend knows every single place and time that his favorite band has played any given song, he has extensive knowledge of that band. |
Use the adjective extensive for something that goes on and on and on. It works for anything that covers a lot of territory either in physical space, as in "the gardens at the palace are extensive," or conceptually, as in "her knowledge of the mortgage-backed securities market is extensive." If you are a farmer, you would also use extensive to mean that you are able to work a lot of land without too much effort or manual labor. |
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| 3040 |
quarantine |
place into enforced isolation, as for medical reasons |
Simon has destroyed the body It was using. Lexa has now quarantined It. |
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If you contract something highly infectious, such as pinkeye, please quarantine yourself so that you don’t infect others with it. This means you’ll have to stay in isolation and avoid contact with other people. |
Starting in the 16th century, a quarantine lasted specifically 40 days. The word is in fact derived from the Latin quadraginta, which means "forty." Originally, this referred to the amount of time a widow could remain in her deceased husband’s house, then referred to the period of time a ship had to wait off a country’s port if its passengers were disease-stricken. Now, it can mean a period of isolation of any length, and can be used as both a verb and a noun. |
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| 3041 |
insatiable |
impossible to satisfy |
“Jaz, you’re insatiable. You and your boyfriend have just saved the world, freed it from some really nasty aliens controlling it—some seriously not nice customers—and you’re already worried about helping that thing?” |
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If someone can't be satisfied, she is insatiable. After being lost in the woods eating only berries for a few days, you'll find your hunger is insatiable once you finally get to the table. |
Insatiable comes from the combination of the negative prefix, in- and the Latin verb satiare, for fill. Someone who is insatiable can never be full. It can be used for spiritual as well as physical desires. Swift's traveling Gulliver talks about his "insatiable desire of seeing foreign countries." Perhaps you have an insatiable desire to learn all the words in the English language. Synonyms are unappeasable and gluttonous. |
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| 3042 |
resonate |
be received or understood |
You could see her whole body resonate to Christine’s expressions. |
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To resonate is to make, hear, or even understand a deep, full sound. Your speech about the dangers of scarves and convertibles will resonate with your audience if you tell the story of Isadora Duncan's death. |
The verb resonate, which comes from the Latin resonatum, first referred only to sound, but has now developed an emotional connotation. Resonate sounds a whole lot like another verb, resound, but they have subtly different meanings. Resound means “to repeat the sound,” but resonate means “to expand, amplify.” Sound can resonate when broadcast through speakers, and so can an idea or feeling, when expressed articulately or with passion. |
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| 3043 |
alchemy |
the way two individuals relate to each other |
Miss Bridget had, presumably, received Christine’s emotion, processed it by whatever complex alchemy females process feelings, and then returned it, with her own feelings added. |
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If your favorite but perpetually losing team picks up a couple of new players and the result is suddenly an unbeatable combo, that's alchemy — any seemingly magical act involving the combining of elements into something new. |
In medieval times alchemy meant the mysterious science of trying to convert one form of matter into another using fire, potions, spells, and all kind of other tricks. Alchemists often got a bad rap for their obsession with trying to turn base metals into gold, but in fact true alchemy was concerned with a far loftier ideal — that of finding a "universal elixir" that could overcome death. |
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| 3044 |
statute |
an act passed by a legislative body |
Now, Simon thought, if a guy listened to another guy like that—actually tried to listen—he’d be totally stigmatized, maybe even ostracized, for violating the onerous, totally unyielding statutes of Guy World. |
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A statute is a formal law or rule. Whether it's enacted by a government, company, or other organization, a statute is typically written down. |
Local governments can pass all kinds of statutes, or written laws, to govern their citizens. A city's government might try to restrict the consumption of alcoholic beverages in public, or make it illegal to pet cats on the weekends. Of course, silly statutes like no cat-petting on weekends can be pretty hard to pass. |
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| 3045 |
preposterous |
inviting ridicule |
It was preposterous. |
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To a vegetarian, the idea of eating a 52-ounce T-bone steak would seem preposterous — absolutely absurd. |
When the word preposterous was first used, it meant reversing the normal order of things — putting what was last first, and vice versa. Imagine putting on your underwear over your pants and you'll see that there's a kind of absurdity in something that's backwards, which is why preposterous came to mean "ridiculous." The word is often used as part of an exclamation: a chef who is asked to cook with nothing but jelly beans might exclaim, "That's preposterous!" |
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| 3046 |
rapacious |
excessively greedy and grasping |
It seemed almost aggressive, even rapacious at times, the listening. |
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Something rapacious is out to devour — anything, and little can stand in its way. A rapacious landlord is out for more rent, and a rapacious eater is only satisfied at the all-you-can-eat buffet. |
A 17th-century word, from the Latin rapere, "to snatch," rapacious originally described the people and animals who often preyed on weaker creatures and devoured them, by eating them or by ruining them through some scandal. Modern-day companies even get the label rapacious when their appetites for profit seem to devour "lesser" interests, like the environment and employee benefits. |
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| 3047 |
hirsute |
having or covered with hair |
His shirt was open, showing much of his hirsute chest. |
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What do Santa Claus, Bigfoot, and unicorns have in common? Aside from the fact that they’re completely real, they’re also hirsute: very, very hairy creatures. |
All mammals have hair, but the ones that have way more than others, you might call them hirsute. There are hirsute people, like lumberjacks with a jungle of chest hair, bearded ladies at a circus, or just someone with a scraggly hairdo. The word is pronounced “HER-suit,” so if you see a woman wearing a furry jacket with matching pants, you could say, “Her suit is hirsute.” Just make sure it’s actually a suit and not her real hair. |
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| 3048 |
hiatus |
an interruption in the intensity or amount of something |
All three women had a look of total aloofness, like all they were thinking about in the whole world was what they were going to discuss after this little hiatus in the action. |
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A temporary gap, pause, break, or absence can be called a hiatus. When your favorite TV show is on hiatus, that means there are no new episodes — not forever, just for a little while. |
Even things that go on for a long time take a break once in a while: one kind of break is a hiatus. If someone has to leave her job for a time, she's going on hiatus. A touring band will need to take a hiatus if the lead singer gets in an accident. The key thing about a hiatus is that it's an interruption of something that was happening, but it's not a permanent break. |
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| 3049 |
megalomania |
a psychological state characterized by delusions of grandeur |
But that smacked of megalomania. |
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Megalomania is a crazy hunger for power and wealth, and a passion for grand schemes. Comic book villains often suffer from megalomania. Their plans are thwarted only by superheroes. |
Megalomania comes from the Greek megas ("great") and mania ("madness"). It is a madness of greatness, but not a great kind of madness! Megalomaniacs in history: Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, Napoleon Bonaparte, Josef Stalin, and maybe even the tycoon Donald Trump. |
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| 3050 |
din |
a loud harsh or strident noise |
DelMonico’s was, as usual, packed, so there was a din. |
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Walk into the average school cafeteria at lunchtime, and you'll get a good sense of what a din is — loud, confused, continuous, generally unpleasant, and often potentially headache-inducing noise. |
Who knew noise pollution was a problem in ancient times? Humans have been experiencing loud, sustained, annoying sounds for centuries, judging by the etymology of the word din. It traces its roots back to Old English dyne or dynn, which had the same meaning as din does today, only with a different pronunciation. Before that, it popped up in Old Norse as dynr and meant to "come rumbling down" — fitting, from the language that gave us Thor, the God of Thunder. |
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| 3051 |
inconspicuous |
not prominent or readily noticeable |
As inconspicuously as he could, he craned his neck. |
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Inconspicuous describes something that doesn't stand out or attract attention. The bad news? You just got pizza sauce on your shirt. The good news? It landed in an inconspicuous spot, so no one will notice. |
Inconspicuous comes from the Latin word inconspicuus, or "not visible," and the original meaning of inconspicuous was "invisible," until around 1828. Today, it describes anything that blends in or isn't very noticeable. If you have ever tried to find your black luggage among all the other pieces of black luggage at the airport, you know that sometimes, being inconspicuous makes things harder. |
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| 3052 |
relish |
derive or receive pleasure from |
That way, when they finally got around to them, which, it appeared, could be several hours from now, they could be relished all the more. |
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Relish isn't just a hotdog topping. The verb relish means to enjoy something immensely. You may relish eating the relish on your hotdog, or you may relish taking an afternoon nap. |
The word relish has been around since the 16th century and comes to us from the French, who are pretty good at indulging and savoring. When at a dinner party, win points with your host by sighing happily after each bite to show just how much you relish the meal. Relish is also a kind of spicy or savory condiment, the stuff you slather on hotdogs or hamburgers. So if you're fickle when it comes to pickles, you might ask them to hold the relish. |
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| 3053 |
gustatory |
of or relating to the sense of taste |
Gustatory paradise. |
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If you want to improve the gustatory appeal of a grapefruit, you might add a spoonful of sugar. Gustatory is an adjective that refers to tasting or the sense of taste. |
You may be tempted to link gustatory with the word gust, meaning "a quick, strong rush of wind." However, gustatory has its roots in the Latin gustare, meaning "to taste," while gust can be traced back to the Old Norse gustr, meaning to "to gush." But if a gust of wind brings with it the savory aroma of a nearby backyard barbecue, you might find yourself licking the air in gustatory frustration. |
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| 3054 |
hedonistic |
devoted to pleasure |
Hedonistic heaven. |
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A hedonistic person is committed to seeking sensual pleasure — the type of guy you might find in a massage parlor or at an all-you-can-eat buffet. |
This term — along with the related words hedonist and hedonistic — is derived from the Greek word hedone, "pleasure." The Cyreniacs taught that physical gratification is superior to the mental satisfaction offered by anticipation and remembrance. That's why hedonistic folks revel in pleasure, and demand it in the present tense. |
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| 3055 |
glutton |
a person who is devoted to eating and drinking to excess |
Glutton’s delight. |
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Do you like to eat and drink — I mean, really like to eat and drink? Then you might be a glutton. |
We all have our favorite foods and drinks, but some people are a little more into it than others — these people are gluttons. Someone who's a glutton because they just eat too much is different from a gourmet or gourmand, who enjoys only the best food. This word also is used in phrases like "glutton for punishment," which you might say about a student who asks for extra homework. |
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| 3056 |
olfactory |
of or relating to the sense of smell |
In some ways, Simon thought, this was the best part of the experience—looking forward to those first few wonderful mouthfuls of mussels and garlic bread, olfactory senses going full bore. |
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Something olfactory has to do with the sense of smell. The odor from that factory is a symphony of olfactory delights. Not. |
Though we typically think of dogs as the olfactory champions of the world, what with their remarkable ability to sniff out practically anything, the true title belongs to the polar bear. Healthy, adult polar bears possess olfactory gifts that boggle the mind: they can smell a seal under the ice from over a kilometer away. One way to try to remember the meaning of the word olfactory is to think of factory. Your nose is the "factory" where odors are processed. What visual is to the eyes, olfactory is to the nose. |
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| 3057 |
legerdemain |
an illusory feat |
It was not something that would shake the edifices of the mathematical establishment, but it was a pretty piece of mathematical legerdemain, a beautifully balanced equation: DelMonico’s = Heaven. |
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When a magician waves his hands over a hat and pulls out a rabbit, he is performing an act of legerdemain or trickery. |
Legerdemain can be used literally to describe a magic trick, or figuratively to describe some other kind of trickery or deceit. If you and some friends cook up a scheme that involves telling complicated lies so that you can stay out all night, you are guilty of legerdemain. The word comes from the French léger de main which means dexterous, or light of hand. |
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| 3058 |
quantify |
express as a number or measure or quantity |
Who said pleasure could not be quantified? |
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When you quantify something, you're putting it in numbers. If you're asked to quantify the fingers on your hand, you better say five. |
If you like math, this word is for you: quantifying is counting or expressing something in numbers. Oddly enough quantify often comes into play when people are trying to count things that can't really be counted. When a doctor asks you to rate your pain on a scale of 1 to 10, he's asking you to quantify for your pain. Michael Jordan won 6 NBA championships, but you can't quantify what made him great: his drive and determination. |
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| 3059 |
rectify |
make right or correct |
That could be rectified. |
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When you rectify something, you fix it or make it right. Some English teachers will give you a chance to rectify any mistakes you've made in an essay and hand in a second, edited draft. |
This verb often turns up in sentences like "The truce should help to rectify this situation between the two countries," or "I'd like to rectify the misspellings in this article before I print it." To rectify is to correct or improve something — you can imagine straightening out something that's bent to make it work better. The Old French rectifier, in fact, means "to make straight," from the Latin root rectus, "straight." |
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| 3060 |
cuisine |
the manner of preparing food or the food so prepared |
He had been so moved by the cuisine that he had felt compelled to seek out the chef and personally express his gratitude. |
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Cuisine is a type of food that is cooked in a specific way based on a culture's ingredients, region, and traditions. If you're craving cannoli, a visit to Chinatown doesn't make much sense, since cheese is more characteristic of Italian cuisine. |
Boiling an egg or flipping burgers on the grill is cooking. But if you want to create cuisine, you need to understand how to prepare the culinary specialties of a particular country or culture. To make Italian cuisine, for example, you'll need to chop garlic, roll out pasta dough, and simmer pots of tomato sauce. When the word "fine" is attached to cuisine, it describes the food at a fancy restaurant that will part you with a good portion of your money. |
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| 3061 |
epicurean |
displaying luxury and furnishing gratification to the senses |
And it wasn’t like Simon to just find the guy and say, “Hey man, thanks for one really fantastic meal—an epicurean delight, a transcendent culinary experience, a bodacious repast.” |
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Used as a noun or adjective, epicurean refers to a devotion to pleasure or refined, sensuous enjoyment, especially of good food and drink. |
Epicurus, the ancient Greek philosopher this word was named after, taught his students that pleasure was a sign of the good, and pain a sign of evil. Thus the "good life" was one filled with pleasure and the avoidance of pain. Over the centuries, epicurean has come to refer to the pursuit of the finer things in life, and the word has a whole host of great synonyms, including luxurious, voluptuous, hedonistic, and, as a noun, bon vivant. |
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| 3062 |
palpable |
capable of being perceived |
No, with Simon an expression of gratitude would have to take some palpable form. |
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When something is palpable, you can touch or handle it, even though the word is often used to describe things that usually can't be handled or touched, such as emotions or sensations. |
You probably won't see palpable used to describe, say, an egg or a doorknob or a motorcycle. Palpable is usually reserved for situations in which something invisible becomes so intense that it feels as though it has substance or weight. When the towers came down, the sense of sadness was so great, it was palpable. |
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| 3063 |
rapture |
a state of elated bliss |
Suddenly, a look of rapture was on Simon’s face. |
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Rapture is a feeling of emotional ecstasy so magical it's almost as if you've been transported to some other world. |
Coming to us from an old French word meaning "carried away," rapture certainly involves getting swept off to Shangri-La. It's happiness so extreme that you just about float to heaven, complete with big goofy grin plastered to your face. Traditionally reserved for those feeling spiritual ecstasy, rapture now extends to anyone feeling overwhelmed by emotion — sparked by everything from a passionate kiss to scoring an awesome dress on sale. |
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| 3064 |
burly |
muscular and heavily built |
When the chef, Angelo—a burly man who spoke mainly Italian and very little English—appeared, Simon had drawn him close and held him. |
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The adjective burly describes someone (usually male) who is muscular and beefy. Types of people that you might describe as burly? Football players, wrestlers, and bouncers at nightclubs. |
The word burly is a synonym for words like husky, brawny, and muscular. The differences between the words can be subtle. Although they can all describe someone with beefy muscles, people tend not to think of burly as describing someone who has a lean, athletic muscular build. Burly is more often used to describe the guy that has a massive, muscular build, where his muscle may be tending toward fat. |
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| 3065 |
efficacious |
producing or capable of producing an intended result |
But, like Simon, he used the words he did know efficaciously. |
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When you really want to do something right, really nail it, really get at what you were going for — you're trying to be efficacious, or produce the effect you intended. |
The word efficacious is made up of the Latin efficere meaning "accomplish" and the suffix -ious meaning "full of." Something that's efficacious is full of accomplishment. An efficacious medicine is one that cures you of the ailment you had. An efficacious recipe is one that comes out the way you intended it to taste. Remember that efficacious has two fs and two cs in it and you'll be efficacious in your spelling of the word. |
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| 3066 |
nomenclature |
a system of words used to name things in a discipline |
Her deeply considered conclusion about the behavior was, while not likely to be cited as a major contribution to psychology, relatively straightforward and admirably free of technical nomenclature: “Guys can be pretty weird sometimes.” |
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When adjusting to a new job, you may have trouble understanding the nomenclature, or system of naming things, in the workplace. Just remember: they’re “guests,” not “customers," and they push a “purchase buggy,” not a “shopping cart.” |
The nomen- in nomenclature comes from the Latin word for name. Nomenclature is a system for giving names to things within a particular profession or field. For instance, you may have heard of binomial nomenclature in biology class. It refers to the way of referring to living things by two names, like calling humans Homo sapiens. Biologists all follow the same nomenclature so that they are easily understood by each other. |
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| 3067 |
incognito |
without revealing one's identity |
Except for the fact that Jaz had convinced him to go incognito. |
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When you want to do something and not be recognized, go incognito — hiding your true identity. |
It is funny that the words, recognize and incognito, are both related to the Latin verb, cognoscere, "to get to know" because when you do something incognito, you do not want to be recognized. Celebrities often try to go out or travel incognito so that they may have some privacy, whereas an average person might want to remain incognito in order to observe something they might not otherwise be able to see (like a celebrity). |
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| 3068 |
impartial |
free from undue bias or preconceived opinions |
How was he going to observe the flow of life impartially if people kept ogling him |
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If you're in a contest you'd better hope the judges are impartial, that is, that they aren't biased toward one competitor over another. |
When someone's partial to something they take its part. Impartial means no part has yet been taken. In most high school elections, teachers strive to create an impartial atmosphere, to keep it from appearing to be a popularity contest. |
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| 3069 |
ogle |
look at with amorous intentions |
How was he going to observe the flow of life impartially if people kept ogling him and he heard them saying, “Hey, that’s the big football star! Did you see the game he had on Saturday? That guy can bring it"? |
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When you ogle someone, you look at them with love or desire in mind. And if you're a cartoon character, you might also be drooling. |
Though it's most often used to refer to the way people gaze at each other, the verb ogle can also be used when talking about any object of desire — like when you ogle those designer jeans or that red Ferrari. The word comes from the 1680s German word oeglen, meaning "look at." Men are known to ogle women much more frequently than women ogle men. Ever seen a scene in a movie where a pretty lady walks into a bar and all the men turn on their bar stools to watch her pass by? That's classic ogling. |
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| 3070 |
pastiche |
a work of art that imitates the style of some previous work |
I want you—your voice, your style, your ideas—not something derivative or a mere pastiche. |
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The next time you see a movie that you think is a cheap imitation of an older, better movie, you can sound like a film critic by dismissing the picture as a thoughtless pastiche. |
A pastiche is an artwork that copies the style of another work or that combines various, distinct styles together into one work. A pastiche can also be a musical medley, or the piecing together of various songs. Pastiche comes from the Italian word pasticcio, which can refer to a pie containing a mix of ingredients, such as meat and pasta. |
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| 3071 |
fanatical |
marked by excessive enthusiasm for a cause or idea |
Within this category he had perceived two subgroups: the truly dedicated and the fanatically dedicated. |
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If you are excessively enthusiastic about something — a sports team, an actor, your religion, saving the whales, a certain brand of chocolate — then you are fanatical about it. |
Fanatical comes from the word fanatic, which itself came from the Latin fanaticus, meaning "mad" or "inspired by a deity." The root word is fanum, or "temple." The original English meanings of both fanatic and fanatical implied that the person being described was insane with enthusiasm, like a religious zealot. The word fan is likely shortened from fanatic, and thus shares the same roots, but that word doesn't imply the same obsessiveness that fanatical does. |
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| 3072 |
ineffectual |
not producing an intended consequence |
Charm was completely ineffectual on them. |
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If you are a coach with a losing team that doesn't listen to you, don't be surprised if you are called ineffectual. It means too weak to produce the desired effect. |
Ineffectual is similar to ineffective, but while ineffective implies that something simply doesn't work, ineffectual carries with it the idea of weakness too. An old computer might be ineffective for creating state-of-the-art digital presentations; a boss who looks the other way while her employees slack off all day, on the other hand, is ineffectual. |
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| 3073 |
rationalization |
a defense mechanism explaining actions in non-threateningly |
Any excuse outside of death was considered a rationalization |
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Rationalization means organizing something into a logically coherent system. Factory organization is often rationalized to make it as efficient as possible. |
Sometimes rationalization means a way someone justifies their action. You might take the last piece of chocolate cake because, gosh darn it, you wanted it, but you justify it with the rationalization that "it was just going to go to waste." |
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| 3074 |
posthumously |
after death |
and even the Big D had to be well documented and justified, posthumously, of course, in clear, concise language, or your grade wouldn’t appear on your transcript. |
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Posthumously is an adverb that helps describe something that happens to a person after they die, whether it happens to their estate, their life’s work, or the memory of them that remains. |
The prefix post- means “after,” and the Latin word humus means “ground.” Add the suffix -ly and that lets you use the word to describe some action taken after someone’s dead and in the ground, like posthumously naming a street after a dead politician, or posthumously publishing a new book written by an author who died years ago. The word doesn’t sound how it looks, so pronounce it like this: POSS-chew-muss-lee. |
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| 3075 |
multiplicity |
a large number |
Videos, scouting reports, playbooks—a multiplicity of things to study. |
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A multiplicity is a lot of something, usually countable and varied. If you're skilled in juggling, tightrope walking, and lion taming, you could call yourself a circus performer with a multiplicity of talents. |
Having a multiplicity of something is more than just having a lot of it. You may have a big pile of white tube socks, but that wouldn't qualify as a multiplicity. You'd have a multiplicity of socks if you've got not just the white tube socks, but striped knee socks for soccer, black silk socks to wear with your tuxedo, wool hiking socks, low tennis socks with pom-poms on the back, and socks with little pockets for your toes. |
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| 3076 |
obliterate |
do away with completely, without leaving a trace |
You see, Miss Bridget, we still have to obliterate them, and we have absolutely no idea whether the way we’re planning to do it will do the trick. |
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When you see obliterate, think of evil alien invaders that zap a planet with a destructive ray. In one blast, the planet and all of the people on it are vaporized. The planet is truly obliterated, or completely wiped out. |
A long time ago, obliterate had to do with blotting out words on a page. This is why you see the word literate in there. Today it means to erase or destroy completely so that there is nothing left. While you can still obliterate text, you can also obliterate hope, an opponent, or all traces of your presence. Whatever you obliterate is completely gone. |
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| 3077 |
judicious |
marked by the exercise of good judgment in practical matters |
However, you’ll have to learn to plan your time more judiciously. |
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If you're judicious, you've got a good head on your shoulders and make good decisions. Humpty Dumpty's decision to sit on a wall? NOT judicious. |
As its sound implies, judicious comes from the same Latin word from which we get judge and judiciary, and not surprisingly a judicious decision is one that only comes after all sides have been weighed up and opposing points of view taken into consideration. Judicious decisions are never split-second decisions. |
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| 3078 |
vermin |
any of various small animals or insects that are pests |
Maybe we’re vermin to be exterminated, as in Independence Day. |
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Vermin is a catch-all term that can be used for any small animals or insects that we think of as pests. The cockroaches you found in your bathroom were the grossest vermin you'd ever seen. |
The word vermin originally came from the Anglo-French word of the same spelling, meaning "noxious animals" — definitely a negative term. Rats, mice, cockroaches, along with pests to farmers and the animals they raise, like coyotes and weasels, are vermin. Annoying people who cause problems are also sometimes called vermin, like the vermin who bully others. |
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| 3079 |
devoid |
completely wanting or lacking |
They’re probably totally devoid of concern for our species. |
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You're stranded in the ocean, miles from shore, clinging to a sinking boat, and you can't swim? Sorry to say, your situation is devoid of all hope. |
When you fall off a cliff, you fall into the void. Void means empty. Devoid means empty of. When you use it, always answer the question "Of what?" "My wallet is devoid of cash. My teacher is devoid of pity. My cookie jar is devoid of cookies." These examples are devoid of anything not totally depressing! |
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| 3080 |
obeisance |
bending the head or body in reverence or submission |
I pay obeisance to you in the name of Dickens, Twain, Fitzgerald, Faulkner, Hemingway, Mailer, and all the saints, both living and dead. |
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An obeisance is an act, usually physical, showing dutiful obedience. A supplicant might perform obeisance, touching his face to the ground, before humbly asking for help. |
Obeisance is often used in historical or religious contexts and often refers to bowing or kneeling. Figuratively, it means an act of respect though sometimes with the negative connotation of slavishly doing as expected. Your boyfriend might bring you and your mother flowers in obeisance to the idea that the parents should be courted as much as the child. Consumers who want this software must show obeisance to the Internet — it can't be bought in a store or anywhere else. |
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| 3081 |
opine |
express one's view openly and without fear or hesitation |
And hadn’t no less a luminary in American literature than Willa Cather opined that, “There are only two or three great human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before.” |
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The verb opine is used when someone speaks up and expresses an opinion. You might opine that dogs are highly preferable to cats. |
Whenever you have something to say about a subject, you have the option to opine about it or keep your mouth shut. Movie critics opine about the best films of the year, and kindergarten kids opine that they'd rather not take a nap. Opine can also describe what you suppose will happen, like when you opine that school lunches will improve because of the new cook. The Latin opinari, or have an opinion, is the root of opine. |
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| 3082 |
subterranean |
lying beyond what is openly revealed or avowed |
Well, if that were true, his novel must be really subterranean, so far down in his psyche that it might as well not exist. |
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Subterranean is an adjective that describes something just below what can be seen, like the subterranean jealousy you hide under a smile and kind words for the actor who got the part you wanted. |
Subterranean feelings and intentions are those you keep "on the down low." In fact, real things that are subterranean really are down low — underground, in fact. A subterranean worm lives under the earth's surface. A subterranean lair is a secret hideout dug under the dirt — or maybe it's just your basement. The word comes from the Latin subterraneus, from sub meaning "under" and terra meaning "earth." |
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| 3083 |
faculty |
an inherent cognitive or perceptual power of the mind |
They have also awakened your dormant telepathic faculties. |
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A faculty refers to any of your mental or physical abilities. If you lose your faculties, you are powerless. The faculty of a school is comprised of the people who work there. Lose them, and you have a different kind of problem. |
Faculty comes from the Old French word faculté, which means “skill, accomplishment, or learning.” You may have great faculties of memory, sight, mobility, charm, math, and musicality, but, as Beethoven was in the end, be robbed of your faculty of hearing. Any aptitude or ability — inborn or learned — that you have is a faculty. Also, if you go to school, your teachers make up the faculty of that school. |
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| 3084 |
nascent |
being born or beginning |
To allow your nascent abilities in this area to develop, they had to be protected from the Observer. |
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Nascent describes the birth or beginning of something, for example a civilization, a trend, an idea, or an action. It can also imply a future promise, like the nascent government of a new country. |
You’re in the future looking back at the first time you learned the definition of the word nascent. Your nascent efforts to use the word felt awkward, but you quickly felt comfortable with it, especially after you learned how to pronounce it: “NAY-sent.” Now you use the word all the time: "the nascent hopes of your little sister;" your "nascent hula hooping gang;" and "a nascent confidence in your vocabulary." |
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| 3085 |
engrossed |
giving or marked by complete attention to |
“We must have gotten really engrossed in our discussion,” Jaz said. |
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When you’re engrossed in something, you’re so consumed by it that you don’t notice anything else, like when you’re engrossed in a conversation with that cute girl from your math class. |
Use the adjective engrossed to describe someone who is completely absorbed in something, whether it’s a task, a person, or an object. You might be engrossed in a movie that’s so good you just can’t look away, or you can be engrossed in talking to someone — like the girl from math class. Engrossed is often used with “in” — so you’d say you were “engrossed in” a book or “engrossed in” your homework. |
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| 3086 |
expeditiously |
with efficiency; in an efficient manner |
“I mean, I feel there is a definite threat that must be countered expeditiously and decisively.” |
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If you do something expeditiously, you do it with speed and great efficiency. You might work expeditiously to finish your chores so you can go out with your friends. |
The adverb expeditiously can describe something you do quickly and efficiently, but the word has a formal sound to it that makes whatever you’re doing sound fancy. You might do the dishes quickly just to get it over with — but tell your mom you did them expeditiously and she’ll be more impressed. You’ll often hear the word used in formal contexts. A police spokesperson might talk about an investigation that will be handled expeditiously. |
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| 3087 |
decisive |
characterized by resoluteness and firmness |
“I mean, I feel there is a definite threat that must be countered expeditiously and decisively.” |
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If you make decisions quickly, you are someone who is decisive. A decisive event can settle something, like a war. |
People who are wishy-washy are the opposite of decisive: being decisive means you don't waffle or take forever to make up your mind, and then you stick by what you decided. People admire politicians, coaches, and friends who are decisive. In sports, if a home run won the game, that was the decisive run. When you reach a crisis point in life — when things are going to change one way or the other — you've reached a decisive moment. |
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| 3088 |
sacrosanct |
must be kept sacred |
Your hunches are sacrosanct. If you’re that sure something is true, it’s true. |
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You might be enraged at the idea of doing homework on a Saturday if you consider your weekends sacrosanct — meaning they are too special or important to interrupt. |
Sacrosanct is often used to describe religious rituals and traditions, which isn’t surprising considering that this adjective comes from the Latin word for something that is protected by a religious sanction. A church, for example, might consider its Sunday service to be sacrosanct — a very important and holy ritual that cannot be changed or canceled. It’s a bad idea to criticize or change any custom or tradition that people consider sacrosanct — they won’t be happy about it. |
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| 3089 |
imminent |
close in time; about to occur |
He must convince all these big shots that the threat is imminent, and that immediate, drastic steps must be taken. |
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Something that is imminent is just about to happen: if you light a firecracker and then stick it down your pants, a very bad situation is imminent. |
Imminent is from Latin imminere "to overhang," and to say that something is imminent is to say that it is hanging over you and about to fall, in a metaphorical way. If you take your mom’s car and drive it into the mailbox, getting grounded is imminent. You don’t want that hanging over your head! |
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| 3090 |
tutelary |
providing protective supervision |
“You’d better hope you have a guardian angel, or some sort of tutelary spirit, shielding your Seminar from observers,” Xela said. |
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The adjective tutelary describes something that is supervising or guarding something else, like the tutelary duties of a babysitter who makes sure the kids don't hurt themselves at the playground. |
To correctly pronounce tutelary, say "TOO-tuh-leh-ree." Tutelary comes from the Latin word tutus, meaning "watch over." You see this root in words like tutor and tutorial, which also involve watching over, though in a more specific sense that applies primarily to instructing. Tutelary's suffix -ary means "having to do with." So something that is tutelary has to do with keeping watch, like the tutelary presence of a parent supervising a child, or even a tutelary god in an ancient society. |
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| 3091 |
extemporaneous |
with little or no preparation or forethought |
“I heard that you’re very good at extemporaneous speaking.” |
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Extemporaneous means spoken without preparation. The orator's performance was impressive, but only after we learn that his speech was extemporaneous did we realize the true depth of his talent. |
Some politicians are so skilled that even their prepared remarks have an extemporaneous quality. As opposed to policy debates where teams know the resolution in advance, extemporaneous debate is judged on style and nimble argumentation, as the participants receive the resolution minutes before debating begins. |
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| 3092 |
apex |
the highest point of something |
“And all those groupies chasing after him at the apex of the power hierarchy,” Xela said. |
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When there's no mountain left to climb and nothing but blue sky above, you know you've reached the highest peak — the apex. |
Apex can mean the highest point in a literal sense, like climbing to the apex of the Eiffel Tower for a fabulous view of Paris. It also can be used to mean the highest point in a figurative sense. An actor who wins an Oscar can say she's reached the apex of her career. If you're describing more than one high point, you could add an -es to form the plural apexes, but apices would also be correct. And if you're a botanist, you'd probably use apex to describe the tip of a flower or leaf. |
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| 3093 |
gamut |
a complete extent or range |
We’ve brought together all their expertise representing the gamut of human knowledge: politics, economics, law, business, science. |
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A visit with a long-lost cousin might arouse emotions that run the gamut of joy, regret, sorrow, and excitement. A gamut is a full or complete range. |
In the 16th century, the gamut was the lowest note on the musical scale. In music as well as life, the word has expanded to mean from high to low, or the whole range. The word is often associated with "run," as in "run the gamut from totally excited to so terrified you're quaking with fear." And if you've talked about every discussion point on your agenda, you've covered the gamut of issues that need discussing. |
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| 3094 |
bedevil |
treat cruelly |
We want to find ways to end poverty, war, racism, all the social ills that have bedeviled humanity for so long. |
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To bedevil is to "be" a bit like a "devil." To bedevil means to cause trouble, or, when talking about a person, to torment or harass. |
Bedevil has nothing to do with the eggs you eat on a picnic. Those are just plain deviled. And although, in the 1570s, bedeviled could be taken to mean literally "possessed," the word no longer involves an actual devil, either. It just applies to people or things that make trouble like a devil would want to do. |
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| 3095 |
neutralize |
oppose and mitigate the effects of by contrary actions |
We find the central controlling agency and neutralize it. |
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When you neutralize something, you make it harmless or ineffective — usually by applying its opposite force, like pouring water on a fire. |
The world neutral was first used to describe a country that doesn’t take sides in a war, like Switzerland. There’s something kind of noble about a country that doesn’t participate in war by choice, but when we say something has been neutralized — that usually means that its power has been taken away from the outside. |
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| 3096 |
indigenous |
originating where it is found |
Just sit on this planet forever, sucking practically everything out of it and its indigenous inhabitants. |
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Use indigenous to describe a plant, animal or person that is native or original to an area. Though Switzerland is known for its chocolates, chocolate, which comes from the cocoa plant, is indigenous to South America. |
Indigenous, aboriginal, and native all mean the same thing. Aboriginal, however, is commonly used in connection with Australia, and native with North America. The most neutral of the three terms, indigenous comes from the Latin word, indigena meaning "a native." An indigenous ceremony or religion is one traditionally used by a certain group of people. |
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| 3097 |
terminology |
a system of words used to name things in a discipline |
Listen, if you want this in “dude” terminology I can’t go into higher mathematics and the more recondite ramifications of the discovery. The best way to put it is to say that at a deeper level it’s all the same. |
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Terminology is vocabulary associated with a certain field of study, profession, or activity. Knowing the terminology is an important part of being able to work in a given profession. |
When your nuclear physicists friends start talking shop and it suddenly sounds like they are speaking a different language, they are probably using nuclear physics terminology. Education terminology includes "rubric," "lesson plan," "pop quiz," "term paper," "student engagement." Medical terminology includes "blood work," "CVC," "scalpel," "set." Lawyers sometimes use legal terminology such "forthwith," "heretofore" and "the part of the first part" to intimidate people they might want to threaten to sue. It works. |
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| 3098 |
distinctive |
of a feature that helps to identify a person or thing |
“So, now imagine there are other places that are vibrating at a different sort of rate. These places—let’s call them planes—each would probably have its own distinctive appearance and so forth, right?” |
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Her big eyes and plump lips are distinctive features that make her a great model. These are just some of the special features that distinguish her. |
You might recognize the Latin prefix dis in the adjective distinctive. Dis often means "apart" or "away." Think of this when trying to remember the word distinctive. Someone with distinctive features has features that set them "apart" from others. Yes, its stepped-back architecture and distinctive spire are among the Empire State Building's distinctive features, but its most distinctive feature has to be its height: for decades there wasn't another building in New York that came close! |
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| 3099 |
causality |
the relation between reasons and effects |
I know the evidence is that telepathy transcends the laws of causality, as well as our ideas of space and time. |
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Causality is the connection between a cause and its result or consequence. It is sometimes hard to figure out the causality of a stomach ache — it could be due to something you ate, or just a result of stress. |
You'll often find the word causality in scholarly or academic writing. Medical researchers might talk about the causality of various diseases, and a sociologist might study the causality of a childhood in poverty on future trouble in school. This noun comes from the adjective causal, "acting as a cause," from a Latin root, causa, or "cause." |
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| 3100 |
presumption |
a premise that is taken for granted |
But I’ve been working on the presumption that these guys are in our universe, not some hypothetical other plane. |
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The noun presumption pretty much means jumping to conclusions. It is taking something for granted — an idea, an answer, an event — without having any real knowledge about it, and that is usually not a good thing. |
Making a presumption means assuming something is true or false without getting all the information necessary for verification. You can decipher this from the prefix pre, which means "before," together with the sume — from the Latin sumere, "to take." Because so many times a presumption turns out to be false, the word has a negative connotation to it; there's something reckless about making up your mind before you know all the facts. |
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| 3101 |
conceivable |
capable of being imagined |
“But if ESP is independent of space and time, it’s conceivable that this communication could be from one of these planes,” Simon said. |
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If you see yellowish skies on a humid, spring evening in Kansas, it is entirely conceivable that a tornado is in the making. That is to say, it's imaginable or even possible, so make sure you take every conceivable precaution. |
If you conceive of something, you imagine or think of it. So, it makes sense that the adjective conceivable describes things that can be imagined or thought of. People often use the word conceivable in extreme contexts. If you look everywhere for your homework but still can't find it, you might declare, "I searched in every conceivable location! My homework must have disappeared." In response, your teacher might remark that disappearing homework is inconceivable, or "impossible to imagine." |
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| 3102 |
conclusive |
forming an end or termination |
On the other hand, the evidence for telepathy is conclusive. |
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If you've got a theory that you're trying to prove, and you uncover a conclusive piece of evidence, then the case is closed. Conclusive means you've got your answer, you've proved your theory, and there can't be any doubt about it. |
If want to prove that frogs can speak, and you record a frog reciting "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere," that would be conclusive evidence for your claim. But if the frog mumbled and might have been just making frog noises, critics would say that your video is not conclusive. You can also use the word conclusive to describe winning something easily or by a large margin, like when the judges handed the tap-dancing bear a conclusive victory, and he moved on triumphantly to the finals. |
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| 3103 |
posit |
take as a given; assume as a postulate or axiom |
So why posit the existence of these planes when you’re trying to explain telepathy? |
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To posit something is to assume or suggest that it is true. You can posit an idea or opinion. |
When you posit, you submit an idea or give an opinion. Scientists posit many ideas — called hypotheses — that they then try to prove or disprove through experimentation and research. In science, you hear about positing a lot, and the same is true in math and logic. When you say "If X, then Y" you're positing a proposition. Positing can also mean to put something somewhere firmly — this means to deposit, fix, or situate. |
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| 3104 |
insuperable |
incapable of being surpassed or excelled |
I mean, if different laws control each plane, you would think that a traveler would face some pretty insuperable difficulties. |
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Perhaps if you are a superhero, you can tackle an insuperable problem — one that is considered impossible to overcome. |
Insuperable is an adjective that is often paired with nouns like difficulty, obstacle, and barrier. An insuperable difficulty is not just difficult; it’s impossible. And an insuperable obstacle is not like a hurdle on a running track that slows you down a little; it stops you entirely. The opposite of insuperable is, of course, superable, though it’s less commonly used than its negative counterpart. |
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| 3105 |
linear |
involving a single dimension |
Maybe it flows in a different direction on each plane. Or, maybe instead of being linear, it’s circular. |
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Something linear is like a line. The adjective usually refers to something that follows an expected order or sequence — like railroad tracks or even the progression of a disease. |
Drawn from the word line, something linear follows that concept, coming from the Latin līneāris, "belonging to a line." You might come across the word in mathematics, as in a "linear equation," or in electronics, with a "linear circuit." It also can be used to refer to a written work that follows a "linear narrative." If a movie has lots of flashbacks and happens out of order, it does not have a linear narrative. You might find such a movie puzzling but enjoyable, or you might prefer something some chronological and linear. |
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| 3106 |
psychiatrist |
a specialist in the treatment of mental disorders |
The famous psychiatrist Carl Jung thought that UFOs might be creations of the human psyche, something we create because we live in this extremely rational world to fulfill our need for the magical, the nonrational. |
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A psychiatrist is a doctor who specializes in emotional, behavioral, or mental disorders. Sigmund Freud is the founder of the field of psychiatry, pioneering psychoanalytic treatment. |
The noun psychiatrist has Greek roots in psykhe, meaning mind, and iatreia, meaning healing, so the word psychiatrist is literally one who heals the mind. As opposed to a psychologist, who also offers psychotherapy, a psychiatrist is a medical doctor and, as such, can prescribe medication for things like depression and anxiety. |
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| 3107 |
psyche |
that which is responsible for one's thoughts and feelings |
The famous psychiatrist Carl Jung thought that UFOs might be creations of the human psyche, something we create because we live in this extremely rational world to fulfill our need for the magical, the nonrational. |
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Another word for the place where your thoughts come from is your psyche. Not your actual brain, but whatever it is that generates all of your thoughts and emotions. |
Psyche comes from the Greek psykhe, which means “the soul, mind, spirit, or invisible animating entity which occupies the physical body.” That about sums the way we understand the word today. People have their own individual psyches of course, but you often hear the word used to describe the similar mind set or thought process of a group of people, such as "the American psyche." |
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| 3108 |
exude |
make apparent by one's mood or behavior |
He exuded absolute confidence and control. |
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To exude is to give off small amounts, usually of liquids or gases, through small openings, such as pores. Think of how you exude sweat after a workout. |
The word exude is often used to describe sweating — the original Latin root, sudāre means "to sweat." Still, we frequently use the word exude to refer to anything that seems to ooze or pour forth from an object or person. John F. Kennedy was said to exude confidence, while his wife, Jackie, exuded class. But the verb can also have a negative sense, as when we say a skunk exudes a foul smell. |
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| 3109 |
indelible |
cannot be removed or erased |
Simon had seen Xela smile quite a few times, and each one was etched indelibly in his memory. |
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If something is indelible, you better hope you never regret it, like the indelible tattoo of the name of your favorite band or the indelible first impression it might give people you meet years from now, especially if your taste in music changes. |
The adjective indelible describes something that can't be erased or removed, like marks made by an indelible marker, or an indelible moment you will never forget, like your first day of kindergarten or the first time you visit a new, exotic place. It comes from the Latin word indelebilis, meaning "not able to be destroyed." |
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| 3110 |
cherub |
an angel portrayed as a winged child |
It was the smile of a cherub before the Almighty. |
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You might think of a rosy-faced child as a cherub, conjuring up an image of chubby, naked angels cavorting amongst the clouds. That image comes from the most familiar use of the word, which was to name an order of angels. |
The image we have of a cherub, chubby-cheeked babies with wings, actually wasn't around until the Renaissance, when artists depicted the lower-order angels as children. Prior to that, the word evolved from the Hebrew kĕrūḇ, and was taken from the Aramaic kĕ-raḇyā which meant "child-like." It was this translation that encouraged the idea of a cherub as being portrayed as a child. The plural form, "cherubim" also follows the Hebrew grammar rule of creating plurals by adding the suffix -im. |
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| 3111 |
detachment |
lack of emotion or interest |
And Axel seemed huge, a towering figure surveying his kingdom with godlike detachment. |
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A state of being distant or standoffish is detachment. Your detachment might mean that you don't cry on the last day of school with all your friends — you're just not that emotionally involved. |
When you have a sense of detachment from your surroundings, you're a bit aloof or apart, especially in an emotional way. A more physical kind of detachment is an actual coming apart, when something breaks or separates: "The detachment of the wall and the baseboard made it hard to paint the kitchen." Finally, there is a military meaning of detachment — a unit or group of soldiers sent on a separate mission. |
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| 3112 |
timorous |
timid by nature or revealing timidity |
What had happened to Axel, the timorous little boy? |
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A timorous person is timid or shy, like your timorous friend who likes to hang out with close pals but gets nervous around big groups of new people. |
The adjective timorous is actually the Latin word for ”fearful.” But timorous is a specific kind of fearfulness — the kind that strikes people before giving a speech, or walking into a crowded place where people are socializing. Also called "shy" or "timid," timorous people often become more comfortable when they see a familiar face in the crowd. |
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| 3113 |
cosmic |
pertaining to or characteristic of the universe |
Rays of joy seemed to be emanating from her, like some powerful cosmic phenomenon. |
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If it has to do with the universe, it's cosmic. The planets, for instance, are cosmic bodies. |
When you use the word cosmic to describe something big, you often use it with the word, proportions. A big mistake might be an error of cosmic proportions. In the 1960s, when humankind had been exploring space for about 10 years, the word cosmic became commonly used to describe things that might be considered "far out" or groovy. Like wow, man! |
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| 3114 |
ineffable |
defying expression or description |
Ineffable joy. |
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When you find something hard to express or difficult to pin down, it's ineffable. The feeling when you get a new puppy is ineffable — too strange and wonderful to define. |
You could call something "indescribable", but it wouldn't be quite the same as calling it ineffable. An ineffable feeling, for example, has an almost ghostly quality. You can almost touch it, but it slips away just before you do. The bubbles in a glass of champagne have an ineffable joy to them. The sense of sadness that you feel watching certain TV commercials is often ineffable: you simply can't explain it. You know that strange feeling of satisfaction you feel when you learn a new word? That's an ineffable feeling. |
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| 3115 |
sagacious |
acutely insightful and wise |
It was a voice that sounded almost infinitely old and sagacious. |
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Use the formal adjective sagacious to describe someone who is wise and insightful like an advisor to the president or a Supreme Court justice. |
Someone like an inspirational leader or an expert in a field who seeks knowledge and has foresight can be described as sagacious. If you comment on something at a deeper level, you are making a sagacious observation. The word is a descendent of Latin sagus "prophetic" and is related to the Old English word seek. Synonyms include discerning, insightful and another formal word perspicacious. |
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| 3116 |
cathartic |
emotionally purging |
“It must have been really cathartic for you. I didn’t know you felt so strongly about TV.” |
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A movie, play, or song that makes you cry is called cathartic. Most good writers try to create work that causes you to experience a strong rush of emotion. |
If you've been feeling like you need a good cry, you should watch a cathartic movie like Bambi — or any film that's sure to make you weep. Things that are cathartic don't always call up tears. Things that makes you scream, like a roller-coaster ride or a boxing match, are also cathartic. Whatever causes you to release a sudden flood of feelings is cathartic. Some therapies ask you to hit a pillow or break dishes, because those are cathartic activities. |
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| 3117 |
vitriolic |
harsh, bitter, or malicious in tone |
Really polemical. And vitriolic too. |
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Mean, nasty, and caustic as the worst acid, vitriolic words can hurt feelings, break hearts, and even lead to violence. |
Vitriolic is an adjective related to the noun vitriol — which means a metal sulphate. However, you will most likely NOT hear vitriolic used to describe a chemical reaction. You are more likely to hear vitriolic used to describe caustic words. We've seen some examples in recent political campaigns, and the results are always embarrassing. Avoid using vitriolic language whenever possible, and you will keep your friends — and your dignity. |
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| 3118 |
pugilism |
fighting with the fists |
“Hey you two, break it up. I’ll go find some boxing gloves if you guys want to take up pugilism. |
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Pugilism is another name for the sport of boxing. If you're a fan of pugilism, you probably enjoy watching people punch each other while wearing boxing gloves. |
If you're thinking about taking up a new sport and a friend suggests pugilism, she's talking about boxing. If you take up pugilism, you'll learn the footwork to use in a ring, and how to hold your gloves to protect your body and punch your opponent. Pugilism comes from the Latin word pugil, "boxer or fist fighter," a close relative of pugnus, "fist." |
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| 3119 |
wrath |
belligerence aroused by a real or supposed wrong |
Anyway, since I’m a female myself, I’m less likely to incur the wrath of the thought police. |
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Wrath is great anger that expresses itself in a desire to punish someone: Noah saw the flood as a sign of the wrath of God. |
Wrath is also used figuratively of things that behave in a violent way: Earthquakes are the wrath of the sea. This noun and the corresponding adjective wrathful are in literary use but are formal or old-fashioned words, that crop up in fantasy fiction or movies set in prehistoric times. |
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| 3120 |
intangible |
incapable of being perceived by the senses, especially touch |
She seems so pure and good. But not in some intangible way. |
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You can't touch this word — it is intangible. You can grasp the meaning of the word in your head, but you can't close your hands around it; you'll just put fingerprints on your monitor. |
The Latin verb tangere means "to touch," and the 16th-century English word tangible comes from it. Something intangible can't be touched physically, but most of the time it is understandable or even felt in the heart. Sadness can't be picked up and thrown in the garbage can because it is intangible, but you can throw away the tissues wet with tears. Laughing is intangible too, but you can hold onto movies, pets, and friends that make you laugh. |
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| 3121 |
winsome |
charming in a childlike or naive way |
Whatever the reason for the behavior was, they all did it; they sort of curled up like cats, looking totally winsome. |
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If you are described as winsome, take it as a compliment. It means you are attractive or charming in an open and delightful way. It doesn't mean you win some and you lose some. |
The word winsome comes from the Old English wynn which means pleasure and delight. The word sometimes carries with it a feeling of childlike joy or innocence that is attractive or pleasing to others. There is nothing hiding behind a winsome smile. It wins over others in a fresh and honest way. |
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| 3122 |
pinnacle |
the highest level or degree attainable |
I was really looking forward to this class because the professor is like world class. He’s at the pinnacle of the astrophysics field. |
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Going as far into the sky as you can go on foot, you'll reach the highest point, or pinnacle, of the Himalayas. A successful climb like that might also become the pinnacle, or peak, of your success. |
Two synonyms for pinnacle also start with the letter "p," "peak" and "point." A pinnacle can be a physical thing, like the top of a high mountain or the antenna on the very top of a building, or it can be a high point that can’t be measured with a ruler, like an achievement or a goal. Whatever the pinnacle is, reaching it is almost always a completion of something where you have gone the highest you can go. "Acme" is a great synonym for pinnacle. |
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| 3123 |
intricate |
having many complexly arranged elements; elaborate |
Professor Naxos was just coming to the end of quite an intricate line of reasoning in quantum theory. |
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Intricate things are complex and have many elements: they're not simple. Think of the intricate wiring of a computer's motherboard, or the intricate plot of a movie that you have a hard time following. |
Anything intricate is complicated. Chess is a very intricate game that you could study your entire life and still not know everything about. On the other hand, a game like Connect Four is not very intricate. The more details and parts something has, the more intricate it is. A two-part plan isn't very intricate. A 2000-step plan is intricate; it's harder to wrap your head around. |
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| 3124 |
nefarious |
extremely wicked |
No nefarious subterfuge was involved. |
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Describe a person's actions as nefarious if they are evil or wicked. Batman and Superman are always fighting evildoers and stopping their nefarious plots. |
Nefarious comes from the Latin nefas "crime, impiety." If something is nefarious, it is criminal, evil, malicious and wicked. Thinking of superheroes can help you remember the meaning of the word, but it is often used in much less exciting circumstances. News reporters investigate corrupt politicians in order to uncover the nefarious activities. And, if you don't pay for your downloaded music, you have gotten it by nefarious means. |
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| 3125 |
subterfuge |
something intended to misrepresent the nature of an activity |
No nefarious subterfuge was involved. |
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If you want to surprise your mom with a sweatshirt, but don't know her size, it might take an act of subterfuge, like going through her closet, to find it out. Subterfuge is the use of tricky actions to hide or get something. |
It's pronounced "SUB-ter-fyooj." As a countable noun, a subterfuge is a tricky action or device: She employed a very clever subterfuge to get the information she needed. Subterfuge is from French, from Old French suterfuge, from Late Latin subterfugium, from Latin subterfugere "to escape," from subter "secretly, under" plus fugere "to flee." |
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| 3126 |
flustered |
thrown into a state of agitated confusion |
Of course, he’s completely flustered and apologetic. Notes and books are strewn all over the place. |
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To be flustered is to lose your cool. When you're flustered, you're embarrassed, agitated, or just confused. |
If your pants fell down in the middle of class while you were giving a presentation, you'd probably be flustered: highly embarrassed, out of breath, and a little freaked out. It's hard to concentrate when you're flustered — it's a distracting state of mind. Being flustered isn't quite as bad as being panicked, but it's close. People can also get flustered by good things, like if someone you had a crush on kissed you. |
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| 3127 |
gauche |
lacking social polish |
“It might be a little gauche, but that is one heck of an original way to meet a woman.” |
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Use the word gauche when you want to call something tacky, graceless, tactless, rude, boorish, or awkward and foolish. Have you just pointed out someone's misuse of this word? Oh dear, how gauche! |
Gauche was used for a long time to refer to things that were just so wrong, it almost hurt to talk about them, like publicly asking someone why they don’t like you. That is so gauche, it could induce a cringe! Gauche is almost a gauche word, as it is comes from a French word meaning left (as opposed to right). It would be gauche to call left-handed people tacky! |
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| 3128 |
complementary |
acting as a part that completes another part |
I bat ideas around in cosmology and other areas with Axel. And he often gives me ideas for my psych projects. Our interests are very complementary. |
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If something is complementary, then it somehow completes or enhances the qualities of something else. If your beautiful voice is completely complementary to your brother's song writing skills, you should form a family band! |
You’ve probably heard of “complementary colors,” colors that are opposite in hue on the color wheel but actually go well together. When combined, they make a harmonious palette. People’s personalities can also be complementary, as can certain food pairings. But be careful not to confuse this adjective with the closely spelled complimentary, which means “supplied free of charge.” |
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| 3129 |
metaphysical |
without material form or substance |
We’re both into cosmology, the origin of life, evolution, the place of mind in the universe. Axel is more into the physics of it, while I’m more interested in the psychological and even metaphysical aspects of such areas. |
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Add the Greek prefix "meta-" (beyond) to the base "physical" (nature), and you get metaphysical — a near synonym to the Latin-based word "supernatural." Both concern phenomena that are outside everyday experience or knowledge. |
The adjective metaphysical entered the English language through Aristotle, whose "Metaphysics" is a collection of treatises that follows his work, "Physics." "Physics" concerned natural philosophy, what we call science today, while "Metaphysics" dealt with more abstract questions about the reality beyond what we perceive with our senses. Look at a physical object, say an apple. At what exact point did that apple come into existence? If you eat it, does it cease to exist, or does it still exist but in a changed way? These are metaphysical questions. |
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| 3130 |
preeminent |
greatest in importance or degree or significance |
Then, it was this materialistic worldview that became preeminent—and still is. |
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Calling someone preeminent means they're truly outstanding or better than everyone else — not in general, but in a specific field or specialty. Many people consider primatologist Jane Goodall to be the preeminent expert on chimpanzees. |
The adjective preeminent was first recorded in the mid-15th century and has its roots in the Latin praeeminentem, which means “to project forward, rise above.” And anything that's been described as preeminent certainly does rise above the rest. Preeminent scholars or universities or craftsmen are the best at what they do and are well known because of it. |
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| 3131 |
utilitarian |
having use often to the exclusion of values |
If you can’t see it, it must not exist. Or if it does, it’s irrelevant. Only utilitarian thinking has any validity. |
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The adjective utilitarian describes something that is useful or functional. If you are attracted to a car for its storage space and gas mileage — as opposed to its sparkly tire rims — then chances are you value a car's utilitarian features. |
The word utilitarian was coined by the philosopher and judge Jeremy Bentham, who argued that his principle of utility would create the "greatest happiness for the greatest number of people." The noun form of utilitarian refers to a person who adheres to this philosophy of usefulness. "They couldn't agree on the decor for their living room. She wanted whimsy — delicate tables, fragile statues of fairies and unicorns, and cushions on the floor to sit on. He wanted something more utilitarian and useful — comfortable chairs, a giant TV, and sturdy tables to put your feet on." |
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| 3132 |
omnipotent |
having unlimited power |
The whole universe must be like a clock, people thought. Yeah, some omnipotent person made this clock—our universe—gave it a good winding, put it on a shelf where it’s been gathering dust, and it’s been there ever since, tick tock, tick tock, year after year, eon after eon. |
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If you want to describe someone who can do absolutely anything, reach for the adjective omnipotent. |
Omnipotent comes from the Latin words for total (omni) and power (potent). Omnipotent is frequently used for deities, but can apply to any exaggerated description of power. If you think that love rules the world, then to you, love is omnipotent. On the other hand, if you think that brute force wins, then maybe your idea of an omnipotent person is a mob boss. The stress is on the second syllable: om-NIP-uh-tent. |
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| 3133 |
cartography |
the making of maps and charts |
Cartography wasn’t exactly a precise science back then either, so maps were wildly distorted and weren’t much help. |
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Have you ever tried to draw a map of your neighborhood? If you’re drawing your map to scale, taking into account every little hill and valley, you can appreciate the challenge of cartography, the science of making maps. |
You may think cartography has gone the way of the dodo bird, now that we’ve got Google maps and GPS devices. You don’t have to draw maps by hand anymore, but you still need cartography skills to turn digital representations into something people can use with ease. While the word cartography dates only from the mid-19th century, maps were around for a long, long time before that. Cartography comes from the French carte, “map,” and -graphie, “writing.” |
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| 3134 |
mercenary |
profit oriented |
“And,” Jaz said, “if you can’t sail around the world without getting lost, the mercenary bit doesn’t work out too well. |
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You might not want to call a mercenary a "hireling" to his face, but a mercenary is, after all, a soldier who gets paid to fight where needed, sometimes taking a heroic stand and other times just wanting payment for fighting. |
The word mercenary comes from the Latin mercēnārius, "hireling," which defines someone who will do anything in exchange for money. In history, a mercenary was often a fighter who followed the next paycheck, but in recent decades it's also been used for fighters who pursue a good cause in areas where soldiers are in short supply. A synonym for mercenary is "soldier of fortune," and this phrase sometimes glorifies the mercenary, turning the meaning of "fortune" from "cash" to "luck in battle." |
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| 3135 |
lucre |
informal terms for money |
You can’t make a lot of lucre for Church and King if you spend most of your time sailing in circles. |
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Lucre is another word for money, or profit. It's most often used to describe money gotten illegally or immorally. |
Well-heeled bankers and lawyers make profits; drug dealers and bank robbers get filthy, rotten lucre. You might think of lucre as the term that gets at the dark side of capitalism. Some people will do anything in the pursuit of lucre. Political groups that call Hollywood immoral still accept the lucre that it offers. We all love money, except when it causes us to do terrible things to ourselves and others. Then it's lucre. |
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| 3136 |
enamored |
marked by foolish or unreasoning fondness |
It’s totally mechanistic, so it doesn’t involve any violation of the materialistic view we’re so enamored of. |
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The rock star wasn't enamored, or in love, with the idea of performing old-fashioned ballads, until his agent told him there'd be no big paycheck until he started crooning out those romantic tunes. |
Being enamored of something or with someone goes far beyond liking them, and it's even more flowery than love. Enamored means smitten with, or totally infatuated. Someone enamored with another will perhaps even swoon. A man who's in love sends the object of his affection a dozen roses, but if he is enamored with her, he covers her entire front lawn with a blanket of rose petals. |
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| 3137 |
exorcise |
expel through adjuration or prayers |
If a machine can think like us, or even better than us, it must mean that mind is a natural, reasonable outcome of mechanistic processes, not some scary ‘ghost in the machine’—a soul in a body—that must be exorcised at all costs. |
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To exorcise is to cast out a devil or evil spirit, using prayer and other religious tools. You're probably familiar with the name of the person who does this: an exorcist. Don't try to exorcise a demon yourself. Call an exorcist. |
One way to remember the word exorcise is that it sounds like "exercise," which means to work out or train your body or mind. Casting out devils is hard work, so be sure to exercise before you exorcise. A boxer doesn't box without exercising first. And an exorcist doesn't exorcise without getting ready first either. The devil is a tough opponent, so you'd better get warmed up before you try to exorcise him from that little girl. |
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| 3138 |
emancipate |
free from slavery or servitude |
Can’t you by a Herculean effort emancipate yourself from your world view? |
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If you emancipate someone, you set them free from something. At the end of the Civil War, slaves were emancipated and became free men and women. |
If you break down emancipate, you have e- "out," -man- from the Latin manus "hand," and -cip- from the Latin verb "to take." Put it together, and you have "to be taken out of someone's hands" — a good definition of freedom. The American Revolution was about colonists emancipating themselves from British rule. As a legal term, if a child is emancipated, he or she is declared independent from parental control. |
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| 3139 |
maudlin |
effusively or insincerely emotional |
If it wasn’t on Oprah, it can’t be worth much, can it, although some of the books she used to recommend are really maudlin. |
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You can use maudlin to describe something that brings tears to your eyes, or makes you feel very emotional. Tearjerkers like "Forrest Gump" and "Titanic" can be described as maudlin. |
Maudlin was a form of the name Mary Magdalene, a character from the Bible represented in paintings as a weeping sinner asking forgiveness from Jesus. Maudlin is often paired with sentimental, or even schlocky, to describe cry-fests, as in "I can't watch another second of that overly-sentimental, maudlin soap opera. Turn that schlock off." |
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| 3140 |
occult |
hidden and difficult to see |
Well, my friends, I have discovered the occult mystery hidden in these programs. |
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Dark and mysterious, the occult is a kind of supernatural power or magic. If you see your neighbor chanting over a giant vat of bubbling brew in the middle of the night, there's a chance he's dabbling in the occult. |
The word occult has its roots in the Latin occultus, meaning “hidden, secret.” That's why it can also be used as both a noun referring to black magic and an adjective meaning "difficult to see." Quipped the famous physicist Heinz Pagels, “I like to browse in occult bookshops if for no other reason than to refresh my commitment to science.” |
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| 3141 |
fictitious |
formed or conceived by the imagination |
All these shows were fantasies—completely fictitious. |
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Fictitious means made up, or imaginary. No matter how real Scarlett O'Hara might seem in "Gone With the Wind," she's a fictitious character invented by author Margaret Mitchell. |
When you look at the word fictitious, you'll probably notice that it bears a striking resemblance to fiction — which is an imaginary story about people and events that are made up for the purpose of entertaining readers. Fictitious can also be used to mean "trick or deceive." A thief assumes a fictitious name to hide his real identity and evade capture. |
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| 3142 |
colossal |
so great in size or force or extent as to elicit awe |
Live in an artificial, alternative reality of caring moms and doting dads, where all the girls are blond cheerleaders and everyone is middle class with a colossal house in the suburbs and an SUV in the driveway the size of a tank. |
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Colossal describes something so large it makes you say, "Whoa!" You might have a colossal amount of homework, or see a colossal pyramid while vacationing in Egypt. |
Colossal can refer to an item's physical size, like a giant redwood tree, but it can also be used to describe the force or scope of something — like the colossal force of a thunderstorm that knocked down the redwood tree, or the colossal scope of your school project on the history of the redwoods that seems like it will never, ever end. It comes from the Greek word kolossos, meaning "gigantic statue." |
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| 3143 |
eradicate |
destroy completely, as if down to the roots |
Where violence has been eradicated and Americans have no enemies in the world because everyone just loves them. |
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To eradicate something is to get rid of it, to destroy it, and to kiss it goodbye. |
Eradicate is from the Latin word eradicare meaning "to root out." When you yank that weed up by the roots, it has been eradicated; it's not coming back. Eradicate often means to kill a bunch of somethings, like what you want the poison to do to the roach family and their extended relatives living in your house, and what we thought we did to bedbugs. You can also eradicate corruption, poverty, or diseases. Although there are all kinds of things to get rid of, we usually want to only eradicate the bad things. |
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| 3144 |
provisionally |
temporarily and conditionally |
“So,” Simon said, “what you two are saying, if I can attempt a summary of it in my own words, is that no matter how we feel about some sort of ultimate truth—whether it exists, whether we can know it—we should provisionally assume that we can find an objective truth.” |
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Something that happens provisionally is temporary, or depends on certain conditions. Your first driver's license might be given provisionally, on the condition that you only drive during certain times of day. |
Sometimes events are scheduled provisionally, like a picnic whose date will change if the weather doesn't cooperate. The adverb provisionally comes from the adjective provisional, "arranged for the present, possibly to be changed later." Both words have a Latin root, provisionem, "a foreseeing, foresight, preparation, or prevention." |
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| 3145 |
ennui |
the feeling of being bored by something tedious |
Dread, anguish, ennui, despair, meaninglessness, anxiety. What a litany of woe! |
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The French word ennui describes a feeling that combines tiredness and boredom. Ennui is one version of "the blahs." |
Though it sounds it little fancy — maybe because it comes from French — ennui is a common feeling that everybody experiences: being bored and tired. School and work fill lots of people with ennui. A terrible TV show could create ennui. If you feel like your life is going nowhere, ennui could set in. When you're feeling ennui, you might as well take a nap, because you're too drowsy and uninterested to do much of anything else. |
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| 3146 |
litany |
any long and tedious address or recital |
Dread, anguish, ennui, despair, meaninglessness, anxiety. What a litany of woe!” |
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If you've got a whole slew of complaints to get off your chest or requests to make, you've got yourself a litany — a long, drawn-out list. |
From Greek origins meaning "entreaty" or "supplication," litany often refers to certain long responsive petitions offered to God, particularly by practitioners of the Christian faith. For some reason, litany is usually used in reference to negative things — such as a litany of complaints or a litany of injuries. |
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| 3147 |
alienated |
socially disoriented |
But you’re not completely alienated yet. Go home and immediately break off with all of your so-called friends. |
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An alienated person feels estranged or divided from others, like a shy bookworm sitting in a group of enthusiastic sports fans. |
The word alienated comes from the Latin alienus, which means "of or belonging to another place" — like an alien! A person who feels alienated may not actually be from another place (or planet), but he sure feels that way. You may feel alienated from your friends if they have all decided that punk rock is the greatest thing on earth, but you are still loyal to the classic rock that you all used to love. |
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| 3148 |
lugubrious |
excessively mournful |
The reading public wants long, lugubrious, indecipherable, tedious, pretentious books on being and not being, the pointlessness of existence |
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Funerals are lugubrious. So are rainy days and Mondays. Anything that makes you sad, gloomy, or mournful can be called lugubrious. |
Lugubrious comes from the Latin verb lūgēre, "to mourn." You can also listen to the sound of the word: lugubrious sounds slow, heavy, and sad. Sometimes, just the "feel" of a word is enough to clue you in to its meaning, and lugubrious is one of those words. I was feeling great when I got to the concert, but the lugubrious music left me in a terrible mood. |
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| 3149 |
estranged |
caused to be unloved |
how we’re all alone in this vast, cold, impersonal universe—totally estranged from all other creatures |
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The adjective estranged suggests a loss of affection, a turning away from someone. When a couple separates, we often refer to them as estranged — or no longer together. |
The word estranged is an unfriendly word with a negative connotation. The word strange within it seems to suggest an alienation of affection, and that a loving relationship has not only soured, but turned distant and even somewhat hostile. While the word is usually used to describe a human relationship, it can also refer to a political situation where nations that were once allies develop conflicts and become estranged. |
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| 3150 |
mammoth |
so exceedingly large or extensive as to suggest a giant |
Mammoth tomes they can fall asleep at night reading, thinking how lucky they are to not be as depressed as the author of the book must be. |
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The adjective mammoth is a great way to describe something really, really big, like those huge woolly elephants they’re still finding in the melting glaciers. |
The word mammoth is a pretty new one, dating back only to around 1700. It was first only a noun from the Russian word mammot, meaning “earth,” and used to name the newly-discovered fossilized creature that was thought to have burrowed in the earth like a mole. The word, a rare Russian contribution to English, was not used as an adjective until around 1800—notably when President Thomas Jefferson used it to describe a very large cheese. |
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| 3151 |
cerebral |
involving intelligence rather than emotions or instinct |
There’s just something irresistibly appealing about cerebral men who really try to understand life. |
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If you are a cerebral person, no one would ever call you a drama queen. You make decisions using your intelligence and cold, hard facts, instead of your emotions. |
The word cerebral gets its meaning from cerebrum, which is Latin for brain. Cerebral people use their brains instead of their hearts. The cerebrum is a particular section of the brain, and anything related to that part is also cerebral, like in medicine. A cerebral hemorrhage, for example, means a hemorrhage has occurred in the brain — a phrase you'd never want to hear coming from a doctor. |
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| 3152 |
ironic |
displaying incongruity between what is expected and what is |
“You know, it’s sort of ironic,” Simon said. |
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If something is ironic it's unexpected, often in an amusing way. If you're the world chess champion, it would be pretty ironic if you lost a match to someone who just learned to play yesterday. |
Ironic is the adjective for the noun irony. In contemporary speech, when we call something ironic, we often mean sarcastic. If you spill coffee all over drawings you've been working on all morning, you might ironically tell your coworker, "I've done something wonderful!" An ironic outcome is the opposite of what's intended. Having someone splash mud on you is always annoying, but it would be ironic if they had splashed you because they were running up to wipe dirt off you. |
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| 3153 |
filial |
relating to or characteristic of or befitting an offspring |
“I mean, the conservative value of filial piety was what made you follow your father, who was, presumably, trying to make you more open in your outlook.” |
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If you describe something as filial, you're saying it's offspring-related. Depending on who your parents are, your filial duties might include taking out the trash, or washing dishes, or ruling empires. |
The word filial comes from the Latin words filius, which means "son," and filia, or daughter. In other words, filial is the filius of filius. One way of remembering the word is to the think of a filly, a young horse. The two words aren't related, but it's fun to put them in the same sentence: "The filly's filial love made the mare a happy mom." |
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| 3154 |
citadel |
a stronghold for shelter during a battle |
“The citadel of democracy and capitalism—Burgers, hot dogs, football, Hollywood, cable, MTV, 1,000 brands of breakfast cereal, guns—and, of course, guys like me.” |
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A citadel is a fortified structure designed to provide protection during a battle. So, back in the days when pillaging was commonplace, it was a good idea to know where your nearest citadel was. |
Among the most historically famous citadels are the Acropolis in Athens and the Tower of London. Even though we're building fewer physical fortresses these days, citadel remains a useful word, particularly when you need to create a metaphor suggesting strength and safety. As poet John Keats wrote, "[I]t appears to me that almost any man may like the spider spin from his own inwards his own airy citadel." |
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| 3155 |
stasis |
inactivity resulting from a balance between opposing forces |
And then there’s insanely cold, where your cells stop functioning at the molecular level. I mean it’s like they’re in stasis or something. |
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When nothing's happening, that's stasis. A town government might be stuck in a period of stasis, unable to come to a decision about a controversial issue. |
Sometimes opposing forces are equal in power, and since neither is stronger than the other, the result is a state where neither can gain any headway. This state is called stasis, and it is basically a stoppage of movement. In medicine, stasis describes the stopping of any bodily fluids from flowing, usually by an obstruction. The same idea is seen in literary stasis, where there is no forward movement in a story. |
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| 3156 |
thermal |
relating to or associated with heat |
That way you can adjust to the temperature around you by taking stuff off or putting it back on so you maintain thermal equilibrium. |
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If it has to do with heat, it’s thermal. Wearing a thermal shirt under your sweater helps you stay warm on a brutally cold day. Your thermal coffee mug keeps your coffee hot. |
The Greek word therme, meaning “heat,” is the origin of the adjective thermal. Something that is thermal is hot, retains heat, or has a warming effect. If your sweatshirt has a thermal lining, its texture might remind you of a waffle-that's what traps your body heat. Also, there are large currents of warm air that flow upwards — these are what gliders or big birds like hawks ride to stay afloat — one type of those currents is called a “thermal.” |
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| 3157 |
equilibrium |
a stable situation in which forces cancel one another |
That way you can adjust to the temperature around you by taking stuff off or putting it back on so you maintain thermal equilibrium.” |
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Equilibrium is a state of balance. If you play sports so much that you don't have time for your studies, you need to study more and play less, until sports and studying reach a point of equilibrium. Or become a professional athlete. |
The word equilibrium is commonly used to refer to mental or emotional balance, and a near synonym in this sense is composure. In chemistry, equilibrium is the condition existing when a chemical reaction and its reverse reaction occur at equal rates. This noun is from Latin aequilībrium, from the prefix aequi- "equal" plus lībra "a balance, scale." |
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| 3158 |
inexorable |
impervious to pleas, persuasion, requests, reason |
It seems funny now, but I was completely clueless, wandering around in my sari and a little sweater, wondering why my life force seemed to be inexorably ebbing away, and why everything always seemed kind of blurry. |
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When a person is inexorable, they're stubborn. When a thing or process is inexorable, it can't be stopped. |
This is a word for people and things that will not change direction. An inexorable person is hard-headed and cannot be convinced to change their mind, no matter what. You can also say that a process, like the progress of a deadly illness, is inexorable because it can't be stopped. A speeding train with no brakes is inexorable; it's not stopping till it crashes. When you see the word inexorable, think "No one's stopping that." |
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| 3159 |
debilitating |
impairing the strength and vitality |
The cold was completely debilitating. |
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Something that's debilitating seriously affects someone or something's strength or ability to carry on with regular activities, like a debilitating illness. |
Debilitating comes from the Latin word debilis, meaning "weak." That's why you'll often see the adjective used to describe illness. After all, serious diseases weaken the body. Other things that can be debilitating are those that can stop you from reaching a goal, like a debilitating snow storm that forces you to stay home, or debilitating shyness that keeps you from reaching out to the people you want to meet. |
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| 3160 |
creed |
any system of principles or beliefs |
“I thought it was against the creed of modern women to use their charms on a guy to get something.” |
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Without reading the long document about the group's beliefs — its creed — he knew he didn't fit in, because he just couldn't bow to the 12-foot statue of a rabbit, no matter what it symbolized. |
A creed can be a formal doctrine, or system of beliefs, for a church or religious group, or it can be a philosophy, or personal set of beliefs. The origins of the word are in the Latin crēdō, "I believe," once specific to the Christian faith, but by the 17th century it was used for many different faiths. Companies, societies, and disciplines might also adopt a creed — as in a political creed, a national creed, or a management creed — that lays out a particular belief-system or way of doing things. |
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| 3161 |
proximity |
the region close around a person or thing |
Is your roommate in the proximity of this room? That was him we heard singing before, wasn’t it Simon? |
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The word proximity means nearness or closeness. "Because of the proximity of our desks, I couldn't help but notice him cheating on the exam." |
Your favorite thing about your neighborhood of attached row houses might be the proximity of your neighbors — they're really close to you. Proximity comes from the Latin proximus, "nearest," which also gives us approximate, "close to the actual." You can use this noun to talk about a physical closeness, or something that's near in time, like the proximity of the months April and May. |
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| 3162 |
orthodoxy |
a belief or orientation agreeing with conventional standards |
You said your father wanted you to challenge the beliefs—the orthodoxies—you had been taught, right? |
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A widely accepted belief or theory is an orthodoxy. You could call the scientific theory of gravity an orthodoxy, since it's generally considered to be an established fact. |
The word orthodoxy comes from the Greek root words orthos, which means right, true or straight, and doxa, opinion. So orthodoxy describes the one true opinion. The noun orthodoxy, pronounced "OR-thuh-dock-see," is most commonly used to talk about religious beliefs. When you conform to the orthodoxy of a particular religion, you follow its accepted doctrines, like a Christian's belief in an all-powerful God. |
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| 3163 |
vantage |
place or situation affording some benefit |
It was important for me to see things from a different vantage point. |
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A vantage is a really good place from which to survey a scene. You might find that the roof of the house offers an excellent vantage from which to drop water balloons on your kid brother’s head. |
Vantage is a variation of advantage, but when we use vantage we’re almost always talking about a position, not just general superiority. If you had extra tutoring for a big exam, you would have the advantage over a classmate who didn’t. But if your seat for the test allowed you to see the answer sheet lying on the desk, well then you would have a superior vantage — not that you would take advantage of that, of course! |
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| 3164 |
insular |
narrowly restricted in outlook or scope |
I was pretty insular, you see. |
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Insular means "having a narrow view of the world," like insular people who never leave their small town, which enables them to believe that every place in the world is the same and the people are all just like them. |
The adjective insular comes from the Latin word insula, which means “island.” Perhaps less so in our current age of technological and relatively easy travel, island life can still be separated from the rest. That's why insular can mean "isolated from," like if you grew up in a big city then visited a rural place, you may be surprised that stores close early. Such an experience will help you expand your insular views. |
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| 3165 |
imbue |
fill or soak totally |
“I was really imbued with Indian culture. I was totally into it—Indian art, music, philosophy, everything.” |
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To imbue is to fill up with or become "soaked" in an idea or emotion, as a sponge takes in water. One visit to Africa might be enough to imbue ambitions in a medical student to return to heal the sick. |
You can use imbue in a similar way as "saturate," or "soak through," to describe a filling or absorbing. A "hue" is a color, and it rhymes with imbue. When you're imbued with something, you are, in a way, colored by it. If you imbue a dish sponge with oily orange water from a spaghetti bowl, the color and the oil soak in. To fill people with qualities or emotions is, for example, to imbue them with strength or optimism. |
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| 3166 |
ethnocentric |
centered on a specific ethnic group, usually one's own |
For a while I was pretty ethnocentric. Anything—any other way of looking at the world—was inferior in my eyes. |
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Someone who's ethnocentric judges other cultures by comparing them to his own, familiar culture. An ethnocentric American might compare all the cities of the world to New York City, overlooking their unique charms. |
If you use the standards of your own culture to judge another culture, you're being ethnocentric. One example of this is the mentality that all places should be like one's own country. The word ethnocentric takes the Greek prefix ethno-, "people or nation," and combines it with kentrikos, "center." It was originally a social science term, but it gained popularity in the second half of the 20th century. |
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| 3167 |
doctrinaire |
stubbornly insistent on theory rather than practicality |
I was completely doctrinaire. |
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You've doubtless met someone doctrinaire at some point. You know them by their complete unwillingness to accept any belief other than their own. |
If you're familiar with the noun "doctrine" — a formal idea or system of belief — you'll have no problem with the adjective doctrinaire. It's a just a way of describing a person or group of people who are set in their ways. The Pope and his cardinals are unfailingly doctrinaire: they won't allow any ideas beyond those they've already approved. Parents can start out doctrinaire, but children soon force them to be flexible in how they bring them up. |
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| 3168 |
fundamentalism |
the interpretation of sacred texts as literal truth |
Yes, I guess I was something of a fundamentalist. |
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Fundamentalism is a strict interpretation of the scripture, like Protestant Christians who believe that all the miracles in the Bible really happened. Islamic fundamentalism is the same, except people believe everything in the Koran actually happened. |
The word fundamentalism was originally associated with a Protestant movement of the early 1920s, which protested the treatment of the supernatural miracles and events of the Bible as anything but literally true. Fundamentalism was created in direct opposition to modernism, a movement that sought to reinterpret the events of the Bible based on modern times. Nowadays, fundamentalism usually refers to religion, but it can also be a strict and literal belief in anything. |
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| 3169 |
conservative |
resistant to change |
You know, it’s interesting how sometimes young people are more conservative than their parents. |
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If you are conservative, you aren’t necessarily a card-carrying member of the Republican party (though you might be); it means you resist change. |
Conservative has the word conserve in it, which means to hold on to, or save. In a drought, you want to be conservative in your water use. If you don’t get paid that much and don’t want to use credit cards, you’d better be conservative with your money. When we talk about environmental conservation, we mean the protection of natural resources. |
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| 3170 |
monolithic |
characterized by rigidity and total uniformity |
Some people start to see the West as some monolithic force consciously bent on getting everybody in the world to eat hamburgers, wear Nikes, watch CNN and Mission Impossible or whatever blockbuster is playing at the movies, spend all day making money, and think that the degree of individual freedom is the sole criterion for judging the success of a political system. |
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When something is monolithic it's big, and made of one thing. A large piece of stone jutting from the earth is a monolith, and Detroit's economy when it depended entirely on the auto industry was monolithic. |
Broken into its roots mono and lithic, monolithic means simply "one stone." When monolithic is used to describe something societal — like a religion or an organization — it has a slightly negative connotation. This is because anything made up of different people with different beliefs and goals is unlikely to be able to maintain monolithic status for long without force or oppression. |
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| 3171 |
homogenize |
become homogeneous or similar, as by mixing |
Anyway, it looks like the world might be heading, for better or worse, toward one homogenized culture. |
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To homogenize is to make something the same, or similar. When dairies homogenize milk, they mix it so the cream isn't separate from the rest of the milk, but instead all the liquid is the same consistency. |
When food processors homogenize milk, they make it uniform or alike, and when circumstances homogenize a neighborhood or school, the result is a group of people who generally all resemble each other. You might complain that high rents and gentrification in your town have homogenized it, leaving only wealthy professionals able to afford to live there. The Greek root, homogenes, means "of the same kind." |
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| 3172 |
rampant |
occurring or increasing in an unrestrained way |
Rampant materialism. Conspicuous consumption the privilege of the elite and the dream of the masses. |
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Rampant means wild, out of control, to be up on your hind legs roaring at the world. You don't have to be four-legged: "The children ran rampant at the supermarket even though their mother tried to control them." |
If you're running rampant, you're on a rampage. Both come from the French word ramper meaning "to climb, creep" like an animal on hind legs, paws in climbing-mode, or like wild plants such as the kudzu that ran rampant over an old barn until the entire thing was covered. There can also be rampant wildfires that destroy houses in the Southwest, or robots that run rampant in the lab after the janitor accidentally sets them free. |
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| 3173 |
affirm |
declare solemnly and formally as true |
I mean, some of what I’ve said would be affirmed by many adherents of the world’s major religious faiths. |
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To affirm something is to give it a big "YES" or to confirm that it is true. |
The verb affirm means to answer positively, but it has a more weighty meaning in legal circles. People are asked to swear an oath or affirm that they will tell the truth in a court of law. Lawyers may ask people to affirm facts, and judges may affirm rulings. In these cases, affirm means to verify or attest to the validity of something. |
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| 3174 |
adherent |
someone who believes and helps to spread a doctrine |
I mean, some of what I’ve said would be affirmed by many adherents of the world’s major religious faiths. |
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Because an adherent is usually something or someone that sticks to something or someone else, it's logical that it can also mean a person who believes in and supports a certain philosophy or leader. |
An adherent to a cause can be called a disciple, one who believes and tries to get others to believe. It can also refer to a material that sticks to other things. While the first meaning comes from the 15th century, the reference to a sticky substance didn't emerge until the 16th. In all cases, the word comes from the Latin root haerēre "stick," connected to the prefix ad- "to," making the word mean "to stick to." |
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| 3175 |
pontificate |
talk in a dogmatic and pompous manner |
Once I get going on this sort of subject I have a tendency to start pontificating. |
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To pontificate is to talk in a dogmatic and pompous manner. To pontificate properly, you need to be a know-it-all with very strong opinions and the urge to share them. |
Pontificate comes from the French word pontiff, another word for the Pope, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church. As a verb (pronounced pon-TIF-i-kate), it meant "to perform the functions of the Pope or other high official in the Church." The noun pontificate (pronounced pon-TIF-i-kit) refers to the government of the Roman Catholic Church. Another word for this is the papacy. |
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| 3176 |
polemicist |
a writer who argues in opposition to others |
There’s this polemicist inside me that’s bottled up, but is always ready to come out if anybody is willing to listen. |
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A polemicist is a person who attacks someone else with written or spoken words. A heated debate is the perfect venue for a polemicist. |
If you're a polemicist, you have very strong opinions, and you're not afraid to state them — even if they hurt other people. A polemicist might publish a fiery online essay criticizing many of her high school classmates, for example. The word comes from polemic, "a strong verbal or written attack," which has a Greek root, polemikos, "warlike, belligerent, or stirring up hostility." |
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| 3177 |
monologue |
a dramatic speech by a single actor |
Turns out that they’re both like total baseball freaks. So Simon rattles off a long funny monologue about Babe Ruth. |
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A monologue is a speech delivered by one person, or a long one-sided conversation that makes you want to pull your hair out from boredom. |
The Greek root word monologos translates to “speaking alone,” and that’s a monologue: one person doing all the talking. In theatre, sometimes a character has a monologue that they perform. You might have an internal monologue where you talk to yourself to better understand some dilemma. Some people talk forever in a constant monologue, never letting you speak. If two people talk back and forth, it’s a dialogue, which is different and probably more fun for everyone. |
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| 3178 |
elite |
a group or class of persons enjoying superior status |
They represent the elite of just about every field of human knowledge |
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The elite are the group thought to be the best and having the highest status. In the middle ages, only elite men were taught to read and write. |
There are elite schools, elite teams, and elite players, some really the best and some just calling themselves the best. Who can join the basketball elite besides LeBron James and Michael Jordan? That's a matter of opinion. Elite is used with a singular or plural verb, depending on whether these special people are considered together as a group or as individual members of a group. |
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| 3179 |
intimidated |
made scared or fearful as by threats |
“But aren’t you sometimes a little intimidated by all these big name academics?” |
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When a person has been threatened and made to feel timid, he becomes intimidated. You might be intimidated by a large barking dog, a mean boss, or a pair of skinny jeans you'd love to fit into. |
The adjective intimidated is derived from the similarly spelled Latin intimidare, meaning “to frighten." Notice within both the English adjective and Latin root another adjective timid, “fearful.” That should help you remember the meaning. Maya Angelou said, “Education helps one cease being intimidated by strange situations.” When you are familiar with something, it becomes less frightful. Synonyms for intimidated include afraid and daunted. |
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| 3180 |
beneficence |
the quality of being kind or helpful or generous |
There is so much beneficence and gentleness in her. |
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If you show someone kindness or generosity, that's beneficence like when you shovel a neighbor's sidewalk or mowing the lawn just to help out, no strings attached. |
Beneficence comes from the Latin word benefactum, meaning "good deed." That's exactly what beneficence is — helping someone just because you care, not because you want to be praised for being nice. Giving your time, skills, or even a donation of money or items shows beneficence. This word can also describe the character of a person who is helpful, caring, and compassionate. |
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| 3181 |
tinge |
a slight but appreciable amount |
But Jaz did not feel the slightest tinge of jealousy. |
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A tinge is a slight amount of something, especially a faint color. If you wear SPF30 to the beach, you'll only come home with a tinge of tan. |
If a painting has just a tiny hint of orange, then it was a tinge of orange. And you could say the painter tinged the picture with orange hues. Outside of paint colors, a tinge can mean a small amount of just about anything. Sometimes you hear about someone speaking with a tinge of sadness. That means there's just a little bit sadness showing in their words. A tinge will never bowl you over — it's always small and subtle. |
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| 3182 |
composure |
steadiness of mind under stress |
She felt again that wonderful composure, and something that she could only describe as love. |
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When you stay calm under pressure, you keep your composure. Keeping your composure for a skinned knee? Easy. Keeping your composure during an avalanche? Not so easy. |
The word composure is from the related word composed, but don't think of the word in the musical sense. In this case, composed means calm. What's the difference between the two? Well, composed is an adjective, so you simply are composed. Composure, on the other hand, is a noun, so you can lose, keep, regain, or maintain your composure — your ability to stay calm. If you lose your composure, you're freaking out. |
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| 3183 |
inextricable |
incapable of being disentangled or untied |
“As always with me and Simon, Axel was somehow inextricably linked to us.” |
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A chain that is very badly knotted and cannot be unraveled is inextricable. You cannot disentangle it. |
Inextricable comes from the Latin prefix in- meaning "not" and extricare meaning "unravel." Something that is inextricable cannot be unraveled. This isn't just limited to objects. Memories from childhood can sometimes be inextricable from other associations — so bound up that it is hard to separate one from the other. |
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| 3184 |
karma |
the effects of a person's actions that determine his destiny |
“It must be your karma,” Xela said. |
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The Hindu and Buddhist concept karma is what will happen to you in your next life based on what you do in this life. Performing kind acts in this life gives you good karma for your next life. |
To understand karma, it’s important to understand that in Hinduism and Buddhism, practitioners believe in reincarnation. Reincarnation is the idea that after you die, you are reborn into a new body and a new life. How good or bad that new life is depends on the karma you’ve accumulated in your previous lives. By this line of thinking, performing good acts in this life means that in your next life you might be born the princess of a tropical paradise. |
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| 3185 |
incarnation |
time passed in a particular bodily form |
I mean, maybe the three of you were somehow linked in your previous incarnations. |
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Incarnation is the embodiment of a god on earth. Or — when it comes to reincarnation: if you are a garbage collector in this life, you might get to be royalty in your next incarnation. |
Incarnation comes from the Latin incarnatus, which means “to make flesh.” The word incarnation came to life in religious contexts and is used when talking about gods and deities that take on human or animal forms. More generally, the word can be used to refer to anything or anyone taking on a "new life" — the new season of a sitcom could promise a new incarnation for one of its characters, or a former fashion trend could come back as a new incarnation. |
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| 3186 |
recurring |
coming back |
“Axel is like this recurring motif in our lives, isn’t he?” |
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Something recurring happens over and over. When you have a recurring cough, it could be something serious, like bronchitis. |
This is a word for things that keep popping up or returning, like flowers are a recurring subject of the artist Georgia O’Keefe’s paintings. Recurring lateness is a habit your teacher or boss won’t tolerate. Lots of people have recurring health problems, such as back pain or sore knees. A guest character on a TV show who shows up once in awhile is a recurring character: they just keep coming back. |
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| 3187 |
orchestrate |
plan and direct (a complex undertaking) |
“So, Simon sort of orchestrates the whole show?” |
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To orchestrate is to design or organize something, like a plan or a project. You could orchestrate an orchestra or you could just orchestrate a yard sale. |
An orchestra is a large group of classical musicians led by a conductor: it consists of many people playing together. Similarly, when we talk about orchestrating, someone is coordinating the activities of many people to accomplish something. The manager of an office orchestrates the business. A coach orchestrates the play of the team. Terrorist leaders orchestrate attacks. Orchestrating is like directing, and it applies to many more things than just music. |
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| 3188 |
faze |
disturb the composure of |
I guess you could say he keeps everyone’s feathers nice and smooth. He’s really something to watch in action. Nothing fazes him. |
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If nothing can faze you, you are unflappable. Nothing bothers you, or gets you off your game. To faze is to disrupt or disturb. |
Faze is a new word, descending from a word that meant to frighten away. At basketball games, when a player is shooting a foul shot, fans behind the net will try to faze the player by waving towels and making loud noise. They are trying to disturb him, so that he misses the kind of shot he's made thousands of times before. |
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| 3189 |
altercation |
noisy quarrel |
We had two guys having an altercation over whether it’s worth spending money on looking for extraterrestrial life—the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence program (SETI) and all that. |
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Altercation is a nicer word for "quarrel," which is a nicer word for "fight." |
Fight is a simple, effective one-syllable word, while quarrel is a softer, two-syllable word, and altercation is a very civilized-sounding four-syllable word for the same uncivilized thing: a noisy argument between people that are mad at each other. Two cowboys fighting in a saloon probably won’t talk about their altercation, but someone who gets a black eye fighting for a parking spot might — after cooling down — describe the incident as an altercation rather than as a knock-down, drag-out brawl. |
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| 3190 |
lavish |
very generous |
Now, both of these guys are basically liberals, favoring lavish spending of government money to solve—or at least ameliorate—social problems and help solve these intractable problems such as malnutrition that the world faces. |
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Lavish means generous and extravagant as an adjective and to give generously as a verb. If you don't like it when people lavish you with attention, you might appreciate a lavish spread of excellent food instead. |
Lavish comes from the Old French lavache meaning "deluge, torrent" referring to rain. When you see it, think of a shower of good things coming down on you as you never use lavish with something bad. Didn't your parents lavish you with praise and love when you were small? With lavish as an adjective, you can rephrase that question like this: Didn't your parents offer you lavish praise and love when you were little? |
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| 3191 |
profligate |
recklessly wasteful |
All that expensive equipment. Totally profligate. |
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Profligate, as a noun or as an adjective, implies recklessly wasting your money on extravagant luxury. Profligate behavior is a lot of fun, but you'll regret it later — when you get your charge card bill. |
Any time someone behaves in a reckless, amoral, or wasteful way, they are engaging in profligate behavior. It usually refers to financial behavior but can cross over to social activity as well. A person who is a slave to their cravings and whose behavior is unrestrained and selfish can be called a profligate. Extravagantly profligate behavior is often wildly fun but usually comes with a heavy price to pay in the morning, both financially and morally. |
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| 3192 |
bourgeoisie |
the social class between the lower and upper classes |
Just something for the disaffected, aimless bourgeoisie to amuse themselves with while Africa starves. |
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This word is used to describe a class of people who fall somewhere between the lowest and highest classes. Bourgeoisie is often used insultingly. |
In between the very poor and the super rich is the bourgeoisie. People have traditionally viewed the bourgeoisie as kind of crass and pretentious. The word yuppie could be a more contemporary synonym for bourgeoisie. In communist writing, the bourgeoisie are the capitalist class, as opposed to the workers (the proletariat). Most people in the bourgeoisie would probably deny that they are, just like many very rich people would rather say they are middle class. |
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| 3193 |
polar |
characterized by opposite extremes |
In this one area he’s the polar opposite of the other fellow. |
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The idea of polar suggests equal opposites. For example, the North and South Poles are at opposite ends of the planet, and both are equally glacial, or very cold, which, by the way, is another meaning of polar. |
The English word polar derives from the Latin polus and the Greek polos, which means "axis." (See the connection with the North and South Poles?) The discovery of polar bears was first recorded in the mid- 18th century, while the idea of "polar opposites" came about in 1832. The adjective polar is also used to describe something vitally important, an idea that came from the importance of Polaris, the North Star, which has always been a voyager’s guide. |
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| 3194 |
consortium |
a cooperative association among institutions or companies |
It seems that this guy Dr. James turns out to be the person behind this powerful consortium of companies that is doing some secret work on UFOs for the government. |
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Consortium is a fancy word for a group you form for an enterprise beyond what any one member could do alone. All the grocery stores in your neighborhood might form a consortium for the promotion of local strawberries. |
Consortium comes from the verb consort, which means "to accompany or associate." Consortium used to mean "fellowship, participation, society," but these days you're more likely to hear consortium for an association of different institutions like schools or companies than, say, a consortium of philosophical frog lovers. Still, consortiums usually preserve the ideals of fellowship, with every member institution chipping in to reach a common goal. |
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| 3195 |
bureaucracy |
an organization obstructing action by unnecessary procedures |
He knows his way around the bureaucracy in Washington—who the important people are, the influential lobbyists, how to get things done. |
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A bureaucracy is an organization made up of many departments and divisions that are administered by lots of people. If you've ever had to deal with health insurance or financial aid, you're familiar with the dark side of bureaucracy. |
Bureaucracy has a bad reputation because it has come to mean an organization or government that is chin-deep in red tape and unnecessary procedures. When dealing with a bureaucracy, expect to fill out lots of forms and wait. Bureaucracies are mocked in the hilarious film "Brazil," where people have mind-numbing jobs they do while sitting at desks. Bureaucracy is an organization administered by people behind desks, or bureaus. Bureaus, get it? |
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| 3196 |
amalgam |
a combination or blend of diverse things |
It’s an amalgam of a mother’s tender love and the love of a man and woman. |
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In science, when you mix a metal with mercury to soften it, you create an amalgam. Otherwise, an amalgam is simply a combination of two or more unlike things into one. |
Use amalgam when the mixture of several things creates something different and larger. If your school puts together a drug prevention task force of police, doctors, teachers, social workers, and students, the task force is an amalgam of local resources. If your band plays a combination of country music and jazz, they play an amalgam of contemporary styles. We can only hope they play it well. |
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| 3197 |
prodigy |
an unusually gifted or intelligent person |
He was a prodigy. He just amazed people with his erudition. |
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A prodigy is someone who is so naturally talented at something that they become a master of that particular skill as a child––you can be a musical prodigy or a math prodigy. Mozart was one, writing symphonies and playing for kings when he was only five years old. |
Prodigy is one of those wonderful words whose different meanings tell a story about how the meanings of words bloom over time. The word derives from the Latin prodigium, meaning an omen or a sign of something to come. Prodigies are kids who often seem so talented that their success must presage even greater mastery, though, of course, the irony is that most prodigies peak in their youth. |
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| 3198 |
rudimentary |
being in the earliest stages of development |
“Axel’s social skills are still a little rudimentary.” |
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Rudimentary means basic, or at a very early stage. The test should be easy: it requires only a rudimentary understanding of the materials. |
The word rude means simple or offensive––people with only rudimentary understanding of good manners might not know how that belching is rude. Remember that the word rude is the foundation of rudimentary you'll have a rudimentary understanding of the word. |
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| 3199 |
minutia |
a small or minor detail |
He watches over him and kind of helps him out with mundane things—food, clothing, all that—the minutia of everyday life. |
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The tiny details of anything can be called minutiae. Minutia — which you'll usually see as minutiae, the plural version — is a little like trivia. |
Notice how minutia almost has the word mini in it? That's a good clue to the meaning, which is "small things or details." People who are sports fans tend to love minutiae — like what a player's batting average is, right down to the third decimal point. Anytime you're dealing with itty-bitty details, you're looking at minutiae. |
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| 3200 |
juncture |
a particular point in a process or activity |
What you’re doing is very necessary. Particularly at this critical juncture in this planet’s history. |
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A juncture is a crucial point in time when a decision must be made. At this juncture, a president might say, the government must decide whether to go ahead with war or to try to solve things diplomatically. |
A juncture is a joint or connection between two things. Originally used in the physical sense, it has broadened in meaning to refer to an often urgent decision-making crossroads. At some point you and your partner will reach a critical juncture and have to decide whether to get serious or break up. It can also simply mean "point in time." She had never learned how to drive and, at this juncture, she knew she never would. |
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| 3201 |
imperative |
some duty that is essential and urgent |
It is imperative that you continue. |
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When something absolutely has to be done and cannot be put off, use the adjective imperative. |
Imperative is from Latin imperare "to command," and its original use was for a verb form expressing a command: "Do it!" is an imperative sentence. It's still used that way, but it's more commonly applied to something so pressing it cannot be put off: "Hiring new workers has become imperative." It has more immediate force than pressing but less than urgent. |
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| 3202 |
scintillating |
brilliantly clever |
Some nights we’ve had the group just crackling with energy, absolutely scintillating ideas everywhere. |
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Something scintillating is flashing briefly and sharply with light. Scintillating conversations are smart and captivating. |
To be scintillating is to be sharp. Things that are scintillating are exciting: they grab your attention with sparkles, flashes of light, or sheer brilliance. Most often, we talk about scintillating conversations and speakers. If you say someone is scintillating, then they are clever — people want to listen to them. This is a word often used sarcastically. If someone is boring, you might say "Well, that was scintillating," while rolling your eyes. |
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| 3203 |
equitable |
fair to all parties as dictated by reason and conscience |
I mean like how to have an equitable society that’s also affluent. |
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Equitable distribution means everyone gets their fair share of something.If you work on a group project in class, you want an equitable share of the credit. |
When you look at equitable, you might think you see the word, equal, but it doesn't mean fair in the sense of exactly the same. If you worked ten hours at a lemonade stand and your friend worked five, you'd want an equitable share of the profits rather than an equal share. Equitable would take into account the amount of work you did, equal would not. |
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| 3204 |
culmination |
a concluding action |
We’re going to try to bring this thing to some sort of culmination. |
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The culmination is the end point or final stage of something you've been working toward or something that's been building up. The culmination of your high school career, for example, should be graduation day — and probably not prom night. |
A culmination isn't just the conclusion. It's the climax of the story, the final crowning achievement, the end result of years of research. “Life is a culmination of the past, an awareness of the present, an indication of a future beyond knowledge, the quality that gives a touch of divinity to matter,” said Charles Lindbergh, the first solo pilot to fly nonstop across the Atlantic — a feat that was surely the culmination of his aviation career. |
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| 3205 |
rostrum |
a platform raised above the surrounding level |
And Simon is even going to have a rostrum. |
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You've probably listened to speakers who stood on a raised platform, or watched the winners in sports competitions step up onto a platform to accept their awards. The platform they're standing on is called a rostrum. |
Rostrum, originally "animal snout or bird's beak" in Latin, has a back-and-forth history. The word came to be used for the battering beak at a warship’s bow. The ancient Romans used beaks from captured ships to decorate a platform from which orators could speak, called the rostra, the plural of rostrum. In the mid-17th century, rostrum came to mean a platform for speeches, performances, or receiving awards. By the way, the plural of rostrum is still rostra. |
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| 3206 |
domicile |
housing that someone is living in |
“Welcome to my humble domicile.” |
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Domicile is a fancy word for the place where you live. Whether it's a mansion on 5th Avenue or a tee-pee in the desert, if you live in it, it's your domicile. |
Do you live somewhere? Such as in a house, on a houseboat, or in an apartment? Then you have a domicile, or simply, housing. Or in the eyes of the law, your legal place of residence. You can turn domicile into a verb, and say that you are currently domiciled in the Caribbean — but you'd really only use that terminology if you were on trial for tax evasion. |
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| 3207 |
artifact |
a man-made object |
It was comfortably, if eclectically, decorated with artifacts from many cultures. |
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An artifact is a man-made object that has some kind of cultural significance. If you find a 12th-century vase, it's an artifact of that time. Don't drop it! |
Artifact is a combination of two Latin words, arte, meaning "by skill" and factum which means "to make." Usually when you use the word artifact, you are describing something crafted that was used for a particular purpose during a much earlier time. |
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| 3208 |
amulet |
a trinket thought to be a magical protection against evil |
Thai amulets, Javanese ikats, and Japanese art scrolls [“makimono”— remember?] hung on the walls. |
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If you rub your pendant while praying to your gods, it sounds like you have an amulet, a necklace or similar item attributed with magical powers. |
An amulet is something that wards off evil spells and all manner of bad luck. Often found in undeveloped societies — or Brady Bunch episodes — an amulet acts as a charm to protect its wearer from evil. Often worn close to the heart as a necklace, the word amulet can refer to any a piece of jewelry or other trinket that is kept close to the body and believed to keep evil and danger at bay. |
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| 3209 |
linguistics |
the scientific study of language |
Books on General Relativity, linguistics, and mysticism mingled with books on plumbing, cooking, and carpentry. |
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Linguistics is the formal study of language. If you like figuring out how words are formed and how they express meaning, you might enjoy studying the science of linguistics. |
Academics use the term linguistics to describe the science of language. Linguistics includes a broad range of topics ranging from how people learn languages to how phrases and sentences are formed. Remember that linguistics is a plural noun: although it takes a singular verb, it always has an “s” at the end. If you drop the “s” you get a different word, the adjective linguistic, which means "related to language." |
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| 3210 |
mysticism |
a religion based on communion with an ultimate reality |
Books on General Relativity, linguistics, and mysticism mingled with books on plumbing, cooking, and carpentry. |
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Mysticism is a religion or religious belief based on union or communion with a deity, or divine being. Mysticism is what lets you transcend the physical to experience enlightenment — let's just say you'll recognize it when it happens. |
Mystical, mysterious, and filled with wonder, mysticism is easily associated with crystals, New Age theories, or the occult (the supernatural). The truth is that many faiths, including Hinduism, Judaism, and Christianity, have their own forms of mysticism, placing an emphasis on spiritual connection and union, and the mysteries of religion over dogma or rigid rules. Outside of religion, mysticism is applied to cryptic, obscure, or irrational thought — leaning toward mystery and wonder, rather than logic. |
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| 3211 |
nonchalantly |
in a composed and unconcerned manner |
“Jaz, this is Xela,” Simon said nonchalantly, gesturing to Xela. |
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Use the adverb nonchalantly to describe an action done in a really relaxed, casual, unconcerned way. From now on if someone asks you to define the word nonchalantly, you can do it . . . nonchalantly. It’s no big deal! |
You may nonchalantly hit a 3-point shot during the game — you've done it a million times before so you're relaxed and confident. Nonchalantly can also describe something that just seems relaxed. Even if you’re truly stressed out about an upcoming test, you can still shrug nonchalantly about it to make people think you’re unconcerned. |
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| 3212 |
disarm |
make less hostile; win over |
Xela smiled so sweetly at her that Jaz was disarmed—almost. |
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When you disarm someone, you take their weapons away from them. An archery instructor might, for example, disarm a student if he wasn't handling his bow and arrow carefully. |
To disarm is to remove a gun, knife — or any kind of weapon — from someone's hands, or from a group of people. A government might work to disarm a rebel group, for example, and police officers sometimes offer to pay money for guns in an attempt to disarm citizens. You can also use the verb to mean "win someone over," like when you disarm a cranky store cashier with your friendly smile. Disarm has an Old French root word, desarmer. |
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| 3213 |
forte |
an asset of special worth or utility |
It was a rare occasion on which he didn’t have a quick answer to a query that concerned people—his forte. |
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Forte means an area in which you are strong or good. Having two left feet and no sense of rhythm, dancing would not be considered your forte. Better to impress people with card tricks, if that's your area of expertise, or your forte. |
Your forte is what you would focus on if you decided to enter a talent show. The word forte actually comes from the similar-sounding Latin word fortis, which means "strong." Romans (and countless groups since) called the big, barricaded structures they built "forts" because they were supposed to stay strong and keep out the hordes of invading barbarians. In music, playing forte means playing loud. |
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| 3214 |
tangible |
capable of being treated as fact |
I asked her all this stuff and she answered, but I can’t seem to recall anything tangible. |
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When you can touch something, it's tangible: "I need tangible proof that aliens exist — I want to shake their little green hands!" |
Tangible is from Latin tangere "to touch," and it simply means something that can be touched or felt, though it can be used in metaphorical senses: "tangible assets" have a value that can be precisely measured, and "tangible grief" can be clearly sensed by an onlooker. So you might not need to physically touch something for it to be tangible, but it has to be grounded in the real world of facts: "Has the teen pop star demonstrated any tangible ability to sing?" |
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| 3215 |
duplicity |
acting in bad faith |
Simon was, she knew, fundamentally incapable of duplicity. |
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Though he said he didn't know anything about the footprints in the new sidewalk, his duplicity, or deceitfulness, was obvious from the cement caking his shoes. His mouth said one thing, his feet said another. |
Many words with "du" have meanings with "two" or "duo." Duplicity is from a Latin word meaning "twofold, having two parts." Someone who shows duplicity is two-faced — maybe showing one side in public and another in private — or is just a liar, saying something known to be untrue or misleading. A fraud uses duplicity to gain something with false promises, and someone described as "fake" might use duplicity just to fit in or be accepted. |
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| 3216 |
epiphany |
a divine manifestation |
“Oh, boy,” Jaz said, “one of your epiphanies, huh?” |
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When inspiration hits you out of the blue, call it an epiphany. |
In the Christian tradition, Epiphany (ə-PIF-ə-nee) is a festival celebrating Christ's appearance to the Gentiles, observed every year on January 6. From the Christian sense we get an additional religious sense, "the appearance of a god or deity" and the more common modern usage, a noun meaning "a sudden revelation." There's nothing religious about most epiphanies these days — your "Eureka!" moment could come when you realize that you're in the wrong line of work and you need to quit your job to join the circus. |
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| 3217 |
ethereal |
of heaven or the spirit |
“What a beautiful voice! So serene and ethereal.” |
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Something ethereal is airy and insubstantial, such as a ghostly figure at the top of the stairs. It might also be something delicate and light, like a singer’s ethereal voice. |
Ethereal comes from the Greek word for ether, which is a drug that makes you feel light headed and, in larger doses, causes you to lose consciousness. An ethereal substance or sound is one that carries the feeling of ether––something you might see in a vision, that might strike you as heavenly or supernatural. |
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| 3218 |
evocative |
serving to bring to mind |
There’s something about that tune. It’s so evocative. |
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Use the adjective evocative when you want to describe something that reminds you of something else. If your mom baked a lot when you were a kid, the smell of cookies in the oven is probably evocative of your childhood. |
Evocative comes from the Latin word evocare, which means to "call out" or "summon." Think of a batch of cookies summoning a memory from your childhood. To summon something you need a voice, and indeed, the Latin word for voice is vocare. Other related words include the noun vocation, which means "a calling." |
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| 3219 |
elusive |
difficult to detect or grasp by the mind or analyze |
You know, I think I’ve heard it, but it’s elusive. I reach for it, then it’s gone. |
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Things that are elusive are hard to find, pin down, or remember. They slip right out of your grasp. |
Ever try to catch a mouse? It's not easy, because mice are quick and elusive — they're tough to catch. Rabbits are speedy, so they're elusive too. Also, things that are tough to understand or describe are elusive — like the concepts of love and beauty. If you had an idea and then forgot it, the idea is elusive: it slipped away. Anything you can't get hold of, with your hands or with your brain, is elusive. |
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| 3220 |
abstruse |
difficult to penetrate |
“Sounds like me trying to remember some abstruse mathematical theorem.” |
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Abstruse things are difficult to understand because they are so deep and intellectually challenging. It might be hard to figure out how a toilet flushes but the technology that goes into making the Internet function is abstruse. |
The Latin roots of the word abstruse are about concealing or hiding something, which is a good way to remember the meaning of this word. It is useful when describing something that is overly confusing, or if someone is deliberately making a story or a situation more complicated than necessary. It sounds and looks like obtuse, but abstruse is almost its opposite. Obtuse is dull or lacking a sharpness of intellect. While Abstruse is president of the chess club, Obtuse is hanging out by the parking lot smoking cigarettes. |
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| 3221 |
nebulous |
lacking definition or definite content |
But, you know, come to think of it, I can’t really remember very many specifics. It’s kind of nebulous. |
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Something that's nebulous is clouded or hazy. When you walk through the woods on a foggy morning, the trees may all have a mysterious, nebulous look to them. |
When you fly in a plane on an overcast day, the land below you looks nebulous and indistinct. You can also use nebulous in a more figurative way, to describe vague ideas or fuzzy concepts. Nebulous comes from the Latin nebulosus, "cloudy, misty, or foggy." Its root is nebula, which is "vapor or fog" in Latin and was adopted by astronomers in the 1700s to mean "a cloud of gas and dust in outer space." |
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| 3222 |
ruminate |
reflect deeply on a subject |
Simon looked at the ground, ruminating, listening to another tune coming out of Axel’s room into the night. |
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When you ruminate, it means you are thinking very deeply about something. You're likely to be so lost in thought that you stare off into space and don't hear people when they call your name. |
Another meaning of ruminate is to "chew the cud," which can mean "to turn it over and over in your mind." Or, if you're a cow, to turn food over and over in your stomachs in order to digest it. Whether you're a human or a cow, if you ruminate, it will take a LONG time. |
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| 3223 |
paradoxical |
seemingly contradictory but nonetheless possibly true |
It’s kind of paradoxical. He’s a complex guy. |
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“You have to spend money to make money.” That’s a paradoxical statement used by people in business, and it seems to say two opposite things that contradict each other, but if you think about it, it’s actually kind of true. |
Paradoxical is an adjective that describes a paradox, something with two meanings that don’t make sense together. Its Greek roots translate to “contrary opinion,” and when two different opinions collide in one statement or action, that’s paradoxical. In Shakespeare’s play "Hamlet," Hamlet’s mother marries the man who killed Hamlet’s father, but she doesn’t know it. As Hamlet plots to kill the murderer to protect his mother, he says this paradoxical phrase: “I must be cruel to be kind.” |
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| 3224 |
doleful |
filled with or evoking sadness |
It’s kind of doleful, and yet at the same time it suggests that there is some sort of ultimate meaning to life, that there are eternal verities in the universe. |
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To be doleful is to be down in the dumps, to have a hole in your soul, to be full of woe. |
Doleful has nothing to do with a doe, a deer or a female deer. Unless one of those animals has a really sad look in its eyes. Expressions can be doleful, ditto a song or a set of circumstances. You can use the adjective doleful to describe something that is bringing you down, that makes you want to give into gravity or crawl into bed. Doleful is pretty much the opposite of how a ray of golden sun can make you feel. |
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| 3225 |
verity |
an enduring or necessary ethical or aesthetic truth |
It’s kind of doleful, and yet at the same time it suggests that there is some sort of ultimate meaning to life, that there are eternal verities in the universe. |
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If your friend tells you she saw a UFO yesterday afternoon, you might be inclined to question the verity, or truthfulness, of her statement. Everyone knows UFOs are only visible at night. |
Verity can also be used to mean “a true idea, belief, or statement.” Abstract concepts like love and goodness are often referred to as verities, conveying the idea that they are universal truths. Verity is related to the word verify, meaning “to determine whether something is true." If your friend tells you that UFO story again, you should verify its verity! |
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| 3226 |
tremulous |
quivering as from weakness or fear |
His voice was tremulous. |
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Something tremulous is shaky and quivering, usually from fear or lack of strength. If you're nervous at your first big job interview, your hands might be a little tremulous. |
You’ve likely heard the unsteady voice of a person close to tears, or seen the trembling legs of a frightened child — both could certainly be described as tremulous. But you can also use this adjective to describe a statement or action that lacks resolution and courage, or even simply something that's shivering from the cold. |
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| 3227 |
melancholy |
characterized by or causing or expressing sadness |
Less melancholy. |
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Melancholy is beyond sad: as a noun or an adjective, it's a word for the gloomiest of spirits. |
Being melancholy means that you're overcome in sorrow, wrapped up in sorrowful thoughts. The word started off as a noun for deep sadness, from a rather disgusting source. Back in medieval times, people thought that secretions of the body called "humors" determined their feelings, so a depressed person was thought to have too much of the humor known as melancholy — literally "black bile" secreted from the spleen. Fortunately, we no longer think we're ruled by our spleens, and that black bile has been replaced by another color of sorrow: the "blues." |
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| 3228 |
mesmerize |
induce hypnosis in |
“Yes, I’m from Orion. And I’m on a mission to abduct you. Let me mesmerize you first,” she said. |
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You meet someone and you can’t take your eyes off them, like you are connected by an invisible cord and can’t break free. Those kinds of people have the power to mesmerize, holding your attention like you’re under hypnosis. |
The word mesmerize comes from the last name of 18th century German physician Franz Mesmer, who believed that all people and objects are pulled together by a strong magnetic force, later called mesmerism. If you ever start to feel mesmerized, maybe it’s because you find someone fascinating, or maybe you’ve been hypnotized by a magician. Hard to tell from here. |
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| 3229 |
conventional |
following accepted customs and proprieties |
One of her precepts is never to follow conventional thinking without a healthy dose of skepticism. |
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Conventional is an adjective for things that are normal, ordinary, and following the accepted way. Ho-hum. |
This word describes what is typical and ordinary and that which follows accepted standards of behavior or taste. This is a word that's current definition is still very similar to its Latin root, conventionalis, which is "pertaining to an agreement." One way this word is used is with respect to conventional weapons, as in those "not using, making, or involving nuclear weapons or energy; nonnuclear." |
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| 3230 |
skepticism |
doubt about the truth of something |
One of her precepts is never to follow conventional thinking without a healthy dose of skepticism. |
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Skepticism is doubt about something — you're just not convinced or can't totally believe it. If your brother is only four feet tall, you should view his claims that he can slam dunk a basketball with a lot of skepticism. |
If you like to poke holes in other people's ideas, then you are full of skepticism. Some people follow a specific belief system that questions the truth of anything, but most people save their skepticism for certain things. Tabloids, Big Foot sightings, and over-eager used car salesmen should all be viewed with a little skepticism. On the other hand, gullible folks believe everything they hear and don't have much, if any, skepticism. |
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| 3231 |
diverse |
many and different |
“She sounds like quite a remarkable young woman. Where did she get all these diverse interests?” |
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A diverse group is made up of people or things that are very different from each other. If your class mixes kids from all over the world, you could call it diverse. |
The adjective diversified has the same meaning, and a near synonym is varied. An earlier spelling of the English adjective was divers, and the final –e was probably added by association with words such as traverse and converse. The word divers is still in use in the sense "more than one, several, various:" divers methods and styles. |
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| 3232 |
expertise |
skillfulness by virtue of possessing special knowledge |
“Anyway, his expertise is Indian philosophy,” Simon said. |
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When you're an expert at something, you show expertise — or an exceptional knowledge of the subject. "He had expertise in accounting, having excelled in math, but he had even more expertise in dancing, his hobby since a small child." |
Expertise has obvious roots in the word expert. Just about any interest or field has a place for experts. Just as one individual has expertise in world religions, another may have expertise in computer gaming. Working hard or immersing yourself in a specialty leads to expertise, and it comes through both study and hands-on experience. |
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| 3233 |
psychic |
affecting or influenced by the human mind |
She says some of the yogis exhibit remarkable psychic abilities. They seem to use not only telepathy, she says, but things like clairvoyance and precognition, or knowing about something before it happens. |
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A psychic reads minds and predicts the future. If you were a psychic, you wouldn't have bothered reading this because you would have known what I was going to say. |
Psychic can also describe something that has to do with your mind more than your body. You weren't physically harmed when your favorite team lost the championship game, but the psychic pain was considerable. Psychic comes from a Greek word meaning “breath” and “soul”: psychic matters are often felt but not seen. |
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| 3234 |
fuse |
mix together different elements |
Jaz thinks that maybe they do this by temporarily fusing our spacetime with this other one. |
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A fuse is something that burns in order to ignite a bomb. Do you see anything near you that resembles a bundle of dynamite sticks with a fuse burning down? If so, stop reading this and GET OUT OF HERE! |
Figuratively, if you say that someone has a short fuse, it means they get angry easily. If someone gets so angry they lose their temper, you can say that they blew a fuse. But this comes from another meaning of fuse — a device that interrupts the flow of electrical current so the system doesn’t get overloaded. If you use the toaster, microwave and dishwasher at the same time, you might literally blow a fuse. As a verb, if two things fuse, they blend or stick together. |
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| 3235 |
rationality |
the quality of being consistent with or based on logic |
He’s a math and physics guy, so he’s really into rationality. |
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Use the noun rationality to refer to the state of being sensible or having good judgment. People may question your rationality if you insist on jumping into freezing water in January and skydiving for the rest of the year. |
The noun rationality also means the state of being agreeable to reason or being based on logic. If you have to pick a pre-school for your child, you should base your decision on rationality and not an illogical reaction, such as how many of the kids eventually go to Ivy League universities. The newer school may look better on the surface, but the older building may have better teachers, a more interesting curriculum, and be closer to your home. |
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| 3236 |
odyssey |
a long wandering and eventful journey |
“You know,” Simon said, “sometimes I think if an alien landed, those two would love nothing more than to hop on its ship and go for a long odyssey through space studying everything they could.” |
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Ever since Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey told the story of warrior Odysseus’ ten-year journey home from Troy, odyssey has meant any epic journey. |
As with the word journey, odyssey has both a literal meaning and a figurative one. A cross-country drive in which your car breaks down can be an odyssey, but so can the journey from orientation to finals that is the freshman year of college. |
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| 3237 |
vertigo |
a reeling sensation; a feeling that you are about to fall |
Once again, Xela felt a touch of vertigo. |
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If you're standing still but the room is inexplicably spinning, you might want to let someone know you're suffering from vertigo — the sensation of dizziness or whirling. |
Contrary to popular belief, vertigo is not exactly the same thing as acrophobia, the fear of heights. However, acrophobia can result in the symptoms associated with vertigo. Interestingly, when legendary director Alfred Hitchcock created a film about a detective with an intense fear of heights, he named the film Vertigo, not Acrophobia; perhaps he thought Vertigo was catchier. |
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| 3238 |
revelation |
an enlightening or astonishing disclosure |
Suddenly, looking at Xela, Simon had a revelation; maybe this odd, brilliant, wonderful girl was the one for Axel. |
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Discovering that you had a long-lost sister would definitely be a revelation, or a surprising realization. Finding out she had been living in the house next door for years would be an even more startling revelation! |
It is not a surprise that the word revelation is related to the word reveal, because revealing is the action of showing something that was previously covered up or unknown. You can even use both words in the same sentence: "You might find it a revelation if someone revealed to you that your house was sitting on top of a gold mine!" |
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| 3239 |
cognizant |
having or showing knowledge or understanding or realization |
All of this transpired so quickly that Simon was hardly cognizant of it. |
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If you are cognizant of what's going on at the table behind you in the lunchroom, that means you know they're plotting to throw peas at your head. If you are cognizant of something, you are aware of or informed about it. |
This 19th century adjective derives from Latin cognōscere "to learn." For the English adjective and noun, an older pronunciation with a silent g was in use in legal contexts up until the early 20th century. In law, these terms refer to jurisdiction, or the right of a court to hear a case. |
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| 3240 |
controversial |
marked by or capable of arousing disagreement |
The subject is so controversial, he wants to be really careful. |
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If a politician ran for office on the platform that children should be put to work from age six, his platform is likely to be controversial, meaning it will cause controversy, or a long discussion among people with opposing opinions. |
Controversies are usually public disagreements about important matters. The adjective controversial is from the Latin from controversus "disputed," formed from the prefix contra- "against" plus versus, from vertere "to turn." The Latin suffix –ialis, corresponding to the English suffixes –ial and –al, means "relating to or characterized by." |
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| 3241 |
contravene |
go against, as of rules and laws |
He published his findings that confirmed the Copernican theory of the solar system—the theory that the planets revolve around the Sun—even though it contravened the dogma of the Church. |
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To contravene means to go against or defy. You might contravene your parents' ban on sweets when your friend offers to share her candy because chocolate tastes too good to resist! |
If you contravene something in practice, you act in direct violation of a particular law or rule. Think about the times when someone has told you not to cross a line and you do anyway. You can also contravene in words though, which means you contradict or argue against a statement. Let's say you're debating gun control. If your opponent says that for the safety of all, it should be legal to carry a concealed weapon wherever you go, you might answer that the more concealed weapons there are, the more violence. You are contravening your opponent's argument. |
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| 3242 |
dogma |
a doctrine or code of beliefs accepted as authoritative |
He published his findings that confirmed the Copernican theory of the solar system—the theory that the planets revolve around the Sun—even though it contravened the dogma of the Church. |
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Dogma means the doctrine of belief in a religion or a political system. |
The literal meaning of dogma in ancient Greek was something that seems true. These days, in English, dogma is more absolute. If you believe in a certain religion or philosophy, you believe in its dogma, or core assumptions. If you belong to a cult that believes that cupcake consumption is the only true path, then you follow the cupcake dogma. Dogma, once adopted, is accepted without question. Go eat cupcakes! |
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| 3243 |
irrefutable |
impossible to deny or disprove |
She thinks the evidence for it is irrefutable. |
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Have you ever had to prove a point? If so, you probably needed to find evidence that could not be denied — that was absolutely true. That evidence would be considered irrefutable, impossible to disprove. |
The adjective irrefutable comes from the Latin verb refutāre, "repel or beat," with the added negative prefix in-. Some things are simply irrefutable. These are things based in logic (if a=b and b=c, then a=c), or in fact (George Washington was the first president of the United States). But some things that are irrefutable, while maybe not logical, are simply not arguable, as when someone responds to "Why not?" with "Because I don't want to"! |
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| 3244 |
vestigial |
not fully developed in mature animals |
Right now, she’s trying to build a case for her thesis that ESP is a vestigial ability that for some reason fell into disuse as mankind evolved. |
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Vestigial describes an organ or body part that continues to exist without retaining its original function, such as our appendix. |
The adjective vestigial derives from the Latin word vestigium, meaning "footprint, trace." It's most often used in biology to describe something that either didn't finish developing or has become, through evolution, pretty much useless. An ostrich's wings are vestigial because it's unable to fly — or do much of anything — with them. A penguin's wings, on the other hand, are not vestigial because it has found another use for them — to help it swim. |
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| 3245 |
motif |
a recurrent element in a literary or artistic work |
But maybe there is some sort of a motif to what she studies. I can’t put my finger on it, but it seems like she’s looking for something—a common denominator, I guess—in myths, religions, dreams, science ... many things. |
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The race car decor in your room, the refrain of a song, the idea or object that keeps popping up in a story — these are all motifs, reoccurring elements that move throughout and shape music, art and novels. |
This French import is related to the Latin verb movere which means "to move." Think about a pattern or design that moves throughout something when you hear motif. Have you ever been to a restaurant with a tropical or wild-west motif? Do you like dresses with a floral motif? In novels, a motif can be a recurring idea like revenge or object that symbolizes an idea. A character might notice shadows throughout a story which symbolize his dark past. |
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| 3246 |
oblivious |
lacking conscious awareness of |
Jaz could see the opening at the top of the bag: books were spilling out onto the sidewalk as she walked, but she was oblivious to the laughter of the people around her. |
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If you don't notice or aren't aware, it means that the adjective oblivious applies to you! |
When we think of the adjective oblivious, it is usually in situations that involve being totally unaware of what's staring us right in the face. It can also mean being forgetful and absent-minded. The cartoon character Mr. Magoo is a perfect example of someone who is oblivious; his eyesight is so bad that he always gets himself into various scrapes and mishaps. For example, Mr. Magoo mistakes an airplane for a theater and instead of watching a movie, he takes a seat on a departing airplane! |
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| 3247 |
dour |
showing a brooding ill humor |
She wore a bulky gray coat as she shuffled along, a dour expression on her face. |
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Dour describes something sullen, gloomy, or persistent. You might look dour on your way to picking up your last check from the job you just got fired from, and people should get out of your way. |
Dour and endure most likely come from the Latin word durus which means "hard." If something is hard to endure for a long enough time, it can make even the most happy-go-lucky person dour. Dour sounds like sour (or closer to "do-er"). It's a tomato/tamahto word, but either way — if you're in a sour mood, you have no sense of humor, and you're dour. |
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| 3248 |
myopic |
unable to see distant objects clearly |
Now the woman was squinting myopically through the thick lenses of her wire-rim glasses at a complex mathematical formula that completely covered an ancient, dilapidated blackboard in a squalid classroom. |
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Myopic is an adjective meaning shortsighted in every sense. Whether you need glasses or a new attitude, if you can't see the forest for the trees, you're myopic. |
Myopic began as a description of the condition that made people squint and was easily cured with a pair of pink cat-eye glasses, but it came to include people or plans with a lack of foresight. Although it's good to live in the moment, it's not a compliment to be called myopic — a myopic party host might have festive decorations but no food for hungry guests, and myopic students have no interest in anything beyond what's on the test. In terms of pronunciation: it's a tomato/tomahto word: pronounce it "my-OP-ick" or "my-OH-pick," although that short o sound is preferred. |
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| 3249 |
dilapidated |
in deplorable condition |
Now the woman was squinting myopically through the thick lenses of her wire-rim glasses at a complex mathematical formula that completely covered an ancient, dilapidated blackboard in a squalid classroom. |
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Falling down and in total disrepair, something that's dilapidated is going to need a lot of fixing up. |
Sure, there might be crooked floorboards, mice scurrying underfoot, and pieces missing from the ceiling, but that dilapidated house does come with one perk: a cheaper price tag! Dilapidated is a word that implies deterioration, often because of neglect. So if you don’t take care of things, they can become dilapidated. That goes for houses, tree forts, relationships, health — you name it! |
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| 3250 |
squalid |
foul and run-down and repulsive |
Now the woman was squinting myopically through the thick lenses of her wire-rim glasses at a complex mathematical formula that completely covered an ancient, dilapidated blackboard in a squalid classroom. |
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Squalid things appear neglected, or morally repulsive in nature, like a frat house after a semester of hard partying and zero cleanup. |
Squalid comes from the Latin word squalare, meaning to “be covered with a rough, scaly layer.” A few word evolutions later and we have squalid, a word that describes something distasteful, dirty, unattractive, and as unkempt in appearance as the dry, scaly skin of an armadillo, or a room filled with pizza boxes, flickering light bulbs, and stained wallpaper. Squalid behavior is dirty, too, like cheating on a test and lying about it. |
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| 3251 |
patent |
clearly revealed to the mind or the senses or judgment |
This was a patent violation of the laws of probability, of the very structure of the universe, in fact. |
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A patent is a government document that proves that an invention is yours and yours alone. In the U.S., as of 2009, over 7,000,000 patents were issued by the Patent and Trademark Office. |
Patent also refers to leather that has a very shiny finish. The process for making leather look like this was once patented, but since patents do not last forever, the process is now available for anyone to use. As with patent leather, the word is often used as part of a sales pitch, explaining why something is special: "We use patented technology..." or "Our patented method..." |
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| 3252 |
unorthodox |
breaking with convention or tradition |
He must have been thinking, what if this is some brilliant, unorthodox variation I’ve never seen? |
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Unorthodox describes something that goes against the usual ways of doing things. Instead of describing yourself as a terrible speller, you might instead proudly refer to your spelling as unorthodox. |
The adjective unorthodox originally referred to religion, specifically to a person or practice that went against the traditions of a particular belief. The Greek roots of unorthodox are orthos, or "right," and doxa, or "opinion." So someone whose beliefs are orthodox has "the right opinion," while an unorthodox person does not. The definition has evolved so that unorthodox's meaning is closer to "unusual" or "innovative" than just plain "wrong." |
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| 3253 |
rueful |
feeling or expressing pain or sorrow for sins or offenses |
He looks rueful, she thought. |
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If your elaborate magic trick goes awry, and instead of pulling a rabbit out of an audience member's shoe, you set the shoe on fire, you might give a rueful smile. Rueful means apologetic or remorseful. |
The adjective rueful sincerely expresses regret, but it manages to do it with a hint of humor. Rueful shows up a lot in descriptions of remorseful grins or apologetic smiles. If you're sorry about something you've done but you can still laugh at yourself a little bit, you feel rueful. The word itself comes from the verb to rue, which means "to regret." |
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| 3254 |
founder |
fail utterly; collapse |
Their scheme had foundered on one little factor that they had, inadvertently, overlooked. |
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The person who creates an organization or a company is known as the founder. Founder is also a verb meaning "fail miserably," which is something a company's founder hopes the company will never do. |
As a noun, founder means "the beginner or originator of something." You might talk about the founder of a nation, the founder of club, or the founder of a website. As a verb, founder can mean “stumble,” like when you trip and fall, but more generally it means "collapse or fall apart." A sports team might founder by slumping on a ten-game losing streak; a ship that sinks in a bad storm can be said to have foundered at sea. |
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| 3255 |
stifle |
smother or suppress |
Jaz tried to stifle a laugh. |
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To stifle is to cut off, hold back, or smother. You may stifle your cough if you don't want to interrupt a lecture or you may stifle the competition if you fear losing. |
The verb stifle means “to choke, suffocate, drown.” It can describe a claustrophobic feeling, like getting smothered by kisses from your great aunt. At its most extreme, stifle means to kill by cutting off respiration. The metaphoric sense of stifle didn’t develop until well after the word was first recorded as a verb: "I can always tell — but never let on for fear of damaging his ego — that my boyfriend attempts to stifle tears during sappy parts of movies; his eyes well up at the corners and he’ll sniffle uncontrollably, claiming allergies." |
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| 3256 |
loquaciousness |
the quality of being wordy and talkative |
“Yeah, next time I’ll have to check out the candidate’s loquaciousness index.” |
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Loquaciousness is the quality of being very chatty or talkative. Your friend's loquaciousness is much more charming during a dinner party than first thing in the morning, when you're still half asleep. |
If people comment on your loquaciousness, it means they think you talk a lot. Loquaciousness comes in handy when you're making small talk at a party or filling air time on your local radio talk show. If you have the quality of loquaciousness, you're loquacious, which comes from the Latin loquax, or "talkative," ultimately from the root word loqui, "to speak." |
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| 3257 |
pessimist |
a person who expects the worst |
Now we’ve reversed. I’m the pessimist and you’re the optimist. |
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If the world can be divided into those who see the glass half empty and those who see the glass half full, the half-empty crew are known as pessimists––they always see the worst. |
The opposite of pessimist is optimist––someone who always sees thing in a positive light. Most people insist they are optimists, and when accused of pessimism suggest they're only focusing on reality. In fact, though, people who see reality as it is are called "realists." |
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| 3258 |
intuition |
instinctive knowing, without the use of rational processes |
But listen, really, we’ve got to go with the world famous Simon Intuition, right? |
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If you know the definition of this noun by quick insight without relying on reason, you know what intuition means! |
Intuition is a noun whose definition means that someone uses quick understanding to interpret but without using reasoning or perception, a snap judgment. The definition of the word comes from the Latin roots in- meaning "at" or "on" and tueri meaning "look at, watch over." A relative of intuition is tuition, and even though we don't use this particular meaning anymore, it used to refer to having guardianship or custody. If we use our intuition it means that we don't always make the correct interpretation, and in fact, the Australian writer Christina Stead wrote, "Intuition is not infallible; it only seems to be the truth." |
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| 3259 |
antithesis |
exact opposite |
Come to think of it, she’s sort of a synthesis of Axel and me, who are the antithesis of each other. |
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An antithesis is the complete opposite of something. Though the counterculture was strong in America in 1968, voters elected Richard Nixon, the antithesis of a hippie. |
The noun antithesis comes from a Greek root meaning "opposition" and "set against." It's often used today when describing two ideas or terms that are placed in strong contrast to each other. We might come across antithesis in school if we learn about the "Hegelian dialectic." There, the thesis, or main idea put forward in an argument, is countered with its opposite idea — the antithesis — and the two are finally reconciled in a third proposition, the synthesis. An antithesis wouldn't exist without a thesis because it works as a comparison. |
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| 3260 |
surmise |
infer from incomplete evidence |
So, I would surmise that Jaz likes my friendly, open personality. |
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If you see empty ice cream containers on the table, sprinkles littering the ground, and a can of whipped cream in the trash, you can surmise what happened: someone made sundaes. To surmise is to form an opinion or make a guess about something. |
If you surmise that something is true, you don't have much evidence or knowledge about it. Near synonyms are guess, conjecture, and suppose. You might say, "I can't even surmise what he would do in such a situation." Surmise came to English from the French surmettre "to accuse," which is formed from the prefix sur- "on, upon" plus mettre "to put" (from Latin mittere "to send"). |
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| 3261 |
pulchritude |
physical beauty, especially of a woman |
I’m no match for Jaz’s pulchritude, but girls do seem to find me kind of cute. |
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If someone comments on the pulchritude of your face, you shouldn’t be offended. It may sound like quite the opposite, but pulchritude actually means “beauty.” |
Pulchritude is one of those words that is more often commented upon for its oddness than actually used in its intended meaning. Many people dislike the sound of this word or are surprised to find that it is a synonym of beauty. These days pulchritude is considered outdated and is usually only used in highly literary writing or, in more common writing, to achieve a witty effect. |
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| 3262 |
skewed |
having an oblique or slanting direction or position |
I don’t want you to get a skewed view of the scene here. |
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Something skewed is slanted or off-center in some way. A picture frame or viewpoint can be skewed. |
This is a word, like so many, that can apply to physical things or ideas. A painting on the wall is skewed if it's leaning to one side. Also, opinions are often skewed: this is another way of saying someone is biased. People often accuse news reports of being skewed toward one political viewpoint. A movie could be skewed toward one character more than the other. When you think of skewed, think of leaning and slanting of all sorts. |
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| 3263 |
titan |
a person of exceptional importance and reputation |
He’s a titan even among the erudite crowd. |
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A titan is an extremely important person. Albert Einstein was a titan in the world of science. |
The noun titan comes from Greek mythology, in which the Titans were a race of gods. Today, a titan is someone who is god-like, or powerful and influential in a certain field. Shakespeare was a titan of literature, Wayne Gretzky was a titan of hockey, and The Beatles were titans of music. If you are famous within the world of competitive eating, you might be referred to as a titan of hot dog-eating contests. |
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| 3264 |
conform |
be similar, be in line with |
I don’t believe that my vocabulary has to conform completely to the way people are talking now. |
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To conform means to adapt to fit in with new conditions. So if you travel to Morocco, you should conform to the local custom and adjust your usual wardrobe to one that is more modest. |
Sometimes conform gets a bad rap, carrying with it the sense of compromising one’s individuality to fit in or please others. But take note that it doesn’t always have to carry such a negative charge. For example, the manager of a factory that produces bouncy balls would want each ball that came off his conveyor belts to conform to a high standard of durability, bounciness, and roundness. |
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| 3265 |
scenario |
a postulated sequence of possible events |
Anyway, the scene is so neat because a typical scenario runs like this: I’ve got a political science term paper due in a week. |
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A scenario is a specific possibility. To plan on playing with a bunch of bear cubs is a scenario — a dumb one, but still a scenario. |
When people are wondering what to do, they think of different scenarios. Moving to a big city is one scenario — moving to a tiny town is another. A football team has to plan for many scenarios, like the starting quarterback being injured. The government plans for hundreds of scenarios, such as natural disasters and attacks by terrorists. In literature, a scenario can mean a summing up of what's going on — what the situation is. A scenario is pretty similar to a situation, but a scenario hasn't happened yet and might not happen at all. |
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| 3266 |
discourse |
an extended communication dealing with some particular topic |
I’ve been a little bit negligent in keeping up with Professor Chandler’s discourses on the emergence of a new political consensus in America |
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If you use the word discourse, you are describing a formal and intense discussion or debate. |
The noun discourse comes from the Latin discursus to mean "an argument." But luckily, that kind of argument does not mean people fighting or coming to blows. The argument in discourse refers to an exchange of ideas — sometimes heated — that often follows a kind of order and give-and-take between the participants. It's the kind of argument and discussion that teachers love, so discourse away! |
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| 3267 |
immerse |
devote fully to |
Man, he’s so immersed in this subject, it’s all he’s been talking about. |
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If you immerse yourself in your work, you completely involve yourself in it, spending long hours in the office and thinking about work all the time. |
Immerse can also mean to submerge in a liquid. A science experiment might tell you to immerse a piece of paper completely in water. If you are a swimmer immersed in a rigorous training regimen, you might be immersing yourself in the pool several times a day. |
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| 3268 |
ponder |
reflect deeply on a subject |
It’s because these guys know that Axel’s so smart that in one hour he can give them enough to ponder for the rest of the year. |
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"Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary" is the first line of Edgar Allen Poe's poem The Raven. Many a deep thinker has repeated it while musing. But if you've given up deep thinking, you may say instead, "Nevermore." |
Think of ponder as reflecting on weighty thoughts. It will help you remember the definition if you can remember the word's Latin roots. It comes from ponderare, which literally meant to weigh, and pondus, which means weight. People sometimes use the word ironically, for example, when someone asks you to do something you really don't want to do. You may tap your chin for a second and say, "Let me ponder that." Pause. "Um, no!" |
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| 3269 |
acumen |
shrewdness shown by keen insight |
Anyway, this professor comes over and chews the fat with Axel for a few hours, making good use of his vast knowledge and remarkable acumen. |
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If you have acumen, you are very sharp at what you do. You hope your accountant and your surgeon are both known for their acumen. |
The noun acumen comes from the Latin word acumen, meaning “a point,” or “sting.” If you are able to make pointed decisions, if you have a sharp intellect, if you make good strategic moves, if you are successful in your field, or if your business instincts are spot-on, you have acumen. Even if you inherit an entire wholesale furniture dynasty from your grandfather, you could end up with nothing if you don’t have his business acumen. |
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| 3270 |
uninhibited |
not restrained |
Maybe that’s why she likes me; I’m so voluble and uninhibited that my mind is quite open to her investigation. |
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The prefix "un-" means "not," making the meaning of uninhibited "not inhibited, not restrained or holding back." Someone who is uninhibited is not afraid to act however he or she wishes. |
Uninhibited is the opposite of inhibited, from the Latin inhibēre, "to prohibit or hinder." In the late 19th century the word took on a new importance to psychologists, describing a person not afraid to express emotions, even in public. The following quote from writer Norman Podhoretz gives a contextual definition: "Creativity represents a miraculous coming together of the uninhibited energy of the child with its apparent opposite and enemy, the sense of order imposed on the disciplined adult intelligence." |
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| 3271 |
tenet |
a religious doctrine proclaimed as true without proof |
Jaz says I have to have a subconscious, at least according to the tenets of Freudian psychology |
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A tenet is a principle or belief honored by a person or, more often, a group of people. "Seek pleasure and avoid pain" is a basic tenet of Hedonism. "God exists" is a tenet of most major religions. |
Tenet is pronounced "ten’it." The word evolved from the Latin tenere "to hold." The noun tenet is an opinion or doctrine one holds. It usually refers to a philosophy or a religion, but it doesn't have to — for instance, Eastern medicine has different tenets from Western medicine. One of the central tenets of succeeding in the workplace is that a good offense is the best defense. |
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| 3272 |
obsolete |
no longer in use |
(Freud’s ideas are considered obsolete in many universities, but the old geezer is still predominant in our psych department.) |
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Use the adjective obsolete for something that is out of date. As the Rolling Stones song "Out of Time" goes, "You're obsolete, my baby, my poor old-fashioned baby." |
Obsolete is from the Latin obsolescere "to fall into disuse," and it is a very handy adjective for anything that is no longer used, from words to factories to computer software to ways of thinking. Something that is obsolete has usually been displaced by a newer, shinier innovation. Compact discs made records and cassettes obsolete, and then downloadable digital music files made compact discs obsolete. |
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| 3273 |
predominant |
having superior power and influence |
(Freud’s ideas are considered obsolete in many universities, but the old geezer is still predominant in our psych department.) |
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If you’re talking about the most popular or common thing, call it predominant. If the predominant feeling in a neighborhood is that pizza is the best food, the result might be pizzerias being the predominant type of restaurant there. |
The adjective predominant describes a person or thing with great power or influence, or something that is prevalent. It comes from the Latin prefix prae-, “before,” and dominari, “to rule.” For example, because so many people like hip-hop, it might be the predominant music heard at a school dance. And that neighborhood with all the pizzerias? Teenagers are the predominant customers, and pepperoni is the predominant topping. |
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| 3274 |
affective |
characterized by emotion |
That means your affective abilities as opposed to your cognitive abilities, things like how well you empathize with people. |
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Affective is a word that crops up a lot in psychology—it means having to do with emotions or moods. Affective disorders are characterized by mood swings. |
It can be tricky to remember the difference between effective and affective (but easier than distinguishing between effect and affect). Effective makes a judgment about how something works—an effective strategy is one that works well. Affective is about how someone acts, or feels. |
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| 3275 |
empathize |
be understanding of |
That means your affective abilities as opposed to your cognitive abilities, things like how well you empathize with people. |
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To empathize is to understand or relate to someone else's emotional experience. If you get teary-eyed upon hearing about the death of your friend's pet hermit crab, you're probably empathizing with your friend — unless you're just bored to tears by her story. |
Empathize is often used interchangeably with sympathize, but you'll get no empathy (or sympathy) from usage experts if you confuse the two. When you sympathize with another person, you feel sad that she is suffering, but you don't necessarily relate to her experience. It's easiest to empathize when you've been through a similar experience; for example, if your pet guppy had recently passed away, your friend's hermit crab story would have broken your heart due to empathy. |
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| 3276 |
atrophy |
undergo weakening or degeneration as through lack of use |
Number one: At least my score isn’t declining, which proves that my intellect isn’t atrophying. |
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Wearing a cast on a broken leg can cause atrophy, or withering, in the leg, because it is immobilized and gets no exercise. |
Appearing in English in the 17th century, the word atrophy originally described a lack of nourishment. Atrophy occurs in parts of the body that can't move or be "fed" because of disease or injury. It also is used to describe things that go dull through lack of use, like skills in sports or artistic creativity. The (unrelated) word "trophy" refers to something that sits on a shelf and is admired, while atrophy is a condition of being "shelved," or made inactive and lifeless. |
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| 3277 |
validity |
the quality of being legitimate and rigorous |
Number two: It confirms the validity of the test and its methodology. |
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When you test something's validity, you see if it holds true. Are these really the best chocolate chip cookies in the world? You might enjoy testing the validity of this statement. |
The noun validity means genuine or authentic, but it also has a legal meaning: having legal force. Your family asked the judge to determine the validity of your grandfather's will because they weren't sure he was legally allowed to leave all his worldly goods to "the little green men from Mars." Related words include the adjective "valid" and its antonym "invalid," as well as the verb "validate." |
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| 3278 |
methodology |
the techniques followed in a particular discipline |
Number two: It confirms the validity of the test and its methodology. |
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A methodology is a plan-of-attack, especially when that plan-of-attack is used repeatedly. |
This might be obvious, but the word methodology is related to the word method. In fact, a methodology is a system of methods followed consistently. Scientists, for example, use various methodologies as they perform experiments. It might seem like the world is nothing but chaos and disorder. But actually, sometimes there is a method to this madness. And sometimes there’s a methodology. |
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| 3279 |
minuscule |
very small |
My IQ is still—well, not minuscule, but not exactly genius level, either. |
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When something is teeny tiny, it is minuscule. If your mother calls your miniskirt minuscule, it probably means she wants you to change into something a bit less revealing. |
In minuscule, you see the word, minus, which means lesser. The word minuscule has its roots in the Latin expression minuscula littera, a phrase used to describe the smaller letters in text. In the late 1800s, the use of the word expanded to mean very small in general — so the definition of minuscule became less minuscule. |
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| 3280 |
chimerical |
produced by a wildly fanciful imagination |
It’s not chimerical. |
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Use the adjective chimerical to describe something that is wildly fanciful or imaginative — like the chimerical illustrations of magical creatures in a children's book. |
A chimera was a fire-breathing monster from Greek mythology made from three different animals: a lion at its head, a goat in the middle, and a serpent at the end. The first surviving mention of the beast is in Homer's The Iliad. From this fantastical creature, English created the adjective chimerical to describe wild figments of the imagination. |
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| 3281 |
paramount |
having superior power and influence |
Except she’s the person who’s paramount in my affections—numero uno. |
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To the President, protecting our nation's security is of paramount importance — it's at the very top of his to-do list. |
Paramount goes way beyond "important." It's absolutely critical. Something that is of paramount importance has a great urgency to it. Getting your oil changed is important, but making sure your car's brakes are working before you drive down a steep, icy slope is absolutely paramount. |
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| 3282 |
cordial |
politely warm and friendly |
She’s so cordial. |
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If you like someone but you wouldn't say they're your friend, you might describe your relationship as cordial. Use cordial to describe a greeting or relationship that is friendly and sincere. |
In Middle English, this adjective meant "of the heart," borrowed from Medieval Latin cordiālis, from Latin cor "heart." This core sense of "heart" can be seen in the synonyms heartfelt and hearty. The noun cordial originally referred to a medicine or drink that stimulates the heart, but its current sense is "a liqueur." |
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| 3283 |
colloquy |
formal conversation |
When I have a paper due we have a little colloquy on it and he puts me on the right track. |
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A colloquy is a formal talk, the opposite of a chat, such as the colloquy you have with your boss about a serious matter — far different from how you'll talk to your friends about it afterward. |
To correctly pronounce colloquy, accent the first syllable: "KOLL uh kwee." The word comes from the Latin prefix com-, meaning "together," and loquium, meaning "speaking." That adds up to "speaking together." You probably recognize loqui, meaning "to speak," in words like locution and colloquial, which also involve speaking. |
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| 3284 |
verbatim |
using exactly the same words |
And before a test he crams information into me until I can replicate it verbatim. |
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Repeat something you've read or heard precisely word-for-word, and you have just quoted it verbatim. That's great if what you deliver verbatim is the directions on how to defuse a bomb, but not a good idea if you're cheating on a test and copying someone's answer verbatim. |
As a word, verbatim is powerful for its precision. When you can say that you are repeating someone's words verbatim, it means every single word is exactly what was said. If you write something down verbatim, you can rely on it being a duplicate of the original document, recreated. Repeating words verbatim in your own writing can be tricky business. Without attributing the original author, verbatim can be the damning evidence of plagiarism. |
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| 3285 |
reiterate |
to say, state, or perform again |
He tirelessly reiterates concepts that I’m too obtuse to understand. |
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To reiterate something is to say or do something again, or many times. Let me reiterate: if you repeat yourself, you're reiterating the thing you originally said. |
This verb is from Middle English reiteraten, from Latin reiteratus, from reiterare "to repeat," from the prefix re- "again" plus iterare "to repeat, iterate." The English word iterate has the same meaning as reiterate, although it is not as commonly used. |
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| 3286 |
revivify |
give new life or energy to |
He even revivifies me when I find the discussion soporific and I become somnolent and take a little sojourn in slumberland. |
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To bring something back to life, or to inject new energy in it, is to revivify. A few days of rain can revivify an area that's been suffering a mild drought. |
If you've been up late all week studying for a big exam, you might need a good night's sleep to revivify you. For some people, the short, dark days of winter are a little depressing, while the spring sunshine can revivify them. Anything that gives you new life or energy revivifies you. The Old French vivifier, "come alive," and the prefix re-, "again," are at the root of revivify. |
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| 3287 |
somnolent |
inclined to or marked by drowsiness |
He even revivifies me when I find the discussion soporific and I become somnolent and take a little sojourn in slumberland. |
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If you're somnolent, you're feeling sleepy or drowsy. It's best to avoid operating speedboats or motorcycles when you're somnolent. |
Somnolent comes from the Latin word somnolentia, meaning sleepiness, which in turn is from the Latin root somnus, for sleep. You can feel somnolent, or describe something as somnolent. As an adjective it describes something that is likely to induce sleep, like a boring movie in an overheated theater, or the low, somnolent lighting in a museum exhibit of fragile, old illuminated manuscripts. |
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| 3288 |
sojourn |
a temporary stay |
He even revivifies me when I find the discussion soporific and I become somnolent and take a little sojourn in slumberland. |
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A sojourn is a short stay or visit. If you want a fancy way to say that you took a trip to the countryside, you might talk about your country sojourn. |
The verb is originally from the Latin prefix sub- "under" plus diurnus "of a day." You might refer to your vacation as a sojourn, but it might make more sense if you are describing a trip to Provence rather than a trip to Disney World. Or In figurative use, sojourn means to delve––your math teacher may stop midway through lessons on fractions for a brief sojourn into techniques for slicing pie. |
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| 3289 |
undaunted |
unshaken in purpose |
He just keeps going, undaunted by anything. |
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If you're undaunted, you're not afraid or intimidated. As a great surfer, you remain undaunted as you seek out dangerous waters to ride the biggest waves. |
The adjective undaunted was first used in the mid-15th century to describe horses that were "untamed, not broken in." These horses must have seemed wildly fearless and intrepid even in the most difficult situations. Similarly, an undaunted person remains courageous and bold when facing fear, difficulty, and danger. Paramedics and firemen are undaunted when faced with a burning building. You must remain undaunted when facing your terrifying calculus homework. |
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| 3290 |
appellation |
identifying words by which someone or something is called |
You see, he has a number of appellations (tags, to use the vernacular). |
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Appellation means the name or title by which someone is known. Mark Twain is the famous appellation by which everyone remembers author and humorist Samuel Clemens. |
An appellation is what people call a person or thing — essentially, its name or title. George Herman Ruth's parents may have known him as George, but the rest of the world knew this famous slugger by his appellation, Babe. If you use the word appellation in a discussion of wine, you'd mean the name of the region or vineyard where the wine originated. Champagne is an appellation for the bubbly white wine that comes from the Champagne region of France. |
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| 3291 |
vernacular |
the everyday speech of the people |
You see, he has a number of appellations (tags, to use the vernacular). |
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Vernacular describes everyday language, including slang, that's used by the people. The vernacular is different from literary or official language: it's the way people really talk with each other, like how families talk at home. |
You know how some language is fancy and formal? Vernacular is different: think of it as how friends talk when no one is listening. Vernacular language includes slang and obscenities. One of the hardest things about writing for school is getting away from the vernacular and learning to write in more formal ways that don't come as naturally. You can also say specific groups have a vernacular, meaning the unique way people in a certain region or profession speak. |
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| 3292 |
abortive |
failing to accomplish an intended result |
Well, I see that once again my attempt to stay on one topic has been abortive. |
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Did you ever start something and not finish it? If so, that was an abortive project. Abortive things don't get finished. |
Abortive is a variation of abort, which means to end something, so something abortive never reaches its end point. If you tried like crazy to run a marathon but couldn't finish, your efforts were abortive. If someone tripped you during the marathon, their efforts were abortive too. Abortive things always lead to the words "The end." Abortive can also be a way of avoiding the word unsuccessful. |
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| 3293 |
melange |
a motley assortment of things |
It’s become a regular melange. |
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Why call it a mixture when it can be a melange? A tricolor vegetable melange makes even carrots, peas, and corn sound like gourmet cuisine. A melange is any combination of anything, but the word always heightens the glamour quotient. |
The French have a way of making simple words sound like romantic entreaties of love. Call any random assortment of things a melange, or as it's sometimes spelled, mélange, and voila, you've given it a sparkle that plain old words like combination, mixture, and blend just cannot convey. This word — along with a melange of other attributes, like great bread and pastries, delicious wine, and fine fashion — are all reasons why we love the French. All that accordion music? Not so much. |
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| 3294 |
ravine |
a deep narrow steep-sided valley |
He felt like he was standing on the edge of a very deep ravine, and he was about to fall into it. |
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In a Western, outlaws will lie in wait at the top of a ravine, or narrow valley, until they see a traveler entering at the bottom. Then, the outlaws will come pounding down the ravine's steep sides. |
Ravines can be lonely and violent places averse to settlement as nothing can be built along their steep sides. The word ravine itself derives from the archaic rapin, which is a violent seizure of property. During times of heavy rains and snow melt, a ravine may be filled with violent, rushing water. |
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| 3295 |
query |
an instance of questioning |
“I was just answering some queries this scholarly young woman had about what courses she should take next semester,” Simon said. |
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A query is a question, or the search for a piece of information. |
The Latin root quaere means "to ask" and it's the basis of the words inquiry, question, quest, request, and query. Query often fits the bill when referring to Internet searches, polite professional discourse, and subtle pleas. You could query as to the whereabouts of the lavatory, but you'd sound a bit prim and be better off asking "Where's the toilet?" If your job entails dealing with annoying questions and complaints, you could make it sound better by proclaiming, "I respond to customer queries." |
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| 3296 |
pedagogical |
relating to the study of teaching |
Jaz never tired of discussing pedagogical topics. |
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Anything that relates to teaching is pedagogical. If your teacher has pedagogical dreams all night long, even in sleep, his mind is in the classroom. |
The adjective pedagogical, pronounced "peh-duh-GAH-gi-cal," comes from the Greek word paidagōgikos meaning “teacher.” If it's pedagogical, it concerns teaching, from lesson plans to approaches to teaching, even how the classroom looks — in rooms where the teacher's pedagogical philosophy is that students learn better when they work collaboratively, desks may be pushed together so four students can sit in their groups. |
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| 3297 |
scathing |
marked by harshly abusive criticism |
She gave him a scathing look. |
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Scathing means witheringly harsh. If you enter a singing contest and the judge says that your singing is like that of a toad with laryngitis, that is scathing criticism. |
Scathing comes from an old Norse verb, to scathe, which means to injure by fire or lighting. Now we use it when someone’s critique is so harsh that it feels like you've been burned. If your best friend turns against you and advertises your faults to the world, and you feel like everyone is staring and talking about you, you are having a scathing experience. |
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| 3298 |
Renaissance |
the revival of learning and culture |
“Yeah,” Simon said, “he’s our little Renaissance dude.” |
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The Renaissance was the period in Europe between the 14th and 17th centuries when there was a surge of interest in and production of art and literature. "Renaissance art" describes the style of art that came out of this period. |
When you see the word Renaissance spelled with a capital R, you can be sure it's referring to the European cultural movement, or the art, literature, and architecture it inspired. The Renaissance began in Italy, largely as an growth of interest in classical art and ideas. The word itself comes from the French phrase renaissance des lettres, used by the 19th century historian Jules Michelet. In Old French renaissance means "rebirth." |
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| 3299 |
piquant |
engagingly stimulating or provocative |
“And make sure you bring what you’ve done on your paper so far—and all your research notes. That kind of stuff always helps to pique Axel’s interest.” |
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Feeling a little saucy? Perhaps a bit provocative — but in a good way? Then it's safe to say your personality is a little piquant. |
Coming to us from the French word piquer, which means "to prick," something that's piquant certainly piques your interest. Someone who's piquant engages you with charm and wit. A story that's filled with piquant details has plenty of juicy, provocative points. And grandma's homemade gravy? It's certainly zesty and piquant, even with all the lumps. |
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| 3300 |
legitimate |
in accordance with accepted standards or principles |
Ridicule was a harsh weapon, but a legitimate one that a girl could deploy if some jerk was trying to bug her. |
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Something legitimate is the real deal — according to the law. |
Legitimate has other variations of meaning. To legitimate something is to make it legal, either by passing a law or publicly recognizing it as in accordance with the law. A government can be legitimized by being invited to world talks, or a movie by winning a prestigious award. |
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| 3301 |
prerogative |
a right reserved exclusively by a person or group |
It was a female prerogative. |
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A prerogative is someone's special right or privilege. As Bobby Brown once sang, "I don't need permission / Make my own decisions / That's my prerogative." |
Prerogative goes back to a Latin root for a group having the right to vote first (prae- 'pre-' + rogare 'to ask') and thus came to mean "privileged rank." In current use, it refers to a right or privilege held by any person or group. A near synonym is privilege, which puts more emphasis on the fact that others do not have it. The self-justifying phrase "That's my prerogative" (for example, in reference to changing one's mind) is quite common. |
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| 3302 |
countenance |
the appearance conveyed by a person's face |
Suddenly, the girl’s countenance was transformed. The most glorious smile Simon had ever seen illuminated her face. |
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The noun countenance means the face or its expression. If you're a great poker player, you probably have a calm countenance. |
Countenance comes from a French word for "behavior," but it has become a fancy term for either the expression of a face or the face itself: "He had a puzzled countenance," or "what a charming countenance!" Countenance can also be a verb meaning to tolerate or approve. If someone does something offensive, tell them, "I'm afraid I can't countenance that." |
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| 3303 |
clemency |
leniency and compassion shown toward offenders |
Surely, he thought, this was an angel come to show me clemency in the middle of battle. |
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Say you're playing a role-playing game and you end up in one of the other player's dungeons. You could try begging her for clemency — compassion shown by people in power towards people who rebel or break the law. |
Clemency is also a weather word, though nowadays it's much more common to hear people talk about "inclement weather" than, say, "the clemency of the storm." Derived from the Latin for "gentle", it came into usage in the 1550s. If you have trouble remembering its meaning, get rid of the "cle" and replace the "n" with an "r". You're left with "mercy", which more or less means the same thing. |
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| 3304 |
supernal |
of heaven or the spirit |
For a moment, Simon was transported into some supernal realm far from Earth. |
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Something that's heavenly or otherworldly is supernal. A supernal understanding of life, for example, would be a deeper, spiritual, or religious awareness. |
Things with a spiritual emphasis can be described as supernal, particularly in books and religious literature. A religious Christian might find supernal wisdom in the Bible, while supernal revelations might come to a Hindu during prayer in a temple. Supernal can also mean simply "exceptional:" "The supernal poets are the ones who put words to feelings." The Latin root is supernus, "situated above." |
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| 3305 |
benign |
pleasant and beneficial in nature or influence |
He recalled Axel helping him with his last political science paper—“Globalization: Benign Trend or Malignant Growth in the Body Politic?” |
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Someone or something that is benign is gentle, kind, mild, or unharmful: a benign soul wouldn't hurt a fly. |
Benign describes a range of qualities, all of them positive. When talking about a person, it means "gentle." In reference to weather or climate, it means "mild." In some other contexts, it simply means "not harmful"; you might speak of "a benign tumor" or "an environmentally benign chemical." The word comes from a Latin root benignus meaning "well born," but the implied meaning is "kind" or "pleasant" — it's hard to get mad at someone who has a benign disposition. |
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| 3306 |
malignant |
dangerous to health |
He recalled Axel helping him with his last political science paper—“Globalization: Benign Trend or Malignant Growth in the Body Politic?” |
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For something that's very harmful, especially a tumor that's cancerous, use the term malignant. |
Malignant and its opposite benign are medical terms used to describe a tumor or growth as either cancerous or not respectively. The gn part of both words comes from the Latin word for born, differing in the prefix mal "evil" and bene "kind." A malignant tumor grows uncontrollably and spreads to other parts of the body. Though less common, malignant can also be used to mean "evil, malicious" like when someone has a malignant imagination. |
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| 3307 |
charismatic |
possessing an extraordinary ability to attract |
Either this girl finds me completely charismatic or she is filled with disdain for me. |
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If all kinds of people are attracted to you, you are charismatic. Most great leaders in history have been charismatic, like John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan. |
People who have powerful personalities that attract and fascinate other people are charismatic. Charismatic people are popular and beloved: they are full of charm and magnetism. Being charismatic is the opposite of being boring or dull. Often, the term is applied to people in politics, or to religious leaders, but there are charismatic people everywhere. |
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| 3308 |
verdict |
findings of a jury on issues submitted to it for decision |
Once again, he waited for the girl to pass her verdict on him. |
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A verdict is a decision made after a lot of considering, usually made by the jury in a courtroom. If you've finally decided that the test was unfair, that's your verdict and you should talk to the teacher about it. |
Although verdicts are usually announced in a courtroom, any time someone makes a judgment about something, it's a verdict. The truth lies in the root of this word: ver comes from the Latin verus, meaning "true." Ver shows up in other words — to verify something is to prove that it's true, and veracious is an adjective meaning "truthful." And the truth is exactly what the judge needs when he's trying to decide the verdict of a case. |
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| 3309 |
sheepish |
showing a sense of shame |
Simon looked a bit sheepish. |
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Sheep aren't the smartest most confident creatures. They're always clustering together as if they're ashamed to be alone. When you're sheepish, you're like a sheep — embarrassed and not confident. |
The word sheepish can be used to describe how someone looks or acts. If you wear a sheepish grin, you're embarrassed. Similarly, if you're feeling a bit sheepish, you're probably wanting to hide away from the world. If you are acting sheepish, you probably don't want to take responsibility for your actions. |
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| 3310 |
animated |
having life or vigor or spirit |
The girl was now becoming quite animated. |
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Something that seems full of life and movement is said to be animated. Animated films for television and movies include cartoons, Claymation, puppets, and computer-generated images, which are all simulations of living things. |
The Latin animāre "give breath to" is the basis for the word animated. The business of animated films has grown with the advent of computers, but the idea of animating something began long before cartoons and CGI. In Mary Shelley's classic 19th-century novel "Frankenstein," the monster, built of dead parts, is animated by electrical impulses, an idea that "sparked" a fascination with regeneration that survives to this very day. |
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| 3311 |
alluring |
highly attractive and able to arouse hope or desire |
She was totally alluring and she talked football like the defensive coordinator at Miami. |
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Something alluring is attractive and enticing. Alluring things are tempting. |
You might notice the word lure lurking in alluring — that's because alluring things lure people in by getting them excited and inspiring desire. Sometimes that's in a sexual way, like when someone wears an alluring dress that shows a little skin. But a homemade chocolate cake would be pretty alluring to a chocolate lover, just as free World Series tickets would be alluring to a baseball fan. |
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| 3312 |
enigmatic |
not clear to the understanding |
On her face was an enigmatic expression. |
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Something that's enigmatic is tough to figure out. It's puzzling and even mysterious, like those weird secret college societies, Mona Lisa's smile, or the New York Times crossword. |
It's no mystery where the adjective enigmatic comes from: It's rooted in the Greek word for riddle. Something that's enigmatic is obscure, unclear and not an easy nut to crack. Translating the Rosetta Stone, with its ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs and mysterious foreign writings, was certainly an enigmatic challenge for the archaeologists that found it. |
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| 3313 |
gambit |
a strategic maneuver |
“I hope you don’t take this as a gambit by me to pick you up,” said Simon. |
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A gambit is a strategic move, often in chess but also in politics or business, where a player sacrifices something up front for future gain. |
The noun gambit comes from an Italian word, gambetto, which means “tripping up.” When you make an opening move, offer something, or start a conversation with something that seems self-sacrificing but is really a ploy for greater advantage in the long run, that's a gambit. In chess, a gambit is when you sacrifice a pawn early for better positioning. When you offer to drive the morning carpool, that might be a gambit to get the afternoon shift off. |
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| 3314 |
conjecture |
the formation of conclusions from incomplete evidence |
Your conjecture is accurate. |
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Can you guess what conjecture means? It's a word to use when you are not sure of something and have to "guess or surmise." |
You can see how the word conjecture means that you create a theory or opinion about something without basing it in fact because the original definition of conjecture, from Old French, is "interpretation of signs and omens." Since signs and omens are pretty subjective, it makes sense that the word would then move to its current meaning. However, even though it only seems like weather reports are conjectures, they are actually based on evidence! |
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| 3315 |
astute |
marked by practical hardheaded intelligence |
How astute. How could you tell? |
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Someone who is astute is clever and has good judgment. The kid running around with a bucket stuck on his head? Not so astute. |
Astute (from Latin) is a formal and flattering adjective for someone with a good head on their shoulders. It differs from its synonym shrewd in placing less emphasis on hardheadedness than on sensitivity: we talk about a shrewd bargainer but an astute interpretation. Other synonyms are perceptive (emphasizing insight) and discerning (emphasizing an ability to distinguish). |
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| 3316 |
inexplicable |
incapable of being explained or accounted for |
And then, for some inexplicable reason, he violated, in one moment, two of his own cardinal rules |
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Something inexplicable can't be explained. It doesn't make sense. You don't want to come to the beach on the most beautiful day of the year? That's inexplicable! |
Inexplicable is made up of the prefix in, which means "not," and explicable, which comes from the Latin explicabilis, meaning "unfolded, unraveled." Do you see the double negative? If something is not unfolded, it's folded up and tangled — like something that doesn't make sense. Your school's decision to call a snow day is inexplicable, if there's barely a layer of snow on the ground. |
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| 3317 |
sensibility |
mental responsiveness and awareness |
“Maybe it’s because you tickled my aesthetic sensibility,” he said. |
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Sensibility is your ability to feel or be aware of something. Your artistic sensibility might allow you to understand even the most complex work of art. |
Sensibility often refers to your ability to respond to emotions or to appreciate artistic works — things that you sense rather than analyze logically. Your poetic sensibility might allow you to choose exactly the right word to create a particular tone when you’re writing. Sensibility can also refer to your sensitivity to good or bad impressions — it’s sort of like your feelings. Used in this way, the word is often plural. Your brother’s thoughtless remarks may offend your sensibilities. |
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| 3318 |
exotic |
strikingly strange or unusual |
Sometimes all these exotic words just seemed to come tumbling spontaneously out of his mouth. |
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Something so unusual that it must be from some unfamiliar place is exotic. An exotic pet might be a panda, instead of a hamster. An exotic trip might be a journey to the Galapagos Islands, instead of to Orlando's Sea World. |
Animals and people, or sensory things like food and smells, are often called exotic when they are from far-away lands. In the 16th century, exotic came into use — from Latin and Greek words for "foreign," which came, in turn, from exo-, meaning "outside." By the 17th century it was also being used to describe things that are striking or unusual. Even when the words strange and alien are sometimes used as synonyms. |
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| 3319 |
inopportune |
not suitable for a purpose |
Unfortunately, this time they had come out of his mouth at a very inopportune moment. |
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Since the meaning of "opportune" is "favorable" or "well-timed," it's easy to guess that the meaning of inopportune means something that is ill-timed or inappropriate. That little prefix in- means "not," and it totally turns the meaning of a word around. |
Think of the Latin word opportunus, which means "fitting" or "opportune." When you add in- in front of it, or any word, you give the word the opposite meaning. That's the history of the word inopportune, which has been used since the early 16th century to describe something that is "not fitting." For example, "She opened the door at an inopportune moment and saw him fire the gun." Bad timing? You bet. And very inopportune. |
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| 3320 |
requirement |
something that is needed in advance |
Now lawmakers are set to make the ID requirement official. |
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Necessary, inescapable, and non-negotiable, a requirement is something that must be done, like the dishes. Speaking politely to your grandparents may be a requirement of living in your parents' house. |
Requirements can be imposed by an authority. For example, in college, it is usually a requirement that you study math, English, and history, before you go on to get your degree in underwater basket weaving. We can also speak of the requirements of a living system: your body requires water to stay alive; light is a requirement of photosynthesis. |
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| 3321 |
select |
pick out or choose from a number of alternatives |
Many students select an internship by who was the nicest or friendliest in the interview. |
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To select something means to choose it from among others. If you select the most expensive phone, it doesn’t necessarily mean you will be happy with what you get. |
You can use select as an adjective as well as a verb. It means "specially chosen" or "of superior quality." For instance, you might be one of the select few who know how to really appreciate a game of Tetris, or you might want to choose a wine from a select list of Spanish reds. All of this assumes that if you select one thing, you feel that it's better than all the other choices. |
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| 3322 |
prediction |
a statement made about the future |
Remember the prediction that one day your oven would be connected to the Internet and have the ability to talk to your car? |
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I have a prediction: You’ll know what this word means by the time you finish reading this explanation. A prediction is what someone thinks will happen. |
A prediction is a forecast, but not only about the weather. Pre means “before” and “diction” has to do with talking. So a prediction is a statement about the future. It’s a guess, sometimes based on facts or evidence, but not always. A fortune teller makes a prediction using a crystal ball. A meteorologist uses maps and scientific data to tell us about the possibility of rain, snow or sunshine. And when I made the prediction that you would understand what this word meant, it was based on instinct, a gut feeling telling me what would happen next. |
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| 3323 |
previously |
at an earlier time or formerly |
The internet, previously not super-duper excited when it came to men's fashion, went crazy. |
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The adverb previously is good for talking about something that happened in the past. If you've read a novel previously, you might just skim it before your book group meets to discuss it. |
When you talk about things that happened before, whether recently or in the distant past, the word previously can be helpful. You could mention at a job interview that before your current job, you were previously employed as a flight attendant, or tell a date that though you're single now, you were previously married to a famous movie star. Previously comes from the adjective previous, with its Latin root praevius, "going before," from prae, "before," and via, "road." |
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| 3324 |
product |
an artifact that has been created by someone or some process |
“Everybody thought people would never buy products online,” he recalls. |
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When you start making something, the result is a product. Most products are offered for sale, like dairy products at the grocery store or kitchen products at Macy's. |
The word product is often a synonym for "merchandise" — the stuff for sale on the racks and shelves at a store. But a product can also simply be the result or consequence of someone's efforts or a set of circumstances. A good report card is the product of hard work. You are the product of your parent's relationship. And an aging hippie who still wears bell bottoms may be described as a product of the sixties. |
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| 3325 |
maximum |
the largest possible quantity |
In the future, we’ll even tell you how to choose your buddy for maximum benefit to you. |
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Both a noun and an adjective, maximum takes it to the max: it means the most, the fastest, the biggest. |
"The most you can have is the maximum": that's the noun. In "the maximum amount is the most you can have," it's used as an adjective. You might be familiar with the shortened version of the word: the "max." If you take something "to the max," you're doing as much of it as possible. You take it to the limit. You take it to the maximum. |
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| 3326 |
objectively |
in a manner not influenced by emotion |
You tend to be happier if you think you're good looking, rather than if you actually, objectively speaking, are. |
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When you do something objectively, you do it with an open mind, considering the facts rather than your personal feelings. A spelling bee judge has to make decisions objectively. |
Being able to think objectively is important for many jobs — teachers shouldn't favor certain students, but ought to act objectively, and of course lawyers and judges are expected to think objectively. Chess players and historians are more successful if they think objectively as well. The adverb comes from its related adjective, objective, by way of the Medieval Latin objectum, "thing presented to the mind," combining ob-, "in the way of" with jacere, "to throw." |
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| 3327 |
precede |
come before |
It always meant victory when a trumpet call preceded the news. |
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To precede is to come before. A short speech will precede the dinner. As you walk down the garden path, the bed of roses precedes the holly bush. When marching into the room, the younger kids precede the older ones. |
Precede is one of many verbs ending in "-ceed" or "-cede" that trace their roots back to the Latin word cedere which means "to go." For precede, know that it's pre "first" + cedere "go." When you precede, you go first. You might precede your best friend in line, lunch might precede math class, a joke might precede a lecture, and radio preceded television. Anything that goes first or comes before precedes. |
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| 3328 |
expert |
a person with special knowledge who performs skillfully |
Experts generally agree that the first two years of a cat's life are equal to 25 human years. |
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An expert is someone who knows a ton about the subject at hand. The adjective form of expert describes someone or something that has that special knowledge. If you get expert instruction, that means an expert is your teacher. |
The word expert is related to experience, and to be an expert at something you need experience. While your academic honors might suggest that you're an expert in certain areas, like rocket science, other fields — like wake boarding and tattoo art, for example — require more hands-on experience before you're an expert. The word expert is also an adjective: once you become really good at it, people will say you're an expert snake handler. |
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| 3329 |
demonstration |
a visual presentation showing how something works |
During a demonstration on stage, developers showed off the new abilities of the game’s protagonist, Sackboy, including flying and wall-jumping. |
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A demonstration is a show, or display. If you are against war, you might go to an anti-war demonstration in front of the White House. You might need to see a demonstration of napkin folding before you take a job as a waitress. |
Dressing well for a job interview and showing up on time is considered a demonstration of your seriousness about the job. Crying is a demonstration of your feelings. If you sell website design you can make a demonstration site, or demo, so clients can see what they would get if they hired you. |
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| 3330 |
consequently |
as a result |
But, of course, he had never felt old and, consequently, had never looked it. |
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Consequently is a word that has to do with cause and effect. If you failed math, you'll consequently have to take it again. |
Sometimes, we don't know why things happen. Other times, we can see one thing leading to another. That's when you can use the word consequently. An employer could say, "We're losing money. Consequently, we have to fire you." The city might say, "It snowed three feet. Consequently, there's no school." If you know that a consequence is the effect or result of something, then that should help you remember how to use consequently. |
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| 3331 |
contribution |
a voluntary gift made to some worthwhile cause |
In just five years, your $10 contribution to your future self is worth $39,000 at a market rate of return. |
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When you make a contribution, it means you're giving something away — whether it's your money, your possessions, or your time. |
A contribution can take many forms. Some contributions are measurable, like a $10 donation to the Salvation Army. Others are less tangible. When a student raises his hand in class to ask a question, he's making a contribution, because the answer to his question enriches the other students' learning experience. |
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| 3332 |
beneficial |
promoting or enhancing well-being |
“It will be interesting to see how beneficial this rainfall has been in the short term.” |
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If it's beneficial, then it's good for you — or for something. Studying is beneficial to your grades. Exercise is beneficial to your health. |
Spend any time with Italians and you will hear the word bene over and over. It comes straight from Latin, and Italians use it as often as we use "good;" it can mean "fine," "okay," "yummy," or "kind and well behaved." Bene gives us beneficial, but also benefit, beneficent, benevolent and more well-meaning words. |
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| 3333 |
challenging |
requiring full use of your abilities or resources |
“It’s challenging, but for a championship you don’t want it easy.” |
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If something is challenging, you better bring your "A game." It isn't going to be easy but you will get to test your skills as you push yourself, like completing a challenging crossword puzzle or a challenging hike up a mountain. |
Another meaning of challenging is "causing to question values or assumptions," like a challenging movie that makes you re-evaluate your attitude about something. In other words, it challenges what you believe. People sometimes use challenging as a polite — and far more positive — substitute for troublesome or problematic, as in, "This challenging situation will require everyone's patience." |
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| 3334 |
flood |
a large flow |
“Miss Bolo ... went straight home, in a flood of tears and a sedan-chair.” --The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens |
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A flood is an enormous amount of water. If the street is full of water, it's flooded. Too much of anything can also be called a flood. |
Whenever it rains and rains and rains, there's the danger of a flood, a type of disaster where water is out of control. Because a flood is so powerful, people use the word when overwhelmed by other things. A top college graduate could be flooded with job offers — that's a good kind of flood. People can also be flooded with emotion. Words with similar meanings are deluge and overflow. Too much — or just a lot — of anything can seem like a flood. |
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| 3335 |
inordinate |
beyond normal limits |
He got dressed by feel, listening in the dark to his brother's calm breathing, the dry cough of his father in the next room, the asthma of the hens in the courtyard, the buzz of the mosquitoes, the beating of his heart, and the inordinate bustle of a world that he had not noticed until then, and he went out in the sleeping street" --One Hundred Years of Solitude, Garbriel Garcia Marquez |
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Something that's excessive or that goes way beyond normal limits is inordinate — like an overly obsessive love for chocolate or a fantasy football junkie who spends an inordinate amount of time checking his team. |
The adjective inordinate is the exact opposite of "reasonable" and "moderate." In fact, when you call something inordinate, you're saying it's downright exorbitant and out of proportion. It's often used to describe abnormal amounts of time spent doing something — playing video games at work or canoodling with your girlfriend at school, for example. But as Oscar Wilde once said, “An inordinate passion for pleasure is the secret of remaining young.” |
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| 3336 |
vanity |
feelings of excessive pride |
“ Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us.” --Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen |
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Vanity is the quality of being vain, or having a ridiculous amount of pride. If you have excessive vanity in your appearance, you probably spend long hours sitting at your vanity table doing your makeup or plucking your nose hairs. |
If you pride yourself on looking absolutely perfect and refuse to do any work that might dirty your clothes or mess up your hair, someone might accuse you of vanity. Often vanity is empty, like the emperor’s in The Emperor's New Clothes. If someone pays to have her own book published even though it’s really bad, we say it is a vanity printing. |
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| 3337 |
glory |
a state of high honor |
...covered themselves with dust and glory. --The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain |
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Glory is brilliant, radiant beauty. You might admire a princess in all her glory, since she seems almost too gorgeous to be real. |
Glory is also a term that is sometimes used in a religious way. It means the glow or light that appears around the head of a holy person or saint, like a halo. Another use of glory is a state of high honor gained from great achievements. If you have heard the expression "you're in your glory," it means that you are very happy and proud — you must have reached one of your big goals. |
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| 3338 |
passion |
a strong feeling or emotion |
" Passion lends them power, time means, to meet." --Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare |
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Passion is a strong emotion, usually related to love or anger. If on your first time out together your date falls on their knees and tells you they'd die for you — they're gripped by passion (or maybe just nuts). |
We associate passion with any intense feeling, but centuries ago it referred specifically to intense pain. The sufferings of religions martyrs, who were tortured and killed for their beliefs, were called "passions," from the Latin passio, or suffering. Today we've dropped the torture, and most of us, when we're not in the grip of passion, have a passion (or intense interest) — for things like gardening or golf or dollhouse architecture. |
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| 3339 |
improbable |
having a chance of occurring too low to inspire belief |
"Not improbably, it was to this latter class of men that Mr. Dimmesdale, by many of his traits of character, naturally belonged." --The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne |
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Your parents might tell you it's improbable that they'll buy you a car when you turn 16. Since improbable means something is unlikely but not impossible, your optimism allows you to keep hoping. |
The adjective improbable also means statistically unlikely to happen. You might be afraid to fly, but the odds of a plane crash are so low that such an event is improbable. Improbable also means something that is so outrageous that you'd never admit you believed in it. You know the existence of the Loch Ness Monster is improbable, but that doesn't stop you from looking for it when you travel to Scotland. |
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| 3340 |
accustomed |
in the habit of or adapted to |
"We are accustomed to look upon the shackled form of a conquered monster, but there—there you could look at a thing monstrous and free. It was unearthly, and the men were—No, they were not inhuman. Well, you know, that was the worst of it—this suspicion of their not being inhuman." --Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad |
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If you're accustomed to something, you're used to it. Being accustomed has to do with habits and lifestyle. |
Anything you're accustomed to is a regular thing for you. A rich person is probably accustomed to fancy clothes, expensive food, and beautiful houses. A football player is accustomed to getting tackled and tackling other people. Office workers get accustomed to filling out forms and fixing the copy machine. We can also say an accustomed thing is a usual, customary thing. When you think of the word accustomed, think "nothing new here." |
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| 3341 |
tumor |
an abnormal new mass of tissue that serves no purpose |
"It isn't very serious. I have this tiny little tumor on the brain." —The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger |
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A tumor is a growth — a mass of tissue — that has no function. Tumors can be harmless (benign) or harmful (malignant), but they are never any fun. |
When a bunch of cells form a new growth in or on an animal, and those cells have no purpose, the result is a tumor. The word tumor comes directly from Latin word for “swelling.” Tumors can be big or small, harmless or harmful. Benign tumors are not a cause for concern, but a malignant tumor is serious and could be cancerous. A doctor must test a tumor to see which kind it is. |
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| 3342 |
timidity |
fear of the unknown or fear of making decisions |
"Fanny, with all her faults of ignorance and timidity, was fixed at Mansfield Park, and learning to transfer in its favour much of her attachment to her former home, grew up there not unhappily among her cousins." --Mansfield Park, Jane Austen |
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Do you suffer from timidity? If so, you probably feel uneasy in new places and situations. You might fear having to make decisions. But as you get more comfortable, your timidity will go away. |
The noun timidity is related to the Latin word timidus, from timere, meaning “to fear.” In fact, fear is often a cause of timidity — fear of the unknown, fear of not knowing what to do. For example, you might experience timidity in visiting a country for the first time because you aren't sure of the local customs or you don't speak the language well. Because you are afraid of embarrassing yourself, you hold back. |
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| 3343 |
abominable |
unequivocally detestable |
“Have you not done tormenting me with your accursed time! It's abominable! When! When! One day, is that not enough for you, one day he went dumb, one day I went blind, one day we'll go deaf, one day we were born, one day we shall die, the same day, the same second, is that not enough for you? They give birth astride of a grave, the light gleams an instant, then it's night once more.” --Waiting for Godot, Samuel Beckett |
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Abominable is as bad as it gets. So if the food at camp is abominable, the campers might start to shout, "Ick! Ick! Your stew is making us sick!" |
Abominable is an adjective that should be used only when something is exceptionally bad or threatening, like a gigantic furry snowman who is terrorizing a village. Abominable is so absolutely awful that it causes physical revulsion. So odious that it brings even the toughest of tough guys to tears. Which is a bummer, because it's a surprisingly fun word to say out loud. |
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| 3344 |
remember |
keep in mind for attention or consideration |
“Now, women forget all those things they don't want to remember, and remember everything they don't want to forget." --Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston |
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To remember is to recollect, or to call upon your memory. Remember that time you fell out of your tree house and bonked your head? No? Go figure. |
There are many shades of meaning of remember, but at its core it refers to the act of recalling or thinking back. You can remember something fondly, like your first kiss, or you might remember something suddenly, like when the smell of tar brings back the time your bicycle wheel got caught in a pot hole and you fell off. To remember someone means you show appreciation, like when the Oscar winners try to remember all those names. |
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| 3345 |
repel |
fill with distaste |
"I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life” --The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald |
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Use the verb repel when you want to turn something away. You might drench yourself in bug spray to repel the mosquitoes that plague you when you go camping. |
This versatile word can be used in relation to everything from bugs to unwanted romantic advances. The word repel can be used to describe the act of driving something away, as in the case of bugs or other pesky critters, including potential suitors. It can also be used to describe something that causes disgust or distaste. For example, the thought of eating snails might repel you. |
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| 3346 |
frown |
a facial expression of dislike or displeasure |
"...with a smile that was like a frown, and with a frown that was like a smile” --Great Expectations, Charles Dickens |
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If you frown at someone, you look at them with disapproval, and if you frown on something they do, you don't approve of that either. Because you frown on smoking, you probably frown at smokers too! |
The distant ancestors of frown, the ones that came long before Old French, meant "nose." Think about the expression, to look down one's nose at someone or something, which means "to disapprove of." If you have a frown on your face, you definitely don't like what you see! Sometimes when you're thinking hard about something, you might frown, but that is probably more of an expression of concentration than disapproval. |
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| 3347 |
descent |
a movement downward |
"His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead." --"The Dead," James Joyce |
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If you’re on your way down, you’re making a descent, whether that’s as a passenger in an airplane that's landing, or if you’re tumbling down a staircase you just slipped on. |
Descent comes from the verb descend — to go down. In the original Latin meaning, descent was used spatially, in reference to physical action, like going downstairs into a creepy basement. Metaphorically, though, we also use it to describe origins, especially in ancestry, when we consider ourselves descendants of our forebears. |
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| 3348 |
incredible |
beyond belief or understanding |
“Often the crazy stuff is true and the normal stuff isn’t because the normal stuff is necessary to make you believe the truly incredible craziness.” --The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien |
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If it's hard to believe and hard to wrap your head around, it just might be incredible. A hurricane in Kansas would certainly be incredible, but keeping your bedroom tidy all week counts too. |
Incredible is commonplace and perhaps overused but it still fits the bill whenever life is beyond expectation. The Latin root credere means believe. Slap an in in front of that root, and something incredible is hard to believe. |
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| 3349 |
corrupt |
debase morally |
“But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.” --1984, George Orwell |
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If someone or something is corrupt, they’re broken morally or in some other way. Corrupt people perform immoral or illegal acts for personal gain, without apology. Corrupt politicians take bribes and deny it. |
When you corrupt someone, you convince them to do something wrong or even illegal. If you talk your little brother into stealing cookies from the cookie jar, you're corrupting him. Something corrupt is rotten, spoiled, or out of commission, like a file that makes your computer crash. A corrupt person — a criminal, a crook, or a cookie thief — brings society down with immoral and dishonest behavior. Corrupt goes back to the Latin roots cor-, "altogether," and rumpere, "break." |
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| 3350 |
conscious |
having awareness of surroundings and sensations and thoughts |
“Until they became conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious.” --1984, George Orwell |
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Conscious is an adjective that simply means alert and awake. If you fall from a tree and smack your head on the side of the wheelbarrow, there's a good chance you won't be conscious afterward. |
Conscious is a Latin word whose original meaning was “knowing" or "aware.” So a conscious person has an awareness of her environment and her own existence and thoughts. If you're "self-conscious," you're overly aware and even embarrassed by how you think you look or act. But that sounds better than being unconscious, or totally unaware and out of it. |
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| 3351 |
foul |
highly offensive; arousing aversion or disgust |
"Fair is foul and foul is fair" --Macbeth, William Shakespeare |
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Foul is most commonly used as an adjective to describe a bad smell. As a verb, foul usually means “make dirty or messy.” You might foul your room to the point where it smells a bit foul. |
In general, foul can be used as an adjective meaning "bad." Foul luck is bad luck; a foul day is a bad day. As a verb, foul can mean "break the rules." It’s used this way in sports, like when you commit a foul on the basketball court. The phrase "foul play" can be used in the context of sports or more generally, to indicate unfair or violent behavior. Avoid confusing foul with fowl, which refers to birds, especially chickens. |
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| 3352 |
gambol |
play boisterously |
In the more open spaces jugglers and mountebanks, usually accompanied by performing animals, went through all sorts of gambols and antics. Lewis Spence |
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To gambol is to run around playing excitedly. Although the word sounds like "gamble," when you gambol you never lose — you just have a great time! |
If you've ever sprinted around, jumping up and down, yelling "woo-hoo!," you already know how to gambol. Being really excited or even just slap-happy makes people gambol, and it's so energizing that animals do it too. Dogs gambol when they rise on two legs to greet each other, and squirrels gambol when they chase each other up and down trees. And when springtime comes after a long winter, it seems to make every living thing gambol with extra life. |
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| 3353 |
gelid |
extremely cold |
Suddenly we are there, in this empty gallery, on a freezing morning, watching this man dust antiquities in the gelid, vodka light. The Guardian (Mar 24, 2010) |
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Gelid things are bitterly cold. When you wake up shivering on a winter morning, you may want to announce that you're not getting out of bed on such a gelid day. |
Use this adjective to describe frozen things — like a gelid skating pond, your gelid fingers when you forget to wear your gloves, or the gelid breeze coming in through the gap under your front door. Gelid is also useful for figuratively icy things, like your teacher's gelid smile when you ask him if the class can take the day off. Gelid comes from the Latin gelidus, "icy, cold, or frosty," from gelum, "frost or intense cold." |
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| 3354 |
gerrymander |
divide voting districts unfairly and to one's advantage |
But Labour has accused the Conservatives of " gerrymandering" - manipulating constituencies in order to achieve electoral advantage. BBC (Jan 29, 2013) |
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Some politicians change the boundaries of their voting districts in order to benefit themselves or their political party. To manipulate the boundaries like this — often viewed as unfair — is to gerrymander. |
The verb gerrymander first appeared in 1812 when Massachusetts governor Elbridge Gerry redrew district boundaries, hoping it would help his party in an upcoming senate election. Then somebody noticed that the new district looked like a salamander, so they combined Gerry and -mander to create the new word gerrymander. And then a newspaper printed a cartoon with a giant salamander making fun of Gerry, which is what happens to politicians who don’t behave. |
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| 3355 |
gracious |
exhibiting courtesy and politeness |
Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich was gracious in defeat, saying Miami deserved their win. Reuters (Jun 21, 2013) |
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Gracious means "kind, courteous, and compassionate," like your gracious reply to a rude question like, "So, did you ever learn to hit a softball?" |
Gracious descends from the Latin word for good will. A gracious person wants everyone to be comfortable: a gracious host leaves extra blankets and some books on a variety of subjects out for overnight guests to enjoy. Even at a difficult moment, a gracious person remains thoughtful and kind, like the gracious way you treat a waiter who spills a glass of juice on your lap. |
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| 3356 |
hallowed |
worthy of religious veneration |
British success on the hallowed turf of Wimbledon can bring untold rewards. BBC (Jun 23, 2012) |
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The adjective hallowed is used to describe something that is sacred and revered, usually something old and steeped in tradition. |
The word hallowed often has a religious connotation, but it can also be used playfully to convey a sense of reverence about something that isn’t religious in nature but that nonetheless inspires worship. A football fan, for example, may talk about the hallowed tradition of tailgating on a game day Saturday, or an avid shopper may describe the hallowed grounds of the Macy’s shoe department. In the Gettysburg Address, Lincoln used the word with its more traditional sense to ponder man's inability to show the proper reverence to those men who died in battle: "But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate…we cannot consecrate…we cannot hallow…this ground." |
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| 3357 |
hapless |
unfortunate and deserving pity |
Full-blown zombification takes place mere seconds after a hapless victim is fatally chomped. Seattle Times (Jun 19, 2013) |
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Use the adjective hapless to describe someone unlucky and deserving of pity, like the hapless car buyer who gives in to the fast-talking salesperson. |
The word hapless traces all the way back to the Old Norse word happ, meaning “chance, good luck.” Combine this with the suffix -less (“lacking”) and hapless means “unlucky” or “ill-fated.” A traveler who goes to Moscow and briefly gets lost on the subway? Just a tourist. A traveler who goes to Moscow, accidentally eats food he is allergic to, somehow loses all his money, and by chance gets on a train destined for Mongolia? Definitely hapless. |
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| 3358 |
hegemony |
the dominance or leadership of one social group over others |
Though ubiquity and flexibility may give English hegemony, Twitter is also helping smaller and struggling languages. Economist (Mar 29, 2012) |
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Hegemony is political or cultural dominance or authority over others. The hegemony of the popular kids over the other students means that they determine what is and is not cool. |
Hegemony comes from the Greek hegemon "leader." Wealthy lender nations hoping to determine political outcomes and trade decisions have established hegemony over the debtor nations they lend to. As well as the dominance of one group or nation over others, hegemony is also the term for the leading group or nation itself. During the American Revolution, colonists fought to throw off the British hegemony. |
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| 3359 |
heinous |
extremely wicked, deeply criminal |
Four people responsible for "this heinous, vicious, cruel crime" were recently apprehended and charged with robbery, assault and other crimes, Booker said. Reuters (Feb 13, 2013) |
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A heinous crime is very evil or wicked. Of course, some people only use the term as an exaggeration, claiming that their parents' requirement that they write thank you notes after their birthdays is a heinous form of torture. |
Heinous descends from Middle English, from Old French haineus, from haine "hatred," from hair "to hate." So when you want to use the word heinous in all seriousness, think of acts that are considered hateful (or outrageous, and shocking). Think: treason, torture, the clubbing of baby seals. Heinous is pronounced HĀ-nəs. |
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| 3360 |
hermetic |
completely sealed or airtight |
“They’re enclosed spaces, hermetic worlds,” Mr. Rivers, 40, said recently of the environments in his films. New York Times (Oct 7, 2012) |
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If you want to keep cookies crisp for a long time, store them in a jar with a hermetic, or airtight, seal. Hermetic means sealed so that no air can get in. |
The word can be used metaphorically as well. A child who is completely protected from the outside world might be said to come from a hermetic environment. The word comes from the name of the Greek god, Hermes Trismegistus, who was a magician and alchemist and was credited with creating the process for making a completely airtight glass tube, a god-like feat if there ever was one. |
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| 3361 |
hindrance |
any obstruction that impedes or is burdensome |
He said his predecessors had given Lockheed too much leeway earlier, when government oversight was considered “a hindrance more than a help New York Times (Nov 28, 2012) |
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A hindrance is something in the way, an obstacle. An untied shoelace is a hindrance to walking, and tripping in the lunchroom might be a hindrance to getting a seat at the cool table. |
You might hear the phrase, "more of a hindrance than a help." It means that something intended to be a positive force has the opposite effect, like when your four-year-old sister tries to help you make dinner. Hindrance refers to the act of slowing things down, or the thing that's causing the problem, like your "helpful" little sister. It's the noun form of the verb hinder, which is "to get in the way." |
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| 3362 |
humdrum |
tediously repetitious or lacking in variety |
But low-skilled and humdrum jobs, particularly in manufacturing, have gone overseas, or fallen victim to automation. Economist (Nov 8, 2012) |
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That class on 18th century feminist zoologists and their favorite poets? Surprisingly humdrum, or dull, tedious, and totally boring. |
Anything that you can call humdrum is so severely lacking in variety and excitement that it's sure to make you hum and drum your fingers out of boredom. Humdrum is an adjective to describe the unglamorous monotony of everyday routines. It's the same old thing, again and again, over and over. Humdrum can also mean predictable, mind-numbing and not very challenging — hopefully the complete opposite of your social life. |
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| 3363 |
temperance |
the trait of avoiding excesses |
Thus, pride is opposed to humility, gluttony to temperance—two different virtues. — |
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Temperance means restraint and moderation, but if you're talking about alcohol, temperance means not just drinking in moderation, it means not having it at all. |
The temperance movement appeared in the U.S. in the 19th century, at first urging moderation in drinking but eventually seeking to outlaw alcohol entirely. It managed to get Prohibition enacted in 1919, which did outlaw alcohol, but it was repealed in 1933. Temperance doesn't just have to do with alcohol, it can refer to avoiding any kind of excess: if your new diet requires temperance, you're eating in a balanced, sensible way. Temperance comes from the Latin temperare, "restrain." |
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| 3364 |
tendentious |
having a strong bias, especially a controversial one |
Mr. Medvedev’s decision comes in a tendentious political context, as Mr. Lukashenko, once the Kremlin’s staunchest regional allies, hangs back from key Russian initiatives. New York Times (Jun 21, 2010) |
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If you are writing a report on climate change and you ignore evidence that the earth is warming, the paper might be called tendentious. Tendentious means promoting a specific, and controversial, point of view. |
When something is tendentious, it shows a bias towards a particular point of view, especially one that people disagree about. It shares a root with the word, tendency, which means leaning towards acting a certain way. If you have the tendency to talk in a tendentious manner about politics, people might tend to avoid you at parties. |
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| 3365 |
thrift |
extreme care in spending money |
“ Thrift means not buying stuff, turning down the heat, not making five trips to town a week,” he said. New York Times (Dec 1, 2011) |
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Thrift means being very careful about how much money you spend. Reusing the same tea bag ten times so as not to waste money is a kind of thrift. |
The word thrift originally referred to fortune and has come to mean the act of being economical; a thrifty person, or someone who practices thrift, is likely to be fortunate in the sense that he has savings. At a thrift store, you will find inexpensive clothing. You probably don’t want to exercise thrift when deciding on something important, like which brain surgeon to use. You may also find thrift on sunlit mountaintops, in the form of a slender-leaved plant with pink flowers. |
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| 3366 |
tranquil |
not agitated |
One person’s tranquil small town might make another go stir-crazy, while someone from Texas might shiver just at the thought of moving to Maine. Time (May 13, 2013) |
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When a place or your state of mind is peaceful, quiet and serene, it is tranquil. |
Like a pond with no ripples, tranquil means calm and placid. A pleasant state of mind, with nothing to agitate or cause anxiety, can also be considered tranquil. As you struggle through your yoga poses, the teacher might annoyingly exclaim how tranquil you should be feeling, and when you and your siblings bicker over every little thing, your parents are wishing the house were more tranquil. |
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| 3367 |
trifling |
not worth considering |
"But even a trifling difference multiplied a million times is big," he says. Science Magazine (May 28, 2013) |
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If something is trifling it's really unimportant, of no consequence — "a trifling detail." |
Everything is relative, of course, and what might appear trifling to one person may take on deep importance for another. Clues are classically trifling things. As Sherlock Holmes explains to Dr. Watson when faced with a seemingly minor detail: "It is, of course, a trifle, but there is nothing so important as trifles." |
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| 3368 |
tumultuous |
characterized by unrest or disorder or insubordination |
As tumultuous societal changes transform Bangalore, many young, middle-class Indians are struggling to cope. New York Times (Aug 13, 2012) |
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The adjective tumultuous means "disruptive," "troubled," "disorderly," or "turbulent." |
You might hear the adjective tumultuous in news stories about riots because it's one of the best words to describe a group of people in turmoil or disorder, but it can mean anything in a state of unrest. For example, you might steer your boat into a safe harbor before a heavy storm, so the tumultuous waves won't sweep you onto the rocks. |
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| 3369 |
variability |
the quality of being uneven and lacking uniformity |
Terry Marsh from CEH said: "Rainfall charts show no compelling long-term trend - the annual precipitation table shows lots of variability." BBC (Oct 18, 2012) |
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The weather in San Francisco is known for its variability. One minute it's summer and the next, winter. Variability means the tendency to shift or change — of being "variable." |
There are many words that contain vari-, and they almost all have to do with change or difference. Variability is the noun version of this idea. The variability of the weather means that you never know exactly what to wear. T-shirt or sweater: the choices vary along with the weather. Many things are known for their variability: the taste of teenagers, the talent of the singers on "American Idol," Frank Sinatra's moods. These are just some of the things that exhibit real variability. |
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| 3370 |
variegated |
having a variety of colors |
The leaves had assumed their gorgeous autumnal tints, and the masses of timber, variegated in colour, presented an inexpressibly beautiful appearance. William Harrison Ainsworth |
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Something variegated has many different colors, as in the trees of autumn or the feathers of a peacock. Whenever you see "vari" at the beginning of a word, you know that the idea of difference or change is involved. |
Using vari is a good way to start thinking about this word. It's the same root as in various, variable, varied, and variety. All these words mean something similar: lots of different versions of something. The scales of a fish can appear quite variegated from one angle and then strangely uniform from another. A tiger's variegated coat helps it stay hidden. |
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| 3371 |
venal |
capable of being corrupted |
Nearly everyone in it is venal, petty, grasping, vicious, bent on serving heaping cold platters of revenge. New York Times (Sep 28, 2010) |
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Someone with venal motives is corrupt and maybe a little evil. Nobody wants to be thought of as venal. |
Venal actions include taking bribes, giving jobs to your friends, and cheating. Venal means about the same thing as "corrupt" or "corruptible." Venal people are considered sleazy and untrustworthy. They're often criminals. No one is perfect, and most of us have venal motives at some point. |
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| 3372 |
vigorous |
characterized by forceful and energetic action or activity |
Butler's vigorous manner contrasts with laid-back bartender and pub owner Brenden, younger but also still single, given a quietly staunch presence by Billy Carter. Seattle Times (May 24, 2013) |
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Anything vigorous is done with force and energy. Vigorous exercise makes you sweat, and a vigorous denial makes someone else sweat. |
Vigorous is a description for something strong or enthusiastic. It comes from the French word vigour, meaning "liveliness, activity." An active, physically energetic person is vigorous, and mental activities can be vigorous too, when they require a lot of mental effort. A vigorous argument doesn’t have to include physical wrestling; it just might involve verbal sparring. |
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| 3373 |
virulence |
extreme harmfulness |
Typhoid fever, the enemy which no army can conquer, broke out with distressing virulence, and a considerable number died of disease. Anonymous |
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Virulence is a harmful quality possessed by microorganisms that can cause disease. You can also use the noun virulence to describe someone's malicious actions. |
A virus spreads disease, and virulence is a quality possessed by viruses that are on the loose and spreading. This could be as common as the flu or as unusual as chemical warfare. You can also speak of the virulence of hostile, harmful words and actions. Publicly insulting and discrediting someone is an example of virulence. With either meaning, virulence indicates danger and harm. The Latin root is virulentus, "poisonous." |
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| 3374 |
visionary |
a person with unusual powers of foresight |
Coverley's walkers are professional outsiders; visionaries and dreamers on the road. The Guardian (Aug 9, 2012) |
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You've got big ideas. Crazy ideas. But forward-thinking ideas — ideas that just might change the way the world works. You're considered a visionary. |
Visionaries are ahead of their time, always thinking creatively. You could say that a visionary can envision what the future holds and come up with solutions that fit that picture. Those wild ideas aren't always met with appreciation though. Skeptics think that visionaries aren't grounded in reality. And usually the visionaries tell them to stop being so shortsighted! |
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| 3375 |
refined |
cultivated and genteel |
Adam and Eve are not about blood-sucking and murder - but refined lovers of literature, science, music and learning in general. Seattle Times (May 25, 2013) |
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Something that's refined has gone through a process to remove impurities. An oil refinery removes impurities from oil. When a person's refined, they have good manners and good taste. |
A stereotypically refined lady will drink tea every day at four in the afternoon, lift her pinky while drinking, and select only refined (pure white, not raw) sugar as a sweetener. Someone with a refined taste in art has learned how to make judgments about what is good and what they like. |
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| 3376 |
rein |
keep in check |
"This shows why we need to review and rein in unfair town hall parking rules," he said. BBC (Jul 31, 2013) |
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Rein is both a noun and a verb for guiding and restraining. You can use the long strap, or rein, on a horse to control its speed and direction, and you can rein in your own tongue by closing your mouth. |
Rein rhymes with rain but the two words describe very different things. Rain comes down all over the place, uncontrolled, while a rein holds things in place or controls what comes out. As a noun, rein is often used as a plural word "reins" when talking about actual leather restraints used in horse riding, but a rein also is something non-physical like when you put a rein on spending by shopping less. |
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| 3377 |
remedial |
tending or intended to rectify or improve |
Last week, two police officers told me several colleagues were in heavily attended remedial classes for those who fail to record enough stops and arrests. New York Times (May 28, 2012) |
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When you do poorly in a subject and get sent to a class that focuses on basic concepts and better study habits, you are taking a remedial class. |
If you know that a remedy is a type of medicine, then you have a clue to the meaning of remedial. Like a remedy, remedial classes are supposed to improve you, specifically in school subjects that you haven't done well in. Lately, the term is most often used to describe courses given to students who are not prepared for regular work. New college students often have to take remedial classes before they can begin actual university-level courses. |
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| 3378 |
restive |
impatient especially under restriction or delay |
The delegates got so restive as he droned on - the phrase commentators used - that they actually cheered at the words "in closing." New York Times (Sep 4, 2012) |
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To be restive is to be impatient or on edge — it's an edgy state. When you feel like your skin is too tight and your nerves are ready to snap, when you feel ready to explode, you are restive. |
It's not only people who can be restive: the world suffers from much turmoil, and there are restive areas, where people are unhappy or oppressed and desperate for change. It's that need for change and movement that makes someone restive or eager to move, frustrated at being stuck in one place. This sense of being stuck is obvious in the history of the word, which was first used in the 15th century. It evolved from the Anglo-French adjective restif, which meant "refusing to move ahead." Picture a restive horse, refusing to take a jump. |
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| 3379 |
robust |
sturdy and strong in form, constitution, or construction |
Facebook’s robust earnings numbers propelled company shares as much as 20% higher, and they’ve been going up ever since. Time (Jul 31, 2013) |
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Use robust to describe a person or thing that is healthy and strong, or strongly built. This adjective also commonly describes food or drink: a robust wine has a rich, strong flavor. |
If your school has a robust sports program, it means they offer lots of different kinds of sports and that a lot of kids participate. If you have a robust speaking voice, it means you have a voice that's deep and loud and strong. Robust is from Latin robustus "of oak, hard, strong," from robur "oak tree, strength." |
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| 3380 |
rumination |
a calm, lengthy, intent consideration |
Like many an American road trip, the journey creates its own metaphor, familiar locales triggering memories and ruminations of years past. Seattle Times (May 23, 2012) |
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If someone asks you to make a difficult decision — like what to have for dinner — it might lead to rumination, or a long period of deep thought. |
Use the noun rumination when there's thoughtful consideration going on. If your grandfather answers every question by saying, "Hmm. Let me think about that," he is a fan of rumination. It comes from the verb ruminate, which means "to think deeply," but also means "to chew the cud." Both words come from the Latin word ruminatus, which has the same meaning and which is rooted in rumen, or "gullet." |
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| 3381 |
sartorial |
of or relating to a tailor or to tailoring |
Sartorially, he favors unflashy suits and wiry John Lennon–style glasses. Newsweek (Apr 29, 2013) |
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If it's the day before a big event and you have no idea what to wear and nothing in your closet is going to cut it, you are facing a sartorial dilemma — one that pertains to clothing, fashion, or dressing. |
Sartorial comes from the Modern Latin word sartor which means "tailor," literally "one who patches and mends." In English the adjectives sartorial and sartorially are used to refer to any matter pertaining to the consideration of clothing or fashion. The root word sartor has also made its way into the field of biology. The sartorius — a muscle in the leg and the longest muscle in the human body — gets its name because it is used when crossing the legs, also known as the “tailor's position." |
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| 3382 |
scant |
less than the correct or legal or full amount |
Reading these scant pages – I wish the curators had included more – is fascinating, but unsettling too. The Guardian (Jul 13, 2013) |
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Scant is an adjective that means "a tiny amount," like your scant attendance at practice this week that results in being benched from the big game. |
Scant is also a verb, that means "to supply sparingly" — don't scant with the brownies, or I will keep asking for more. Scant also means "to deal with inadequately or carelessly." When you scant the reports on homelessness, they are so superficial on data that they don't reflect the real problem. Scant comes from the Old Norse word skamt, meaning "short, brief." |
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| 3383 |
schism |
division of a group into opposing factions |
Rebel forces, drawn largely from Syria’s Sunni majority, are far from united, with schisms along religious, geographic, political and economic lines. Washington Post February 10, 2013 |
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The sound of the word schism reminds some people of the sound of a piece of paper being torn in two; which makes sense –– when a group has a big fight and the group is torn in two, that's a schism. |
Although the Spanish club could have a schism over taco night versus tamale fest, schism often refers to splits in the church. You might have heard of the Great Schism of 1074, when the eastern Christian church, headquartered in Byzantium (now Istanbul), broke away from the western one headquartered in Rome. |
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| 3384 |
sham |
something that is a counterfeit; not what it seems to be |
The whole edifice depends on tax havens and the webs of shell companies, artificial entities, fake transactions and sham trusts. The Guardian (Jun 16, 2013) |
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A sham is a fake. If you frequently order products advertised on late-night, hour-long television commercials, you’ve probably ended up with at least one item that was a sham. All-purpose, industrial strength stain remover, anyone? |
Sham can be used to refer to people as well as to things. Remember that doctor from the late-night TV commercial advertising UltraMiracleCure vitamin pills? He’s probably a sham, or a quack. Some sources claim that the word sham originated in the 17th century and was derived from the English word shame, but who knows? Maybe that theory’s a sham too. |
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| 3385 |
sporadically |
in an irregular or unpredictable manner |
While anti-anarchist laws were sporadically enforced at first, they kicked in for real after the Russian Revolution. Salon (Apr 27, 2013) |
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Something that happens sporadically doesn't occur with regularity, but rather periodically or occasionally. You might meet sporadically with your cousins, usually on minor holidays like Memorial Day or Flag Day. |
Sporadically comes from the Greek word sporadikos, meaning scattered, with the root word spora, which means sowing. Imagine sowing seed by scattering it, and you'll get the hit-or-miss sense of sporadically. There is no pattern to the frequency of an event that occurs sporadically. Working sporadically is hard because you lack a steady income and never know when you'll be busy, but traveling sporadically can be fun. |
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| 3386 |
static |
not in physical motion |
His own static paintings look cramped in comparison to his animated work, and very much of their time. The Guardian (Jan 9, 2013) |
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Static means not moving or changing––it's often used to describe abstract ideas that can't be seen. "The troops were moving all over the country, engaged in skirmishes, but the army's overall position remained static." |
Static is easier to remember if you think of the sta- in "standing still" and stationary. Remember what happens when you rub a balloon against your head? That's producing a stationary electric charge, otherwise known as static electricity. |
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| 3387 |
stunning |
causing bewilderment or shock or insensibility |
It is also stunning how little thought society has given to raising kids with two working parents. Scientific American (Jul 21, 2013) |
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Someone who is strikingly beautiful can be described as stunning. There's something magical about weddings that makes every bride look stunning. |
The adjective stunning also means causing astonishment, shock, or disbelief. If your basketball team suffers a stunning defeat, it comes at the hands of a rival team you were positive you would beat. Stunning is rooted in the Old French verb estoner, meaning to stun or shock, and it was used in the 1800s as a synonym for excellent. It's still used this way, particularly when something is really impressive, like the school mime troupe's stunning performance. |
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| 3388 |
subversion |
the act of overthrowing or destroying, as a government |
These characters, led by rebel extraordinaire Guy Debord, were dead set on cultural subversion, changing the world through art and ideas. BBC (Mar 2, 2011) |
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Subversion means overthrowing something, like a government or law, or it can mean corrupting someone’s personal morals, like making a vegetarian eat bacon by tricking her. |
The Latin root subvertere means “to turn from below,” and when you turn something on its head in a sneaky way, that’s subversion. Imagine digging a hole in the ground, then covering the hole with a layer of sticks and leaves. When someone walks on it, they fall in. That’s the basic idea of subversion, attacking from below. People often use subversion to take down a corrupt government, and acts of subversion are a powerful way to protest injustice. |
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| 3389 |
surpass |
be or do something to a greater degree |
Both measures surpassed previous record highs hit in late May. BBC (Jul 11, 2013) |
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To surpass means to outdo someone or something, to go beyond what was expected. If you do better than you think you will, you will surpass your own expectations. |
Some words seem to exist just to give an extra oomph to your speech, and surpass is one of these. While you could just say passed or even outdid" saying surpass seems to indicate that a person (or some other thing that performs, like a company) has really gone beyond anything you anticipated. People tend to use this word a lot before the words expectations and predictions among others, because of course surpassing is all about "surpassing something." |
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| 3390 |
synoptic |
presenting a summary or general view of a whole |
The first three Gospels are usually called the Synoptic Gospels, because they give us one synopsis or common view of our Lord's work. Leighton Pullan |
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If you’ve heard of a movie synopsis, which gives an overview of the plot, you can guess what synoptic means: summarizing. At the end of your 900-page treatise on morals, try to give a synoptic conclusion to drive your ideas home. |
Synoptic can be broken down to syn-, meaning together, and -optic, meaning view or sight. So something that is synoptic pulls everything together. At the end of a long day touring your great aunt’s ancestral home, hearing endless stories about every dinner party she ever gave and all the people that ever stayed there, you might synoptically comment, “Basically she cooks well and has lots of fancy friends.” |
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| 3391 |
penitent |
feeling or expressing remorse for misdeeds |
Then her cheek burned with shame, and penitent tears filled her eyes, as better thoughts came crowding into her mind. Martha Finley |
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Penitent means deeply sorry, ashamed, and full of remorse. If you feel sorry––or just want to appear to––you should adopt a penitent manner. |
Penitent comes from the Latin word paenitere, which means to repent. It can be either noun or adjective. Though it's not restricted to them, penitent often pops up in religious contexts, particularly as a noun, as in, "The penitent threw herself at the bishop's feet and begged forgiveness for her sins." |
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| 3392 |
peripheral |
related to the key issue but not of central importance |
In business, project managers sometimes get mired in peripheral issues. Forbes (Jul 16, 2013) |
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Scanners, printers, and speakers are peripheral devices for a computer because they aren't central to the working of the computer itself. Anything peripheral is on the margin, or outside, while main things, like a computer's processor, are not peripheral. |
Outside of computer jargon, peripheral is a common term in eye exams, which measure peripheral vision to see how far toward the outer right and left edges you can see. Peripheral also describes nerves from the body's peripheral system, which are secondary to the main system but branch off of it — like the wires between peripheral devices and a computer. |
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| 3393 |
persistence |
steady determination |
His films, which combined archival footage, still photographs and fresh interviews, were triumphs of curiosity and persistence in unearthing lost material about forgotten subjects. New York Times (May 18, 2013) |
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Persistence is the ability to stick with something. If you practice the violin for over a year in order to play "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" perfectly, that's persistence! |
Persistence can also mean something that lasts for a very long time. The persistence of bullying, despite years of efforts by the school, has frustrated many parents. Bed bugs are known for their persistence. Despite near eradication in the 1950s, they are back and harder to eliminate than ever. |
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| 3394 |
posthumous |
occurring or coming into existence after a person's death |
A third suspect who died in jail was given a posthumous conviction. BBC (Jun 18, 2012) |
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If something happens after someone dies, it is described as posthumous — like the posthumous interest in the music of a singer who died "a nobody." |
The adjective posthumous comes from Latin — post means "after" and humare, "to bury." (You might also think of humus, which means "dirt" or "earth.") So something that is posthumous happens after a person is dead, like the posthumous discovery that your humble neighbor who lived very modestly was actually a multi-millionaire, or the posthumous publication of a book that the writer finished just before she died. |
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| 3395 |
practicable |
capable of being done with means at hand |
On two occasions when I crossed the beaches the sea was running too heavily to make bathing practicable. Samuel Adams Drake |
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Something that is practicable is something that can be reasonably done. Look at the word within the word, practice, plus the suffix -able, and you have something that is able to be put into practice, or practicable. |
Practicable is an adjective built from the word practice and can thus be traced to the Medieval Latin verb practicare and the Medieval French pratiquer, both of which meant "to practice." With the addition of a "c" to remind us of "practice," the French praticable, "able to be put into practice," became the English practicable. |
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| 3396 |
precariously |
in a manner affording no ease or reassurance |
One moment, Mr. Gates was precariously perched on the jetty; the next, he had vanished behind a wall of water. New York Times (Apr 28, 2013) |
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If something is happening or positioned precariously, it's in danger. A glass could be precariously balanced on the edge of a table. |
If something is on the verge of danger, then the word precariously fits. You're living precariously if you jump up and down on a lake that's not totally frozen. In your late teens, you're precariously close to the brink of adulthood. When you have one college class left, you're precariously close to having to find a job. Some people like living precariously: they enjoy danger. Other people just get stressed out and prefer to live carefully. |
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| 3397 |
premeditate |
consider, ponder, or plan beforehand |
He denied the killing was premeditated, but said Arias snapped in the "sudden heat of passion" after Alexander attacked her. Reuters (May 6, 2013) |
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When you premeditate, you are planning ahead. While most people associate this word with crime, let's hope you can think of a better reason to premeditate — like buying groceries before a storm. |
When you meditate, you think deeply. The prefix pre- means “before,” so to premeditate means to think about a situation before you’ve jumped into it. If you’ve ever cooked a meal, you’ve premeditated the ingredients you need to get started. In a courtroom you’ll hear about "premeditated murder," which means the accused killer planned out his crime and it wasn’t a crime of passion. Premeditating can be a good thing, but not when it involves murder. |
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| 3398 |
prevalent |
most frequent or common |
At the Nike outlet, Chung said all sales staff were now required to be fluent in Mandarin, the most prevalent Chinese dialect. Reuters (May 19, 2013) |
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Something prevalent is common in a particular place at a particular time. Prevalent things are hard to avoid. When you see the word prevalent, think "It's everywhere!" |
Have you ever noticed how all of a sudden a new word, band, or hairstyle will become super-popular? You may never have seen those things before, and then suddenly they're prevalent. When something is common, it's prevalent. You could say drug use is prevalent among criminals. You could say good study habits are prevalent among good students. If a certain opinion is common, then that's a prevalent view in society. |
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| 3399 |
prodigality |
the trait of spending extravagantly |
Drink, gambling, licentiousness, and prodigality, ruined his fortunes, and cut short his life. H. G. Somerville |
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Prodigality is excessive or extravagant spending. Your friend may feel he needs those gold chairs for his living room, but to everyone else it’s another example of his prodigality. |
“Idleness is the greatest prodigality,” said Ben Franklin. He was probably right, but today prodigality is more often used to talk about spending monetary resources, as opposed to other kinds of resources. Prodigality does not merely refer to spending above your means. It’s excessive or wasteful spending, often with an eye toward the luxurious. Think of the Palace of Versailles, or that film star who owns ten expensive cars but doesn’t drive. Synonyms for prodigality include extravagance, profligacy, and lavishness. |
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| 3400 |
profundity |
intellectual depth; penetrating knowledge |
Mr. Zapruder’s verse — a learned, attentive everyman’s train of thought — couches subtle profundities among mundane observations. New York Times (Oct 28, 2012) |
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Profundity describes being thoughtful, deep, and wise. Your profundity might inspire friends to come to you for advice. |
Profundity comes from the word profound and it means a quality of depth or wisdom that is meaningful or even transformational. The profundity of a piece of music might move you to tears, and the profundity of certain philosophies can be deep — and a bit confusing. Profundity can describe something that's intense, like the profundity of the silence in the room following the announcement of bad news. |
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| 3401 |
prolixity |
boring verbosity |
His prolixity was increased by his unwillingness, when writing without prescribed limits, to leave out any detail, however unimportant. Various |
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If someone likes to talk but they're really boring, they've got prolixity. It's not something to be proud of. |
Prolixity means about the same thing as long-windedness. If someone is yammering on and on and on — that's an example of prolixity. Part of prolixity seems good: we'd all like to be able to put words together easily. On the other hand, none of us want to be boring. That's a major downside to prolixity. Prolixity is similar to "wordiness" — using too many words, or too many long words — when a few would get the job done. |
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| 3402 |
prominent |
conspicuous in position or importance |
Though they garner far less publicity than splashy initial public offerings, private placements play as prominent a role in the financial markets. New York Times (Jul 10, 2013) |
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If you're looking for an adjective that means "sticking out above the rest; famous," consider prominent. A prominent person might be the big cheese, the head honcho, the top dog — not just any Joe Schmo. |
A prominence is anything that juts out, like a bone or a mountain ridge. Prominent, then, means "sticking out" either in a literal sense ("a prominent nose") or a figurative one ("a prominent figure in the industry"). The metaphorical sense of "famous" is the most common one today, though references to the "prominent posterior" of Jennifer Lopez might fit both definitions. |
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| 3403 |
prophetic |
foretelling events as if by supernatural intervention |
The piece feels strangely prophetic, anticipating an eclipse of the news outlets themselves. New York Times (Jan 20, 2011) |
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If you make a prediction and it comes true, your words were prophetic. Like the time you warned your dad against eating a whole box of donuts. He got sick, right? That was a prophetic warning. |
The adjective prophetic traces all the way back to the Greek word prophētikos, meaning "predicting." You know who's really good at predicting stuff? Prophets. Usually, prophetic is used to describe a thing — like a warning, a feeling, or a complaint — rather than a person. |
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| 3404 |
providential |
peculiarly fortunate or appropriate |
The oldest sailors on board acknowledged that they had never witnessed so providential an escape. George Henry Borrow |
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If your best friend pulls up beside you in her convertible just as your bike gets a flat tire, you could call it providential, or magically lucky. |
The Latin root of providential is providentia, "foresight or precaution." Providence changed over the years; it usually referred specifically to the care of God, and it was spelled with a capital P. Providential, likewise, has another meaning that's purely religious, "resulting from God's intervention." Whether you're talking about God or not, if something is providential, it feels a little miraculous. |
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| 3405 |
pseudonym |
a fictitious name used when performing a particular role |
JK Rowling has said she feels "very angry" after finding out her pseudonym Robert Galbraith was leaked by a legal firm. BBC (Jul 18, 2013) |
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A pseudonym is a name that someone, often a writer, uses instead of their real name. The real name of Dr. Seuss was Theodore Seuss Geisel. Mark Twain was a pseudonym for the writer Samuel Clemens. |
A near synonym of pseudonym is pen name. Similarly, an allonym is the name of an important person in history that is taken by a writer as a pseudonym. Some of Shakespeare's plays might have been written by other writers using an allonym. If an actor uses a fake name, it is usually called a stage name. And there's no fancy work for nickname––it's just what your family and friends call you. |
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| 3406 |
lionize |
assign great social importance to |
Lionized in American history for his soaring defense of individual liberty, Jefferson's extensive slaveholdings have been curiously downplayed, dismissed as beyond his control, or excused. Seattle Times (Oct 28, 2012) |
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The lion is the king of beasts. To lionize someone is to see them as important as a lion. Republicans continue to lionize Ronald Reagan as their ultimate hero. |
The lion is a symbol of pride, strength, courage, and nobility, so when you lionize someone, you attribute to them all those marvelous traits. Many people are uncomfortable with being lionized, since being made to seem important comes with responsibilities that are sometimes a burden. After the shooting, the bystander resisted people's efforts to lionize him. He was only doing what any person would do, he protested. "Don't make me into a hero. I don't want to be lionized." |
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| 3407 |
lure |
provoke someone to do something through persuasion |
Greater competition means mattress sellers are having to adapt to lure and keep customers — with tactics like price matching, zero percent financing and same-day delivery. Chicago Tribune (Jul 21, 2013) |
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To lure is to entice or bait someone. A lure is used to bait or entice fish to attach themselves to your hook. "He had a new shiny lure, which was enough to lure me into going on the fishing trip." |
The verb lure is related to words that mean “bait,” “deceit,” and “invite.” Often, when lure is used, there is a nefarious implication, as in: “He was able to lure her into the alley, but her friends soon came looking for her.” The noun lure is the thing that draws in the person or animal, which can be either a physical object or a concept. "The lure of his great wealth kept her in the relationship despite his infidelity." |
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| 3408 |
lurid |
glaringly vivid and graphic; marked by sensationalism |
Like many of Khan’s supporters, he’s wearied by Pakistan’s crippling energy shortages, long-souring economy, near daily terrorist attacks and lurid tales of official corruption. Time (May 10, 2013) |
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When people are lured into looking at something, they may be drawn to it because it's a shocking, graphic, or horrible scene, something lurid and very vivid that pulls them in. Your mother might complain that she hates lurid TV shows — ones that are overly sensationalized and meant to shock. |
An expression used to avoid hearing or seeing disturbing things is "spare me the lurid details" or "spare me the gory details," and people say that so they won't have shocking or ugly images put into their imaginations. The word lurid, which entered English in the 17th century, comes from Latin lūridis, "ghastly, pale yellow." All of the synonyms for the adjective lurid describe qualities that can turn a person pale: dreadful, nightmarish, and horrific, among others. Lurid is just a uniquely dark and gruesome word. |
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| 3409 |
manacle |
confine or restrain with or as if with handcuffs |
Steven Spielberg, fantast supreme, always felt manacled by movie reality. Time (Dec 21, 2011) |
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If a police officer has to manacle your hands behind your back, you're in big trouble. That's just a fancy way of saying that you've been handcuffed. |
Used as a noun, manacle is a synonym for shackle, meaning "a metal chain or band, used to fasten someone’s hands or ankles together." You’re more likely to see the noun form of this word in its plural form manacles, since — like socks or mittens — a pair is usually required. (Quite unlike socks or mittens, manacles are not at all comfortable or pleasant to wear.) You can say that someone who has been restrained using manacles has been manacled. |
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| 3410 |
meld |
lose its distinct outline or shape; blend gradually |
As these videos suggest, scientists are taking tiny, incremental steps toward melding humans and machine all the time. New York Times (Jun 1, 2013) |
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To meld is to completely combine or blend two or more things. If you meld breakfast and lunch, you get brunch. If you meld jeans and leggings, you get jeggings. |
Books that are told from the perspectives of more than one character meld different narrators into one coherent story, and complicated recipes meld many different ingredients and flavors. When one thing melds into another, it loses its separate characteristics and blends slowly into the new substance. The origin of meld isn't clear, but some experts guess that it's a combination of melt and weld. |
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| 3411 |
misnomer |
an incorrect or unsuitable name |
But that's a misnomer – reindeer moss is in fact lichen. The Guardian (Dec 22, 2012) |
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A misnomer is a wrong or unsuitable name. It’s a misnomer to call your grandmother “Grandfather,” the same way it’s a misnomer to call a chair with four legs that doesn’t move unless you drag it across the floor, a rocking chair. |
From the Middle-French misnomer “to misname” evolved our English misnomer, a noun indicating a lack of fit when it comes to naming. Synonyms include, predictably, misnamed, but also mistermed and miscalled. You’ll notice the repetition of the mis- at the front of all those words. It comes from the French mes-, which means “wrongly.” |
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| 3412 |
monopolize |
have and control fully and exclusively |
He talks much in an animated monologue, though the common complaint that he monopolizes the conversation is not a just one. Various |
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If you monopolize something, you won't let anyone else get their hands on it. When you were little, your mom might have said, "Don't monopolize the swing. Let your sister have a turn." |
When a company monopolizes something, it has an unfair amount of control over a particular product or service, hurting other companies and giving consumers fewer choices. A business might monopolize the media in an entire state, for example, by owning the local newspapers, TV stations, and news websites. Monopolize comes from monopoly, which isn't just a great board game, but actually means "exclusive control of a commodity or trade." |
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| 3413 |
nave |
the central area of a church |
Terry looked as if he would far rather have his soul damned under a Gothic nave.—"That's simply buying 'em off," he said. Oliver Onions |
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When a bride walks down the aisle in a church, she is walking down the nave, or central area of the church. |
The word nave comes from the Latin navis, meaning "ship." If you think of the central space of a big Gothic church with its high vaulted ceiling, it does kind of form the shape of a ship, doesn't it? The nave is the area where the congregation sits. It's usually rectangular in shape and filled with rows of benches. |
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| 3414 |
nomadic |
migratory |
His parents, who belong to a Punjabi nomadic tribe and live in temporary, thatched shelters, have moved to other grounds. BBC (Jul 24, 2013) |
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A nomad is someone who lives by traveling from place to place. Nomadic thus means anything that involves moving around a lot. Nomadic hunter-gatherer tribes follow the animals they hunt, carrying tents with them. |
You don't have to be a nomad to live a nomadic lifestyle. People who work for the state department travel from foreign country to foreign country in four-year postings––they might call this nomadic. If you change schools a lot because of your parents' moves, you could say you've had a nomadic education. |
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| 3415 |
notoriety |
the state of being known for some unfavorable act or quality |
Although he sometimes bristled at his Watergate notoriety, Mr. Garment professed no lasting scars from the episode, the biggest political scandal of the century. New York Times (Jul 15, 2013) |
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Notoriety is fame you get from doing something bad or being part of a misfortune or scandal. Just remember: Notoriety's not al-righty. Charles Manson earned notoriety for his grisly crimes. |
In our celebrity culture, it's hard not to think that seizing your 15 minutes of fame is worth the shame of earning it through stupidity, scandal, or evil. (See: people's motives for going on reality television.) We ordinary mortals can comfort ourselves with the knowledge that most people who become notorious fade from the public mind quickly. |
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| 3416 |
novelty |
originality by virtue of being new and surprising |
The new downtown productions, by embedding theater inside a larger experience, have so far been able to persuade many people to pony up for novelty. New York Times (Jun 23, 2013) |
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Novelty is a newness or refreshing quality. Many college freshmen enjoy the novelty of living on their own — until it comes time to do that first load of laundry. |
You'll often hear people talk about the novelty of a new experience — imagine the excitement and anticipation of cracking open a novel you’ve never read before to help remember the word. But novelty is also a term for a small toy or trinket, usually mass-produced. Novelty shops sell all kinds of funny knickknacks, from personalized flashlight key chains to stuffed singing hamsters. |
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| 3417 |
orthodox |
adhering to what is commonly accepted |
Germany is advocating a reduction in budget deficits while pursuing an orthodox monetary policy whose sole objective is to control inflation. The Guardian (Apr 30, 2013) |
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Orthodox practices or beliefs are generally accepted as true or correct. If you are an orthodox vegetarian, you never, ever eat meat––not like those people who have chicken once in awhile, or even––gasp!––bacon. |
When capitalized, Orthodox is the name of the Eastern Church, originally distinguished by its doctrinal differences from the other divisions of the Christian Church. Orthodox is also the name of the branch of Judaism that strictly follows traditional beliefs and customs, derived from orthodox in the earlier meaning of "strictly observant." |
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| 3418 |
immigrate |
come into a new country and change residency |
Schoenberg died in 1951, 17 years after having immigrated to the United States, and his study at home in Brentwood, Calif., remained intact. New York Times (Oct 10, 2012) |
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When a person immigrates, he or she moves to a new country. During the great wave of immigration between 1880 and 1924, over 25 million Europeans immigrated to the United States. |
Many immigrants make significant contributions to their adopted countries. Consider Albert Einstein, the greatest physicist of the twentieth century, who immigrated to America from Germany, or the Russian-born New Yorker Irving Berlin, who wrote some of the most popular songs in the American songbook, including “White Christmas” and “God Bless America." The word immigrate comes from the Latin imigrare, which means “to move in.” |
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| 3419 |
imperceptibly |
in a manner that is difficult to discern |
Gradually, almost imperceptibly, our material environment gets better, smarter and lighter. The Guardian (Feb 17, 2011) |
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The word imperceptibly is used for things that are hardly happening at all or happening to such a small degree that you barely notice. |
If something is imperceptibly moving, then it's barely moving — or not moving enough for you to really see it moving. It's imperceptible, or not perceptible. An imperceptibly whining dog is hardly whining at all. An imperceptibly flapping flag is nearly still. This word is the opposite of dramatically or extremely, when there's a lot of activity. |
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| 3420 |
improvise |
manage in a makeshift way; do with whatever is at hand |
His wife turned a cut-rate apartment in affluent Cambridge into an improvised salon, offering facials at attractive prices. Washington Post (Jul 17, 2013) |
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To improvise means to make something up on the spot, or figure it out as you go. "Our boss decided to improvise his speech at our company meeting and when he started going off-topic, everyone could tell he hadn't prepared in advance." |
Improvise comes from the Latin word improvisus, meaning "unforeseen, unexpected." Think about when something unexpected happens to you — you have no choice but to react in the moment, or improvise. Another meaning for improvise refers to acting onstage without a script. When actors improvise scenes for an audience, they create funny situations as they go, without having anything pre-planned. The Second City theater in Chicago made this type of comedy famous, with many well-known alumni like Tina Fey and Stephen Colbert. |
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| 3421 |
incongruous |
lacking in harmony or compatibility or appropriateness |
In this season the two things are incongruous, a skeletal figure wearing the tunic of an obese pastry chef. The New Yorker (Sep 17, 2012) |
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Something that's incongruous is inconsistent or incompatible with something else. Remember that Sesame Street song "One of these things is not like the other"? They were talking about that one thing being incongruous. |
If we break it down into its Latin roots, incongruous is formed by adding in, meaning “not," to congruous, which means “suitable, proper.” So, something that is incongruous is "not suitable or proper" — in other words, not in harmony with everything else. That's why burping at the dinner table could be called incongruous behavior: it's not proper and certainly doesn't go well with the main course. |
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| 3422 |
indecorous |
lacking propriety and good taste in manners and conduct |
He, apparently, saw nothing indecorous in facts which must shock any other than the most depraved. Anonymous |
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Indecorous behavior isn't proper or socially acceptable. It would be indecorous to publish your sister's diary in the newspaper or to tell your extended family an offensive joke at Thanksgiving dinner. |
Rude or off-color remarks are indecorous, and wearing a bikini to a formal dinner would also be indecorous. Indecorous things lack decorum, which is good manners or proper behavior. Indecorous, from the Latin decorus, "becoming or seemly," comes from the root word decus, "ornament," and is related to words like "decorate" and "decent." |
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| 3423 |
indifferent |
marked by a lack of interest |
Yet, strange to say, I was not alarmed, but passively indifferent. Edward Pollock Anshutz |
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If you're indifferent about something, you don't care much about it one way or another. You might feel indifferent about politics, changing the channel whenever the TV news comes on. |
People seem indifferent when they're obviously unconcerned — an indifferent observer of a tennis match is clearly not rooting for either player, and an indifferent voter might choose a candidate at the last minute by flipping a coin. A slightly less common meaning of indifferent is "unbiased or impartial," which you can see in its root, the Old French indifferent, or "impartial." In this sense of the word, we all hope our laws and legal system are indifferent. |
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| 3424 |
indiscernible |
difficult or impossible to perceive |
If there is any pressing going on, it's indiscernible to the naked eye. The Guardian (Aug 25, 2010) |
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Indiscernible things can't be seen or sensed clearly. A black cat is indiscernible in the dark, and the tiny amount of gray in your hair might also be indiscernible. |
Flavors are indiscernible if you can't taste them, and objects are indiscernible if you can't see them. Your next door neighbor's piano playing is also indiscernible if he plays quietly, with the windows shut so you can't hear. The adjective indiscernible adds the "not" or "opposite of" prefix in- to discernible, from its Latin root discernere, "to set apart," or "to distinguish." |
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| 3425 |
inhibit |
limit, block, or decrease the action or function of |
Defense attorneys will argue that brain trauma inhibited Russell's judgment. Reuters (May 6, 2013) |
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When you inhibit something, you block it or hold it back. If you put plants in a dark room, you inhibit their growth. A teacher who mocks their students for giving wrong answers inhibits their willingness to speak up in class. |
When you look at the word inhibit, think hinder. Though it sounds like it might be a bad thing to inhibit something else, there is no judgment built into the word. A drug that inhibits the growth of cancer cells would generally be considered a very good thing. While you may wish cancer cells to be inhibited, you probably don't wish it upon your friend's sense of humor or your country's economic growth. |
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| 3426 |
injudicious |
lacking or showing lack of judgment or discretion; unwise |
Malzin lost his head, and made many injudicious concessions. Ossip Schubin |
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A decision that's not very smart or well thought out can be called injudicious. It would be injudicious to spend your last five dollars on a fancy coffee drink. |
When you regret something you've done, you might decide in retrospect that it was injudicious. It's injudicious to spread rumors about a friend, because it's not thoughtful. It's also injudicious to ride in a fast-moving car without a seat belt, because it's dangerous. Judicious means "showing good judgment," from the Latin root iudicium, or "judgment." |
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| 3427 |
intransigent |
impervious to pleas, persuasion, requests, or reason |
While some back-channel communications continued on Monday, each side sought to publicly portray the other as intransigent. New York Times (Mar 28, 2011) |
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Intransigent means inflexible, stubborn, entrenched. Argue all you like with an intransigent three-year-old. He will never back down from the position that he wants the lollipop NOW. |
Trans has to do with movement — think transportation, or a package in transit, i.e. "on the way." The in- of intransigent means "not," so something or someone who is intransigent is not moving. If one political party wants to raise funds to improve schools but the other is intransigent on the subject of higher taxes, the debate will get nowhere. |
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| 3428 |
elucidate |
make clear and comprehensible |
Looking for ancient ancestors can also help to elucidate how early animals developed their basic body plan and nervous system. Scientific American (Mar 15, 2012) |
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If you elucidate something, you explain it very clearly. If you don't understand fractions, a visit to the pie shop may elucidate the subject for you. |
Elucidate is from Late Latin elucidare, from the Latin prefix e- "thoroughly" plus lucidus "clear, bright." This Latin adjective is the source of English lucid, which describes someone who thinks clearly or something that is clear enough to understand. |
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| 3429 |
eminence |
high status importance owing to marked superiority |
Within 15 years he had acquired and merged his way to Texas banking eminence as the biggest shareholder in First International Bancshares of Dallas. New York Times (Dec 12, 2012) |
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Eminence is superior status. If you become a world famous actor, the folks in your home town might treat you as an eminence when you come home for Thanksgiving. Just don't expect your family to do the same. |
Eminence traces back to the Latin adjective ēminēntia, meaning high or lofty. We don't usually use it for mountain tops, however; it's social loftiness that scores eminence. Some special people are addressed as "your eminence," in the same way you'd call a judge "your honor." You can attain eminence or be an eminence. If you become a physical therapist, you might work with another kind of eminence: the high bit protruding from a bone where muscles or ligaments attach. |
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| 3430 |
entail |
impose, involve, or imply as a necessary result |
The arrangement "is based on existing resources and should therefore entail no substantial additional costs", a Commission statement said. BBC (Jul 17, 2013) |
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Entail means what something involves. "The job entailed us standing in the snow for hours dressed as giant, human hot dogs. It entailed far too much humiliation to justify the $3.55 an hour we were paid." |
The word entail is connected to the idea of preconditions. If you want something, you better figure out what it entails. If we want to see the movie at 9 o'clock, that will entail us waiting in the lobby another hour. If we want to stay out of trouble with our moms, that will entail us calling them and letting them know we're going to be later than we said. |
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| 3431 |
entrenched |
established firmly and securely |
The opposition tapped into growing concern among Cambodians over rising inequality and entrenched corruption that Hun Sen's critics say his policies have exacerbated. Reuters (Jul 29, 2013) |
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When you're entrenched, you're dug in. Sometimes that means you're literally in a trench, but usually it means you just won't budge from a position or belief. |
Entrenched things are buried so solidly that they can't move — or just behave like they're firmly lodged in some deep hole. Usually this word refers to views people hold very strongly. Having turkey on Thanksgiving is a tradition that's entrenched in American culture — it's long been established and isn't going anywhere. When you're entrenched, you're being stubborn or consistent, depending on your view. |
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| 3432 |
erroneous |
containing or characterized by error |
The "bridge" was not included in Wilkins' map, although it did incorporate some other erroneous details. The Guardian (Jun 11, 2013) |
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The adjective erroneous describes something or someone as mistaken and incorrect. Early explorers had the erroneous notion that the oceans were full of dragons. |
When we talk about being on the "straight and narrow path" we aim to live a truthful and moral life. The Latin root of erroneous, or "to be incorrect" as well as "to be immoral," is errare, which means "to wander." It's clear that we make connections between behavior and direction or space. These two ideas have been linked for a very long time! |
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| 3433 |
euphoric |
exaggerated feeling of well-being or elation |
I took a deep breath – an almost giddy, euphoric feeling came over me. Time (Jul 23, 2013) |
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To be euphoric is to be carried away with amazingly good feelings. The euphoric feeling of having won the lottery ended quickly when you saw your pet ferret chewing up your lottery ticket. |
When someone's euphoric, they're so happy that they might have lost touch with reality for the moment. This “too good to be true” quality is one reason some drug-induced states get described as euphoric. In fact, euphoria, which euphoric stems from, originally meant a feeling of wellness caused in the sick by the use of drugs. |
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| 3434 |
exacting |
severe and unremitting in making demands |
Violence has continued apace this summer, exacting a particularly heavy toll of Afghan police officers. New York Times (Jul 2, 2013) |
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Use the adjective exacting to describe something or someone very precise or strict in its requirements. If your teacher has exacting standards about spelling and punctuation, you better carefully check your final paper. |
An exacting person expects things to be, well, exact. For this reason, demanding is a good synonym. Friends who are exacting might let you have it if you show up a minute or two late. Some exacting people are extremely selective about what they eat, rejecting anything that doesn't meet their complicated standards of nutrition and taste. |
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| 3435 |
exponentially |
in a manner of rapid growth |
Over the past two decades, China's economic, political and diplomatic power has increased exponentially. BBC (Jul 16, 2013) |
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Use exponentially when you want to say that something's increasing quickly by large amounts. Your friends and colleagues will be pleased to hear that your vocabulary is growing exponentially. |
The root of exponentially is the French verb exponere, meaning “to put out.” Think of a factory that puts out so many products its creations seem to increase exponentially. The mathematical origin of this word has to do with multiplying a number by itself so think also of rabbits, who are known for multiplying exponentially. Now imagine if rabbits worked in a factory... (No animals were harmed during this explanation). |
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| 3436 |
extravagance |
excessive spending |
More generally, as they build their welfare states, Asian countries are determined to avoid the West’s extravagance. Economist (Oct 11, 2012) |
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Use the noun extravagance when you're talking about something that's over the top, especially when it comes to spending money. Ordering a $500 hamburger for dinner would be an extravagance. |
Money is usually the subject when people talk about extravagance, although the word can also mean having too much of something, whether it's anger or flowery wallpaper. In Latin, the root word extravagari means "wander outside or beyond," and originally extravagance was used to describe something that was unusual — "wandering outside" the norm. It wasn't until the 1700s that the word became associated specifically with spending too much money. |
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| 3437 |
fluctuation |
an instance of change |
But the day to day fluctuations in the stock value, taken in aggregate, are best modeled with a random walk. Scientific American (Jun 28, 2013) |
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The noun fluctuation refers to the deviations along the path from one point to another. We see frequent fluctuations in the stock market, as prices go up or down, and also in the weather, which is always changing. |
The original form of the word fluctuation appeared as a mid-15th-century French word derived from the Latin fluctuationem, meaning "vacillation." The verb stem fluctuāre meant "to undulate," referring to waves, giving rise to the idea of change and movement that is at the heart of the word. It might help to remember that fluctuation has the same root as the word fluent, and to think of it as something flowing, with frequent change along the way. |
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| 3438 |
foreground |
move closer to the viewer to make more visible or prominent |
Such projects foreground contemporary claims about pluralism and interfaith cooperation in US civic life. Salon (May 1, 2013) |
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When you're watching a movie, you can describe what's happening up close to the camera as being in the foreground. |
The foreground is the opposite of the background, which is the part of a photograph, painting, or scene that's farthest away from you. Some photographers tend to focus sharply on the foreground while letting the rest of the picture go blurry. The noun foreground was first used specifically for talking about painting, and it came from fore, "before" or "in front," and ground, or "foundation." |
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| 3439 |
deflect |
draw someone's attention away from something |
Still others said their opponents spent so much time deflecting questions about scandals, they never had to face more substantive criticism. New York Times (Jul 17, 2013) |
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The verb deflect describes blocking something or changing its course. Hockey goalies deflect the flying puck with their sticks or blockers, making it travel in a different direction, preferably to a teammate's stick. |
In a cartoon, a mouse might ask an approaching cat, "Hey, what's that up in the sky?" When the cat looks up, the mouse runs away, successful in his attempt to deflect the cat's attention. When you deflect, you throw someone or something off course, often by using a distraction. Another way to deflect something — such as criticism — is to blame someone else. Eventually the truth, like the cat who quickly sees there's nothing unusual up in the sky, catches up with those who deflect. |
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| 3440 |
defy |
resist or confront with resistance |
Mr Weiner has so far defied calls to drop out of the election race BBC (Jul 25, 2013) |
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To defy is to openly refuse to do something. You can defy the no-costumes-in-class rule if you wear your fairy wings to school, but just don’t try to defy the laws of gravity unless you can actually fly. |
If you deliberately break a rule or ignore an order, you defy, or resist, that rule. The word defy comes from the Latin word disfidare for "renounce one's faith." So if you're expected to be faithful to a certain law or rule but you refuse to be, you defy it. There are different ways to defy — defy your parents by staying out past curfew, or defy common sense by walking in with shoes on your head. |
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| 3441 |
degrade |
reduce in worth or character, usually verbally |
Such encryption could degrade the personalized services net companies are offering. The Guardian (Jun 29, 2013) |
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Degrade means to put down––a degrading comment is one that makes the subject feel bad, a degraded field is one whose soil has been worn out. If you move from an A average to a B, you've been degraded. |
When you whistle at a passing woman, you're being disrespectful––your behavior is degrading to women. In science, degrade means to break down. Old paper or photographs can degrade when left in the light––their material breaks down so that they crumble at a touch. |
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| 3442 |
deliberate |
carefully thought out in advance |
After talks between the two sides failed in recent days, Vivus accused First Manhattan of sending deliberate misinformation to fellow shareholders. Reuters (Jul 19, 2013) |
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To deliberate means to carefully think or talk something through — it also means slow and measured, the pace of this kind of careful decision making. If you chose deliberately, you make a very conscious, well-thought-through choice. |
The verb deliberate ends with an "ate" sound — at the end of a trial, after the evidence is presented, the twelve members of a jury retreat to a room to deliberate, i.e., talk through the trial and come to a verdict. The adjective deliberate ends with an "it" sound. If you walk with a deliberate pace, you're slow and steady. |
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| 3443 |
demur |
politely refuse or take exception to |
Feeling lazy, I demurred — but when Mike brought it up again 15 minutes later, I gave in just to shut him up. New York Times (Aug 23, 2012) |
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If your mother asks you to clean your room and you refuse, you demur. And if your friend invites you to the Death Metal Forever concert but you hesitate, you demur. Whether you object, politely disagree, or hesitate, you demur. |
If Aunt Tilly offers to knit you a sweater, you might politely demur, being reluctant to accept. When she describes the bunnies she plans for the sweater, you would want to strongly demur, explaining that you are moving to Texas next week and will no longer need sweaters. And if you find yourself the defendant in a civil suit, you might file a demurrer, objecting to the plaintiff’s complaint. When you file that demurrer, you also demur. |
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| 3444 |
derivation |
the act of obtaining something from a source or origin |
No following can be more productive of a study and love of word derivations and allied word meanings than gardening. Alice Morse Earle |
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Derivation is fancy word for the origin or root of something. |
Derivation is most often used in reference to abstract concepts — such as words, names or ideas. The derivation of the word derivation is the Latin derivationem, meaning "a leading off or turning away from." For the origin of more physical things, we tend to use root or source: "Stanley wasn't looking for the derivation of the Nile; he was looking for its source." |
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| 3445 |
deviation |
a variation from the standard or norm |
Self-censorship — Doubts and deviations from the perceived group consensus are not expressed. Washington Post (Jun 9, 2012) |
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Anything that varies from the accepted norm or standard is called a deviation. It is common in math and science, but it can refer to anything that differs from the expected. |
Deviation in nature is an important part of evolution. When something causes a creature’s DNA to change, it creates a deviation, or a changed characteristic. If the deviation makes the organism better able to survive, it passes the change on to its descendants. People are naturally given to change, so there are deviations in critical thought as well as in math and science. Those deviations often account for the creativity that gives rise to new ideas, or theories, or even musical styles. |
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| 3446 |
divergence |
a difference between conflicting facts or claims or opinions |
Meanwhile, consumers are downright giddy, sharpening the divergence with gloomy corporations. BusinessWeek (Oct 26, 2012) |
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The point where two things split off from each other is called a divergence. When you're walking in the woods and face a divergence in the path, you have to make a choice about which way to go. |
A divergence doesn't have to be a physical split — it can also be a philosophical division. The divergence of opinion between a school board and a group of parents might cause such a heated argument that the students at the meeting are obviously better behaved than the adults. Divergence can also mean a deviation from standards or norms, like the divergence between your state's smoking laws and those of your neighboring states. |
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| 3447 |
diversify |
make distinctly dissimilar or unlike |
In order to sidestep the tighter security presence in Maiduguri, the Islamist militants have diversified their tactics. BBC (Jul 23, 2013) |
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Diversify means to vary in type. It's often used to discuss risk in financial activities. You might diversify your investments by spreading your wealth among different types of stocks. |
You may have noticed that diversify looks like the word diverse, an adjective that describes showing variety and difference. If you want to diversify your interests, that means you want to mix it up and do more than just play Dungeons and Dragons all the time — you might become active in sports, theater, and the math club. Diversify can also describe expanding into new areas. A company might diversify by sending its sales force into Asia and Latin America. |
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| 3448 |
dwelling |
housing that someone is living in |
While the group failed to locate a nest - hives are dwellings for domesticated honeybees - they identified and photographed at least three queens. Reuters (Jul 19, 2013) |
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A dwelling is a home — where someone lives. Houses, apartments, and condos are all dwellings. |
If you know that to dwell means to live somewhere, then the meaning of dwelling won't be a surprise: it's an abode, domicile, or home. Your dwelling might be a house or an apartment. Tents, trailers, and igloos are all dwellings. Anything people live in is a dwelling. If you have no dwelling, then you have no shelter and you're probably homeless. |
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| 3449 |
bogus |
fraudulent; having a misleading appearance |
He acknowledged pocketing bribes from corrupt contractors in exchange for certifying bogus or inflated invoices for services that were never provided. New York Times (Jul 12, 2013) |
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Bogus means fake. A bogus dollar bill is counterfeit, a bogus Picasso was not painted by him, and a bogus attempt at reconciliation would come from someone who never intended to end a fight. |
Perhaps appropriately, the word bogus originated in the US. Coined as a name for a machine that printed counterfeit money, it later became a trademark term among California surfers. In surfer speak, "totally bogus, dude" would describe any unfortunate situation. |
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| 3450 |
bridle |
the act of restraining power or action or limiting excess |
He smoldered for eight innings in the Washington Nationals’ dugout, until Davey Johnson could keep Harper bridled no longer. Washington Post (Jun 10, 2012) |
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When you're riding a horse and scream "Whoa!" to make it stop, you're pulling on the reins, which are attached to a thing called the bridle, the buckled straps around a horse's head that help you control its movements. |
The word bridle comes from the Old English bridel meaning "rein, curb, restraint," which is precisely what the purpose of a bridle is — to help restrain a horse's movements when necessary. You can bridle a horse, which is the act of putting a bridle on it. If you yank too hard on the reins, your horse might bridle, or take offense to your aggressiveness, just like you might bridle if someone insulted you. |
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| 3451 |
catastrophe |
an event resulting in great loss and misfortune |
He also said the mountains are dangerous, with regular landslides and other natural catastrophes. New York Times (Jul 13, 2013) |
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A catastrophe is a disaster. If a wedding reception is disrupted by a fistfight between the bride and her new mother-in-law, you could call the occasion a catastrophe. |
Catastrophe comes from a Greek word meaning "overturn." It originally referred to the disastrous finish of a drama, usually a tragedy. The definition was extended to mean "any sudden disaster" in the 1700s. Nowadays, catastrophe can be used to refer to very tragic events as well as more minor ones. A hurricane destroying hundreds of homes is certainly a catastrophe; baking a birthday cake without following a recipe might also result in catastrophe, if you don't know anything about cooking. |
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| 3452 |
chronological |
relating to or arranged according to temporal order |
The albums are listed in chronological order of their original release. Time (Dec 25, 2012) |
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If you’re making a list of all your teachers in the order you had them, from kindergarten right up to the present, you’re listing them in chronological order. Chronological is the order in which things actually happened. |
Chronological doesn’t allow for time traveling or flashbacks. If you’re making a documentary of events leading up to World War II and you start in the early 1900s and end at the outbreak of the war, in 1939, that’s chronological. Reverse chronological order means giving the most recent event first, and going backwards from there. Chronological includes the useful Greek root khronos, "time." |
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| 3453 |
circumscribe |
restrict or confine |
In both cases, diplomatic security agents suggested that their investigations had been circumscribed or blocked by superiors. New York Times (Jun 11, 2013) |
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To circumscribe is to limit or restrict. If you spend too much time watching TV instead of fulfilling other obligations, you might circumscribe your TV-watching time to one hour daily (or two hours, if your favorite show is on). |
Circumscribe comes from the Latin words circum, meaning "around," and scribere, meaning "to write." If the word circumscribe causes you to think of geometry class, give yourself a pat on the back. In geometry, circumscribe means to draw one geometric figure around another figure so that the two figures touch but don’t intersect. If you studied geometry but this sounds unfamiliar, perhaps you should have taken our advice about watching too much TV. |
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| 3454 |
complacency |
the feeling you have when you are satisfied with yourself |
But those good times bred complacency, and Mr. Bernanke’s recent comments have caused an abrupt change in perceptions. New York Times (Jun 24, 2013) |
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The word complacency is often hurled, in a rather scornful manner, at people who are unwilling to be political. It connotes a sense of ease and contentment with the status quo. |
It is a rare thing to hear the word complacency used in a purely positive way; there's always a sense of scolding to it. At best it's used to convey a person's satisfaction: "Oh? No one asked you to the prom? I've been asked three times," she said with smiling complacency. More usually, however, it takes on a political tone, as with large bodies of people who are unwilling to protest corruption because it doesn't touch them: "He preached and argued, but it was impossible to jostle the students from their complacency." |
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| 3455 |
compliance |
acting according to certain accepted standards |
City inspectors have yet to investigate, but Mr. LaVorgna said the home was in compliance with the building code. New York Times (Jul 24, 2013) |
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Compliance is what you do when you try to fit standards set down by someone else. A restaurant chef's compliance with a new sugar-free menu might inspire even the pastry chefs to follow the recipes. |
Plywood helps illustrate the "pli" in compliance, because if you've ever stepped on a piece of plywood stretched across something, you've felt how it gives underneath your feet. It has flexibility. Compliance means being flexible or yielding and giving in to a situation or order. "Pliant" is part of the word compliance, and it means yielding. Agreeing or bending to something like a plan, rule, or direction is compliance. |
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| 3456 |
consolidation |
the act of combining into an integral whole |
Neuroscientists have long known that sleep plays an important role in memory consolidation, helping to integrate newly learned information. Scientific American (Jul 24, 2013) |
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In a tough economy, you see a lot of consolidation. This could be smaller businesses joining together or the consolidation of debt, as in combining three credit card payments into one. Anywhere there’s consolidation, there’s merging, joining, and combining. |
You can see the word solid at the heart of consolidation, and its Latin roots will tell you that it means “to make solid together.” The goal of consolidation is really just that, to combine things in order to make them stronger or more beneficial. If you’re good at art and your friend is good at science, you may want to form a consolidation to take the science fair by storm. |
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| 3457 |
copious |
large in number or quantity |
Plentiful plaudits and copious commendations have followed, but I'm not so sure. BBC (Apr 22, 2013) |
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If you have a copious amount of something, you have a lot of it. If you take copious notes, you'll do well when it comes time for review sessions — unless you can't read your own handwriting. |
Copious comes from the Latin copia, meaning "abundance." You can use copious for something quantitative, like your copious admirers, or for something qualitative, like the copious gratitude you feel for your admirers. You will often see the word amounts following copious since the adjective is often used to modify a measurement of something — like copious amounts of wine or copious amounts of hair gel. |
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| 3458 |
crestfallen |
brought low in spirit |
Week after week, he roamed the streets of New York, looking for work, and every night returned to Hoboken, crestfallen and disappointed. Charles Gilson |
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If you are crestfallen, you are dark, depressed, and down in the dumps. You are in need of a pep talk, or at least a hug. |
Although experts can't agree on the origins of crestfallen, they do know it has something to do with fallen or defeated animals. Some say it is cocks, with their crested heads, that are responsible for the words' origins. Others think it has to do with horses bowing their heads (touching their heads to the crest of their chests) when bested in battle. No matter which animal gave us the word, today's humans are crestfallen when they are in low spirits. |
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| 3459 |
cynicism |
a cynical feeling of distrust |
People who live rigorously by this cynicism are often seen as grumpy killjoys. The Guardian (Jul 10, 2013) |
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Cynicism is the feeling of distrust or that something isn't going to work out well. Some people feel cynicism when politicians make big promises. |
To pronounce cynicism, place the accent on the first syllable: "SIH-nuh-cih-zum." You might associate cynicism with sarcasm. Cynicism comes from believing that people are, at heart, selfish and untrustworthy. Sarcasm is the expression of negative feelings like cynicism, by expressing, for dramatic effect, the opposite of what is meant: "I'm quite sure that politician took that bribe by mistake. We all know how easy it is to overlook the sudden appearance of $2 million dollars in your checking account." |
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| 3460 |
waggish |
witty or joking |
Dinner, however, came, and the little waggish doctor could not, for the life of him, avoid his jokes. |
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Waggish means that someone is humorous or witty — the kind of person who'd keep you in stitches all night if you sat next to one at a party. |
Despite the wag part of the word, waggish does not refer to the characteristic tail flick that our canine friends exhibit when they are happy to see us. Instead, waggish is an adjective and actually describes someone who is a wag — the kind of hilarious person who keeps you entertained with witty stories and jokes. |
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| 3461 |
waif |
a homeless child especially one forsaken or orphaned |
Had they not been poor children, little waifs, they would not have been locked in the cabin to perish like rats. |
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No matter how cold-hearted you are, it's tough not to feel sympathy for a waif — a neglected or orphaned child. |
From Oliver Twist to Harry Potter, literature is filled with stories of young waifs who persevere through hardship. In contrast to street urchins or ragamuffins, waifs are generally seen as wholly innocent victims of their situation. This fact may explain why waifs make such compelling literary protagonists. Who's going to root against a kind-hearted orphan? And who would admit it if they did? |
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| 3462 |
wail |
a cry of sorrow and grief |
“Is our house going to be covered in mud forever?” she wailed, tears streaming down her cheeks. |
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To wail is to let loose a long loud cry. If you're feeling truly miserable, take a deep breath and wail as loudly as possible. |
When it comes to expressing unhappiness, wailing lies at the extreme end of the spectrum. So, it's best to save this response for life's most unpleasant moments — unless you're a jazz musician. In jazz terminology, wailing on one's instrument is actually a good thing. What's the connection between an eardrum-shattering expression of misery and a hot jam session? The answer to that question may depend on your personal musical preferences. |
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| 3463 |
waiver |
a formal written statement of relinquishment |
The new federal health care law prohibits lowering Medicaid eligibility, and only a few states have received waivers to do so on a limited basis. |
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A waiver is a formal statement giving up a right. If you go on a school trip, your mom might sign a waiver saying that the school is not responsible if you get hurt on the trip. |
When you sign a waiver, you’re voluntarily giving up a privilege or legal right. A waiver is often required before you participate in something dangerous. If you decide to go skydiving, you might have to sign a waiver agreeing that you won’t sue the skydiving company if you get injured. That means you’re assuming all the risk associated with the activity. Other types of waivers can involve officially declining various rights, such as a privacy waiver or an insurance waiver. |
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| 3464 |
wallow |
devote oneself entirely to something |
It was a crushing blow, but instead of wallowing in depression and giving up on being active, Irish started biking more. |
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To wallow is to roll about in something, as a pig wallows in mud or a billionaire wallows in money. |
Wallow can be used to describe a physical action or an emotional state. If you cry "Woe is me!" one too many times, you might be accused of wallowing in self-pity. Because of its association with the much-maligned pig, wallow often has a negative, insulting tone. So, rather than wallowing in that pile of money once you've won the lottery, try bathing or wading in it instead. |
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| 3465 |
wan |
lacking vitality as from weariness or illness or unhappiness |
Tom was leaning back, pale and exhausted, his breath was short, his face gray, wan and wasted. |
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Someone who is wan is visibly unwell and lacking in energy. If you’ve had the flu for over a week, and you finally get out of bed looking pale and tired, your mother might say that you look wan. |
When your aunt comes to dinner and eats three helpings of dessert, she might seem a little wan as she drinks her tea, meaning she looks sickly and weak — and no wonder, after so many slices of pie! Wan can also describe a fading light — one that is sickly and weak, just like your aunt. When the light bulb in the living room burns out and leaves only wan twilight filtering in, you’ll find it impossible to read. |
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| 3466 |
wanderlust |
very strong or irresistible impulse to travel |
Perhaps a trip like this would have satisfied his wanderlust. |
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A strong desire to travel is called wanderlust. If you dream of backpacking through Europe and then taking a quick spin through southeast Asia, you have wanderlust. |
The Germans call the strong urge for travel wanderlust, literally a desire for wandering. We loved the German efficiency of the word so much we annexed it for our own language. With a word like lust inside it, wanderlust really captures the dreamy passion travelers all share. Sometimes the word is also used for people who can't make a commitment to a job or a relationship. |
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| 3467 |
wane |
a gradual decline (in size or strength or power or number) |
India’s biggest producer, reported an 89 percent decline in second-quarter group profit because of waning demand and higher raw material costs at its European operations. |
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Things that wax and wane grow larger and smaller, like the moon. Things that wane simply grow smaller. "My initial enthusiasm for helping waned when I saw the pile of envelopes that needed licking." |
You may have heard the expression "on the wane." It means a fad, or a fashion, or a disease, that is on its way out the door. "The face mask fad at school was on the wane as new reports of kids infected with a dreaded new fly virus waned." |
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| 3468 |
wangle |
accomplishing something by scheming or trickery |
You went sick When orders looked unwholesome: then, with trick And lie, you wangled home. |
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Wangle means to get something through deception or devious coaxing, like the time you tried to wangle your way into a concert by pretending to be the singer's sister. |
Wangle, which rhymes with tangle is similar in meaning to manipulate, although wangle has a more informal feel. The word's playful sound hints at its origin — it came into English as slang. In the 1880s it was coined by British printers who used their skills to wangle, or fake, an image to look like something else. That tradition endures today with untrustworthy magazines that wangle photos of celebrities to deceive readers. |
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| 3469 |
wardrobe |
collection of clothing belonging to one person |
Betty wore amazingly costly clothes, paying for a single dress far more than for her year's wardrobe in Rhode Island. |
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All of the clothes in your closet make up your wardrobe. If you're tired of your wardrobe, it just might be time to go shopping. |
From the words warder, meaning “to protect”, and robe, meaning a “piece of clothing,” wardrobe originally meant an entire room where a person's clothing was stored. Nowadays, most people don’t have an entire room for their clothes, so the word wardrobe has downsized to just a large cabinet, or the clothing itself. A wardrobe can also be the costumes (or the costume department) of a theater company or movie. |
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| 3470 |
warranty |
written assurance that a product or service will be provided |
Such sales to investors typically came with promises, known as representations and warranties, to buy back defective loans. |
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Most cars and toys come with a warranty, a written guarantee that the product will not fail within a certain amount of time. If it does, the manufacturer will repair or replace it for free. |
Many people talk about the way appliances break the day after their warranty expires. The word itself is a Middle English variant on the word, guarantee. Both words mean similar things, but warranty is more specific. I can guarantee you that I will pick you up by seven so we can get to the game on time, but I would not issue a warranty about it. |
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| 3471 |
warren |
a series of underground tunnels occupied by rabbits |
Their entrances were cunningly contrived to look like rabbit holes, so that strangers might think they led to nothing more than some sandy warren. |
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When Bugs Bunny outruns Elmer Fudd and vanishes down his rabbit hole, he's escaping into a warren — a network of underground tunnels where rabbits live. |
A warren isn't just the maze-like tunnels where rabbits live. You may encounter a warren of subway tunnels or a warren of interconnected bomb shelters. Bring those narrow paths above ground and cluster them with homes and you have another kind of warren, or a maze-like residential area. |
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| 3472 |
watershed |
the geographical area drained by a river and its tributaries |
The Coles Hill watershed eventually drains into the drinking water supply for coastal cities. |
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A watershed is a turning point, or historic moment. The day you got your braces off might have been a watershed moment in your life. |
Watershed is a geographical term, originally. The area that drains into a single river is the watershed for that river. Watershed can also mean a ridge, like that formed by a chain of mountains, which sends water to two different rivers on either side. It's from this meaning that watershed came to mean a turning point or dividing line in social life. |
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| 3473 |
wayward |
resistant to guidance or discipline |
Substance addiction and wayward behaviour are not unheard of in someone with such a stormy family background. |
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Someone wayward is a little stubborn and independent — they're determined to find their own way and are not easily controlled. |
Being wayward can mean a few things, but they all have something to do with doing your own thing — often, going against what others want you to do. A rebellious student is wayward. A son who ignores his parent's advice is wayward. A politician who goes against everyone else in his political party is wayward. Wayward folks like to go their own way — and they often take the unexpected path. |
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| 3474 |
wean |
gradually deprive of mother's milk |
If the mother becomes pregnant it will be necessary to wean, because pregnancy invariably affects the quality of the milk. |
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To wean yourself from something is to gradually eliminate that thing from your life. You may want to wean yourself from watching too much TV, drinking two pots of coffee every morning, or obsessively reading the celebrity columns. |
To wean an infant — human or animal — you gradually reduce consumption of mother’s milk or bottled milk until the little one is no longer nursing or bottle-feeding. If you want to wean yourself from eating chocolate chip cookies, go from eating eight a day to only seven for the next few days, then to six for a few days and so on until you're no longer eating any chocolate chip cookies. |
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| 3475 |
weary |
physically and mentally fatigued |
The tired, wearied, exhausted cattle refused to struggle through the snow-mountains any longer. |
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Weary as an adjective means "very tired or worn out," like weary students who finished a long week of studying and taking tests. |
Weary comes from the Old English word werig, meaning "tired." It can also describe being extremely bored and sick of something, like on a long drive, you might grow weary of your father's singing voice. As a verb, weary means "to exhaust or wear out," like when the children you are babysitting weary you with their game of running away every time you tell them to get ready to leave the park. |
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| 3476 |
welfare |
governmental provision of assistance to persons in need |
High welfare costs in an impoverished country also ensure that the government does not have enough funds to spend on primary education and infrastructure. |
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Your welfare is your happiness and well being. Parents are usually in charge of their children's welfare, making sure they're healthy, happy and well fed. |
Welfare is a state of content or prosperous existence. So if something bad happens, your welfare is threatened. Welfare can also refer to a government system designed to give money, food, and resources to the poor. Welfare systems have been around since ancient Roman times, but the U.S. welfare program didn't start until the 1930's, during the Great Depression. |
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| 3477 |
wend |
direct one's course or way |
I thought a night of peace and quietness preferable, although perhaps very unsportsmanlike, and so we wended our way homeward. |
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To wend means to choose a path and then walk that path. The path may not always be the fastest route, but at least it should get you there. Eventually. |
It’s always good to have a goal, and that’s true with wending. You know where you want to go, so you wend your way there. You’ll notice that wend looks like the verb wind, and they both come from the same Old English wendan, which means “to turn, depart.” When you wend, you may take curvy, windy roads, a more scenic route, some detours and side alleys, just for fun. But don’t wend too much or you’ll be late. |
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| 3478 |
wharf |
a platform from the shore that provides access to ships |
They would wonder why she was not on the wharf when the boat got in, to meet them. |
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A wharf is a platform built on the shore that extends over the surface of the water. On the wharf, you saw people preparing to set sail. |
A wharf provides access for ships and boats, that can pull up and dock alongside it. In fact, wharfs are also called docks or piers. Wharfs are made of wood and act like sidewalks, making it easy to people, cargo and supplies to enter and leave a boat. As a verb, wharf means "to moor," or tie the boat to the wharf and drop an anchor, or "to be given a place at the wharf." |
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| 3479 |
whelp |
young of any of various canines such as a dog or wolf |
The wolf must have had several litters of whelps during the six or seven years that the boy was with her. |
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It doesn't sound as cute as "puppy," but whelp means the same thing: a baby dog or wolf. This can also be a verb, as in "The mama poodle whelped six whelps." |
Besides applying to canines such as wolves and coyotes, whelp is sometimes used to describe a young person. This usually isn't a compliment. If an older person calls a young person a whelp or says, "I don't know what's wrong with you whelps these days!," you can be sure they're not impressed by youngsters. To someone who studies animals, whelp is just the word for a puppy or for birthing. Like so many other words, the meaning depends on who's saying it and why. |
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| 3480 |
whiff |
perceive by inhaling through the nose |
Perhaps he had even got a whiff of the sweet on the spring air, and his nose had told him what was going on. |
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A whiff can mean the hint of something you smell. When you drive past the sewage treatment plant and suddenly roll up your car windows, it's usually because you've gotten a whiff of the plant's special odor. |
Whiff can be used as either a noun or verb, and it implies a brief or small puff or sniff. A person can have "a whiff of the exotic," which means they are living like the rest of us, but there is a little something about them that seems foreign or different. Sometimes, of course, odors are so overpowering that a small sniff is all you need: "Take a whiff of this," your friend might say to you, holding out a carton of sour milk. In that case, one whiff will be more than enough. |
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| 3481 |
whim |
a sudden desire |
Too many frivolous youngsters were falling in love and eloping on a whim, only to have their marriages end in divorce. |
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A whim is an odd or fanciful idea, something kooky you suddenly decide to do, like dress up like a chicken or drive to Vegas. |
A whim can be a sudden impulse or a change of mind, like if you go shopping for school clothes but instead buy a pink cowboy hat. Whim is a shortened version of the equally silly sounding whim wham which means "fanciful object," like a tiny snow globe that plays "Hava Nagila." If you go for a drive on a whim, you could wind up anywhere, perhaps even back to the store to return that snow globe. |
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| 3482 |
whit |
a tiny or scarcely detectable amount |
Now, we are exactly what and where we used to be: not a whit wiser nor better, poorer nor prouder. |
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Whit means a small tiny part of something. If you don't even have a whit of courage, you are most likely a chicken. |
Whit indicates a bit of something, and usually something abstract like a feeling or emotion. You might feel the last whit of your confidence depart when your teacher hands out the 32-page final exam. Don't confuse whit with wit, meaning mental sharpness or keen sense of humor. Let's hope you have more than a whit of wit in your personality! |
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| 3483 |
wholly |
to the full or entire extent |
Dalmatia has been possessed wholly or in part by Romans, Goths, Slavs, Hungarians, Turks, Venetians. |
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Wholly is an adverb that means "entirely." If a story is wholly inaccurate, no part of it is true. |
Do you like to do things the whole way or whole hog, refusing any halfhearted attempts? Then wholly is your kind of word — it means completely, totally, or to the full extent. To give yourself over wholly to the music at a concert means that you are focused exclusively on the experience. If you're wholly committed to a goal, you're going to give it 100% of your time and energy. |
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| 3484 |
widespread |
distributed over a considerable extent |
As more women share their experiences, it is clear how widespread domestic violence is, cutting across community, caste and economic lines. |
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Widespread means far-reaching. For years, email was used only by computer programmers and technophiles. It was hard to imagine, back them, how widespread the phenomenon of digital communication would become. |
An idea that's widespread, is believed by many people, even if it's not true. A person such as Oprah, or Gandhi, or Michael Jackson, who has widespread popularity, is loved by many far and wide. A widespread disease is one that many people have––the flu epidemic of 1919 was deadly and widespread, killing between 50 and 100 million people in every corner of the world. |
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| 3485 |
wield |
handle effectively |
For all a chimpanzee’s impressive arm strength, he said, humans are much better at wielding a hammer to crack open a nut. |
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If you wield a tool or a weapon, you handle it effectively. Picture a gallant knight wielding a sword or a skillful chef wielding a whisk. |
You don't just have to wield something physical; you can also wield or exert influence or authority. Wield is frequently followed by the word power. If you were a king, you could wield great power in your kingdom — exerting your influence over everything from food rations to castle upkeep. As it is, though, you might just wield power over your pet goldfish. Note: wield follows the i before e, except after c spelling rule. |
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| 3486 |
wily |
marked by skill in deception |
"Thank you, my kind friend;" and the wily villain continued his deceiving tale, with an eloquence we will not trouble ourselves to repeat. |
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Did you fall for that wily door to door salesman's pitch? He must be very slick and tricky to have convinced you to buy a set of new tires, considering you don't have a car. |
How can you remember the meaning of the adjective wily? Just think about the old Warner Brothers Looney Tunes cartoons. Their aptly named cartoon character, Wile E. Coyote, got his name from a clever play on words. Wile E. is supposed to be cunning, crafty, and clever — in other words, wily. Wile E. is all those things, but unfortunately he was usually bested by that pesky roadrunner anyway. Meep. Meep. |
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| 3487 |
wince |
the facial expression of sudden pain |
His fingers buried themselves in Meredith’s shoulder, till the pale face winced with pain. |
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A wince is a facial or bodily expression of pain, disgust, or regret. Think of something you've done that was really, really embarrassing or dumb: now feel your face or take a look in the mirror as you wince at the uncomfortable memory. |
A moment of pain or a recollection of something painful can make you wince. It's hard not to have a physical response or a wince with a bad memory or a hurt. And wince is both a verb and a noun, so it can be an action or a result. Sometimes people don’t do anything or have any physical pain, but they wince in discomfort at what someone else does or says, as when no one laughs after a really inappropriate joke. |
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| 3488 |
windfall |
a sudden happening that brings good fortune |
House prices doubled in the golden decade but that unearned windfall for the lucky generation went untaxed. |
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Lucky you! You just won the lottery and your windfall will make life very comfortable for you and your family. A windfall is a crazy bit of unexpected good fortune. |
First used in the fifteenth century, the word windfall originally referred to fruit that the wind blew from the trees. Like a prize was there for whomever found it — no need for the ladder and effort of picking it from the tall trees. The word eventually came to mean any unexpected and easily-gained good fortune, typically one involving money, such as the windfall profit from a lucky stock purchase. |
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| 3489 |
winnow |
the act of separating grain from chaff |
Mr. Thompson winnowed out the chaff from the heap, and has given us the golden grain in this volume. |
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To winnow is to blow something away until you are left with what you want, like grain from chaff. If you only want your favorite people to attend your party, you will need to winnow down the guest list from 300 to 30. |
To winnow is to use air to “separate the wheat from the chaff" — literally or figuratively. If a coach winnows down the top NBA draft picks to his number one choice, then he'll focus his negotiations on that player. Chances are, if you encounter the word winnow on a given day, it is probably not in the literal context of grain. |
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| 3490 |
wispy |
thin and weak |
He was a little dark man, with a very big forehead, thin, wispy hair, and sad, large eyes. |
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Wispy describes something that's vague or flimsy. If your explanation of why you didn't help your mom paint the kitchen was weak and didn't help her understand your reasons, you'd call that a wispy explanation. |
Wispy can be used more literally to describe things that are physically not very substantial, like the delicate necklace that breaks as soon as you wear it. A person who looks weak and thin could also be described as wispy. A wisp is something flimsy, but in its original meaning, it was a handful of hay or grass — again, something very light. |
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| 3491 |
wistfully |
in a pensively sad manner |
While deeply absorbed in sad reflection, Dorothy stole to his side and, looking up, wistfully, in his face, said: “Dear papa, isn’t mama here, either?” |
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Wistfully describes something that's done with longing or regret. You might smile wistfully while sitting on a train that's pulling away from the station, leaving your hometown behind. |
If there's a vague sense of yearning behind an action, you can say it's done wistfully. People sigh wistfully, gaze wistfully, and wave goodbye wistfully — thinking about the past or what you are leaving behind with a little bit of sadness. In the 1600s, wistfully had a completely different meaning — from the now-obsolete word wist, or intent — done with close attention. It gained today's meaning in the early 1700s. |
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| 3492 |
wit |
verbal skill that has the power to evoke laughter |
So saying, the duke, as if charmed with his own wit, burst into a loud and long peal of laughter. |
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Wit is brainpower or mental ability, or the person who possesses such ability, especially when it's used humorously. |
When we are scared out of our wits, we — figuratively, anyway — lose for a moment our mental faculties. When we are at our wits' end, we have run out of ideas or possible solutions to a frustrating situation. When we outwit someone, we make the smarter decision. Historical figures known for their wit include Voltaire, Oscar Wilde, and Mark Twain. |
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| 3493 |
withdrawal |
the act of ceasing to participate in an activity |
Starting in the early 20th century, another key factor in diagnosing addiction was the occurrence of physical withdrawal symptoms upon quitting the substance in question. |
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Withdrawal is when you take something out, like making a withdrawal from your bank account. |
When you announced you were no longer running for president, your withdrawal from the race disappointed your many supporters. Withdrawal is also used to describe the painful experience that results when you stop taking an addictive drug (when you "take it out" of your system). The state of being emotionally detached is called withdrawal. If a country terminates an agreement like a treaty, that's a withdrawal too. Remember that withdrawal ends in "wal" and not just "wl." |
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| 3494 |
withdrawn |
tending to reserve or introspection |
But they were worried that their son, whose sister was eight years younger, was too solitary and withdrawn. |
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Quiet loners are withdrawn — that's a word for people who keep to themselves to such an extent that it seems a little unhealthy. |
We can all be withdrawn sometimes, especially when we're sad or depressed about something. Some people get withdrawn when they're angry. A withdrawn person can be hard to find, and even if they're around, hard to talk to — withdrawn people don't like to talk, or they try to talk as little as possible. A person who is withdrawn from the rest of the world for a long period of time is a recluse — an extremely solitary, withdrawn person. |
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| 3495 |
wither |
shrink, as with a loss of moisture |
While summer withered some crops, a hillside dip or rock outcropping might shelter just enough moisture for other plants to survive. |
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Wither means to shrivel up or shrink. If you forget to water your plants for six weeks, they'll wither — they'll dry up and you probably won't be able to bring them back to life. |
Wither comes from the Middle English word wydderen, meaning "dry up, shrivel." In addition to shrinking, the verb wither can also refer to losing vitality and fading away, like people who wither as they age. They slowly lose their physical stamina and grow feeble. People also start to physically shrink at a certain age. In that way, they wither in both senses. Not only do they wither by losing their youth, they also wither by shrinking. |
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| 3496 |
withered |
lean and wrinkled by shrinkage as from age or illness |
My old, withered, dry eyes are full of tears yet. |
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If someone or something is shriveled or shrunken with age, it is withered. If your skin is looking a little withered from being out in the sun all the time, it's time for a really good moisturizer. |
The adjective withered is also used to describe vegetation that has dried up or shriveled from loss of moisture. If you've ever seen a raisin, you can picture exactly what happens when a grape becomes withered — it becomes shrunken and wrinkled. Withered is from the word wither, which etymologists suggest is a variant of weather from the same Old English word weder. |
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| 3497 |
withhold |
retain and refrain from disbursing, of payments |
David A. Paterson, arguing that his decision to unilaterally withhold hundreds of millions of dollars in scheduled payments to school districts violated New York’s Constitution. |
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If you keep something back and don't share it, you withhold it. You can withhold things such as permission, emotion, or information. You might get into trouble if you withhold information from your parents or the police. |
The verb withhold means to deduct from a payment and hold back. Your job will withhold money from your paycheck for things like taxes. You may also choose to withhold money from your check for healthcare, retirement, and numerous other voluntary accounts. The past tense of the verb withhold is withheld. Withhold is spelled with a double h because it is made by combining the words with and hold. |
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| 3498 |
withstand |
resist or confront with resistance |
Winter is coming and the scramble is on to amass enough warm sleeping bags and clothing so that the occupiers could withstand below freezing temperatures. |
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In the story of the three little pigs, only the house made of brick was able to withstand the huffing and puffing of the Big Bad Wolf. To withstand is to hold up against something strong. |
Withstand means to stand your ground against a powerful and negative force. A lot of toys can withstand rough treatment, but CDs definitely can't. And hopefully, you can withstand the pressures of school and work! If you can withstand a lot of criticism, it means you can take it without giving up. |
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| 3499 |
witless |
lacking sense or understanding or judgment |
Wah! they were like a flock of sheep, witless, huddling together, springing this way and that without any sense. |
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A witless person is a numskull. To be witless is not to lack the "funny" kind of "wit," but to lack the "brains" kind of "wit." If you're witless, you don't have your wits about you. |
I wouldn't call you stupid, exactly. After all, anyone who can calculate pi to the 20th decimal point without even using a pencil is anything but dumb. But I would call you witless for not knowing that when a woman asks you "Does this dress make me look fat?," the answer should always be "No." You may have heard someone say "Keep your wits about you," which means "Stay alert!" Well, if you're behaving in a witless fashion, then you're not being alert or showing proper judgment. Even smart people can be witless from time to time. |
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| 3500 |
witticism |
a message whose ingenuity has the power to evoke laughter |
We laughed amazingly at your epigrammatic witticisms; your reputation is already established here. |
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Witticism describes something funny that someone says, like a pun or little joke. You may have heard that it is good to start off a speech with witticism because if you make the audience laugh, it'll help them — and you — relax. |
English playwright and poet John Dryden coined the word witticism in the seventeenth century, combining the words witty and criticism to come up with a word to describe a clever quip that has a hint of sharpness or irony. A witticism is typically a one-liner that humorously sums up the current situation — with a little bit of attitude thrown in. |
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| 3501 |
wizardry |
exceptional creative ability |
When it came to word wizardry, he had Billy Sunday, master of slang and argot of one language, skinned by miles. |
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Someone who possesses wizardry is someone who is amazing at what they do, especially if what they do requires creativity. You might rave about your sister's theatrical wizardry after she performs well in the school play. |
You might already know that a wizard is someone who has magical abilities. But a wizard can also be someone who is really good at something. The class clown, for example, might secretly be a wizard at chess. A way to talk about his exceptional skills would be to use the word wizardry. You might say that his wizardry with the chessboard can’t be topped — even by the class nerd! |
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| 3502 |
woe |
misery resulting from affliction |
Big businesses that have gone bankrupt: Facing scandal, shrinking profits or other woes, these big-name firms have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in recent months. |
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"O, woe is me!" This line is from Shakespeare. When Hamlet scorns Ophelia, she utters these words to express the grief and despair that will soon drive her to suicide. |
Another famously dejected figure, Job, echoes this unhappy cry in the Old Testament when he contemplates his sad fate, "If I be wicked, woe unto me." Today, woe generally means problem or worry. You may experience financial woes, if you spend too much on your credit card. And study hard for your classes or in addition to your academic woes, you may get grounded by your parents. Sometimes woe is used in a slightly ironic way. If your friends tell you to forget about your woes and go out with them, they think your problems are not too serious. |
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| 3503 |
wondrous |
extraordinarily good or great |
Looking at his work now, though, it strikes me that what he actually did, more often than not, was make the commonplace wondrous and beautiful. |
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The adjective wondrous is a great word to use when you're describing something amazing or delightful. You could talk about the wondrous view of the ocean from the cliffs where you're standing. |
There's a hint of magic and awe about the word wondrous. It describes things that inspire wonder, like a wondrous imaginary land or a wondrous display of beautiful, elaborate cakes at a pastry shop. The root is the Old English wundor, "marvelous thing, or object of astonishment." Wondrous is tricky to spell because it's missing the e in wonder. |
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| 3504 |
worldly |
characteristic of secularity rather than spirituality |
Not far away were all their worldly possessions, a rusty stove, two cots, bedding and a box of cooking pans. |
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You can use the adjective worldly to describe people who have knowledge of many topics or experience in many areas. You don't have to travel the globe to be worldly; reading and talking about many things with knowledge and enthusiasm is worldly too. |
While worldly often describes individuals who are sophisticated and well-rounded in education, travel, and experiences, it's also used for people who are rooted in the world or focused on physical and material things around them, rather than on spiritual matters. An old expression in religion is "She was too heavenly minded for worldly good," and it describes those who think about the spiritual or supernatural so much that they aren't worldly enough to get anything done. |
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| 3505 |
wrest |
obtain by seizing forcibly or violently, also metaphorically |
The crazed strikers fought without weapons, except such as they could wrest from the soldiers. |
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To wrest is to forcefully grab or take something away. You can wrest away many things, such as remote controls and championships. |
This word is strong and a little violent. It's not easy to wrest something away. Wresting away is a little like "wrestling" something away — you can't get it without a fight. Objects can be wrested away, but so can non-physical things. In a tough election, you could say the new president wrests away the title of commander-in-chief from the incumbent candidate. |
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| 3506 |
wretched |
deserving or inciting pity |
She says, “No.” “Do have pity—I am so wretched; it is only a little favour I ask of you.” |
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The fairy tale Cinderella gives us many examples of uses for the word wretched. Poor Cinderella had a wretched childhood, living in wretched conditions with a wretched stepmother. It would be enough to make anyone feel wretched, or absolutely terrible. |
Wretched is an all-around unhappy word. If you're very ill, heartbroken, or riddled with guilt, you may feel wretched. This word is also used to describe awful living conditions. If your cabin at sleep-away camp is freezing cold and rat-infested, you could describe it as wretched. And if you truly don't like someone, you might call that person wretched — though maybe not to his or her face. |
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| 3507 |
wring |
twist, squeeze, or compress in order to extract liquid |
When it had been finished, everyone was, in spite of slickers and gas suits, so drenched that water could be wrung out of every garment. |
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To wring something is to twist or squeeze it, usually out of its original shape. If you annoy someone enough, they might threaten to wring your neck. |
If you do laundry by hand, then you most likely wring out your shirts to get rid of excess water before hanging them out to dry. You can also wring out someone's hair after washing it. As you can tell, the word often has to do with getting liquids out of something. You might wring tears out of a person's eyes if you tell him the sad story of the day you lost your puppy. |
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| 3508 |
writ |
a legal document issued by a court or judicial officer |
The court publicly decided against the writs but secretly issued them. |
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If you are ever served with a writ, then you better do what it says. A writ is a written document issuing a legal order. |
The word writ has been around since before the twelfth century and was first used to describe a written document needed to have a case heard at the royal courts of England during the Middle Ages. Nowadays, the king is most likely no longer involved, but this word still refers to a legal document issued by a court of law. A writ contains a written order instructing someone to do something or to stop doing something. If you ever need to give out a writ, remember that the verb to serve is typically used to describe the issuing of a writ — as in “Tony was served with a writ on Monday.” |
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| 3509 |
writhe |
move in a twisting or contorted motion |
His writhing, squirming twists would have made a circus contortionist gasp. |
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To writhe is to squirm and twist. Often you'll see the phrase "to writhe in agony." Writhe when you've just ingested some stomach-wrenching poison, or perhaps in response to red ant stings. |
Writhe stems from the Old English, meaning "to twist or bend." It's not a coincidence that a Christmas wreath is greenery twisted and bent into a circle. A person can writhe in embarrassment but it's usually reserved for times when pain or discomfort cause you to twist and bend over and squirm because your body is in such distress. |
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| 3510 |
wrought |
shaped to fit by altering the contours of a pliable mass |
Forging and Welding.—The process of pressing or hammering wrought iron when at a red or white heat into any desired shape is called forging. |
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Wrought is an adjective that means "molded," "shaped," or "manufactured." A wrought-iron fence has been shaped to fit a particular ornamental style. |
Wrought is most often used to describe the shaping, altering, molding, and manufacture of various metals, like iron, steel, aluminum. However, the word is actually related to wreak, which means "to cause damage." So we'll sometimes refer to the destruction wrought by a storm or some mad scientist like Dr. Frankenstein might lament the monster he has wrought with his hands. |
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| 3511 |
yahoo |
a person who is not intelligent or interested in culture |
What I wanted to bring to your distinguished notice is this—that you must not behave like a yahoo in my mathematical set. |
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Have you ever heard people talk insultingly about uneducated, uncultured country folks? They probably referred to them as yahoos. |
If someone calls you a yahoo, it's definitely an insult. Yahoos are thought to have very little education and culture. People think of yahoos as folks who were raised in a barn — maybe literally. A yahoo can also be called a bumpkin, hayseed, hick, rube, yokel, or hillbilly. You can't really be a yahoo if you're from a big city. So if you want to insult someone from New York, you'll need to find a different word. |
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| 3512 |
yearn |
desire strongly or persistently |
Now and then there is an extreme individualist who yearns to go through life absolutely unmolested, single file. |
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To yearn for something is to want it really bad. You might yearn for freedom or you might yearn for a perfect tamale. Usually you yearn for something or someone you can't easily get. |
If you have a hankering for pie, you could also say that you yearn for it. Yearn also means to feel sweet on someone, or to have affection for something. If your girlfriend moves to Alaska and you’re stuck in Texas, you’d probably yearn for her. And when she comes back to visit, you would still yearn — meaning you’d still feel affection for her. |
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| 3513 |
yearning |
prolonged unfulfilled desire or need |
Each generation of foxes grew more approachable, many showing doglike yearning for human contact. |
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A yearning is a strong desire. If you have a yearning to travel in Africa, it means that you dream about it and intensely hope that one day you'll end up there. |
A strong longing for something is a yearning for it. If you have a yearning for ice cream, it probably means that you've gone a long time without any and are almost desperate to taste some. The Old English root of the words yearn and yearning is georn, which means "eager or desirous." |
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| 3514 |
yelp |
a sharp high-pitched cry |
While faintly heard from somewhere outside there was the yelping, barking, howling whine of a dog. |
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A yelp is a loud cry of pain, like what you’d hear after you step on a dog’s tail by accident. It was an accident, right? |
The root of yelp is the Old English word gielp, which means “boast.” Clearly the meaning has changed over time, since yelping is nothing to boast about, as it usually involves pain of some kind. The word works as a noun and a verb, so you could say “I can hear a dog yelping,” or “The dog’s yelps kept me up all night.” You could also pet your dog a lot, which will help with the yelps. |
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| 3515 |
yen |
the basic unit of money in Japan; equal to 100 sen |
In the last decade, most major coinages have been faked, including British pounds, Russian rubles, Indian rupees, Japanese yen, and Canadian dollars. |
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Besides being the name of the Japanese currency, yen (a different yen) means a casual desire. You can have a yen for sushi, and if you're in Japan, you can pay for the sushi with the yen in your wallet. |
Yen is a casual word––think of it like "hankering." If you have an easy time remembering rhymes, think "I sometimes have a yen, to go back home again." Sometimes yen can even work as a verb––you can yen for pancakes, or yen for truffles, or yen for a time when you yenned for things other than food. |
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| 3516 |
yoke |
become joined or linked together |
The reason was that it had been found unwise and unwholesome to mix up or yoke together believers and unbelievers.* |
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Ever seen a picture of a farm girl carrying two buckets of water hanging from ropes attached to a stick she's balancing across her shoulders? That stick on her shoulders is a yoke. |
Yoke also can mean the stick that connects two work animals together, or the act of connecting two things together as with a yoke. A classic tool of farmers for centuries, the yoke has also become a symbol of oppression — no one wants to live under the yoke of a tyrant's rule. Do not confuse yoke with yolk, the yellow part of an egg. |
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| 3517 |
yokel |
a person who is not intelligent or interested in culture |
Now, poor people, yokels, clods, cannot love what is incomprehensible to them. |
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Yokel is a disparaging name for someone from a small town or the countryside. To call someone a yokel is to imply that they are unsophisticated, uneducated, and probably dim-witted. |
Before the age of internet and television, if you grew up in a small town or on a farm, you probably wouldn’t have known about the latest fashions of Paris and Milan or the best restaurants in New York. Even now, if you live in a remote place, you may have a somewhat provincial understanding of the world. If so, when you visit the Big City an unkind “city slicker” may call you a yokel. |
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| 3518 |
yonder |
distant but within sight |
“ Yonder,” said he, pointing to some distance down the river. |
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Yonder is an old-fashioned way to say, "Over there." When your sister asks where you parked the car, you might jokingly reply, "Yonder, by the fire hydrant." |
Some dialects in various parts of the United States still use the word yonder, usually to specify something that's within sight, and often with accompanied by a gesture pointing toward it. You could say, "My dog's yonder in the corn field," or "I saw Billy yonder, on the tire swing." The phrase "wild blue yonder" was first used to refer to the sky in the 1939 U.S. Air Force song. |
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| 3519 |
yore |
time long past |
Yore, long ago; generally used in the expression "of yore," formerly, once upon a time. |
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If you know someone who dreams of a time long ago, when knights roamed the countryside and engaged in daring and romantic quests, you could say that person longs for “days of yore.” |
Yore, meaning "a time long ago," is used in the same manner as yesteryear, days gone by, and olden times. Yore has a sentimental or nostalgic tone to it, implying that the olden times being described are in some way superior to the present day. You might hear someone say, “This tragedy wouldn’t have happened in days of yore,” or “The car designs of yore were more imaginative than anything being built today.” |
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| 3520 |
zany |
ludicrous or foolish |
Style: Pleasantly earnest overall; on occasion displayed his goofy and zany side. |
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If you've been called zany, you are goofy, wacky, and clownish. Zany describes very silly people and behaviors. If you break into a bad, old-guy imitation of hip-hop, you might be trying too hard to be zany. |
There's an old character in comedies from the 15th through the 19th centuries who always had the Italian name Gianni, or Giovanni, another form of which was "Zanni" — from which we get the adjective zany. Just as there are good clowns and kind of scary, weird clowns, zany describes both truly funny and laughable people and things, as well as foolish, or ludicrous, attempts at being funny. Something zany makes people laugh, unless it's weird zany and just makes them cringe. |
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| 3521 |
zest |
vigorous and enthusiastic enjoyment |
So I pursued my studies with zest and unabated enthusiasm. |
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Zest is a kind of zeal or enthusiasm. If you've got a zest for something, you put your whole heart and soul into it. Dancers who have great zest leap, kick, and soar their way around the stage with a kind of joyful energy. |
Oddly enough, zest can also be the outer peel of a lemon or orange, which chefs scrape into their dishes when they want to add some tartness and tanginess to a recipe. People who live with that same kind of spice are said to have a "zest for life." In other words, they live their lives with a lot of flavor and gusto. A student who has a zest for learning dives into her books with an enjoyment and relish most people reserve for their wedding day. |
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| 3522 |
vacuous |
devoid of intelligence |
Why had his brain and senses lain fallow all these months, a vacuous vegetation, an empty consciousness? |
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Reserved for the harmlessly stupid and truly meaningless, vacuous is a smart-sounding way to describe something dumb. Celebrity gossip and reality TV are usually pretty vacuous, even if they're fun. |
If someone smiles at you in a way that seems fake or empty, you could describe the smile as vacuous. An example of a vacuous comment would be a politician promising to make things better without explaining how. If something is vacuous, it's like a vacuum — hollow, empty, devoid of substance. |
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| 3523 |
vagrant |
a wanderer with no established residence or means of support |
Many of them refused to own houses or any dwelling place, and wandered about as vagrants and beggars. |
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A vagrant is someone who is homeless and poor and may wander from place to place. In fiction a vagrant often is a criminal, but a real-life vagrant might just be a person who has lost a job and family and lives off the streets with help from charity. |
Many synonyms for vagrant imply laziness and criminal behavior, such as "bum," "tramp," and "vagabond," and some vagrants do make money through crime. Often, though, a vagrant is a down-on-his-luck person who has lost work, family, or health and lives on the streets. European roots for vagrant point to "wander" or "wander about," and a vagrant is a wanderer — a man or woman without a place to call home. |
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| 3524 |
vague |
lacking clarity or distinctness |
The terms are all widely used, but their connotation is vague and uncertain. |
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If your grasp of physics is vague and you've got a test coming up, it's time to hit the books. When something is vague, it’s unclear, murky, and hard to understand. |
Vague comes from the Latin vagus, which means wandering or rambling. Think of a vagabond, someone who wanders around the world with only a vague idea of where he's going. There are a few big, impressive words for vague, including ambiguous, nebulous, and tenebrous. |
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| 3525 |
vainglorious |
feeling self-importance |
Though vainglorious and arrogant, he conducted the defence of Acre with sound judgment as well as with energy and courage. |
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If you admire yourself in the mirror all the time and constantly brag about all the beauty contests you have won, you might rightfully get accused of being vainglorious. |
A vainglorious attitude is not very likable in a person and can be annoying to be around. Vainglorious people are vain, excessively boastful, and have swelled pride. The base word, vainglory, dates all the way back to the 14th century and means “worthless glory.” |
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| 3526 |
valedictory |
of or relating to an occasion or expression of farewell |
He was graduated in 1828, on which occasion he delivered the valedictory oration. |
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A valedictory is a speech expressing farewell, as at a school graduation. The adjective valedictory relates to saying good-bye, but almost always refers to a speech or address. |
Many people think of a valedictory address as the graduation speech given by the kid who got the highest grades in school — and often it is — but valedictory words don't have to have anything to do with schools or grades or throwing your cap in the air. They're all about taking one's leave or saying farewell, whether it's the president leaving office or a worker reaching retirement or a friend at a going-away party. |
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| 3527 |
valiant |
having or showing valor |
The first time, she continued a courageous and valiant fight. |
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It was pretty courageous of the automaker Plymouth to name a car the "Valiant" in the 1960s and 70s because that term usually refers to a hero or describes a really determined, or valiant, effort that doesn't end well. |
Synonyms for valiant include "heroic" and "courageous," so it isn’t surprising that those who serve in the military often are called valiant. The 14th-century French origins of the word are "bold" or "of worth," which makes the adjective valiant a good one for describing ordinary people who put all they have into something, making their efforts valiant, even if they fail. The Plymouth Valiant, by the way, was considered a strong and successful car, though valiant usually refers to people. |
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| 3528 |
valor |
courage when facing danger |
Many had seen and spoken to the young hero, and all related his prodigies of valor. |
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Valor is honor plus dignity. It’s gallant bravery and strength, especially on the battlefield or in the face of danger. Saint George displayed valor when he finally slayed the dragon. It’s a trait fit for a hero. |
Valor comes from the Latin valorem for “strength, moral worth,” with the sense of “courage” added later. Valor is often displayed in the face of something designed to crush it, like a battle in a war, and it is often rewarded with the conferring of a medal. Valor is a word associated with war heroes and knights of yore, but anyone who faces death and doesn’t look away displays valor. |
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| 3529 |
vanguard |
a creative group active in the innovation of new concepts |
Panicked curators, artistic directors and art critics are warning of London's potential fall from the vanguard of the global arts scene. |
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If you are in the vanguard, you're up front. It could be that you are in the vanguard of an advancing army, or in the vanguard of any movement, trend, or occupation. |
Vanguard is an old variation of the French word avant-garde meaning "fore-guard" or "front guard." Vanguard and avant-garde have the same basic meaning, but avant-garde generally describes artistic endeavors, while vanguard can be more widely applied. You might talk about the vanguard of fashion on the red carpet, the vanguard of medical research at a university, or the vanguard of a political movement at a demonstration. |
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| 3530 |
varying |
marked by diversity or difference |
National central banks do make disclosures, but in varying formats and with differing frequencies and delays. |
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The adjective varying describes something that changes in size, strength, number, or nature, like the varying wind speeds that make it fun to fly a kite. |
Varying rhymes with ferrying or burying. You probably know the verb vary, which means "to change or introduce differences." Varying is the adjective form of vary and is used to describe things that change or include different elements. If you vary your diet, for example, that means you eat a wide variety of foods, not the same old thing every day. |
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| 3531 |
vault |
a strongroom or compartment for safekeeping of valuables |
Banks also offer investors the opportunity to buy shares of gold bars kept in their vaults. |
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Vault is a verb that means "to jump over something." If you were hurrying out to the pasture to visit your favorite cow, you might vault over the gate in your excitement. |
When you support yourself with your hands as you jump over some hurdle, you vault, just as a gymnast might do across a vault — a piece of gymnastic equipment made to be vaulted over after a running start. Another meaning of vault is the arched roof of a building, or something that resembles such an archway. A storage chamber, especially one that's kept underground, is also a vault, like a bank vault. |
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| 3532 |
vaunt |
show off |
He is not so foolish as to be puffed up, nor does he vaunt himself nor boast. |
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To vaunt is to brag and boast and flaunt and go on and on about how great something is. It's over-the-top showing off, and when you taunt and exaggerate your greatness, you vaunt to the point of no longer seeming so great. |
From the Latin vānitāre — which comes from vānus, meaning "vain" or "empty" — vaunt is a verb for taking praise too far or talking something up too much. Even if it's earned or deserved bragging, vaunting about something gets old and loses it impact. Other times, vaunt, as a noun, is a sure sign that a hard sell is going on — someone is talking big but can't deliver. |
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| 3533 |
veer |
turn sharply; change direction abruptly |
The day before Christmas the west wind suddenly veered round northward. |
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To veer is to make a sudden turn, like when a driver veers off the pavement or a pleasant conversation veers off in a troubling direction. |
When you make any quick change of direction you veer. You can veer toward an attractive person at a party, leaving your friends mid-sentence. You veer away from an oncoming truck on the highway to avoid getting crushed. Originally, veer described a change in the direction of the wind, but as you can see, today, anyone or anything that changes direction veers. |
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| 3534 |
vegetate |
engage in passive relaxation |
Others vegetated around the hotel, a rare luxury, to rest tired muscles and frayed nerves. |
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When plants vegetate, they spread. When people vegetate, they relax. After a long day, if you want to vegetate or exert no effort in your body or mind, try sitting in front of the TV for hours. |
The word vegetate has opposite meanings depending on whether you're talking about plants or people. When vegetables vegetate, they proliferate or spread really quickly. When a person vegetates, he remains completely idle. A person in a vegetative state is not able to function, only to vegetate or remain completely inactive. |
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| 3535 |
vendetta |
a blood feud between members of opposing parties |
They are usually engaged in some vendetta between rival factions, or families, and blood is frequently shed. |
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A vendetta is blood feud, a quest for revenge. A vendetta might separate families for generations, with members of one family murdering those of the other, all to satisfy an ancient grudge. |
If a friend of yours breaks into your locker and fills it with crumpled up newspaper, you will not be able to hold your head up until you have carried out a vendetta. Perhaps you can tie his shoes together during French class without his noticing? |
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| 3536 |
vendor |
someone who exchanges goods or services for money |
A street vendor sells Senegalese newspapers commemorating the presidential elections. |
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If you are a vendor, it means you’re a person selling something, whether it’s hot dogs from a food cart or computer software for a tech company. |
The word vendor comes from the Latin word vendere, meaning “to sell.” Vendor is a name for people who sell things on the street, such as a hot dog vendor, but it can describe those who sell any kind of goods or services, especially a specialized product. A store at the mall isn't usually called a vendor, but you could use the word to describe the person or group that supplies the store with special products or services. |
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| 3537 |
veneer |
coating consisting of a thin layer of wood |
The inlay used was often oval in shape, sometimes only a line and sometimes panels of different woods or matched veneer. |
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You know how some furniture looks like solid oak or maple until it gets chipped and reveals itself to be nothing more than some cheap particle-board covered with a thin layer of fancy wood? That thin layer is called a veneer. |
A veneer can be anything that makes something look more elegant or attractive than it is. Originally it was a furniture word, but over time its meaning expanded. If someone smiles at you while making some passive-aggressive remark, like, "Gee, you actually look really nice today," you could say that her inner meanness is showing through her veneer of sweetness. |
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| 3538 |
venturesome |
disposed to take risks |
Brave, reckless, idealistic chaps—careless of peril, unafraid of death—who deliberately sought danger and the venturesome life as found during the war, over there. |
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The adjective venturesome describes someone who is willing to take risks, someone brave. If you have a venturesome child, you may worry because she's the one you find on top of the playhouse instead of inside it. |
The root word of venturesome is venture, and venture is short for aventure, which is a form of adventure, which we understand to be an interesting or exciting experience. Some people are more venturesome than others. You may thrive on mountain climbing or going to the top of the Eiffel Tower, or your idea of adventure may be occasionally trying a strawberry jelly with your peanut butter instead of grape. |
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| 3539 |
veracity |
unwillingness to tell lies |
Professionally speaking, lawyers have been called legal liars, but compared to stock manipulators they are walking examples of truth and veracity. |
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Veracity sounds like some kind of disease you don't want to catch, but in fact, it means truthfulness. If you question the veracity of a statement or story, you wonder whether it is truthful or accurate. |
Veracity is linked to the adjective veracious or "truthful." But don't confuse veracious with voracious. A voracious person eats very large amounts of food. If you were veracious, or "truthful," you'd tell them they look fat. |
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| 3540 |
verbiage |
overabundance of words |
An American lawyer sets forth in plain direct language what in England would be concealed beneath a mass of puzzling and almost unintelligible verbiage. |
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Verbiage is what it sounds like — a lot of words: verbs, nouns, adjectives and all the other parts of speech. Usually, verbiage means a few too many words — like the excessive verbiage in a legal document. |
Verbiage comes from the 18th-century French verbier, meaning "to chatter." Verbiage can mean just the words being used to communicate, or a bunch of empty words used to obscure communication. Someone long-winded might receive a sarcastic "compliment" about his verbiage, while another speaker might receive genuine applause for intelligent verbiage, or choice of words. |
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| 3541 |
verdant |
characterized by abundance of verdure |
Combine fresh greenery, fruit, and flowers for a verdant centerpiece that will last throughout the season. |
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When something is green with plant life it's verdant, a word often used to idealize the countryside with its verdant pastures or verdant hills. |
Here's a trick for internalizing verdant's meaning: If you speak Spanish, think of verde — meaning "green." If you speak French, think of vert. Both French and Spanish inherited their words for green from Latin, in which green is viridis. Verdant also can mean grass-colored: "She wore a dress of verdant green." |
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| 3542 |
verisimilitude |
the appearance of truth; the quality of seeming to be true |
It has every appearance of verisimilitude: you truly believe this woman exists and has been filmed at all these various stages of her life. |
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Verisimilitude means being believable, or having the appearance of being true. You can improve your play by using the sounds and smells of the beach as well as lots of sand to create verisimilitude. |
Verisimilitude comes from the Latin verisimilitudo "likeness to truth" and is used to describe stories. In it, you'll see the word similar, meaning it is similar to what's real. Art that aims for realism seeks verisimilitude. An actual synonym for verisimilitude is truthlikeness. Tell that to your friends, and they'll probably think that your story lacks verisimilitude. |
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| 3543 |
vernal |
suggestive of youth; vigorous and fresh |
They constitute one among many manifestations of spring and autumn physiological disturbance corresponding with fair precision to the vernal and autumnal equinoxes. |
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If you enjoy the vernal lushness of the landscape, that’s a kind of fancy way to say you like the way nature looks in the springtime. |
The word vernal entered English in the sixteenth century, tracing all the way back to the Latin word ver, meaning spring. Use the adjective vernal to describe something that occurs in springtime or is related to springtime. You might be familiar with the vernal equinox, which indicates the beginning of spring in the Northern Hemisphere. The word vernal can also be used more broadly to describe something youthful or fresh — springlike. |
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| 3544 |
vertex |
the point of intersection of lines |
This regular solid of four-dimensional space consists of sixteen cells, each a regular tetrahedron, thirty-two triangular faces, twenty-four edges and eight vertices. |
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If you’ve reached the vertex of something, you know it’s all downhill after that, because vertex refers to the highest point on an object, such as the top of a mountain. |
In its early usage vertex referred to the top of a person’s head. That meaning is still common, especially in the field of anatomy, but these days you can use the word in a broader sense to refer to the highest point of anything. Still, it’ll help you remember the meaning of vertex if you visualize the top of someone’s head — the highest point — when you think of this word. If you want to get technical, in the field of mathematics, vertex can refer to the point at which lines meet and form an angle, or to the point on a figure, such as a triangle or cone, that is opposite to its base. |
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| 3545 |
verve |
an energetic style |
M'Loughlin gave us speed, dash, and verve in our tennis. |
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If something has an energetic style or vitality, you can say it has verve. Dancers are noted for their verve on the stage. Morticians? Not so much. |
Similar words to verve include vim, vigor, and élan. Verve comes from the Latin root word verba, meaning words, and in English originally meant a special talent in writing. Although the "special talent" sense is now archaic, verve is still an excellent choice to describe a writing style. |
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| 3546 |
veteran |
a person who has served in the armed forces |
The study included 182 Vietnam War veterans who had highly localized brain damage caused by penetrating head wounds. |
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Veteran commonly refers to someone who has fought in a war––think Veterans' Day, the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial––but, in fact, the word can mean anyone with experience in a particular field. |
Many veterans of World War II went to college afterward, through the G.I. Bill, and pursued professional careers. At the end of those careers, it was not unusual to find among the ranks of veteran teachers or veteran attorneys or veteran doctors men who were also veterans of the war. |
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| 3547 |
veto |
a vote that blocks a decision |
Even President Wilson could not block it, for a two-thirds vote to overcome his veto was mustered in Congress. |
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A veto is a no vote that blocks a decision. The President can veto some bills that pass his desk. |
A veto is a very official way of saying "No!" Vetoes block or forbid something, and the word is also used more loosely. The President of the United States can veto Senators who oppose his ideas, but if he tries to veto his daughter from joining the swim team, he might encounter his fiercest opponent yet. If you strongly disagree with your friends' choice of a movie, you could say, "I have to veto that." Vetoes vote no. |
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| 3548 |
vexation |
anger produced by some annoying irritation |
The knocking and scratching indicated rage and fury, combined with irritation and vexation on account of having got into a scrape. |
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Vexation is both something that causes annoyance and the state of mind that results from being annoyed. The test-taker next to you tapping her pencil is a vexation. You breaking her pencil in half makes her feel vexation. |
Vexation can also refer to something that causes anxiety and worry more than annoyance. When the parents of the kid you're babysitting are two hours late to return and aren’t answering their phones, that could be a vexation. You are less annoyed than worried. (Though, to be honest, you're still a little annoyed). |
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| 3549 |
vicarious |
experienced at secondhand |
Again, people who rated higher on empathy showed greater vicarious embarrassment. |
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If something is vicarious, it delivers a feeling or experience from someone else. If your child becomes a big star, you might have a vicarious experience of celebrity. |
Vicarious comes from the Latin work vicarius, which means substitute. If you have vicarious enjoyment, you have a second hand thrill. You might get vicarious thrills of adventure by reading your friend's letters from overseas. If you're mad at your wife but you take it out on your dog, that's vicarious punishment. Vicarious can also be used as a medical term meaning "occurring in an unexpected part of body." |
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| 3550 |
vice |
moral weakness |
“I do not spend on vices like smoking, drinking or gambling, and have been completely devoted to my family,” he said in the statement. |
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A vice is a moral failing or a bad habit. Traditional examples of vice include drinking alcohol, smoking tobacco, and gambling in card games. |
In the United States, municipal police departments often have a bureau dedicated to vice, manned by vice cops, whose job it is to fight crime related to alcohol, drugs, and gambling. But anything can be a vice, as long as there's someone out there who views it as bad behavior or a moral weakness. You might say, casually, "I don't drink, smoke, or gamble. Chocolate ice cream is my vice." Or driving over the speed limit. Or intentionally failing to sort your recycling. |
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| 3551 |
vicinity |
a surrounding or nearby region |
But she hunted around in the vicinity of the cabin, and found some blackberry bushes that were fairly well laden. |
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If something is in your vicinity, it's in the surrounding area or nearby region — it's in the neighborhood, so to speak. If there's a garbage dump in your vicinity, you'll certainly smell it. |
The noun vicinity evolved from the Latin vicinitas, which means “of or pertaining to neighbors or a neighborhood.” Not until 1796 did the word expand in meaning to also describe a “surrounding district.” Said American author Washington Irving, “A kind heart is a fountain of gladness, making everything in its vicinity freshen into smiles.” Slang for vicinity include neck of the woods and turf. |
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| 3552 |
victor |
the contestant who wins the contest |
All the contestants shall then be collected, and every victor crowned. |
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The victor is the winner of a contest, usually one that requires physical skills or strength, like in battle or sports. Calling someone the victor implies that he or she triumphed in a difficult competition. |
The origin of the noun victor is in the Latin word vincere, meaning “conquer.” If you conquer your opponents, in a weekend-long chess showdown, the wrestling match, the beauty contest, the debate, or a 5K run, you are the victor. It means you won — victory is yours. Whenever an opponent is defeated, the winner is the victor. |
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| 3553 |
vie |
compete for something |
Monday and stretched nearly three city blocks by the next morning, as residents vied for one of 100 coveted spots on the complex’s waiting list. |
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To vie for something means to compete for it. Two teams may vie for the gold medal, but one will have to go home with silver. |
Vie may be spelled the same as the French word, vie, but they are pronounced differently, vī and vē respectively, and are not related in meaning or history. English vie comes from the Latin verb meaning "to invite" as in to invite a challenge. Be careful of the spelling which includes an ie to y shift. “He intends to vie for the top prize,” but “He is vying for the top prize.” |
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| 3554 |
vile |
morally reprehensible |
He met a pious little girl, whose feelings he tried to wound by using vile and sinful language. |
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Surely only an evil person could be so vile as to have made you so angry. Vile is something or someone so morally wrong or offensive as to be thoroughly disgusting. |
Are you appalled by someone’s sordid, despicable, ugly and just generally awful behavior? Then it’s probably vile, too. One of those dramatic adjectives with many synonyms, the word vile is not only used to describe a person or an action that is morally reprehensible; it can describe a smell that is so bad as to be practically morally reprehensible — or something else that offends your senses enough to make you nauseous. Those three month old dirty gym socks? They’re vile! |
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| 3555 |
villain |
the principal bad character in a film or work of fiction |
The hero passes through thrilling adventures in his endeavours to rescue his betrothed from the hands of an unscrupulous villain. |
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A villain is a bad person — real or made up. In books, movies, current events, or history, the villain is the character who does mean, evil things on purpose. |
Today a villain is a wicked person, whether in fact or fiction. In the 1300s, villain described a low-born rustic. It came from the Medieval Latin word villanus, or farmhand. Just why a word would evolve from meaning farmer into evildoer is a little mysterious, although it probably has to do with farmers not being chivalrous, like the knights who were so admired in those days. |
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| 3556 |
vindictive |
showing malicious ill will and a desire to hurt |
There aren’t any vindictive contestants stabbing nicer ones in the back. |
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It is no fun hanging out with vindictive people, who are forever out to get back at people they think have hurt them. If you forget to say hello to them one day in the hall, they will carry a grudge against you into next week. |
Vindictive is often paired with mean, as in "the atmosphere of the cheerleading squad at my new school was vindictive and mean and I wanted nothing to do with it." Vindictive rumors show a spirit full of revenge. Vindictive is from Latin vindicta "revenge." The related Latin verb vindicare has the very different meaning "to defend or clear someone from guilt," and this is the source of the English verb vindicate. |
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| 3557 |
vintage |
the oldness of wines |
Progress is counted by the annual vintage, and the best wines mature over decades, not years. |
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A vintage is the specific year that a wine was made. Different vintages are better than others. |
This word is mainly associated with wine. Some wine drinkers can actually identify a wine’s vintage based on smell or taste. Also, this word can refer to things that are old, yet also kind of cool. An antique car is known as a vintage automobile. There are also vintage bikes and watches. Watch out for the word vintage though: sometimes it just means old or used, like a vintage clothing store. |
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| 3558 |
virtual |
being actually such in almost every respect |
The public opinion polls, which registered a virtual dead heat in recent months, are beginning to inch in his favor. |
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The adjective virtual is used to describe something that exists in essence but not in actuality. You may have made a virtual friend on an online gaming site, but don't expect that person to meet you for coffee. |
Although virtual can be used to describe anything that exists in effect, but not in fact, it is often used to describe things created in a computer or online world. "She enjoyed playing the virtual role-playing game with her online friends." Virtual can also be used to mean "almost" — as in, "The blizzard brought the city to a virtual standstill, with subway and bus passengers stranded on the sidewalks." |
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| 3559 |
virulent |
extremely poisonous or injurious; producing venom |
It is an unusually virulent cancer of white blood cells that are overproduced in bone marrow and invade other parts of the body. |
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A virulent disease is one that's infectious, spreading, and making lots of people sick, while a virulent rant is just a verbal attack, causing sickness of the emotional kind. Either way, something virulent puts a strain on the people who get it. |
Two meanings come out of the roots for virulent: one being "poisonous" and the other, "spiteful." The virus-carrying meaning of virulent often gets combined with strain, such as in a "virulent strain of the flu." Those who aren’t carrying disease but are still considered virulent most likely lash out at others with a biting tone. Unleashing acid-tongued words on someone would be considered a virulent attack. |
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| 3560 |
viscera |
internal organs collectively |
The viscera are the soft internal organs especially in the abdominal and thoracic cavities. |
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If someone calls you a gutless coward, he's telling you that you lack both courage and viscera. Your viscera are your innards or your guts. In popular usage the term refers to the intestines, but technically it includes all soft internal organs. |
Viscera comes from the Latin viscus, meaning "an inner part of the body." You won't hear it much nowadays unless you're studying anatomy or describing particularly gory special effects. (Parents object to ultra-violent videogames where bodies explode, spewing viscera.) Don't confuse it with the related visceral, which does crop up often today and means "instinctive." "She had a visceral reaction to seeing her boyfriend and his hunting pals covered in deer blood and viscera, and dumped him the next day." |
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| 3561 |
visceral |
obtained through intuition rather than from reasoning |
“It was an overwhelming feeling — a brutally visceral response — heartfelt and unmediated by my training or my feminist pro-choice politics,” she wrote. |
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When something's visceral, you feel it in your guts. A visceral feeling is intuitive — there might not be a rational explanation, but you feel that you know what's best, like your visceral reaction against egg salad. |
Your hatred of mice may not be rational, but it is visceral, and every time you see one, you feel like you're going to faint. And when you had to decide whether you were going to stay in Florida or move to Texas, even though you had a good job in Orlando you had a visceral feeling that Texas would be the right choice . . . and it turned out you were meant to be a rancher! Visceral can also mean “relating to the viscera,” with viscera being your organs. |
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| 3562 |
vital |
performing an essential function in the living body |
Shanahan passed out, his vital signs quit, his heart stopped beating for a half minute, and a priest gave him last rites. |
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A patient's vital signs are their important body functions, such as pulse rate, that shows they are still alive. Use the adjective vital to describe something that is important and necessary, or a person full of energy. |
Vital descends from Middle English, from Old French, from Latin vītālis, from vīta "life." If you are vital to the organization you work for, it means they cannot live without you––or at least that you're an important part of the team. If you're a vital force in your church volunteer group, you probably are a leader with lots of energy to give. |
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| 3563 |
vitality |
the property of being able to survive and grow |
Notwithstanding these evidences of vitality, Catharism was rapidly dying out. |
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Are you full of life? Vigorous and energetic? Lucky you. You have vitality, the state of being strong and in great health. |
Vitality also has the general meaning of "life force," as in the mysterious power that separates the living from the dead. The phrase "vital organs" comes from vitality, meaning a person's inner organs most essential to life. Abstract things can also have vitality, as in "the vitality of the state" or the vitality of Broadway Theater." |
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| 3564 |
vitreous |
relating to or resembling or derived from glass |
On the one hand, some are completely vitreous, like obsidian, which is a natural glass. |
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Something that has the characteristics of glass — hard, brittle, glossy, possibly transparent — can be said to be vitreous, or glasslike. A vitreous surface works well for a kitchen counter. |
The adjective vitreous, which appeared in the 1640s, is from the Latin vitrum, "glass." Since the 1660s, the gel that fills the eye between the lens and the retina has been known as the "vitreous humor," the "vitreous body," or simply "the vitreous," presumably for the gel's clear, glassine appearance. If the vitreous breaks down, becoming more liquid than gel (usually due to aging or an injury), it can be disrupted, creating vision problems. |
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| 3565 |
vivid |
evoking lifelike images within the mind |
Indeed, the footage was vivid, with grass blades, facial lines and soaring mountains appearing luminous and pronounced. |
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Vivid is an adjective that describes a bold and bright color, an intense feeling, or an image in your mind that is so clear you can almost touch it. |
Sometimes you have a vivid dream that feels so real that even when you wake up, you can’t tell if the dream is really over. In that dream, perhaps there were flowers with deep, rich, and vivid colors that looked like they were painted. Vivid comes from the Latin vivere, which means “to live,” and vivid memories do seem to live on. |
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| 3566 |
vocation |
the particular occupation for which you are trained |
Indeed even some who have more than served time in that capacity will admit that it is a dangerous employment, profession, or vocation. |
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Unless you can find someone to pay you to sip fancy tropical drinks on the beach, your vocation is not likely to be a "vacation." Rather, the word means something you know how to do––or what you do for a living. |
The word vocation derives from the Latin vocare "to call." To become a priest, you need to feel that you have been "called" to the ministry directly by God. Their job is their calling, or vocation. An avocation is something you do because you love it. Everyone should make it their goal to have their avocation become their vocation. |
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| 3567 |
void |
an empty area or space |
His departure leaves a void in Detroit, a piece of bedrock gone, sort of like waking up to find the Detroit River gone. |
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A void is empty space, nothingness, zero, zilch. A place that's void of all life forms has no sign of animals, plants, or people. |
You may recognize void from the Old Testament passage describing creation: "The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep." In other words, nothing was there: pure emptiness. When you void something or make it void, you make it legally invalid, and that kind of void often goes with null. You might tell Cinderella, "If you're not back by midnight, that arrangement with the pumpkin and the mice is null and void." |
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| 3568 |
voluminous |
large in number or quantity |
So varied and voluminous are the writings of Mr. Stockton, they may be grouped as Juveniles, Novels, Novelettes and Collected Short Stories. |
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Consider that volume is a measure of size. That will help you understand that voluminous refers to something very large in size or extent. |
Suppose instead of calling a book a book, you called it a volume. Suddenly, it seems to be part of a much bigger thing. And what if it were only Volume I, with 23 more volumes to go? Even bigger, right? In fact, it's more than big; it’s voluminous. Voluminous describes very large things. The flouncy skirt of a wedding dress? Voluminous. Media coverage of some movie star's divorce? Also voluminous. The word voluminous describes something ample, extensive, and just plain huge. |
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| 3569 |
vortex |
a powerful circular current of water |
Where they came together was a whirlpool, a tremendous vortex that hushed all surrounding Nature. |
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Think vortex and picture a tornado or whirlpool — swirling around, causing destruction. |
If you picture a whirlpool spinning and draining like water out of a bathtub, you'll get a pretty good impression of what a vortex looks like. Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz found out first-hand the meaning of vortex as she and her house whirled around in the funnel cloud of a tornado. In a figurative sense, vortex can be used to tell about something that seems like it is whirling out of control, all consuming, or chaotic. This may include exam week, your relationships, or your life in general. |
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| 3570 |
ultimatum |
a final peremptory demand |
Have issued ultimatum to my own country that, if she does not find fresh countries for me to fight before midnight, war will ensue. |
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An ultimatum is a final demand attached to a threat, like "If you don't do it, I'll never speak to you again." Ultimatums are serious business. |
The noun ultimatum has Latin roots meaning "final" and that's still what the word means today. It is the final demand, usually with an implicit or explicit "or else" attached to it. Often, the person on the receiving end of the ultimatum rebels, however, and will say something like, "Don't give me any ultimatums!" |
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| 3571 |
umbrage |
a feeling of anger caused by being offended |
Such men are easily offended, take umbrage at trifles, and are unforgiving in their resentments. |
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When someone takes umbrage at something, they find it offensive, and it probably makes them angry. |
Umbrage comes from the same source as umbrella, the Latin umbra, "shade, shadow." The umbrella was invented to keep you in shade, and when you take umbrage at something, you're casting a shadow over the person or thing responsible for the offense. I take umbrage at the suggestion that I'm not a nice person: it's offensive and infuriating. After having devoted my life to helping animals, I might take umbrage at the notion that I've been doing it for publicity purposes: I resent the idea that it was for any other reason than my love of animals. |
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| 3572 |
unabashed |
not embarrassed |
But she looked up into his face with such frank unabashed admiration that I couldn't help laughing—nor could he! |
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To be unabashed is to be unembarrassed. When you're unabashed, you're confident and proud. You're letting it all hang out. |
Unabashed describes how good you feel about something. If you're an unabashed Red Sox fan, you're a proud Red Sox fan. If you're an unabashed patriot, you totally love your country — and wear clothing featuring bald eagles and the American flag. This word is the opposite of abashed, which means embarrassed. If you feel bad about something, then you really can't be unabashed. |
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| 3573 |
unalterable |
not capable of being changed |
There were no immovable prejudices, no fixed and unalterable traditions. |
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You take your dress to the tailor to be altered. He tells you he can't alter it. The dress is unalterable. Something unalterable cannot be changed. |
Take the prefix un-, meaning "not". Add it to the word alter, meaning "change." Tack on the suffix -able, meaning "possible." The result? Unalterable, "impossible to change." The things you've done in the past are unalterable. The only things you have the power to change are the things you're doing right now or that you will do in the future. How can you alter things that haven't happened yet? Good question. For all we know, they're unalterable too. |
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| 3574 |
unambiguous |
having or exhibiting a single clearly defined meaning |
A man who is capable of thinking can express himself at all times in clear, comprehensible, and unambiguous words. |
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If something is unambiguous, there are no two ways to interpret it. If your girlfriend burns all your letters, texts you that she hates you, and moves a thousand miles away, the unambiguous message is that she’s finished with you. |
If you're nervously reading the manual on how to trap the rattlesnake that's hiding under your bed, you'd hope the instructions would be unambiguous and tell you very clearly what to do. The word unambiguous gets its meaning from un-, meaning "not," combined with the Latin -ambi-, meaning "both ways," and -agere, meaning "to drive." So unambiguous is not driving in two directions — it's going full speed ahead, in just one direction, with only one meaning. |
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| 3575 |
unanimous |
in complete agreement |
With a couple of exceptions, the president has nominated moderates who receive overwhelming, sometimes unanimous, support once they get a vote. |
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When a group or a decision is unanimous, it means that everyone is in total agreement. Just imagine if you let third graders vote on what to serve at lunch: Pizza and candy would be the unanimous choice! |
The adjective unanimous comes from the similar Latin word unanimus, which means “of one mind.” So when people think unanimously, they all have the same idea in their heads. A vote is unanimous when all voters are in agreement. Said Marcus Cicero, “Great is the power, great is the authority of a senate that is unanimous in its opinions.” |
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| 3576 |
unappreciated |
having value that is not acknowledged |
Unappreciated, poor and neglected, it was not until after years of struggle that they attained recognition and success. |
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Knowing that "un-" means "not," you can probably figure out that someone who is unappreciated is someone whose value is not recognized or rewarded. We all feel unappreciated at times, but feeling that way might help us appreciate others. |
The adjective unappreciated took shape in the mid-19th century. It evolved from the Latin appretiāre, "to set a value on something." The word unappreciated can refer to anything that does not receive full credit, either positive or negative. For example, we might say that the possibilities of disaster due to global warming are still unappreciated by most people. |
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| 3577 |
unapproachable |
discouraging intimacies; reserved |
They are apart, unapproachable, unidentified, not to be communicated with though you look into their faces and speak to them. |
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When someone is unapproachable, you won’t feel comfortable going up to the person and starting a conversation. If a place is unapproachable, it’s really hard to get there. |
You’ll notice the word approach is in unapproachable. Approach means “move toward” or “go up to.” When something or someone is unapproachable, that thing or person is hard to get close to. When a place is unapproachable, it’s probably remote or difficult to reach, like a fortress at the top of a cliff. When a person is unapproachable, he or she probably seems unfriendly. |
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| 3578 |
unassailable |
impossible to attack |
But the towns, within their strong Roman walls, were unassailable by the light cavalry which formed his only armed strength. |
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The adjective unassailable means without flaws or indefensible. If you are going to get home late (again!), you'd better have an unassailable alibi for your parents, or else you should plan on not seeing the outside of your room for a while. |
The adjective unassailable also means immune to attack or doubt, such as an unassailable military holding or an unassailable reputation. Unassailable can also mean untouchable or unable to be defeated. If your high school basketball team is leading 92 to 14 with just a couple of seconds to go, the announcer might say you have an unassailable lead. The corrupt politician had so many connections, he seemed unassailable; he always seemed to manage to deflect even a hint of scandal onto others in the party. |
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| 3579 |
unattainable |
impossible to achieve |
Stick to the world in which you are born, and throw no bouquets at the impossible or the unattainable. |
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Something unattainable is out of reach — you can't attain it or achieve it. |
Unfortunately, a lot of things in life are unattainable. For most of us, making a billion dollars is unattainable. Marrying a famous movie star is probably also unattainable. Flying to the moon in a private space yacht is totally unattainable. If something is unattainable, then you just can't get it. In life, it's not always easy to see what's unattainable and what's attainable, which can cause a lot of frustration. |
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| 3580 |
unbiased |
without prejudice |
When the trusts are controlled, and labor submits its grievances to an impartial, unbiased board of arbitration, then there will be peace and plenty. |
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To be unbiased, you have to be 100% fair — you can't have a favorite, or opinions that would color your judgment. For example, to make things as unbiased as possible, judges of an art contest didn't see the artists' names or the names of their schools and hometowns. |
You are unbiased if you can assess situations with a completely open mind. The root of unbiased is bias, which probably comes from the Greek word epikarsios, meaning “athwart,” “crosswise,” or “oblique.” When you have a bias, you look at the situation “from the side,” such as the side of someone who personally hates seafood telling you that Lobster Larry's is a terrible restaurant. To be unbiased you don't have biases affecting you; you are impartial and would probably make a good judge. |
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| 3581 |
unbridled |
not restrained or controlled |
She was afraid of him in his ardent moods, almost as much as when he allowed his unbridled temper free rein. |
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Unbridled means unrestrained. When you find out that you just won the lottery, feel free to jump up and down with unbridled joy. Go ahead, most people would probably let loose in the same way. |
A bridle is the contraption used to control a horse, including the reins held by the rider and the bit that goes into the horse’s mouth. Add the un prefix and it means there is no control. Unbridled is often used to describe people’s emotions or actions and it can be either a good or a bad thing. If you have unbridled spending, you’re in danger of going in debt. If you tackle homework with unbridled enthusiasm, you’re likely going to get good grades. |
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| 3582 |
uncharted |
not yet surveyed or investigated |
“It’s not like this is untested, uncharted territory in some respect,” he said. |
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If a place is uncharted, it means it isn't found on any map, like the uncharted wilderness settlers found when heading west, or, more figuratively — the uncharted territory of a new strategy. |
The word charted originated in the 1570s, when chart was the name navigators used for maps. So when navigators reached a place not found on their charts, they called the place uncharted. Uncharted also can be used in a figurative sense to describe the start of a new experience, such as the uncharted territory of talking about a difficult subject for the first time. |
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| 3583 |
uncommunicative |
not inclined to talk or give information or express opinions |
The men, too, sat uncommunicative, silent; whereas their daughters or spouses turned, chattering, laughing, waving a hand to this or that friend. |
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Hello? Is anyone reading this? Please respond. Well, it seems that you’re uncommunicative, and you’re not willing to talk for whatever reason. How lonely. |
Someone who is uncommunicative has trouble communicating. Maybe they’re tired or grumpy, or maybe their cell phone battery died. The Latin adjective for "shared" is a root word, and no matter why, an uncommunicative person won’t share much, maybe only a few words, sometimes no words at all. You can also say that a book is uncommunicative if it’s very confusing and doesn’t make sense to you. Or you can just stop reading. |
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| 3584 |
unconditional |
not qualified by reservations |
Meanwhile, Peel has said that its offer is now unconditional, meaning it will go ahead whatever the uptake. |
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Whether it’s love, support, or surrender, if something’s unconditional it’s absolute and not subject to any special terms or conditions: it’ll happen no matter what else happens. |
Breaking apart the word unconditional can help you remember its meaning. Combine the prefix un-, meaning “not,” with conditional, meaning "dependent on something else," and you get an adjective for something that holds true without any conditions attached. The unconditional forgiveness you promised your brother means you forgive him no matter what. You’re not attaching any requirements — like you’ll only forgive him if he’s nicer to you or pays you money. You just forgive him — it's absolute. |
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| 3585 |
unconscious |
lacking awareness and the capacity for sensory perception |
He fell asleep in an unconscious state, after an illness of a week. |
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When you're unconscious you're passed out or asleep. Anything going on in the body that we're not aware of can also be called unconscious. |
Being unconscious can be very nice, especially when you're in the middle of a deep sleep. But if you're unconscious because you fainted or got hit in the head, that's not so good. Unconscious people aren't aware of what's going on, and they can't talk or do things — except maybe for sleepwalking and sleeptalking. There are also unconscious thoughts and desires: things going on in the mind that you don't know about. |
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| 3586 |
unconventional |
not conforming to standards |
He said NSF is looking for "unusually innovative, unconventional, high-risk, and interdisciplinary proposals without a recognizable home" within the foundation. |
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To be unconventional is to act, dress, speak, or otherwise exist out of the bounds of cultural norms. If you eat cheeseburgers for breakfast, that's somewhat unconventional. |
Anything that's nonconformist or out of the ordinary can be described as unconventional. Every culture has its own conventions — or norms — and what may be unconventional in one region might be typical in another. The perception of what's unconventional is determined by context. |
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| 3587 |
undulate |
move in a wavy pattern or with a rising and falling motion |
Their accounts are frightening to read: the landscape undulating like a shaken carpet, rising and falling in waves 15 feet high. |
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Undulate means to move in a wave-like pattern. If a sound increases and decreases in pitch or volume like waves, you can say the sound is undulating. When searching for the lost boy, the rescuers' cries undulated through the forest. |
The verb undulate comes from the Latin word undula, which means "wavelet" (unda means "wave"). So any action shown with the verb undulate has that waving sense to it. If something moves in a wavy, pattern, for example, it is said to undulate. The wind might cause prairie grass to undulate, or music might cause hips to undulate. |
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| 3588 |
unencumbered |
not burdened with cares or responsibilities |
At such times, a man should feel free, unencumbered, and perfectly at his ease in point of straps and suspenders. |
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When you're unencumbered, you're free of baggage: either you literally don't have a lot of stuff to carry, or you're emotionally care-free. |
This word has two closely related uses. A person is unencumbered when they're traveling light — they're not struggling to carry 5 suitcases. But if you have no worries or responsibilities, you're also unencumbered — nothing is weighing on your mind. In both senses being unencumbered means you feel light: either literally or emotionally. |
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| 3589 |
unequivocal |
admitting of no doubt or misunderstanding |
His response was clear and unequivocal: “manipulating images is considered tampering with data.” |
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If there is no doubt about it, it's unequivocal. An unequivocal response to a marriage proposal? "Yes. Yes! A thousand times yes!" |
Equivocal is from a Latin word meaning of equal voice, so unequivocal means of unequal voice — unmistakable, unambiguous, without question. There might be unequivocal evidence tying a suspect to a crime, or unequivocal support for a popular leader. If you explain something in unequivocal terms, then your words should be clear to everyone. |
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| 3590 |
unfathomable |
resembling an abyss in depth; so deep as to be immeasurable |
His Civil List is an unfathomable abyss, into which are thrown untold sums of money. |
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Unfathomable means impossible to ever understand. For most people, the field of quantum mechanics is unfathomable. |
Fathoms are seafaring units of measure equaling about six feet. So something that is unfathomable is also immeasurable, especially when it comes to depth. If your sonar isn't bouncing anything back to you, you're dealing with an unfathomable distance. Metaphorically, unfathomable can refer to something that resembles an abyss, some figurative notion that's so deep you can't even measure it. |
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| 3591 |
unfettered |
not bound by shackles and chains |
Each wants free enterprise unfettered by a meddlesome government, which means promoting lower taxes, less regulation and privatizing public services. |
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The adjective unfettered describes something or someone uninhibited and unrestrained. If you write mysteries novels for a living you probably turn your unfettered imagination to murder and mayhem. |
Unfettered comes from the Old English root word fetor, which was a chain or shackle for the feet. Un- means "not," so originally the word literally meant "not chained or shackled." Today there isn't much real shackling going on, so the adjective unfettered mainly describes something that is free or unrestrained. You'll see such uses as unfettered emotions, unfettered stock market growth, and unfettered speech. |
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| 3592 |
unfledged |
young and inexperienced |
Both were equally sympathetic, and pitied the little unfledged creature, who was by some accident left motherless in his early youth. |
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Something that is unfledged is young and inexperienced, such as an unfledged short story writer who has great style but whose stories have plots that are impossible to follow. |
The word unfledged can be used literally to describe a baby bird that doesn’t yet have feathers and can’t fly or leave the nest. It can also describe a person who is inexperienced or not yet completely developed. An actor just learning his craft could be called unfledged. It can also be used to describe ideas that are still developing, such as an unfledged plan — there are goals but all the steps for reaching them aren't in place. |
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| 3593 |
unfounded |
without a basis in reason or fact |
“The allegations contained in this report are inaccurate and unfounded,” Allen Chan, Sino-Forest’s chief executive officer, said in the statement. |
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Has someone ever told a complete lie about you? Then what they said was unfounded. There is nothing behind an unfounded statement. |
Things that are unfounded include lies, myths, and sometimes rumors. If something is unfounded, then there is no truth to it: the facts won't back it up. People often use this word when denying something: they'll say "Your words are unfounded!" Made-up creatures like unicorns and werewolves are unfounded. If you're writing a paper for school, you've better make sure nothing in your paper is unfounded — research the facts instead. |
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| 3594 |
unguent |
preparation applied externally as a remedy or for soothing |
Medicated unguents, applied to the skin, containing mercury, iodine, and other substances, are not known to be followed by any better results. |
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That sometimes sticky or greasy salve you put on cuts or rashes is also called an unguent. Whether it's a cream or a gel, the main purpose of an unguent is to heal or protect a sore. |
Unguent comes from the Latin unguentum, "ointment." Ancient unguents were luxurious and included fragrant oils used to anoint and perfume the skin. Some were even symbolically incorporated into religious ceremonies. In old-time of medicine shows, potions and unguents were sold as having magical properties but were usually concocted from common ingredients that could sometimes even be dangerous. |
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| 3595 |
unilateral |
involving only one part or side |
He said the decision was not unilateral but taken in consultation with France's partners. |
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Unilateral means "one-sided." If parents make a unilateral decision to eliminate summer vacation, it means that the students’ opinions or opposing views weren’t considered. |
When someone makes a unilateral decision, he or she acts alone, without considering the feelings, opposing opinions or concerns of others. But it’s not always a bad thing to act unilaterally. If you are in a fight with your sister and haven’t spoken to each other for a week, you could choose to do her chores, compliment her or make other unilateral, good-faith efforts to bring the bad feelings to an end. |
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| 3596 |
unison |
occurring together or simultaneously |
Dick made ready for his try, every muscle working in unison, every fiber in his body intent on clearing the bar in safety. |
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The noun unison describes something that is synchronized or simultaneous, like when someone asks a question and you and your friend respond with the exact same answer at the same moment. When something is said in unison, two or more voices sound like one. |
Unison comes from the Latin root words uni, meaning "one," and sonous, meaning "sound." So unison literally means one sound, and in music, it still retains that meaning. Unison occurs when two or more people play or sing the same pitch or in octaves. Outside of music, you may have experienced unison speaking when your class recites something together or unison movement when a group performs a dance routine. |
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| 3597 |
unjust |
not fair; marked by injustice or partiality or deception |
These evils briefly are: The competitive system is stupid because wasteful and disorderly; it is unnecessarily immoral, unjust and cruel. |
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Something or someone that is unjust is just not fair. An unjust boss might fire you the very first time you're late for work. |
You might think of the word justice in order to remember the meaning of the word just, which means "fairness or righteousness." An unjust judge does not play by the rules; he might send a person to jail even though there isn't enough evidence that a crime was committed. Unjust behavior is improper or dishonest: "The professor acted in an unjust manner when he gave everyone an F just because there was a rumor that his students didn’t like him." |
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| 3598 |
unjustified |
lacking authorization |
Under the proposal, a rate increase will be considered unreasonable if it is excessive, unjustified or “unfairly discriminatory.” |
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Whether it’s unjustified violence, an unjustified complaint, or an unjustified belief, you can use the word unjustified when something just isn’t right or seems to have no reason behind it. |
When you break apart the word unjustified, it’s easy to see what it means. You’re probably familiar with the prefix un-, which here means “not.” And justified contains just, meaning “fair.” So something that's unjustified is not fair or not right, such as an unjustified action like damaging someone's property or the unjustified praise for someone who has taken credit for another person's efforts. |
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| 3599 |
unkempt |
not properly maintained or cared for |
“It also had filthy showers, terrible dressing rooms, and was tatty and unkempt. |
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Unkempt literally means “not combed,” but use it to describe anything with a sloppy appearance. Your hair probably looks unkempt when you roll out of bed in the morning. Keep it that way if you're going for the rock star look. |
From the fusing of un- “not” with kempt “neat” comes the adjective unkempt. Kempt has fallen out of use, but unkempt persists as a popular word to describe anything unpolished, rough, or disorderly. Pig sties, the corrals where pigs live, are usually quite unkempt. That's why your mom keeps calling your messy, unkempt train wreck of a room a pig sty. |
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| 3600 |
unlicensed |
lacking official approval |
There are serious risks associated with parties in unlicensed locations: In 1990, a fire killed 87 people inside an illegal New York club. |
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When something is unlicensed, it has no license, i.e., no official government approval. If a restaurant doesn't have a liquor license but serves wine anyway, it's an unlicensed sale of that beverage. |
You will hear the word unlicensed most often involving illegally-possessed firearms. Murders are often committed with unlicensed guns, meaning that the killer purchased the gun without a license, most likely from a shady dealer. |
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| 3601 |
unobtainable |
not capable of being acquired |
Fresh meat was soon unobtainable, except by those few people who could afford to pay fabulous prices for joints smuggled across the frontier. |
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Whether it’s an unobtainable career in the NBA, an unobtainable friendship with the Queen of England, or an unobtainable new Japanese video game, the word unobtainable refers to something that you just can’t get. |
Unobtainable can describe anything that you can’t get: big or small. The word is often applied to abstract things such as dreams or goals that are out of reach, but it can also describe people. That desirable person who doesn’t love you back? Unobtainable. It can also describe everyday items that can’t be acquired, like the hottest toy of the year that’s unobtainable because it has sold out in every store. |
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| 3602 |
unobtrusive |
not undesirably noticeable |
Be unobtrusive, blend in, and everyone will forget you are there. |
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Use the adjective unobtrusive to describe something that doesn’t attract much attention, like an unobtrusive waiter who doesn't interrupt diners to rattle off the nightly specials, or an unobtrusive stain on the floor that your parents haven't noticed. |
When you need to blend in, look to the word unobtrusive, which is pronounced "un-ob-TROO-sive." Unobtrusive can describe anyone — or anything — that is not very noticeable, such as the unobtrusive black parka that makes you look more or less like everyone else on the city streets in winter, or the unobtrusive security cameras at your bank. |
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| 3603 |
unparalleled |
radically distinctive and without equal |
When this unparalleled and matchless royal speech was ended the whole company burst forth into rapturous applause. |
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If something's unparalleled, there's never been anything like it — such as a brilliant musical performance or a record-breaking time for an athlete. |
Remember parallel lines from your old geometry classes — lines running alongside each other always at the same distance that never meet and are essentially identical? Well, that's the idea unparalleled comes from — except the opposite (thus the "un"). Sporting achievements are particularly prone to being described as unparalleled, since athletes are always out to break records. |
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| 3604 |
unprepossessing |
creating an unfavorable or neutral first impression |
"Indeed!" ejaculated Mrs. Vanderburgh, as he addressed her, and raising her eyebrows with a supercilious glance for his plain, unprepossessing appearance. |
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If you find someone to be unprepossessing, you find them unattractive. Not that they're ugly, mind you! Just unprepossessing. |
Unprepossessing is a rather indirect way of calling someone unattractive, or at best OK-looking. Unprepossessing is not quite the same as "ugly." Rather, just a way of saying that someone's looks aren't what you're most likely to remember about them. Cinderella was most unprepossessing in the filthy clothes and worn-out shoes that her step-sisters forced her to wear. But when she was all decked out by her fairy godmother, she was the belle of the ball: she was no longer unprepossessing. |
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| 3605 |
unpretentious |
lacking affectation |
Yet Norman Wisdom remained that most modest of British superstars, unpretentious, full of humility, despite a dizzying rise to international fame. |
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The adjective unpretentious is perfect for describing someone you know who's modest and natural and never tries to impress other people. |
Pretentious comes from the Latin word meaning "pretend," prætensus, so when you're unpretentious, you see no reason to pretend. Some of your favorite people are probably unpretentious, tending to be honest and genuine. When extremely talented or well-known people are unpretentious, they feel no need to show off or remind you of their accomplishments. A place can also be described as unpretentious, if it's simple and comfortable, like the cozy, unpretentious cafe where you like to hang out. |
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| 3606 |
unprincipled |
lacking moral scruples |
He was no better, in his unprincipled cravings, than a wild beast. |
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An unprincipled person follows no moral code, has no integrity, and should not be trusted, like the guy who offers to help an old lady across the street but steals her purse instead. |
No, unprincipled isn't a word we use to describe a school that's missing its principal — we're talking about the -ple word here. If you don't have principles, which is what unprincipled really means, then you don't have scruples or morals. You're likely to do just about anything bad, like break rules, take advantage of people, tell lots of lies, and extort people's lunch money. |
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| 3607 |
unravel |
become undone |
I described how one day recently, Matthew’s mental state unraveled and he spent hours on the floor of the classroom in tears. |
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However tempting, don't pull that straggly thread hanging from your sleeve. You'll just unravel, or totally undo, your hand-knitted sweater. |
Something that's unraveled has been completely undone, whether it's a spool of thread, some knotty shoelaces, or your mental state after a long and frustrating day. You can also unravel a mystery by picking it apart, untangling the details or just following the trail of clues like a line of string. |
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| 3608 |
unregulated |
not subject to rule or discipline |
The Internet provides an inexpensive, anonymous, geographically unbounded, and largely unregulated virtual haven for terrorists. |
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Whether it’s an economy, the fishing industry, or your cash flow, something that’s unregulated knows no bounds — there are no rules or restrictions in place. |
When you break the word unregulated down, it’s easy to figure out what it means. The prefix un- reverses an action, so here it means “not.” Then you have regulated, which describes something that has rules or people who check that things are working properly. So if something is unregulated, there are no rules or people making sure everything is right, like an unregulated restaurant that the board of health doesn't know about. |
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| 3609 |
unrelenting |
never-ceasing |
Constant and unrelenting, it streamed steadily upward, as though it drew its volume from central fires that would never cease. |
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Unrelenting is an adjective that describes someone or something that is not willing to give up, like a person who tries fifty different types of ice cream in pursuit of the perfect flavor. |
The word unrelenting usually describes a person who is stubborn and persistent in his efforts. An unrelenting person may also be unforgiving, such as a judge who will give the harshest sentence regardless of the sob story that the person on trial tells her. Unrelenting can also refer to non-human actions, like the unrelenting wind that finally led to a cancellation of your outdoor sailing competition or the unrelenting noise of the party that kept you awake all night. |
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| 3610 |
unremitting |
uninterrupted in time and indefinitely long continuing |
The most unremitting attention and constant care were what the boy required declared the physician when he had made an examination. |
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During a heat wave, it's not always the temperature itself that's a problem. It's that the heat is unremitting––you don't get a break from it. It's sweltering hot day after day after day. |
You'd think the word unremitting would be connected to the word remit, but that's true in only a loose way. Remit means to send back––but if you remit a debt, you forgive it, or lift it. Unremitting describes something that is never lifted or sent back. Like the Energizer Bunny, it keeps coming and coming and coming. |
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| 3611 |
unrequited |
not returned in kind |
As an elderly man looking back, he narrates the story, which turns out to be one of unfulfilled if not actually unrequited love. |
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Unrequited is used almost exclusively in the context of romantic love. If you love someone and they don't love you back––that, my friend, is a case of unrequited love. |
Unrequited love is so painful, most people feel they are the first person in history to experience it, but the word unrequited has in fact been around since the 1520s, when it was invented, like many good words, to talk about money. It derived from re- 'back' + the Middle English quite 'pay up.' |
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| 3612 |
unresponsive |
not reacting to some influence or stimulus |
All the time Sigurd was strange, remote, moving like a body without a spirit, unresponsive to all her attempts at comfort and cheer. |
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If someone can't or won't respond, we call them unresponsive. Depending on the context, a person's unresponsiveness can be just a bummer or a life-threatening condition. |
Take this word piece by piece. Un- means "not," as usual. A response is a reaction to something. And -ive is a suffix that means "state of being." Taken together, these parts add up to "the state of being not responsive." When your boyfriend just sits and stares rather than talking about what's bothering him, he's being unresponsive. Medically speaking, when a person is called unresponsive, it means they're at least unconscious, and possibly dead or dying. |
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| 3613 |
unrestrained |
marked by uncontrolled excitement or emotion |
The cook danced, clapped her hands, sat down in a chair, and reeled backward and forward in unrestrained ecstasy. |
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You know how your uncle Marvin is always screaming at the television when his game shows are on? That’s because he’s being unrestrained. Anyone exhibiting uncontrolled emotion is unrestrained, meaning they don’t hold back. |
Unrestrained comes from the French restreinte, which means “hold back.” When something is restrained, that thing is confined in some way. Unrestrained means just the opposite. When you’re feeling unrestrained excitement, you might jump up and down, or call all your friends to tell them how you feel. The unrestrained crush you have on the guy in math class might lead you to cover your notebooks with his name written in bubble letters. It happens to the best of us. |
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| 3614 |
unruly |
noisy and lacking in restraint or discipline |
Once, long ago, award ceremonies were rather unruly and rambunctious affairs. |
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Unruly means lacking in restraint or not submitting to authority. Spitballs, shouting kids, a shouting teacher––these are all signs of an unruly classroom. Often, one unruly student is all it takes. |
It's easy to see how un- "not" and ruly "rule" create a word that is all about not following rules. An unruly person refuses to obey authority, while an unruly piece of hair might refuse to stay inside a clip. |
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| 3615 |
unsavory |
morally offensive |
For a more disreputable, unsavory, desperate and wicked band of men it would be almost impossible to find. |
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Call something unsavory if it's unappetizing, tasteless, or morally offensive. Curdled sour milk is pretty unsavory, as are the dirty details of the latest political scandal. |
The adjective unsavory was formed by merging un, meaning “not,” with savory, meaning “pleasant, agreeable.” So if it's unsavory, it's unpleasant. First used to describe revolting tastes, unsavory now also applies to just about anything that figuratively leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Mobsters do all kinds of unsavory things to the people that cross them. So you probably shouldn't hang out with such unsavory characters. |
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| 3616 |
unscathed |
not injured |
Ever wondered why mosquitoes eat some people up but leave others relatively unscathed? |
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If you walked away from a nasty bike accident without a scratch, you walked away unscathed, meaning you came out unharmed. |
You can also come through a scandal unscathed, with your reputation untarnished, or your dog-walking business may emerge from the financial crisis unscathed and more profitable than ever. With the word unscathed, there's always a sense of something bad that might have happened but didn't. |
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| 3617 |
unscheduled |
not planned or on a regular timetable |
Secretary of State even made a personal, unscheduled visit to huddle with Mr. Zardari at his hotel. |
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Something unscheduled is not planned for or anticipated. If your mother shows up at your door unscheduled, hope that you've been keeping the place nice and clean since you won't have time to tidy up before her arrival. |
The word unscheduled describes something that is not planned or scheduled in advance, as seen by the prefix un- meaning "not." An unscheduled interruption of a television program might mean there's breaking news that you need to hear. An unscheduled delay of a flight might mean you're stuck in the airport for hours. Whatever it may be, something that's unscheduled happens without your expecting it, which means it might very well throw you off your regular routine or schedule. |
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| 3618 |
unspecified |
not stated explicitly or in detail |
Two others have unspecified injuries and their conditions are not known. |
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If something's unspecified, you don't know the specifics, at least not yet. If your housemate offers to trade this week's dishes for next week's dusting and an unspecified chore to be named later, you should consider this offer carefully. |
Unspecified's base word, specify comes from the Latin word specificare, which means "to mention particularly." The prefix un means "not," so unspecified is something that is not particularly mentioned. If you've been sent to the store for an unspecified fruit, you might as well get your favorite. Are apples really your favorite? |
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| 3619 |
unstable |
highly or violently reactive |
They can be chaotic, unstable, and at times violent. |
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To be unstable is to lack stability, meaning things could change without warning, like an unstable bookshelf that is likely to fall down. If you are unstable emotionally, you might be ecstatically happy one minute and horribly depressed and angry the next. |
The adjective unstable means the opposite of stable. Stable is derived from the Latin base word stare meaning “to stand.” If a building, family, person, bridge, or chemical solution is stable it will “stand still,” even if something unexpected happens. On the other hand, if a person or thing is unstable and stress is applied, he, she, or it is likely to shift position, possibly in a dangerous way. |
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| 3620 |
unsullied |
free from blemishes |
"Only the pure in heart," "clean, unsullied thought." |
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Your reputation is unsullied, or unsoiled, because you study hard, you don’t skip school, and you are generally kind to everyone. Your friend’s reputation hasn’t stayed unsullied since he got caught selling answers to tests. |
To understand the adjective unsullied, you must understand its root, sully, "to soil or tarnish." Something unsullied is spotless: you usually refer to things in the abstract in this way––your military record may be unsullied by disciplinary actions, your report card may be unsullied by grades lower than A. |
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| 3621 |
untenable |
incapable of being defended or justified |
In fact, view it as we will, the whole idea of unlimited Matter is not only untenable, but impossible and preposterous. |
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If something is untenable, you can't defend it or justify it. If your disagreement with your teacher puts you in an untenable position, you better just admit you made a mistake and get on with it. |
When untenable entered English in the 17th century it meant "unable to be held against attack." That sense still holds true: you can use the adjective untenable to describe any situation, position, or theory that simply can't be defended. Untenable is a great word to use when you want to criticize something, whether it's a flawed system or a referee's bad call. |
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| 3622 |
unveil |
make visible |
Details will be unveiled during a news conference Tuesday. |
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Unveil is a dramatic verb we use when we uncover or reveal something for the first time, often in front of a large gathering or as part of a publicity campaign. |
A city's mayor might unveil a new monument by removing an actual veil (cloth covering) from it. This is often done with great flourish and accompanied by a drum roll. In a more metaphorical sense, a software company might unveil — that is, publicly announce — a new video game or business application. |
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| 3623 |
unwavering |
marked by firm determination or resolution; not shakable |
In Bloomah's class alone—as if inspired by her martial determination—the ranks stood firm, unwavering. |
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When something is unwavering, it is firm or unshakable. If you're a good hockey goalie, then you'll show an unwavering determination to keep the puck out of your goal. |
Just as it sounds, the word unwavering refers to something that will not waver, wander, or go astray. Unwavering most often refers to mental determination, like an unwavering desire to marry the love of your life or an unwavering intent to become a doctor even though you faint at the sight of blood. Unwavering can also refer to something that remains steady, like the unwavering sound of a trumpet horn or the unwavering energy of a very enthusiastic rock band. |
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| 3624 |
unwieldy |
lacking grace in movement or posture |
On land, he is unwieldy and awkward; so that, when he is pursued by an enemy, he usually takes to his favorite element. |
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If you see an unwieldy person coming down the aisle of the bus with an unwieldy box, you may want to step aside because that's a double dose of clumsy. It's an awkward person carrying a box that is difficult to manage. |
Something that is wieldy is easy to control or handle, so something unwieldy is not. However, the un- form of the word is much more common. The base word wieldy has its roots in Old English, meaning "to handle or control" — used usually in reference to a weapon. You would not want an unwieldy person attempting to wield an unwieldy sword! |
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| 3625 |
unwitting |
not aware or knowing |
If this was all, we could easily cope with these unwitting abuses, or even deliberate instances of misuse. |
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Use the adjective unwitting to describe someone who doesn't know certain important information, such as unwitting computer users who don't know that an online shopping site is tracking all their activity. |
Unwitting can also describe something you do almost automatically, like the unwitting way you double-check that the door is locked when leaving the house. It can also indicate that something is done without intention, like an unwitting arrival at a by-invitation-only event. Wit means "clever," so something that is unwitting is not clever. |
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| 3626 |
unyielding |
resistant to physical force or pressure |
When he sought to move, something firm and unyielding about his waist restrained him. |
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When things are unyielding, they won't stop, won't give, or won't bend. That includes stubborn, unyielding personalities and stiff, unyielding mattresses. |
You know people who never change their minds, even when they're wrong? You could say they're unyielding. This word refers to people who refuse to budge and never give up. Sometimes that’s a good thing, and sometimes it's just plain annoying. Physical things can be unyielding if they're hard or impossible to stop. A hurricane or tornado is unyielding, and so is a speeding train. When you see the word unyielding, think "Can't or won't be stopped." |
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| 3627 |
upbringing |
helping someone grow up to be a member of the community |
His Majesty also left a thousand crowns, which were to be utilized in the education and general upbringing of the child. |
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Your upbringing is how you were raised as a child. You might have had a rough upbringing or a gentler one, but at least you made it this far. |
Looking at the base “bring” in upbringing, we find a Germanic origin meaning "to carry." You might consider the "carry" idea as a way to remember the word, considering a parent "carries" a child to adulthood, providing what then becomes the child’s upbringing. |
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| 3628 |
upheaval |
disturbance usually in protest |
If they don’t find it, China risks riots and other upheaval. |
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Upheaval means a violent or sudden change. You might talk about an upheaval in government following an election where many incumbents are replaced. |
Upheaval is a geological term for the upward displacement of the earth's crust that has stretched to include a change in power or ideas. If you suddenly found out your favorite teacher was running a pyramid scheme and had escaped to a Caribbean island, you might experience an upheaval in your attitude toward teachers in general. |
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| 3629 |
uphold |
stand up for; stick up for; of causes, principles, or ideals |
We must be consistent in upholding human rights for all human beings.” |
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When you uphold something, you stick up for or support it. Police officers are paid to uphold the law, and crazy Elvis fans uphold their belief that he's still alive out there somewhere. |
If you reverse the two parts of this word, you get hold up. And that's exactly what upholding is: holding up or supporting an idea or practice. You might uphold your dog's innocence, even though it's pretty obvious he dug up the neighbor's flower bed. When America fought for independence, we upheld the idea of fair representation. When you uphold something, you're taking a stand for it. |
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| 3630 |
uproarious |
uncontrollably noisy |
One tires of this hurrying, bustling, jostling, uproarious life in the city, and then laziness in the country is considered the greatest of earthly boons. |
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Uproarious situations are very loud, a little out of control, and often hilarious. You might encounter an uproarious crowd at a soccer match, or even in your school cafeteria. |
Your neighbors might like to throw uproarious dinner parties filled with screams of glee and pounding music, disturbing your sleep. Notice the word roar in there, because whether it’s an uproarious gathering or just one uproarious joke, it’s always an event of stunning and dramatic volume, like a lion’s roar. |
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| 3631 |
urchin |
a poor and often mischievous city child |
London, it is calculated, contains ten thousand of these shoeless, homeless, friendless, forsaken, ragged, unwashed, uncombed young urchins of doubtful antecedents. |
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That young child dressed in dirty hand-me-downs and running rampant through city streets is an urchin. Street urchins, as they are commonly called, have a reputation for getting into trouble. |
Strangely enough, urchin, pronounced "UR-chin," comes from the 13th century French word yrichon, which means “hedgehog,” and is still used as such in parts of England today. As for people who are urchins, perhaps they got the name because at the time, they were so small, wild and many in number — like hedgehogs. The 19th century novelist Charles Dickens wrote about so many fictional urchins, most famously Oliver Twist, that dickens has become a synonym for urchin. |
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| 3632 |
usury |
the act of lending money at an exorbitant rate of interest |
There were no laws limiting the rate of interest, and the rich lent to the poor at extravagant rates of usury. |
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Usury means lending money at exorbitant interest rates. Credit-card companies charging annual interest rates of 29% are guilty of usury, as far as I'm concerned. |
A good way to remember the meaning of usury is that you can hear the word use in there. Think of charging too much interest as a way of "using" someone. The sad thing about high interest is that it's always the people who can least afford it who are charged rates so high that it amounts to usury. In the old days, if someone was found guilty of usury, they'd be flogged in the town square. Too bad the credit-card companies can't be dragged out of their holes, because they'd surely get a similar beating. |
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| 3633 |
utility |
the quality of being of practical use |
Charles Goodyear, an American inventor, found a way for making it commonly useful, and brought about its practical and widespread utility. |
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If you live in a place where the temperature never drops below 60 degrees Fahrenheit, and someone gives you a snow-blower for your birthday, you might question the gift’s utility, meaning its “usefulness.” |
Utility means “of practical use.” We refer to government facilities that provide water, electricity and natural gas as public utilities. Utility is similar to the word utilize, which is basically a stuffy word for use. |
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| 3634 |
utopian |
characterized by or aspiring to impracticable perfection |
Thus More gave a new word to our language, and when we think some idea beautiful but impossible we call it " Utopian." |
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If you're looking to relocate to a utopia, good luck! A utopia is an ideal society, and a scheme or vision for producing such a society can be called utopian. |
In 1516, the English philosopher Thomas More published Utopia, a book about an island nation with the perfect form of government. This novel gave us the adjective utopian, which can be used to describe plans for or works of fiction depicting ideal societies. Dystopian literature, by contrast, describes nightmarishly repressive worlds. It's ironic that More himself may have conceived of his Utopia as a dystopia, or at least a satire. The name of More's novel is anglicized Greek for "no place" — which makes a lot of sense if you think about it. |
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| 3635 |
uxorious |
foolishly fond of or submissive to your wife |
Yet he became deeply attached to his wife, and proved in fact nearly as uxorious as his father. |
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A man who dotes on or really adores his wife is uxorious. Your uxorious grandfather, for example, might plan your grandmother's surprise birthday party months in advance. |
Uxorious goes back to the Latin root ūxor, "wife," and it came into English in the 16th century. Uxorious is usually negative, a way to show that a husband has too much concern for his wife or is submissive to her desires. It's also an increasingly dated, old fashioned word, as a husband is considered uxorious if he lets his wife "control" him. There's no corresponding adjective you can use of a wife "controlled" by her husband. |
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| 3636 |
tactile |
of or relating to or proceeding from the sense of touch |
Researchers are promoting magnetic interfaces for touch screens, which will make operating the touch screen more tactile and reduce excessive tapping. |
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Tactile has to do with the sense of touch. There's a huge tactile difference between smooth glass and rough sandpaper. |
Anything to do with touch can be described as tactile. Ever notice how a dog would rather sleep on a soft blanket than a rubbery leather couch? That's because dogs have tactile preferences: the softer the better. Different textures of food are tactile — they feel different in your mouth, aside from how they taste. You deal with the world of tactile things every day — you use your tactile sense whenever you touch anything. |
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| 3637 |
talisman |
a trinket thought to be a magical protection against evil |
Tiny prayer wheels are now a popular car ornament, a talisman to ward off accidents. |
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A talisman is a charm that is supposed to ward off evil or illness. Your rabbit's foot key chain may be your lucky talisman. Of course, it wasn't so lucky for that rabbit. |
The word talisman has been around in English since the 1630s and it has roots in both Arabic and Greek words. A talisman is usually worn around the neck but could exist in other forms, like a ring or inscribed stone. You can think of a talisman as a good luck charm, but people tend to take talismans more seriously — as if they are empowered with magic to ward off evil spirits. |
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| 3638 |
tantalizing |
arousing desire or expectation for something unattainable |
For long, monotonous months she had been struggling against just such cravings, impossible of realization, and therefore all the more tantalizing. |
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Something tantalizing is tempting: like a meal that smells amazing and makes you want to eat it. Tantalizing things are very appealing. |
When something is tantalizing, it makes you want it, even if it's totally out of reach. An exciting movie trailer could be tantalizing if it makes you want to see the movie. A little part of a song can be tantalizing if it tempts you to hear more. Smells — when they're good smells — can be very tantalizing. Just walking through a good restaurant, smelling and looking at the food, is a tantalizing experience. |
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| 3639 |
tantamount |
being essentially equal to something |
"But keeping rabbits cooped up alone in hutches of the type sold by these big retail chains is just tantamount to cruelty." |
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When something is tantamount to another thing it is essentially its equivalent. For some animal activists, wearing fur is tantamount to murder. |
Tantamount often refers to an action or thing being compared to another greater action or quality, as in, “Missing your finals is tantamount to dropping out of college.” While the two sides are essentially equal, you would not say, "Dropping out of school is tantamount to missing your finals.” A related word is paramount, which means “the highest” or “primary.” |
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| 3640 |
taper |
diminish gradually |
The snow tapered off after the field was cleared for warmups, but it picked back up toward halftime and kept falling with the mercury. |
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To taper is to gradually grow smaller or more narrow or less intense. Taper is often used with the word "off." Part of the power of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is how the two walls appear to taper off into infinity. |
As a verb, taper can refer not just to physical objects that narrow: the weather forecast might call for heavy snow that will taper off at the end of the day, and public interest in a political scandal might taper off over time. As a noun, taper refers to a shape that narrows at one end, and it's also another word for a candle that is smaller at one end than the other. "Narrow candle" is the original meaning of the word, and it seems to derive from the Latin papyrus, which was once used to make candle wicks. |
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| 3641 |
tariff |
a government tax on imports or exports |
South Korea is dropping a long list of tariffs under the agreement, including stiff taxes on U.S. agricultural goods. |
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A tariff is a kind of tax on goods a country imports or exports. If you want to buy a European-made car in the U.S., the price will include tariffs the government adds to the price of imported vehicles. |
Usually a government imposes a tariff to encourage its own industries and to discourage buying cheaper imports from other countries. If a government wants to protect its own clothing industry, it may add a tariff to imported clothing, to make sure that the imported clothes aren't cheaper than the locally manufactured items. You can control exports, too, by imposing tariffs. As a verb, you can say "the government tariffs certain imports and exports." |
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| 3642 |
taunt |
harass with persistent criticism or carping |
Verbal harassment refers to teasing, taunting, or insulting someone. |
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A short list of people not to taunt: your big brother, cops, nightclub bouncers, dragons. Taunts are insulting comments, and, unless you are a really, really fast runner, keep them to yourself. |
Taunting is often associated with large groups picking on an individual. A mob might call out a hated king from his castle with taunts and jeers. Taunting the weak is a high-school phenomenon that teachers, administrators, parents, and students are working together to stop. |
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| 3643 |
taut |
pulled or drawn tight |
The stay wires were tightened by turn buckles till they were taut as fiddle strings, assuring stability of the wings. |
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Taut means tight rather than slack. The tightrope ought to be taut and not dangling down by the lion cage. |
It sounds like the word "taught" and means stretched tight, like a rope, muscles, or even nerves. It's nice to have a taut body with tight muscles, but not so great to have a taut mind — tightly wound and tense. "The Olympic gymnast's taut body was something she worked hard for, but she gave a taut reply to reporters who asked her so many questions about her past, which she wished to keep a secret." Taut is derived from an Old English word, meaning basically "to pull." If you're fishing, you're happy when your line becomes taut, because there's probably a fish pulling at it. Or an old boot. |
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| 3644 |
tautological |
characterized by unnecessary repetition |
The expression sounds trite and tautological; but it needs emphasis. |
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Something tautological is redundant and circular, especially when talking about logic. "Logical things are logical" is a tautological sentence. |
We use the word tautological for statements that go in a circle, like this sentence: "A circle is circular." This is a logical problem, because it doesn't make sense to define something in terms of itself. If you don't know what a fish is, then "fish are fishy" means nothing. When you're trying to make a point, avoid tautological statements. |
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| 3645 |
temerity |
fearless daring |
He was confident that he had the backing of the men, and in that confidence grew bold with reckless temerity. |
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Use the noun temerity to mean the quality of being unafraid of danger or punishment. If you have the temerity to jump off the bridge even after hearing about the risk of instant death, you truly are a nutcase. |
Someone who has the temerity to do something is usually considered to be bold in a foolish way. Near synonyms are audacity and recklessness. Temerity is from Middle English temeryte, from Latin temeritas, from temere "by chance, rashly." |
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| 3646 |
temporal |
of this earth or world |
There was not room in Italy for two universal rulers, both holding of God, even though one ruled spiritual things and the other temporal. |
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Our time on earth is limited, or temporal. |
Temporal comes from the Latin word temporalis which means "of time" and is usually applied to words that mean not having much of it, such as the temp who works at an office for a set amount of time, because temporary situations don't last long. A less common word, temporality also means having limited time, and it rhymes with mortality! (Don't remind us.) Temporal implies "of this earth," too — temporal boundaries keep us from being able to fly around the clouds, but spiritual beings can zing around at will. Temporal can also refer to temples, the ones on the side of your head that are probably aching by now. |
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| 3647 |
tenacity |
persistent determination |
Constancy, persistence, dogged tenacity is certainly the striking feature of Jacob’s character. |
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Most people will tell you that tenacity is a great quality to have, especially if you're trying something challenging that takes a while to complete. |
Odds are, the people you admire have shown real tenacity in achieving their goals. Anything really worth doing takes persistence, perseverance, and stubborn determination. Being a great baseball player requires real gifts, no doubt, but even the most gifted player won't make it to the big leagues without the tenacity required to make the long, hard journey up from the minors. Tenacity is the quality displayed by someone who just won't quit — who keeps trying until they reach their goal. |
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| 3648 |
tenure |
the term during which some position is held |
Mr. Marshall's career as Chief Justice extended through a period of more than thirty-four years, which is the longest judicial tenure recorded in history. |
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Take the noun tenure for the period of time a person holds a position or office. Your tenure as a student ends when you graduate high school — unless, of course, you go on to college. |
Tenure from the Latin tenere means "to hold" and refers to the period of time a person works at a particular job or in an office. A president might have to deal with a recession during his tenure in the White House. In university jargon, if you have tenure, you have a permanent teaching position or professorship. In this sense, tenure can also be used as a verb. You've got it made if you're tenured at age 29. |
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| 3649 |
terminal |
station where vehicles load or unload passengers or goods |
Workers prepare flower orders in the American Airlines cargo terminal at Kennedy International Airport. |
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Terminal is a word with many meanings. Depending on how it's used, it can describe a place where passengers end their journey, a computer screen and keyboard, or a life-ending disease. |
As a noun, terminal describes a bus or train station at the end of the line. When your aunt takes the bus into town, you pick her up at the terminal. Her visit becomes very sad when your aunt tells you she's been diagnosed with an illness that's terminal — an adjective meaning she hasn't long to live. This is surprising news, since you've always believed your aunt is a hypochondriac. Now you have to go to your computer terminal and look up her disease. |
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| 3650 |
termination |
the act of ending something |
This sight made us forget our fatigues, and we hurried on, with fond anticipations of finding a speedy termination to all our sufferings. |
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Whether it refers to getting fired from a job, a contract running out, or the assassination of a deep-cover spy, termination is "the end of the line." |
You may be familiar with a certain time-traveling cyborg assassin, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger. His character was a "terminator," in a movie of the same name, and his goal was the termination of Sarah Connor. Lucky for Sarah, and the supposed future of our planet, the termination was unsuccessful. In the real world, you're more likely to see the word termination used when a contract, program, or job comes to an end, unexpectedly or as planned. |
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| 3651 |
terrestrial |
operating or living or growing on land |
On land, habitat loss takes away much-needed space for large, terrestrial animals. |
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Not straying far from its Latin root terra meaning "earth," terrestrial means "of the earth." If it's terrestrial, you'll find it on earth. If it's extraterrestrial, you'll find it emerging from a UFO. |
The adjective terrestrial can also be used to describe something that lives on land (as opposed to living in water, for example). "On their trip to the rain forest, the scientists were charged with cataloging terrestrial animals. Another group was going to be in charge of cataloging the aquatic animals." The adjective can also be used to describe something that is mundane in character. The teenager cried, "My life is boring and full of terrestrial events like going to band practice and to class!" |
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| 3652 |
tertiary |
coming third in position |
The plan divides roadways into three major categories: arterial, secondary and tertiary. |
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Tertiary is another way of saying "third in importance," like socializing with co-workers being a tertiary reason for getting an after-school job — less important than, first, earning money and second, gaining skills. |
To correctly pronounce tertiary, say "TER-she-err-ee." If you are the third child born in your family, don't be tempted to call yourself the "tertiary child." This means you are less important that your two older siblings. However, in some cases, tertiary does not have to do with ranking third — the Tertiary period marks the beginning of life for mammals, and in the United Kingdom, tertiary education means "college-level." |
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| 3653 |
tessellated |
decorated with small pieces of colored glass or stone |
Passing from one pavilion to another over tessellated pavements, we enter apartments rich in mosaics and all manner of precious stones. |
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Use tessellated, an adjective, to describe a mosaic pattern formed from small tiles, blocks, or stones pieced together: "The tessellated pavement of blue and gold stones glistened in the sunlight." |
To correctly pronounce tessellated, accent the first syllable: "TESS-ul-ay-ted." It comes from the Greek word tessera, "a cube or square of stone or wood." Later, it came to mean "made of small square stones or tiles," or mosaics. Tessellated can also refer to an interlocking pattern, such as one made by paving stones on a walkway: "The tessellated pavement in front of the church was over 150 years old." |
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| 3654 |
theocracy |
a political unit governed by a deity |
For in theocracies, to the social evil of the offence is added the impiety committed against the Deity and his representative on earth. |
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When religious doctrine is the law of the land, most likely you're living in a theocracy. There's not a lot of room for dissent in theocracies, where religious leaders are in charge and say they are speaking for God. |
Notice the similarities between theocracy and democracy? In Greek, theo- means "God" and -kratia "power or rule." A democracy is ruled by dēmos, "the people." An autocracy is one ruled by a single person with absolute power, like a king (or your mom). In theocracies, God rules. |
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| 3655 |
theology |
the rational and systematic study of religion |
He had read widely in theology — Saint Augustine and Nietzsche and Reinhold Niebuhr — but he had no formal religious training. |
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Theology is the study of religion, plain and simple. Of course, religion isn’t simple, so theology covers a lot of subjects, like rituals, divine beings, the history of religions, and the concept of religious truth. |
Theology is taught to priests and ministers so they can better understand their religion, and it’s also taught in non-religious colleges to anyone who is curious about the ideas and effects of religion. The first half of theology is theo-, which means god in Greek. The suffix -logy means “the study of,” so theology literally means “the study of god," but we usually expand it to mean the study of religion more broadly. |
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| 3656 |
thespian |
of or relating to drama |
True to her thespian inheritance, she played Olivia in Twelfth Night on a student tour of the Highlands and Islands. |
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Thespian is a fancy word for actor. Since this word is related to Thespis, the guy who first took the stage in Ancient Greece, you can feel real scholarly using the word thespian. |
As an adjective, you can use the word thespian to describe something that is related to drama. If you enjoy theater, you can say you enjoy thespian pursuits. Many high school drama clubs offer Thespian status to club members who earn a certain number of points by acting in shows or working on backstage tech for them. Note that the word thespian is sometimes capitalized because it is taken from a person's name. |
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| 3657 |
threshold |
the entrance for passing through a room or building |
The words are hardly out of her mouth when the door opens and somebody appears upon the threshold. |
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A threshold is what you step across when you enter a room. A threshold takes you from one place into another, and when you're about to start something new, you're also on a threshold. |
A threshold is a point of departure or transition. Graduation can mark a threshold — when you graduate from circus school, you're standing at the threshold of your new career as a trapeze artist. Another kind of threshold is a limit or boundary. If you have a high threshold for pain, you can tolerate a lot of it, and your dentist can drill away without worrying about your squirming and howling. |
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| 3658 |
thrifty |
mindful of the future in spending money |
He was managing clerk in some mercantile house, and, being a thrifty soul, invested all his spare cash instead of spending it. |
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Being thrifty means being careful of your money and how you spend it. Think twice before you spend, but if you must shop, hitting the sales and using coupons are good ways to be thrifty. |
Note the similarity between the adjective thrifty and the verb thrive, and you'll realize that being careful with your money might be an important survival tactic. Everyone worries about having enough — look at how thrift shops have become important sources of clothing and other goods for many people, allowing them to buy without spending a fortune. Being thrifty is a solid virtue, as suggested by the old German proverb, "Prudent men woo thrifty women." |
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| 3659 |
thrive |
grow vigorously |
A naturally outgoing person, Irenstein learned quickly and his dating life began to thrive. |
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To thrive is to do well or flourish. If your new cookie delivery business thrives, you'll be rolling in dough — not literally, of course. |
The verb thrive means to flourish or grow vigorously, and it can be applied to something like a business or to something or someone's actual health. Plants can thrive in a greenhouse, and children can thrive if they eat well and exercise. Thriving can also be used more figuratively — "The women thrived on gossip; they loved knowing who was dating or divorcing whom." |
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| 3660 |
throes |
violent pangs of suffering |
He suffered rheumatism in its most acute form, so the coastguard explained between his throes. |
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Did your team just lose the Super Bowl or the World Series? You're probably in the throes of despair — experiencing intense feelings of suffering and agitation. |
Although we normally associate the throes of some emotion or physical sensation to be an unpleasant state, that's not always the case. Some throes teeter on the borderline between delight and despair. Check out Bernini's sculpture in Rome of St. Theresa in the throes of spiritual ecstasy. Is she terrified or thrilled? Impossible to separate the two. She's in the throes. |
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| 3661 |
throttle |
a valve that regulates the supply of fuel to the engine |
Cora slowed down her engine by means of a throttle control that extended up near the wheel. |
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The throttle of an engine controls the fuel going in, and if you're going at full throttle, you'd better hang onto your hat. |
You can think of a throttle as a throat, and the two words may be related. But as with a throat, if you block a throttle, something bad is likely to happen. You can throttle your car — cut off the air to the engine, also known as applying the choke — and you might stall it out. You can also throttle a person — the image is that you grab the person by the throat and cut off his air. It's much better to use throttle figuratively, as when you beat someone really badly at tennis, you could say "you throttled her," but nobody has to get hurt. |
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| 3662 |
thrust |
push forcefully |
I cried angrily, thrusting back those who pressed on me most closely. |
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To thrust is to push forward quickly and forcibly, like the way a pirate would plunge or thrust a sword into his enemy. |
Thrust is often used when you're talking about knives or swords or jabbing someone with something. In fact, a thrust refers to a sharp blow or stab. Violence aside, thrust can be any kind of forceful push or driving force. Aggressive street vendors thrust their wares on you and young movie stars are thrust into the limelight at an early age — which may be disconcerting, but certainly is not as frightening a knife thrust in your direction. |
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| 3663 |
toady |
a person who tries to please someone to gain an advantage |
It bored him, and he was no toady to waste his time fawning upon possible patrons. |
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You can call the kid who is always really nice to the teacher in hopes of getting a good grade a brown-noser or, if you want to sound clever, a toady. |
The word toady has a gross, yet engaging history. Back when medicine was more trickery than science, traveling medicine men would come to a town. Their assistant would eat a toad (you read that right) that was assumed poisonous so that the medicine man could "heal" him. Who would want that job, right? So toad-eater, later shortened to toady, came to mean a person who would do anything to please his boss. |
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| 3664 |
token |
a disk that can be used in designated slot machines |
It works on a similar principle as casino chips, or, more directly, arcade tokens. |
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When you give someone a flower or a friendship bracelet or something symbolic of the way you feel about them, you're giving them a token of your affection. |
A token is not only something sentimental (like a keepsake) or symbolic (like your friendship bracelet). You, yourself, can also be a token: If you're the only female in your office, for instance, and you were hired just so there'd be at least one woman, then you're the "token female." Tokens can also be a kind of special currency, like the coins you use in slot machines. Before the Metro Card, New York City subway riders paid their fares with tokens. |
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| 3665 |
topography |
the configuration of a surface and its features |
They land in a lush green jungle whose topography seems to resemble no known place on Earth. |
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Topography is a detailed map of the surface features of land. It includes the mountains, hills, creeks, and other bumps and lumps on a particular hunk of earth. |
This handy word is a Greek-rooted combo of topos meaning "place" and graphein "to write." The suffix -graphy means writing or representation made in a specific way, and shows up in familiar words like photography, oceanography, or even geography, which is similar to topography, but refers to where things are, but not what's on top. Topography represents a particular area in detail, including everything natural and man-made — hills, valleys, roads, or lakes. It's the geographical contours of the land. |
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| 3666 |
torpid |
slow and apathetic |
His energies are suspended, his senses become numbed and torpid—in short, he feels as one who goes to sleep in a snow-storm. |
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While the adjective torpid sounds a lot like the noun torpedo, it actually describes something slow or even inactive, like the torpedo that's just sitting around before it's launched. |
Torpid comes from the Latin word torpere, meaning "numb," which is exactly how torpid things act. A hibernating bear and a caterpillar holed up in a cocoon are two good examples. You might feel torpid sitting in front of the fire after a big meal. The mind, too, can become torpid. The writer Samuel Johnson said, “It is a man’s own fault, it is from want of use, if his mind grow torpid in old age.” |
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| 3667 |
torque |
a twisting force |
Those photons produce very small amounts of torque that can slow the rotation or speed it up. |
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If you have ever tightened a bolt with a wrench, or tried to get the lid off a jar of strawberry jam, then you have dealt with the concept of torque — a twisting action or a turning force. |
The word torque, which rhymes with fork, is used in the field of physics as a measure of rotational force. For example, how much strength does it take to move an object, such as a screwdriver, around an axis, such as a screw? In ancient times, a torque was a necklace made of twisted metal. Now, torque is commonly used to describe the power of sports cars and their ability to accelerate, since car engines operate with rotating parts. |
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| 3668 |
torrential |
relating to or resulting from the action of a downpour |
Torrential rains killed at least six people in Genoa on Friday, in the worst flooding the port city has seen in years, officials said. |
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If it's raining extremely hard, then the rain is torrential — it's absolutely pouring. |
Use torrential to describe something that's happening in torrents, or turbulent flowing streams. When there's a torrential storm, there's so much rain falling so fast that you'll be soaked in about three seconds. If a basketball team's offense just keeps coming and won't stop, you could call it a torrential attack. And if you take your sister's shoes without asking, she might shower you with a torrential tongue-lashing. |
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| 3669 |
torrid |
extremely hot |
Days dragged on; days of torrid, relentless heat. |
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If you’re having a torrid romance, that means it's steamy and emotionally charged. If you’re listening to a torrid band, then you’re listening to a band that has a lot of energy. |
Torrid is an adjective that describes something that's extremely hot — in both the literal and the figurative senses. It also describes something that's very energetic, or something that has an extreme emotional charge — which is why people often apply torrid to love affairs. Torrid comes from the Latin word torrere, meaning “parch or scorch.” Being scorched can sometimes be exciting, but when you’re parched, you need water — and maybe a break from dating. |
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| 3670 |
torso |
the body excluding the head and neck and limbs |
Her dresses were fitted not only at the waist, but along the torso by a long and pointed bodice stiffened with wood, steel, or whalebone. |
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A torso is the trunk of a human body — minus arms, legs, and head. Anatomically, your torso's job is to protect your internal organs, like your heart, lungs, and kidney, which are all protected by your rib cage. |
A statue of a torso in a museum, usually ancient Greek or Roman, is that of the trunk of a human body. These works of art, often carved from marble, are so old that they've frequently lost their arms and heads — but still, the sturdy torso remains. Before the word described an actual human, it meant only "trunk of a statue," from the Greek root thyrsos, "stalk or stem of a plant." |
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| 3671 |
totalitarian |
of a system in which the state regulates every realm of life |
Suppression of art and ideas is something that happens in totalitarian regimes, not this country, he added. |
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You can decipher the meaning of totalitarian by the first part: "total." It refers to a government with total power, one that exercises complete, even oppressive control over the people and their activities. (You can also figure it’s not nice.) |
The word totalitarian first came about in 1926 as totalitario, an adjective to describe the Italian fascism of that time. The English form was adapted from the Italian to describe an absolutely powerful regime. Socialist leader Norman Thomas once said: "To us Americans much has been given; of us much is required. With all our faults and mistakes, it is our strength in support of the freedom our forefathers loved which has saved mankind from subjection to totalitarian power." |
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| 3672 |
trajectory |
the path followed by an object moving through space |
Losing altitude, they hurtled on a sloping trajectory toward Washington. |
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If you stay on your current trajectory of constant shopping, dining out, and yacht rentals, you'll end up broke. A trajectory is the path of an object through space, or the path of life that a person chooses. |
Trajectory comes from the Latin trajectoria, which means "throw across." The prefix tra- is short for trans-, which means "across" (think transport and transit) and the ject comes from jacere, which means "throw" and is also the root of the word jet. If you wanted to describe the path of a jet through the sky, you could refer to the jet's trajectory. |
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| 3673 |
transcendental |
existing outside of or not in accordance with nature |
That she should have wanted to captivate Mr. Traffick,—she with her high ideas of some transcendental, more than human, hero! |
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Transcendental describes anything that has to do with the spiritual, non-physical world. You could describe the time you spend in the woods hiking as a physical and a transcendental experience. |
When something is transcendental, it's beyond ordinary, everyday experience. It might be religious, spiritual, or otherworldly, but if it's transcendental, it transcends — or goes beyond — the regular physical realm. The adjective transcendental is used to describe a particular kind of meditation, a specific school of philosophy, and even a type of number in mathematics. Transcendental and transcend come from the Latin word transcendere, or climb over or beyond. |
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| 3674 |
transfixed |
having your attention fixated as though by a spell |
To say that I was transfixed, speechless, fascinated to intoxication by the spell of this marvellous development is no exaggeration. |
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If a witch were to appear in front of you in a puff of smoke, you'd probably be transfixed — you'd be standing there with your mouth open, unable to look away, as if held by some magic power. |
You'll notice the word fix in the middle of transfixed. This kind of fix means "fasten," as when you fix your eyes on the clock, or you affix a stamp to a letter. When you're transfixed by something, you’re fastened to it. Scary things can transfix, but so can beauty. When you go to the top of the Eiffel Tower, you're likely to be transfixed by the view of Paris and never want to leave. |
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| 3675 |
travail |
use of physical or mental energy; hard work |
Through an anguish of travail Canada has worked out an excellent system of self-government. |
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If you’ve had to bust your behind, burn the midnight oil, and shed blood, sweat, and tears to get where you are today, you could say you’ve endured significant travail. In other words, back-breakingly hard mental exertion or physical labor. |
Travail comes to us from a sinister Latin word: trepalium, meaning “instrument of torture.” The closest English word is probably toil, though travail means you’re not just exerting monumental effort but suffering as you do so. If your life has been hard-knock enough to be the stuff of old blues songs or Shakespearean tragedies, you’ve had your share of travails. In French, incidentally, travail simply means work. The Spanish trabajo (work) is closely related. |
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| 3676 |
traverse |
travel across |
It had taken them four days to traverse just 25 miles. |
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The verb traverse means to travel across an extended area. "Her dream was to traverse the country by car, so she could meet new people and see all the kitschy sites — like the giant roadside tire in Michigan or the shoe house in Pennsylvania." |
The verb traverse can also mean "to span," to span a physical space or time. "The bridge traversed the river, linking the two cities." Traverse can be used for any crossing, but it often is used when implying the crossing will be difficult. "She was exhausted from traveling in the snowy conditions, but she still had to traverse an icy bridge before she would arrive safely home." |
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| 3677 |
treachery |
an act of deliberate betrayal |
By this fatal step Ashburnham incurred the unmerited charge of treachery and disloyalty. |
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Treachery is trickery, cheating, and deceit, like the treachery of your former friend who only stuck around until he stole your girlfriend and turned the whole grade against you. |
The noun treachery comes from the Old French word trechier, “to cheat.” Many a corrupt government or dictator has been accused of treachery: deceiving the people and abusing their trust. Greed is a common cause of treachery — with the promise of wealth, people can be tempted to betray their country and even their loved ones, as new celebrities find out when their best friends sell embarrassing secrets to the tabloids. |
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| 3678 |
treason |
an act of deliberate betrayal |
He was accused of disloyalty and treason, with the greatest heat, everywhere. |
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Hacking your brother’s email account and sharing all his secrets with your mom could be considered an act of personal treason, meaning you have betrayed your brother. |
The word treason can be traced back to the Latin word traditio(n-), which comes from the verb tradere meaning “to hand over, betray.” If you commit treason, that’s what you do: you betray. The word is typically used to refer to the betrayal of a government or a country, like when a spy shares national secrets with another country, but it can be used to refer to personal betrayals as well. |
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| 3679 |
treatise |
a formal exposition |
I purchased the requisite study guides — intimidating, densely worded treatises on gastroenterology, cardiology, geriatrics, hematology and all the specialty areas of internal medicine. |
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Our principal published her fifty-page "Treatise on Gum Chewing" days before she was carted away by men in white coats. Treatises are formal papers that treat a specific subject. Gum chewing shouldn't merit one. |
Treatise is related to the verb treat, which means "deal with." A doctor treats a patient. A teacher treats the senator's child with kid gloves. Treatise means a written paper or exposition that deals with or treats a specific subject. |
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| 3680 |
trek |
journey on foot, especially in the mountains |
In the mountains, Mr. Sherpa can spend months trekking over glaciers and negotiating ice falls and treacherous crevasses at nosebleed heights. |
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Want to go on a trek through the mountains? Make sure you have good shoes, drinking water, and snacks. A trek is a long and difficult journey. |
The word trek implies an extended trip that is hard — a climb up a mountain or a journey through dense forests. In the movies and TV shows called "Star Trek," the crew of the Enterprise is on a journey through space that will last a long time. You wouldn't say that you took a trek to the corner grocery unless you had to fight through three feet of snow to get there. |
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| 3681 |
tribulation |
an annoying or frustrating or catastrophic event |
The students have described their personal trials, tribulations and emotional turmoil in my writing class. |
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Tribulation is suffering or trouble, usually resulting from oppression. The tribulations of a coal miner include a dangerous work environment, lung disease from black dust and a cramped, dark work space. |
When you encounter the word tribulation, it will usually be in the company of the word trial as in, “She suffered many trials and tribulations as an early feminist.” The two words, while not identical, emphasize each other as they essentially mean testing and suffering. Tribulation comes from the Latin verb tribulare "to oppress, afflict." |
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| 3682 |
trilogy |
a set of three literary or dramatic works related in subject |
Mr. Tucker never finished the third book of what was supposed to be his Stalin trilogy. |
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If you’ve just started a trilogy of books, you’ll be reading for a while. A trilogy is something that has three parts, so you'll have three books to read. |
You can see the tri-, meaning "three," in trilogy. The word originates from the Greek word trilogia, meaning "series of three related tragedies performed at Athens at the festival of Dionysus." Today, you can use trilogy to describe three of anything, such as a trilogy of movies that has the same characters, settings, and themes. |
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| 3683 |
troglodyte |
someone who lives in a cave |
The original cave man, the troglodyte, may have got his that way. |
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A troglodyte is a person who lives all alone, in seclusion. You could call this type a "hermit" or a "recluse," but it's more fun to say troglodyte. |
Troglodyte is formed from the Greek words trogle, "hole", and dyein, "to dive into." The word translates to mean "he who dwells in caves." While a troglodyte can be what we think of as a pre-historic caveman, it also means someone who lives in any sort of tiny, unkempt house. Nowadays, a troglodyte generally refers to someone who lives alone, like a hermit. If you don’t mind having a dirty hole for a home, then perhaps you are a troglodyte. |
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| 3684 |
truism |
an obvious statement of fact |
They cannot hurt us more than we can be hurt—an obvious truism but one which is often overlooked. |
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Here's a truism for you: Only people who look up words they don't know can expand their vocabularies. Did you find that statement obvious, boring, and saying nothing new or interesting? That's the perfect description of a truism. |
Sometimes truisms can be mistaken for factual statements. In fact, despite their seeming obviousness, they are usually opinions. Many people who look up words in the dictionary don't improve their vocabularies, as much as they'd like to. Another truism: You get what you pay for. Well, a lot of the time, sure, but not always. That's why the word bargain was invented. |
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| 3685 |
truncate |
make shorter as if by cutting off |
“Health care provider” came into vogue as the catchall phrase and was quickly truncated to just “provider.” |
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The verb truncate means to cut off or shorten. You can truncate a board that is too long using a power saw, a chain saw, or perhaps even a karate kick. |
The word truncate is from a Latin word, truncare, which means "to maim or to cut off." Although this brings to mind a more grisly image ("truncate a limb in an accident"), you can actually truncate things that are not related to anatomy. You could truncate an essay by omitting a paragraph or two, or you could even truncate your vacation in Belize by heading home early. |
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| 3686 |
tumult |
a state of commotion and noise and confusion |
A scene of confusion and tumult arose in the office, lasting several moments. |
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If a principal steps into a classroom and is greeted by a tumult of voices, with the teacher shouting for his kids' attention, she will not be pleased. A tumult is a state of noisy confusion. |
Very often a crowd of people will cause a tumult. But your mind can also be in tumult, when you're confused and overwhelmed by strong emotions. If you want an adjective to describe these types of bewildering situations, use tumultuous. Tumult is from the Latin tumultus "an uproar," which is related to the Latin verb tumēre "to be excited." |
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| 3687 |
turpitude |
a corrupt or depraved or degenerate act or practice |
The cities were berated as hubs of moral turpitude, decadence and greed. |
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If you are guilty of turpitude, you should be ashamed of yourself. Turpitude is a word that represents depraved behavior. Prisons are filled with criminals who have engaged in acts of moral turpitude. |
Turpitude comes from the Latin word turpitudo, which means "repulsiveness." Corrupt politicians get booted out of office for acts of turpitude, like taking bribes in exchange for lucrative government contracts. Turpitude often follows the word moral, and acts of moral turpitude are usually crimes that are unusually sick or corrupt. |
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| 3688 |
tyranny |
dominance through threat of punishment and violence |
Alexander Lebedev sees his newspapers as vital forces against tyranny, oppression and corruption. |
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Tyranny is a noun that describes a repressive and arbitrarily cruel regime. Don't accuse your mother of tyranny just because she won't let you play video games all weekend long. |
One of the root words of tyranny is the Latin tyrannia which means the "rule of a tyrant" and a tyrant is a "cruel master." Today, it can mean the repressive regime of a dictator or it can also mean being controlled by something metaphorically harsh like time or work. Maybe the oldest example of a tyranny is that of Tyrannosaurus Rex, or "king of the giant lizards," who many of us grew up thinking was the largest, most predatory and frightening of the dinosaurs who supposedly ruled over the rest of the dinosaur world with its huge, sharp teeth and claws. |
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| 3689 |
satirical |
exposing human folly to ridicule |
Inevitably there were instant faux feeds on Twitter with satirical commentary about Bin Laden’s death, including Ghost Osama and Osama in Hell. |
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If you know the movie you are about to see is satirical, you expect it to make fun some aspect of human nature or even our society, like a satirical take on the glamorous world of fashion that portrays all the designers as celebrity-obsessed and unconcerned with true artistry. |
Satirical is an adjective that describes satire, a work that is intended to ridicule the shortcomings and antics of a person or group. So, something that is satirical often looks like the real thing in order to make fun of it. For example, a sketch on a comedy show in which a comedian sits behind a news anchor desk and uses a serious tone to "report" on absurd events that really happened takes a satirical approach to both the events and the concept of broadcast journalism. |
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| 3690 |
scion |
a descendent or heir |
Mr. Papandreou, a political scion whose father and grandfather were also prime ministers, took office late last year. |
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Use the word scion when talking about a young member of a family that is known to be wealthy, powerful or otherwise important, such as a prince, heiress or the children of, say, the President. |
Scion sounds a little bit like son, which is helpful because it almost always means the son, daughter or descendant of a rich or prominent family. Its earliest examples were used to refer to the young shoots of larger, older plants. It's not surprising, then, that over the centuries its meaning has shifted to include the human offspring of certain well-established families. These days it's invariably used to talk about a person such as Prince William or, say, the late John F. Kennedy, Jr. — both of whom are or were scions of their respective families. |
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| 3691 |
seamless |
perfectly consistent and coherent |
String quartets, made up of four similar instruments that blend seamlessly and resonate together, are the thoroughbreds of chamber music. |
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Something seamless could literally be a piece of clothing without seams, but it's usually something else that's smooth or unbroken, like a seamless transition. |
Seamless things are connected so well that you can't see what's holding them together. They're flowing, consistent, and well-put-together. If an employee leaves, and the replacement does a great job immediately, that's a seamless transition. In basketball, if a team goes from offense to defense without missing a beat, that's seamless play. And that underwear that seems to be made out of one piece of material? Seamless. And super comfortable. |
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| 3692 |
secede |
withdraw from an organization or polity |
On the 3rd of November a revolution broke out at Panama, and the state seceded from Colombia and declared itself to be an independent republic. |
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To secede is to go your own way, breaking off ties. Usually, this refers to one part of a country that wants to become independent, like the South during the U.S. Civil War. |
The Latin word secedere means “go apart” and that's where secede comes from. Don't confuse it with the much more common succeed. Your plan to secede from the state of New Jersey and found a kingdom named Rusty, after your dog, is not likely to succeed. |
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| 3693 |
secession |
formal separation from an alliance or federation |
But southern Sudanese living in northern Sudan were more ambivalent — 42 percent opted for unity and 58 percent for secession. |
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The noun secession refers to a big break-up — a formal split, an official “Good-bye to you!” — among political entities. If France has really, truly had it with the European Union, then a French secession movement may be in order. |
You could think of secession as a kind of divorce for governments, an official and often lasting split between an alliance, federation, or other political group. Secession is the noun version of the verb secede (meaning to withdraw from an organization), and when a secession takes place the group doing the seceding makes a formal departure from the original group. A famous example of political secession happened right before the American Civil War, when eleven southern states withdrew from the U.S. government over the issue of slavery. |
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| 3694 |
sedentary |
requiring sitting or little activity |
There is a growing body of research showing that very active women are less likely to develop breast cancer than their sedentary peers. |
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Scientists believe that one of the causes of the obesity epidemic sweeping the US is our sedentary lifestyle. Sedentary means sitting a lot and refers to a person or job that is not very physically active. |
This adjective has a specialized meaning when referring to certain types of birds that stay in one area and do not migrate. Sedentary is from French sédentaire, from Old French, from Latin sedentārius, from sedēre "to sit." |
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| 3695 |
seditious |
in opposition to a civil authority or government |
If stones were thrown at the police and seditious cries were raised, it was no more than might be reasonably expected. |
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Something seditious works against a government. When countries overthrow authoritarian dictators, often the people engage in seditious protests until the dictator has to leave. |
Seditious, pronounced "si-DI-shes," comes from the Latin seditionem meaning "civil disorder, dissention." A seditious act rebels against a government or authority. In some countries just saying seditious remarks against a government can land you in jail, especially if what you say is likely to get people to rise up against the government. If you plot against the current power structure in any way, you're being seditious. |
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| 3696 |
semantics |
the study of language meaning |
Web semantics developers in recent years have trained computers to classify news topics based on intuitive keywords and recognizable names. |
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Semantics is the study of meaning in language. It can be applied to entire texts or to single words. For example, "destination" and "last stop" technically mean the same thing, but students of semantics analyze their subtle shades of meaning. |
To correctly pronounce semantics — which is a singular noun even though it ends in s — accent the second syllable: "suh-MAN-ticks." In the late 1800s, Michel Bréal coined the term sémantique to describe the psychology of language. That French word has its origins in Greek: semantikos means "significant," and comes from semainein "to show, signify, indicate by a sign." Semantics investigates the meaning of language. |
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| 3697 |
seminal |
containing seeds of later development |
Branches, even trunks might bend and break, but the seminal roots sent up new shoots next season, which in another year, bore fruit scantily. |
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Call something seminal when it's so original, so groundbreaking and awesome that it will influence everything that comes after it. Picasso produced more than a few seminal works of art, for example. |
Technically, seminal means something related to semen or seeds. But these days people more often use the word to describe something that plants the seed for creative growth. An innovative piece of music or literature, a fresh new idea, or an invention that changes everything could each be called seminal. Synonyms include critical, fundamental, original, and primary. |
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| 3698 |
sentiment |
a personal belief or judgment |
Every American will read these works with national pride, and have his better feelings and sentiments enkindled and strengthened.—Western literary Messenger. |
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Your opinion that most comedies are terrible and that you'd rather watch any other kind of movie could be described as your sentiment, or your attitude, about films. |
Sentiment means a view or opinion, but it can also mean an emotion. Maybe you prefer tragic movies because you enjoy the sentiment of sadness. This meaning of sentiment is taken to an extreme in yet another version of the word, meaning something like "overdone, exaggerated feelings, especially of sadness or nostalgia." An overly soppy tragedy is a good example of this kind of sentiment; it's the kind of film that might make you cringe instead of cry. |
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| 3699 |
serendipity |
good luck in making unexpected and fortunate discoveries |
Serendipity is a recurring theme in Chandler's biography, with one happy accident after another pushing him in a certain direction. |
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If you find good things without looking for them, serendipity — unexpected good luck — has brought them to you. |
Serendipity does not come from Latin or Greek, but rather was created by a British nobleman in the mid 1700s from an ancient Persian fairy tale. The meaning of the word, good luck in finding valuable things unintentionally, refers to the fairy tale characters who were always making discoveries through chance. You can thank serendipity if you find a pencil at an empty desk just as you walk into an exam and realize that you forgot yours. |
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| 3700 |
sibylline |
resembling or characteristic of a prophet or prophecy |
Their Sibylline books have prophesied the fall of Rome, though they use the name 'Babylon.' |
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The adjective sibylline means "having a secret meaning" or "foretelling the future," like a fortune teller whose crystal ball reveals a sibylline message about what will happen. |
If you can predict the meaning of the word sibylline, you may come from a family of psychics — or you may have a background in Greek mythology. The word has origins in the Greek word Sibulla, meaning "prophetess." Back in the times of the Greeks and Romans, a sibyl was a female oracle who delivered cryptic prophecies foretelling the future, often inspired by the deities. The adjective sibylline describes such talents or the messages they reveal. |
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| 3701 |
simian |
relating to or resembling an ape |
At least 10 large black-faced langur monkeys are being used at the Delhi Games venues to stop smaller simian monkeys from causing trouble. |
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As a noun, a simian is a monkey or ape. Something monkey- or ape-like can be described using the adjective simian. So: something can be simian without being a simian. Got it? |
The first syllable in simian rhymes with dim and gets the accent: "SIM-ee-an." This is a case in which the adjective form came before the noun. How? Simian comes from the Greek word simos, meaning "snub-nosed, bent upward." It wasn't until the late nineteenth century that this description became the label for those animals whose noses simian describes. |
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| 3702 |
sobriety |
the state of being sober and not intoxicated by alcohol |
His lawyer Heather Boxeth has said O'Neal relapsed by drinking alcohol after five years of sobriety and was in rehab. |
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Sobriety is the state of being sober, which can mean either not intoxicated or being solemn. If he takes a drink, an alcoholic ends a stretch of sobriety. You might note sobriety in the stands when your team is losing. |
When thinking about sobriety, think about the Puritans, and the way they kept the Sabbath. For them, even laughing on a Sunday was seen as an excessive display. Known for sobriety, they preferred a day marked by prayer and contemplation. It goes without saying that they frowned upon the consumption of any form of alcohol––favoring sobriety of both kinds. |
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| 3703 |
somatic |
characteristic of the body as opposed to the mind or spirit |
Nature and the spiritual, without this embodied intelligence, this somatic being, called man or angel or ape, are as ermine on a wax figure. |
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Somatic is a fancy word that just means dealing with the body. You may be tired of hearing your great-grandfather's somatic complaints, but give him a break - his body has been working for 80 years! |
Soma means body in Latin, so somatic means of the body and is most often used in connection with one's health. You may be more familiar with the related word, psychosomatic, which describes a physical condition or illness caused by the mind rather than a virus or a sprain. If you don't want to go to school so much that you begin to feel sick, that is psychosomatic. But sometimes, your somatic symptoms mean you really do have a cold! |
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| 3704 |
sophist |
someone whose reasoning is subtle and often specious |
This word comes from the Greek "sophistes," meaning a sophist, that is to say, one who makes a pretence of being wise. |
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A sophist is someone who makes good points about an issue — until you realize those points aren't entirely true, like a political candidate who twists an opponent's words or gives misleading facts during a speech. |
Sophist has the accent on the first syllable: "SAW fist." It comes from the Greek word sophizesthai, meaning "to become wise or learned, deceive." In fact, deceit was just part of the job for the ancient Greek philosophers called Sophists. The cleverness of the Sophists prevented students from seeing that the Sophists' arguments didn't reach logical conclusions — and the Sophists kept their paying students coming back for more. |
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| 3705 |
spectator |
a close observer; someone who looks at something |
More than 200 spectators watched aircraft take to the skies on Tuesday at Mona Airfield. |
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If you're watching something, you're a spectator. Football stadiums and circus tents are full of spectators. |
The spectator is a particular kind of viewer; unlike a witness or an onlooker, they usually have chosen intentionally to regard the spectacle before them. Usually the word spectator refers to people watching games or "spectator sports," but you could be a spectator at any planned event. An easy way to remember this word is to think of spectacles, glasses used to view something clearly — both from the same Latin root spectare. |
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| 3706 |
speculation |
a message expressing an opinion based on incomplete evidence |
He said the four conspiracy charges leveled at his client were supported by nothing but “ speculation, innuendo and conjecture.” |
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When you guess about how something is going to come out (or how it happened), that's speculation. You're making an educated guess. |
When people predict who will win a football game, an Oscar, or an election, it's speculation: people are looking at the facts and making their best guess. Just about anything you say about the future is speculation, because no one knows what will happen. The word is used in the stock market for such financial dealings as "buying on spec," a risky way to make money. Sometimes, this word means something close to meditation — pondering something deeply. |
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| 3707 |
spurn |
reject with contempt |
Saying that agents and publishers had spurned him 162 times, Mr. Wimmer laid claim to being the most-rejected published novelist in history. |
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If you reject your mother's offer to buy you a pair of lederhosen with a snort and eye roll, you are spurning her generosity. To spurn means to reject with disdain. |
Originally, to spurn was to kick away. Though it's not used in that context so often anymore, being spurned still feels like a kick in the gut. You can reject someone kindly, or let them down easily, but you can't spurn someone with anything but malice. |
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| 3708 |
squabble |
a quarrel about petty points |
There was trouble going on here and there, petty wars and political squabbles. |
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A squabble is a fight but not necessarily a serious one. When we squabble, we have a little argument, probably about something not too important. |
Do you notice how squabble sounds kind of funny? That's a clue that a squabble is not the most serious kind of argument or fight. A loud, screaming fight would never be called a squabble. A small, silly discussion about something small or trivial is more of a squabble. Friends and family members squabble all the time. |
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| 3709 |
stagnant |
not growing or changing; without force or vitality |
In that dull household, where so few events ever disturbed the stagnant quiet, this sudden journey produced an indescribable sensation. |
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There is a tone to the word stagnant that sounds like what it is: lacking movement, stale, and inactive, especially with exaggerated pronunciation, "staaaagnant." |
Stagnant came into use in the 17th century as a description for water or air that wasn't moving or circulating, like in a scum-covered pond or a closed-off room. Often things that are stagnant also have a smell from sitting too long in one place. Not that this happens to everyone, but sitting in front of a TV playing video games without moving more than the fingers can make a person stagnant, sometimes with an accompanying odor. |
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| 3710 |
stagnate |
stand still |
Services, accounting for about three quarters of the economy, stagnated with zero growth. |
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If after high school you choose to live in your parents' house, keep the same job, and spend time with the same friends, your mother might worry that you've decided to stagnate, or stop moving forward. |
When water stagnates, it stops moving and then sometimes begins to smell bad and attract mosquitoes. Think of a marshy pond or an old puddle. Similarly in the figurative sense, when the economy or society stagnates, it doesn't just sit still, it loses momentum. The word carries with it a negative connotation as something that stagnates really should be moving. |
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| 3711 |
stalemate |
a situation in which no progress can be made |
But, in the end, nothing really gets resolved, nobody wins and the stalemate continues. |
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A stalemate is an impasse in a contest, a point where neither player — usually in chess — can win or lose. |
Stalemate is from an Old French word, estal, which means “place,” “position,” or “stand.” To be in a stalemate with an opponent is to be in a locked position, or a stalled place, where neither player can make a profitable move. Chess is the most common context for a stalemate, but any contest or negotiation can result in a stalemate: "The discussions about buying their competitor’s waffle house reached a stalemate and the deal died." |
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| 3712 |
statutory |
prescribed or authorized by or punishable under law |
We have eliminated the opposition down our way—perfectly legal and statutory. |
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If something is statutory, it is related to or set by laws or statutes. Statutory restrictions on air pollution require drivers to have the emissions from their cars checked every few years. |
You might wonder what the difference is between statutory and legal. Both are adjectives and both are concerned with the law. If something is legal, it is allowed by the law, whereas if it is statutory, it is regulated by law. In the negative, this is easier to understand. If something is not legal, the law says you can't do it. If something is not statutory, there are no laws regulating it. |
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| 3713 |
steadfast |
marked by firm determination or resolution; not shakable |
Steadfast in his convictions and imperturbable under pressure, Mr. Miller was the ultimate iconoclast. |
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Someone who is firm and determined in a belief or a position can be called steadfast in that view, like your mom when she thinks you really shouldn’t wear that outfit. |
The word steadfast traces back to the Old English word stedefæst, a combination of stede, meaning "place," and fæst, meaning "firmly fixed." Picture a steadfast person standing firmly in place, not wavering or budging an inch, and you’ll have a good sense of what this word means. Someone can be steadfast in a belief, an effort, a plan, or even a refusal. Whatever it is, it means that the person will calmly hold firm to the chosen position and follow through with determination. |
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| 3714 |
stoic |
seeming unaffected by pleasure or pain; impassive |
Then the typically stoic Green Bay Packers coach briefly lost his composure, pausing for several seconds as he choked up with emotion. |
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Being stoic is being calm and almost without any emotion. When you're stoic, you don't show what you're feeling and you also accept whatever is happening. |
The noun stoic is a person who's not very emotional. The adjective stoic describes any person, action, or thing that seems emotionless and almost blank. Mr. Spock, from the oldest Star Trek show, was a great example of a stoic person: he tried to never show his feelings. Someone yelling, crying, laughing, or glaring is not stoic. Stoic people calmly go with the flow and don't appear to be shook up by much. |
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| 3715 |
stratification |
the act of arranging persons into classes or levels |
People were much the same, she thought, in every class; there was no stratification of either rightness or righteousness. |
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Stratification means arranging something, or something that has been arranged, into categories. By the time you figure out the complex social stratification of your high school class, from jocks to nerds and everything between, you’re ready to graduate. |
Stratification is a system or formation of layers, classes, or categories. Stratification is used to describe a particular way of arranging seeds while planting, as well as the geological layers of rocks. But like so many science words, somehow it’s not content to stay in the scientific realm, and must also have a place in the social sphere, where its job is to categorize and arrange people into groups: upper, middle, and lower classes, for example. |
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| 3716 |
stupefy |
make senseless or dizzy by or as if by a blow |
For several seconds he remained standing quite motionless and breathless, staring in stupefied amazement at the dark outline of the enemy. |
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Don't be embarrassed if the magician's tricks stupefy you. It means you're amazed. Who doesn't want to be stopped in his tracks sometimes? |
Stupefy looks a lot like stupid. But intelligence has nothing to do with being stupefied, which comes from Latin and means "to make stunned." Anyone can be stupefied by something scary, mysterious, or just plain remarkable. Think of tourists visiting New York City for the first time. They stare up at the skyscrapers, lost in wonder. Taking that moment to let themselves be amazed? Nothing stupid about it, unless they step on someone's foot, of course. |
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| 3717 |
subdue |
put down by force or intimidation |
Police officers surrounded the prison grounds while F.B.I. agents and guards tried to subdue the inmates, Sheriff Mayfield said. |
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To subdue is to hold back, put down, or defeat. A Doberman can be subdued with a bone, but subduing a yapping toy poodle can be a mail carrier's greatest daily challenge. |
You can use the verb subdue in ways ranging from subtle to very forceful. If someone is angry, you might subdue him with kind words that overcome his anger. If someone is coming at you with a giant karate chop, you may be able to subdue her with a secret weapon — a knee-snap–heel-kick-floor-drop. Sub-, as in submarine means "below" and subdue means to bring low — to keep down literally or to calm down emotionally. |
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| 3718 |
subliminal |
below the threshold of conscious perception |
If she was unhappy, her unhappiness lay too deep in subliminal abysses to struggle to the surface of her consciousness. |
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Each of your five senses constantly sends new information to your brain. And there’s another way your brain receives information: through subliminal messages. The unconscious mind picks up on things you don’t even realize. |
Faint humming might make you irritated. Red lights can raise your blood temperature. Usually, subliminal methods are used to control people, like flashing words quickly during a television program. If you’re worried, there’s not much you can do, because subliminal literally means “below the threshold” or surface of your conscious mind, and you probably will never even notice that you’re being controlled. Try reading only the capital letters of this definition for an example of a subliminal message. |
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| 3719 |
subservient |
compliant and obedient to authority |
Ms. Greig, he said, is a meek, subservient woman whom Mr. Bulger ordered around. |
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Subservient means "compliant," "obedient," "submissive," or having the qualities of a servant. Something that's subservient has been made useful, or put into the service of, something else. |
Our word subservient is unusual because it actually comes from the Latin word of exactly the same spelling and almost the identical meaning — "subjecting to" or "complying with." Usually words change a little in spelling or meaning when they are adopted from another language, but this one did not. Maybe the word subservient seemed so subservient that it could comply with the rules of any language! |
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| 3720 |
subsidiary |
functioning in a supporting capacity |
A symbol has a chief meaning, and then various subsidiary meanings related to that chief meaning. |
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If a company belongs to another company, then the owned company is a subsidiary. When a large company bought your small business, you became a subsidiary. It still hurts to call them the parent company, since you publish novels and they make toilet paper. |
The adjective form of subsidiary describes something that is of secondary importance or that functions in a supporting capacity. In addition to running the band program, you're a member of several subsidiary committees like the fund raising committee and the hospitality committee. Traffic on the road was light when you drove outside the city, but as more subsidiary roads joined with the main one, traffic quickly became congested. |
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| 3721 |
subsistence |
a means of surviving |
But how avoid him while she had no other means of subsistence than working in an open shop? |
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Subsistence means the minimal resources that are necessary for survival. If you work for subsistence, you'll probably receive food, water, and lodging (internet access not included). |
Subsistence can be used in a variety of subtly different ways. In addition to referring to necessities for survival, it can indicate one's means of obtaining those necessities (usually a job). And if you feel like getting philosophical, subsistence can refer to the very act of existence itself. |
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| 3722 |
successor |
a person who inherits some title or office |
Mr. Stewart has promised to stay on until a successor is hired. |
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If you are successor to the throne, that means you're next in line when the current royal has to step down. The successor takes over when someone gives up a position or title or when something becomes outdated. |
The noun successor was first used in the 13th century to mean "one who comes after." It's often used in reference to a royal court, where the successor is usually the king's eldest son. If something happens to the U.S. president, the vice president is the designated successor and will assume the position of head of government. It seems like every day there's a new and improved computer, a successor that replaces an earlier model. |
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| 3723 |
summon |
call in an official matter, such as to attend court |
Bryce Harper batting seventh in major league debut had no clue why his Class AAA manager summoned him into his office Friday afternoon. |
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To summon is to formally call for the presence of someone. If, as soccer team captain, you find that your team members are an hour late for the big game, you might need to summon them — and fast. |
Summon can also mean “gather up,” as one might summon one’s courage" before that big game. Summon is also occasionally used in reference to the supernatural, as when one tries to call forth a spirit or ghost. If you think the team needs additional help on the field, you might try to summon some supernatural backup. |
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| 3724 |
sumptuous |
rich and superior in quality |
The city is rich in antiquities, in historic buildings associated with illustrious names, in works of art and in sumptuous palaces. |
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Sumptuous could be used to describe a room appointed with the finest furniture, a lush orchestra playing a beautiful symphony, or a meal meant for a king. Sumptuous describes something that costs a lot and imparts sensory pleasure. |
Sumptuous comes from the Latin sumptus which means expensive. Sumptus is related to sumere which means to consume. The word sumptuous carries both meanings with it. It is a pricey, high quality thing that's meant to be consumed or enjoyed. You wouldn't use sumptuous to describe a tractor, even if has leather seats and cost more than your house. |
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| 3725 |
sundry |
consisting of a haphazard assortment of different kinds |
In the preparation of this book, old journals, original records and documents, and sundry other trustworthy sources have been diligently consulted and freely utilized. |
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A teenager emptying out his backpack at the end of the school year might find sundry items at the bottom, meaning that the backpack was filled with a random collection of unrelated things — an old stick of gum, a broken pair of sunglasses, crumpled pieces of paper, and so forth. |
Most people associate the word sundry with the old-fashioned drugstore in their neighborhood that used to sell all sorts of odds and ends, from magazines to hairbrushes. The word is typically used as an adjective to describe a collection of various different items found in one place, as in — "I discovered records, perfume bottles, and sundry items at my neighbor's yard sale." The phrase "all and sundry" refers collectively to a group of people, as in, "I invited all and sundry of my relatives to my tea party." |
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| 3726 |
supererogatory |
more than is needed, desired, or required |
Those arguments are not necessary, they are all supererogatory, like idle words. |
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Something that is supererogatory is a little too much — more than what you want or need. It could be an extra layer of tinsel on an already flashy Christmas tree or a second lengthy apology after the first one was accepted. |
You could probably argue that the word supererogatory might be, well, supererogatory. After all, the word superfluous is very close in meaning. And you might notice that excessive is a shorter, more common synonym for both of those words. Necessary or not, if you encounter supererogatory just remember that it means "too much," even to the point of creating a slightly bad impression. |
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| 3727 |
superimpose |
place on top of |
This time, the camera focused only on his face and in editing, his head would be digitally superimposed on Pence's body. |
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Superimpose means laying one thing on top of another. It's often use to describe images in a photo collage — like the superimposed image of a skyscraper on the surface of the moon. |
The verb superimpose is typically used in graphics or photography to describe how images can be put on top of one another for dramatic effect. Use it also to show adding your own take on something, or when you try to have an impact on someone's behavior: "She tried to superimpose her ideas of perfection onto the lazy habits of her children." |
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| 3728 |
supernatural |
not able to be explained by physical laws |
After vampires and shape shifters, now fairies are added to the fun supernatural mix. |
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If you enjoy a good story about vampires, witches, werewolves, or ghosts, you like reading about the supernatural — forces, beings, and events that are beyond what can be explained by nature. |
Supernatural comes from the Latin word supernaturalis, meaning beyond nature. The adjective form of supernatural describes anything that pertains to or is caused by something that can't be explained by the laws of nature. It's interesting to ask your friends what kind of supernatural power they would choose to have. Most will probably wish for the ability to fly, though some will pick the supernatural power of being invisible. |
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| 3729 |
supple |
readily adaptable |
However, humanity is so flexible and supple that, in one way or another, it always overcomes these attempts at prevention. |
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Something or someone that is supple bends and moves easily, like a contortionist at a circus sideshow. If you can wrap your legs around your neck, you most likely have a supple body. |
Supple is often used as an adjective describing a body — such as a dancer’s; a fabric — such as soft leather; or a sound — such as an accomplished singer’s voice. This makes for a strange supple family, but all of its members can move with ease and flexibility. More idiomatically, supple can also be used to describe a mind. In this sense, it does not mean “easily brainwashed,” but has a more positive association with the open-mindedness of free-thinkers. |
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| 3730 |
suppression |
forceful prevention; putting down by power or authority |
Bitterly, in blood and heartbreak and long suppression, they had been weighed down under superior force: but now the time of reprisals had come. |
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Suppression is the act of keeping something from happening — like the suppression of your laughter when your best friend passes you a funny note in class. |
In psychology, suppression is the act of stopping yourself from thinking or feeling something. It is generally presumed to be ineffective because even if you suppress or hold back an emotion, like anger, that feeling returns with a vengeance. Suppression can also mean the act of holding something else back, like the suppression of a book from publication because you don't like its message. |
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| 3731 |
surfeit |
indulge (one's appetite) to satiety |
The law at last is satisfied, satiated, surfeited. |
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Steve baked a surfeit of jam tarts. Steve ate a surfeit of jam tarts. Steve surfeited himself on jam tarts. Whether surfeit is a noun or a verb (as in "overabundance" or "gorge"), Steve is likely to end up with a bellyache. |
"Overabundance," "glut," "gorge," and "cloy": these are all synonyms for surfeit, and they all convey a sense of too-much-ness, as does the Old French root of the word — surfaire, "to overdo." When it is used in reference to food or eating, surfeit tends to suggest indulging to the point of sickness or disgust. In other contexts, though, the meaning is not necessarily negative: "A surfeit of kindness," for example, would hardly be a bad thing. |
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| 3732 |
surreal |
characterized by fantastic and incongruous imagery |
In this surreal world, music records smell like different colors, foods tastes like specific noises, and sound comes in all varieties of textures and shapes. |
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If you see a goldfish fly out of a melting clock and offer you tango lessons, you’re having a surreal experience! Either that or you’re asleep and dreaming. Things that are surreal combine unrelated elements to create a bizarre scene. |
The adjective surreal comes from Surrealism, a movement that produced films, writing, painting, and other art forms that often contained irrational, disjointed images. So, surreal describes something that’s a bizarre mix of elements, often jarring and seemingly nonsensical. Images can be surreal, like the melting clocks in Salvador Dali's paintings, but so can strange, dream-like moments in everyday life. |
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| 3733 |
sustenance |
a source of materials to nourish the body |
Furs have renewed my clothing, and I have never wanted for sustenance—chiefly nuts, fruits and vegetables. |
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Sustenance comes from the word sustain, which means to continue. Sustenance is food or drink that allows you to continue to be alive. For many, prayer is a source of spiritual sustenance. |
If your chief source of sustenance is candy, you are going to get sick, but you will have a good time while it lasts. In much of the world, rice and beans provide sustenance to human beings. In the US, Native Americans taught Europeans how to grow corn, which turned into a major source of sustenance for their population. |
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| 3734 |
sybaritic |
displaying luxury and furnishing gratification to the senses |
Ever since, the city has been ravishing visitors with its teeming souks, ornate palaces and sybaritic night life. |
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Because of its endless sybaritic (indulgent or luxurious) amenities, Dubai has emerged in the early 21st century as a vacation destination for the wealthy and ostentatious. |
Sybaritic looks like a complicated word, but to pronounce it, just think of the “sib” in the word sibling, then “uh,” then the “-ritic” of the word critic. One way to remember the pronunciation is a rhyme: not even the harshest travel writer or restaurant critic ever turns down the sybaritic pleasures of Las Vegas. |
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| 3735 |
synchronous |
occurring or existing at the same time |
Mrs. Smiley spoke almost at the same moment but never precisely synchronous with Wilbur's whisper. |
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If you are a werewolf, your animal transformation is synchronous with the lunar cycle. When something is synchronous, it occurs in time or at the same time with something else. |
In synchronous, you see syn- meaning "together," and -chron- meaning "time." If things such as swimming moves are synchronous, they are said to be in sync. Jewel thieves and undercover operatives synchronize their watches so that the team ensures synchronous actions. If the police question you about a crime and your alibi is that you were out dancing, it means that the occurrences of the crime and your dance were synchronous, so you could not be the perpetrator. |
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| 3736 |
synonymous |
meaning the same or nearly the same |
The two phrases seem synonymous, and might often be used indifferently; but here there is evidently a well marked diversity of meaning. |
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If two words are synonymous, they mean the same thing. You tried to convince her that "love" and "chocolate" were not synonymous, but it was no use. |
In addition to describing words with the same or similar meanings, you can use the adjective synonymous to describe things that are similar in a more figurative way. Summer is synonymous with picnics, playing outside, and days at the beach. Summer is also synonymous with ants, skinned knees, and sunburn! |
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| 3737 |
rambunctious |
noisy and lacking in restraint or discipline |
Once, long ago, award ceremonies were rather unruly and rambunctious affairs. |
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Rambunctious means "noisy and out of control," like a rambunctious child who is so hard to handle that no babysitter has ever come back a second time. |
People who are rambunctious, pronounced "ram-BUNK-shus," can be fun — to a point. Laughing a little too loudly, or too often, seems refreshing at first — so what if people sitting at other tables have started to look over? But after a while, rambunctious behavior makes you feel tired. You never know when the high energy of the rambunctious is going to cross over to obnoxiousness, when things will spill, feelings get hurt, and apologizes need to be made. |
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| 3738 |
ramification |
a development that complicates a situation |
Certainly when one gave the hideous experiment full thought, its possible angles of development, its many potential ramifications, were astounding in the extreme. |
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A ramification is an accidental consequence that complicates things. Remember that time you borrowed your father's car without asking? The ramification was that Dad missed an important meeting, his company went under, and he had to sell the car. Oops! |
The ramifications are the broader effects that fan out into the world from one situation, or decision, that kicks it all off. Ramification also refers to something branching out, like limbs on a tree — which is what bad decisions tend to do. Ramification is like consequence, but usually unintended and bad. The word is often used in political discussions about laws or government decisions because they might be made locally but could affect people worldwide. |
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| 3739 |
rapport |
a relationship of mutual understanding between people |
Ms. Tindall, 48, did not work for Mr. Stevens, but several people said they had a strong mutual respect and a warm rapport. |
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Rapport is a good sense of understanding and trust. If you have good rapport with your neighbors, they won't mind if you kick your ball onto their property every now and then. |
If you have rapport with someone, you two communicate with trust and sympathy. The word is often used to mean good interaction between people in different positions or roles such as parent and teacher, teacher and student, doctor and patient, supervisor and worker, or speaker and audience. It is always important to establish rapport with people you come into contact with regularly. Pronounce this borrowed word from the French ra-POOR. |
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| 3740 |
ravage |
cause extensive destruction or ruin utterly |
The heaviest flooding in 50 years ravaged farms, automotive and electronics plants and is thought to have taken 800 lives. |
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The word ravage can be used as a noun or a verb meaning destruction or to destroy. In a war, bombs and the attacking army will ravage the country under siege. |
When ravage is used as a noun, you usually see it in the plural. Beware of the ravages of drugs on your body and your life. The city has almost been destroyed by the ravages of poverty and disaster. Often you see it paired with the word, time, to describe how things fall apart as they age. The ravages of time may be apparent in the lined faces and hunched postures of your grandparents. |
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| 3741 |
ravenous |
extremely hungry |
You know that makes them ravenous, and they'd eat him out of house and home in time. |
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A ravenous person feels like they haven't eaten in days and could probably finish off 10 pizzas without help. So ravenous is not a good state to be in when you go grocery shopping. |
Back in the early 15th century, you would have been called ravenous if you were greedy and obsessed with stealing, much like a pirate. Nowadays, it’s often used to describe extreme hunger or desire. Having a ravenous appetite means you're literally hungry like the wolf, snarling and growling (stomach) included. So do everyone in the lunchroom a favor and remember to eat breakfast. |
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| 3742 |
realm |
a domain in which something is dominant |
Such questions are generally considered not to belong to the realm of positive physical science, but will before long be annexed to its domain. |
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A realm is an area that is ruled by something. If you are a controlling cook who doesn’t like anyone to do anything else in the kitchen, then the kitchen is your realm. |
Realm comes from the French for kingdom, but since there aren’t so many kings or queens left in the world, you’ll more often find it referring to non-royal spheres. That could be the sphere of a special kind of knowledge, like the realm of biology, or the political realm. Or it could be an area dominated by some group. Little Italy was famously the realm of the mafia; Hollywood is the realm of film stars. |
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| 3743 |
reap |
get or derive |
Every new plaza the city opens, like the recent one on Gansevoort Street, instantly fills up; local shop owners reap the benefits. |
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When you reap something, you enjoy the rewards of your efforts. When your great audition gets you cast in your dream role, you reap the benefits of all that rehearsing you did. |
Reap can also describe the act of harvesting crops. The farmer will then sell the crop, reaping a profit. Here, reap means the same as gain. You may have heard the expression "what you reap is what you sow," which comes from the New Testament and can apply to farming and everything else — if, for example, you are patient with other people, they in turn will be patient with you. |
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| 3744 |
rebellious |
resisting control or authority |
Their founders also tend to be rebellious types who enjoy challenging authority. |
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A rebellious person likes to challenge authority and break the rules every now and then. A really rebellious group tries to overthrow the government. |
Being rebellious is part of the American character. If the colonies hadn't been rebellious enough to rebel against England, there would be no United States. Large groups of people can be rebellious, but so can individuals. A student who talks back to the teacher is being rebellious. An employee who ignores a dress code is being rebellious. Anywhere there's an authority, someone is probably acting rebellious toward it. |
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| 3745 |
rebuttal |
the speech act of refuting by offering a contrary argument |
If one candidate specifically criticizes another in an answer, the victimized candidate is generally given rebuttal time. |
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When two people debate, one of them makes an argument, and the other follows with a rebuttal, which, plainly put, is the "no, you're wrong and this is why" argument. |
We often associate rebuttals with arguments made in the courtroom or public debates that occur around election time, but the word can really apply to any situation in which an argument is put forth and someone disagrees, and explains why. Sports fans, for instance, like to argue about the likely winner of an upcoming game and when you make a case for why your friend is wrong, you are offering a rebuttal of his argument. |
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| 3746 |
recapitulate |
summarize briefly |
He then recapitulated, with rapid but accurate detail, the principal circumstances of my story, bestowing some brief comment on each as he went. |
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To recapitulate means to go back and summarize. At the end of an oral report, you might say, "So, to recapitulate, I've made three points," and then you name them. |
Recapitulate is a long, scary-looking word that actually means something simple and easy. It comes from the Latin re- "again" and capitulum "chapter," which comes from the word caput "head." Think of recapitulating––or recapping, for short––as putting nice little caps on all the bottles you've opened up––tightening everything up. |
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| 3747 |
recidivism |
habitual relapse into crime |
So successful is Buffalo's Veterans Court that it boasts a zero recidivism rate -- none of the participants have been rearrested and returned. |
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Recidivism means going back to a previous behavior, especially criminal behavior. People who work with prisoners are always hoping to lower recidivism rates. |
The word recidivism comes from the Latin root words re, meaning "back," and caedere, meaning "to fall" — or literally "to fall back." The word is most commonly used to discuss the relapse rate of criminals, who have served their sentence and have been released. However, it can be used for any relapse in behavior. Alcoholics who do not receive support are more prone to recidivism than those in recovery programs, such as Alcoholics Anonymous. |
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| 3748 |
recipient |
a person who is sent something |
The society left open the possibility of transplanting hearts into patients over age 70, as long as recipients were otherwise in very good health. |
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A recipient is the person on the receiving end of something. Meryl Streep is the recipient of more Academy Award nominations than any other actor. |
Just as an actor can be the recipient of a prize for acting, a banker can be the recipient of a bonus for good banking. You'll notice the connection between recipient and receive. In order to be a recipient you have to receive something, whether it's a prize or just a letter in the mail. If it's true that it's better to give than to receive, does that mean it's better to be a giver than a recipient? |
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| 3749 |
reciprocate |
act, feel, or give mutually or in return |
He took some pains, moreover, to reciprocate the civilities he had received, by entertaining his hosts in return. |
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You reciprocate when you return a favor, return a compliment, or respond "the same to you" to the angry guy in the car you just passed. In short, you react to an action, statement, or emotion by mirroring it. |
This one comes from the Latin verb reciprocare, meaning to move back and forth. Its root makes it sound as if reciprocate implies only a physical action, but it's also used for the less tangible. If you fail to pay the rent, your landlord might reciprocate by evicting you. If your crush acts like he doesn't know you exist when you pass him in the halls, it's probably safe to say he does not reciprocate your amorous feelings. |
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| 3750 |
recoil |
draw back, as with fear or pain |
The Reverend Mr. Prattleton literally recoiled at the words, and staggered back a few steps in his dismay. |
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A recoil is a movement backwards, usually from some force or impact. The recoil of a gun is a backward movement caused by momentum. Your trip to the shooting range might make your mom recoil — from horror, not momentum. |
Recoil has both a verb and a noun form, meaning any kind of rebound or spring backwards. It doesn’t even have to be from an actual force. You might recoil when you see a snake, or recoil at the thought of having to eat squid. In those cases it’s more like a cringe or a flinch from something that’s scary, disgusting, or painful. Eating squid might in fact be all of those things to you. |
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| 3751 |
recommence |
begin again |
He was released under the first declaration of indulgence; but as he instantly recommenced his preaching, he was arrested again. |
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The verb recommence means "begin again." Play may recommence in a baseball game after a rain delay, for example, or your diet may recommence after the new year. |
When you see the re- prefix on this word, you likely know that recommence is going to involve something that is done again. Commence means “begin.” So, when you recommence something, you start it again, like studying all day, taking a break for dinner, then recommencing the studying in the evening. |
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| 3752 |
recompense |
payment or reward, as for service rendered |
In 1830, the United States government made a large grant of lands to his heirs as a further recompense for his military services. |
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Say you loan a few bucks to a friend who is short on cash, and he wins the lottery. Presumably, he'll be able to recompense you, or pay you back what he owes. |
If you look closely at recompense, you'll see how similar it is to compensate, which means to make amends for something or to pay. Add the prefix re-, which suggests returning or repeating, and you get the meaning of recompense — paying back or reimbursing financially or otherwise. Recompense is most often used as a verb, but it works as a noun, too. In recompense for throwing peas and screaming, a mother might send a toddler to her room for a time-out. |
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| 3753 |
reconnaissance |
the act of scouting |
This 38 metre-long remotely operated airship is designed to carry communications and monitoring equipment for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions. |
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Reconnaissance is checking out a situation before taking action. Often it’s used as a military term, but you could also do reconnaissance on a new employee before you hire her, or a resort before you take a vacation. |
Reconnaissance is a noun, and it technically means “the act of reconnoitering.” Whoa. Never heard that word before? Reconnoitering is just a fancy way of saying that you’re checking something out — sometimes in a sneaky way. If you like a girl in your Spanish class, you might ask a friend to do some reconnaissance to find out what she’s like. The word comes from the French reconnaître, which means “recognize.” |
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| 3754 |
recrimination |
mutual accusations |
But despite calls for national unity to face this challenge, Mexico's politicians keep slinging mud and trading mutual recriminations over who is to blame. |
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Sometimes you accuse your opponent of refusing to compromise and he accuses you of the same thing. That’s a recrimination, an accusation or insult that’s hurled back at someone. |
If you’ve ever been in a verbal disagreement with someone, odds are that you’ve experienced recriminations. You can remember it by noticing that crim as in "crime" is part of the word. When recriminations fly back and forth between two sides, each accuses the other of crimes in the metaphorical sense. Once the emergencies of a disaster have been taken care of, recriminations are sometimes hurled at those in charge for the way the crisis was handled. |
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| 3755 |
rectitude |
righteousness as a consequence of being honorable and honest |
You must be morally upright and of steadfast rectitude. |
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Rectitude refers to behavior that is correct, upright and honorable. You have moral rectitude if you refuse to be involved with a plan that some kids in your class have to cheat on a test. |
This is a word that's easy to remember! First of all, rectitude sounds like rector, a member of the clergy, who is supposed to be a person with a highly moral ... 'tude, if you will. It also has the same prefix as rectangle, that most upright of geometric figures. If someone talks about fiscal rectitude, they are concerned with doing the right thing financially. |
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| 3756 |
redress |
act of correcting an error or a fault or an evil |
Some efforts at redress were made; but the remedy proved ineffectual, and the discontent of the Indians increased with every year. |
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The verb redress is used when you are supposed to fix a problem and make amends. You want your parents to redress the fact that you don't have a pet. Your parents offer to get a hamster, but instead, you say you want a monkey. |
Redress can be used as both a noun and a verb. In the noun form, it is the compensation for setting something right. As a verb it means to correct, right a wrong, or make restitution for something. The union organizers wanted the company to redress the fact that workers weren't getting lunch breaks. |
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| 3757 |
refulgent |
radiating or as if radiating light |
Through the same clear mirror La Fayette saw the sun of freedom reflecting its refulgent rays over Columbia's prolific land. |
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If someone tells you that you have refulgent eyes, they mean that your eyes shine brightly, like the stars. This suggests that your special someone is the poetic type, since refulgent is a literary way of saying "bright." |
The adjective refulgent comes from the Latin fulgere, meaning "to shine." Refulgent is used both literally and figuratively. On a bright day, the sun can be described as refulgent, and the beautiful, sunny weather might cause you to break into a refulgent smile. Refulgent shines brightly among its synonyms: radiant, dazzling, and luminous. You'll typically encounter refulgent in literature and poetry, but using this word is a great way to show off your refulgent mind. |
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| 3758 |
refurbish |
make brighter and prettier |
She said Kimpton had refurbished many guest rooms to include bigger desks with improved lighting and an ergonomic rolling chair, rather than an armchair. |
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Whether it’s a bike, an old computer, or a tennis stadium, when you refurbish something you clean it up and make it look or perform better. |
When you refurbish something, you generally keep the structure the same but improve its looks and possibly its functionality. For example, if you renovate a room you may make it "new again" with structural changes, such as tearing down walls and altering its original design. If you refurbish it, however, you will most likely focus on making it look better with cosmetic changes, such as painting it. The word refurbish is also often used to describe secondhand technology that has been rebuilt to restore function by replacing a component that has failed. |
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| 3759 |
refutation |
the act of determining that something is false |
Whatever falsehoods the counsel for the Crown may advance, and the witnesses swear to, shall meet neither denial nor refutation from me. |
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A refutation proves that something is false. Refutations pop up often in law debates and philosophical arguments. |
While a validation tells you something is true, a refutation does the opposite: it says or proves that something is untrue, refuting the claim. In court, a witness might offer a refutation of a suspect's alibi to show he's lying. If someone calls you a liar, you probably should give them a refutation — make the case that you're a person who tells the truth. |
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| 3760 |
regress |
get worse or fall back to a previous condition |
Instead of getting better, the team has regressed. |
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To regress is to return to a former state or condition, and not usually in a good way. It often means "relapse" or "get worse." |
First used in the late 14th century as a noun meaning "act of going back," regress originates from the Latin regress, meaning "a return." Many feel that the regress to anti-social behavior among teenagers is caused by violent video games, TV shows, and movies. A 30 year old forced to move back home may regress to old, childlike habits. It can also happen to someone's health, like when the condition of someone in recovery takes a turn for the worse. |
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| 3761 |
rejuvenate |
return to life; get or give new life or energy |
Refresh, renew, rejuvenate yourself by play and pleasant recreation. |
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When you make something young again or give it more life and energy, you rejuvenate it. For example, you can often rejuvenate a not-quite-dead plant, bringing it back to health with some water and some TLC. |
One way to remember the word rejuvenate is to pick it apart to its heart, the juve. This juve sounds like juvenile — which refers to youth. Add the prefix re, which means "again," and the "ate" suffix, which stands for "do or make." Put them all together and you get "make young again" — the meaning of rejuvenate. We all want to be younger, as witnessed by all the ads for products that promise to rejuvenate us through special cosmetics or foods or exercise equipment. |
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| 3762 |
relapse |
a failure to maintain a higher state |
With no cure in hand, the goal for most patients with multiple myeloma is to keep treating relapses as long as treatments are available. |
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A relapse is a decline, especially of someone's health. If your grandmother survived cancer only to have it return two years later, you could say she suffered a relapse. |
Relapse implies that someone has recovered from an illness and slid back into a worse state, like when you are getting over a cold but then you suddenly feel bad all over again. Unwanted behavior can also be described this way; if you find yourself biting your nails again, it's a nail-biting relapse. The Latin word relabi is the root of relapse, slip back. |
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| 3763 |
relent |
give in, as to influence or pressure |
Mr. Ponomaryov said he initially resisted the inclusion of nationalist leaders, but relented when members agreed to sign a pact denouncing xenophobia and racism. |
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Being unwilling to relent is a good qualification for a sales person. You have to keep trying to make the sale and never give in until you've made it. |
The root of relent is the Latin "lentus," which means "to slow down or soften," and the original meaning (from the 15th century, no less) most likely had to do with the heart — as in "to stop resisting love". Now, however, relent can have all manner of relevant applications, but the meaning is always the same: to let up, soften, yield or give in. Often, you'll hear the adjective relentless used to describe someone who won't relent: "The firemen refused to relent; they banged relentlessly on the door until I woke up." |
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| 3764 |
relentless |
never-ceasing |
“It’s just been relentless, just nonstop,” city spokesman Allen Marquette said Monday. |
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Relentless is a good word for describing something that's harsh, unforgiving, and persistent, like the hot sun in the desert, or a cold that keeps you in bed for days with a nose like a strawberry. |
When you're relentless about something, you mean business. You're not stopping until you get what you want, and you're not taking "no" for an answer. People might try to steer you from your goal, but you have eyes only for the prize and they're just going to have to get out of your way. If you're a relentless student, for instance, you might stay up all night studying your vocabulary, just in case there might be a quiz in the morning. |
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| 3765 |
remediate |
set straight or right |
"We have made clear that losses associated with improperly executed foreclosures will not be eligible for loss-share arrangements until problems are appropriately remediated," she said. |
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To remediate is to correct or make right. If you accidentally ran over your neighbor's bike with your car, you could remediate the bad situation by paying for the bike's repair. |
When you remediate some kind of damage or mistake, you repair it or set it straight. To remediate often means to make up for a lack of something, like when schools remediate students who have struggled in certain classes by giving them extra instruction after school. The origin of remediate goes back to the Latin word remedium, a cure, remedy, or medicine. |
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| 3766 |
reminiscent |
serving to bring to mind |
Major deals were completed in Turkey last year and new funds are emerging on a scale reminiscent of the boom times of 2007. |
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If your uncle tells you that your outfit is reminiscent of the way your mother dressed when she was young, it means your clothes remind him of your mother. Hopefully that doesn't mean your mother is still dressing you. |
Reminiscent traces back to the Latin for "remember." If a house is reminiscent of your childhood home, it makes you remember your childhood home. Reminiscent can have a good or bad implication. If you tell someone that her paintings are reminiscent of a chimp's finger paintings, obviously that's not so good. But if you tell her that they're reminiscent of Dali, well that might be better. |
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| 3767 |
remorse |
a feeling of deep regret, usually for some misdeed |
“Defendant has never expressed doubt or regret or remorse,” she said. |
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Remorse, a noun, is what you feel if you regret your actions or wish for another outcome. |
The noun remorse has a very vivid origin. It comes from the Latin roots re for "again" and mordere "to bite." So, if you feel remorse, it means that your conscience is working on you, your past actions are biting you back, and making you feel very regretful. Synonyms for this word are "penitence," "rue," and "contrition." If you took a cookie from the cookie jar and ate it you can't return it; all you can feel is remorse for what you did! |
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| 3768 |
remote |
inaccessible and sparsely populated |
In remote and isolated Manipur, blockades ensure that what little commercial life there is gets choked off. |
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Remote describes something far, far away, like a campsite way out in the woods, a distant planet, or the chance you'll win the lottery. |
The Australian outback is remote, since it's hard to get to and there aren't many people there. It's also remote in the sense that it's far away from civilization. Someone with a faraway look in her eye, not answering your questions is also remote. Remote can describe something unlikely, like that lottery win. You might win, but your chances are so remote you shouldn't count on it. |
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| 3769 |
remunerate |
make payment to; compensate |
The annuals, it turned out, did not pay annually, but remunerated their contributors at uncertain periods, varying from two years to ten. |
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If I owe you money, then I need to remunerate you. To remunerate is to pay money that is owed. |
It's nice to be remunerated — that means someone paid you money that was owed. If an employer makes you work overtime, they will need to remunerate you for that. If you lost your dog, offered a reward, and then someone found the dog, that person should be remunerated. When you see remunerate, think "giving someone money they deserve." |
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| 3770 |
renege |
fail to fulfill a promise or obligation |
But companies often reneged on contracts, German says, and the promised jobs never materialized. |
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To renege is to go back on your word or fail to keep a promise. |
Not quite lying, reneging is more a sin of omission — failing to do what you said you would. The Latin negāre means "to deny," so by reneging on your word, you are denying someone whatever you promised them. In card games, you are said to renege if you play against the rules. To renege may be wrong, but it's not necessarily a punishable offense (unless you put that promise legally binding in writing). Still, it certainly doesn't make you look good! |
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| 3771 |
renowned |
widely known and esteemed |
This Mr. Jones was a preacher of extraordinary power, renowned and respected throughout Wales. |
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Celebrated, gushed over, and even legendary, something that's renowned is really famous. If you not only find a cure for cancer, but you also go on lots of talk shows so everyone knows who you are, then you'll be a renowned scientist. |
Renown comes from the Anglo-Norman for "re-name," as in repeatedly name, so something is renowned is something that people are talking about, or naming, over and over. If you are a huge celebrity, people from your home town might boast, "The renowned Madame X was born here." Something renowned is really good, not just famous. Just because you make the cover of a trashy tabloid magazine doesn't mean you're a renowned actress. But if you win an Oscar, you are. |
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| 3772 |
renunciation |
the act of sacrificing or giving up or surrendering |
In all the stories, however, the virtue of self-sacrifice and of renunciation is strongly painted. |
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If you reject something or disown it, you can call this renunciation. Sorry, your renunciation of your membership in the American Association of Retired People will not make you any younger. |
Use the noun renunciation especially when you mean you have given up your religious or political beliefs or some cause you previously supported. When you drop a political party to become an independent, you mean it to be a renunciation of all the infighting, backstabbing, and finger pointing that have become "politics as usual." |
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| 3773 |
repent |
feel sorry for; be contrite about |
There he repented of his errors, was contrite, and reformed himself. |
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The verb repent means "to feel sorry for something you've done." When you repent, you acknowledge what you did and vow to change your ways. |
The word repent comes from the Old French word repentir, which means, "to feel regret for sins or crimes." If you cheat on an exam in school, and feel guilty afterwards, you might repent for your bad behavior by confessing to your teacher. The verb repent is often used in a religious context: when you repent, you try to make up for what you've done, promise to avoid sin in the future and devote yourself to God. |
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| 3774 |
repercussion |
a remote or indirect consequence of some action |
There’s no doubt that there can be grave repercussions to living thoughtlessly and recklessly online, from endangering college admissions to potential job opportunities. |
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A repercussion is something that happens because of another action. You could quit paying your rent, but getting evicted from your apartment might be the repercussion. |
Repercussion may remind you slightly of concussion or percussion — what they all have in common is the idea of something (a head, a drum) getting hit. With repercussion, the hitting is the action, and the result (i.e., the repercussion) is like hearing an echo of that original strike over and over as it reverberates through the air. |
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| 3775 |
repertoire |
the range of skills in a particular field or occupation |
In Connecticut, Nelson expanded his repertoire, working on his technique and stamina. |
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Repertoire refers to the full supply of what you can do. A singer's repertoire is all the songs he can sing. A chef's repertoire is what she knows how to cook. |
Repertoire was borrowed from French répertoire, from Late Latin repertorium "an inventory." The Late Latin word is also the source of English repertory, a group of actors that perform many plays, each performed for a short time. The second "r" in both repertoire and repertory is often not pronounced. |
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| 3776 |
reprove |
take to task |
If he continue to offend his neighbor, the next time he shall be openly reproved and admonished before the Congregation when met together. |
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If you get into trouble and are sent to the principal’s office, be prepared for the principal to reprove you for your behavior. To reprove is to scold, reprimand, or — in plain English — “chew out.” |
Reprove is a verb used in the same way as “scold,” or “dress down.” To reprove is to express your dissatisfaction or disapproval with something. It’s a less severe word than denounce or decry. It is closer to the verb criticize. Your parents might reprove you for a minor offense like not cleaning your room or chewing with your mouth open. And, for the record, reprove is not the root word prove with the prefix re- as if to mean “prove again.” If you use it that way, someone would likely reprove you. |
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| 3777 |
reputable |
held in high esteem and honor |
Youngsters, who might be expected to embrace new ways of doing things, must therefore publish in existing, reputable journals if they want recognition and promotion. |
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Want the real scoop on your favorite singer's latest romance? Then you should probably find a more reputable source than the tabloids — meaning someone with a better reputation, in this case for telling the truth. |
That's the thing with reputable reputations. People know you can be trusted, that you're honest and not trying to pull one over on anybody. Reputable institutions usually have a history of excellent service or outstanding work, and always come highly recommended. Reputable used car salesmen may seem scarce. The word reputable actually has a good deal of reputability itself, since it's been in standard use since the 17th century. |
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| 3778 |
resurgence |
bringing again into activity and prominence |
The controversy, however, was by no means ended, and around 1704 it flared again in a resurgence of attacks upon the stage. |
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Resurgence means coming back. Biker jackets are always cool––but in certain decades they experience a resurgence, and suddenly you see them everywhere. |
There is nothing steady about resurgence––a surge is a sudden gush––think dancing fountain or an oil well that's just been tapped. Often, after a national tragedy, there is a resurgence in interest in family values and getting back to basics. In prosperous times, there's often a resurgence in sales of contemporary art. |
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| 3779 |
resuscitate |
cause to regain consciousness |
The baby, he said, needed to be resuscitated twice because his heart had stopped beating. |
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To resuscitate is to revive a person who has lost consciousness. In recent years it's become important for people to learn CPR so that they might resuscitate someone who loses consciousness, and many schools and hospitals offer classes in CPR. |
The Latin word suscitāre, "to raise," combines with re-, "again," to create the base of the verb resuscitate. Through the years, methods of resuscitation have advanced to the current sophisticated and effective levels of cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR, and defibrillation paddles that can shock a heart back to life. In fact, some patients nowadays ask to sign a "do not resuscitate" (DNR) order to allow them to die without medical interventions like resuscitation. |
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| 3780 |
retaliate |
make a counterattack and return like for like |
He said, generally speaking, those who sue him are " retaliating" for lawsuits he filed against them. |
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To retaliate means to get back at someone, usually through a counterattack. “Ned got hit with a cream pie, then he retaliated by throwing a bucket of Jell-O at his attackers.” |
When you see the prefix re in a word, it usually means back. To return, remember, regurgitate (yuck) — all of these verbs relate to doing something back. At the beginning of retaliate it means back, and the taliate means to pay, so what you’re talking about here is payback. If you’re doing something terrible to someone just because you want to, that’s doesn’t mean to retaliate. But, if you feel they’ve done something bad to you, and you’re just getting them back? That’s when you retaliate. |
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| 3781 |
retract |
formally reject or disavow |
But no clear motive was ever established, and Mr. Kovalyov later retracted his confession, saying it was extracted under torture. |
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Have you ever said something you wish you could retract, or take back? You're not alone. Even newspapers and magazines have sections where the editors can retract something written that was incorrect. |
The sense of the word retract meaning to draw back or withdraw comes from the mid-16th century, and its meaning was clear when Napoleon Bonaparte said, "In politics...never retreat, never retract...never admit a mistake." Still, sometimes you wish you could retract something you said or did. Cats can retract their claws, and some snakes can retract their fangs, but words spoken in anger can never be fully retracted, or taken back. |
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| 3782 |
retribution |
the act of taking revenge |
Whatever may be the retribution for individuals beyond the grave, justice on nations must be done in this world; and here it will be done. |
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Retribution is the act of taking revenge. If you pull a prank on someone, expect retribution. |
Retribution comes from the Latin for giving back what's due, either reward or punishment. But when we talk about retribution, we only talk about punishment. The old punishment code of "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth," is an example of retribution. Some people think about large events like tornados or earthquakes as cosmic retribution for human pride. Some synonyms are compensation, recompense, requital. |
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| 3783 |
reverberate |
ring or echo with sound |
Thunder reverberating through the mountains awakened hoarse echoes on every side. |
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If you give a loud shout in a cavernous place, like a gym or a church, the sound of your voice will reverberate throughout the room. Reverberate means sound waves traveling back and forth, as in an echo. |
Often we use reverberate to talk about sound, or sometimes light. If a noise echoes for a long time, we can say the space reverberates with that noise. You may have heard of a reverb effect in audio processing, which is basically a long echo. We also use the word metaphorically to describe the impact of huge events. For example, the 2008 mortgage crisis in the US reverberated throughout the world’s economy, causing a global recession. |
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| 3784 |
revere |
love unquestioningly and uncritically or to excess |
Have not his countrymen loved, admired, revered, rewarded, nay, almost adored him? |
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Revere means that to respect someone so deeply that you almost worship them. Despite the size of the American military, the American people revere peacemakers like Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi. Rock stars are revered by throngs of devoted fans. |
Revere is related to the words reverence ("to hold something in worshipful awe") and its opposite — irreverent. Reverence for the irreverent is actually possible. Howard Stern humor is often vulgar and absurdly irreverent yet his legions of fans and even some media analysts revere him and his ability to maintain a loyal audience. Revere is the perfect word when respect is not strong enough but worship seems a little too religious-sounding. |
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| 3785 |
revile |
spread negative information about |
Acosta will continue working in Venezuela’s foreign service despite, he added, saying she remained an honorable professional despite being “verbally attacked, reviled, demonized.” |
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If something is reviled, you alone don’t dislike it; a whole community of like-minded souls has to hate its guts. For instance, spam is widely reviled. (The junk e-mails, not the potted meat. Somebody out there really does like that potted meat.) |
If you’re the only one who hates, say, your math teacher, it’s not fair to say that person is reviled. If she is majestically unpopular with the entire senior class and is routinely the butt of geometry-themed insults, well then sadly, this instructor is indeed reviled. Generally, when someone or something is reviled, much of the poison aimed is in print, such as critical reviews or insulting editorials. |
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| 3786 |
revoke |
cancel officially |
On average, the agency revokes or denies renewal of 110 licenses annually, records show. |
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When you revoke something, you officially cancel it, like when you revoke your sister's "coolest sibling" award because she shows your friends funny pictures of you from when you were little. |
The verb revoke comes from the Latin word revocare, meaning "to call back or rescind." Licenses, wills, and privileges are three things that can be revoked. The verb also has a meaning specific to card- playing. If the rules state that you have to follow suit, but you accidentally play trump instead, you have revoked or reneged. If other players notice your mistake, you have to take the card back. |
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| 3787 |
revolutionize |
change radically |
“He revolutionized the way of seeing nature and as a result completely changed how other artists approached landscape painting.” |
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Revolutionize, a verb, means "to make a major change," like in the 1990s, when the Internet revolutionized how people communicated, got information and even did their jobs. Things were never the same again. |
Use revolutionize to describe something that is completely transformed. Originally, it meant "to bring about sweeping political change," like people who band together and fight to revolutionize a nation, with the end result being a new party in power or new philosophies about things like land ownership or tax collection put in place. In time, it also came to mean even nonpolitical change, like the digital music player, which revolutionized how people get and listen to music. |
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| 3788 |
rigorous |
demanding strict attention to rules and procedures |
Consumer advocates pushed for more rigorous regulation, saying that the institutions responsible for wrecking the economy need strict supervision. |
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If you are rigorous when you do something, you do it extremely carefully and precisely. A rigorous inspection of your tax records has revealed the government owes you money. Congratulations! |
The Latin root for rigorous is rigor, meaning “stiffness.” This might remind you or rigor mortis, the stiffening of a body after death, as often seen on cop shows. This is a good, if creepy, way of remembering the meaning of rigorous: rigorous people are stiff and unbending about the standards of their work. This requires being alive, of course. |
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| 3789 |
riveting |
capable of arousing and holding the attention |
It’s formally fascinating — the 14 dancers sometimes subdivide into five, six or seven sections, with different movements — and it’s dramatically riveting. |
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A rivet is a fastener that holds something closed or down, and something riveting keeps you glued to your seat and grabs your attention. Sometimes a movie is so riveting that not even free popcorn refills can lure you away. |
Riveting is an adjective for things that really draw you in, like a book you read in one sitting or a song you turn up so you can hear every lyric. Beautiful scenes are riveting, but terrible and ugly things are also riveting, like the site of an accident you can't stop looking at. Words from a teacher or actor have a riveting effect when they're full of impact and interest, and when you exaggerate a story for your best friend, that's riveting too. |
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| 3790 |
rousing |
capable of stirring enthusiasm or excitement |
Still, he played with beautiful colorings and articulate touch, especially in the rousing, high-spirited finale. |
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If you've ever been "roused" out of your sleep by someone, then you'll have no trouble seeing that rousing refers to anything that gets you going, up on your feet, energized. |
There's nothing like a rousing tournament of Twister to get you off your butt and into the game. Cheerleaders and rock stars are in the business of creating rousing spectacles. They want their audiences to get up on their feet, clap their hands, and get on the bandwagon. A good drinking song, too, is rousing, inspiring folks to clink their glasses, sway back and forth, and, well, keep drinking. Beethoven was a master of music that was thoughtful one minute and rousing the very next. |
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| 3791 |
rural |
living in or characteristic of farming or country life |
Graceful farms with white picket fences and horses grazing dot the rural landscape, as do hunting shacks. |
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Rural means "relating to or characteristic of the country or the people who live there." If you move to a rural area, you won't see a lot of skyscrapers or taxis — but you'll probably see a lot of trees. |
You may have known people who live on country roads––mail to their houses must be addressed to a rural route, abbreviated as RR. Rustic is a near synonym but emphasizes the supposed qualities of country people: being simple, awkward, and even rude and rough. The adjective rural descends from Middle English, from Old French, from Latin rūrālis, from rūs "the country." |
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| 3792 |
rustic |
characteristic of rural life |
Beautiful high-resolution photographs of farm animals on a rustic background, which produce their respective noises when prodded. |
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When you think of the word rustic, think of the rural country. This word can be given a positive or a negative spin depending on how you use it; a rustic inn, for example, might be quaint or it might be virtually uninhabitable. |
The words rustic and "rural" spring from the same ancient root: *rur-, which means "open space" in the hypothetical ancestor language Proto-Indo-European. In early usage, these two words were used interchangeably, but now, rural is used to describe locations –- "rural community," "rural location" — while rustic refers to the unrefined qualities associated with country life. The best antonym is cosmopolitan, which implies the sophistication and worldliness of city life. |
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| 3793 |
ruthless |
without mercy or pity |
He was not naturally cruel; but he was ruthless if it served his purpose, and could take pitiless vengeance for an insult or a wrong. |
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Ruthless means showing no mercy or compassion. If you really want to cut down on the clutter in your apartment, you can't be sentimental about keepsakes. You have to be ruthless and throw out everything that's not absolutely essential. |
If you're ruthless, you're the polar opposite of Mother Theresa. You get called heartless and cold-blooded. That's one of the reasons the word crops up so often to describe dictators and tyrants, though it can also apply to other personality types — like corporate raiders and colleagues so success-driven that they'll gladly steamroll anyone to get ahead. It finds its way into milder contexts, too: Just be ruthless and rip off the Band-Aid already! |
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| 3794 |
quadrilateral |
a four-sided polygon |
It is quadrilateral in shape, consisting of four unequal sides flanked by towers and built round a courtyard. |
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A quadrilateral is a four-sided polygon, like a square, rectangle, or rhombus. The computer screen you are looking at right now is probably in the shape of a quadrilateral. |
The quadrilateral is a shape you'll learn about in geometry. Quadrilaterals include more than one type of shape, but all quadrilaterals have four sides. The most common type of quadrilateral is the square, but rectangles and rhombuses are quadrilaterals too. Quadrilaterals are also called quadrangles and tetragons. When you see the word quadrilateral, think "four sides". |
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| 3795 |
quadruped |
an animal especially a mammal having four limbs |
In a moment they were on all fours, hopping about like so many quadrupeds. |
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A squirrel, a zebra, a deer, a wolf, and a grizzly bear meet in a field. Yes, a disaster in the making, but also a bunch of quadrupeds — animals that walk on four feet. |
Cut quadruped in half and it makes sense: quadru means four, like when a woman births four babies they are called quadruplets. And –ped is for the feet: think of centipedes and millipedes, insects that have so many feet it’s disturbing. A human is a biped because they walk on two feet. If you meet a human with four feet, you could call him a quadruped. You could also call the circus and let them know their quadruped is loose. |
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| 3796 |
quaint |
attractively old-fashioned |
She lives in a quaint old-fashioned house with casement windows and deep window seats, old oak staircase and panelled rooms. |
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Quaint means strange and unusual in an old-fashioned and charming way. It's a word you'd use to describe a little store that sells tea cozies and antique tea services, or your grandmother's habit of calling the radio the "wireless." |
There is a commonly used sarcastic sense of quaint––when something is run down or shabby and you're trying to say something positive, you might substitute "How...quaint" for "How...interesting." In Middle English, this adjective meant clever or cunning. Its origin is Old French queinte, cointe, from Latin cognitus "known," from cognōscere "to learn." |
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| 3797 |
qualify |
prove capable or fit; meet requirements |
The housing bust wiped away $7 trillion in household equity, leaving many homeowners with too much debt to qualify for new loans. |
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Make sure you know the context when using the word qualify. In one sense, it means to be right for, to measure up. In another sense, though, qualify means to change something slightly, to limit it or add a condition to it. |
If you want to qualify for your driver's license, remember not to drive through that final stop sign without stopping. I guarantee you that if you don't stop you will not qualify. You don't just get your Eagle Badge. You have to qualify for it—there's a lot to do before you get it. The word might be used in its other sense like this: If you plan to get married, keep your vows simple: say "I do." Don't qualify them by saying something like "I do...except sometimes, when I don't." If you have to qualify your wedding vows, don't get married. |
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| 3798 |
qualm |
uneasiness about the fitness of an action |
Kenneth had no qualms about asking a neighboring table at the country club to stop cussing with his daughters in earshot. |
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A qualm is a feeling of uneasiness, or a sense that something you're doing is wrong, and it sounds almost like how it makes your stomach feel. If you had qualms about taking candy from the bulk bins at the store, your conscience probably told you to go back to the cashier and pay. |
Qualm entered English in the 16th century, with meanings like "doubt" and "uneasiness." Usually a qualm comes from doubt about an action and a feeling that you are doing, or are about to do, something wrong. It isn’t a bad feeling about another person's behavior but about your own. If you have qualms about lying to get into the over-18 dance club, you might decide to follow your gut-check and meet your friends for coffee instead. |
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| 3799 |
quandary |
a situation from which extrication is difficult |
Colleges and universities are in a quandary: Spending cuts, combined with a freeze on tuition, mean fewer teachers and the closing of certain programs. |
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How to define the word quandary? Wow, this is quite a dilemma. What to do, what to do? Hmmm. Looks like this moment itself is a quandary: a tough situation that will be really hard to resolve. |
If you’re uncertain what to do because all of your options seem unpleasant, you’re probably in a quandary. Some voters find themselves in a quandary when they dislike all of the candidates. A more common quandary is when you plan two events at the same time and can’t decide which one to attend. Some synonyms are predicament, dilemma, plight, and pickle — and choosing which word to use is a quandary in itself. |
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| 3800 |
quantity |
how much there is or how many there are of something |
Producing big quantities in America has become harder, as the authorities have cracked down on bulk purchases of the ingredients. |
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Quantity tells you “how much.” If you're concerned with quantity not quality, it's more important how many you have than how good they are. |
If you get confused about quantity vs. quality, remember that quant is close to count. In Latin, quantus means “how great” or “how much.” When you count how many oranges are in a bowl, you know the quantity. When you count the grains of sand in a desert, you're counting a very large quantity . . . and you need a new hobby. |
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| 3801 |
quantum |
the smallest discrete quantity of some physical property |
Physicists have used all manner of quantum objects to store qubits—electrons, atomic nuclei, photons and so on. |
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While quantum refers to a general quantity or size, it is most often used in physics as a measure of the smallest amount of something — usually energy — that something can possess. The plural form is quanta. |
In the 17th century, the word quantum, from the Latin word for "how much," referred to a portion. Quantum is usually a noun referring to a specific amount of something. However, it can also be used as an adjective, as in the phrase "quantum leap," where it refers to a sudden, important change. Outside of physics, the word might be used with "not" to refer to something insignificant, as in "There's not a quantum of truth in what you say." |
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| 3802 |
quarrel |
an angry dispute |
The slightest quarrel, the most commonplace street brawl are pretexts for rival factions to come out in battle array. |
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To quarrel is to fight — but usually not physically. Quarreling is a fact of life, occurring between the best of friends, in the happiest of marriages, and between parents and their children. |
You’re probably familiar with the verb, quarrel, meaning having a disagreement. When there’s a quarrel, there’s anger. As a noun, quarrel, refers to the square-headed arrow shot from crossbow. This meaning of the word comes from the Old French quarel, relating to "square.” If you are quarreling, just don't reach for your crossbow and quarrel. |
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| 3803 |
quash |
put down by force or intimidation |
More than 500 people are thought to have been killed since mid-March as the security forces try to quash dissent. |
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Quash means to put down, stop, extinguish, and it’s usually used to talk about ideas, feelings, or political movements. You wouldn’t quash a grape underfoot; you would squash it. But if you were a military dictator, you would quash a revolution. |
Quash is an extreme word. It comes from the French word for smash, or shatter. If something is quashed it is completely suppressed, usually by something or someone very powerful or authoritative. If you wrote a poem and asked your favorite teacher to read it, and that teacher tore it to pieces, then your hopes were most likely quashed. |
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| 3804 |
quay |
wharf usually built parallel to the shoreline |
The harbour accommodation is extensive and excellent, large new docks and quays having been recently built, and other works being under construction or contemplated. |
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You know that wharf on the bank of the river where all the boats park? It's not an aqua parking lot. It's called a quay. |
When you visit France and take a walk beside the wharves where boats dock and unload passengers, you can say you've been strolling along the quays of the Seine. The English spelling of this word was originally key, and that's one way to pronounce it even today, an alternative to "qway." Quay comes from the Old North French cai, "sand bank." |
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| 3805 |
queasy |
feeling nausea |
The ground still shook under his feet, and his insides were producing the queasy symptoms of motion sickness. |
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Queasy describes a feeling of nervousness, uneasiness, or anxiety. If you're queasy about making a speech in front of the entire high school, you have a feeling that it won't go well. |
Queasy can also mean feeling sick to your stomach. If you eat a sandwich made of turkey that expired two months ago, you'll likely feel queasy and throw up. If you feel queasy during a flight, both meanings of the word can apply: you may be queasy — as in anxious — because you're afraid of flying. And you may also be queasy — as in sick to your stomach — as a result of the air turbulence. |
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| 3806 |
quench |
put out, as of fires, flames, or lights |
No fire was visible anywhere; every bit had been quenched by the flood which came in after Lutchi propped up the sky. |
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Quench means to put out, put an end to, or satisfy. If you're stranded in the middle of the desert with nothing to drink, you're probably dreaming of a nice big glass of ice water to quench your thirst. |
Quench originally meant “extinguish fires.” That meaning still works today, but we've expanded it to also apply to quenching the fiery thirst of a summer marathon runner or quenching the hot flames of passion. If you want to get deep about the word quench, consider what Voltaire said: “Superstition sets the whole world in flames; philosophy quenches them.” |
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| 3807 |
quest |
the act of searching for something |
In the never-ending quest to cut costs and increase money paid out of pocket by customers, airline perks have been disappearing for years. |
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A quest is all about seeking something important, and it often involves a journey. You would travel the world in a quest for gold. You would not travel to the front of the lunchroom in a quest for tater tots. |
Knights in the Middle Ages were forever taking on quests––most famously to find the Holy Grail. In modern times, you can quest without ever leaving home, thanks to the Internet. A scientist might embark on a quest to find the cure for cancer. A detective might quest for the truth. |
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| 3808 |
queue |
form a line or stand in line |
Voters queued up in orderly lines in Taipei and other cities islandwide after polls opened at 8 a.m. |
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A queue is a line of things, usually people. If you go to the store on a big sale day, there will probably be a long queue at the check-out. |
Queue comes from the Latin cauda, for tail. Outside the United States it means a line of people or vehicles waiting their turn, so if your English friend talks about queuing up for the movies, that means getting in line for a ticket. We also use it in computing to mean an order of messages to be sent. In a big office, you send documents to the printer queue, and they're printed in the order they are sent. |
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| 3809 |
quietude |
a state of peace and quiet |
She took the vacant seat with a sort of frozen quietude, and her limbs seemed to settle themselves rigidly into positions where they remained immovable. |
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Your mother has probably more than once asked you for quietude even if she hasn't used the word. Quietude means a state of peace and quiet. It goes hand in hand with solitude. |
Quietude is a word that is used less and less, as we seem to have less time and space for it. A park used to be a good place to find quietude, but with cell phones, you're likely to begin chatting even when no one else is around. If you really want quietude, you might try a library, or a chapel. Meditation can be used to bring you a moment of quietude wherever you are. Try it now. Ohhhmmm. Ohhhmmm. Ohhhmmm. |
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| 3810 |
quintessence |
the most typical example or representative of a type |
This composition, in many ways the most wonderful single piece we have from Chopin, is the quintessence of his genius. |
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The quintessence of something is its perfect, ideal example. Some people say that the quintessence of American cuisine is the hamburger. Vegetarians may beg to differ. |
Ancient Greek philosophers claimed there were five elements: earth, water, air, fire, and a fifth substance that made up objects in the heavens. This idea was passed down through the ages to Latin-speaking scholars who called the fifth element quintessence — from the Latin words quintus, meaning “fifth,” and essentia, meaning “being.” Eventually, the word’s meaning evolved into our modern definition of an ideal, a potentially heavenly example of something — you know, like a hamburger. |
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| 3811 |
quirk |
a strange attitude or habit |
There are a few annoying quirks: For example, the PlayBook took a long time when scrolling through long documents or Web pages. |
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A quirk is a unique, odd, and sometimes charming trait that makes a person stand out from the crowd. Country comedian Minnie Pearl was known for her quirk of wearing a $1.98 price tag dangling from her hat. |
A quirk can be an adorable little habit, like wearing flowery dresses and big sun bonnets or bow ties every day. Someone who has one or many quirks is said to be quirky — a little odd, but usually in a fun way. When it's not being used to describe people's unusual traits, quirk can mean a quick curve, or a groove, that runs along or separates the molding in a building. |
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| 3812 |
quirky |
strikingly unconventional |
Quirky experiences abound: A vintage clothing store in a double-decker bus! |
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Your friend with the pink hair, the excellent vocabulary, and the totally inappropriate wit? You could probably call her quirky, meaning she’s unconventional and has a strange mix of traits that somehow end up being kind of interesting or charming. |
This informal all-purpose term can be used to describe anything that doesn’t quite fit in. The adjective quirky is often used to describe those unconventional things that are characterized by peculiar behavior or an unexpected point of view. Quirky is often used to describe people, but it can also refer to things that seem to possess an unexpected and unconventional element, like a quirky strategy or a quirky idea. |
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| 3813 |
quisling |
someone who collaborates with an enemy occupying force |
Naturally enough, the attitude taken up by the Christians earned them fresh attacks from the Quisling followers. |
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A quisling is a traitor, especially one who collaborates with an enemy occupying force for personal gain. |
The term arose because in World War II, Vidkun Quisling, a Norwegian politician, volunteered to help the occupying Nazis rule Norway for Germany. Quisling was tried for treason and executed at the end of the war, and his name became synonymous with traitor and collaborator. The word quisling is not commonly used in the United States, however, probably because the American term for a traitor is "Benedict Arnold," the name of a Revolutionary War turncoat. |
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| 3814 |
quorum |
a gathering of the minimal number of members of a group |
Without a quorum of four, the commission was unable to do even basic things such as approving public funding for presidential candidates. |
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A quorum is not necessarily a majority of members of a group, but the minimum needed in order to conduct business. For example, if two members of a group are absent, there can still be a quorum, meaning the meeting can go on without them. |
The noun quorum is plural of qui in Latin, meaning "of whom." The first quorum was an eminent group of justices of the peace. The word quorum was used in the commission papers that gave them the authority to act. Over time the current meaning, the minimum number needed to conduct business, was added, but the word still retains the meaning of a select group, as well. |
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| 3815 |
quotidian |
found in the ordinary course of events |
More seriously, plenty of quotidian consumer staples, such as children's clothes, come from China. |
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Quotidian is a fancy way of saying "daily" or "ordinary." Quotidian events are the everyday details of life. |
When you talk about the quotidian, you're talking about the little things in life: everyday events that are normal and not that exciting. Going to the store, doing chores, working or going to school, and brushing your teeth are all quotidian. If you take a spaceship to Mars, that would be unusual and extraordinary: the opposite of quotidian. |
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| 3816 |
exhortation |
an earnest attempt at persuasion |
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When you were little, heading out the door on a freezing cold day, your mom probably made an exhortation to put on your hat and zip your coat up all the way. An exhortation is a loud or enthusiastic urging. |
Use an exhortation any time you really want to encourage someone to do something. It's a way of communicating that's persuasive and powerful — an exhortation might come from a government in the form of a speech encouraging people to get flu shots, or it might be a teacher urging his students to sit quietly. Whether it comes in the form of a warning or encouragement, an exhortation strongly advises people to take some particular action. |
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| 3817 |
extirpation |
the act of pulling up or out |
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Use the noun extirpation to describe the wiping out or elimination of some specific thing. If your summer project is the extirpation of the dandelions in your yard, you intend to pull up every last one. |
If a bird species is forced into extinction by a logging company cutting down trees in the rain forest, that activity can be said to have caused the birds' extirpation. The word is even more often used to talk about the deliberate removal of something, like one army's extirpation of every enemy soldier. The Latin root word, extirpationem, means "root out." |
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| 3818 |
exemplar |
something to be imitated |
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A high school valedictorian is an exemplar of dedication and hard work. Most parents would love for their children to emulate a student with such excellent grades. |
Notice the similarity between the words exemplar and example. This word can mean both “perfect example” and “typical example.” A fireman can be an exemplar of courage, and a building can be an exemplar of the architecture from a certain period. |
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| 3819 |
concession |
the act of yielding |
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The noun concession comes in handy in negotiations — between countries, political parties, or even parents and their kids. Want a raise in your allowance? You may have to agree to do more chores as a concession before your parents will agree. |
Although a concession in an argument is the act of yielding or granting something, don't get confused and think that a concession stand is called that because the workers are granting you popcorn at the baseball stadium. Concessions at a ballpark or at another venue are called that because the stadium has granted the right to sell food to a certain provider. Chew on that the next time you're munching on peanuts at a game. |
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| 3820 |
hubris |
overbearing pride or presumption |
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Hubris is an excess of confidence: a boxer who shouts "I'm the greatest!" even though he's about to get pummeled by a much stronger opponent is displaying a lot of hubris. |
Hubris is from Greek, where it meant "excessive pride, violating the bounds set for humans" and was always punished by the gods. We no longer have the Greek gods, so in English it just refers to over-the-top self-confidence. If you call yourself the best in something, you better have the goods to back it up, since too much hubris can lead to embarrassment and humiliation. It's an age-old human failing: pride goeth before the fall. |
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| 3821 |
edifying |
enlightening or uplifting so as to encourage improvement |
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Anything edifying is enlightening. Edifying things uplift people intellectually or morally and help them learn. Good literature, art, and music are edifying. |
The original meaning of edify was "to build," and things that are edifying build up a person, especially in an intellectual or moral way. It’s often used in the negative. If you say something is not edifying, you mean that it’s unpleasant and unacceptable. Edifying applies to things that help you become a better person. A wise saying is edifying. A powerful documentary is edifying. The words of a good teacher are often edifying. Word definitions are definitely edifying! |
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| 3822 |
palliative |
moderating pain or sorrow by making it easier to bear |
In advanced cases, it is only possible to relieve the patient's suffering by palliative measures. |
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That which is palliative relieves and soothes, but isn’t expected to cure. A heating pack is a commonly employed palliative for temporarily reducing the pain of strained muscles. |
From the French palliatif, which in turn came from the Middle Latin palliates, palliative was first recorded as an adjective in the 1540’s, and then later as a noun in 1724. To palliate is to alleviate without curing, so it makes sense that a palliative is the agent for this type of relief. “Life as we find it, is too hard for us: it brings us too many pains, disappointments and impossible tasks,” said the founder of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud. “In order to bear it, we cannot dispense with palliative measures…” |
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| 3823 |
panacea |
hypothetical remedy for all ills or diseases |
The city fathers speak of binglang as if it were a panacea for all of Xiangtan’s ills, from curing tapeworm to solving unemployment. |
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If someone offers you a pill that promises eternal life, don’t take the pill. It’s a panacea, a remedy that falsely claims to solve every problem ever. |
The Greek word pan means “all” (think of a panorama, a view where you can see everywhere). The Greek word for “cure” is akēs (which looks like the word “aches”). Those are the roots of panacea, a cure for all aches. But a panacea doesn’t really cure everything; it just acts like it can. Use the word to describe an unbelievable solution, like a new law that will make everyone rich, or a robot that does your homework for you. |
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| 3824 |
pandemic |
an outbreak of disease that is geographically widespread |
The World Health Organization in 2009 declared swine flu the first global flu pandemic in 40 years. |
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Remember the 2009 swine flu? That was a pandemic — an illness that swept over much of the globe. |
People fear pandemics, and with good reason. The black plague that ran through Asia and Europe in the 1300s is believed to have killed as much as half of Europe's population, between 75 and 100 million folks. The word comes from ancient Greek — pan (meaning "all") and demos (meaning "people"), or simply put — all the people. Of course, people across the globe suffer from the seasonal flu, and many die from it. But it isn't considered a pandemic because it is generally harmless to the healthy. |
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| 3825 |
pandemonium |
a state of extreme confusion and disorder |
Chief Godbee described the scene as one of “utter chaos and pandemonium.” |
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Pandemonium is chaos, total and utter craziness — like the stampede after your team won the championship, when everyone spilled onto the field at once, bouncing off each other. |
If you look carefully at the word pandemonium, you’ll see the word demon inside it. This makes sense, since the word pandemonium was coined in Milton’s Paradise Lost, where it was the name of the palace built in the middle of Hell. Milton wrote back in the 17th century. Nowadays, pandemonium crops up whenever journalists are describing a chaotic scene. High school students have been heard to use it to describe their lunchroom. |
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| 3826 |
parody |
a composition that imitates or misrepresents a style |
Granted, all are outrageously exaggerated, but a discerning eye can detect the truth that lurks behind any satire, parody, or lampoon. |
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A parody is a humorous or mocking imitation of something, using the same form as the original. To parody a poem, you have to write another poem. |
A parody is a form of humor that spoofs — or satirizes — something using the same form. For example, shows like "Saturday Night Live" and "The Daily Show" parody newscasts by doing fake newscasts that look like the real thing. Comedians and comedy writers love to parody the President. Anything in the public eye could be the object of a parody. |
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| 3827 |
patriarchal |
of a social organization with the male as the head |
The old patriarchal system is gone; the father is no longer an autocratic ruler in his small world. |
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A patriarchal system is one run by men. Traditionally, most societies have been patriarchal, but it's now considered sexist and unfair. |
The patriarchal way used to be pretty much the only way: countries and societies were run by men. The U.S. was very patriarchal, especially when women couldn't even vote. Over time, these things change, though probably not fast enough. These days, calling a country or business patriarchal is usually an insult — it implies that women aren't being treated equally. |
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| 3828 |
patriotism |
love of country and willingness to sacrifice for it |
In short, he felt the inspiration of patriotism, that noble sentiment which nerves men to do, and dare, unto the death, for their native soil. |
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If you're full of patriotism, you're full of love for your country. Patriotism is associated with serving your country and waving the flag. |
There are, actually, a lot of ways to demonstrate your patriotism. Waving the flag is an obvious way, but anything that celebrates your country or makes it stronger is a great display of patriotism. Whenever a country is at war, people are more vocal about their patriotism, playing patriotic songs and making speeches full of national pride. Showing patriotism is so important that politicians will argue with each other about who really has more patriotism. |
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| 3829 |
pecuniary |
relating to or involving money |
In this pecuniary distress, two men offered to loan the necessary funds, and two hundred and fifty dollars were gratefully accepted from each. |
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If something has to do with money, it's pecuniary. If your grandfather's antique watch has pecuniary value, it's worth money — you could sell it for cash if you weren't sentimentally attached to keeping it. |
Pecuniary might seem like a peculiar word for talking about money, but it all adds up when you learn that it was the worth of the cattle, or pecū in Latin, that gave pecuniary its meaning. In Roman times, livestock served as money in making transactions. Some cultures still have economies based on cattle, but most modern societies have a pecuniary system based on, well, money. |
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| 3830 |
pedagogy |
the principles and methods of instruction |
What type of pedagogy, or teaching method, makes me thrive? |
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Pedagogy is another word for education, the profession and science of teaching. |
Pedagogy and pedagogue come from the Greek paidos "boy, child" plus agogos "leader." Pedagogy refers to the teaching profession as well as the science of education, for example as a college subject. This might be one reason that the word, pedagogue, is often used for a teacher who is overly interested in rules and details, hence the science of teaching, rather than actually getting through to his or her students. |
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| 3831 |
penurious |
excessively unwilling to spend |
He lived a penurious life, eating little, avoiding luxury and dressing in threadbare clothing that he often bought at the Salvation Army and Goodwill. |
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Don't have two nickels to rub together? You're penurious — a lovely long way of saying you're flat broke. |
Penurious also means a general dislike of spending money. If someone accuses you of being cheap, tell them you prefer to be thought of as penurious. It sounds so much classier. It's related to a similar word, penury, which means "a state of extreme poverty." |
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| 3832 |
perilous |
fraught with danger |
They were ever in the most perilous situations, did the most dangerous service, and acknowledged no leader other than their own free will. |
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Something that is dangerous or very risky can be described with the adjective perilous. If you are driving in a blizzard, you may kick yourself for making such a perilous journey. |
The adjective perilous comes from the Latin word periculum, meaning dangerous. Words from the same root include peril, a noun meaning a dangerous situation, and imperil, a verb meaning to put in danger. The last thing you want to do as a parent is to imperil your children. Unfortunately, childhood is filled with peril — from climbing on the monkey bars to eating paste, dirt, or bugs. If you think you can prevent all perilous situations, you haven't been a parent very long! |
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| 3833 |
perpetuate |
cause to continue or prevail |
The so-called Confederate States, the new power, organized for the avowed purpose of extending and perpetuating African slavery, was now in full blast. |
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Some things should last forever and others should not be perpetuated at all. Things that should NOT be perpetuated? Ugly rumors, arms races, and your Aunt Martha's annual fruit cake. |
Be careful not to confuse perpetuate with perpetrate. Although they differ in spelling by only one letter, they differ greatly in meaning. If you perpetuate something, you help it last. Perpetrate, on the other hand, means to commit a criminal act. Needless to say, you wouldn't want to perpetuate the acts of perpetrators! |
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| 3834 |
philanthropist |
someone who makes charitable donations |
He was perhaps best known as a philanthropist: just this month he donated more than $15 million to the Leeds Community Foundation. |
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A philanthropist is a person who gives money or gifts to charities, or helps needy people in other ways. Famous examples include Andrew Carnegie and Bill & Melinda Gates. |
In English, the -ist suffix describes a person who does a particular action. A philanthropist practices philanthropy. Philanthropists are wealthy people with a generous nature and a concern for human welfare. Philanthropy is from Late Latin philanthrōpia, from Greek, from philanthrōpos "humane, kind," from the prefix phil- plus anthrōpos "man, mankind." |
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| 3835 |
plebeian |
one of the common people |
"All of them quite common men!" said the provost carelessly—"country rustics— plebeians!" |
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In Roman times, the lower class of people was the plebeian class. Today, if something is plebeian, it is of the common people. |
When you hear the word plebeian used to describe a form of art or taste, it means that while something is liked by a lot of people, it may not be of the highest quality or taste. Both soap operas and reality television shows have been described as plebeian forms of entertainment. A member of the plebeian class is known as a pleb, which is pronounced "pleeb." |
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| 3836 |
pliable |
capable of being bent or flexed or twisted without breaking |
Worse, the tissues are less pliable, less flexible. |
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Pliable means bendable but not breakable. Wax is pliable, good leather is pliable. If you describe a person as pliable, it usually means that he's easily influenced, like a nightclub owner who takes orders from a crime boss. |
When Madame barks "Plier!" (rhymes with "okay") in ballet class, all the students obediently bend their knees into a graceful semi-crouch. Plier is French for bend and it's the root of the word pliable. The word pliable itself is quite pliable, an apt description for everything from building materials to a person's character. |
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| 3837 |
plight |
a situation from which extrication is difficult |
Although one oncologist waived her fees after hearing about the family’s plight, other creditors have demanded payment, and bankruptcy remains a possibility. |
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A plight is a situation that's hard to get out of. Learning about the plight of very poor people trying to rebuild their homes after a devastating earthquake might inspire you to send money to a charity. |
Plight means predicament. It comes from the word for pleat, which means fold. A plight is a tough bind. You'll usually hear the word plight for groups of people or animals struggling to survive, or struggling for better lives. We talk about the plight of refugees, or the plight of sea birds after an oil spill. An old-fashioned use of plight is for pledge. If you get engaged, you give a plight of your love. |
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| 3838 |
plunder |
destroy and strip of its possession |
So bold had these robbers become that they did not hesitate to raid the coasts of Italy and to plunder Ostia. |
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Plunder can mean stolen goods or money obtained illegally, or the act of taking those things. A burglar might plunder a jewelry store and then sneak off with her plunder. |
Plunder is an old Middle High German word that originally meant "household goods and clothes": in other words, your stuff. During the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), English speakers acquired this word while fighting in the land that is today Germany, but with the added meaning of taking the plunder as, well, plunder. As both a noun and verb, a synonym for plunder is loot. |
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| 3839 |
plutocracy |
a political system governed by the wealthy people |
" Plutocracy" means control by those who own wealth. |
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In a plutocracy, the people are ruled by the wealthy few. A plutocracy is very different from a democracy, in which in person's vote counts equally. |
Whenever you see the suffix -cracy, you know you're dealing with a form of rulership or government. The first part of the word comes from the Greek ploutos, meaning wealth. Put them together, and you get plutocracy, a government ruled by the rich. How does this differ from, say, an aristocracy? Well, the truth is that it isn't very different. Members of the aristocracy tend to be rich, but their money tends to be "old money." In a pure plutocracy, even the overnight billionaire can be a ruler. |
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| 3840 |
polarize |
become divided in a conflict or contrasting situation |
Looking at America Mr. Murray sees a country increasingly polarized into two culturally and geographically isolated demographics. |
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To polarize is to divide. Something that's been polarized has been split into two sides that are so different, it seems as though they're from opposite ends of the earth — like the North Pole and the South Pole. |
Political parties have long been polarized by different views and approaches to government. But you'll also find polarized soda devotees arguing over the merits of Coke vs. Pepsi. Any topic that is controversial can polarize a population, especially if the topic inspires either a fiercely "pro" or fiercely "con" reaction. Topics such as gun control and health care reform have been known to polarize Congress. |
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| 3841 |
pompous |
puffed up with vanity |
A pompous, boasting sort of man, I did not like him at all. |
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A pompous person is arrogant or conceited. He'll walk into a party with an inflated ego, ready to tell anyone who will listen that "I'm kind of a big deal." |
Today we associate the adjective pompous with self-important jerks. But it's actually derived from the Old French pompeux, which meant “stately." And that's why you can also use pompous to describe something with a lot of ceremonial or stately display — in other words, something surrounded by "pomp and circumstance." |
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| 3842 |
portentous |
of momentous or ominous significance |
It grew awfully dark— portentous omen!—and some enormous drops of rain, as big as bullets, came smacking down upon the window-stone. |
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The black crows slowly circling the front entrance to your office building at 6:00 am may have a portentous quality, meaning it seems like they’re an omen indicating something bad will happen. |
Use the adjective portentous to describe something that seems be a sign related to a future event — generally an ominous sign. Something that is portentous often seems to hint at or warn of a future disaster. For example, in a movie ominous music playing in the background while someone turns a dark corner can have a portentous quality, predicting doom for the hapless character. |
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| 3843 |
posterity |
all future generations |
Our posterity will be the living public of a future generation. |
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Posterity is a noun meaning "future generations." These people of the future could be your children and great-great grandchildren, or any people who are born after you. |
If you save something "for posterity," you're hoping that years later people will appreciate it, like a time capsule you bury in the yard. The word comes from the Latin word for "post, after." It's also related to the word posterior, which means "behind, to come after in time." In legal terms, posterity refers to the offspring of a person and it often has to do with inheriting property and who is entitled to do so. |
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| 3844 |
potent |
having a strong physiological or chemical effect |
Yet potent as the medicine might be, it was not powerful enough to keep Edward Armstrong asleep all night. |
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Potent means really strong, but not like a body builder. Use potent instead to describe things like intense smells, powerful magic potions, and very influential people. |
From the Latin potentum, meaning “powerful,” potent is just that: having tremendous strength or influence in either a moral or physical sense. A potent question gets to the heart of the matter and sparks serious discussion. Really stiff drinks can be potent, as can your breath after a garlicky meal. And as the composer Igor Stravinsky once asked, "What force is more potent than love?" |
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| 3845 |
potentate |
a ruler who is unconstrained by law |
The land is ablaze with kings and potentates on golden thrones under canopies of angels. |
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A potentate is a person so powerful that he or she doesn't have to follow the rules that govern everyone else. Potentate normally refers to a king or dictator, but you can call anyone with virtually unlimited power a potentate. |
The king of a country, the conductor of an orchestra, the commander of a battleship—all of these are examples of a potentate. Take a look at potentate, and you'll see the word potent, which means "powerful," as in "that's one potent cup o' joe!" It's easy to see, then, how potent becomes potentate just by adding a few letters. A potentate is a powerful person. Anna Wintour is a potentate of the fashion world, and her decisions can make or break whole careers. |
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| 3846 |
precedent |
an example that is used to justify similar occurrences |
Canada and Newfoundland, following the precedent of the United States, require copyright notice in statutory form. |
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A precedent is something that sets a standard for future events. It's hard to say what the legal community would do without the word precedent, since so many legal judgments and decisions are based on what came before. |
Lawyers and judges often look for a precedent can be used as a guide for a similar case. This word is used elsewhere too. Your mom might not let you stay up late because it would set a bad precedent for future bedtimes. A teacher who lets kids chew gum is setting a precedent that gum-chewing will be OK in the future. People often refer to a precedent later on as a reference point for how things should be. |
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| 3847 |
predominance |
the state of having superior power and influence over others |
Below the line, among backboneless animals, there is much greater constancy of superiority among the females, and this predominance persists in many higher types. |
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Use the noun predominance to describe whatever is most noticeable, like the predominance of a gigantic television screen in a small living room. |
When you notice that the word dominance makes up a big chunk of predominance, it won’t surprise you to learn that predominance is used to say that something exerts a strong influence and dominates. Sometimes that influence comes because of sheer numbers, such as a predominance of women in the teaching profession, but it can also result from superior power, such as a nation’s military predominance. |
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| 3848 |
preponderance |
exceeding in heaviness; having greater weight |
Until representatives from all sections are heard from, however, it will be impossible to say what the preponderance of opinion really is. |
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If there's a preponderance of something, there is A LOT of it. If you are a prosecutor, you are looking for a preponderance of evidence to convince the jury that the defendant is guilty. |
The noun preponderance can also mean superiority in weight or significance. This meaning is particularly reflective of the word's Latin roots in the word praeponderare, which means "outweigh." The noun can also mean superiority in influence or importance. A country's economic preponderance, for example, might give it greater influence in international relations. |
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| 3849 |
prescience |
the power to foresee the future |
We have never been good at foretelling the future, but when the news is favorable, others forgive our lack of prescience. |
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Do you already know what happens tomorrow? Next week? Next year? If you can see into the future, then you have prescience. |
The word prescience might look like pre + science, but it really comes from the Latin word praescientia, which means "fore-knowledge" — or knowledge you know before anyone else. Don't assume it's a crystal ball kind of power that lets someone with prescience see the future. It's more like a state of mind or level of expertise that allows for excellent foresight and planning. |
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| 3850 |
primitive |
belonging to an early stage of technical development |
Starting millions of years ago, the evolutionary ancestors of humans figured out how to use primitive stone tools in a systematic way. |
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When we talk about "primitive man", we're usually talking about cavemen and other people who existed before the advent of table manners, but if your uncle speaks grunts and chews with his mouth open, you could describe him as primitive too. |
Primitive is related to the word prime, and the root of both words is primus, which is Latin for "first." Since the phrase "primitive man" refers to the world's first people, you might think that the word primate has something to do with the similarity between early humans and monkeys, but it doesn't. Monkey, apes, and humans are called primates because they're seen as standing on the first, or highest, rung of the animal-kingdom ladder. |
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| 3851 |
prolific |
intellectually productive |
He was prolific, directing more than 40 movies, and was versatile, dabbling in many different film genres. |
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Someone or something that is prolific is fruitful or highly productive. A prolific songwriter can churn out five hit tunes before breakfast. |
It is interesting to note that many of the words used to describe the adjective prolific are relayed in biological terms, such as "to give birth," "nourish," and "fertile." Other uses of the word pertain to having many ideas or an active and expressive mind, such as a "prolific writer." Clearly, people like to consider that the ideas or things that they make are in some way produced by them like flowers or fruit! |
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| 3852 |
prolix |
tediously prolonged or tending to speak or write at length |
What we now regard as tedious and prolix was looked upon as so much linked sweetness long drawn out. |
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A book that feels like it is several hundred pages longer than it needs to be is prolix. The word simply means that something has too many words and goes on too long. |
To avoid being called prolix, we'll keep this short. Prolix means using more words than necessary. For a less formal word choice try wordy, verbose, long-winded or drawn out. |
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| 3853 |
propel |
cause to move forward with force |
Propelled by winds and high temperatures, it burned for 10 days, charring more than 250 acres of land. |
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To propel is to push or drive forward, like a sheep dog nipping at the heels of his flock to keep them moving. |
When you hear the verb propel, imagine the propeller on an airplane — that spinning thing on the front that pulls the plane forward. Or maybe think of the old proverb that goes, “Our passions are the winds that propel our vessel. Our reason is the pilot that steers her. Without winds the vessel would not move and without a pilot she would be lost.” |
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| 3854 |
prophecy |
knowledge of the future, as from a divine source |
His highest office was prophecy, and in all his temples the priestesses gave mystic revelations of the future. |
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If a fortune teller made a prophecy that you were going to become a billionaire in your lifetime, you'd be pretty excited. A prophecy is a prediction, or a magical look into the future. |
The noun prophecy means a magical foreknowledge, although it can also be used in a playful way to describe an ordinary guess or prediction about the future. So you could say, "Her prophecy for the weather next week is incredibly depressing." The word comes from the Greek prophetia — literally, "gift of interpreting the will of the gods". The verb form is prophesy, or predict, and it's spelled with an s instead of a c. |
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| 3855 |
proportional |
properly related in size or degree |
Relative to the size of its economy, the total Greek spending cuts now being contemplated are proportional to the United States government cutting $1.75 trillion. |
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The adjective proportional describes something that has a relative size or amount to something else. When you're a mom, you know it's best to make sure chores are given out proportional amounts according to age and size of your kids. |
The United States has proportional representation in Congress, meaning that Congressional districts are divided according to the population, set after each census. The adjective proportional can also be used to describe something that has a constant ratio. This usage is especially common in math to describe things like proportional triangles or proportional variables. Proportionate is often interchangeable with proportional. |
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| 3856 |
proprietor |
someone who owns a business |
He was a thriving business man, the proprietor of two plantations and a mill, and kept a large number of hands engaged at work. |
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Someone who owns a business or a property is a proprietor. A bookstore proprietor might wish she became a librarian instead so the books would come back. |
The first part of proprietor sounds a lot like "property," and a proprietor is someone with ownership of property. Sometimes a proprietor oversees the business, such as a restaurant proprietor who is also a chef or hostess, and other times a proprietor owns many businesses and has different people running them. A proprietor of a local bakery might make and sell his own donuts, while the proprietor of a chain of donut shops might work from an office managing the people who manage the stores. |
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| 3857 |
prostrate |
lying face downward |
There, she saw, lying on his face, the prostrate form of a man. |
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The verb prostrate means "to make helpless or defenseless." Illness, injury, food poisoning, grief — any of these things can prostrate people, or lying down in a helpless position. |
The word prostrate traces back to the Latin word prostratus, meaning “thrown down.” If you are prostrate, you feel thrown down and laid flat. It can describe lying on the ground in a helpless position, or it can be used to describe someone who has been overcome or made unable to function, such as someone who is prostrated by grief or illness. |
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| 3858 |
protege |
a person who receives support from an influential patron |
The "mentor/ protege" program was intended to enable small businesses to learn from large, established ones. |
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A protégé is a person who receives special protection and promotion from someone more established in a field. If your boss introduces you as his newest protégé, you're off to a good start in your career. |
Essentially, a protégé is a teacher’s pet, someone who is given special status or favors. Often, the word is used for someone who has special standout talent and is taken up as an upcoming star or powerhouse. The word’s original associations, however, have nothing to do with talent and everything to do with how a person treats the protégé — the source of the word means “protection.” |
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| 3859 |
prototype |
a standard or typical example |
Babbage never completed his prototype, but several different working models have been constructed since. |
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A prototype is the original model, a sample on which to base future designs. A company designing a new toaster will first design and build a prototype and then test it out and see if it's any good. |
A prototype is your test case and becomes the model on which to base the design of the finished product. Often, however, the prototype can be a phase to work out the bugs. The prototype of our hands-free toothbrush was too dangerous; it needed to return to the lab for serious improvements. Like the word archetype, the word prototype can also mean the standard on which to base a definition of something. "A prototypical cheerleader is the girl to which all other cheerleaders might aspire." |
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| 3860 |
pugilist |
someone who fights with his fists for sport |
She said Mandela remains an avid boxing fan and will be watching Filipino pugilist Manny Pacquiao's next world title defence on 7 May. |
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Pugilist is a fancy word for boxer, one who indulges in the noble art of pugilism, or fighting with one's fists. |
Be warned when people use the term pugilist or you see it in the paper. Nowadays such a term is often sarcastic in tone and critical of boxing's claims for legitimacy, often suggesting it's essentially savagery masquerading as sport. If you hear "the term "fighter" you can be more certain it's used with approval, or at least without prejudice. |
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| 3861 |
pugnacious |
ready and able to resort to force or violence |
On this final of three debates all three men seemed pugnacious, combative — fighting for very high stakes with the gloves off. |
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Pugnacious means ready for a fight. If you're pugnacious, you might find it hard to make friends. On the other hand, you might be a very successful professional boxer one day. |
Your brother is a pugnacious thug––always ready to use his fists to settle arguments, and he has the strength to do so. That’s the literal sense of pugnacious. You can use pugnacious figuratively, too. When two candidates face off in a debate during a close election, one or the other might be pugnacious. He looks to pick a fight with his opponent and is willing to say almost anything, no matter how outrageous, to make his opponent look bad. |
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| 3862 |
obedient |
dutifully complying with the commands of those in authority |
“‘With all due respect, I have the honor to be, Sir, “‘Your most obedient and humble servant.’ |
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If you always do what you’re told, you can be described as obedient. Authority figures love to have obedient followers. |
When you realize that the word obedient comes from a Latin word meaning “to obey,” it’s easy to remember what obedient means. Use obedient to describe someone who knows the rules, toes the line, and follows instructions. The word can refer to people (an obedient student), a group (obedient citizens), or even animals (an obedient dog). |
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| 3863 |
obfuscate |
make obscure or unclear |
Yet as we tried to understand, there always seemed to be an obfuscating layer: something or someone was working against comprehension. |
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Some people are experts at obfuscating the truth by being evasive, unclear, or obscure in the telling of the facts. The people who are good at obfuscating would include defense lawyers and teenagers asked about their plans for Saturday night. |
Although the verb obfuscate can be used in any case where something is darkened, less clear, or more obscure, it is most frequently used in reference to things like ideas, facts, issues, or the truth. The usual implied meaning is that this obfuscation is done deliberately. Politicians often obfuscate the truth about the issues to win support for their positions so they can win elections. |
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| 3864 |
obligation |
the state of being bound to do or pay something |
I considered myself as a married man and under obligation to alter my way of living, and I stopped playing. |
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An obligation is a duty. It's your obligation or responsibility to call your mom on Mother's Day. Sending flowers would be even better. |
When you are morally or legally bound to a particular commitment, it's your obligation to follow through on it. If you see a crime taking place, for example, it's your obligation to notify the police. If an elderly person comes onto a full bus, it's your obligation to give up your seat for him. Sometimes when you enter a formal agreement with someone involving money, you might have to sign an obligation that states you are committed to paying back what you've borrowed. |
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| 3865 |
oblique |
not direct, explicit, or straightforward |
An old man, of monstrous obesity, seated on a wooden chair, devoured his pittance with animal voracity, casting on either side oblique angry glances. |
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If something is oblique, it has a slanting position or direction. In figurative use, oblique means indirect or purposely misleading. "What is two plus two?" "Fish!" as an answer is completely oblique. |
In math, this adjective refers to geometric lines or planes that are not parallel or perpendicular to a line or surface. A playground is positioned at an oblique angle to the ground. By correcting the clerk's "Mrs." with "That's Ms. now," the woman made an oblique reference to her change in marital status. |
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| 3866 |
obstreperous |
noisily and stubbornly defiant |
If particularly wild, obstinate, or obstreperous, he still keeps breaking away, and refusing to come into camp. |
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Obstreperous means boisterous, noisy, aggressive, defiant. You’ve probably seen an obstreperous child in the grocery store, pulling away from her mother, screaming at the top of her lungs. |
If you’ve been to a large concert where the band doesn't come on stage for hours, you might have been part of an obstreperous crowd: increasingly impatient, with fights breaking out, things thrown up onto the stage, and demands being shouted, "Give us some music before the night is out!" Some people are kind and gentle with strangers, but around their own family turn obstreperous, shouting "You never loved me!" at their mom when she gives them the smaller of two cookies. |
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| 3867 |
obstruct |
block passage through |
Through Icy Sound we found some difficulty in penetrating, as the channel was much obstructed by ice. |
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When you obstruct something, you block it. If you’re gobbling down your pizza, a chunk of crust you didn’t chew so well might obstruct your airway and you'll choke. |
Obstruct also means to get in the way so that you hide something from view. That fast food tower being built next to your beach house will obstruct your lovely ocean vistas. And that scene gives you a vivid illustration of the Latin roots the word comes from: ob- "against," and struere, "build." You can also obstruct something or someone by putting up a roadblock, literal or figurative: when you park yourself by the exit door, you obstruct everybody's way out. |
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| 3868 |
obtrusive |
undesirably noticeable |
“We’ve done research, and the ads are considered annoying, irritating and obtrusive,” Mr. Norris said after watching Barnes & Noble’s presentation. |
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The eight-foot-tall, hot pink statue of Minnie Mouse did not belong among the beige couches of the fancy living room. The statue was obtrusive to say the least, meaning it stood out in a bad way. |
Something that obtrudes sticks out, like a sore thumb. Wear a leopard-print toga to a gathering of PETA supporters, or ask loudly if wine is being served at an Alcoholics' Anonymous meeting — these are examples of obtrusive behavior, which draws attention to you and makes you stick out, but not in a good way. |
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| 3869 |
odious |
unequivocally detestable |
Hideous and odious, revolting beyond all expression, the underground war finished by becoming impossible. |
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If something is odious it's hateful. If you become a historian of slavery, you'll learn all the details of that odious trade. |
Odious is from the Latin noun odium, which means hatred. It is a strong word, so don't call someone odious unless you want to accuse someone of being loathsome or vile. Actions can also be called odious. A typical use is Shakespeare's in Othello: "You told a lie, an odious damned lie." Some synonyms are hateful, contemptible, detestable, and abominable. |
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| 3870 |
odoriferous |
having a natural fragrance |
Some odoriferous substances are fragrant for many years, exhaling continually, yet are not quickly consumed. |
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Something that's odoriferous carries a smell. When you hear someone use the word odoriferous, just hope they're not referring to your breath or armpits. |
Odoriferous is made up of the word odor, meaning smell and the Latin ferre meaning "to carry." Something that's odoriferous certainly carries a smell whether it's onions or roses or a pile of dog poop. Odoriferous has a less well-known second meaning; something that does not take your morals into consideration can also be odoriferous, or morally offensive. Many people consider animal testing odoriferous because of the harm it does to animals. The might call it odoriferous, or they might say it just plain stinks. |
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| 3871 |
offend |
cause to feel resentment or indignation |
The research said milder expressions should be used to "avoid offending the public and stoking social tensions". |
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If you hurt someone's feelings, you offend that person. You might accidentally offend your friend when you joke about the worst restaurant in town, not realizing it's her favorite place to eat. |
If you do something that makes another person resent you, you offend them. Your friends might not mind because you're so humble, but it could offend other classmates when the teachers always pick you for awards and honors. You also offend when you cause disgust or distaste. After your week of camping — and not showering — your smell will probably offend the nose of anyone who has to sit near you. |
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| 3872 |
offset |
compensate for or counterbalance |
The chain has been raising prices on some drinks to help offset higher costs for commodities like coffee and milk. |
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When you offset something—say, the price of gas—you find a way to make up for it. My new car's ability to get fifty miles per gallon offset the rise in the price of gas. Offset functions as both a noun and a verb. |
Okay, let's talk turkey. The Duke's lack of height was offset by his enormous wig. Even without shoes, he towered above most people, because his wig alone was five feet tall. The cost of the wig—close to $10,000—was easily offset by its quality: it was worth every cent. The inconvenience of the blizzard was offset by the joy of not having to go to school or work—or even get out of bed. The joy was what you might call an offset. |
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| 3873 |
oligarchy |
a political system governed by a few people |
The track management of this particular university was an oligarchy; was governed by a few absolute individuals. |
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Does it ever feel like just a few people have all the power? If it's a government that's run like this, it's an oligarchy. A country that has this form of government is an oligarchy too. |
The political term, oligarchy, comes to English from the Greek with its meaning intact - a form of government run by a small number of people such as wealthy landowners, royalty or powerful military figures. If you say that you can't fight the oligarchy, you mean the leaders of such a place. Sometimes the word refers to the few powerful people in charge of a large company or system. A financial oligarchy might try to block reform. |
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| 3874 |
omen |
a sign of a thing about to happen |
Pale-faced, wide-eyed, statuesque, their presence, interpreted by a vivid imagination, might have been regarded as an omen of impending misfortune. |
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An omen is an event or happening that you take as sign of something to come. It’s believed to be a bad omen if a black cat crosses your path or if it rains on your wedding day. |
Omens generally get a bad rap — that's probably because a lot of them predict bad stuff, at least according to superstition. But the interpretation of omens really depends on the country and culture. What's considered an ominous sign in one place might mean a lifetime of good luck somewhere else. Oscar Wilde once wrote that, “There is no such thing as an omen. Destiny does not send us heralds. She is too wise or too cruel for that.” |
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| 3875 |
omit |
leave undone or leave out |
Titles are abbreviated, mottoes dropped, foot notes cut out, and many earlier poems reduced, or omitted entirely. |
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If you omit one member of the class when you're handing out valentines, it's going to make that person feel terrible. To omit something is to leave it out, to forget or overlook it. |
The verb omit comes from the Latin word omittere, "to let go or to lay aside," which is exactly what it means. When you omit an ingredient you need for your brownie recipe from the grocery list, you've accidentally left off an important item. You can also deliberately omit something, which you'd do if you didn't include your least favorite cousin when you invited your relatives to a family reunion. |
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| 3876 |
omnipresent |
existing everywhere at once |
He is here, there, and everywhere; he is omnipresent—this curse of Finland. |
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Omnipresent describes something that's everywhere at once, like a deity or a bad smell. |
You might recognize the prefix omni-, meaning "all," from words like omnipotence (all powerful), or omniscient (all knowing). Add it to -present, and voilà, there's something that's present all the time, like Santa Claus who sees you when you're sleeping and knows when you're awake. You can't hide from an omnipresent being. Hair splitters prefer that a bad smell be ubiquitous (turns up everywhere) and save omnipresent for the divine. And Santa. |
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| 3877 |
omnivorous |
feeding on both plants and animals |
Rats and mice are practically omnivorous, feeding upon all kinds of animal and vegetable matter. |
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An omnivorous animal eats meat and plants — everything on the menu. |
The word omnivorous wears its meaning on its sleeve: omni means "all" and vorare is "to devour" and it all comes together in the Latin word omnivorus — "all-devouring." Rarr! Polar bears are omnivorous, while pandas are herbivorous (eat only plants). People love to say they're carnivorous (eat only meat) when they're probably really omnivorous (unless they really do kick the French fries off the plate every time). Since omnivorous means to "devour everything," you can use it to describe someone with a very curious mind, who wants to "devour" everything with their brain, but not with their teeth. |
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| 3878 |
onslaught |
a rapid and continuous outpouring |
Most companies are facing an onslaught of information about customers from social networks, the Internet, and mobile devices. |
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Onslaught is a military term that refers to an attack against an enemy. It's safe to say that no one wants to be caught on the receiving end of an onslaught, because there will be lots of danger, destruction and probably death. |
One way to help you remember the brutal meaning of onslaught is through the word's English origin, slaught, meaning "slaughter." But onslaught can be used in non-military ways, too. It can mean a barrage of written or spoken communication, like an onslaught of emailed birthday wishes. Taken individually, the birthday wishes are nice but an onslaught is too many, too fast, all at once. Onslaught can also mean a sudden and severe start of trouble. For example, if your office is unprepared for the onslaught of flu season, the entire sales force will be home sick at the same time. |
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| 3879 |
onus |
an onerous or difficult concern |
With Xavi out injured, the onus was on Alonso to supply his forward line and he excelled at the task. |
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Take the noun, onus, as a formal word for responsibility or obligation. If your teacher assigns onus as a vocabulary word, it puts the onus on you to find out what it means. |
Onus is a formal or sophisticated way to say "responsibility" or "duty." It sounds a little like the unrelated word owner, so think about the person with onus as owner of the responsibility. If the onus is on you to organize a fund raiser, you have to set the whole thing up. Have you ever heard the legal term onus probandi? It means the burden of proof, which requires the accuser to prove the case against the accused. |
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| 3880 |
opalescent |
having a play of lustrous rainbow colors |
It is a picture beautiful as the opalescent colors of a soap bubble. |
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If you're familiar with the way that the gemstone opal shimmers like a pearl, then you'll understand that something opalescent reflects the light in the same way. |
Opal is a beautiful mineral with an almost magical, layered reflective quality that catches the eye the way a pearl does. Something opalescent has that same reflective quality. High-quality guitars, for example, often have opalescent inlays in the fingerboard that are not only beautiful but also useful. They can help the guitar player find her way around the instrument. Don't be fooled by imitations! Many fake jewels have an opalescent quality that mimics real pearl, but it's plastic, all the same. |
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| 3881 |
opaque |
not transmitting or reflecting light or radiant energy |
Comets differ from the bodies which we have just been describing in that they appear filmy and transparent, whereas the others are solid and opaque. |
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Use the adjective opaque either for something that doesn't allow light to pass through (like a heavy curtain) or for something difficult to understand (like bureaucratic gobbledygook). |
Opaque is from a Latin word meaning "dark," and that was its original sense in English, but it now means literally "not transparent" or metaphorically "hard to understand; unclear": "Some of his sentences are really opaque." It used to be spelled opake, which made the pronunciation clearer, but we then borrowed the more opaque French spelling. Come to think of it, English spelling is often pretty opaque, which makes it hard for learners of the language to master. |
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| 3882 |
operative |
a person secretly employed in espionage for a government |
I am a Secret Service operative seeking information about Cheney. |
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Bond, James Bond, is perhaps the most famous fictional operative of our time. Martini-drinking, globe-trotting, and womanizing aside, let us not forget his primary role as a government secret agent — collecting intelligence and bringing down the world's enemies. |
As a noun, operative is often used as a synonym for spy. It can also, less covertly, be used to name a skilled worker, as in "No one aligns gears better than Joe, an operative at the car factory." As an adjective, operative can mean that something is working, as in "an operative car alarm." Finally, operative can mean "the most important or effective word." James Bond is a fictional operative, and the operative word in that statement is fictional. |
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| 3883 |
opiate |
a narcotic drug |
Signs of opiate drug use include pinpoint pupils, too much sleep, too little motivation, unexplained absences and worsening grades, counselors say. |
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An opiate is a drug such as morphine or heroin that is derived from opium. Used figuratively, it means something that calms or soothes. |
Karl Marx famously said that religion was the opiate of the masses, which means he thought that it was religion that prevented working-class people from rising up against their leaders. Today, you might say that television has replaced religion as a mass opiate, but you'd need to say that during a commercial for anyone to pay much attention. |
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| 3884 |
opponent |
someone who offers resistance |
Sarkozy has been criticized by opponents and even some allies for his sometimes brutal manner of pushing through decisions. |
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An opponent is your competition, whether it's a rival hockey team, or the other finalist in the chess tournament. Coaches tell you to never underestimate your opponent. |
Someone who competes or fights against you is your opponent. If you're arguing that chocolate ice cream is better than vanilla, the vanilla ice cream fan is your opponent. An opponent can also be someone who opposes, like an opponent of gun control laws. The Latin word opponent means setting against, and it was first used in English to describe the person who would begin a certain type of philosophical debate. |
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| 3885 |
opportune |
suitable or advantageous especially for a particular purpose |
Most viewed the budget surplus as opportune: a chance to pay down the national debt, cut taxes, shore up entitlements or pursue new spending programs. |
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Use the adjective opportune to describe especially good timing. A snowstorm is an opportune time to make extra money shoveling your neighbor's driveway. |
You can see the word opportunity in opportune. Both words come from the Latin word opportunus, meaning "favorable," which itself is derived from a phrase that describes wind blowing toward a port. Just as the wind helps speed ships toward shore, something that is opportune offers favorable circumstances for accomplishing something or doing something. |
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| 3886 |
opportunist |
a person who places expediency above principle |
A Rangoon resident told the BBC that some of these groups were seen as opportunists playing along with the junta for personal gain. |
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Opportunists are people who see a chance to gain some advantage from a situation, often at the expense of ethics or morals. An opportunist seizes every opportunity to improve things for himself. |
Say you won millions in the lottery. People would come out of the woodwork hoping to get their hands on some of it. These people act as if they are close friends. But they are not; they are opportunists. Famous opportunists include “carpetbaggers,” Northern opportunists who, after the American Civil War, poured into the South to turn Reconstruction into personal financial gains. |
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| 3887 |
optimist |
a person disposed to take a favorable view of things |
Ms. McCarthy remains hopeful about the future of public education: “I’m forever an optimist. |
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An optimist is someone who always sees the bright side of any situation — a trait that can be either encouraging or annoying, depending on your frame of mind. |
Winston Churchill once said, “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” When you think about the problems in the world, it might sometimes be difficult to remain an optimist. Yet some people just naturally look for the silver lining, like Eeyore in the Winnie the Pooh stories who, when admitting that it's still snowing and freezing, remarks, "However, we haven't had an earthquake lately." Now that's an optimist! |
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| 3888 |
opus |
a musical work that has been created |
Barnes will perform his opus, "Acknowledgment of a Celebration," which he debuted at last fall's Earshot Jazz Festival. |
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An opus is a created work, usually musical in nature. The composer's greatest opus was inspired by the blooming of the spring flowers. |
While an opus is a piece of work, usually musical, the best way to remember it is to know that the preferred plural of opus is opera which everyone associates with music. You can also say opuses for the plural if you want, but how is that going to help you remember anything? A common usage of opus is with the term magnum opus which refers to one’s greatest work, musical or otherwise. |
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| 3889 |
oracle |
an authoritative person who divines the future |
Dionysus further possessed the prophetic gift, and his oracle at Delphi was as important as that of Apollo. |
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Back in ancient times, an oracle was someone who offered advice or a prophecy thought to have come directly from a divine source. In modern usage, any good source of information can be called an oracle. |
In his Apology, Plato claims that the oracle at Delphi played a vital role in the career of the philosopher Socrates, and a Delphic prophecy sets the tragedy of Sophocles' Oedipus Rex in motion. The word oracle can also be used to describe the utterances of a seer or anyone else who is pretty darn good at predicting the future. |
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| 3890 |
oracular |
of or relating to a prophet |
Nor does his philosophic attitude exclude the possibility of a certain faith in oracular foresight and divination. |
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Something that's oracular is giving off an oracle-like vibe: mysterious, enigmatic, prophetic and probably a little weird. |
Oracular in the simplest terms is an adjective that means "resembling an oracle." Ancient oracles were thought to be mystic people that had some direct connection with the gods, like ancient Greece's famous Oracle at Delphi. There the oracle would sit over an open fissure in the rocks, inhaling strange fumes and speaking in oracular gibberish that had to be "interpreted" by a priest. Sounds like you might have better luck with a palm reader. |
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| 3891 |
ordinance |
an authoritative rule |
Police say officers began patrolling parks near the stadium Monday night to make sure no park ordinances are violated, especially those related to alcohol. |
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An ordinance is a local law. Many cities have recently passed ordinances making it illegal to smoke indoors or mandatory for pet owners to curb their dogs. |
Ordinance can also mean the act of making someone a priest. In both senses, it means a direction or command coming down from a higher authority or an official conference. If you break an ordinance, you'll likely be fined rather than jailed. Remember that an ordinance is a rule meant to keep things in order. |
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| 3892 |
ordinary |
lacking special distinction, rank, or status |
While the government and the developers are doing well, many ordinary people are hurt by the high cost of living. |
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Something ordinary is something that happens every day. Maybe you should skip your ordinary breakfast and try something new. |
Although we often use the adjective ordinary to mean "ho-hum, nothing special," it actually comes from the Latin root for "rule." You could think of ordinary things as almost like rules in your life. As a noun it has other meanings. In heraldry (that's the art of the family shield), an ordinary is a conventional figure. A probate judge is called an ordinary, as is the clergyman who prepares prisoners for death. |
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| 3893 |
ordination |
the status of being sworn into a sacred office |
Some forty English students are educated for the priesthood and return on their ordination for work in their native land. |
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What an inauguration is to a president, an ordination is to a religious authority. It's the ceremony of bestowing a person with a position of religious authority — as when someone becomes a priest, minister, or shaman. |
The noun ordination comes from the Latin word ordinare, meaning “put in order.” Becoming a religious leader usually requires training in a seminary followed by an ordination. On the other hand, the ordination of a monarch is a ceremony in which a King’s or Queen’s divine right to rule the country, which was historically considered a birth right, is asserted and initiated without any seminary courses required. |
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| 3894 |
organic |
of foodstuff grown or raised without synthetic fertilizers |
And because she has an organic farm, she does not use spray pesticides, experimenting with spraying soapy water. |
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If you take up organic farming, be sure to use organic fertilizer, not some artificial chemical. Organic describes things that are natural or related to nature. |
In common usage, organic is used to mean “healthful” or “close to nature.” It can also describe foods grown without artificial pesticides or fertilizers. In other uses, organic refers to living things or material that comes from living things. In a more medical sense, organic means “relating to the organs of the body,” and in a legal sense, organic describes something that is central to an organization or a government. |
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| 3895 |
orientation |
a course introducing a new situation or environment |
To reduce the number of dropouts, it is offering students a three-week “ orientation” during which they can quit without charge. |
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Orientation is all about the direction you're facing. A house can have an east-facing orientation. Freshman orientation starts you off in a good direction. Your political orientation means your political outlook. |
Orientation is a relatively new word that was derived in the 19th century from orient, which means to point yourself in a specific direction. Hiking with map and compass is sometimes called orienteering, referring to hikers' use of those tools to orient themselves. |
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| 3896 |
orifice |
an opening, especially one that opens into a bodily cavity |
The mouth, a round, lipless orifice, contracted or dilated at will; from it came whistling words. |
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An orifice is an opening or a hole, most often in the body, such as your mouth or your nostril. |
We most often use orifice to describe a natural opening in our bodies, but it can an opening into any cavity, such as a hollowed out tree trunk, or the vent of a heating system. Other definitions of orifice include a type of nozzle used in plumbing applications and a plate used to measure the flow of liquid. |
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| 3897 |
originate |
come into existence; take on form or shape |
Some plants, such as the sweet potato, originated in the Andes Mountains but apparently spread across the Pacific Ocean before the arrival of Columbus. |
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Originate is a verb that means to start or create something. You can originate the idea of adding a fancy new coffee machine to your company's break room, and before long, your entire office could be happily drinking mocha lattes. |
Originate is the place or point at which any new thing or idea starts. It usually doesn't end there, though. A carpet that originates in Turkey can travel all the way to an apartment in New York. A rumor can originate during first period, but by lunchtime it will have made its way around the entire high school. |
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| 3898 |
ornithologist |
a scientist who studies birds |
Besides the structural resemblances, which are, of course, the only ones considered by ornithologists in classifying birds, the indigo buntings have several sparrow-like traits. |
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An ornithologist is a type of zoologist who focuses on birds. If you want to know anything about our fine feathered friends, consult an ornithologist. |
Having a birdbath in your backyard doesn't make you an ornithologist. An ornithologist is someone who studies ornithology — the branch of science devoted to birds. Ornithologists study every aspect of birds, including bird songs, flight patterns, physical appearance, and migration patterns. Birds are genetically related to dinosaurs, which is something else an ornithologist might study. |
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| 3899 |
orotund |
full and rich, of sounds |
The answer came back in a deep, orotund, sing-song voice. |
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If the reviews of your concert describe your singing as orotund, you can pop open the champagne — your reviewers have noticed your full, rich sound. |
On the other hand, if you've just given a speech and the TV commentators ridicule it as orotund, moralistic, and meaningless, you might want to drop out of sight for a few weeks. You've been called out for your pompous, self-important style. Orotund comes from the Latin word ore, "mouth," and rotundo, "make round." So orotund sounds are what you make with a rounded mouth, which is good if you're singing, but pretentious if you're not. |
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| 3900 |
orthogonal |
meeting at right angles |
His love of the orthogonal, which like 1980s dance moves once verged on the robotic, is relaxing into less pure angles. |
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Two lines that are orthogonal are perpendicular or intersecting at a right angle, like a t-square used by draftsmen. |
The word orthogonal comes from the Greek orthogōnios meaning "right-angled." While this word is used to describe lines that meet at a right angle, it also describes events that are statistically independent, or do not affect one another in terms of outcome. |
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| 3901 |
osseous |
composed of or containing bone |
But the osseous outgrowth, the bones, you know, complicate things. |
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Osseous means bony. If your next door neighbor buried their old pet cat in their yard, watch that your dog doesn’t go digging over there, looking for an osseous treat. |
Osseous comes from the Latin word for bone, oss. You can use osseous to describe things that are literally made of bone, like the osseous structure of your skeleton. You can also use osseous to describe things that have hardened like bones. You might find an osseous piece of taffy in your coat pocket, left there last summer. In that case you could say the taffy ossified. |
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| 3902 |
ossify |
make rigid and set into a conventional pattern |
Looking at it out of the corner of my eye, I could think about being a teenager, before roles were ossified and boundaries set. |
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Ossify means to become bony. When a baby is born, some of their "bones" are actually soft cartilage, which allows for growth. As the child grows, these soft areas ossify into actual bone. The knee cap, for example, begins to ossify between ages 3 and 6. |
From the literal "to become bony" meaning of ossify, we get the more figurative meaning: to become rigid or hardened. Although you and other young people may be willing to effect social changes, many older voters have ossified in their opinions. Convincing these rigid thinkers that these changes are good for the country will be quite the challenge. If your kids sneak food to their rooms, you may find ossified cheese under the beds. Even mice won't touch that! |
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| 3903 |
otiose |
serving no useful purpose; having no excuse for being |
There is no superfluous ornament in his orations, nothing tawdry, nothing otiose. |
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Otiose is a colorful, although somewhat old-fashioned, word for "lazy." It also means serving no useful purpose: that steak knife next to your plate is otiose if you're having oatmeal for dinner. |
Otiose, which can be pronounced either with a t sound (OH-tee-ohs) or a sh sound (OH-she-ohs), comes from the Latin word otium "leisure," but its modern meaning is closer to "leisure suit," that is, useless and not very handsome. If you're already wearing suspenders, then a belt is otiose. |
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| 3904 |
oust |
remove from a position or office |
Maldives' torture- addicted previous president was ousted and a more democratic government was established. |
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A teacher may oust you from class if you are being disruptive, or you might oust your class president from her position if you beat her in the election. To oust is to “expel,” “kick out,” or “remove and replace.” |
When you oust someone, you are “giving them the boot.” A sports team is ousted from a tournament if they lose an elimination round. Oust often implies both removal and replacement. The automobile, for instance, ousted the horse as the preferred means of travel. Likewise, when a politician ousts someone from office they are taking that person’s place in office. And if you beat the all-time record in a hot-dog eating tournament, then you oust the previous record holder from their position. |
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| 3905 |
outcome |
something that results |
"Very frustrating process, but a great outcome in the end," Moore told The Idaho Statesman. |
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The result of something, or the consequence of it, is the outcome. If your oldest child announces that your youngest child has climbed onto the roof with a handmade set of wings, you should probably not expect a good outcome. Better run! |
The noun outcome refers to the result of a process, but recently, when joined with the word "based", it has become jargon within a variety of industries and you'll see uses like outcome-based medicine and outcome-based budgeting. Outcome-based education, for example, rewards schools and teachers whose students meet certain goals on standardized tests, although critics argue this robs teachers and students of creativity. |
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| 3906 |
outrageous |
grossly offensive to decency or morality; causing horror |
“The suffering and bloodshed is outrageous and it is unacceptable,” Mr. Obama said at the White House, after meeting with Mrs. Clinton. |
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Something outrageous is extreme, over the top, beyond reason. It's hard to believe, and usually not in a good way. If the police came in and stole your TV, that would be outrageous. |
If you know what outrage means, then you're on your way to understanding outrageous. Outrageous things make people outraged, really angry, or astounded because they're just so ridiculous. If your teacher gave everyone an F for no reason, that would be outrageous. If a friend spilled your secrets to everyone: outrageous. Lady Gaga rolling up to the Grammy’s in a giant egg? Totally outrageous, but in a wacky and extravagant kind of way. |
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| 3907 |
outwit |
beat through cleverness and wit |
To top it all off, he regularly outwits his elders, showing natural positional sense and finishing moves with the poise and intelligence of an expert. |
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Use the verb outwit to describe using your brain to beat an opponent, like outwitting someone by figuring out the answer to a difficult riddle. |
Wit comes from the Old English word witan, which means "to know." So someone who outwits another person knows more — or at least knows more than the person thought. You can outwit someone with clever words, or with craftiness on the playing field. An unexpected strategy can help one side outwit the other on the battlefield. |
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| 3908 |
ovation |
enthusiastic recognition |
Buster Poster, receiving rousing ovations from fans every time his name was announced, cleared another milestone with an RBI single in the first. |
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Hear that applause and cries of "Bravo"? Your audience is giving you an ovation, or praise for a great performance. |
The noun ovation has origins in the Latin word ovare, meaning "exult, rejoice, triumph.” Ancient Romans used it to describe a ceremony honoring a general entering Rome following a minor triumph. By the nineteenth century ovation had taken on the more specific meaning: a display of appreciation and applause from an audience. Today, especially great performers get standing ovations, which means the audience rises from their seats as they clap. |
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| 3909 |
overcome |
win a victory over |
Abbott said he learned a lot by winning, by overcoming the odds. |
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Use the verb overcome when you talk about someone who has triumphed over adversity. It's great to see a friend who's always struggled in school overcome his learning disabilities and make the honor roll. |
You can also be overcome with emotions, or overwhelmed by your feelings. Many people feel so overcome with sadness at a movie — or happiness at a wedding — that they regret not bringing a pile of tissues with them. The verb overcome also means to win or surpass. If you are going to win the marathon, you are going to have to overcome the five runners still ahead of you. |
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| 3910 |
oversight |
management by watching and directing a person or group |
The former Pennsylvania senator defended the practice by saying that Congress has an important oversight role in shaping the federal budget. |
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An oversight is a mistake you make when you're not paying full attention. Your failure to add the sugar to the cookies was an unfortunate oversight — you were so engrossed in texting that you forgot it. |
Oversights are not intentional mistakes. Usually they're just the result of inattention. If you make an oversight in your inspection of a nuclear power plant and it later goes into meltdown, you'll get fired. An inspector is supposed to pay attention. But if you forgot your cousin's birthday because you're busy taking care of Grandma, that's a forgivable oversight. Oversight is also the act of supervising something, like the construction of a dam, or a high school prom. |
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| 3911 |
overt |
open and observable; not secret or hidden |
In this music, the Caribbean element often isn’t overt but is coded in the relationship between rhythm and melody. |
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Overt means open and done in plain sight. An overt attempt to get your teacher off-track might fail. Instead, try asking subtle questions about her kids, and she'll stay off topic all class. |
If you speak French, remember that overt is the same as the French ouvert "open." If you don't speak French, give up all hope of ever learning this word. Just kidding –– forgive the overt attempt at humor. English speakers, here's your trick for remembering the difference between overt and covert: overt = "open," covert = "covered." |
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| 3912 |
overthrow |
cause the downfall of |
Just two weeks ago, Mali’s 1991 revolution was reversed when mutinous soldiers overthrew a democratically elected government. |
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When you overthrow a ruler or a regime, you throw them out, usually by force. If you're a rebel you may plan to overthrow the current government and install a new regime. |
You can also use overthrow as a noun. You might plot to overthrow the parking ticket authority so that you won't have to pay your tickets. There are also more literal uses of the word. In baseball, football, and other games that involve throwing a ball, you overthrow when you throw the ball past the person you're aiming for. You can say "the pitcher overthrew the ball to the first baseman," or "the pitcher overthrew the first baseman." |
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| 3913 |
overwhelming |
very intense |
I think I was not so much afraid as oppressed by an almost overwhelming sense of loneliness. |
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Something overwhelming is very intense and hard to deal with: overwhelming events make people worried and stressed out. |
It's hard to overcome overwhelming things. If you feel an overwhelming need to laugh, you're probably going to laugh. If you have an overwhelming feeling of sadness, you'll probably cry. An overwhelming amount of homework is almost impossible to get done. Adults who work, have families, and struggle to pay the bills feel like their lives are overwhelming. A tornado or hurricane is an overwhelming force of nature. When something is overwhelming, there's not much you can do against it. |
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| 3914 |
overwrought |
deeply agitated especially from emotion |
Belshazzar, pale-faced and utterly overwrought, physically exhausted, mentally apprehensive, followed his father, walking alone. |
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High in drama and lacking any emotional restraint, overwrought is an adjective that means deeply, excessively agitated or nervous. |
Say your favorite soap star gets killed off in episode 12. If you sob uncontrollably, tear at your hair, and refuse to leave the couch for a week, most would say your response was overwrought — in other words, a bit much. But it's not just emotions that can go over the top. The gaudy, golden McMansion covered in ornate Italian statuary where your soap star lives in real life? Totally overdone, or overwrought, with details. |
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| 3915 |
overzealous |
marked by excessive enthusiasm for a cause or idea |
He sat scared in Greece on his team’s bus as it was attacked by overzealous fans. |
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Overzealous describes someone who gets too excited about something, like your mom, the overzealous collector of cute kitten figurines that now fill every table and shelf in the house. |
If you're overzealous about something, you've gone too far, and you're probably starting to scare people. Parents who are overzealous about keeping their kids safe may not allow them out of the house — ever. If you are overzealous about conserving water, you might shower a little too infrequently, or scold people for washing their cars. Most people understand that you mean well, and that's why you are so intense. |
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| 3916 |
naive |
marked by or showing unaffected simplicity |
Some have argued that the ministers in question should not have been so naive and foolish as to unburden themselves to complete strangers. |
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No one likes being called naive, since it means you lack sophistication or street smarts. |
A person who is too trusting can be criticized for being overly naive: "You're so naive, you think that e-mail from the Nigerian prince is really going to make you a million dollars!" Naive shares the same root as native, and originally meant "natural" or "not artificial." It can still be used in a more positive meaning when describing a charming lack of artificiality, as in "the naive style of folk art made by an untrained painter." |
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| 3917 |
naivete |
lack of sophistication or worldliness |
But there was a sort of freshness and naivete and youthfulness about her which made him use that adjective. |
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If you suggest that world peace could be achieved by handing out cookies in warring nations, you would be revealing a certain amount of naivete. This is a lack of wisdom and sophistication. |
Naivete has four syllables and is pronounced nigh-eve-i-TAY. The root naïve is a French adjective meaning “natural, just born.” Because it suggests innocence or ignorance, naivete is often associated with children, who lack experience and knowledge. But plenty of adults, too, display a certain amount of naivete when they make assumptions based on ignorance, an inability to grasp a situation, or a tendency to oversimplify complex things. |
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| 3918 |
narcissist |
someone who is excessively self-centered |
Narcissists blame others for failures, take undeserved credit for success, are hypersensitive to negative feedback, and show an exaggerated sense of entitlement. |
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The noun narcissist refers to someone intensely concerned with only his or her own self or interests and who seems to forget that others exist. |
The noun narcissist today means someone only concerned with his or her own interests or predicament and its origin is from Greek mythology. Narcissus was a hunter who was exceptionally beautiful and also just as proud of his looks, ignoring other people around him. He was punished by the gods by falling in love with his own reflection in a pool of water. Not realizing it was himself he loved, he eventually died from unrequited love. |
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| 3919 |
naught |
a quantity of no importance |
Names to him were nothing, and titles naught—assumption always standing back abashed at his cold, intellectual glare. |
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When things come to naught, they've come to nothing. If you feel bad about ending up with nothing, you can also say "It was all for naught!" |
Have you ever put a lot of work into something and all you ended up with was nada, nil, nothing, zero, zilch, and zip? Then your efforts came to naught. Naught is a word for nothing that is used in specific ways, usually when a project or effort comes to naught. |
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| 3920 |
nauseate |
upset and make ill |
After dialysis, patients can feel weak and nauseated, sometimes experiencing significant head, chest and stomach pain — and the tears often flow. |
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To nauseate one’s friends is to make them disgusted, sick to their stomachs, or ill. Generally this is best achieved by serving foul food or sharing someone’s deepest secrets with a sworn enemy. |
The first seafaring cultures were most likely Polynesian, but the Romans (who spoke Latin) came up with the word for seasickness that stuck: nausea. When the ocean is too rollicking, it’s likely to nauseate the ship’s passengers. There’s plenty more examples out there that can nauseate even the most hearty among us. Often just the thought of some culinary oddities can do the trick: oyster casserole, tripe, or fried crickets — just to name a few. |
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| 3921 |
nauseous |
causing a sick feeling |
I still grew nauseous after eating and experienced other stomach-related disorders such as food "Sticking" above my stomach and gastrointestinal disturbances. |
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If you’re nauseous, you feel queasy and sick to your stomach, and you might feel like vomiting. Could be the stomach flu or too much food before that roller-coaster ride. |
Nauseous comes from the Latin word nausea, which means "seasickness." That's certainly one reason for getting nauseous, but we don't limit this word to the seafaring world anymore. Not only do we use this adjective when we're feeling queasy, but we also use it to describe whatever is making us feel queasy. A smell that turns your stomach is a nauseous smell. We also use nauseous figuratively when we're "grossed out" by someone who's overly romantic or self-involved. |
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| 3922 |
nautical |
relating to ships or navigation |
For this expedition Henry Hudson—already known as an experienced and intrepid seaman, and well-skilled in nautical science—was chosen commander. |
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If it can go to sea, it’s nautical. That is, if it has to do with a boat, ship, sailor, or one of those maps of the ocean that nautical people call a chart, it can be considered nautical. |
You can wear khakis with sailboats or whales embroidered all over and not be the least bit nautical, but if you know that a rope is called a sheet and that hard to the lee means “duck and move to the other side of the boat,” there’s hope. The most nautical among us know what knot to tie in any given boating situation, which makes them both nautical and “knot-ical.” |
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| 3923 |
navigable |
able to be sailed on or through safely |
This, indeed, is an exaggerated vaunt; but the Flemish stuffs were probably sold wherever the sea or a navigable river permitted them to be carried. |
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If you can get your ship through, then both the ship and the waterway are navigable. |
If people of average intelligence could wade their way through the federal tax code without help, the IRS would be navigable. Alas. On the other hand, the New York City subway system is quite navigable, as are any of its functioning trains. If one can get through a passageway or system, it is considered navigable. Likewise, if a truck, car, boat, plane, train, or other vessel can be steered then it, too, is navigable. |
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| 3924 |
necessitate |
require as useful, just, or proper |
Bean’s famed hunting boots are seeing a surge in popularity, necessitating the hiring of more than 100 additional employees to make them. |
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The verb necessitate shows that something is necessary or needs to happen, as when a sweet tooth can necessitate a trip to the store for a triple-scoop ice cream — which will necessitate a trip to the gym. |
Synonyms for necessitate are "require" and "force." Although what's required may be serious, necessitate also just labels things that follow naturally from one step to another. A dead car battery might necessitate a long walk home, or your completion of skills tests might necessitate moving up to the next level. Necessitate commonly replaces "need" when doctors talk about treatment, so while your scraped knee might need a big bandage, it may "necessitate treatment with antibiotics" if you go to a clinic. |
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| 3925 |
necessity |
anything indispensable |
The rainy season was fairly under way and suitable shelter was an absolute necessity. |
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A good camping knife is a necessity if you’re going to be hiking in a heavily forested region. A necessity is something that you must have in order to complete a task. |
When used in the plural, necessities are items required for a situation but nothing extra. You probably only bring the bare necessities to a sleepover — pajamas and a toothbrush. Sometimes a necessity is a thing you must know how to do. Knowing how to balance your checkbook is a financial necessity. In some cases, necessity simply means "need." Do you do your homework out of necessity or because you want to? |
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| 3926 |
necromancy |
the belief in magical spells that harness occult forces |
In necromancy, spirits are summoned by means of spells and incantations. |
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Spooky, sneaky, powerful and strange, necromancy is the art of raising the spirits of the dead, either for their predictions about the future, or their ghostly help in making something happen. |
Necromancy, also called black magic, comes from the ancient Greek word for corpse necro and prophecy mancy. If you travel to the underworld to speak to the dead, then you have the power of necromancy, not to mention geomancy, the ability to read signs from the earth to find the necropolis, or city of the dead. As you might guess, necromancy isn’t discussed much these days. But if you’re reading about old witch trials, you might find accusations of necromancy abound. |
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| 3927 |
nectar |
a sweet liquid secretion that is attractive to pollinators |
Nor was it understood that the beautiful blossom of the flower, with its sweet nectar, was an exceedingly important factor in attracting the bees. |
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Delicious, sweet, and special, nectar is the best juice you can imagine. When the ancient Greeks visualized the gods having a party on their Olympian lawns, they saw nectar in their cups. |
Nectar was originally used to describe the drinks of the gods, but regular old humans need the good stuff too. Serious wine lovers would describe their drink as nectar, while the serious raw food eater might save the term for a ginger-beet-cayenne juice. If you ask the hummingbird, she would give you a very tiny straw and direct you to the nectaries of a flower. |
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| 3928 |
neglect |
fail to attend to |
She found the men were getting sleepy, and neglected the fire, and so she kept awake, and sat up to throw on the wood. |
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Neglect is worse than ignoring something. It's ignoring it, failing to care for it, and probably harming it in the process. |
The word neglect comes from the Latin verb neglegere, which means "disregarded." You can neglect to do your chores, meaning fail to do them, but this word is usually reserved for cases when you willingly refuse to care for something appropriately. Child neglect is what parents get charged with when they fail to provide for their child's basic needs. If you go on vacation and neglect your plants, they may wither and die due to your lack of attention. |
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| 3929 |
negligence |
failure to act with the prudence of a reasonable person |
That being the case, he said the spy agency had demonstrated " negligence, ineptitude and failure" in failing to detect the world's most wanted man. |
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When you are careless or reckless and you don’t take care of a person, object or situation like you ought to, you are practicing negligence. "Her negligence of the house resulted in its being condemned by the city." |
The noun negligence comes from a Latin word that means “carelessness.” Negligence can come in many forms: negligence of one's children can lead to foster care, negligence while driving can cause fatal accidents, negligence of work can lead to the loss of a job, and negligence of nutrition can cause health problems. There is culpability in negligence. Negligence is when one neglects to do things that should be done, and there are usually consequences. |
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| 3930 |
negligible |
so small as to be meaningless; insignificant |
The changes that have taken place in human nature during the historic period are so slight as to be practically negligible. |
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When something is meaningless or insignificant because it is so little, it's negligible. The amount of interest you'll get on your savings is negligible, so you might as well spend your money. |
If you work really hard on something, but the praise you get for it is negligible, you won't try so hard next time. Besides meaning very small, negligible can mean unimportant or not worth paying attention to. If you get into a fender-bender, you've gotten into a car accident with negligible damage. School concert programs always offer a word of thanks to the principal and other members of the administration whose role in the concert seems to be negligible. |
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| 3931 |
negotiable |
able to be arranged by compromise |
Often both are negotiable, or at least up for discussion. |
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If you're told that a price is negotiable, that means you can talk it over until you reach an agreement. So don't start with your highest offer. |
Negotiable can also mean that a road or path can be used. Since the avalanche, you've found that many of the local roads are no longer negotiable. If you can pass on a possession to someone else, making them the owner, then it's said to be negotiable. The "t" in negotiable is pronounced "sh." |
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| 3932 |
negotiate |
discuss the terms of an arrangement |
Children learn the art of problem solving, negotiating and making compromises. |
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To negotiate is to try to work out an agreement between parties that each want something out of the deal. You might negotiate with your mom — offering to do more chores for a raise in your allowance. Good luck. |
Negotiation is all about give and take. Governments are always negotiating with unions, trying to define the terms of new contracts. The government might offer the teachers union a raise, if they agree to work 200 days a year instead of 180. The verb negotiate can also mean to successfully pass through or travel along. You may have to negotiate a hazardous road, or a tricky path through sticker bushes. |
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| 3933 |
negotiation |
a discussion intended to produce an agreement |
Government negotiations with bankers and insurers broke up without agreement Friday, although officials said more talks are likely next week. |
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A negotiation is a business-oriented conversation where two sides argue, discuss, and compromise to reach some agreement. |
When you hear the word negotiation, you know there are two sides and they're willing to talk to each other. In sports, the owners and the players union go through a negotiation to get a new contract. Parents and kids might have a negotiation over curfew time. Negotiation implies that both sides are willing to give something up and compromise. If your side won't give an inch, then you're not ready for negotiation. |
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| 3934 |
nemesis |
something causing misery or death |
The strange nemesis that had pursued them step by step had been permitted to wreck their lives completely. |
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Use the word nemesis to describe someone or something that always causes you major problems, like the runner on another school's track team who, for years, has been beating your time by a fraction of a second. |
The word nemesis describes a rival who just somehow seems able to get the best of you. It can be someone you compete against, someone whose skills are nearly identical to yours and yet, your nemesis always seems to finish ahead of you, get a higher grade, and generally make you feel flustered. Nemesis can also refer to something that always causes you problems, like public speaking, the nemesis of those who get tongue-tied when nervous. |
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| 3935 |
neologism |
a newly invented word or phrase |
Perhaps the solution is to be found in " neologisms", where words are taken from somewhere totally different and given an entirely new meaning. |
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A neologism is a made-up or new word. Neologisms can be fun-ti-ful, but the problem is making sure others understand what you mean. |
The word neologism was once a neologism itself. It was created by gluing the French prefix neo- onto the Greek logos or "word." People coin neologisms all the time, linguists track which ones stick, and eventually, we all feel they're old friends. Or maybe not: random samples from words coined in 2003 include: adultolescence, pastability, pre-zactly, and neomaxizoomdweebie. |
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| 3936 |
nepotism |
favoritism shown to relatives or friends by those in power |
Mr Yeddyurappa denies claims by political opponents he committed nepotism by selling government land to his two sons and relatives at throwaway prices. |
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Nepotism is the practice of favoritism based on kinship, like when the coach chooses his own kid to be the quarterback even if his kid stinks at football. |
The word nepotism comes from the Italian word for nephew, nepote. Apparently back in the 17th century a lot of people tended to promote their nephews to powerful positions at the expense of other candidates. Nepotism has come to mean favoritism of any family member, so if you’re the daughter of a powerful CEO, don’t worry, you can still be the beneficiary of nepotism. However, people might not like you when you become the Vice President, unless you’ve really earned the title. |
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| 3937 |
nestle |
move or arrange oneself in a comfortable and cozy position |
“Father,” said Olive, thrusting her hand through the rector’s arm and nestling up to his side with the most bewitchingly affectionate gesture. |
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To nestle into something is to get snug, comfy, and warm in it. You might nestle into your mother’s shoulder, or into a pile of blankets on the couch. |
People must think that birds live comfortable lives, because they describe really cozy, safe, and comfortable places as nests: places to nestle into. And it’s not just people and birds that nestle. A cottage might be nestled into the crook of a hill, or a mouse nestled into a pile of wood shavings. |
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| 3938 |
nether |
lower |
The latest expeditions have looked at seep communities as deep as 1.7 miles — far down the continental slope toward the gulf’s nether regions. |
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The nether part of something is the lowest part of it, the bottom. If you’re having, ahem, trouble in the toilet, you might want to go talk to the doc about your nether parts. |
You might find the word nether in old books where "the nether world" could mean the world under the earth’s surface, like in Dante’s Inferno where he travels through hell, under the earth, before climbing up to paradise in the heavens. If you look closely you can hear the word nether in the word we normally use now: beneath. |
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| 3939 |
network |
an interconnected system of things or people |
“Success depends on personal relations with power,” said Mr. Evtushenkov, insisting that a tight personal network is as vital in New York as in Moscow. |
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A network is any interconnected system. The Internet is a network of computers all talking to one another. A subway is a network of interconnected train lines running underneath the city. |
A wise man once said that if the atom was the symbol of the 20th century, the network should be the symbol of the 21st. Increasingly our world relies on networks, the vast interconnected systems of people, electronics, ideas and even resources. To put pressure on any one part of a network is to put pressure on all parts, because, by definition, a network is interconnected. Whether the network is a television network, a cellular network, or a social network — each is a vast system of interconnected parts. |
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| 3940 |
neurotic |
affected with emotional disorder |
Why are some left to insanity, psychosomatic disorders or neurotic behavior? |
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If you call someone neurotic, you are saying she is stressed out. Neurotic can be a psychological term or it can be used more loosely. You may have a neurotic tendency to bite your nails or to pull out your hair. Ouch. |
The adjective neurotic refers to someone who shows signs of mental disturbance but does not indicate complete psychosis. Neurotic comes from neuro-, from a Greek word for "nerve." It can also describe someone with neurotic behaviors, so you can think of a neurotic as someone who has a particularly bad case of nerves. |
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| 3941 |
neutralization |
the removal of a threat by killing or destroying it |
Three have been eliminated through incineration or neutralization. |
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To neutralize something means to make it neutral or harmless. Neutralization is the name of this process. If you help defuse a bomb, you contribute to its neutralization. |
If you are a criminal mastermind, and a police detective appears to be amassing the evidence needed to convict you of your crimes, you can neutralize the threat he poses by having him killed. Following his neutralization, you can continue on your evil way. |
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| 3942 |
newcomer |
a recent arrival |
Humans are newcomers to the planet compared to the 165 million years dinosaurs dominated before becoming extinct 65 million years ago. |
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When you show up at your first meeting of the local swim club and you're the only one who didn't bring a towel, it may be because you're a newcomer, or someone who's new at participating in a particular group. |
When you're a newcomer, you're an outsider just joining an activity or group. There are a lot of great words that have the same meaning as newcomer, like neophyte, rookie, and Johnny-come-lately. One popular slang term for newcomer is newbie, which is often shortened on the Internet to noob. |
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| 3943 |
nib |
the writing point of a pen |
My father began writing with an abominably scratchy nib. |
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A nib is the point of a thing, such as a spear. More commonly it means the point of a pen, especially a fountain pen. Before ball points were invented, a common student problem was a pen with a broken nib. |
The word nib comes from a 16th century word meaning the beak of a bird. In more modern times, nib has come to refer to the pieces of the cocoa bean that remain after it has been hulled, roasted, and crushed. Cocoa nibs are the very essence of what we think as chocolate, and yet, ironically, the cocoa nib needs sugar and cocoa butter to temper its bitterness. |
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| 3944 |
niche |
a position well suited to the person who occupies it |
Carroll is skilled at finding specific roles and carving out niches for players. |
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A niche is a space that's all your own, from a literal corner or enclosure to some kind of professional specialty. Like finding a niche in the scented soaps market with peanut butter body wash and winning over a loyal, if not nutty, following. |
In the 1600s, niche was first recorded as meaning a “shallow recess in a wall." The figurative sense of the word didn’t come about for another century. So today, you can use niche literally to refer to a cranny or crevice, or figuratively to talk about an activity or role in life that is particularly suited a person’s interests or talents. Synonyms range from alcove and compartment to nook and opening. |
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| 3945 |
niggle |
worry unnecessarily or excessively |
But investors are still jittery, thanks to their niggling anxieties about the bad debts held in Europe's financial institutions. |
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To niggle means to argue over petty things, like battling over who gets the front seat or bickering about who's turn it is to take out the garbage. |
To niggle is to squabble over something silly or even to persistently nag or worry someone to death. Etymologists believe the verb niggle could be from Scandinavian roots, but there's no point quibbling over its unclear origin. All you need to know is that niggling is largely annoying to all involved. |
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| 3946 |
nimble |
moving quickly and lightly |
Are not many beasts physically stronger, more nimble and agile than man? |
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If you're nimble, you can move quickly and with ease. That spryness can be both physical and mental, so even if your granny isn't very nimble on her feet, she can probably still whip you in chess. |
A toddler might recognize the word nimble from the nursery rhyme: "Jack be nimble / Jack be quick / Jack jump over / The candlestick," but may not be nimble enough to deduce the meaning. Nimble, from the 14th century Old English næmel, meaning "quick to grasp," can refer to one's mental quickness or physical agility. |
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| 3947 |
nirvana |
any place of complete bliss and delight and peace |
The wisest among them could not teach him true peace, that profound inward rest, which was already called Nirvana. |
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Nirvana is a place of perfect peace and happiness, like heaven. In Hinduism and Buddhism, nirvana is the highest state that someone can attain, a state of enlightenment, meaning a person's individual desires and suffering go away. |
The origin of the word nirvana relates to religious enlightenment; it comes from the Sanskrit meaning "extinction, disappearance" of the individual to the universal. Achieving nirvana is to make earthly feelings like suffering and desire disappear. It's often used casually to mean any place of happiness, like if you love chocolate, going to Hershey's Park would be nirvana. On the other hand, if you're a Buddhist monk, it may take you years of meditating to reach nirvana. |
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| 3948 |
noble |
having high or elevated character |
Honesty, frankness, generosity, and virtue are noble traits. |
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A noble is a titled peer of the realm or an aristocrat. As an adjective, noble describes someone with high or elevated character, or who is impressive in appearance. |
From feudal times, we have known nobles as the heirs to thrones or as the holders of aristocratic title. British aristocracy, for example, produces many people of various noble titles, including dukes, earls, princes, kings, and queens. As various royal histories tell us, however, many of these nobles in title weren't quite so noble in character. |
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| 3949 |
nocturnal |
belonging to or active during the night |
Bats are a top nocturnal predator, eating night-flying insects that feed on agricultural crops. |
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If something is nocturnal, it belongs to or is active at night. That includes vampires, owls that like to hunt by moonlight, and that roommate who stays up playing video games until the wee hours of the morning. |
The adjective nocturnal comes from the Late Latin nocturnalis, which means “belonging to the night." You've probably heard of nocturnal animals, like bats and fireflies, who sleep during the day and come out to play when the sun goes down. The opposite of nocturnal is diurnal, meaning active during the daytime — but you probably won't be using that word much unless you're a zoologist. |
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| 3950 |
noetic |
of or associated with or requiring the use of the mind |
It is a sort of mental equivalent for them, their epistemological function, their value in noetic terms. |
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Something that is noetic has to do with thinking and reason. If you praise your friend's noetic abilities, you think she's very smart. |
Use the adjective noetic to describe intellectual thought, like the triumph of the noetic part of your brain over your instincts. It rhymes with poetic, but unlike the emotional content that is usually associated with poetry, things that are noetic focus on reason. The word traces back to the Greek word for mind or thought, noos. |
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| 3951 |
noisome |
causing or able to cause nausea |
Here the noisome smell of decaying vegetation nauseated us, for the air in those forest depths is deadly. |
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If you accidentally leave half a sandwich under your bed for a few days, cover your nose while you sleep because it will probably become quite noisome. This is a fancy way of saying that it will stink. |
Despite that first syllable, this adjective doesn’t have root origins in the word noise, but is related to the word annoy. Noisome can refer to anything unpleasant or anything that makes you nauseous. However, it is most often used to describe bad smells. So spray some air freshener, open the windows, and clean out under your bed! |
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| 3952 |
nomad |
a member of a people who have no permanent home |
These Indians lived the old nomad life, wandering from place to place, setting up their tents like gypsies, wherever they could remain unmolested. |
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A nomad is someone with no permanent home, like the member of a tribe that moves from place to place in search of food, or the rock star who spends 365 days a year in tour buses and hotel rooms. |
The word nomad has traditionally meant a member of a tribe of people who roamed from place to place in search of animals and shelter. Nomadic tribes wandered out of necessity. Wherever the food went, they went. In its more modern sense, a nomad is someone who would rather wander from place to place than set down roots, like the nomad who crashes at his friends' apartments in various cities instead of renting his own place. |
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| 3953 |
noncommittal |
refusing to bind oneself to a particular course of action |
The worst of it was, that he had been so cautious and noncommittal in his declarations, that she could not upbraid him for his perfidy. |
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When you want to keep all your options open, stay noncommittal. This means you say "maybe" and "I'll see if I can do that," rather than making promises to do specific things. |
It’s pretty easy to figure out the meaning of noncommittal just by picking apart the word. The non- prefix means “not.” And you see the word commit in noncommittal. So you know that the word is going to have something to do with “not commit.” You might also recognize the suffix -al, which is a tip-off that this word is an adjective that means "not being willing to commit." |
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| 3954 |
nonconformist |
someone refusing to follow established standards of conduct |
They are nonconformists, mavericks even, in an age when clubs are burdened by regulation, challenging authority and provocatively crossing the boundaries of accepted behaviour. |
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A nonconformist is someone who doesn’t conform to other people’s ideas of how things should be. Activists, artists, street performers, your wacky uncle Marvin — anyone who marches to the beat of a different drummer is a nonconformist. |
Nonconformist is one of those words that has both a noun and an adjective form. The noun describes someone who acts apart from the masses, and the adjective describes people or other things that have those same nonconformist qualities. If your actions mark you as a nonconformist, chances are you'll take a nonconformist approach when it comes to planning your next vacation. |
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| 3955 |
nonconformity |
failure to follow accepted standards of behavior |
What society really cares for is harmony; what it dislikes is dissent and nonconformity. |
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If a fireman came to work in a police outfit or clown suit, that would be a clear case of nonconformity. Where there's nonconformity, there's difference. |
When everyone is acting or dressing exactly the same, there's conformity, not nonconformity. Nonconformity means that someone is doing things differently from the norm. People in authority tend to dislike nonconformity, because it makes people harder to control. Someone who demonstrates nonconformity most of the time is a nonconformist. Too much nonconformity can create chaos, but without a little nonconformity, life would be pretty boring. |
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| 3956 |
nondescript |
lacking distinct or individual characteristics |
The centre's own director, Robert Goodman, has described it as " nondescript and characterless". |
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Nondescript is a word used to describe something that isn't special or unusual in any way. You might have trouble finding a nondescript apartment building because it looks exactly like every other apartment building around it. |
You could use the word nondescript to describe your blind date if she was completely uninteresting and dull, both in looks and personality. Some houses are so nondescript that you have to drive by several times just to make sure it's the right one. |
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| 3957 |
nonetheless |
despite anything to the contrary |
But these researchers, working in relative obscurity, nonetheless have documented rich and surprisingly diverse communities of organisms in the deep sea. |
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This is a word that people don't usually stop and define. They use it to link two seemingly contradictory thoughts. Nonetheless, it does have a definition. It means "in spite of." |
Break this word up to examine its meaning: None-the-less means that the statement you've just made does not diminish or make less what comes next. We are not at all prepared to climb this mountain, nonetheless we are going to try. |
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| 3958 |
nonpareil |
colored beads of sugar used as a topping |
While the last icing is wet, ornament it with coloured sugar-sand or nonpareils. |
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Use nonpareil to describe someone or something that is beyond compare, an absolute model of perfection of a particular thing. Jane Austen was a writer nonpareil, and James Bond a spy nonpareil. |
Coming from the medieval French words non, meaning "not," and pareil, meaning "equal," so quite literally it means "not equal" or "unequaled." Like a lot of fancy French terms adopted by the English language (e.g., "bons mots," "eminence gris"), the use of nonpareil is generally restricted to written form. Use with caution. |
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| 3959 |
nonplussed |
filled with bewilderment |
I shook my head and rushed from his presence, completely nonplussed, bewildered, frantic. |
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If a conversation with someone leaves you scratching your head and wondering what point they were trying to make, you are nonplussed: bewildered, puzzled, often speechless. |
Interestingly, there is no word plussed. You can only be nonplussed. People are nonplussed when they’re astounded, exasperated, or at a loss. "I'm nonplussed," you say when your mother tells you she's marrying her 25-year-old personal trainer. "I'm nonplussed," you say when your boss fires you, even though he tells you you’re the best employee he's ever had. Since so many things are confusing and odd, there’s a lot in life that can leave you nonplussed. |
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| 3960 |
nonsensical |
having no intelligible meaning |
Talking nonsensically is the utterance of words which contradict each other, or which have no meaning, and the like. |
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If something has no intelligent meaning, you can describe it as nonsensical. When you're really angry, you might hear yourself sputtering nonsensical sounds and have to stop, take a breath, and start again. |
Lewis Carroll's poem "Jabberwocky" is full of great examples of nonsensical words, like "mimsy," "frumious," and "slithy," which manage to be both descriptive and completely nonsensical. Something that is utterly ridiculous or absurd can also be described as nonsensical. You might tell your best friend, "I know you like crazy hats, but that thing on your head is completely nonsensical." |
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| 3961 |
normative |
relating to or dealing with norms |
Ethics again is concerned with a norm of life, and in this sense it is frequently styled a normative science. |
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Something pertaining to norms — something normal or typical — can be described as normative. Temper tantrums, whining, and even hitting are all normative behaviors — if you're three. If you're thirty, you might have a problem. |
The adjective normative can also mean prescribing rules or standards. The U.S. government's normative rules for living in American society mean that you have freedom of speech, for example, but you don't have the right to slander or libel someone. The words "norm" and "normal" are related to normative, which comes from the French normatif, which itself is from the Latin word norma, "a carpenter's square." |
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| 3962 |
nostalgia |
longing for something past |
The sense of exile was almost gone, the nostalgia for his own land no longer keen. |
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Think of the noun, nostalgia, when you long for the good old days of the past. |
The noun nostalgia was invented by a Swiss doctor in the late 1600s. He put together the Greek nostos "homecoming" and algos "pain, distress" as a literal translation of the German Heimweh "homesickness." Originally, it was a medical diagnosis for mercenary soldiers. Today, it describes a bittersweet longing for the past. Think of the dreamy way your grandpa tells stories of his childhood — he's got nostalgia. |
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| 3963 |
nostalgic |
unhappy about being away and longing for familiar things |
Britain, to take one example, habitually wallows in a nostalgic and misleading version of its own past. |
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You feel nostalgic when you miss your childhood, people you know but haven't seen in a while or the things that bring you comfort, like the nostalgic memories you feel when you listen to the songs you loved when you were little. |
The adjective nostalgic is often used to describe someone who is homesick and wants to be back at home with family. It always involves a wistful memory of times that now seem better or simpler. A nostalgic feeling can involve home and family, but it can also involve a longing for long-gone moments. Even beloved things, such as old TV shows or athletes from a different era may provoke the feeling of nostalgia. |
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| 3964 |
notable |
worthy of notice |
The Web is all about serendipity—people passing along things that are interesting or notable. |
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When something is notable, it's worthy of notice, or even famous. It might be a notable feature of your trip to New York City that you spotted one of the city's notable celebrities. |
Notable is a very useful word––it allows you succinctly to note that from a long list of things you could say, you have thoughtfully picked out only the ones that are the most notable, the most worthy — a notable example of kindness to your listeners. |
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| 3965 |
notorious |
known widely and usually unfavorably |
The notorious Owen, as is well known, attempted the establishment of an Infidel community at New Harmony, in Indiana, and totally failed. |
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Use the adjective notorious to describe people, places, or things that are famous for a bad reason. |
A good synonym for notorious is infamous; both words mean "well-known, and not in a good way." A celebrity convicted of a series of crimes might be referred to as notorious, as might a book that has been banned in several countries. The word originally meant just "famous" and could carry either positive or negative connotations. Only in recent centuries did the negative uses start to outweigh the positive ones. In general, you'd rather be famous than notorious, unless you're looking to build a bad reputation. |
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| 3966 |
nourish |
give sustenance to |
He who swallows abundantly does not digest it, and instead of being nourished and strengthened, he withers insensibly away. |
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When you nourish your imagination or your body, you give it what it needs to stay healthy and flourish (hey, that rhymes!). |
Whenever you eat a nutritious meal, you nourish your body. You can also nourish your dreams by allowing yourself to take chances and try what interests you, even if you're not sure what the outcome will be. To transform the verb nourish into an adjective, you can just add ing. Then, you can describe things that nourish you — like protein shakes or good poetry — as nourishing. |
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| 3967 |
novice |
someone new to a field or activity |
She speculated: A novice starting a running program will probably jog only two or three times a week, for 15 or 20 minutes. |
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If you're a novice at snowboarding, you're just learning the sport. On the Internet, a novice might be called a newbie, but your parents would call one a beginner. |
Novice is derived from the Latin word novus, which means new. A novice is new to what they do, so a novice photographer is just learning how to take nice pictures. Other words related to novice are novel "new, unusual," and innovate "to invent, begin with new ideas." Novice can also mean a member of a Christian order who has not yet taken their vows. |
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| 3968 |
noxious |
injurious to physical or mental health |
Investigators initially suspected customers fell ill to noxious fumes from cleaning chemicals. |
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Something noxious is harmful and could be even fatal — whether it is colorless, odorless, and invisible like carbon monoxide, or dark, strong-smelling, and obvious, like black smoke from a fire. People are called noxious too when they hurt others with cruelty or mental anguish. |
English and Latin roots for noxious are related to the meanings of "harm," "damage," and "injury." While obnoxious might come to mind when seeing the word noxious, obnoxious is a much less damaging adjective to describe someone annoying. Most uses for noxious involve real physical or emotional damage unless the word is used in exaggeration. Examples range from "the noxious gas fumes made the dog pass out" to "his cologne was so noxious I had to exit the elevator and take the stairs." |
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| 3969 |
nubile |
(of young women) attractive and eligible to marry |
Louise, who, although barely nubile, impatiently longed to become a mother, gave birth to her first child after four years of wedded life. |
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Nubile is a word for young women who are attractive and "suitable for marriage" (which honestly sounds sort of chauvinistic). Feminist idealism aside, nubile is a flattering term for a gal. It means youthful and sexy. |
Nubile stems from an ancient Latin term which meant "marriageable." While nice young men are certainly marriageable, the term is solely used in relation to women, and now refers to their ripe sexy beauty, not necessarily qualities that could make them a dependable, loving wife. Nubile is used more now in describing a gal who is hot and sexy — more ideal for the hip-hop video shoot, not co-hosting your family for Thanksgiving. |
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| 3970 |
nuclear |
of, relating to, or constituting the dense center of an atom |
He dove into mainstream topics, working on nuclear and particle physics at Harwell, Britain's civilian atomic energy research center. |
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Nuclear describes something that has to do with the nucleus — the central part — of an atom. If you're a nuclear physicist, you do a lot of work with that part of the atom. |
Nuclear power, which comes from nuclear fission — the energy released when the nucleus of an atom is split — is a controversial source of renewable energy. The word nuclear is sometimes used broadly to refer to the core of something. Your nuclear family is you, your parents, and your siblings — in a sense, the central part of your world, kind of like the nucleus of an atom. |
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| 3971 |
nugatory |
of no real value |
If the clause in question does not secure those political rights, it is entirely nugatory, and might as well have been omitted. |
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Something nugatory has no real value; it’s worthless. All your excuses for why you didn’t turn the bath tap off when you left the apartment are nugatory; they don’t change the fact that the tub overflowed and leaked into the apartment below. |
An adjective meaning “trifling, of no value,” nugatory comes from the Latin nugatorius “worthless, futile,” which in turn came from the also Latin nugatory — “jester, trifle.” It’s a word you probably don’t hear too often, but it’s a fun and descriptive one to use. Describe something with no force or importance as nugatory. "Whether this rug is red or green is nugatory to someone who is colorblind." |
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| 3972 |
nuisance |
anything that disturbs, endangers life, or is offensive |
But opponents see the birds as a potentially noisy, smelly, predator-attracting nuisance at best, and a health threat at worst. |
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Whether it’s a mosquito or your little brother pestering you about the laundry, you can use the word nuisance to describe something that causes small annoyances. |
The noun nuisance traces back to the Latin word nocere, meaning “to harm.” Nuisance originally was used to refer to things that could produce serious injury and harm, but over time the word lost some of its capacity for destruction. Nowadays you’ll hear nuisance used to describe things or people that cause small problems or that bother you in annoying but trivial ways. |
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| 3973 |
null |
lacking any legal or binding force |
“Agreements that Turkey decides to sign with the occupied territories in Cyprus are without any meaning, null and void by definition,” he said. |
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Null means having no value; in other words null is zero, like if you put so little sugar in your coffee that it’s practically null. Null also means invalid, or having no binding force. |
From the Latin nullus, meaning "not any," poor, powerless null is not actually there at all. Or if it was, it’s gone now. Because null is basically nothing, zip, zilch, nada, and nix. What could be worse? Maybe being "null and void," which is a legal term making something really, really null. Null is the base of the word nullify, which means to make something invalid or to cancel something out. |
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| 3974 |
nullify |
declare invalid |
It was announced yesterday that Osayomi has been stripped of her gold medal, and all her results in the Games have been nullified. |
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To nullify something means to make it invalid or ineffective. A peace treaty is an attempt to nullify aggression and division within a region. |
If you take a null, or a zero, and make it into an action you can take, and you’ve got nullify — the act of making something void or zero-like. If you have an argument with your friend, it might nullify the fun you had together that day. This word is particularly used in legal language — a divorce nullifies a marriage — or in business disputes where you are trying to nullify someone else’s actions or plans. |
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| 3975 |
numismatist |
a collector and student of money, especially coins |
The coins, however, are assigned by at least one numismatist to a later date. |
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The person who looks closely at every penny might not be cheap — he might be a numismatist, a coin collector, looking for old or rare coins that somehow got into the mix. |
To correctly pronounce numismatist, accent the third syllable: "new-miz-MUH-tist." It literally means "someone who studies coins." These aren't the coins you have in your pocket right now. Instead, a numismatist studies and collects coins from other places and time periods. The word comes from the Latin word numisma, meaning "coin, currency." The word numismatist was coined — no pun intended! — in 1799. |
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| 3976 |
nuptial |
of or relating to a wedding |
Bates was to escort her on the nuptial journey, and all arrangements for the wedding of the distinguished pair had been completed. |
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You can describe something related to a wedding, or nuptials, using nuptial. You might go on a diet, getting ready for your nuptial day. After the wedding, you might experience nuptial bliss. |
It’s a little-known fact that zombies fear anything nuptial. The sight of wedding cakes, bridal processions, or spousal rites makes body parts fall away. Nuptial bliss turns the remaining parts to jelly. When the Zombie Army comes marching into your hometown, your best defense is to grab the nearest single girl or guy and find a minister. Just don’t forget to sign a prenuptial agreement: you don’t want to argue later about who gets the zombie artifacts. |
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| 3977 |
nuptials |
the social event at which the marriage ceremony is performed |
Atalanta could now no longer refuse to marry, and her nuptials were soon celebrated. |
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When you go to someone's wedding, you are attending their nuptials, a fancier way of talking about a wedding ceremony. |
If you take away the "s" in nuptials, it is used like an adjective to mean "related to marriage." You could say that your newlywed friends are living in nuptial bliss, or if you like them less, that their wedding, with fireworks and a horse-drawn carriage, was a perfect example of nuptial excess. |
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| 3978 |
nursery |
a child's room for a baby |
In Germany, the biggest economy in Europe, most schools still finish at lunchtime, and full-time nurseries for children under 3 are scarce. |
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In a nursery, you're going to find a lot of growth — and either babies or plants. |
The word nurse is a clue to the meaning of nursery: nurses take care of people, and a nursery is a place of caretaking. One kind of nursery is for babies: it's a child's room with a crib and lots of baby toys. The other kind of nursery is for plants: this type of nursery usually has glass walls and a roof, plus everything plants need to be healthy. Nurseries keep plants or babies safe so they can grow. |
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| 3979 |
nurture |
help develop; help grow |
But unlike most boys they nurtured and cultivated the passion and it stayed with them to manhood. |
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If you plant a seed, water it daily and give it lots of light, you nurture it until it is ready to be transplanted outside. When you nurture a person or thing, you care for it and help it to grow. |
After a fight with your friend, you may have to nurture the relationship a little until you're close again. Use the phrase "nature versus nurture" to help you remember the word. Nature is a baby just out of the womb. Nurture is how that baby is raised or taken care of. Once the child is older, you may wonder if its love of reading is nature or nurture — is it natural born or is it because you read to the baby every night. |
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| 3980 |
maculate |
spot, stain, or pollute |
It fell upon their faces, touching their whiteness with a ruddy tinge, accentuating the stains with which so many of them were freaked and maculated. |
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If your little sister has a maculate appearance, she either needs a good wipe with a damp towel or you should take her to the doctor straight away. A fairly technical word little used now, maculate means "spotted" or "blotchy." |
There's another meaning for maculate, that of "having a blemished or impure moral character." Now your little sister doesn't have that, does she? You can also maculate something by either physically or metaphorically polluting it — like a river or a relationship. |
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| 3981 |
maelstrom |
a powerful circular current of water |
The entire bowl was now a maelstrom of swirling bodies, legs and arms. |
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A maelstrom is a powerful whirlpool. A luckless ship might go down in one, conflicting ocean currents might cause one. You hear it more often metaphorically, to describe disasters where many competing forces are at play. |
When an economy or a government fails, the situation is often described as a maelstrom. Following some precipitous event, all the forces at play––banks, governments, consumers––are trying as hard as they can to protect themselves. This creates a maelstrom — a perfect storm, so to speak — that drags any potential for rescue down with it. Maelstrom comes from an obsolete Dutch phrase meaning "whirling stream." |
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| 3982 |
magnanimous |
noble and generous in spirit |
She will love to dwell on that large, generous, magnanimous, open, forgiving heart. |
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A magnanimous person has a generous spirit. Letting your little sister have the last of the cookies, even though you hadn't eaten since breakfast, would be considered a magnanimous act. |
Magnanimous comes from Latin magnus "great" and animus "soul," so it literally describes someone who is big-hearted. A person can show that over-sized spirit by being noble or brave, or by easily forgiving others and not showing resentment. It implies superiority, and is something you should say of others rather than of yourself. Being magnanimous doesn't require doling out tons of cash — just being an understanding and tolerant soul will do the trick. |
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| 3983 |
magniloquent |
lofty in style |
The day was spent in magniloquent addresses, which affected the style of ancient types, urgent exhortations to war, poetical orations, rounds of applause, rapturous demonstrations. |
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If you want to impress people, you might try using magniloquent language. That is, fancy and flowery language. For instance, you could use the word magniloquent, which come to think of it, is a magniloquent word itself. |
Magniloquent may remind you of the word eloquent, which describes a way of speaking that is articulate, persuasive, and carefully chosen. Magniloquent shares the Latin root loqui, “speak,” with eloquent and also describes a way of speaking. However, magniloquent describes speech that sounds very intelligent and important, but may in fact have little substance. Another adjective that sounds similar and conveys the same meaning is grandiloquent. Other synonyms include bombastic, pompous, and highfalutin. |
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| 3984 |
maim |
injure or wound seriously and leave permanent disfiguration |
Think of the maimed, the mutilated, the mangled! |
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To maim something is to disfigure it through force or violence. Wartime battles have a tendency to maim soldiers. |
The verb maim is related to mayhem, which, historically, was the act of hurting another person so badly that they couldn’t defend themselves. To maim a person or animal, even if it’s an accident, is to render them defenseless or disfigured, and it frequently includes the loss of a limb. The goal of driving defensively is to avoid an accident that could maim you, your passengers, or other people on the road. |
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| 3985 |
majestic |
having or displaying great dignity or nobility |
By-and-by the three temples loomed into view, standing in all their beauty on the barren waste, majestic, uninjured, extraordinary. |
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Majestic things display great dignity, befit a great ruler, or are simply far superior to everyday stuff. Compared with a peasant's hut, for instance, a king's palace is quite majestic. |
The adjective majestic has origins in the Latin word majestatem, meaning "greatness, dignity, honor, or excellence." It's often used to describe things connected with kings and queens (whom, you'll remember, we often address as "Your Majesty"). We also like to refer to the great creatures and places of the natural world as majestic: Mt. Fuji in Japan for example, or a bald eagle flying over the Grand Canyon. |
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| 3986 |
malady |
any unwholesome or desperate condition |
As with most of the infectious maladies, scarlet fever extended to the Western World through European shipping. |
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A malady is an illness, like a malady that keeps you home, sick in bed for days, or something that causes you to have trouble or to suffer, like jet lag — a malady that affects travelers. |
Malady, pronounced "MAL-uh-dee," comes from the Latin words male, meaning "bad or ill" and habitus for "have, hold." When you have a malady, it is like something bad is holding you, such as an illness — the common cold: a malady of winter. Some bad habits cause maladies, such as never having any money — the malady of people who spend freely, not thinking of the future. |
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| 3987 |
malapropism |
misuse of a word by confusion with one that sounds similar |
New words are eagerly seized; hence the malapropisms and solecisms so frequently made fun of, without appreciation of their cause. |
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A malapropism occurs when you say one word but you mean another, like instead of saying a certain restaurant is prosperous, you say it is preposterous. As you can tell, malapropisms are often humorous, though sometimes the joke is on the speaker. |
The word malapropism, pronounced "mah-luh-PRAH-pih-zum," comes from the French phrase mal à propos, which means "ill-suited." Playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan must have been thinking of the French phrase when he created his character Mrs. Malaprop, who made audiences howl with laughter when she used the wrong word. Examples include saying "allegory" instead of "alligator," and "illiterate him from your memory" instead of "obliterate." |
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| 3988 |
manifold |
many and varied; having many features or forms |
Then, too, there are innumerable separate agencies, working in ways manifold and diverse. |
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Manifold is a smarty-pants way to say "varied," "many," or "multiple." There are many good reasons to expand your vocabulary, so you could say the benefits of learning new words are manifold. |
Manifold sounds like "many fold," which is what it is — something with many features, like a wallet with lots of folds so stuffed with junk that makes you sit funny when it's in your back pocket. As an adjective, manifold loves to appear in books, like Mrs. Gryce in Edith Wharton's "The House of Mirth," whose "domestic duties were manifold." As a noun, a manifold is a pipe branching into many openings, often found in car engines. |
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| 3989 |
marital |
of or relating to the state of marriage |
In many jurisdictions, if your separately owned property increases in value during the marriage, that increase is also considered marital property. |
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Use the adjective marital to describe something that relates to a marriage. You may envy the marital contentment of spouses who communicate well with each other. |
When you pronounce marital, put the accent on the first syllable and use the short i sound: "MAR i tul." Now you're ready to ask people, "What is your marital status?" They'll answer that they're single or married, or possibly engaged, widowed, divorced, or living as unmarried partners. Marital comes from Latin: maritalis, meaning "of or belonging to married people," and maritus, meaning "husband." |
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| 3990 |
maritime |
relating to ships or navigation |
In any case, the report argues, international maritime law in theory obligates ships to come to the assistance of those in trouble at sea. |
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Use maritime to describe anything involving the sea and ships. A maritime museum would probably be located in a coastal town, and stuffed full of historic boats, oars, life preservers, and fishing gear. |
Maritime comes from the Latin word maritimus, which means "of the sea," so the meaning hasn't evolved much. Whales and dolphins are maritime animals, and according to maritime law, the captain of a ship can marry two people at sea. It's very similar to nautical, except nautical refers to ships, and maritime covers ships and other ocean-related stuff. |
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| 3991 |
martyr |
one who suffers for the sake of principle |
Despite the pounding summer sun, Protesters turned out to demand justice for those killed during the revolution, who are seen as martyrs for democracy. |
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Someone who suffers, or is even killed, for his or her political or religious beliefs is called a martyr. |
Martin Luther King Jr. is often called a martyr in connection with the American civil rights movement. A martyr is also someone who chooses to be put to death rather than renounce his or her religious beliefs, as the story of Saint Stephen tells. In the figurative sense, if you are a martyr to headaches, you suffer from them. Sometimes, martyr is used negatively to refer to someone who chooses to suffer when there is no need to do so. |
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| 3992 |
materialistic |
marked by a desire for wealth and possessions |
Moreover, in contrast to the dominant thinking of our age, which is materialistic, King's philosophy is spiritual and religious. |
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Who doesn’t love the nice things that money can buy? But if all you care about is the stuff you have and the stuff you want to buy, you are materialistic. |
Anyone who is obsessively focused on money, or cares deeply about owning luxury goods can be described as materialistic. Material is a synonym for matter: anything that exists. Originally, materialism was a philosophy that "only matter exists." But in 1851, American fiction writer Nathaniel Hawthorne tweaked the definition to mean “a way of life based entirely on consumer goods," a meaning that endures. |
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| 3993 |
maternal |
characteristic of a mother |
Maternal mortality rates are also high, with 85 women dying in childbirth for every 100,000 live births, Tidey said. |
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If you are maternal, you are like a mother. How you define what it is to be “like a mother” is up to you, but most people think of nurturing things like chicken soup and kisses on the forehead. |
The adjective maternal comes from the Latin maternus, which means “of a mother.” Many traits are labeled as maternal, including physical traits that are genetically passed on from the mother — like being color blind. A woman’s desire to have a child is called her “maternal instinct,” and if you care for other people in a nurturing way you are being maternal, even if you are not a mother. Your mother’s mother is your “maternal grandmother.” |
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| 3994 |
matriarchy |
social organization in which a female is the family head |
In effect, however, women owned the country and women governed it; suddenly the matriarchy existed. |
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If you ever heard "Just wait until your mother gets home!" when you did something wrong as a child, you may have grown up in a matriarchy. In a matriarchy, women call the shots. |
The word matriarchy, pronounced "MAY-tree-ar-kee," derives from the Latin word mater, meaning “mother,” and archein, or "to rule." A matriarchy is a social system is which women have more power in the community than men. Matriarchy can also be used more broadly to describe a family that is ruled by a powerful woman. The opposite of matriarchy is patriarchy, a system in which men are the ones holding the power. |
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| 3995 |
matrix |
an enclosure within which something originates or develops |
Today, Web music services are spread across the entire range of the price/convenience/permanence matrix. |
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At an archaeological dig, the matrix is the soil surrounding the site. Biologists use the phrase "nuclear matrix" to refer to the material left behind after DNA is extracted from a cell's nucleus. A matrix is an environment or structure in which something originates or develops. |
Matrix, related to the Latin word for "mother," originally meant "pregnant animal" or "breeding female" and was later generalized to mean "womb." Today, matrix includes any nurturing or supportive setting or substance usually within the fields of math and the sciences — except in the cinematic trilogy starring Keanu Reeves, of course. Matrixes is an acceptable plural form, but you can use matrices if you want to show off your knowledge of Latin noun endings. |
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| 3996 |
maturation |
the process of an individual organism growing organically |
Again, that is a very fast maturation rate, making it efficient for breeding in the lab. |
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Maturation is the process that a living thing goes through as it ages and becomes ripe or fully developed. Things that go through maturation include soybeans, antelope, bourbon, frogs, magnolia trees, the human sex drive, peaches, and much more. |
As something becomes mature it goes through maturation. To be mature is to be ripe, ready, and fully grown. Some natural maturation processes are easy to identify, like the duration of a fruit fly’s development from egg to adult, but others are more difficult to pinpoint. For instance, you may know some people who, despite having passed their fortieth birthdays, seem to have missed that bit of maturation that would keep them from calling their friends toilet-themed nicknames. |
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| 3997 |
maven |
one who is very skilled in or knowledgeable about a field |
The Deadhead community boasts any number of recording engineers, lighting experts, rock video mavens, electronic technicians of all descriptions. |
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Whether it's in fashion, or food, or forensic science, someone who really knows his stuff about a topic is a maven, or a person particularly skilled in the field. |
The word maven comes from the Yiddish meyvn, meaning "one who understands." But to be a maven you have to more than just understand a topic, you have to know its ins and outs. Often mavens are the people that you turn to as experts in a field. You don't become a maven overnight. That kind of expertise comes with an accumulation of knowledge over the years. |
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| 3998 |
mawkish |
effusively or insincerely emotional |
Herself full of mawkish sentimentality, her verses could not fail to be foolish, their whole impulse being the ambition that springs from self-admiration. |
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Mawkish means excessively sentimental or so sappy it's sickening. Which is how you'd describe two lovebirds gushing over each other or your grandma’s cooing, cheek pinches, and sloppy-lipstick kisses. |
The adjective mawkish came into vogue in the 1600s. Oddly enough, it's rooted in the Middle English word maggot and originally meant “sickly or nauseated.” But mawkish eventually evolved to mean something so overly sentimental it makes you sick. It's not a word you hear very often these days, but feel free to use it to describe really lame love poems and annoyingly mushy Valentine's Day cards. |
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| 3999 |
mayhem |
violent and needless disturbance |
Although some graffiti had already been removed, evidence of the previous night's mayhem was visible in broken display cases. |
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Mayhem is a violent and rowdy disturbance, like what you might experience at an overcrowded rock concert or a day-after-Thanksgiving sale. |
You may encounter several types of disturbances in your life, but mayhem is typically used for disturbances involving crowds. The word mayhem comes to us not from Latin, as many English words do, but from Anglo-French, a dialect of French that developed in England several centuries ago. We’re guessing those Anglo-French speakers had a reputation for being a pretty rowdy bunch. |
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| 4000 |
meager |
deficient in amount or quality or extent |
Prime Minister John Key said he was spreading his Marmite more thinly to stretch his meager and dwindling supply. |
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Meager means small and often applies to portions. Your mother may only allow you a meager serving of chocolate cake, and you may need to eat a meager serving of veggies in order to deserve that dessert. |
Meager doesn't mean adequate — it means not enough. People with a limited supply of food may try to subsist on meager portions. People who make a meager amount of money probably have a hard time making rent. Meager and emaciated both derive from the Old French maigre. If you can remember that you will look emaciated if your diet is meager, you’ll use the word correctly. |
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| 4001 |
melee |
a noisy riotous fight |
The Washington Post said the melee broke out in the fourth quarter as members of both teams tackled and threw punches at one another. |
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A melee is a noisy free-for-all or rowdy fight — a no holds barred, battle royal, if you will. It's what pro wrestlers engage in every night, and shoppers endure at the toy store every holiday season. |
If you think melee sounds like a fancy French way to say "crazy bar brawl," you're right: It comes from the French mêlée which means "confused fight or mixture.” What makes a melee different than any other fight is that element of chaos or confusion — so don't jump into a brewing melee unless you're really ready to bring the ruckus. |
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| 4002 |
mellifluous |
pleasing to the ear |
There was much of this in our great man, whose voice became of the sweetest and most mellifluous key, as he bent before the peer. |
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Use the adjective mellifluous to describe something that sounds sweet and smooth, like the honeyed voice of a late-night radio DJ. |
You might think that that mell in mellifluous has something to do with mellow. Actually, it's related to Melissa. In Greek mythology, Melissa was a nymph who discovered that you could eat the smooth, sweet stuff that bees make. Honeybees were named after her, and their tasty product was called meli. Mellifluous means to "flow as if with honey." |
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| 4003 |
melodramatic |
characteristic of acting or a stage performance |
Its melodramatic characters striking theatrical postures are uninspiring, to put it mildly. |
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If you're writhing on the floor, howling in pain over the splinter in your finger, you're being a tad melodramatic, that is, exaggerated, affected, or histrionic. |
This term was first used in early-19th-century theater, as the adjective form of the noun melodrama, which is a performance piece featuring exaggerated characters with emotional appeal. Outside the theater, melodramatic behavior is also characterized by a kind of performance or exaggeration of emotions, but it's very rarely appreciated or awarded extra points for artistic merit. The common phrase "Quit being so melodramatic!" is a terse way of pointing out to someone that they are overreacting. |
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| 4004 |
memorabilia |
a record of things worth remembering |
Construction workers on Thursday buried a stainless steel time capsule with memorabilia relating to President Franklin D. Roosevelt at Four Freedoms Park on Roosevelt Island. |
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The noun memorabilia describes items that remind you of a certain event or time period. Parents who save every drawing and report card their children bring home are collecting memorabilia for the future. |
Been there, done that, got the t-shirt? That t-shirt is memorabilia. Memorabilia refers to anything that commemorates an event. It shows you were there — you have the t-shirt to prove it. But t-shirts didn't even exist in 1806, the year memorabilia was coined from the Latin word memorare, meaning "to bring to mind." You save memorabilia to help you remember, or jog your memory. |
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| 4005 |
menace |
express a threat either by an utterance or a gesture |
And raising her stick in her shaking hand, she made a gesture so menacing that, fearing she would strike him, my lord stepped back. |
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If it's threatening you or otherwise posing some sort of danger, then it's a menace. Angry rabid dogs, smog clouds, and annoying little brothers are all probable menaces. |
The word menace works as both a noun and a verb, but it wasn't used to describe threatening or bothersome people until 1936. Before then, common menaces probably included things like the plague, locusts, and roving bands of pirate ships. Today, a bad reputation can menace an otherwise promising career, weeds can menace your garden, and burglars are a menace to society. |
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| 4006 |
menagerie |
a collection of live animals for study or display |
If my cell were big enough, I should walk round and round as I have seen the caged animals do in menageries. |
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A menagerie (pronounced muh-NA-juh-ree, with NA as in "national") is a collection of live animals that people visit, study, or keep as pets. If you really want a backyard menagerie of farm animals after visiting the petting zoo, take a long sniff and remember what comes with them. |
Pet lovers can have a menagerie of cats, dogs, and birds or exotic animals such as snakes, ferrets, and piranhas. Zoos have animal collections like the menagerie of sea creatures in the aquarium and the swinging apes in the jungle menagerie. And a science or medical center may have a menagerie of rats for studying behavior. If you want a menagerie, an ant farm is a good one: lots of animals in a container, always working, and never stinking up the place. |
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| 4007 |
menial |
used of unskilled work, especially domestic work |
He can always get work at unskilled manual labour, or personal or domestic service—in other words, at menial employment. |
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A menial task is anything that takes very little training, skill, or talent. Some people find it relaxing to do the menial chore of folding laundry. Go figure. |
The adjective menial comes from an Old French word, mensie, which means “household.” Many chores that get labeled as menial are domestic, but other jobs outside of the home are sometimes also considered menial: stuffing envelopes, data processing, repetitive assembly line work, brain surgery (OK, that last one is not considered menial; we were just checking to see if you were awake). |
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| 4008 |
mercantile |
relating to or characteristic of trade or traders |
But external trade is regulated by governments on the principles of the mercantile system. |
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What do merchants want to do? Buy and sell things to make a profit. The adjective mercantile describes these kinds of efforts and goals. |
Many people have mercantile dreams of opening a store where they can sell things they love and interact with people in their community. Sometimes, however, the word mercantile has negative connotations. Exploiting factory workers, polluting the environment, wasting natural resources? All these reflect the dark side of the mercantile pursuit of profit. |
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| 4009 |
meretricious |
tastelessly showy |
Education and extensive reading have preserved them from faults of gaudiness and meretricious ornament. |
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Have you ever heard the phrase "fake it until you make it"? That is advice that encourages you to be meretricious, pretending to be something you aren't, like the meretricious flaunting of gigantic fake diamond earrings, pretending they are real — and that you can afford them. |
To correctly pronounce meretricious, accent the third syllable: "mer-uh-TRISH-us." Don't mistake something that is meretricious for having merit. In fact, it is just the opposite. From an expensive restaurant that looks expensively furnished but when the lights are turned up, you can see that "leather" chairs are just cheap vinyl or a woman who pretends her counterfeit handbags are designer originals, meretricious actions are meant to deceive. |
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| 4010 |
milieu |
the environmental condition |
Adams is particularly good at capturing the rivalries, power struggles and pecking order in the newsroom, a milieu she knows intimately. |
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A milieu is a surrounding culture. Your family, house, neighborhood, school, and people you hang out with make up your milieu. If you live in a mansion and have rich friends, you’re part of the upper crust milieu. Go you. |
A milieu is both "surroundings" and everything that makes up the surroundings. Your milieu is your world, or the context you come from. Sometimes a milieu shapes a person, as when a "milieu of abuse and poverty," inspires someone to improve things for others. Milieu sounds a lot like mildew without the "d," but unless you grew up in a moldy bathtub, mildew probably has little to do with your milieu, or environment. |
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| 4011 |
militant |
a reformer disposed to hard-line policies |
Militants holed up in a tall building were firing rockets in different directions, according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene. |
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A militant is someone who is engaged in a war or who acts aggressively for their cause. If you are militant in your beliefs, you do not question them anymore than a soldier questions his orders. |
In the context of undeclared or guerrilla warfare, enemy fighters are often referred to not as soldiers but as militants, because they are not members of a formal army. As an adjective, militant often has a negative feel–-the feminist movement was set back by the far right's depiction of the militant feminist. |
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| 4012 |
minion |
a servile or fawning dependant |
They were common clay, mere ephemeral puppets, without hope of command, minions to take orders, necessary evils in an age of mechanism and high-speed commerce. |
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Your minions, if you are lucky enough to have any, are those people who are devoted to you and entirely dependent on you. If you borrow money from a bully and don't pay it back, he might send one of his minions after you. |
A minion is nothing more than a yes-man, a nameless faceless servant. It is a negative term implying that your only importance is from the person who orders you around. Corporate presidents may have minions to do their dirty work such as firing employees who have made a mistake. If a celebrity comes to town, minions will come ahead of time to make sure that everything is to the celebrity's liking. |
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| 4013 |
mirth |
great merriment |
At times he was as silent and mysterious as the sphinx, at other times brimming over with mirth and merriment. |
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Mirth is a formal or literary term meaning fun and enjoyment as shown by laughter. If you and your friends stayed up all night at a sleepover laughing, you might refer to that as a night of mirth. |
In 1905, Edith Wharton published a novel "The House of Mirth," whose title derives from Ecclesiastes: "The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth." But studies show that when human beings laugh, smile or otherwise engage in mirthful activity, our brains release hormones that help us live longer. Mirth may be foolish, but it's good for you. |
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| 4014 |
misconstrue |
interpret in the wrong way |
Unconsciously and boy-like, he did things which were often misconstrued as downright badness, whereas the boy had not the slightest intention of doing anything wrong. |
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Misconstrue means something is interpreted the wrong way. If you see your brother walking your best friend home, you may misconstrue the situation and think they're dating when really he's only picking up your birthday present. |
The verb misconstrue originates from the words mis-, meaning "wrong," and construe, meaning "construction." Combined they mean "to put a wrong construction on" — in other words, something is given the wrong interpretation. You may misconstrue your brother's intentions when he takes your bike without asking. Sometimes people can intentionally allow others to misconstrue something for personal gain. A politician may let voters misconstrue his voting record to get elected. |
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| 4015 |
miscreant |
a person without moral scruples |
Among such characters there will be miscreants capable of any crime, and therefore there is always danger. |
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A miscreant is a person who is bad––who lies, breaks the law, yells at small puppies. It's a somewhat old-fashioned word, popular with old ladies shocked at having their purses stolen at the opera. |
Miscreant, like lout, lecher, good-for-nothing — they're the words proper people use to condemn the improper. Improper people consult an entirely different thesaurus of condemnation, perhaps familiar to you but not possible to quote from in this PG-rated word blurb. |
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| 4016 |
mnemonic |
of or relating to the practice of aiding the memory |
He was able to beef up his memory by learning mnemonic techniques. |
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A mnemonic is a memory aid for something, often taking the form of a rhyme or an acronym. I before E except after C, is a mnemonic to help you remember how to spell words like "piece" and "receive." |
As an adjective, mnemonic describes something related to memory. "Spring forward, Fall back" is a mnemonic device to help you remember which way to set your clocks for daylight savings time. Set the clock forward an hour in the spring when daylight savings time begins, and set the clock back an hour in the fall when it ends. Well-known mnemonics exist to help you remember things like the planets, the digits of Pi, and the color spectrum. |
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| 4017 |
moniker |
a familiar name for a person |
He has been going by his childhood moniker for so long, it is the only name most people know. |
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A moniker is a nickname. Basketball player Charles Barkley had the moniker "The Round Mound of Rebound." |
A moniker is a nickname or pet name for a person. People who are dating or friends often have monikers like "Sweetie" and "Schmoopie." Some monikers are shortened versions of your name, like "Ed" or "Eddie" for "Edward." Athletes and other famous people have many monikers. There was a very large football player for the Chicago Bears (William Perry) whose moniker was "The Refrigerator." That's a lot nicer moniker than "Ivan the Terrible." |
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| 4018 |
monotheism |
belief in a single God |
From that it passes on to monotheism, the belief in one God, who is the sole author and creator of the universe. |
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Monotheism is the belief in a single all-powerful god, as opposed to religions that believe in multiple gods. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are widely practiced forms of monotheism. |
Monotheism comes from the combination of the Greek prefixes monos-, “alone” or “single,” and theo-, “god.” There are many words that come from the Greek base theo-: theology, polytheist, and atheism, to name a few. All of these theo- words have to do with god, gods, or the study of religion. Monotheism is any religion that believes in one god. Buddhism, for instance, isn’t an example of monotheism because Buddha is not considered a god who created the universe. |
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| 4019 |
moratorium |
suspension of an ongoing activity |
Drilling activity was suspended on June 12 under a moratorium the U.S. placed on exploration in waters deeper than 500 feet. |
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A moratorium is the suspension of a particular activity––you could have a moratorium on fishing, baking, the use of candles, the wearing of matching socks. |
Generally, moratoriums go into effect when something becomes seen as being not okay for now, but might go back to being okay later. After the water fountain started to burble up green sludge, the principal put a moratorium on drinking any water at school until the fountains were fixed and the water tested. |
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| 4020 |
mores |
the conventions embodying the fundamental values of a group |
Societal attitudes toward servants are often shaped by ingrained mores about caste and class. |
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Mores are the customs, norms, and behaviors that are acceptable to a society or social group. If your personal morals are in disagreement with local mores, you should be prepared to be annoyed every time you read the local Letters to the Editor. |
Mores and morals have similar meanings––mores are the morals of a group or society itself. They are not necessarily based on written law and they can change. The mores of the Victorian era prescribed modesty for women. A Victorian time traveling to our time would probably be shocked by current mores that allow women to wear shorts. |
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| 4021 |
motley |
consisting of a haphazard assortment of different kinds |
All sorts and conditions of men were represented in the huge and motley throng. |
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If you've encountered the word motley, it's most likely in the phrase "motley crew," which means a diverse and poorly organized group. Think of a band of pirates, or the assorted characters who became The Fellowship of the Ring. |
In contemporary usage, motley can be used in virtually any context as a synonym for mismatched, heterogeneous, or ragtag. But the word was first used to describe multicolored fabric, especially the type of material used in a jester's costume. This distinctive apparel was a sign of the fool's place outside the class system — and, in the Elizabethan era, it signified that the jester was beyond the sumptuary laws that determined who could wear what. Thus, the fool had the exceptional ability to speak freely, even to royalty. |
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| 4022 |
mull |
reflect deeply on a subject |
Thinkers like Aristotle have mulled over such questions for centuries, says philosopher Mark Vernon in the Magazine's series on modern ethical dilemmas. |
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The verb mull means to think deeply about something, the way you might mull over your choice of what college to attend. |
When you mull something over, you ponder or seriously consider it. You could mull over what aid organization to donate money to following a natural disaster, or mull over what to study in college. People are most likely to mull over important decisions, but you can use the word mull, almost always with over, any time you're giving serious consideration to something. A completely different meaning of mull is "to heat, sweeten and spice," as when you make mulled cider. |
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| 4023 |
multitudinous |
too numerous to be counted |
Here, along the lines of multitudinous houses, up one street and down another, he wondered which of them might be occupied by her. |
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Anything multitudinous is countless, infinite, innumerable, and, myriad: you couldn't count it if you tried. |
This is a fancy way to describe more than a whole lot of something — so many, in fact, that you could never count them all. There are multitudinous atoms in your body, multitudinous drops in the ocean, and multitudinous grains of sand on the beach. The number of books in the library isn't multitudinous, even though it would take forever to count them all. Save multitudinous for things that are so amazingly numerous that counting is useless. |
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| 4024 |
mutiny |
open rebellion against constituted authority |
Slaves make insurrection; soldiers or sailors break out in mutiny; subject provinces rise in revolt. |
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A mutiny is a rebellion against authority, like when sailors overthrow the captain of a ship or when a class of 8th graders refuses to dissect a frog in biology class. |
Mutiny comes from an old verb, mutine, which means "revolt," and a mutiny is still like a revolt. It can be a group of people, like in the famous Mutiny on the Bounty in 1789 when the crew of a British Royal Navy ship kicked the captain out so they could stay in Tahiti. (Totally worth it.) A mutiny doesn't have to be at sea or in the military; it can be to "refuse the order of the person in authority," in other words, every teacher's nightmare. |
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| 4025 |
myriad |
a large indefinite number |
In this case, hundreds of drugs are involved, each with myriad approved uses in various animals. |
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If you've got myriad problems it doesn't mean you should call a myriad exterminator, it means you've got countless problems; loads of them; too many to count. Welcome to the club. |
Myriad is one of those words rarely used in speech but only in written form. You would usually use a phrase like "lots of" or "loads of" instead. I mean, you could say "I've got myriad problems," but everyone would probably just laugh at you, and rightly so. Originally from ancient Latin and Greek words meaning "ten thousand" — so perhaps you can put a number on myriad, after all. |
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| 4026 |
mythical |
based on or told of in traditional stories |
Dating back to classical antiquity, Corinth was reputedly the home of Pegasus, the winged mythical horse. |
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Mythical means from myth, fables, or other traditional stories. A mythical story has no basis in historical events. Sometimes someone whose deeds far outshine others is referred to as mythical. |
There are a number of mythical animals that inhabit stories from around the globe. A white horse with a horn protruding from its forehead, the unicorn, is a mythical beast that is very popular worldwide. Much of Western art takes mythical stories, gods, goddesses, or other spirit creatures as subject matter. |
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| 4027 |
jaunt |
a journey taken for pleasure |
He got the idea during afternoon jaunts around the neighborhood with his daughter, Iris, then 9, who rode her bicycle while Mr. Cronin jogged. |
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Running out to get pizza to bring back before the big game? This short, quick, pleasurable trip could be called a jaunt (unless of course, you get your pizza from Italy, that’s called “time to get a closer pizza place”). |
Jaunt was used in the 17th century to describe a journey on a horse just long enough to tire the horse out. Nebraska has what they call a Junk Jaunt, which is a yard sale that includes up to 40 towns and stretches nearly 300 miles and draws up to 20,000 people. That’s more than enough to make any horse tired, but they call it a jaunt nevertheless. |
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| 4028 |
jaunty |
having a cheerful, lively, and self-confident air |
Yet his mood was jaunty and he cheerfully claimed to have achieved his ambition, thus far, of getting through February without touching alcohol. |
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Jaunty combines ideas such as cheerful, spiffy, upbeat, and natty into one delightfully economical adjective that means all of those things at once! |
A jaunty hat is one that's stylish and cheerful at the same time, a quality that can be accentuated if the person wears it in a jaunty fashion, perhaps off to the side or over one eye. Playing the part of a jaunty person is easy if you're feeling upbeat and chipper and want the world to know it. Elves are often jaunty in their own way. Sporting their spiffy outfits and featuring that trademark cheerful spring in their step. The fact they always seem so lively and eager to chat only increases the jaunty impression they make. One can't be blamed for wanting to take a jaunt with the jaunty little guys. |
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| 4029 |
jeer |
laugh at with contempt and derision |
The mob jeered, and derided, and insulted her in every conceivable way. |
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As a noun, jeer is the act of scoffing, taunting, or mocking. Think of it as an anti-cheer. If you offer cheers for the visiting team and jeers for the home team, you might not be too popular in the stands. |
As a verb, jeer means to laugh at in a mean way. Even if you did forget the words to the national anthem, it wasn't polite for the crowd to jeer. But don't feel too bad: the last singer remembered all the words and they jeered her anyway! Tough crowd. |
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| 4030 |
jeopardize |
pose a threat to; present a danger to |
Furthermore, Facebook could jeopardize Google’s online dominance by developing its own search capabilities. |
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Jeopardize means to put at risk or pose a threat. Jeopardize your career by posting silly pictures of yourself on Facebook. Jeopardize your friendships by posting silly pictures of your friends on Facebook. |
Jeopardize stems from the Old French jeu parti, which literally translates to a game with divided, or even, chances. An even chance of winning hardly seems a risky endeavor, but maybe our forefathers weren't big risk-takers. Whatever the reason, jeopardize has come to mean the act of putting yourself or something at risk, through circumstance or behavior. Think of double-jeopardy on the gameshow "Jeopardy" and you'll better understand what it means to jeopardize your savings. |
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| 4031 |
jest |
activity characterized by good humor |
Everybody was in the highest spirits; every jest or bit of fun was caught, bandied back and forth, and passed on with new trimmings. |
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A jest is a joke. Are you a playful prankster? A jocular jokester? A witty wisecracker? Then you are definitely well versed in the art of the jest. |
To jest means to banter and joke in a playful way — like a "court jester," whose job it was in medieval times to entertain the royal court with funny stories. Today when we jest we generally joke around or gently tease. The noun's meaning evolved over time, from "idle tale" to "mocking speech," and finally to "joke." |
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| 4032 |
jettison |
throw away, of something encumbering |
In the editing room, they jettisoned material they had once deemed essential but came to view as extraneous. |
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Jettison means to push to the side or toss away. If a boat is leaking or an airplane is running out of fuel, you can buy more time by jettisoning cargo, or throwing it overboard. |
The word jettison — dating, in its nautical meaning, from the 15th century in English — is commonly used figuratively as well as literally. You can jettison a friendship or an attitude. During the month that the Winter Olympics are aired on TV, figure-skating fans across the country jettison homework and other responsibilities in order to watch. |
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| 4033 |
jingoist |
an extreme bellicose nationalist |
And, hell, I'm no jingoist, but surely we can do better in this country than importing our drugs from Mexico, right? |
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Jingoists really dislike people from outside their own borders. Jingoism is an extreme form of patriotism that often calls for violence towards foreigners and foreign countries. |
Patriotism — a love for one's country — can, in certain cases, turn nasty and go beyond wishing for the welfare of one's own homeland. That's when a patriot becomes a nationalist. From there, it's only a short step to becoming a jingoist, one who not only waves the flag of their country but believes that all other people are threats and should be treated as such. An obvious example of a jingoist was Adolf Hitler, who stirred up fear and anger towards outsiders that led to world war...and much worse. |
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| 4034 |
jocular |
characterized by jokes and good humor |
Maria saw every thing, and marked well the expression of Mr. Stokes's face, so serious, so unlike his usual jocular tone. |
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Do you like to make a lot of jokes? Are you often silly? Are you usually happy? If so, then you are a jocular person. |
Being jocular has to do with being both jokey and fun. A jocular suggestion is not a serious suggestion — it's a joke. Some people are more jocular than others: anyone who is ultra-serious and always frowning is not jocular. A comedian makes a job of being jocular. Class clowns can't stop being jocular, though the teacher might just see them as obnoxious. Being jocular is usually considered a good thing: it's not just about making a lot of jokes; it's about being happy and pleasant to be around. |
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| 4035 |
jollity |
feeling jovial and full of good humor |
Smiling faces, mirth, and jollity abound everywhere, and good feeling unites all men as brethren on this most popular of all the Dutch festivals. |
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Use the noun jollity to describe having fun and being in an extremely good mood, like the jollity you feel when you are with your best friends at your favorite amusement park. |
You can see the word jolly in jollity and that is a big clue that it means "full of cheer and good will." We might say that Jolly Old Saint Nicholas — Santa Claus — is the king of jollity. But you can join his court — you are the picture of jollity when you are laughing uncontrollably with good friends or whooping it up at a Country Western dance. We are talking mirth and merriment: that's jollity. |
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| 4036 |
jubilant |
full of high-spirited delight |
As the results poured in, a jubilant, well-heeled crowd thronged the street outside the party's headquarters, dancing and cheering. |
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If you were the quarterback that threw the touchdown pass that won the Super Bowl, you would be jubilant: filled with joy. |
When you feel jubilant, you’re full of extreme happiness. Usually people are jubilant after great victories, whether in sports, politics, or life. When you're jubilant, it's a moment of extreme happiness, like giving birth or watching a child graduate. There can also be jubilant songs, jubilant performances, even jubilant periods in history, times when people are especially proud and filled with triumph. The end of World War II was just such a jubilant moment. |
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| 4037 |
juggernaut |
a massive inexorable force |
Welch transformed GE into a sleek juggernaut that dominated market segments from jet engines and locomotives to finance. |
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Juggernaut means a massive force. If the army marching into your country is a juggernaut, you're doomed. If you're trying to market a new Cola product, you're up against corporate giant Coca-Cola, a beverage juggernaut if ever there was one. |
With its roots in Hindi, juggernaut originally referred to a crude statue from which the Hindu god, Brahma, turned into the living god, Krishna. There continues to be a festival in honor of this miracle, in which a statue of Krishna is carted through town. It is said that in times past, devotees would throw themselves under the cart’s wheels. |
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| 4038 |
junta |
a group of officers who rule a country after seizing power |
The stock soared 10.2% in London after Mali's military junta agreed to reinstate the country's constitution following last month's coup. |
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When a government is overthrown, the coalition or group that forms and takes control is called a junta. If the military has seized control, as so often happens, then the group is called a military junta. |
Junta is pronounced with an initial h sound, which gives you a clue to its origins. It’s from the Spanish junta, for a military or political group ruling the country after it has been taken over. Spanish got junta from the Latin jungere, to join. Remember, all the players in the junta must join together to overthrow the government. |
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| 4039 |
jurisdiction |
the territory within which power can be exercised |
Governments are exercising power over people outside their jurisdictions through global Internet companies. |
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Jurisdiction means having a legal right over something. A court can have jurisdiction over a legal question, a government can have jurisdiction over another country or territory. Even your parents could be said to have jurisdiction over you while you're under 18. |
This noun jurisdiction descends from Latin jūrisdictiō, formed from jūris (from jūs "law") plus dictio "act of saying." Think of it as who has the right to "say" what's "the law." In the US, certain crimes are tried in state courts, but when a crime involves more than one state, jurisdiction moves to the federal court system, just as the local police step down and the investigation is handled by the FBI. |
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| 4040 |
jurisprudence |
the collection of rules imposed by authority |
And American jurisprudence is supposed to be guided by lofty ideals, not the bottom line; our laws should be moral, not mercenary. |
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You want a word that’s a whole mouthful? Try jurisprudence, the study and philosophy of law. You want to study jurisprudence? Get ready for law school, where you’ll find even longer, more troubling words. |
The Latin-based word jurisprudence is made up of two parts, juris "of law" and prudence which goes back to mean "knowledge." If you study law, you study jurisprudence. You can modify it to show a specific type of law, so you will find terms such as medical, human rights, Islamic or American jurisprudence. Sometimes the word is used as a collective to mean the legal world. This is a new issue that jurisprudence will have to deal with. |
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| 4041 |
juxtapose |
place side by side |
In other words, black and white, when juxtaposed, mutually reinforce each other. |
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See the word "pose" in juxtapose? When you juxtapose, you are "posing" or positioning things side by side. |
The verb juxtapose requires contrasting things placed next to one other: "The collage juxtaposed pictures of Jane while she was growing up and as an adult." Juxtapose is used often when referring to contrasting elements in the arts. "The music juxtaposed the instrumentation of jazz with the harmonies of soul." |
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| 4042 |
ken |
range of what one can know or understand |
Ah, but the Eyes Divine look long and see far; things beyond the human ken are all revealed. |
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The noun ken means "range of vision or comprehension." If quantum mechanics is beyond your ken, you don't understand it, or it is beyond your scope of knowledge. |
Ken is rarely used today outside of the phrase, "beyond one's ken." It goes all the way back, however, to Proto Indo-European, the reconstructed ancestor of most European, Near Eastern, and South Asian languages. Coming from the root *gno- "to know," ken has many relatives in modern English such as incognito, cunning, and know itself. |
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| 4043 |
kinship |
relatedness or connection by blood or marriage or adoption |
Alexander the Great extended his conquests as far eastward as India, whose native inhabitants claim kinship with European peoples through a common Aryan ancestry. |
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Kinship is a family relationship. You might describe the wonderful, close kinship you have with your favorite cousin. |
Your kin is your family, so it's easy to see that kinship describes family bonds, like the kinship between members of the same Scottish clan or the kinship an uncle feels in the midst of a dozen crazy nieces and nephews. Kinship can also describe a close family-like relationship, like the kinship of the teachers at your school who have worked together for many years and who all care deeply about students and learning. |
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| 4044 |
knave |
a deceitful and unreliable scoundrel |
The merchant subsequently turned out a very great knave, cheating Tom on various occasions, and finally broke, very much in his debt. |
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You don't hear about knaves much these days: it's an older word for a rascal, a scoundrel, or a rogue. It isn't a compliment. |
If you read Shakespeare for long, you'll definitely see the word knave more than once. In Shakespeare, an important person like a king or a prince might call a thief a knave. Knaves always tend to be up to trouble such as stealing and getting drunk. You don't want to trust a knave; knaves lie, deceive, and betray. Today, we might call a knave a scumbag or lowlife. |
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| 4045 |
knead |
make uniform |
He did not look at her as he spoke, but kept on diligently smoothing and kneading the soft clay. |
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To knead is to massage, as you might knead a sore muscle to relieve the pain or knead bread dough before baking it. |
Knead, pronounced “need,” comes from Old English, and its meaning has changed little over time. Knead is sometimes used to describe a cat’s behavior of repeatedly pushing its paws (and claws) into soft surfaces — almost like it’s kneading dough. We’re pretty sure cats did the same thing long ago when folks spoke Old English, but there’s no word on whether knead was used to describe this behavior back then. |
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| 4046 |
knell |
the sound of a bell rung slowly to announce a death |
"If she dies," he had said, and the words rang in my ears like a funeral knell. |
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A knell is a ringing sound, particularly from a bell tolled to announce a death or the end of something. Which is kind of depressing. |
From the Old English cnyll, meaning “sound made by a bell when struck or rung slowly,” comes our modern day knell. It certainly describes the slow, ominous sound of funeral bells, but isn't always used so literally: We often say that a final blow or action that will bring an end to something sounds or signals the death knell. And if you hear a bell knell in your dreams, look out — superstition says that's not a good sign. |
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| 4047 |
knit |
make by needlework with interlacing yarn |
Poor farming families took up extra work in the villages such as making gloves, knitting stockings, or spinning yarn. |
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If you decide to knit a sweater, you will need yarn, knitting needles, an instruction manual, and lots of patience! Knitting involves different kinds of stitches or consecutive loops that you create in rows. |
The verb is derived from the Old English cnyttan, meaning “to tie with a knot, bind or fasten.” While knitting can also be completed with a machine, many people knit hats, scarves, and mittens as a hobby. Knit can also mean “entwine.” Two ideas or concepts can be knit together, and it could be said that a marriage knits two people together. Note that the ‘k’ at the beginning is silent. |
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| 4048 |
knotty |
highly complex or intricate and occasionally devious |
I am, at this present writing, perplexed and plagued with two knotty problems in politics. |
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Whether it’s pine or problems, sometimes the word knotty can apply to both. Knotty can describe something that has a lot of knots, either literally or figuratively. |
The adjective knotty is a way to describe something that’s covered in knots. It can be used in a literal sense to refer to wood that is covered in hard, irregular knots — you’ve probably seen these circular, knobby imperfections that sometime appear on wood. The word can also be used figuratively to describe something that is intricate and difficult to solve, such as a knotty political problem involving two warring nations or a knotty legal issue involving complicated constitutional issues. |
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| 4049 |
labile |
readily undergoing change or breakdown |
We are rather like the labile chemical compounds: our molecules readily rearrange themselves. |
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Labile is an adjective used to describe something that is easily or frequently changed. Radioactive elements, such as uranium or plutonium, are labile. It is this lability that makes them unstable and dangerous. |
From the Latin verb lābī, "to slide or slip," labile is often found in a technical context, especially in science, to refer to some sort of instability. For example, in chemistry, a compound that can be easily broken down by heat is called labile. The term can also be used in psychology to describe someone who is emotionally unstable. |
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| 4050 |
lachrymose |
showing sorrow |
She had got rid of her tears before she came down to dinner, but still she was melancholy and almost lachrymose. |
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A good place to see a display of lachrymose sorrow is at a funeral — people sobbing openly or sniffling quietly into their hankies. To be lachrymose, in other words, is to be tearful. |
Lachrymose is not a word used much in everyday speech; you wouldn't say, for example, "I feel a bit lachrymose today." No, you'd probably say, "I feel a bit weepy today." Lachrymose is generally confined to use as a written critical term, often meaning much the same as sentimental. Books and plays and films can all be lachrymose, if their intent is to induce shameless sniveling. |
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| 4051 |
lackadaisical |
idle or indolent especially in a dreamy way |
She was rather listless and lackadaisical, but seemed to be well content so that she could lie within sight of the Master and dream. |
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Even though lackadaisical sounds like it has something to do with a shortage of daisies, know that what it really means is lacking in spirit or liveliness. |
A person with a lackadaisical attitude shows no enthusiasm and puts forth a half-hearted effort. But it's more of a dreamy, laid back approach rather than sheer laziness. This funny-sounding adjective came about in the eighteenth century from the interjection lackaday, which was an old fashioned way of saying "oh man!" or "unfortunately." |
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| 4052 |
lackluster |
lacking brilliance or vitality |
But his momentum dwindled just as quickly after a pair of lackluster debate performances. |
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Lackluster is a compound adjective that means what it sounds like: if something is lackluster it lacks luster; in other words, it is without brilliance, shine, or vitality. Think dull. |
Shakespeare gave us the compound lackluster, first using the term in his play As You Like It. In 2:7, the character Jacques says, "And then he drew a dial from his poke, And, looking on it with lack-lustre eye..." Since Shakespeare first coined this word, it has been used to describe anything "blah"; lackluster sales would worry shop owners and a lackluster prom dress might help you blend in with the wallpaper. |
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| 4053 |
lament |
express grief verbally |
They went through the passages weeping and lamenting. |
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If you are really upset or sorry about something, you might lament it. A lament is full of regret and grief. |
If you lament something, then you feel sorry about it. You could lament a mistake you made, or you could lament a horrible thing that happened to a friend. Also, a lament is an expression of grief. So if you keep saying how sorry you are about something, someone could say, "Enough of your laments!" There's also an old literary form called "a lament," which expresses feelings of loss in a long dramatic poem. |
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| 4054 |
lampoon |
a composition that imitates or misrepresents a style |
Granted, all are outrageously exaggerated, but a discerning eye can detect the truth that lurks behind any satire, parody, or lampoon. |
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When you make fun of something by imitating it in a humorous way, you're lampooning it. The writers at The Onion, Saturday Night Live and FunnyOrDie.com are all experts in the art of the lampoon. |
Lampoon can be both a verb and a noun. To lampoon is ridicule. A lampoon is a parody or satire. Imagine you were frustrated by having your allowance reduced, so you wrote a funny play portraying mom and dad as dictators extracting lots of unfair taxes from their people. That's lampooning. And it probably won't help your allowance situation. |
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| 4055 |
languish |
lose vigor, health, or flesh, as through grief |
He would have found production suspended, or languishing. |
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To languish is to become pitiful or weak because you're sick, in love, or stuck somewhere. A prisoner might languish in jail, longing for her freedom. |
Languish, like languid, is from the Latin word languere which means to "be weak or faint." Your houseplants might languish in a dark dry corner. A Romantic poet might languish on a velvet couch with the back of her hand to her forehead. People in operas love to languish: The main character in La Traviatta, Violetta, languishes from longing and eventually tuberculosis. |
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| 4056 |
languor |
a feeling of lack of interest or energy |
Now, on that evening an inexplicable languor made him dreamy; his eyes followed in vain the text; his rebellious thoughts were scattered. |
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When you are sick or heartbroken and too tired to get out of bed, the listlessness you feel is called languor. It's sluggishness and slowness, but usually with cause. |
The more commonly used word languish is closely related to languor. If you are languishing or becoming weaker, you are showing languor. Remember that languor implies a heaviness or slowness where there should be lightness or speed. There is no time for languor if you have an exam tomorrow, and you are just beginning to study now. And, a 100 degree day with 70% humidity can inspire languor in just about anyone. |
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| 4057 |
latter |
referring to the second of two things or persons mentioned |
More missiles were fired carefully—not to do damage, but to discourage the intruders; the latter were held at bay for another twelve hours. |
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When you are comparing two things, the first one is known as the former and the second as the latter. For example, George Bush and George W. Bush were both U. S. presidents. The latter was the son of the former. |
The word latter is really a form of later meaning "more recent" or "that which came after." The latter recording of a band refers to the one made more recently. It also can refer to a later time, near the end. If someone is in the latter stages of a disease, the disease has just about run its course and the person is about to die. |
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| 4058 |
laudable |
worthy of high praise |
In newspaper obituaries, it was long customary to lavish praise on the subjects, noting laudable traits of character. |
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Use the word laudable to describe something that deserves praise or admiration, like your laudable efforts to start a recycling program at your school. |
When you break apart the word laudable, you can see the verb laud, meaning praise or acclaim, followed by the suffix -able, which is a tip-off that this word is an adjective. So laudable describes things that are worthy of praise, such as a laudable effort to end poverty, and it can also describe admirable ideas or beliefs, such as a laudable compassion for others. |
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| 4059 |
leery |
openly distrustful and unwilling to confide |
People in China wounded by gunshots are often leery of going to hospitals, fearing that they will face questioning and possibly retaliation by the authorities. |
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You can use the adjective leery to describe someone who's suspicious of a person or situation. After his brother came out with bald spots and uneven patches of buzz-cut hair, he was leery of having the same barber get near his own head. |
Being leery is being distrustful. If you're leery, it will probably show on your face and in your posture. You may squint and wrinkle your brows or take a few steps back. If you're leery that someone won't keep a secret, you won't confide in them, and if you're leery about whether they'll keep a promise to you, you won't count on them. Sometimes people are leery because of some proof, but often, just having a bad feeling or instinct is enough to make a person leery. |
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| 4060 |
legitimacy |
undisputed credibility |
The Fathers of the Church never called in question the validity or the legitimacy of such Baptisms. |
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The noun legitimacy means authenticity. If you found an old copy of the Gettysburg Address in your grandmother's attic, you'd have to question its legitimacy when you realized it was written on the back of a car advertisement. |
Legitimacy comes from the Latin verb legitimare, which means lawful. Legitimacy, then, refers to something that is legal because it meets the specific requirements of the law. The legitimacy of various countries' presidential elections is often discussed, with monitors keeping track of the voting procedures to make sure they follow all the necessary rules. |
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| 4061 |
leisure |
time available for ease and relaxation |
He says that young Lincoln often called at his office and borrowed books to read at home during leisure hours. |
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Leisure is time off, spare time, sweet sweet freedom from the demands of work. It's like playtime for grown-ups. |
Leisure is time away from commitments like work or school. Leisure activities might include windsailing, golfing, crocheting a portrait of Betsy Ross, staring at one's navel, whatever. It's the freedom to do what the heck you want. It's not time for punching the clock or writing a paper on the role of matchsticks in the Industrial Revolution; it's kick-your-shoes-off time. If you read a book at your leisure, there's no rush. Leisure is more rare for some than others. "The billionaire was a woman of leisure," but leisure time is a luxury for most. |
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| 4062 |
leniency |
mercifulness as a consequence of being tolerant |
There is no more room for leniency or tolerance in enforcing law ... |
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Leniency is a noun that refers to the lessening of a punishment or chore. Your father's leniency, for example, resulted in you not having to paint the entire house like your mother wanted. Instead you just had to paint the garage. |
Leniency also refers to a person's sense of mercy or tolerance. A governor's leniency could be demonstrated when he pardons the prisoners on death row. Leniency comes from the adjective lenient, which describes someone who is tolerant or permissive. There are times when too much leniency can backfire, however. If your teacher shows leniency to the loud students who won't sit still and refuses to punish them, the rest of your class won't learn much. |
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| 4063 |
lethal |
of an instrument of certain death |
He was executed by lethal injection at Stateville Correctional Center in 1994. |
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Lethal refers to anything dangerous enough to cause death. The cobra's venom is so lethal that if you get bitten and can't find the antidote, it's lights out forever. |
Poisonous spiders, guns, knives, and radiation — all of these things can be lethal because they have the ability to kill. Even some substances that on their own aren't dangerous can become lethal in large quantities. Eating a peanut butter sandwich won't hurt most people, but it can be lethal to those with a nut allergy. Words like deadly and fatal mean the same as lethal. |
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| 4064 |
lethargy |
weakness characterized by a lack of vitality or energy |
Then he, as it were, awoke, and got up on his legs, but again felt the same lethargy, and fell. |
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Is your pet slug always this comatose, or is this display of lethargy unusual? The word lethargy describes inactivity or a lack of energy. |
Lethargy comes from the Greek lethargos, originally meaning “inactive through forgetfulness.” Somewhere along the way, the word lost the implication of “forgetfulness” and just ended up hanging around in bed all day. Still, lethargy doesn’t necessarily imply laziness; it can be brought about by illness and may also describe a lack of strength. Other lethargic nouns include torpor, sluggishness, and languor. |
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| 4065 |
leverage |
strategic advantage; power to act effectively |
If things continue to improve faster than expected, Obama could have some leverage in future decisions on budget cutting or further stimulus. |
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If you have leverage, you hold the advantage in a situation or the stronger position in a contest, physical or otherwise. |
The lever is a tool for getting more work done with less physical force. With the right leverage, you might be able to lift a heavy box. This refers to non-physical situations too: the power to move or influence others is also leverage. Since your boss has the power to fire you, that's a lot of leverage to get you to do what he wants. If your friend owes you a favor, you have leverage to get a favor of your own. |
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| 4066 |
leviathan |
the largest or most massive thing of its kind |
Tearing along at well over her contract speed, the 27,500-ton leviathan meant business. |
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A leviathan is a giant sea creature. It can be real, like a whale, or mythical. |
Moby Dick is an example of a famous leviathan. The word comes from Hebrew livyathan which means a great sea serpent or sea monster. A real leviathan is the giant sea squid Architeuthis, which was photographed alive for the first time in 2005. A leviathan can also be something that is really, really big. The Titanic was a leviathan that now rests with leviathans. |
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| 4067 |
liability |
something that holds you back |
“There’s a PR liability, if not a real liability, if some guy’s stoned and messes up on a rig,” he said. |
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A liability is a debt or obligation or a personal flaw that stands in your way. A company's liabilities are simply the debts on its ledger, but a personal liability might be your extreme shyness in social situations. |
Depending on how you use it, the word liability has very different meanings. In a business or financial sense, a liability is a debt or fiscal obligation, like a mortgage or a loan. A limited liability company means if the company fails, the partners are on the hook for only what they initially invested in the company. A personal liability, however, is some element of your past, your character, or your behavior that might give you a disadvantage. |
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| 4068 |
liaison |
a means of communication between groups |
After his parents divorced — an amicable parting — Trayvon served as a liaison between them, "sending little messages back and forth between us," says Martin. |
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Employ the French-sounding word liaison to refer to a relationship, a link between people or groups who aids communication. |
There are two main definitions for liaison that stem from Old French and before that, the Latin word for "to bind." The first definition refers in general to a connection or a relationship that serves effective communication. The second definition refers more specifically to an illicit relationship, or an affair, and can have a negative connotation. |
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| 4069 |
libation |
a serving of an alcoholic beverage |
By his Falstaffian girth, he appeared a man not averse to good living, nor one to deny himself plentiful libations of American home-brewed ale. |
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Certain ceremonies require dumping a little bit of liquid, usually alcohol, onto the ground. It might seem wasteful, but it’s really a powerful symbolic act called a libation — and it’s worth every drop. |
In ancient Greece, anyone could make a libation as a sacrifice in hopes that the gods would see it and be pleased. Today some people offer libations in memory of a loved one that has died. One sip for you, one for your homies, as the saying goes. Libation is also a joke term for an alcoholic drink, so you could make a cocktail and call it "a libation." |
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| 4070 |
libel |
a false and malicious publication |
Libel and slander like "racist," "fascist," "bigot," etc. color every news report of every counter-jihad action. |
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Libel is the act of publishing a statement about someone that is not true and that gives a bad impression about the person. |
Libel is usually contrasted with slander, which refers to a spoken statement that is not true. Both libel and slander are used in legal contexts. In Middle English, libel referred to a written declaration, from Anglo-French, from Latin libellus, from liber "book." |
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| 4071 |
lilliputian |
very small |
Despite its Brobdingnagian length, the quartet consists of Lilliputian parcels: succinct gestures, tiny shudders, rising and falling melodic cells. |
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Something that's lilliputian is extremely small, like the lilliputian tables and chairs that might surprise you when you visit your kindergarten classroom years later. |
The word lilliputian comes from Jonathan Swift's 1726 novel, Gulliver's Travels. Lilliput is the name of a fictional island whose people, the Lilliputians, stand only about six inches high. In addition to acting as an adjective to describe something that is very small — like the lilliputian cups and plates in a child's doll house — lilliputian can also be a noun that refers to extremely small people. |
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| 4072 |
limber |
capable of moving or bending freely |
To stay healthy and limber, the players twist their bodies into a series of poses like pigeon, downward dog and eagle. |
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Can you dance the hula? Get into crazy yoga positions, or touch your toes? Then you're limber, meaning your body is pretty flexible and able to bend well. |
Limber generally implies long and graceful limbs. Ballet dancers, it goes without saying, are limber. The term is also used for anything that's capable of being bent easily, such as a piece of metal or, in the metaphorical sense, someone's personality. More often, though, with this particular sense you'll find the word pliant used, implying easily manipulated. Good to be limber, less so to be pliant. |
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| 4073 |
limpid |
clear and bright |
However clear and limpid the stream may look, I never forget that its source was in foulness! |
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The adjective limpid describes something (often liquid) that is clear, serene and bright. Nature calendars often feature glamour shots of a limpid stream or a limpid lake. |
The adjective limpid may also describe language that is easily understandable. Your teacher might ask you to give an answer in a single limpid sentence. But he probably won't because limpid is a word that's fallen out of use. Maybe because it sounds too much like limp. Or maybe because it's associated with the king of all clichés: "Her eyes were like limpid pools." |
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| 4074 |
lineage |
the kinship relation between an individual and progenitors |
He has long suspected his Jewish lineage - Judaism is passed down through the mother's side. |
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The word lineage is used to describe everyone who descends from a particular ancestor. Mozart had six children, but none of them had children of their own, so the composer’s lineage ended after one generation. |
If you put an adjective like artistic or spiritual before lineage, it becomes clear you're talking about people who are related by ideas or attitude, not by blood. There are many composers, even today, who trace their musical lineage to Mozart, even though his actual lineage ended in the 19th century. |
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| 4075 |
linger |
remain present although waning or gradually dying |
The virus spreads easily through the air, and in closed rooms, infected droplets can linger for up to two hours after the sick person leaves. |
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When someone lingers, he or she takes an unexpectedly long time to depart, as Romeo lingers when bidding Juliet farewell (or as annoying houseguests almost always tend to do). |
In addition to its primary meaning of "taking a long time to depart," linger has the additional meaning of "persisting while gradually weakening." In this sense, linger can refer to feelings or sensations that slowly fade away, like the smell of perfume that lingers in an elevator after the passengers have exited. |
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| 4076 |
liquidate |
convert into cash |
Eurex Clearing began liquidating, or selling off, positions after MF Global defaulted, a process it had completed by the following day, November 2. |
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If you liquidate something, you get rid of it. When a huge retailer has to close all of its stores, it liquidates everything, meaning the inventory and even the shelves and display cases are sold to bargain-hunters, to raise money for the company to pay its debts. |
Liquidate comes from the Latin liquidare, meaning “to melt,” or “to clarify.” A recipe might ask you to liquefy the butter, not liquidate it, because liquidate has to do with assets. To liquidate is to convert stocks or goods into cash by selling them, to finish business neatly, and to clear debts. If you liquidate your old baseball card collection, you will have money to put in your college fund. |
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| 4077 |
lissome |
moving and bending with ease |
In this garden the musicians played, and the tawny dancers writhed and curved their lissome bodies, in dramatic Eastern dances. |
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Lissome describes people or things that are slender, flexible, light, and graceful. If you watch long, thin blades of grass swishing in the breeze, they look like lissome dancers with swaying arms and torsos, or like a bunch of lissome preying-mantis bugs sword-fighting. |
Some examples of lissome bodies are those of mermaids twisting through the water, small snakes squiggling into sand piles, and men and women who bound up stairs as if they're light as air. A straw is thin and bendy, and you can use it to lift some liquid from a glass. Lissome sounds a little like "lift some," and it's an adjective for thin and flexible people, like a lissome ballerina with a gracefully arched back. Light, lean, liquid in movement — lissome. |
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| 4078 |
listless |
lacking zest or vivacity |
Always an athletic, outgoing man, he became listless and quiet, sleeping much of the day and avoiding his friends. |
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To be listless is to be lethargic, low spirited, and limp. If a fever has made you feel listless, you might also feel like you are melting into the sofa. |
If you went to the supermarket without your shopping list, that doesn't mean you're listless. The word originates from the Middle English word liste which meant desire (and is related to our word lust). Oddly enough, listen comes from the same origin. If you're too lethargic and out of it to listen, you're listless. It's not just laziness, it's not just fatigue; an utter indifference to whatever is going on around you makes you listless. |
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| 4079 |
lithe |
moving and bending with ease |
She put both feet, visible beneath her short skirt, suddenly very close together, and curved her lithe body in an abrupt burlesque bow. |
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Have you ever seen people who can bend so easily, they can touch their heels to the back of their heads? Those people are, in a word, lithe. |
Lithe comes to us from Old English and originally meant "mild, meek." As a meek person bends to the will of others, the meaning of lithe has broadened to flexible and even graceful. Think of a dancer or the ease of a sleek cat when you think of lithe. You can use it to describe a person or the way someone moves. |
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| 4080 |
litigation |
a legal proceeding in a court |
On Thursday, after years of litigation, a frustrated judge decided Moroun had obstructed the law once too often, and threw him in jail for contempt. |
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Litigation is what goes on in court; it is the name for the process of suing someone or trying them for a crime. When families fight over their inheritance, the assets they want may end up being tied up for decades in litigation. |
If you paid a man to repair your roof and he never finished the job, and he ignores your calls, the best option is to bring litigation against him: take him to court! We can use litigation to talk about one court case, or about cases in general. When the Congress debates health care, they try to find ways to reduce for medical malpractice litigation, which is one of the most expensive aspects of medicine. |
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| 4081 |
livid |
furiously angry |
He stopped, strangled with passion, his tall figure towering above her, his face livid, his hands clutched in rage. |
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If you're livid, you're furious, in a black cloud of anger. The Latin root this word comes from means "bluish-gray" or "slate-colored," and you can also use livid to describe the color, such as a livid bruise or a livid sea. |
Livid, even when it means "bluish-gray," has the sense of something not quite right. If the sky is livid, there's something ominous about it. Similarly, if your skin is livid, there's something wrong — you're either covered with bruises or you're at death's door, anemic and ashen. But livid is used most often to describe fury. What if you waited in line 15 hours and the person in front of you got the last seat for the hottest concert of the summer? You'd be livid! |
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| 4082 |
loll |
be lazy or idle |
It was, as is usual with trading posts, surrounded by a number of Indian wigwams, the denizens of which were lazily lolling in the sun. |
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To loll means to hang around lazily without doing much at all. It's a great pleasure to loll about in the park instead of going to work. But your boss might have a problem with it. |
Loll means to droop, or hang loosely. We usually use it to describe the behavior of hanging loosely, like lolling about on the beach reading a book. Sometimes it’s the perfect word for a drooping object. If you take your dog for a long run in the hot sun, its tongue will loll out of its mouth. If you fall asleep on the bus ride home, your head might loll onto your neighbor’s shoulder. |
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| 4083 |
lucrative |
producing a sizeable profit |
As a professional, Tanner earned more than $2 million and signed lucrative endorsement deals. |
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Use lucrative to refer to a business or investment that makes money. The drug trade has proved very lucrative, if dangerous, for people willing to risk their lives to take part in it. |
This adjective is from Latin lucrātīvus, from lucrātus, from lucrārī "to profit," from lucrum "profit." In Latin, lucrum also meant "greed," a negative sense preserved in the English phrase filthy lucre "shameful profit or gain." But there is no shame in the sense of lucrative––if you're lawn mowing job proves lucrative over the summer, you might be able to buy yourself an old car. |
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| 4084 |
ludicrous |
inviting ridicule |
At the first blush it had appeared ludicrous—incredible; but, on reflection, there was, he found, nothing so extravagant in it. |
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Ludicrous things are funny, absurd, or nonsensical. If someone says something silly or far-fetched, you could say "That's ludicrous!" |
Ludicrous originally meant something that was funny, playful, or joking: a ludicrous comment was just a really funny comment. Over time, ludicrous took on a more negative flavor. Now a ludicrous statement might be funny, but it's also ridiculous, hard to believe, off the wall, or even stupid. When people say "That idea is ludicrous!" it usually means the idea could never happen: the notion is laughable. Saying Neil Armstrong was the third President would be a ludicrous statement. |
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| 4085 |
lull |
make calm or still |
Terence, lulled by tears, had fallen asleep long since upon the floor. |
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See lull, think "calm." It could be the noun form (like "the lull before the storm") or the verb: one can lull someone by calming them (as in lulling a baby to sleep with a lullaby). |
The noun lull is often used in relation to a storm, but the term has a broader meaning as well. Lull can be used to describe any temporary period of calm or diminished activity, like the quiet time before the lunch rush in a restaurant or the brief period of tranquility before the doors open for a pre-Christmas sale. The word's verb form means "to soothe or to make someone feel relaxed." When used as a verb lull can turn deceptive, and it is often used to convey a false sense of security. |
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| 4086 |
lunar |
of or relating to or associated with the moon |
But when the Moon shrinks to a crescent - as it has this week - lunar light pollution is less of an issue. |
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The adjective lunar is used to describe something that is related to the moon. If you like astronomy, you probably enjoy lunar eclipses, when the Earth casts its shadow on the moon. |
Lunar comes from the Latin word luna, meaning moon. The Roman goddess of the moon is called Luna (Selene in Greek mythology). There are lunar eclipses, a lunar calendar, lunar tides, and lunar orbits. Maybe you want to be the first live-in chef on a lunar space station. You can also hear lunar in the word lunatic — they used to think insanity was related to the cycles of the moon. |
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| 4087 |
lurk |
lie in wait or behave in a sneaky and secretive manner |
The Cape Mounted Rifles went out in skirmishing order, ahead of the infantry, keeping a vigilant look-out for lurking foes. |
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To lurk is to creep around, hide out, and wait to attack. Your team’s strategy for winning capture the flag might be to lurk in the bushes for an hour until the opposing side thinks you gave up and went home. |
The verb lurk means to move furtively or sneak around, usually while you wait to pounce. Tigers lurk through the jungle, stalking their prey, and creepy characters are always lurking in the shadows in horror movies. Perhaps that's why you'll often hear people describe not-so-safe places by saying that danger lurks at every turn. Other words for lurk include creep, prowl, and snoop. |
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| 4088 |
lustrous |
reflecting light |
For instance, in chemical composition the lustrous diamond is nothing but crystallized carbon. |
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In shampoo commercials, the hair you see swinging is lustrous. It is brilliant, in the shiny sense. |
Lustrous has its root in the Latin lustrare which means "to illuminate or shine light over." When something is lustrous, it reflects light in a glossy and shiny way. A bright smile and a glowing reputation are both lustrous. If someone has a long and successful work history, you might say their career is illustrious, meaning it has been lustrous for a long time. |
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| 4089 |
ideological |
concerned with or suggestive of ideas |
What was once an ideological abstraction — “austerity” — will have very real effects on everyday life for average Americans. |
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You can use the word ideological to describe shared ideas or beliefs, and the word breaks down to ideo- (not "idea," but close) and -logical. An ideological stand for equal rights made Rosa Parks stay in her seat at the front of the bus. |
Ideological is an adjective that describes political, cultural, or religious beliefs. An ideology is a body of ideas, and those who agree with the main idea of something take an ideological stand to support it. Unlimited freedom is a strong ideological belief in countries like the United States, and communism was once the ideological foundation in parts of Europe. Some follow ideological ideals that are logical, while others take stands that seem, well, idiotic or illogical, like racism. |
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| 4090 |
idle |
silly or trivial |
"Sure, sir, they can know nothing about it; it's just idle talk, and no more." |
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Something idle is not active. If your car is idling, it's running but not moving. If someone calls you idle, it either means they think you don't have enough to do or that you're just plain lazy. |
Idle can also mean having no value or purpose: idle rumors are rumors that people make up when they're bored, but have no grounding in fact. As a verb, idle can also refer to a car engine that is running while the vehicle is not moving. The adjective descends from Middle English idel, from Old English īdel "empty." |
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| 4091 |
idyllic |
charmingly simple and serene |
The scene of this charming, idyllic love story is laid in Central Indiana. |
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A week at the beach that goes perfectly is an idyllic vacation. Idyllic means so wonderful it seems almost magical. |
Are you having an idyllic childhood? You may not think so now, but in your old age, you may remember your days as a youngster as simple and carefree. The clear, blue water of the Caribbean Sea, the beautiful village perched on a cliffside, the sunny grassy field of wildflowers, these are all Idylls — simple peaceful scenes — that you may or may not find idyllic. |
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| 4092 |
imbroglio |
an intricate and confusing interpersonal situation |
And indeed his world is one huge imbroglio of Potentialities and Diplomatic Intricacies, agitating to behold. |
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An imbroglio is a complicated or confusing personal situation. To rephrase the J. Geils band song, "Love Stinks," if you love her and she loves him and he loves somebody else, you've got quite an imbroglio. |
Although an imbroglio is a tangled situation or a messy complicated misunderstanding, its history is just the opposite, clear as a bell. Imbroglio is just a borrowed word from Italian meaning "entanglement." If something embarrassing happens at a public event, such as a mishap during the musical performances at the Super Bowl, it is sometimes called an imbroglio. |
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| 4093 |
impaired |
diminished in strength, quality, or utility |
“Thinking could be slowed, attention dulled, judgement impaired, memory muddled.” |
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When something is impaired, it's diminished or damaged. Someone who can't see very well has impaired sight. |
When something is broken and isn't working at 100%, it's impaired. People with impaired hearing are deaf, and people who are physically impaired have to use crutches or wheelchairs. Everyone who wears glasses or contact lenses has impaired vision. If you break your ankle, your ability to walk is impaired. And if something caused you to make a bad decision, you could say your judgment was impaired. |
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| 4094 |
impasse |
a situation in which no progress can be made |
Unfortunately success also depends on an end to the impasse between America and China, whose trade relations seem stuck. |
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When two huge semi trailers met face-to-face on a one-lane mountain road, the drivers jumped out of their cabs and exclaimed, "We're at an impasse! We can't move forward — we can only reverse and go back in the direction from which we came." |
If you investigate impasse a little more closely, you'll discover passer, the French word for to pass. The im- prefix is a negative, meaning that there's no way any passing is going to occur. It's impossible. An impasse is any situation in which the parties involved can't, or won't, move forward or make any sort of progress. Either they are literally stuck, like two big trucks trying to pass each other on a narrow road, or they are figuratively stuck, as in two politicians who are unable to reach an agreement on a new policy. |
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| 4095 |
impecunious |
not having enough money to pay for necessities |
It had been quite in keeping with his ideas that the Thornes should taste the bitters of poverty, and know what being impecunious really meant. |
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If you are hard up, broke, penniless, or strapped for cash, you could describe yourself as impecunious. Then maybe you could make some money teaching vocabulary words. |
Impecunious comes from the old Latin word for money, pecunia, combined with the prefix im, meaning not or without. But impecunious doesn’t just mean having no money. It means that you almost never have any money. If you go into the arts, you are most likely facing an impecunious future. If you gamble away your cash instead of saving it for rent, your landlord might throw you out for being impecunious. |
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| 4096 |
impediment |
something immaterial that interferes with action or progress |
He identified several chronic impediments to long-term progress in Brazil, too, including high tax rates, deficient transportation and other infrastructure and a poor education system. |
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An impediment is anything that slows or blocks progress. It can refer to a physical thing, like a fallen tree in the road, or something more intangible, like how piracy is an impediment to the pleasure cruise industry in Somalia. |
See the pedi in there? Pedi means "feet" and hundreds of years ago, the word impediment referred to shackling one's feet. Now its use has broadened considerably. Impediment is something that blocks or impedes your path. There's no end to the things in your life that can be considered impediments: your small bank account, your terrible childhood, your country's economic malaise — any one of these could be considered an impediment in your quest for happiness. |
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| 4097 |
imperceptible |
impossible or difficult to sense |
Only a faint, almost imperceptible tinge remained of the ink stains on her face. |
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If it's imperceptible, it's impossible to perceive with any of the senses. The world might be spinning, but it's imperceptible from your couch. |
Within the word imperceptible you see the word percept, which means "the object of your perception." Like impossible, the im in imperceptible means it cannot be perceived. Imperceptible is rarely used in the absolute sense of the word — it is usually paired with almost. Horton hears the Who but the tiny sounds of the Whos were almost imperceptible to everyone else. |
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| 4098 |
implore |
call upon in supplication |
The poor woman continued to implore mercy; and coming nearer to the Lord, "She fell down and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me!" |
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You might ask your friend for a loan if you're short a few bucks, but if the bank is about to foreclose on your house you'll implore your friend for the money, desperately begging for the cash so you can keep your house. |
The word implore is often used to describe an urgent request made out of desperation. A man on death row might implore the governor to grant him a last-minute pardon. In the old days, you might have heard the word spoken by someone with lousy aim at a duel — "I implore you not to shoot me, my good man!" Today, this first-person use of the word sounds old-fashioned, although you might still hear it in a period drama. |
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| 4099 |
impregnable |
incapable of being attacked or tampered with |
At the same time, the United States would be safeguarded against internal dangers and made impregnable against attack or invasion by any foreign power. |
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When something is impregnable it is not easily taken by force and can stand up to any attack. We usually use it in reference to some form of protection, like a fort or a solid defensive line in football. |
The genealogy of the adjective impregnable includes the Middle French word prenable, meaning "vulnerable, easily conquered," which itself came from the verb prendre, which meant "to take." The addition of the negative prefix im- flipped the meaning. Impregnable can be used to describe anything that cannot be entered or successfully attacked. Seventeenth-century theater critic Jeremy Collier once said, "True courage is a result of reasoning. A brave mind is always impregnable." |
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| 4100 |
impromptu |
without advance preparation |
Bauer proposed to Shourd while both were in prison, fashioning an impromptu ring out of threads from his shirt. |
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Some of the best kinds of parties are impromptu ones, when you decide at the last minute to get together. The adjective impromptu describes things done or said without previous thought or preparation. |
Impromptu is also used as an adverb: Most people are not able to speak impromptu in front of an audience. This word was borrowed from French, from Latin in prōmptū "at hand, in readiness" from in "in" plus prōmptū, a form of prōmptus "readiness," from prōmere "to bring forth." As you can guess from the spelling, the adjective and verb prompt is related to impromptu; they are from the same Latin verb. |
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| 4101 |
impudence |
the trait of being rude and impertinent |
Ichikawa conceded that his "arrogance and impudence" may have brought on the attack, adding: "I won't feel like having a drink for a while." |
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When you show impudence, you lack shame about your rude behavior. Examples of impudence? Not tipping the waiter, sticking your tongue out, tripping your grandmother — you get the picture. |
The noun impudence is derived from the Latin impudentia, "shamelessness." Being rude is a main trait of impudence; another is doing something you're not supposed to do — usually with an attitude that shows you don't care. When you are acting with impudence, you are usually overstepping your boundaries — like a kid who challenges his parents and can't accept "Because I said so!" as a reason for discipline. |
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| 4102 |
impunity |
exemption from punishment or loss |
According to Amnesty, some groups of former rebels are committing human rights violations with impunity, unchecked by the interim government. |
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If doing something usually results in punishment, but you do it with impunity, you will not be punished for the deed. Students are not allowed to chew gum in school, but teachers do it with impunity. Not fair! |
The noun, impunity, comes from the Latin roots im- "not" plus poena "punishment," a root which has also produced the word pain. Impunity, then, is the freedom from punishment or pain. If someone has committed a punishable offense but does not have to fear punishment, he or she does it "with impunity." Cybercriminals operate with impunity from some Eastern European countries. |
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| 4103 |
inalienable |
not subject to forfeiture |
Men's natural rights are all inherent and inalienable; and therefore cannot be parted with, or delegated, by one person to another. |
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Something that is yours forever, that can’t be taken away and given to your little brother instead? That something would be called inalienable. The word refers to a natural right that cannot be revoked by an outside force. |
The word inalienable is often linked to human rights — you’ve probably heard the term “inalienable rights.” In the Declaration of Independence Thomas Jefferson (using the un- variant) wrote that all men are "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights" including "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” The spelling may vary but the meaning is clear: an inalienable right is something that can’t be given or taken away by a government or another legal power. |
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| 4104 |
inane |
devoid of intelligence |
And then, again, his asking me his stupid, inane questions, as if I cared what man, and how many. |
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If something is inane, it's silly or senseless. If you just want to space out, you won't mind the inane chatter on TV, as long as it's on. |
Inane comes from the Latin inanis, for empty, and you can think of it as empty-headed. We call something inane if it states the obvious, or is really silly in a way that seems unintelligent. If you give your boss a presentation in a bunny suit and sing a song about being happy, she might say, "Get out of here with your inane bunny act!" Other synonyms are stupid, vacuous, ridiculous, pointless. |
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| 4105 |
inanimate |
belonging to the class of nouns denoting nonliving things |
The moment when the first living beings arose from inanimate matter almost four billion years ago is still shrouded in mystery. |
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Inanimate describes a non-living thing. Chairs, baseballs, sofa cushions and sadly, snowmen, are all inanimate objects. |
We can break inanimate down into two Latin roots: in, which means “not,” and animatus, which translates to “alive.” So inanimate means simply, "not alive." That include things that are recently dead, things that were never alive to begin with, and things that simply look dead: A bear in hibernation may appear inanimate due to its decreased heart rate, but don’t be fooled — it’s very much alive. |
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| 4106 |
inaugurate |
commence officially |
Continental has ordered 25 Dreamliners and plans to inaugurate them in November 2011 on new, nonstop flights to Auckland, New Zealand, and Lagos, Nigeria. |
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To inaugurate means to start something, to give it a kick off. The opening day pep rally inaugurates the high school football season. |
Inaugurate comes from the Latin word augur, which means taking signs from birds, or telling the future. The Romans would always look for good omens to mark the beginning of something––a war, or a new emperor’s reign––so inaugurate became linked to new beginnings. While inaugurate has long been used in formal contexts, such as the swearing-in ceremony that inaugurates a President's term in office, inaugurate is now also used casually. You might inaugurate your marathon training with a long run. |
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| 4107 |
incendiary |
a criminal who illegally sets fire to property |
While there the depot was set on fire and burned down, supposed to be the work of an incendiary. |
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An incendiary device is a bomb. An incendiary statement is, "You're ugly and stupid." Both are likely to produce an explosion of one kind or another. |
Incendiary means more than flammable. It means explosive, in both a literal and figurative way. If you're a radical who changes the world by exciting people and makes as many enemies as followers, you're an incendiary figure. The speeches you give that rile people up are incendiary. The fires you set are also incendiary, and by setting them you are also likely to be called an incendiary — someone who burns things, more commonly known as an arsonist. |
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| 4108 |
inception |
an event that is a beginning |
They were confident this week, eager to show how much improvement the league has made since its inception in 1996. |
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The inception is the beginning. Since its inception, Wikipedia has been created by its users. |
Inception sounds like conception, but their meanings are distinct. Conception usually refers to the moment of becoming pregnant. Inception refers more to the beginning, to entering upon an undertaking. Inception implies the start of a specific thing like a campaign or a company. Subsequent events take place after the inception. At the moment of conception, most women are at the inception of motherhood. |
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| 4109 |
incite |
provoke or stir up |
He was arrested on charges including inciting a riot and disorderly conduct. |
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To incite is to cause to act or occur. Violent words can incite violent actions which, in turn, might incite public outcry against violence. |
Incite comes from a Latin verb meaning "to move into action" and if you incite someone to do something, that is exactly how to describe it. Usually it is used in a negative context. Radical and intolerant teachings can incite hatred in those who listen. And if a government restricts its people too much, it can incite unrest and rebellion in the population. |
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| 4110 |
incompetent |
not qualified or suited for a purpose |
The common people, especially in the villages, know nothing at all of Christian doctrine; and many pastors are quite unfit and incompetent to teach. |
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If you are incompetent, you are not able to complete a task, like if you only ever made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches — you would be incompetent in the kitchen of a fancy French restaurant. |
Someone who is not very good at getting a job done is incompetent. An incompetent salesperson can't sell anything. A learned professor may be quite incompetent when it comes to controlling a room full of rowdy pre-schoolers. Legally speaking, you can be declared incompetent if you do not have necessary qualifications, like being certified or licensed to do a certain job, like cut hair or fix cars. |
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| 4111 |
increment |
the amount by which something increases |
The plan also called for quoting prices in decimals, doing away with the one-eighth increments that had long defined Wall Street math. |
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Consider expanding your vocabulary by a small increment, or increase, each day. Increasing your vocabulary by an increment of just two words a day means you’ll learn more than 700 new words a year! |
Increment is often used in the context of a series of regular increases, so this word comes in handy whenever you’re expanding or improving something over time. Maybe you contribute to your bank account in modest increments each week. Or, when working out at the gym, perhaps you increase the number of sit-ups you do by a small increment each day. |
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| 4112 |
incumbent |
the official who holds an office |
The Democratic incumbent faces no serious primary challenge and his re-election campaign already is well under way. |
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An incumbent is an official who holds an office. If you want to run for congress, you're going to have to beat the incumbent. |
Incumbent comes from the Latin word incumbens, which means lying in or leaning on, but came to mean holding a position. It was first used in English for someone holding a church office, and then someone holding any office. You'll most likely hear it today for political officials. In a race for mayor, the incumbent mayor faces a challenger. Incumbent also means obligation. It is incumbent upon you to do the dishes. |
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| 4113 |
indemnity |
protection against future loss |
They should pay an indemnity to the state of Guatemala, not just apologize.” |
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Indemnity is protection against loss or harm — it is most often used in insurance. |
If you suffer an injury or there's damage to your house, an indemnity makes up for the loss — if it's part of your insurance. An indemnity may also keep something or someone from being held responsible for harm. Protection indemnity is mainly offered for unlikely events. If you regularly crash hot-air balloons, you won’t get indemnity for the next one you rent. In fact, the balloon rental company will probably demand their own indemnity in case you crash again. |
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| 4114 |
indenture |
bind by a contract for work, as an apprentice or servant |
Beneath both these classes were the indentured servants, a few of whom were men of ability forced to pay their passage by service. |
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An indenture is a formal legal agreement. Many earned passage to the British colonies by indenturing, or selling, themselves to a master for a period of seven years–-they were called indentured laborers. |
Indenture can describe what you owe to someone else. If you promised your friend you would take her shopping for a prom dress, you might fulfill your indenture over the course of three trips to the mall. A detention is an indenture of a kind––for your crime, you owe time. |
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| 4115 |
indigent |
poor enough to need help from others |
Tarkowski declared himself indigent, and said he could not pay the fines, according to news reports. |
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An indigent person is extremely poor, lacking the basic resources of a normal life. Often the indigent lack not only money but homes. |
Indigent comes from a Latin word meaning wanting, which we used to use to mean “lacking” and not just to describe desires. Homeless shelters, soup kitchens, free medical clinics and court-appointed lawyers are all institutions that our society has developed to help indigent people. |
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| 4116 |
infamous |
known widely and usually unfavorably |
This one line in President George W. Bush's 2003 State of the Union address overshadowed all the others, becoming infamously known as the "16 words." |
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Someone who is infamous has a very bad reputation. If you become a Hollywood star and find yourself on the pages of gossip magazines for your affairs and addictions, you will have succeeded in becoming infamous. |
Infamous is from Latin infamis, for negative fame. If you're bad but unknown, then you're not infamous — it's reserved for those wicked and well-known people that capture our collective imagination. It is a strong and resonant term. Some synonyms are notorious, disgraceful, and odious. The stress is on the first syllable. |
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| 4117 |
infinitesimal |
immeasurably small |
Within an infinitesimal period of time, a period too brief to be calculable, both hemispheres are again acting in unison. |
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When it's incalculably small, when teensy seems large compared to it, then it is infinitesimal. "The equipment was so sensitive that even the infinitesimal dust molecules that swept in with the open door altered the readings." |
Infinitesimal is such an extreme description of a microscopic something that the word is used as an exaggeration more often than to describe something actually quite small. "The chances of Roxy going out on a date with Norbert were infinitesimal. She barely even knew he existed." Infinitesimal has as its root infinite which usually conjures up thoughts of immeasurably large quantities or sizes. In this case infinite refers to something immeasurably small. |
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| 4118 |
infirmity |
the state of being weak in health or body |
Such are death, old age, physical infirmity, loss of worldly honor, final impenitence. |
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A weakness or disability, especially due to old age, is called an infirmity. |
The noun infirmity, when used alone, is generally understood to mean physical frailty. If you want to imply mental weakness or some other disability, then use an adjective for clarity. His "mental infirmity" was caused by early onset Alzheimer's disease. Don't confuse infirmity with infirmary. The latter is a place where the sick and infirm go to recover: "Because of her infirmity, she often ended up being seen by doctors at the infirmary." |
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| 4119 |
infringe |
go against, as of rules and laws |
He said the order was unlawful and infringed on officers' rights. |
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When you infringe on someone's space, time, or rights, you're getting involved in a way that is not cool. That's why, when you violate a copyright, you're said to infringe upon it. |
Infringe is almost always used with the prepositions "on" or "upon," as in, "if you infringe on my rights, I'll sue you." Nobody knows why that's the case. Our language is full of rules and traditions that just are the way they are. We call these phrases "idiomatic." To infringe "on" or "upon" something is one of those. You don't infringe "into" someone's conversation. You infringe "upon" it. Case closed. |
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| 4120 |
iniquity |
absence of moral or spiritual values |
"I have loved justice and hated iniquity," he said in dying, "therefore I die in exile." |
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An iniquity is a really unfair or really immoral act. If you're a journalist, you may uncover a terrible iniquity that forces a famous politician to step down. |
Iniquity comes from Latin, combining the prefix in-, which means “not,” and aequus, which means “equal” or “just.” So iniquity literally means “not just.” Iniquity can also be used to say that something lacks moral or spiritual principles. Some would call Las Vegas a “den of iniquity,” implying that sinful or wicked behavior occurs there. Others would just call it a vacation. |
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| 4121 |
innovative |
being like nothing done or experienced or created before |
On display are examples of artists using traditional subjects — portraits, landscapes, still lifes — in ways that were new, innovative, and sometimes shocking, at the time. |
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Something innovative is new and original. If you love to experiment and find new ways to do things, you are an innovative person. |
Innovative, like nova, novel, and novice, comes from the Latin novus, which means new. Something innovative renews or alters the way something has been done. You can use innovative to describe the thing or the person that made it. If your English teacher objects to your experimental writing style, tell him, "I'm an innovative writer making innovative sentences!" Antonyms are unoriginal and hackneyed. |
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| 4122 |
innuendo |
an indirect and usually malicious implication |
As a genuine Irishman he never used an immodest word, or by gesture, phrase, or innuendo suggested an impure thought. |
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Speaking in innuendo is when you say something indirectly — often of a hurtful or sexual nature. |
Innuendo in Latin means "to point to" or "nod to." When you refer to something indirectly, you point at it without mentioning it, making an innuendo. If your friend who recently stopped speaking to you glares at you across a room as she says to someone else, "I would never lie to someone I called a friend," she's making an innuendo. Without accusing you directly, she's saying she thinks you lied. |
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| 4123 |
insidious |
working or spreading in a hidden and usually injurious way |
Its onset is usually insidious, gradually worsening over years and thus easily ignored. |
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If something is slowly and secretly causing harm, it's insidious — like the rumors no one seems to listen to until suddenly someone's reputation is ruined. |
Insidious is related to the Latin noun, īnsidiae meaning "ambush" which comes from the Latin verb, īnsidēre "to lie in wait for." This is very fitting as an insidious rumor or problem is one whose negative effect is not realized until the damage is already done. Similarly, an insidious disease develops internally without symptoms, so that you don't realize right away that you are sick. |
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| 4124 |
insolvent |
unable to meet or discharge financial obligations |
In common parlance, bankruptcy is often used more casually, to mean something like broke or insolvent. |
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Piggy bank empty? Nothing but lint in your pockets? Then you're probably unable to meet any financial obligations. In other words, you are insolvent. |
Being insolvent isn't just about being poor. A person or business that's insolvent has no resources, no assets and no way to pay any of the bills. This adjective insolvent is a synonym for bankrupt, and surely the last thing anyone wants to be. The only way to solve the problem of insolvency? Start saving your pennies again from scratch. |
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| 4125 |
insouciant |
marked by unconcern |
I rattled on, insouciant and careless to all appearances, but in reality my heart like lead. |
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Only people with no real troubles can afford to be insouciant during times like these. Runway models are great at looking insouciant, strolling the catwalk apparently without a care in the world. |
Some prefer their musical idols to be insouciant, seeming not to care what their fans think or want. Others like them more eager to please, happy to take requests and engage. The two obvious examples are Louis Armstrong and Miles Davis. Armstrong would smile and encourage the audience to participate, while Davis was the insouciant master who showed no concern for or interest in what his listeners might prefer: some people found his insouciant manner irresistible. |
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| 4126 |
insubordination |
defiance of authority |
"What Keble hated instinctively," says Newman, "was heresy, insubordination, resistance to things established, claims of independence, disloyalty, innovation, a critical and censorious spirit." |
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People in charge — like bosses and teachers — hate insubordination, which means that someone is defying their authority. |
When a student is disrespectful to a teacher or says something like "I won't do this homework!", that's an act of insubordination. If a teacher didn't do what the principal wanted, that would also be insubordination. This word is often used in relation to the military, where giving and taking orders is extremely important. A soldier who commits insubordination — by disobeying an order — can be in a lot of trouble. Anywhere there's insubordination, someone with less power (a subordinate) is giving someone with more power a whole lot of trouble. |
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| 4127 |
insurrection |
organized opposition to authority |
More than a decade of civil war left thousands dead after separatists on Bougainville Island began an armed insurrection in 1989. |
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Insurrection is an uprising against a larger force that's in power. An insurrection can lead to revolution, but it is just as likely to be put down. |
Other words for insurrection include rebellion, revolt and uprising, the last of which is the translation of insurrection's Latin roots. The Boston Tea Party is probably the most famous American act of insurrection. One who rises up in insurrection is called an insurgent by the force they are rising against. Like Paul Revere, insurgents are often called heroes by the people they are rising up to support. |
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| 4128 |
intact |
undamaged in any way |
Questions were raised about the quality of construction in the area, with some buildings having remained completely intact while those next door were destroyed. |
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If something is intact it's still in one piece. If you'd like your sand castle to remain intact, I suggest you build it away from the water. |
The Latin word intactus means “untouched,” but today something is intact if it's whole, if it hasn't fallen apart. After a long day at work, you might feel lucky to be intact. Your letter to the post office states that you would prefer your packages to arrive intact from now on. |
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| 4129 |
inter |
place in a grave or tomb |
He was interred with due military honors in a cemetery near his home in Jersey City. |
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Inter means to bury, usually in a tomb or grave. If you loved your cat a lot, you might want to inter her remains in the back yard and make a nice little memorial. |
Most of the time, the word inter is going to be about burying someone or something. Often times, a family owns a plot of land in a cemetery where all family members are interred when they die. Occasionally, you might see it in the phrase "inter alia," a literary Latin expression meaning "among other things." Your professor is probably a poet and a scholar, inter alia. |
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| 4130 |
interim |
serving during an intermediate interval of time |
Chief Financial Officer Anthony Vuolo will serve as interim CEO while the company looks for a permanent replacement. |
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An interim is a period of time between one event and another, maybe the interim between the arrival of your party guests and the cleanup you have to do after they leave. |
If you use this word, you will be speaking Latin, since interim is a Latin adverb meaning "in the meantime." The first part, inter, is also Latin, and means "between." Knowing this, you can figure out a lot of words. Some of your party guests will interact well, and some will argue. If your principal leaves the school, you might have an interim principal––someone who keeps the school running while a new principal is interviewed and hired. |
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| 4131 |
interject |
insert between other elements |
Indeed, the book is like an endless string of pearls, with here and there a ruby, a diamond, or a bit of honest glass interjected. |
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When you interject, you interrupt or put yourself in the middle of something. Ever have a coworker interject himself into the plans for your big project at work when he wasn't really needed? |
First used in the late 16th century, the verb interject comes from the Latin word interjicere, which combines inter-, meaning "between," and jacere, meaning "to throw." It's most often used to describe something that's abruptly thrown into a conversion. It can be considered rude to suddenly interject a question into a conversation that doesn't involve you. But you might interject a personal story into a boring presentation to liven things up. |
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| 4132 |
interloper |
someone who intrudes on the privacy or property of another |
We look upon them somewhat as interlopers, parasites, occupying a place to which they have no legitimate right. |
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If you intrude on people without their permission, you are an interloper. An interloper crashes parties and laughs at "No Trespassing" signs. |
They figure the word interloper was formed by combining inter- ("between") with -loper (from landloper — meaning "vagabond or adventurer"). So, it only makes sense that an interloper is someone who has ventured or traveled where he was not welcome. The noun interloper may also refer to something other than a person: "The new chain superstore built at the edge of town and was an interloper among the various mom and pop grocery stores in the area." |
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| 4133 |
intimation |
an indirect suggestion |
Saul flinched before the concealed intimation in the words. |
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The noun intimation means a hint or an indirect suggestion. Your teacher's intimation that there could be a quiz the next day might send you into a panic, while your friend sitting beside you might not even notice. |
Intimation comes from the Latin word intimationem, which means an announcement. In English, intimation refers to a less direct form of communication. It's a suggestion or hint, rather than a blatant statement of fact. Your first intimation that your brother had a girlfriend was the amount of time he spent whispering into the phone. The second intimation was when he asked your parents for money for two movie tickets. |
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| 4134 |
introspective |
given to examining own sensory and perceptual experiences |
Some of these artists do show an introspective side, reaching inward to confess their dreams, and what innocent dreams they are. |
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Someone who is introspective spends considerable time examining his own thoughts and feelings. If you take to your diary after an unhappy break-up, you are being introspective. |
The Latin word introspicere means to look inside, and that's what an introspective person does, metaphorically speaking. It's different from meditative and pensive in that they can refer to contemplating anything, whereas introspection involves specifically contemplating yourself. |
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| 4135 |
inundated |
covered with water |
The baffled water stopped, as if reflecting; then it turned back, and rose till it poured over its banks and inundated the fields. |
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Stand on a busy street corner handing out free cupcakes, and you'll be inundated with hungry customers. Inundated means "overwhelmed". |
The Latin root of inundated is inundare, literally "to overflow," and "overflowing" is still one of the meanings of the adjective inundated. A river bank can become inundated with water, or flooded, just as a movie star can be inundated with autograph requests. |
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| 4136 |
inverse |
opposite in nature or effect or relation to another quantity |
Others showed an inverse relationship, with their activity declining as the value increased. |
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If you notice that the more money you have, the less money your brother has, you’ve discovered an inverse relationship: when your bank account increases, his decreases. |
The word inverse traces back to the Latin inversus, from the past participle of invertere, meaning “turn upside down" or "turn about.” It’s a good word to use when you need to describe one of those topsy-turvy relationships in which when one thing goes up, the other goes down. It can also be used in a broader sense to mean “opposite.” You’ve probably heard someone begin a sentence by saying, “And the inverse was true for so and so . . .” That just means the opposite was true. |
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| 4137 |
itinerant |
traveling from place to place to work |
The interest extending widely beyond his parish, he spent part of his time in itinerant preaching, going several hundred miles and in every direction. |
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An itinerant is a person who moves from place to place, typically for work, like the itinerant preacher who moves to a new community every few years. |
Itinerant is pronounced "eye-TIN-er-ant." It might remind you of itinerary, the traveler's schedule that lists flights, hotel check-in times, and other plans. It's no surprise that both words come from the Latin word itinerare, meaning "to travel." Itinerant was first used in the 16th century to describe circuit judges who traveled to faraway courtrooms. Today, almost anyone can be an itinerant. |
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| 4138 |
habitual |
commonly used or practiced |
Training of mind, as of hand, consists in making certain actions so habitual that they are accomplished quite automatically. |
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If something is habitual, it's what you usually do. Your habitual jeans and t-shirt might work for school, but try dressing up for the opera. |
Habitual is the adjective form of habit, which comes from the Latin habēre, which meant the mode of one's being, and often referred to the mode of dress. Now habit means anything you do repeatedly — your habitual actions. Perhaps you have a habitual preference for cheeseburgers, which you eat at your habitual restaurant on your habitual Wednesday night out. |
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| 4139 |
habitue |
a regular patron |
The old bathers, the habitues, whose season was almost over, glanced, gazed toward the door whenever it opened, to see what new faces might appear. |
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A habitué is a frequent and well-known patron of a particular place. If you walk into a restaurant, and the entire staff waves and says your name, you are likely a habitué. |
The English habitué is spelled and pronounced the same as the 200-year-old French word (the accent is optional), which means "accustomed." The most famous habitué in American sitcom history is probably Norm Peterson of Cheers, whose arrival was always greeted by a chorus of patrons shouting "Norm!" Other, less French-sounding words for this famous fellow might be fixture or regular. |
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| 4140 |
haggard |
showing the wearing effects of overwork or care or suffering |
There are too many people with haggard eyes standing before me Saying, "To live you must suffer even as we." |
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Someone who is haggard looks exhausted and worn out, exactly how you'd expect someone who's been lost at sea for days to look. |
A haggard appearance is usually the result of a long, harrowing ordeal, like getting lost in the woods or being stranded in the woods for days. An emotional ordeal, like losing a loved one, can also give someone a haggard appearance if they forget to eat, sleep, and take care of themselves. Whatever the ordeal, it will make the person look absolutely awful — pale, gaunt, disheveled, exhausted with dark circles under their eyes and wild, unruly hair. |
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| 4141 |
halt |
cause to stop |
Shares of Apple were temporarily halted before they resumed trading a few minutes later. |
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Whether it's used as a noun or a verb, the word halt means stop. You can remember this by remembering that when you step on the brake to halt your car (verb), it comes to a halt (noun). |
English draws on both Romance and Germanic languages, and halt is one that comes from the Old High German haltmachen, which means "to hold." The word suggests a stoppage in the midst of action, and a Chinese proverb states, “We are not so much concerned if you are slow as when you come to a halt.” Consider, also, that a less-used definition of the word is that of "lame" or disabled, which still ties in with the idea of stopping. |
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| 4142 |
haphazardly |
without care; in a slapdash manner |
Tripoli drivers have always been known for their speeding and changing lanes haphazardly, but hazardous driving has reached new heights, he said. |
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Something done haphazardly seems completely random, like your little sister's collage of pictures cut carelessly from a magazine and haphazardly glued all over a piece of poster board. |
The adverb haphazardly is good for describing something done in an unplanned or random way without concern for the outcome; for example, you might put silverware away by haphazardly tossing it in a drawer, or plant a crazy garden with flowers haphazardly placed here and there around the yard. Haphazardly combines hap, meaning "chance," with hazard, or "danger." |
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| 4143 |
harbinger |
something indicating the approach of something or someone |
Even as villagers stared out at an ocean of detritus littered by the tsunami, cherry blossoms, the harbinger of spring, bloomed. |
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A harbinger is something that comes before and that shows what will follow in the future. The robin is a harbinger of spring––its presence means spring is coming soon. |
The appearance of a ghost is often thought of as a harbinger of death. Middle English herbergere is from Old French herbergeor "host," from herberge "camp, shelter," a word ultimately borrowed from a Germanic language. |
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| 4144 |
harmony |
compatibility in opinion and action |
These fibres are so laid and connected, that a whole set of muscles can be moved simultaneously, being made to work in perfect harmony. |
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Harmony is the sound of things that go together well — people singing in harmony are in tune with each other. Best friends should be in harmony most of the time if they want to stay best buds! |
Harmony is a noun that describes an agreement, such as in feeling, sound, look, feel, or smell. It’s necessary for roommates to be able to live in harmony in a small space, or they’re in for a wake-up call. In music, harmony is a pleasing combination and progression of chords. If it makes you wince, it’s lacking harmony. Synonyms for harmony include accord, concord, cooperation, like-mindedness, and unanimity. Antonyms, on the other hand, range from clash and disagreement to discord. |
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| 4145 |
harried |
troubled persistently, especially with petty annoyances |
Hours passed before Ann could sleep, and then her slumber was broken, her rest harried by weird dreams, her half-waking periods crammed with disturbing fantasies. |
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Someone who is harried is feeling the stress of being rushed, overworked, or harassed. A harried parent might be exhausted but still have to make 3 dozen cupcakes for school and help with a science project. |
Harried comes from the verb harry, which itself is from the Middle English word herigan, meaning to pillage, plunder, or make war. Today, harried doesn't imply an act of war, but rather someone who is frazzled or a situation that might cause that feeling. If the project you're working on has been harried from start to finish, you'll be lucky to keep your sanity. |
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| 4146 |
hauteur |
overbearing pride with a superior manner toward inferiors |
In them are written hauteur, pride, and arrogant fierceness beyond anything on this earth; there is also contempt that has no expression in speech. |
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Hauteur is an obnoxious display of overbearing pride and superiority over others. Rather than showing humility and respect, a bad king might act with hauteur toward his subjects. |
The noun hauteur stems from the Old English word haute, meaning "high in one's own estimation." Because it often develops as a result of power over others (or perceived power), it's often associated with royalty or politically powerful figures who throughout history have become vain and arrogant because of their position: A high-powered CEO might show hauteur toward the newly hired assistant; a professional athlete's hauteur may result from the media spotlight and multi-million-dollar contracts. |
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| 4147 |
haven |
a shelter serving as a place of safety or sanctuary |
At most shows, security guards usually swoop in at this point, cutting off audience access to designers and their backstage havens. |
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Need to find shelter, from the weather or from other troubles? Then you need a haven. |
Haven looks a lot like heaven, and the words have quite a bit in common. A haven isn't necessarily as wonderful as heaven is supposed to be, but it is a good place to find when you're in trouble or someone is after you. This word often appears in the phrase "safe haven," which is a good reminder of its meaning. A haven is a safe place, and people who are in trouble tend to seek havens. |
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| 4148 |
havoc |
violent and needless disturbance |
On Friday, 62-mph winds caused havoc, knocking over TV towers and fences, and forced race organizers to cancel a giant slalom. |
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Havoc is a noun that means devastation or total mayhem. Havoc often wreaked by hurricanes, angry mobs, plundering Vikings, and wild parties that get out of control. |
If we trace havoc way back, we arrive at a crossroads. Some people believe that the word comes from the Old French havot, meaning “plundering, devastation,” while others argue that it was passed down to us from the Latin habere, meaning “to have, possess.” Either way you look at it, the meaning remains the same: widespread disorder or destruction. |
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| 4149 |
headstrong |
habitually disposed to disobedience and opposition |
She has a great deal of difficulty, for they are both so headstrong and unruly that they will hardly obey at all. |
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Headstrong describes something that's disobedient or willful. If you're headstrong, you want to do what you want to do. When you refuse to complete your homework because you want to watch a football game, you're being headstrong. |
A closer look at the word headstrong can give you a hint to its meaning — the combination of the words head and strong. You're determined to have your own way because you have a strong belief that your view — what you have in your head — is the best one. Being a headstrong person is not always a bad thing. Sometimes headstrong people make history because they fight traditional values or outdated rules that need to be changed. |
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| 4150 |
hearsay |
gossip passed around by word of mouth |
I tell you not of things learned by hearsay; I myself have beheld all these horrors in the Holy Land of Palestine. |
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Ever hear someone say something so juicy you decide to tell other people about it, even if you don't know if it's true or not? Admit it. That hearsay, or gossip, is precisely how rumors get started. |
Hearsay is one of those awesome words that tell us its definition right up front. You don't have to figure it out by hearsay, or word of mouth, the definition is right there — when you hear someone say a rumor, that's hearsay. |
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| 4151 |
heathen |
a person who does not acknowledge your god |
"Are you Christians," said the holy man, "or heathens?" |
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If you don't believe in God — or if you contradict other beliefs of a religion — you are a heathen. |
There are plenty of nonbelievers, but a heathen is something more — someone who is actively offensive to a religion. The term is tied to the Gods of Judaism, Christianity and Islam; someone who rejects the various gods of Hinduism, for example, is not likely to be called a heathen. Heathens are sometimes called infidels and pagans. These days, the term is often used humorously. An atheist might jokingly refer to herself as a heathen. |
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| 4152 |
heckler |
someone who tries to embarrass you with gibes and objections |
For the next few days, when NTV reporters went out to cover public events, hecklers gathered around them chanting “shame.” |
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Have you ever screamed horrible things during a sports event, or taunted someone with cruel jokes? You might be a heckler, and you’re probably not very well-liked. |
The word heckler is rooted in an old Dutch verb that means “to irritate, prickle,” and hecklers can be irritating indeed. They sit at baseball games and yell insults at the players, or start booing during a spelling bee. Some comedians love hecklers and often will start heckling them back. Other comedians will jump off stage and attack a heckler — so keep that in mind if you feel like adding heckler to your résumé. |
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| 4153 |
heedless |
characterized by careless unconcern |
Rembrandt was heedless in his habits, spending what he earned, living on credit, signing onto bad deals. |
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Someone heedless is reckless or not paying attention. Heedless rhymes with needless, and someone who's heedless acts as if needed things are needless. If you head out to surf in a tsunami, you're heedless of the giant-wave warnings. |
When you pay heed to something you pay attention to it or consider it, but if you’re heedless you do the opposite. Sometimes being heedless means being a risk-taker in an exciting way, or it can just mean losing track of time, but often it describes being inconsiderate. If you keep raising the volume when your brother asks you to turn down the music, you’re heedless of his need to study, and if you're heedless of the yellow tape that says "Do not cross," you disregard the law. |
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| 4154 |
heir |
a person who inherits some title or office |
Hu’s heir apparent, Vice President Xi Jinping, is scheduled to take over next year and is far less shy about making headlines and meeting Westerners. |
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If your grandfather leaves his candy factory to you in his will, it means you're the heir to the family candy business, and after your grandfather dies, you will inherit the factory. |
When you're named in a will or are legally entitled to inherit something, you're an heir. You can be the heir to someone's money, business, or title; in a monarchy, the king or queen's oldest son is usually the heir to the throne. The word heir isn't pronounced like "hair," but instead has a silent h and sounds like "air." |
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| 4155 |
helm |
a position of leadership |
He held various positions, including head of the technology development planning unit and personnel chief, before taking the helm at the camera business in April. |
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The person at the helm is the person in charge, and if you happen to be at sea, that person is the one steering the boat with a device called a helm, the mechanism that keeps the boat on course. |
When someone takes over from someone else — as when a newly elected official takes office, or when a company appoints a new head — you would say that new person has taken the helm. But if you're going to take the helm or be at the helm, you can't have an empty boat. There's got to be a group in there with you that you're taking the helm for, guiding them all. |
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| 4156 |
hemisphere |
half of a sphere |
The New World or Western Hemisphere consists of two continents. |
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A hemisphere is half of a sphere. If it’s a cold winter in the northern hemisphere, take a winter getaway to sunbathe somewhere in the southern hemisphere. |
Hemisphere comes from the Greek, and combines the prefix hemi-, for "half," with sphere, or "perfectly round ball." We talk about the earth as divided at the equator into the northern and southern hemispheres (or divided at the prime meridian into eastern and western hemispheres). In biology, there are two cerebral, or brain, hemispheres — also known as the right and left sides of the brain. |
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| 4157 |
hemorrhage |
the flow of blood from a ruptured blood vessel |
On the other hand, babies delivered by C-section were less likely to have one type of bleeding around the brain -- known as subdural hemorrhage. |
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Medically speaking, a hemorrhage is a rapid loss of blood. If you fall and hit your head really hard, the doctors will check to see there's no cerebral hemorrhage, or bleeding in your brain. |
Hemorrhage is pronounced HEM-or-edge. Blame the Greeks for the funny spelling, because like many medical terms, this one comes from Greek roots. Besides the medical meaning, we use hemorrhage to mean the uncontrollable loss of other things. If sudden disaster is making you hemorrhage money, you'll have to cut back on fancy dinners and new shoes. Can I recommend frozen pizza? |
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| 4158 |
herald |
foreshadow or presage |
The fleet of traders was preceded some way in advance by light, swift sailing ships which heralded its coming. |
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A herald is a sign of things to come. A chilly day in October is a herald of the coming winter. |
Years ago, a herald was an official who announced important news to the people. This is why many newspapers today have herald in their name. Nowadays, the noun herald refers to an early indicator that something is about to happen. Herald can also be used as a verb meaning "to praise" or "to greet enthusiastically." If you've been away from home for a long time, your family might herald your return, especially if you come bearing gifts. |
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| 4159 |
herbivorous |
feeding only on plants |
Sheep and cattle are herbivorous: they feed on herbs, on vegetables. |
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A buffalo, a goose, a grasshopper, and a stegosaurus sit down to eat dinner. This isn’t a joke, it’s an example of herbivorous creatures who exist on a diet of plant life only. |
Herbivorous comes from the Latin word herba, which means “green plants,” and that’s what herbivorous animals eat all the time: grass, leaves, and other plants. Some massive and strong animals actually have peaceful herbivorous eating habits, like gorillas and hippopotamuses. The opposite of herbivorous is carnivorous, which describes meat-eating beasts like lions, sharks, crocodiles, and your uncle Marvin who eats nothing but steak all day long. |
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| 4160 |
hereditary |
inherited or inheritable by established rules of descent |
From the way in which his eldest son Osman is being brought up, it is evident that Abdullah seeks to establish an hereditary succession. |
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Things that are hereditary are inherited — passed down through the DNA of your biological parents. |
Has anyone ever said "You have your mom's eyes" or "Wow, you look like your grandfather"? They're commenting on hereditary features — things you got from your parents, and their parents, and all the other family genes you carry. Hair color, height, and even parts of your personality tend to be hereditary, or passed down genetically. Not all hereditary things are good: you can also inherit health conditions, crooked teeth, or your grandpa's bald spot. |
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| 4161 |
heritage |
that which is inherited |
SAT-SUN Celebrating Japan's cultural heritage with performing arts, martial arts demonstrations, tea ceremony demonstrations, exhibits, food vendors, workshops, Koi Show, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. |
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Heritage can refer to practices or characteristics that are passed down through the years, from one generation to the next. Researching your family tree would help you gain a sense of your personal heritage. |
Heritage is often used to discuss a cultural aspect or tradition that has been passed down through generations. For example, one might speak of an area’s "rich musical heritage.” Heritage can also refer to a person's ethnic or cultural background. In a legal sense, heritage is property that you inherit, like a silver teapot your great aunt Sally left to you. |
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| 4162 |
heterodox |
characterized by departure from accepted standards |
You will think these ideas horribly heterodox, but if we all thought alike there would be nothing to write about and nothing to learn. |
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Heterodox is from the Greek root words heteros, meaning "the other," and doxa, meaning "opinion." The adjective heterodox was first applied to people who held a different religious opinion from the standard beliefs and teachings. |
Today, although the religious meaning remains, the adjective heterodox can describe someone who adheres to any atypical beliefs, such as scientists who buck the current thinking or politicians who do not toe the party line. The word can be a synonym of heretical, which describes someone with contrary beliefs. If you are a teacher with a heterodox teaching style, you may win over students but alarm your more traditional colleagues. |
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| 4163 |
heuristic |
a commonsense rule to help solve some problem |
He was swayed by the "familiarity" heuristic, which basically says that humans trust what is familiar. |
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A heuristic is a rule or method that helps you solve problems faster than you would if you did all the computing. It sounds fancy, but you might know a heuristic as a "rule of thumb." |
Derived from a Greek word that means "to discover," heuristic describes a rule or a method that comes from experience and helps you think through things, like the process of elimination, or the process of trial and error. You can think of a heuristic as a shortcut. Besides finding it in philosophy books, if you are interested in computing, you'll find references to heuristic programming. You can use it as a noun or as an adjective. |
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| 4164 |
hibernate |
be in an inactive or dormant state |
In winter they hibernate like our squirrels, passing several months underground in a kind of slow and nearly motionless existence. |
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To hibernate means to take a season-long snooze. When a bear crawls into a cave with a belly full of food ready to sleep through the cold winter, that bear is going to hibernate until spring. |
Animals that sleep through the winter, like bears, squirrels, rodents and even some rattlesnakes, are said to hibernate through the winter. This word can also be used to describe any kind of inactive or dormant state, especially for the purpose of getting rest. If you’ve had a tough week and you’re planning to shut down and hole up in your house for the weekend, you could say you’re going to hibernate this weekend. |
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| 4165 |
hieroglyphic |
belonging to a writing system using pictorial symbols |
Hieroglyphic writing is really picture writing, and is the oldest means man has employed to enable him to communicate with his fellows. |
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If your written language consists of pictures rather than letters and words, your written communication would be hieroglyphic in nature. Ancient Egyptian writing was hieroglyphic. |
The pictures that make up hieroglyphic language are called hieroglyphs. The word descended from the Greek hierogluphikos which could be translated to mean "sacred carvings." Back when written communication was literally carved in stone, most of what was written was important, or "sacred." Today if someone describes your handwriting as hieroglyphic, they mean something quite different - your writing is awful and illegible. |
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| 4166 |
hilarious |
marked by boisterous merriment or convulsive laughter |
Soames saw, too, at least one hilarious group of college-age boys who might have been organized by a college humor magazine. |
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One person can find a joke a little funny, while someone else might find it downright hilarious. When something is super-funny, it's hilarious. |
Hilarious is an adjective that describes a high degree of humor. Things that are funny can cause you to smile or giggle, but when something is hilarious, it causes you to laugh out loud. Of course, what's hilarious to me might not be to you. When I scribbled obscenities on your face while you were asleep? I found that totally hilarious. You? Not so much. Hilarious is also used sarcastically, when something isn't funny at all. Like when you woke up: you glared at me and said "Hilarious." |
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| 4167 |
hindmost |
located farthest to the rear |
He was the hindmost when the race began, but with widespread nostrils, long extended neck, and glaring eyeballs, he seemed to fly over the course. |
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The hindmost of something is the part that's farthest back, like the caboose of a train, the tail of a plane, or an elephant's great big...rear end. |
Breaking down the meaning of hindmost is a pretty simple affair, since hind means "rear" (a dog's hind legs are its back legs) and most means, well, "most." It should also come as no surprise that handy synonyms for hindmost include backmost, rearmost, and endmost. The phrase "devil take the hindmost" refers to a self-serving attitude without regard for others. |
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| 4168 |
hinge |
a joint that holds two parts together so that one can swing |
He opened the door, trying to will away telltale creaks in hinges and joints, avoid any possible attention. |
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A hinge is a type of joint that attaches two things together while allowing for limited movement. A door hinge fastens the door to the wall and lets the door swing open. |
A hinge is a joint that holds two pieces of something together while allowing one piece to move in a swinging motion. When used as a verb, hinge can mean "to attach a hinge." Hinge can also be used to indicate that one key event depends on another, as in “The athlete’s future with the team will hinge on his performance at tonight’s game” or “The success of this product hinges on how many units are sold this month.” |
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| 4169 |
hinterland |
a remote and undeveloped area |
There in those half explored and altogether unsettled hinterlands, lurk desires that sting like adders and hatreds cruel as hell.... |
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The hinterlands are affectionately called "the sticks," or the "boonies," short for "boondocks." Use it to specify an area that is far away from a city or town, or even civilization as we know it. Cell-phone reception and cable television aren't guaranteed. |
The noun hinterland comes to the English language via Germany: hinter is "behind" + land is, well, "land." It actually refers to the land lying inland — or behind — an ocean coast or river shore, which is why backwaters and hinterlands are used interchangeably. Use hinterlands when you want to make fun of an area's backwardness, or to celebrate its natural beauty: "Coming from the unspoiled hinterlands of Louisiana, she found it hard to adjust to the sights and sounds of the big city." |
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| 4170 |
hoard |
save up as for future use |
The offspring of starving mothers, anticipating hard times during their own future lives, adjust their metabolisms to hoard calories. |
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To hoard is to save something (or lots of things) for future use. Squirrels hoard nuts for the winter. Old ladies tend to hoard canned food and used plastic bags. |
People have been using the word hoard for both "to hide" and "treasure" for centuries; as both a verb and as a noun. Some hoard valuables, such as money, jewelry, and family antiques. Others build up a hoard, or cache, of things that aren't worth money but are important to them — like comic books or match books. |
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| 4171 |
hoax |
something intended to deceive |
On Monday, a bomb threat received in London was first taken by the police as credible, but later described as a probable hoax. |
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If you put on big fake feet, stomp through your muddy backyard and tell everyone you saw Bigfoot fixing a steak on your grill, you are playing a hoax on your friends. |
Hoax is believed to be a shortened version of hocus pocus, thus conveying the feeling of trickery and sleight of hand. April First, also known as April Fools' Day, is a day of hoaxes. Successful hoaxes in history: Orson Welles' War-of-the-Worlds radio broadcast in 1938 and the alien autopsy film footage made public in the 1990s. Do you believe the American moon landing in 1969 was a hoax? You're not alone. Six percent of Americans believe this event was staged. |
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| 4172 |
hoist |
raise or haul up with or as if with mechanical help |
Then the signal was given to resume hoisting the big fish aboard, and once more the crane started winding up the cable. |
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To hoist is to raise up or lift, like a crane or forklift would. You can hoist yourself up onto the roof to get a better view, or hoist a beer to your mouth — as long as you're over 21. |
You can certainly hoist a cup to your mouth to drink, but this word is generally used to describe heavier lifting, like the hoisting of a fallen tree onto the bed of a truck or hoisting the Super Bowl trophy over your head after the big game. In nautical terms, where it comes up often, hoist refers to a group of flags that are raised all at once to communicate a signal. |
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| 4173 |
holocaust |
an act of mass destruction and loss of life |
Twenty-four thousand bodies were burned in one holocaust, and it is solemnly stated that in the spring thaws twelve thousand more were brought to light. |
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The noun holocaust means "total destruction." However, this word has become inextricably connected with World War II and the mass murder of Jews by the Nazis (in this usage, Holocaust is capitalized). |
When holocaust entered the English language in the thirteenth century, it referred to burnt offerings described in the Old Testament. The original Greek word meant "burnt whole" (note the relationship to the word caustic). Since at least 1942, though, the word is most often used to describe the extermination of Jews by the Nazis. Some people object to the religious connotations of the word, though, preferring to use the Hebrew Shoah (catastrophe) instead. |
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| 4174 |
homage |
respectful deference |
With cathedral ceilings, sparkling mosaic tile floors and elaborately carved moldings and paneling, the restaurant pays homage to the Gilded Age. |
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Homage means great respect and honor, or something done to honor a person or thing. We pay homage to our ancestors and say prayers in homage to their memory. |
In Middle English, homage specifically referred to respect for and loyalty to a feudal lord. The word was borrowed from Old French, probably from omne, homme "man," from Latin homō. The noun suffix –age is used to mean "an action, process, result, or state." |
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| 4175 |
homologous |
similar in position, structure, function, or characteristics |
So, too, organs which were homologous in the ordinary sense, as the heart of birds and mammals, might have arisen separately in evolution. |
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Something homologous is similar in function to something else. You might say that your dog's hind legs and your legs are homologous, because they have similar structure and function. |
Homologous comes from the Latin for "agreeing," and has the root homo- in it, which means "same." In biology, homologous either refers to traits that share an origin, and have the same function (like the spine on all vertebrates), or structures that share an evolutionary origin, but have developed different functions. Either way, something is the same about them. You'll also find homologous in math, like when two triangles share a line. |
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| 4176 |
hone |
refine or make more perfect or effective |
Kopec says his clients are wine curious and fast learners, honing their palates by sharing bottles in private rooms at restaurants. |
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The verb hone means to sharpen skills. When you practice shooting baskets every day after school, you are honing your skills as a basketball player. |
Hone, the verb, literally means to sharpen with a hone, a whetstone used to sharpen cutting tools. Use hone to describe someone working hard, perfecting or sharpening skills, as in "She is honing her skills as an actress by working in community theater." Hone, which rhymes with phone, is from the Old English word, han, meaning "stone, rock." |
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| 4177 |
honor |
bestow rewards upon |
The host country's gold medalists will be honored with commemorate postage stamps available at 500 outlets the very next day, Royal Mail announced. |
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Honor has many uses, all of them good. If you are called a man of honor, you are respected. If someone honors you, they recognize and award you for your achievements. |
The term honor has always been a word used to describe men and women of high moral worth or great achievement. It can be used as either a noun or verb, and in many different settings. People graduate from college with honor, meaning they have outstanding grades. A woman of honor is pure and decent. Soldiers are buried with full military honors, which means they are given gun salutes and trumpet calls and the nation's fullest respect. |
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| 4178 |
honorable |
deserving of esteem and respect |
"The office of bailiff formerly was high and honorable in England, and officers under that title on the continent are still invested with important functions."—Webster. |
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The word honorable has to do with people and actions that are honest, fair, and worthy of respect. |
An honorable person is someone who believes in truth and doing the right thing — and tries to live up to those high principles. When you lose a game, it's honorable to shake hands. If you smash into someone's parked car, it's honorable to leave a note so they can contact you. Telling the truth is honorable. This word is also used for people who are deserving of being honored, like when judges are called "The honorable Judge So-and-so." |
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| 4179 |
horizon |
the line at which the sky and Earth appear to meet |
We can see to the horizon about 35 miles distant, tapering off into low blue hills, and closer in, three shivering silver lakes. |
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When you look out your window and note the furthest point you can see––the line where the sky meets the earth––that edge is called the horizon. Horizon can also mean the edge of something in a figurative sense. |
When you are thinking about your life, it can be difficult to get very far beyond where you are. Teenagers have a hard time imagining beyond the horizons of young adulthood. People expecting a baby often put much of their focus on infancy––having a child who can sit up or even walk is beyond the horizons of their thinking. |
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| 4180 |
horrendous |
causing fear or dread or terror |
Some wounded civilians evacuated from Misrata by boat described horrendous scenes of shelling and hand-to-hand fighting, he says. |
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Bad luck, an injury, a mistake, an unfortunate outfit, or a crime — anything can be called horrendous if it causes such dread or fear that you can barely even think about it. |
If you’ve ever encountered something horrendous, you won’t be surprised to learn that the word traces back to the Latin word horrere, meaning "to bristle with fear, shudder." That’s a good way to think about horrendous things — they cause you to shudder. You can use the word to describe any type of thing — people, ideas, actions, and so on — but save it for those things that are not merely bad but instead are truly horrifying. |
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| 4181 |
hortatory |
giving strong encouragement |
For hortatory or inspirational purposes we do not need to make this analysis; it has, indeed, its practical dangers. |
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Hortatory is a word used to describe a behavior or action that is encouraging. In the face of great economic crisis, the president's speech takes on a hortatory or encouraging tone, at a time when people most need the reassurance. |
Hortatory, pronounced hawr-tuh-tawr-ee, is probably not a word you hear a lot, but what it describes is common. Teachers often give hortatory speeches when students are most overwhelmed. Coaches scream hortatory remarks to their team in the locker room to keep the players motivated. When you're lying in bed in the morning ignoring your alarm, look for that little hortatory voice in your head, encouraging you to get up so that you're not late. |
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| 4182 |
horticultural |
of or relating to the cultivation of plants |
Japanese flower arrangements, candles and giant orchids make the stage look more like an oriental horticultural exhibition than a concert venue. |
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Did you know Memorial Day weekend is the biggest horticultural event of the year? It's the time many people plant their flower and vegetable gardens. The adjective horticultural describes anything related to gardening. |
The Latin word for garden is hortus and cultura means "planting and cultivation." You might be familiar with the word horticulture as a formal way to describe the science of growing plants of all kinds. Horticultural is just the adjective form of that word. If you’re headed to a plant show over the weekend, to impress your gardening club you could say you are attending a horticultural event. |
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| 4183 |
hospitable |
disposed to treat guests and strangers with generosity |
In Morgantown, many of the fans we came across were gracious, welcoming, hospitable and constantly inquiring about whether we had received any harsh treatment. |
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When someone makes you feel comfortable and at home, that person is being hospitable, providing a warm, friendly environment. Anything hospitable is welcoming and open. |
A Greek proverb suggested that in being hospitable, the main feeling should be good will. The basis for the word hospitable is the Latin hospes, which refers to welcoming a guest, a word that evolved into meaning "to entertain." Consider that being hospitable means, as someone once said, “making your guests feel at home, even though you wish they were.” In other words, entertaining them. (You can also “entertain” new ideas with an open, hospitable mind.) |
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| 4184 |
hovel |
small crude shelter used as a dwelling |
It is a paltry hovel of two low stories, half timbered, with meagre windows, and must have been a squalid abode even in its prime. |
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A hovel is a small shed or dwelling, often messy, cramped, and crudely built, such as a shelter in a refugee camp — or possibly your apartment if you have too much stuff and not enough time to clean. |
The word hovel was used in the fifteenth century to describe a shed used for animals, and by the seventeenth century the word had taken on its current usage as a way to describe a crude human dwelling — though the connotation of a messiness associated with animals still remains. The word can be used literally to describe something that is a ramshackle shack, but you’ll also hear it used with wry humor to describe a person’s modest living quarters: “Well, I’m off to my hovel to get some sleep.” |
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| 4185 |
hover |
hang in the air; fly or be suspended above |
Here he stood still, looking up the dim expanse, with the dusky shadows, like great winged, formless ghosts, hovering over him. |
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A hover craft flies low over the ground or water — it hovers. Hover can also mean waver. Think of someone that can’t decide exactly where to land. |
To help remember the meaning of hover, think of it as containing the preposition over: things that hover hang over. A temperature can hover around forty degrees, a grade in a class can hover around a B. |
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| 4186 |
humane |
showing evidence of moral and intellectual advancement |
Men and women were in those less humane days burned for displeasing God, while now they are only fined and incarcerated. |
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A humane person is one who shows great compassion and caring for others, including animals, and who tries whenever possible to alleviate another's suffering. |
The idea of being humane is linked to a higher level of a person's character. While the word is derived from the word human, the sad fact is that a person can be human without being humane. Britain's Royal Humane Society, created in 1774 to rescue drowning people, focuses on recognizing acts of human bravery. In the United States, however, the Humane Society works to eliminate cruelty to animals. Still, both focus on kindness and the humane care of others. |
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| 4187 |
humiliation |
state of disgrace or loss of self-respect |
The humiliation of losing his first match 5-0 was compounded by hearing his opponent's friends marvelling at the easy draw he had been given. |
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Humiliation describes a strong feeling of embarrassment or mortification — like that time in sixth grade when your mother wiped your face and called you "honey bunny" in front of all your friends. |
Humiliation comes from the Latin word humiliare, which means "to humble." So if you are caught in a situation that causes humiliation, you are humbled — with a loss of self-esteem and self-respect. If you become a politician, for example, and you campaign on a platform of family values, don't get caught cheating on your spouse; the public humiliation may be enough to drive you out of politics. |
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| 4188 |
humility |
a disposition to be humble; a lack of false pride |
During the meal Jesus taught His disciples a touching lesson in humility; laying aside His upper robe, He washed and wiped their feet. |
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Humility is the quality of being humble. If you meet one of your heroes and feel nervous and in awe for her, you are experiencing humility. |
Humility comes from the Latin word humilis, which literally means low. If you feel humility in front of someone, you feel small in the scheme of things — that you are just a simple, insignificant person. Someone who spends his life taking care of others shows humility. Although it's related to humiliation (which makes you feel low in a bad way), humility is usually used to talk about a lack of ego. |
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| 4189 |
humongous |
very large |
“These are humongous, gigantic, scare-your-pants-off kinds of waterfalls,” he said. |
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Something humongous is really, really big. If you experiment with greenhouses, fertilization, and grow lights, you can grow a humongous pumpkin. |
Humongous is an American slang word coined in the 1970's, copying more proper words like tremendous or enormous. If you want to describe something that's so big it's hard to really measure, like the national debt or the number of cells in your body, you can use the world humongous. Just don't use it in a formal paper. |
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| 4190 |
hydrophobia |
viral disease of the nervous system of warm-blooded animals |
One of his most stirring narratives related to the manner in which he escaped hydrophobia, after being bitten by a rabid wolf. |
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Foaming at the mouth? Terrified of drinking water? You're displaying all the signs of hydrophobia, a common symptom of rabies. Unfortunately by this point you're probably beyond curing. Or reading online definitions. |
Take hydro (meaning "water") and phobia (meaning "fear") and you have hydrophobia — a fear of water. This could be a purely psychological issue that started in the lake at summer camp, or it could be physically motivated by disease — such as rabies. |
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| 4191 |
hyperbolic |
enlarged beyond truth or reasonableness |
“I am surprised that plaintiffs’ hyperbolic allegations and inflated damage claims are given any credence,” said the bank’s top lawyer, Gary Lynch. |
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If someone is hyperbolic, they tend to exaggerate things as being way bigger deals than they really are. Hyperbolic statements are tiny dogs with big barks: don’t take them too seriously. |
Hyperbolic is an adjective that comes from the word hyperbole, which means an exaggerated claim. The Greek root huperbolē means “excess,” and broken down even further the word literally translates as “throw above.” Imagine tossing a football to a friend, but you throw it way above their head and onto a roof. That’s an excess of throwing, and it’s not necessary, which is exactly what being hyperbolic is all about: making statements bigger than necessary. |
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| 4192 |
hypnagogic |
sleep inducing |
This intermediate and persistent stage of hypnagogic images serves in every way to explain the physical genesis of involuntary hallucinations. |
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Something that is hypnagogic makes you sleepy. If you often fall asleep in movie theaters, you can say that movies put you in a hypnagogic, or drowsy, state. |
The Greek word hypnos means "sleep," and when it's added to agogos, "leading," it makes hypnagogic, "leading to sleep." You can use the adjective hypnagogic to describe something that makes you yawn or feel sleepy. Hypnagogic is also a psychological term for the moments just before you fall asleep; it's a period that's commonly full of dream imagery. |
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| 4193 |
hypochondriac |
a patient with imaginary symptoms and ailments |
The man proved to be a regular hypochondriac, taking medicine constantly, at one time with five doctors prescribing for him. |
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If you obsess about your health and imagine you have the symptoms of a disease (or diseases), you may well be a hypochondriac and should seek therapy. |
The original Greek hypochondriakos referred to the region of the abdomen, an area that ancient doctors believed to be the seat of misery or melancholia. It stands to reason, then, that hypochondriacs are usually unhappy, simply because they always imagine they're sick. |
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| 4194 |
hypocritical |
professing feelings or virtues one does not have |
While all political leaders call for compromise, their actions and finger pointing increasingly appear hypocritical and self-serving. |
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Hypocritical involves acting in a way that goes against your stated beliefs. If you drive drunk despite the fact that you are the president of Students Against Drunk Driving, you are truly hypocritical. |
Hypocritical comes from the Greek hypokritikos which means acting a part. The word comes up most often when discussing political and religious figures who are sometimes caught engaging in behavior that goes against their professed beliefs. A person who engages in hypocritical behavior could be called a hypocrite, their behavior, an act of hypocrisy. |
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| 4195 |
hysteria |
state of violent mental agitation |
Washington teenager Mike Mitchell, then 18, was on hand at Union Station when the Beatles arrived and documented the shrieking hysteria of their fans. |
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Hysteria is a medical condition or general state of extreme fear and panic. When hysteria sets in, people are out of control. |
In a medical sense, people who are feeling hysteria may be violent and having trouble perceiving reality. In a more general sense, when someone is hysterical, they're out of control — freaking out. Hysteria is the opposite of calmness. It's really a state of emotional chaos that often takes over during natural disasters and scary moments. Or if you're a 13 year old girl, when you go to a concert for your favorite boy band. |
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| 4196 |
gallant |
unflinching in battle or action |
Now straining up steep ascents, and now swimming deep rivers, the fearless and gallant band pressed forward. |
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If you volunteer to remove a huge, hairy spider from your bathroom ceiling, your whole family will be grateful for your gallant actions. The adjective gallant means "heroic or brave." |
In the past, gallant was used to describe a man's behavior toward a woman, especially if he saved her from something or helped her with something she was unable to do on her own. It can still be used that way, but more often it describes any kind of bravery, and it is just as correct to describe a woman's bravery as gallant as it is a man's. |
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| 4197 |
garb |
provide with clothes or put clothes on |
Some are garbed in burgundy monks’ robes, others in jeans and trucker hats. |
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Your garb is what you are wearing — your clothing. You may choose the garb of an auto mechanic, even though you don’t know the difference between a carburetor and a catalytic converter, just because you like the look. |
Within your closet, you probably have the garb of a student — casual clothes that are just right for school — along with the more formal garb you are expected to wear for holidays at your grandmother's house or when giving a speech. When you usually see your buddy, the Marine, in his military garb, it might catch you by surprise when you see him flopped on his couch in the garb of a lazy lounger. |
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| 4198 |
garment |
an article of clothing |
He and two of his sisters work at a nearby tailoring shop, cutting off loose threads from nearly finished garments. |
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A garment is a piece of clothing. The area of New York City where clothes are manufactured is known as the Garment District. |
Derived from the French word for "equipment," garment is a somewhat generic term you can use when the specific kind of clothing you're describing is not the point. A dress, for example, is a dress, and pants are pants. They are not the same thing, unless you refer to them both as garments, in which case they are the same thing. |
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| 4199 |
garnish |
something added to a dish for flavor or decoration |
Lemon, hard-boiled egg and capers may also be used as garnish for chicken salad. |
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A garnish is a decoration or embellishment, often used with food. It is also the verb that means to do the decorating: you can garnish a baked fish with a garnish of lemon slices and parsley. |
Long ago, in 14th-century France, the word garnir meant, in part, "to warn or defend," a meaning that survived in one of the meanings of garnish, "to seize wages to pay a debt." But word meanings often branch out, and "to warn" came to mean "to arm oneself," and later "to fit out or equip." It came to mean "to embellish" in Middle English, and, from the late 17th century on, the word was used commonly for the embellishment or decoration of food. |
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| 4200 |
gastronomy |
the art and practice of preparing and eating good food |
Cooking is there esteemed a service of especial merit, hence France ranks all nations in gastronomy. |
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Gastronomy is all about food — the study of food, the history of food, making good food — how we have come to eat what we eat. |
Despite appearances, gastronomy has nothing to do with gas (although if you eat a great deal of rich food from France, which is where we get the word, it may lead to the intestinal discomfort known as gas). Gastronomy concerns itself with the culture of your belly, gastro, in ancient Greek. In France, where they take their food very seriously, they have an entire academy devoted to the study of gastronomy, or gastronomie — as they say. |
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| 4201 |
gaudy |
tastelessly showy |
In fact, he seemed incapable of using any colors but gaudy or resplendent ones, and is nothing if not exaggerated, and using heaps of words. |
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Something that's gaudy is showy, bright and definitely tacky. So think twice about that gaudy rainbow-colored suit and shiny gold shoes ensemble. |
Gaudy is an adjective that means "ostentatious" — in other words, flashy and in your face, and not in a good way. Someone in a gaudy outfit is probably trying too hard to be cool and stylish. Gaudy evolved from the Middle English gaud “deception, trick” in the 1520’s. That word, in turn, came from gaudi, used to describe a “large, ornamental bead in a rosary.” |
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| 4202 |
genealogy |
the study or investigation of ancestry and family history |
The genealogies and family histories are excellent, and many particulars are given of the lives and works of authors not easily found elsewhere. |
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Your genealogy is the story of your ancestry, sometimes referred to as your family tree. Most Americans can trace their genealogy back to Europe, Africa, and Asia, but that's not a hard and fast rule. |
The first clue to the meaning of the word genealogy is in the root "gene," as in "passed on through the genes." Add to that the suffix -logy, which means "study," and you get genealogy, the study of one's origins. While some folks are eager to understand their genealogy, others prefer to forget their family history. But these days, knowing one's genealogy can have real advantages, especially medical: knowing your genetic history can help you maintain your health. |
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| 4203 |
generalization |
the process of abstracting common properties of instances |
With this purpose in view he has kept closely to concrete statement and above all has tried to avoid vagueness and loose generalization. |
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Taking something specific and applying it more broadly is making a generalization. It's a generalization to say all dogs chase squirrels. |
A generalization is taking one or a few facts and making a broader, more universal statement. If all the girls you know play with dolls, you might make the generalization that all girls play with dolls. Scientists try to make generalizations based on research — the more data they have, the more accurate the generalization. Generalizations can be similar to stereotypes in that they are sometimes wrong and harmful. Usually, it's best to stick with specifics and avoid generalizations. |
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| 4204 |
generic |
applicable to an entire class or group |
But rather than asking a generic question like "Are you happy here?" inquire about things that matter to your loved one. |
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Generic refers to the members of a whole class of things — like "tissue," a generic word for any soft, thin piece of paper that's good for wiping runny noses. |
A generic product, whether it's a tire or donut or drug, is typical of all other products like it. There's nothing distinctive or unique about it. A generic fan looks and acts just like dozens of other fans — it doesn't spin backwards or send out sparks. Generic aspirin doesn't have a trademark, like Bayer or St. Joseph: it's just plain aspirin. |
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| 4205 |
genial |
diffusing warmth and friendliness |
Perhaps there is nothing that prolongs life more than genial, hearty laughter. |
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If you're friendly and outgoing, you're genial. You can be a genial host or a genial guest. |
This is mainly a word for pleasant kindness. Besides people or animals, climates and weather can be genial, which means they too are warm and sunny — good for growing things. In older literature, genial might have something to do with marriage and family, and sometimes brilliance, as in genius. Those uses are very rare nowadays, as is the sense of genial as having to do with the jaw. These days, warmth and friendliness are the main meanings. |
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| 4206 |
genteel |
marked by refinement in taste and manners |
"Mrs. D.," said he, turning on me like a tiger, "are you going to teach me polite breeding and genteel manners?" |
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Although the adjective genteel means high-class and refined, it is often used today in a somewhat mocking tone, as though good manners and elegance are passé. Still, it would be nice if more people were a little more genteel. |
The word genteel comes from the Old French word gentil, "high-born, noble." We can see the similarity to the word gentle, as in gentleman and gentlewoman. The word is especially powerful in describing Chaucer's Knight in the Canterbury Tales as "a verray, parfit gentil knyght" — "a true, perfect, noble knight," dignified, patrician, and as genteel as they come. Today, it describes someone elegant, fashionable, and well-bred. Picture someone in riding jodhpurs reading "Town and Country" while astride a magnificent show horse. |
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| 4207 |
genuflect |
bend the knees and bow before a religious superior or image |
When you enter, bless yourself with holy water and go quietly to your seat, genuflect on your right knee and enter the pew. |
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If you are genuflecting, you are on your knees — either physically or in spirit. Politicians are experts at genuflecting to whatever idea or person is most popular at the time. |
In the old days, when you came in front of your social superiors, you were expected to genuflect: that is, bend your knee and bow submissively. You did it before kings and nobles, and everyone did it in church before God. In our more egalitarian age, genuflecting has taken on a rather insincere and servile meaning. Best not to genuflect, but simply to admire. |
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| 4208 |
germane |
relevant and appropriate |
But such questions are not germane to my central theme, and so I pass them over lightly. |
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Germane means relevant; it fits in. If you are giving a speech on dog training, stick to the germane, canine stuff. Topics that would not be germane? Catnip toys, hamster wheels, and the use of a saddle. |
You can thank Shakespeare for the modern meaning of the adjective germane. The word originally referred to people who have the same parents. Shakespeare added the word's figurative meaning of objects being closely related or relevant when he used it in the play Hamlet. You might want to bring up all sorts of complaints during an argument with your best friend, but she says the two of you should only discuss issues that are germane to the current fight. |
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| 4209 |
germinal |
containing seeds of later development |
The most valuable means of securing this all-important growth is “play,” which Froebel said contained the germinal leaves of all later life. |
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Germinal, an adjective, describes something that is just starting to happen, like all the planning you did and people you got interested in joining the running club when it was just an idea. That's the germinal stage. |
To correctly pronounce germinal, accent the first syllable: "JER-mih-nul." You can see and hear germ in germinal. It comes from the Latin word germen, or "sprout, bud, sprig, offshoot." So, something in its germinal stage is just beginning, like when you are thinking about possible topics for the research report you are going to write. |
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| 4210 |
germinate |
cause to grow or sprout |
Nothing might come of it just then, but Elmer hoped the seed would find lodging, and perhaps later on germinate. |
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To germinate is to grow or to develop. When a tiny seedling cracks through a seed casing and sprouts, it has germinated. The term is used for other things too, like when an idea germinates into a film or book. |
Sometimes you want things to germinate, like the heirloom tomato seeds in your backyard garden. Sometimes what germinates is not desirable — like how joblessness, economic problems, and generations of anti-Semitism provided a fertile ground for Nazism to germinate in pre-war Germany. The word's roots are in botany, but it has grown, or dare we say germinated, to be used for any time something grows and develops. |
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| 4211 |
gesticulation |
a deliberate and vigorous motion of the hands or body |
Then the clapping and gesticulations broke forth with increased violence. |
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A gesticulation is a dramatic movement that gets attention. Some stand-up comedians dash across the stage, throwing their hands around, as they act out what they are talking about. These gesticulations become part of the act. |
You can see the word gesture in gesticulation. When you gesture, you move in a way that communicates feelings about what you're saying, such as shrugging your shoulders while saying, "I don't know." A gesticulation is even more emphatic than that — a gesture might be a shrug of the shoulders, but add upturned palms and a comical facial expression that shows confusion and you have gesticulation. |
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| 4212 |
ghastly |
shockingly repellent; inspiring horror |
From here events build up to highly shocking climaxes, including a ghastly murder. |
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Something that's ghastly isn't just gross. It's shockingly, horrifyingly unpleasant — so gruesome and grisly that it makes you want to puke. |
An adjective used to describe that which inspires visions of death and feelings of revulsion, ghastly originated circa 1300. It is very close in meaning to the similarly spelled ghostly. In fact, the word in Old English was originally spelled gastli. But over the years, people confused gastli with ghost, began to adopt the gh- spelling. But don't you forget the "h" - that would be a ghastly spelling error on your part. |
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| 4213 |
gibberish |
unintelligible talking |
But the answer was a gurgling gibberish that made no sense at all! |
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Gibberish is nonsense sounds or writing. A baby's babble is often called gibberish. When someone is speaking a foreign language you don't understand, what they're saying will sound to you like gibberish. |
To gibber or jabber is to talk rapidly and excitedly without making any sense. Gibberish, ending in -ish like Spanish or English––is the name of the "language" people who gibber and jabber are speaking. It also applies to writing. If you have really bad handwriting, your teacher might say you write in gibberish. |
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| 4214 |
giddy |
lacking seriousness; given to frivolity |
Another party of giddy, laughing girls, chatter away in a different strain. |
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If you've ever spun in circles until you fell to the ground laughing, you know how it feels to be giddy. This adjective can mean dizzy, elated, or — as in the spinning around example –- a lightheaded, lighthearted combination of the two. |
The hackneyed phrase "giddy as a schoolgirl" calls forth the image of a kid giggling with her friends over some adolescent foolishness. Giddy has been used to describe someone incapable of serious thought or easily excited as far back as the sixteenth century. Given that, in modern usage, giddy describes someone silly and frivolous, it's interesting to know that the Old English source for this word has a slightly darker tinge: gidig means "insane" or "god-possessed." |
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| 4215 |
gingerly |
in a manner marked by extreme care or delicacy |
Newman got hurt during practice Wednesday, walking gingerly off the field after getting tangled with a receiver during pass coverage drills. |
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If something needs to be done with great care and caution, you should do it gingerly — like gingerly holding a newborn baby or gingerly creeping down the creaky stairs when you're trying to sneak out. |
Before it came to mean “extremely cautiously” in 1600, gingerly meant “elegantly, daintily.” In fact, it stems from the Latin word gentius, meaning “(well)-born.” But today it has less to do with elegance and more to do with a delicate touch, usually used to avoid hurting something or someone. For example, you might want to gingerly hug your friend with the broken rib to avoid making her wince in pain. |
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| 4216 |
girder |
a beam used as a main support in a structure |
The 130-year-old stone cathedral stands broken and deconsecrated, with stained-glass windows shattered and the west wall propped up by girders. |
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A girder is any of the many beams used in buildings and bridges that provide support and actually hold them up. |
If you've ever seen a building going up, you know the first they do is put up a steel or wood skeleton that will eventually take the weight of the roof, the siding, the floors and all the rooms inside. That skeleton is made of girders. Bridges also are made with girders, but they usually remain visible long after the steel beams in buildings have been covered by glass, brick and wood. |
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| 4217 |
girth |
the distance around a person's body |
Others posted messages saying they were looking for "a fat guy called Ai"– a reference to the artist's impressive girth. |
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The girth of something is the distance around its middle, and it usually refers to a person’s waist. If you get pregnant with twins, your girth will probably block your view of your toes. |
One can measure the girth — diameter of the mid-section — of an airplane, tree trunk, or anything cylindrical, but it most often describes a large human waist. A rail-thin person doesn’t have a “minuscule girth,” but when Aunt Velma has her seventh helping of lasagna and has to unbuckle her belt, her girth has outsized her attire. Girth can also mean a strap that encircles the belly of a horse, mule, or other animal to secure a load. |
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| 4218 |
glacial |
relating to or derived from a slowly moving mass of ice |
But no mammoth remains have been found around the White Sea; it was still covered with glacial ice when mammoths died out in Europe. |
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Things that are glacial are super cold. A place can be glacial — like the South Pole — but a person can be glacial, too, like that unfriendly girl who gave you a glacial stare. |
The word glacial is related to the word glacier, which is a huge piece of ice. If something or someone is glacial, that thing or person is icy. You can give someone you don’t like a glacial look, or you can go skiing on a glacial morning. Glacial comes from the Latin glacies, which sounds like the name of a frozen dessert, but which actually just means "ice." |
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| 4219 |
glean |
gather, as of natural products |
A group of men and boys stood round awestruck, anxious to glean every bit of information that could be given. |
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Seeing a word in context lets you glean information about how it's used. Glean means to gather bit by bit. You might say, "I couldn't understand her accent, but from what I could glean, she needs money to take the bus." |
In the Book of Ruth in The Bible, Ruth meets her future husband when she asked permission to glean from his fields, which means follow the grain cutters, gathering the seed kernels that have fallen on the ground. For the very poor at this time, gleaning was often means of getting food. |
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| 4220 |
glimmer |
shine brightly, like a star or a light |
The leaves were black overhead, but the white birch trunks round me glimmered like pale ghosts. |
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A glimmer is a tiny glint of light or the sliver of an idea. Either way, it's a sign of a lot more going on behind the scenes. |
A glimmer of light is just a little bit of light, maybe sneaking through the curtains enough to make a flicker on the floor. A glimmer of an idea is just a small inkling of an idea. When someone doesn't understand something, you could make them feel worse by saying, "You don't have a glimmer of what I'm talking about, do you?" When it comes to light, you can also say light is glimmering, or gleaming. People often say stars are glimmering. |
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| 4221 |
gloat |
dwell on with satisfaction |
Vixetta was in high spirits; she and her familiars hatched mischief together, and gloated over their evil doings in fiendish glee. |
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If you gloat, you express great satisfaction at the misfortune of others. If your team scores a big win, it would be better not to gloat. Be happy for your win, but don't laugh at the other team's loss. |
Gloat seems have come from a Germanic word meaning "to stare." Somehow people may have gotten the sense that whoever was doing the staring was also taking a deep and unwholesome pleasure in whatever he or she was seeing. Think about people staring and pointing and laughing. Sometimes you gloat when someone has rejected the help you have offered. If your little sister won't listen to your advice on how to improve her essay and then comes home with a bad grade, it will be very hard not to gloat and say "I told you so." |
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| 4222 |
globalization |
growth to a worldwide scale |
Stock markets around the world have grown more correlated, thanks to the effects of globalization. |
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Globalization is the process of ideas, products, and people moving around the planet with greater ease and efficiency. Globalization takes advantage of cheaper labor in less developed nations but increases free trade between nations and the free flow of capital. |
Globalization has transcended its traditionally economic concept to be used in many different ways now. The globalization of Barbie began with the opening of a Barbie boutique in Beijing. Use globalization anytime a trend spreads beyond its expected boundaries, reaches beyond expected populations. "At your high school, girls started a trend of wearing hard hats to school every day. Your cousin in Austria mentions girls doing it there. You can joke that the trend has 'gone global.'" |
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| 4223 |
glum |
moody and melancholic |
The music stayed somber and steadfast, determinedly maintaining its glum tone. |
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To be glum is to be sad. Glum is a word for being depressed, bummed out, or down in the dumps. |
People who are glum are sometimes said to be sullen, brooding, morose, and moody. Glum folks don't smile, giggle, or laugh — and they're rarely seen holding balloons. Being glum is a little more outward-directed than just being sad. To be glum is to act sad in front of other people, almost like you want them to ask, "Why so glum?" |
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| 4224 |
glut |
an overabundant or excessive supply |
While mining companies may be making more money than ever, the shipping companies are contending with a glut rather than shortages. |
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A glut is too much of something. A glut of gas in the marketplace can lower its price. A glut of heavy metal T-shirts in your dresser, however, has nothing to do with the economy but might be a signal that it's time to clean your room. |
Glut comes from the Old French gloter, meaning "to swallow too much." The glottis is the part of your body where your vocal folds reside and where you swallow. If you go to the movies alone and get the family tub of popcorn, you are glutting yourself on the salty snack, but do try not to get any popcorn stuck in your glottis. Glut is used more commonly in reference to the economics of the marketplace, where an oversupply of one thing lowers prices. |
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| 4225 |
glutinous |
having the sticky properties of an adhesive |
The young were very little larger, and had a glutinous surface, which caused them to adhere together on being taken from the water. |
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When you step in a glutinous substance, some of it will stick to your shoe and stretch as you step up. Glutinous means glue-like, or thick and sticky. |
The Latin word for glue was gluten, which now the name of a substance found in wheat. Gluten is what makes pizza or bread dough stretchy and gooey, or glutinous. If you're baking a cake, you shouldn't mix it too much or it could become glutinous, or tough. When someone is on a gluten-free diet, it means they cannot eat wheat or other grains that contain gluten. |
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| 4226 |
gluttony |
habitual eating to excess |
Moderation in eating was advised at all times, and any serious excess set down as gluttony, one of the seven deadly sins. |
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Called one of the seven deadly sins, gluttony is characterized by a limitless appetite for food and drink and overindulgence to the point where one is no longer eating just to live, but rather living to eat. |
Present in Old French and Middle English, the word glutonie derived from the Latin gluttire, "to swallow," which in turn came from gula, the word for "throat." In some cultures, gluttony is considered an indication of the country’s wealth, but in most cases it is simply gross and unacceptable. Nowadays, gluttony is seen as an emotional cry for help, as succinctly put by author Peter De Vries, who said, “Gluttony is an emotional escape, a sign something is eating us.” |
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| 4227 |
gnarled |
old and twisted and covered in lines |
She was about forty years old, with stooping shoulders, and hands gnarled and twisted by hard work. |
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You’ve probably heard the word "gnarly" used to describe something really awesome. But gnarled means rugged, roughened and knotty, like the hands of an old wood carver, as well as the wood he carves. |
We owe the adjective gnarled and other forms of the word to our friend Shakespeare, who created it in 1603. In “Measure for Measure,” he writes, “Thy sharpe and sulpherous bolt splits the un-wedgable and gnarled oak.” But gnarled didn't come into use again until the 19th century. In any case, word experts believe it's related to the Middle English word knar which means “knot in wood.” |
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| 4228 |
gorge |
overeat or eat immodestly |
True, he lay moaning and groaning all night, but next morning would be quite ready to gorge an equal meal. |
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A gorge is a very deep crevice between two mountains or hills. Gorges are formed by rivers running through and eroding rock over a very long period of time. |
The Latin root of gorge means "throat," leading to both the "narrow passage" meaning and the French gorgier, "to swallow," which influenced the verb version of gorge, "to overeat." You may love to gorge on ice cream, but the stomachache afterward won't be very pleasant. To remember the "canyon" meaning, think of the famous upstate New York bumper sticker, “Ithaca is gorges.” It's a play on gorgeous, meaning beautiful, and the beautiful ravines in the area. |
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| 4229 |
gorgeous |
dazzlingly beautiful |
The leaves had assumed their gorgeous autumnal tints, and the masses of timber, variegated in colour, presented an inexpressibly beautiful appearance. |
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Reach for the adjective gorgeous to describe jaw-droppingly beautiful, magnificent people or things. |
Good-looking is one thing. Beautiful is another. But reserve gorgeous for the kind of looks that take your breath away. Some synonyms include resplendent, dazzling, spectacular, and splendid. We know that the word comes from Old French gorgias, meaning "elegant," but beyond that it's hard to say for sure. It might have something to do with fancy necklaces adorning the throat — la gorge in French. If calling someone gorgeous isn't enough, pack some extra punch and say "drop-dead gorgeous" instead. |
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| 4230 |
gory |
covered with blood |
And then they showed Denver’s pistol; the one he had borrowed from Bunker, all gory with hair and blood. |
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Use the word gory to describe something that features a lot of bloodshed and violence, like a horror movie in which victims are axed to death by a madman. Some people love gory movies like that, and others refuse to watch them. |
Something that is gory often involves both violence and bloodshed, but it can also describe something that is merely blood, like the gory photographs depicting a root canal procedure in a dental assistant textbook. Gory can describe unpleasant, embarrassing things, like saying of your brother’s bad behavior over the holidays, “I’ll spare you the gory details about his meltdown at the family Christmas party.” |
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| 4231 |
gossamer |
characterized by unusual lightness and delicacy |
After an atmospheric episode, the piece broke into a spiraling dance, sometimes crazed, sometimes delicate with gossamer textures. |
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Gossamer is something super fine and delicate — like a spider web or the material of a wedding veil. |
The original gossamer, from which these meanings come from, is the fine, filmy substance spiders excrete to weave their webs. A dress can be gossamer-like, if its fabric is so sheer as to be see-through, or almost. Your chances of going to a good college are "gossamer thin" if you've never cracked a book in high school. |
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| 4232 |
gourmand |
a person who is devoted to eating and drinking to excess |
With ravenous appetites they partook of a feast which any gourmand might covet. |
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A gourmand is someone obsessively and unhealthily devoted to eating good food and lots of it. |
In Monty Python's film "The Meaning of Life," there is a character who literally explodes after eating just one more mint after a big meal. Well, that in a nutshell is a gourmand. Gourmand is not to be confused with gourmet. A gourmet is a connoisseur of good food who enjoys eating but doesn't do so to excess. A gourmet might find himself full in his favorite restaurant, but he would never explode. Both words are from the Medieval French term gourmant, meaning "glutton." |
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| 4233 |
gourmet |
a person devoted to and knowledgeable about fine food |
Prince Koltsoff had enjoyed his luncheon, as only an exacting gourmet whose every canon of taste has been satisfied, can. |
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That guy over there correctly identifying the dozen spices used in the meal he's eating? He’s likely a gourmet, someone who knows a lot about fine food. |
There are gourmets and then there are foodies. Both are food enthusiasts who live to eat. A gourmet, pronounced like the French word that is its double: "gor-MAY," is more likely to go for the most refined dining experience, created by a chef who trained in Europe. A foodie, on the other hand, might take you to the best burrito place — because their guacamole tastes the best — then stop by the farmers' market to see if the first of the asparagus crop has arrived. |
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| 4234 |
governance |
the act of exercising authority |
He explained that an interim government would immediately take over to provide day-to-day governance and keep order, the Associated Press news agency reports. |
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You've heard of governors and government, and governance is related. It’s the nuts and bolts of how towns or states or countries operate, and it can also apply to companies. Corporate governance is how large companies are organized and run. |
Governments use the powers you give it to pass laws and enforce them, fix your roads, collect taxes — all those things you can’t do alone — and the act of doing that is called governance. Corporations have their own sort of government — they're run by boards of directors who tackle issues of governance, making sure the company is run responsibly. Scholars study theories of governance — ideas about how society should be organized to benefit everyone. |
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| 4235 |
grading |
evaluation of performance by assigning a score |
Each commissioner’s smock came adorned with a bright blue “A” rating, a nod to the city’s new grading system for restaurant cleanliness. |
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When your teacher stays up until four in the morning assigning scores to student work, that's the grading of papers. Grading can also mean smoothing a surface, as in grading a lawn before planting seeds. |
Grading comes from the verb grade, which basically means "group by category." When a teacher works on the grading of papers, she's dividing them into groups — the A's go together, the B's and so on. Fruit grading works in the same way, as does meat — you can have meat where the grading is "prime," or meat with a grading of "Grade A." Grading also has to do with the idea of gradual change — a steep slope could be said to have steep grading. |
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| 4236 |
graduated |
marked with or divided into degrees |
Latterly he took to using paper scales graduated to millimeters. |
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When something is graduated, it goes step-by-step or by degrees, such as a graduated income tax that has different tax rates for different levels of income. |
Fees for a fishing license might be graduated, depending on how big the fish you’re trying to catch is. If you're fishing for little porgies, the license might cost $3, but if you're going for a shark, the fee might be $50. A measuring cup is a graduated container — it has lines on the side that mark out divisions, in this case, ¼ cup, ½ cup, and so on. |
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| 4237 |
graduation |
the successful completion of a program of study |
People who have earned advanced degrees are “hooded” as part of the graduation ceremony. |
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Graduation happens when you successfully complete an academic program, like high school or college. Then you go to a graduation ceremony. |
Scientists might talk about the graduation lines on beakers and rulers that mark out units of measurement. But when most people hear this word, they think about finishing school. Students and their families celebrate graduation from high school, college, training programs, and even kindergarten. At graduation ceremonies, people often wear funny tasseled hats and long robes, then walk up one by one to get an official diploma or certificate. |
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| 4238 |
graft |
tissue or organ transplanted from a donor to a recipient |
UPS already has a good business ensuring that organs and skin grafts get to hospitals in good time. |
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Graft can mean bribery or corruption. It's also a way of transplanting skin or bones in medicine, as in a skin graft. |
People who get terrible burns on their faces often have pieces of skin taken from other parts of their bodies to help them heal and look better. That transplanted skin is called a graft. There are also grafts in agriculture, when farmers take a branch from one tree and graft it onto another tree. The most common use of graft is in political corruption cases when politicians are accused of taking money in exchange for granting favors. |
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| 4239 |
grandeur |
the quality of being magnificent or splendid |
Honest Jack was perfectly astounded at seeing so much beauty and grandeur where he expected to find nothing except solitude and savage desert. |
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Use the noun grandeur to describe something that is splendid or magnificent, such as a lofty idea or an impressive building: “The gilded domes and ornate detail added to the grandeur of the church on Red Square.” |
Derived from the Old French word grand (meaning “great”), the word grandeur is used to describe things that are distinguished, extraordinary, and impressive in scope. Consider the French origins of grandeur as a clue and note that this is a fancy word, best saved for describing things that are truly magnificent on a large scale. The simple beauty of a shadow’s pattern on a sidewalk probably doesn’t have grandeur, but a sunset over the Rocky Mountains probably does. |
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| 4240 |
grandiose |
impressive because of unnecessary largeness or magnificence |
Even in a state known for grandiose real estate deals, the proposed development has set new standards for ambition or, depending on one’s view, recklessness. |
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You've got big plans. Huge plans. Whatever it is, it's going to blow minds and absolutely rock worlds! Well, to some people those plans might sound a bit grandiose, or unnecessarily overblown and even highfalutin. |
Coming from the Italian word grandioso (meaning "grand" or "noble"), the adjective grandiose is kind of like Italian hand gestures: big, exaggerated, and over the top. And it's that excessiveness that pushes something grand (large, with an air of distinction) into grandiose (large, but trying too hard) territory. |
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| 4241 |
gratify |
make happy or satisfied |
This matter was engineered through so handsomely by Mr. Applegate, that Dr. White expressed himself highly gratified and pleased. |
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To gratify is to give satisfaction. So if you've managed to get straight A's in school, what you did was gratify your parents — and it probably felt pretty gratifying to you too. |
There's a strange taint to the word gratify. Sure, it means to do one's best to please, like the little straight-A student that you are, but there's also a hint of indulgence about the word. How often have you heard the phrase "gratify one's desires" used disapprovingly? Slightly hoggish, a bit self-indulgent, that's gratify for you. |
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| 4242 |
gratitude |
a feeling of thankfulness and appreciation |
He has saved my life, and I owe him much gratitude. |
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Gratitude means thanks and appreciation. It's the warm feeling you get when you remember the person who told you to drop your 1980s hairstyle and get with the new millennium already. |
Though they both recognize the instrumental roles others have played in our lives, gratitude is different from indebtedness. Gratitude, which rhymes with "attitude," comes from the Latin word gratus, which means "thankful, pleasing." When you feel gratitude, you're pleased by what someone did for you and also pleased by the results. Unlike indebtedness, you're not anxious about having to pay it back. But it's still great to tell the recipient of your gratitude how much they mean to you. |
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| 4243 |
gratuitous |
unnecessary and unwarranted |
The reader is treated to pedantic little footnotes, and given a good deal of information which is either gratuitous or uninteresting. |
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Gratuitous means "without cause" or "unnecessary." Telling ridiculous jokes at a somber occasion would be a display of gratuitous humor. |
Gratuitous can be used to refer to something that’s unnecessary and mildly annoying. If a friend frequently gives you fashion tips, even though you’ve expressed no interest in receiving them, you’d be correct in labeling her advice as gratuitous. In addition, gratuitous can be used to indicate that something is not only unnecessary but also inappropriate. Some people claim that some films and video games contain gratuitous violence — that is, violence that is excessive and offensive. |
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| 4244 |
gratuity |
a relatively small amount of money for services rendered |
Room service is supplied by the nearby Park Avenue Bistro, with a $3.50 surcharge for each plate, plus a 25 percent gratuity. |
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A gratuity is a tip that's given by a customer in exchange for services. You might leave a gratuity of several dollars when you eat lunch in a restaurant or when you get your hair cut. |
A gratuity is usually a relatively small amount of money, a percentage of the total cost of a purchase or service. A gratuity doesn't pay for the goods purchased — it's a separate reward to the person who did the work. For example, in the United States, waiters and waitresses typically expect a gratuity of between 18 and 20 percent of the total cost of a meal. |
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| 4245 |
graze |
let feed in a field or pasture or meadow |
As soon as haymaking was over, the meadows became common grazing land for horses, cows, and oxen. |
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Cows graze on grass, and people graze on snacks and finger foods. Graze can also mean to scrape, like when you graze your elbow after falling off your bike. |
Graze means "to feed on grass" as sheep, horses, cows, do in a meadow — they eat a little at a time, but constantly. People sometimes graze too, munching on small snacks all day long instead of having a real meal. It also means “to touch lightly,” like when I pitch a baseball to you — and I accidentally hit your arm. With luck, the ball only grazed you, meaning you aren't hurt at all. |
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| 4246 |
grievance |
a complaint about a wrong that causes resentment |
In the open letter, Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour, listed grievances cited by employees at Apple suppliers, including "poverty wages" and excessive and forced overtime. |
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A grievance is a complaint. It can be formal, as when an employee files a grievance because of unsafe working conditions, or more of an emotional matter, like a grievance against an old friend who betrayed you. |
A grievance is a complaint that may or may not be justified. Often a grievance is a complaint about something that breaks a rule or a law, like a grievance filed against a person who builds a fence in his front yard in a town that does not allow that. If that same neighbor plants flowers he knows make you sneeze uncontrollably, you might be unhappy about that, but this is the kind of grievance you can work out among yourselves. |
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| 4247 |
groan |
indicate pain, discomfort, or displeasure |
The wounded man's eyes were open, and he was moving his head uneasily and slowly, groaning deeply every now and then. |
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A groan is a sound of pain or disapproval that doesn't consist of words, usually heard after homework is assigned or bad jokes are told. |
People groan for lots of reasons: headaches, stomachaches, traffic jams, and bad news are just a few groan-worthy things that can provoke that moaning, "uuugghhhhh" sound. If someone is complaining about something, you could say she's "moaning and groaning." People like to moan and groan about the weather, politics, and just about everything else. |
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| 4248 |
groggy |
stunned or confused and slow to react |
Narcotics dulled the pain but left him groggy and nauseous. |
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If you feel a little confused or foggy-headed you can say that you are groggy. When you first wake up, you might be groggy until you get up and start moving around. |
The adjective groggy comes from the noun grog, which was what the sailors back in the 1700’s called rum diluted with water. Today, grog is slang for any liquor. To feel groggy is to feel drunk, tipsy, weak or dazed. Boxers who’ve sustained numerous blows to the head can get pretty groggy, and they might stagger around the ring — a sign that they are feeling out of it. |
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| 4249 |
groom |
give a neat appearance to |
The deep green, meticulously groomed, Wimbledon-like front lawn is undeniably attractive. |
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To groom means to take care of the appearance, whether it's plucking eyebrows or combing hair. When you spend over an hour grooming in the bathroom, combing your mustache and buffing your nails, you drive everyone else who needs to use the bathroom crazy. |
You can groom something besides a person. Resorts groom their golf courses and ski runs. If you own a horse, you groom it every day. Animals groom each other by picking off insects and licking at fur. You can also use groom in regards to the mind. If you are being groomed for a certain spot or position, you are being prepared to take over its activities and responsibilities. Let's hope that you will someday be groomed for a spot on an executive board. And last but not least, the man getting married at a wedding is the groom. |
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| 4250 |
gruff |
brusque and surly and forbidding |
Mr. Napier’s formidable jaw, gruff demeanor and growling bass voice lent themselves to rugged parts. |
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Gruff is an abrupt or forbidding tone. It's the kind of short, brusque response you'd give a telemarketer who called you in the middle of dinner — right before you hung up. |
Gruff is the perfect adjective to describe a crotchety old man who rarely leaves his house and yells at any children who dare to cross his lawn. You can almost imagine the rough tone of his voice as he points his cane at those pesky "trespassers," his deep, terrifying bark, causing all the children on his lawn to immediately scatter. |
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| 4251 |
guild |
a formal association of people with similar interests |
More than 50 permanently disabled jockeys receive assistance from the Jockeys’ Guild, he said. |
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Another word for a club, group, or society is guild, meaning a group of people who have joined together in pursuit of a common interest. Many fraternal and theatrical organizations still maintain buildings called guild halls for meetings and activities. |
The earliest guilds were for religious purposes as burial societies and offering financial support. In the later Middle Ages, they became organizations to support various trades and crafts. As the forerunners of modern unions, they provided support for their members and were charged with assuring quality in each member's products. The word guild comes originally from the Scandinavian, with roots that mean "payment of tribute," similar to the German gelt ("money"), possibly to reflect the dues paid by members. |
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| 4252 |
guile |
the use of tricks to deceive someone |
He was subtle, ambitious, designing, crafty—dishonorably resorting to guile, where he dared not venture on overt acts of hostility. |
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Use the noun guile for cunning, craftiness, and artful duplicity. Acting like you have a job on Wall Street when you're actually unemployed would take a lot of guile. |
The noun guile has quite negative connotations, as it refers to the kind of knowledge and skill that can be used by comic book villains for evil and not good! People who have guile are also thought of as being wily (which is also a related word), sneaky, and deceitful. Those who are free of guile are pure and upstanding, and Henry David Thoreau affirms those feelings when he wrote: "It is the work of a brave man surely, in whom there was no guile!" |
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| 4253 |
guise |
an artful or simulated semblance |
But more broadly, 30 years of near total rule by one man under the guise of democracy has stunted the country's political development. |
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The noun guise refers to an outward appearance that conceals the true nature of someone or something. Your classmate might chat with you under the guise of friendship, but you know she's really just looking for juicy gossip. |
No doubt you’ve noticed the similarity between guise and disguise. Both involve the art of deception: it’s the methods that differ. Guise is about trying on new attitudes and mannerisms, such as speaking and acting in the guise of a native in a place where you are actually a tourist. Disguise involves hiding your real identity, disappearing in the new role. |
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| 4254 |
gumption |
fortitude and determination |
But he said the fact that he kept running for higher office showed admirable gumption. |
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If you have gumption, you have guts. People with gumption are determined and full of courage — and common sense, too. |
If you easily give up, and don't have a lot of confidence or smarts, then you are lacking in gumption. It takes gumption to get things done — especially difficult things. Someone who takes risks without being afraid has gumption. Having gumption is like having "chutzpah." We all could probably use more gumption. Like common sense, it isn't that common. |
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| 4255 |
facet |
a distinct feature or element in a problem |
For the last two years, my work has focused on all facets of the energy sector, including investment, development and policy issues. |
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A facet is one side or aspect of something. If you’re thinking about quitting your day job to become a circus performer, you should first consider every facet of what your new life would be like. |
Facet, which is related to the word face, can also refer to one of the flat “faces” of a diamond or other gem. This was the word’s original definition, and it was evidently seen as an apt metaphor for one side of a complex idea. When a problem has many parts to consider (or when it’s just a huge mess), you can describe it as multifaceted. |
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| 4256 |
facsimile |
an exact copy or reproduction |
These ultra-counterfeits are light years beyond the weak facsimiles produced by most forgers, who use desktop printers. |
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A facsimile is a copy or reproduction of something. Many parents hope their children will be facsimiles of themselves; many children have other plans in mind. |
Facsimile comes from two Latin roots: facere, meaning "to make," and simile, meaning "like." Fax machines are so called because they copy and transmit facsimiles of documents, or faxes for short, over phone lines. Grammatically speaking, photocopiers also make facsimiles, but oddly enough those are referred to as copies — not faxes. |
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| 4257 |
fallible |
wanting in moral strength, courage, or will |
We regard them as extraordinary but fallible and imperfect men, whom it would be very unsafe to follow in every view and line of conduct. |
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As humans we are all fallible, because fallible means likely to make errors or fail. Nobody's perfect, after all. |
Fall down on the job and you're fallible. It's a forgiving way to say you screwed up. If a scientific experiment's data is fallible, that means you can't trust the numbers. More than just locking your keys in the car, fallible can allude to a lack of moral strength. If in addition to locking your keys in the car, you kissed your best friend's husband, you might try using "I'm fallible" as your defense. |
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| 4258 |
familial |
relating to a social unit living together |
They are also highly familial, with very high rates among first-degree relatives of affected people. |
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The word familial has to do with all things relating to family. A familial gathering is one in which family has come together. A familial bond is a strong connection between family members. |
It's easy to spot the Latin root familia meaning "family" in the word familial. This is a word that describes events, relationships, or all other things having to do with family. When you talk about a familial bond, you are talking about the kind of intimate connection that only family members can share. If you are interested in genealogy, you have an interest in familial history. |
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| 4259 |
famine |
a severe shortage of food resulting in starvation and death |
To address famine in developing countries, genetic engineers can make inexpensive food crops, such as rice or corn, that contain extra nutrients. |
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A famine is a severe shortage of food, but not the "I forgot to go to the grocery store and there's nothing to eat in the house" type of shortage. A famine is usually caused by crop failure or disaster. |
Although the "extreme shortage of food" meaning is most common, the noun famine can also mean any shortage or insufficiency, and it is often used idiomatically in the phrase "feast or famine." This usage refers to something that is alternately plentiful and scarce — like the feast and famine experienced by an artist who only occasionally sells his paintings. |
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| 4260 |
farcical |
broadly or extravagantly humorous |
Mr. Sheldon's The Havoc seems also farcical in its type; nevertheless it is a serious satiric thrust at certain extreme conceptions of marital relations. |
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Something that's farcical is ridiculously funny — absurd, even. When you stumbled onstage, tripping over your costume and pulling down the backdrop, you brought a farcical element to the serious play. |
If it resembles a farce — a silly comedy that pokes fun at something — you can describe it as farcical, which is pronounced "FAR-cih-kul." Farcical comes from the Latin farcire, "to stuff," which influenced the French farce, a "comic interlude in a mystery play." It's thought that farce came to have this meaning because it was "stuffed" in between acts. |
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| 4261 |
fatal |
bringing death |
It was a very fatal complication, death resulting in all but two instances. |
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The adjective fatal describes something that is capable of causing death. Certain cleaning products, for instance, are labeled, “Could be fatal if swallowed.” Here's a helpful suggestion: don't swallow them. |
Can you hear the word fate in fatal? In ancient times, people believed that the future was determined by a force called fate, and in the 14th century, the French used the word fatal to describe anything that fate had decreed, including death. By the next century the word had evolved to mean something that specifically causes death. Today the term is used more loosely. If your friend makes a fatal mistake on the tennis court, it doesn't mean that he'll literally die, just that he'll lose the game. |
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| 4262 |
fauna |
all the animal life in a particular region or period |
Bore holes and wells drilled in Australia, however, have revealed an amazing water beetle fauna of about 100 species. |
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When you go on a nature walk in a school setting, your teacher might tell you to observe the flora and fauna in the woods. Flora is plant life; fauna refers to animals. |
Fauna derives from the name of a Roman goddess, but the handiest way to remember flora and fauna is that "flora" sounds like flowers, which are part of the plant world, and fauna sounds like "fawn," and fawns are part of the animal kingdom. |
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| 4263 |
fealty |
the loyalty that citizens owe to their country |
In Germany and France the vassal owned supreme fealty to his lord, against all foes, even the King himself. |
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Stemming from the Latin word "fidelitas," the noun fealty is related to "fidelity," and is another way of saying "loyalty" or "faithfulness." |
Most school kids pledge their fealty, or allegiance, to the United States of America every morning in homeroom. But if you think fealty sounds like a word King Arthur would use, you're right: It's really an outdated term that primarily describes a vassal's sworn allegiance to a feudal lord. |
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| 4264 |
feckless |
generally incompetent and ineffectual |
Her research helped change the stereotype of bankrupt people as feckless deadbeats: many, she showed, are middle-class workers upended by divorce or illness. |
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If a newspaper editorial describes a politician as feckless, you might wonder, "What is feck, and why doesn’t he have any?” In fact, the columnist is accusing the politician of being irresponsible and incompetent. |
Did you know that most varieties of English are in fact “feck”-less? They don’t contain a word feck, only the negative counterpart feckless. The “feck” in feckless began as a short form of effect used in the Scots dialect. So feckless essentially means "ineffective," but is also used to describe someone who is irresponsible, incompetent, inept, or without purpose in life. |
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| 4265 |
felicity |
state of well-being characterized by contentment |
In those warm climates men imagined there could be no greater felicity than shades and murmuring brooks. |
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Felicity is a state of happiness or the quality of joy. Sitting on the roof with a telescope and iced tea on a clear, starry night is one way to find perfect felicity — a happy place. |
Felicity comes from the Latin fēlīcitās, meaning "happiness." A synonym for felicity is "blissfulness." People, places, and things can have felicity: "His personality was so warm and full of felicity that we felt at ease the minute we met him." Or you can be in a state of felicity: "A full stomach, a fluffy couch, and the felicity of a Sunday-afternoon nap." |
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| 4266 |
feral |
wild and menacing |
Rural Arkansans are seeing Razorback red as feral hogs are destroying yards, wreaking havoc on gardens and leaving behind their waste. |
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When animal control finds a feral dog, they have to handle it very carefully because the animal is so wild that it's probably afraid of humans and likely to bite. |
Feral is often used to describe a wild, untamed animal, like the feral cat with its claws and sharp teeth menacingly bared, ready to strike. Qualities that are similar to a wild animal can also be called feral. The child who grew alone up in a cabin in the woods, and who didn't go to school, was called feral when she ran away from the orphanage. |
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| 4267 |
fickle |
liable to sudden unpredictable change |
Once Hollywood’s most reliable audience, teenagers have become increasingly fickle and distracted by other leisure activities, like video games. |
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People who are fickle change their minds so much you can't rely on them. If your best friend suddenly decides that she doesn't like you one week, and then the next week she wants to hang out again, she's being fickle. |
Fickle comes from the Old English word ficol, for deceitful. We usually use fickle to talk about people, but it can also be used for abstract things that alternately favor you and abuse you, like the weather. If you win the lottery and then lose everything else in the world that's important to you, fate is being fickle. |
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| 4268 |
filibuster |
a tactic for delaying legislation by making long speeches |
The government has accused Labour of deliberately trying to sabotage the bill by stretching out debate - known as filibustering. |
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As a verb, filibuster means "to obstruct legislation by talking at great length." As a noun, it can refer to that oppositional speech. "The Senator prevented a vote on the bill by reading the dictionary from aardvark to zyzzyva." |
As a parliamentary tactic, the filibuster dates back to at least the first century B.C.E. The rules of the Roman Senate required that all business must be completed by nightfall, and, on more than one occasion, the senator Cato the Younger spoke until dark to delay a vote. In the Parliament of the United Kingdom, a minister may "talk out" a bill, but his speech must pertain to the bill. In the United States, by contrast, a Senator may forestall action on a bill by speaking on any topic. |
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| 4269 |
finesse |
subtly skillful handling of a situation |
Drivers say that turning on ice requires finesse — turn too much, and you will spin out; don’t turn enough, and the turn will not happen. |
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Having finesse means you can handle difficult situations with diplomacy and tact, like the finesse it takes to help two friends work out their differences — without taking sides or alienating either one. |
Finesse is having grace under pressure. It's handling the rantings of an angry customer with a smile and a calm tone. Someone who has finesse says the right thing at the right time — or knows when to say nothing at all. Finesse looks like fineness and in fact comes from the Middle French word that means exactly that — delicate in nature. People with finesse can handle anything — with a delicate approach that really works. |
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| 4270 |
finicky |
exacting especially about details |
After overeating for a day or two, Dr. Levitsky said, people become very finicky; starving yourself will decrease food selectivity. |
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You reject any vegetable that isn't yellow. You like basmati rice, but detest jasmine, Arborio, and brown. You dine at one restaurant, and you always order the same meal. You are a finicky eater — that is, you are quite particular about food. |
Fastidious, fussy, picky, persnickety: these are all synonyms for finicky, and they all suggest someone with extremely exacting tastes and habits, someone almost impossible to please. Finicky can also be used to describe something that demands a great deal of care and attention to detail — a finicky lock might require that you jiggle the key just so. Finicky generally conveys the sense that the person or thing it describes is quirky and pointlessly precise. |
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| 4271 |
finite |
bounded in magnitude or spatial or temporal extent |
Scientists have long taught that all female mammals are born with a finite supply of egg cells, called ooctyes, that runs out in middle age. |
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Calling something finite means it has an end or finishing point. "Don't worry, it's a bad dentist appointment but you have to remember that it's finite; you won't be doing it forever." |
Most people are far more familiar with the word finite when they see it inside the word infinite, or without end. Finite can be used for conceptual things like time, "We have to get out of here, we only have a finite amount of time," and for more tangible things like beans or dirt, "We have to be careful with the cooking, we only have a finite amount of fuel." You might want to think of things being finito — a word that looks a lot like finite — to remember that it means, with an end. |
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| 4272 |
firmament |
the sphere on which celestial bodies appear to be projected |
The firmament above us was without a cloud, and of a darkness almost equal to that which surrounded the moon at 2 a.m. |
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The firmament is the curve of the sky, especially if you imagine it as a solid surface. You can describe the sky at night as a firmament shining with stars (if you're feeling poetic). |
The word firmament comes from the Latin firmus, or "firm," and this description of the sky as something solid reflects ancient ideas of the way the universe was constructed. The first stargazers imagined the sky as a sphere, and it wasn't until the late 1500s that the idea of an infinite universe was seriously considered. Today the word firmament is mostly literary, used to poetically describe the visual curve of the sky. |
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| 4273 |
flabbergasted |
as if struck dumb with astonishment and surprise |
I should translate from experience: " Flabbergasted; astounded and bewildered at the same time, with a slight dash of premature second childhood thrown in." |
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When you see your mom come back from the salon with bright green spiky hair and your jaw drops to the floor in total shock, you’re flabbergasted. You are really, really shocked — pretty much speechless. |
Use the adjective flabbergasted to describe someone who's astounded or surprised for any reason, good or bad. You could be flabbergasted at how astonishingly expensive a parking ticket is, or at how incredibly delicious pineapple pizza is. Flabbergasted has been used since the late 18th century, but no one knows for sure where it originated. The word sounds like what it means: when you say it out loud — "flabbergasted!" — it somehow captures the spirit of astonishment and shock. |
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| 4274 |
flaunt |
display proudly |
Between the corridors of Saddar, Karachi’s old city, sunlit storefronts still flaunt glorious silks and chiffons, offering distractions from striking poverty on the street. |
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Flaunt is "to display proudly or show off," like when you flaunt your new Italian leather jacket by wearing it to the beach and pretending you're cold to make sure everyone sees it. |
Although we love it when a peacock flaunts his colorful feathers, when a person does the same thing we feel bad. Flaunt is like bragging, which can bum people out because they don't have whatever you're showing off, like that cool jacket. When rich people flaunt their wealth by speeding past you in their limo, they may as well splash a mud puddle on your white clothes. Leave the flaunting for peacocks and stars in bad reality TV shows. |
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| 4275 |
flora |
all the plant life in a particular region or period |
“The flora is so vivid — every few meters you come across a different plant,” he explained later. |
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The flora of a particular area consists of its plant species, considered as a whole. The word also refers to the plant life of a particular era — for example, fossilized plants can help us determine the flora at the time of dinosaurs. |
The use of the word flora as referring to a particular area's vegetation has been used by botanists since the 1640s, but it became common with Swedish botanist Linnaeus, who in 1745 wrote "Flora Suecica," a study of the plant life of Sweden. The word was a natural fit, as Flōra was the name of the Roman goddess of flowers. When scientists study a region's flora, they classify their findings and create a descriptive list, which is also called a flora. |
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| 4276 |
flounder |
walk with great difficulty |
He set out for it, limping, while the sharp gravel rolled under his bleeding feet as he floundered up the climbing trail. |
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A flounder is a flat fish with both eyes on one side of its head; and, as a verb, to flounder is to wobble around like a fish out of water. |
To flounder is to be unsteady or uncertain. It's probably from the Dutch word floddern, "to flop about," or it's a mix of founder ("to fail") and blunder ("do something clumsy"). If you flounder in the ocean, you need a surfer dude to scoop you up. You don't have to be in water, though; you can flounder any time you're a little wobbly — like after a long hike or during the last hour of the SATs. Either way, when you flounder, you wish you were a flat fish at the bottom of the sea. |
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| 4277 |
fluke |
a stroke of luck |
Cautious that it might be a fluke, Midas tried the program in St. Louis and got similarly encouraging results. |
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A fluke is an unexpected stroke of good luck. It was a fluke to find that fifty dollar bill on the ground, and it made you smile for the rest of the day. |
The word fluke was first used in 1857 in reference to a lucky shot at billiards. If something good happens to you by chance when you're not expecting it, that's a fluke. The word fluke can also be used in a negative or insulting way. For example, if your favorite sports team loses an important game, you could complain that it was just a fluke that the other team won — meaning they didn't deserve to win and somehow got lucky. |
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| 4278 |
fluster |
cause to be nervous or upset |
Ms. Ryan also includes time for role-playing situations that might fluster the student, like being pulled over by a police officer. |
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To fluster someone is to make them feel upset or agitated. There are many things that might fluster you: giving a speech in front of the whole school, solving a challenging math problem, or even getting a love note from an admirer. |
If your coworker is about to give the biggest presentation of his life, you’ll probably only fluster, or upset, him if you point out that his socks don’t match. Use the adjective form, flustered, to describe someone when they’re feeling this way. Most of us get flustered once in a while, but if you’re “easily flustered,” it happens to you quite often. Don’t worry, though; that just gives you more opportunities to practice using this vocabulary word. |
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| 4279 |
flux |
a state of constant change |
Though plans are still in flux, he will likely travel by sailboat, kayak, foot and mountain bike. |
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The noun flux describes something that constantly changes. If your likes, dislikes, attitudes, dreams, and even friends are changing all the time, you may be in flux. |
Flux can also mean being unsure about a decision. Suppose you just had a great job interview and suddenly your friend invites you to go to Australia with her. You don't know what to do because you don't want to miss a call about the job — or Sydney! You're in flux until you hear from the potential employer. Another kind of flux is liquid moving or flowing, like the flux of water under a sheet of melting ice. |
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| 4280 |
fodder |
coarse food composed of plants or leaves and stalks |
"The products will be mainly fruits and vegetables, and we're looking at cereals as well, fodder, livestock and fisheries." |
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Fodder is cheap food, usually given to livestock animals like cows. If you gave a cow caviar or homemade scones, that would not be fodder. Try cornstalks. |
Fodder is not just used to describe cattle feed. We use the word to talk about other kinds of feeding that don't involve actual food. A new celebrity marriage is fodder for gossip magazines. In war, the soldiers most likely to be killed, are called cannon fodder, from the times when armies used canons instead of drone aircraft dropping missiles. |
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| 4281 |
foible |
a minor weakness or peculiarity in someone's character |
In truth, the leading foible of Hodgkinson through life, was vanity—the great taproot of all his irregularities and errors. |
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If you repeat foible out loud enough times, it sounds so funny that you can laugh at it and maybe remember to laugh at the odd and distinctive weaknesses of others — the foible or two or a hundred that we all have. |
Sometimes a foible helps make a person who they are, even if the foible, or weakness ("feeble" is a close relative), is a little odd. Synonyms for foible in a negative sense are "failing," "shortcoming," and in a more positive sense "quirk," "eccentricity." It can likewise be annoying or endearing. Most people have a foible, or idiosyncrasy, that stands out to others, but interestingly, a person rarely sees his or her own characteristic foible. |
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| 4282 |
forage |
collect or look around for, as food |
Banded birds also arrived later at the breeding grounds and took longer trips to forage for food. |
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To forage is to wander around looking for food. When it’s cold and snowy outside, birds may forage for food in your backyard, digging around for whatever they can find. |
The verb forage often describes animals searching for food, but it can also be applied to people. In those circumstances it retains the slightly desperate sense of coming up with whatever is available. For example, if you want to cook dinner but have no time to go to the grocery store, you might forage your refrigerator and cabinets to find good substitutes for ingredients in your recipe. |
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| 4283 |
foray |
an initial attempt |
Another big question is whether Apple will reveal its rumored foray into making TV sets. |
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Foray means brief excursion. If you're in the army, that's a literal excursion into enemy territory. For the rest of us, it means trying something out. "My foray into rugby ended with my spending a week in the hospital." |
This word derives from the Latin fuerre 'straw', which led into Old French as fourager 'forage,' or search for food. Think of soldiers stealing food from the enemy as maybe how this word first came to be used. Even if that is historically inaccurate, your foray into amateur word-sleuthing will help you remember this word. |
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| 4284 |
forecast |
a prediction about how something will develop |
We broke another record today as forecasts show the March warm spell continuing into next week. |
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A forecast is a prediction of what will happen. If the weather forecast calls for sunny skies, consider leaving your umbrella at home. (But, since forecasts aren’t guaranteed to be right, don’t blame us if you get rained on.) |
While often used in the context of weather, forecast can also be used for other types of predictions such as those related to financial or political outcomes. Note that a forecast is typically a prediction made by experts. So, while a financial analyst might forecast fourth-quarter profits, your prediction about whether your friend will pay back the five dollars he owes you is more of a hunch than a forecast. |
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| 4285 |
forensic |
used in the investigation of facts or evidence in court |
Defence lawyers said the large number of forensic tests which had been carried out had failed to find any substantial evidence linked to the accused. |
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The adjective forensic describes scientific methods used to investigate crimes. If you're looking for forensic evidence, you're using your scientific know-how to find proof that will help solve crimes. |
The adjective forensic comes from the Latin word forensis, meaning “in open court” or “public.” When you describe something as forensic you usually mean that is has to do with finding evidence to solve a crime. It could also mean that it has to do with the courts or legal system. You could have a forensic advantage — meaning an advantage in court — if the forensic team — meaning the investigators — found no forensic evidence of you being involved. |
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| 4286 |
foresee |
realize beforehand |
Shortly thereafter the political atmosphere was considerably disturbed by the Crete affair, just as Chevket Pasha had foreseen. |
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When you foresee something, you predict or realistically envision it happening. Did you foresee your team winning the playoffs, or were you surprised? |
Think of foresee as “to see before.” Prophets in literature are able to foresee events that come to pass; in Greek mythology Tiresias is known for his ability to foresee the future. But foresee is not always linked to a supernatural sense. Regular people can foresee events by imagining them taking place — and sometimes we use this as a way of prevention. If you foresee yourself failing geometry if you don’t study more, you will probably hit the books. |
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| 4287 |
forfeit |
lose the right to or lose by some error, offense, or crime |
By giving up its status as a U.S. bank holding company, Deutsche Bank is forfeiting its access to the Federal Reserve’s emergency lending window. |
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Forfeit means to lose or give up something, usually as a penalty. If you don’t finish your homework and eat all your broccoli, you'll most likely forfeit your right to watch TV before going to bed. |
An adjective, noun, and verb all rolled into one, forfeit came into existence around 1300 meaning “to lose by misconduct.” To forfeit is to lose or give up something as punishment for making an error. A forfeit is what is lost. You've probably heard of forfeiting a game or match — like when you don't show up with enough players or pick one too many fights with the opposing team. |
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| 4288 |
formidable |
extremely impressive in strength or excellence |
That has not prevented China from producing modern weapons systems, buying arms elsewhere and building up a formidable military with both. |
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What do the national debt, your old gym teacher, and your mother-in-law have in common? They're all formidable — that is, they inspire fear and respect thanks to their size, or special ability, or unusual qualities. (Or possibly all three in the case of your mother-in-law.) |
What's interesting about formidable is that we often tend to use it about things that, while they may scare us, we can't help being pretty impressed by all the same. A formidable opponent is almost by definition a worthy one; a formidable challenge almost by definition one worth rising to. Not surprisingly, this word is derived from the Latin formidare, "to fear." |
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| 4289 |
forthcoming |
available when required or as promised |
Two colleges aren’t forthcoming with solid offers, leaving you at an unreasonable disadvantage in making your important decision on deadline. |
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You know when you go to a movie and they show the previews under the heading "coming soon?" They could just as well say forthcoming, because it means the same thing. Only who would want to see that stuffy movie? |
"Forthcoming with" means "providing"––if your neighbors are not forthcoming with candy on Halloween, you might have to egg their house. When parents complain that their teenagers are not forthcoming with information about their life at school, they should remember how much they valued their privacy when they were their kid's age. |
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| 4290 |
fortified |
having something added to increase the strength |
Some of the houses at Wells were fortified; one in particular was defended by fifteen men under a militia captain named Convers. |
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Fortified means strengthened or protected. When you've taken lots of vitamins, you should be fortified against getting sick! |
A fortified place is somewhere, like a military fort, where you are protected from danger, perhaps because you are high up on a hill or because your walls are built of iron. A fortified outfit would be a suit of armor. Fortified can also describe foods that have been supplied with added nutrients. Fortified milk might include added vitamin D, to ensure that you are getting your recommended supply. |
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| 4291 |
fortress |
a fortified defensive structure |
Before the invention of gunpowder Castle Reifenstein had been an impregnable fortress, although it owed little of its impregnability to art. |
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A fortress is a large building or complex of buildings used as a military stronghold. In a military sense, a fortress is often called a “fort." |
From its original sense of stronghold, the word fortress has stretched to include strongholds in a more figurative sense. Martin Luther used fortress to describe unfailing spiritual support when he wrote, “A mighty fortress is our God.” When someone has a hard time trusting others, you might say they have retreated to a "fortress of their own making." |
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| 4292 |
fortunate |
having unexpected good luck |
Chet was not so fortunate, as his gun failed to go off. |
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If you are lucky, you are fortunate. You can be fortunate to have avoided something terrible and you can be fortunate to have acquired, won, or been bestowed with something better than those around you, like wealth and good looks. |
The adjective fortunate comes from the Latin word fortunatus, meaning “prospered,” “prosperous,” “lucky,” or “happy.” Fortunate is related to the word fortune and they have similar meanings, in the sense that those fortunate enough to have a fortune most likely have gobs of money and are sometimes called “the fortunate.” When it comes to predicting the future, you could get bad news from a fortune teller about what’s in store for you, but if you’re fortunate — she’ll say something good. |
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| 4293 |
forum |
a public facility to meet for open discussion |
Britain and Hong Kong set up a forum earlier this year to discuss working more closely in yuan trade clearing and settlement. |
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A forum is a public discussion. It can refer to a meeting, a meeting house or any conversation that is available publicly. |
There were forums — large public gathering places — in Ancient Rome; they can still be found across the globe. Traditionally, newspapers were thought of as forums for public discussions but more and more forums are virtual — discussion boards found online. Communities, however, still hold their own forums, or meetings, usually to discuss local issues. When you see the word forum, think public conversation. |
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| 4294 |
founding |
the act of starting something for the first time |
Eight years later, Garay succeeded in founding Buenos Aires after Zarate, the third adelantado, had failed as badly as any of his predecessors. |
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Founding is the act of starting something new. The founding of The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy, a boarding school for girls in South Africa, was possible because of Oprah's massive donation of money toward the cause. |
A founder is someone responsible for founding or getting something started. In American history, the Founding Fathers were responsible for establishing the Declaration of Independence in 1776. These political leaders, including George Washington, Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, were instrumental in initiating, or founding American Independence. |
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| 4295 |
foyer |
a large entrance or reception room or area |
Suddenly James, their stooping, white-haired Irish servant pushed through the doorway from the paneled entry foyer. |
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A foyer is a large entrance, like the foyer of a building that you enter before you reach the elevators. Sometimes a foyer is also called a "lobby." |
Foyer originally was a term in French that referred to the room where actors waited when they were not on stage. Today, a foyer is a large entrance to a building or home. The bigger and fancier a mansion, office or apartment building is, the bigger and more ornate the foyer will likely be. After all, the foyer will be the first room that visitors see when entering. |
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| 4296 |
fracture |
breaking of hard tissue such as bone |
He was convicted of recklessly causing grievous bodily harm to Cowley, who sustained fractures to his jaw, eye socket, cheekbone and nose. |
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Think of something hard breaking in a crisp, snapping manner, and you've just imagined a fracture. The word is most often applied to a broken bone, but it can used to describe any sharp, sudden break of something solid. |
The Latin frāctus means "broken," and its descendant fracture can mean any break, though it's most often associated with a hard — maybe even brittle — material, such as a bone, a rock, or the earth’s crust. When something softer is split we say it is torn. For example, when we say someone broke an arm, we are referring to the bone, not the muscle; we'd say the muscle is torn. When someone funny "breaks us up," we might say "you fracture me!" |
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| 4297 |
fragile |
easily broken or damaged or destroyed |
Larvae lack mouths, eyes and guts and are so fragile that colliding with an air bubble could kill them. |
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If it's delicate and easily broken, like a rare glass vase or the feelings of an overly emotional friend, it's certainly fragile. |
Back in the 1500s, fragile implied moral weakness. Then around 1600, its definition broadened to mean “liable to break.” It wasn’t until the 19th century that the word started to mean “frail” and was used to describe people. Today we use it to describe things like spider webs, unstable political systems, and insecure egos. Synonyms include flimsy, vulnerable, and brittle. |
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| 4298 |
fragrant |
pleasant-smelling |
Michael found himself wrapped in a cloud of filmy linen fragrant with feminine perfumes. |
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Something that is fragrant has a nice smell. What makes a smell nice is subjective, or course. You might find a bowl of dried lavender to be fragrant, but your dog might prefer a pile of horse poop. |
Fragrant things emit good smells, like flowers, trees, or cooking. Maybe you find fresh cut grass fragrant, or the smell of summer rain on asphalt. When a smell gets too intense, however, it loses its fragrancy. Someone doused in cologne has bypassed fragrancy for noxiousness. But he’s right on one count: the people we are attracted to are almost always fragrant to us. |
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| 4299 |
frail |
physically weak |
He had been frail for years, using a walker to get around. |
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Something that is delicate and fragile can be described as frail. Grandma's favorite vase is probably too frail to use for football practice; some of us have learned that the hard way. |
Frail can also be used to describe a person's physical condition: "When I broke my grandmother's vase, she yelled in a voice so loud that it was hard to believe it was coming from her small, frail frame." Another way to use frail is in reference to a person's emotional state. As the poet Sylvia Plath astutely observed, "How frail the human heart must be." |
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| 4300 |
fraud |
intentional deception resulting in injury to another person |
Despite claims of sporadic vote rigging in Sunday’s presidential election, it is becoming increasingly clear that Mr. Putin had enough support to win without fraud. |
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A fraud is a something that deceives or tricks another person, usually to get their money. Frauds are dishonest. |
A fraud is something that sounds too good to be true — because it isn't. If you're promised millions of dollars by anyone on the Internet, that's got to be a fraud. Anyone trying to sell you a bridge is committing fraud. Identity theft is a type of fraud. Democrats and Republicans frequently accuse the other party of fraud when it comes to counting votes. You can also tell a person who is fake or an impostor is a fraud. |
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| 4301 |
frenetic |
excessively agitated |
But the Rams mimic the frenetic nature of their mentor; they run, press, take charges and go at least nine players deep. |
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The adjective frenetic is another way to say frenzied, frantic, or totally worked up. Kind of how you'd run around the kitchen madly trying to cook a last-minute dinner for 30 of your closest friends. |
Sometimes tinged with fear and often quite maniacal, frenetic comes from the Latin phreneticus, meaning “delirious.” The Latin word, in turn, came from a similarly spelled Greek word which, when translated literally, means “inflammation of the brain.” So it's no surprise that a frenetic person looks absolutely crazed and super anxious. |
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| 4302 |
frenzy |
state of violent mental agitation |
Inside the store, glassy-eyed staff were whipped up into a frenzy of excitement, jumping up and down, clapping and shouting. |
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In a frenzy, people go into a state of hysteria. Stay away from hungry sharks or kids at a 16th birthday party when the pizza arrives if you don't want to get caught up in a feeding frenzy. |
Frenzy is derived from the Latin word phreneticus meaning "delirious." If you're in a frenzy, you're certainly delirious. You can be in a frenzy because something made you mad, happy, or even just hungry — whatever makes you so crazy you're not thinking clearly. Frenzy is often used when talking about a group of people (or animals) who get worked up at the same time about the same thing, like sharks near tasty fish or teenagers near pizza. |
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| 4303 |
frolic |
play boisterously |
More nimble now than when he was young, he frolics about, cuts capers, and leaps from the bottom of a large pitcher. |
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A frolic is a light-hearted, fun, often silly activity. To frolic is to cavort, romp, or run around — to have fun. |
Ever see two puppies playing in the park, wrestling, chasing, and just having a ball with each other? You could say they're having a frolic or frolicking. When we frolic, we're having a fun time. Flying a kite, playing frisbee, skipping around, and having a picnic could be examples of frolics. If things are grim and serious, or you're in a bad mood, then it's tough to frolic. This is one of the happiest, most playful words in the dictionary. |
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| 4304 |
fulsome |
unpleasantly and excessively suave or ingratiating |
Fulsome, fool′sum, adj. cloying or causing surfeit: nauseous: offensive: gross: disgustingly fawning.—adj. |
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Compliments usually make you feel pretty good, but fulsome compliments, which are exaggerated and usually insincere, may have the opposite effect. |
Hundreds of years ago fulsome used to mean "abundant," but now it's more often used to describe an ingratiating manner or an excess of flattery that might provoke an onlooker to mime gagging. If you find fulsome to be a rather clunky word, there are several fun (if vaguely stomach-churning) synonyms, including buttery, oily, oleaginous, and smarmy. |
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| 4305 |
edify |
make understand |
Then Miss Fairbairn held one of her little discourses, with which now and then she endeavoured to edify her pupils. |
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To edify is to help someone understand, whether it is books that edify those who want to learn a new language, or the explanations that hang beside paintings at a museum that edify visitors who aren't familiar with the artist. |
If you know that the noun edifice is a synonym for building, you may wonder what the related verb edify has to do with understanding. You can think of something that edifies as the building blocks of what might become a lifelong interest, like an elementary school teacher who edifies the student who becomes an Abraham Lincoln scholar, or an activity you eventually master, like the beginners' lessons that edify new ice skaters. |
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| 4306 |
efface |
remove by or as if by rubbing or erasing |
Her rich beauty was wiped out as an acid-soaked sponge might efface a portrait. |
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If something is erased or rubbed out, it has been effaced. Teachers get annoyed to find that someone has effaced the blackboard — even the part clearly marked, "Do Not Erase!" |
You can also efface things that are not physical — like effacing feelings, impressions, or memories. When you efface a memory, you wipe it out as well. Some people believe that their good deeds are able to efface their past wrongs. They'll have to rely on others' opinions to see how well that works. |
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| 4307 |
effervescent |
marked by high spirits or excitement |
When he ran for president, Barack Obama's effervescent campaign was about hope, optimism, national unity, and, above all, the future. |
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Something effervescent has bubbles or froth, like a sparkling wine or a bubble bath. If you have a happy, light, cheerful personality — if you are "bubbly" — you too are effervescent. |
Coming from the Latin effervēscere, the original meaning was more boiling than bubbly, thanks to the ferv part, which means "hot." The word literally refers to bubbles giving off gas, and any drinks you enjoy that are nose-ticklingly effervescent make bubbles that pop and release into the air. Remember, someone with an effervescent personality is just bubbly, not full of gas! |
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| 4308 |
effulgent |
radiating or as if radiating light |
Ere another year be passed, we hope to see its effulgent rays light up all the dark corners of our land. |
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Something effulgent radiates light. On a clear day the sun can be quite effulgent. You might need a pair of shades. |
Effulgent comes from the Latin ex meaning "out" and fulgere meaning "to shine". A light that is effulgent, shines out or radiates. A personality that is effulgent radiates warmth and goodness. When you're in love, you have an effulgent or radiant look, as though sunlight were shining from your eyes. |
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| 4309 |
egalitarian |
favoring social equality |
“We are living in an egalitarian society where everyone is equal,” he said. |
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An egalitarian is a person who believes in the equality of all people, and an egalitarian society gives everyone equal rights. |
This is a word that means something close to equality and has to do with fairness. If you believe that everyone deserves a chance to vote, go to school, get good jobs, and participate in society, then you are an egalitarian. When laws make life fairer, the law is getting more egalitarian. The opposite of an egalitarian system could be a fascist society or dictatorship. Monarchies are not egalitarian. When you see this word, think about equality and freedom. |
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| 4310 |
egotistical |
having an inflated idea of one's own importance |
I have lived an entirely egotistical life, for myself alone. |
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Someone who is egotistical is full of himself, completely self-absorbed. Like the egotistical actor who blocks the audience's view of every other actor in the play during the curtain call so that he can hog the applause. |
The prefix ego refers to a person's sense of self, or self-importance. To be egotistical is to have an inflated view of your self-importance — basically to think you're better than everyone else. You might express this egotism by constantly reminding your friends that you have a fantastic figure or a magnificent mind. |
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| 4311 |
embody |
represent in bodily form |
He was a can-do optimist who, despite many years in the environs of Hollywood, identified with and embodied American values. |
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To embody a role is to fill it completely. If a high schooler seems to embody the character of Macbeth, his performance might make the audience forget they're watching a dorky 15-year-old with braces. |
If you embody someone, you put him or her "in-body," as when an actor gives a complete and compelling representation of a character. You can also use embody to describe character traits you see in a person, like, “He embodies truth,” or, “She is the embodiment of goodness.” |
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| 4312 |
embryonic |
of an organism prior to birth or hatching |
Human embryonic stem cells typically come from fertilized eggs. |
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If something is described as embryonic, it's just starting to develop or come together. An "embryo" is a person or animal that is still growing in the womb or egg, and embryonic means "like an embryo." |
The idea for Facebook was still embryonic when its creators agreed to be partners. At that early stage, none of them could have imagined what an enormous company it would become. Scientists working on embryonic stem-cell research are working on stem cells from embryos, which have special properties not found in any other cells. Our relationship was still embryonic when you suggested we move in together, but for me, the first date is way too early to think about such things. |
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| 4313 |
emphatic |
forceful and definite in expression or action |
Miss Penny repeated my question in her loud, emphatic voice. |
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Emphatic means forceful and clear. Nicole's mother was emphatic when she told her not to come home late again. |
When something is emphatic, it imparts emphasis. A sentence is made emphatic by adding an exclamation point, and the word carries with it the important and urgent feeling of that punctuation mark. If a baseball team defeats another by 10 runs, the victory is emphatic because like strong speech, the victory is clear and forceful. |
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| 4314 |
endearing |
lovable especially in a childlike or naive way |
“They have goofy and lovable personalities that are incredibly endearing,” she said. |
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Endearing describes something or someone extremely lovable, like a kitten or your friend's sense of humor. |
The adjective endearing was originally used in the 1500s to mean "enhancing the value of," and by the 1640s it also meant "making dear or precious." It can still be used both ways, although the second meaning of endearing is most common. Any time you talk about a person or thing that's adorable or extremely likable, you can describe it as endearing. |
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| 4315 |
endeavor |
attempt by employing effort |
A few men endeavored to win popularity by pursuing a few others, and thus far they have been conspicuous failures. |
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When you endeavor to do something, you try hard to make it happen. A determined student might endeavor to get straight As on her report card. |
"The ordinary objects of human endeavor — property, outward success, luxury — have always seemed to me contemptible," wrote Albert Einstein. Presumably, NASA had loftier objects in mind when they named one of their space shuttles Endeavour, using the British spelling. The word comes from the Old French phrase mettre en deveir, or "put in duty." As a verb, it's a more impressive word than try and suggests you're doing your darnedest to make something happen. |
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| 4316 |
enmity |
a state of deep-seated ill-will |
He looked at the young man with enmity, while his face every day grew harder, more angry, and stern, like iron. |
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Enmity means intense hostility. If you're a football fanatic, you feel enmity for your opposing team. |
Enmity comes from the same Latin root as enemy, and means the state of being an enemy. If you have always hated someone, you have a history of enmity with that person. Enmity is stronger than antagonism or animosity, which imply competitive feeling but don't go all the way to enemy status. Hopefully you are a peacemaker and don't experience too much enmity in your life. |
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| 4317 |
enthrall |
hold spellbound |
But despite the bottomless spate of new "Housewives" series that Bravo keeps trotting out, the "Real Housewives" franchise still fascinates and enthralls me. |
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When something is so fascinating that it holds all your attention, it is said to enthrall — whether it's a thrilling action-adventure film, a breathtaking work of art, or even the person you have a crush on. |
If you’ve even fallen under someone’s spell, it won’t surprise you to learn that when enthrall first entered the English language it carried the meaning of “to hold in mental or moral bondage” or “to enslave.” Nowadays the verb enthrall is used to describe something so wonderful and captivating that the person experiencing it feels like a slave. If you enthrall someone, you make them powerless — in a sense, a slave to your charms. |
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| 4318 |
entice |
provoke someone to do something through persuasion |
My new acquisition, "Boy," insisted on being petted, and his winning and enticing ways are irresistible. |
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Let's say your friend wants to go to the movies and you don't want to. Your friend might try to entice you by offering to buy you popcorn and a soda. Entice means to persuade with promises of something. |
The word entice means to lure or tempt someone by promising them something that they like. It is a little manipulative but in a fairly straightforward way. You always know it when someone is enticing you. If a company really wants to hire you, they will entice you with a good salary and generous benefits. The promise of a gold star is often enough to entice small children to get good grades. |
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| 4319 |
entrepreneur |
someone who organizes a business venture |
Mr. Boehner said it would be “good news for entrepreneurs and aspiring small businesspeople struggling to overcome government barriers to job creation.” |
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An entrepreneur is someone who starts a new business. Little stores and huge companies both have entrepreneurs behind them. |
Do you have good ideas for products? Are you OK with the idea of risk? Then maybe you should be an entrepreneur. This is someone who founds a business, whether a tiny one or a huge one. Besides starting the business, the entrepreneur takes on the most of the risk by investing their own money and/or bringing in other investors. For an entrepreneur, their business is their baby. |
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| 4320 |
enumerate |
determine the number or amount of |
The houses in this street are not enumerated beyond forty-five, all told. |
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To enumerate is to list or count off one by one. Before you ask for a raise, you'd better be able to enumerate all the reasons why you deserve more money. |
Tally, total, add up, compute — however you put it, enumerate is basically just another way to say "count." As in, "How do I love thee? Let me enumerate the ways." This verb came about in the 1610’s as a variation on the Latin enumerates, which means “to reckon up or count over.” To quote Paul Valery, the French critic, essayist, and poet, “Science is feasible when the variables are few and can be enumerated; when their combinations are distinct and clear." |
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| 4321 |
enunciate |
express or state clearly |
On the second floor, kindergarten children stand together in a circle, clapping while learning how to enunciate different words. |
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Can't get your point across? Maybe you just need to speak more clearly or articulate your thoughts better — in short, enunciate. |
Good enunciation is similar to pronunciation, but describes more specifically how clearly someone expresses themselves. The word enunciate is related to the Latin words for both "announce" and "messenger." So most likely those ancient Romans who created the word wanted a messenger who could announce things without mumbling, grumbling, and rambling. |
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| 4322 |
epitome |
a standard or typical example |
Ms. Netrebko, in particular, riveted all eyes and ears, the epitome of star-crossed glamour in her black bob and sick-rose-red cocktail dress. |
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If you're talking about a typical example of something, call it the epitome. The cartoon character Garfield is the epitome of the fat, lazy, food-obsessed cat. |
Coming to us from Greek through Latin, epitome refers to something that is the ultimate representative of its class. Are you the epitome of the hard-working student or do you believe in study in moderation? Make sure you pronounce epitome with the accent on the second syllable (uh-PIH-tuh-mee). |
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| 4323 |
epoch |
a period marked by distinctive character |
The best authorities put the climax of the last glacial epoch between twenty-five and thirty thousand years ago. |
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An epoch is a period of time marked by certain characteristics: you might describe several peaceful decades in a nation's history as an epoch of peace. |
In geologic time, an epoch is a division of a period, and an age is a division of an epoch. An epoch can also mean the beginning of a new and important period of history, or an event that marks such a period: an epoch in the world of ballet. The noun epoch is from New Latin epocha, from Greek epochē "pause, check, fixed time. |
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| 4324 |
equestrian |
of or relating to or featuring horseback riding |
While some racehorses peak in their younger years and move on to breeding, equestrian horses tend to be older and require complex training. |
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An equestrian is an expert horseback rider. If you only go riding for an hour while on vacation you aren't an equestrian, but the person leading the group and riding the flashy horse probably is. |
When you know that equus is the Latin word for "horse," the meaning of equestrian becomes clear. An equestrian is someone who is involved with horses. You can also use it as an adjective to describe anything having to do with horseback riding. An aspiring equestrian may have to give up socializing with friends in favor of equestrian duties like grooming horses. |
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| 4325 |
erratic |
liable to sudden unpredictable change |
The U.S. officials stressed that North Korea’s past behavior has been notoriously erratic, making predictions about its intentions difficult. |
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The adjective erratic describes things that are unpredictable, unusual, and that deviate from the norm. An erratic quarterback might completely confuse his receivers waiting for a pass. |
Like its linguistic relative, error, the adjective erratic means "deviating from the norm," or "wrong." It also implies behavior or qualities that are unpredictable or odd. The word comes from the Latin verb errare, or "to wander" off course. In the field of geology, a rock that is erratic is unlike others in its environment because it has been transported by glacial activity. Likewise, someone driving a car that veers out of its lane is said to be driving erratically. |
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| 4326 |
euphoria |
a feeling of great elation |
Popular euphoria and joy at their leaders' departure has given way to frustration, grievance and fear. |
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Use euphoria to describe a feeling of great happiness and well-being, but know that euphoria often more than that––it's unusually, crazy happy, over the top. |
Euphoria can even be classified as a mental illness. The earliest use of euphoria was to describe the relief provided by a medical procedure. The word was borrowed from New Latin, from the Greek word meaning "ability to bear easily, fertility," from euphoros "healthy," from the prefix eu- "good, well" plus pherein "to bear." |
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| 4327 |
evasive |
deliberately vague or ambiguous |
I anticipated finding them deceitful and evasive: furtive people, wandering in devious ways and disappearing into mysterious houses, at dead of night. |
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To be evasive is to avoid something, whether it's a touchy subject or the person who's "it" in a game of tag. |
If you're dodging the truth and not giving straight answers, then you're being evasive. Which is probably not the best strategy when the police are asking the questions. From the French évasif, it’s an adjective that describes someone who's being intentionally shifty or vague. But a concept that’s hard to pin down or comprehend can also be considered evasive. |
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| 4328 |
evince |
give expression to |
Together, the performers evince an easy, humorous energy, like affectionate but mischievous siblings. |
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The verb evince means to show or express clearly; to make plain. Evidence can evince the innocence of the accused, and tears can evince the grief of the mourning. |
Evince is a rather formal word that reveals the presence of something hidden — usually a feeling. So, if you are happy, your smile might evince your happiness. And if you are angry, the skull and crossbones on your tee shirt might evince your anger. Evincing is about expressing. If you are keeping your feelings inside, there's not a lot of evincing going on. |
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| 4329 |
excavate |
recover through digging |
With many of Caligula's monuments destroyed after he was killed by his Praetorian guard at 28, archaeologists are eager to excavate for his remains. |
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To excavate is to remove or find by digging. If you have rocky soil in your garden, you may have to excavate it to remove the rocks and replace them with additional soil. |
Construction crews also excavate when they remove material from the ground. Workers slowly excavate subways tunnels using explosives to break up the rock and earth. Then the workers clear away the materials, hollowing out a tunnel as they go. It often takes a lot of time and effort to excavate. But most people would agree a new subway line is dynamite! |
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| 4330 |
excoriate |
express strong disapproval of |
The landlord had another excoriating remark, which he might have flung at the young man and finished him up, but he magnanimously forbore. |
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When it comes to “telling someone off,” excoriate is reserved for the most severe cases. So, before you excoriate your little sister for borrowing your favorite jacket without permission, consider whether she truly deserves such harsh treatment. |
If you excoriate someone, you let that person know that you really, really disagree with them. This verb goes beyond mere criticism; it implies anger, a harsh and insulting tone, and even a scathing attack. Synonyms of excoriate include denounce, decry, and condemn. In a medical sense, excoriate means “to tear skin off by chafing.” A bad rug burn can excoriate your skin. If someone excoriates you verbally, it might make you feel like you’ve been physically excoriated. |
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| 4331 |
exemplify |
clarify by giving an illustration of |
He brought up reality television — specifically, the garish sort of reality exemplified by Bravo’s “Real Housewives” steamroller. |
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If you exemplify something, you're the perfect example of it. Say you wear frilly shirts, knee-high boots, and black eye-make-up — you exemplify the fashion world's obsession with pirates. |
Exemplifying something can also mean make it clearer by offering an illustration or an example. If you want to exemplify your argument that, say, pirate gear is fashionable, you might want to show your friends some pictures of celebrities wearing eye patches. |
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| 4332 |
exhort |
force or impel in an indicated direction |
A proclamation was put up on shore, exhorting the people to keep quiet, attend to their avocations, and bring in presents as obedient subjects. |
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French roots for the word exhort mean "thoroughly encourage," so to exhort is to fill up with encouragement! "When he heard the crowd exhort him with stomping and cheers, he knew that he could finish the marathon." |
Some synonyms for exhort include stimulate, excite, and urge on. Words and shouts can exhort, and this is especially true when the recipient of those chants fears coming up short with an effort. Exhortations may make the difference between winning or losing and marching on or giving up. A sergeant might exhort his troops after a defeat just as a dad can exhort his daughter after a missed note during a piano recital. |
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| 4333 |
existential |
relating to or dealing with the state of being |
Jindal, by contrast, has treated the spill as an existential threat, saying repeatedly that what's at stake "is a way of life for us." |
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If something is existential, it has to do with human existence. If you wrestle with big questions involving the meaning of life, you may be having an existential crisis. |
Existential can also relate to existence in a more concrete way. For instance, the objections of your mother-in-law may pose an existential threat to the continuation of your Friday night card game. Often the word carries at least a nodding reference to the philosophy of existentialism associated with Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Sartre, and others, which emphasizes the individual as a free agent responsible for his actions. |
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| 4334 |
exodus |
a journey by a group to escape from a hostile environment |
It said the flight of Christians to other parts of Iraq and abroad has become "a slow but steady exodus". |
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If the fire alarm goes off in your building, be sure to join the exodus of people who are heading outside to the parking lot. This is a departure of a large number of people. |
Exodus is the title of the second book of the Bible’s Old Testament in which the Israelites escape slavery in Egypt, but the term can refer to any sudden departure of a group of people. This noun is often coupled with the adjective mass, as in “mass exodus,” which usually indicates that almost everyone leaves at the same time. The reasons for this departure can be hostile, as during a war, or not, as when everyone exits the movie theater after the show's over. |
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| 4335 |
expatriate |
a person who is voluntarily absent from home or country |
She and Jack Hemingway, also known as Bumby, were toddlers at the time, living with their expatriate American parents in Paris. |
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An expatriate is someone who lives in another country by choice. If you leave your split-level ranch in Ohio and move to a writers' commune in Paris for good, you've become an expatriate. |
Expatriate can also be a verb, so that American in Paris has expatriated. There was a scene of expatriates, or expats, living in Paris in the roaring '20s that included writers like F. Scott Fitzgerald and Gertrude Stein. The word used to mean to get kicked out of your native country — it's from the French word expatrier which means "banish." The prefix ex means "out of" and the Latin patria "one's native country," but the word took a turn and now refers to people who left without getting shoved out. |
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| 4336 |
expectation |
anticipating with confidence of fulfillment |
Every plan had proved abortive, every expectation been disappointed. |
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An expectation is a belief about what might happen in the future, like your expectation to stay close with your best friends your whole life. |
The word expectation comes from the Latin word expectationem, meaning "an awaiting." If you have great expectations, you think something good will come your way, but if keep your expectations low, you won't risk being disappointed. Expectation can also describe something that is supposed to happen, like a teacher whose expectation is that everyone comes to class prepared. |
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| 4337 |
expectorate |
discharge from the lungs and out of the mouth |
No, they don't care to go, expectorating the tobacco juice from their mouths into the fire at the same time. |
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Looking for a fancy way to say "cough up phlegm"? Try expectorate. |
There's no way around it — expectorating is pretty gross. If you have a respiratory problem like bronchitis, you're going to expectorate a lot: phlegm and mucus will build up in your lungs, and you'll eventually cough it up and spit it out. A doctor might prescribe a special cough medicine to help you expectorate. Sometimes people use expectorate to mean spitting out plain old saliva, too. |
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| 4338 |
expedient |
a means to an end |
In his youth he had apparently settled the problem once for all; but the solution then found was scarcely more than a temporary expedient. |
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The adjective expedient describes something that provides an easy way to achieve a goal or result, but it's not necessarily a moral solution. |
Politically expedient means something you do to advance yourself politically. Use expedient when you want to hint that a particular solution or strategy has certain benefits and advantages but is not completely fair. However, expedient can also be used as a noun to describe something practical for a particular purpose. |
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| 4339 |
expedite |
process fast and efficiently |
First-class customers generally have access to priority check-in and boarding, expedited baggage service and faster security lines at some airports. |
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To expedite something is to make it go faster or speed up the process. Expediting that package might get it to Alaska by tomorrow, instead of next Tuesday. |
If someone says, "Let me expedite the process," that's probably a good thing: they're offering to speed things up. If you've ever waited in line a long time, then you must have wished someone could expedite things. A driver can expedite his commute by going in the faster car-pool lane. Whenever there's a lot of paperwork for something, it's nice to know someone who can expedite the process. When you see the word expedite, think "Make faster!" |
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| 4340 |
expenditure |
money paid out; an amount spent |
Unless income also rises — which isn’t happening for many people now — higher fuel costs will eventually displace other expenditures. |
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In a trip budget, you need to add up all your expenditures, such as hotel, car rental and food costs against the money you have brought to spend. An expenditure is money spent on something. |
Expenditure is often used when people are talking about budgets. It is the government's job to decide what to do with tax money collected, or in other words, to determine the expenditure of public funds. The word is more than a long way of saying expense. In business, an expenditure implies an investment, something that will bring value over time. |
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| 4341 |
expulsion |
the act of forcing out someone or something |
“She is very near expulsion, not suspension,” said the principal, gravely. |
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Don't ever make a joke about a bomb on an airplane, if you don't want to risk expulsion. Expulsion is being kicked out of something, like a club, a school, or an airplane. |
If a Girl Scout ate all the cookies she'd already sold, she might face expulsion from her Girl Scout troop, and an unruly high school student who threatens to hit a teacher risks expulsion from school. Historically, many religious and minority groups faced expulsion from countries where their beliefs weren't tolerated. In fact, the Latin root word of expulsion is expellere, "to drive out." |
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| 4342 |
expunge |
remove by erasing or crossing out or as if by drawing a line |
If he stays out of a trouble for a year the incident will be expunged from his record. |
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To expunge is to cross out or eliminate. After Nicholas proved he had been in school on the day in question, the absence was expunged from his record. |
Expunge is often something you do to a document. When government censors block out text in documents before making them public, they are expunging the text. You can also use the word in a more metaphorical sense. The principal tried to expunge all traces of bullying from the school by implementing a kindness initiative and treating all complaints as serious. |
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| 4343 |
exquisite |
delicately beautiful |
Constance lifted up her exquisite voice untiringly, weaving her magic spell about her eager listeners. |
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Use exquisite to mean finely or delicately made or done. When you say someone has exquisite taste, you mean that they are able to make fine distinctions. |
Exquisite describes something that is lovely, beautiful, or excellent. Exquisite pain or agony is very sharp and intense. Exquisite is from Middle English exquisit, from Latin exquisitus, from exquirere "to search out." |
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| 4344 |
extant |
still in existence; not extinct or destroyed or lost |
She then wrote her last will, which is still extant, and consists of four pages, closely written, in a neat, firm hand. |
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Use the adjective extant to describe old things that are still around, like your extant diary from third grade or the only extant piece of pottery from certain craftspeople who lived hundreds of years ago. |
Extant is the opposite of extinct: it refers to things that are here — they haven't disappeared or been destroyed. Use extant to describe things that it may be surprising to learn are still around — you wouldn't say jeans you bought last year are extant, but a pair of jeans worn by Marilyn Monroe back in the 1950s? Definitely extant. |
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| 4345 |
extirpate |
destroy completely, as if down to the roots |
The last wolf was killed in Great Britain two hundred years ago, and the bear was extirpated from that island still earlier. |
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The verb extirpate originally literally meant "to weed out by the roots." Now you'd use it when you want to get rid of something completely as if pulling it up by the root. |
Use the verb extirpate when you mean to destroy completely or get rid of completely. You can try to extirpate all the bedbugs that came home with you from your vacation, but you will probably be afraid that some resisted the exterminator to munch on you later. |
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| 4346 |
extrapolate |
draw from specific cases for more general cases |
Earlier studies, extrapolating from recessions in the 1970s and 1980s, found larger effects. |
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When you extrapolate, you use specific details to make a general conclusion. For example, if you travel to Canada and encounter only friendly, kind natives, you might extrapolate that all Canadians are friendly. |
The verb extrapolate can mean "to predict future outcomes based on known facts." For example, looking at your current grade report for math and how you are doing in class now, you could extrapolate that you'll likely earn a solid B for the year. Another meaning of extrapolate is "estimate the value of." You could extrapolate how much your antique watch is worth by finding how much similar watches sold for at recent auctions. |
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| 4347 |
extricate |
release from entanglement or difficulty |
There was a prickly pear on top, the thorns of which caught him so that at first he could not extricate himself. |
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If you need to be untangled, set free or otherwise released from something or someone, you need to be extricated. |
Extricate is a mixture of the prefix ex, which means "out" or "out of," and the Latin word tricae, which means "hindrances." So to extricate is to get out of what's hindering you. But it's not always so simple. You just try and extricate yourself from the loving death grip of a grandma who hasn't seen you in awhile! |
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| 4348 |
extrinsic |
not forming an essential part of a thing |
There are no external or extrinsic influences—resulting from weariness or interruption. |
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Extrinsic means not connected to the essential nature of something. New cleats are extrinsic to making the soccer team. How you play is what gets you on the team, whether your cleats are old or new. |
If the ex in extrinsic makes you think of external or extra you’re on the right track––all these ex words are talking about something that is outside, or above and beyond. You often hear extrinsic paired with its opposite, intrinsic, which means part of something or someone's essential nature. If being sweet-tempered is intrinsic to your personality, you might not even know how to get mad. |
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| 4349 |
extrovert |
a person directed toward others as opposed to the self |
The extrovert is the typical active; always leaning out of the window and setting up contacts with the outside world. |
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An extrovert is a friendly person who enjoys talking to and being with other people. Extroverts love parties, talking on the phone, and meeting new people. |
This noun has a specialized sense in psychology, and its opposite is introvert.. Psychologists sometimes kick it old school and spell it extravert. As a psychological term, it was borrowed from German extravertiert, from the prefix extra- "outside, beyond" plus Latin vertere "to turn." Thanks, Carl Jung! Its opposite is introvert, which means shy or turned inward. |
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| 4350 |
exult |
feel extreme happiness or elation |
Like a soldier going into battle, exulted and fired by a high and lofty purpose, his heart sang within him. |
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Sometimes you might feel so happy about something you could just burst. This is the time to exult, or rejoice, and you might show your great happiness by laughing, dancing, and shouting with pure joy. |
To exult means to express your joy in some visible way. Some people exult in a sedate manner, maybe just enjoying their happiness quietly within themselves. Others are more emotional, perhaps expressing their triumph in a loud or physical manner. When you break the word down into its Latin parts, the ex- means "out," and saltāre means "to leap." So exult means to leap with joy. |
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| 4351 |
dauntless |
invulnerable to fear or intimidation |
He had dauntless courage, unwearied energy, engaging manners, boundless ambition, unsurpassed powers of debate, and strong personal magnetism. |
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A dauntless person is someone who isn't easily frightened or intimidated. If your dance moves bring to mind a marionette being jerked around by a five-year-old but you jump on the dance floor anyway, you could be considered dauntless. |
The adjective dauntless is a variant of the noun daunt, which means "to intimidate or cause fear." Both words are related to another family of "D" words — dominate, domestic, domain. They all go back to the Latin root domare, which means "to tame." If you're dauntless, it means you're like a tiger or a wild horse — you can't be dominated or tamed. |
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| 4352 |
dawdle |
take one's time; proceed slowly |
Being alone, she ate slowly, and deliberately dawdled over the meal, to kill time. |
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There are lots of words that mean to move slowly. The point of dawdle is that one is moving too slowly, is falling behind, or is not properly focused on making progress. |
One way to remember the meaning of dawdle is that it rhymes with "waddle," as in, "a duck waddles." Imagine what would happen if you waddled instead of walked. It would take a lot more time, and your companion might say, "Don't dawdle!" Dawdle implies not only taking extra time but actually wasting it. A leisurely walk in the woods is one thing, but if you have to get to the theater on time, don't dawdle along the way: you'll miss the curtain! |
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| 4353 |
defame |
charge falsely or with malicious intent |
Doesn't King know he is going to be smeared and defamed for these hearings no matter what? |
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Even though Joan Jett sang about not minding her bad reputation, most of us don't want others to defame us. To defame is to gossip, even if the story is made-up, with the goal of hurting someone's image. |
We usually think of fame as a positive thing. Love, admiration, and people wanting to be like you — it all comes with the territory. The de- in defame means "remove." So if someone tries to defame a person, fame — or a good reputation — is taken away. Celebrities protect themselves from those who want to defame them, arming themselves with lawyers. |
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| 4354 |
defunct |
no longer in force or use; inactive |
Gold's has found that its express gyms fit well in spaces vacated by defunct or shrinking retailers. |
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Defunct describes something that used to exist, but is now gone. A magazine that no longer publishes, like Sassy, the girl-power mag from the '90s, is defunct, for example. |
Although defunct comes from the Latin word defunctus meaning "dead," it's not usually used to describe a person who's no longer with us, but rather institutions, projects, companies and political parties — you know, the boring stuff. Keep digging and you'll find that defunctus comes from defungi, meaning, "to finish," which is closer to how it's used today. Defunct can also refer to a rule or law that's no longer used or has become inactive, like prohibition. |
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| 4355 |
deluge |
the rising of a body of water and its overflowing onto land |
Dykes and bridges were washed away in places and roads submerged by the muddy deluge. |
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Feeling overwhelmed, like you're underwater? You might be experiencing a deluge — like when you've been given a deluge of homework over vacation: a dozen term papers, two dozen books to read, and a mile-high stack of math problems. |
The noun deluge is an overwhelming amount of something in general, such as work, people, or questions. Because of its Latin roots, however, in particular it means an overwhelming amount of water. It comes from diluvian, which means flood. The verb deluge similarly means to overwhelm or inundate with something, particularly water. The hurricane deluged the island with rain. A deluge isn't always a bad thing, however. One thing most people would like to be deluged with? Money. |
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| 4356 |
demeanor |
the way a person behaves toward other people |
Hollande projects a unifying, jovial persona and leadership method that clashes with Sarkozy’s dominating, impetuous, controversial, and at times grating demeanor. |
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Your demeanor is defined as being either your facial appearance or your behavior. When playing poker, don't let your demeanor give away how good your cards are. |
Demeanor in English today has evolved from Middle English and Old French to refer to the way one manages or presents oneself, and this definition applies to conduct as well as facial expressions. The way you present yourself often affects how others make judgments about you and therefore, you might want your demeanor to reflect the situation you're in. So, if you're at a birthday party, your demeanor should be happy and smiling! |
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| 4357 |
denounce |
to accuse or condemn openly as disgraceful |
Hundreds of protesters gathered in front of the courthouse, chanting slogans denouncing the perpetrators and demanding justice for victims. |
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To denounce is to tattle, rat out, or speak out against something. When you stand on your desk and tell the class that your partner is cheating, you denounce him or her. |
The prefix de- means "down," as in destroy or demolish (tear down). Add that to the Latin root nuntiare, meaning "announce," and destroy plus announce equals denounce. It's a word that shows up in the headlines often, as a country might denounce a corrupt election. Politicians love to denounce each other's shady doings, or denounce some underhanded activities of people in their party in order to separate themselves. Denounce can also mean the official end of something, like a treaty. |
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| 4358 |
descendant |
a person considered as coming from some ancestor or race |
The families that founded the two groups are closely related to each other through marriages between their descendants. |
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The word descendant refers to something that has come down. For example, everyone is a descendant, or the end of a line of ancestors, just as modern art is a descendant of past art that contributed to its style and technique. |
The word descendant comes from the word "descend" which means to move in a downward direction. Note that the word can also be spelled with an "-ent" ending. Philosopher Herbert Spencer wrote, “The wise man must remember that while he is a descendant of the past, he is a parent of the future.” Have you ever wondered what your descendants will know about you? Perhaps you could leave them your peanut butter and banana sandwich recipe. |
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| 4359 |
destitute |
poor enough to need help from others |
They wandered over muir and fell, in poverty and sorrow, being destitute, afflicted, tormented. |
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When you think of the word destitute, which means poor or lacking other necessities of life, think of someone who is in desperate straits. A very, very tight budget is poor. Living on the streets is destitute. |
Destitute essentially means not having something. When you're destitute in the sense of being poor, you're technically "destitute of money." You can be destitute of other things as well. If all your friends have abandoned you, you're "destitute of friends." If you are applying for a job as a waitress but have never worked in a restaurant in any capacity, you're "destitute of experience." |
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| 4360 |
detrimental |
causing harm or injury |
The damage it's done is just so detrimental to the country. |
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Detrimental is a formal way of saying "harmful." Anything detrimental hurts, hinders, or puts a damper on something. Detrimental things do damage. |
Have you ever heard "Smoking may be detrimental to your health" and wondered what it meant? It means that smoking is bad for your health: it's going to harm you in a bunch of ways. Detrimental is a more official, formal way of talking about things that do harm. A dog who likes digging holes can be detrimental to a garden. If you're writing a paper and want to pick an alternative to harmful that sounds more formal, detrimental is a great choice. |
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| 4361 |
devout |
deeply religious |
Devout peasants always kneel as the blessed infant passes. |
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To be devout is to be deeply devoted to one's religion or to another belief, cause, or way of life. If you're reading this, you're probably a devout believer in improving your vocabulary. |
Devout is often used to describe religious individuals, but this word also pop ups in the context of sports fans — a fact that may shed some light on the role of sports in today's society. However, while it's usually acceptable for a devout individual to miss work for religious holidays, devout sports fans have a tougher time convincing their boss to let them off for the big game. |
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| 4362 |
dexterity |
adroitness in using the hands |
"It's not as good as an actual hand, obviously, but it gives you more dexterity because the fingers move independently." |
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If you fall asleep with your heavy head on your arm, you might not have the dexterity, or control of your hand, to hit the OFF button on the alarm clock in the morning. |
Very small children do well with mittens, because their dexterity, or skill in using their hands, isn’t as developed as in older kids and adults, who wear gloves to separate their fingers. Dexterity helps fingers and hands to coordinate for completing fine tasks like writing, sewing, and playing string instruments. "Mental dexterity" means a sharpness of mind, or skill in thinking creatively and understanding and expressing something quickly and easily. |
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| 4363 |
diaphanous |
so thin as to transmit light |
Watercolour, being transparent but visible, is made for the insubstantial: for painting water, reflection, vapour, sky, the hazy, diaphanous and remote. |
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If a dress is so see-through that light shines through it, it's diaphanous. You could also call it "sheer" or "transparent," but diaphanous sounds much fancier. |
If you want a classic example of diaphanous clothing, check out all those nineteenth century Romantic paintings of goddesses clad in lightweight gowns flouncing around in the middle of forests at night. Those gowns are diaphanous, and so are the fluttery translucent muslin curtains in your kitchen window and the gauzy tutu your little sister loves to wear. The Greek root, diaphanes, "see-through," combines dia-, "through," and phainesthai, "to show." |
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| 4364 |
disconcerting |
causing an emotional disturbance |
There was no drooping of fringed lids, no disconcerting silences; she chatted with ease and piquancy. |
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Something is disconcerting if it makes you uneasy or unsettles you. Even if you don't give your little brother's dreams of conquering the world and enslaving humanity much chance of success, you may find them disconcerting. |
Think of a concert as something that is organized and runs smoothly. Anything that interrupts that organization and causes concern is disconcerting. The fact that your band ends each rehearsal with a screaming match is disconcerting, unless they are a punk band. Your disconcerting habit of laughing hysterically during job interviews? That may prevent you from gaining employment. |
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| 4365 |
disenfranchise |
deprive of voting rights |
European Union observers said the vote was “marred by avoidable and logistical failures, which led to an unacceptable number of Ugandan citizens being disenfranchised.” |
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Enfranchise means to give someone the right to vote. Disenfranchise means to take it away. The U.S. has a shameful history of disenfranchising African-American citizens through bogus laws and outright intimidation. |
Being disenfranchised can make you feel like you don't belong or that you have no power. When kids feel disenfranchised in school––when they feel like what they're being asked to learn doesn't matter, or that their teachers don't care about them, that whether they try or not they're going to fail––they stop learning. |
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| 4366 |
disfigure |
mar or spoil the appearance of |
A darker scowl changed and disfigured his brow, as he lost hope of gaining me. |
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To disfigure something is to ruin its appearance, which is what would happen if you drew a big bushy mustache and a pair of antennae on the Mona Lisa. |
Unfortunately, disfigured people are almost always portrayed in the media as villains, or victims. The word does suggest a negative view of someone (after all, it doesn't just mean changing way something looks but specifically spoiling it). Organizations for disfigured people, however, like Changing Faces in England, have claimed the word as their own and use it proudly. |
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| 4367 |
disheveled |
in disarray; extremely disorderly |
The fierce winds blew some walls off some rooms, leaving disheveled beds and misplaced furniture but miraculously no injuries. |
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The meaning of disheveled hasn't changed much from the 16th and 17th centuries, when it referred to disordered clothing or hair. If he were coming in from the snow, you could blame static and hat-hair for his disheveled look, but no, he just never uses a comb. |
People or things that are disheveled are kind of a mess. Wrinkled clothes, knotted hair, and a chaotic house might earn the adjective disheveled. There are a lot of synonyms for disheveled, including "disordered," "sloppy," and "cluttered." A person can look disheveled when getting up in the morning, and some people even adopt a disheveled look on purpose, trying to appear casual about grooming and dressing while working hard to achieve just the right unwashed and mussed-up style. |
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| 4368 |
disinter |
dig up for reburial or for medical investigation |
In the Northern Islands the entire remains are disinterred, carefully cleaned, wrapped up once more, and reburied; here, the skull and jawbone only are retained. |
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To "inter" a body is to bury it or place it in a mausoleum, so to disinter someone is to take the body out again — usually to find out how they died, to make sure it's really who we think it is, or to move the body to a new burial site. |
You might think you got away with murder, but once they disinter the body, the medical examiners will find out that the guy was a victim of your evil plot. A vampire sleeps all day in his own coffin and then disinters himself at night to go in search of blood. One way to remember the meaning of disinter is to think of "dis-entering" a body. When someone dies, their body is "entered" into the grave. If the body is removed, it's being "dis-entered," in a sense. But disinter is spelled — and pronounced — differently (diss-in-TUR), of course. |
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| 4369 |
dismantle |
take apart into its constituent pieces |
The Tunny machines, like the Colossus computers they worked alongside, were dismantled and recycled for spare parts after World War II. |
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To take something apart or down is to dismantle it. If you dismantle a computer to see what it looks like inside, you better know how to put it back together, or you might be looking at the inside of your room for awhile. |
Dismantle is a verb used for both physical things and ideas. You can dismantle a campground by taking down the tents and breaking apart the fire logs, or you can dismantle a government by going against its leadership and bringing down its rule. Often when you dismantle something, you take away its ability to work, as with a nuclear warhead, but you can also take apart decorative or non-working things, as when you dismantle a science-fair display or a city made of blocks. |
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| 4370 |
dispense |
grant an exemption |
Lumber being scarce in that vicinity, floors, doors, as well as sash and glass, were dispensed with. |
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To dispense means to give out or distribute something. A school nurse can dispense students' medication and we all can dispense advice. |
The word dispense comes from the Old French word dispenser, meaning "give out." You can dispense anything from hand sanitizer to dating advice. When dispense is paired with with it means "get rid of it" or "skip." If you dispense with traditional Thanksgiving dishes, you might instead celebrate with pizza, pancakes, tacos — anything but turkey and all the fixings. |
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| 4371 |
disposable |
designed to be thrown away after use |
Sadly, it's also normal to see these disposable cups spewing out of bins and knocking about on pavements. |
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Something disposable is not meant to last. It's OK to throw it out after you use it. |
Disposable diapers are a good example of what the word disposable is all about: after the diaper is used, it goes straight into the trash, and you can't use it again. Something disposable is replaceable. If a boss decides an employee is disposable, that means the employee will probably be fired. As you can imagine, people don't like to feel disposable. Lots of people don't like products that are disposable either. Disposing of things just creates more garbage, which is bad for the environment. Usually, things that are recyclable are better. |
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| 4372 |
dissertation |
a treatise advancing a point of view resulting from research |
He attended Duke University, won a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford and earned a Ph.D., writing a dissertation on humanitarian movements and relief work. |
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A dissertation is a long piece of writing that uses research to bring to light an original idea. Don't go to grad school unless you're prepared to write, say, a 300-page dissertation on some topic. |
In everyday speech, we sometimes accuse people of delivering dissertations when they overload us with dull information. If you're annoyed with a long memo from your office manager about keeping the kitchen clean, you could mutter to a coworker, “How’d you like that dissertation Felix posted about rinsing out our mugs?” |
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| 4373 |
dissident |
a person who objects to some established policy |
Just as political dissidents fought the Soviet regime, so, too, did others oppose the educational system. |
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If you are a dissident, you are a person who is rebelling against a government. Dissidents can do their work peacefully or with violence. |
Dissident is closely related to the word, dissent, which means objecting. People who are dissidents show their dissent. Catholic priests who advocate allowing women into the priesthood could be called dissidents, as could the Puritans who left England to live in colonial America. As an adjective, a dissident member of a group is one who disagrees with the majority of members. |
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| 4374 |
dissimilar |
not alike |
How do two cities so dissimilar in location, size, and environment end up on the same end of the cost-of-living scale? |
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If your sister has dark skin and dark hair, and you have fair skin and fair hair, people might say that your looks are dissimilar or not alike. |
Inside of dissimilar you find similar which means alike. By now, you've probably figured out that dis at the beginning of a word tells you the word means the opposite of whatever comes after. That rule holds here. Dissimilar is the opposite of similar. You've probably heard that you should not use double negatives. Well with dissimilar, it's okay to say something like, "Art is not dissimilar to music in that it is a creative activity. Here, "not dissimilar" means similar. |
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| 4375 |
dissipated |
preoccupied with the pursuit of pleasure |
The Prince of Wales also still pursued the most dissipated rounds of pleasure, making his very name hateful to every virtuous ear. |
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If your Great Aunt Maude tells you you've become a dissipated bum, she means you don't think of anything but how much fun you're having. If you got a summer job and stopped playing skee ball all day, she might change her tune. |
The adjective dissipated is used to describe people who've lost their moral center, and instead of following the rules of conventional morals, prefer to be utterly self-indulgent. The word comes from the verb dissipate, which means to disperse, but as an adjective it's always used for people who've gone wrong in some way. If you really want to lay into someone, use these synonyms and call him a "dissipated, dissolute, debauched, degenerate jerk." |
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| 4376 |
dissipation |
dissolute indulgence in sensual pleasure |
But some men mean by college spirit something finer than lawlessness, dissipation, and rowdyism. |
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Dissipation is the act of breaking up and scattering or spreading widely. With the dissipation of the clouds, you could enjoy the sunny afternoon — if only you didn't have to work. |
Dissipation also refers to wasteful or thoughtless spending or activity. Your habit of taking old clothes and appliances to the dump instead of donating them to charities is a kind of dissipation. Dissipation can also mean a life of indulgence, in which health and wealth are squandered in the pursuit of pleasure. Your uncle's life of dissipation, throwing money at wine and women, will ultimately only bring heartache. |
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| 4377 |
dissolute |
unrestrained by convention or morality |
Extravagance, debauchery, and dissolute habits were sure to work out in time the attendant ills of wretchedness, destitution, and penury. |
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The adjective dissolute means unrestrained. If you're a dissolute person, you indulge in gambling, drugs, and drinking and don't care if others disapprove. |
If your mother tells you you're dissolute, she's not trying to be kind. Some kinds of unrestrained behavior are good, like if you're unrestrained by fear, and do something very brave. But someone who is dissolute not only goes against the grain of normal behavior, but is wasteful and offensive — over the limit. If you drop out of school, party all the time, and waste your life, you've chosen a dissolute lifestyle. |
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| 4378 |
dissonant |
lacking in harmony |
He thinks it's a practical joke, because the music is fragmentary, halting, dissonant and weird. |
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If things don't go together well, you can call them dissonant. Dissonant voices are saying different things. Dissonant clothing choices clash. Dissonant chords lack harmony. |
The word dissonant comes from the Old French dis- meaning "apart" and sonare meaning "to sound." When a noise is dissonant, it sounds like it's broken apart, or not meshing together well. Dissonant doesn't have to describe just music or sounds. It can also refer to something that clashes or doesn't fit well together. When two people's versions of a story are dissonant, that means they don't match. Either one of them is lying or they just don't see eye-to-eye. |
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| 4379 |
distant |
located far away spatially |
I counted eight peaks, and then, on coming nearer, others, that at first had blended with those higher and more distant ones, detached themselves. |
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Distant describes something that's far away, like another planet, a ship far out at sea, or the cousin who never calls or shows up for family events. |
Time, like miles, can make something distant. People get excited during awards season, but most have at best a distant recollection of who won Oscars two years ago — meaning the memory is remote. If you've ever been accused of seeming distant, how were you acting at the time? Distracted, not showing much interest or patience, bored? Too many experiences like that and once-close friends will become distant, meaning they'll drift apart. |
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| 4380 |
distillation |
purifying a liquid by boiling it and condensing its vapors |
This process of heating an organic compound in a closed vessel without access of air and collecting the products, is called destructive distillation. |
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When you heat water into steam that then is converted back into water, you are putting it through a process of distillation: purification by boiling and condensing vapors. |
Distillation is a process of purification. Air and water are distilled to make them cleaner. Crude oil is distilled so that it can be used for various commercial purposes. Distillation involves a process of first heating to create vapor and then cooling to convert that vapor back to liquid form. Distillation is also the simplification of an argument to its most clear state. The distillation of an argument involves boiling it down so it's easy to understand. |
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| 4381 |
distract |
draw someone's attention away from something |
During the evening he had kept his sorrow at bay as well as he could, distracting his thoughts with passing objects. |
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Distract is what you do when you draw someone’s attention — Hey! Look! Over there! Oh. Never mind. What was I saying? That’s right: distract is to draw attention away from what someone is doing. |
Distract comes from the Latin word for “draw apart.” It can be annoying when someone or something distracts you. A loud car alarm or a talkative friend might distract you when you’re watching your favorite TV show. But being distracted is not always bad. Playing a round of miniature golf might distract you from feeling sad about the death of your parakeet. |
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| 4382 |
distress |
cause mental pain to |
Prissy alone was genuinely distressed, and so affected was she that two big tears of woe trickled down her cheeks. |
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If you are in distress, you are in trouble. You're hurting — either physically or mentally. |
See the word stress hanging out at the end of distress? There's a good reason for that. The noun distress refers to a state of severe anxiety or strain, often brought about by failing to study for an exam, harassing grizzly bears, or borrowing your sister's clothes without asking. When used as a verb, to distress means to cause all that pain, suffering and anxiety — in other words, to stress somebody out. |
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| 4383 |
dreary |
causing dejection |
Looking out of my window the landscape is cold and dreary. |
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When something is dreary it's depressing or lifeless in a rainy-day way. I finished my work, there was nothing on TV, and the rain just wouldn't stop: what a dreary day! |
Dreary can refer to a feeling, a place, a time, or even a thing. It sounds a little like a combination of "drizzle" and "teary," and that's not a bad way to remember what it means. My grandmother's house was a dreary affair: run down, poorly lit, and silent but for the buzz of the florescent light in the cramped kitchen. Some might call the recession a depression: I call it dreary, either way. If the economy remains dreary like this much longer, I just might move to China. |
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| 4384 |
drudgery |
hard monotonous routine work |
My worthy employer, however, evidently intends holding on forever, and the sordid, monotonous drudgery has been getting insupportable lately. |
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If you’ve ever had to do the laundry, wash the dishes, make the meals, change the bedding, vacuum the house, and clean the bathrooms day after day, you’ve experienced drudgery. Drudgery is hard, mindless, backbreaking work. |
When you say the word drudgery, you can almost feel the hard, plodding work that it describes. You have to put some effort into saying the dr- sound. Then, as soon as you get through the breathy -u-, you’ve got two more hard sounds in -dg- and -er- before you get another break with the final vowel sound. Just as you might drag yourself doing those repetitive, grinding chores, you have to drag your way through pronouncing the word. |
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| 4385 |
durable |
capable of withstanding wear and tear and decay |
The department said orders for durable goods, manufactured products expected to last three years or more, fell 0.5 percent, a smaller decline than initially estimated. |
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Something that is built to last is durable. Your most durable pair of hiking boots will last you through your trek to the summit of Mount Everest. |
Anything that's long-lasting, sturdy, or doesn't bend under pressure can be described as durable. You could have a durable relationship with your oldest friend, durable tires on your car, and a durable umbrella — they won't let you down or break. The Latin root of durable is durabilis, which means "lasting or permanent," and comes from durare, "to harden." |
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| 4386 |
dwindle |
become smaller or lose substance |
As decades pass, maximum heart rate slows, aerobic capacity wanes, muscle mass tends to dwindle. |
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What do love, money, and the earth all have in common? All can dwindle, or shrink away, if we don't handle them properly. |
The word dwindle has a wonderfully descriptive, almost childlike sound to it, as though it belongs in a nursery rhyme. That might help you remember the meaning, which is to shrink away gradually, like the Cheshire Cat in "Alice in Wonderland," who dwindles away until nothing is left but his grin. |
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| 4387 |
dystopian |
of an imaginary place where life is extremely bad |
And yet his dystopian vision that humanity's lot, our inescapable fate, will be grinding, desperate poverty, lives on. |
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"Utopian" describes a society that's conceived to be perfect. Dystopian is the exact opposite — it describes an imaginary society that is as dehumanizing and as unpleasant as possible. |
George Orwell's "Animal Farm," for example, describes a dystopian society in which Napoleon, a pig, represents Joseph Stalin in a farmyard satire on Stalinist Russia and how power corrupts. Other famous dystopian authors include Aldous Huxley, Kurt Vonnegut, and Ray Bradbury. The adjective dystopian describes anything that pertains to or resembles a society such as those described in this sort of literature. |
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| 4388 |
calamity |
an event resulting in great loss and misfortune |
In that memorable calamity seventeen lives were lost and forty persons seriously injured. |
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Use the word calamity to describe an event that causes great harm and misery, or a general state of distress or misery: the calamity of war. |
Near synonyms are catastrophe and disaster. The noun calamity is from Middle English calamytey, from Latin calamitas, a word which might be related to Latin clades "destruction." Calamity Jane was the nickname of a 19th-century woman living on the U.S. frontier. She claimed to have some very exciting adventures. |
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| 4389 |
callow |
young and inexperienced |
“Marston,” he began, “drifted into the Paris ateliers from your country, callow, morbid, painfully young and totally inexperienced. |
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If you're a rookie or new to something, you could be described as callow — like callow freshmen in high school or the callow receptionist who can't figure out how to transfer a call. |
The word callow comes from the Old English word calu, which meant "bald or featherless." It was used to describe young, fledgling birds. Over time, the meaning expanded to include young, inexperienced people. You'll most often see the adjective paired with the noun youth. Think of the callow youth as people who haven't tested their wings yet. |
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| 4390 |
cartographer |
a person who makes maps |
This monk was an excellent cartographer, or map-maker, and Christopher wished to talk with him about the western lands. |
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Unless you’re the one guy in America who actually asks for directions, you’ve probably broken down and used a map at some point in your life. The cartographer is the person you should thank for getting you un-lost — the mapmaker. |
A cartographer is a person who creates maps, whether they’re of the world, the local bus routes, or buried pirate treasure. It comes to us from the Latin word charta-, which means “tablet or leaf of paper,” and the Greek word graphein, meaning to write or draw. These days, a cartographer doesn’t have to work on paper––it's all computers, making electronic maps as part of GPS software. Technically, a cartographer can make charts, too. |
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| 4391 |
castigate |
censure severely |
In particular, Kucinich castigated Obama for pursuing military intervention in Libya without congressional authorization: President Obama moved forward without Congress approving. |
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Use castigate when you mean reprimand but in an especially harsh way. If you take a mean teacher's books, even accidentally, you might worry that she's going to castigate you as soon as she finds out. |
Castigate means punish, and punish harshly, but the punishment is always a severe scolding. Sometimes it means criticize severely. Politicians in the Senate are always castigating each other for their alliances and opinions. Castigate and chasten, which also means "to reprimand" but is less severe, share the Latin root castus which means "pure." Ideally, if you castigate someone, you mean to guide someone away from the wrong path and toward a more pure one. But it sure doesn't feel like that when you're being castigated! |
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| 4392 |
catharsis |
purging of emotional tensions |
Not enough people use evenings out as an opportunity for catharsis. |
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Use the noun catharsis to refer to the experience a person can have of releasing emotional tension and feeling refreshed afterwards. |
Conceived by Aristotle as the cleansing effect of emotional release that tragic drama has on its audience, catharsis stems from a Greek verb meaning "to purify, purge." Today, it can be used to describe any emotional release, including a good long laugh or cry that is followed by a sense of balance and freshness afterwards. |
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| 4393 |
cease |
put an end to a state or an activity |
The firing ceased; the smoke slowly cleared away, revealing the two fleets commingled, shattered, and torn, and strewed with dead. |
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To cease is to stop or end. Your gym teacher may have trained the class so well that all chattering will cease every time she blows her whistle. |
Cease comes from the Old French cesser, which means "come to an end," "go away," "give up," or "yield." Although cease often appears in the past tense with "-ed," cease is common for talking about things as they come to an end. A dead plant has ceased living, and if you cease watering the rest of the plants, they will cease to exist too. |
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| 4394 |
charisma |
personal attractiveness that enables you to influence others |
Egypt's al-Zawahri likely to succeed bin Laden For years, Osama bin Laden's charisma kept al-Qaida's ranks filled with zealous recruits. |
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Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley had great charisma, or a special personal charm or appeal that gives them influence or authority. |
Charisma is often a quality possessed by successful politicians or other leaders, or by other public figures. The corresponding adjective is charismatic, and it applies more to personality than appearance: a handsome and charismatic actor. Charisma was borrowed from a Greek word meaning "favor, gift," from charizesthai "to favor," from charis "grace." |
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| 4395 |
chronic |
long-lasting or characterized by long suffering |
Howard is expected to remain out until at least June, while Utley, battling chronic knee injuries, may not return until May. |
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If you smoke a cigarette once, you've simply made a bad choice. But if you're a chronic smoker, you've been smoking for a long time and will have a hard time stopping. |
The word chronic is used to describe things that occur over a long period of time and, in fact, comes from the Greek word for time, khronos. If you have chronic asthma, it is a recurring health issue for you. No one likes a chronic liar! A problem that cannot be solved can also be called chronic - think of the chronic food shortages in certain parts of the world. |
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| 4396 |
circuitous |
deviating from a straight course |
It has taken five hours to get here from Cairo via a circuitous route to avoid the Egyptian police checkpoints. |
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Circuitous means indirect or roundabout. If you're in a hurry to get to the hospital where your wife is having a baby, you want to take the straightest, fastest way, not a circuitous one! |
Circuitous comes from the Latin word circuitus meaning basically "a going around." If you're being circuitous it's like you're going around and around in circles. It can also refer to someone's manner or speech, if they are not being direct. For example, if you want someone to get you another piece of cake but just you sit there looking longingly at your empty plate, saying "More cake sure would be nice," then you're being circuitous. And annoying. |
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| 4397 |
circumlocution |
an indirect way of expressing something |
He got his message out bunglingly, with embarrassed circumlocution and repetition; but this was what it came to in the end. |
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Circumlocution is a long, complicated word which means a long, complicated way of expressing something. To cut to the chase, circumlocution means to beat around the bush. |
Circumlocution comes from the Latin words circum, "circle," and loqui, "to speak." So circumlocution is speaking in circles, going round and round in a wordy way without ever getting to the heart of the matter. It's an evasive style of argument, best employed when you really don't want to say what's on your mind. |
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| 4398 |
clique |
an exclusive circle of people with a common purpose |
This little clique, this group admired her and instinctively adopted the tone which she set. |
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A clique is an exclusive group of people or friends. Before Rudolph pulled Santa's sled through the fog, the clique of flying reindeer never let him play their reindeer games. |
In high school, the exclusive nature of cliques causes a lot of hurt feelings. Clique carries this less than nice feeling with it wherever it goes, whether it be a set of elites who surround a government official, a group of popular kids who don't let others join their group or the closed circle of people at the office who always make sure they get the best jobs. |
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| 4399 |
coercion |
using force to cause something to occur |
Authorities are still trying to determine whether Savannah was forced to run by physical coercion or by verbal commands. |
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Coercion is making something happen by force, like when bullies use coercion to make kids give them their lunch money. |
Coercion can be a threat, "The shady lawyer uses coercion when he threatens to get the waiter fired if he doesn't rat out his boss," or it can be actual brute force, as when the gangster breaks the messenger's leg to keep her from talking to the police. The police might use coercion, too, to get a confession. The prefix co- is derived from the Latin word for "together." So you can't use coercion on yourself; you need someone else to force into doing something. |
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| 4400 |
colloquial |
characteristic of informal spoken language or conversation |
Perhaps not elegant classical Latin, but good, everyday, useful, colloquial stuff.” |
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Colloquial language is casual and conversational: it's the difference between "What are you going to do?" and "Whatchagonnado?" |
The word colloquial comes from the Latin word colloquium, which means "speaking together." The roots are the prefix com-, which means "together," and the suffix -loqu, which means "speak." Some may think that colloquial language is not good, when in fact it may just not be appropriate for the context. While it is OK to be colloquial and chatty with friends, it is not acceptable to be colloquial in an essay for school or work. |
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| 4401 |
collusion |
secret agreement |
Then, unless there were collusion on the part of the sentries, he must have slipped through some window, said Davies to himself. |
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If you are making secret agreements with someone, then you are in collusion with them. Every time gas prices jump, consumers suspect the gas station owners of collusion and price fixing. |
The noun collusion almost always implies that plans are being made because of some nefarious, most likely illegal, purpose. An art thief could be in collusion with a museum director to steal a famous painting from an art museum. Things get sticky when there is collusion between government and business, between union and management, or between your siblings. |
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| 4402 |
commence |
set in motion, cause to start |
Reaching this just at evening, he encamped there all night, and the next morning commenced crossing. |
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Commence is a fancy way of saying "begin." Your invitation to a formal wedding might note, "The ceremony will commence at noon." |
If a congressman wants to start a meeting to vote on an important bill, he might say, "This meeting will begin immediately." Or, he could make the same statement in a more formal way by saying, "This meeting will commence immediately." Interestingly enough, while the word commence means to start, a commencement ceremony marks the end of a college career. |
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| 4403 |
commodious |
large and roomy |
When done their building was quite commodious, being twenty-two feet by fourteen. |
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If your house has a big and comfortable living room, you could say that you have a commodious space for entertaining. Commodious means roomy. |
Yes, you see the word, commode — i.e. toilet — in commodious. Both words once had the meaning of convenience attached to them from their Latin roots. Indoor plumbing is in fact convenient when you compare it with the alternative as is having room to spare. But that meaning was left behind years ago. |
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| 4404 |
compulsory |
required by rule |
While military service is compulsory on all Mohammedans over eighteen years of age, there are some exemptions, and substitution is allowed. |
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When something is compulsory, it is required or must be done. In most states, it's compulsory for kids to attend school (or an equivalent homeschool) from age six to seventeen. |
This adjective is from Medieval Latin compulsorius "using force," from Latin compulsus, from compellere "to force." The Latin suffix –orius corresponds to English -ory "containing or involving." Other English words descended from the same Latin verb are compel and compulsive. |
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| 4405 |
concede |
admit or acknowledge, often reluctantly |
He spent months defending his televised “Decision,” before finally conceding that it might not have been the greatest idea. |
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If you concede something, you admit that it is true, proper, or certain––usually in an unwilling way and often in the context of a competition, as in "At midnight, the candidate finally conceded defeat." |
In its most common senses, a near synonym of concede is acknowledge––if your mom is pointing out that you need sleep before the test, you should concede the truth of what she's saying. But another meaning of concede is to give away or grant something: The leaders are not ready to concede power. Concede is from Latin concēdere, from the prefix com- "completely" plus cēdere, "to go along, grant, yield." The corresponding noun is concession. |
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| 4406 |
concentric |
having a common center |
The inner bark consists of numerous concentric layers of fibers, which interlace in all directions, and thus present a great resemblance to lace. |
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Concentric describes something, like circles, that have a common center. |
Concentric is from the Latin word concentricus, from com ("together") plus centrum ("center" or "circle"). So, concentric things have a center in common. If you play darts, you aim for the smallest red dot of those colorful concentric circles. Although it's usually used to describe circles, ideas can also be concentric if they have a common point, such as when your dreams revolve around a concentric theme of flying. The opposite word is eccentric ("not having a common center") like that oddball neighbor you have nothing in common with. |
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| 4407 |
conclave |
a confidential or secret meeting |
“The door is closed now, and we’re in secret conclave.” |
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A private or secret meeting is a conclave. What are some reasons you might hold a conclave? You might be convening the executive committee on the board of a company, or you might be planning a surprise party. |
In Catholicism, a conclave is specifically a meeting of Roman Catholic cardinals who are locked in a room in seclusion when they need to choose a new pope. The word conclave comes from the Latin and originally meant "a locked room." The school's band boosters held a conclave to discuss the harsh district budget cuts and how those cuts might affect all the other music programs at school. |
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| 4408 |
concord |
a harmonious state of things and of their properties |
"I take it, then, that we are working in unison,—at least, in concord?" |
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A concord is an agreement. If you want to watch a romantic comedy and your date wants to watch a horror film, you might compromise and come to a concord by agreeing to watch an action comedy. |
Concord can be used as a verb meaning "to arrange by agreement," but this usage is rare. Much more common is concord used as a noun. The United Nations could work tirelessly to establish a concord between warring nations, or you might even work to establish a concord among the warring factions on your cheerleading team. A concord brings peace and harmony — just like a peace treaty. |
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| 4409 |
concurrent |
occurring or operating at the same time |
St. Croix river being the boundary line between two states, the Wisconsin authorities claimed concurrent jurisdiction. |
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Concurrent means happening at the same time, as in two movies showing at the same theater on the same weekend. |
You might notice another adjective, current, in concurrent. While current refers to something that is happening right now, concurrent describes two or more things happening at the same time. A prisoner who is serving two concurrent five-year sentences will serve those prison terms together, meaning that he'll probably get out of jail in five years rather than ten. To help you remember the meaning of concurrent, imagine two parallel kayaks being carried down a river by the current at the same time. |
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| 4410 |
confine |
place limits on |
Work in synthetic biology is still confined to laboratories, but researchers see potential for advances in energy production, medicine and other fields. |
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Confine is all about setting limits. If you are confined to the house, it means you can't leave it. If you're really sick, you might be confined to your bed. |
Confine can be used abstractly as well. In writing a term paper, your teacher might tell you to confine your examples to ones that you can support with direct evidence. In the 19th century, pregnancy and childbirth were often referred to as a woman's confinement—a time when she couldn't get up or out. |
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| 4411 |
conflagration |
a very intense and uncontrolled fire |
We view Europe as covering at present a smothered fire, which may shortly burst forth and produce general conflagration. |
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A conflagration isn't just a few flames; it's an especially large and destructive fire that causes devastation. |
That tiny campfire that somehow turned into a raging forest inferno? You could call that intense, uncontrolled blaze a conflagration. Mrs. O'Leary's cow knew a thing or two about conflagrations: It was that unknowing animal that kicked over a kerosene lamp in the night, setting the O'Leary's barn on fire and sending four square miles of the Windy City into that blistering conflagration known as the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. |
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| 4412 |
conflate |
mix together different elements |
Cain said his rivals were wrongly attempting to conflate his plan with existing state sales taxes, saying it was like comparing apples and oranges. |
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Conflate is a more formal way to say "mix together." You probably wouldn't say you conflated the ingredients for a cake, but if you blended two different stories together to make a new one, conflate would work. |
The verb conflate comes to us from the Latin word conflare, which literally means "to blow together." So think of using this word when you want to talk about two things getting thrown together and combined. Things that have been conflated often seem mixed up or confused, as when you conflate two different ideas, taking parts of one and parts of another to build your own Frankenstein version of things. |
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| 4413 |
conglomerate |
a group of diverse companies under common ownership |
During his time in office, the conglomerates have added more subsidiaries and expanded into sectors usually occupied by smaller companies, like food and retail. |
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A conglomerate is a group of things, especially companies, put together to form one. If you are rich enough to buy a TV network, a record company, several newspapers, and a radio station, you too can own a media conglomerate. |
The root of conglomerate is glomus, a Latin word for “ball.” So think of a conglomerate as a bunch of different things balled together. Before it came to describe giant corporations, a conglomerate was a rock formed from different kinds of minerals. Conglomerate can also be used as a verb — like when your media companies conglomerated successfully. |
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| 4414 |
consolation |
the act of giving relief in affliction |
Words of consolation are but empty sounds, for to time alone it belongs to wear out the tears of affliction. |
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Consolation is something that makes someone feel better after they're disappointed or sad. |
This is a word for things that try to console someone. A consolation prize isn't as good as first prize, but it's better than nothing. A hug is little consolation when you've had your heart broken. You give someone consolation when try to cheer them up. Consolation can be the act of making someone feel better, like trying to make them laugh, but it can also be something that makes someone happy, like a plate of warm cookies. |
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| 4415 |
consolidate |
bring together into a single whole or system |
The Chinese government is now trying to consolidate dozens of small rare earth mining companies into three state-owned giants. |
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Consolidate means to bring together. You may feel like you don't have any pens, but if you consolidate all the pens lying around your house into one basket, you might find you in fact have a thousand. |
Consolidate has its roots in Latin: by combining com- (meaning "together") with solidare (meaning "to make solid"). So, when you think about consolidate, think about bringing things together to make something solid, stronger, or easier to handle. A general might consolidate his troops, a librarian might consolidate all the books about exciting women on a Women's History Month shelf, or someone with a lot of credit-card debt might try to consolidate the debt from his different cards. |
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| 4416 |
consternation |
fear resulting from the awareness of danger |
He lifted himself up on his right elbow; to his horror and consternation, there were two or three spots of blood upon the white sheet. |
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Consternation is a noun that can stop you in your tracks because it means "a sudden, alarming amazement or dread that results in utter confusion; dismay." |
If you have a sense of consternation you have become afraid, disoriented, or completely befuddled. It comes from the Latin roots con- and -sternare, which means "spread out." Picture all of your thoughts strewn about, nothing makes sense and you might experience a state of consternation. Like the nightmare about the class you forgot to go to in high school and now you have to take the final exam! |
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| 4417 |
consummate |
having or revealing supreme mastery or skill |
Recipes are all thoroughly tested in consummate Cook's Illustrated style, which means you won't be wasting time with any duds. |
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Consummate means complete, finished, or masterful. If you refer to someone as a consummate chef, then you are saying he is the ultimate chef. If you say someone is a consummate jerk, then you are saying he is the ultimate jerk. |
Consummate can be used to describe something good or bad: consummate joy, a consummate liar. To consummate means to bring something to completion, but it often refers specifically to making a marriage complete by having sexual relations. The adjective is pronounced KÄN-sə-mit, but the verb is pronounced KÄN-sə-māt. |
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| 4418 |
contemplate |
consider as a possibility |
He had never liked him in the old days, but he was far too good-natured to contemplate any serious bloodshed. |
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Before you accept a job offer, or a college's offer of admission, you should take time to contemplate the pros and cons of your decision. If you contemplate something, you think about it carefully. |
Contemplate is from Latin contemplatus, past participle of contemplari "to gaze attentively, observe," from the prefix com- "together" plus templum "temple." The original meaning of Latin contemplari was "to mark out a space for observing auguries or omens," and the temple was a holy space reserved for this purpose. |
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| 4419 |
contemporaneous |
occurring in the same period of time |
In all cases, these materials have been introduced into the cave at some period subsequent to, or contemporaneous with, the formation of the cave. |
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If you're born on the same day as your friend, you've got a contemporaneous birthday, or one that happens in the same period of time. |
Contemporaneous comes from the Latin prefix con- meaning "together with" and temporaneus, meaning "time." Two contemporaneous events happen together in time. Richard Nixon's presidency and the first man on the moon are contemporaneous — both happened at the same period of time in history. |
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| 4420 |
converse |
carry on a discussion |
They conversed in French, but the snake made no movement. |
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Converse is a more formal way of saying "carry on a conversation." You could converse with your best friend for hours over lunch, but continue the chit-chat through the afternoon matinee and you might get shushed. |
Oddly enough, converse was originally a verb meaning “to move about, live or dwell” when it first came into existence in the mid 14th century. But today we only use converse to talk about, well, talking. Quipped the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, “When marrying, one should ask oneself this question: Do you believe that you will be able to converse well with this woman into your old age?” A good question for marrying men and women! |
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| 4421 |
convivial |
occupied with or fond of the pleasures of good company |
Large family groups and neighborhood regulars fill the dining room and the long, convivial bar. |
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Use the adjective convivial to describe your friend who is "the life of the party." |
The Latin word convivium means "a feast," and when convivial was first coined in the 1660s, its meaning related to the excess of food and drink during such celebrations. You can also see convivial in convivere, meaning "to carouse together." Just when it seemed all convivial could ever do was describe people who overindulge, a new shade of meaning emerged: loving to be around people. After all, a big part of feasting is being with people you care about. |
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| 4422 |
correlation |
a statistical relation between two or more variables |
The analysis did not prove that sleeping pills cause death, critics noted, only that there may be a correlation between the two. |
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Correlation is something that scientists are often trying to show––is there a correlation between smoking and poor health or between napping and productivity? How about daily flossing and good grades? |
Correlation derives from the Latin cor- 'together' and -relatio 'relation'––the word is all about things that go together. But beware: just because a study shows a correlation between two variables, it doesn't mean one necessarily causes the other. There is a significant correlation between going to high school and being a teenager, but that doesn't mean that going to high school causes you to be a teenager. |
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| 4423 |
covert |
secret or hidden |
Covert channels are used to transfer sensitive information outside of the enterprise without being detected by gateway security solutions. |
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Covert means secret or hidden. Soldiers might take part in a covert mission to infiltrate an enemy camp — and you might take part in a covert mission to steal your brother's leftover Halloween candy. |
Covert is the opposite of overt, which means obvious, or in full view. Covert things are hidden, private, or stealthy. It comes from the Old French covert, or "covered." A covert bag of chips you've snuck into the movie theater might literally be covered, hidden under your coat, while a covert plan to throw your dad a surprise party is just a secret. |
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| 4424 |
coveted |
greatly desired |
Among other things of Chinese provenance earnestly coveted by us, perhaps the most desired were books. |
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Coveted means "in demand" or "desired." If the most coveted seat on the bus for you is the one right next to the bathroom, then you shouldn’t have any problem getting it because most people don't want it. |
Coveted comes from the Latin cupiditas, meaning “passionate desire, eagerness, ambition.” Cupid isn't always involved, though — coveted is another way of saying "sought after." The poet Ella Wheeler Wilcox said, “If you are seeking health, wealth, usefulness, skill in any direction, there is nothing and no one who can hinder your attainment of the coveted boon, if you are willing to work and wait." So get to work for all that coveted health and wealth! |
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| 4425 |
culminate |
end, especially to reach a final or climactic stage |
Following Nevada, there are five nomination contests in February, including caucuses in Maine that started this weekend and will culminate later next week. |
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The verb culminate is used to describe a high point or a climactic stage in a process. For example, the goal of a Major League baseball team is to have their season culminate in a World Series victory. |
The word culminate derives from the Latin word culminatus, the past participle of culminare, which means "to top, to crown." Don’t be afraid of the Latin: it’s on your side. Knowing the Latin origin can help you remember the meaning of culminate. Use culminate when you are referring to a crowning moment or a final conclusion: “I want my experiments combining strawberry jam with burnt toast to culminate in a Nobel Prize in Chemistry.” |
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| 4426 |
culpable |
deserving blame or censure as being wrong or injurious |
May even the culpable be pardoned; they are punished sufficiently by remorse. |
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If a child tells his mother he was not to blame for the cookie jar being broken, she could still find him culpable if he was the only one home. Culpable means to be at fault. |
Culpable is being deserving of blame. If you are culpable of a crime, you are the culprit, or the one who did it. Culpable can be used when looking for the root of the problem rather than a simple who done it. If a teacher leaves the room during a difficult test, and the students decide to cheat, parents might ask whether or not the teacher was also somewhat culpable for the outcome. |
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| 4427 |
cultivated |
marked by refinement in taste and manners |
Dorothy admired Mrs. Faulkner's lovely gracious disposition, and her clever cultivated mind. |
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The adjective cultivated is used to describe someone who is polite and civilized. The cultivated people at the party would be very offended by crude behavior. |
Someone who's cultivated is knowledgeable or at least familiar with the arts, current events, history. He or she probably has traveled widely, or at least has read about other people and places. In other words, a cultivated person is a citizen of the world. As it applies to farming, cultivated soil is tilled, or churned, to prepare it for planting. |
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| 4428 |
cumbersome |
difficult to handle or use because of size or weight |
Shabby infrastructure, cumbersome bureaucracy, a meandering tax regime and a nascent local supplier base are holding back industrial growth and more foreign investment. |
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You have to wrestle a bit with the longish word cumbersome; it's cumbersome, or kind of long and clumsy, to tumble out in a sentence. It's hard to use it gracefully. |
A "cumber" is something that slows you down, and though the words aren't related, "lumber" includes big pieces of heavy wood, which might slow down the person carrying them. Moving lumber is cumbersome, because it's a heavy and awkward job. Getting your laundry down the stairs or putting a Rottweiler in the bathtub can be cumbersome too. |
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| 4429 |
cursory |
hasty and without attention to detail; not thorough |
He also said department examinations were often cursory, even though widely accepted protocols recommend detailed testing. |
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No reason to get excited — cursory has nothing to do with bad language. Instead, it means not paying attention to details, like friends who are so busy studying for a test that they only give your new haircut a cursory glance. |
Cursory dates to the early 17th century, from the French word cursoire meaning "rapid," which comes from the Latin word "cursorius," meaning "hasty, of a race or running." Something that is cursory is done quickly, like a teacher who takes a cursory look at a pile of completed tests, not to grade them, but to see if anyone attempted the bonus questions. |
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| 4430 |
cyclical |
recurring in a repeated sequence of events |
“These things are cyclical, there are some years that are happier than others,” he said. |
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Though day-to-day weather changes are unpredictable, nature’s seasons can always be counted on to move in cyclical or predictable patterns. |
Cyclical is used to describe things that are regularly patterned or that occur in regular intervals. The root of cyclical is “cycle” which means movement in a circular fashion, or the circular fashion itself. Planets orbit the sun in cyclical patterns, the moon’s phases are cyclical as well. Some stock brokers say that the market is cyclical, but that may be just a way of telling people to keep investing when it's down. |
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| 4431 |
balk |
refuse to comply |
Congressional Republicans, particularly in the House of Representatives, have balked at raising the debt ceiling unless it is accompanied by significant spending cuts. |
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If you balk at your mother's suggestion that you take on more responsibility, you're saying no to added chores. To balk means to refuse to go along with. |
A donkey balks when it refuses to move forward. This is a good picture for balk which is often used in conjunction with demands. Demands are something people often balk at like a donkey refusing to move. In baseball, a pitcher balks when he or she begins a pitch by winding up, but does not complete it. It is as if he is refusing to complete a started pitch, and it is against the rules. |
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| 4432 |
barbaric |
without civilizing influences |
The law was immediately hailed as a victory by animal welfare groups over what they consider to be a barbaric and outdated practice. |
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Things that are barbaric, are uncivilized and brutal. People have different opinions about hunting — for some, it's a way of life, and for others it's barbaric. |
You can use the adjective barbaric to describe anything that's needlessly cruel, whether it's the inhumane treatment of people by a barbaric government, or the barbaric way your neighbor treats his dog. Another, milder, definition of barbaric is unsophisticated or uncivilized, like the barbaric behavior of someone who belches loudly in a fancy restaurant. This meaning is echoed in the Greek root barbaros, which means "foreign or rude." |
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| 4433 |
barrage |
the heavy fire of artillery to saturate an area |
They destroyed army communications, local cellphone towers and laid down a barrage of mortar fire. |
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A barrage is something that comes quickly and heavily — as an attack of bullets or artillery, or a fast spray of words. |
Sometimes in movies or news footage, the audience gets a glimpse from behind a mounted weapon and sees a heavy rain of bombs or bullets — called a barrage — going toward a target, sending as much POW! as possible to hit a wide area. Words become a barrage when spoken or written in uncontrollable anger or with overflowing emotion: "Her human-rights speech was a barrage of passion. It was hard to keep up with, but we felt the intensity of her cause." |
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| 4434 |
bastion |
projecting part of a rampart or other fortification |
Dinner over, melons disposed of, fort, stores, and quarters examined, arrangements were made for sleeping in the various sheds and bastions of the fort. |
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When the battle is getting long and the odds are getting longer, retreat to your bastion to regroup and prepare for the next round of fighting. A bastion is a stronghold or fortification that remains intact. |
French Independence Day, or Bastille Day (July 14), commemorates the storming in 1789 of the French king's prison/fort, the Bastille. Bastion and Bastille share the root bast, which means "build." Bastion can refer to any place to which one turns for safety; that can include not only buildings but also concepts, ideas, and even beliefs. The Church, for example, is a bastion of many religious beliefs. |
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| 4435 |
bathetic |
effusively or insincerely emotional |
Taken together, her tribulations have the makings of bathetic melodrama. |
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Bathetic describes something that's overly sentimental, gushy, and worse yet — insincere. Soap operas are known for their bathetic emotionalism, because the characters cry and wail and scheme over the silliest things. |
Bathetic (the noun is bathos) comes from the Greek word for "depth” but not as in the ocean floor but as in “anticlimax, a descent from the sublime to the ridiculous.” Being bathetic is usually not done on purpose. A bathetic scene in a movie might have a character fall to her knees and scream, “Nooooooo!” because her son left his socks on the floor again. Don't confuse bathetic with pathetic, which means "pitiful." |
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| 4436 |
beckon |
summon with a wave, nod, or some other gesture |
Ten minutes more and the orderly opened the door, and, obedient to my beckoning finger, stepped out as the lady was ushered in. |
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To beckon is to use a physical gesture to call someone over to you. Universally recognized gestures used to beckon include crooking the finger or nodding the head to invite someone over. |
We get the word beckon from the Old English gebecnian, meaning "to make a mute sign," which comes from bēacen, meaning "a sign or beacon." (Remember that "beacon" is a noun while beckon is a verb). When you beckon to someone, you give them a physical sign to "come here." Figuratively, an ice cream sundae might beckon you, calling you away from your diet. |
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| 4437 |
bedlam |
a state of extreme confusion and disorder |
With more than 190 people killed and hundreds wounded just three days before the country’s general election, Spain was thrown into political bedlam. |
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Bedlam is a scene of madness, chaos or great confusion. If you allow football fans onto the field after the big game, it will be pure bedlam. |
The term bedlam comes from the name of a hospital in London, “Saint Mary of Bethlehem,” which was devoted to treating the mentally ill in the 1400's. Over time, the pronunciation of “Bethlehem” morphed into bedlam and the term came to be applied to any situation where pandemonium prevails. The trading floor at the New York Stock Exchange appears to be bedlam, but the traders insist it’s organized chaos. |
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| 4438 |
befuddle |
be confusing or perplexing to |
But regulators are profiling data to help find patterns in trading activity that previously would have left regulators befuddled and scratching their heads. |
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To befuddle is to confuse. A sticky exam question can befuddle you, or an awkward question about your whereabouts the night before (how can you remember? You were befuddled, after all.) |
In sixteenth century Britain a popular thing to do (about the only thing to do) after the hogs had been fed and the chickens put away for the night was fuddle — in other words get pretty drunk. Befuddled was simply the confused state too many pots of mead put your poor brain in, and that's still its basic meaning today. Nowadays, befuddle has a more general meaning of confusion and uncertainty not necessarily caused by too much booze. |
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| 4439 |
behemoth |
someone or something that is abnormally large and powerful |
Behemoths like JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney and UBS have snapped up numerous small firms to create industry giants. |
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You can call both a Tyrannosaurus Rex and a massive telecommunications company a behemoth. The word means something big and powerful. |
Behemoth comes from the Hebrew word b'hemah meaning beast. You can use it to describe large animals or large entities that make you feel small and powerless when you have to confront them. If a behemoth of a moose charges your car, you deal with it, and then with a behemoth of an insurance company, where just finding who to talk to is nearly impossible. |
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| 4440 |
beholden |
under a moral obligation to someone |
Now, this obligation has offended me very much, because I am proud, and do not like to be beholden to people. |
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The adjective beholden describes owing someone for something the person did to help you — it's your duty to repay the person. If your army buddy saves your life, you're beholden to help him when he gets injured. |
Being beholden to someone means more than just feeling like you owe someone for a small favor. When you're beholden, it involves a bigger feeling of responsibility, one that sticks with you — and might even weigh on you — until you're able to repay it. Some people feel so uncomfortable being beholden to others that they try not to accept assistance from anyone out of worry over what they'd have to do in return. |
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| 4441 |
behoove |
be appropriate or necessary |
The Hamburg magistrates had offered one hundred thalers for my arrest; consequently it behooved me to be very cautious. |
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To behoove someone to do something is to make it advisable or necessary to do so, for their own good or that of others. |
It would behoove you to study hard and work for the future you desire. It would behoove the legislature to pass a law behooving citizens to pay their taxes earlier. Behoove comes from the Old English word behofian, which means "to be of use." |
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| 4442 |
belligerent |
characteristic of an enemy or one eager to fight |
He was carrying his war tools and stood facing me for an instant in quite a belligerent attitude. |
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If someone is belligerent, they're eager to fight. It's a good idea to avoid hardcore hockey fans after their team loses — they tend to be belligerent. |
Belligerent comes from the Latin word bellum, for "war." You can use it to talk about actual wars — the nations taking part in a war are called belligerents — but usually belligerent describes a psychological disposition. If you're running a school for aggressive boys, do plenty of arts and crafts to prevent them from becoming too belligerent. The stress is on the second syllable: bə-LIJ-ə-rənt. |
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| 4443 |
bemoan |
regret strongly |
Facing life-threatening surgery, Adam calls his therapist and bemoans all the things he’s never done. |
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Some people love to complain, don't they? Complainers also tend to bemoan things, which can be translated to "Oh no! Why me?" |
A more casual expression for bemoan is to moan and groan. If you step in a puddle and get your shoes wet, you might moan and groan about, or bemoan, your bad luck to whoever will listen. Just about any bad or annoying thing can be bemoaned. In fact, people love to bemoan how much other people are moaning and groaning about things! |
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| 4444 |
benefactor |
a person who helps people or institutions |
Even world-class universities such as Oxford and Cambridge live off "old money" from property assets and a few key benefactors. |
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Every school, museum, and struggling artist is in search for a generous benefactor, or someone to provide the financial means to keep everything running smoothly. |
The Latin roots of benefactor are bene, which means "well," and facere, which means "to do" — literally, "to do well." A benefactor does well by supporting (usually financially) a person or a good cause. In the old days, a struggling artist or actor might have been supported by a wealthy benefactor. Now, many struggling artists and actors have to rely on waiting tables and other odd jobs instead. |
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| 4445 |
berate |
censure severely or angrily |
At almost every move through the drill he berated them caustically, though in such faultless military language of reproof as to keep him from censure. |
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A strong verb for harshly cutting someone down with words is berate. "He didn't just correct the cashier who gave him the wrong change, he started to berate her, calling her names in front of the whole store." |
When you berate someone it is more than just raising your voice at them; it implies putting them down by insulting their character. Berate comes from the 16th-century English and French for "to scold" or "to blame." Often the anger behind the scolding seems over-the-top, as in "When the young man behind the counter dropped the scoop of vanilla, the manager berated him excessively by declaring him worthless and weak." |
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| 4446 |
bereavement |
state of sorrow over the death or departure of a loved one |
The team also helps the patients' families, instructing them in caring techniques and providing bereavement counseling after death. |
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If you have ever mourned someone's passing, you know about bereavement — the period of sorrow that follows the death of a loved one. |
Bereavement comes from an Old English word that means “rob,” “deprive,” and “seize.” When a loved one is taken, usually through death, those who remain are often left in a state of bereavement. Bereavement is not only reserved for the death of a human family member or friend, but the loss of a pet can also induce bereavement. |
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| 4447 |
besmirch |
smear so as to make dirty or stained |
Because the dealer, widely respected in the Zurich art world, did not want his reputation besmirched, he agreed to settle the claim out of court. |
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To besmirch means to dirty or tarnish, particularly someone's reputation — like when you call Billy a cheater at kickball (even though you know he's just better at bunting than you). |
Besmirch may sound kind of funny, but it goes hand in hand with other hurtful words like defame and slander. It can also mean to literally stain something. So that time you tracked mud all over the new white carpet and then blamed it on your little brother? That was a double besmirching — dirtying the rug and then falsely accusing a sibling. |
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| 4448 |
bewildered |
perplexed by many conflicting situations or statements |
Only the most commonplace things were said, and yet she puzzled him, bewildered him. |
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If a conversation about quantum mechanics leaves you feeling bewildered, or lost and befuddled, don't feel bad: physics is a baffling and confusing subject. |
Be- + wildered = "thoroughly gone astray, into the wild," which is pretty much what our minds do when we don't understand something, when we don't even come close to understanding it. If you're bewildered, you are confused on a whole new level. You may even find your confusion confusing. Great synonyms for this word include at sea, bemused, confounded, and mixed-up. |
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| 4449 |
bicker |
argue over petty things |
At times it felt like the candidates had already talked themselves out on the big themes and could only bicker over table scraps. |
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When you bicker, you argue in a petty way, like two kids squabbling in the backseat on a long car trip, or politicians taking cheap shots at each other but avoiding discussion of important issues. |
It's impossible to bicker in a dignified way, as the word always suggests pettiness and an unpleasant experience for anyone within earshot. If, for instance, you've listened for years to your ill-tempered aunt from Boise bicker with your uncle from Dubuque over how the Thanksgiving turkey should be carved, you might want to book a trip to Tierra del Fuego and avoid the holiday altogether. |
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| 4450 |
bifurcated |
divided into or made up of two parts |
Like Lost, it’s story, at least at first, is bifurcated, taking place half in the magical world, half in ours. |
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Anything that is divided into two parts can be described as bifurcated. The tips of snakes’ tongues are bifurcated so that they can detect slight differences between scents on their left and right sides while probing the territory ahead. |
The verb bifurcate comes from the Latin word bifurcus, meaning “two-forked.” Bifurcated describes anything that is divided in two: when a road splits into two diverging directions — known as “a fork in the road” — the road is bifurcated. The human brain is often described as bifurcated because the right hemisphere controls movement of the left side of the body while he left hemisphere controls most language and movement of the right side of the body. |
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| 4451 |
bilateral |
affecting or undertaken by two parties |
Economic issues took up about half of the bilateral talks between the two leaders, said a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity. |
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When something is bilateral it has two sides or it affects both sides of something. Discussions between two political parties are called bilateral because both sides get to share their views. |
Bilateral comes from Latin: bi means "two" and lateralis means "belonging to the side." Debates about issues can be described as bilateral — as long as people on both sides get to speak. However, bilateral can describe anything with two sides, like some of the organs in the body: the brain, heart and lungs all have two distinct sides. |
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| 4452 |
billowing |
characterized by great swelling waves or surges |
It was here that the Army cooked up chemical weapons, launched poison-packed mortar shells and sent gas clouds billowing over the fields. |
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If you've ever seen a space shuttle launch, you probably remember seeing all the white smoke billowing, or swelling and rolling forth, underneath. |
You'll most often see the word billowing when someone is talking about smoke, steam, or the wind blowing through something, like hair or a flag. The word bylgja, from which billow derives, comes from an unusual source for English words: Old Norse. |
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| 4453 |
binge |
an occasion for excessive eating or drinking |
The government surveys showed binge drinking — having more than five drinks in one day — increased among all ethnic groups and genders, but particularly among men. |
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A binge is a brief period of doing something excessively. You might celebrate your birthday by indulging in a banana cream pie binge if that's your very favorite dessert. |
Binge rhymes with fringe. If you give in to your urges and really indulge yourself, you binge on something, whether it's candy, video games, or shopping. There's an implied sense in the word binge that you're doing too much of something that isn't very good for you in the first place. Binge is also a verb, as in people who binge on television, watching show after show. |
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| 4454 |
blandishment |
flattery intended to persuade |
He had expected coaxings, blandishments, the pleadings and wiles with which Virginia the elder had made him so intimately acquainted. |
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When you hear a blandishment come your way, you may feel flattered, as that's what a blandisher intends to do. However, beware because that flattery may come with the underlying intention of persuading you to do something! |
The noun blandishment is related to the old-fashioned verb blandish meaning "to coax with flattery, or kind words." A blandishment is often teasing in tone, and the intention to persuade is usually thinly veiled. Your brother may use a blandishment or two to get you to do his chores, and you're going to know exactly what he's after. But the saying "You get more flies with honey" just might hold true if you find yourself taking out the trash when it's not your turn. |
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| 4455 |
blare |
make a strident sound |
First there were trumpets; then brasses blared and drums rumbled. |
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To blare means to crank up the volume — really LOUDly. Blare is what you do with your dance music if you want your neighbors to hate you. |
The verb blare has ties to the Middle Dutch word bleren, meaning "to bleat, cry, bawl, shout." Blare describes a loud, harsh, unpleasant sound, something you associate with car horns on a busy city street at rush hour, sirens on a police car, or even music played at an unnecessarily high volume. A club is allowed to blare its dance music. But if you blare music at home? Your neighbors would probably consider that too loud. |
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| 4456 |
blase |
uninterested because of frequent exposure or indulgence |
Dull-eyed, blase, frayed by the social whirl, worn out, pulseless, all of them. |
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If the thrill is gone, you are blasé. If you yawn on a roller coaster, then maybe you've had one too many rides. |
The adjective blase (most often spelled blasé), describes someone who is bored with the pleasures of life because of frequent indulgence or exposure. When asked what she thought of the award ceremony, the actress yawned and replied, "It was blasé. It was just like the last 15 award ceremonies I had attended." |
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| 4457 |
blasphemy |
profane language |
Instead of becoming silent, he poured forth a fresh storm of blasphemy; and continued cursing all the time I remained within hearing. |
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Saying offensive things about God or religion is blasphemy. Blasphemy can be used for offensive ideas in other areas too. |
If you're saying something bad about a god, or taking the Lord's name in vain, or questioning a religious institution in any way, you could be accused of blasphemy — insulting something sacred. You can use this word in a lot of other ways too. At a meeting of conservatives, a liberal idea could be considered blasphemy (and vice versa). You might even jokingly cry "Blasphemy!" if a friend said your favorite ice cream flavor stinks. |
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| 4458 |
blemish |
a mark or flaw that spoils the appearance of something |
Fine red lines often can be seen just under the skin, and some people also experience pimplelike blemishes. |
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A blemish is a small flaw. If you borrow your brother's brand new bicycle, you'd better be careful — what might seem like the tiniest blemish to you might be a horribly ruined paint job to him. |
The classic example of a blemish is a pimple or other mark on your skin, but you can call any small defect a blemish — like a worm hole in an apple or a scrape on the side of your car. A flaw or fault in your personality or morals can also be called a blemish. You might say that the one time your dog accidentally nipped you is the only blemish on his reputation as a sweet, gentle pet. |
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| 4459 |
blithe |
carefree and happy and lighthearted |
Deep down inside her being something sang; outside, the carolling of the lark continued, blithe and joyous in the breaking dawn. |
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The adjective blithe used to mean happy and carefree, but over time it has also come to describe someone who isn't paying attention the way they should. |
If you have a blithe disregard for authority, you might just smile vaguely when a teacher is yelling at you and continue writing on the lockers with a Sharpie. If you're dancing to music while driving, and pass blithely through a red light, chances are you will be pulled over and given either a ticket or a lecture. |
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| 4460 |
blunder |
an embarrassing mistake |
The candidate's first name was misspelled "John" on media badges, a blunder later repeated in some campaign mailings. |
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A blunder is an embarrassing mistake. Accidentally called your new boyfriend by your old boyfriend's name? Ouch. That's a blunder you don't want to repeat. |
Has an embarrassing mistake ever made you feel like you’re stumbling around with your eyes closed? If so, it won’t surprise you to learn that blunder comes from the Old Norse word blundra, meaning to “shut one's eyes.” It wasn’t until the eighteenth century that blunder came to refer to a stupid or embarrassing mistake, or as a verb, to describe making such a mistake, as in “I tend to blunder when I'm nervous.” |
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| 4461 |
blurt |
utter impulsively |
But after that momentary pause he blurted out, "Is everything all right, Benny?" |
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If you blurt something out, you're speaking abruptly and without thinking about what you're saying. |
Usually, when you blurt something, you end up regretting it. Saying something without considering your words can end up making you feel stupid or hurting someone's feelings — just imagine what might happen if you were to blurt out what you really think about your grandmother's cooking. The best thing about the word blurt is that it's onomatopoeic, or a word that sounds exactly like what it means. |
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| 4462 |
bode |
indicate by signs |
"Her early recovery is very promising," and bodes well for further improvement, he said. |
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The verb bode suggests forecasting. Something bodes well when the clues or signs imply a favorable outcome. But if something bodes ill, you’d better watch out! |
Something might bode good fortune, or it could bode disaster. The word, which can be traced back to the Old English bodian "to announce, foretell," is also found in the adjective foreboding, which means "ominous, boding ill." |
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| 4463 |
bohemian |
a nonconformist who lives an unconventional life |
Bohemians were typically urban, liberal in outlook, but with few visible political passions and, above all, creative. |
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An artist well-known for wearing filthy coveralls, or a musician who shares a cheap apartment with eight roommates and a pet monkey might be described as bohemian — that is, willfully unconventional and nonconformist in both appearance and lifestyle. |
In the nineteenth century, Romani (Gypsies) living in France were referred to as Bohémiens because it was thought that they come from the middle-European region, Bohemia. The name became attached to artists who moved to low-rent neighborhoods and who seemed to share the outsider status or spirit of the Romani. Although bohemian still carries traces of its edgy past, it can now be used to describe a fashion statement — such as pairing clogs with a floaty peasant blouse. |
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| 4464 |
bombardment |
an attack by dropping explosive devices |
He made up air raids and heavy bombardments and fairly tore up the village in which he was living. |
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When a lot of bombs fall on a city or area, it is a bombardment. But a bombardment can also mean a pummeling with lots of other things: questions, spit balls, or e-mails. |
During the early stages of a war, the capital city of the country under attack may suffer a severe bombardment meant to bring on a quick surrender. If there are many casualties or the citizens of the country are treated brutally by the occupying force, military officials may find themselves under a bombardment of questions and accusations about how the war was handled. |
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| 4465 |
boon |
a desirable state |
The drilling has been an economic boon — creating jobs and reducing dependence on foreign energy. |
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Boon means something beneficial to a specific person, entity, or cause. "Getting called out of school on the day of the test was a boon for Sam, as he hadn't remembered to study." |
Boon derives from the Old Norse bón, a request for a favor. Think of boon as a favor that no one has necessarily asked for, something extra. "We'd just spent our last dollar on a cup of coffee so it was a real boon to find a ten dollar bill lying on the sidewalk." Boon can also be an adjective for someone friendly and welcoming, as in "a boon companion." |
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| 4466 |
bountiful |
producing in abundance |
The wheat harvest that year was so bountiful that grain overflowed storage facilities. |
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Bountiful means abundant or given generously. We celebrate the idea of a bountiful harvest with a Thanksgiving cornucopia overflowing with its bounty of pumpkins, apples, squashes, and cranberries. |
Bountiful can also mean generously given, with the idea that the original bounty of a harvest came from the gods you prayed to for rain and sun. When you received their gifts, you thanked them for their generosity. Now, bountiful giving is something you might experience with your parents or grandparents, happy just to see you smile on your birthday. |
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| 4467 |
bourgeois |
being of the property-owning class |
This future son-in-law is very young, and remarkably good looking; he belongs to the upper bourgeois, even bordering on the nobility. |
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The adjective bourgeois means relating to or typical of the middle class. If someone says, "Oh, how bourgeois!" it's probably an insult, meaning you're preoccupied with middle-class small-mindedness. |
As a noun, a bourgeois is a member of the middle class, originally a member of the middle class in France. The word was borrowed from French, from Old French burgeis "citizen of a town," from borc "town, village," from Latin burgus "fortress, castle." The derived word bourgeoisie "the middle class" is a later borrowing from French. |
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| 4468 |
bout |
a period of illness |
While out of work, struggling financially, and single-handedly responsible for three children, Pauline had several bouts of depression during which she felt completely isolated. |
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A bout is a fight. If you want to be a boxer, start with some easy bouts before challenging the champ. |
A bout is a period of time in which something intense happens, like fighting, binging, or being sick, and comes from the word for bending, or going round in a circle. We usually use it these days for something you wouldn't want to go on for too long of a time. If the full moon makes you crazy, you might suffer a bout of madness. |
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| 4469 |
bovine |
any of various wild or domestic cattle |
We can see handsome bovines at any fat cattle show. |
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If something is bovine, it has to do with cows or cattle, or it reminds you of the slow and seemingly unintelligent ways of cows and cattle. Someone's glacial pace and dull comments might contribute to his thoroughly bovine impression. |
The adjective bovine is used for anything that has to do with animals from the genus “Bos,” which classifies wild and domestic cattle. Mad Cow Disease is technically known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, and it can be said to have bovine origins. What are known as cow pies are, in fact, bovine droppings. People can be described as bovine if they are intellectually dull, slow-moving, or somewhat cow-like in their appearance. |
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| 4470 |
bowdlerize |
edit by omitting or modifying parts considered indelicate |
Being an iconic classic, however, hasn’t protected “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” from being banned, bowdlerized and bleeped. |
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To bowdlerize means to edit offensive parts out of something. If the hero in an R-rated movie adapted for TV exclaims, “Oh shoot fudge darn!” but his lips seem to be saying something else, that movie has been bowdlerized. |
The word bowdlerized comes from the name of Dr. T. Bowdler, who decided to publish an edition of Shakespeare without sexual references or double-entendres (which is when a word has two meanings, one of them cheeky). Mr. Bowdler thought he was performing a great service for humanity, but generally if we call something bowdlerized, we’re implying that it was edited in a prudish way. |
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| 4471 |
boycott |
refuse to sponsor; refuse to do business with |
In what became known as the Chilean Winter, students at university campuses and high schools across the country organized strikes, boycotted classes and occupied buildings. |
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To boycott means to stop buying or using the goods or services of a certain company or country as a protest; the noun boycott is the protest itself. |
This noun comes from the name of Charles C. Boycott, an English land agent in 19th century Ireland who refused to reduce rents for his tenant farmers. As a result, the local residents did not want to have any dealings with him. Boycotts are an effective way to use your spending dollars to affect change. |
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| 4472 |
braggadocio |
vain and empty boasting |
Biggie talks about money and drugs, but “Juicy” contains no braggadocio, no empty boasts. |
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Braggadocio means not only bragging, but bragging about something that’s not true. When your friend boasts of a private yacht, ten personal servants and nightly caviar dinners, that’s braggadocio, unless he happens to live on the French Riviera. |
Braggadocio comes from the word brag, but saves you the trouble of calling someone's bragging a lie by giving you one word that does both. You might say that the new guy at work who keeps telling stories about his heroic genius for fixing any computer is full of braggadocio––since when you asked him for help with yours he had no idea what to do. |
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| 4473 |
braggart |
a very boastful and talkative person |
In his cups he was a witty, though arrogant, braggart. |
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If you know someone who is a real show off and is always bragging about how great they are, then you might call this boaster a braggart. |
Braggart is a pejorative word, which means it is used as an insult, so you shouldn’t call your boss or your teacher a braggart — unless you’re looking for trouble. Braggart is similar to other pejoratives like blowhard or bigmouth. Braggarts are characterized by talking loudly (usually in praise of themselves, their possessions, or their accomplishments) and are quick to assert their superiority over others. |
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| 4474 |
bravado |
a swaggering show of courage |
All their courage and bravado was gone, and now, like the miserable cowards that they were, they had sought safety in flight. |
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If you act with bravado, you are making a bold showy statement. Picture a cowboy bursting through saloon doors in an old western, and you can picture bravado. |
The noun bravado is derived from the French and Italian words meaning "bragging and boasting," and it is related to the word bravo. Today, the word means an almost-over-the-top amount of courage, but it can also be used (often with the word false) to mean a false show of bravery: "It was her first day in the classroom and she was almost shaking with fear, but with false bravado — she took a deep breath and turned to face her students — 20 kindergartners." |
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| 4475 |
brawl |
a noisy fight in a crowd |
The slightest quarrel, the most commonplace street brawl are pretexts for rival factions to come out in battle array. |
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A brawl is a noisy fight in a crowd. If the food fight in the cafeteria gets seriously out of hand, you might find yourself in an all-out brawl. |
Brawl can also be used as a verb—people who are fighting can be said to be brawling, whether or not they are using their fists. Similarly, you can use the word to suggest that a war of words is rough, in the manner of a bar fight—the bride and her mother were engaged in a brawl over the guest list for the big day. |
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| 4476 |
breach |
make an opening or gap in |
Just look at how hackers breached the accounts of Google’s mail service in the past year, other RIM executives have noted. |
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A breach is a violation of a law, duty, or promise. If you'd contracted to mow your neighbor's lawn and don't do it, he can sue you for breach of contract. Or he can mow the lawn himself. |
Breach traces back to the Old English verb: brecan "to break," which is what breach really means––"a breaking of something." Breach of contract is a legal way of saying you broke a promise. If your great aunt Edna is a stickler for propriety, she may be horrified when you eat your meat with the salad fork, considering it a breach of good manners. |
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| 4477 |
breadth |
the extent of something from side to side |
On the left side were also two store-houses, each thirty-six paces long by twelve in breadth, covered with shingles. |
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If you measure the distance of an object from side to side, you are measuring the object’s breadth: “Theodore measured the breadth of the table before buying it to make sure it would fit in his small kitchen.” |
Breadth often refers to a physical measurement, but it can also be used to describe comprehensiveness or largeness of any kind, such as breadth of knowledge or breadth of experience. In the famous sentence describing Macedonian king Alexander the Great, the word breadth is used to indicate the vastness of Alexander’s empire: “When Alexander saw the breadth of his domain he wept, for there were no more worlds to conquer.” |
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| 4478 |
brevity |
the attribute of being short or fleeting |
Brevity is key; journalists do not have a lot of time. |
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The noun brevity means shortness or conciseness. If you give a report on agriculture in the northern hemisphere in 3 minutes, you have done it with incredible brevity. |
Brevity comes from brevis, which means "brief" in Latin. You can use brevity for things that are literally short, like the brevity of an elevator meeting, or the quality of fleetingness, like the brevity of youth. Brevity is also a style of speaking or writing with economy. "Brevity is the soul of wit," remarks Polonius in Shakespeare's "Hamlet," suggesting that witty people know how to make a point without unnecessary words. |
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| 4479 |
brink |
the limit beyond which something happens or changes |
Patterson often asked Groce to ease up in Taylor's demanding timed conditioning drills, noticing he was on the brink of hyperventilating from pushing his limits. |
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The brink of something is the very edge of it. If you want to give your mom a good scare, stand on the brink of a steep cliff and slowly lean forward. |
The noun brink describes the edge of a steep drop-off or slope, or the edge of a boundary marking where something begins, like the brink of a pond. Brink also describes the figurative edge or start of something. Nations on the brink of war are very close to mobilizing troops; if you are on the brink of losing your temper, you might try walking away or slowly counting to ten. |
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| 4480 |
brisk |
quick and energetic |
The rooms were scrupulously clean, the table service brisk and punctual. |
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Brisk is one of those delightful words that sounds like what it means: quick, lively, bracing, and refreshing. There's nothing like a brisk walk in the morning to get the blood flowing and the spirit ready for the day. |
Anything brisk is happening quickly but not too fast. Probably taken from the French brusque, which also means "quick," but in a more negative way, brisk can be used to describe not only physical actions but also more conceptual notions, such as brisk business around the holidays or brisk interactions at a speed-dating event. The soft-drink called Brisk must be called that for a good reason. Perhaps it picks you up! |
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| 4481 |
broach |
bring up a topic for discussion |
Funeral directors must also navigate a topic that, even under normal circumstances, can prove uncomfortable to broach: money. |
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As a verb, broach means to bring up or introduce a sensitive issue. As a noun, a broach is one of those dowdy pins your Great Aunt Edna wears. Telling her not to wear it is a subject you should probably not broach. |
Let's say you want to go on vacation with a friend and you ask your dad because he is more likely to say yes. He will probably tell you that he will broach the subject with your mom and let you know. In a less common (and older) usage of broach, if you put a hole in something in order to get out what's inside you broach it. The piercing tool you use is also called a broach. Think of piercing someone with your idea the next time you broach a touchy issue. |
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| 4482 |
browbeat |
discourage or frighten with threats or a domineering manner |
For ten minutes he bullied and browbeat the luckless sergeant, whose men had not been responsible for opening fire. |
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To browbeat is to intimidate with language. Picture yourself in a police station. The cops are trying to get you to talk by using tough, even abusive, language. They are browbeating you. |
When someone browbeats you, they're giving you a beating with their mouth and their mind. If your parents have to browbeat you into cleaning your room, they nag you, yell at you and they may even make fun of you and your bad cleaning habits. While the word brow means forehead, think that they're using their head, or brow, to beat you down. It's a figurative, rather than a literal, beating. |
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| 4483 |
brunt |
the main part, especially of a force or shock |
While Texas, an epicenter now for wildfires and crop losses, is taking the brunt of the drought, surrounding states are also suffering. |
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If you are the oldest child, you might bear the brunt of your parents' anger, even if you are not the instigator of the misdeed. Brunt means the worst part of something. |
When Canadian geese fly south, they travel in a V-formation, with the bird at point bearing the brunt of the headwind. One way to remember the word brunt is that words that sound like it—grunt and blunt—are also about being tough or absorbing pain. |
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| 4484 |
buffoon |
a rude or vulgar fool |
They were sluggards, buffoons, dimwits, liars, brutes, and—without exception—drunks. |
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A buffoon is someone whose ridiculous behavior is a source of amusement to others. People you might call a buffoon are a political rival or the guy at work who tells silly jokes at office parties. |
The noun buffoon has changed its spelling over the years, but not really its meaning. In Middle French, it was bouffon, which came from the Italian buffone, meaning "jester." The original root is the Latin buffare. Think of the stereotypical court jester, the person who makes jokes and falls about trying to make the king laugh — he's paid to be a buffoon. |
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| 4485 |
buoyant |
characterized by liveliness and lightheartedness |
By nature he was sunny and buoyant, taking life as he found it. |
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Something that is buoyant floats in water. Since floating is happier than sinking, buoyant also refers to things are fun and upbeat. |
Someone with a buoyant personality is fun to be around, laughs a lot, smiles, and cheers other people up. Buoyant people are lively and lighthearted — the opposite of sad, depressed, and bummed out. Buoyant people are also called bubbly and cheerful, and it should help to remember that buoyant objects float — just like a buoyant person can seem like they're floating too (as in the expression "floating on air"). |
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| 4486 |
flashback |
a transition in a story to an earlier event or scene |
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A flashback is a transition in a story to an earlier time, that interrupts the normal chronological order of events. A flashback in a movie might show what happened when a character was younger. |
Flashbacks are often used for comedic effect, to prove or contradict something in the present. For example, if a character in a sitcom claims he does the dishes every single night, flashbacks could show him ignoring a giant pile of dirty dishes on various occasions. Flashback can also mean a sudden, vivid remembrance of past events, like having a flashback to your kindergarten days if you go visit that classroom today. |
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| 4487 |
hero |
someone who fights for a cause |
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Yes, a hero is a kind of sandwich. But when David Bowie sings, “We can be heroes,” he’s not talking about sandwiches. He’s talking about the more popular kind of hero — the kind who saves your life! |
A hero is someone who does fantastic things that people love. The guy who rescues a skater from a frozen pond is a hero. A hero can be the main character of a story, too, if people root for him. Spiderman is the hero of the comic series: he's the central character, but he also saves people. The word hero goes back to the Greek, referring to a demigod. |
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| 4488 |
heroine |
the main good female character in a work of fiction |
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A heroine is a real-life or fictional woman who has lots of courage and fights on the side of good, maybe by rescuing a kitten from a tree, slaying an evil dragon, or helping you with your science fair project. |
In books and movies, the heroine is the woman who is the main character, and in comic books and fantasy novels, heroines often have superpowers that help them accomplish incredible feats. There are heroines in regular life too, like women’s rights activists who fight against sexism, or a brave mother who rescues her child from a burning building. Heroine sounds the same as the addictive drug heroin, but a heroine will save your life, while heroin will probably end it. |
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| 4489 |
humor |
a message that has the power to evoke laughter |
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Humor is a word for the quality of being funny — or for appreciating comedy, as in "sense of humor." |
Many movies and TV shows — comedies — are full of humor, but there might be humor in any show or even any situation. Since different people find different things funny, there are many different senses of humor and types of humor. Some like wordplay, while others might enjoy slapstick. If you're in good humor, you're in a good mood. The humors are also the liquid parts of the body (you might remember that because many people find bodily fluids humorous). |
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| 4490 |
symbolism |
the practice of investing things with arbitrary meaning |
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When you come across objects in a painting or story that stand for a concept, the artist or author is using symbolism to convey ideas. |
If a particular object keeps popping up at key points in a story, chances are the author is using symbolism to convey an idea or emotion. In the Aesop fable, The Fox and the Grapes, the grapes symbolize things too difficult for someone to attain or achieve. Sometimes people use symbolism in real life. If the president meets a dignitary in the Oval Office, the symbolism of the location says, "I take you especially seriously." |
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| 4491 |
biodiversity |
the diversity of plant and animal life in a habitat |
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When you have a many different plants and animals living in one place, you have biodiversity. The Amazon rain forest is rich in biodiversity. |
Biodiversity is a shortened form of two words: biological diversity. Biological refers to the study of life forms; diversity means many and different. Construction, pollution, and climate change threaten many different species of plants and animals — these developments threaten biodiversity. Scientists know that the earth's health is related to biodiversity, and one of the main missions of the environmental movement is preserving biodiversity. |
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| 4492 |
continental drift |
the gradual movement of very large land masses |
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Continental drift is the theory that the continents slowly and gradually moved to take on their current form. Continental drift can also be used in a jokey way to describe things that move really slowly. |
Continental drift is a translation of the German Kontinentalverschiebung (say that five times fast). In 1912, the German scientist Alfred Wegener came up with the theory of continental drift, which is what it sounds like — the theory that over time, the continents drifted into the positions they’re in now. The continental drift theory is now a part of plate tectonics — the idea that there was once a giant continent that broke up into the ones we know today. |
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| 4493 |
deforestation |
the state of being clear of trees |
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Deforestation is the clearing of trees, transforming a forest into cleared land. The first step in turning the wilderness into a shopping center is deforestation. |
You can see the word forest in deforestation. The prefix de- means "remove" and the suffix -ation signals the act or state of. So deforestation is the act of removing a forest. First, the trees are chopped down, the wood shipped around the world for making products. Then the land is made smooth enough for homes, businesses, or farming. Today, in many places, laws limit the amount of deforestation. |
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| 4494 |
demography |
the study of the characteristics of human populations |
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Do you know the population growth rate of your city? The education levels of everyone on your block? Then you're a fan of demography, the branch of sociology that studies human behavior by analyzing statistical information. |
The word demography comes from two ancient Greek words, demos, meaning "the people," and graphy, meaning "writing about or recoding something" — so literally demography means "writing about the people." Like many branches of the sciences, demography began in the 19th century, when the general craze for cataloging information about the world really took off (think Darwin.) A common related word is demographics, referring to the raw statistical data that's used for analysis. |
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| 4495 |
desertification |
a gradual transformation into arid, uninhabitable land |
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Desertification is what happens to land when it becomes dried out and is no longer habitable. During the Dust Bowl, a period of massive dust storms in the 1930s, farmland in the Great Plains became barren through desertification. |
The word desertification is made up of the Latin suffix -ficationem meaning "to make, do" tagged to the end of the word desert. The process of desertification is the process of making or turning an area of land into a desert. This usually happens because of a change in the climate or in the ways in which the land was used. Poor agricultural practices can damage land to the point of desertification. |
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| 4496 |
equinox |
when the sun crosses the plane of the earth's equator |
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The equinox is one of the two times in a year when the sun crosses the plane of the earth's equator, and day and night are of equal length. “During the spring equinox you can balance eggs on end, because of the equal balance between night and day.” |
There are two equinoxes every year, one in the spring (the vernal equinox) and one in the fall (the autumnal equinox), each usually on the first day of spring and the first day of fall. These days are often celebrated and even worshipped in some traditions, although an equinox is actually a point in time — not an entire day. |
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| 4497 |
hydrosphere |
the watery layer of the earth's surface |
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The hydrosphere is the part of a planet that's made of water. Oceans, rivers, lakes, and clouds are all typically included in the hydrosphere. |
The watery parts of our planet, including vapor that hovers above the Earth's surface and water that's underground, make up its hydrosphere. Most of this water is salty, found in oceans, seas, estuaries, and other salty spots. Some of it is frozen into ice caps and permanent snow cover. Hydrosphere combines the Greek root hydro-, "water," and sphere, "globe, cosmos, or space," from the Greek sphaira, "globe or ball." |
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| 4498 |
megalopolis |
a very large urban complex |
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Enormous and dense with people, a megalopolis is a huge city, series of nearby cities, or part of an even bigger city. Mumbai is a megalopolis, but Walla Walla, Washington is not. |
Historians and geographers generally use the word megalopolis when they're talking about a chain of cities whose total population exceeds ten million, like the ones dotting the East Coast of the United States. The region made up of the cities between Boston and Washington, D.C. is one well-known megalopolis. The Greek suffix polis means city — think metropolis — and the prefix megas means "great." |
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| 4499 |
municipality |
a local district having powers of self-government |
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If you live in a town or city that has a mayor or other officials who govern it, you live in a municipality. |
The word municipality comes from the Latin municipium, meaning "free city." A municipality has its own government, but sometimes municipalities join together to share services. For instance, two neighboring municipalities might decide to share a single recycling center in order to cut costs. |
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| 4500 |
sediment |
matter that has been deposited by some natural process |
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Sediment is the accumulation of sand and dirt that settles in the bottom of lakes. Sediment is also what you get in the bottom of a glass of iced tea when the sugar doesn’t all dissolve. |
The noun sediment comes from the Latin word sedere, meaning “to settle,” or “sit.” Sediment is the little bits of solids that sink to the bottom of a container of liquid, whether that container is a body of water or a holding tank at a sewage treatment plant. Millions of years ago, lakes dried up and glaciers compressed their sediment. In this sedimentary rock, fossils are found, giving us clues about prehistoric life. |
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| 4501 |
urbanization |
the social process whereby cities grow |
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If a skyscraper is blocking the view of farmland you once had from your house window, urbanization is happening. Urbanization is a word for becoming more like a city. |
When populations of people grow, the population of a place may spill over from city to nearby areas. This is called urbanization. Maybe tall apartment buildings spring up on what had been the outskirts of town, bringing more people there to live and work. Urbanization can also apply to how people live. For example, if they stop driving their cars and instead rely on public transportation, as most people in cities do, that's urbanization. |
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| 4502 |
ward |
a person who is under the protection of another |
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A ward is a group of rooms or a section in a hospital or prison; in a hospital, different wards deal with different needs, like the psychiatric ward or maternity ward. |
Although ward is most often used in connection with hospitals and prisons, cities and towns can also be broken into wards. These are usually geographic areas that are used in elections: city council members often represent wards of the city. A ward is also the name given to a child who is watched over by someone other than his parents. Sometimes children are known as "wards of the state," meaning they have been taken from their homes. |
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| 4503 |
biome |
major ecological community with distinct climate and flora |
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A biome is a specific environment that's home to living things suited for that place and climate. A desert biome is great for a lizard, but a koala needs the leafy greens of a forest biome. |
A plant or animal makes its home in a specific biome, which is pronounced "BI-ohm." While a biome can range from an arctic tundra to a tropical rain forest, living things need to stay in the biome that's best suited to keeping them alive and growing. Scientists in the field of ecology, the study of the environmental connections between living things, work to understand the effects of climate change and population growth on biomes. |
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| 4504 |
biosphere |
the regions of the Earth where living organisms exist |
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A biosphere is a place where organisms live. You wouldn't want to travel beyond the earth's biosphere, unless of course you are an astronaut. |
From the Greek bios, "life," and sphaira, "sphere," biosphere came into English use in the 19th century. It means the life that occurs within a certain sphere or region around a planet. If you're reading this from Mars you probably have a biosphere all your own. You and other living things on Earth need oxygen and other substances to survive, and the biosphere fulfills those needs. |
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| 4505 |
hurricane |
a severe tropical cyclone usually with heavy rains and winds |
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A hurricane is a severe tropical storm with high winds and heavy rain. When a hurricane comes through your town, you should board up the windows and stay inside. |
Hurricanes have sustained winds that rotate in a circle, which is why they are often referred to as cyclones. The worst hurricane in recent years in America was Hurricane Katrina, which hit New Orleans in 2005 and devastated the city. The word hurricane comes from the Spanish word huracan. Interestingly, the Old English dictionary has 39 spellings for the word based on English-Spanish-Portuguese hybrids. |
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| 4506 |
isthmus |
a narrow strip of land connecting two larger land areas |
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An isthmus is a land bridge, a narrow strip of land that stretches across a body of water to connect two larger land masses. |
The Greek isthmos means "neck," so you can see how isthmus came to mean the connecting strip between land masses. If you look at an example, say the Isthmus of Panama, you can see how that neck-like bit of land separates the Caribbean Sea from the North Pacific Ocean as it connects North and South America. Think of an isthmus as kind of like a turkey neck that connects the bird's body and head (at least until Thanksgiving). |
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| 4507 |
leeward |
on the side away from the wind |
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The adjective leeward describes an area or side of a boat that's facing away from the wind. If you move to the leeward side of your sailboat, you're shifting to the sheltered, downwind side. |
You're likely to hear the word leeward when you're on a boat, since wind direction is hugely important when you're sailing. You can, however, use it to describe any area that's protected from the wind, even when you're on land. Your tent might fare best if you pitch it on the leeward side of a valley, for example. The lee part of leeward comes from the Old English hleo, which means "shelter, defense, or protection." |
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| 4508 |
lithosphere |
the part of the Earth consisting of the crust and mantle |
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The lithosphere includes the Earth's crust and the uppermost part of the mantle. The lithosphere's thickness varies depending on whether you measure the thin new crust on the ocean floor or the old crust of an established land mass. |
The Earth's lithosphere is broken into continental plates that move over time. Slight movements in the lithosphere can cause earthquakes when the plates bump against each other. "Litho" is from the Greek word lithos, meaning stone. "Sphere" is from the Greek word sphaira, meaning globe or ball. The solid outer crust of any celestial body can also be called the lithosphere. Scientists use robots to examine the lithosphere on Mars. |
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| 4509 |
meridian |
an imaginary great circle on the surface of the earth |
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The word meridian describes a gigantic imaginary circle that runs north and south on the earth's surface, from the North Pole to the South Pole. If you stood on the meridian at the North Pole, you would be at the earth's northernmost point. |
Meridian can also refer to the highest stage of development. The meridian of your chess career may have been when you took out the champ from a rival school. Used as an adjective, meridian can describe something that's at the best stage of development. Your favorite skater was at his meridian form when he won the Olympic gold medal. Meridian can also mean something takes place at noon, like your meridian boat voyage that launched precisely at noon. |
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| 4510 |
mobility |
the quality of moving freely |
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Mobility is the ability to move freely. If your basketball injury causes you to lose mobility in your knee, that means you can’t move it very well. |
Mobility often refers to whether you can move an injured body part, like a joint or a limb, but it can also describe movement in general. If you have great mobility on the tennis court, that means you move freely and easily, running down shots with ease. Mobility can also describe movement between different social or economic levels. Your fancy new job may offer opportunities for upward mobility. |
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| 4511 |
runoff |
an election to resolve a vote that did not produce a winner |
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A runoff is an additional election that resolves an inconclusive one. If there’s a tie for class president, the candidates will need a runoff election to see who gets the job. A runoff is also an overflow of water. |
The physical type of runoff (also run-off) involves water or other liquids running off of something by overflowing and possibly flooding an area. If it rains and rains, the runoff from the soil could flow into a nearby pond. On the other hand, a runoff election means an initial vote did not result in a winner because it was tied or too close to call. A runoff election settles the matter, providing a final decision. |
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| 4512 |
savanna |
a flat grassland in tropical or subtropical regions |
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A savanna is a grassy, usually tropical area of land. You're more likely to find a savanna in Tanzania than in Savannah, Georgia. |
You can spell this word savanna or savannah — either way, you're talking about a particular kind of ecosystem that's mostly covered with grass and sparsely placed trees. While most savannas are in tropical or subtropical parts of the world, there are also temperate savannas (including in the Great Plains of the U.S.) and mediterranean savannas, such as California's oak tree savannas. In Spanish, savanna means "treeless plain." |
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| 4513 |
strait |
a narrow channel joining two larger bodies of water |
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A strait is a narrow sea channel or a difficult situation — remember that both are difficult to navigate. If you're stranded on a strait off the Black Sea, you might also say that you're in dire straits. |
The noun strait comes from the Latin word strictus, meaning "to bind or draw tight." Whether you're describing a narrow passage of water or a tricky situation, a strait will make you feel like you're in tight quarters. You might be familiar with the term "dire straits," which refers an urgent or drastic situation. If all the dorms are overbooked for the fall semester and the off-campus apartments are all rented, you might find yourself in dire straits. |
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| 4514 |
tsunami |
a cataclysm resulting from a destructive sea wave |
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A tsunami is an enormous sea wave that erupts and reaches land. You should be afraid of them, because a tsunami can destroy a coastal region in minutes. |
Japan has had the misfortune of experiencing many tsunamis. They're caused by earthquakes or volcanic eruptions under the sea. In Japanese, tsu means "harbor" and nami means "wave." We sometimes use tsunami metaphorically, to describe really destructive events. After your parents came home, they compared the mess from your party to a tsunami. |
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| 4515 |
tundra |
a vast treeless plain where subsoil is permanently frozen |
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The tundra is a vast treeless plain near the Arctic Circle where the subsoil is permanently frozen. Despite the stark cold, many animals thrive on the tundra, including insects, migrating birds, and foxes. |
A tundra is a great description of any stark icy cold place — say, the walk to class on a college campus during February — but it is an actual geographic location, near the Arctic circle in North America, Russia, and Scandinavia. Smaller tundras can exist near the South Pole but it's often too cold there. The word comes from the Finnish tunturria which means "barren land." Santa's reindeer live on the tundra and go by the name of caribou in North America. Of course, none of them can fly. |
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| 4516 |
atmosphere |
the envelope of gases surrounding any celestial body |
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An atmosphere is a surrounding environment or influence. If you and your coworkers talk behind each other's backs, you will create a nasty atmosphere at work. |
Atmosphere was invented by seventeenth century Scientists from Greek words for vapor, atmos, and sphere sphaira. The earth's atmosphere is the air and gas surrounding our planet. Atmosphere also describes the feeling of a place. A coffee shop might have a cool, artsy atmosphere. Some plants grow best in a damp atmosphere. Police presence creates a paranoid atmosphere among protesters. In physics, atmosphere is a unit of pressure equal to the air pressure at sea level. |
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| 4517 |
barrier |
a structure or object that impedes free movement |
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Barriers are walls, either physical or metaphorical. They can block movement — the Great Wall of China was a barrier to block invading forces from entering. A window shade is a light barrier. Failing English is a barrier to getting into Harvard. |
When people are being excluded from joining a clique, you could say that the clique has erected a social barrier. When fighter jets fly faster than the speed of sound, they break through what feels like a wall in the sky called the sound barrier. The Green Monster at Fenway Park keeps Boston Red Sox fans from being able to watch games from outside the stadium — it's a barrier to sight. But when line drives hit the Green Monster, bouncing the ball back into left field, the Green Monster acts also a barrier to easy home runs. |
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| 4518 |
capital |
a large alphabetic character used in writing or printing |
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Capital is the total amount of money (and things with a monetary value, like houses or cars) that a person or institution owns. A bank's capital might be in the billions, while your capital barely makes it into the hundreds. |
Capital comes from the Latin capitalis, or "head," which some would argue is the command center of your body. Because your head is so important, capital, as a noun and as an adjective, has come to refer to the primary or chief example of something — whether it's money, a letter, a crime, or the national or state seat of a government. It can be easily confused with the American word capitol, which refers to the buildings where government activities take place. |
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| 4519 |
climate |
the weather in some location averaged over a period of time |
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The climate is the general weather in a particular region. Florida is known for its temperate climate. The word climate is also used figuratively to mean "the usual conditions," as in "It's a favorable climate for school reform." |
Climate descends from Greek klima "region, surface of the earth," and from klinein "to slope." The original use of the word climate in English was in reference to one of the sloping zones of the earth from the equator toward the poles. This meaning was often used to refer to weather conditions in a zone of the earth, which developed into the current meaning of "the weather." |
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| 4520 |
community |
a group of people living in a particular local area |
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If a number of people consider themselves one group based on location, work, religion, nationality, or even activity, they can be called a community. If you like to play online games, you are active in the gamer community. |
The original meaning of Latin communitatem "a sense of fellowship" shifted to mean "a specific group of people with a common interest" during the Middle Ages. The modern English word community has both of these meanings available. Street festivals or school fairs can help to develop a sense of community in schools or neighborhoods. If you start a campaign to clean up the community, you want to make the area you live in more attractive. |
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| 4521 |
construction |
the act of building something |
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The creation or building of something is construction. Depending on your budget, if you are building a new house, you will get the construction of a castle, a house, a cottage, or a shack. |
The word construction has its roots in the Latin word construere, which itself has roots in com-, meaning "together," and struere meaning "to pile up." In addition to the building of property, the noun construction also refers to the building trade itself. If you work for a company that builds things — from offices to houses and bridges to dams — you work in construction, whether you are a carpenter at the work site or the secretary who schedules the jobs. |
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| 4522 |
continent |
one of the large landmasses of the earth |
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A continent is one of the seven largest landmasses found on Earth. Asia, Australia, and Africa are three continents. Can you name the other four? |
Some folks forget the continent of Antarctica, because so few humans live there—none of them permanently. And you might be surprised how many people think that Africa is a country and not a continent. Due to a process known as continental drift, the extremely slow movement of the continents across the face of the globe, our world looks very different from the way it did 100 million years ago. |
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| 4523 |
creek |
a natural stream of water smaller than a river |
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A creek is a stream — like a river, but smaller — and if you grew up in the TV version of rural America, you probably had a creek babbling through your backyard and a dog that looked like Lassie. |
If you're "up a creek," or "up a creek without a paddle," you've got a problem with no solution in sight. Say you're out in the middle of nowhere, your cell phone battery has just died, and your car won't start. Unless you've got a solar charger or a tow truck comes along, you're definitely up a creek. |
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| 4524 |
crop |
a cultivated plant that is grown commercially |
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A crop is a large amount of one kind of fruit or vegetable that's grown on a farm. Your farmer uncle's corn crop might be especially large after a summer with plenty of rain. |
A major crop in parts of Asia is rice, while the coffee bean crop is important to the economics of several African and South American countries. A different kind of crop is the short whip that some riders use on horses — and when you crop something, you cut it short. You might decide to crop your hair at the beginning of the summer each year. The noun came first, originally defined as "the top of a sprout or herb." |
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| 4525 |
custom |
accepted or habitual practice |
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If something has been done a certain way for a long time and has become generally accepted, it's a custom. Asking strangers for candy on one night a year would seem strange if it weren't an established custom. |
If you have been imprisoned in a far off country when you were just trying to blend in, you might have misunderstood the local customs. Custom can be traced back to the Latin verb consuescere, meaning "to accustom," in other words "to get used to." Custom can also describe something that you order made just the way you want it. Your five-seated bicycle is very original; was it custom-made? |
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| 4526 |
dam |
a barrier constructed to contain the flow of water |
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A barrier built to block the flow of water is called a dam. If you walk along a stream, you can see where beavers have built a dam out of mud and logs. |
As a verb, dam means to obstruct or blockade as with a dam. If the kids you're babysitting dam up the bathtub drain when you're not paying attention, the water might overflow and cause a waterfall into the living room downstairs. But water isn't the only thing that can be dammed. You shouldn't dam up your emotions — go ahead and scream if you need to. |
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| 4527 |
desert |
leave someone who needs or counts on you; leave in the lurch |
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A desert is a very dry area of land where few plants and animals can live. If you find yourself stranded in the middle of the desert, you'll have no company except for the occasional lizard or scorpion. |
Desert comes from the Latin desertus, for abandoned or lying in waste. This can refer to a vast sandy area without vegetation, or any empty, lifeless expanse. As a verb, it means to leave someone or something. A soldier who runs away from the army is called a deserter. Occasionally you'll hear someone say, "He got his just deserts," which doesn't have anything to do with abandonment; it means he got what he deserved. |
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| 4528 |
discovery |
the act of finding something |
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The noun discovery means the finding or uncovering of something. The discovery of a body is usually an important plot point in a mystery novel. |
The process of finding, realizing, or unearthing something is discovery, like your discovery of a live lizard in the birthday box your aunt mailed from Arizona. The lizard is also a discovery — the thing that is found. In law, discovery means the obligation to reveal any relevant documents to the opposing party in a legal case. The Latin root, discooperire, basically translates as "the opposite of covering something up." |
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| 4529 |
drought |
a shortage of rainfall |
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When there is a drought somewhere, there's not enough rainfall. In certain areas, a drought can last for weeks, months, sometimes even years! Forget about running your lawn sprinkler during a drought; the water is needed for drinking, bathing, and toilet flushing. |
Another way drought can be used is to refer to a shortage of something (other than rainfall) that lasts for a long period of time, like a drought in job growth during a recession. Typically a drought is not a good thing and something you hope to avoid. For example, if your friend Kenny hasn't gone on a date in five years, it's safe to say that he is having a romantic drought. |
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| 4530 |
earthquake |
vibration from underground movement along a fault plane |
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If you're visiting your friend in California and her house starts to shake, you might be experiencing an earthquake, which is the shaking of the surface of the earth that happens when there's movement deep underground. |
Earthquake is one of those words that means exactly what it sounds like: the earth is quaking. Earthquakes happen along "fault lines," the places where the big plates of the earth meet and rub up against each other during volcanic activities. We also use earthquake metaphorically, to talk about something that causes a violent upheaval. |
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| 4531 |
elevation |
distance of something above a reference point |
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An elevation is a rise or the raising of something. Mountains have an elevation based on how high they are and your mood has an elevation as you get happier. |
Elevation is a noun that tells how high something is raised above a surface or ground line. It's also a term for measuring things like temperatures or degrees. Your body temperature might have an elevation if you have the flu, just as the elevation of a hill increases as it gets steeper. Buildings have an elevation too: The front of a building from top to bottom is its front elevation of the structure. |
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| 4532 |
equator |
an imaginary line around the Earth forming a great circle |
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An equator is a circle that divides the surface of an object into two equal halves. If you're freezing up there in Iceland, get yourself on down closer to the earth's equator, where it's nice and warm. |
An equator is an invisible line that divides a globe into two parts, north and south. To remember equator, recall the root "equa" from the Latin word aequus, meaning "equal." An equator makes things "equal." If you drew a line that divided a globe into two parts that were not equal, the line couldn't be called an equator. If you live at the North Pole and you're buddy lives at the South, meet halfway, somewhere along the equator—perhaps in Brazil, for Carnaval. |
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| 4533 |
erosion |
the process of wearing or grinding something down |
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The Grand Canyon is a monumental example of erosion—the entire canyon was carved by the flow of the Colorado River, which slowly dug the canyon out of stone over the course of eons. |
Erosion is the wearing away of sand, soil, or rock by water or wind. But it also has a metaphorical sense. The erosion of standards for behavior in society means that our grandparents would be shocked by what passes for good manners today. |
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| 4534 |
expansion |
the act of increasing in size or volume or quantity or scope |
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Expansion is what happens when something becomes bigger or more extensive. If you enjoy good pastry, you will be excited by the expansion of the bakery, but be careful or you will also see the expansion of your waistline. |
The noun expansion is from the Latin word expansionem, which means a spreading out. Another definition for expansion is an elaboration or expanding upon something. If you're a teacher, you might be asked to give an expansion of the short talk you give students, "Homework Stinks: But Why We Need It Anyway" to parents at the school open house. |
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| 4535 |
exploration |
travel for the purpose of discovery |
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An exploration is a trip, but it's more than just a vacation — it's going somewhere to examine and discover new things. |
Exploration is what you do when you want to learn more about what's out there in the big wide world. Guys like Christopher Columbus were experts in exploration. Some astronauts devote their lives to the exploration of space, looking for new planets. But you don't have to go any farther than your local library to do your own exploration — when you study or research something, you could say you're doing an exploration of it. |
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| 4536 |
farming |
the practice of cultivating the land or raising stock |
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Farming is the act or process of working the ground, planting seeds, and growing edible plants. You can also describe raising animals for milk or meat as farming. |
Farming is a great way to describe the lifestyle and work of people whose jobs are in the agriculture industry. People often have a romantic idea of what farming is like — roosters crowing, farmers driving tractors and milking goats — although farming can be very hard work, dependent on food prices and weather. The noun farm originally meant "a lease on farm land," and it comes from the Medieval Latin firma, "fixed payment." |
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| 4537 |
forest |
a large, densely wooded area filled with trees and plants |
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A forest is a densely wooded area, or land covered with trees and shrubs. As a verb it means to establish a forest where none existed before. |
Famous forests include the Sherwood Forest of Nottinghamshire, England, associated with legend of Robin Hood; the Black Forest of southwestern Germany, so named because it's so dense that very little light enters it; the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil (and 8 other countries of South America); and the forests that make up the Redwood National and State Parks of California, where you can find the tallest trees on earth. |
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| 4538 |
globe |
an object with a spherical shape |
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A globe doesn't have to be a spherical representation of our planet; it can be anything shaped like one — like a soccer ball or a gumball. |
Referring to a round shape, globe is often used interchangeably with sphere, though sphere has another meaning of an area of particular interest or a segment of a particular population. Globe is also another name for planet Earth itself, our lovely third rock from the sun — as in "viewers are tuning in from around the globe." |
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| 4539 |
harbor |
a sheltered port where ships can take on or discharge cargo |
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A harbor is a safe place providing refuge and comfort. If you're traveling, the harbor provided by a warm hotel is welcome. For ships, a harbor is a sheltered port area shielded from waves, where it's safe to dock. |
Harbor can also be used as a verb, which describes maintaining a belief or a feeling. If you harbor ill-will toward your neighbor John, you don't like him much. Harbor can also mean you hold back your ideas and don't express them openly. John may have no idea you hate him if you harbor your true feelings deep inside, but pretend you like him to his face. |
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| 4540 |
irrigation |
supplying dry land with water by artificial means |
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Irrigation is the watering of land to make it ready for agriculture. If you want to start a strawberry farm in the desert, irrigation will be necessary. |
Irrigation comes from the Latin for "moist" or "wet," but it means the purposeful wetting of something. We wouldn’t really say that a storm provides irrigation (unless we were poetically trying to personify the storm). Irrigation systems are often complex combinations of canals, channels, and hoses. The word irrigation is also used in medicine to describe the process of washing out a wound before dressing it. |
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| 4541 |
landmark |
the position of a prominent or well-known object |
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A landmark is anything that helps you know where you are — in space, in time, in history. |
If you’re sailing from Europe to New York, the Statue of Liberty will be the landmark that lets you know you’re in the right port. If you’re walking to your cousin’s house, the pizza shop on the corner is the landmark that lets you know you just have two blocks to go. Getting your driver’s license is a landmark event, as was the Revolutionary War — though which battle was harder is yours to determine. |
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| 4542 |
landscape |
an expanse of scenery that can be seen in a single view |
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To landscape is to enhance a space with plants. If you landscape your yard with flowering plants and trees — and you have a green thumb — you'll end up with a beautiful garden. |
If you paint nature scenes, like mountains, lakes, or fields, your art is called landscape painting. If you don't paint that well, however, and the perspective on your landscapes is always a little bit off, you can try landscape photography instead. Any expanse of natural scenery that can be seen from one viewpoint is also called a landscape. The artistic meaning of landscape is the earliest, dating from the 1600s. |
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| 4543 |
legend |
a story about mythical or supernatural beings or events |
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A legend is a larger-than-life story that gets passed down from one generation to the next — like the legends of Beowulf, Robin Hood, or even Big Foot. |
Legend comes from the Latin legere, "to read." The Latin word was originally limited to written stories, but in English, legend lost that limitation. Often a legend lives on in the stories that people tell each other. A person can be a legend too. Anne Frank is a legend for keeping a diary of hidden life in war time, and a less famous person, like a long-serving local teacher, can be a legend to neighborhood kids. |
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| 4544 |
location |
the act of putting something in a certain place |
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A location is a fixed place or position in space. If you are lost, you don't know your location. You can try to figure out your location by consulting a map or asking a friendly local who has a better sense of direction than you do. |
The noun location means the determination of something's position. If you are on a scavenger hunt, you have to determine the location of various random objects. So on your hunt, finding birthday candles may be easy, but good luck finding the location of a ferrule, unless you happen to know it is the metal band on a pencil that holds the eraser in place. |
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| 4545 |
longitude |
the angular distance from the prime meridian at Greenwich |
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In geography, longitude refers to the imaginary lines that bisect the globe through the North and South Poles (the ones that run vertically, as opposed to the lines of latitude that run horizontally, parallel to the equator). |
If you state your exact longitude, you are describing how far east or west you are of the Prime Meridian, the imaginary line of longitude which runs through Greenwich, England. When you add your latitude, anyone with a map can pinpoint exactly where you are in the world. If you're standing at a latitude of 40°41.3'N and a longitude of 74°02.7'W, for example, you are at the Statue of Liberty. |
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| 4546 |
monsoon |
a seasonal wind in southern Asia |
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Monsoon is the term for the wind that carries heavy rains to southern Asia, and the rains themselves. During a monsoon, people wait indoors for it to stop. |
Although people in other parts of the world sometimes describe heavy rainfall as a monsoon, the real thing only occurs in Asia. Monsoon describes both the rain that drenches India and Southeast Asia in summer and winter, and the wind that carries that rain. The rains are so heavy that they can lead to floods that wash away entire towns. |
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| 4547 |
nation |
a politically organized body of people under a government |
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A nation is a country and its people. It's also the word used for the Native American tribal federations in the US — the Cherokee Nation, for instance — which have their own governments and territories. |
Nation comes from the Latin root nat-, which means "born" — the neonatal unit in a hospital is where the newborn babies are cared for. You can also use nation more loosely for ethnic or religious groups: you might speak of "the Jewish nation," meaning not just the country, or nation, of Israel, but Jews all over the world. The Nation of Islam is an African-American Muslim group. |
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| 4548 |
neighborhood |
an area within a city or town that has distinctive features |
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Use the noun neighborhood when you're talking about a community within a town or city. Getting to know the people and places in your neighborhood can make you feel right at home in a city of millions. |
A neighborhood can be created by lines on a map that designate a district, or it can grow over time to become a neighborhood with a certain personality, based on who lives there. You can also use neighborhood to describe something nearby, like promising to visit a friend the next time you are in the neighborhood — or something that's approximate, like a restaurants whose burgers are in the neighborhood of ten dollars. |
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| 4549 |
plain |
simple |
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Plain things are simple, unadorned, and even a little boring. Being a plain talker means you don't use pretentious, fancy words. But having a plain face means you're not much to look at. |
Plain comes from the Latin word planum, meaning "level ground." That's one meaning of the word, as in a flat prairie or low lying coastal flood plain. If something is in plain view, it's out in the open with no obstructions. But usually we use plain as an adjective to describe unembellished, bare, or unimpressive things. A white room with just an old bed and a chair is pretty plain. |
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| 4550 |
plantation |
an estate where cash crops are grown on a large scale |
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A plantation is a large agricultural property dedicated to planting a few crops on a large scale. If you dream of having 3,000 acres to raise cucumbers on, then you have dreams of a cucumber plantation. |
Plantation doesn't have to only mean massive single-product farms. A small grove of trees is also called a plantation, but usually when we use the word we mean the big farms. Surely you've heard of southern plantations before the Civil War that raised cotton and tobacco with slave labor. In Latin America many international companies own banana and coffee plantations. |
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| 4551 |
plateau |
a relatively flat highland |
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A plateau is a high, flat area of land. The word has also been stretched to include a leveling off of progress. At first the children at the sleepover were running wild, but then their energy level reached a plateau. |
You can see the word plate inside plateau. Think flat like a plate, or think about mountains that look like tables you could set with plates–-so flat the plates won't fall off. If you're a French speaker, this will be easier, as plateau derives from the French plat, "level." |
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| 4552 |
pollution |
contamination of the natural environment |
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Pollution is unwanted, harmful stuff contaminating an environment. The race to develop clean energy is motivated by high levels of pollution that people fear are permanently damaging the earth's environment. |
When you hear about pollution, you’re most likely hearing about chemical emissions into air or water that come from industrial processing. But pollution isn’t just environmental. Anything we think of as pure can be contaminated by pollution polluted, whether that's a lake or an idea. If your mother finds you reading trashy magazines instead of doing your homework, she might worry about the pollution of your mind. |
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| 4553 |
port |
where people and merchandise can enter or leave a country |
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A port is a place where boats come and go. If you think that docks and harbors are romantic, I suggest you move to a port city like Baltimore. |
Just as seaports and airports link countries together by enabling trade and travel, a device that links computers together is also called a port. Port comes from the Latin word portus, meaning "haven" or "harbor." You can hear this sense of a port as a place of safe arrival in the proverb "any port in a storm." On a ship, the port side is the left side. Port is also a verb, meaning "to carry." |
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| 4554 |
precinct |
an administrative district of a city or town |
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A precinct is an area of town marked off for official purposes, often to vote, or to organize the police force. When a cop hears of a crime that's happening in her precinct, she knows to hop in her car and head over there. |
The word precinct comes from the Latin precinctum meaning "enclosure, boundary line." A precinct is an area that has a clear boundary line around it, making it easier for the police to know where a crime is taking place, or where you should go to vote. The word precinct has also come to mean police headquarters in a particular district. If you're being held at the precinct, you're at the police station local to where you committed your crime. |
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| 4555 |
precipitation |
the falling to earth of any form of water |
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Precipitation is rain, snow, sleet, or hail — any kind of weather condition where something's falling from the sky. |
Precipitation has to do with things falling down, and not just from the sky. It's also what happens in chemical reactions when a solid settles to the bottom of a solution. If you have hard water where you live, you might find lime deposits — a flaky white crust — on your faucets and showerhead. That's caused by precipitation of the minerals in the water. The minerals settle out — they precipitate — and clog the pipes. |
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| 4556 |
preservation |
the activity of protecting something from loss or danger |
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Use the noun preservation to refer to the protection of something — especially from loss, injury, or danger. You might fight for the preservation of the woodlands near your house because of all the animals that live there. |
Preservation is also a process that keeps organic things from decomposing. If the preservation of the flowers in your prom corsage is important to you, you can dry the flowers to keep them from decaying. If you dry them, they'll probably last longer than your relationship with your high school boyfriend! The word preservation is often used when referring to historic preservation, which is the protection of buildings and sites of historic significance. |
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| 4557 |
province |
the territory in an administrative district of a nation |
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A province is a region within a country. If you travel to Canada, you'll have to decide whether you want to go to the province of Quebec, or Saskatchewan, or one of the other 8 provinces in that enormous country. |
Many countries are divided into provinces. In the U.S. we don't have official provinces; we have states and counties. But we can use province in its other meaning, which is "the sphere of one's activities." If you manage a coffee shop and sit there reading and drinking coffee even when you're not working, then that shop is your province. |
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| 4558 |
region |
the extended spatial location of something |
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A region is an area. A region can be geographic — like a part of a country. A region can be intellectual — like a region of the mind. There are also bodily regions — like abdominal, thoracic, and posterior. |
A region is any space that is distinct from another area. The word region is from the Latin regionem which means “direction, boundary, district.” When you go to California you may want to travel north to the wine region, which will stimulate the taste-receptor region of your brain. After that, if you go south to the filmmaking region of Hollywood, you will excite the “movie-and-entertainment” region of your mind. |
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| 4559 |
settlement |
the act of colonizing; the establishment of colonies |
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A settlement is a colony or any small community of people. If a bunch of people build houses on the moon together, they’ll have the first lunar settlement. A settlement is also the resolution of something such as a lawsuit. |
One kind of settlement is a place where people live. This can be a community that's smaller than a town, like a village. Also, if one country establishes a colony somewhere else, that can be called a settlement. The other kind of settlement happens when something is settled, like the end of a disagreement. A lawsuit is ended if there's a settlement — both parties make an agreement that often involves money. A settlement brings closure and resolution. |
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| 4560 |
shelter |
covering that provides protection from the weather |
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Shelter is one of the basic human needs along with food, water, and companionship. It is a structure that protects you from the elements and gives you a place to live. |
If you get lost in the woods during a rain storm, the first thing you should do is seek shelter, or a protected place to stay. A shelter is also a place to go for help, e.g. a homeless shelter is for those with nowhere to sleep, a bomb shelter protects people in a war zone and an animal shelter houses dogs and cats without a home. You've probably heard people talking about tax shelters, which are investments that protect your money from being taxed by the government. |
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| 4561 |
site |
the piece of land on which something is located |
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A site is a location. The leader of a Zombie Army might remind his underlings: “Your web site is just a collection of pages at one address on the Web. Your burial site is where you find more soldiers!” |
Site can also refer to a specific parcel of land, such as a building site or a burial site. Although a website has no physical location, it does have a virtual one, which is reached the same way a physical location is: by going to an address. |
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| 4562 |
society |
an extended group having a distinctive cultural organization |
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The noun society refers to people living in social order. Unless you are a reclusive person, you are a part of society in some way or another. |
Society can also refer to fashionable elite, the "beau monde" or "smart set." An organization or club formed around a common interest is sometimes also called a society. To add to its mystique, this type of society might create special rules, greetings, or handshakes. Certain national societies that may have branches in your community include the Elks Lodge or the National Association of Professional Women. |
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| 4563 |
soil |
material in the top layer of the surface of the earth |
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Soil is the dirt between our fingers as we garden or farm, from which all living things come and to which, as the poets never tire of reminding us, all life eventually returns. Such a big meaning for such a little word. |
To soil something also means to make it dirty, or to degrade it in some way — strange given the natural purity of soil. Sometimes nations talk about their soil, meaning the geographical area over which they have governance. In England in the eighteenth and nineteenth century the euphemism "night soil" was used to describe the contents of the commodes people kept under their bed. But you probably didn't want to know that. |
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| 4564 |
storage |
the act of keeping something for future use |
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Storage refers to storing something, like in a basement or attic. People keep all sorts of things in storage — from fur coats to bowling trophies. |
When you store something, you put it away somewhere safe, so storage is the act of storing. Squirrels gather nuts and put them in storage by hiding them. A grocery store might use a stockroom for storage. If you have canned food in the basement, that's storage. Some storage is for emergencies, while other storage is for things you might want to look at another time, like old photos. Things in storage are being saved for later. |
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| 4565 |
stream |
a natural body of water flowing on or under the earth |
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That little rolling brook in your back yard is a stream. If it starts rising and threatens to flood, your father might let out a stream of expletives. A stream is a steady flow of something. |
As a verb, stream means to flow out. If water streams from a faucet, it is pouring out. After a concert people stream out of a stadium and into the parking lot. On the web, you'll hear about something connected with music and video called streaming. This means that instead of having to download it to play, it is sent through your computer to listen to or watch, sort of like the way radio and TV work. |
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| 4566 |
timber |
the wood of trees prepared for use as building material |
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Timber! That's the call of warning you hear before a tree falls. That's because those lumberjacks are going to use the tree to make timber, otherwise known as "lumber" or the wood used for construction. |
Timber can actually be the trees used to make or build something, or the wood that comes from those trees, which you could also call "lumber." You might think that when a pirate yells "shiver me timbers!" he's referring to his wooden peg leg. But the timbers he's talking about are actually the boards and planks used to build the frame of a ship. |
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| 4567 |
tornado |
a violently destructive windstorm occurring over land |
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A tornado is a violent windstorm in the shape of a funnel cloud that reaches to the ground. If a tornado is coming, you’ll want to take cover. |
A tornado can be quite severe and leave a lot of destruction in its wake, Tornadoes (or tornados — either is correct) tend to occur more often and with more severity in areas over flat lands, such as the Great Plains. That Kansas “twister” in The Wizard of Oz is a famous example of a tornado. Tornado is sometimes used to describe someone or something that acts like a tornado — with intense, violent energy or emotion. |
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| 4568 |
transportation |
the act of moving something from one location to another |
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If you spend $60 a month on subway fare, then your monthly transportation cost is $60, meaning it costs you $60 each month to get from one place to another. |
The noun transportation often is used to describe the process of moving things. You might make transportation arrangements, for example, for shipping a pet across the country. Transportation can also refer to a formal system for moving things from place to place, like a public transportation system like the subway or public bus or a transportation company that specializes in moving goods from coast to coast. |
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| 4569 |
vegetation |
the process of growth in plants |
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Use the word vegetation to refer to all plants and trees collectively, typically those in a specific region. The vegetation in your backyard might look very lush and green in the springtime, unless you forget to water it. |
Vegetation, as well as meaning all plant growth, can refer to the growth process of a plant. The lettuce you planted a couple weeks ago is at an early stage of vegetation. Vegetation can also apply to people — or at least to those in a state of inactivity. Think about how slowly plants grow. It’s the same for a person who’s in a state of vegetation. You may sometimes enjoy the mindless vegetation of doing nothing at all. |
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| 4570 |
village |
a settlement smaller than a town |
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A village is a place where people live that's smaller than a city or town. The village where your grandparents live might have a population of only a few hundred people. |
In the US, some towns, townships, and cities have smaller villages communities within them. There are also villages that are independent of any larger areas. In either case, a village is typically larger than a hamlet and smaller than a town. The majority of Indians live in villages, while in other countries (like Russia and the UK) population has moved to big cities and suburbs, away from traditional villages. The Latin source of village is villa, or "farm." |
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| 4571 |
volcano |
a fissure in the earth's crust through which gases erupt |
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When the earth's crust cracks open and spews hot lava and gases, you've got a volcano on your hands. You better run. |
The noun volcano comes from the name of the Roman god of fire, Vulcan. The Romans believed Vulcan had a forge in Mt. Etna, a volcano in Italy. The term can be applied to a vent in a planet's surface or crust. Lava, ash, and gas escape through the vent. The term volcano can also apply to a mountain created by such a vent. |
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| 4572 |
arc |
a continuous portion of a circle |
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An arc is a curve. You can describe the bend of a rainbow as an arc. |
In math, an arc is one section of a circle, but in life you can use the word to mean any curved shape, like the arc of a ballerina's arm or the graceful arc of a flowering vine over a trellis. In the 14th century, arc first meant the movement of the sun in the sky, from the Old French arc, "bow or arch," and the Latin root arcus, also "bow or arch." |
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| 4573 |
chord |
a combination of three or more notes that blend harmoniously |
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In music, a chord is three or more notes that combine harmoniously. You can play chords on a piano or guitar, but not on an instrument that plays one note at a time, like a trumpet. |
Chord comes from the French word for agreement, accord, so in music it means sounds that go together, or agree with each other. You can also use chord figuratively. If a book "strikes a chord" with you, you feel connected to it. In math, a chord is the straight line that connects two points on a curve. |
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| 4574 |
combination |
the act of bringing things together to form a new whole |
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A combination is a grouping together of separate things. Your desire to live to a big city might come from a combination of your dreams of being on stage, and your obsession with underground trains. |
Combination is the act of combining, which comes from the Latin for "joining together two by two," although it's not necessary that you combine things in pairs. Your famous party mix might be a combination of pretzels, nuts, and espresso beans. Your locker combination is the set of numbers you have to dial to open the lock. If you plan to go on a TV talent show, get ready to learn some dance combinations. Kick, spin, drop, roll! |
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| 4575 |
continuity |
uninterrupted connection or union |
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Continuity has to do with how things happen over time: if there aren't any bumps or breaks and everything goes on continuously, then there's continuity. |
Continuity has to do with consistency. If you have the same Spanish teacher for several semesters, that's great continuity. If you have five different teachers in one year, that's awful continuity. In TV and movies, continuity involves keeping the plot and characters consistent from one scene to the next. It drives fans crazy when a character is allergic to peanuts in one episode, and then eats a peanut butter sandwich in the next one. |
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| 4576 |
exponent |
notation of how many times to multiply a quantity by itself |
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An exponent is a person who is a big promoter of something. Are you an exponent of the four-day school and work week? |
You may already know the mathematical meaning of exponent: a numeric notation showing how many times a number is multiplied by itself. How did exponent come to mean a strong advocate or promoter of something? Well, its Latin ancestor was a verb meaning "to put forth" and it's easy to see how this could be generalized to refer to people. After all, aren't you an exponent of freedom of expression? |
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| 4577 |
inflection |
the patterns of stress and intonation in a language |
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Inflection refers to the ups and downs of a language. Even if you can’t understand Italian yet, the inflection in your professor’s voice should tip you off to whether she's asking a question, giving a command, or making a joke. |
What began in the 1500s as a noun of action spelled inflexion has since evolved into inflection, a word with grammatical connotation. Inflection most often refers to the pitch and tone patterns in a person’s speech: where the voice rises and falls. But inflection also describes a departure from a normal or straight course. When you change, or bend, the course of a soccer ball by bouncing it off another person, that’s an example of inflection. |
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| 4578 |
limit |
as far as something can go |
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A limit is a boundary, or how far something can go, or the maximum amount of something. When you reach the limit, imagine a little sign saying "the end." |
There's a limit to how much weight you can lift, how many words can be written in an hour, or how long someone can stay awake. Once you pass the city limits, you have left town. Sporting events have time limits. As a verb, you can limit how much chocolate your kids are allowed to eat. And if you don't feel like writing much, you'll limit your essay to just 400 words instead of 500. |
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| 4579 |
logarithm |
the exponent required to produce a given number |
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A logarithm is a mathematical concept involving multiplication. A logarithm is the exponent that will yield a certain number. For a base of 3 to produce 9, the logarithm would be 2. |
Every number has a logarithm that — if it were an exponent — would produce a certain number. For example, let's say the base is 5. The logarithm to produce 25 would be 2, because 5 times 5 is 25. If the base is 10, the logarithm to produce 10000 would be 4. The logarithm is also called the log. Scottish mathematician John Napier coined the word by using the Greek logos for "word or ratio” plus arithmos for "number.” |
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| 4580 |
parameter |
a constant in the equation of a curve that can be varied |
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A parameter is a limit. In mathematics a parameter is a constant in an equation, but parameter isn’t just for math anymore: now any system can have parameters that define its operation. You can set parameters for your class debate. |
Parameter comes from a combination of the Greek word para-, meaning “beside,” and metron, meaning “measure.” The natural world sets certain parameters, like gravity and time. In court, the law defines the parameters of legal behavior. Parameter and perimeter are similar, but a perimeter is the physical distance around an object, while a parameter can contain or define something either physically or abstractly: before you marry, prepare for the parameters of monogamy. |
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| 4581 |
protractor |
drafting instrument used to draw or measure angles |
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A protractor is a device used in drafting and drawing: it's mainly used for drawing and measuring angles. Don't show up to geometry without your protractor! |
In math class, you use many tools, such as a calculator. Another is the protractor, which is handy when you're studying geometry. Protractors are designed to help you measure and draw angles. You can make a rhombus or an isosceles triangle with a protractor. A protractor can help you measure existing angles too, like if you’re taking a geometry test and need to compare angle measurements. Graphic artists, architects, and other professionals who need to make angles use protractors. |
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| 4582 |
radius |
a straight line from the center to the perimeter of a circle |
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If you're a detective working a crime investigation, you might be told to "search over a one-mile radius," meaning, scope out everything that's within one mile of the crime scene. |
The radius of a circle is the distance from its center to the circumference, and if you are working on your geometry homework, or designing anything circular, you'll be writing down a little "r" quite frequently, to stand for "radius." It's also the name of one of the bones in your forearm. |
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| 4583 |
reciprocal |
concerning each of two or more persons or things |
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Reciprocal describes something that's the same on both sides. If you and your sister are in a big fight on a long car trip, you might resolve it through a reciprocal agreement that you'll stop poking her and she'll stop reading road signs out loud. |
The word mutual is a near synonym in most uses: reciprocal/mutual friendship, describing, a relationship in which two people feel the same way about each other, or do or give similar things to each other. If you tell someone you like them and they say, "The feelings are reciprocal," that means they like you too. In math, a reciprocal is a number that when multiplied by a given number gives one as a product. |
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| 4584 |
statistic |
a datum that can be represented numerically |
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A statistic is a numerical piece of information. If you are trying to prove a point, and you want your argument to have a sense of authority, you might want to use a statistic to back up your claim. |
A statistic is a single piece of information represented by a number. “Water makes up 70% of the Earth’s surface,” for instance, is a statistic. A statistic is like a fact that is reached through a mathematical process. A population figure is the most common statistic you will encounter. When made plural, statistics means either a collection of statistics or the science of creating and interpreting statistics, as in “His favorite course in college was Statistics.” |
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| 4585 |
tangent |
a line that touches a curve but does not intersect it |
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A tangent is an entirely different topic or direction. When you want a break from geometry class, you might ask your teacher about his hobby of woodworking, a topic that's always good for a ten-minute tangent. |
Tangent is mainly a mathematical term, meaning a line or plane that touches a curved surface but doesn't intersect it. The non-mathematical meaning of tangent comes from this sense of barely touching something: when a conversation heads off on a tangent, it's hard to see how or why it came up. When talking about history, someone suddenly brings last night's basketball game? Definitely a tangent. |
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| 4586 |
theorem |
an idea accepted as a demonstrable truth |
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A theorem is a proposition or statement that can be proven to be true every time. In mathematics, if you plug in the numbers, you can show a theorem is true. |
Just as a theory is an idea that can be supported or disproved, a theorem is also an idea, but it's one that has been proven and can be demonstrated again and again if used properly. In math class, you might have learned some theorems. One example is the Pythagorean theorem, which can be represented as A squared plus B squared equals C squared. Although it’s usually used in math, theorems can be laws, rules, formulas, or even logical deductions. |
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| 4587 |
variance |
the quality of being subject to change |
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A change to the norm is called a variance. It suggests a difference or shifting away from the expected or usual, an example being snow in July, which is a variance in the weather of the United States, even in Minnesota. |
When the word variance is used in a comparison, it is usually preceded by the word "at," as in "Her values were at variance with her actions," meaning the two differed. This makes sense, as the word, first seen in Middle English, comes from the Latin verb variāre, which means "to change." If a contractor needs to go outside the standing building code, he needs to obtain a variance, which is legal permission to make a change from the norm. |
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| 4588 |
vector |
a quantity that has magnitude and direction |
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One definition of a vector is that of a carrier — it might be an insect like a mosquito that carries and transmits a bacterium or virus, or it might be some agent that carries genetically engineered DNA into a cell. |
Considering that the Latin word vector comes from the word vehere, which means "to carry," it's not surprising that the current use of the word also "carries" the same meaning. In fact, in computers, a vector is a method used to propagate a computer virus. However, the word vector is also used in various scientific areas, including mathematics, where it indicates something possessing both size and direction; and aeronautics, where it indicates a projectile's course. |
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| 4589 |
congruence |
the quality of agreeing; being suitable and appropriate |
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Congruence means compatibility. If you've been studying French, you might be glad to note, when learning Spanish, that there are many areas of congruence in grammar and vocabulary between the two Romance languages. |
In geometry, shapes are congruent when they are exactly the same, such as squares with three-inch sides. In a more general context, congruent means "in agreement with," as in "the school's rules are congruent with expectations for behavior at home." |
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| 4590 |
dispersion |
spreading widely or driving off |
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The noun dispersion means the process of distributing something over an area. A combination of your yearly planting of new bulbs and their natural tendency to spread has led to the dispersion of daffodils over your entire back yard. |
Dispersion refers to the act of spreading something, like your dispersion of sprinkles evenly over three dozen cupcakes. It can also be used to talk about the scattering of something across a very large range, such as the dispersion of people with Scottish heritage across the United States. The Latin root word is dispersione, which means a scattering. |
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| 4591 |
grid |
a pattern of regularly spaced horizontal and vertical lines |
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A grid is a network of intersecting parallel lines, whether real or imaginary. Most American streets are laid out in a grid pattern, meaning the streets intersect at right angles and form a pattern of squares when viewed from above. |
You've probably seen a map grid, the uniform lines drawn on a map that allow you to pinpoint a particular location. Grid can also refer to a physical network of sorts, not necessarily made of straight or parallel lines. You may be familiar with the high voltage electrical cables that carry power throughout the country, known as the national grid. A gird can also be a device made up of intersecting metal bars that you use when grilling food. |
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| 4592 |
integer |
any natural number or its negative, or zero |
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Integer is a math term for a number that is a whole number. In the equation 2 + 1/2, the number 2 is the integer and 1/2 is the fraction. |
Integer comes from a 16th century Latin word meaning "whole" or "intact." For a number to be considered an integer, it must be whole — no fractions or decimals here. An integer can be positive or negative. The numbers 0, 1, 2, -1, and -2 are all examples of integers. |
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| 4593 |
intercept |
seize on its way |
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When you intercept a pass in football, you grab the ball that your opponent had thrown to a member of his own team. To intercept is to stop something from reaching its intended destination. |
If a national intelligence agency intercepts a telephone call being sent from one terrorist cell to another, they stop the message and also learn a bit about what's going on in the terrorist world. If you're planning a surprise party for your friend and she arrives a half hour early, you might run to intercept her while everyone rushes to hide. |
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| 4594 |
odds |
the likelihood of a thing occurring |
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The odds are the chances that something will happen. If you flip a coin, the odds are 50-50 you'll get heads. |
When we talk about odds, we're talking about probabilities, specifically, how likely it is that something will happen. Is there a 5% chance? Is there a 95% chances? If there's a 95% chance, then the odds are great. We can talk about the odds of anything happening, as long as it hasn't happened yet. Anyone predicting the weather is telling the odds of rain or snow — they don't know for sure. If something strange happens people often say, "What were the odds of that?", which means: "I can't believe that happened. The odds were against it." |
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| 4595 |
polygon |
a closed plane figure bounded by straight sides |
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A polygon is a closed shape with straight sides. Rectangles, triangles, hexagons, and octagons are all examples of polygons. |
The word polygon comes from the Greeks, like most terms in geometry, which they invented. It simply means many (poly) angles (gon). A polygon can’t have any curves or any gaps or openings in its shape. If you want to describe something as angular and closed, like, say, the Pentagon, or a stop sign, you could call it "polygonal." |
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| 4596 |
reliability |
the quality of being dependable |
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It's nice when someone compliments your reliability because it means they think you are dependable. Things that are known for reliability? Your best friend, sunrise, sunset and unfortunately also taxes. |
The word is a new one and didn't become common until after 1850 during the Industrial Revolution. Before things were mass produced, how reliable they were was not such an issue. Interesting fact: reliability is an American word, and the Brits scoffed at its new usage. |
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| 4597 |
tessellation |
the careful juxtaposition of shapes in a pattern |
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Tessellation is a mosaic pattern, a design made of shapes fitted together. You could compliment your friend's newly tiled kitchen floor by saying, "What gorgeous tessellation!" |
If you imagine a patchwork of tiles, or the patterns in a quilt, you're picturing one kind of tessellation. Another type is mathematical tessellation, which is closely related to the first kind — it's the geometric repetition of one shape over and over again. The Latin root word tessellatus describes something made of small stones or tiles. |
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| 4598 |
angle |
the space between two lines or planes that intersect |
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Remember all those pesky geometry classes in high school? Then you'll remember measuring the angle or space between two intersecting lines in degrees. If you recall that a right angle measures ninety degrees, give yourself a bonus. |
Angle can also mean a biased way of looking at or presenting something. Talk radio stations, for example, often discuss current events with a "political angle." On a far more peaceful note, to angle also means simply to fish, both in the literal sense of trying to catch a fish on a hook or in the metaphorical sense of trying to subtly obtain something without being seen to do so directly, as in, "I'm going to angle for a promotion at work." |
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| 4599 |
cluster |
a grouping of a number of similar things |
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A cluster is a small group of people or things. When you and your friends huddle awkwardly around the snack table at a party, whispering and trying to muster enough nerve to hit the dance floor, you’ve formed a cluster. |
Cluster comes to us from the Old English word clyster, meaning bunch. Nowadays, you can use cluster as either a noun or a verb. When we were kids, we would stand in a cluster (noun) on the street corner, eagerly awaiting the appearance of the Good Humor truck every afternoon. Then we would cluster (verb) eagerly around the driver, demanding ice cream. Virtually anything can form a cluster — flowers, cells, stars, human beings, and even events. |
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| 4600 |
corner |
the point where three areas or surfaces meet or intersect |
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Corners are everywhere. Two perpendicular lines form a corner. Rooms and streets have corners too. If a child misbehaves in class, the teacher might make him stand in the corner. |
The key to a corner is that it leads in two directions: when you look at the corner of a room, you could hang a picture to the right or left of the corner, but not in the corner itself. A street corner usually has a street sign and sometimes a bus stop, too. A square table has four corners, but a round table doesn't have any corner. Notice how when you look straight at a corner, there's nowhere to go? That's why corner is also a verb. If you say, "I cornered him," it means you trapped him and gave him nowhere to turn. Whenever we don't see a lot of options, we feel cornered. |
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| 4601 |
cube |
a three-dimensional figure with six equal squares as faces |
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In math, a cube is a number multiplied by itself three times. The cube of 2 is 8 (2 x 2 x 2). It is also a three-dimensional shape where each of the six sides is a square or something shaped like a cube, such as an ice cube or meat cut into cubes). |
The noun cube goes back to the Greek word kybos, which was a six-sided die used in games. As a verb, cube means to cut into cube shapes. You can buy cookie dough that is ready for baking and formed into cubes. Place each cube on the cookie sheet, and the dough becomes a dozen round cookies — or fewer if you pop a cookie dough cube into your mouth before baking! |
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| 4602 |
cylinder |
a surface generated by rotating a line around a fixed line |
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A cylinder is a solid shape bounded by a cylindrical shape and two parallel circular bases. Confused yet? Just picture a soda can or one of those mailing tubes with a round bottom and a lid. |
The word cylinder is certainly mired in a whole lot of technical terms. It's one of the basic geometric shapes, as well as a key piece of engineering — such as the cylinders in an engine, which are the chambers where the pistons move. So don't worry if you don't quite get it. You have to be "running on all cylinders" to get what this word is all about. |
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| 4603 |
decimal |
a number in a system based on ten |
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A decimal is a fraction written in a special form. Instead of writing 1/2, for example, you can express the fraction as the decimal 0.5, where the zero is in the ones place and the five is in the tenths place. |
Decimal comes from the Latin word decimus, meaning tenth, from the root word decem, or 10. The decimal system, therefore, has 10 as its base and is sometimes called a base-10 system. Decimal can also specifically refer to a number in the decimal system. As an adjective, decimal means something related to this numbering system. The decimal point, for example, refers to the period that separates the ones place from the tenths place in decimal numbers. |
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| 4604 |
dividend |
a number to be divided by another number |
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A dividend is a bonus. If you buy a cup of coffee and the shop owner throws in a free muffin, that's a dividend. Your charm and loyal patronage are paying dividends! |
If you own stock and your company has had a good year, you’ll probably get a dividend — a share of the profit the company pays to shareholders. You've probably also heard the word dividend in math class: if you've got 300 divided by 50, 300 is the dividend (and 50 is the divisor). |
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| 4605 |
division |
the act of partitioning |
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Division is breaking something down into parts, splitting it up. When you have division of labor, everybody does her part. |
Division is a noun. It refers to taking a hunk — of pie, clothes, numbers, people — and splitting it into smaller bits. A division in the military sense is a group large enough to go to battle. Blame British mathematician John Pell for the long division you learned in math class (but proceeded to forget once you discovered the calculator). Any way you slice it, division is the process of separating something into smaller parts. |
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| 4606 |
estimation |
an approximate calculation of quantity or degree or worth |
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The noun estimation refers to a judgment of the qualities of something or someone. In your estimation no boy will be good enough for your daughter. He could be the kindest and smartest person on the planet and you'd still find fault. |
The noun estimation has its Latin roots in aestimare, meaning "to value." One of the definitions for estimation is an approximate calculation of something's value. If you go to an auction, you can often review a catalog that will have an estimation of the value of each item for sale. Sometimes the items sell for more than the estimation and sometimes less. The auctioneer hopes there are many bids for the pair of stone lions, but if you're bidding, you hope you're the only one who wants them. |
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| 4607 |
fraction |
a small part or item forming a piece of a whole |
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A fraction is a part of a whole. If two of you split the take from a bank heist, you would each get half. If you had a getaway driver, then the money would be split three ways, into fractions of one-third each. |
The quotient of two numbers is called a fraction, as is the action of performing division. Most of us, however, think of a fraction as a small part of an item — as in: "You only use a fraction of your actual brain power in the course of your life." Just think of a whole as a pie, and a fraction as a slice of that pie. |
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| 4608 |
height |
distance from the base of something to its top |
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The noun height can mean the measurement of something from bottom to top. A pediatrician will measure the height of a child to make sure they are growing at a normal and healthy rate. |
Height derives from the Old English word hehthu, meaning "top of something." To measure your height, you measure the distance from the floor to the top of your head. The height of a mountain is its elevation above sea level (the height of Mt. Everest, for instance, is 29,029 feet). Height can also mean the most extreme or intense part of something: The height of cherry blossom season in Japan is late March through early April. |
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| 4609 |
inch |
a unit of length equal to one-twelfth of a foot |
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An inch is a small unit of measurement. Twelve inches makes one foot. |
You might get an inch of your hair cut off, or hem your jeans so they're an inch shorter. Some countries use centimeters and meters as units of measurement, but if you measure in inches, you can order a twelve inch pizza or print out three by five inch photos. When inch is used as a verb, it means "to creep slowly forward." The Old English version was ynce, from the Latin uncia, "a twelfth part." |
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| 4610 |
inequality |
lack of balance or similarity in status |
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When there's an inequality, something is out of balance and things are not equal. An inequality occurs in math when the two quantities are not the same measure or amount. |
In society, an inequality occurs when rights and privileges are not applied fairly. The civil rights movement in the 1950s and 60s, for example, arose because of inequalities between the races. Blacks in the South could not sit in the front of the bus, drink from the same water fountains as whites, or even attend the same schools. People protested this inequality in many ways, including bus strikes, sit-ins, and marches. |
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| 4611 |
measurement |
assigning numbers to phenomena according to a rule |
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Taking a measurement involves figuring out how long something is or what it weighs or how fast it is. Measurements usually require something like a ruler or a stop watch. |
When you step on the scale to check your weight, you're getting a measurement. When you pull out a ruler and measure a piece of paper, you're making a measurement. Astronomers make measurements of how far away other planets and stars are. In the Olympics, a timer does a measurement of who's fastest, to see who won a race. Anytime you're using a measuring device to come up with a number for something, you're taking a measurement. |
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| 4612 |
median |
relating to or situated in or extending toward the middle |
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Median means middle. When a strip of grass divides one direction of a highway from another, it's called a median because it runs through the middle. |
Median comes from the Latin word medius, which also means middle. In math, the median is a number in the middle of a list. In the set 2, 3, 5, 10, 25, the median is 5. The statistical median is often linked to the idea of an average. A town's average income might seem high if there are two extremely rich people who live there. The median will tell you the income of the person halfway through the list. |
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| 4613 |
multiplication |
arithmetic operation determining the product of two numbers |
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In math, multiplication is when you add a number to itself a certain number of times. The multiplication of 3 times 2 gives you an answer of 6. if you put two bunnies in a cage and end up with six, that's a different type of multiplication. |
Multiplication falls under the mathematical category of arithmetic, and it's usually taught after addition and subtraction. When you memorize your times tables in school, you're learning multiplication. In science, the word multiplication is sometimes used to talk about the increase of an organism through generations of reproducing, like the multiplication of a farmer's sheep flock as more lambs are born. The Latin root word is multiplicare, "to increase." |
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| 4614 |
parallelogram |
a quadrilateral whose opposite sides are parallel and equal |
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A parallelogram is a four-sided object that has parallel opposite sides. A square is a parallelogram. If you take the square and tilt it to one side, it’s still a parallelogram as long as its lines remain parallel. |
A parallelogram is a two-dimensional object that you might have already encountered in geometry class. You can recognize a parallelogram by its parallel opposite sides, and also by its opposite angles that are equal. Adjacent angles on a parallelogram always add up to 180 degrees. If the angles of a parallelogram are 90 degrees, then it’s straight up and down, like a square or a rectangle. |
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| 4615 |
perimeter |
a line enclosing a plane area |
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The noun perimeter refers to the border of an enclosed space. The perimeter of a house is its property line. For a country, it would be that country’s borders. |
From Latin, meaning “around” (peri)and “measure” (metron), a perimeter is basically a boundary of any kind, measuring around the shape. In mathematics, perimeter refers to the length of this boundary. In geometry class, you might be asked to calculate the perimeter of a polygon, which is the sum of the length of each side. You might also hear this word used by members of the military or a police force as in “secure the perimeter” or “the perimeter has been breached.” A basketball player that likes to shoot from the three point line is said to “operate on the perimeter.” |
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| 4616 |
prism |
a polyhedron with two congruent and parallel faces |
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In geometry, a prism is a three-dimensional shape that has two bases that are parallel and the same size and shape. The prism's sides are all parallelograms. A classic pup tent is a triangular prism. |
In optics, a prism is a piece of glass, quartz, plastic, or other material that can be used to refract light. A typical prism is triangular in shape, and when white light (like sunlight) is shown through it, the prism breaks the light into separate colors and displays it as a rainbow (color spectrum). Sir Isaac Newton experimented with prisms in the 1600s, and his work was the beginning of the modern period of both optics and the understanding of light. |
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| 4617 |
proof |
any evidence that helps to establish the truth of something |
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Proof is the evidence that shows something is true or valid. When you show the logical steps that take you from your hypothesis that the world is round to the conclusion that it is, you're formulating a proof. |
Photographic prints that haven't been touched up are also called proofs, and that’s also what you call the first copy of a printed text, before it's checked for errors and corrected. When you check a text for errors, you're proofing. If your poker strategy is foolproof, even somebody who knows nothing about poker — a poker fool, that is — can’t get it wrong. Proof is a word you’ll see on bottles of alcohol, too: 90-proof rum means it's 45% alcohol. |
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| 4618 |
pyramid |
a polyhedron having a polygonal base and triangular sides |
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When you think pyramid, you're probably picturing the famous pyramids of Egypt — the enormous triangular monuments where pharaohs were buried thousands of years ago. |
Besides being a polyhedron shape, pyramid can also represent shady financial dealings. If you've got a pyramid scheme — and if you do, you may be reading this from your jail cell — you have people buy into your "investment" and then they recruit others to buy in, too. The early investors rise in the pyramid and are then paid "returns" out of the funds paid in by the new investors they've recruited (the pyramid base), and on and on. |
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| 4619 |
quotient |
the number obtained by division |
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When you add two numbers the answer is called the sum. When you divide two numbers the answer is called the quotient. The quotient of six divided by two is three. |
Quotient comes from Latin and means "how many times." That makes a lot of sense: if you divide one number by a second, you are figuring out "how many times" the second number goes into the first. Outside of math, use of the word is restricted: the IQ test is short for "Intelligence Quotient," and very rarely you might hear someone ask, "What's my quotient of cupcakes?" when they mean "What is my share?" |
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| 4620 |
rectangle |
a parallelogram with four right angles |
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A rectangle is any shape with four sides and four right angles. All squares are rectangles but not all rectangles are squares (all the sides in a square have to be the same length). |
The rect in rectangle comes from the Latin rectus, which means "right" or "straight." Because of its right angles, a rectangle has straight sides. Another word with the same root is rectitude, which means moral uprightness. A morally upright person is someone who does the right thing, but doing the right thing doesn't make you a square — or a rectangle. |
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| 4621 |
remainder |
something left after other parts have been taken away |
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The remainder is whatever is left after the rest has been used up or taken away. |
In math, if you know the remainder is the number that's left after you divide, that will help you remember the meaning of this word: a remainder is what you have when others things are gone. If you ate all but one piece of a pizza, the one slice left is the remainder. If you spend all your cash except for $4, that's your remainder. Since remaining means to stay somewhere, a remainder is something that stays put. |
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| 4622 |
rhombus |
a parallelogram with four equal sides |
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A rhombus is a parallelogram with four equal sides and opposite equal angles. A rhombus can be a square, or if it has two acute angles and two obtuse angles, it takes the shape of a diamond. |
The rhombus gets its name from the Greek rhómbos, which means "a spinning top." This word describes the shape of a "bullroarer," an object that was tied to a cord and spun around, making a great noise. It was used to taunt bulls into action during bull-fighting events. This rhombus-shaped object has been documented as being used for religious rites and games all over the ancient world. Nowadays, we prefer to study the rhombus in geometry. |
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| 4623 |
rotation |
the act of turning as if on an axis |
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When something turns like a wheel, over and over again, it's in rotation. You can't feel the earth's rotation even though you know it's happening. |
Even if you find the rotation of clothes in the dryer comforting, it's best to remain on the outside looking in. Rotation can also mean a series that repeats. A baseball team has a "pitching rotation" (five pitchers who take turns starting games), while a song that's on the radio every fifteen minutes is on "heavy rotation." |
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| 4624 |
ruler |
a person who governs or commands |
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The leader of a country is a ruler. If you're a queen, a sultan, or a czar, you're a ruler. |
Besides "person who rules or governs," you can define ruler as a measuring device that's marked with inches or centimeters. You can measure the diameter of a circle with a ruler, and you can also draw a perfectly straight line using its edge. Both meanings stem from the verb rule, "to exercise power" or "to control," which came to also mean "mark with lines" in the 1590s. |
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| 4625 |
sample |
a small part intended as representative of the whole |
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A sample is a small part of something that either represents a bigger whole or is designed to let you try something out. You might ask to try a sample of an exotic ice cream flavor before committing to buying a whole cone. |
Sample comes from the Old French essample, meaning "example." In social science experiments, researchers try to find a sample of people to study that is representative of the intended population as a whole. At the grocery store, you might be given a sample of peanut butter on a little cracker to entice you to buy it. In that case, you are given the chance to sample, or taste, the product. |
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| 4626 |
sphere |
a round three-dimensional closed surface |
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Marbles, oranges, bubbles, and beach balls — all of these objects illustrate the shape of a sphere, or globe (unless the beach balls are under-inflated, in which case they’re sort-of a “squished-sphere” shape). |
Sphere is often used metaphorically to refer to a particular aspect or area of something. For example, unless you’re a trained circus performer, tightrope walking and fire swallowing probably lie outside of your sphere of expertise. Sphere frequently occurs in the phrase “sphere of influence,” which designates the geographical area over which a person, organization, or nation has control. In many households, whoever is in charge of the cooking controls the kitchen; so, the kitchen falls within his or her sphere of influence. |
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| 4627 |
subtraction |
an arithmetic operation in which the difference between two numbers is calculated |
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In math, subtraction is when you take one number away from another number. In other words, the subtraction of two from five gives you an answer of three. |
In school, subtraction is typically the second operation you learn in arithmetic, after addition. When a problem has you take four apples away from eight apples, that's subtraction. If you see the word minus, or the symbol -, that's also subtraction. The word itself comes from the Late Latin subtractionem, "a drawing back or taking away," from subtrahere, "take away," which combines sub, "from under," and trahere, "to pull." |
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| 4628 |
temperature |
the degree of hotness or coldness of a body or environment |
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Temperature refers to how hot or cold something is. When you think you might have a fever, you take your temperature to see if it is higher than normal. |
Temperature can also mean hotness and coldness in terms of excitement. Before offering a discount on its new one-legged jeans, the clothing manufacturer surveyed 200 loyal customers over the phone, to gauge the likely temperature of the response to their marketing ploy. |
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| 4629 |
verification |
additional proof that something that was believed is correct |
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Verification is an extra or final bit of proof that establishes something is true. |
To verify something is to make sure it's correct or true, so verification is an action that establishes the truth of something. Checking an ID is a verification of your age. Your bank will often ask for part of your social security number as verification of your identity. Scientists do research to establish verification for their theories. In all cases, verification is like a stamp of approval. |
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| 4630 |
zero |
the mathematical symbol 0 denoting absence of quantity |
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Zero means nothing. When you add zero to the number one, you get the number one. If your mother says your new boyfriend is a zero, she thinks he's got nothing going for him. |
You might know zero as 0, zilch, zip, nothing, or nada. While it is a number of no value, without it we wouldn't be able to count beyond 9. The temperature at which water freezes is zero degrees Celsius. And if you got a zero on a test, it means that you answered every single question wrong. |
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| 4631 |
binary |
of or pertaining to a number system have 2 as its base |
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Something that can be broken into two categories is binary. Binary means something close to dual or double. |
You can remember what binary means if you know that bi- means two. Black and white are often set up as a binary, as are light and dark and good and evil. One binary we see all the time is the male and female symbols you see on bathroom doors. In computing, binary is a code of zeros and ones (computer programming) also known as base two. A binary is also a double star — two stars revolving around each other. |
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| 4632 |
buoyancy |
the tendency to float in water or other liquid |
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Buoyancy is a quality that makes things float in water. It's also a type of happiness: if you're full of buoyancy, your mood is light and happy. |
This is a word with two main meanings that fit together well: Both kinds of buoyancy have to do with floating and staying up. The physical kind refers to objects that float instead of sinking in water, like a life raft or a buoy. The other kind of buoyancy is a happy mood, a feeling that nothing can get you down. So whenever you run into the word buoyancy, just think "staying afloat." |
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| 4633 |
byte |
a sequence of data processed as a single unit of information |
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A byte is a term for a unit of measurement on a computer. If you own a computer, then it's likely that it holds at least a byte of memory. |
Byte might refer to a unit of information or of storage space on a computer. Many computer operations involve a certain amount of bytes working per second or per minute. The word byte is related to another computer term, a bit, which is an even smaller piece of information; eight bits form one byte. The related words megabyte and gigabyte both have a whole lot of bytes — and even more bits. |
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| 4634 |
chip |
a small fragment of something broken off from the whole |
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If a small flake of your purple nail polish breaks off, you might describe it as a chip, or a tiny piece. You might also say, "Shoot, I always seem to chip my nails." |
You can use the word chip as a noun or a verb, to describe the breaking off of a small piece or the small piece itself. You might accidentally chip your aunt's favorite tea cup, or realize that slamming your door made a chip of paint fall off your bedroom wall. The word comes from the Old English forcippian, "to pare away by cutting," and the related cipp, also pronounced chip, which means "small piece of wood." |
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| 4635 |
convection |
transfer of heat caused by molecular motion in liquid or gas |
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Convection is the circular motion that happens when warmer air or liquid — which has faster moving molecules, making it less dense — rises, while the cooler air or liquid drops down. |
Convection is a major factor in weather. The sun heats the earth’s surface, then, when cooler air comes into contact with it, the air warms and rises, creating an upward current in the atmosphere. That current can result in wind, clouds, or other weather. Convection currents within the earth move layers of magma, and convection in the ocean creates currents. Convection ovens use fans to circulate heat so that whatever you're cooking cooks faster and more evenly. |
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| 4636 |
cytoplasm |
the substance inside a cell, not including the nucleus |
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The human body is made up of cells, and within every cell is a nucleus — everything else contained within the cell walls is the cytoplasm. |
This is one of many technical terms for the little building blocks of life within us all. Cytoplasm is material in a cell, such as mitochondria, that aren't the cell's nucleus and control the cell's metabolism. Cytoplasm is full of proteins, which are essential to your body. Cytoplasm is also called protoplasm. To see cytoplasm, you'll need a microscope. To understand cytoplasm, you'll need a good biology teacher and textbook. |
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| 4637 |
elasticity |
the tendency of a body to return to its original shape |
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Something with elasticity can be stretched or pulled and will return to its original size and shape. The elasticity of a balloon means that if you pop it, it shrinks back to the size it was before you blew it up. |
Rubber bands have elasticity, and so do tennis balls and even human skin. The quality of something that stretches and then returns to its initial shape — its elasticity — is also a term in physics. Physicists describe it as the tendency of a solid object, after being deformed by forces applied to it, to return to its original shape when those forces are taken away. The Greek root of elasticity is elastos, or "flexible." |
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| 4638 |
electron |
an elementary particle with negative charge |
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If you take chemistry, you will learn about electrons. Electrons are the smallest of the particles that make up an atom, and they carry a negative charge. |
The number of protons and electrons is equal in each atom. The hydrogen atom, for example, has just one electron and one proton. The uranium atom, on the other hand, has 92 protons, and therefore, 92 electrons. The atom's atomic number is the number of protons in the atom, which by default is also the number of electrons. An electron is so small that it cannot be seen with the naked eye, but neither can the atom itself. |
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| 4639 |
entropy |
a numerical measure of the uncertainty of an outcome |
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The idea of entropy comes from a principle of thermodynamics dealing with energy. It usually refers to the idea that everything in the universe eventually moves from order to disorder, and entropy is the measurement of that change. |
The word entropy finds its roots in the Greek entropia, which means "a turning toward" or "transformation." The word was used to describe the measurement of disorder by the German physicist Rudolph Clausius and appeared in English in 1868. A common example of entropy is that of ice melting in water. The resulting change from formed to free, from ordered to disordered increases the entropy. |
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| 4640 |
ion |
a particle that is electrically charged positive or negative |
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An ion is an atom or particle with a positive or negative electrical charge. Think of an ion as having a plus or minus sign. |
Ion is a word you are most likely to encounter in a physics or chemistry text. But you don’t have to be a chemist or physicist to understand the concept. If you had a neutral particle and you were able to remove or add an electron, then you would have you have an ion — a charged particle. Don't confuse the tiny ion with the similar word eon, which is an extremely long period of time. |
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| 4641 |
isotope |
atom with same atomic number, different number of neutrons |
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An isotope of a chemical element is an atom that has a different number of neutrons (that is, a greater or lesser atomic mass) than the standard for that element. |
The atomic number is the number of protons in an atom's nucleus. Atomic mass adds to that the number of neutrons in the nucleus. Each element has a typical atomic mass, but when the number of protons stays the same and the number of neutrons changes, you have an isotope. These can be stable, like Deuterium, an isotope of Hydrogen that has one extra neutron, or they can be radioactive, like Plutonium-239, which is a component of nuclear waste. |
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| 4642 |
mitosis |
the process by which a cell divides into two smaller cells |
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If you’re in biology class studying the way cells divide, then you’re probably learning about mitosis. |
Mitosis is a process of cell division in which the parent cell makes two new daughter cells, each with the same number of chromosomes as the parent. To do this, it goes through several different phases to divide and then rebuild the chromosomes. The word mitosis comes from the Greek word for "thread." |
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| 4643 |
mole |
a small congenital pigmented spot on the skin |
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You may have never seen the fuzzy, pointy-nosed animal called a mole even if you know what a mole is, since it lives underground most of the time. |
One mole is the mammal with beady little eyes that burrows underground eating earthworms. This mole doesn't need much oxygen to breathe and has big paws for digging tunnels. Another type of mole is basically a large, sometimes raised freckle on the skin; a third is a spy, especially a double agent who pretends to work for one country while sending secret information to another. The burrowing type of mole comes from an obsolete English word, moldwarp, or "earth thrower." |
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| 4644 |
natural selection |
a process in which organisms evolve to adapt to environment |
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Natural selection is the theory that only the strong survive. For example, the animals that can outrun their predators live to pass on their speedy genes; the slow are eaten. |
Natural selection is part of Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution. England's peppered moth is a great example of natural selection. Before 1800, most peppered moths were light colored. Then came the Industrial Revolution. The soot from the factories darkened the once light-colored tree trunks, making the light moths immediately visible — and edible — to birds. Dark moths blended into the trees, surviving and having dark-colored young. |
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| 4645 |
neuron |
a cell that is specialized to conduct nerve impulses |
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The cells in your nervous system are called neurons. Scientists believe there are approximately 90 billion neurons in your brain. |
You can also call a neuron a nerve cell, or a cell whose job it is to carry electrochemical messages throughout the nervous system. In the 1880s, neuron was used to mean "the brain and spinal column," or the nervous system itself. Later in the nineteenth century, neuron came to mean "nerve cell with appendages," from the Greek neuro-, "nerve." |
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| 4646 |
neutron |
an elementary particle with zero charge |
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The nucleus of an atom includes a proton, which has a positive charge, an electron, which has a negative charge, and neutron, which has no charge, or is "neutral." The hydrogen atom is the only atom without a neutron. |
The basis for the word neutron is both "neutral" and the suffix "-on," which probably comes from the Greek ión, "to go." The word ion first appeared in English in 1834, and neutron appeared in 1921, to represent the neutral part of an atom. Don't let the "neutral" part fool you, though — a neutron bomb, while "smaller" than other nuclear weapons, is still capable of mass destruction, as it emits more radiation, causing a wider sweep of damage to life. |
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| 4647 |
ozone |
a colorless gas that is a screen for ultraviolet radiation |
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Ozone is a colorless toxic gas formed from oxygen by an electrical discharge. It’s that stuff in the sky that comes between you and the sun. |
If there weren’t a hole in the ozone layer, you’d probably hear the word ozone much less often. Certainly, we should be thankful that the powerful ozone is up there protecting us from the sun’s rays, but you don’t want to encounter ozone closer to the ground — it’s toxic. It also has a very strong smell, which is how it got its name; a German chemist took the name from the Greek ozon, meaning "to smell." |
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| 4648 |
proton |
a stable particle with positive charge |
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Atoms are made up of three main particles: protons, electrons, and neutrons. A proton has a positive electrical charge, while electrons are negative. The number of protons and electrons is equal in each atom. |
The atomic number of an element, which is the number in the upper left corner of its box on the periodic table, is the number of protons in each atom. The hydrogen atom, for example, has just one proton, so it also has one electron and its atomic number is 1. If you have an atom with two protons in its nucleus, you know it can't be a hydrogen atom. |
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| 4649 |
simulation |
the act of imitating the behavior of some situation |
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A simulation is a representation of something, not the real thing, like the simulation of life in New York City, seen in movies that were shot on Hollywood sound stages and on the streets of Toronto. |
A simulation is something that represents something else — it isn't the real thing. At times you might perform a simulation as practice for real life, such as a flight simulation that’s used to train pilots. The word can also be used, often dismissively, to describe something that is a fake, like a simulation of excitement or the simulation of a perfect diamond. |
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| 4650 |
template |
a model or standard for making comparisons |
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A template is a model or a guide for producing something. When you build your website, you might use a free template, filling in your own text and images. |
Template has a few different meanings, but the most common one is as a pattern that can be used in building or reproducing something. If you are designing costumes for a production of Shakespeare, you might use the design of one of Queen Elizabeth's dresses as a template to work from. In building, a template is a block of wood that goes under a door or a wall to distribute weight. |
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| 4651 |
vacuole |
a tiny cavity filled with fluid in the cytoplasm of a cell |
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A cell is a tiny world of elements, one of which is the vacuole. Found in both plant and animal cells, a vacuole is a fluid-filled pocket in the cell's cytoplasm that serves varying functions depending on the cell's requirements. |
Look at the word vacuole. Reminds you of "vacuum," doesn't it? That's because both words comes from the Latin word vacuus, which means "empty." In fact, vacuole comes from the French word that means "little vacuum." However, whereas a "vacuum" refers to an empty space, the vacuole usually contains a watery fluid. It is a space in the cell that has no specific purpose, but usually functions as a storage bin for everything from water and food to waste products. |
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| 4652 |
viscosity |
resistance of a liquid to flowing |
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Viscosity is the thickness of a liquid. Water flows easily. Honey does not — that's why it has greater viscosity than water. |
Viscosity, pronounced "vis-KOSS-ih-tee," tells you how sticky a liquid is. In the working of machines and car engines, viscosity is important. Thick oils and lubricants that have high viscosity, meaning they coat and cling, keep hard metal parts from wearing down as they rub together. Oils with dense viscosity keep machine parts from having too much friction and burning out. |
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| 4653 |
cell |
the basic structural and functional unit of all organisms |
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Cell has several different meanings, but all of them are similar. Whether it's in a prison or in your blood (or even in the political landscape), a cell is a small room, space, or unit. |
Blood is composed of countless individual cells, as are virtually all of the organs of the body: skin, liver, lungs, brain, etc. The cell is the basic unit of all biology. A cell in a prison is the room in which a prisoner lives. But did you know that a cell can also be a small group of people devoted to a larger political cause? The government's security forces are constantly on the lookout for terrorist "sleeper cells" and would love to get the members of a sleeper cell into a prison cell. |
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| 4654 |
comet |
a small frozen mass that travels around the sun |
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A comet is a small, icy object that orbits the sun and has a long "tail" of gas. Some comets can be seen from Earth every few years, while others pass by once in a person's lifetime. |
Comets are made of ice, dust, and tiny pieces of rock, but to people on Earth, they look like streaks or smudges across the night sky. When the Earth's orbit takes it through one of these comets' tails, their dust burns up in our atmosphere and results in a meteor shower. In Old French, the word was comete, ultimately from a Greek root, kometes, which literally means "long-haired star." |
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| 4655 |
crystal |
a solid having a highly regular atomic structure |
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Various solid substances that glitter because their surfaces are made up of planes that catch the light are called crystals. If you leave your ice cream in the freezer too long, you may find a coating of ice crystals on top. |
Some people think that certain natural crystals — quartz, for instance — have mystical properties and if you wear them or hold them, they cure whatever’s wrong with you. Crystal is also the word for transparent glass made of silica, and it's also a name for fine glassware — the kind that reverberates with a nice ping when you flick your fingernail against it. Another kind of crystal is the glass cover that protects the face of your watch. |
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| 4656 |
deceleration |
a decrease in rate of change |
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Deceleration is a slowing down: the unexpected deceleration of your car might mean that you've run out of gas. |
Use the noun deceleration when you talk about a gradual decrease in speed. When you're on a Ferris wheel, its deceleration tells you that the ride is almost over, and the deceleration of a train at a railroad crossing happens for safety reasons. The opposite of deceleration is acceleration, or speeding up. The word deceleration was originally an 1890's railroad term, constructed by adding de, or "the opposite of" to acceleration. |
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| 4657 |
eclipse |
the phenomenon when one celestial body obscures another |
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Have you ever seen an eclipse? That's when the sun, earth or moon cross paths and cover each other up temporarily. |
A solar eclipse happens when the moon blocks our view of the sun for a bit. A lunar eclipse happens when the moon is on one side of the earth and the sun directly opposite, so the moon disappears. A TV eclipse, perhaps the most serious of all, is when your dad walks in at the most crucial part of the movie and blocks your view of the TV while he lectures about taking out the trash. |
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| 4658 |
galaxy |
a collection of star systems |
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A galaxy is a collection of stars and planets that are held together by gravity. In a galaxy, the celestial bodies rotate around a central object. |
The Earth's galaxy is known as the Milky Way. Our solar system, made up of the Sun and the planets that encircle it, is a tiny part of that galaxy. A galaxy can also refer to a gathering of a lot of sparkly people –– like celebrities or sports stars. What gravity holds this galaxy together? Usually cameras. |
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| 4659 |
homeostasis |
metabolic equilibrium maintained by biological mechanisms |
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Homeostasis is a word you learn in biology. It refers to a cell's home state––the way it wants to be, and should be if everything that regulates the cell is working. |
Although seeing stasis inside the word homeostasis might make you think there's something static or still about it, there's not; homeostasis is only achieved through the running of complicated systems in the body that regulate metabolic activity. "Once all the poison had been flushed from the body, the patient's cells began again to maintain homeostasis. The patient's color returned and she was able to get out of bed." |
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| 4660 |
infection |
the invasion of the body by pathogenic microorganisms |
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Infections are what happens when germs invade your body and cause a disease. Some, like meningitis, an infection of the tissues covering the brain and spinal cord, can be deadly. Others, like the common cold, are relatively mild. |
If you've ever scraped your knee and ended up with a swollen, achy scab, you know that you can develop an infection if you don't tend to your cuts and wounds and keep them clean. Though the word was traditionally used in the medical sense to refer to the pathogens, or germs, that cause illness, infection is now sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to people or things that act like pathogens. If rival gangs turn a neighborhood into a battleground, you could refer to this as an infection of gang activity. |
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| 4661 |
insulator |
a material with little electrical or thermal conductivity |
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Any material that keeps energy such as electricity, heat, or cold from easily transferring through is an insulator. Wood, plastic, rubber, and glass are good insulators. Swiss cheese... not so much. |
The idea of an insulator comes from the Latin idea of insulātus, which means "to make into an island." This gives rise to the idea of separation, which works for the idea of an insulator, which effectively blocks energy. If your house is built out of good insulators, you might enjoy an island of warmth inside it even in the dead of winter. |
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| 4662 |
invertebrate |
any animal lacking a backbone or notochord |
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An invertebrate is an animal without a backbone. Invertebrate animals include fruit flies and sea sponges. |
Your backbone allows you to stand up straight, and it also allows you to be grouped with the other vertebrates: animals with backbones. Invertebrates are the opposite: they have no backbone. These are the two major groups of animals. Also, this word is used for people who are spineless in the sense of having no courage. You could say a coward acts in an invertebrate way. Whether it's a backbone-free animal or a courage-free person, all invertebrates lack spines. |
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| 4663 |
logic |
the branch of philosophy that analyzes inference |
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Some people think of logic as cold in its insistence on reasoning based only on what can be proven. But without logic's systematic thinking, most mathematical and scientific advances would never have been made. |
Over time, the meaning of logic has expanded to include any system of thought––you might talk about the "three-year-old logic that puts lollipops ahead of safety," or talk about the "flawed logic of thinking that anyone you meet on the Internet must be cool." |
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| 4664 |
malfunction |
fail to work properly |
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To malfunction is to fail to work properly. If your toaster spits out a charred, smoky mess no matter what setting it’s on, your toaster is definitely malfunctioning. |
When something functions, it works. Adding the prefix -mal (meaning "bad") to function indicates bad or unsuccessful functioning. When a computer malfunctions, you could lose your data. A malfunctioning car could cause an accident or leave you stranded. This word is typically used in reference to technology, tools, and gadgets. However, if you make a stupid mistake, you might joke that your brain has malfunctioned. |
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| 4665 |
mantle |
a sleeveless garment like a cloak but shorter |
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A mantle is a word for something that blankets over something else, like the loose cloak worn by Little Red Riding Hood or the layer of earth between the crust and core. |
Mantle is something that envelops and covers, like a tree covered in a mantle of snow. The Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra said, “Blessings on him who invented sleep, the mantle that covers all human thoughts.” Here, sleep is described as a mantle blanketing over the mind. Mantel is a variation of mantle, but it very specifically describes the shelf above a fireplace. |
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| 4666 |
meteor |
small extraterrestrial body that hits the earth's atmosphere |
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A meteor is a space rock that hits the atmosphere of the Earth. It's also another word for a shooting star. |
There are a lot of bodies in space, such as suns, planets, and moons. Those are all rather large, but there are smaller bodies too, such as meteors. A meteor is a smaller body in space that collides with the Earth or another planet. You can also use this word for the light caused by such an impact: a meteor is a shooting star. Many meteors are caused by comets that have decayed. |
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| 4667 |
mutualism |
the relation between two organisms that benefit each other |
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When two parties depend on one another — whether in a biological, social, or financial relationship — and both benefit from the alliance, that's mutualism. If you're a student who helps others and in return earns credits for a class, that's one example. |
The Latin mūtuus, meaning "reciprocal," gave the basis for the 15th Century Middle French word mutuel. In 1849, French Socialist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon coined the word mutualism to describe his financial theories. The new word was later applied to biological systems of interdependence. Sometimes mutualism is confused with symbiosis, but they are not the same, in part because in mutualism both parties gain from the relationship, while only one side has to benefit to be classified as symbiosis. |
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| 4668 |
navigation |
the guidance of ships or airplanes from place to place |
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Navigation is all about figuring out how to get somewhere. If you are lost, hopefully your cell phone can act as a navigation device. |
You're most likely to come across the noun navigation when you're learning to sail a boat or pilot a ship or airplane. Large vessels that travel long distances often need some help in planning a route and following it, and that's exactly what navigation is all about. The Latin word navigare, "to sail, sail over, go by sea, steer a ship," is at the root of navigation, and it in turn comes from navis, "ship." |
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| 4669 |
organ |
a structure in an animal specialized for some function |
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An organ is a part of your body that performs a specific function: like your brain, lungs, or skin. |
You might not use the word organ often, but you use organs every second — imagine getting through a day without your heart or skin. An organ may also serve a specific function for an institution: a periodical like a newsletter can be an organ of an organization. An organ is also the wind instrument — sometimes called a pipe organ — often played in church. People who want their organs to be used by others after their death are called organ donors. |
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| 4670 |
output |
production of a certain amount |
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If your factory transforms steel into train wheels, your factory's output––what it produces––is train wheels. A country's output is the total quantity of goods it produces. |
The word input is the opposite of output, but only in the sense of the process––if bananas, milk, and ice cream are the input, the output is a milkshake. But you don't usually talk about input in the aggregate, as something you measure over time for a factory, a company, or a country. |
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| 4671 |
oxidation |
the process by which a substance combines with oxygen |
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An apple gone brown on the counter or a penny turned green over years have both gone through the process of oxidation, or exposure to air, which changes their properties — including color. |
Oxidation is a word used to describe what happens when metal rusts or starts to disintegrate over time with exposure to air. But the process of oxidation — a word that looks very much like the word oxygen — isn't limited only to metals. Bananas turn brown over time because of the oxidation process. If you see an old car crumbling from all its rust, it's seen its fair share of the oxidation process. |
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| 4672 |
oxygen |
a colorless, odorless gas that is essential for respiration |
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Oxygen is air, the stuff we breathe, the thing that makes our lives possible. It is an element, a basic chemical found on the earth. |
In fact, we don't breathe pure oxygen; our air is about 20 percent oxygen. Still, oxygen is everywhere—it’s the third most common element on earth. Usually, the word is used in scientific contexts. Still, when someone has a big personality and likes to be the center of attention, we say, they "take all the oxygen out of the room." That means they are a blowhard and attention hog. If they really took your oxygen, you’d be dead. |
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| 4673 |
parasite |
an animal or plant that lives in or on a host |
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A creature that lives off another organism is a parasite. The parasite might not hurt the host, but it doesn't do anything to help it, either. |
If you call someone a parasite, you are really hurling an insult! The Ancient Greeks used the word parasitos to describe someone who ate at your table but never invited you back. Some telling synonyms include leech," toady, sponge, and hanger-on." Nice, huh? Some crafty birds, such as the cowbird or cuckoo, are called social parasites, laying their eggs in other birds' nests and expecting those mamas to raise their young for them. Unfortunately, there are some people like that, too. |
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| 4674 |
predation |
the act of preying by a predator who kills and eats the prey |
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Predation is the act of preying on someone or something, especially when you're talking about animals. Nature shows can be hard to watch when they show the predation of an animal on a smaller, cuter animal. |
A predator is an animal that attacks a smaller, weaker animal, called the prey. So predation is the act of being a predator, catching and attacking. The noun predation is most commonly used to talk about groups like pirates or marauders who prey on innocent people. In fact, the Latin root word praedationem means a plundering or taking of booty. In fact, predation described people before it was applied to animals. |
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| 4675 |
pulley |
a wheel with a groove in which a rope can run |
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A pulley is a basic device or machine made of a wheel with a rim that a cord or rope fits around. The wheel and axle of a pulley make it easier to lift heavy objects with the rope. |
Ships and sailboats use pulleys — though they're often called drums — to make raising the sails less difficult. Flagpoles also have pulleys for raising and lowering the flag, many garage doors work by a pulley system, and loading docks and constructions sites use pulleys for lifting heavy things. Pulley comes from the Old French polie, with a Greek root of polidion, or "little pivot." |
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| 4676 |
radiation |
the act of spreading outward from a central source |
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Radiation is energy transmitted in waves or a stream of particles. The first thing you think of as radiation is probably X-rays, but what cooks your food in the microwave oven is also radiation. |
Radiation has some important medical uses, especially in the treatment of cancer, as "radiation therapy." It’s also associated with such horrors as "radiation sickness" — observed in people exposed to high levels of radiation, as in the aftermath of the 1986 explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear reactor, in the Ukraine. You can also use the word radiation, in more benign contexts, to describe something spreading out from a central point, as the radiation of warmth from your fireplace. |
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| 4677 |
satellite |
any celestial body orbiting around a planet or star |
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A satellite is something small or less powerful that orbits around something bigger. It often describes a body in space, such as an artificial satellite that orbits the Earth and beams down signals that power devices like cell phones. |
The word satellite was first used to describe a follower of someone in a superior position. The word's meaning later broadened to describe anything small that's dependent on something larger. The small satellite circles around the more powerful force, like a moon orbiting a planet. Satellite can describe a small country — a satellite country — controlled by a larger one, or a large organization that has a small office — a satellite office — in another location. |
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| 4678 |
taxonomy |
a classification of organisms based on similarities |
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Taxonomy is all about organizing and classifying. To make it sound more scientific, you could refer to your project of reorganizing your spice rack according to smell as a taxonomy of spices. |
Taxonomy is a word used mainly in biology to talk about classifying living organisms, organizing them according to their similarities. If you've ever seen a chart with animals divided into species, genus, and family, you know what scientific taxonomy is. The word comes very straightforwardly from Greek words for "arrangement" — taxis — and "method" — nomia. So any special method for arranging or organizing things can be called taxonomy. |
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| 4679 |
tissue |
part of an organism consisting of an aggregate of cells |
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Tissue is part of the body of a living thing that is made of similar cells, like the cardiac tissue of your heart. A tissue is also a soft, thin piece of paper used for wiping noses and tear drops. |
The noun tissue comes from the Old French word tissu, meaning “a ribbon, or belt of woven material.” In fact, as a verb, tissue means "weave fabric strands." Today, we think of tissues as the disposable paper for blowing our noses or packing presents. A different kind of tissue is found in the body — the groups of cells that have the same job, like scar tissue that protects a wound as it heals. |
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| 4680 |
vertebrate |
animals having a bony or cartilaginous skeleton |
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A vertebrate is an animal that has a backbone and a skeleton. Vertebrate animals include humans. |
When you think about vertebrates, think about bones: this word has to do with animals that have a lot of bones, in the form of a skeleton. It especially refers to animals with a backbone, which protects their spinal cord. Vertebrates have many bones, including a skull which protects their brains, which tend to be large. People, dogs, horses, lizards, dogs, cats, and many other animals are in the vertebrate category. Animals without a backbone are called invertebrates. |
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| 4681 |
astronomy |
the branch of physics that studies celestial bodies |
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Astronomy is the science that looks up: at stars, at other planets, at solar systems, at galaxies, and at everything else in the universe. |
The Ancient Greeks used the word astron for "star," so it only makes sense that astronomy would involve the study or the stars (and other unearthly topics). Someone who studies or works in astronomy is an astronomer, and one of the main tools of the trade is the telescope. As telescopes get more and more powerful, astronomers learn more and more about what's going on out there, such as how old a star or planet is. If you ever wondered what's out there besides the Earth, you should learn more about astronomy. |
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| 4682 |
balance |
harmonious arrangement or relation of parts within a whole |
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Balance is having the right amount — not too much or too little — of any quality, which leads to harmony or evenness. You might admire the balance someone has achieved between working hard and having fun. |
The noun form of balance can also describe finances: If you're making monthly payments on a loan, the total amount you still owe is the balance. Balance is also the physical steadiness that keeps you on your feet. You balance your weight between both sides of your body. Balance has a verb form that has several shades of meaning, typically involving one thing correctly weighed against another, like when you balance your budget. |
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| 4683 |
battery |
a collection of related things intended for use together |
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Battery is (among other things) physical attack or assault: “He was arrested for battery after he hit his manager several times on the head with a large flashlight.” |
When you think of a battery, you probably envision the electrical devices that allow you to power everything in your life — from your car to your cell phone. However, battery has a whole host of meanings. In addition to beating someone as in "assault and battery," it also refers to a collection of artillery or guns: “He’s collected a battery of weapons; we hope he doesn’t intend to use them." Beyond guns, a battery can also refer to any group or collection of similar things: “She was subjected to a battery of tests, designed to determine whether she was a genius or just plain smart.” |
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| 4684 |
boulder |
a large smooth mass of rock detached from a place of origin |
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A boulder is a rock — a big one. |
Scientists often think of a boulder in more technical terms than we do. They use the word to describe not just a big rock, but a rock that some natural force — a river, a glacier or the like — has moved from its original location to its present one. A good way to remember all this is to think of Boulder, a city in Colorado that stands in the middle of the Rocky Mountains, and is, no doubt, full of boulders. |
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| 4685 |
competition |
the act of contending with others for rewards or resources |
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If you are trying to win or attempting to prove you're the best, you're in a competition. The word also describes your opponent in sports, business, and politics. |
If you're trying to beat out someone else — whether in the Olympics or a pie-baking contest — it's a competition, and the other contestants are called the competition too. If you describe something as a "friendly competition," you're saying the outcome isn't critical, or there's no money involved. If you do something impressive in order to win, people will say competition brings out the best in you. If you try to injure your opponent, they'll say it brings out the worst. |
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| 4686 |
computer |
a machine for performing calculations automatically |
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Unless you're living in a cave cut off from humanity, you've seen these electronic machines with a screen, keyboard, and brain that stores massive amounts of information. Computers are ubiquitous in offices, airports, schools...even caves cut off from humanity. |
Though computers are a thoroughly modern invention, the root word that gave them their name dates all the way back to Roman times. Tech geeks dreamed up computer by embellishing the English word compute, which means to calculate. Compute, in turn, comes from Latin com- "with" and putare "to reckon." So, your computer is a device that helps you reckon — or think. It also comes in handy for email and every type of entertainment imaginable. |
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| 4687 |
condensation |
process of changing from a gas to a liquid or solid state |
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Condensation can describe the act of making something shorter, like the condensation of the unabridged dictionary to one that is geared to elementary school students. |
In addition to meaning "shortening," condensation also describes the act of changing a gas to a liquid or solid. You have seen this in summer, when the outside of your glass of ice water feels wet in your hand. As the heated air reaches the cold water, the surface of that water begins to evaporate, but it turns back to liquid. This moisture is also called condensation. |
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| 4688 |
conduction |
the transmission of heat or electricity or sound |
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Conduction is when heat or electricity moves from one place to another. If you've ever felt a shock while putting on a sweater, you have participated in electrical conduction. |
From Latin conducere, to bring together, conduction used to mean "safe passage or guidance from one place to another." Today, it's only used to describe events in a scientific way. In addition to heat and electricity, conduction can be applied to sound. When you and your fellow prisoners tap on the pipes to plan your jailbreak, you are using sound conduction. Good luck with that, by the way. |
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| 4689 |
conductor |
the person who leads a musical group |
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A train conductor is the person who takes tickets, shouts "All aboard!" and might control the engine, while a musical conductor is the one who leads an orchestra. Same job title — not the same person. |
From the Latin root conducere, meaning "bring together," a conductor does just that. A music conductor makes sure all the musicians come in at the right time and tempo, and a train conductor brings together all of the passengers. Another type of conductor is something that passes on electricity or heat, like a metal spoon, a conductor of heat when left in a pot that's simmering on the stove. |
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| 4690 |
constellation |
a configuration of stars as seen from the earth |
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When you spot the Big Dipper in the night sky, you're looking at part of the constellation called "Ursa Major." A constellation is a group of stars that forms a pattern and has been given a name based on its shape. |
The visible night sky is divided into 88 constellations by astronomers. Organizing the stars into specific shapes and patterns helps when people study them, since they're broken down into manageable sections. A constellation can also be a cluster of things, like a constellation of freckles on your friend's nose. The stella in the middle of the word constellation means "star" in Latin, while the entire word means "set with stars." |
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| 4691 |
database |
an organized body of related information |
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A database is an organized body of information. Libraries have lots of databases to help you find books, articles, or information. |
Looking for some information? You might need to check a database, probably at the library or online. A database collects a bunch of information and resources, usually on a common subject. Some databases feature newspapers; others are related to legal issues. The police use databases to track criminals, and the government uses databases to track terrorists. Anywhere there's information being collected and accessed, there's probably a database keeping track of it all. |
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| 4692 |
dinosaur |
an extinct terrestrial reptile of the Mesozoic era |
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If you've ever seen Jurassic Park, you know that dinosaurs were large reptilian creatures that walked the earth during the Mesozoic era that ran from 245 million to 68 million years ago and included the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods. |
The ancient Greeks had no knowledge of dinosaurs that we know of, but they unknowingly contributed to the word dinosaur. It was cobbled together in 1841 by British scientist Sir Richard Own, using the words deinos, meaning "terrible" and sauros meaning "lizard." All are gone—at least in their original form, although it is thought they simply evolved into other, present-day animals. The word dinosaur is often used for someone who is old-fashioned or unable to adapt to modern times. |
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| 4693 |
disease |
an impairment of health |
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A disease is a health condition that has a specific set of symptoms and traits — such as malaria or heart disease. |
Disease is not always about the human body being sick. Plants and animals are often the victims of disease. People also use the word disease in a more figurative sense to illustrate just how bad or damaging a negative influence can be — like the disease of greed among capitalists or the disease of plagiarism among college students. |
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| 4694 |
electricity |
a physical phenomenon that can produce light, heat and power |
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Electricity is the energy that powers your lights and appliances. Electricity is the stuff that Benjamin Franklin harnessed from lightning using a key and a kite. Don't try that on your own. |
The word electricity comes from the Greek electron, which doesn’t mean what you might expect. It means "amber," that yellow or reddish brown stone used for jewelry. The ancients noticed that when you rub amber, it gets an electrostatic charge and will pick up light things like feathers and straw. You can also describe other kinds of energy as electricity — when you're really crazy about someone, you can say there's electricity between the two of you. |
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| 4695 |
engineering |
applying scientific knowledge to practical problems |
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If you're good at engineering that means you're able to apply scientific or mathematical ideas to real-world projects like designing a bridge, building a radio tower, and of course, designing engines. |
Think of engineering as the field where science, math, and technology meet. If you like to understand how things work and like building new things even more, then consider going into engineering. The word comes, predictably enough, from the word engine. You wouldn't want a poet designing the engine of your airplane, would you? Me neither. |
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| 4696 |
evaporation |
the process of becoming a vapor |
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Evaporation takes place when liquid turns into gas. Ever noticed how water disappears from a glass if you leave it sitting on your counter? That's not thirsty gnomes living in your kitchen: it’s evaporation. |
Evaporation comes from the Latin evaporare, which means “disperse in vapor or steam.” Depending on the humidity level of the air around it, any liquid will release some of its molecules into the atmosphere around it. That’s evaporation. With time, the liquid can fully evaporate. That's why evaporation can apply to anything that disappears, like the evaporation of your money that leaves you with nothing but an empty wallet. |
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| 4697 |
extinction |
the state of being no longer in existence |
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Extinction is when all members of a particular group die. Most often, we use it to discuss animal species. Many fear that the tiger is headed for extinction because of development and hunting. |
People are still trying to figure out what caused the extinction of the dinosaurs: many think it was because of an asteroid. When people cut down rain forests, it can lead to the extinction of many species. Although extinction can be natural or unintended, the word can also mean forced, planned killing. Many people refer to the Holocaust as Hitler's attempt to bring about the extinction of the Jews. Languages also face extinction when no one speaks them anymore. |
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| 4698 |
fossil |
the remains of a plant or animal from a past geological age |
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Fossils are the really, really old remains of a plant or animal — so old they've turned to stone. Fossil is also an insult for an old or old-fashioned person. |
Fossils are very important to scientists who study animals: they're one of the ways we learn about the beasts and critters of the past. A fossil is an imprint of the bones of that animal in rock or stone. If you see a reconstruction of a dinosaur in a museum, scientists used fossils to figure out how it should look. Also, calling someone a fossil is like calling them a geezer or old fogey. It's not a compliment. |
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| 4699 |
glacier |
a slowly moving mass of ice |
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A glacier is a very large ice mass, sometimes miles and miles long. Glaciers might not seem all that exciting at first, but people are paying close attention to them because their melting is an indication of climate change. |
Most glaciers on Earth are found around the North and South poles, but every continent except for Australia has glaciers somewhere in its high mountain ranges. People often want to go see glaciers because they're beautiful, and some you can actually hike across. Luckily, if you get thirsty glaciers are the planet’s largest reservoir of freshwater. You’ll just have to find some way of melting them . . . |
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| 4700 |
hardware |
tools or implements made of metal |
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As the word suggests, the word hardware usually refers to tools used to build something — “wares” that are “hard.” It also is used to refer to the computer equipment that stores and uses “software,” the programs used in computing. |
The word hardware dates back to the early 16th Century, where it was used to indicate such items as tools and weapons. Nowadays, that meaning holds, with hardware stores traditionally specializing mainly in materials and tools for building and repairs. The military use of the word has also remained, referring to major weapons such as tanks and missiles. However, since 1947, the word hardware has also taken on an ironically softer meaning — that of the components of a computer system. |
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| 4701 |
heat |
a form of energy transferred by a difference in temperature |
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Objects that give off heat — or a feeling of warmth — include the sun, a radiator, and even your body. You can feel a marked difference in air temperature if you hold your hand near the heat of a candle flame, for example. |
Heat can also mean the intensity of an emotion. In the heat of an argument, you need to watch what you say, because you may regret it later. The verb heat means to make something hot, like when you heat up last night's pizza to eat for lunch today. When things heat up, they become exciting or intense, the way thrilling chase scenes heat up your favorite action movie. |
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| 4702 |
herbivore |
any animal that feeds chiefly on grass and other plants |
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Given a choice between a sirloin steak and a pile of grass, an herbivore will take the grass every time. If grass isn't on the menu, a salad will do. Herbivores eat plants. |
The herb in herbivore reminds you that herbivores eat plants rather than other animals. If you know any giraffes, deer, or vegetarians, you might have some herbivore friends. If you have a friend named Herb, let him know he's safe around them. Unless Herb is your favorite houseplant. |
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| 4703 |
insect |
small air-breathing arthropod |
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An insect is commonly called a bug. Flies, bees, spiders, and wasps are all insects. |
Insects are the most numerous type of animals on Earth — and also some of the least popular. These tiny, air-breathing arthropods always seem to be where you don't want them. Mosquitoes, ants, and bees can ruin a picnic. Moths ruin clothes. Spiders scare the heck out of people. Cockroaches are disgusting and extremely hard to kill. It's no wonder insects aren't as popular as cats or dogs. |
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| 4704 |
landslide |
the descent of a large mass of dirt and rock down a slope |
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When dirt and rock from a mountainside coming sliding down, call it a landslide. Another kind of landslide takes place when one candidate soundly defeats another in an election. With either type of landslide, it's probably safest to stay out of the way! |
The political meaning of landslide is commonly used, but it's not the word's original definition. A geographical landslide occurs when a huge amount of earth slides down a slope or mountain, usually displacing rocks and vegetation and often houses and buildings as well. Landslides are caused by erosion, heavy rain, and earthquakes, among other events, and they're disruptive enough to give rise to the figurative meaning. |
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| 4705 |
liquid |
fluid matter having no fixed shape but a fixed volume |
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In everyday use, liquid is the opposite of solid––water at room temperature is a liquid: Heat it to boiling, it turns to a gas. Chill it below freezing, it turns to ice. |
Liquid describes a state in which a compound such as water flows. Juice is a liquid. Milk is a liquid. Your swimming pool is full of liquid. When assets are liquid, that means they can be liquidated easily, i.e., sold for cash. Stocks and bonds are liquid assets. Real estate, which can take a long time to sell, is considered illiquid. |
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| 4706 |
magnet |
a device that attracts iron and produces lines of force |
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A magnet is a piece of metal with a strong attraction to another metal object. The attraction a magnet produces is called a "magnetic field." |
You might cover the front of your refrigerator with magnets, which stick to its metal surface. Other kinds of magnets are even more powerful, strong enough to pick up entire cars, for example. Most magnets are made of iron or an iron alloy, and magnets are at the heart of many common items like cassette tapes, credit cards, toys, and compasses. |
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| 4707 |
magnification |
the act of expanding something in apparent size |
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Magnification is the process of making an object appear much larger than it really is. You might use magnification to inspect a rare penny, or even a zit. You decide. |
Some small objects, like cells, require magnification to be seen at all. Other things, like distant planets, are so far away that you need the magnification of a telescope to get a good look at them. Binoculars use magnification so you can see the details of birds close-up, and reading glasses use magnification for reading small print. Magnification comes from the Latin word magnificare, "esteem greatly" or "make much of." |
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| 4708 |
memory |
the cognitive process whereby past experience is remembered |
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Memory is the power to retain and recall information and past experiences. Your brain's memory helps you recall lots of memories — like multiplication tables and bad dates. |
The word memory applies to both the individual facts and experiences you remember as well as the brain's ability to contain it all. A good memory for names means you retain someone's name. But a good memory of your summer job means that you had fun while working at the Jiffy Lube. Memory has also come to refer to a computer's capacity to store information. As far as we know, however, computers do not have fond memories of their past programs. |
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| 4709 |
menu |
a list of dishes available at a restaurant |
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A menu is a list of the food that's available to order. If your vegan friend doesn't see anything on the restaurant's menu he can eat, you may have to ask the chef to make him something special. |
A menu is a list of what's available, whether you're talking about a menu at your neighborhood cafe or the menu, or agenda, of things to do at the state fair. When you talk about a menu on your computer, you're also talking about a list — in this case, a list of options or commands on the computer screen. Menu comes from the French phrase menu de repas, "list of what's served at a meal." |
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| 4710 |
metal |
a chemical element or alloy that is usually a shiny solid |
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Metal is a shiny, hard, solid material, such as iron or aluminum. If, when you smile, you flash a brilliant metal grin, it's probably because of your braces. |
The Greek root metallon originally meant quarry or mine, and later came to also mean metal. Silver jewelry is made of metal, and so are things like car engines and tin cans. The genre of rock music popularly known as metal gets its name from the heavy sound, especially of the guitar solo, played on electric guitars — made of metal. |
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| 4711 |
microscope |
magnifier of the image of small objects |
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A microscope is a mechanical instrument that magnifies the image of small objects. You would use a microscope to look at something tiny, like an amoeba. |
First used in the 1650s, microscope is descended from the Modern Latin microscopium, meaning "an instrument for viewing what is small." In science, microscopes are essential for examining material that can't be seen with the naked eye, like bacteria and viruses. In the same vein, you might feel like you're "under a microscope" if you're being very closely observed and scrutinized, like a star in the limelight or a politician in front of the media. |
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| 4712 |
mixture |
a collection containing a variety of sorts of things |
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A mixture is, simply, the product of mixing. Sometimes, like in the case of ice cream with fudge, a mixture can turn out delicious. At other times, though, like with oil and water, a mixture just fails to jive. |
A mixture is a concoction of several parts combined. In chemistry, it describes a composition made up of two or more substances that can be separated. When it comes to textiles, mixture describes fabric that consists of various yarn or materials. Note the difference between mix and mixture, though. Elements in a mix retain their unique parts even though they have been thrown together. In a mixture, elements are blended in such a way that they forfeit their individuality. |
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| 4713 |
modem |
a device used to connect computers by a telephone line |
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Simply put, a modem is an electronic device that changes a digital computer signal to audio so it can be carried on telephone lines. It also changes an incoming signal back so it can be read on the computer. |
Although a form of modem was used as early as 1940 to connect teletype machines to telephones, the word appeared with growing use in 1958, taken from its function as a "modulator" and "demodulator" of sound signals, changing them from audio to digital and back again. This is critical in computer use. Since its inception, modem speeds, measured in bits per second, or bps, have increased dramatically, from the early 300 bps to scorching speeds of USB wireless modems. |
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| 4714 |
motion |
the act of changing location from one place to another |
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Motion is the way things get from place to place. The ball rolling down a hill is in motion, and as Isaac Newton once proved, it will remain in motion until it hits a wall or something else that makes it stop. |
When motion is used as a noun, it describes movement, like the motion that propels a car from one end of the highway to another. When used as a verb, motion means to signal or direct. "A restaurant patron will motion to the server when he's ready for the check." Someone who is just "going through the motions" doesn't have to move at all, because they're just pretending. |
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| 4715 |
observation |
the act of taking a patient look |
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When you take a good look at something, noticing facts or taking measurements, you are engaging in observation, something a little more intense than just a quick glance. When you share an observation, you communicate an insight. |
The Latin verb observāre, "to attend to," is the foundation for our word observation, which requires that you pay attention. If a hospital holds you overnight for observation, they want to keep an eye on your condition. If you have a lot of funny or interesting observations on a topic, maybe you should write a book. Scouts founder Robert Baden-Powell once said, "If you make listening and observation your occupation you will gain much more than you can by talk." |
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| 4716 |
omnivore |
an animal that feeds on both animal and vegetable substances |
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An omnivore is an animal that eats both plants and animals for their main food. Pigs are omnivores, so they would be just as happy eating an apple, or the worm inside the apple. |
Omnivore comes from the Latin words omni, meaning "all, everything," and vorare, meaning "to devour." So an omnivore will eat pretty much eat anything in sight. Humans are genetically designed to be omnivores, but some people choose to limit their diets. When a person is described as an omnivore, it usually means he's willing to eat all kinds of foods and is not a vegetarian or a vegan or on some other kind of special diet. |
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| 4717 |
planet |
a celestial body that revolves around the sun |
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A planet is a celestial body that revolves around a star. In our solar system, Earth is the third planet from the sun. |
The word planet comes from the Greek planetes, which means "wanderer." Since ancient times, people have been fascinated by the wandering of celestial bodies in the night sky. If a variety of factors come together so that something works out well for you, you can say that the planets aligned. You parents weren't sure if your family was going to be able to go on vacation, but then the planets aligned and off to Florida you were. |
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| 4718 |
recycle |
use again after processing |
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When you recycle something, you process it so it can be used again. You might recycle an old tire and make it into a snazzy black knapsack with some very cool skid marks. |
The prefix re- means again, and when you recycle something, you process it for another cycle of use. The phrase "reduce, reuse, recycle" gives you three ways to prevent waste. When you recycle plastic bottles, they’re melted down and made into new bottles or even furniture or clothing. You might do some creative recycling and turn your old textbooks into a coffee table. When you have your washing machine repeat the wash or rinse cycle, that’s a different recycle. |
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| 4719 |
scientist |
a person with advanced knowledge of empirical fields |
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A scientist is a person with some kind of knowledge or expertise in any of the sciences, like biology or chemistry. See that guy in the white lab coat wearing pocket protectors and experimenting with chemicals? He’s definitely a scientist. |
The word science comes from the Latin, scientia, which means "knowledge." The sciences are branches of knowledge about the world that derive from repeated experiments. A scientist is any person with an interest in the sciences, from amateurs to professionals. A curious high school student interested in seeing what happens when he slips vinegar into his best friend's can of soda could be considered a kind of scientist! |
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| 4720 |
shape |
a perceptual structure |
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The form of something gives it its shape. Basic shapes include the square, the circle, and the triangle. You may have a nose the shape of a ski slope. |
When you admire someone's shape, you're admiring their form, or their body. When you're out of shape or vowing to get back into shape, you're using shape to refer to your physical stamina or overall health. You can shape something by giving it form, as in "shape the dough into a braided twist," or influence someone, as in a teacher who shapes young minds. |
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| 4721 |
software |
written programs operating on a computer system |
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In computer science, software is a computer program you can load on your computer. Software includes everything from operating systems to game programs. |
The word software was first used in print in 1958 by John Tukey, a statistician. Some experts suggest the actual word was coined in 1953 as a joke by Paul Niquette. He used the word to refer to the programs for a computer — as opposed to the hardware that made up the physical computer. You can purchase software, install software, and even fix software bugs. |
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| 4722 |
solar system |
the sun with the celestial bodies that revolve around it |
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A solar system is a group of planets and other bodies that revolve around a star. |
The Earth is in a solar system with seven other planets and some other orbiting objects — including Pluto (who was kicked out of the planet club in 2006). When we talk about our own Solar System, the words are usually capitalized, and others are often called "star systems." Whenever you see the word solar, from the Latin root solaris, "of the sun," you know it has to do with the star at the center of our solar system. |
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| 4723 |
solubility |
the quality of being easily dissolved in liquid |
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Use the noun solubility to refer to how easily something dissolves in water or another liquid. Salt has high solubility, easily dissolving in water, while oil has low solubility in water, and sand is not at all soluble in water. |
Solubility is also a synonym for solvability, or how easy or difficult a particular problem is to solve. The solubility of your math homework is pretty much a sure thing. The solubility of some of the planet's more thorny issues — racism, climate change, the perfect ratio of chocolate to milk in hot cocoa — is less certain. |
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| 4724 |
teamwork |
cooperative labor done by a group |
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Winning the World Cup takes some serious teamwork or coordinated effort of each player. |
Break teamwork apart and you've got the definition: a team that works well together is one that's exhibiting teamwork. Teamwork is not just for sports. Business people working on a large project, a crew of pilots working to land a plane, or a naval ship full of marines all need teamwork. Each person plays their part to help achieve a larger goal. Often people refer to teamwork as a skill. When you work well in teams, you have great teamwork skills. |
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| 4725 |
telescope |
a magnifier of images of distant objects |
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A telescope is an instrument that is used to view distant objects. If you want to look at the planets, you can use a telescope. The higher the magnification on the telescope, the better your view will be. |
Galileo is often credited with the invention of the telescope, but this is incorrect. Although he did not invent it, he did improve it — a lot. He didn't name the telescope either. That honor went to Greek mathematician Giovanni Demisiani, who gave the instrument its name when Galileo presented the instrument at the Accademia dei Lincei, a science society in Italy, in 1611. Telescope is from the Greek roots tele (meaning "far") and skopos (meaning "seeing"); so the word literally describes what the instrument does. |
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| 4726 |
thermometer |
measuring instrument for measuring temperature |
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A thermometer is a tool that measures temperature — how hot or cold something is. Thermometers are used to see if you have a fever or tell you how cold it is outside. |
Made up of thermo (heat) and meter (measuring device), the meaning of the word thermometer is pretty straightforward. Thermometers measure temperatures in degrees, according to either the Celsius or Fahrenheit system. Meteorologists use thermometers to find out how hot it is or if it's below freezing. Doctors use thermometers to check your body temperature — a very high or low body temperature means you're sick. |
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| 4727 |
universe |
everything that exists anywhere |
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The universe is a big word — in fact, it includes all matter and all of space. |
We can't see or know much about the outer limits of the universe, but we know that it has them, and the idea of matter contained within boundaries gives us other meanings for the word. You might refer to a "universe of ideas," or when conducting a scientific study, create "a universe of data." Universe can also mean a defined set of something — the five blocks between the playground and home can be the whole universe for a small child. |
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| 4728 |
vibration |
a shaky motion |
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A vibration is a shaking motion. If you feel a strong vibration in your car every time you step on the brakes, it might be a good idea to take it to a mechanic. |
You might feel a vibration in your floor when your neighbor is playing his music too loudly, and you'll know a thunderstorm is approaching when you feel the vibration of your trembling dog at your side. The rapid back and forth movement or quivering of an electric toothbrush or a mild earthquake is a vibration. The Latin vibratus, "move quickly to and fro" is the root word. |
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| 4729 |
virus |
infectious agent that replicates itself within living hosts |
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Whether in the human body or on a computer, a virus is a disease-causing agent. If you come down with a nasty stomach virus, be sure to drink lots of water, get lots of rest, and stay near the toilet. |
Virus comes from a Latin word that was spelled the same way. It specifically referred to the poisonous sap of certain plants, which explains why it sounds similar to viscous, a word meaning "sticky." Nowadays, it’s used to describe something that causes infectious diseases, specifically a tiny, self-replicating agent made up of genetic material and protein. |
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| 4730 |
affluence |
abundant wealth |
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Affluence means great wealth and abundance, such as the great riches found by ancient explorers who exploited the new worlds of North and South America. |
The roots of the word affluence are recognizable in the Latin affluentia, which refers to something that flows toward (someone). We can see the connection when we think of the flow of wealth that signifies affluence in our society. For centuries we have seen the affluence in the United States that sparked admiration and jealousy among poorer nations, and we have seen that same affluence rising now in China, as it prepares to take its place as a major world power. |
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| 4731 |
artisan |
a skilled worker who practices some trade or handicraft |
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An artisan has both the creativity and the skill to make a product. Wandering around a local craft fair, you will often see artisans selling handicrafts like pot holders or beaded jewelry. |
In medieval times, blacksmiths, carpenters, and masons were artisan trades. Unskilled laborers were not. The hierarchy of skill and prestige among artisans, from apprentice to journeyman to master, is sometimes reflected in ranks among today’s trade union members. But today an artisan can just be someone who makes attractive and creative work with their hands, like jewelry or pottery. Although, if they're trying to sell their goods, it probably helps if they're very skilled. |
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| 4732 |
barbarian |
a member of an uncivilized people |
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Barbarian is an insulting word for a person from an uncivilized culture or a person with no manners. Barbarians aren't known for their etiquette. |
Those barbarians — back in ancient times they were always invading and pillaging and generally unleashing their fury on the more "civilized" Greeks and Romans. The barbarian hordes are long gone, but we still use this word as an insult for anyone who's acting rude, uncultured, or particularly savage. If you pick up a whole turkey leg and start gnawing like an animal at the dinner table, the other guests might call you a barbarian. |
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| 4733 |
conscription |
compulsory military service |
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When a military needs people to fight in a war, but there aren’t enough volunteers, sometimes they'll begin conscription, which is a law that says if you are able to fight, you have to fight. |
Also called the draft, conscription legally requires people to join the army, with penalties if they don’t. During the Vietnam War, many U.S. citizens protested conscription by burning their draft documents or fleeing to Canada, and some faced prison time because of these actions. The Latin roots of conscription translate to “write down together,” which is a much nicer way of saying “Go to war or go to jail.” |
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| 4734 |
constitutionalism |
advocacy of government according to founding principles |
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Political scientists use the word constitutionalism to describe the belief that a government's authority is dictated by a specific law or group of laws — a constitution. |
People who feel strongly that government is not permitted to do anything that isn't clearly laid out in a written law are advocates of constitutionalism. In the United States, this means sticking to the letter of the Constitution, and checking all proposed laws against it. The important concepts in constitutionalism are a "higher law," or constitution, and using this as a means of limiting the powers of government. |
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| 4735 |
corporation |
a business firm recognized by law as a single body |
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Most of us think of corporations as companies––Kodak is one, Kellogg another, Disney a third. In reality, a corporation has a very particular legal meaning––it's a company that registers with a state government such that it has the same rights and responsibilities as a person. |
Know the word corpse? It means a dead body, and comes from the Latin corpus "body." One way to remember corporation is that it turns a company into a body––a body that is considered a person in many respects in the eyes of the law. Corporations must pay taxes and follow laws. Because it is a separate entity, when a corporation fails, its employees and managers are not responsible for its debts. |
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| 4736 |
detente |
the easing of tensions or strained relations |
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When opposing countries reach an understanding or truce, that's detente, meaning a loosening of tensions. |
If two nations are having problems, such as disagreements over trade, or even the threat of war, and then they become friendlier to each other, they've reached a state of detente. Detente is a relaxing of tension: diplomacy is working and the countries are on the path of peace rather than the road to war. If you always argue with your sibling, and then you start getting along better, you could humorously say that you've reached a detente. |
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| 4737 |
diffusion |
the act of dispersing something |
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Diffusion is the act of dispersing something, spreading it out from a central point. When an idea catches on, that's a type of diffusion. |
When you spray air freshener and the scent spreads from a tight space to fill a larger one, that's diffusion. In science, diffusion is a physical process of atoms or molecules moving apart within a gas or liquid. You can also use diffusion to describe the spreading of information. Ever notice how a trendy word or band will suddenly be everywhere, even though nobody heard of it last week? That's diffusion. This word means something similar to dispersal and dissemination. |
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| 4738 |
economy |
the system of production and distribution and consumption |
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The general sense of economy is careful management of resources such as money and materials, so as not to waste them, but the more familiar reference is to a system of producing, distributing, and consuming goods and services. |
The word economy derives from Greek oikonomos "manager of a household," from oikos "house." The earliest meaning of the adjective economical and the noun economics was also in connection with the management of a household. The earliest mention of a nation's economy was in Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan, an important work in the history of political economy. |
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| 4739 |
ethnicity |
an affiliation resulting from racial or cultural ties |
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A person's ethnicity is their ethnic traits, classification, or association. If your ethnicity is Italian, you might speak Italian in the home and eat Italian food. Or you might simply refer to yourself as Italian and identify with your ethnicity in no other way. |
Usually, ethnicity is a collective noun, but in the singular, an ethnicity is a particular ethnic group. The adjective ethnic relates to large groups of people who have certain racial, cultural, religious, or other traits in common. In Middle English, ethnic meant heathen or pagan. The word is from Late Latin ethnicus, from Greek ethnikos "foreign," from ethnos "nation." |
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| 4740 |
existentialism |
a philosophy that assumes that people are entirely free |
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If you study philosophy, you learn about existentialism, a school of thought that claims people are responsible for creating meaning out of life — since the world is meaningless. |
In a nutshell, existentialism, pronounced "eg-sih-STEN-shul-ism," asks what it means to be human when individuals have the power to shape their lives without being absolutely sure of what is good and what is evil. Kierkegaard and Nietzsche are usually regarded as the founders of existentialism, but other famous existentialists include Heidegger, Sartre, Camus, and de Beauvoir. |
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| 4741 |
expansionism |
the doctrine of extending the territory of a country |
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For the word expansionism, think of something expanding, of getting bigger. This time, it's not your waistline, it's a country. Expansionism is how the United States ended up with 50 states instead of 13 colonies. |
Way back when, expansionism used to be called "imperialism." But then imperialism got a bad name, so now it is called expansionism. Basically, it's a country trying to exert influence over another country, or actually moving on in or invading. Needless to say, the other country isn't always so happy about being swept up in expansionism. |
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| 4742 |
expressionism |
an art movement focused on representing inner emotions |
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Expressionism is a style of art dating from the early 1900s that emphasizes feelings and impressions over realism. You'll see many examples of expressionism in most large art museums. |
Some of the most famous followers of expressionism included Van Gogh, Matisse, Gaugin, and Kandinsky — all of whom can be called expressionists. This style of painting began around the turn of the 20th century and was popular for about 30 years, with the term expressionism eventually describing other art forms, including poetry and dance. Expressionism comes from expression, which was used in the art world to mean "way of expressing." |
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| 4743 |
genocide |
systematic killing of a racial or cultural group |
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Genocide refers to the systematic destruction of a race or cultural group. In the Rwandan genocide of 1994, members of one ethnic group, the Hutus, killed some 850,000 Tutsis in an attempt to wipe them out completely. |
Genocide was coined in 1944 by a Polish-Jewish scholar named Raphael Lemkin in response to the Holocaust. In 1948, the United Nations defined genocide as any of several acts (including murder) "committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group..." |
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| 4744 |
heredity |
the transmission of genetic factors to the next generation |
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Heredity is the biological process responsible for passing on physical traits from one generation to another. If your mom and dad both have dreamy blue eyes and so do you, then you've got hereditary to thank for your movie-star gaze. |
First used in the 1530s, the noun heredity comes from the Latin word hereditatem, meaning "condition of being an heir." It can refer to inheriting characteristics from your parents, or it can refer more broadly to the passing on of genetic factors from one generation to the next. Heredity will determine a person's hair color and height. And due to heredity, some people are more susceptible to diseases and disorders like cancer, alcoholism, and depression. |
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| 4745 |
inflation |
the act of filling something with air |
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Think of inflation as expansion, usually from being filled with air, like a balloon. This also refers to rising prices. |
Think of a balloon puffing up, getting fuller and fuller — that's inflation. The word has a bunch of related meanings. We can say people a little too full of themselves are suffering from inflation: they are full of hot air. When the cost of living is ballooning, that's economic inflation. When the universe was born in the big bang, there was a huge inflation, as matter spread out, creating galaxies, stars, and planets. |
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| 4746 |
integration |
the act of combining into a whole |
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Integration occurs when separate people or things are brought together, like the integration of students from all of the district's elementary schools at the new middle school, or the integration of snowboarding on all ski slopes. |
You may know the word differentiate, meaning "set apart." Integrate is its opposite. When you integrate things, you bring them together. So integration is the act of doing just that, like the integration of African-American students into mixed-race schools after segregation was outlawed in the 1950s, or the integration of computers in businesses that had previously only used paper-based record-keeping. |
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| 4747 |
investment |
laying out money or capital in an enterprise |
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You are making an investment when you put money into a business with the hopes that the business will grow and bring you a profit. Many consider a college education one of the best investments you can make. |
Besides money, you can put time, effort or emotional support into something and also call it an investment. Volunteering in an organization requires an investment of time and energy. You may hear someone say, "We must make an investment in the future of our children," when he or she is pleading for fiscal responsibility, education, environmental protection or some other cause that will affect the success of future generations. |
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| 4748 |
Marxism |
theory that capitalism will be superseded by communism |
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Use the noun Marxism to describe a particular theory of economics and politics that endorses communism and objects to capitalism. |
A person who believes in the political philosophy of Marxism is called a Marxist. Both words come from the name of the man who first developed the ideas behind Marxism, Karl Marx. Marxism is closely related to both communism and socialism, which reject the capitalist system as unfairly benefiting a small number of people in society, and endorse a more equal way of distributing resources and money. |
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| 4749 |
mercantilism |
system increasing a nation's wealth by government regulation |
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Mercantilism, also called "commercialism,” is a system in which a country attempts to amass wealth through trade with other countries, exporting more than it imports and increasing stores of gold and precious metals. It is often considered an outdated system. |
The noun mercantilism came from the Latin mercāns, or "buyer." It was a system that encouraged the idea of government trade regulation to gain wealth, a move away from agriculture system as an economic base. Although largely rejected today, it was the main school of economic thought from the 15th through the 18th Centuries, and was the push behind much of the exploration and colonization of other lands — and many of the wars — that happened during that time. |
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| 4750 |
militarism |
maintaining a strong force of armed services |
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Places where armed government forces have a strong presence are usually under militarism. A system of militarism would probably buy weapons and outfit soldiers before anything else. |
Some countries govern through militarism to keep their territories under strong and often bullied rule and to let other countries know that they have guns and bombs and they're not afraid to use them — even on their own people. Militarism often is paired with other nouns like dictatorship showing the strict power of the leadership. |
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| 4751 |
multiculturalism |
the doctrine that different peoples can coexist peacefully |
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Do you think different cultures can and should get along — and be celebrated? Then you believe in multiculturalism. |
Multiculturalism is an optimistic philosophy that says if we learn about and accept other cultures, we'll all get along better. Sometimes multiculturalism is celebrated by eating food from other countries or learning about how people live in different parts of the world. When you study multiculturalism, you usually learn two things: how different other people are, and how similar they are, too. |
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| 4752 |
neocolonialism |
control by a powerful country of less developed countries |
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Use the political term neocolonialism to describe the use of capitalism and social pressures by a large country to control a smaller country. |
The word neocolonialism basically means "a new kind of colonialism," and colonialism is when one country controls another, often using violence. This new kind of colonialism uses non-military ways of gaining control, mostly through economic means, and often makes use of the poorer country's resources in a way that leaves its people dependent on the richer country — and also ensures they'll remain poor. |
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| 4753 |
nullification |
counteracting or overriding the effect or force of something |
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Nullification is the act of cancelling something. Counteracting the effects of a snakebite with an antidote could be described as nullification, for example. |
Use the noun nullification when one thing overcomes or overrides another, basically erasing the effects of the first thing. Nullification of a newly passed law would occur if the law turned out to be impossible to enforce. The word is most often used in a political sense, in fact, and was first used this way by Thomas Jefferson in 1798. The Latin root is nullificationem, "a making as nothing," from nullus, "not any." |
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| 4754 |
oppression |
the act of subjugating by cruelty |
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Oppression is when a person or group in a position of power controls the less powerful in cruel and unfair ways. Not cool. |
“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.” Those words came from Frederick Douglass, a former slave who devoted his life to ending the oppression of black people at the hands of powerful white slaveowners. The Latin root means “pressed against,” and oppression feels like hands pressing your head, keeping you down. Oppression can be widespread throughout a culture, or felt by a single individual, like enduring the sun’s oppression on a hot summer day. |
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| 4755 |
parliament |
a legislative assembly in certain countries |
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In some countries — Great Britain for example — the group of people who make the laws is called the parliament. It's the equivalent of Congress in the United States. |
The most common meaning of parliament refers to a country's legislative (law-making) body. England's parliament is very famous. The word comes in part from the French verb parler, which means to speak, which makes sense since this group of people assemble to talk about laws and issues. Another meaning of parliament is the card game known as fan tan or sevens, where you lead with your sevens in a certain sequence and win by using up all your cards. |
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| 4756 |
primate |
any placental mammal of the order Primates |
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A primate is a monkey, ape, human, or other similar mammal. You've probably visited the primate house at the zoo. |
When you see the word primate, you probably think of monkeys. A monkey is just one example of a primate, though — lemurs are primates too, and so are gibbons, and even people. The things we all have in common are large brains, opposable thumbs, bendy toes, and good eyesight. The Latin word primas, or "first," is the root of primate, which scientists sometimes call "the highest order of mammals." |
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| 4757 |
privatization |
changing something from state to individual ownership |
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When something is owned by the government — like a healthcare system, for example — and its ownership becomes privately held, it's called privatization. |
If your governor had a plan to replace all the public schools in the state with private schools, you could describe it as privatization. People tend to have strong opinions about privatization, believing either that free enterprise and private companies increase efficiency, or that certain services are harmed by privatization, particularly education, healthcare, and law enforcement. At the heart of privatization is the word private, rooted in the Latin privatus, "belonging to the self rather than the state." |
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| 4758 |
quadrant |
any of the four areas into which a plane is divided |
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A quadrant is one-fourth of a circle. When you bake an apple pie and then cut it equally so that you and three of your friends get pieces that are the same size, you'll each get a quadrant of the pie. |
When a circle is evenly divided into four sections by two perpendicular lines, each of the four areas is a quadrant. In fact, anything that's split into four equal parts can be described as being made up of quadrants, like a quadrant of a public park. The Latin root word is quadrantem, fourth part, and for many years quadrant was used to mean six hours, or one-quarter of a day. |
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| 4759 |
radicalism |
political orientation of those favoring revolutionary change |
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In political science, the term radicalism is the belief that society needs to be changed, and that these changes are only possible through revolutionary means. |
Most people think of left-wing politics when they use the noun radicalism, although people on both ends of the spectrum can be described as radical. The word radicalism comes from the Latin radicalis, "of or having roots," which in turn arose from radix, or "root." Both radical and radicalism came out of the idea that political change must "come from the root," or the very basic source of society. |
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| 4760 |
recession |
the act of returning control |
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Jobs being cut? Houses not selling? Everyone talking about the poor sales of everything from cars to bouquets of flowers? That's a recession, a time of economic decline. |
Recession comes from the Latin word recessus, meaning "a going back, retreat." Think of all the things that get made and sold in a country. When fewer people buy things, orders for them slow down. The sales "go back" to a lower amount. This is an economic recession. This noun can also describe other kinds of "going back," like the recession of floodwaters that enable people to begin cleaning up their homes that had been filled with water. |
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| 4761 |
retaliation |
action taken in return for an injury or offense |
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Retaliation is an act of revenge. Before you initiate retaliation on someone who has wronged you, consider whether he or she might have a ninja alter ego and a set of nunchucks stashed away. |
The noun retaliation stems from the Latin retaliare, meaning “pay back in kind.” Notice the word kind in that definition. Retaliation used to have both good and evil connotations. Now, though, it’s important to read that kind as synonymous with type or sort because retaliation has since lost its positive sense. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.” |
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| 4762 |
reunification |
the act of coming together again |
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Coming back together again after being separated or in conflict is called reunification. This noun is usually used to describe relations between countries, states, or territories. |
It's not uncommon that two countries will be allied and then find themselves clashing or even going to war against each other. If they eventually join forces again, it's an example of reunification. In recent history, the merging of East and West Germany back into one single country, in 1990, can be called reunification. Reunification, from the verb unify, comes from the Late Latin unificare, "make one." |
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| 4763 |
sectionalism |
excessive devotion to the interests of a particular region |
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Sectionalism is a partiality for a particular place, like when a US politician shows little interest in other countries or when someone who lives in Alaska only cares about policies and laws that directly affect her state. |
As it's a devotion to just one section of a larger place, sectionalism can give people a somewhat narrow-minded perspective on the world. Sectionalism is a practically provincial devotion to one particular place, and it's usually a little bit irrational in its partiality. Of course, if you live in Hawaii or Paris, a little bit of sectionalism would be completely understandable. |
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| 4764 |
sovereignty |
the authority of a state to govern another state |
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Sovereignty can describe the power of one state or thing over another or the freedom a state or thing has to control itself. |
Look closely at the word sovereignty, and you will see it is all about who reigns, or rules. Although sovereignty is usually used in a political sense — particularly the power of nations, it can be used to describe personal control as well: If your mother insists upon your wearing wool hats in summertime, you might declare complete sovereignty over your wardrobe. The word is also occasionally used for the power of royalty, like a queen. |
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| 4765 |
status quo |
the existing state of affairs |
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The status quo is the current state of things. If you are rich and admired, then you’re probably not interested in disrupting the status quo. |
Status quo is Latin for existing state. When we talk about the status quo,, however, we often mean it in a slightly bad way. When people want to maintain the status quo, they are often resistant to progress. If you run for mayor of your town and come in to office with all sorts of new ideas, watch out! People may resent you for disrupting the status quo. |
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| 4766 |
surrealism |
an artistic movement using fantastic and incongruous images |
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Surrealism is a wild painting and writing style that creates images that might come from dreams, like a landscape with gold pocket-watches bending, or an eyeball with clouds inside. |
Salvador Dali is one of surrealism's most famous painters. The surrealism movement attracted writers and painters between World War I and World War II. The artists wanted to get beyond reason and logic. Instead, they looked to dreams and the power of the unconscious mind, which is weird, odd, bizarre, illogical, and fantastic. In surrealism, anything can happen—it’s the opposite of realistic art. We recognize the objects of surrealism, but they’re not following the rules of our world. |
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| 4767 |
workforce |
the people employed or available for employment |
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The term workforce is useful when you talk about a group of people who work or are available to work. You might, for example, talk about the information technology workforce or the workforce in Austin, Texas. |
When you use the noun workforce, you are always talking about a lot of people, and you're usually referring to everyone in a particular industry or area. Economists often discuss the entire country's workforce, and you've probably heard about the auto industry workforce or the nursing workforce on the news. Workforce can be a singular or plural word, since it's used for a group of many individuals. It's been in use since the early 1960's. |
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| 4768 |
anthropologist |
a social scientist specializing in the study of humanity |
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If you like to go people watching and enjoy studying the ways that humans behave, then you might be a future anthropologist. |
Anthropologists are people that practice anthropology, which is the study of humanity. Basically they want to figure out what makes humans human. An anthropologist might be interested in everything from the traditions of a tribe on a remote island to the culture of an urban community and everything in between. Biological anthropologists spend their time with fossils and artifacts trying to figure out how early humans might have behaved and what makes us different from other primates. |
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| 4769 |
apartheid |
a social policy of racial segregation |
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Apartheid was a racist political policy in South Africa demanding segregation of the nation's white and non-white populations. During South African apartheid, more than three million black citizens were forced to move from their homes to segregated neighborhoods. |
The law of apartheid came into being with the South African election in 1948. So it makes sense that the word's history goes back to that date, from the Afrikaans word for "separateness." It comes from the Dutch, with the "heid" part meaning "hood," for "apart-hood." The word is pronounced "apart-hate," which is also an apt description for a policy that brutally oppressed an entire people based solely on their skin color. The system was ended in 1993. |
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| 4770 |
civilian |
a nonmilitary citizen |
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The most common meaning for civilian is simply someone who is not in the military. It can also refer to any object that is not military in origin — e.g., "civilian clothes" or "civilian life." |
The meaning of civilian as a non military person is a relatively new one, dating from the early 19th century. Before that it referred to the code of law that governed non-military life. In fact for hundreds of years a civilian was somebody who was a judge or otherwise an expert on the law that applied outside military courts. Because it comes originally from a French word, remember to spell it with only one "l," even though it sounds like it should have two. |
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| 4771 |
civilization |
a society in an advanced state of social development |
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Civilization is the opposite of barbarism and chaos. Civilization is an advanced stage of human society, where people live with a reasonable degree of organization and comfort and can think about things like art and education. |
Civilization covers a wide range of human achievement — from the ancient Egyptians, to Mayan and Chinese civilizations, Western civilization, and everything in between. You can use the word more generally — when you're lost in the woods, you’ll be looking for signs of civilization — lights in the distance and smoke rising from chimneys. Civilization comes from Latin civis, "citizen." If you've got citizens, then you've got government and you're moving right along on the path of human advancement. |
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| 4772 |
clergy |
the entire class of religious officials in Christianity |
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In the Christian church, the clergy is the entire class of religious officials, from priests to pastors to bishops and beyond. If you have a sense that your life path lies in helping others practice their faith, you should go into the clergy |
Clergy comes from the word clerk, which in turn comes from cleric. If the only clerks you think of are those that work in shoe stores, think of it this way: when you join the ministry of a church, the idea is that you serve the church. Clergy is the word for all of the clerics combined, and is paired with the laity, which are all the people in the church who aren't in the clergy. |
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| 4773 |
cohesion |
the state of sticking together |
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Cohesion means sticking together. If your group of friends heads to the lunchroom as a team and sits all together, you're demonstrating strong cohesion. |
Cohesion is a word that comes to us through physics, where cohesion describes particles that are the same and tend to stick together — water molecules, for example. Outside of physics, cohesion describes unity among parts, and is something to be sought after. A team that has good cohesion is often a team that wins. |
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| 4774 |
colonization |
the act of settling a group of people in a new place |
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Colonization is the act of setting up a colony away from one's place of origin. Remember when the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock? That was the beginning of a period of colonization. |
You may have heard of an ant colony, which is a community of ants that decided to set up shop in a particular place; this is an example of ant colonization. With humans, colonization is sometimes seen as a negative act because it tends to involve an invading culture establishing political control over an indigenous population (the people living there before the arrival of the settlers). |
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| 4775 |
Congress |
the legislature of the United States government |
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Use the proper noun Congress when you're talking about the legislative branch of the United States government, made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives. |
When you're talking about the legislature, Congress has to start with a capital C to distinguish it from other meanings of the word. The U.S. Congress is made up of elected senators and representatives from all fifty states who vote on and enact new laws. In late Middle English, congress meant a "meeting during battle," from the Latin congressus, which means both "a friendly meeting" and "a hostile encounter," both of which, in fact, describe the United States Congress. |
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| 4776 |
conservatism |
belief in preserving tradition and opposing radical change |
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When people discuss politics and mention the word conservatism, they're talking about a philosophy that favors making few changes in society, sticking with traditions, and often spending as little money as possible. |
Conservatism is most often used to describe the beliefs of right-wing politicians and the people who tend to vote for them. There are some who practice fiscal conservatism — which focuses on reducing spending and cutting budgets — while being more liberal socially. Social conservatism tends to favor things like traditional roles for women and men, and to object to major changes in society like same sex marriage. A person who embraces conservatism is called a conservative. |
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| 4777 |
depression |
a sunken or lowered geological formation |
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The act of pressing down on something is called making a depression, and when people suffer from psychological depression that is often what it feels like — the world itself is pressing down on them. |
Depression can be a persistent mood (rotten), an economic situation (the worst), or just the geography (low). The Great Depression was when poor policy and economic circumstances combined to create a long period of time everyone struggled to even get food on the table. |
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| 4778 |
desegregation |
incorporation of a formerly excluded group into a community |
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Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of different racial, religious, or cultural groups. A major goal of the US Civil Rights Movement of the 20th century was desegregation of black and white people. |
When you segregate one group of people, you deliberately keep them separate or apart from others. During much of America's history, there has been a policy of segregating African Americans in society — at various times, segregation has existed in the military, housing, jobs, education, and many other areas. Desegregation has attempted to remove this division and to integrate people of all races into the general community. The Latin root is segregatus, "set apart," or "separate from the flock." |
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| 4779 |
emigration |
moving from one place in order to settle in another |
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Emigration is when a person leaves his or her home country to live in another country indefinitely. |
First used in the 1640s, the noun emigration derives from the Late Latin word emigrationem, meaning "removal from a place." Emigration often happens when people leave their native country to seek a better life in another country. For example, maybe your great-grandparents left Ireland to settle in Albany, NY, where they worked for the railroad. Remember that emigration refers to leaving a country. Immigration refers to entering a new country. |
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| 4780 |
fascism |
a political theory advocating an authoritarian government |
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Fascism is a way of ruling that advocates total control of the people. Your parents' rule that you must be home by midnight might seem like fascism, but Europeans will tell you that it could be a lot worse. |
The word fascism can be hard to spell, so remember that the c comes after the s. Fascism comes from the Latin fascio, meaning “bundle, or political group.” In fascism, the people are looked at as a bundle — one body that must be controlled by the government with absolute force. There’s no option to vote, no chance to impeach a leader, and no freedom to stand up against the governing body. |
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| 4781 |
federalism |
government divided between central and regional powers |
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Federalism is a system of government in which entities such as states or provinces share power with a national government. The United States government functions according to the principles of federalism. |
The U.S. political system evolved from the philosophy of federalism. Remember The Federalist Papers, the essays written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison between 1787 and 1788, to convince people to approve the Constitution? Federalism helps explain why each state has its own constitution and powers such as being able to choose what kind of ballots it uses, even in national elections. The national government oversees the election results, but each state controls its own voting procedures. |
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| 4782 |
feudalism |
the social system in which vassals were protected by lords |
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Feudalism was a European political system in which a lord owned all the land while vassals and serfs farmed it. Feudalism ended in the 1400s. |
People who lived during feudalism didn't use the term feudalism. In fact, it wasn't until several centuries after this system ended that scholars coined the term feudalism. The ending -ism means "philosophy or system." And feudal comes from the Medieval Latin word feudalis, meaning "feudal estate," and is related to feodary, "one who holds lands of an overlord in exchange for service." |
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| 4783 |
financing |
the act of funding |
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Financing is the process of finding money for something you want. If you don't have enough money to buy the hot new video-game, you could try telling your parents that you need help financing your leisure activities. |
Notice the similarity between finance and finish? The root of both words is fin, which is Latin for "end," or "limit." Originally, financing meant ending a debt. If you owed money, you might ask a bank to finance you. Eventually people began asking banks for money even when they didn't owe anything. Now the word can be used to talk about getting money for almost any project, from a video-game purchase to a war. |
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| 4784 |
hostility |
a state of deep-seated ill-will |
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Hostility is the state of ill will and bad feeling. If a teacher embarrasses you in front of the whole class, you will probably regard him or her with hostility for the remainder of the school year. |
Hostility can be used to describe aggressive relations between two countries as well as between people. The issue of territorial borders can often cause hostility between neighboring countries. If actual fighting breaks out, use the word hostilities to refer to the violent actions between them. The ordinary citizens of the countries involved will look forward to the end of hostilities when the two governments are able to work together for peace. |
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| 4785 |
impeachment |
a formal document charging a public official with misconduct |
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Though it might be more fun if it meant "canning peaches for the winter," impeachment is actually a formal document accusing a public official with misconduct. |
The United States Constitution gives the legislative branch the power of impeachment, that is, to press formal charges of misconduct against a sitting president. The House of Representatives makes the formal charges, and the trial is held in the Senate. A two-thirds majority of the Senate is required for a conviction. Two United States presidents — Andrew Johnson and William Clinton — have been impeached. Neither was convicted. Other federal officials, like judges, can also be impeached. |
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| 4786 |
imperialism |
a policy of extending your rule over foreign countries |
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Imperialism is a type of government that seeks to increase its size, either by forcing (through war) or influencing (through politics) other countries to submit to their rule. |
The sun never sets on the Roman Empire, or so went the saying when Rome controlled the majority of Europe 2000 years ago. Empire has the same Latin root as imperialism, and the Roman Empire grew to be so vast because they invaded, conquered, and developed everywhere they could. Until Rome fell, that is. Imperialism isn’t always violent, but it’s usually used in a negative sense, so watch for secret agents if you’re talking about your country’s policy of imperialism. |
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| 4787 |
industrialization |
the development of commercial enterprise |
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Industrialization occurs when industry is introduced on a large scale to a region or country — for example, when an economy goes from being based on agriculture to being based on manufacturing and other industries. |
In Europe and the United States, industrialization occurred in the 1700s and 1800s, with the changes beginning in Britain. This period is called the Industrial Revolution. Textile manufacturing became mechanized, transportation (canals, railroads, and road systems) became more efficient, and steam power was introduced. Goods became more accessible and cheaper. |
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| 4788 |
jazz |
genre of American music that developed in the 20th century |
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Jazz, a form of instrumental and vocal music characterized by syncopated rhythms and informal improvisation, has been called America's only original art form. If you've ever listened to Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, or Thelonious Monk, jazz is what you're hearing. |
The term jazz originated not with music, but in baseball, where it was used as a synonym for "pep, vim, vigor." It began to be used to describe music about a decade after jazz first began to be played in 1900 New Orleans. Since then, like the art form it describes, jazz has changed and expanded its meaning. Today, jazz can refer to a genre of dance, to the act of "sprucing something up," to the decade of the 1920s (nicknamed The Jazz Age), or to holding your hands above your head and waving your fingers, making jazz hands. |
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| 4789 |
monastery |
the residence of a religious community |
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A monastery is the building where monks live while they’re practicing their religion. Some monasteries are occupied by hundreds of monks, and sometimes only one monk lives there all alone. |
Christians have a church, Jews have a synagogue, and monks have a monastery, which serves not only as their holy place of worship, but also where they eat and sleep. You’ll use the world mostly when referring to monks, but there are some monasteries for Catholic nuns. The Greek word monastērion means “a place to live alone,” and monks and nuns go to a monastery to focus on their religion in isolation, away from the rest of the world. |
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| 4790 |
mosque |
a Muslim place of worship that usually has a minaret |
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The mosque is the traditional Muslim place of worship. Architecturally, it often features a minaret, or onion-shaped dome, on top. |
Mosque stems from the Arabic word masjid, meaning "temple" or "place of worship." This building is very important religiously and politically, and can be a modest structure or an architectural masterpiece, such as the Great Mosque of Córdoba in Spain. Muslims, or practitioners of Islam, come together here and pray in rows facing in the direction of the holy city of Mecca. |
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| 4791 |
mural |
a painting that is applied to a wall surface |
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A mural is a large-scale painting usually done on a wall. Diego Rivera, the Mexican muralist, is famous for the plaster murals he painted on the walls at Rockefeller Center in the 1930s. |
Famous murals include the wall designs in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican in Rome, and the Coit Tower murals in San Francisco. Many murals were created during the Renaissance, and again during the New Deal. They are also common features of urban settings –– painted on the outsides of buildings and on playground walls. |
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| 4792 |
nobility |
a privileged class holding hereditary titles |
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Nobility refers to a privileged class of people — often receiving hereditary titles — also called the aristocracy. You know the type. They hang around manors and castles, or curry favor at court. |
In the United states, there is no official class system, so there is no official noble class, or nobility. But nobility is also a synonym for nobleness — elevation of morals, ideals, or behavior. So if you have friends who always behave with generosity, honesty, and integrity, you may be surrounded by nobility — even if you don’t hang out with lords, baronesses, dukes, or ladies. |
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| 4793 |
obsidian |
glass formed by the cooling of lava without crystallization |
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Obsidian is a type of black or dark glass formed from cooling lava. So if you find a shiny, hard, dark piece of glass next time you’re hanging around a volcano, it’s probably a piece of obsidian. |
The word obsidian essentially means “stone of Obsius.” So who was Obsius? According to an ancient Roman writer, he was the guy who first found this type of stone in Ethiopia. You’ll find obsidian used as a modifier a lot. Think of an obsidian arrowhead, blade or mirror. Sometimes it is used as a fancy way of describing people’s eyes in romance novels as in, “Her eyes were dark and shining, two obsidian orbs.” |
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| 4794 |
papacy |
the government of the Roman Catholic Church |
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Use the noun papacy when you're talking about the leader of the Roman Catholic Church and the particular authority he holds. The papacy supports reducing poverty, but it does not support women becoming priests. |
The pope is the head of the Catholic Church in Rome, and his office or government is the papacy. You can use the word for official positions the church holds, or to talk about the history of a pope's term. For example, you might say, "The papacy of Pope Benedict XVI ended when he resigned." The root of papacy is the Latin papatia, "papal office," which comes from papa, or "pope." |
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| 4795 |
pathogen |
any disease-producing agent |
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A pathogen is a tiny living organism, such as a bacterium or virus, that makes people sick. Washing your hands frequently helps you avoid the pathogens that can make you sick. |
Pathos is the Greek word for disease and -genes means "born of." So, a pathogen is something that causes disease, like a virus like the rhinovirus, which causes the common cold. At summer picnics, people are cautious about keeping certain foods like potato salad in coolers with ice — the eggs in such dishes spoil quickly out in the heat, introducing pathogens that can make people sick. |
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| 4796 |
philosophy |
the rational investigation of existence and knowledge |
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The noun philosophy means the study of proper behavior, and the search for wisdom. |
The original meaning of the word philosophy comes from the Greek roots philo- meaning "love" and -sophos, or "wisdom." When someone studies philosophy they want to understand how and why people do certain things and how to live a good life. In other words, they want to know the meaning of life. Add the suffix -er to philosophy, and you get a word for someone whose job it is to think these big thoughts. |
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| 4797 |
populism |
political doctrine that supports the rights of common people |
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If you feel that ordinary working people should have the strongest political voice, you can say you believe in populism. |
In politics, the term populism can have different meanings depending on who is using it and what their political goals are. At its root, populism is a belief in the power of regular people, and in their right to have control over their government rather than a small group of political insiders or a wealthy elite. The word populism comes from the Latin word for "people," populus. |
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| 4798 |
reincarnation |
a second or new birth |
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If you believe in reincarnation, you believe that after death a person's soul is reborn in another body. Certain religions hold this belief as a central tenet, including Hinduism and Buddhism. |
The noun reincarnation comes from the Latin roots re, meaning again, and incarnare, meaning to make flesh. The word reincarnation does not have to be a literal rebirth, however. The term can be used to mean a more figurative reinvention or rebirth. Your dad may have spent twenty years of his life working as a stockbroker, but after he reinvented himself, you'd be proud of his reincarnation as a math teacher. |
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| 4799 |
squire |
a man who attends or escorts a woman |
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Squire is a British term for a country landowner or gentleman. You can use squire to describe a refined and powerful man, or as a verb meaning to escort: when the queen visited, the police chief squired her around town. |
You'll encounter squires in 19th-century English novels, and you'll need to understand who they are if you're going to get the subtle class distinctions that often drive the plots of these novels. During feudal times squires were young men who assisted knights. For their loyalty, they were given land, making them and their descendants rich and powerful. If you had land, you could live off the rent your tenant farmers paid, and you’d be free to be a gentleman. |
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| 4800 |
terrorism |
the use of violence against civilians for ideological goals |
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Terrorism is violence or the threat of violence directed against civilians for the purpose of creating intense fear, which the terrorist hopes to exploit to attain political or ideological goals. |
Terrorism can be perpetrated by individuals, groups, or governments. What distinguishes terrorism from assault or murder is that terrorism is intended to intimidate and create mayhem, to inspire terror. It's terrorism when a suicide bomber blows himself up in a crowded bus, in that the violence is directed not against soldiers on a battlefield but against civilians going about their everyday lives. |
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| 4801 |
transcendentalism |
a philosophy emphasizing the intuitive and spiritual |
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Transcendentalism is a philosophy started in the early 19th century that promotes intuitive, spiritual thinking instead of scientific thinking based on material things. |
Transcendentalism comes from the Latin word transcendere, which means to "climb over or beyond." Founders of the American transcendentalism movement were indeed trying to "climb beyond" traditional empirical thinking, favoring instead a person's intuition and natural spirituality. Ralph Waldo Emerson, a famous transcendentalist, summed up the beliefs of transcendentalism when he said, "What lies behind us, and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." |
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| 4802 |
alliance |
the state of being confederated |
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Countries that have an alliance, or agreement, help each other out when in need. That means during times of war, for example, if two countries have an alliance, one will help the other by providing weapons and supplies. |
An alliance doesn't just have to be between two countries; you can see alliances formed on a playground, when kids start clustering in groups or dividing themselves into teams to play tag. An alliance is essentially a connection through which a common interest is shared. A marriage is an alliance between two people who decide to share their lives together. |
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| 4803 |
annexation |
incorporation by joining or uniting |
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If you're a big powerful country and you want to take over a smaller country, or a piece of it, you can simply occupy it with your army, a process known as annexation. |
One of history's most famous examples of annexation was the German occupation of parts of Czechoslovakia in 1938, which became one of the causes of World War II. Although the most common use of annexation is in the sense of a political or military takeover of territory, it can also refer to less major acts of acquisition. If you manage to steal your colleague's much-coveted corner office at work, that too is an annexation. |
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| 4804 |
aqueduct |
a conduit that carries water over a valley |
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An aqueduct is a bridge-like system built to move water from one location to another. The ancient Romans were particularly famous for their aqueducts and some still stand today. |
The Romans didn't invent aqueducts, but they did help spawn the English word for one. Aqueduct comes from the Latin word aquæductus, which itself is from the roots aqua, meaning water, and ducere, meaning "to lead." Because of the root word aqua, there is a tendency to try to spell aqueduct with an A in place of the E, but now you'll know better. |
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| 4805 |
architect |
someone who creates plans to be used in making something |
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A person who designs buildings is an architect. If you become an architect, you'll be responsible for drawing the blueprints, planning the work, and sometimes even overseeing the construction of a building. |
Frank Lloyd Wright was a famous architect who helped complete over 500 projects in his lifetime, including private homes, skyscrapers, museums, churches, and schools. Architects work on buildings of all types, and the Greek root arkhitektōn literally means “chief builder.” An architect can construct other things too, like the architects who design a video game, or the architect of your misfortune who dumped green slime on your head at a school dance. |
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| 4806 |
automobile |
a motor vehicle with four wheels |
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An automobile is a car: a vehicle with four wheels and an internal combustion engine. The automobile is one of the most common ways to travel. |
Thanks in part to Henry Ford, automobiles are just about everywhere: in cities, small towns, and even in rural areas, where it's too far to walk from place to place and there's very little public transportation. Trucks, vans, buses, and limousines are bigger than the typical automobile, but they’re automobiles, too. A motorcycle isn't an automobile because it only has two wheels. Automobiles are good for getting around, but they also cause pollution and automobile accidents. |
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| 4807 |
aviation |
the art of operating aircraft |
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If it has to do with flying or operating a plane, it has to do with aviation. If someone tells you that he's in aviation school, that means he is learning how to fly a plane. |
Aviation comes from the Latin avis meaning "bird," an appropriate translation given that aviation deals with travel by air, specifically in a plane. The aviation industry is the business sector dedicated to manufacturing and operating all types of aircraft. Air traffic controllers, when they are awake, are concerned with aviation safety. |
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| 4808 |
behavior |
the way a person acts toward other people |
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Behavior refers to how you conduct yourself. Generally, it’s wise to engage in good behavior, even if you're really bored. |
The noun behavior is a spin-off of the verb behave. Get rid of the be in behave and you're left with have, which makes sense: you could say that to behave is to "have" or "own" yourself — to control yourself. There's also a broader definition of behavior, which is basically anything any living thing does in any situation. Brushing your teeth? Behavior. Scratching your nose? Behavior. Eating a large antelope because you are a lion and you're hungry? Also behavior. |
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| 4809 |
belief |
any cognitive content held as true |
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A belief is an idea one accepts as being true or real. Many children have a strong belief that the Tooth Fairy really does exist. |
The noun belief replaced the Old English word geleafa, meaning “belief, faith,” in the late 12th century. A belief is an idea one usually holds with conviction and importance. In a religious context, the Ancient Greeks held the belief that many gods existed, controlling their fate, while Christianity began with the belief that only one God exists. You can also have belief in yourself in the face of a challenge. |
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| 4810 |
century |
a period of 100 years |
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100 years is called a century. The computer, the television, and video games were all invented in the twentieth century. People are now wondering what the twenty-first century holds for us. |
The noun century comes from the Latin word centuria, which was a group of 100, particularly a group of 100 Roman soldiers (one of 16 such groups in a Roman legion). The word today still can refer to 100 of something. In sports, a century is a score of 100 in a game of cricket. A race of 100 yards or 100 miles is also sometimes called a century. In slang, century can also mean a 100 dollar bill. |
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| 4811 |
ceremony |
a formal event performed on a special occasion |
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A ceremony is a formal event held on special occasions such as weddings and graduations. Even if an occasion isn’t traditionally honored with a ceremony, you can hold one anyway; we know your cat’s third birthday is important. |
Ceremony can also refer to proper, formal behavior; someone who insists on behaving properly can be said to “stand on ceremony.” If you insist on standing up and shaking hands every time you’re introduced to someone, you're a person who stands on ceremony. If you prefer to sit back and offer a casual “Hey,” you're a person who acts “without ceremony.” |
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| 4812 |
chariot |
a two-wheeled, horse-drawn vehicle |
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A chariot is a small carriage pulled by horses. In the ancient world, chariots were usually the fastest way to travel, and also a convenient method for transporting armies and archery platforms. |
In ancient Rome, chariots were used in races and processions, while the Hittites used them for waging battles. Ancient Greece and Rome both had famous tales of warring charioteers, but both societies mainly used chariots for racing and parading. One Greek myth describes the sun god Helios's son, Phaethon, inexpertly driving the horse-drawn sun chariot for a day and nearly setting the Earth on fire. |
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| 4813 |
chivalry |
the medieval principles governing knightly conduct |
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Men behaving courteously toward women — holding the door for them, offering them their jackets when it's cold — is called chivalry. Many women consider chivalry a lost art. Nice work, fellas. |
Cavalry (soldiers on horseback) and chivalry have the same root: the Medieval Latin word caballarius, meaning "horseman" or "knight." In the Middle Ages, a knight was expected to be brave, loyal, and to open the tavern door for his date. Picture a knight kneeling before a maiden and kissing her hand. It's a classic image of chivalry from the storybooks. Some women wonder whether chivalry has ever existed anywhere else. |
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| 4814 |
citizenship |
membership in a state with rights and duties |
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Citizenship is the status of being a citizen. If you have citizenship in a country, you have the right to live there, work, vote, and pay taxes! |
Citizenship comes from the Latin word for city, because in the earlier days of human governments, people identified themselves as belonging to cities more than countries. Citizenship is more than merely living somewhere. If you have citizenship, you have a whole set of rights that non-citizens might not have. Usually you have citizenship in the country you're born in, but if you're an immigrant from somewhere else, you have to apply for it. |
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| 4815 |
civil war |
a war between factions in the same country |
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A civil war is a conflict between groups within a single country, like the American Civil War between the north and south. |
Most wars are fought between different countries. However, in a civil war, a country has become divided, and factions within the country are battling each other. One of the most famous examples is the American Civil War (1861-1865), when the southern states fought to leave the U.S., and the northern states fought to keep the country together. A civil war is more painful than other wars in many ways, because the country is literally tearing itself apart. |
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| 4816 |
colonist |
one who settles or establishes a settlement in a new region |
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A colonist is a member of a government-backed group that settles in a new country or region. The land that's claimed by a colonist is usually already occupied by another group of people. |
A colonist can also be called a settler, someone who helps start a settlement in a new land. You might think of colonial America and the original colonists, British subjects who settled along the eastern seaboard and claimed the land as their own, despite the presence of native people. Throughout history, colonists have tended to come from Western countries. At the heart of the word colonist is the Latin root colere, "to inhabit, tend, or guard." |
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| 4817 |
colony |
a group of organisms of the same type living together |
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A colony is a group of people who settle in a new place but keep ties to their homeland. The people who founded the United States first came to America to live as part of a British colony. |
Colony comes from the Latin colonia, meaning "settled land, farm." Colony can also mean "a group of people who've gathered to live near each other and share the same interest." An artists' colony would be a place where everyone's an artist, while a Dunkin' Donuts colony would be full of coffee lovers. The same rules apply to the animal kingdom — an ant colony has a shared interest in ruining your picnic. |
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| 4818 |
compass |
navigational instrument for finding directions |
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Long before we had GPS (Global Positioning System) devices, people used a magnetic instrument called a compass for navigation. Some people still use a compass to navigate — usually when their GPS isn’t working. |
Compass can also refer to another type of instrument, one that’s used for drawing circles; this should be familiar to you if you have ever studied geometry. In addition, compass can mean "range" or "scope." If you decide to hike the Appalachian Trail, using a compass (the navigational kind) should hopefully fall within your compass of ability. If not, we hope you own a reliable GPS. |
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| 4819 |
conquest |
the act of defeating and taking control of |
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Alexander the Great's famous conquest of the Persian Empire was an act of conquering. For Casanova, on the other hand, a conquest was an act of seduction. |
Conquest derives from the Vulgar Latin word conquaerere, meaning "to search for, procure by effort, or win." In addition to its most commonly used meanings — conquering and seduction — conquest has a third, less well-known meaning: a success in mastering something difficult, like the violin, for instance, or flying an airplane. |
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| 4820 |
constitution |
the act of forming or establishing something |
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A constitution is a statement of the basic principles and laws of a nation, state, or group, such as the U.S. Constitution. Another very common meaning of constitution is the physical makeup of a person. |
The noun constitution is from Latin, from constitutus "set up, established" plus the suffix -ion- "act, state, or condition." So think of a constitution as how a body (yours, the government's) is set up. If you have a strong constitution, it means you don't get sick very often. |
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| 4821 |
convent |
a religious residence especially for nuns |
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A convent is a place where nuns live. Have you decided to dedicate the rest of your life to serving God? Well, then, maybe it’s time for you to consider moving into a convent. |
Although convent usually refers to the actual building where nuns live together, it can also sometimes more generally refer to a Christian community that is living according to religious vows. Catholic monks live in communities together in monasteries, while Catholic nuns tend to live in convents. |
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| 4822 |
corruption |
use of a position of trust for dishonest gain |
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Corruption is dishonest action that destroys people's trust. News of corruption at your bank might make you close your account and invest your money somewhere else. |
The noun corruption comes from Latin — com, meaning "with, together," and rumpere, meaning "to break." Engaging in corruption can "break" or destroy someone's trustworthiness and good reputation with others. For example, news of corruption in the mayor's office might cause shock and lead to the election of a new mayor. When you corrupt something that is pure or honest, you take away those qualities. That's why "corruption of minors" is a serious offense in our legal system. |
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| 4823 |
credibility |
the quality of being believable or trustworthy |
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You have credibility when you seem totally trustworthy or believable. You lose it when you start lying, cheating and acting rather shady. |
Credibility is a noun that speaks to plausibility or believableness, so the star witness at your trial or the person writing your recommendation letter should certainly have it. Be careful though, because someone with credibility isn't necessarily telling the truth. As any con man or politician can tell you, credibility can easily come from nothing more than a confident smile. |
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| 4824 |
cuneiform |
an ancient wedge-shaped script used in Mesopotamia |
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Cuneiform is a type of writing that was used in ancient Mesopotamia and Persia. In a museum, you might see artifacts such as stone tablets with cuneiform carved into them. |
Cuneiform is typically pronounced "kyoo-NEE-uh-form." Back in Mesopotamian times, you would have written by carving wedge-shaped characters that make up a language called cuneiform. From the shape of the characters, we get the adjective cuneiform, which means "wedge-shaped," like a cuneiform platter. Cuneiform also describes wedge-shaped bones, like those found in the lower leg. |
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| 4825 |
czar |
a male monarch or emperor |
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Czar is a Russian word for ruler or emperor. Those kinds of czars are long gone, but we still use the word to describe people in charge of something important. |
Up until the early 20th century, the ruler in Russia was a man called a czar who had total power, like an emperor or dictator. In English, czar has hung around as a word for anyone in charge of anything. If you run a book club, you might jokingly call yourself a book czar. In the U.S. government, people in charge of large departments are often called czars — like the housing czar or labor czar. |
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| 4826 |
debt |
the state of owing something, especially money |
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The noun debt refers to an obligation to pay for or do something. If you get arrested for stealing, serving time in jail is the way to repay your debt to society. |
Debt comes from the Latin word debitum, which means "thing owed." Often, a debt is money that you must repay someone. Debt can also mean the state of owing something — if you borrow twenty dollars from your brother, you are in debt to him until you pay him back. If someone says, "I owe you a debt of gratitude," it means you have done something great and that person intends to do something to "repay" your kindness. |
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| 4827 |
democracy |
the orientation of those who favor government by the people |
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Whether you're talking about your glee club or a powerful nation, the word democracy describes government based on participation of the people, either directly or through elected representatives. |
Democracy traces back to the Greek words demos, meaning "people," and kratia, meaning "power." "People power" remains central to democracy, whether you're describing a country or a much smaller organization. If your glee club is run as a democracy, then everybody gets to vote on questions like what you're going to sing and what kind of outfits you’re going to wear. Because democracy assumes some idea of equality, it's often used to mean a just society, one in which everyone is treated equally. |
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| 4828 |
diplomacy |
negotiation between nations |
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Diplomacy is the art of helping groups to get along and even work together. If you have a gift for diplomacy, you can get bickering siblings to cooperate. |
The word diplomacy comes from the French word diplomatie, which means “diplomat.” A diplomat lives in a foreign country, fluent in its language — and culture. The job of a diplomat is to practice diplomacy among nations, understanding the concerns and needs of all and, if possible, guiding them toward decisions that are mutually agreeable. |
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| 4829 |
disagreement |
a conflict of people's opinions or actions or characters |
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A disagreement is a type of conflict, either between people or ideas. No it’s not! Yes it is! It’s an argument. If your opinion contradicts the facts, there's a disagreement. |
When ideas conflict, there's disagreement. If you want to go to an action movie, but your friend wants to go to a romantic comedy, that's a disagreement. Statements, opinions, and claims can also disagree. If I say my grandmother was a sweet woman, and you say she was a horrible person, that's disagreement. If the IRS finds a disagreement between your taxes and your real income, you could be in trouble. |
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| 4830 |
education |
activities that impart knowledge or skill |
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Whenever you learn something new, you are getting some amount of education. You might get your education in school, where you're learning to speak French, or in your garage, where you're learning how to repair your bike. |
Back in the 1500s, the word education meant "the raising of children," but it also meant "the training of animals." While there are probably a few teachers who feel like animal trainers, education these days has come to mean either "teaching" or "the process of acquiring knowledge." |
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| 4831 |
emancipation |
freeing someone from the control of another |
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Emancipation is being set free from the control of someone or something. Your emancipation from your parents comes when you turn 18 and are legally considered an adult. |
The word appears most memorably in "the Emancipation Proclamation," Abraham Lincoln's order of 1863 that freed the slaves in the U.S. Emancipation can describe any kind of liberation: "If you're really chafing under the rigors of practicing for the upcoming game, you and your teammates can go on strike for emancipation from the grueling schedule your coach has decreed." |
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| 4832 |
emperor |
the male ruler of an empire |
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Forget prime ministers, presidents or even kings or queens: an emperor was the biggest, baddest ruler of them all — the leader of undisputed power who controlled a nation or, more usually, a number of subjugated nations known collectively as an empire. |
Nowadays the emperor is no more, replaced by humbler and usually more democratic leaders, but the notion of an all-conquering larger-than-life figure lives on in the way we give the prefix emperor to particularly magnificent specimens of living things: the Emperor Butterfly, Emperor Moth and Emperor Penguin, most famously. The Roman emperors would be proud. |
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| 4833 |
empire |
the domain ruled by an emperor or empress |
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An empire is a group of countries or territories that are under the control of a single entity but it can be used figuratively too. She rules her cosmetics empire well, with a solid knowledge of lipsticks, eye shadows, and more. |
Have you ever heard the phrase, “The sun never sets on the British Empire?” This came about because during the 1800s countries in every time zone around the globe were ruled by England, and it was always daytime in one of them. Although other empires have existed back through time to the original Roman Empire, perhaps the most well-known empire today comes from the popular Star Wars films in which the rebels fight Darth Vader and his evil Empire. |
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| 4834 |
employment |
the state of having a job |
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Employment is your occupation or the fact that you have a job. If you are looking for employment, you might start by attending a job fair — if you make a good impression, you might get hired immediately. |
If you have employment, it means you have a job. You can also use the noun employment to talk about exactly what that job involves, like your employment in the entertainment industry or in the carnival business. Employment also refers to the act of giving someone a job. The Latin root is the word implicare, meaning "enfold, involve, or be connected with." |
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| 4835 |
equality |
the quality of being the same in quantity or value |
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Equality is when things are the same (equal) in some particular way. You had to rethink your campaign for equality in the household when you realized this meant doing your own laundry and sharing the remote control. |
Equality means "the state of being equal." It's one of the ideals a democratic society, and so the fight to attain different kinds of equality, like racial equality, gender equality, or equality of opportunity between rich and poor, is often associated with progress toward that ideal of everyone being truly equal. Equality doesn't have to be used only for social ideals, though. There can be equality in weight between two barrels of apples, or between two molecules. |
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| 4836 |
era |
a period marked by distinctive character |
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An era is a period of time distinguished by a particular character. “It was the Eisenhower era, when people were more willing to serve in the military.” |
Era has a couple of great things about it. First, it is used whenever you talk about dinosaurs to describe the various geologic time periods, for instance the Paleozoic Era, or the Jurassic Era. Second, it is a word beloved of crossword puzzle editors, so if you’re looking for a three-letter word for an age, look no further. Third, it sometimes confuses people who are talking about the ERA, or the Equal Rights Amendment, a vestige of the era of political feminism. |
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| 4837 |
expedition |
an organized group of people undertaking a journey |
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An expedition is an organized journey that is undertaken for a particular purpose, like a group of scientists launching an expedition to South America to seek out a new medicinal herb. |
An expedition is no walk in the park. It's a serious journey, often with a very specific purpose undertaken by several people and lots of equipment. Sometimes, it can even be dangerous, like when the arctic adventurer was attacked by polar bears during an expedition to the Arctic. Needless to say, he hung up his explorer's hat after that expedition. |
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| 4838 |
explorer |
someone who travels to unknown regions to make discoveries |
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An explorer is a person who sets out to discover something by going somewhere unfamiliar. You might think Marco Polo is just a game to play in the pool, but Marco Polo was actually a famous explorer in the 13th century. |
In ancient Greece, the explorer Pytheas travelled to what is now Great Britain and Germany, and the Chinese explorer Wang Dayuan explored the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea in the second century BCE. More recently, explorers have voyaged to the moon and outer space. Before the late seventeenth century, this kind of adventurer was called an exploratour, from the Latin root explorare, "examine or investigate." |
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| 4839 |
fable |
a short moral story |
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A fable is a moral tale that often features animal characters. “The Tortoise and the Hare” is a well-known fable whose moral is "Slow and steady wins the race." |
We often associate fables with the master of them all, Aesop. Among the most famous fables attributed to this storyteller of ancient Greece are "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" and "The Fox and the Grapes." But like its cousins tale, myth, and legend, the word fable is also used to describe a deliberate fabrication or fiction. In other words, it can be a polite way to describe a lie. |
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| 4840 |
factory |
a plant with facilities for manufacturing |
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A factory is a big building in which products are made, like Willie Wonka's fictional Chocolate Factory, which was famous for producing (among other sweets and treats) the one-of-a-kind Everlasting Gobstopper. |
Early relatives of the word factory were in use as far back as the 1500s, long before the Industrial Revolution made the modern idea of a factory a reality. Of course, a big building with many different types of machinery inside it isn't the only definition of a factory. A successful pop group that scores several number one songs in a row could be called "a hit factory." |
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| 4841 |
fertilizer |
any substance used to improve the quality of soil |
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Material you add to a garden to increase the nutrients in the soil and help plants grow is called fertilizer. If your rosebushes are looking a little sad, you might want to try using fertilizer. |
To fertilize is to make something fertile, or to encourage it to grow or reproduce. These words, along with fertilizer, come from the Latin fertilis, "bearing in abundance, fruitful, or productive." The most common kind of organic fertilizer is animal manure or peat, and other fertilizers are made of specific nutrients like nitrogen or potassium. Fertilizers are usually solid, though they come in liquid form as well. |
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| 4842 |
freedom |
the condition of being free |
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Freedom is the state of being entirely free. Many governments claim to guarantee freedom, but often people do not, in fact, have the absolute freedom to act or speak without restraint. |
People in jail long for freedom. People living under an oppressive government also long for freedom. In the United States, people theoretically have "freedom of speech": the right to say whatever they’re moved to say. You’ll notice the word free in freedom. Free comes from the German frei, meaning, “to love.” The word friend shares this origin. You can think of freedom as the condition in which you have the choice to love any friend you wish. |
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| 4843 |
geography |
study of the earth's surface |
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Geography is the study of the land and how we use it. A geography lesson about your hometown would teach about the terrain, including any landforms like mountains or waterways, its vegetation, roads and other human-made developments, and its people. |
Geography means "description of the earth's surface." It is often confused with a related word, geology, which means "study of the earth." Geography is about anything that happens on the ground, or above it, including how people live and use the land, while geology studies the earth's content, like the plates that form it and how they move. |
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| 4844 |
geology |
science of the history of the earth as recorded in rocks |
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Geology is the study of the Earth and what it's made of, including its natural history. |
Just as biology is the study of earth's life forms, geology is the study of the earth itself. Geology tells us where lakes once were, where volcanoes erupted, where glaciers pushed up mountains and then melted. Geologists — people who study geology — tell us where to find oil, coal and diamonds and then they explain how they got there. If you find the natural world beautiful and interesting, you might enjoy studying geology. |
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| 4845 |
government |
the system or form by which a community is ruled |
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Your government is the system of people, laws, and officials that define and control the country that you live in. The U.S. government, for example, is a representative democracy with three branches. |
There are many different kinds of government, but they all do essentially the same thing: "govern" or oversee the rules, regulations, and interactions of the people who live under them. For the most part, a government is concerned with public life, though many of the laws that a government like ours establishes and enforces can regulate what happens in private life, too. If you work for the government, you're in public life. If you work for a company, you're in the private sector. |
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| 4846 |
heroism |
exceptional courage when facing danger |
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When you think of heroism, you might think of great acts of bravery, such as rushing into burning buildings and facing danger in battle. Heroism consists of putting others first, even at your own peril. |
The noun heroism comes from the Greek hērōs, which referred to a demigod. As someone who shows great courage and valor is referred to as a hero, their actions are considered to be acts of heroism. 19th Century lawyer Robert Green Ingersoll said it well: “When the will defies fear, when duty throws the gauntlet down to fate, when honor scorns to compromise with death — that is heroism.” |
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| 4847 |
historian |
a person who is an authority on the past and who studies it |
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A historian is someone who is an authority on history. Your American History textbook was written by a historian. |
If you've ever taken a history class, chances are it was taught by a historian — someone who is an expert on history. You don't get to be a historian overnight; most historians have studied history for years and have a Master's or Ph.D. in history. If you want an informed opinion on past elections, wars, disasters, and trends, talk to a historian or read a book by one. Historians are experts on the past. |
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| 4848 |
holiday |
leisure time away from work devoted to rest or pleasure |
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A holiday celebrates a person, anniversary, religious belief or other occasion. You might observe the Indian holiday of Holi, and take a week off of work to celebrate with your family. |
A holiday is an occasion recognized by the state or federal government and marked on calendars, like Thanksgiving in the United States. Most holidays are celebratory and fun, and just about all of them mean no work or school. You can also take a holiday, or vacation. Holiday comes from "holy" and "day," meaning a religious festival, and the word was even pronounced that way until the sixteenth century. |
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| 4849 |
hymn |
a song of praise, especially a religious song |
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A hymn is a religious song, especially one praising God. People often sing hymns during church services. |
The word hymn comes from the Late Latin hymnus, "song of praise," and the Greek hymnos, "festive song in praise of gods or heroes." Though many people think of hymns as Christian, they're used in many other religions too, from ancient Greek hymns to deities, to Sikh hymns and Hindu hymns to many gods. What these songs have in common is giving thanks or praise to a god or gods. |
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| 4850 |
immigrant |
a person who comes to a country in order to settle there |
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The United States is a country of immigrants — people who come to one country from another country, in hopes of having a better life. If you didn't immigrate to the United States yourself, it is extremely likely that you have at least one recent ancestor who did. |
Don't confuse the words immigrant and emigrant. If you come to a country, you are an immigrant and you emigrate from somewhere else. Ireland has many emigrants to America; America has many immigrants from Ireland. If your parents were immigrants to the United States, but you were born here, you are a citizen automatically. |
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| 4851 |
independence |
freedom from control or influence of another or others |
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Independence is the state of being free of the control of some other person, country or entity. Revolutions are all about obtaining independence, most famously perhaps the Revolutionary War in America, which led to America's freedom from Britain. |
Independence comes from a nice medieval French word, depenre, meaning "to hang from," or "to hang down." The in at the beginning is Latin for "not," so the word originally meant "not hanging from," which is a neat description of what countries achieve by throwing off their colonizers. Teenagers also commonly seek independence from their parents — but perhaps not financial independence. |
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| 4852 |
institution |
a custom that has been an important feature of some group |
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Universities, banks, and hospitals are all institutions. Until you arrived at the bank, you'd forgotten that financial institutions were closed for the holiday. Thank goodness for the ATM! |
The noun institution also refers to a long held custom or practice in society. Even if your parents divorced when you were young, you might strongly believe in the institution of marriage. Or you might believe that once you enter the institution of marriage, your next stop will probably be a mental institution. Institution can also describe the act of putting something in place. The institution of new traffic rules — green means stop and red means go — caused a bit of confusion. |
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| 4853 |
invention |
the act of making something new |
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If you create a new device or process, it's called an invention. Many futuristic inventions from science fiction have come true, though no one has successfully invented a time machine. |
The act of inventing something is also referred to as invention. Your invention of an amazing new cookie might make you the hit of the bake sale. Something imagined or created in your mind can also be called an invention. The story of what happened to your homework may have been a complete invention, but it was probably entertaining for your teacher — especially the part about the alien abduction. |
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| 4854 |
iron |
a heavy ductile magnetic metallic element |
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Iron can refer to a common metal. It can also be that thing you use to get wrinkles out of your clothing. If you’re planning to wear linen, you might need an iron to smooth it out. |
When you use an iron to iron your clothes, you’re also using both the noun and verb form of iron. The noun describes the appliance and the verb describes the action of using it. Iron can also refer to a golf club, like that 5-iron you always use. If you’ve ever been a cattle rancher, you might also be familiar with a branding iron, a tool used to brand skin with a mark of ownership. |
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| 4855 |
journey |
the act of traveling from one place to another |
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If you're looking for a more refined word to call your latest drive to the beach or trip to the mall, try journey — a noun that describes travel from one place to another. |
From the Old French journée, meaning a “day’s work or travel,” journey doubles as both noun and verb. The noun simply refers to a voyage; the verb is the act of taking that voyage. So you can journey across the Sahara, or tell friends about your journey across the desert if you make it back alive. Either way, you should always remember that life is a journey, not a destination. |
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| 4856 |
justice |
the quality of being just or fair |
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Justice is the quality of being just or fair. Super heroes fight for justice because they want everything to be fair and not let bad guys win. Just ask Wonder Woman, Superman, or any other member of the Justice League. |
Justice is usually associated with the law. A judge is also known as a justice, and the point of the law is to keep everything in a society fair according to society’s rules. Justice (capital “J”) is also the statue of a blindfolded woman holding scales and a sword. If something is brought to justice, the good guys have been rewarded and the bad guys punished — the scales are even. |
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| 4857 |
kingdom |
the domain ruled by a monarch |
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A kingdom is a territory or group of people ruled by the same monarch. You probably know the story of the prince who searched the kingdom to find the girl who left her glass slipper at the ball. |
A kingdom is a place — either literal or imagined — where someone or something reigns. A queen rules over her kingdom, which is land and the people who live on it, while a certain pop singer has a kingdom of young fans. In "the kingdom of the mind," creativity and imagination — not kings or queens — rule. In biology, a kingdom is a grouping of like organisms. For example, a dog is a member of the animal kingdom. |
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| 4858 |
manor |
the landed estate of a lord, including the house on it |
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A manor is the house of a lord — pretty fancy stuff. If you like to read 18th-century British novels, you probably read about a lot of people having dinner, dance, and restrained romance in their manors. |
Manor comes from the Old French manoir, meaning "dwelling place," but a manor isn't just any old dwelling place. In the days when people still had titles of nobility, the houses and the grounds of the nobles were known as manors. If you tell someone that his house is a manor, that's like saying it's so opulent and lovely that it could have belonged to a lord. |
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| 4859 |
merchant |
a businessperson engaged in retail trade |
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A merchant is someone who works in or owns a retail business and sells goods. In Paris you can stroll from merchant to merchant, buying a loaf of bread in one shop and a wedge of cheese in another. |
The noun merchant has its Latin roots in the word merchari, meaning to trade. Other words from the same root include "market," "merchandise," and "mercantile." In some areas, independent merchants have banded together to combine advertising dollars and compete against malls and big box stores. You should ask your neighborhood book merchant if they've considered joining a group like this. |
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| 4860 |
migrant |
traveler who moves from one region or country to another |
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A migrant worker is someone who travels for a job––in the U.S., many farm workers migrate from Mexico every year to work on the harvest and then return home when their jobs are over. |
If you have traveled into a new country, you are said to have immigrated there, and you are an immigrant. An emigrant is someone who has left. Migrant doesn't refer to whether you are coming in or out––often it means someone who often travels back and forth, like migrant birds who migrate south every winter, year after year. |
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| 4861 |
mill |
a facility for manufacturing |
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A mill is a factory or plant, especially one that's equipped for grinding grain into flour. The facility is a mill, and the machine that does the actual grinding is also called a mill. |
When a mill crushes and grinds grain like wheat or corn, you can say it mills flour. Other kinds of mills might mill powder or coffee — and still other mills don't actually grind anything; instead, they manufacture things like steel or paper. If someone "mills around," they wander or move about in a confused way: "The crowd mills around during the concert's intermission." This sense of mill was originally used to describe cattle. |
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| 4862 |
missionary |
someone sent on an assignment to a foreign country |
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A missionary is a person whose mission is to go somewhere to help others. In many cases, the goal of a missionary is to teach about a religion so that the people convert to that faith. |
Missionary can be a noun — the person who goes on a mission — or an adjective — the type of work done on such a trip. If your great-grandmother was a missionary for the Methodist church in Japan in the 1920’s, her purpose there was to convince people to abandon their religion for Methodism. Presumably she did this missionary work because she thought it would save their souls. |
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| 4863 |
modernization |
the act of making up-to-date in appearance or behavior |
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Modernization is the process of updating something or making it work in a contemporary setting. The modernization of an office might include new computers, high-speed internet, and a fancy espresso machine. |
Kitchen modernization usually means new appliances and expensive countertops—the kitchen ends up looking more modern and working in a modern way as well. The modernization of a Shakespeare play, on the other hand, may involve contemporary settings and clothing, or even updating language of the dialogue. Modernization comes via modern, from the Late Latin modernus, "modern," and ultimately the root modo, "just now." |
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| 4864 |
monument |
a structure erected to commemorate persons or events |
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A monument is a statue or other sculpture meant to honor a great person, like the Lincoln Monument or Washington Monument. |
You can find monuments in the downtown area of most cities. Many honor a specific person, while other are dedicated to soldiers who fought in a certain war, such as Vietnam or World War I. Cemeteries are also full of monuments, and monument can mean a type of burial vault. Whenever people create a monument, they're trying to make sure that a person or event is remembered. |
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| 4865 |
motto |
a favorite saying of a sect or political group |
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A motto is a slogan or favorite saying, like "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade." |
A motto is something you might see on a t-shirt or bumper sticker — a short sentence or phrase that has meaning for that person. Some mottoes have to do with politics, religion, or another belief. Sometimes People write their motto on a large banner or sign so others can see it. President John F. Kennedy's motto was “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” Mottoes are similar to proverbs, slogans, and catchphrases. |
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| 4866 |
mummification |
the act of embalming, drying, and wrapping a dead body |
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Mummification is an old-fashioned method of preparing a dead body so that it doesn't decay. Mummification was commonly used in ancient Egypt, not so much these days. |
Although the earliest examples of mummification were accidental, with bodies being preserved because of very dry, desert conditions, it soon became religiously important in ancient Egypt and was done deliberately. Ancient Egyptians believed that a happy afterlife depended in part on careful mummification. The word mummification is formed with the suffix -fication, "a making or causing," and mummy, from the Arabic mumiyah, "embalmed body," from the Persian root mum, "wax." |
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| 4867 |
norm |
a standard or model or pattern regarded as typical |
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A statistical average is called the norm. If you live in a town made up mostly of farmers but your trade is basket weaving, then you're outside the norm. |
The noun norm is from the Latin word norma, which was a carpenter's square or pattern used in construction to make regular corners. Now we use norm for anything that sets a standard. You can score within the norm on a standardized test, score above the norm on an IQ test, or fall below the norm in acceptable standards of dress if you wear a halter top and cut-off jeans to a formal ball. |
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| 4868 |
occupation |
the principal activity in one's life to earn money |
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An occupation is a physical takeover. Your student group's occupation of the college building made news when your demands became known. In exchange for leaving, you wanted the college to grant a tuition freeze. |
The occupation of a building can refer to the rightful habitation by its residents or the takeover of a building, as in a protest. The occupation of a country, however, always refers to the takeover and control of one country by another, as in the German occupation of France during WWII. The noun occupation can also mean your line of work or anything that occupies your time. Some people have unusual occupations, such as alligator wrangler or golf ball retriever. |
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| 4869 |
peacekeeper |
someone who maintains tranquility |
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The noun peacekeeper means exactly what it sounds like: a person who tries to keep things peaceful, often by mediating conflicts or calming people down. |
You are a peacekeeper if you're the diplomat in your family, the one who negotiates between feuding siblings or placates a cranky grandfather to ensure that everyone has a pleasant Thanksgiving dinner. The most common way to use the word peacekeeper, however, is to talk about troops that are sent into another country for non-military purposes. For example, the United Nations often uses peacekeepers to calm tensions within countries in danger of civil war or violent uprisings. |
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| 4870 |
peasant |
one of a class of agricultural laborers |
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If you enjoy reading tales set in the Middle Ages, you’ve probably encountered your fair share of knights, dragons, and peasants, or residents of the countryside. |
During the Middle Ages in Europe, most members of the population were peasants who lived a meager existence, working farmland that was owned by wealthy noblemen. Peasant is still used sometimes today to describe a relatively poor person who works as a farm laborer. Peasant can also be used to mean “an unsophisticated and ill-mannered person,” so when using this word, be sure your intended meaning is clear. |
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| 4871 |
pilgrim |
someone who journeys in foreign lands |
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You might be a Muslim on your way to Mecca, or a Hindu going to the Ganges, or a Christian traveling to Lourdes. When you make a reverent journey to a place you consider sacred, you're a pilgrim. |
You can also use the word less seriously and call yourself a pilgrim when you make the trip to Graceland for Elvis Week. Another kind of pilgrim (often spelled with a capital P) are the Puritans who fled religious persecution in Europe, came over on the Mayflower, and founded Plymouth Colony, in Massachusetts. The word comes from the Latin peregrinus, "foreign," or "a foreigner," and if you just travel to foreign countries, you’re a pilgrim, too. |
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| 4872 |
pioneer |
one the first colonists or settlers in a new territory |
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A pioneer is one of the first settlers in a new place. If you desperately want to experience life in space, maybe you will be one of the pioneers who live in the first moon settlement. |
Pioneer comes from the old French for foot soldier or laborer, and particularly for groups of soldiers that would go out ahead of the rest of the troops to prepare the way. The European settlers who came to America in the 16th century are known as pioneers, as are the later groups who traveled West in the 18th and 19th centuries. We also use pioneer for anyone who takes initiative in a field, such as science or education. |
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| 4873 |
plague |
any large-scale calamity |
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When the homeowner described her ant problem as a plague, the exterminator thought she was being a bit melodramatic. After all, a few bugs aren't exactly a huge calamity. |
Centuries ago, if you had admitted to a friend that you had the plague, that friend would have hightailed it in the other direction. In the Middle Ages, the plague was a horribly contagious illness that spread like wildfire through Europe, killing millions of people. Thanks to the introduction of better hygiene and antibiotics, plague doesn't describe a killer disease as often these days. Instead, it commonly overstates an annoyance, like an apartment dweller claiming his building is plagued by cockroaches. |
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| 4874 |
pottery |
objects made from clay and baked in a kiln |
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Something made out of clay and baked in a kiln is a piece of pottery—and the craft of creating it is also pottery. You might make pottery in the arts and crafts tent at camp. |
Anything made from clay that's been fired, or baked at a high temperature in a kiln, is pottery. Some pottery is made on a wheel that turns while the potter forms the shape of a bowl or vase. Other pottery is formed with hands or tools that shape the clay. In the 15th century, a pottery was a potter's shed or studio. |
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| 4875 |
poverty |
the state of having little or no money and possessions |
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Families who live in poverty have a hard time getting enough food to eat. "The loss of jobs in the area led to increased poverty." "The poverty rate is the percent of people who live in poverty in a geographic area." |
In the US, the government pays careful attention to how many citizens are living above and below the poverty level, which is defined by a certain maximum level of income. Poverty can also mean the lack of an important quality besides having enough money to live comfortably. For the last five years, David's sister has given him a pair of socks for his birthday. David believes this reflects the poverty of her imagination. |
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| 4876 |
prairie |
a treeless grassy plain |
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A prairie is a plain of grassy land without many trees. If you're raising cattle, find some prairie land to let them roam around on. |
Prairie means grassland, and comes from the French word for "meadow." While we might describe a single meadow, we usually use prairie to describe a type of countryside. In the United States, the natural state of the land between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains is prairie, which is why there's so much farming there. |
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| 4877 |
prohibition |
the action of forbidding |
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Prohibition is the act of forbidding or outlawing something, like when my mom placed a prohibition on watching TV during dinner (causing everyone to skip dinner). |
Prohibition can also refer to one of the most famous acts of prohibition in United States history: the outlawing of alcoholic beverages from 1920 to 1933. During this period, known as the "Prohibition Era" or just "Prohibition" for short, people continued to obtain alcohol via illegal means. As a result, the Prohibition Era is a perfect illustration of a major challenge associated with most acts of prohibition: enforcement. |
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| 4878 |
protest |
a formal and solemn declaration of objection |
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A protest is a formal declaration of objection. If students at your school are fed up with the overly restrictive dress code, they might stage a protest. Washington, D.C. is often the site of political protests. |
Protest is both a noun and a verb. You've probably seen news about protests, because people all over the world organize them when they need to get a message across urgently. A protest doesn't have to be on the world scale, however. You might protest against eating frozen pizza for the third night in a row, and you've certainly seen a little kid protest against going to bed. When protest is political, it's also known as dissent. |
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| 4879 |
proverb |
a condensed but memorable saying embodying an important fact |
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If your Aunt Nellie is fond of sayings like "All's well that ends well," and "A penny saved is a penny earned," then she's a proverb expert. A proverb is a short, catchy phrase that expresses a true or useful idea. |
Most proverbs have been around long enough, and endlessly repeated, that they are commonly seen as telling an important truth. People tend to use proverbs to give advice, the way you might say "practice makes perfect" to encourage your little brother to keep trying when he's learning to ride a bike. The Latin root proverbium combines the prefix pro with verbium, which together mean a word that you put forward, or a common saying. |
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| 4880 |
recreation |
an activity that diverts or amuses or stimulates |
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The word recreation is a noun meaning just about anything you do for fun: bowling, flying a model airplane, or just swimming the English Channel. If you do it to relax, recharge your batteries, or just to amuse yourself, it's probably recreation. |
You might think by looking at the word that recreation means remaking something, and, in a sense you'd be right. A person involved in recreation is "re-creating" themselves. The whole point of recreation, as the original Latin word recreare implies, is to refresh and renew. After a week behind a desk, you might be feeling worn down and tired. A weekend of recreation will help bring you back to life. So get out there and do the things you love to do! |
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| 4881 |
religion |
a strong belief in supernatural powers that control destiny |
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Religion has two related meanings: it’s the belief that one or more divine beings are responsible for the fate of all human life, and it’s also an organization where people of a specific religion can express their beliefs. |
Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam: these are examples of religions, and millions around the world follow the principles defined by their chosen faith. The Latin root religio means “to bind,” and religion binds people together not just by their practices, but also by their ideas. Most religions have their own story about the creation of the universe, and each has a different explanation for the meaning of life, which is a source of comfort for a religion’s followers. |
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| 4882 |
resistance |
any mechanical force that tends to retard or oppose motion |
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If you've ever seen a dog on a leash suddenly refuse to walk any farther, you know how much resistance one little pet can put up. Resistance means "refusal to comply with or accept something." |
An individual person can put up resistance against something she disagrees with or doesn't want to participate in. On a larger scale, groups of people and even whole countries can display resistance, like when the British put up resistance against Napoleon. Another meaning of resistance is "the ability not to be affected by," like a resistance to getting colds, which you can imagine as your immune system putting up a fierce resistance against invading germs. |
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| 4883 |
sculpture |
a three-dimensional work of plastic art |
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Sculpture is a type of artwork that's two- or three-dimensional, so you can see it from different sides. You can make sculpture from clay, marble, wood, and even mashed potatoes, though the potato kind might not make it into an art museum. |
From the Latin sculpere "to carve," sculpture often is carved out of a block of wood, stone, or other material. Statues and outdoor artworks are one type of sculpture, and they are freestanding — you can walk around them, under them, or even over them. Other types are carved into walls, with the figures or objects sticking out from a flat surface. Artists called sculptors use soft materials, metal, and even ice and common objects like cars and cans to make sculpture. |
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| 4884 |
serf |
a person bound to the land and owned by the feudal lord |
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A serf is a person who is forced to work on a plot of land, especially during the medieval period when Europe practiced feudalism, when a few lords owned all the land and everyone else had to toil on it. |
In Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries, large plots of land were ruled by lords who made serfs work the land for the lords’ profit. The Latin root of the word is servus, which literally means “slave,” but serf and slave are not synonyms. There were many kinds of serfs, some of which were indeed slaves, but others were more like employees who had some limited freedom. Either way, a serf’s life was a brutal and unpleasant life. |
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| 4885 |
settler |
a person who resides in a new colony or country |
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A settler is a person who moves to a new place with the intention to stay there. Colonial America was built by settlers who came mainly from England. |
Settlers often think of themselves as being the first people to live in an area, although through history settlers moved to places already inhabited by native people. A settler's primary goal is to set up a home — claim land, build houses, and establish new towns with other settlers. The noun settler originally meant "thing that settles," though by the 1690s it was used to mean "person moving to a new country," from the Old English word setlan, "cause to place." |
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| 4886 |
sharecropper |
a tenant farmer who owes a portion of each harvest for rent |
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A sharecropper is a tenant farmer, someone who works land that's rented from its owner. Typically, a sharecropper will pay the landowner with part of the harvest, rather than money. |
The word sharecropper, an American invention from the 1880s, comes from the fact that these farmers would share their crops in return for the use of the land. This system became widespread in the southern states of the US after the Civil War, and it was in large part influenced by the end of slavery. There were both black and white sharecroppers well into the 1950s. |
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| 4887 |
slave |
a person who is owned by someone |
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Someone who is the property of another person is called a slave. To own a slave is morally and legally wrong; people should be free. |
Throughout history there have been slaves, and in some parts of the world some people still force others into slavery. Often the word is used more loosely. You might buy a lot of clothes because you're a slave to the latest fashion trends. You could spend all day in the kitchen, preparing 12 casseroles, working like a slave. That kind of exaggeration is common, but don't kid yourself: nothing is really similar to — or as horrible as — being a slave. |
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| 4888 |
slogan |
a favorite saying of a sect or political group |
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A slogan is a short saying or catchphrase, often used by political groups. "Four more years!" and "Yes we can!" are slogans. |
Are you good at thinking of short little bits of language that make a point? Then maybe you should write slogans: those little phrases or sentences that political campaigns use to sell their candidates to the public. There have been many slogans in the history of American politics, including "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too" and "It's the economy, stupid." Slogans are a form of adverting and are similar to product catchphrases, like "I'm cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs!" |
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| 4889 |
submarine |
a submersible warship usually armed with torpedoes |
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If you're in the Navy, a submarine is a military ship that goes under the water. If you're hungry, it's a type of sandwich. |
This word mainly refers to a vessel that travels underwater and is armed with torpedoes — also known as a U-boat. But you can submarine someone by attacking them with a submarine or bringing them down with a blow to the legs. A disappointment can submarine — or sink — your hopes and dreams. In the kitchen, a submarine is what you call a long, crusty sandwich filled with meats and cheese — also known as a sub, grinder, hero, or hoagie. |
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| 4890 |
suburb |
a residential district located on the outskirts of a city |
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A suburb is a residential district located on the outskirts of a city. If you live in the suburbs, you probably travel to the city for work. |
Suburb comes from Latin: sub means "below or near" and urbis means "city." You also will recognize this root in urban. Suburbs have more single-family homes than apartment buildings, and living there, you are more likely to have a yard with trees and grass. The downside is, if you work in the city, you might have a long commute that adds to the time you are away from your family. |
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| 4891 |
superstition |
an irrational belief arising from ignorance or fear |
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A superstition is a belief or practice that isn’t entirely based on facts or reality, like carrying a rabbit’s foot because you think it brings you good fortune, or believing that Friday the 13th is a day of bad luck. |
When you pick up a penny, is it because you’re poor or do you think it’s lucky? If the quickest route makes you walk under a ladder, will you do it even though it’s bad luck? These are two examples of superstitions, irrational decisions we make for some weird reason. The Latin roots of the word translate as “standing over,” like how you freeze standing over a broken mirror. Don’t worry, it’s only a superstition, right? |
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| 4892 |
telegraph |
apparatus used to communicate at a distance over a wire |
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Forget about the internet! Before even the telephone was invented, the telegraph — a device used to communicate via electronic signals — was the main mode of communicating long distance. We've come a long way! |
The telegraph is an outdated form of communication as far as sending long-distance messages goes. It uses an electric signal broken to create a code that then transmits over a wire and translates into a message. Alexander Graham Bell started tinkering with the telegraph and ended up inventing the first "harmonic telegraph" to transmit sound through a wire — which led to the birth of the modern telephone. |
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| 4893 |
temple |
a place of worship |
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A temple is a religious building that's meant for worshipping or praying. Hindu temples are typically devoted to one specific god. |
While temples tend to be associated with non-Christian religions like Islam, Judaism, and Buddhism, some sects of Orthodox Christianity worship in temples as well. The Mormon church also calls its sacred structures temples. The word comes from the Latin templum, "consecrated piece of ground" or "building for worship of a god," from a Proto-Indo-European root, tem-, "to cut," from the idea of a space cleared or "cut down" for an altar. |
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| 4894 |
tenant |
someone who pays rent to use property owned by someone else |
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A tenant is someone who lives in a place owned by someone else, usually paying rent. If you blast your music and let the cat pee in the corner, your landlord will not think that you're a very good tenant. |
Tenant is often used to mean "renter," but it can mean anyone who has the right to live in a particular place, either because he signed a lease, which is a rental agreement, because he owns the land, or because government gave him a title to it. If you live in a big apartment building, you should be aware of your rights as a tenant, which usually include things like having heat in the winter and proper fire escapes. |
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| 4895 |
tobacco |
aromatic annual or perennial herbs and shrubs |
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Tobacco refers to the leaves of the tobacco plant that have been dried and processed for people to roll up and smoke. Tobacco is the main ingredient in cigarettes, and of course, chewing tobacco. |
Tobacco was used for fun in the Americas way before the Europeans came, but it was cultivated in France in the 1500s, and is still going strong. The word tobacco probably came from the Caribbean. The name Tobacco Road is from a novel by Erskine Caldwell, but is used to describe a section of North Carolina that produced a lot of tobacco. Tobacco is mainly used in cigarettes, which are really bad for your health. |
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| 4896 |
tolerance |
willingness to respect the beliefs or practices of others |
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When you practice tolerance, you accept another's ideas and beliefs. If you respect someone's opinions — even if you disagree or find them nonsensical — you display tolerance. |
The noun tolerance, which stems from the Latin for "endurance," also refers to an organism's ability to stand or handle a difficult environmental condition. If you build up a tolerance, you can handle large amounts of something (from medicine to psychological abuse) without being too strongly affected. We usually use the word to refer to our need to accept others, as suggested by John F. Kennedy when he said, “Tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one's own beliefs. Rather it condemns the oppression or persecution of others.” |
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| 4897 |
tool |
an implement used to perform a task or job |
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A tool is an instrument that you use to help you accomplish some task. If you are going to build a bookcase, you'll need the proper tools, like a saw, a drill, and a tape measure. |
A tool is also something that you use to perform the duties of a certain profession. The tools of a kindergarten teacher's trade include construction paper, glue sticks, and safety scissors. As a verb, tool can mean to drive aimlessly just for fun, the way you might tool around town in your convertible on a beautiful summer day. |
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| 4898 |
tribute |
something given or done as an expression of esteem |
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A tribute is a sign of respect or admiration, an award to honor a person's accomplishments. A famous director receives a lifetime achievement award as a tribute to his many successful films. |
We're most familiar with the use of the word tribute meaning to honor someone with words or an award. You can hear a tribute if you're lucky enough to attend an entertainment awards ceremony, or need to attend a funeral. Students will give a retiring teacher flowers as a tribute to her years of service in education. Tribute can also mean a kind of payment that's given from one nation to another. |
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| 4899 |
unification |
the act of making or becoming a single entity |
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Unification describes the bringing together of two or more things so they become a single unit. If your marriage turns your feuding families into one big happy group, you pulled off a unification that would make Romeo and Juliet jealous. |
Unification comes from the word unify, which traces back to the Middle French word unifier, meaning "to make into one." Unification often happens in the corporate world, and you might have heard the term merger used to describe this process. If two or more companies decide to become a single company in order to benefit their business, they must first go through a legal process to complete the unification. |
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| 4900 |
vaccine |
injection of weakened or dead microbes to create antibodies |
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To prevent you from getting sick, a doctor will give you a shot with a vaccine in it, which is a mixture that teaches your body how to fight against viruses and diseases. |
It’s fascinating how vaccines work. A dead or really weak strain of a virus is injected into your body, and your system creates antibodies specifically designed to fight that particular virus. Once your body learns how to make those antibodies, you become immune to the virus, and it can’t make you sick. The word comes from the Latin vacca, meaning “cow,” because in 1796 a doctor used “cow pox” viruses to create a vaccine to prevent smallpox. Thank you, cows. |
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| 4901 |
volunteer |
a person who performs work done by choice |
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To volunteer means to freely offer up your time and service to help. So a volunteer might offer to water a neighbor's plants while he's on vacation or sign up to serve dinner at a local homeless shelter. |
When it came into usage circa 1600, the noun volunteer referred to a person who offered himself up for military service. It wasn't until a few decades later that the word was first used in a non-military sense. And a little over a hundred years after that, volunteer expanded from functioning as just a noun to also playing the role of verb. A volunteer is someone who volunteers: willingly performs a task or offers a service. |
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| 4902 |
vote |
a choice made by counting people in favor of alternatives |
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Your vote is your official choice on some specific question. You might feel that your vote hardly counts in a Presidential election, though your vote for student council treasurer might feel like it has a lot more importance. |
A vote is a formal noting of your preference, in an online poll or sitting in a circle with your book group, or when you cast it on a ballot at a polling place. To voice that preference is also to vote, either officially or more casually: "Let's all vote on a group costume for Halloween this year — a bag of jelly beans or the seven dwarfs?" The Latin root of vote is votum, "a vow, wish, or promise." |
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| 4903 |
arbitration |
giving authoritative judgment |
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When an uninvolved, impartial person is called in to help settle a dispute, it's called arbitration. The person in charge of the arbitration acts like an official referee, helping both sides come to an agreement. |
The noun arbitration comes to English via the Latin word arbitrari, meaning "to judge." In English, arbitration is both the process of using an arbiter to settle a dispute and the act of that arbiter making a judgment. Many parents know that if the arbitration of your kids' argument was deemed unfair by both kids, you've usually made the right decision. |
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| 4904 |
chauvinism |
fanatical patriotism |
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Chauvinism means the belief that your country is superior to all others. If you traveled to China and complained about everything that was unfamiliar and talked about how much better things are back home, you'd be guilty of chauvinism. |
While the main meaning of chauvinism is an exaggerated sense of patriotism, or being convinced that your country is vastly better than any other, the word is most familiar in the sense of male chauvinism. When it's used this way, it means a belief that men are better than women. The word comes from a Napoleonic soldier, Nicholas Chauvin, who was famous for his extreme patriotism — in other words, his chauvinism. |
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| 4905 |
civility |
the act of showing regard for others |
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Civility is the act of showing regard for others by being polite, like the civility you showed in speaking kindly to someone who has hurt your feelings. |
Civility comes from the Latin word civilis, meaning "relating to public life, befitting a citizen," in other words, being friendly and nice to everyone. When you show civility, you use kindness and good manners. You are respectful, even if you do not like that person very much. Civility can also mean formal politeness, like your behavior at a fancy dinner. |
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| 4906 |
copyright |
the exclusive right to sell a work |
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A copyright is a document that gives the ownership rights over artistic work, like songs or stories. If you don't get a copyright for your brilliant new novel, someone could adapt it into a movie without paying you a dime. |
Copyright means exactly what it sounds like: the right to make copies of something. If you copyright a song, a singer will to have to pay you to record it. Usually, copyright only lasts for a certain number of years. In the U.S. when a book or song has had a copyright for more than 75 years, that expires and it becomes "public domain," which means nobody owns the rights to it anymore. |
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| 4907 |
deficit |
the property of being less than expected or required |
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If you're running a deficit, you are losing. You might be losing money or losing a game. Either way, you better make up for it. |
When the government runs on a deficit, often the loss can be offset by a raise in taxes. If you have a deficit of iron in your body, you should consider eating more spinach. The word deficit comes from the Latin deficit meaning "it is wanting." A deficit is characterized by the wanting of something missing. |
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| 4908 |
deflation |
the act of letting the air out of something |
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In economics, when prices drop it's called deflation. Deflation makes money more valuable — prices are lower, so you can buy more with it. But deflation is also what happens to a tire if it runs over a nail. Bummer. |
When economists talk about inflation, they mean that prices are very high, and it takes more cash to buy things. Deflation is the opposite—it's also known as a negative inflation rate. Deflation is dangerous for the economy, and it's connected with era like the Great Depression of the 1930s. Deflation literally means "a loss of air," and you can use it that way too: "The deflation of my tires meant I wasn't going anywhere." |
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| 4909 |
deregulation |
the act of freeing from rules |
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A regulation is basically a rule or directive made by an authority. Deregulation is the removal, or cancellation, of certain rules or directives. (The prefix "de-" here means "remove.") |
Governments set lots of regulations to create order and uniformity in a particular industry, like banking or manufacturing. When bankers and manufacturers don't like these regulations, they ask the government for fewer controls and restrictions, or deregulation. If your parents are constantly meddling in your life and you would like them to give you a little more freedom, you might consider asking them for deregulation. Your vocabulary might just impress them enough to grant it. |
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| 4910 |
economics |
science dealing with the circulation of goods and services |
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Economics studies the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services and their management. People get jobs, they make things, they sell those things, they get paid, they use that money to buy other things. Economics makes the world go round. |
Economics is a branch of social science. Like dueling political parties, economists also support different theories about how to best regulate the economy with government policies. Since it relates to the financial health of countries and how countries interact through trade, the relevance of economics is enormous and often the subject of the evening news. "Home Economics" is the somewhat antiquated yet still relevant notion of the management of money, food, laundry, and cleaning that keep a house running smoothly. |
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| 4911 |
franchise |
a statutory right or privilege granted by a government |
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A franchise is a right granted by a government or corporation to an individual or group of individuals. One of the most important government-issued rights — so important it's known simply as "the franchise" — is the right to vote. |
In its more commercial meaning, the fast-food chain McDonalds is a franchise. So are Burger King and Kentucky Fried Chicken and the New York Yankees. In other words, businesses from which you can buy a license in order to sell or use their products. More recently, the term has come to have an intellectual meaning as well, as in a particular series of books or films, such as the Harry Potter franchise. |
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| 4912 |
incorporation |
consolidating two or more things |
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Incorporation is making something part of a whole. The incorporation of egg yolks into a hot liquid must be done slowly so the eggs don't curdle. |
Incorporation can also refer to making a company a legal corporation, and the "Inc." after many company names stands for "Incorporated." If you're starting a new business, you should look into the laws regarding incorporation in your state, to see if incorporating would make sense for you. When territory is acquired and taken into a larger body, that's also incorporation. The incorporation of your small neighborhood park into the county parks system will help preserve it as a green space. |
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| 4913 |
jingoism |
fanatical patriotism |
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Jingoism is fanatical, over-the-top patriotism. If you refuse to eat, read, wear, or discuss anything that wasn't made in your own country, people might accuse you of jingoism. |
Jingoism comes from the word jingo, the nickname for a group of British people who always wanted to go to war to prove the superiority of Britain. Now we use jingoism for that kind of aggressive, chauvinistic behavior in any country, or for things intended to stir up war-thirst and blind patriotism. If you see a TV show tries to get viewers to support a military cause without a critical look at whether war is necessary, call it jingoism. |
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| 4914 |
monopoly |
a market in which there are many buyers but only one seller |
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A monopoly is the exclusive ownership or control of something. If your sister claims a monopoly over the television during the Tom Cruise movie marathon, you would be wise not to touch that remote. |
In economics, a monopoly specifically means the domination of a market by one owner or seller. Think of the board game Monopoly. You’re trying to own all the properties so that you have a monopoly over the board and the other players have to pay you basically anywhere they land. You might recognize the prefix mono, meaning “one." Add it to the Greek word polein which means “sell,” and there you have it — one seller. |
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| 4915 |
oligopoly |
a market in which a few producers control a commodity |
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In an oligopoly, a few powerful merchants or companies control the entire market. If you and three friends buy up all the toilet paper factories in the world, you will have a toilet paper oligopoly. |
Oligopoly comes from the ancient Greek oligo-, for "few," and pole, for "merchant," but the term wasn't invented until the late 19th century. In an economic oligopoly, only a few producers control the supply of something (like steel, cars, or clown suits), and each one has a lot of influence over prices. Oligopoly might remind you of monopoly, which is when a single producer controls the whole market. |
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| 4916 |
referendum |
a legislative act referred for approval to a popular vote |
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A referendum is an official vote on a specific issue. It's often part of a larger election. |
On many issues, our elected representatives argue, negotiate, and make a law, but sometimes there's a referendum — the issue is put directly to the people for a vote as part of an election. Past referendums have been on gay marriage and the legalization of marijuana. Usually, a referendum is a yes or no question. Smaller groups can have referendums too — like a school system deciding whether or not to have school uniforms or a longer school year. |
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| 4917 |
regulation |
the act of bringing to uniformity |
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If you declare that Fridays are Pajama Day, did you create a regulation? No. A regulation is a rule put in place by some authority, such as a government. In fact, there might already be a regulation on the books: No pajamas in school. |
If you're trying to remember what a regulation is, think about the phrase "rules and regulations." Regulations are often set by governing bodies of a sport or other activity — thus, there is an accepted regulation-size soccer ball, set by FIFA, professional soccer's governing body. Many government agencies are in charge of "regulating" industries, setting up regulations that companies need to follow to keep us all safe. |
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| 4918 |
shareholder |
someone who holds shares of stock in a corporation |
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A shareholder is someone who holds stock in a company. Shareholders partially own a company and can make more money when it does well. |
When you share, you're using or enjoying something with others. Similarly, shareholders own shares — also known as stocks — in a company, so the shareholders all own a little piece of the company. Therefore, shareholders want the company to succeed, so their shares will be worth more money. If one shareholder owns more than 50% of the shares, that person can control the company. Otherwise, the shareholders will have to work together to make decisions. |
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| 4919 |
stockholder |
someone who holds shares of stock in a corporation |
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A stockholder is someone who has shares in a company. Stockholders own a piece of that company. If you’re a stockholder in the latest, greatest, financially sound new start-up company, your stock is probably worth a lot of money! |
Stockholders are people who hold stocks — in other words, own shares — in a corporation. When you buy stocks, it's like buying part of the company. The more shares you buy, the more invested you are in a company. The value of the stock goes up when the company does well and goes down when the company does poorly, so stockholders want the company to succeed. If you want to become a stockholder, start following the stock market. |
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| 4920 |
subsidy |
a grant paid by a government to an enterprise |
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A subsidy is a grant of financial assistance. Many school districts, for example, offer a subsidy to low-income families for book fees and lunch costs. The family pays a set amount and the district makes up the difference. |
The noun subsidy comes from French and Latin roots that mean "help and aid." Subsidies are most often offered by the government, but individuals can offer subsidies as well. "The parents offered to give a subsidy for students to go on the ski trip. The deal was that if the kids earned half the money, the parents would pay for the other half." |
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| 4921 |
ambassador |
a diplomat of the highest rank |
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An ambassador is an official representative for his or her country, stationed in another nation, like Benjamin Franklin, who was an ambassador to France. |
Ambassador usually describes the official diplomatic envoy who represents one country to another. These ambassadors work to promote understanding, perhaps by settling differences or clearing up misunderstanding. Used less formally, an ambassador can be anyone who represents something, like a pop singer who is a "brand ambassador" for a cosmetics company. |
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| 4922 |
cabinet |
a storage compartment for clothes and valuables |
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A cabinet is a piece of furniture that has doors and drawers and is often used for storage, like a kitchen cabinet that holds your drinking glasses and plates. |
Cabinets store things, like a bathroom cabinet that holds items like toothbrushes and soap. Another kind of cabinet is a group of official advisers of executive departments of governments. President Andrew Jackson had a group of informal advisers whom his opponents mockingly called his "kitchen cabinet," a term which has since lost its negative meaning and describes any President's closest confidantes. |
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| 4923 |
curfew |
an order that after a certain time activities are prohibited |
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Curfew is a rule or law that sets a time that certain people have to be off the streets. A town may set a curfew for teenagers, for example, although many parents impose a stricter curfew for their own kids. |
Historically, a curfew was signaled by the ringing of a bell meant to alert residents that it was time to put out their hearth fires. The word curfew comes from an Old French word cuevrefeu, "cover fire," cuevre meaning to cover, and feu meaning fire. Over time, curfew has come to refer to getting people off the streets at night and into their homes, often during times of civil unrest. |
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| 4924 |
disincentive |
a negative motivational influence |
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A disincentive makes you not want to do something. The possibility of getting an expensive ticket is one disincentive for speeding on the highway. |
Use the noun disincentive to mean something that discourages you from taking some action, instead of motivating you to try the way an incentive does. A library fine is a disincentive from keeping books for too long, and the fear that you'll be rejected is a disincentive from applying to a competitive college. The Latin prefix dis is key here: it means either "a lack of" or "do the opposite of." |
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| 4925 |
ex post facto |
affecting things past |
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Use the adjective ex post facto to describe something that influences events in the past, like an ex post facto pay raise, which reimburses you for work you've done already. |
Ex post facto is a Latin phrase that essentially means "retroactive," or affecting something that's already happened. You're most likely to come across ex post facto in a legal context, since lawyers talk about ex post facto law, which can change the punishment for a crime that occurred before a law went into effect, for example. In Latin, it means "from what is done afterwards." |
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| 4926 |
finance |
the commercial activity of providing funds and capital |
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To finance something is to pay for it, like using the money you earn at your part-time job to finance your cell phone bill. |
As a verb, it carries two very different meanings: "to pay for" or "obtain on credit." So, if you can finance your trip, it means you have the money to pay for it. Anyone who works in finance, meaning the banking and investment industry, will tell you plenty of people get in trouble by letting credit cards finance things like vacations. |
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| 4927 |
funding |
financial resources provided to make some project possible |
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College is expensive these days, so if you plan on going, you may need some funding — or money that makes projects possible. |
Grants, capital investments, donations, and loans are all forms of funding or financial support. The foundation of the word funding is fund, which is actually related to the word foundation: The Latin fundus means "a piece of land," or "the bottom of something." |
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| 4928 |
habeas corpus |
a writ ordering a prisoner to be brought before a judge |
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The law says if the government is keeping a person in jail, it is obligated to explain why: when someone legally demands such an explanation, the order is called a writ of habeas corpus. |
It would be pretty bad if the government could imprison you for no reason with no explanation, right? That can happen in totalitarian countries, but in democracies we depend on habeas corpus, which requires a judge to release someone when there's no lawful reason to imprison them. Like most legalese, habeas corpus is Latin, literally "You should have the person," and it means a person can’t be locked up without explanation or trial — they must be brought before a judge. |
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| 4929 |
intermediary |
a negotiator who acts as a link between parties |
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An intermediary is someone who acts as a go-between or a mediator between two other people. Be careful when you're the intermediary between two friends who are fighting, because they might both end up mad at you! |
The word intermediary comes from the Latin intermedius, which is also the root word for intermediate. Inter- means between, and medius means the middle — intermediary retains that sense of being in the middle. Intermediaries are used to negotiate between two countries who are at odds, between a company and a client over a contract, between two bickering children, or between a boss and an employee in salary negotiations. |
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| 4930 |
legislature |
an assembly that makes, amends, or repeals laws |
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A legislature is a governing body that makes laws and can also amend or repeal them. |
The word legislature comes from the Latin word for "law" — legis. In the US, each state has a legislature — made up of the elected state senators and assemblymen or women, or representatives. The US Congress is the national legislature. These bodies, whose members are often referred to as "law-makers," make up the legislative branch of government, as distinct from the executive and judicial branches. |
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| 4931 |
naturalization |
the proceeding whereby a foreigner is granted citizenship |
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Use the noun naturalization to describe what happens when someone becomes a brand new citizen of a country. |
If you're born in one country but want to become a citizen of another, you'll have to go through the process of naturalization. There are certain rules and processes involved in naturalization, depending on the country, but you usually have to live there for a certain number of years and swear an oath of loyalty. When biologists use the word naturalization, they're talking about moving plants or animals to a new place where they can thrive. |
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| 4932 |
nomination |
the act of officially naming a candidate |
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The first step in the process of electing a candidate for office or giving someone an award is nomination. When someone is officially recommended as a contender, that's their nomination. |
Your nomination for Best Animated Film in a film festival means that you're one of the directors who will be up for the award. A nomination is a huge honor in itself, because it means you've been chosen to be on a short list of possible winners. During presidential elections, major party nominations are usually made after a primary election—the party's nomination is its official endorsement of a candidate. The Latin root, nominationem, means "a naming." |
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| 4933 |
productivity |
the quality of yielding positive results |
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Use the noun productivity to describe how much you can get done. Your boss at work probably keeps track of your productivity — meaning he’s checking to see how much work you do and how well you do it. |
The word productivity is often used in the workplace. It can describe the performance of individual workers, a department, or even an entire industry. You’ll often hear it used with a percentage. Your boss might come in with a smile and say that productivity has increased by 30 percent. Productivity is also frequently used in relation to farming. If you live in a farming community you likely hear news reports about agricultural productivity in your area. |
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| 4934 |
union |
the state of being joined or united or linked |
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A union is things coming together, or uniting, to make one. When the thirteen colonies that became the United States came together, they formed a union. Marriage is another kind of union. |
Workers come together to form trade unions so that together they can have a stronger voice negotiating with their employer. The word famously occurs in the Preamble (the introduction) to the United States Constitution: "We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union...do ordain and establish this Constitution...." You may recognize the Latin root unum in union, as in e pluribus unum "from many, one," the motto on the seal of the United States. |
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| 4935 |
advertising |
the business of drawing attention to goods and services |
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Advertising is the act of drawing the public’s attention to something, usually to sell it. Whatever is written on the sandwich board you're wearing is what you're advertising. |
Advertising is getting the word out — whether it’s on a billboard, in a magazine ad, on a commercial, on the side of a blimp, or by singing it from the highest mountaintop. If you want to let people know about a product, service, or candidate, you run an advertising campaign. The word advertising may also be used for the advertisements themselves or the business of creating advertisements. |
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| 4936 |
bank |
financial institution that accepts deposits and lends money |
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Unless you hide it under your mattress, you probably keep your money in a bank, or a business that stores and invests money. |
There are several different meanings of the word bank. Besides the ones connected with money — like a savings bank or a piggy bank — a bank is also a slope of grass or earth, such as a river bank. Both of these are rooted in a Germanic word, bankiz, or "bank of earth." From this root came words meaning "shelf" and "table." The money-related bank came from the "table" meaning, banque in Middle French, as in "moneylender's exchange table." |
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| 4937 |
barter |
exchange goods without involving money |
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If you make a deal with your brother to change the oil in his car in exchange for one of his video games, what you’ve just done is barter — or trade goods and services. |
Before money was invented, people traded goods and services in order to acquire the things they needed. An individual might trade, for example, a cow in exchange for help building a shed, or a dozen eggs in exchange for several yards of cloth. To this day people continue to barter for goods and services although this method of commerce is no longer widespread. The verb barter has survived into modern times to refer to making a transaction that involves the exchange of goods or services rather than money. |
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| 4938 |
borrow |
get temporarily |
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The word borrow means to take something and use it temporarily. You can borrow a book from the library, or borrow twenty bucks from your mom, or even borrow an idea from your friend. |
Usually , borrow implies taking something temporarily and returning it later. However, you can borrow non-physical things and adopt them as your own. For example, the English language has borrowed many words from other languages — such as Latin and Greek — but those words were never "given back." If you're subtracting numbers, you might have to borrow from the tens column to complete the problem. |
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| 4939 |
coin |
a flat metal piece (usually a disc) used as money |
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If you coin a phrase, that means you come up with a new way to say something, like the person who coined "webizens" to describe people who constantly use the Internet. |
The verb coin literally refers to making coins, the change you probably have in your pocket. The word can be used in a broader sense — creating something new, usually something related to language. For example, you could coin a phrase or a new word for “joke.” The language authorities would be proud — unlike federal authorities if you tried to coin money. That kind of coining is a criminal offense. |
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| 4940 |
consumption |
the act of using something up |
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Consumption means using, buying or eating something. If we don't reduce our energy consumption, we will run out of fuel. Conspicuous consumption is buying something to show off. |
Consumption is related to the verb consume, which means to eat, use, or buy. You will often read about consumption in terms of rate––how fast we are using up a particular resource. If you consume ten cookies in an hour, your rate of consumption is ten cookies an hour. Sustainable? Let's hope not. |
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| 4941 |
currency |
the metal or paper medium of exchange that is presently used |
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Currency is the paper and coin money that a country uses to conduct business. The United States uses a currency that's made up of dollars, quarters, nickels, dimes, and pennies. |
Just about every country has its own currency — the money its people use to pay for their groceries, clothes, and other goods. Paper currency in the United States is all green and can confuse people who use bills with different colors for different denominations. In addition to describing a country's monetary system, currency means something that is accepted or used. The slang word "daddy-o" was the currency in the 1950s, but people who say it today can expect to receive strange looks. |
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| 4942 |
duty |
the social force that obliges you to behave in a certain way |
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When you've done your duty, you've done what you're supposed to and met your responsibilities. Your sense of duty as a citizen might compel you to vote; it might also keep you from voting twice. |
A duty is an obligation, and we get new duties with new positions in life, like taking a job, or becoming a parent. You didn't realize one of your duties as club president would be cleaning up after meetings. A police officer or cab driver can be on-duty or off-duty. As an off-duty police officer, you might still feel it's your duty to stop a robbery. Duty also means "tax," which is why people like shopping duty-free at the airport. |
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| 4943 |
earn |
acquire or deserve by one's efforts or actions |
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When you earn something, you gain it as a result of your actions. You can earn your friend's gratitude by rescuing her pet kitten from a tree. |
Earning has to do with things people get through their own efforts or behavior. A good friend earns your trust. A dishonest coworker might earn a reputation as a liar. This word is also used in financial contexts. If someone asks how much you earned last year, they're asking how much money you made at your job. |
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| 4944 |
election |
vote to select the winner of a position or political office |
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An election is a vote to decide who will hold a political office. Every four years, there is the election of a new U.S. President. |
If you have been following politics for long, you'll hear about plenty of elections: votes held every few years for political office. Mayors, governors, judges, and the President are all put in office by elections. You can also speak of the election of a winner: for example, "Her election was close." An election can also mean any kind of choice, such as "his election to move to Vermont." All the meanings of this word have to do with exercising choice. |
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| 4945 |
employer |
a person or firm that hires workers |
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An employer is the person or organization that you work for. Can't find a job? Look at the bright side: you don't have to cater to the whims of any employer! |
The verb employ means "to make use of." An employer hires an employee, or worker, in order to employ him at various tasks. A factory owner is an employer who might hire people to work on an assembly line. If you're a teacher, then your school is your employer. If you’re lucky enough to have a generous employer, then you’ll probably want to stay at your job for a while! |
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| 4946 |
executive branch |
part of U.S. government responsible for carrying out laws |
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The executive branch of the government is responsible for carrying out, or executing, the laws. The key member of the executive branch of the United States government is the President. |
You know how an executive runs a business? That might help you remember that the executive branch of government is in charge of the country, because that branch includes the President. The executive branch carries out the laws, which are made by the legislative branch and interpreted by the judicial branch. Every four years, an election determines who will be in the executive branch, also known as the Executive Office of the President. |
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| 4947 |
funds |
assets in the form of money |
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The money you have available at a given time are your funds. If you only get paid once a month, you have to budget carefully so you don't run out of funds between paychecks. |
The word funds comes from the Latin word fundus, which means "bottom," "base," or "a piece of property." It's not clear how the noun funds got from property to available cash, but perhaps the connection came because a person could base his financial security on being able to sell his land if he needed ready money. If your kids are low on funds, they will probably hit you up for an advance on their allowances. The request will probably begin something like, "How much do you love me?" Too bad that doesn't work at your bank! |
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| 4948 |
governor |
the head of a state authority |
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A governor leads a state government, just like a president leads a national government. |
If you know that governing means to be in charge of something, that should help you remember what a governor is. Just as mayors run cities and presidents and prime ministers run countries, governors run states. A governor is elected for a term, has a vice governor, and deals with a legislature, just like the U.S. President. Governor is a very important title in the U.S., and many governors — such as Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush — have gone on to become U.S. presidents. |
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| 4949 |
honesty |
the quality of being honest |
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If you tell the truth, you possess the quality of honesty. If someone offers a harsh criticism of your latest attempt at songwriting, you might say, "Thank you for your honesty." Even if you don't mean it. |
The original meaning of honesty had more to do with honor than truthfulness, although the two are naturally linked. The trait of honesty has been prized for centuries, and Shakespeare once wrote, "Honesty is the best policy. If I lose mine honor, I lose myself." The honesty flower, sometimes called the money plant, is so named because its coin-shaped seedpods are translucent, the idea of transparency symbolizing integrity. |
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| 4950 |
household |
a social unit living together in a residence |
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How many people does your house hold? That’s your household! A household refers to a family or group of people living together. It’s a social unit under one roof. |
All the people living in your house, including servants, make up your household. Don’t have any servants? Well, your roommates count as part of your household, too. In the middle of the night, your household might be asleep. Your household income could determine whether or not you get the pool in the backyard. Household can also be an adjective to describe — you guessed it — things that are in your house, like household appliances or household furniture. |
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| 4951 |
investor |
someone who commits capital to gain financial returns |
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An investor is someone who provides (or invests) money or resources for an enterprise, such as a corporation, with the expectation of financial or other gain. |
We usually hear about an investor in a business context, but when someone invests things like time or labor in a project or idea they, too, are investors of a sort. The "return on investment" in these cases, however, is often a little less tangible than money. Someone who volunteers to help build houses is an investor in their community. Someone who spends time helping a child with homework is an investor in that child's future. |
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| 4952 |
job |
a specific piece of work required to be done as a duty |
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Unless you win the lottery, you will probably need a job, or employment where you do work for pay. There are also non-paying jobs: it might be your job to wash the dishes after dinner. |
Job and work are often synonymous and unfortunately often have a negative connotation meaning “toil." Other meanings of job that are negative involve damaging events or crimes. When you wrecked your car, someone might have said, "You did a real job on that;" or, when you convinced your sister to hand over her allowance, you might have referred to it as a "con job." |
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| 4953 |
leader |
a person who rules or guides or inspires others |
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A leader is the one in the charge, the person who convinces other people to follow. A great leader inspires confidence in other people and moves them to action. |
A leader is the head guy or gal, the one running the show. The leader of the band calls the shots and sets the tempo for the music. A conductor is the leader of an orchestra; all musicians look to him or her to know when to begin and end playing their instruments. A president is the leader of a country whose decisions make a difference to the whole population. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a leader of the Civil Rights Movement. A leader comes first in line — in a parade or a social system — and gets a lot of attention, but ultimately, a leader needs followers. |
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| 4954 |
leadership |
the status of being in charge |
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Leadership is the action of leading a group of people. Or, the actual people who lead the group. |
If you think you have leadership skills, you better be able to rally the troops and get the job done. Leadership can be the act of leading, or a name for the group of people doing the leading. The House leadership, newly emboldened by election results, may set an ambitious agenda for the new session of Congress. Your own leadership skills may be called into question if your entire staff resigns and goes to work for your competitor. |
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| 4955 |
legislator |
someone who makes or enacts laws |
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A legislator makes laws. Congress is full of legislators. You have several who represent you at both the state and national level. |
Don't confuse a legislator with the legislature. Whereas the latter refers to the group such as the Congress, a legislator is a member of the group. At the national level, senators and representatives are given the task of writing our laws. States sometimes have different names for their two legislative houses, but the set-up is similar. The United States may be the world's oldest democracy, but legislators have been around nearly forever — the Romans had them. |
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| 4956 |
loan |
the temporary provision of money (usually at interest) |
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If you want to buy a car but don't have money, you'll need a loan: a sum of money given temporarily that must be repaid, often with interest, or an added percentage on top the original sum. |
You can loan money or objects. If you loan someone your car, make sure he's a good driver. You might loan your friend a sweatshirt if she's cold and doesn't have one. Expect to get both your car and your sweatshirt back. A word that is borrowed from another language is called a loanword, like the word karaoke, which is Japanese. |
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| 4957 |
official |
of or relating to a place of business |
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Official is the real deal. If you want the latest news from Graceland, check the official Elvis Presley website. But you’ll have to look elsewhere to find the unofficial, unapproved, and highly unlikely scoop on Elvis sightings. |
If something is official, it's authorized and approved by somebody. If Gatorade is the official drink of the Olympics, somebody with authority has signed some papers and a deal has been made. When you're playing soccer or other sports, the official is the person who makes the calls; he referees (or officiates) the game. |
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| 4958 |
penalty |
the disadvantage or painful consequences of an action |
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A penalty is a punishment or consequence for doing something wrong, such as having to pay a fee for not bringing your library book back when it was due. |
In hockey, players who break the rules have to sit in "the penalty box." Just like the penalty box punishes hockey players, all penalties are punishments for doing something wrong. Going to prison is the penalty for serious crimes. Detention is the penalty for misbehaving in school. Often, penalty applies to payments people have to make for breaking a financial contract of some kind. |
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| 4959 |
petition |
a formal request that something be submitted to an authority |
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If you're angry about the new rule that you have to wear bright pink shoes to work every day, why not write up a petition, get all your co-workers to sign it, and submit it to your boss. |
Petition comes from the Anglo-Norman word peticiun, meaning "demand, request," and when you petition someone, you ask them to consider your request. If you write up a statement, say against the town's approval of a new carnival district, and collect signatures from 100 neighbors to turn in to the city government, that's a petition. If you pray to the carnival gods to reign down ruin on the carnival, that's also a petition — and no signatures needed. |
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| 4960 |
politics |
the activities involved in managing a state or a government |
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Your friend who's obsessed with watching Congressional debates and listening to experts discuss the bills being voted on in the Senate has a keen interest in politics, or the details of governing or managing a state or a country. |
While politics usually refers to the government of a city, state, or country — or the relationship between countries — it can also be used to talk about the way people use their positions in a company or organization to gain power or authority. This is often called office politics. Another similar phrase is playing politics, which means doing something in order to become more powerful rather than doing what's right. |
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| 4961 |
prejudice |
a partiality preventing objective consideration of an issue |
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If you have a negative attitude towards someone based on race or ethnicity rather than personal experience, you might be accused of prejudice. |
Prejudice is remarkably similar to its Latin root in form and meaning; the Latin praejudicium means "judgment in advance." A racial prejudice is a negative attitude towards a group of people based on race — not on direct knowledge or experience. If you prejudice someone, you cause them to have a negative attitude towards someone else. Lawyers are not allowed to bring certain types of evidence such as rumors into a trial because it might prejudice the jury. |
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| 4962 |
privilege |
a special advantage or benefit not enjoyed by all |
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A privilege is a special advantage not enjoyed by everyone. If you're very snooty, you probably don't allow just anyone the privilege of being your friend. |
Privilege comes from Latin privilegium, meaning a law for just one person, and means a benefit enjoyed by an individual or group beyond what's available to others. Someone wealthy come from privilege. Someone with a library card has borrowing privileges. Privilege can also be used as a verb. If you are on a committee giving away scholarships, you'll have to decide whether to privilege students from poor backgrounds or the students with high test scores. |
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| 4963 |
profit |
the advantageous quality of being beneficial |
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A profit is money you make, as opposed to money you lose. Also, anything good profits you — it benefits you. |
When we talk about profits, we're talking about coming out ahead. Businesses need to make a profit — money — or they'll have to fire employees, cut expenses, and maybe go out of business entirely. If more money is coming in than going out, that's a profit. Profit also means a benefit. For example, you could profit from playing baseball even if you made no money from it. Getting exercise and fun would profit anybody quite a bit. |
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| 4964 |
quarter |
one of four equal parts |
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A quarter is one-fourth of something. If you cut a pizza into four pieces and share it with three friends, each of you will eat a quarter of the pizza. |
A quarter is the same thing as twenty-five percent of something. Many sporting events are divided this way, and you'll often hear sports commentators saying things like, "Here is the score at the end of the first quarter." The Latin word quartus, "fourth," is at the root of quarter, and the earliest — and goriest — use specifically referred to a form of execution that involved dismembering a prisoner's body into four pieces, or quarters. |
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| 4965 |
refugee |
an exile who flees for safety |
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A refugee is someone who has left a dangerous place for a less dangerous place. You could help refugees from a hurricane by bringing them food and blankets. |
Refuge means shelter. So a refugee is a person that seeks shelter, usually from war, natural disaster, or some other harmful situation. If you see the conditions inside a refugee camp, you will realize how hard the lives of the refugees must have been before leaving home. |
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| 4966 |
rent |
a payment or series of payments made by a lessee to an owner |
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To rent something is to pay money to use it, live in it, or borrow it. If you're not sure which musical instrument you'll stick with and enjoy playing, it's best to rent a few to try out before buying. |
Rent is both a verb and a noun for borrowing or leasing something. If you rent an apartment, you pay money to live there, and that money is also rent. You can rent many things, from skates at a roller rink to furniture for the home you rent. You don't own things you rent — you just use them temporarily. A rent is also a rip: "She fell and tore a big rent in one knee of her jeans." |
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| 4967 |
representation |
standing in for someone and speaking on their behalf |
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A representation acts or serves on behalf or in place of something. A lawyer provides legal representation for his client. A caricature is an exaggerated representation or likeness of a person. |
Representation comes from the Latin repraesentare meaning "bring before, exhibit." A representation is an exhibit, whether it comes in the form of legal guidance or in the form of artistic expression. The act of representation has to do with replacing or acting on behalf of an original. Elected officials serve as the representation for their constituency — or at least it's supposed to work that way. |
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| 4968 |
reward |
compensation for worthy acts or retribution for wrongdoing |
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A reward is something you get for a job well done. If you study hard for that vocabulary test, an "A" might be the reward in your future. |
You can use reward as a verb, as when the mayor rewards a firefighter who saves a family from a terrible blaze, or as a noun, to talk about the actual payment or item that's given to the firefighter. People often offer a reward for the return of lost or stolen things, like bicycles or jewelry or dogs. Reward meant "a regarding" or "an observation" in the 1300's, but it soon came to mean "repayment for some service." |
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| 4969 |
royalty |
royal persons collectively |
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Royalty is a good word for describing a family of kings, queens, princes, and princesses. If you are in the music business, you may expect a payment, or royalty every time your song is played. How's that for royal treatment? |
The noun royalty means a group of royals, or kings and their extended families. Queen Elizabeth of England is a member of Britain's royalty, for example. You can also use royalty to describe the payment a writer receives whenever her book is sold, or that a musician gets when his song is played in a grocery store. The word comes from the Latin regalis, "regal," which in turn comes from rex, "king." |
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| 4970 |
salary |
fixed payment for services |
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The pay or wages you earn for doing your job is called your salary. You might prefer your low-paying job to one with a higher salary because you have so much fun with your co-workers. |
Salary comes from the Latin word salarium, which also means "salary" and has the root sal, or "salt." In ancient Rome, it specifically meant the amount of money allotted to a Roman soldier to buy salt, which was an expensive but essential commodity. Today, salt is an inexpensive purchase at the grocery store, and your salary is certainly to be paid in your country's currency. |
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| 4971 |
shortage |
an amount by which something is less than expected |
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A shortage is a lack of something, especially a severe lack. A drought is a shortage of water. |
When there's a shortage, there's not enough of something. If you don't have enough money to pay your bills, you have a shortage of money. A bad football team may have a shortage of good players. This kind of shortage is like a deficit or shortfall. A shortage can also be a severe dearth of something, like a famine, which is a lack of food. If there's a drought because of little rainfall, that's a serious shortage. |
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| 4972 |
specialization |
making something suitable for a particular purpose |
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If you have a specialization, that means you focus on a specific aspect of a larger topic. If you’re a nurse, your specialization might be pediatric care, which means you focus on providing care to infants and children. |
You probably notice that the word special makes up a big part of specialization, which can help you remember its meaning. Your specialization is your special subject or skill. If you’re planning on studying biology in college, your advisor eventually will ask what your area of specialization will be. When you graduate, you’ll know a lot about biology in general, but there’ll be a particular area — such as marine biology or rodent reproduction — that you studied deeply. |
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| 4973 |
treaty |
a written agreement between two states or sovereigns |
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When a war ends, often two countries will sign a treaty, which is a contract where both sides agree to behave a certain way. Treaties are used for many reasons, like creating alliances or preventing nuclear weapons from being built. |
The Latin root of treaty is tractare, which means “handle.” When two nations sign a treaty, they decide to handle things according to rules defined in their agreement. However, treaties are not always permanent, and can be broken if one side changes their mind. When white Europeans were settling in the United States, they made many treaties with Native Americans, and every single treaty was eventually broken, some even less than a day later. |
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| 4974 |
wage |
something that remunerates |
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If your job pays a good wage, it means that you earn a lot of money for the hard work you do. If you're not happy with your wage, you might have to wage war on your boss. |
Wage is one of those words whose verb and noun forms have entirely different meanings. A worker's wage is how much money she makes. But when you wage something, you carry it out: for example, a warmonger is someone whose primary goal is to wage wars. The word is of Germanic origin, and it's related to both gage and wed, with their underlying meanings of "to pledge." |
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| 4975 |
atlas |
a collection of maps in book form |
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Can’t remember which countries border Uzbekistan? Consult an atlas, a book of maps, and you’ll find the information you need. |
An atlas gets its name from the Greek god Atlas, who, according to myth, was forced to bear the weight of the heavens on his shoulders. You might feel like Atlas if you have to carry one of these books around. Atlases are usually large, oversized books that contain maps, diagrams, and information such as population figures. Traditionally, atlas refers specifically to a bound book of maps rather than to a folding map, a globe, or an online database. |
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| 4976 |
broadcast |
disseminate over the airwaves, as in radio or television |
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To broadcast is to air a program, especially on TV or radio. It also means to tell people about something. If you paint your one true love’s name on your car, you broadcast your feelings to the whole world! |
The word broadcast used to have to do with spreading seed, but now it refers to spreading information. It can be a noun or verb — if you turn on the radio, you're hearing a broadcast, and the station is broadcasting that show. You don’t have to be in a studio to broadcast, though. Any time you let a lot of people know about something (whether they like it or not), you broadcast. When information is broadcast, it becomes widely known. |
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| 4977 |
clarification |
the act of removing solid particles from a liquid |
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Clarification is what you hope to achieve when you make an idea or concept less confusing and easier to understand. This often happens after a detailed or very clear explanation. |
Loudspeaker announcements in bus terminals and train stations are always so muffled and difficult to understand that it would be nice if you could at least find someone afterward who could provide clarification. In the realm of science, clarification is also the act of removing solid particles from a liquid so that it is more pure and, in some cases, so that it is transparent. |
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| 4978 |
criticism |
a serious examination and judgment of something |
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If you dye your hair bright blue, you're likely to get some criticism from people who just don't understand your personal style. When you're on the receiving end of criticism, you are being judged in a disapproving way. |
The noun criticism is most often used to describe negative commentary about something or someone, but it's just as correct to use criticism to mean "an examination or judgment." Critics who review books and movies consider their reviews to be criticism, whether they're positive or negative. So the criticism you receive doesn't have to be all about your faults; it can actually be a pleasant experience. |
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| 4979 |
editorial |
an article giving opinions or perspectives |
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An editorial is an article that expresses the opinion of the person who or organization that wrote it. The president of the Llama Lovers Club wrote a scathing editorial in the Llama Times newspaper to protest the rash of llama thefts in her area. |
Open up any newspaper, and you'll see page after page of articles. Most of these articles were written by journalists who assembled and reported the facts of the story. On the editorial page, however, you'll find nothing but opinion. That opinion might come from the editor of the paper, a local politician, or a concerned citizen who has found some important issue to discuss. Editorial can also refer to the editor of the paper, whose editorial decisions determine which articles — and editorials appear in each edition. |
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| 4980 |
elaboration |
developing in intricate and painstaking detail |
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Elaboration means "adding details." Kids are famous for answering "good" when asked how school was and "nothing" when asked what they did there. If pressed for elaboration, they might talk about recess, lunch, and even what they learned. |
Elaboration is the result of going that extra mile, such as when your history teacher asks for five paragraphs on the Fall of Rome, and you write three pages, or when your friend, instead of giving you a regular birthday card, creates a mini-scrapbook with photos and mementos from the past year. As you can see, elaboration takes time and energy because you go into greater detail than usual. |
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| 4981 |
episode |
a happening that is distinctive in a series of events |
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Think of your favorite TV show. It runs all year long, in weekly installments. Each of those individual programs is an episode, one part of a long series. |
Episode, a term from Greek tragedy, refers to a section of a story. In the 19th century, Charles Dickens published chapters of his novels in weekly magazines, episodes that together made a novel. You can also use the word for events in your own life: "That was an unpleasant episode," when you're remembering a family fight, or, "Grandpa had a fainting episode." With the fighting and fainting, you can hope they're episodes, not the whole story. |
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| 4982 |
etiquette |
rules governing socially acceptable behavior |
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Etiquette is a code of polite conduct. If you practice proper etiquette, you are less likely to offend or annoy people — and you may even charm them. |
Many people think etiquette is about table manners in fancy restaurants, but quite simply, it is expected behavior that shows respect, meant to make everyone feel comfortable. For example, an etiquette book will tell you to bring a little gift when you are a dinner guest in someone's home, especially if it is your first visit — you know what is expected of you, and your gift shows respect and gratitude. |
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| 4983 |
footnote |
a printed comment placed below the main text on a page |
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A footnote is a short bit of extra information that's printed at the bottom of a book's page. Some footnotes cite the authors and titles of the sources the author consulted while researching and writing. |
The presence of footnotes usually means you're reading an academic or scholarly work of nonfiction. Your history paper might include footnotes on each page, noting the books, journals, and websites you used for your research. Some contemporary novels have footnotes as well, a complex and playful way for the author to insert extra notes and details. The foot of a page is the bottom, which explains the word footnote. |
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| 4984 |
foreshadowing |
the act of providing vague advance indications |
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Foreshadowing is an advance sign or warning of what is to come in the future. The author of a mystery novel might use foreshadowing in an early chapter of her book to give readers an inkling of an impending murder. |
When you want to let people know about an event that is yet to occur, you can use foreshadowing. Foreshadowing is used as a literary device to tease readers about plot turns that will occur later in the story. A fortune teller might use foreshadowing, warning that a short life line is a sign of some impending disaster. |
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| 4985 |
homonym |
a word pronounced or spelled the same with another meaning |
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Can you spot the homonyms in the sentence "The baseball pitcher drank a pitcher of water"? A homonym is a word that is said or spelled the same way as another word but has a different meaning. "Write” and “right” is a good example of a pair of homonyms. |
Homonym traces back to the Greek words homos, meaning “same,” and onuma, meaning “name.” So a homonym is sort of like two people who have the same name: called the same thing but different. A homonym can be a word that sounds the same as something else — like by (“near”) and buy (“purchase”) — or it can be spelled exactly the same way and pronounced differently — like minute (unit of time) and minute (“tiny”). |
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| 4986 |
homophone |
a word pronounced the same with another meaning or spelling |
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A homophone is a word that sounds the same as another word but has a different meaning and/or spelling. “Flower” and “flour” are homophones because they are pronounced the same but you certainly can’t bake a cake using daffodils. |
Other common homophones are write and right, meet and meat, peace and piece. You have to listen to the context to know which word someone means if they’re spoken aloud. If they say they like your jeans (genes?), they’re probably talking about your pants and not your height and eye color — but you’d have to figure it out from the situation! |
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| 4987 |
interjection |
an abrupt emphatic exclamation expressing emotion |
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An interjection is a word like "Hey!" or "Mmm!" or "Ugh!" Interjections can also be longer interruptions of a conversation or something happening. |
The inter part of interjection, which means "between," is a good clue that this is a term for words that bust in on other strings of words. If you've ever said "Whoa!", you've used an interjection. Interjections interject or interrupt — they break into the conversation. People often use interjections when excited, such as "Yes!" or "Wow!" You could also say, "May I make an interjection?" That would be a polite way of saying you'd like to add something. |
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| 4988 |
intonation |
the act of singing in a monotonous tone |
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Even if your friend claims she's not upset by the death of her pet iguana, her intonation may tell a different story. Intonation means the way someone's voice rises and falls as they're speaking. |
Your emotions, your regional accent, or just the particular way you're used to speaking can all affect the intonation of your voice. There's something musical in the way people speak, and intonation describes that musicality. The word also means "producing musical tones," either with your voice or a musical instrument. Another kind of intonation is chanting, or half-speaking, half-singing your words. |
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| 4989 |
juxtaposition |
the act of positioning close together |
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If a waiter served you a whole fish and a scoop of chocolate ice cream on the same plate, your surprise might be caused by the juxtaposition, or the side-by-side contrast, of the two foods. |
Any time unlike things bump up against each other, you can describe it as a juxtaposition. Imagine a funeral mourner telling jokes graveside, and you get the idea — the juxtaposition in this case is between grief and humor. Juxtaposition of two contrasting items is often done deliberately in writing, music, or art — in order to highlight their differences. |
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| 4990 |
lecture |
a speech that is open to the public |
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When your teacher stands up in front of you and teaches by talking about the latest chapter you've read or explaining how to do a new math problem - he is giving a lecture. |
A lecture is most often used to describe a method of teaching, particularly popular in college, where professors give organized talks as lessons to large groups of students. It is not quite as positive when children level the term at their parents — "Don't lecture me!" — for criticizing their clothes, their friends or their music. Lecture can also be used to describe any public talk, most often by an expert. |
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| 4991 |
logo |
a company emblem or device |
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A logo is a simple design that represents a company, organization, or product. Your college might have a logo composed of a picture of your mascot in your school colors. |
Just about any company you can think of has a logo, whether it's Apple and its apple or Coca-Cola and its signature red Coke bottle lettering. A logo is meant to immediately convey what the brand is and be memorable enough that you'll think of that brand every time you see the logo. The word has been around since the 1930's, when it's thought to have been shortened from logogram, which combines the Greek logos, "word," with gram, "something written." |
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| 4992 |
narration |
giving an account describing a course of events |
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Narration is the act of telling a story, usually in some kind of chronological order. Making up a scary ghost story and relating it around a camp fire is an act of narration. |
Narration generally means any kind of explaining or telling of something. It is usually used in reference to storytelling. If you've ever watched a television show where one character's voice talks directly to the audience, then you've heard narration. You will often find narration happening in songs where the singer is telling the story of how something happened — like the day he lost his guitar, his truck, his wife, and started singing the blues. |
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| 4993 |
recitation |
a public instance of repeating something prepared in advance |
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If you've ever repeated a rhyming poem from memory in front of an audience, you've given a recitation. |
The noun recitation comes from the word "recite." When you recite, or say something you've memorized, you give a recitation. This happens a lot in school and in religious traditions, but you might also hear your know-it-all friend give an impromptu recitation of a famous director's films or every Beatles song in alphabetical order. The word comes from the Latin prefix re, "again," and the word citare, "to summon." Summoning again from memory is recitation. |
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| 4994 |
sitcom |
a humorous drama based on day-to-day situations |
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Sitcom is short for “situation comedy.” It’s a funny TV show with a realistic setting, like an apartment full of wacky roommates or a restaurant where a regular cast of characters cracks jokes from week to week. |
Sitcoms have been around since people began rolling their eyes at laugh tracks. I Love Lucy (1950’s) was an early sitcom; it was one that featured a married couple who had zany misunderstandings. On 30 Rock (2000’s), the situation was a bunch of oddballs in their office making a TV show. On Barney Miller, (1970’s) the situation was a normal police captain surrounded by weird coworkers. The basic elements of a sitcom stay the same from week to week. |
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| 4995 |
slang |
informal language that is inappropriate for formal occasions |
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Slang refers to a type of language that's too informal to use in certain situations. You can tell a word or phrase is slang when it becomes uncool to use it after a while — like "groovy" or "far out." |
Often, slang terms are considered vulgar or offensive to use in polite conversation. However, over time, many slang expressions have become part of our standard vocabulary, as they are more commonly used. As a noun, slang can also mean "the characteristic language of a particular group of people" like a slang used by computer programmers. |
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| 4996 |
stress |
special emphasis attached to something |
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The word stress is about pressure, whether it's pressure on a syllable of a word (TRAIN-er versus train-EE), an object (the bridge is designed to handle the stress of the cars), or a person (I am under a lot of stress). |
It says something about our culture, how much we love to use the word stress and keep redefining it to mean new things. The word first appeared in about 1300, when it meant hardship or a force to which someone is subjected. In the 1890s, we stretched the meaning to include "emphasizing something" and, in the middle of the 20th century, started to associate it with psychological pressure. |
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| 4997 |
tempo |
the speed at which a composition is to be played |
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If no one is dancing at your party, you probably want to put on some music with a faster tempo — meaning a faster speed. |
The word tempo came into English by way of Italian, tracing all the way back to the Latin word tempus, meaning time. It was originally used to describe the timing of music, or the speed at which a piece of music is played. For example, a soothing song would be described as a slow tempo song. Tempo is still used in this way to describe music, but you’ll also hear it used to refer to pace or speed in general, as in — "the increased tempo at the end of a close basketball game" or "the slow tempo of action in a novel." |
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| 4998 |
advertisement |
a public promotion of some product or service |
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A public notice promoting the sale of a certain item is called an advertisement. The word is often shortened to ad. They're on TV, on the radio, online, in the paper — you can't even escape advertisements at the movies. |
Although advertisements are usually meant to persuade, they aren't always just for selling goods. They're a great way to get the word out about just about anything. You can place an advertisement to (among other things) look for your long-lost sister, hire an employee, or announce a local dance. Even way back in the 1600s, the British were posting advertisements for trips to a newfound place called "Virginia." |
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| 4999 |
animation |
quality of being active or spirited or alive and vigorous |
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Animation is the state of being full of life and energy, like a room full of excited kids at a birthday party. |
You're sure to get more people excited about your idea if you speak with animation, or liveliness, in your voice. If your face has animation, the expression in your eyes and the shape of your mouth accent what you say. As it applies to film making, animation refers to bringing something flat and unmoving, like a drawing, to life. |
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| 5000 |
apology |
an expression of regret at having caused trouble for someone |
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An apology is what you say or do when you want to let someone know (or fool them into thinking) that you regret something. An apology is nice, but chocolates or large bundles of cash are nicer. Always. |
The noun apology has its roots in the Greek apologos, meaning a story. It entered the English language in the Middle Ages. If you broke your friend’s sword and then made up an elaborate story to get out of trouble, that was an apology. After a few decades, the general sense of the word shifted to its current meaning — what you say when you want to express real remorse. |
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| 5001 |
appendix |
a vestigial process that resembles a small pouch |
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No, it's not just a tiny organ pouch that requires surgery when it begins to hurt; an appendix is also additional material at the end of a book or paper. |
You would think that the appendix at the end of a book came after appendix the body part, wouldn't you? After all, our bodies have been around a lot longer than books have. But you'd be wrong. The name for the organ, also known as vermiform appendix, came into use later, no doubt because it is something attached — as its Latin root is translated — to the intestines just as an appendix is attached to the end of a book. |
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| 5002 |
blend |
mix together different elements |
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If you blend red and blue, you get purple. To blend is to mix together thoroughly. If you put this color in your hair, you'll blend with the people at a punk rock concert! |
Used as a noun, the word blend means the thing you mixed together or the act of mixing something together. Purple is a blend of red and blue. When you see this word, picture the blender on your kitchen counter. If you use it to give ice cream, fruit and fruit juice a blend, it'll mix things together well to make a very tasty blend. |
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| 5003 |
chapter |
a subdivision of a written work; usually numbered and titled |
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A chapter is a section of a book. Some long novels might be divided into twenty or thirty chapters. |
The noun chapter is good for talking about a subset or small section of some larger thing. Book chapters are one example, and so is a chapter in a person's life or a chapter of an organization or club. When you mention the "mopey teenage chapter" of your life, you mean one small portion of the years you've lived. And the Montana chapter of a national fan club is made up of only members who live in one state. |
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| 5004 |
contraction |
the act of decreasing in size or volume or quantity or scope |
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A contraction is the act of decreasing the size of something or shortening it, or it can be the process of becoming smaller or compressed. |
The two most well-known uses of contraction involve muscles and words. A contraction of the muscle tenses it or shortens it, like when you're standing in the mirror flexing and admiring yourself. On the other hand, a contraction can also be two words that are combined, with a few letters often replaced by an apostrophe, like when we change do and not into don't. |
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| 5005 |
conversation |
the use of speech for informal exchange of views or ideas |
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A conversation occurs when people talk to each other, like a conversation with your friend about school or professional basketball. |
The noun conversation comes from the Old French word of the same spelling, meaning "manner of conducting oneself in the world." When you have a conversation with another person or a group of people, you listen closely and respond appropriately, so that your conversation is a true exchange of ideas, not just people waiting for their turn to talk. A good conversation makes you feel heard, satisfied, and maybe even more informed. |
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| 5006 |
cue |
a reminder for some action or speech |
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A cue is the long stick used for playing pool. A cue is also a reminder or stimulus to do something. |
In pool, you use the cue to hit the white ball into the red ball, aiming for a pocket. Other cues make things happen too. In acting, a lighting change or another actor's line could be a cue for you to enter the stage. During rehearsal, the actors need to learn their cues to make sure their timing is right. A cue can also be a clue or reminder of something. Anytime someone has good timing, they're on cue. |
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| 5007 |
cursive |
handwriting in which letters are connected within words |
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Cursive is a style of writing in which all the letters in a word are connected. It's also known as script or longhand. When the third-grade students learned cursive writing, they were excited to find that they could write entire words without lifting their pencil from the paper. |
Cursive comes from the past participle of the Latin word currere, which means "to run." In cursive handwriting, the letters all run into one another and the hand runs across the page, never lifting between letters. Every time a document asks for your signature at the bottom of a document, you are meant to use this flowing cursive writing style. |
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| 5008 |
encyclopedia |
a reference work containing articles on various topics |
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An encyclopedia is a reference work designed to cover all branches and topics of knowledge. We might describe someone who seems to know everything as a "walking encyclopedia." |
Encyclopedia comes the Greek words for "comprehensive" (cyclo) and "education" (pedia). The first encyclopedias were books (usually in many volumes), but now we have online and electronic encyclopedias. This reference is usually organized alphabetically and covers as many topics as possible. If you're doing research, the encyclopedia is a good place to start. |
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| 5009 |
fantasy |
imagination unrestricted by reality |
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A fantasy is something you imagine, which might involve dragons, unicorns, or an imaginary best friend. If you live in a fantasy world, you're not worrying much about reality — pleasant, maybe, but not very practical. |
Fantasy is dreams and imagination. In a football fantasy league, you can create your own dream team. In literature, fantasy — a genre similar to science fiction — might include a story about a three-headed squirrel and a bionic aardvark who fall in love on a planet made entirely of strawberries. Romance can be fantasy, too, according to a Billy Joel song: "It's just a fantasy. It's not the real thing. But sometimes a fantasy is all you need." |
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| 5010 |
indentation |
the space left between the margin and a line set in |
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An indentation is a notch, cut, or dent in something. If you take a hammer to a piece of metal, you will make a series of indentations. |
The dent in indentation shares a root with your dentist, and an indentation is basically like a tooth mark. Except some "teeth" are larger than others — a meteorite leaves a huge indentation in the ground, just as a sharp pencil could make a tiny indentation in your finger. You can talk about conceptual indentation, too. Loving the novel Anna Karenina might make an indentation in your general aversion to reading. It’s that’s good. |
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| 5011 |
index |
alphabetical listing of names and topics with page numbers |
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Can’t find any information on the yellow-eyed junco in your guide to rare birds? Check out your bird book's index. It’s an alphabetical list in the back of the book that catalogs all of the subjects covered by page number. |
In financial terms, an index is a list of stocks that are traded on the stock market, such as the Dow Jones Indexes. “Index cards” were once used to catalog books in a library, but now they’re mostly used to prepare for a test or a presentation, thanks to computers. As a verb, index describes the action of creating an index, such as, “I’m going to index my photo collection on my computer, so I can find what I’m looking for.” |
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| 5012 |
invitation |
a request to be present or take part in something |
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An invitation is a request, a solicitation, or an attempt to get another person to join you at a specific event. You need an invitation to go to the Academy Awards, even if you're George Clooney. |
When you ask people to attend a party, visit your beach house, or witness your marriage, you invite them — using the verb — and you've given them an invitation. An invitation can be delivered as a verbal request, a beautifully engraved card, or even puffs of smoke behind an airplane. If you give invitations to two hundred of your closest friends to attend your Mardi Gras party, you’d better make a lot of jambalaya. |
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| 5013 |
magazine |
a periodic publication containing articles and pictures |
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A magazine is a printed publication that comes out regularly and includes photographs and articles. Before cell phones became popular, people used to read magazines in doctors' waiting rooms. |
Magazines were once only printed on paper, but today there are also online magazines. These electronic versions are similar to traditional magazines in that they publish periodically and include stories, illustrations or photos, and usually advertisements. The original definition of magazine was a space for ammunition storage, either in a building or ship, or attached to a weapon. The very first printed magazine was called "Gentleman's Magazine," from the idea that it was a "storehouse" of knowledge. |
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| 5014 |
noun |
a content word referring to a person, place, thing or action |
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A noun is a part of speech that serves as a subject or object. More generally, we think of a noun as a person, place, thing, quality, or action. |
The word noun is noun, since a word is a thing. Tricky examples of nouns include gerunds: studying looks like a verb (and it is when you say "I'm studying for a test") but it's often a noun instead, as when you say, "Studying is very important." Sometimes a noun is missing but implied: When you tell your friend to "Go jump in a lake," the noun is you, as in "Hey, you, go jump in a lake." |
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| 5015 |
object |
a tangible and visible entity |
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When your younger brother runs around the house with scissors, you should definitely object. Perhaps a less sharp object such as a roll of paper towels would suffice. |
An object (OB-ject) is something that is a visible entity, something that can be perceived by the senses. If you are unsure whether something is an object, test it by seeing whether it can cast a shadow; if it can, it's an object, if it can't, it's not. In court, lawyers will often say, "I object!" Here, the verb object (ob-JECT) means to express disagreement. |
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| 5016 |
pamphlet |
a small book usually having a paper cover |
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A pamphlet is a little booklet with a soft (usually paper) cover that briefly addresses a particular subject of interest. |
The word pamphlet comes from Pamphilet, from a Latin love poem that was popular in the 12th century. “Pamphilus,” the original Latin title, means “loved by all.” When the printing press came along in the 15th century, pamphlets became a good way to publicize your ideas — they were relatively cheap and you could print lots of them. They’re still used in political campaigns, and sometimes armies distribute pamphlets when they’re trying to communicate with people across a wide area. |
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| 5017 |
posture |
the arrangement of the body and its limbs |
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Posture is the way you position your body or arrange your limbs. So stand up straight, put your shoulders back, and lift that chin up. |
Ballerinas have an elegant, graceful posture, and soldiers tend to display a rigid, strong posture. If you sit hunched over your desk every day you'll end up with terrible posture. This noun describes the way you carry yourself, but can also describe a certain body position you take, like the different postures in yoga. If you're accused of posturing though, that's a different story — that means you're behaving unnaturally to impress someone. |
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| 5018 |
preface |
a short introductory essay preceding the text of a book |
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A preface is an introduction to the main text of a book, when an author or critic can write directly to the reader. A preface often describes how a book came together, like a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the final product. |
The preface is a place for extra context, thoughts, or even disclaimers about the text that follows. In his preface to Lyrical Ballads, the famous poet William Wordsworth wrote, “The majority of the following poems are to be considered as experiments.” In other words, “Don’t judge me too harshly!” Preface can also be used as a verb meaning "introduce." When you preface a statement with, “No offense but... ,” the person you’re talking to braces for criticism. |
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| 5019 |
signature |
your name written in your own handwriting |
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When you sign your name in your own handwriting, that is your signature. Things you can put your signature on include checks, permission slips, letters, stays of execution, and declarations of independence. |
Signature isn't just about signing your name on the dotted line. A characteristic mark, tune, or style is also called a signature. Perhaps you have a favorite outfit or style that you consider your signature look. "I Did It My Way" was a signature tune of Frank Sinatra. In music, the signature indicates what key the song is set in by showing the sharps and flats. |
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| 5020 |
speech |
communication by word of mouth |
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When you say something out loud, that's speech. When you give a speech, you say a lot of things in front of a group. Maybe you should open with a joke? |
The ability to produce and understand speech in complex ways has long been considered part of what separates humans from other animals. "Freedom of speech" is the right to express your thoughts and opinions publicly. Adjectives, nouns and verbs are "parts of speech." By the way: speech is a noun. |
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| 5021 |
suspense |
an uncertain cognitive state |
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Suspense is a feeling of excited waiting. If you have been waiting for weeks to get an answer to your proposal of marriage, you are being kept in suspense. |
The verb form, suspend, literally means to keep hanging. Suspense can be used in all sorts of ways. Movies that keep you on the edge of your seat in fear use suspense to draw you in. Suspense doesn’t always have to be scary, but it is usually agitating. If you are in suspense, you’re waiting on something that you really have to know. |
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| 5022 |
theater |
a building where performances can be presented |
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If you are sitting in a crowd of people watching actors on a stage, you're probably in a theater. If the performance is projected on a large screen, you're in a movie theater. |
The Greek word for theater (theatron) comes from the verb theasthai, meaning “behold.” You are likely to behold a play or a film inside a theater. If you've dedicated your life to theater, you are probably an actor, director or playwright. Remember when you yelled “fire!” in a crowded theater and got arrested? That wasn't funny. |
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| 5023 |
allegro |
in a quick and lively tempo |
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In music, allegro distinguishes a movement that's meant to be played very quickly. Your piano teacher might instruct you to try playing a piece allegro. |
If you're reading sheet music and you see the word allegro, you'll know that particular section or movement should be played in a lively, spirited way. There are many Italian musical terms that describe or direct the tempo, or speed, of the music, and allegro is one of these. The word means "cheerful or gay" in Italian from the Latin root alacrem, "lively, cheerful, or brisk." |
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| 5024 |
contour |
a line drawn on a map connecting points of equal height |
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Contour is the outline or shape of something. A shoe that fits well along the contours or shape of your foot is a good fit. |
Contour comes from the Italian contorno meaning "to draw a line," which is precisely what you are doing when you trace the contour of something. A road that contours a mountain follows along its edge and a mattress that contours to your body, adjusts to your shape. You might buy the kind of shoes that are designed to contour or mold to the shape of your feet over time, in which case you'll have to break them in. |
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| 5025 |
inversion |
the act of turning inside out |
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A reversal of position is called an inversion. If a bookstore's employees join together to purchase the store, there's an inversion of power: the employees become owners, and the former owners are their employees. |
Reversing the normal order of words in a sentence is also an inversion, especially if the verb comes before the subject. This inversion happens naturally in questions like "Are you happy?" but in statements it can sound a bit like Yoda from "Star Wars" — "Happy are you." In weather terms, an inversion occurs when the air temperature near the ground is colder than the upper air temperature. |
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| 5026 |
palindrome |
a word or phrase that reads the same backward as forward |
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“Madam, I’m Adam,” says Adam when he meets a woman for the first time. Not only is Adam polite, he’s also using a palindrome, a word or phrase that can be read the same way either forward or backward. |
"Racecar," "radar," "stats," "eye," "Mom" — these are examples of palindromes, and if you reverse the letters, the words will stay the same. An entire phrase can be a palindrome, like this: “A man, a plan, a canal: Panama.” Palindrome comes from a Greek word that means “running back again,” which describes the back and forth nature of palindromes very well. Here’s a palindrome you can use at parties to impress people: "Satan, oscillate my metallic sonatas." It really works! |
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| 5027 |
retrograde |
moving or directed or tending in a backward direction |
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Retrograde describes moving in a backwards or reverse direction. If you're suddenly told that you can no longer vote because you're a woman, that's a retrograde affront to your civil rights. Start protesting! |
This word comes from the Latin retrogradus, meaning "going backward." You might hear retrograde used in astronomy to describe the movements of the planets. If a planet like Mercury is in retrograde, that means it appears to be moving backwards. Retrograde can also describe something that's going from better to worse. The farm's retrograde practice of spraying their crops with harsher and harsher pesticides is causing our health to suffer. |
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| 5028 |
agility |
the gracefulness of a quick and nimble person or animal |
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Agility is the ability to be quick and graceful. You might have agility on the basketball court or in the courtroom, or even with your gaming remote. |
The noun agility can be used for both mental and physical skills in speed and grace. Your mental agility might allow you to follow both conversations at once. Or your brother's soccer prowess shows in his physical agility. The word agility does not have to be applied to human abilities, however: "The sailboat's agility in the water made it the perfect craft for racing." |
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| 5029 |
articulation |
the manner in which things come together and are connected |
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Articulation is the act of expressing something in a coherent verbal form, or an aspect of pronunciation involving the articulatory organs. |
Articulation comes from the Latin word for "jointed" or "divided into joints." So it makes sense that the word's original definition described movement at a joint, as in the articulation of your fingers while you're typing. (The joints themselves can also be called articulations.) This noun also describes the act of joining things in such a way that makes motion possible. |
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| 5030 |
ballet |
a theatrical performance of a story by trained dancers |
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Ballet is a form of dance that uses scenery, music, and the movements of the dancers to tell a story. Learning classical ballet takes years of training. |
Ballet also refers to the music written for a ballet. Famous ballets include "The Nutcracker," "Swan Lake," and "Romeo and Juliet." The word ballet comes from the French word ballet, originally ballette, which itself is from the Latin word ballare, which means "to dance." The word ball, meaning a festive party with dancing, comes from the same Latin word. |
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| 5031 |
blues |
a state of depression |
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If you've got the blues, you probably want to lie in bed and cry — or get out your guitar and sadly sing the blues. |
Since the fourteenth century, the word blue has been used to mean "sad." The noun blues came into use in the 1700s to describe a state of sadness or melancholy. Around a hundred years later, a Black American musical genre adopted the word to describe its particular twelve-bar chord progression and folksy sound. Lyrics in blues music often describe hard times, struggles, and a particular kind of melancholy mood. |
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| 5032 |
characterization |
the act of describing essential features |
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If you write a play portraying your workplace as comically disorganized and woefully inefficient, you better hope it makes money, because your boss may fire you for this characterization. The word characterization describes how something is represented. |
When you break apart the word characterization it’s easy to figure out what it means. Character tells you that this word will likely involve the qualities a person or thing has. The -ization ending means it is a noun — the act of doing something. You can use the word characterization to describe the depiction of a character in a book or a movie, or also as a way a particular person, group, or event is portrayed, such as a journalist’s characterization of a political enemy. |
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| 5033 |
chorus |
actors who comment on the action in a classical Greek play |
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A chorus is a group of singers or that catchy part of a song that repeats several times. |
In ancient Greek tragedies, a khoros was a group of people that spoke in unison about the actions of the characters. And that's where we got the word chorus, which usually refers to a group of singers or performers, or the refrain of a song when a group of vocalists joins a soloist. A chorus of groans may follow a teacher's announcement of an upcoming test, which means that the entire class voices its dismay at the same time. |
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| 5034 |
collapse |
break down, literally or metaphorically |
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To collapse means to fall over, cave in, or totally crumple. After finding out that the stock market has collapsed and your investments along with it, you'd probably collapse to the ground and sob uncontrollably. |
From the Latin collapsus, meaning “fall together," comes our English collapse, a word that functions as both noun and verb. Empires collapse after revolutions, and your dog will eventually collapse from exhaustion if he keeps chasing his tail in circles. But if a company falls apart after the boss retires, or you have a total breakdown cramming for exams, that's a kind of collapse, too. |
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| 5035 |
coordination |
regulation of diverse elements into a harmonious operation |
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Coordination is the act of arranging, putting things in order, or making things run smoothly together. Fencing might seem like a breeze, but it actually takes the graceful coordination of your hands, eyes, feet and mind. |
Some people like to put a dash in co-ordination. But whatever way you spell it, coordination has to do with coordinating things — whether it's pulling all the elements together for a fabulous party or just getting your hands and eyes to work together during batting practice. If you're looking for more coordination in your life, try organizing your calendar, doing some yoga, or getting a personal assistant. |
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| 5036 |
crescendo |
a gradual increase in loudness, in music |
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In a crescendo, the music is getting louder. There's often a crescendo in a large group of talking people, too. |
This word comes from classical music, where it's very important how loudly the instruments play. If a tuba is crescendoing at the wrong time, then a quiet piano part might not be heard at all. The crescendo is important in all kinds of music, because volume — how loud something is — is one of the main features of music. If you are whispering and gradually raise your voice and then end up shouting, that's a crescendo as well. |
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| 5037 |
diagonal |
having an oblique or slanted direction |
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A diagonal is made out of a straight line that's set at an angle instead of straight up or across. If you picture a square and draw a line connecting the opposite corners, that’s a diagonal line. |
You’ll find diagonal lines in geometry, and also in the world around you. A quarterback might throw a diagonal pass that angles across the field, or you might buy a snazzy new leotard with diagonal stripes. Diagonal can be either a noun or an adjective. You could call the steep slope of a hill a diagonal across the sky, or you could talk about the diagonal hillside reaching up toward the clouds. |
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| 5038 |
dramatization |
a representation intended for performance |
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A dramatization is the acting out of something. You see these a lot in documentaries on TV––there will be a dramatization of the JFK assassination, using actors to show what happened on that fateful day. |
Dramatization is a great way to cement learning. If you make a skit in your class showing how photosynthesis works, you are much more likely to remember it. Think Magic School Bus. Dramatization can also mean turning a novel into a movie or a play. |
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| 5039 |
ensemble |
an assemblage of parts considered as forming a whole |
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An ensemble is a group of musicians, dancers, or actors who perform together, like an ensemble which has been playing music together for several years. |
Ensemble comes from the Middle French word ensemblée, which means "together, at the same time." Groups of people who perform at the same time are ensembles, so are things that are put together. A collection of short stories or artwork can be an ensemble, but you don't have to be a writer or artist to be complimented on your ensemble — the outfit you are wearing. |
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| 5040 |
float |
be on or below a liquid surface and not sink to the bottom |
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Float is what you do when you're lying on the water. Hopefully you know how to swim, so you can float suspended on the surface of the water, rather than sinking straight to the bottom. |
We typically think of the verb float as something you do on the surface of an ocean or pool, but it's possible to float in mid-air too. You just need to be attached to a parachute so you don't come crashing down to the ground. You can also "float on air" in a more figurative sense. For example, if the person you're in love with suddenly gives you flowers, you could float around for hours feeling like your feet aren't touching the ground. |
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| 5041 |
interval |
the distance between things |
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A clock breaks time down into intervals of seconds, minutes, and hours. An interval is a distinct measure of time or the physical or temporal distance between two things. |
When you are driving down the highway at 60 mph, you'll see distance markers at intervals of .1 miles. That means that every 1/10th of a mile, you will see one of these markers. Do the math and you'll see that these signs flash by you at intervals of 6 seconds. If your coach tells you to try interval training, he is telling you to do something like run for three minutes, lift weights for two, then run again for three. If he tells you do this again and again, you might want to end this interval of your life. |
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| 5042 |
opera |
a drama set to music |
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An opera is a theatrical piece that tells a story totally through the music. It consists of recitatives which provide the narrative plot line and elaborate chorus singing, along with duets and arias, which are the parts we most remember. |
We get the word opera from the Latin and, later, from the Italian, a noun formed from the word operari, "to work." The style evolved in Italy around 1600, and was initially unrealistic, mainly a chance for soloists to show off. In the mid-18th Century the focus shifted to both strong story and exquisite singing. Emotion is an important quality, a trait carried over to "soap operas" which have no singing but plenty of fake tears. |
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| 5043 |
pantomime |
a performance using gestures and movements without words |
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If you make a motion with your hands to indicate eating ice cream, you are using pantomime. Parents often use this wordless communication to try to keep things from the kids. Unfortunately, the kids usually catch on quickly — especially if there is ice cream involved. |
An entire show, done without words is often called a pantomime, but around December, you may read about a Christmas pantomime. This is a traditional holiday show in the United Kingdom. The play is usually based on a fairy tale, and it is put on especially for children. Although it is called a pantomime or panto, the show actually includes talking, jokes, and music. The tradition goes back to the 1700s and is still popular today. |
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| 5044 |
publicity |
a message issued in behalf of some product or cause or idea |
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Publicity is a public message whose purpose is to let people know about something, like a concert or a new product. |
If you go around town putting up posters that advertise a community production of "Annie," you are helping with the play's publicity. In the business world, it's common to hear the terms "publicity campaign" and "publicity stunt." Originally, the word publicity was used to mean "condition of being public," and it wasn't until 1826 that it took on a marketing or advertising meaning. |
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| 5045 |
quartet |
a musical composition for four performers |
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A quartet is a musical group with four members. If you play the viola, you might form a string quartet with two violinists and a cellist. |
You can use the noun quartet to describe your four-person singing group, and you can also use it to talk about the piece of music you're performing, if it's written specifically for four voices or instruments. The word quartet comes from the Italian quarto, or "fourth," which in turn has it roots in the Latin quartus, also meaning "fourth." |
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| 5046 |
restructure |
form anew |
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When you restructure something, you organize it in a different way so it’ll work better, like a practice schedule a coach restructures to get in more morning sessions before a big game. |
The verb restructure often refers to a company that is changing the way it operates in order to be more efficient. In many cases, this means laying off employees, closing locations, or working with creditors to change the speed at which debt is repaid. The goal of this kind of restructuring is for the company to stay in business through a rough time in its history. |
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| 5047 |
sonata |
a musical composition of movements of contrasting forms |
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A sonata is a long piece of classical music that's usually made up of several parts. A sonata can be played by an orchestra or just one instrument, like a piano. |
If you're a classical music fan, you've probably heard sonatas played in concert halls or on recordings. Beethoven and Mozart famously composed sonatas for the piano, and modern composers continue to write sonatas for many different instruments. The Italian word sonata has come to mean "piece of instrumental music," although its literal translation is "sounded" or "played." This is in contrast to another Italian musical term, cantata, which means "sung," or "musical piece that is sung." |
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| 5048 |
suite |
the group following and attending to some important person |
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A suite (sounds like "sweet") is a collection of matching things. It usually refers to rooms together, like when you get a suite at a fancy hotel. It can also be a set of furniture or a musical composition. |
In housing terms, a suite is an apartment made up of connected rooms. If you ever stay at a hostel in France, make sure you get a room with the bathroom en suite, so you don’t have to share the one in the hallway. When the word first came into use, it meant "train of followers of attendants," but don't call your friends your suite or they'll think you're a snob. |
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| 5049 |
sympathy |
sharing the feelings of others, especially sorrow or anguish |
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Sympathy is a feeling of pity or sense of compassion — it's when you feel bad for someone else who's going through something hard. |
The ability to feel sympathy for others is a great part of what make us human, and it's what compels us to reach out and offer help. So have sympathy for people who confuse this word with empathy — they're awfully close in meaning. Feeling sympathy means you feel sorry for someone's situation, even if you've never been there yourself. Empathy is when you truly understand and can feel what another person is going though. |
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| 5050 |
syncopation |
a musical rhythm accenting a normally weak beat |
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If no one's dancing at the school dance, it might be time to ask the DJ to play some music with more syncopation, or a strong, distinct rhythm that makes you want to move. |
Jazz is the musical genre best known for syncopation, using rhythm and beats in unexpected ways to make exciting, finger-snapping music. Syncopation has been around for a lot longer than that, though — it pops up in works by Bach and Mozart, for example. |
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| 5051 |
texture |
the feel of a surface or a fabric |
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Texture is the physical feel of something — smooth, rough, fuzzy, slimy, and lots of textures something in between. |
Sandpaper is very rough — it has a gritty, rough texture. Other things, like linoleum, have a smooth texture. Texture has to do with how an object feels and it's ingredients. Texture is very important in clothes: a cotton shirt has a different texture than a polyester shirt. You can also talk about other kinds of texture, like musical texture. A symphony and a rock song have different instruments, so they have different textures. |
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| 5052 |
timbre |
the distinctive property of a complex sound |
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Timbre is a word that describes the tone or unique quality of a sound. If you play the same note on a piano and on a guitar, each note will have its own timbre. |
Though an electric saw has its own timbre, as does the sound of a tree whooshing through the air, don't confuse timbre with "Timber!" the word you shout when chopping down trees. Timbre comes from the Greek word that means drum. Timber stems from an Old English word for building materials. |
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| 5053 |
trio |
a set of three similar things considered as a unit |
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Whether it’s birds, opera singers, aces, or golfers, you can use the word trio to refer to anything made up of three. |
You can probably tell by tri- that trio involves three of something. It’s often used to describe a musical arrangement featuring three vocal parts or three different instruments, or a musical group made up of three players, such as a jazz trio consisting of a piano player, a bass player, and a drummer. For those not musically inclined, the word can be used more broadly to refer to three of anything, such as a trio of friends. |
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| 5054 |
accompaniment |
a musical part that supports other musical parts |
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If your menu tonight consists of grilled pork and savory apples, then the pork is the main item and the apples are the accompaniment, meaning they complement the main dish. |
The noun accompaniment entered English in the eighteenth century and originally was used in a musical sense to describe a part in a song that supports or acts as background for another more prominent part. Its meaning later expanded to include not only musical assistance but other things that completes or make better the main thing. You’ll often hear it used to describe a food that supports the main item on a plate. |
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| 5055 |
applause |
a demonstration of approval by clapping the hands together |
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After a theatrical performance, audience members typically use applause, or hand-clapping, to express their approval. (Of course, sometimes applause just means the audience is glad it’s time to go home.) |
Back in ancient Rome, actors requested applause from the audience by declaring “Plaudite!” This fact sheds light on the origin of applause — and it definitively proves that performers have been seeking approval from audiences for millennia. Oddly enough, however, it’s considered inappropriate to applaud between the movements of a piece of classical music, regardless of how much you enjoyed the performance. Some concertgoers choose to defy this rule, in spite of the nasty looks they get from neighbors. |
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| 5056 |
brush |
an implement that has hairs or bristles set into a handle |
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Use the noun brush when you want to refer to a quick, light touch. If you are comforting someone you don't know well, you can give their arm a quick brush to show sympathy. |
The noun brush can refer to a thick growth of scrub vegetation. You'll have to clear away the brush if you want to plant a garden there. As a verb, brush can mean to sweep, either literally or metaphorically. You can brush the dirt from the floor, but you can't just brush away your past misdeeds. The verb also means to touch lightly. If you are baking and you brush your hand across your cheek, chances are you'll leave a trail of flour there. |
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| 5057 |
camera |
equipment for taking photographs |
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A camera records images in the form of photographs, film or video. If you want evidence that you've spotted Bigfoot in the woods behind your house, you'll need a camera. |
The noun camera typically refers to a film or digital device that captures still pictures when you press a button. A film camera stores images on a strip of film that must be developed with special chemicals, while a digital camera keeps them on a memory card, and with the help of a computer you can see the pictures almost instantly. The original meaning of camera, "vaulted building," came from Latin via the Greek root kamera, "vaulted chamber." |
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| 5058 |
canvas |
a heavy, closely woven fabric |
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Canvas is a heavy, coarse fabric artists paint on. It's also used to make sails, shoes, tents, or comfy director's chairs. It's a full-service fabric! |
The noun canvas comes from the Latin cannabis by way of the Greek kannabis, meaning “hemp," which it was originally made of. It usually refers to the canvas we paint on, but you could carry a canvas bag while wearing canvas Converse high-tops. Henry David Thoreau, the poet and philosopher, said, “The world is but a canvas to our imaginations.” Don't confuse it with canvass, with the extra "s" — that's when people try to chat to get your vote. |
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| 5059 |
clay |
water-soaked soil; soft, wet earth |
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Clay is a type of soil or dirt that's made of very small particles. You can mold clay into different shapes when it's wet. |
Clay is terrible for planting a vegetable garden, but it's perfect for making pottery, tiles, or bricks. You can shape damp clay into a bowl or a cup, and when it's dried and fired in a very hot oven, it becomes extremely hard and sturdy. The Old English root of clay is clæg, "stiff, sticky earth." |
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| 5060 |
costume |
attire characteristic of a country, time, or social class |
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A costume is a set of clothes you wear when you want to dress up like another person. You might wear a witch's costume to go trick-or-treating on Halloween, or put on a George Washington costume to reenact a scene from the American Revolution in a play. |
A costume is a set of clothes that is unique to a particular person or time period. If you were starring as Dorothy in your neighborhood production of The Wizard of Oz, your costume would consist of a blue-and-white checkered dress and ruby slippers. On the other hand, if you were starring as Lady Godiva, you wouldn't need much of a costume at all! |
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| 5061 |
depth |
the extent downward or backward or inward |
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Depth is the measure of how deep something goes. The swimming pool has a depth of six feet. The well has an unknown depth. People can be deep as well—you know by looking at some people that they have depth. |
Depth goes with other measure words that end in "th." Length is how long something is. Breadth is how wide or broad. The expression "plumb the depths" means to take a measure of how deep something goes. Depth also can mean deepness—your English teacher might instruct you to write papers with depth. |
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| 5062 |
duet |
two performers or singers who perform together |
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A duet is two people singing or playing musical instruments together. You and your brother might be a popular sidewalk duet with your fiddle-accordion combo. |
If you have tickets for a musical duet, you'll be watching and listening to two performers. You can also call the composition that's written for the two of them a duet, since it has parts for two instruments. Two dancers can also perform a duet, a dance especially choreographed for a couple. Duet stems from the Italian duetto, "musical composition for two voices," from duo, or "two." |
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| 5063 |
embellishment |
the act of adding extraneous decorations to something |
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Does your cupcake have chocolate icing on top, plus chocolate sprinkles AND a swirl of white chocolate? If so, that swirl of white chocolate is considered an embellishment — an unnecessary decorative detail designed purely to attract you. Also, can we have a bite? |
Anything can have an embellishment, not just a cupcake; a building can have an unnecessary decorative element, and so can an explanation or a story. There is often a sense of deception implied by the word: it may be a harmless swirl of white chocolate but it can also be a detail designed to fool someone. Real estate agents are experts at adding embellishments to their descriptions of properties that may not be entirely true. Watch out for embellishments. |
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| 5064 |
entertainer |
a person who tries to please or amuse |
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An entertainer is a person whose job or goal is to perform for the amusement of others. If you're an entertainer, you might learn how to tap dance and take singing lessons. |
If you make your living as a comedian, you're an entertainer. You're also an entertainer if you're a dancer, singer, actor, or puppeteer. In all of these cases, your job is to entertain an audience. You can also call the member of your family who's always trying to make everyone laugh an entertainer. The word comes from the verb entertain, which originally meant "to keep up or maintain," and came to also mean "amuse" in the early 17th century. |
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| 5065 |
flexibility |
the property of being easily bent or shaped |
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If you twist your body into the shape of a pretzel, you are showing a lot of flexibility. Flexibility is the ability to bend or stretch. |
Lots of things can have flexibility. Pipe cleaners are designed for flexibility. A piece of software can boast flexibility when it can be used in different ways by different people. If you are really busy with school, sports and activities, your schedule won't have much flexibility. Please don't get fixed on one set idea — show a little flexibility and listen to others. |
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| 5066 |
forward |
at or to or toward the front |
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Forward is the direction ahead of you, or toward the front of something. It can also be a position on a basketball, soccer, or hockey team. |
Forward can be a direction of either space or time, and also implies progress. A forward-thinking person thinks about what will happen in the future. If you forward an email, you send it on to a new recipient. But if you forward a cause, that means you helped propel it to success. If you’re at a bar and someone tells you you’re being awfully forward, you’re probably coming on too strong. |
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| 5067 |
improvisation |
a performance given without planning or preparation |
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Improvisation is making it up as you go along, like taking a long stroll with no destination in mind and walking down random streets for the fun of it. |
Making choices that aren’t planned ahead of time, that’s improvisation. Jazz musicians are masters of improvisation, creating saxophone solos off the top of their heads based on what they feel in the moment. The Latin word improvisus means “unforeseen,” and improvisation happens when you can’t see the end goal but you keep moving ahead, dealing with obstacles in a creative way. |
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| 5068 |
instrument |
the means whereby some act is accomplished |
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An instrument is usually a tool for making music, like a piano or a guitar, but it can also be used for almost any kind of tool or thing you use to get something done. |
A thermometer is an instrument for measuring temperature. A violin is an instrument used for making music. Recent economic woes were blamed on the abuse of certain financial instruments, which is just a fancy way of saying "deals." Your eye is a very sensitive light-collecting instrument, though you'll need a man-made instrument, like an X-ray telescope, if you want to see light outside of the visible spectrum. |
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| 5069 |
leap |
move forward by bounds |
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The word leap is another word for "jump," but it gives a slightly different image — one of lightness and quickness, perhaps a movement with a little more spring in it than a regular jump. |
Leap comes from the Old English hlēapan, "to leap or run." The word can convey a happy feeling, as when William Wordsworth writes, "My heart leaps up when I behold a rainbow in the sky." As a side note, the game of leap-frog appears to have had its beginnings in the 1590s. |
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| 5070 |
march |
walk fast, with regular or measured steps |
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To march is to walk with deliberate, short steps that fall in a regular rhythm. You can take your time walking into school in the morning, or you can march right up the steps and through the door. |
People can march just about anywhere they walk, although the verb brings to mind military processions of soldiers who march in unison. Marching bands are another example of people who march together this way. You can also use the word when you're talking about a group of demonstrators who decide to march in protest or support of a particular cause. March comes from the Middle French word marcher, which originally meant "to trample," and later came to mean "to walk." |
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| 5071 |
melody |
a succession of notes forming a distinctive sequence |
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In any musical composition, there is a dominant line that creates a tone pattern known as the piece's melody. There are specific rules for the musical composition of a melody, and most fall into regular patterns. |
The ancient Greek word melōidía was used to denote a tune for lyric poetry. It was derived from melos, which meant "song." In most songs, the melody follows a logical, mathematical pattern that creates a memorable line of notes. The word suggests a beautiful and pleasant sound, as was celebrated in the 1946 Irving Berlin lyrics, "A pretty girl is like a melody that haunts you night and day." |
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| 5072 |
originality |
the quality of being new (not derived from something else) |
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Originality is the quality of being new and inventive. A composer who writes a symphony to be played by car horns and cell phones shows great originality. |
When something is original, it is creative and not derived from something else. It's fresh. Originality refers to the quality of being original and new. Inventors are full of originality: they need to think of brand new ideas and products. A great artist is full of originality, especially when coming up with new and surprising types of art. If something is just like other things, it shows no originality. True originality is a rare thing. |
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| 5073 |
overlapping |
with a design in which one element covers a part of another |
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If you have two pieces of something, and one is covering a part of another, then they're overlapping. |
Remember learning about Venn Diagrams in math class? You know, the two circles drawn overlapping each other, so that there's a space in the middle that they share. No? Well for you non-mathletes, overlapping can be just as simple. Two cookies stacked partially on top of each other are overlapping. And two lives that intersect at a certain point in time? They're overlapping, too. |
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| 5074 |
performance |
the act of doing something successfully |
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Performance has to do with doing something: a concert or play is a performance, and if you want to talk about how well the actors did, you'd rate their performance. |
The main sense of performance is artsy: actors and musicians (and other performers) give performances. You could praise an actor's performance in a movie, but this word extends to other kinds of work and accomplishments as well. If you're failing math, your performance is below par. An athlete can get in trouble for taking performance-enhancing drugs: drugs that make their performance better. Anytime you're talking about how something or someone works — or performs — you're talking about performance. |
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| 5075 |
plastic |
synthetic material that can be molded into objects |
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Plastic is a synthetic material that can be molded when soft and formed into a solid shape. Many toys are made out of plastic, like Barbie dolls and Lego blocks. |
Plastic appears in many different forms, from beach balls to lawn chairs, grocery bags and much more. Credit cards, which are made of plastic, are called plastic, meaning payment that's not cash. You can also use plastic as an adjective to describe things that can be molded, like clay that's plastic in your hands, or to describe something that's artificial. For example, if a person is called plastic, he or she is probably fake or insincere. |
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| 5076 |
progression |
the act of moving forward, as toward a goal |
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A progression is a series that advances in a logical and predictable pattern. In mathematics, for example, the series 2, 4, 6, 8 is an arithmetic progression. If asked to give the next number, most people would reply 10. |
A movement forward, especially one that advances toward some achievement, is called a progression. When you get your learner's permit, it's a step in the natural progression from child to responsible adult — although you may see it as part of your progression toward freedom. The progression from permit to driver's license includes a few more steps, like highway driving and learning how to parallel park your dad's enormous car. |
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| 5077 |
repeat |
say or state again |
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You can use the word repeat for things that happen again. You can use the word repeat for things that happen again. When you repeat, you do or say the same thing more than once. |
Sometimes you need to repeat what you said because someone didn’t hear it or understand it the first time, and other times you might repeat a statement for emphasis — you say it twice to really get your point across; in some cases you'll get "I heard you the first time" in return. Doing something over is another way to repeat, as when you repeat a test or draw a smiley face all over your notebooks in a repeat pattern. |
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| 5078 |
scenery |
the appearance of a place |
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Scenery is a word for how a place looks, especially a beautiful, outdoorsy place. Also, scenery is fake background in a play. |
If you go to a place with mountains, and beautiful trees, and gorgeous skies, then it's got great scenery. Scenery is the stuff you can look at outside. If a place is plain, ugly, or desolate, you might say, "Not much scenery." Also, painters and set designers create scenery for plays. In theater, scenery could represent anything: buildings, trees, or the inside of a house. If a play has a lot of different settings, then it needs a lot of scenery. |
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| 5079 |
sharp |
having a point or thin edge suitable for cutting or piercing |
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Something with a thin edge or a fine point that can cut is sharp. It's painful when your dog climbs into your lap, poking you with his sharp toenails. |
A knife and a pointed stick are sharp, since they can pierce or cut, and a piercing pain in your neck is also sharp. You can also use sharp to describe a smart person or clever decision — or someone who dresses well, or the clothes such a person wears. Sharp also means clear, like sharp images in a book of black and white photography, or sudden, like a sharp turn in a mountain road. |
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| 5080 |
soprano |
the highest female voice; the voice of a boy before puberty |
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The opera performer with the highest voice is a soprano. A soprano is usually a woman, and she can hit the high notes. |
A woman who sings at the highest register is one kind of soprano, and her singing voice itself can also be called a soprano. Sometimes high-voiced male singers are described this way too, although it's more common to call them countertenors, or to describe their singing voices as falsetto. Soprano is an Italian word that means "the treble in music," or "high," from sopra, or "above." |
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| 5081 |
staccato |
separating the notes; in music |
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Staccato is a musical term for notes that are played quickly and sharply. It can also refer to anything characterized by similar beats, such as the staccato clacking of a woman's high heels on a tile floor. |
There is nothing quite so pleasant as lying in bed on a Saturday morning listening to the staccato tapping of rain on the roof, knowing that everything you had planned will now be canceled. Other staccato sounds are not so pleasant––your neighbor learning to play the drums, a jack hammer right outside your window. |
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| 5082 |
staff |
a strong rod or stick with a specialized utilitarian purpose |
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Staff means everyone who works at a particular place. You might suspect that the town library's not a very fun place to work if its staff is always incredibly cranky every time you visit. |
Staff refers to all of the employees at a business, or especially a school, where the teachers as a group are called "the staff." A completely different meaning of staff is a long wooden stick or rod, particularly one that has a specific purpose — like a walking stick or a weapon. This is the original meaning of staff, from the Old English stæf. It wasn't until the nineteenth century that the word staff was used to mean "group of employees." |
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| 5083 |
strength |
the property of being physically or mentally powerful |
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Strength is the property of being physically strong (you can do, say, 100 push-ups) or mentally strong (you can calculate percentages in your head while people are shouting at you). |
Strength has several shades of meaning. The strength of something can be the measure of how much force or pressure it can withstand over time (like a flood wall). Or its potency (like a pesticide). Or its intensity level (like a radio signal). Its fighting capabilities (like an army). Or its specialty: A chameleon's strength is actually in its ability to blend in with its surroundings. |
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| 5084 |
stretch |
extend one's limbs or muscles, or the entire body |
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To stretch is to extend or lengthen something beyond the normal length. You stretched both your vacation and the truth when you called out of work on Monday saying your flight home from Ibiza was canceled. |
Stretch is a word that has many great usages. The sense of extending one’s limbs came about circa 1200. Four hundred years later brought the phrase "stretch your legs," meaning take a walk. Don’t walk too vigorously, though, or you could stretch a muscle. The word can also be used as a noun, meaning an expanse, as in, "Looking toward the horizon, the thirsty man saw an endless stretch of sand." |
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| 5085 |
tenor |
the adult male singing voice above baritone |
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Think of a tenor as a tone — in music, it's the range between baritone and alto in the human voice or in an instrument such as a tenor saxophone. It also is the "tone" or meaning of a spoken comment. |
The meaning of the Latin word tenere, was "to hold to a course." Then the Old French took the word tenour in the 14th Century, giving it the meaning of “sense,” or a general feeling of a comment. But that same century, the original meaning resurfaced when the word entered the musical lexicon as the Italian tenore, or tenor, the name given to the high male voice because that was the voice that carried, or “held on to” the melody. |
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| 5086 |
tie |
fasten or secure with a rope, string, or cord |
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A tie is a thin piece of cloth that's knotted around the neck, an accessory worn by men on formal occasions. You may wear a tie to graduation, a wedding, or if you're just trying to impress someone. |
If the score of a game is equal, then the game is a tie. Some games, like chess, can actually end in a tie, but other games, like basketball, continue until there's a winner. You can also use the word tie as a verb: "Looks like the game will tie at two apiece." As a verb, tie also means to fasten two or more things together, like when you tie your shoelaces or your tie. |
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| 5087 |
twist |
cause an object to assume a curved or distorted shape |
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When you twist something, you turn it in a different direction. You might twist off a bottle cap, or you might even twist the plot of a story you are writing. |
A kite's tail twists in the wind, curling around itself, and a baker twists a piece of dough into a pretzel shape. You can also twist out of someone's grasp (to escape your godmother's cheek pinching), or twist your ankle hurrying away. As a noun, twist means a bent and curved shape, like the twist of a curl or a twist of soft serve ice cream. In a book or movie plot, a twist is a shocking development. |
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| 5088 |
poetic |
of or relating to verse, or literature in metrical form |
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Anything poetic either relates to the art of poetry or has the romantic images of poetry. A great speech can be poetic. An orange-red sunset at the beach can also be poetic. |
The word poetic comes from the Greek poietikos for "pertaining to poetry." A poetic drama is one written in verse. Anything romantic or lyrical is also poetic. A painter’s use of colors could be poetic. Poetic justice happens when you set a trap to catch a rabbit but get caught in it yourself. If you get carried away with a metaphor, you use poetic license. Don’t try to drive with it! Poetic language doesn’t get you out of any tickets. |
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| 5089 |
bumptious |
offensively self-assertive |
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Someone bumptious is cocky, aggressive, and loud. Bumptious people jump ahead of everyone in line at the ice cream truck and steal subway seats from pregnant women. |
It's good to speak your mind and stand up for yourself, but it's not good to be bumptious. When you're bumptious, you're obnoxious. Someone who dominates a conversation without listening to others is bumptious. Someone who takes more than their fair share of something is bumptious. To be bumptious is to be selfish and annoying. Bumptious people are often arrogant and usually thoughtless, and bumptious behavior shows no concern for other people. |
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| 5090 |
coquettish |
like a flirtatious woman |
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Coquettish describes a woman's flirtatious manner. If you were acting in a coquettish way, you might banter playfully and bat your eyelashes. |
Coquettish is the adjective form of the noun coquette, a young, flirtatious woman. Coquette is the feminine diminutive of the French word coq, which means cockerel or rooster. The word was originally applied to men in the form of coquet to express how men would strut to attract women the same way roosters do to attract hens. Using coquet for a flirtatious male is now rare, but the feminine version remains. |
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| 5091 |
corpulence |
the property of excessive fatness |
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Corpulence is a word for excessive weight. The Latin word "corpus" means "body," and corpulence is when someone has a lot of body, in other words, they’re fat. |
The word corpulence is old-fashioned, but it refers to something all too modern — the quality of being very overweight. This is much more than being a little overweight. One of Santa Claus' main features is his corpulence. Unfortunately, corpulence is a quality that many people have, and it poses many health risks. |
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| 5092 |
pejorative |
expressing disapproval |
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Call a word or phrase pejorative if it is used as a disapproving expression or a term of abuse. Tree-hugger is a pejorative term for an environmentalist. |
Coming from the Latin word for "worse," pejorative is both an adjective and a noun. As an adjective, it means disapproving or disparaging. Hack is a pejorative term for a bad writer. If you call someone a politician in the pejorative sense, you mean that they are scheming and out for personal gain. Terms of abuse such as jerk and negative euphemisms such as bottom feeder are pejoratives, words you use when you want to call someone a bad name. |
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| 5093 |
perfidy |
an act of deliberate betrayal |
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If you shared your most embarrassing secrets with a friend who then told them to everyone he knows, his betrayal could be described as perfidy. |
The noun perfidy means "deceitfulness" or "treachery," so it's not just being mean, but deliberately betraying a trust. The Latin root of perfidy is made up of per, or "through," and fidem, or "faith." So in order for perfidy to happen, there has to have first been a sense of faith in place, which was then broken or betrayed. |
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| 5094 |
perspicacious |
mentally acute or penetratingly discerning |
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Perspicacious is an adjective that means "shrewd" and "wise." A perspicacious child can't be fooled when her parents try to keep a secret by talking in Pig Latin. |
The adjective perspicacious is a long word for a short definition: "keen" or "shrewd." This word is descended from the Latin word perspicere, which means "to look closely." In other words, if you look closely at something you are paying attention to it and know it well. A definition of perspicacious that is out of date but still relevant is "having keen eyesight" and people who can see clearly are also aware and attentive! |
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| 5095 |
progenitor |
an ancestor in the direct line |
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While any ancestor can be a progenitor, or previous member of a family line, the word is usually applied to someone who was an originator of or major contributor to the characteristics of that line. |
The word progenitor can be traced to the Latin prōgignere, which means "to beget," and so is linked to the beginning of a genealogical line. The clue comes in the "gen" part, meaning "birth, procreation," and signifying the genetic contribution of an ancestor to a family line. Prō- means "forward," and the -tor suffix indicates someone doing an action — so a progenitor is someone who gives rise to a family line. |
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| 5096 |
repose |
freedom from activity |
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Repose is a formal or literary term used to mean the act of resting, or the state of being at rest. Repose is also a state of mind: freedom from worry. |
As a verb, repose means to rest or relax, or to rest on something for support: There she was, reposing on the front porch. The verb is from Middle English, from Old French reposer, from Late Latin repausāre "to cause to rest," from the Latin prefix re- "again" plus pausāre "to rest." |
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| 5097 |
respite |
a pause from doing something |
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A respite is a break from something that's difficult or unpleasant. If you're cramming for exams, take an occasional walk to give yourself a respite from the intensity. |
Respite may look like it rhymes with despite, but this word has a stress on its first syllable (RES-pit). It comes from the Latin word respectus, meaning refuge, but we almost always use respite to describe a time, not a place, of relief. If you've been fighting with your partner, a visit from a friend might offer a brief respite from the argument, but the fight will pick up again when she leaves. |
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| 5098 |
rife |
excessively abundant |
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Use the adjective rife to mean "full of" or "widespread," especially when you're talking about something negative. If the lifeguard says the water is rife with jellyfish, you're not going to want to swim in it. |
Not to be confused with the word ripe (“fully developed”), rife means “abundant” or “prevalent.” Rife can follow the word it’s describing, as in “corruption was rife during his administration.” More commonly, however, rife comes before the word it modifies, accompanied by the preposition with, as in “the class was rife with yawns” or “her story was rife with inconsistencies.” |
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| 5099 |
risible |
arousing or provoking laughter |
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Risible describes something that is laughable or amusing, like seeing a very large man trying to get into a very tiny car. |
Risible is a fun word to say (it rhymes with visible), but it's just not used all that much, maybe because it's a little formal. But if you started saying the word risible all the time, that itself might be kind of risible. Fun — and less stuffy — synonyms include amusing, comic, comical, funny, laughable, and mirthful. |
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| 5100 |
sedition |
an illegal action inciting resistance to lawful authority |
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Sedition is the illegal act of inciting people to resist or rebel against the government in power. It's what the southern states did at the start of the Civil War. |
Sedition is the rebellious talk and encouragement that might lead to a mutiny, and can be charged as a crime, like treason. The Alien and Sedition Acts passed into law in the late 1700s were challenged by none other than Thomas Jefferson as a violation of Americans' First Amendment rights to free speech. The Sedition Act quietly expired a few years later but was essentially replaced in the early 1900s by what is called the Espionage Act, which was later repealed as well. Proving sedition can become a murky business. When should the expression of one's activism be considered "free speech" and when should it be considered sedition? |
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| 5101 |
strident |
unpleasantly loud and harsh |
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Something that's strident is loud, grating, and obnoxious. Your roommate's strident laughter as he watches cartoons late into the night might inspire you to buy a pair of ear plugs. |
Strident is related to the Latin word strix , meaning "screech owl." This is a kind of owl that doesn't hoot. It screeches in a strident way. Strident can also describe the forceful expression of an unpopular opinion. Don't confuse strident with striding, which means walking quickly with a wide step. If you're angry at your brother, you might come striding into his room and begin making a strident case for why he has done you wrong. |
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| 5102 |
vituperate |
spread negative information about |
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To vituperate is to speak or write in an extremely negative way about someone. |
Just as vituperation consists of negative, explosive, malicious outbursts, to vituperate is to communicate in this way. Negative political ads vituperate against opponents. When you insult someone and swear at them, you vituperate. People with a short temper tend to vituperate often — it's similar to railing, vilifying, and reviling. The root word is the Latin vituperationem, "blame or censuring," from vitium, "fault or defect." |
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| 5103 |
esurient |
extremely hungry |
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Esurient means extremely hungry. It would be dangerous to leave your esurient brother in charge of the three dozen cupcakes you baked for a birthday party. |
Esurient describes someone who's famished or capable of eating an unbelievable amount of food. That's why an esurient group of high school kids might consume an alarming number of pizzas, and a people-eating monster with an esurient glimmer in its eye would make you run the other way. The word implies a greediness that goes beyond mere hunger, and it comes from the Latin root word edere, "to eat." |
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| 5104 |
contrastive |
strikingly different |
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The adjective contrastive means showing the difference between two things when you compare them — like the contrastive analysis between American and British English. |
To contrast two things is to think about how they are different. So, the adjective contrastive is used to describe things that differ from one another. Contrastive colors in a painting can create an interesting image, while contrasting personalities can spark a feud. In language, contrastive words show contrast between two parts of a sentence; words like but and though are examples. |
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| 5105 |
encipher |
convert ordinary language into code |
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To encipher is to take a piece of information or a message and translate it into a coded form. You can encipher a note to your friend by replacing the letters with specific numbers. |
If your friend enciphers an email before sending it, you'll need the know what code they used before you can decipher it and read it. A simple way to encipher language is to replace A with 1, B with 2, and so on. Originally, cipher meant "do arithmetic," from the Arabic root sifr, "zero," and because coding with numbers was so common, cipher came to mean "write in code." |
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| 5106 |
lollygag |
loaf about and waste time; dawdle |
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To lollygag is to be slow or idle or lazy. You might say to your dawdling friends, "Don't lollygag! We'll miss our bus!" |
You lollygag when you take you own sweet time walking to your piano teacher's house, and you also lollygag when you lounge lazily in a hammock under a tree. The word lollygag is an American invention, a slang term that's sometimes spelled lallygag and may stem from the dialectical "tongue" meaning of lolly. |
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| 5107 |
discombobulate |
cause to be confused emotionally |
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Discombobulate is a fun, fancy word for “confuse.” If something has put you in a state where you don't know up from down and you can't spell your own name, you may be discombobulated. |
Discombobulate kind of sounds like you feel when you're disoriented: bouncing around in several directions at once. Trying to say discombobulate for the first time might discombobulate you! Because of its funny sound, discombobulate is often used in a humorous way. Are you ready to assemble some furniture, or are you too discombobulated after reading the instructions? |
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| 5108 |
agrestic |
characteristic of the fields or country |
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Agrestic has to do with the countryside. It’s the opposite of “urban.” The agrestic way of life might appeal to you, if you prefer fresh air and the great outdoors to the bustle of urban life. |
Agrestic can also refer to the less appealing side of country — the rough and rustic behavior you might attribute to a “country bumpkin,” somebody who isn’t city-savvy. You’ve probably noticed that agrestic sounds a bit like agriculture — both words share the Latin root ager “field.” |
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| 5109 |
rumbustious |
noisy and lacking in restraint or discipline |
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That kid who's had a little too much candy and is bouncing off the walls? Just call him rumbustious, an old word meaning noisy and undisciplined. |
If you want to talk about someone who is unruly or just plain out of control, it's good to use an unruly word. In easygoing American English, we might refer to a rambunctious child, but before rambunctious there was rumbustious. That playful adjective goes all the way back to the late 18th century and still occasionally gets hauled out for comic effect, though using rambunctious will get you fewer odd looks. |
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| 5110 |
fraudulence |
the quality of being deceptive |
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Fraudulence is the action or quality of cheating, lying, or deceiving someone. The fraudulence of an election might trigger a recount, or even an entirely new election. |
Fraudulence is telling lies or hoaxing people in some way. One example of fraudulence might be pretending to be a police officer, and another is claiming to have the ability to communicate with people who have died, especially if you're taking money from relatives who hope to send them messages. Fraudulence comes from the Latin fraudulentia, from fraus, "cheating or deceit." |
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| 5111 |
deadbolt |
the part of a lock that is engaged or withdrawn with a key |
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A deadbolt is a type of lock that you need a key to open. It's very common to have a deadbolt on an apartment door or the front door of a house. |
When you turn a key in the lock of a deadbolt, the bolt slides in or out of an opening in the door jamb. Deadbolts are considered to be secure locks that are difficult to open without a key, especially when compared to a spring-loaded lock, the kind you see in the center of a doorknob. While spring latches can be pushed back manually, deadbolts can't — which is why they're called deadbolts. They're dead, or unmovable. |
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| 5112 |
anastrophe |
the reversal of the normal order of words |
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When the words in a sentence or phrase are deliberately mixed up, it's called anastrophe. Using anastrophe can sometimes make speech sound more formal. |
One of the most well-known users of anastrophe is the Star Wars character Yoda, whose mixed-up word order makes him sound wise and vaguely like a non-native English speaker: "Truly wonderful, the mind of a child is." It was common to use anastrophe as a literary device in ancient Greek and Latin poetry, and the word itself is Greek, meaning "a turning back" or "a turning upside-down." |
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| 5113 |
absquatulate |
run away, taking something or somebody along |
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Absquatulate is a deeply silly word that means to make off with something or someone. Why say a thief ran away with your money when it's much more fun to say he absquatulated with it? |
The word absquatulate came out of an odd fad in America in the 1830s for making playful words that sounded vaguely Latin. Bloviate ("speak pompously") and discombobulate ("make confused") are two other pseudo-Latin coinages from that era. Absquatulate takes the word squat and adds the prefix ab- "off, away" and the verb ending -ulate to suggest getting up and leaving quickly. It's hardly ever used nowadays, mostly showing up as an example of an absurd word. |
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| 5114 |
modality |
how something is done or how it happens |
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A modality is the way or mode in which something exists or is done. You might often see it used with reference to diagnostic modality, which is the way in which a disease or illness is diagnosed by a doctor. |
Modality shares its root with the word mode, meaning "the way in which something happens or is experienced." A sensory modality is a way of sensing, like vision or hearing. Modality in someone's voice gives a sense of the person's mood. In logic, modality has to do with whether a proposition is necessary, possible, or impossible. In general, a modality is a particular way in which something exists. |
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| 5115 |
dyad |
two items of the same kind |
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A dyad is a group of two things or two people. If you have a dyad of brothers, there are two of them. |
While you can use the noun dyad to mean "pair," "couple," or "duo," it's much more common to find the word used in a technical way. Sociologists, for example, use dyad to refer to social groups that consist of only two people, like a brother-sister dyad or a mother-child dyad. The word stems from the Greek dyas, "the number two," or "a group of two," from duo, "two." |
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| 5116 |
zilch |
a quantity of no importance |
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Zilch is zero or nearly zero. This is a slangy term for nothing at all. |
If you have nothing in your bank account, you have zilch. If you no money in your pockets, you have zilch. People usually use this word when they're being humorous or informal. A CEO would be unlikely to say zilch when speaking to shareholders. A friend who beats another friend 3-0 in air hockey is likely to say "I win, three to zilch!" Zilch can also be called aught, a goose egg, nada, naught, nil, nix, null, zip, or zippo. |
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| 5117 |
timeworn |
repeated too often; overfamiliar through overuse |
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The adjective timeworn is good for describing something that's been said or done so often that it's not interesting or fresh any more. A movie with a timeworn plot has few surprises. |
The joke your dad tells every year at Thanksgiving has probably become timeworn, and the meal itself may seem a bit timeworn. A local government's timeworn way of not dealing with problems may finally inspire voters to make a change. Timeworn is a word that first appeared in the 1700's, sometimes spelled with a hyphen: time-worn. |
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| 5118 |
lithesome |
moving and bending with ease |
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Lithesome describes something that's graceful and flexible, like a ballet dancer or a willow tree bending in the wind. |
Use the adjective lithesome when you need a delicate word to describe a person or thing that bends and turns easily, whether it's a jaguar in the jungle or a young gymnast on a balance beam. The more common lithe means the same thing, or you could use the words supple or lissome. Lithesome comes from lithe, which is rooted in the Old English liðe, meaning "soft, mild, gentle, or meek." |
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| 5119 |
smarmy |
unpleasantly and excessively suave or ingratiating |
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Smarmy describes someone who is overly flattering and fake. A smarmy student might tell a teacher, "You're looking even more lovely than usual today," with a big smile. |
Smarmy describes someone who goes way over the top trying to be suave and charming — fooling no one. A smarmy car salesman will compliment your outfit and your hair and your taste in cars, always with an unpleasant falseness. In the 1930s, smarm was a verb that described smearing the hair with pomade, which makes it look shiny and slick. Back then, smarm also meant smearing with flattery. |
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| 5120 |
evaluative |
exercising or involving careful appraisals |
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To be evaluative is to consider or judge something carefully. Find yourself deeply contemplating whether the new polka dot paint job really brightened up your kitchen? Then you are looking at those dots with an evaluative eye. |
At the core of the word evaluative is value. When you judge something, you are determining its value — like the value of a mathematical equation. Though both value and the related verb evaluate have some place in math classes, you will more often encounter evaluative in situations that call for critical thinking and judgment. So you will probably want to rewrite the boring ending before an editor turns her evaluative pen on it! |
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| 5121 |
categorization |
the basic cognitive process of arranging into classes |
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Categorization is the act of sorting and organizing things according to group, class, or, as you might expect, category. This noun is very similar in meaning to "assortment," "classification," and "compartmentalization." |
When we discuss the differences between mammals and birds, or reptiles and amphibians, we are talking about the categorization of the animal kingdom. Another form of categorization is the way libraries shelve their books by subject, genre, and reading level. Rearranging all those books by color or size would be yet another kind of categorization, but not a very useful one for people wanting to check out lots of books about birds or reptiles. |
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| 5122 |
acculturation |
the adoption of the behavior patterns of one's surroundings |
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Acculturation is what happens when you live with French people for a while and start going "ooh la la" and eating snails. It means adopting the ways of a culture that isn't yours. |
Acculturation is related to the word culture. Duh. Culture comes from a Latin word meaning, basically, farming. Now it refers to basically anything that people create and teach each other — singing, dancing, TV. Obviously people in different parts of the world have different cultures, and when they come together, the result is often acculturation. Picture a French guy drinking Coke and wearing a baseball cap and you get the idea. |
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| 5123 |
extroverted |
at ease in talking to others |
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Extroverted describes someone who's outgoing and social. Your extroverted friend wants to go to out and meet people, but your other friend would rather do the opposite — stay home and read books. |
First used in modern psychology around 1918, the adjective extroverted has origins in the German word extra, meaning "outward," and the Latin word vertere, meaning "to turn." So extroverted people look outward rather than toward their inner thoughts. They're outgoing, expressive, and interested in what's going on around them. If you're extroverted, you probably enjoy parties and can move through the room with ease chatting with everyone whether you know them or not. |
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| 5124 |
lusterless |
lacking brilliance or vitality |
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Something that's lusterless is dull, colorless, or boring. When you've been sick, you might notice that your hair and skin are lusterless. |
The adjective lusterless is especially good for describing something that's lost its shine or vitality. Your cat's lusterless coat and lack of appetite might worry you enough to call the vet. A lusterless old car probably can't be shined up much even by being washed and waxed. Lusterless comes from the noun luster, a sheen or glow, from the Middle French word lustre, "gloss or radiance." The Latin root is lustrare, "spread light over," from lux, "light." |
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| 5125 |
autochthonous |
originating where it is found |
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Use the adjective autochthonous to say that something is native to an area. If kane toads originated in your area, then they’re an autochthonous species. |
The root of the word autochthonous traces back to the Greek word autokhthon, meaning literally “sprung from the land itself.” Something that’s autochthonous doesn’t have to really spring from the land, but it might seem like it’s been there forever, almost as long as the land. The word is often used for people, like the autochthonous groups of Australia, but it can refer to other things as well, such as autochthonous cultural traditions or an autochthonous species. |
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| 5126 |
sashay |
to walk with a lofty proud gait, often to impress others |
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To sashay is to walk with an exaggerated flounce. Fashion models sometimes sashay down the runway. |
When you sashay, you're showing off — but in a deliberately casual way. Kids playing dress up might sashay, and the most popular middle school students might sashay into class on the first day. You can also use sashay to describe a dance step, both a sideways square dance move and a ballet step; it's a mispronunciation of the French ballet term chassé, "gliding step," or literally, "to chase," since one foot "chases" the other. |
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| 5127 |
smidgen |
a tiny or scarcely detectable amount |
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A smidgen is a little bit of something. If you're only hungry enough for a little bit of ice cream, you might ask for just a smidgen in your bowl. |
Maybe you prefer just a smidgen of ketchup on your fries, or you might speak a smidgen of German, enough to buy your train tickets in Berlin. You can use the adjective smidgen to talk about a tad of anything, although it's often used for describing or requesting little bits of food. It's thought to have come from the Scottish word smitch, "a small amount or an insignificant person." |
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| 5128 |
hokey |
effusively or insincerely emotional |
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Something that's hokey is silly and sentimental — you could also call it "sappy" or "mawkish." A hokey speech is more likely to make people roll their eyes and squirm than to make them cry. |
You can buy your friend a hokey birthday card as a joke, or read her a hokey poem to make her laugh. There's a hint of insincerity when something's hokey — people can tell that the sentiments in your hokey yearbook quote aren't entirely genuine. In the mid-1800s, hokey-pokey was defined as "false, cheap material," possibly based on hocus-pocus, and usually referring to artificial flavoring in cheap ice cream. Today, the hokey-pokey is mainly known as a silly dance. |
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| 5129 |
spartan |
unsparing and uncompromising in discipline or judgment |
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A spartan existence is kind of like being a monk. Your room is bare, you live simply and eat sparingly, and your sheets are probably scratchy. |
In ancient Greece, there were two great city states: Athens and Sparta. Athens had the artists, the good food, the great parties. Sparta had the warriors — the guys who went to bed early and drilled all day. They lived in bare rooms and didn’t get sick days or time off. A spartan life is a life of discipline and self-denial. Some people like it like that. Go figure. |
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| 5130 |
flummox |
be a mystery or bewildering to |
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Does the word flummox bewilder, confound, dumbfound and generally mystify you? Well, fear no more, because flummox means all of these things! |
Things that flummox you are probably not that serious, and often pretty amusing and informal: a TV remote or a crossword puzzle, for example, rather than something major like why your boyfriend or girlfriend broke up with you. (Now that's unfathomable.) Get this: linguists are actually mystified as to where the word flummox comes from — they're flummoxed, in other words. It may come from an old English word, flummock, meaning "to make untidy or confuse," but no one is really sure. Now, what could be more suitable? |
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| 5131 |
carrel |
small individual study area in a library |
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A carrel is a cozy, private work area usually found in a library. When you have a long paper to write, you might want to settle into a carrel with your books and laptop. |
A carrel is a cubicle or alcove which contains a desk and chair, and sometimes a shelf and electric outlets. Carrels are perfect study spots for college students, but anyone who uses a library can sit in a carrel to read or write. The word comes from the Medieval Latin carula, "small study in a cloister," possibly from a Latin root word meaning "ring." |
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| 5132 |
verbalize |
express in speech |
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To verbalize something is to put it into words. If you need to get into the bathroom desperately, and the person in front of you hasn’t noticed your agitation, you’ll probably have to verbalize it, and quickly! |
Verbalize comes from the word verbal, which describes spoken words. If people are extremely verbose, that means they talk all the time. Very shy people don't verbalize their feelings very often. Verbalize can also mean articulate, or clarify. If I’m working for you on a construction site, and you yell “SLAB!” at me, I might have to ask you to verbalize what you mean by “SLAB!” |
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| 5133 |
miscible |
capable of being mixed, in chemistry |
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Miscible is a fancy word for "mixable." You may have heard that oil and water are not very miscible substances, whereas seltzer and orange juice are miscible and delicious! |
Miscible is a word used by chemists to explain why some liquids mix together well, while others do not. Miscible liquids form homogeneous solutions, which is another way of saying liquids that have a uniform nature. Liquids that are not miscible will not form a new liquid; instead, they will each rest separately in a container (like oil and water). Miscible can also refer to solids and gases, although such use of the word is rare. |
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| 5134 |
unstructured |
lacking definite organization |
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Unstructured is an adjective describing something that lacks structure or form. Some things should never be left unstructured, like a schedule for building a house or a timeline for retirement. |
A popular phrase that's currently associated with this adjective is unstructured time, which is another way of saying "there's nothing on the schedule." Unstructured time might encourage daydreaming, creativity, or stress management, but for extremely organized people who like to follow schedules and have everything in order, unstructured anything can make them feel lazy or crazy. |
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| 5135 |
denigration |
an abusive attack on a person's character or good name |
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When you badmouth someone or talk scornfully about them (especially when they don't deserve it), that's denigration. If you practice denigration, shame on you! |
It's one thing to criticize people fairly, but when it's done in an unfair or unnecessarily hateful way, it's not criticism — it's denigration. The denigration of a public political figure is bad enough, but the denigration of ordinary people because of their religious beliefs, sexual orientation, or body size, for example, can even be illegal. Denigration is rooted in the Latin denigrare, meaning "to blacken." |
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| 5136 |
svelte |
being of delicate or slender build |
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Svelte means slender. It's used to describe people, not things, and it implies a certain elegance. You might say that a middle-aged woman who had kept a svelte figure could still pass for a sixteen-year-old girl. |
Svelte came to English from the French, back in the 19th century when the French had the last word on fashion, which probably accounts for its associations with elegance. It has nothing to do with the word sweltering, which means hot enough to make you sweat. |
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| 5137 |
kerfuffle |
a disorderly outburst or tumult |
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A kerfuffle is some kind of commotion, controversy, or fuss. If you read about a scandal in a newspaper, it could be described as a kerfuffle. |
Kerfuffle is a humorous-sounding word for a mostly non-humorous situation: some kind of disturbance, scandal or mess. However, a kerfuffle usually isn't 100% serious. People talking loudly in public could be making a kerfuffle. If a politician says something embarrassing by accident, it could cause a kerfuffle. Often, people use this word when they think people are making too big a deal of something, as in "What's the kerfuffle all about?" |
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| 5138 |
tumid |
abnormally distended especially by fluids or gas |
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To understand tumid, think about how your belly feels after Thanksgiving when you've just polished off that third helping of turkey with stuffing and Brussels sprouts. Gassy? Full? Distended? That's tumid for you. |
Tumid is also used by critics all over to describe their subjects (or rather "victims"). Any art form, particularly writing or acting, is ripe for description as tumid if it's overblown, bombastic and, well, gassy. Often used interchangeably with turgid in this sense. |
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| 5139 |
raffish |
marked by a carefree unconventionality or disreputability |
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Someone raffish is a bit of a scoundrel, carelessly making mischief. Your raffish classmate might constantly play mean practical jokes, always denying responsibility with a charming smile. |
If you're raffish, you're a "rake" or a "cad." Though you're pretty much bad news, you pull off your dastardly deeds in an attractive manner. Someone with a raffish look is intriguing as well as disreputable. Raffish comes from riff-raff, "generally undesirable people," from the Medieval French rifle et rafle, "stealing from the bodies of the dead on the battlefield." |
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| 5140 |
fugacious |
lasting a very short time |
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Something that's fugacious lasts a very short time. You say you'll wear your trendy new jeans for years but the truth is, their style is so fugacious you'll feel silly in them long before they wear out. |
When you describe something that passes quickly, or that's ephemeral and fleeting, you can use the adjective fugacious. When you live in Maine, the summer seems fugacious, and after looking forward all year to your senior prom, you'll find the night so fugacious that it seems to last only an hour. The origin can be traced back to the Latin word fugax, which means "apt to flee, or timid." |
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| 5141 |
mealymouthed |
hesitant to state facts or opinions simply and directly |
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If your excuses for not finishing your homework range from acid rain to your dog eating it, your teacher may accuse you of being mealymouthed, i.e., not speaking frankly. |
When an apple or a peach is mealy, its texture has turned to mush — like bread, which is made from meal. No one likes to get a mouthful of that kind of apple or peach, and no one likes listening to someone who is mealymouthed either. To be mealymouthed is to be indirect and a tad sleazy. |
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| 5142 |
prideful |
having or showing arrogant superiority to others |
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Someone who's prideful is arrogant and disdainful. Prideful people don't usually have many friends, since they think they're superior to everyone else. |
Although the adjective prideful is occasionally used simply to mean "proud," or pleased and happy because of some achievement or quality, it usually means something closer to "haughty." If you know someone who's beyond proud, believing they're smarter, more beautiful, or just generally better than most other people, you can describe that person as prideful. |
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| 5143 |
somniferous |
sleep inducing |
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Whether it's a medication or a boring lecture, something somniferous makes you sleepy. |
Like soporific, somniferous is a word used to describe something that puts you to sleep. Some people who have trouble snoozing take pills that are somniferous: sleeping pills. Others do somniferous things, like reading before bed or counting sheep. A bad public speaker can be really somniferous, and so can a boring movie. Anything somniferous makes you want to catch some Z's. |
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| 5144 |
motility |
ability to move spontaneously and independently |
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In biology, motility is the ability of organisms and fluid to move or get around. A microbiologist might test and compare the motility of various single-celled organisms. |
An easy way to remember that motility means the ability to move without help is the mot- at the root of the word. It's the same root that's found in "motor," which is, of course, the engine that drives a car. If you've got good motility then your motor is working. After a car accident accident, an athlete's friends are understandably concerned about her motility. Motility is something you tend to take for granted — until you sprain an ankle. |
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| 5145 |
squirrel away |
save up as for future use |
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You squirrel away something when you save it for later. Lots of kids put part of their Halloween candy in a safe spot so they can eat it in a few days — in other words, they squirrel away their treats. |
The phrase squirrel away clearly gets its name from the squirrel and its famous habit of storing nuts and other food for the winter. When you squirrel something away, you save it just the way a squirrel saves its acorns. You might squirrel away your lottery winnings to travel in a few years, or squirrel away the last piece of chocolate cake so that no one else in your family can eat it. |
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| 5146 |
lummox |
an awkward stupid person |
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A lummox is an awkward or goofy person. You might fondly refer to your klutzy best friend as a big old lummox. |
Use the noun lummox when you need an informal, old fashioned word for a klutz. Though it can easily be seen as a serious insult, calling someone a lummox these days is fairly unusual and is more likely to be done in an affectionate or teasing way. Lummox comes from East Anglian slang, although its origin isn't known for sure. Some experts guess that it might stem from "dumb ox" or "lumbering." |
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| 5147 |
sycophantic |
attempting to win favor by flattery |
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The adjective sycophantic is perfect for describing someone who uses flattery to get what they want. The sycophantic guy in your biology class might compliment the professor on her fabulous shoes as he hands in his lab report. |
Someone who's sycophantic goes overboard with compliments, usually to gain some kind of advantage. You see sycophantic behavior in Hollywood all the time, from red carpet interviews pouring flattery on movie stars to fawning autograph seekers. Sycophantic comes from the Greek word sykophantes, "one who shows the fig," a vulgar gesture of the time. The reference is to hypocritical Greeks behind the scenes who pretended to flatter while encouraging others to "show the fig." |
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| 5148 |
replication |
the act of making copies |
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If you make a copy of something, like a form or a picture, you have made a replication of it. You might need to mail in a replication of your tax forms when you apply for college financial aid. |
When you conduct an experiment, you have to repeat it several times to verify that your hypothesis is correct. Each repetition is one replication. A witty retort to a comment or question is also called a replication. Your replications to the teacher's questions may make your classmates laugh, but your smart mouth is bound to get you in trouble eventually. |
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| 5149 |
scotch |
hinder or prevent, as an effort, plan, or desire |
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Don't get your hopes up: The verb to scotch has nothing to do with the well-known liquor. Instead, it means to prevent or stop something from happening. |
To scotch is, most often, to prevent plans, efforts, or desires — as opposed to things — from coming about. You wouldn't say, for example, "turning off the flame is one way to scotch the steak." But you might say, "Our plans for spending the weekend camping in the mountains were scotched by the blizzard. No camping for us." Think of scotching as similar to throwing a wrench into someone's plans. Drinking Scotch is one way to scotch your efforts to remain sober. |
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| 5150 |
stochastic |
being or having a random variable |
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The adjective stochastic describes something that has a random variable. You like to joke that the city buses follow a stochastic schedule because they arrive at random times at the various bus stops. |
Stochastic is from the Greek word stokhastikos, meaning able to guess, with the root stokhos meaning a target––in Greek stokhos literally means a stick meant for archers to shoot at. The "guess" part of the original Greek work is still part of the word's meaning today: A stochastic process in a computer program, for example, is one where you can't predict what is going to happen in the program because of something random in it. |
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| 5151 |
chthonic |
dwelling beneath the surface of the earth |
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Something chthonic dwells beneath the earth. This word usually refers to mythological creatures, but you could also refer to your creepy basement as chthonic. |
Ever heard about the mole men who live underneath the ground in tunnels? Or the mutants who live in the sewers? Or even the Fraggles? Of course, those critters are imaginary, but they're examples of chthonic creatures: beings who live under the surface of the earth. Chthonic beasts are more likely to be demons than angels, so this adjective has a hellish aspect. Many myths feature chthonic creatures. |
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| 5152 |
potpourri |
a collection containing a variety of sorts of things |
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The noun potpourri can refer to a mixture or collection of seemingly unrelated items, an unusual assortment. You may own a potpourri of books — from classic literature to trashy novels and from Shakespeare's plays to comic books. |
The noun potpourri often refers to a scented mixture of spices and dried flowers that is usually kept in a decorative bowl or jar and used to perfume a room. What's interesting is that the name for this attractively fragrant mixture comes from the French phrase pot pourri, which literally means "rotten pot." The phrase was used to describe a stew. Clearly, some things translate better than others. |
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| 5153 |
ambit |
an area in which something operates or has power or control |
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An ambit is the area or range that someone controls or affects. The kid who's voted president of her sixth grade class is going to be thrilled, despite her relatively small ambit. |
The origins of ambit go back to the Latin word for "going about or going round," ambitus, and for a time, ambit literally meant "the area surrounding a building." Today, the range of a person or group's power is their ambit. For example, if a crime is committed on a college campus, the town police won't investigate if they decide that it's the ambit of the college police, or under their jurisdiction. |
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| 5154 |
impermanent |
not lasting |
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Impermanent describes something that's temporary, like a bad poison ivy rash, a one-day sale at your favorite store, or a message written in the sky by an airplane. |
The adjective impermanent is useful for talking about things that are fleeting or transitory; bubbles, the summer, a baby's cute lisp, and a wonderful dream are all impermanent. Many religions, especially Buddhism, emphasize the impermanent nature of everything in life, and the inevitability of change. The word at the root of impermanent is permanent, from the Latin permanere, "endure, continue, or stay to the end." |
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| 5155 |
noncompliant |
boldly resisting authority or an opposing force |
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To be noncompliant is to be defiant and resistant to authority. |
When someone is compliant, they go along with what others — especially people in authority — want them to do. When someone is noncompliant, they resist authority. A child refusing to do homework or chores is being noncompliant. A citizen ignoring a police officer's request is being noncompliant. An actor telling a director to get lost is being noncompliant. Sometimes it’s good to be noncompliant, like when Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of the bus. |
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| 5156 |
oleaginous |
containing an unusual amount of grease or oil |
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If your archenemy remarks on your oleaginous skin, she's not giving you a compliment. She's calling you oily-faced. |
You can impress your friends by commenting on how disgustingly oleaginous your pizza is, or despair over the oleaginous state of an ocean bay after an oil spill. Either way, you're using a fancy word for greasy or oily. And if you run into a particularly slick car salesman, you can describe him as oleaginous too. The adjective oleaginous comes from the Latin root oleaginus, "of the olive." |
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| 5157 |
entailment |
something that is inferred |
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An entailment is a deduction or implication, that is, something that follows logically from or is implied by something else. |
In logic, an entailment is the relationship between sentences whereby one sentence will be true if all the others are also true. Want a less-dry-sounding, real-life example? How about this: Being a good student, for instance, is an entailment of attending classes, learning the material, and keeping up with assignments. An old-fashioned definition of entailment is a set of limitations that restrict the ways property can be bequeathed to heirs. |
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| 5158 |
unidentifiable |
impossible to recognize |
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The adjective unidentifiable describes something or someone that cannot be recognized or named. If you read mystery novels, you know that a body is often unidentifiable, but the detective figures out who it is by the end of the book and solves the crime. |
People aren't the only things that can be unidentifiable. You may see an unidentifiable car — one that is nondescript and has no specific markings or license plates. You may have a refrigerator full of unidentifiable packages, especially if all the labels are missing. It's always best not to leave things in the fridge for months before you try to identify them. |
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| 5159 |
constitutive |
essential in the structure of something |
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The word constitutive describes an essential part of a whole, especially physical makeup. Without its constitutive engine, steering wheel, and tires, you don’t really have a car; it's just a box with seats. |
Just like a government may be based on its constitution, a whole is based on its constitutive parts. Something that is constitutive may also be necessary for a whole to work correctly. Participate in a 24-hour dance-a-thon, and you’ll likely find your legs are constitutive to your success. Constitutive is one of those words that has both general and scientific uses; you might see other senses of the word in both chemistry and biology books. |
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| 5160 |
minatory |
threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments |
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Minatory means threatening. When you petition the school for higher academic standards––i.e. harder grading from teachers––you may receive some minatory looks, or even hate notes, from the kids in your school. |
Minatory derives from the Latin menatorius, "menace," and has nothing at all to do with the Greek legends of the Minotaur. But think of the Minotaur anyway––it was half-man, half-bull, lived inside a labyrinth, and could only be appeased if it was being sent young women to devour. If that's not threatening, or minatory, behavior, nothing is. |
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| 5161 |
bilk |
cheat somebody out of what is due, especially money |
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Ever paid a restaurant bill only to discover they charged you for stuff you never had? What they did was bilk you — cheat you out of money that was justly yours. Shady companies are forever bilking their investors. |
To bilk someone is slightly different from plain robbing them, though the effect is the same; it implies a non-violent, subtle and devious method masquerading as legitimate. Bernie Madoff, the Ponzi scheme king, was a classic bilker. On a more enjoyable note, one of the greatest bilkers in TV history was the appropriately named Sergeant Bilko, played by the comedian Phil Silvers. His eternal card games, promotions and get-rich-quick schemes were all designed to part some poor sucker from their cash. Watch and learn from the master. |
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| 5162 |
authoritarianism |
government in which the ruler is an absolute dictator |
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Political scientists use the term authoritarianism to describe a way of governing that values order and control over personal freedom. A government run by authoritarianism is usually headed by a dictator. |
The noun authoritarianism is most often used in a negative context, to describe a government with absolute control over the population. This kind of government uses military threats, suppression of a free press, and disinformation to manage the people over whom it rules. Many people consider China to be an example of an authoritarian government today. The word itself can be traced back to the Latin auctor, "master, leader, or author." |
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| 5163 |
outfox |
beat through cleverness and wit |
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To outfox someone is to defeat them at something using quick thinking or sneaky tricks. Some of the most popular fictional detectives cleverly outfox their foes. |
You can attempt to outfox your opponent at poker using tricky strategies and bluffs. A political candidate can also try to outfox a rival, either through smart debate tactics or sneakier, more underhanded means. Outfox has been used in this way since the 1930s, from the old-fashioned verb fox, "to delude or deceive," which stems from the idea (popular in folklore) of foxes being wily or tricky. |
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| 5164 |
educe |
construe a meaning or elicit a principle |
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When you educe you first see the potential in something and then develop it. An artist sketching on scratch paper might later educe a painting from the casual sketches. |
Educe can also be used as a synonym for deduce, meaning "to reach a conclusion." Suppose members of a jury have to decide whether someone is guilty of stealing. They use the facts in the case to educe the thief's motivation. Educe comes from the Latin word ducere, meaning "lead." Think of educe as leading to something else. |
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| 5165 |
reactive |
participating in processes changing substances into others |
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To be reactive is to be ready to react or respond to something else — as opposed to ready to act on one's own. A person who's reactive does things only in response to others. |
To react is to do something in response to something else. When someone pinches you, for example, you react. But if you're a reactive person, then you only react; you're always ready to react but not to act on your own. You're rather lifeless unless something or someone else causes you to do act. This is usually seen as a negative trait in people, unless you're talking about, say, firefighters or cops. We admire people who don't need prodding to get things done. Some chemicals are called reactive, too, because they react readily with other chemicals. |
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| 5166 |
pain in the neck |
something or someone that causes trouble |
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A pain in the neck is any kind of annoyance or source of grief. A dead car battery can be a pain in the neck, and so can your nosy neighbor. |
Have you ever had a literal pain in your neck? If so, you know how bothersome it can be, ruining your sleep and making the whole day unpleasant. When a person or problem is called a pain in the neck, it's because they're similarly bothersome. A lazy employee is a pain in the neck for the boss. A noisy student is a pain in the neck for a teacher. Difficult homework is a pain in the neck for students. |
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| 5167 |
metier |
an occupation for which you are especially well suited |
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If toasting bread is the limit of your culinary skills, then being a chef is probably not your métier. A métier, in other words, is a job to which you are particularly well suited by your skills. |
Your métier can also be a particularly outstanding talent or strong point in general. If you're a chef, your divine steak frites might be your métier. If you're a mechanic, your ability to understand transmissions may be your métier. Often used interchangeably with forte, meaning "strong point." As the accent over the "e" in métier implies, it's originally from the French, because the French, darn them, are good at so many things. Particularly steak frites. |
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| 5168 |
crabby |
annoyed and irritable |
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If you're in a really bad or irritable mood, you can say you're crabby. Loud talking and laughing during a movie might make you crabby. |
Some unpleasant, bad-tempered people seem to be crabby all the time, while others just become crabby when they're stuck in rush hour traffic. You might decide that the sound of kids yelling and laughing makes you too crabby to be a good elementary school teacher. The original, 16th century meaning of crabby was "crooked" or "rough," with the "cranky" meaning arising in the United States around 1776. |
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| 5169 |
persnickety |
characterized by excessive attention to trivial details |
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Persnickety is a lively, fancy word for “fussy.” If you've sent your salad back to the kitchen three times, you might be a persnickety eater. |
The adjective persnickety sounds prickly like a porcupine, and persnickety people can indeed be sharp and prickly when they don't get things precisely as they wish. I don't mean to be persnickety about grammar, but you shouldn't use “ain't” in an academic paper. If you're persnickety about your coffee, you'll probably want to put the cream and sugar in yourself. |
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| 5170 |
precis |
a sketchy summary of the main points of an argument |
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A precis is a summary of something's main points. If you've ever jotted down notes about your main ideas before writing a persuasive essay, you've used a precis. |
Precis looks like precise, and of course, you always want your precis to be precise. But the words are pronounced differently. Precis comes from the French word précis, so say it like this: "PRAY see." Or you can accent the other syllable: "pray SEE." The s is only pronounced if the word is plural: "PRAY sees." The spelling stays the same. |
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| 5171 |
skimp |
work hastily or carelessly |
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The verb skimp refers to using a limited amount of something. When tomato prices are high, a cost-conscious restaurant might skimp on the amount of chopped tomatoes it puts on salads. |
Skimp can also describe getting by spending very little money, like someone who skimps in order to save for the future. You can also skimp on time and effort, like when you skimp on the amount of care you put into your math homework. Skimp is likely a variation of scrimp, which means "to make too small" and comes from the Swedish word skrumpna, meaning "to shrink, shrivel up." |
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| 5172 |
comestible |
suitable for use as food |
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Anything that you could possibly use for food is a comestible, a synonym of "edible." It can be used as a noun ("We shopped for comestibles") or an adjective ("It looked awful, but was comestible"). |
The word comestible, a rather formal-sounding word for food, has its roots in the Latin word comedere, which means "to eat up." Since comestible shares a background with the word consume, you will hopefully remember its meaning. Comestible was first recorded in the 15th century, and it bounced around as an adjective before becoming a noun in the 19th century. |
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| 5173 |
malapropos |
at an inconvenient time |
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It would be malapropos to wear full clown makeup to your cousin's formal wedding. In other words, it wouldn't be appropriate. |
Use the adjective malapropos to describe something that is awkwardly unsuitable for the situation or setting at hand. Telling jokes at a funeral or bringing your pet piglet to tea at the Queen's castle would both be highly malapropos. The word comes from the French phrase mal à propos, literally "badly for the purpose." As it's French, you don't pronounce the final s. |
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| 5174 |
equivalence |
essential comparability and interchangeability |
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If you were having trouble choosing between chocolate cake and an ice cream sundae because you love both equally, you might say these two treats have an equivalence. |
The noun equivalence describes the state of being equal, and it can be used any time things are basically interchangeable. If you came down with a stomach bug and there were three different medicines your doctor could prescribe — any one of them being likely to cure you — they would have an equivalence. In math, the word equivalence comes up a lot, and it's always represented by an equal sign. |
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| 5175 |
mugwump |
a neutral or uncommitted person, especially in politics |
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A mugwump is someone, especially in politics, who sits on the fence. Mugwumps don't commit to one side or the other. |
This odd word refers to something common: someone who is neutral or uncommitted, especially in politics. A mugwump isn't committed to a party, candidate, or belief. Mugwumps could be in the middle of the road or just uninterested in politics. During any election, the candidates spend a lot of energy trying to get the mugwumps on their side. If you were trying to make a decision with a group and no one would commit, you could say "Don’t be a bunch of mugwumps!" |
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| 5176 |
trounce |
beat severely with a whip or rod |
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When you trounce someone, you win decisively. If you win a chess match in three moves, you trounce your opponent. |
When a professional tennis player is in the midst of a tournament, she hopes to trounce her rival, and an ambitious speller might dream of the day she competes nationally and trounces all the other competitors. A victorious army can also be said to trounce the enemy. The origin of trounce is uncertain, though one theory has the French troncer, or "cut a piece off from," as its root. |
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| 5177 |
elan |
enthusiastic and assured vigor and liveliness |
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Elan is a simple sounding word that means liveliness, flash and panache. So if your dance moves have elan, you're feeling the groove with exceptional style and vigor. |
Elan comes from from a French word meaning "to dart," and is often spelled élan. Someone with elan can be said to dart around with enthusiasm and a unique flair. Music or art can have elan, and so can someone's wardrobe. Elan can also mean zeal or eagerness in favor of a person or cause. So don't let this boring sounding noun fool you. Elan has a lot of pizazz up its sleeve. |
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| 5178 |
analgesic |
capable of relieving pain |
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An analgesic is a medicine that takes away physical pain. If you ask for pain relief, and the nurse says "Here's an analgesic," she's not trying to worsen your headache with a difficult word; she's just giving you a painkiller. |
Breaking apart the word analgesic helps with pronunciation, ann-ull-JEE-zick. This isn't a proper root-word study, but the last three letters of the word look like "sick." If you're sick and have some pain and discomfort, you might get relief from an analgesic. As a noun, analgesic is the actual medicine, and as an adjective, it describes the effect of the medicine — a pill will have an analgesic effect, relieving the pain — unless it's really bad pain, in which case you'll need two. |
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| 5179 |
stuporous |
stunned or confused and slow to react |
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Something that's stuporous is slowed and muddled. When you first wake up in the morning, you may stumble around in a stuporous state. |
When a person is stuporous, she is confused, sluggish, and foggy. A patient who's had surgery often wakes up feeling stuporous, and going without sleep for several days will leave almost anyone stuporous. If you're stuporous, you're in a stupor, or not quite fully conscious. In Latin, stupor means "insensibility, numbness, or dullness," from stupere, or "be stunned." |
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| 5180 |
dumbstruck |
so surprised or shocked as to be unable to speak |
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When you're dumbstruck, you're so amazed or shocked that you can't say a word. You might be dumbstruck with fear when you hear a scary noise upstairs in your supposedly empty house. |
You might be dumbstruck by the changes in a town you haven't seen in several years, or dumbstruck with terror on a roller coaster. The adjective dumbstruck describes someone who's rendered speechless by an overwhelming emotion — in other words, struck dumb, or "silent," which is the oldest meaning of the word, directly from the Old English. |
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| 5181 |
overblown |
puffed up with vanity |
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Overblown describes fears or concerns that are excessive, such as a overblown worry that people will notice a spot of dirt on your shoe and decide not to be your friend anymore. |
Overblown is a word gardeners use to describe their flowers that, having bloomed, now hang heavy on their stems. You can use it to describe other things that are past their prime like an overblown fashion trend everyone is tired of. Another meaning is an extreme display of vanity, like the overblown decorating style of a famous actor's home — complete with photos, memorabilia from past films, and award trophies everywhere you look. |
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| 5182 |
wiener |
a smooth-textured sausage of minced beef or pork |
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You might call your favorite backyard cookout food a hot dog, but it's also known as a frankfurter or a wiener. |
You're probably not thinking of Strauss waltzes and cream-topped tortes as you spread the mustard and relish on your hot dog, but in German, wiener simply means Viennese. Thank the lowly wienerwurst — "Vienna sausage" — parent of the sausage that we designate by this word today. The spelling weiner is also widely found in English, somewhat obscuring the word's origins. |
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| 5183 |
empathic |
showing empathy or ready comprehension of others' states |
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The adjective empathic describes the ability to understand other people's feelings. There is nothing better than a truly empathic friend when you're feeling sad. |
Empathic people are sensitive to the way others feel, and even seem to share those feelings. If you give truly empathic support to someone who's suffered a serious, tragic loss, you may even cry along with them as they tell their story. Empathic is an older word than its close relation, the more common empathetic. These synonyms come from the Greek root pathos, or "feeling." |
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| 5184 |
riposte |
a counterattack made immediately after successfully parrying |
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A riposte is a clever comeback, one of those witty responses that you usually think after the fact — when it's too late to say them. |
Winston Churchill was famous for his skill with a riposte, like when his friend Lady Astor said that if he were her husband, she'd poison his tea, and he responded, "If you were my wife, I'd drink it!" This kind of quick, funny retort is a classic riposte. Originally, the word riposte came from a French word for a certain kind of lunge in fencing, and it still has this same meaning today. |
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| 5185 |
lambaste |
censure severely or angrily |
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To lambaste is to reprimand or berate someone severely. People lambaste those who have angered or disappointed them. |
Have you ever watched a basketball game and noticed a coach yelling like a maniac at a referee? That coach is lambasting the referee. Lambasting is also called chewing out, taking to task, scolding, reprimanding, berating, bawling out, and chiding. Parents lambaste disobedient kids. A boss might lambaste a worker who is late all the time. Lambasting is severe and goes way beyond criticizing. When you are lambasting, you are furious at someone and letting them know it. |
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| 5186 |
argot |
a characteristic language of a particular group |
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Argot is language particular to a specific group. It can mean a kind of slang, a technical language or a code. In high school, only those who spend their time studying computer manuals could understand the argot of the computer lab kids. |
The word argot was originally used to describe the slang of thieves and rogues, who spoke in sneaky ways that the upright citizen couldn’t understand. We can also use argot to describe less criminal kinds of vocabularies. Any specialized practice can create an argot: boxers talk of bodyshots and jabs, just as grammar teachers complain of split infinitives and dangling participles. |
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| 5187 |
high-flown |
pretentious (especially with regard to language or ideals) |
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A person is considered high-flown if he tries to sound smarter or fancier than he really is. |
The adjective high-flown particularly comes in handy when you're describing overblown, pretentious writing. You can also describe overly lofty plans as high-flown: "The six year-old's intention to build a tree house with wall-to-wall carpeting, electric lights, and plumbing seemed a little high-flown to me." |
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| 5188 |
jubilance |
a feeling of extreme joy |
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Jubilance is what you feel when you're happy, joyful, or triumphant. The jubilance of a high school football team that finally wins a game after a season of losses is wonderful to see. |
When you're practically overcome by happiness, you're experiencing jubilance, a celebratory kind of joy. You might enjoy the jubilance of your favorite actor winning an Academy Award, or the jubilance of a little boy jumping excitedly at his birthday party. The word comes from jubilant, which is rooted in the Latin jubilare, literally "to call to someone," but used in Christian writing (including Milton) to mean "to shout for joy." |
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| 5189 |
flaky |
made of or easily forming small fragments |
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If you are flaky, you are off-beat and you probably don’t function in society quite like everyone else. If you say you’ll come to a party and then forget to show up, you are flaky. |
People are flaky (also spelled flakey) if they are wacky and unconventional, but to say someone is flaky is not really a compliment. If you want to buffer the blow of calling your friend an odd-ball, don’t say she’s flaky — say she’s eccentric. Pie crusts, snow, certain rocks, and dandruff can also be flaky, which means that they come apart in layered bits. Flakiness is a good thing for pie crusts, but not for your scalp. |
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| 5190 |
comradery |
the quality of affording easy familiarity and sociability |
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Comradery is the spirit of friendship and community in a group, like the comradery of soldiers at war who keep each other upbeat despite the difficulty of their circumstances. |
Who is a comrade? A close friend or a fellow soldier — in other words, someone who comes to mind when you say, "We're in this together." Comradery reflects that same spirit: both words can be traced to the Spanish word comarada, meaning “chamber mate,” or roommate. Comradery is a feeling of trust, a bond created by a shared goal or experience — you don't have to be best friends with everyone in the group to know you have their support. |
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| 5191 |
schema |
a simplified or preliminary plan |
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If you were just commissioned to modernize your town's library, the first thing you'll make is a schema: an outline of your plan for reinventing libraries. |
Schema sounds like scheme, but they have different nuances. You scheme to snatch a cookie from the jar. A schema is more of a master plan. It can also just be an organized vision. If you have a master concept about how the world works, that's your world organization schema. Someone with an insanely big idea about how to change the world has "a grand schema." Now she just needs to make a practical schema for actually making that change. |
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| 5192 |
pasquinade |
a composition that humorously imitates somebody's style |
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A pasquinade is a satire, usually done in writing and posted in public. A skit, flyer, or cartoon can be a pasquinade — as long as its intent is to mock or ridicule something or someone. |
You can find examples of modern pasquinades on late night television political sketches and in newspaper political cartoons that mercilessly make fun of public figures. Today, you’re probably more likely to use a synonym for pasquinade, such as lampoon or satire. But neither of those words can say they got their name from Pasquino, a 500 year-old statue in Rome where people posted lampoons and satirical poems. |
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| 5193 |
gallimaufry |
a motley assortment of things |
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Use the noun gallimaufry when you're talking about a jumbled mix of things. You might describe your family's traditional Thanksgiving meal as a gallimaufry of Italian, American, and Indian dishes. |
Any mishmash of stuff can be called a gallimaufry. You might have a gallimaufry of socks in your drawer, all different colors and sizes and patterns, or a gallimaufry of guests at your birthday party. You could criticize a writer's short story collection as a gallimaufry of pieces, all with different, mismatched moods and styles. Gallimaufry comes from the French galimafrée, "hash or ragout," from the Old French calimafree, "unappetizing stew or sauce." |
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| 5194 |
tacky |
tastelessly showy |
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Things that are tacky are cheap, flashy, garish, gaudy, loud, tawdry, or trashy. Tacky clothes are a fashion nightmare, and tacky comments are embarrassing for everyone involved. |
If you wore a bright orange suit to school, with a neon green hat, you'd be dressing in a tacky way. Tacky clothes are usually inexpensive yet flashy and showy — obnoxious. When people make tasteless, trashy comments, it's also considered tacky. But if you're in art class and someone says that your paper-mâché project is tacky, don't get mad — they probably just mean that it's not dry yet and still sticky to the touch. |
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| 5195 |
eldritch |
suggesting the operation of supernatural influences |
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Eldritch things are spooky and weird — they make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. |
If you're reading a horror or fantasy story, you may see the word eldritch, which means uncanny, unearthly, and weird in a supernatural way. Anything a witch does is eldritch. Goblins and elves are eldritch creatures. A story full of ghosts and strange monsters is full of eldritch elements. You won't find much that's eldritch in a story about lawyers or doctors. Those kinds of stories are more realistic. |
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| 5196 |
conceptualize |
have the idea for |
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If you have an idea for something, or if you understand something fully, you conceptualize it. You might conceptualize the plan for a big party, but find it hard to conceptualize exactly how the big bang worked. |
In conceptualize, you see the word concept which means an idea. Don't think of a simple idea though, like taking a walk. Imagine a complex concept involving many elements, so a little brain work is involved. When you conceptualize, you either create a concept or you grasp one. The idea of man landing on the moon was conceptualized hundreds of years before it was planned or achieved. |
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| 5197 |
sesquipedalian |
a very long word (a foot and a half long) |
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Use the adjective sesquipedalian to describe a word that's very long and multisyllabic. For example the word sesquipedalian is in fact sesquipedalian. |
Sesquipedalian can also be used to describe someone or something that overuses big words, like a philosophy professor or a chemistry textbook. If someone gives a sesquipedalian speech, people often assume it was smart, even if they don’t really know what it was about because they can’t understand the words. Each of those long words is referred to as a sesquipedalia. Antidisestablishmentarianism is a sesquipedalia: in fact it’s the longest non-coined and nontechnical word in the English language. |
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| 5198 |
nix |
command against |
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If you nix something, you cancel or veto it. You might nix your little sister's plan to build a fire pit in the middle of the front yard. |
In North America, to nix something is to forbid or put an end to it. Your aunt might nix your idea about a surprise party for your uncle, knowing he would hate it, and a babysitter might nix her charges' plan to stay up all night watching movies. Another, less formal meaning of nix is "nothing." This is also the oldest meaning of the word, from the German nichts, also "nothing," and pronounced in much the same way. |
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| 5199 |
appurtenant |
furnishing added support |
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Something that is appurtenant helps or supports something else. Good physical health is appurtenant to mental well-being. |
The adjective appurtenant sounds similar to pertinent, and you can use the two words in the same way, to show that something relates or belongs to something else. Appurtenant shows up a lot in scholarly writing, in situations like a building addition that fits, or is appurtenant to the original structure, or a legal decision about whether a claim of discrimination is appurtenant to a particular law. |
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| 5200 |
magniloquence |
high-flown style; excessive use of verbal ornamentation |
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Use the noun magniloquence to describe the way your English teacher speaks, if she has a tendency to use flowery, ornate language to say the simplest things. |
Politicians, kings, and actors are all people who might have a tendency toward magniloquence, ornamenting their speech with big words, metaphors, and rhetoric. When someone uses more words than are necessary to get her point across, especially if her tone is pompous or grandiose, she is guilty of magniloquence. The word comes from the Latin magniloquus, "pompous in talk," which combines magnus, "great," and loquus, "speaking." |
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| 5201 |
tergiversate |
be deliberately ambiguous or unclear in order to mislead |
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Use the verb tergiversate when you need a fancy way to describe someone who's beating around the bush, or being deliberately unclear. |
A politician who really doesn't want to answer a reporter's question is likely to tergiversate, or talk and talk without ever taking a definitive stand. Your relatives may even tergiversate at holiday gatherings when uncomfortable topics come up. The Latin root word, tergiversari, literally means "to turn one's back," or more figuratively, "to be evasive." |
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| 5202 |
voluptuary |
displaying luxury and furnishing gratification to the senses |
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A voluptuary loves the good life — he is a person whose fondest wish might be to lie on a velvet sofa while being fed chocolate cupcakes. |
Another word for voluptuary is hedonist, someone whose favorite things are comfort and luxury, and whose highest priority is sensual pleasure. A voluptuary might be especially fond of fine clothing, delicious food, and a luxurious home. The Latin root of voluputary is voluptas, which means "pleasure," and that is exactly what a voluptuary is preoccupied with, his or her own pleasure. |
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| 5203 |
malarkey |
empty rhetoric or insincere or exaggerated talk |
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Malarkey is ridiculous or meaningless talk. You might feel strongly that your friend's excuses for not coming to your birthday party are just a bunch of malarkey. |
You can generally use the word malarkey to mean "nonsense" or "hogwash." If you feel like a classmate is using big, impressive words and speaking in a deliberately complicated way to say something relatively simple, you can dismiss it as malarkey. And one political party might be quick to call an opponent's platform pure malarkey. You can also spell it malarky — both versions are an American invention from the 1920s. |
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| 5204 |
biddable |
willing to carry out the wishes of another without protest |
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To remember biddable, which means "obedient" and "capable of being trained," think: "able" to do your "bidding." |
Certain breeds of dog, such as Golden Retrievers, are prized for their biddability. In other words, they are easy to housebreak, and you can train them to do tricks. Headstrong dachshunds are not known to be biddable. Bark "sit" and "stay" commands all you like, they listen only when it conveniences them. And cats? Your cat is likely evaluating how biddable you are turning out to be. |
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| 5205 |
ruckus |
the act of making a noisy disturbance |
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When you raise a ruckus you make a lot of noise. A ruckus can be the sound of an argument, the noise of soccer fans celebrating a victory, or it could be two-year-olds banging on pots and pans. |
Ruckus sounds like what it means — loud and maybe a little rowdy. A ruckus is the uproar you cause when you noisily protest the new cafeteria menu or a bad call against your favorite team. Cats fighting outside your window in the middle of the night could also cause a ruckus. You can also raise a quiet ruckus with your letters to the editor or silent sit-ins that instantly go viral. |
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| 5206 |
adumbrate |
describe roughly or give the main points or summary of |
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To adumbrate something is to outline it. In an English essay, you could adumbrate the themes in a novel; or, in a letter to Santa, you could adumbrate all the ways you have been behaving. |
Adumbrate is built on the Latin root umbra, "shade," and the image it evokes is of a shadow being cast around something. Your outline is like a shadow of something bigger — like the themes in that novel or the ways you have been behaving. You can also use adumbrate to mean "foreshadow": "The scene where the princess dreams of the vampire adumbrates her later discovery that her little brother is, in fact, a vampire." |
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| 5207 |
ablation |
the erosive process that reduces the size of glaciers |
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An ablation is removing a body part, organ, or tissue surgically. If a doctor takes out one of your kidneys, that's an ablation. |
This Latinate noun from the little-used verb ablate refers to the surgical removal of tissue from someone's body. This is a general term that applies to the surgical removal of any part of the patient's body. If an oncologist is removing a cancerous growth, that's an ablation. If a limb is being amputated, that's an ablation. If a dentist pulls out a tooth, that's an ablation. The other kind of ablation is also a reduction: the melting of glaciers. |
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| 5208 |
twee |
excessively or affectedly dainty, sentimental, or refined |
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Something is twee if it's a little too cute or overly adorable. A children's book that is sweet and sentimental, illustrated with squirrels in little dresses, could be described as twee. |
You could call a flowery hat twee, or describe an elaborate tea party, complete with lacy napkins, fancy silverware, and dressed-up guests, as twee. The word is traditionally British, and its original meaning could have described a dollhouse: "tiny, dainty, or miniature." Much as tummy comes from stomach, twee stems from the (overly adorable) way a child might pronounce the word sweet. |
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| 5209 |
concordance |
a harmonious state of things and of their properties |
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Concordance happens when everything agrees. It can refer to an agreement of opinions, or it can describe things that are in harmony. Your words may be in concordance with your actions — that means they're expressing the same thing. |
Concordance traces back to the Latin word concordans, meaning "being of one mind." When things are in concordance, it's as if they're of one mind: they agree or are in harmony. A talented home designer will remodel an interior so there's concordance from room to room. If you're a scholarly type, you might already know concordance can also be a list the main words in a book, usually linked to the passages where they occur. |
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| 5210 |
imprecise |
not sharply exact or accurate |
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If you’re being imprecise, you’re not being exact. If you try to draw a perfect circle with your eyes closed, your drawing will probably be imprecise. |
One field where imprecise measurements can turn out to be troublesome is cooking. If you add an imprecise amount of flour into pizza dough, you will either get a crumbly, floury mess that won't stick together, or a big, gooey glob of dough that you can't roll out into a flat crust. Either way, your pizza will not turn out very well, and you might want to remeasure or order from the local pizza place! |
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| 5211 |
dumbfound |
be a mystery or bewildering to |
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The verb dumbfound means to puzzle, mystify, or amaze. If people never expected you to amount to much in high school, but you grew up to be a rocket scientist, you will surely dumbfound your former classmates at your next reunion. |
The word dumbfound is a combination of the words dumb and confound. Dumb, in the original sense, means unable to speak. Confound is from the Latin word confundere, which means to mix together as well as to confuse. Thus the blended word dumbfound has the sense of to confuse to the point of speechlessness. If you see a solar eclipse for the first time, it might dumbfound you. |
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| 5212 |
laze |
be idle |
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To laze is to be very relaxed. On a hot summer weekend morning, you might want to laze on the beach or in a hammock with a book. |
When you laze, you lounge around, not working or really doing much of anything: you're being luxuriously lazy. If your friend asks what you plan to do during a school holiday, you might reply, "I'm just going to laze around all week." Laze came from lazy, originally laysy, and meaning "averse to work." Its origin is a mystery, though some experts think it's related to lay. |
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| 5213 |
asinine |
devoid of intelligence |
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If you want to call someone a jerk while sounding smart yourself, asinine is your go-to word. |
Asinine derives from the Latin asinus. Guess what that means? Bonus: Asinine takes stupid up a notch. There's someone so delightful in the double-edged quality of asinine behavior. Talking trash about your boss is stupid. Talking trash about your boss in an email they're cc'd on...that's asinine. |
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| 5214 |
remediation |
act of correcting an error or a fault or an evil |
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Remediation has to do with righting a wrong or correcting a fault. Students who can't read well or do their multiplication tables might need remediation to bring them up to speed. |
Remediation is a word for fixing things that aren't right. You often hear about criminals needing rehabilitation, which is close to remediation: after remediation, you're a better or smarter person. Students who get to college but aren't quite ready for college work need remediation. In all forms of remediation, the idea is you're going to help people get better in some way. |
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| 5215 |
desiccated |
thoroughly dried out |
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To be desiccated is to be dried out. If you like desiccated fruit, you like dried fruit — such as raisins or dried apricots. |
Something that's described with the adjective desiccated is extremely dry, or parched. During a drought, the ground becomes cracked and desiccated. Removing moisture and humidity from something is what makes it become desiccated. The Latin root, desiccatus, means "to make very dry." |
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| 5216 |
rain cats and dogs |
rain heavily |
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If it's going to rain cats and dogs later today, you'll want to bring an umbrella with you. To rain cats and dogs is to rain extremely hard, or to pour. |
When it rains cats and dogs, you tend to get very wet. The saying presents an interesting image, of animals falling from the sky, that doesn't seem to have much to do with torrential rain, and experts aren't certain about its origin. The most likely — and least appealing — theory is that rain storms in 17th century England would carry the bodies of dead animals through the dirty city streets, inspiring people to say, "it's raining cats and dogs." |
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| 5217 |
insusceptible |
not able or likely to be affected by something |
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If you're insusceptible to something, you're unlikely to be harmed or affected by it. The comic book hero Superman is famously insusceptible to everything except for Kryptonite; it's the only substance to which he's vulnerable. |
If you've had the chicken pox vaccine, you'll be insusceptible to the chicken pox virus, and if you aren't interested in music, you're probablykrypto insusceptible to a particularly poignant, bittersweet melody that makes your friend cry. Kids who are insusceptible to TV commercials don't pay any attention to them (and don't beg their parents for the latest toys). |
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| 5218 |
arrant |
without qualification; used informally as intensifiers |
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The word arrant intensifies. An arrant criminal is one heck of a criminal. Arrant nonsense is total nonsense. |
Do you struggle for adequate superlatives? If so, you might want to add arrant to your arsenal. It can be used to add emphasis to other words, most often negative words. Arrant rudeness is extreme rudeness. Arrant hypocrisy is very hypocritical. An arrant liar is a world-class liar. Arrant has a meaning similar to complete or utter. Like other intensifiers, arrant turns up the volume on another word. |
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| 5219 |
impinge |
infringe upon |
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Whether you have a habit of standing too close when talking to others or bringing luggage on a crowded rush-hour subway car, you'll find people don't like it when you impinge on their personal space. |
When you impinge, you intrude on something, whether it’s someone else’s space, time, or rights. Think of it as moving in on someone’s territory. The word also can be used in the sense of affecting something, usually negatively, often by restricting it. For example, constantly inviting your friend to go shopping and meet you in nice restaurants might impinge on her desire to save money. |
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| 5220 |
summation |
calculating the total of two or more numbers |
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A summation is a final review or conclusion, often given in a court of law. As the incompetent lawyer approached the bench for the final time, he told the judge and jury, "In summation, my client is guilty of all charges." |
At the end of every court case, both the defense and prosecution give a summation — a quick rundown of all the facts from the case to help the jury decide on a verdict. When used outside of the courtroom, summation simply means recounting a group of items or events. At the end of a father-son camping trip, the son gives his mother a summation of the trip. You'll note that summation begins with the prefix sum-, meaning "to add up." In fact, another definition for summation is the process of adding things together, or the final sum. |
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| 5221 |
comme il faut |
according with custom or propriety |
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If you do something comme il faut, you do it in an acceptable way, following the rules or traditions. It's comme il faut in ballet to wear your long hair in a tidy bun. |
An etiquette expert can tell you what's comme il faut in various situations — in other words, the correct or polite way to do things. It's comme il faut at a swimming pool for boys to leave their clothes in a pile, except for their swim trunks, and jump into the water. At a wedding reception, that wouldn't be comme il faut. This phrase, used in English since the 18th century, means "as it should be" or "as is necessary" in French. |
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| 5222 |
slake |
satisfy, as thirst |
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When you slake something, such as a desire or a thirst, you satisfy it. A big glass of lemonade on a hot summer day will slake your thirst. |
The word slake traces back to the Old English word slacian, meaning to “become less eager.” If you slake something, like thirst, you become less eager to drink. In other words, you are less thirsty. Like satisfy and quench, close relatives of slake in meaning, the word is used to indicate that a craving is made less intense by getting whatever it is that you crave. |
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| 5223 |
presage |
a foreboding about what is about to happen |
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A presage is a sign that something bad is about to happen, like when you get that queasy feeling in your stomach because your mom found out you skipped band practice to go to the movies. |
Presage, pronounced "PREH-sige," can be a noun or a verb. As a noun, presage is a warning or omen of bad things to come, like a strange quiet and stillness in the air, presage to the coming tornado. As a verb, presage means "making a prediction or giving a warning of what's to come," like a terrible end-of-season football game's outcome game that presaged the struggles the team faced the next season. |
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| 5224 |
oaf |
an awkward, clumsy, or stupid person |
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An oaf is the boring, ill-mannered person you hope doesn't show up at your party and send the other guests running for the door. |
There are many ways to be an oaf: you can be loud, insensitive, rude, or just plain stupid. The word is related to the Old English word for "elf," and originally meant a changeling — an elf's child, a little darling not known for good manners — and you probably wouldn't want one of them at your party either. |
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| 5225 |
dependable |
consistent in performance or behavior |
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Dependable means "reliable, steady, trustworthy." If people can always count on you, that means you are dependable. |
The adjective dependable can also mean consistent in performance or behavior, like a dependable car that always starts and rarely needs service or a dependable actor who always does a great job, regardless of the role. Dependable can also be used to describe something that is financially sound, like an investment that brings profit with little risk. |
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| 5226 |
palaver |
loud and confused and empty talk |
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Palaver is a type of empty nonsense. In other words, a more refined way of saying "BS." |
Whether you call it malarkey, hokum, mumbo-jumbo, or truthiness, there are a lot of words for talk that cannot be trusted or believed. Palaver is part of this club. Specifically, palaver tends to be hot air — empty words from a blowhard. Palaver can also be sweet talk — a type of flattery. You can use this word as a verb too: by palavering, you might try to impress someone or get someone to do you a favor. |
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| 5227 |
asymmetrical |
characterized by an imbalance in spatial arrangement |
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Something asymmetrical has two sides that don't match — it's uneven or out of whack. |
If you know that symmetrical means that both sides of something are identical, then it should be easy to learn that asymmetrical means the opposite: the two sides are different in some way. Asymmetrical things are irregular and crooked, and don't match up perfectly when folded in half. Drawing something perfectly symmetrical is pretty hard, so most of your creations are probably asymmetrical. |
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| 5228 |
methodological |
relating to the systematic techniques of some discipline |
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Use the adjective methodological when you want to describe something that relates to the methods and practices of a certain discipline. As a doctor, you should always follow best methodological practices. If a patient has a headache, don't treat him for a sore foot or vice versa. |
The roots of the adjective methodological can be broken into parts. Working backwards, -ical means "of or pertaining to," -ology means "branch of knowledge," and method is from both the Latin and Greek words methodus, meaning "a way of teaching or scientific inquiry." If you don't limit the variables, your research may have poor methodology. If you want to look at genes in blue-eyed people, but you study green-eyed people as well, you will have methodological problems. |
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| 5229 |
kowtow |
bend the knees and bow in a servile manner |
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Kowtow, which describes the act of kneeling and touching one’s head to the ground to show respect, used to be a custom in Chinese culture. Now it refers to acting like you're doing that, whether you actually bow or not. |
Kowtow is derived from the Chinese word k’o-t’ou, which literally means “knock the head.” As a verb, kowtow has the sense of “sucking up” or "flattering." Maybe you’re wondering when it would be appropriate to kowtow. The answer? When you want to worship, show respect, gain favor, or flatter. You might need to kowtow to your teacher if you failed a test, but if you kowtow to all your neighbor's requests, you might wind up mowing his lawn all summer. |
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| 5230 |
imprimatur |
formal and explicit approval |
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If you give something your imprimatur, you give it your formal support or approval. An imprimatur is a fancy version of a thumbs-up sign. |
Originally, an imprimatur was a license that permitted a book to be printed. This word still has the meaning of official or public approval. When the president signs a bill, he gives it his imprimatur. You might give your imprimatur to your favorite rock band by wearing a t-shirt with the band’s logo on it. |
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| 5231 |
insensitive |
not noticing or caring about the feelings or needs of others |
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When you're insensitive, you're not feeling something. You can be insensitive to the weather or other people's problems. |
This word has two meanings that are closely related. When your foot is asleep, it's insensitive or numb — you can't feel your friend poking at it. When you get really cold, you can become insensitive to pain. In the other sense, insensitive means the opposite of caring and sympathetic — you're insensitive to other people's feelings. If you make a joke about your friend's bad haircut when you know she's embarrassed about it, you're being insensitive. |
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| 5232 |
eleemosynary |
generous in assistance to the poor |
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Eleemosynary is an adjective that describes things that are related to charitable giving, especially when you're talking about assistance to the poor. Monetary donations to eleemosynary institutions are usually tax deductible. |
Eleemosynary comes from the Latin word eleemosyna, which means alms, the historic term for money or food given to the poor. Eleemosyna is rooted in the Greek word eleos, meaning mercy. You can use the word eleemosynary today when you mean pertaining to or dependent on charitable giving. If you say, "Eleemosynary contributions commence with one's own domicile," then you've found a verbose way to say, "Charity begins at home." |
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| 5233 |
hassle |
disorderly fighting |
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Something that is bothersome or annoying can be called a hassle. It's a huge hassle to go back to the grocery story after unloading fifteen bags and realizing you forgot milk. |
The noun hassle can also refer to an argument or a scuffle. If you get into a hassle at school, you're likely to be called into the principal's office. As a verb, hassle means to annoy or harass repeatedly or chronically. If a bully is constantly hassling you, you should report them. |
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| 5234 |
portend |
indicate by signs |
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Portend means to show a sign that something calamitous is about to happen. The teetering, tottering, pile of fine china piled up after the dinner party portends an imminent crash of broken plates and dishes. |
Portend is a verb warning of omens, or bad signs. Dark clouds rumbling in over a county fair in Kansas portend the thunderstorm and even tornado that is likely to ruin the festivities. Portend is a helpful way for authors to foreshadow dark events ahead in their stories. |
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| 5235 |
demotic |
of or for the common people |
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A demotic saying or expression is casual, colloquial, and used by the masses. Some forms of the Greek and Egyptian languages are also called demotic, which will be relevant to you when you get your PhD in Classics. |
Demotic comes from the Greek word demotikos, meaning “of or for the common people” or “in common use.” Members of the aristocracy don’t typically use demotic idioms, but it is often the elite who will point out that something is demotic. Of course, in a classless society, everything ought to be demotic, therefore making it obsolete to designate sayings as demotic. So far, however, demotic is still a relevant term. |
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| 5236 |
forgo |
do without or cease to hold or adhere to |
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The verb forgo means to give up or lose the right to something. |
The word forgo can be traced back to the Old English word forgān, which meant to pass away or to die, which is sometimes referred to as "giving up the ghost." Perhaps it was this idea of relinquishing something that led to our modern-day use of the word forgo to mean to give up, waive, or forfeit something. For example, someone charged with a crime might decide to forgo the right to remain silent and instead confess. |
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| 5237 |
ductile |
capable of being shaped or bent or drawn out |
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If you can bend or shape a substance, especially if it's made of metal, it is ductile. If they can stretch a metal into a thin wire, scientists consider it to be ductile. |
If you agree with what everyone else does or says, you too might be ductile, or easily manipulated. Some more commonly used synonyms for ductile are malleable, for both senses of the word, and pliable or flexible, for the literal sense. The word shares the same root as the word duke. If you are a duke, you probably hope your people are ductile, or easy to lead. |
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| 5238 |
indemnification |
compensation for loss or damage or for trouble and annoyance |
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Did your dog eat your landlord's lawn furniture? Did your loud partying make your neighbors move out? You may find yourself paying an indemnification, meaning compensation for damages or distress. |
More often than not, an indemnification is usually arranged up-front as a form of insurance against bad things that might happen. For example, a film crew might agree to indemnification before being allowed to film in a particular location. Indemnification has the general sense of being a preventative action, something that protects against any future losses. |
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| 5239 |
prognostication |
a sign of something about to happen |
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A prognostication is a prediction about the future. If you make gloomy prognostications about how much traffic there will be on the way home, you'll be pleasantly surprised to find the drive fast and easy. |
Use the noun prognostication when someone's making a forecast or a guess about upcoming events. Your prognostication about whether or not it will rain tomorrow might lead to your family's picnic being cancelled. Another way to use the word is to mean a sign or portent: "I hope that black cat isn't a prognostication of bad luck!" The Latin root, prognostica, means "sign to forecast weather," and it comes from the Greek prognostikos, "foreknowing." |
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| 5240 |
mushy |
having the consistency of a soft or soggy mass |
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You might use the adjective mushy to describe an overripe banana or a tear-jerker of a commercial. Either way, it describes something soft. |
Mushy is a good word for talking about something that's doughy or pulpy, whether it's a hunk of modeling clay or your out-of-shape belly. Another way to use mushy is to mean sticky and sentimental, like a mushy love scene in a terrible movie or a mushy greeting card. Either way, the word comes from mush, or porridge, which originated from mash, or "soft mixture." |
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| 5241 |
schematic |
represented in simplified or symbolic form |
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Use the adjective schematic to describe a drawing that's very simple and symbolic. That drawing your cousin made of a house with a pointy roof, smiling stick figures, and a round yellow sun? Very schematic. |
The word schematic can apply to ideas as well as drawings. In this case, schematic describes an overly simple interpretation of something complex, like a work of literature or a detailed plan for social change. Think of it like the drawing of a boxy house and stick figures, only applied to ideas — it's an outline of something that may not capture all the important details. |
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| 5242 |
synergistic |
working together for an enhanced effect |
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When something is synergistic, it means various parts are working together to produce an enhanced result. If you’ve just heard a synergistic symphony, the musicians must have played very well together. |
You’ve probably heard the phrase “more than the sum of its parts.” The prefix syn- means "together with" or "united." When synergistic parts work together, they accomplish more than they could alone. Synergetic is often used to describe the effect of drugs working together — where one drug increases the other’s effectiveness. Synergistic can also describe the cooperative efforts of several people working together — like a team of superheroes fighting crime. |
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| 5243 |
tyke |
a young person of either sex |
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A tyke is a child, especially a small one. A nursery school is full of tykes. |
Little kids are a handful, as all parents and teachers know. Maybe that's why there are some slangy words for them, such as rugrat and tyke. Tyke is a very informal word: a letter from the principal wouldn't call a kid a tyke. However, an uncle or friend of the family might say, "How are you tykes doing?" This word is a little old-fashioned, but it's still used. |
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| 5244 |
canvass |
get opinions by asking specific questions |
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A canvass is a poll, usually a political one. Around elections, political parties often canvass particular neighborhoods, looking for votes and trying to measure the pulse of the people. |
You might think of canvass as the heavy cotton cloth that is pronounced the same although spelled with only one s, that is, canvas. Canvas is used to cover things, and a canvass serves the same sort of purpose. Before elections, politicians want to cover their neighborhoods and districts with canvasses, campaign workers, flyers and the like in hopes of securing votes. |
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| 5245 |
conformation |
acting according to certain accepted standards |
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Conformation can mean following the rules, or fitting in. Competitions require conformation from competitors who must follow the rules of the game. You might note water's conformation to the shape of whatever container that holds it. |
Conformation has its base in the word conform, which means to follow the rules, or behave in such a way that you fit in, in a social or a spatial way (i.e. adjusting to something else's contours). Conformation should not be confused with confirmation, which means showing the truth or accuracy of something. The two words do have similar religious meanings though. Conformation refers to complying with the rules of a church, while confirmation means a person's full entry into the Christian belief. |
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| 5246 |
invalidate |
make no longer acceptable for use |
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If administrators find out that students cheated on a test, the school might invalidate their class grades. To invalidate means to cancel something or make it void, as if it never happened. |
In invalidate you see the word valid which means true or correct. When you invalidate something you are making it less true, less official, or less correct. If you buy something that doesn't work properly and then try to fix it yourself, you invalidate the warranty. If you have a wacky theory that cars grow from trees, your teacher might invalidate your theory by taking you on a tour of an auto factory. |
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| 5247 |
calumniate |
charge falsely or with malicious intent |
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To calumniate is to make a false accusation against someone or spread lies about how awful they are. Don’t calumniate your rival in the race for class president, because when the truth comes out, you’ll be the bad guy. |
The courts would say to calumniate is to slander. Everyone else would just say it’s mean. Calumniate is just a fancier way of saying “lie” — but specifically lying to tarnish someone's reputation. If your sister says you purposely broke a vase and you didn't, she calumniates you. If you get in trouble in class, you could calumniate to the principal about your teacher being a wretched mess — but the other students might speak up and prove you wrong. |
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| 5248 |
cloture |
a rule for limiting or ending debate in a deliberative body |
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When a Senate debate is brought to a swift end, it's done with a procedure called cloture. Cloture is most often used to end a filibuster. |
Other governments, including the U.K. and Australia, have similar rules for halting debate. The United States first adopted cloture in 1919 as a response to filibusters, which occur when a Senator speaks at great length, usually to avoid voting on a bill that he or she doesn't support. Filibusters can go on for hours—but when at least 60 Senators vote for cloture, all debate stops and a vote must occur. Cloture means "closure" in French. |
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| 5249 |
transience |
the attribute of being brief or fleeting |
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If your grandmother is always talking about how quickly the years go by, she is focused on life's transience, or briefness. |
Summer's quality of seeming to be over just as it's started can be described as transience — anything that feels impossibly brief has that same attribute. People most often use the noun transience when they're talking about good things, like beautiful days, a nice life, or a fun vacation, that seem to be over in an instant. The word comes from the Latin transiens, "passing over or away." |
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| 5250 |
recreant |
having deserted a cause or principle |
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A recreant is a heavy-duty coward. If your friend shoves you in front of him when a growling dog approaches, you'd quickly recognize him for the recreant that he is. And in the future you’d choose your friends more carefully. |
An extreme recreant would be the soldier who goes over to the enemy if it looks like they might win. Definitely not the kind of person you'd want in your platoon. Recreant (RE-cree-unt) comes from the Latin re-, meaning to "reverse" something, and credere, "entrust." The word miscreant is nearly synonymous, although a miscreant is not so much a coward, but just an all-around bad sort. |
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| 5251 |
blistering |
hot enough to raise (or as if to raise) blisters |
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Use the adjective blistering to mean extremely hot. You might love living in Georgia, except for the blistering heat in the summer time. |
A baker has to remove her loaves of bread carefully from the oven because of the blistering heat. You can also use blistering to mean a different kind of heat: "Her blistering criticism took him by surprise." Or a racer might set out on a track at a blistering pace, one that's incredibly fast or impressive. The original, hot meaning of blistering comes from the idea that something is "hot enough to form blisters." |
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| 5252 |
levelheaded |
exercising or showing good judgment |
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If you're levelheaded, you're rational and calm. When two people are arguing bitterly, they often need someone who's unbiased and levelheaded to help them come to a reasonable compromise. |
A levelheaded decision is one that you make after calm and judicious consideration, and if a company is looking for a levelheaded person to work in a hectic office environment, they want someone who stays unruffled even under pressure. Levelheaded dates from 1869, from the "balanced" sense of level. |
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| 5253 |
preventative |
tending to hinder |
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Use the adjective preventative to describe something that helps keep you free of disease, like a healthy diet and plenty of exercise. |
If it prevents illness, it's preventative. You can also use the word for things that hinder you, like a preventative speed bump that keeps you from rushing home to watch your favorite TV show, but it's more commonly a medical or health term. "Preventative medicine," for example, is focused on avoiding diseases rather than treating them. The Latin root word, praeventus, means "to hinder." |
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| 5254 |
curmudgeonly |
brusque, surly, and forbidding |
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When you're curmudgeonly, you come across as very grumpy and unfriendly. A curmudgeonly teacher answers students' questions in a cranky and inapproachable way. |
Waiting in a long, curmudgeonly line isn't much fun, since everyone around you seems irritable. Your own curmudgeonly mood might cause you to snap at your friends and complain about the weather, despite the fact that it's a beautiful day. The origin of the related noun curmudgeon is a mystery, although some experts guess at a connection to cur, or "dog." |
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| 5255 |
citified |
having the customs or manners of someone urban |
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If you're citified, you're comfortable and familiar with being in a city. When your cousin travels from North Dakota to visit you in Chicago, she might take one look at you and declare you totally citified. |
The adjective citified is often used as a put-down, a way to criticize someone for being too much a city person. If your expertise includes hailing cabs and dodging pedestrians on the sidewalk, your attempts to master cattle ranching or piloting a lobster boat might inspire the locals to call you citified. A more complimentary word to use would be urbane, which describes someone who's an elegant and refined city person. |
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| 5256 |
cavort |
play boisterously |
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How to cavort, in one easy step: dance around all crazy, jumping on and over anything nearby like you just ate a lot of sugar. Give it a try! |
Cavorting requires a good mood, lots of energy, and some running room. Children love to cavort, and so do parents when they win the lottery. The origins of the word are unclear, perhaps coming from the word curvet, meaning “leap gracefully or energetically,” and leaping is a great addition to any cavorting. There are lots of synonyms, so if you ever get tired of cavorting, you could always prance, frolic, lark, rollick, romp, or carouse. The choice is yours. |
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| 5257 |
randomness |
the quality of lacking any predictable order or plan |
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Randomness is the quality of having no apparent order. If you want a really good password that no one can hack, you want a lot of randomness in it — no numbers or words that clearly pertain to your life. |
The word random comes from an old French word for running (from the time before perfect oval running tracks). So randomness is like the quality of running all over the place. If you want to conduct a survey of vegetable shoppers, you’ll want to insure a degree of randomness by interviewing shoppers at all different markets, not just the fancy health food store. |
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| 5258 |
limn |
make a portrait of |
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Limn is a verb that means to represent or portray. It is most often used to describe the act of drawing or painting a portrait, but it can also refer to describing or outlining a scene or event. |
The verb limn evolved from the Latin lumināre, "to illuminate." The word referred originally to coloring (illuminating) manuscripts. The sense of "portray" or "depict" did not come into use until the late 16th century, but that meaning is close to the original, since someone who paints a portrait usually illuminates something about the subject's character. The word is less often used of written description, as in "Her reviews tended to limn the worst aspects of the performance, ignoring the best." |
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| 5259 |
folksy |
very informal and familiar |
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Something folksy is down-to-earth and comfortable. An airline pilot's folksy voice can be calming to nervous passengers. |
A folksy restaurant is a modest, familiar kind of place to eat, where the food is plain and you don't need a reservation. A roots or country music group might strive for a folksy look and sound, and a folksy letter has an informal style and colloquial, everyday language. The word folksy was born in the United States in the 1850s, from folk, or "common people." |
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| 5260 |
expendable |
suitable to be used up |
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Anything expendable is not necessary — it can be done without. If you lose or use expendable funds, you won't miss the money. |
None of us wants to be called expendable — that means we could be replaced. If a football team isn't worried about certain players leaving for another team, then those players are expendable: they won't be missed and won't disrupt things if they leave. In war, some people are considered more expendable than others: a soldier is more expendable than a general, because there are far fewer generals. In any country, the least expendable person is the president or other leader of the nation. That's why they get so much protection from their security guards, who are considered much more expendable. |
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| 5261 |
tiff |
a petty quarrel |
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A tiff is a minor, relatively unimportant argument or fight. A tiff with your brother might start over the subject of whose turn it is to take out the trash. |
It's no fun to have a tiff with someone, but it's usually resolved or forgotten easily. When you have a tiff with a friend, it's inevitably a squabble over some silly topic, and if you bicker with your boyfriend, you can call it a "lovers' tiff." In the 1700s, a tiff was an "outburst of temper," from an unknown source. Some word experts suggest the word echoes the sound of a "puff of air or gas." |
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| 5262 |
standoffish |
lacking cordiality; unfriendly |
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Someone who's standoffish is aloof or unfriendly. When you first meet someone, she might seem standoffish when really she's just shy. |
A politician who appears standoffish will have more trouble getting elected than one who seems warm and likable. The adjective standoffish is a great informal word for describing people who are reserved or haughty or cold. Standoffish comes from a now obsolete meaning of the phrase stand off, "hold aloof." |
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| 5263 |
confabulate |
talk socially without exchanging too much information |
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Confabulate is a fancy way of saying “talk.” If you’re feeling formal, you don’t chat with your best friend on the phone, you confabulate. Regular people talk, people wearing tuxedos and beaded evening gowns confabulate. |
Confabulate means to talk, but it also refers to creating a memory that’s unreal, like a fable, without being aware of it. If you suffer from memory loss, you might confabulate to fill in the blanks. The word comes from the Latin com- for "together" and fabulari for "to talk," which comes from fabula for "a tale." Whew. For a long time, confabulate just meant “to talk,” but the psychiatric sense came later. |
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| 5264 |
valediction |
a farewell oration |
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A valediction is a speech that wishes a group of people farewell. It's most commonly given at graduations. |
The word diction in valediction is a clue that this word has to do with speaking, since it comes from the Latin root dicere, "to say." When combined with valere, "be well," the result is valedicere, "bid farewell." Just about any type of school that has a graduation ceremony will have a valediction, which typically congratulates students on their accomplishments and inspires them to look ahead. |
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| 5265 |
cabalistic |
having a secret or hidden meaning |
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Anything cabalistic has a secret, hidden meaning. Cabalistic things are mysterious. If a group of people wearing purple robes walk by chanting, you could say they're cabalistic. |
Cabalistic is a way of saying “secretive or mysterious." A book of ancient, mystical texts would be considered cabalistic. Any society or practice that’s secretive and somewhat spiritual or mystical could also get the cabalistic label. The root is ultimately from Hebrew qabbalah, something handed down. |
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| 5266 |
empyrean |
of or relating to the sky or heavens |
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Use the word empyrean when you're talking about the heavens or the sky. You might describe the empyrean curve of the night sky, scattered with stars, particularly if you wanted to sound poetic. |
The adjective empyrean, pronounced "em-PEER-ee-an," can describe a religious idea of heaven. It can also describe the sky itself, or something that is awe-inspiring, like the empyrean beauty of the Himalayas. The phrase the empyrean means "the heavens" or "the sky," or in Greek cosmology, the highest, fiery sphere of heaven, empyros in Greek, and the root of empyrean. |
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| 5267 |
asymmetric |
characterized by lack of balance in the arrangement of parts |
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You describe something as asymmetric when it lacks the mirror-image quality of symmetry. That dress your sister sewed for you may appear stylishly asymmetric, but really the reason the sleeves are different lengths is because she doesn’t know how to use a tape measure. |
The a- prefix comes from Latin and makes a word into its opposite, so asymmetric is the opposite of symmetric. Asymmetric often describes an intentional part of a design, like a shirt with an asymmetric neckline. But it can also describe something that is the result of a mistake, injustice, or deformity, like asymmetric growth in a body, which may be a sign of disease. |
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| 5268 |
kick the bucket |
die |
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When you kick the bucket, you die. Kick the bucket is an extremely informal way to describe death. |
If you're looking for a delicate way to talk about someone dying, kick the bucket isn't the right way to do it — it's a blunt and casual, almost joking way to say "die." The origin is a little blurry, though most experts think it stems from the Old French buquet, a trébuchet or beam from which slaughtered — and possibly still kicking — animals were hung. |
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| 5269 |
tensile |
of or relating to tension |
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Use the adjective tensile to describe materials that can be shaped, such as the tensile clay that a potter crafts into a bowl or vase. |
Tensile rhymes with "pencil." It might remind you of the word tense, and in fact, tensile can also mean "having to do with tension." Think about a tensile material, like wire. It will stretch and stretch until it reaches its limit. Drawn tight, with no slack, the wire has tensile stress. |
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| 5270 |
frothy |
emitting or filled with bubbles |
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Something frothy is composed of many small air bubbles. You might like your cappuccino frothy but probably not your tap water. |
If you order a cappuccino at a cafe, you'll get a cup of strong coffee topped with frothy milk, and a cake recipe might instruct you to beat four eggs until they're frothy. In both examples, air bubbles cause a liquid to become foamy and creamy. A frothy person, however, is bubbly in a different way, full of life and excitement. There's often an implication of "insubstantial," or even "silly" when a person or idea is described as frothy. |
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| 5271 |
reave |
steal goods; take as spoils |
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To reave is to plunder, or to steal a lot of goods from someone. An attacking army might storm through a village and reave from all of the houses in it. |
You can use the verb reave when you need an antique way to say "plunder" or "pillage." Someone who reaves is basically stealing things, although the word implies the sense of a group stealing many items after an attack, as in wartime. The Old English root word is reafian, which means "to rob, plunder, or pillage," from the Proto-Indo-European reup, "to rip." |
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| 5272 |
exculpatory |
clearing of guilt or blame |
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Does the blood on the kitchen knife not match that on the accused's clothes? That's exculpatory evidence: anything that clears someone or something of guilt or blame is exculpatory. |
Exculpatory comes from the Latin word exculpat, meaning "freed from blame." The verb exculpate means to free from guilt or blame. Both words are used most often in a legal or technical sense rather than in everyday conversation — unless of course you're trying to show off. |
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| 5273 |
insightful |
exhibiting clear and deep perception |
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What English teachers want from students writing papers is insightful analysis –– thinking that sees beyond the obvious and expresses an original thought. |
With this word, remember in- and -sight-. When you have the ability to look (sight) inside (in) something––a painting, a discussion, a situation––and find what others aren't seeing, you are being insightful. An insightful person is someone capable of deep, insightful thinking. |
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| 5274 |
expatriation |
the act of expelling a person from their native land |
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Expatriation is the process of leaving your country and living in a new one, or the act of forcing a person to do this. If you decide to pack up your things and move to the remote island nation of Kiribati, that's expatriation. |
When a fairy tale king banishes a princess from the kingdom, it's one kind of expatriation—you could also call it "exile" or "deportation." Then there's the expatriation that happens when someone chooses to move from one country to another. A U.S. citizen might attend college in Canada, then stay and become a Canadian citizen afterward, for example. Expatriation comes from the French expatrier, "banish," from ex-, "out of," and the Latin patria, "native land." |
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| 5275 |
supplemental |
functioning in a supporting capacity |
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You can use the adjective supplemental to describe something extra. You could volunteer to donate your collection of markers and colored pencils to a local school that needs supplemental art supplies. |
Something that's supplemental is added when there's a lack or deficiency. You might feed the runt from a litter of puppies supplemental milk because he can't get enough from his mother. Teachers are famous for assigning supplemental reading to round out the information in a textbook. Supplemental comes from the Latin supplementum, "added to supply a deficiency." |
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| 5276 |
golem |
an artificial human that is given life by supernatural means |
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A golem is a magical character in Jewish folklore, a clay figure that comes to life. The earliest history of Judaism includes the oldest-known stories about golems. |
In the Jewish holy book the Talmud, God's formation of Adam is described as the making of a golem, shaped from mud and dust. There are many more tales of golems in Judaism, and golems also appear in Polish folktales and even stories by the Brothers Grimm. Robots and automatons are sometimes described as golems, or machines made in the form of a human being. In Hebrew, golem means "shapeless mass" or "embryo." |
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| 5277 |
flagitious |
extremely wicked, deeply criminal |
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Flagitious is a fancy and forceful word for "wicked and nasty." As sheriff, it's up to you to bring the flagitious outlaws to justice. |
Remember that flagitious has three syllables and the "t" is pronounced like "sh" (similar to "ambitious"). Use flagitious when you want to emphasize the extremely brutal nature of a crime or other bad action. The crime scene photos showed the results of actions so flagitious you could not bear to look at them. |
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| 5278 |
dehydrate |
remove water from |
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To make a raisin, you dehydrate a grape. To dehydrate is to remove all of the water from, or to dry up. |
When you exercise a lot, it's good to drink water so that your body doesn't dehydrate. Signs of dehydration in a person? Dry mouth, exhaustion, dark urine, the chills, and head rushes. If you experience these, get a drink quick! Signs of dehydration in a fruit? Wrinkled skin and extra sweetness. Yum! |
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| 5279 |
dodgy |
of uncertain outcome; especially fraught with risk |
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A dodgy situation is risky and suspicious. A dodgy person is skilled in lying and deceiving. Neither should be trusted. |
When a person or situation is called dodgy, it's a clue that they should be dodged if at all possible. A job might be dodgy because it's illegal or dangerous. A shortcut might be dodgy if it could damage your car. Running a marathon without preparation is very dodgy. Similarly, a dodgy person is untrustworthy because they’re evasive, cunning, sly, or just a flat-out liar. |
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| 5280 |
funk |
a state of nervous depression |
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If you're in a funk, it means that you've been feeling sad. You might be in a serious funk after your best friend moves across the country. |
One way to use funk is to mean "blues" or "depression." Everyone's in a funk sometimes — for some people, the shorter, darker winter days automatically put them in a bit of a funk. Funk also refers to a bluesy kind of music with a strong underlying bass rhythm. It comes from funky, which means "stinky" or "musty smelling," from the French funkière, "smoke." In African American music, funky became a compliment, a description of soulful, earthy music — like funk itself. |
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| 5281 |
imposter |
a person who makes deceitful pretenses |
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An imposter is a person who pretends to be someone else. Someone who tries to convince you that he's your long lost cousin in order to get an invitation to stay in your awesome apartment is an imposter. |
An imposter usually seeks some kind of financial gain when he or she assumes another person's identity, but there can be other motivations, like simply the thrill of doing it. Any imposter who pretends to be the sibling of a famous person, for instance, will get lots of attention. The Latin root is impostorem, "impose upon or deceive." It's more commonly spelled impostor, although both spellings are correct. |
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| 5282 |
asphyxiate |
deprive of oxygen and prevent from breathing |
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To asphyxiate is to keep someone from breathing — to suffocate or smother them. Choking on a piece of food can asphyxiate a person. |
Your body needs to breathe oxygen in order to function, and when it's deprived of oxygen that's called asphyxia or asphyxiation. If a person stops being able to breathe, you can also say they asphyxiate. The origin of this verb is asphyxia, "stopping of the pulse," in Greek, which originally had the same meaning in English, before it came to mean "suffocation." |
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| 5283 |
absorptive |
having the power or tendency to soak up something |
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Something absorptive has the quality of soaking up liquids. Paper towels are advertised as being extremely absorptive, but often a washcloth or sponge works even better to soak up spills. |
You can buy special towels that are more absorptive than usual for drying your hair — they're made to absorb water. or soak it up quickly. You can also use this adjective in a figurative way, especially when you talk about one thing taking in something else (like an absorptive mind that takes in information) or accepting something (like an absorptive country that allows many immigrants to enter). The Latin root is absorbere, "swallow up." |
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| 5284 |
conjugate |
undergo the act of becoming a single unit |
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Conjugate is what you do to a word to make it agree with other words in a sentence. If you’ve studied a foreign language, you know that sometimes you can conjugate a verb just by changing its endings. |
To conjugate the verb to be, you’d say “I am,” “you are,” “she is,” and so on. You’re changing the form of the verb to make it agree with the subject. You might conjugate other words to make them agree in number, gender, or tense. In chemistry, conjugate means "to join together." It can also be an adjective, meaning "joined," or "joined in pairs," like the conjugate leaf of an Oak tree. |
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| 5285 |
revenant |
a person who returns after a lengthy absence |
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Use the word revenant to talk about someone who returns after a long absence. If your cat goes missing for weeks, only to stroll back into your house one morning, you could describe him as a revenant. |
Anyone who comes back after being gone for a long time can be described as revenant, which can be a noun or an adjective. You can even use revenant to talk about ghosts, in that they are said to be spirits of those returning from the dead, or a fashion trend from long ago that is popular again, like revenant tie-dye t-shirts. The word revenant comes from the French revenir, which means "to return." |
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| 5286 |
skitter |
move about or proceed hurriedly |
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When someone or something moves in a rapid, light way, you can say they skitter. Your cat might spend hours fascinated by the bugs that skitter across your window. |
Little kids will usually skitter onto a playground, moving much more slowly when it's time to leave. And while older cats spend much of the day sleeping lazily, playful kittens will skitter crazily around the house if you give them a crumpled ball of paper to play with. Skitter comes from an old verb, skite, "to dart or run quickly," probably from a Scandinavian root. |
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| 5287 |
ambiance |
the atmosphere of an environment |
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An ambiance is the mood or setting of a place. You might like the ambiance of a certain restaurant because the lighting and decor makes you feel comfortable and happy. |
Ambiance is pronounced "AHM-bee-ahns." Most places have an ambiance made up of whatever sights, smells, sounds, and even sensations or textures fill the space. A fancy French restaurant gets its ambiance from the candlelight and chic black outfits worn by the wait staff while the diner off the highway might have a funky, retro ambiance because of its 1950s counter and jukebox full of golden oldies. |
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| 5288 |
turncoat |
a disloyal person who betrays or deserts his cause |
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Someone who betrays his country during a war would be called a turncoat. If you suddenly start supporting a rival sports team, you might be called a turncoat, too. A turncoat is a traitor. |
Turncoat comes from the ancient practice of wearing a badge or pin on one's coat signifying the party or leader you supported. By "turning your coat" you quite literally hid your allegiance to others. Often used interchangeably with defector, and while they are similar they are not quite the same. Turncoat is worse: it implies no possibility of any good or honest motive. Defector can at least sometimes have a neutral or even positive implication. |
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| 5289 |
uppity |
arrogant or self-important |
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People might describe you as uppity if you're bossy and stuck-up. An uppity waiter at a fancy restaurant might look visibly disgusted if you wear your oldest sneakers and your overalls to dinner. |
Someone who's a snob or who acts like a pompous know-it-all deserves to be described as uppity. It's an informal way to talk about a snooty or arrogant person, and it first appeared in African American English in the nineteenth century. The initial published use of uppity was in "Uncle Remus," a collection of African American folk stories adapted by a white journalist in 1881. |
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| 5290 |
swag |
goods or money obtained illegally |
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Swag refers to valuable goods, often obtained illegally. Just because your friend has a bag of swag does not make him a pirate (although the patch and wooden leg might say otherwise). |
Generally meaning “loot, booty, or plunder,” swag is the stuff in the bags of exited party-goers and plunderers alike. It can also be a bundle carried by a swagman, an Australian migrant worker or drifter. From the Old Norse (re: Viking) sveggja, meaning “to swing or sway,” the verb swag can mean “to sway unsteadily or stagger.” Your bag of swag may swag from its own weight, and you too may swag just trying to carry it. |
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| 5291 |
finagle |
achieve something by means of trickery or devious methods |
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When you finagle, you get out of something using devious methods, like when you pretend you're sick to avoid taking a pop quiz. |
Finagle is a word with a usually negative connotation, as it means to get something by being dishonest or tricking someone. To get a student discount from a bookstore by pretending you're a student is to finagle the store clerk. Finagle might also mean to get your way by being clever, as when you convince your sister that what she really wants for her birthday is that video game you've been dreaming of for months. |
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| 5292 |
disorienting |
causing loss of physical or intellectual bearings |
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Disorienting things make you feel confused. It's disorienting each time you step out of a subway station in a big city — it takes a minute to get your bearings and figure out which direction to walk. |
Waking up from the anesthetic after having your wisdom teeth removed is very disorienting, and a disorienting first day at a new school shouldn't be surprising. The adjective disorienting comes from disorient, or "make someone lose their sense of direction," which has a French source, désorienter, "to cause to lose one's bearings," or literally, "to turn from the east." |
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| 5293 |
barefaced |
with no effort to conceal |
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If masked means hidden, barefaced means unconcealed. If you get caught speeding and reach into your wallet and hand the officer $20, that’s a barefaced attempt at a bribe. |
Barefaced — or as it's sometimes known, bald-faced — behavior is always bold and sometimes shameless. While nonchalantly telling a jewelry store security guard that you "plain forgot" you'd slipped the necklace into your pocket is a barefaced lie and shameless to boot. A reporter's barefaced questioning of a mayor found to be stealing from city treasury carries no shame, at least for the reporter. |
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| 5294 |
supernumerary |
more than is needed, desired, or required |
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Supernumerary is an adjective that describes something there’s too much of. If a scheduling mishap results in three extra people showing up for work, then you have supernumerary staff. |
You probably know that something that's super is extreme in some way. And in supernumerary you’ll see part of the word “numeral,” which means “number.” So it makes sense that the adjective supernumerary describes an excess of something — an extraordinary number of that thing. Similarly, the noun version of supernumerary describes someone who's extra and has nothing to do. She just isn’t needed, like the player who never gets off the bench. |
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| 5295 |
annul |
cancel officially |
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When a celebrity wakes up in Las Vegas with a mysterious wedding ring on her finger, the first thing she’ll probably want to do is annul the marriage. That will declare it invalid and officially cancel the whole deal. |
Annul, which means “to cancel” or “to invalidate,” is usually used in the context of politics or marriage. New government officials often want to annul laws and policies of the previous post-holder, effectively reversing their work. When you annul a marriage, you are officially declaring it invalid, as if it never happened. In the case of the unfortunate celebrity marriage, however, it could be difficult to completely erase all record of the event — especially if the tabloids hear about it. |
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| 5296 |
palter |
be deliberately ambiguous or unclear in order to mislead |
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To palter is to beat around the bush by speaking or writing in an unclear way. People palter to confuse others. |
Palter is an unusual word for a common thing: speaking or writing in a way that bamboozles others. Politicians are paltering experts: they palter when they leave out important information or use euphemisms to confuse voters. Paltering can be vague, distracting, or misleading. People palter when they have something to hide or just don't want to discuss. Paltering isn't outright lying, but it's close. The opposite of paltering is being straightforward, clear, and honest. |
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| 5297 |
disallow |
command against |
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When you disallow something, you prohibit it. Teachers usually disallow cell phones in their classrooms. |
You're most likely to come across the verb disallow in official or formal contexts, like a list of rules in a courtroom or within the wording of a law. Referees often disallow certain actions in sports matches, and prison wardens disallow many kinds of behavior by prisoners. The word comes from allow, with its root allouen, "to praise, approve of, or be pleased with," with the Latin prefix dis in front, here meaning "do the opposite of." |
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| 5298 |
itemize |
specify individually |
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To itemize is to make a list. If you work at a store that sells pet fish, you might need to itemize your stock of fish — separately listing the number of goldfish, cuttlefish, and jellyfish. |
When you place items, or individual things, on a list, you itemize them. Though itemize is essentially a synonym for list, it is usually used for more formal situations and those related to budget. So itemize your tax deductions or your spending report, or even itemize the reactions of your chemistry experiment. But to itemize your complaints about your little brother is probably going overboard. |
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| 5299 |
deviant |
a person whose behavior deviates from what is acceptable |
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A deviant is someone whose behavior falls far outside of society's norms; as an adjective, deviant can describe the behavior itself. For example, a fifty-year-old punk rocker has a deviant appearance, compared to his peers. |
That aging punk deviates, or departs from the norm, of people his age. Both deviant and deviate come from the Latin word deviare, meaning "to turn out of the way." Deviants experience this turning away from society, either by choice, or in the case of someone who has harmed another, perhaps by sexual abuse, by being cast out by people who want nothing to do with them. |
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| 5300 |
rumpus |
a noisy disturbance |
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A rumpus is an uproar or a commotion. Setting a litter of excited puppies loose in a kindergarten classroom would be sure to cause a rumpus. |
While a rumpus can be loud and boisterous, like the rumpus underneath a piñata in the midst of a huge birthday party, others take the form of heated arguments. This kind of rumpus might occur during a political scandal, for example. Experts guess that the informal rumpus might come from the now-obsolete word robustious, which means "boisterous or noisy." In the mid-twentieth century, children's playrooms began to be called "rumpus rooms." |
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| 5301 |
authorization |
official permission or approval |
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Authorization is an official form of approval for something. You'll probably need to get authorization from the owner of a coffee shop before you hang your oil paintings on the walls. |
People in control are known as authorities, and their official okay, or authorization, gives you the ability to do something. The authorization of a loan means the bank grants the loan. Authorization can also refer to someone's power — if you are able to fire people, you have the authorization to do so. At the root of authorization is the verb authorize, which comes from the Latin auctor, "master or leader," or "one who causes to grow." |
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| 5302 |
naif |
an inexperienced or foolishly innocent person |
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A naif is a person with very little experience. When you're just starting a new job, you often feel like a naif. |
You might have noticed how similar the noun naif is to the adjective naive. They share a common origin, the French word naïf, which means both "natural, unspoiled, or innocent" and also "foolish." When you describe someone using the adjective form of naif — which can be used interchangeably with naive — you are usually implying that the person is a little childlike or immature. |
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| 5303 |
blowhard |
a very boastful and talkative person |
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A blowhard is someone who always brags or boasts about himself. If you get stuck sitting next to your blowhard cousin at the family holiday dinner, you may wish he didn't think he was quite so amazing. |
Blowhard is an informal word describing someone who can't stop talking about themselves or their accomplishments, real or imagined. You might know a blowhard at school, at work, or even in your family. And usually everyone knows at least one blowhard sports fan, who during the game can't stop talking about the unprecedented greatness of his favorite team or player. |
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| 5304 |
vim |
a healthy capacity for vigorous activity |
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Vim is energy and enthusiasm. If you've got vim, then you probably pack a little extra oomph in your life! |
Vim is an odd-looking word, but it stands for a simple concept: being ready for activity, especially vigorous activity. Someone who is always playing sports or going on trips is full of vim. Someone who lies on the couch watching TV all day shows very little vim. This word often appears in the phrase "vim and vigor." If you have vim, you have energy and you're ready to put that energy into all sorts of activities; you're up for anything. |
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| 5305 |
cranky |
easily irritated or annoyed |
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Cranky is one of those words that sounds a little bit like what it means: one who is cranky is easily annoyed, irritable, or testy. My sister gets cranky when she doesn't eat. If you want to have a good day, keep her well fed. |
A cranky person doesn't get furious or outraged, they're just easier than usual to annoy—things get on their nerves more quickly than they do for other people. You could think of someone who's cranky as having actual crank. When they're hungry, tired or otherwise worn out that crank is easy to turn—it doesn't take much to make them mad. A person in a good mood, though, has a crank that isn't as easy to turn. That's because they're not cranky. |
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| 5306 |
forthright |
directly and without evasion; not roundabout |
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When a person is being forthright, they're being direct, clear, or even straight-up. The opposite of forthright might be evasive, shifty, indirect or circuitous. But we're not here to talk about those. We're here to talk about forthright. |
For the most part, people really appreciate it when others are forthright. It's so much easier to understand what someone wants when they just come out and say it. However, being direct and honest and saying what you really mean isn't easy for everyone. For some reason, a lot of us can be embarrassed to say what we want, and we spend our entire lives learning how to be forthright. A simple way to remember what forthright means is this: if you bring it "forth", it will be "right." |
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| 5307 |
patois |
a regional dialect of a language |
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The noun patois describes the way you talk, like the patois of New Englanders who tend to drop the letter r: "Drive yah cah to Hahvahd Yahd," while others say, "Drive your car to Harvard Yard." |
Patois, which rhymes with "voilà," is speech used in a particular region, profession, or group. It is a French word that originated as "rough speech." Examples of patois are found in every region of the world, but perhaps the most famous is Jamaican. "Ah wha dat yuh ah luok pan?," is Jamaican patois for, "What’s that you’re looking at?" Patois is also the "jargon" or "lingo" used by a group, such as musicians whose patois is lost on non-musicians. |
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| 5308 |
inauspicious |
boding ill |
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Reaching into your hat to pull out a rabbit and instead removing a sock can seem like an inauspicious start to your magic show. Inauspicious describes something that seems unpromising or unlikely to be successful. |
If it's unlucky, badly timed, or it seems to point to an unhappy outcome, it's inauspicious. A dark, stormy sky on the day of a wedding can be seen as inauspicious, and so can an awkward job interview. The opposite of inauspicious is auspicious, which means lucky or promising. Both words come from the Latin auspicium, which has to do with predicting the future by observing the flight of birds. |
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| 5309 |
melodic |
containing or characterized by a pleasing tune or sound |
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Something that's tuneful or pretty to listen to is melodic. If your French teacher has a friendly smile and a melodic voice, you could probably sit and listen to her talk for hours. |
Anything sweet sounding — a bird's trill, a poet's voice, or the tune you sing in the shower — is melodic. A more technical meaning of the word is "containing melody," the definition a professional musician might use. Melody is a quality of music defined as "tunefulness" or "a satisfying series of notes." Music teachers play melodic patterns for their students to duplicate, and composers sometimes combine melodic phrases to form a symphony. The Greek root of melodic is melos, or "song." |
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| 5310 |
falsify |
make false by mutilation or addition |
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To falsify is to alter or mangle something, like a message or document, in a way that distorts the meaning. |
Since false things aren't true, to falsify something is to dishonestly change its meaning. If a friend tells you a story, and then you retell the story but change important facts, you falsified the story. If you lie in court — commit perjury — you're falsifying the facts. Faking someone else's signature is another type of falsifying, as is lying on your resume. Anytime you misrepresent the truth, you're falsifying. |
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| 5311 |
slant |
incline or bend from a vertical position |
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To slant is to tilt or slope sharply to one side. Many streets in San Francisco are so steep that they slant dramatically upward. |
You can slant the brim of your hat down to keep the sun out of your eyes, and the sun itself can slant at a lower angle (or slant), forcing you to put on your dark sunglasses. There's also the slant that means "show bias," the way a newspaper reporter does when she slants a story in favor of one political party over another. Slant was originally slenten, "slip sideways," from a Germanic root. |
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| 5312 |
bozo |
a stupid, foolish, or incompetent person |
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A bozo is a goofy, ridiculous person. A frustrated preschool teacher might beg her students to sit down and stop acting like bozos. |
You can use the informal term bozo to describe someone who's harmlessly goofy, or alternately, someone who is annoyingly rude. If your candidate for President loses, you might say: "How could all those bozos vote for that guy?" While the exact origin of bozo is unknown, the word became strongly associated with foolishness thanks to the popular TV clown named Bozo who entertained American children from about 1950 until 2001. |
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| 5313 |
extraterrestrial |
originating, located, or occurring outside Earth |
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Use the adjective extraterrestrial to describe anything that comes from or exists outside of the earth, like life on a distant planet, material from an asteroid, or even the sun. |
The word extraterrestrial makes most people think of big-headed green aliens in spaceships, and if you saw one you'd be right to describe it that way. But as both a noun and an adjective, the word is most often used by scientists to talk about anything — life, rocks, or environments on other planets — that happens outside of the earth's atmosphere. This makes sense when you know that in Latin, extra means "outside" and terra means "earth." |
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| 5314 |
coeval |
of the same period |
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When two things live or happen during the same period of time, they are coeval. If you annotate an old poem, the annotations and the text of the poem are not coeval. |
The word coeval comes from the Latin co- "jointly" or "in common" and aevum "age." The beginning of Major League Baseball is coeval with the invention of the telephone. People can be coeval, though more often you'll hear contemporary used to describe people who are about the same age. You and your contemporaries probably view the world a lot differently than your grandparents' generation. |
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| 5315 |
coefficient |
a constant number that serves as a measure of some property |
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In math and science, a coefficient is a constant term related to the properties of a product. In the equation that measures friction, for example, the number that always stays the same is the coefficient. |
In plain English, coefficient means "joining together to produce a result." Sometimes people use the word to talk about social phenomena, like the coefficient factors of vanity and self-loathing in a celebrity's alcoholic demise. But mostly you'll encounter it in math and science. In algebra, the coefficient is the number that you multiply a variable by, like the 4 in 4x=y. In chemistry, when you see a number in front of a chemical like 2H2o, you're looking at the coefficient. |
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| 5316 |
mishmash |
a random assortment of things |
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A mishmash is a random bunch of odds and ends. Many people have a mishmash of things in their basement or garage. A pile of old keys, one sock, four paper clips, and a water bottle? Total mishmash. |
Many houses have one kitchen drawer full of a mishmash of pens, rubber bands, carryout menus, and gum, for example. If you write a last-minute research paper, you might wind up with a mishmash of random ideas and opinions. The word was originally spelled with a hyphen, mish-mash, and before that it was mysse-masche, which had to do with mash, as in a bunch of soft food chucked together and fed to pigs. Another word for mishmash is hodgepodge. |
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| 5317 |
filmy |
so thin as to transmit light |
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Something that's filmy is light and translucent. Filmy white curtains are especially pretty when the sun shines through them and they blow in the breeze. |
The adjective filmy often describes fabric that you can almost see through, like a filmy dress you wear to the prom. A filmy layer of light might rest on the surface of water, and your old dog might have filmy eyes. In all of these examples, the filmy thing is nearly as thin as a film or membrane: the word stems from the Old English filmen, "membrane or thin skin." |
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| 5318 |
riotous |
characterized by unrest or disorder or insubordination |
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Anything riotous is disorderly, chaotic, and loud. Riotous things can also be abundant. |
Since a riot is a disturbance where people get out of control and become violent, riotous things are also loud, disruptive, and out of hand. If everyone in class speaks at once to answer a question, that's a riotous response. Chaos is always riotous. The opposite of riotous would be calm, civilized, and peaceful. Also, you can say that lush, abundant things are riotous. If an apple tree is producing an unusually large amount of apples, it's riotous. |
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| 5319 |
parlous |
fraught with danger |
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Parlous is an adjective that means "dangerous," such as the parlous car trip with a new driver behind the wheel! |
The first syllable in parlous rhymes with far and is accented: "PAR-less." It means dangerous — something that is parlous might carry the risk or threat of harm, like a parlous experience of being in a boat during a rainstorm. Parlous and perilous are synonyms. In fact, parlous is a shortened version, or contraction, of perilous that came about in the late 14th century. |
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| 5320 |
efflorescence |
the time and process of budding and unfolding of blossoms |
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If your artistic career is in a period of efflorescence, that means you are producing the most work of your life, and it's very good. When something is in efflorescence, it is in bloom. |
Inside of efflorescence you see the Latin root flora which means plant. Use this to remember the blooming nature of the word. Try not to confuse this word with effervescent, which means bubbly and light, like a glass of seltzer or a cheerleader. |
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| 5321 |
mislay |
place (something) where one cannot find it again |
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If you mislay something, you lose it temporarily. People who tend to mislay their house keys sometimes hide an extra key under a rock near the front door. |
If you mislay your cell phone inside, you can ask your brother to call your number. If your grandmother mislays her hearing aid, you'll have to shout and gesture until she finds it again. Mislay implies that you've put the lost object down somewhere, and you'll find it again soon. The word adds the "bad" or "wrong" prefix mis- to lay, from the Old English lecgan, "to place on the ground." |
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| 5322 |
analytic |
using or skilled in using analysis |
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If you have an analytic mind, you are good at using logic to figure things out. You don't let emotion sway you. Doctors are trained to think in this way, as are scientists and engineers. |
Analytic derives from analysis, which means a thorough and detailed dissection of an object or an idea. Being analytic means that you think things through carefully and thoroughly. It may be more fun to fly by the seat of your pants and make all your decisions based on your gut instinct, but in the end, being analytic is safer. |
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| 5323 |
stark |
severely simple |
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Stark means "complete or extreme," like the stark contrast between your music taste — punk and weird metal — and your mom's, with all her 1950's doo-wop favorites. |
In describing a place, stark means "providing no shelter or sustenance." A barren desert or a room with no furniture or curtains is stark. It can also mean "severe, stern, or austere," like the stark beauty of the rocky cliffs in the west of Ireland. Stark can also be used to mean "totally." If you are called stark, raving mad, there's no question about it: you are acting completely crazy. |
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| 5324 |
sassy |
improperly forward or bold |
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Sassy means "bold or fresh." If you see your teacher in the grocery store with her attractive, well-dressed husband and you charge right over to say, "Who's the hunk?" that's being very sassy. |
Sassy comes from saucy, as in: bold, spicy, and impertinent. It's fun to be sassy when talking with friends, but when you start saying things to teachers, bosses, and other people's parents that would embarrass a more timid or manners-minded person, you probably have crossed the line from sassy to inappropriate. The same goes for sassy dressers — you have to know when to leave the neon heels at home. |
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| 5325 |
entrant |
someone who comes in |
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An entrant is someone who signs up to compete or participate in something. A person who enters a country is also an entrant, like an American who crosses the border into Canada. |
If there are millions of entrants in a lottery, your chances of winning aren't great — but if you're one of only five entrants in your school's raffle, you just might go home with a new bike or a trip to Cleveland. A beginner at some job or activity is also an entrant, like an entrant into the field of microbiology. This meaning is the oldest, dating from the seventeenth century. |
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| 5326 |
supplicant |
someone who prays to God |
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If you pray every night to be accepted to your dream college, you can call yourself a supplicant, or a person who asks humbly for something. |
A supplicant can be a fervently religious person who prays to God for help with a problem, and it can also be someone who begs earnestly for something he or she wants. A younger brother entreating his sister to be allowed in her tree house could be described as a supplicant. The Latin root word is supplicantem, "plead humbly." |
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| 5327 |
defamation |
an abusive attack on a person's character or good name |
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Defamation is a dirty trick against someone's reputation. If you were so furious at your friend that you spread a rumor that he was still wetting his bed, that would be defamation of your friend. |
The noun defamation describes something very mean and completely deliberate, essentially a false accusation against someone or an attack on a person's good reputation. The terms libel and slander — written or spoken lies about a person, group, or business — both fall under the category of defamation. Sometimes defamation is even a punishable crime, and in every instance it's unkind and malicious. |
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| 5328 |
trinity |
three people considered as a unit |
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A trinity is a unit made up of three — like the famous Christian trinity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. |
The prefix tri — which can also be found in triangle — is a clue that this word has to do with the number three. If three people are in charge of a project together, they could be considered a trinity, and a three-person band could be called a trinity. |
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| 5329 |
drab |
a dull greyish to yellowish or light olive brown |
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Dull, dreary, dingy, depressing: These adjectives capture the sense of drab, whether the word is used to describe a muted color, a miserable mood, or an oppressively boring existence. |
Have you ever heard of the color olive drab? It's the color the military clothes its soldiers in and is the original meaning of the word drab. A little over 100 years ago, people began using drab in the metaphorical sense to mean "dull" and "lacking brightness." If a website or an advertisement is drab, the page is boring and unattractive. If it is cold and rainy for a week, you'll get awfully tired of those drab days, and a great teacher can make even the drabbest book come to life. |
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| 5330 |
excoriation |
severe censure |
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An excoriation is a harsh criticism. If your senior prank involves releasing a flock of chickens into the halls of your high school, you're practically asking for an excoriation from the principal. |
Excoriation comes from the Latin roots ex, meaning off, and corium, meaning skin. The medical meaning of excoriation refers to a place where your skin is scraped or abraded. If you fall off your bicycle, you may get excoriations on your hands and knees. The idea of excoriation as severe censure comes from this medical definition. If you give someone a harsh lecture, you have verbally whipped and abraded that person, perhaps leaving mental scrapes and scratches. |
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| 5331 |
bad-tempered |
annoyed and irritable |
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Someone who's bad-tempered is cranky and surly. Your bad-tempered next door neighbor might spend the weekend yelling at kids, "Stay off of my lawn!" |
Oscar the Grouch is a good example of a bad-tempered Sesame Street character. Bad-tempered people are grouchy by nature, although you can have a bad-tempered day or an unusually bad-tempered reaction to some terrible news or a visit from your least favorite cousin. Your temper is your state of mind or your mood, so to be bad-tempered is to be in a bad mood. |
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| 5332 |
detectable |
capable of being discovered |
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If you can or ought to be able to notice something, it's detectable. An odor in your fridge is detectable. Or, there can be a detectable coolness in someone's behavior toward you. |
Detectable is related to the word detective, one of the guys on the police force who finds clues and tracks down bad guys. And that's a good way to remember detectable. If something is detectable, it can be seen, smelled, heard, felt or measured with a machine. Think about detectable levels of toxins in the water, detectable footprints in the snow, or detectable traces of blood on the carpet. |
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| 5333 |
countervail |
oppose and mitigate the effects of by contrary actions |
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To countervail is to oppose something successfully. |
To countervail is to counteract, counterbalance, or neutralize. This verb is best known to us in the form of its participle countervailing, which gets far more time in the limelight as an adjective than countervail gets as a verb. A favorite combo these days is countervailing duty, a duty imposed on imports to match (or retaliate for) what a foreign government is imposing. You could say a running back was countervailed if a defensive player stops him in his tracks. |
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| 5334 |
participatory |
affording the opportunity for individual involvement |
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If something is participatory, it allows or requires you to participate, or join in. In high school, classes are participatory: they require you to join in by doing your homework and taking part in discussions. |
Education research shows that participatory lessons, or lessons in which the students participate in their own learning, are more effective than direct instruction. For example, a participatory activity in which students take a classroom poll of favorite fruits and analyze what percentages of the class like which kinds is much more likely to stick with them than a non-participatory lecture on percentage. |
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| 5335 |
evenhanded |
without partiality |
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Evenhanded means fair to all sides. If your essay is evenhanded, it should look at both sides of an argument, without showing preference for one side or the other. |
When you talk about two opposing ideas, you often invoke the idea of hands. “On the one hand,” you begin, discussing the first idea, and then move on to discuss its opposite, starting in with, “On the other hand.” Evenhanded means treating both “hands” evenly. Of course, you're not really talking about hands — you're talking about sides of an arguments, or siblings splitting a cookie. |
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| 5336 |
mousy |
having a drab pale brown color |
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If your house is painted the same dull brown color as a mouse's fur, you can call it mousy. If you're tired of your mousy hair, you can always dye it purple. |
If you think of mice as shy and boring, you'll understand the sense of the adjective mousy. Whether it's describing a color, like your mousy brown sweater, or a personality, like a timid, mousy classmate, mousy is rarely a compliment. The "quiet and unassertive" meaning is the oldest, dating from about 1812, while the reference to color came along forty years later. |
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| 5337 |
inactive |
not engaged physically or mentally |
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When things or people are inactive, they're doing little or nothing. A rock, a couch potato, or a gym membership you haven’t used yet is inactive. |
Active has been used since the 14th century to mean "given to worldly activity." If you’re active, you’re out in the world! Therefore inactive people aren’t doing much. Maybe they’re just taking a break — if a player is inactive for a basketball game, she's sitting on the bench. In physics, an inactive object is motionless. If a club is inactive, it hasn't met for awhile. When things are inactive, there's not much going on. |
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| 5338 |
lingo |
a characteristic language of a particular group |
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Lingo is a way of speaking that's shared by a particular group of people — it's their own personal slang or jargon. You might observe International Talk Like a Pirate Day by trying to speak only pirate lingo. |
Sometimes people refer to the language or dialect spoken in a place as its lingo: "I'd love to visit Paris, but I don't speak the lingo." You're more likely to hear lingo in the context of the words and phrases one group understands, but that outsiders might not, like computer lingo or English major lingo, or musician's lingo. Lingo shares a Latin root, lingua, or "tongue," with words like language and linguist. |
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| 5339 |
institutionalize |
cause to be admitted, as a person to a hospital |
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If your sister were acting so crazy that you wished you could have her committed to a mental hospital, you'd be dreaming you could institutionalize her, or check her into an institution. |
The verb institutionalize is usually used to talk about committing people to hospitals, nursing homes, or other facilities where they will live and be taken care of in some way. There's another meaning of the word that means "to establish as a regular way of doing things." In this case, a teacher might institutionalize the tradition of ordering pizza for the class once a month; in other words, pizza parties would become a permanent, official part of the school year. |
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| 5340 |
grandiloquence |
high-flown style; excessive use of verbal ornamentation |
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Grandiloquence is a lofty, high-flown style of talking that has a lot of fluff but may lack substance. It’s too grand to be eloquent, so grandiloquence is usually annoying. |
Grandiloquence comes from the Latin word grandis for, yes, “grand” and loqui for “speak.”Grandiloquence is also related to loquacious (talkative), soliloquy (a solo speech), and other words about talk. Grandiloquence is a type of talk that is pompous and bombastic, full of pretty-sounding words and elegant turns of phrase that add up to nothing. Politicians who say nothing but make it sound important are masters of grandiloquence. |
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| 5341 |
configured |
organized so as to give arrangement to |
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Use the adjective configured to describe something that's organized in a very specific way, for a particular use. A classroom, for example, is configured for play and learning. |
A modern zoo is configured so that animals have plenty of room to move around, and a baker's ideal kitchen is configured with space for kneading and rolling dough. When something's configured, it's arranged or set up to serve a purpose. The word comes from the verb configure, which is rooted in the Latin configurare, "to fashion after a pattern," from the stems con, "together," and figurare, "to shape." |
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| 5342 |
ecumenical |
concerned with promoting unity among churches or religions |
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The adjective ecumenical refers to something universal, or something that has a wide, general application. |
You might refer to a wide assortment of ethnic foods served together as being ecumenical, and you'd be technically correct, as the word does mean something general and worldwide. But the term is most widely connected with religious unity, specifically Christianity. The original Greek root word, oikos, means "house," and that grew into the word oikoumenikós, which means "the entire world." Today it most often refers to bringing people of diverse Christian religions together; however, an ecumenical service might bring Christians, Jews, and Muslims together under one roof. |
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| 5343 |
nauseated |
feeling queasy, as though one is about to vomit |
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When you're nauseated, you're queasy, or you feel like you might vomit. If you have the flu, you'll probably spend a day or two feeling nauseated. |
Queasy. Sick to your stomach. Barfy. All of these describe the uncomfortable feeling of being nauseated. Riding on a roller coaster three times in a row could make you feel nauseated, and if you sat down and ate an entire three-layer birthday cake by yourself, you'd definitely be nauseated by the time you finished. The Latin root word nausea originally described seasickness. |
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| 5344 |
symbiotic |
of organisms living together, especially to mutual advantage |
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A symbiotic relationship benefits both parties. The two of you have a symbiotic relationship: she fixes your car and you style her hair. |
In biology, symbiotic refers to any diverse organisms that live together, but in this case, the relationship is not necessarily beneficial to both. Parasites, for example, have a symbiotic relationship with their hosts, but only the parasite benefits. If you contract a parasite, you might consider charging rent or throwing the bum out! |
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| 5345 |
recoup |
regain or make up for |
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To recoup is a kind of recovery: If you lost some money but then made that amount back, you recouped your loss. |
When you recuperate, you get better after being sick. And when you recoup something, you get better or bounce back after a loss. Businesses that lose money try to recoup it by throwing a sale or cutting their budget. If a runner falls behind in a race but then speeds up to the front of the pack, he's recouped his lead. In some cases this word also means "to reimburse." |
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| 5346 |
frisson |
an almost pleasurable sensation of fright |
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A frisson is a thrilling shiver. Some people love roller coasters so much that they feel a frisson of excitement just looking at one. |
You're just as likely to feel a frisson whether you're scared or excited; its meaning lies directly between thrill and fear. When you hear a scary sound in the basement late at night, and open the door to investigate, you might feel a frisson of fear as you start to descend the steps. The Latin root is frigere, "to be cold," and while a frisson is certainly shivery, its source is a thrill rather than a chill. |
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| 5347 |
nihilistic |
relating to a complete rejection of moral values and beliefs |
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A nihilistic person believes that life is meaningless. If you go through your teenage years in a nihilistic frame of mind, nothing seems to matter to you. |
Someone who's nihilistic believes in the philosophy of nihilism, which embraces the idea that life as we know it is useless. If you're nihilistic, you don't believe in anything — not religion, a moral code, love. Being nihilistic is also closely related to the political philosophy of anarchism, a belief that all social structures need to be destroyed before a new, better society can be developed. |
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| 5348 |
foretell |
foreshadow or presage |
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To foretell is to predict or hint at something. Some people believe that two crows foretell good luck for the person who sees them. |
Signs and omens foretell good or bad fortune, and symbolism in the early chapters of a novel can foretell events that happen near the end of the book. Longtime sailors sometimes say that a pink morning sky foretells bad weather later in the day. In each case, something is being foreshadowed or forecast. Fore is an Old English prefix that means "before" or "earlier," and it's combined here with tell, "to reckon or consider." |
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| 5349 |
flashy |
tastelessly showy |
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To be flashy is to be showy in a tasteless way. Just like a flash of light is hard to ignore, flashy behavior draws attention. |
Do you know anyone who is a show-off? That person is probably flashy. Wearing brightly colored rings is flashy. Buying a sports car is flashy. Boasting about how much money you have is flashy. Flashy behavior is the opposite of classy: it consists of showing off things in a loud, obnoxious way. |
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| 5350 |
self-effacing |
reluctant to draw attention to yourself |
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Someone who's self-effacing is shy and likes to stay out of the spotlight, shunning attention and praise. |
To efface something is to erase it, so to be self-effacing is to try to remove yourself from various situations, especially ones that draw attention. If someone says you did a great job and you say, "It was nothing," that's self-effacing. It is usually considered a positive quality, since it's the opposite of being cocky, egotistical, and attention-hogging. The root of effacing is the Old French word esfacier, which means "to wipe out or destroy," literally "to remove the face." |
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| 5351 |
ululate |
emit long loud cries |
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To ululate is to loudly howl or wail. Animals ululate, and so do people in pain. |
This is an unusual-looking word, but it means something easy to understand: howling or wailing loudly. A lion will ululate. A person in pain will ululate. Coyotes and wolves — who are known for their howling — ululate. People who have their hearts broken might cry and ululate. Ululating could mean the animal or person is in pain, or maybe they’re trying to communicate something else. The key element is that it’s loud. |
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| 5352 |
preeminence |
high status importance owing to marked superiority |
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Preeminence is the quality of being superior. It’s a type of high status or distinction for anything considered to be the best at something, like the preeminence of gold or the preeminence of a famous musician. |
Preeminence (or pre-eminence if you love hyphens) comes from the Latin word praeeminere for to “rise above or excel.” People with preeminence include the President, billionaires, and great athletes such as Michael Jordan. By definition, preeiminence suggests superiority, so it can't be a quality lots of people have. A world-famous surgeon is a doctor with preeminence. Anyone considered wealthy, powerful, important, or famous has preeminence. |
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| 5353 |
basal |
serving as or forming a bottom layer |
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Something that's basal forms the base or the bottom layer of an object. The basal leaves on a plant are connected to the lowest section of its stem. |
In medicine, the word basal describes structures that are located at the base of some major organ or other body part. Basal ganglia, for example, are found at the base of the brain in humans, and a basal cell is at the deepest part of the skin. Basal comes from the word base, from the Latin basis, "foundation," via the Greek basis, "step or pedestal." |
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| 5354 |
ineluctable |
impossible to avoid or evade |
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Huh? Are you scratching your head at this word? The ineluctable conclusion is that you haven't the faintest idea what it means. Ineluctable means impossible to avoid. |
A five syllable beauty like ineluctable is obviously not the kind of word you throw around in daily speech. It's far more often used as a written word, as in the common phrase "ineluctable conclusion." Used interchangeably with the more common unavoidable, though ineluctable implies an unsuccessful attempt to battle against whatever is ineluctable: after all, it comes from the Latin word "to struggle." |
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| 5355 |
maleficent |
harmful or evil in intent or effect |
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When you're maleficent, you're evil or want to do evil things. So it's safe to say that Satan is one maleficent guy. |
This word is a bit old-fashioned and you don't hear it often. But there are still plenty of maleficent people in the world — they're the bad guys, the evil-doers, the folks who wish harm on others. Maleficent means something very close to malevolent or diabolical and is a lot stronger than naughty or mischievous. |
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| 5356 |
spanner |
a hand tool that is used to hold or twist a nut or bolt |
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A spanner is a type of adjustable wrench. Outside of North America, spanner is just another word for “wrench.” If Americans want to ruin something, they “throw a wrench into it.” British people “throw a spanner in the works.” |
If you've ever needed to assemble something — like bookshelves — and needed to tighten or loosen a bolt, you probably needed a spanner. A spanner is a type of wrench with an opening and sometimes little teeth: you can clasp it over the nut or bolt and get a good grip. In the US, the main difference between a spanner and other wrenches is the spanner is adjustable and works with many sizes of nuts and bolts. |
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| 5357 |
communicative |
able or tending to transmit a message |
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To be communicative is to have the ability to communicate — to exchange thoughts and ideas. Couples often go to counseling to learn to be more communicative. |
It's easy to see the verb communicate in the adjective communicative: a communicative person is one who can communicate easily. Being communicative is one of the qualities we most value in other people. There's nothing more frustrating than a person who's not communicative, because you can't talk to them. I'm surprised when others are surprised at how communicative my dog is. Aren't all dogs good at talking to their owners? |
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| 5358 |
reprimand |
an act or expression of criticism and censure |
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If you're reprimanded, someone in authority speaks to you in an angry way because you've done something wrong. Or you might reprimand your dog if he steals your hot dog. |
The House of Representatives has a couple of ways to punish naughty members. One way is to reprimand them by voting to express disapproval. In 2009, Representative Joe Wilson was reprimanded after his outburst of "You lie!" during President Obama's speech. In the halls of Congress, this is considered "unparliamentary language," but if you yell at your congressman, that's okay. |
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| 5359 |
override |
travel on the back of (a horse) too hard |
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You can override or reject a decision if you're more powerful than the person who originally made the decision. And Congress has the power to override or nullify the Presidential veto if they have a two-thirds vote. |
The word override can be used in a number of contexts. You can override or ride on top of the grass. You can override a horse, or ride it too hard. An army can override or dominate the enemy in a war. And a judge can override or set aside a decision in court. Regardless of which meaning you're using, remember that the thing doing the overriding always has the upper hand. |
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| 5360 |
ricochet |
spring back; spring away from an impact |
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A projectile that bounces off another surface is said to ricochet. You missed when you threw your crumpled paper at the wastepaper basket. Instead, the paper ricocheted off the wall and hit your brother on the head. The battle was on! |
As a noun, ricochet refers to the rebound or to the object that ricochets. If someone shoots a bullet and it ricochets off a tree, you can survive the initial gunfire only to be caught by the ricochet. The word ricochet is from the French word of the same spelling. Because of its French origin, the word is still pronounced with the soft French "shay" sound at the end — not a hard "T." |
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| 5361 |
initiation |
the act of starting something for the first time |
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The initiation of something is the beginning. It's what sets events in motion, gets the party underway, or kicks off a new program. |
An initiation can also be an introduction into something, formally or informally. You might undergo an initiation ceremony when you join the Girl Scouts for the first time, or have a rude initiation into the world of traffic law when you get your first speeding ticket. But beware of the initiation rituals for college frats — you could find yourself swallowing a live goldfish or streaking across campus in your tighty-whiteys. |
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| 5362 |
fateful |
predetermined |
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A fateful moment is one that seems impossible to avoid. And when a fateful event occurs, it feels like it will have a big impact on your future — and usually not in a good way. |
“I can fit my head into this jar!” — fateful words that resulted in a trip to the hospital. Most of the time, fateful spells disaster. There was the fateful day you left your guinea pig’s cage door open, and there are fateful decisions that seem innocent at the time, but come back to haunt you later. Fate is the idea that your life is mapped out, and a fateful instance is one significant landmark on that map. |
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| 5363 |
primp |
dress or groom with elaborate care |
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Primp is a word that is best illustrated by girls getting ready for a ball––it means to groom yourself elaborately. |
Primp is a word that was very popular in the 19th century. In "Little Women" and other novels by Louisa May Alcott, girls waste much time primping, when they ought to be grooming their character and thinking about their behavior instead. |
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| 5364 |
sleazy |
morally degraded |
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Something that is sleazy is low and nasty. It’s a perfect word to describe characters like the sleazy door-to-door con men who cheat old ladies into selling them their jewelry at a deep discount. |
Sleazy originally meant flimsy, but nowadays it’s only used to describe morally degraded people or places. Usually it refers to sexual behavior, but it is often associated with people trying to swindle others as well. It’s not as bad as perverse or criminal, which suggest that a line has been crossed. But sleazy people make you feel uncomfortable, for sure. |
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| 5365 |
deputize |
appoint as a substitute |
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To deputize is to appoint someone as a substitute, like a police deputy authorizing a civilian to make an arrest. |
The original meaning refers to when a deputy would give some of their power to non-police officers. When deputized, you took on some of the power of a deputy to help the real deputy. Similarly, deputizing can refer to making anyone a substitute. A teacher can deputize a student by putting them in charge of the class. A boss can deputize an employee by asking them to organize a meeting. Deputizing empowers someone to do a job. |
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| 5366 |
histrionics |
a performance of a play |
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Histrionics are dramatic, overdone, emotional actions and words that are done to influence someone. It’s like putting on a little show to get attention. |
Histrionics originally referred to acting in a play, and it still conveys a sense of pretending. If someone is going through histrionics, they're acting outlandish, usually to get sympathy or influence someone. Exaggerated crying, unnecessary yelling, and overdone gestures are all examples of histrionics. Unlike real emotional reactions, histrionics are fake and intended to manipulate others. |
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| 5367 |
shenanigan |
the use of tricks to deceive someone |
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Ever been ripped off at three card monte or some other con? Well, you're the victim of a shenanigan, a clever form of deception, usually designed to part the unwary from their money. |
Not all shenanigans are financially motivated; an equally popular meaning is simply high spirits or boisterous behavior that might upset or annoy others, though usually not with any serious intent. It seems to be a word frequently applied to the Irish, with their established love of the high-spirited and artful ploy, and in fact may well come from the ancient Irish word sionnach, meaning "fox" — a traditionally sly beast. |
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| 5368 |
earful |
a severe scolding |
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When you give someone an earful, you angrily tell the person what you think. Your teacher might give the class an earful when no one has finished yesterday's homework. |
The informal word earful is good for describing a lengthy reprimand or angry criticism. A furious senator might give her colleagues an earful when they can't reach a compromise, and a frustrated father might give his kids an earful after losing track of them in a busy shopping mall. Earful was first used in the mid-1900's, from the Old English roots eare, or "ear," and the suffix ful, "full or full of." |
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| 5369 |
cheeky |
offensively bold |
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If you're being cheeky you're being brash or irreverent. If you're a cheeky child, you're probably just being impudent and disrespectful — and you're probably going to get in trouble. |
Cheeky has shades of meaning according to the degree of offense taken, and this may vary between British and American English. At the offensive end are the synonyms rude, disrespectful, and insulting. Less offensive are sassy, arrogant, and shameless. Rounding out the cheeky spectrum are bold, assertive, and daring, which are about getting noticed but without causing injury. |
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| 5370 |
utilization |
the act of using |
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Utilization is a fancy way of saying "use." A team's utilization of a gym for practices might need to continue until it stops raining. |
You can see the verb utilize in utilization. When you utilize something, you use it, whether it is a tool, like when you utilize a pen to write something down, or a skill or talent, like the speed you utilize when you run a race. So utilization is the act of using, like the utilization of your voice that enables you to sing a song. |
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| 5371 |
interpersonal |
occurring among or involving several people |
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Interpersonal refers to something involving, or occurring among several people. Interpersonal skills refer to our ability to get along with others. |
The adjective interpersonal really only has one meaning, so when you hear this word, you know you're hearing about interactions between people. Sometimes corporations find it useful to train their employees on any interpersonal skills they may be lacking, especially if they have a group of really socially awkward people, because it really does make the work environment a lot easier if your coworkers all get along with one another. |
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| 5372 |
pliant |
capable of being shaped or bent or drawn out |
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The adjective pliant describes something that is capable of being bent. "The teenager showed off her pliant spine every time she draped herself over a piece of furniture. Why hanging upside down off the sofa didn't give her a headache, her mother would never know." |
Pliant has both a literal and a figurative meaning. Pliant can describe something that is bendable — like a spine, a tree branch, a bendy straw — or it can describe something that is flexible, but less tangible. In this latter sense, pliant describes something that adjusts to conditions or is easily influenced: "In order to survive the recession, the company had to be pliant and adjust to the new economic conditions." |
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| 5373 |
jumpy |
being in a tense or nervous state |
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Someone who's jumpy is anxious and jittery. If you've ever been so nervous that you couldn't sit still, you know how it feels to be jumpy. |
This informal adjective is perfect for describing the sort of anxiety you can't hide. If you're shifting in your seat, crossing and uncrossing your legs, and nervously tapping your fingers on your knees as you wait to give a speech, you're jumpy. Jumpy also means "bumpy," as when you take a jumpy bike ride along a rocky, unpaved road. |
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| 5374 |
porcine |
relating to pigs or swine |
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You might be tempted to describe your greedy lunch companions as porcine, but you should try to resist the urge. Porcine means "like a pig." |
The adjective porcine is a scientific term for talking about pigs, but it's also useful for describing anything — or anyone — resembling a pig. A large, shiny-faced man might appear porcine to you, and so might a group of hungry kids who shove and jostle each other to get their hands on a plate of brownies. The Latin root is porcus, or "pig." |
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| 5375 |
modular |
constructed with standardized, prefabricated units or pieces |
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Use the adjective modular to describe something that is made up of pieces or parts, like a gerbil's habitat of tubes and cages, or a new house that is delivered in sections and then assembled. |
Things like houses, cars, airplanes, and computers are all often constructed in a modular way. Rather than being built all at once, they are built in separate parts that get assembled into a finished product. The word modular has been used this way since the 1930s — earlier, it was a purely mathematical term, from the Latin word modulus, or "small measure." |
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| 5376 |
nada |
a quantity of no importance |
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Nada means "nothing." The kids next door will be disappointed if they learn that their lemonade stand has earned them nada. |
The noun nada is an informal way to say "zero." If you ask a deli worker how many plain bagels he has, and he answers, "Nada," it means they're out of your favorite kind. If you leave your calculus class completely confused, you can say that you understand nada. Most experts attribute the English use of nada to Ernest Hemingway, who borrowed it from Spanish, in which it means "nothing." The Latin root, nata, means "small, insignificant thing." |
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| 5377 |
centripetal |
tending to move toward a center |
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Centripetal is an adjective describing a force that brings things toward the center, not unlike the force of a black hole. |
Centripetal is often confused with the word centrifugal. They may begin the same way, but they mean the exact opposite. Centrifugal is the force that moves things outward. You might remember that centripetal means to move things in, because the petals on a flower all begin in the middle. |
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| 5378 |
rubicund |
having a healthy reddish color |
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If you tend to have red, rosy cheeks, you can be described as rubicund. An entire kindergarten class might be rubicund after an hour spent running around the playground. |
The adjective rubicund is a slightly old-fashioned way to describe someone who's ruddy-cheeked or who flushes easily. Your rubicund face might be evidence of the long hike you took earlier, or possibly give away your embarrassment at being unprepared for the speech you're about to give. The word comes from the Latin rubicundus, with its roots of rubere, "to be red," and ruber, "red." |
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| 5379 |
coruscate |
reflect brightly |
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Coruscate is a verb that means to sparkle or give off reflected flashes of light. Think of the way the little mirrors on a disco ball coruscate as the ball twirls, making the dance floor sparkle. |
Although coruscate means to glitter with light, you can also use the word, in a less literal way, to refer to someone with such great style or ability that they seem to sparkle. Your best friend's performance in the school play might coruscate with such brilliance that the audience gives her a standing ovation during her curtain call. |
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| 5380 |
incontrovertible |
impossible to deny or disprove |
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When something is incontrovertible, it is undeniably, absolutely, 100 percent, completely true. That rain is wet is an incontrovertible fact. |
If you look at incontrovertible, you see that -controver-, as in controversy, is hiding inside. Add in the prefix, and it's easy to see that incontrovertible means there is no controversy about something, or, in other words, it is unchangeable and true. Incontrovertible evidence or proof is what you are looking for if you suspect that someone is doing something wrong. |
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| 5381 |
shrivel |
wither, as with a loss of moisture |
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When things shrivel, they wrinkle up and get smaller, the way leaves begin to shrivel and turn brown in the fall. |
A lack of moisture can cause something to shrivel, and in humans it tends to be the natural process of aging that makes people shrivel a bit. Flowers will shrivel if you forget to water them, and grapes will eventually shrivel into raisins if you dry them out long enough. The root of shrivel is uncertain, but it may have a Scandinavian source and be related to the Swedish word skryvla, "to wrinkle." |
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| 5382 |
cubicle |
small area set off by walls for special use |
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A cubicle is a small space partitioned off within a larger space for a particular purpose — usually reading or studying. Or just surfing the Internet. |
Cubicle comes from the Latin term for a monk's bedroom, cubiculum, which itself is from the word cubare, "to lie down." Back then a monk would probably share it with an illuminated manuscript and a Bible; nowadays the average worker drone has a computer and a bunch of Post-it notes. Still great for sleeping in, though, as long as you don't get caught. |
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| 5383 |
profligacy |
the trait of spending extravagantly |
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If your life is built on the search for reckless, sensual pleasure with no thought of possible consequences, then you are living a life of profligacy, and probably spending a lot of money to get it. How wasteful! |
The idea of a loose, dissipated life, is seen in the noun profligacy, which comes from the Latin prōflīgātus, meaning "corrupt or dissolute." It's been said Americans live in a state of profligacy with regard to petroleum use, wasting it in the manufacture of everything from water bottles to nail polish to traffic cones. Someday this profligacy will catch up to us, however. With rising gasoline prices, perhaps it already has! |
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| 5384 |
equipoise |
equality of distribution |
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Looking for a really fancy way to say "balance" or "equilibrium"? Then stand up straight and try equipoise on for size. |
When broken down into its etymological parts, equipoise is simply equi, meaning "equal," plus "poise." Equal poise: a balance of weight, forces or interests. So tight-rope walkers have excellent equipoise, as do balance beam gymnasts. And when the U.S. Senate is made up of half Republicans, half Democrats? There should be some equipoise of power, but that usually just leads to stalemate. |
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| 5385 |
gewgaw |
cheap showy jewelry or ornament on clothing |
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A gewgaw is a little ornament or piece of jewelry. Gewgaws are cheap and don't have any purpose besides decoration. |
Gewgaws, which go on clothing or are worn as jewelry, are small and ornamental little bits of decoration. They’re not valuable or useful. A diamond would never be considered a gewgaw, because it's so precious. Gewgaws are good for brightening up an outfit. Pieces of jewelry, especially when they're flashy and cheap, can be called gewgaws. The silly sound of this word is a reminder that gewgaws are insubstantial. A gewgaw can also be called a bauble, novelty, or trinket. |
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| 5386 |
purloin |
make off with belongings of others |
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You can use the verb purloin to mean "steal" or "take," especially if it's done in a sneaky way. If you sneak a dollar out of your mom's purse, you purloin it. |
Kids might purloin apples from a neighbor's tree, and a crooked cashier might purloin cash from her boss's convenience store. Originally, purloin meant "put at a distance" in Middle English. The word comes from the Anglo-French purloigner, "put away." |
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| 5387 |
brouhaha |
a confused disturbance far greater than its cause merits |
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Brouhaha is something that people think is really important that’s actually not important at all, like the brouhaha over some new celebrity gossip. Brouhaha seems like a big deal, but it’s a bunch of baloney. |
Brouhaha has two meanings, and tons of funny-sounding synonyms. The title of the Shakespeare play gives one meaning: "Much Ado about Nothing." The brouhaha over the latest Hollywood comedy might make you never want to see it. It's just fuss and hullabaloo about a movie that can’t possibly be good anyway. Brouhaha also means a loud noise coming from all over the place, like the brouhaha after a sporting event: hubbub and katzenjammer echoing loudly through the streets. |
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| 5388 |
inviolable |
incapable of being transgressed or dishonored |
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Wedding vows and vault combinations that can’t be broken are considered inviolable. (Of course, divorce lawyers and bank robbers consider this a challenge.) |
The word can refer to a physical structure (a fortress, for instance) or something more conceptual (human rights or morals, perhaps). Inviolable has changed little from its Latin origin of inviolabilis, which combines the prefix in- (meaning "not") with the verb violare ("to violate"). Inviolable turns up in religious settings too, usually in reference to texts or rites. In that context, it means "sacred." No surprise: the antonym of inviolable is violable ("accessible or penetrable"). |
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| 5389 |
fussy |
exacting especially about details |
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If you’re fussy, you’re all about the little details. You want the dressing on the side, you want your collar just so, and you want the place mats arranged at a 90-degree angle. |
The word fussy came into English in the 19th century, but it’s a good bet that people have been fussy since the beginning of time. If you’re fussy, you’re really picky about your needs and requirements. You might be fussy about your food and refuse to eat cauliflower. You’re rarely satisfied — that can be annoying! Fussy can also describe something that has too much going on, like a fussy shirt that has ruffles, buttons, and a large floral pattern. |
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| 5390 |
dyslexic |
having impaired ability to comprehend written words |
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If you're dyslexic, you have a learning disability that makes it particularly hard for you to read, write, and spell. |
Someone who's dyslexic suffers from dyslexia, in which the brain has trouble translating images into language. Many think that dyslexic people simply transpose letters and numbers — reading 1234 as 4321 or mistaking b for d — but the symptoms are usually broader than this. To a dyslexic person, letters and numbers may jump around on the page, or the person might have trouble connecting letters to the sounds they make. The word dyslexic comes from the Greek roots dys, meaning bad, and lexis, meaning word. |
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| 5391 |
selective |
characterized by very careful or fastidious choice |
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If your mother only remembers the good things and not the bad, she has a selective memory. If a school chooses to offer only a few students spots, it is selective. Selective means characterized by choice. |
When you are looking for someone to date, you will get advice as to how selective to be. Some people will suggest that you cast a wide net, choosing to date a lot of people in hopes that one will be right. Others will recommend that you be more selective, choosing to date only people that fit a set of criteria. If you are a male, you will have to register with Selective Service, a database the military selects from if there is ever a draft, when you turn 18. |
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| 5392 |
inveigle |
influence or urge by gentle urging, caressing, or flattering |
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When you tell your boyfriend he’s not just the best boyfriend ever but also the world's best driver, and this makes him offer to drive the whole way on your upcoming road trip, then congratulations. You know how to inveigle, or use charm to coax someone into doing something. |
If you successfully inveigle your sister to doing something for you, she must be so caught up in your flattering that she is blind to your true intention. In fact, inveigle comes from the Middle French word aveugler, meaning “delude, make blind,” which can be traced back to the Medieval Latin word ab oculis, or “lacking eyes.” The people you inveigle don't see what you are really up to. |
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| 5393 |
envision |
imagine, conceive of, or see in one's mind |
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The verb envision means to imagine or picture. Kids often envision themselves doing exciting things when they grow up, like being movie stars, professional athletes, or astronauts. |
The word envision comes from the Latin en-, which means "cause to be," and visionem, meaning "a thing seen." Career paths aren't the only things that can be envisioned. If you envision a cleaner world, you may volunteer to pick up trash on the beach. If you envision a more peaceful world, you might make your brother and sister play in separate rooms to stop them from screaming at each other. |
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| 5394 |
agglomerate |
form into one cluster |
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When things agglomerate, they gather together into a cluster or a group. In some states, people tend to agglomerate into cities, leaving rural areas sparsely populated. |
You might come across the verb agglomerate in business news — moguls tend to agglomerate companies, collecting them under one controlling interest. You could also describe a website that agglomerates news items, gathering them all into one place. The Latin root word is agglomerare, "to wind or add onto a ball," from ad, "to," and glomerare, "ball of yarn." |
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| 5395 |
horrific |
grossly offensive to decency or morality; causing horror |
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Something horrific causes horror. It’s disastrous and makes you shudder with fear. Yikes! |
If something horrific, like a deadly car crash, makes your hair stand up, you’re onto something. Horrific comes from the Latin word horrificus — which, if you trace it back, literally means “making the hair stand on end.” Anything horrific fills you with horror and makes you bristle. If you lose your hat, that’s a bummer. A serial killer’s rampage? That's horrific. Save horrific for things that are so scary your hair stands up, or feels like it is. |
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| 5396 |
fervid |
characterized by intense emotion |
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Fervid can be used to describe something that is physically hot such as “a fervid day in August,” but it is more often used to describe heated emotions like anger, love, or desire. |
When passions and emotions run wild, you should expect to hear some fervid language thrown about. The adjective fervid comes from the Latin fervidus which means “glowing, burning, or boiling.” It is often used like the word fiery. You might hear a politician deliver a “fervid speech” if he or she is particularly worked up over an issue. |
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| 5397 |
emotive |
characterized by feeling |
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Something described as emotive shows feeling. If you consider women more emotive than men, you think that women are more comfortable sharing their feelings than men. |
While the word emotive is similar to the word emotional, it's important to note that the two aren't interchangeable. Emotive is used with regard to something that makes you have intense feelings rather than just having intense feelings. For example, an emotive conversation will result in getting people's emotions riled up, while an emotional conversation is one in which people go into it with a lot of intense feelings already. |
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| 5398 |
talkative |
friendly and open and willing to communicate |
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A person who is talkative likes to talk — she's friendly and ready to gab at all times about just about anything. |
We all have conversations, but some people enjoy talking more than others: those people are talkative. They find it easy to strike up a conversation, unlike others who may be shy. Being talkative is associated with being friendly. Talkative people can also be described as chatty, garrulous, loquacious, talky, and likely to talk your ear off. If you don’t feel like chatting, you'd better avoid talkative people. The root word of talkative is the Middle English tale, or "story." |
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| 5399 |
disoriented |
having lost your bearings |
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To be disoriented is to feel lost or confused. People who are disoriented either don’t know where they are because they’ve lost their sense of direction, or they don’t know who they are because they’ve lost their sense of self. |
Disoriented people feel confused, particularly about place and purpose. If you’ve ever been lost in a new city, you’ve felt disoriented. If you bring a squirrel into your house, it’ll probably be disoriented and bonk into a wall. Getting a concussion could make you disoriented. Diseases like Alzheimer’s can make people feel disoriented. Being disoriented is a confusing, scary feeling. Disoriented comes from the French word that means "to turn from the east." |
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| 5400 |
dissemination |
the act of dispersing or diffusing something |
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Dissemination is the scattering of information. If you've done something really embarrassing and don't want the whole school to know, let's hope no one who saw you is an expert in the rapid dissemination of humiliating facts. |
Dissemination builds on the word, seminate, meaning "to plan seeds." When you add the prefix dis-, you add the idea of separation, so to disseminate means to spread seeds widely. These could be literal seeds, like the dissemination of Oak genes by the scattering of acorns, or metaphorical seeds of ideas, like the dissemination of radical ideas through blogs, zines, and list-servs. |
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| 5401 |
reassessment |
a new appraisal or evaluation |
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To perform a reassessment of something is to evaluate it again, or reappraise it, especially if its value has changed or new information has altered your understanding of it. |
Towns and cities that charge property taxes need to know how much buildings are worth, so they can charge an appropriate amount. But, since real estate is always changing, towns and cities occasionally perform what's called a "reassessment" to determine the current value of each building. And since it is easy to misspell, don't forget: reassessment has two sets of two s's. |
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| 5402 |
slapdash |
marked by great carelessness |
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If you just slapped something together and then dashed when you were done, it was slapdash. The paint job was slapdash: it looked like they did it in an hour, without brushes. |
The meaning of the word slapdash is clear from its two parts, slap and dash. If you make something in a slapdash way, you slap it together and then dash away — probably so no one would notice. If you want something to look great and last for a long time, then take your time and do it right. If you do it in a slapdash way, you may save time in the short run. But in the long run, you'll lose much more time redoing your shoddy work. |
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| 5403 |
beefy |
muscular and heavily built |
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Someone who's beefy has a big, dense, muscular body. Your beefy, loud-voiced gym teacher might turn out to be a sweet and thoughtful person. |
The adjective beefy is a bit derogatory — in other words, it's not exactly used as a compliment. If you describe a person as beefy, you imply that not only is he large, strong, and brawny, he might also be somewhat dense. You could also use the word to mean "tasting like beef," although that's much less common. The word dates from 1743, from the sense of "human muscle." |
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| 5404 |
motivating |
impelling to action |
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When a basketball coach gives his team a motivating speech, the players walk away from it feeling full of enthusiasm, inspired to win the game. Motivating means "providing incentive or impelling to action." |
Motivating can describe a talk or a force or a message of some kind, and in that case it's an adjective. It can also be used as a verb, as when your friend says, "My belly is so fat, it's motivating me to stop eating so much ice cream." |
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| 5405 |
disassemble |
take apart |
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The verb disassemble means to take something apart. It's one thing to disassemble a computer; it's a whole other thing to put it back together again. |
If you take your car to the repair shop to have a squeaky brake fixed, you'll be surprised to see the mechanics quickly disassemble your car, removing even its wheels and doors. You can use the word disassemble whenever something's dismantled or broken into pieces. Originally, disassemble meant "to disperse," or to stop a crowd of people from assembling, but the meaning changed to its current definition in the 1600s. |
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| 5406 |
extemporize |
perform or speak without preparation |
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To extemporize is to improvise, especially without preparation. When you extemporize, you’re making it up as you go along. |
In some situations, you’re prepared and know exactly what you’re going to do. In others, you have to extemporize. A stand-up comedian who makes up jokes on the spot is extemporizing. If a football play breaks down, the quarterback has to scramble and extemporize by coming up with a new play. A public speaker who throws away notes and takes questions is extemporizing. Jazz musicians often extemporize. When you extemporize, even you’re not sure what you might end up doing. |
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| 5407 |
externalize |
make objective or give reality to |
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If you externalize something, you show or express it on the outside. You can externalize your anger at the poor quality of the food at the restaurant, but the other patrons would probably prefer you didn't rant at the waiter in front of them — so would the waiter. |
Psychologically speaking, externalize is the opposite of internalize. You can externalize your fears in a constructive way by writing about them or drawing them, which will help you make sense of them. This is a much better solution than internalizing your fears, because you need to face them and deal with them once and for all. If you keep them bottled up, it is just like to cause you anxiety. |
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| 5408 |
pseudo |
not genuine but having the appearance of |
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Pseudo is something or someone fake trying to pass as the real thing — a fraud or impostor. |
Pseudo can be a person who is a faker, but it's usually a prefix. For example, a pseudo-intellectual is trying to convince you he has a great, educated mind, even though he doesn't. A pseudo-celebrity isn't really very famous. You can buy pseudo-Chanel bags from shifty sidewalk vendors: another name for them might be rip-offs. They look like the real thing but aren't, though they don't cost as much either. Anything pseudo isn't real or genuine. |
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| 5409 |
impractical |
not workable |
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Something impractical is difficult or impossible to achieve. It might sound like a great idea, but it's not going to happen. It's just not practical. |
Impractical ideas make no sense or just can’t be done. Heels so high you have a fish swimming in them are cool, but very impractical. Trying to drive from New York to California in four hours, which could never happen, is impractical. Something impractical is not likely to work. Practical ideas are feasible, but impractical ideas are based on wishful thinking. When someone tells you an idea is impractical, she’s saying, "Get real." |
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| 5410 |
maladroit |
not quick or skillful in action or thought |
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If you are clumsy, you are maladroit. But the word can mean all kinds of clumsy. Trip over your words? You are verbally maladroit. Stumble in social situations? You're socially maladroit. |
When someone is adroit, they are graceful and nimble; they show a lot of dexterity. Maladroit is the opposite of that. It means clumsy, but with a hint of overall incompetence. If someone calls you maladroit, or says that you are a maladroit, they're not being the least bit nice. They mean that you've bungled something up with your fumbling. |
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| 5411 |
conformable |
disposed or willing to comply |
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If someone is up for doing what is expected, you can describe that person as conformable. Your employees at work are probably conformable with your expectations. Your teenagers at home are probably not. |
If you think of the root word, conform, which itself is from the Latin roots com, meaning "together" and formare meaning "to form," it will help you remember the meanings of the word conformable. If your apartment building's policies are not conformable with the city's policies, you should consider moving. |
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| 5412 |
backup |
the act of providing approval and support |
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Backup is what someone gives when they help or support you. A brand new doctor might need some backup in the emergency room for the first few weeks. |
Use the noun backup when you talk about extra assistance or help. Police officers call for backup when they're not sure they can handle a situation on their own, and store cashiers need backup when things get busy and customers start lining up. Another kind of backup is the one you do on your computer — in this case, a backup is the process of copying your data in case you lose the original files. |
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| 5413 |
cacophony |
loud confusing disagreeable sounds |
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A cacophony is a mishmash of unpleasant sounds, often at loud volume. It's what you'd hear if you gave instruments to a group of four-year-olds and asked them to play one of Beethoven's symphonies. |
A cacophony is a jarring, discordant mix of sounds that have no business being played together. When the orchestra tunes up before a show, it sounds like a cacophony because each musician is playing a completely different tune, at different times, and at different volumes. Once the show begins, that cacophony had better turn into a melody, or audiences will demand a refund. This allegedly occurred during the first time Igor Stravinsky's score for the ballet "The Rite of Spring" was performed because its difficult composition and discordant tone was shocking. |
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| 5414 |
subvert |
destroy completely |
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When you subvert something, your words or actions criticize or undermine the usual way of doing something or common values. The girl who wears a tuxedo to the prom might subvert traditional ideas about beauty. |
To subvert an institution like a school or a government is to overthrow it or stop its normal way of functioning. Subvert comes from the Latin word subvertere, which combines the prefix sub, under, and the suffix vertere, to turn. So you can imagine something that subverts as overturning or flipping the usual way of doing things, like a student who subverts a teacher's authority, causing chaos in the classroom. |
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| 5415 |
mechanization |
the act of using technology to automate a process or system |
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The process of beginning to use machines, technology, and automation to do work is called mechanization. A farm's mechanization might include replacing a horse-drawn plow with a gas-powered tractor. |
Your candy-making business might start in your kitchen, where you make truffles by hand, shaping each individual chocolate yourself. Mechanization could mean having them made on an assembly line. Throughout history, mechanization has meant faster production and increased revenue, though it can also result in the loss of jobs. Mechanization can be traced back to the Greek mekhanikos, "inventive or ingenious" and also "pertaining to machines." |
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| 5416 |
chassis |
the skeleton of a motor vehicle |
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A chassis is the frame of a car. If you warp the chassis of your mom’s car when you make a Dukes of Hazzard jump, she's going to be mad. Pronounce chassis CHASS-ee (singular) and CHASS-eez (plural). |
Chassis comes from the Latin capsa, meaning box. In the 1600s, chassis referred to window frames, and starting with early automobile production, acquired its dominant meaning, i.e., the box that is the frame for the car. It also means other kinds of frame/boxes too — if you have a radio or a stereo, the outside box is called a chassis. |
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| 5417 |
unrepentant |
not feeling or expressing remorse |
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If you're unrepentant about something, you refuse to regret it or apologize for it. An unrepentant cheater might brazenly lean over to get a better look at his friend's chemistry test. |
If you're repentant about something you've done or said, you feel terrible about it, and you express shame and remorse. If, on the other hand, you're unrepentant, you're not at all sorry. A student who's unrepentant about blurting out her opinions during class might grow up to be an activist or a politician, and an unrepentant gossip doesn't feel guilty about spreading rumors. The word comes from the Vulgar Latin penitire, "to regret." |
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| 5418 |
forerunner |
something that precedes something or someone |
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A forerunner is someone or something that came before and paved the way for something today. Rotary phones were forerunners of today's complex cell phones. |
The prefix fore- in forerunner is a clue that this word has to do with things that came before. A forerunner is someone from the past who preceded someone today, making new things possible. In the NBA, players like Wilt Chamberlain were forerunners of centers who played later. Early, gigantic computers were forerunners of today's sleek sophisticated computers. George Washington was a forerunner of every US president who has served since. Make sure to thank forerunners for paving the way for the rest of us slackers. |
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| 5419 |
piranha |
small carnivorous fish of South America |
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A piranha is a fish with famously sharp teeth. Don't go swimming in certain South American rivers if you want to avoid piranhas! |
These freshwater fish are terrifyingly described as "voraciously carnivorous," meaning they eat meat with great enthusiasm. Humans aren't often bitten by piranhas, but it does happen in some parts of South America. You also can't buy a piranha as a pet in many parts of the world—and if you do, it's best not to get two of them, since the weaker fish is often killed by the stronger one. |
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| 5420 |
charade |
a word acted out in an episode of a game |
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A charade is something done just for show. Your devotion to vegetarianism would be a charade if you actually ate cheeseburgers when no one was looking. |
When you want things to appear different than they really are, you might be tempted to put on a charade, like a charade of happiness when you are really feeling down. Charade is also the name for a silently-acted clue in the game called charades — which originally wasn't silent. It used indirect descriptions of the words; the non-speaking version was called dumb charades. |
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| 5421 |
loot |
goods or money obtained illegally |
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Burglars and pirates handle a lot of loot — otherwise known as stolen money or goods. |
One bank robber might say to the other, "You watch the customers! I'm going after the loot!" Loot most often means money, especially the kind of money you didn't get legally. Loot is right up there with booty and swag in the family of words for stolen or pillaged things. When used as a verb, loot refers to the act of stealing, like when an angry mob loots the local grocery store during a riot. |
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| 5422 |
reprieve |
postpone the punishment of a convicted criminal |
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A reprieve is a break in or cancellation of a painful or otherwise lousy situation. If you're being tortured, a reprieve is a break from whatever's tormenting you. |
For some, a night at the opera is a night of punishing boredom during which the only reprieve is the intermission. For others, it's baseball that feels like torture. The seventh-inning stretch is the only reprieve from a night of endless waiting. Often, you'll hear reprieve used when a court or governor decides not to execute a prisoner. That prisoner is given a reprieve and will be allowed to live. He probably won't get a reprieve from prison, though, unless he's found innocent. |
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| 5423 |
corpuscle |
an unattached cell such as a red or white blood cell |
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The word corpuscle is a medical term for a living cell, such as a red blood cell. |
You're most likely to come across the noun corpuscle in a biology class, since it means a small cell, especially one that is free floating. Blood and lymph cells are both considered to be corpuscles because they are suspended in liquid within the body. Sometimes the word is used to mean simply "a small piece of something," which is how corpuscle was originally used, rooted in the Latin corpusculum, "a puny body, an atom, or a particle." |
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| 5424 |
lightsome |
moving easily and quickly; nimble |
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If you're lightsome, you're graceful and agile in your movements. A lightsome dancer moves nimbly and effortlessly across the stage. |
You can be physically lightsome, skipping lightly across the sand on the beach, or lightsome in your very nature, cheerful and carefree. A lighthearted, happy-go-lucky child who's dancing and skipping around is the perfect illustration of the adjective lightsome. It's rarely used these days, mainly considered literary — so you're most likely to read it in an old book. |
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| 5425 |
introverted |
shy, reserved, or inward looking |
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You are probably introverted if you prefer solitude over socializing, or like to reflect upon your own perceptual experiences rather than seek adventure. |
Introverted comes from the modern Latin introvertere, from intro-, meaning “to the inside,” and vertere, meaning “to turn.” Someone who is introverted prefers to turn inward toward their own thoughts and experiences, rather than to reach outward for experiences with other people. |
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| 5426 |
debatable |
open to doubt or argument |
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We know the sky is blue and the earth has one moon. But is there life on other planets? Such a question is debatable, meaning it is subject to disagreement or doubt. |
If you've ever seen politicians or anyone else have a debate, then you already have a pretty good idea of what debatable means. Something is debatable if there's reason to doubt it. If you say you're going to play in the NBA someday, but you're very short, your plans are debatable. Many issues, like how to create more jobs, are debatable because there isn't one correct answer to them. |
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| 5427 |
unflappable |
not easily perturbed, excited, or upset |
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To be unflappable is to be calm and relaxed, even in a stressful situation. A confident person is usually unflappable. |
Some people get nervous and jittery under pressure, while others are unflappable. If you're unflappable, you stay calm, relaxed, and poised no matter what's happening. A good kindergarten teacher stays unflappable in the midst of chaos, and a successful businessperson is unflappable when faced with deadlines and unexpected problems. The earliest use of this word was in 1953, in reference to the British prime minister. At its root is flap, twentieth-century British slang meaning "disturbance or tumult." |
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| 5428 |
flub |
blunder; make a mess of something |
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To flub something is to really mess it up. When a movie actor flubs his lines, the scene can be filmed again. But, if he's a stage actor, there's no way to fix the mistake. |
Even a star basketball player flubs an easy layup sometimes, and the very best students occasionally flub a quiz. The mistake or blunder itself can also be called a flub: "The concert was terrible, full of flubs." The word's been around since the 1920's, possibly influenced by words like "fluff" and "flop," and definitely coined in the United States. |
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| 5429 |
divvy |
separate into parts or portions |
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To divvy something is to split it up between two or more people. You might divvy up a pizza among four friends, giving everyone two slices. |
If you and a friend have a lemonade stand, you'll divvy up the proceeds at the end of the day, sharing the money. You can also divvy other things: "Let's divvy this painting job — you do the trim, and I'll paint the walls." As a noun, a divvy is a share or a part of something — the word, from American English, is a shortened version of dividend, a divided payment, from the Latin dividendum, "thing to be divided." |
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| 5430 |
cringe |
draw back, as with fear, pain, or embarrassment |
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When you cringe, your body language shows you don't like what you see and hear. You close your eyes and grimace. You may even jerk your body away from the offensive sight or sound, like the old picture of you in an "awkward stage" that makes you cringe whenever you see it. |
Whether it's a song you hate or someone mentioning an embarrassing moment from the past, you cringe at things that are unpleasant. If you think about the way your body involuntarily flinches or bends in those situations, you won’t be surprised to learn that the word cringe can be traced back to the Old English word cringan, meaning “give way, fall (in battle), become bent.” That’s exactly what your body does when you cringe! |
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| 5431 |
manageable |
capable of being controlled |
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If you can handle something, it's manageable. An overworked college student might decide to drop a horrible chemistry class to make the semester more manageable. |
Anything that you can accomplish can be described with the adjective manageable. It's also used in a slightly different way, to talk about something that can be controlled, like a tamed lion or a smooth and tidy head of hair. The earliest use of the root word "manage" related specifically to controlling a horse, influenced by the French word for "horsemanship," manège. |
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| 5432 |
chauvinist |
a person with a prejudiced belief in his own superiority |
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A chauvinist is someone who blindly and enthusiastically believes in the superiority of his cause or people. If you grew up in New York and refuse to eat at any pizzeria beyond a five-mile radius of the Empire State Building, you could be described as a New York pizza chauvinist. |
The word chauvinist comes from Nicholas Chauvin, a French soldier — probably fictional — who was so devoted to Napoleon that he continued to zealously support the emperor even after Napoleon rejected him. The put-down “male chauvinist pig” describes a man who believes that women are not as intelligent or worthy of respect as men. Often when we hear the word chauvinist, we think of arrogant men. |
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| 5433 |
ploy |
a maneuver in a game or conversation |
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A ploy is a clever plan that helps you get what you want. A manipulative little girl might shed tears simply as a ploy to get her mother to buy her ice cream. |
A politician might add amendments to a bill as a ploy to delay voting, or a hooligan might yell, "Fire!" in a movie theater as a ploy to sneak his friends in. A sneaky move in a game is a ploy, and sensational news about a celebrity can be just a ploy to get him more media attention. The first recorded use of ploy was in 1722, meaning "anything with which one amuses oneself" in Scottish and Northern English dialects. |
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| 5434 |
debauch |
a wild gathering involving excessive drinking |
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Debauch is an old word that speaks to an older time. It means to destroy the morals of someone. If you debauch a young girl, you introduce her to immoral activities. A debauch is also an excessive amount of eating or drinking. |
To understand debauch, you have to understand a context in which women were considered pure because they were virgins and also because they were generally innocent. Men—often the kind whose lives were spent in a debauch of eating, drinking, using bad language, smoking, etc.—would debauch these women, ruining them for all time, in a bout of debauchery. |
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| 5435 |
bona fide |
not counterfeit or copied |
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Something bona fide is the real deal, the real McCoy, genuine — it's not a fake or a counterfeit. |
We talk about things being bona fide when we're interested in how real or genuine they are. A counterfeit hundred dollar bill is not bona fide. When you earn your college diploma you're a bona fide college graduate. If you spend your whole life studying music, you're a bona fide musician. The opposite of bona fide is fake. We also say people make a bona fide effort: they're making a true, sincere attempt to do something. |
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| 5436 |
triad |
a set of three similar things considered as a unit |
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A triad is three things or people considered as one unit. A triad is a trio. |
A triangle is a shape with three sides. Similarly, a triad is a set of three things or people. To be a triad, three individual parts must also be considered a unit. A band with three members is a triad. A business with three divisions is a triad. A family with three members is a triad. A book with three volumes is a triad (usually called a trilogy). Triads are also called threesomes and trios. |
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| 5437 |
valorous |
having or showing the qualities of a hero or heroine |
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To be valorous is to show valor: to be valiant and courageous. |
Valor is a word for courage, like the courage to pull a child out of a burning building. People who show the quality of valor are valorous. War heroes are valorous. A parent who sacrifices a lot for their children is valorous. In superhero movies, the lead characters are valorous, as they overcome the odds to save the day. This is a strong word for actions that are truly heroic. Valorous actions are rare and worthy of great respect. |
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| 5438 |
theorize |
construct a hypothesis about |
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When you theorize, you come up with an explanation for how something happens, based on ideas that can be tested. You may theorize that your dog is afraid of loud noises after you see her cower under the bed during fireworks and thunderstorms. |
When someone theorizes, they're not just making a wild guess. They're forming a theory, or a testable explanation that they can confirm through experimentation. After a scientist theorizes and the theory sticks around and is tested again and again in a rigorous way, it becomes an "established theory," like the theory of gravity or plate tectonics theory. The Greek root theorein means "to consider, speculate, or look at." |
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| 5439 |
praxis |
translating an idea into action |
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Use the noun praxis when you talk formally about putting an idea or theory into practice. You might have a lot of theories and opinions about raising kids, but it's much harder in praxis, when you have kids of your own. |
The plural of praxis is "praxes." The noun praxis comes from the Latin and Greek words of the same spelling, based on the Greek word prattein, which means to do. Praxis is an established custom and practice. Your mom may have chosen a particular school for you because of its common praxis of parents helping out in the classroom. |
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| 5440 |
shibboleth |
a favorite saying of a sect or political group |
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A shibboleth is like a motto or catchphrase that members of a group tend to say, like the conservative shibboleth that the only good government is a small government. |
Shibboleth comes all the way from Hebrew, and originally meant a special word that helped you find out if someone was part of your group, almost like a secret handshake. It still has that sense of identifying someone as a member of a group. Sometimes it also means "platitude" or "truism," a phrase that is so common everyone thinks it's true, like "crime doesn't pay," or "all dogs go to heaven." |
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| 5441 |
machinate |
arrange by systematic planning and united effort |
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To machinate is to scheme or plan something. You might, for example, machinate a way to defeat the more popular candidate in an election for school president. |
You can use the verb machinate in two ways: to arrange or plan in a carefully detailed way, or to plot in an equally careful but somewhat sneaky or underhanded way. While a teacher might machinate to best organize and inspire her class, a movie villain also machinates in order to defeat the hero. Both meanings come from the same root, the noun machination, "plotting or intrigue," which is ultimately rooted in the Latin machina, "device or machine." |
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| 5442 |
appraise |
consider in a comprehensive way |
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When you buy a house someone will need to appraise its value before you can get a mortgage. To appraise something is to figure out its worth in the marketplace, on the field, or in the world of ideas. |
To appraise the value of a friendship is difficult, but to appraise the value of your grandfather’s pocket watch — just go to the pawn shop. The verb appraise comes from the Late Latin word appretiare, which means “value” or “estimate.” You can appraise your chances of marrying royalty, which are probably slim. You can also appraise the value of a quarterback on your fantasy football team by looking at the statistics for his completed passes. |
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| 5443 |
clangor |
a loud resonant repeating noise |
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Clangor is one of those words that means exactly what it sounds like, so you can feel free to describe the noise your brother makes when he's banging on his drums in the basement as a clangor. |
The word clangor brings to mind clanking sounds, but it can also be used to mean any kind of resounding, deafening noise, such as the shouting of a crowd. When you instinctively know what a word means just by the way it sounds — like clangor — that's called onomatopoeia. |
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| 5444 |
adjudicate |
hear a case and sit as the judge at the trial of |
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To adjudicate is to act like a judge. A judge might adjudicate a case in court, and you may have to adjudicate in the local talent show. |
Do you see a similarity between judge and adjudicate? When you add the common Latin prefix ad meaning "to" or "toward," you have a pretty good idea what the word means. But a judge isn't the only person who can adjudicate. If you're fighting with your little brother or sister and make them cry, your parents may adjudicate and send you to your room. |
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| 5445 |
effectuate |
bring about or cause to happen |
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To effectuate is to produce a result or make something happen. Effectuating accomplishes things. |
Things that have an effect make something happen: they're significant in some way. Similarly, to effectuate is to cause something to happen or set it up so something can happen. A doctor who effectuates a cure has found a cure. A general who effectuates an attack has made the attack happen. Some people think computers effectuate a short attention span, meaning the short attention span is caused by computers. Effectuating is about cause and effect. |
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| 5446 |
appraisal |
the classification of something with respect to its worth |
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An appraisal is a judgment of something, especially an estimate of how much it's worth. Usually you need an expert to give an official appraisal. |
If you were selling a house, you'd need an expert in real estate to give an appraisal of how much it's worth — that's an official estimate of how much you could sell it for. But this word can also be used in other less formal situations that call for a judgment or opinion of some sort. If you painted a picture, you could ask, "What's your appraisal of my work?" Hopefully the answer is "beautiful!" |
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| 5447 |
baseless |
without a foundation in reason or fact |
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If something's baseless, it can't be proven or justified. A baseless accusation of cheating, for example, has no facts or evidence to back it up. |
Baseless facts in a research paper don't have sources — they may have simply come from the writer's own imagination. A baseless allegation is when one person accuses another of doing something wrong, without having any solid proof or reason for the accusation. The sense of base that baseless comes from is "foundation," from the Greek basis, "step or pedestal." |
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| 5448 |
rapscallion |
one who is playfully mischievous |
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A rapscallion is a mischievous jokester. Instead of getting angry when he realizes his shoelaces have been tied together, your grandfather might say, "Which of you rapscallions is responsible for this?" |
Rapscallion is an old fashioned word for "scamp" or "scoundrel." It's most often used in a lighthearted way: "Some rapscallion seems to have replaced the cream in my Oreo with toothpaste — then again, it is April Fools Day!" Rapscallion, first used in the 1600s, was originally rascallion, a fancier version of rascal, which comes from the Old French rascaille, "rabble or mob." |
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| 5449 |
brag |
show off |
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When you're bragging, you're boasting. If you can't stop talking about your fancy new shoes, that's bragging. |
Ever notice how some people are full of themselves and constantly telling you about the great things they've done? Those folks like to brag. Bragging is a verbal kind of showing off. We all do it sometimes, and it's almost always annoying when other people do it. A specific boast can be called a brag. Athletes often brag before big games. But only the winners can brag after, because they backed up their words. |
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| 5450 |
visualize |
form a mental picture of something that is invisible |
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To visualize something is to be able to see it in your mind. From the twitching in their feet, it seems that sleeping dogs often visualize a fenced-in area and about 30 squirrels. |
Visualizing is a lot like imagining — both involve picturing something in your mind. But while imagine has the sense of wondering and exploring, when you visualize something, your hope is to make it real. Basketball players visualize themselves making a shot to help them sink the basketball in the hoop. Visualize yourself getting the job as you're going in to be interviewed and your chances for success will increase. |
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| 5451 |
forswear |
formally reject or disavow a formerly held belief |
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To forswear is to give up an idea, belief, or habit that you’ve had previously. New Year’s is a popular time to forswear anything from sweets to bad relationships. |
When you forswear, you abandon something completely. In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo is at first smitten by the maiden Rosaline, but once he lays eyes on Juliet, Rosaline is history. He says of Juliet, “Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight, for I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.” |
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| 5452 |
fecund |
capable of producing offspring or vegetation |
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The adjective fecund describes things that are highly fertile and that easily produce offspring or fruit. Rabbits are often considered to be fecund animals, and you may hear jokes in poor taste about people reproducing like rabbits if they have a lot of children. |
The word fecund comes from the Latin word fecundus, meaning fruitful. But the English word does not just describe something or someone fertile, the adjective fecund can also be used to describe someone who is innovative or highly intellectually productive. Your fecund imagination will be an asset if you have to tell ghost stories around the fire at camp while eating s'mores but that same fecund imagination could be less helpful if you're at home alone on a stormy night and you think you hear a knock at the door! |
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| 5453 |
two-dimensional |
involving measurements of magnitude in two directions |
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Two-dimensional things are flat — they can be measured in length and width, but they have no depth. Geometrical shapes like squares, circles, and polygons are all two-dimensional. |
A sheet of paper may seem to be two-dimensional, but because it does have a measurable (if tiny) depth, it's actually three-dimensional. Your dog is also three-dimensional, but a picture of him on your computer screen is two-dimensional. You can also use this mathematical adjective to mean "superficial," or "shallow." A bad guy in a movie might be described as a two-dimensional character, for example, since he seems to have "no depth." |
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| 5454 |
hypercritical |
inclined to judge too severely |
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Hypercritical describes someone who is full of complaints. That friend you love but avoid going to restaurant with because she thinks the burger is slightly cold, the fork's not shiny enough, the bread too bready? Definitely hypercritical. |
Make sure you don't mistake hypercritical for hypocritical. If you've ever felt hyper, you know it means "too much energy." So someone who is hypercritical puts too much energy into criticizing and judging. But if you're hypocritical, it means you don't live by the high standards you claim you have. Unfortunately, that means it's possible for a person to be both hypercritical and hypocritical. |
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| 5455 |
adhesive |
tending to stick to firmly |
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An adhesive is something sticky that holds things together. Use an adhesive to repair a cracked plate. |
Adhesive comes from the Latin adhaerere, meaning "stick to," which is precisely what something adhesive does — it sticks to things. An adhesive bonds surfaces together. It's the sticky side on a roll of duct tape that causes it to be so effective. The word can be used to describe both the substance itself: to use an adhesive, for example — or its property of stickiness: an adhesive bandage sticks to the skin. |
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| 5456 |
validation |
finding or testing the truth of something |
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Validation is making sure that something is true. Even if you know you're a great poet, you may still long for the validation of being awarded a literary prize or having a volume of your poems published by a respected press. |
Your winning lottery ticket may require validation — lottery officials have to check it to make sure it's not counterfeit and that you really do have the winning numbers. The word validation is formed from the Latin word for "strong," validus, and validation makes something strong. You may claim that you've danced more tango turns than anyone else in the history of the world, but you'll have to wait for someone from Guinness World Records to give your claim validation. |
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| 5457 |
heady |
extremely exciting as if by alcohol or a narcotic |
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Something that's heady is extremely thrilling. You might have a heady feeling as you walk up on stage to get your high school diploma. |
Use the adjective heady to describe a sensation that is so exciting it makes you a little dizzy, a bit like being intoxicated. You could talk about the heady scent of your mom's rose garden or the heady feeling of winning the state spelling bee. The fourteenth century meaning of heady was "headstrong or impetuous," and it's sometimes still used in this way. By the 1570's, it had also come to mean "apt to go to the head," or "exhilarating." |
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| 5458 |
corrosive |
capable of destroying or eating away by chemical action |
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A corrosive substance, like hydrochloric acid, will eat away most things on which it is spilled. Watch out in chemistry lab: you wouldn't want to destroy your homework, desk, or worse, your own skin by spilling something corrosive on it. |
The word corrosive comes from the Latin word, corrodere, meaning "to gnaw away." Rodere (to gnaw) is the same root word for rodent, so you can remember the word corrosive because something that is corrosive gnaws through things like a rodent. The adjective corrosive is also used to describe something that is bitingly or spitefully sarcastic. If you're known for your corrosive wit, you probably don't win any popularity contests. |
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| 5459 |
vertiginous |
having or causing a whirling sensation; liable to falling |
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To be vertiginous is to be dizzy and woozy. It's a disorienting feeling. |
There's a famous movie called "Vertigo," which is named after a condition of extreme dizziness, often caused by heights. The word vertiginous applies to similar feelings and sensations. The flu makes many people feel vertiginous. Sometimes when you stand up too fast, you can get vertiginous for a second, and most people feel vertiginous after spinning in a circle. Vertigo is a Latin word that originally meant "whirling or spinning," from its root vertere, "to turn." |
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| 5460 |
antagonistic |
characterized by feelings of intense dislike or hostility |
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If you're antagonistic, you're hard to get along with. Harmony is not your friend — you prefer hostility and struggle. |
If you're antagonistic to your little brother, you're always picking on him and giving him a hard time — causing him agony — a word that's buried in antagonistic. Even drugs or chemicals can be antagonistic: if you take a sleeping pill and then follow it with a few cups of espresso, the interaction is likely to be antagonistic. The sleeping pill and the caffeine struggle against each other and you're not likely to get much sleep. |
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| 5461 |
emblematic |
serving as a visible symbol for something abstract |
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Something emblematic is symbolic. Empty buildings are emblematic of a city in decline, and a crown is emblematic of royalty. |
If you know that an emblem is a visual symbol, then you won't be surprised that emblematic things stand for other things. In fact, the word emblem comes from the French word for symbol. Something emblematic represents a larger issue, good or bad. Sometimes emblematic is used for things that are excellent examples. An A student is an emblematic student, and a war hero is an emblematic soldier. Emblematic people are symbols of what others aspire to be. |
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| 5462 |
requiem |
a song or hymn of mourning as a memorial to a dead person |
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A requiem is a religious ceremony performed for the dead. A requiem, or dirge, can also be a piece of music used for this ceremony or in any other context honoring those who have died. |
The word requiem comes from the opening words of the Roman Catholic Mass for the Dead, which is spoken or sung in Latin (requies means “rest”). In a nonreligious context the word refers simply to an act of remembrance. Mozart, Brahms, and Dvořák have all written important requiems. The English composer Benjamin Britten wrote his famous "War Requiem" for the reconsecration of a cathedral that was destroyed in World War II. |
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| 5463 |
encumbrance |
an onerous or difficult concern |
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A burden or serious concern is an encumbrance. Your being five feet tall could be an encumbrance when it comes to your dream of playing professional basketball. |
Something that blocks you from doing what you want to do is an encumbrance, like the rocky soil in your garden that makes it impossible for you to grow tomatoes. A burden or hindrance can also be an encumbrance, the way wearing thick knitted mittens makes it harder for you to dial your cell phone — your mittens are an encumbrance. The word comes from the Latin word incombrare, which means "barricade or obstacle." |
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| 5464 |
perky |
characterized by liveliness and lightheartedness |
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If you are a perky person, you are upbeat, lively and positive. A perky friend would be the one who's always up for games and activities and constantly declaring, "Hey guys, this is fun!" |
Perky is an adjective traditionally used to describe women or girls, like its synonym bubbly. Perky people tend to have lots of energy. They're always smiling and have a generally cheerful disposition. The enthusiasm of perky can be contagious — soon, you'll also be perky, unless you need a quiet, calm or somber moment. In that case, all that happy chatter can quickly become very annoying. |
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| 5465 |
fake |
something that is a counterfeit; not what it seems to be |
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You should have known that copy of the "Declaration of Independence" was a fake when you saw it was signed by "Jon Hancrock" instead of "John Hancock." Something that's fake isn't authentic. |
A person who falsely claims to be, feel, or do something can be said to be fake. When your friend acts sweet but spreads rumors about you behind your back, you can call her a fake. As a verb, fake means to take an action with the intent to deceive. If you've ever tried to fake a grade on your report card, you know that it's especially hard to change an F to an A. |
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| 5466 |
modulation |
the act of adjusting according to due measure and proportion |
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Modulation is when you control or adjust something, like when you lower your voice to a loud whisper in order to make what you're saying more dramatic and mysterious. |
The noun modulation has several meanings, including a change of key in music or of the sound of a person's voice. It almost always involves some kind of deliberate modification or slight change, like an actor adjusting his pitch or volume depending on the role he's playing or the mood of the scene. The Latin root, modulationem, has a musical meaning: "rhythm, singing and playing, or melody." |
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| 5467 |
slothful |
disinclined to work or exertion |
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To be slothful is to be lazy. When you're slothful, you don't want to do any work. You just want to lie around, eat bonbons, and maybe doze off a little. |
If you've ever seen the sloth — a slow-moving mammal — you won't be surprised that anyone slothful has a bad work ethic. When you're slothful, you don't feel like doing much of anything. Slothful people tend to sleep too much and lie around on the couch. Being slothful at work could get you fired, and slothful students won't do well at school. The furry kind of sloth is slow due to its nature, but a slothful person should get a move on! |
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| 5468 |
egress |
the act or means of going out |
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If you want to leave a place, you need a means of egress, or a way to exit, such as a door or window. It was a beautiful old house, but without enough ways of egress, they needed outdoor fire-stairs for reaching the upper floors. |
Egress comes from a Latin word meaning "going out." An egress is basically the same thing as an exit. (Egress can also be used as a verb, "to exit," but less frequently than as a noun.) When buildings undergo inspection, one of the main safety features under review is the number and placement of doors and windows, the "means of egress," in case of fire or other emergency. |
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| 5469 |
gab |
talk profusely |
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When you gab, you chatter on and on. You might like to gab on the phone with your friend after school. |
To talk and talk, especially about gossipy or trivial things, is to gab. Your dad might gab over the fence with the neighbor, and you may sit in the front of the bus so you can gab with the friendly driver. You can also describe the chatter itself as gab. The oldest meaning of gab may come from thirteenth century Scottish dialect, "to reproach," although it may in fact be rooted in the Old French gobe, "mouthful or lump." |
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| 5470 |
gangrene |
the localized death of living cells |
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You don't want gangrene, that's for sure. It's the infection that can develop around a wound that kills the tissue, turning it into a terrible stinking sore. |
In the days before antibiotics even the smallest scratch could lead to gangrene, and doctors would often cut off a finger or even a limb and then seal it with a red hot poker rather than risk the infection spreading. Special surgeons known as sawbones were famed for the speed they could amputate a limb to avoid gangrene setting in. Enough to stop you ever being nostalgic about the good old days. |
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| 5471 |
leeway |
a permissible difference |
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Leeway is a term used to describe the amount of freedom available. If you know you have a paper due on Monday, you might ask your teachers if there is any leeway––could you, say, bring it first thing Tuesday morning? |
Leeway is a nautical term, referring to a vessel's drift to the lee, (nautical for "downwind"). Now, it is very useful in describing those gray areas in life––for example, everyone has a ten-minute leeway when meeting friends where you're not officially late, even if you're not actually on time. |
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| 5472 |
ambience |
the atmosphere of an environment |
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Ambience is another word for atmosphere in the sense of the mood a place or setting has. If an expensive restaurant has soft lighting and peaceful music, it has a pleasant, soothing ambience. |
Ambience is one of those words that we've out and out stolen from French. In French, the word meaning the same thing is, you guessed it, ambience. This is a word you're going to want to know if you have any interest in restaurant reviews — they always want to talk about the ambience. As a funny quirk, the word has a positive feel to it; it can be used to mean nice atmosphere without even using the word, nice, as in, "Hey, this place really has ambience." |
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| 5473 |
mystify |
be a mystery or bewildering to |
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If something totally stumps you, doesn't make one lick of sense and has no logical explanation, then it's safe to say it mystifies you. |
To mystify is a verb that sounds not so mysteriously like mystery. That's because something that mystifies is just that. There's no answer or explanation to be found for it. If you're mystified, you're in awe and bewilderment. The infinite nature of the universe mystifies some people. Others are mystified by the appeal of teen sensations from Ricky Nelson to Justin Bieber. |
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| 5474 |
laissez faire |
a doctrine that government should not interfere in commerce |
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From the government allowing the business world to set its own course to your babysitter who let you do whatever you wanted — if something is laissez faire, it's "hands off." |
Laissez faire, typically pronounced "LAY-zay fair," was originally a French economic term meaning “allow to do,” as in: the government does not interfere in the marketplace. For example, if a product is poorly made, people won't buy it — no need for the government to step in. Parents can take a laissez faire approach — no curfews or set rules, hoping their kids will stay out of trouble by doing the right thing. |
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| 5475 |
encrypt |
convert ordinary language into code |
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To encrypt is to convert regular language into a code. Encrypting is a way of keeping secrets. |
Encrypting is a way of disguising a written message so that most people won't understand it. Encrypting puts a message into a code that will appear to be gibberish. Only someone who knows the code or is an expert in breaking codes — like a cryptographer — will be able to read something encrypted. People don't encrypt their laundry lists or term papers; communications that get encrypted are top secret info, like government reports and messages from spies. |
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| 5476 |
tilt |
lean over; tip |
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Tilt is both a noun and a verb. It has many shades of meaning, but most involve a slope or slant. When you're dizzy from eating too much, you might tilt when you walk away from the table. |
The verb tilt can also indicate a slight preference for one thing over another. When Mavis and Marvin argue, you tend to tilt toward Marvin’s point of view, meaning you think he's probably right — you lean in that direction. As a noun tilt can mean a steep slant. When you climb Everest, you’ll find that the face of the mountain is at a dangerous tilt — it's very steep. |
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| 5477 |
stereotypical |
lacking spontaneity or originality or individuality |
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Stereotypical describes an action or a characterization that is oversimplified, widely imitated, or handed down by tradition. |
As in Aesop’s Fables, stereotypical characters behave predictably, or according to type, which, in Greek, literally means to strike in a mold or an impression. But most interesting people and stories do not easily fit into molds, and typecasts can be socially offensive. It might be stereotypical in a comedy skit to see police officers eating donuts, but when you get pulled over for missing a stop sign it’s best to keep that idea to yourself! |
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| 5478 |
trope |
language used in a figurative or nonliteral sense |
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A trope is a word used in a nonliteral sense to create a powerful image. If you say, "Chicago's worker bees buzz around the streets," you're using a trope. Workers aren't literally bees, but it suggests how fast they move. |
Trope refers to different types of figures of speech, such as puns, metaphors, and similes. Each has its own particular structure, but in each case the actual meaning is different from the literal, dictionary sense. Trope is also used in a more general sense to describe a convention that you can easily recognize and understand because you've seen it so often. For example a TV cop show might use the trope of police vs. thieves to talk about larger issues. |
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| 5479 |
controvert |
be resistant to |
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If you controvert something, you dispute it. If you argue for a new pony, your parents will controvert your argument by pointing out you said the same thing about the dog — the one they have to walk. |
The verb controvert can mean to prove to be false or untrue. If you are a historian, you know that new evidence often controverts commonly-held beliefs, so history is constantly being revised and updated. Many children grew up learning that Christopher Columbus landed first in America, but now we have evidence to controvert that idea and other explorers such as Leif Eriksson beat Columbus to America. |
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| 5480 |
pharisaical |
excessively or hypocritically pious |
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Someone who is pharisaical preaches one thing and then does another — not a good trait for politicians or even playground pals. |
Why use pharisaical when you could say hypocritical? In general, you would probably use the word in especially severe cases of hypocrisy, particularly when someone is not only a hypocrite, but acts superior and is being particularly annoying about it. The word pharisaical can be traced all the way back to the Pharisees, an ancient Jewish group who insisted on the strict following of certain laws, though some people considered the group to be self-righteous. |
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| 5481 |
immaterial |
lacking importance; not mattering one way or the other |
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Things that are immaterial have no physical form (like a ghost) or are unimportant (like most ghost stories). |
Something that’s material has substance, right? You can touch it or it's important. So the opposite is the word immaterial, which means something that doesn't matter, or has no physical substance, or which adds nothing to the subject at hand. This word is heard a lot in court, where "It's immaterial!" dismisses evidence or testimony as meaningless or beside the point. You could say the wind is literally immaterial, though windiness is not immaterial if you’re going kiting. |
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| 5482 |
pester |
annoy persistently |
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To pester someone is to annoyingly nag them about something. Pestering is repetitive and bothersome. |
When a child asks a parent something over and over again — like "Can I have candy? Please? Can I have candy now?" — that's an example of pestering. Parents also pester kids when they say "Clean your room" or "Take out the garbage" over and over. Pestering is like requesting, but doing it many times, usually to the point of annoyance. No one likes to be pestered. |
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| 5483 |
chafe |
become or make sore by or as if by rubbing |
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To chafe is to irritate or annoy. If your shoes chafe you, they rub your skin raw. Ouch. If you chafe at the suggestion that you should be studying more, the suggestion rubs you the wrong way. |
Chafe originally meant to warm, like a chafing dish on a hotel buffet. Though this may seem like a big jump, think of when your hands are cold and you rub them together to warm them up. So you can say that rubbed skin is kind of hot as is a temper flaring up from irritation. If you are a hot head, you are easily chafed. |
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| 5484 |
forewarning |
an early notification about a future event |
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When you give someone forewarning you let that person know that some event will happen in the future. You might give your elderly grandmother forewarning about her upcoming surprise birthday party, for example. |
When Paul Revere famously rode through Boston alerting patriots that British troops had landed and were preparing to attack, he gave them forewarning about the army's advance. Since they knew about it before it happened, there was time to prepare. The fore part of forewarning is from Old English roots, and it means "before in time," or "in advance of." Warning also comes from Old English, originally warnian, "to give notice of impending danger." |
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| 5485 |
spry |
moving quickly and lightly |
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If you are an old lady, remaining spry is something you aspire to. It means "nimble." You might also use it to describe a goat that jumps easily along from mountain crag to mountain crag. |
The most common use of spry is to describe people who are aging. You might say that at 92, your great grandmother is still spry and sharp as a tack. Spry refers to her physical well-being; "sharp as a tack" to her mental faculties. |
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| 5486 |
plagiarize |
take without referencing from someone's writing or speech |
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You plagiarize when you take someone's ideas or words and pass them off as your own. It's a fancy word for copying. Many politicians and writers have plagiarized. It's not always professional suicide, however — just ask Vice President Joe Biden. Still, don't do it. |
It's not illegal to plagiarize but it's morally wrong, and it might just get you tossed out of school. If you're writing something and include word-for-word something you've read and don't attribute the words or ideas to that writer, you are plagiarizing. The origins of the word are said to mean "one who kidnaps the child of another" — which certainly gives a sense of the gravity of the charge. After all, some writers do consider their words to be their babies. |
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| 5487 |
cortege |
the group following and attending to some important person |
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A group of people following solemnly behind, whether they're a celebrity's handlers or a funeral procession, is a cortege. |
A movie star may have a cortege of hair stylists, assistants, and agents—you can also call this an entourage or a retinue. A funeral procession, the group of mourners that walks or rides in cars to a cemetery, is another kind of cortege. The French source, cortège, means "train of attendants," from the Italian corte, "court," and the Latin root cohors, "retinue." |
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| 5488 |
atypical |
not representative of a group, class, or type |
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Typical means what you would expect—a typical suburban town has lots of neat little houses and people. Atypical means outside of type—an atypical suburban town might be populated by zombies in damp caves. |
Atypical is a synonym of "unusual," but it carries a more objective feel—scientific studies might mention atypical results, suggesting that there is a clear definition of what is typical and what is not. "Unusual" is more of a casual observation that one might make in a non-scientific context. |
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| 5489 |
devious |
deviating from a straight course |
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Devious describes someone who tends to lie and to trick other people. Devious credit card companies lure younger and younger people into debt with offers of low interest rates and even just free t-shirts. |
Devious sometimes just describes a path that is not direct, a meaning that can be traced to the Latin adjective devius "out of the way," formed from the prefix de- "off" plus via "way, road." The related English verb deviate means to do something different or unexpected, and the adjective deviant describes behavior that is not considered normal or morally correct. |
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| 5490 |
wallop |
a severe blow |
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A wallop is a hard punch or another strong hit. A boxer sometimes wins a match with one single, well-aimed wallop to their opponent. |
A wallop is not just a physical blow, but it can also be a huge effect or impact. A principal's strongly worded lecture to a group of bullies might pack a wallop, for example, resulting in a major change in behavior. Use this word as a verb and it means "punch" or "defeat completely," so you'll frequently hear it in sports reporting: "The Wizards score the last points of the game and wallop the Pacers." |
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| 5491 |
blithesome |
carefree and happy and lighthearted |
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To be blithesome is to be happy and without a care in the world. If you are feeling blithesome, you might want to skip or at least kick your heels up in the air. |
When you're blissfully happy and don't have a single worry, you're blithesome. If you're blithesome, you're feeling carefree and not weighed down by burdens or anxiety. If you take the some off the end of blithesome, it will still carry the same meaning. |
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| 5492 |
paranormal |
not in accordance with or able to be explained by science |
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Use the adjective paranormal to talk about things that are outside of normal experience, like ESP, ghosts, and UFOs. |
You might describe your friend's uncanny ability to bend spoons with her mind as paranormal, or beyond a scientific explanation. While many people don't believe in any kind of paranormal events, there are those who see or hear things they can't explain rationally. The Greek word para, "against, or contrary to," is paired up with normal: if it goes against what's normal, you can probably describe it as paranormal. |
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| 5493 |
languorous |
lacking spirit or liveliness |
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To be languorous is to be dreamy, lackadaisical, and languid. When someone is languorous, she’s lying around, daydreaming, possibly fanning herself lazily. It’s a little self-indulgent. |
Languorous refers to a certain kind of mood everyone gets in sometimes — when you'd rather lie around thinking than doing work or having fun. When you're languorous, you're tired and maybe a little depressed. Things can be languorous, too — like a hot, languorous summer afternoon or a languorous song that’s slow and mournful. If you've ever lounged in bed for an hour after you were supposed to get up, you’re familiar with feeling languorous. |
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| 5494 |
analogue |
something similar or equivalent to something else |
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Think of analogue as referring to something parallel or comparable to something else. For example, a lobster's claw might be considered an analogue to the human hand, as both have similar functions of grabbing and holding. Keep your claws to yourself! |
The word analogue (also spelled analog) comes from the Greek ana, meaning "up to," and logos, meaning, among other things, "ratio" and "proportion." In 1946, it entered computer language as an adjective to describe a type of signal that is continuous in amplitude. It has since been largely replaced by a digital signal. Analogues are often used in college entrance exams, i.e., "a is to b as c is to d." |
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| 5495 |
freelance |
a writer or artist who sells services to different employers without a long-term contract with any of them |
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To freelance is to work independently, instead of for a long-term employer. If you do freelance work, you’re free to say yes or no to any project. Anyone can work freelance (as a freelancer), but it’s often a writer or artist. |
To freelance is the opposite of working for one employer full-time and long-term. A freelancer — who could be a writer, a designer, or one of many other jobs — probably has many employers. The word comes from the Middle Ages, for "medieval mercenary warrior," which makes sense, since a mercenary is someone who fights for hire. It’s a free (not bound by a country) lance (sword). The pen is mightier than the sword, so these days freelance often refers to writers. |
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| 5496 |
apothegm |
a short pithy instructive saying |
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An apothegm is a short instructive saying that's easy to remember and sometimes even slightly witty, like "haste makes waste." An apothegm often expresses a fundamental truth or general rule. |
To correctly pronounce apothegm, put the accent on the first syllable and give it the short a sound, as in apple: "A-puh-them." It comes from the Greek word apophthegma, meaning "terse, pointed saying," derived from apo-, meaning "from," and phthengesthai, meaning "to utter." |
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| 5497 |
disputatious |
showing an inclination to disagree |
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If you're always looking for a fight, consider yourself disputatious. However, disputatious is more appropriate for the head of the debate team rather than the playground bully. |
Disputatious is a somewhat old-fashioned term now. In every day speech we'd probably use a dozen more colorful words, many not printable here. The one area where it does live on is in the legal sphere — two battling parties are often said to be disputatious. And, in fact, an extreme form of being disputatious often involves frequently taking people to court, or being litigious. Only lawyers love disputatious, litigious people. |
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| 5498 |
laughable |
inviting ridicule and derision; absurd |
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If something is so absurd or ridiculous that it makes you laugh, you can call it laughable. Your little sister's idea of dropping out of elementary school and starting a full-time lemonade stand might seem laughable to you. |
Your friend's preposterous plan to live in a tree all summer is laughable, and a politician's proposal to build a wall around the entire country to keep immigrants out is laughable too. You can also use this adjective to simply mean "funny," or "provoking laughter." Laughable comes from laugh, which has an Old English root and was originally pronounced with a hard g sound. The pronunciation changed, but the spelling stayed the same. |
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| 5499 |
ersatz |
an artificial or inferior substitute or imitation |
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The ersatz version of something is an inferior substitute or imitation. You might speak in an ersatz French accent, but you won't fool the Parisian who runs the local French bakery. |
Used as a noun or adjective, ersatz stems from the German verb ersetzen, which means "to replace." Compared with regular Coke, Diet Coke may be considered an ersatz beverage because of its artificial sweeteners. Similarly, rich, creamy, full-fat ice cream is much better than the ersatz, fat-free version, or frozen yogurt. You would be in deep trouble if your fiancé found out that her engagement ring was an ersatz diamond. |
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| 5500 |
coincidental |
occurring or operating at the same time |
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Things that are coincidental take place at the same time, but there isn't any connection. It's just chance — a coincidence. |
Sometimes things seem connected because they happen at the same time, but they really aren't: they're just coincidental. A sports fan might have a lucky shirt he wears to bring his team luck. But, if his team wins, that's just coincidental. Shirts, unfortunately, don't influence game outcomes. Coincidental is the opposite of causal, which means one thing directly causing another to happen. When coincidental things happen — like a friend calls just when you were thinking of her — it's just luck or chance. |
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| 5501 |
rebut |
overthrow by argument, evidence, or proof |
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To rebut is to argue against something. If your parents say you're too young and irresponsible to drive, you can rebut their claim by ticking off examples of your responsibility. |
When you argue against something, you rebut that position or argument. Your school's principal might rebut your teacher's argument that the class is overcrowded by pointing out that there could legally be five more kids in the class. The teacher could rebut the principal's rebuttal by observing that there aren't enough books or seats for the kids in the classroom now. Rebut comes from an old French word rebuter, meaning "to thrust back." |
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| 5502 |
ancestry |
the lineage of an individual |
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Have a family tree hanging on the wall? Then you know a bit about your ancestry, or family history and lineage. |
If you think ancestry sounds like ancestor, then you're headed in the right direction. Ancestry is basically a history of ancestors, a trail of where your family started and all the descendants that followed. But ancestry goes much further than just your great-great-grand uncle's brother. You can also use the word ancestry to refer to the background of things other than people — such as the ancestry of a building or the ancestry of a nation. |
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| 5503 |
dehydration |
the process of extracting moisture |
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Dehydration is what happens when something has water removed from it. Dehydration makes people extremely thirsty, and it can make plants grow droopy and brown. |
During dehydration, moisture is lost without being replaced. In humans, dehydration can happen during strenuous exercise or in extreme heat — or simply when someone doesn't drink enough water for a certain length of time. A grape becomes a raisin through dehydration, shriveling and drying as moisture is removed. Dehydration and dehydrate, first used only by scientists, have a Greek root, hydro, "water." |
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| 5504 |
mannerism |
a behavioral attribute that is distinctive to an individual |
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Does someone you know always shrug in a particular way or say "You know what I mean?" at the end of every sentence? Well, that's a mannerism, a habitual gesture or way of speaking. |
Generally, we don't use then term mannerism as a critical term for our friends' behavior, but when applied as a term of art criticism, it can be a negative thing. If a critic talks about a writer's mannerisms, for example, it's probably intended as an insult — suggesting they're writing in a lazy or clichéd way. However, Mannerism, with a capital "M," refers to a specific 16th-century Italian style of painting known for its artificial (as opposed to naturalistic) effects. |
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| 5505 |
cipher |
a secret method of writing |
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A cipher is the numeral zero or someone without influence or importance. Don't vote your popular classmate to be the student council leader if he or she is actually a cipher, someone who can't do the job effectively. |
Cipher comes from the Arabic sifr meaning "nothing" or "zero" and came to Europe as a word along with the Arabic numeral system. As early codes substituted numerals for letters to hide the word’s meaning, codes became known as ciphers. If you crack a cipher, you break the code enabling you to understand the message. An encoded message is also called a cipher. Send one to your friend if you don't want anyone to know what you're saying! |
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| 5506 |
rabid |
marked by excessive enthusiasm for a cause or idea |
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Chances are that if the tail-wagging dog that just appeared on your doorstep is also foaming at the mouth and chewing on your welcome mat, it's rabid and you should back away slowly; no petting for this infectious pup. |
While you've likely heard it used to describe an animal infected by rabies, rabid (derived from the Latin verb rabere "be mad, rave") can also dramatically describe a person exhibiting fanatical, extremely enthusiastic, or raging behavior. That guy who nearly knocked you off the stands at the football game with his energetic fist-pumping and then was later kicked out for getting into a fight with another fan? Rabid on both counts. |
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| 5507 |
decimate |
kill one in every ten, as of mutineers in Roman armies |
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If something is drastically reduced or killed, especially in number, you can say it was decimated. "The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico decimated the wildlife along the coast." |
The verb decimate originally referred to a form of capital punishment for Roman troops. If there was a rebellion, one out of every ten men (thus the dec in decimate) was put to death. So the word's first expanded usage was to mean a ten percent reduction or a ten percent tax. Modern usage gives the word decimate its "drastically reduced" meaning, but the verb can also be used to mean "to wipe out" or "to eliminate." |
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| 5508 |
cognitive |
relating to or involving the mental process of knowing |
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If it's related to thinking, it's considered cognitive. Anxious parents might defend using flashcards with toddlers as "nurturing their cognitive development." |
The adjective, cognitive, comes from the Latin cognoscere "to get to know" and refers to the ability of the brain to think and reason as opposed to feel. A child's cognitive development is the growth in his or her ability to think and solve problems. Many English words that involve knowing and knowledge have cogn- in them such as cognizant "aware of" and recognize "to know someone in the present because you knew them from the past." |
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| 5509 |
foolproof |
not liable to failure |
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When something is bound to work out, you can call it foolproof. Your foolproof plan for having a great summer might involve spending lots of time at the beach. |
If your dog tends to wander and can also jump six feet in the air, a foolproof plan for keeping her in your yard might involve an eight foot fence. You can also use foolproof as a verb: "I'm going to foolproof the instructions for heating up your dinner, so that no one sets the stove on fire this time." Foolproof is an early twentieth century American English word that combines fool, or "silly person" and proof, "resistant." |
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| 5510 |
stymie |
hinder or prevent the progress or accomplishment of |
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The verb stymie means to obstruct or hinder. Constantly texting with your friends will stymie your effort to finish your homework. |
Stymie was first used on the golf course in Scotland, where it referred to an opponent's ball blocking your own ball’s path to the cup. From there a verb sense developed, until finally stymie came to mean blocking with any obstacle, not just a golf ball. |
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| 5511 |
pith |
spongelike central cylinder of the stems of flowering plants |
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Pith is the central idea or essence of something. If you’re in danger, you could exclaim, “I would greatly appreciate it if someone would provide assistance.” Or, you could get right to the pith of your point by shouting, “Help!” |
In botanical terminology, pith refers to a spongy, central cylinder of tissue found inside the stems of most flowering plants. If you know a lot about plants, that fact should help you remember the primary definition of pith. If not, just take our word for it. You can think about the pith of an argument like the pith of a plant: both lie at the heart or core of something. |
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| 5512 |
squelch |
suppress or crush completely |
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When you squelch something, you're putting an end to it. You can squelch an idea or a rebellion. |
This word has several meanings, but it's usually a verb for crushing things. A mean remark could squelch your self-confidence, and a powerful military could squelch an invading country. Squelching can also mean to make a squelch-like sucking sound — or to slop, slosh, splash, and squish through the mud. There's also a type of electric circuit that cuts off when the signal is weak: that's a squelch circuit, which squelches the connection. |
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| 5513 |
narcissistic |
having an inflated idea of one's own importance |
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If you can’t stop talking about yourself and obsess constantly about the way you look, you could be exhibiting narcissistic tendencies, meaning you're obsessed with yourself, especially your outside appearance. |
Scholarly types may know that the word narcissistic is related to the Greek myth of Narcissus, a boy known for his good looks who after angered the gods, fell in love with his reflection in a pool. Narcissus wasted away there, too fascinated with his looks to save his own life. A narcissistic person may suffer a similar fate. The adjective narcissistic describes those who are excessively self-absorbed, especially about their looks. |
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| 5514 |
kale |
a hardy cabbage with coarse curly leaves |
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Kale is a green leafy vegetable that's a close relative of cabbage and broccoli. Kale is tough and bitter when raw, but it can be yummy when you prepare it the right way. |
If you're a fan of green smoothies, there's almost certainly some kale in them. Marinating kale, roasting it with olive oil and salt, and throwing it in a stir fry are all great ways to make kale tasty. Long ago, kale was also a slang term for "money," as in, "Hand over the kale, sweetheart, and nobody gets hurt." Kale comes from a Scottish variation on cole, which meant "cabbage" in Middle English. |
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| 5515 |
unalienable |
incapable of being repudiated or transferred to another |
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What's unalienable cannot be taken away or denied. Its most famous use is in the Declaration of Independence, which says people have unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. |
To find the origins of the word unalienable, we can look at the root, alien, which comes from the Latin alienus, meaning "of or belonging to another." This provides the basis for our word, with the prefix un- providing the turnaround "not," and the suffix -able providing the idea of capability. Therefore, we get “not able to be denied.” Oh, and if you are wondering about the common argument as to whether it is "unalienable" or "inalienable," either is correct. |
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| 5516 |
demarcation |
the boundary of a specific area |
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A demarcation is a line, boundary, or other conceptual separation between things. Geographically, a demarcation might be the border that separates two countries or the river that divides two regions. |
Demarcation comes from the German word for mark. Although it's often used as a term regarding geographical borders and boundaries, it can also be used to describe lines between categories or groups. For example, a definite demarcation exists between people who love the Boston Red Sox and those who love the New York Yankees. |
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| 5517 |
bawl |
cry loudly |
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To bawl is to weep or wail loudly. If you tend to bawl at sad movies, you might want to bring some tissues for wiping your tears and blowing your nose. |
If a baby bawls all night, he doesn't just cry — he sobs and howls. You can also use the verb to talk about other loud sounds, like shouts: "He bawls out orders while we stand there, confused," or even amusement: "She bawls with laughter all through the woman's strange speech." In the 15th century, to bawl was to "bark like a dog," from the Old Norse baula, "to low or moo like a cow." |
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| 5518 |
reproof |
an act or expression of criticism and censure |
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A reproof is a negative comment, reprimand, or rebuke. Even the nicest kindergarten teacher in the world will give his students a reproof if they won't stop laughing and running around the classroom. |
An athlete's bad behavior on or off the field might result in a reproof by his coach. and a long-distance bus driver will offer at least a mild reproof if a passenger is continuously talking loudly into her cell phone. Kids with strict parents receive more reproofs than those who have fewer rules to follow. Reproof comes from the Late Latin reprobāre, which means "disapprove, reject, or condemn." |
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| 5519 |
definitive |
clearly formulated |
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A definitive answer is a final one. A definitive decision by a court of law is one that will not be changed. A definitive translation is one everyone turns to as correct. Definitive means authoritative, conclusive, final. |
Be careful not to confuse definitive with definite. Definite means clearly defined. You can have a definite opinion that JFK could not have been assassinated by a lone gunman, but the definitive interpretation remains that of the Warren Commission Report, which held there was only one. |
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| 5520 |
roiling |
(of a liquid) agitated vigorously; in a state of turbulence |
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When water or another liquid is roiling, it's stirred up and moving in a churning way. The roiling, soapy water in your washing machine tells you that your clothes are getting thoroughly cleaned. |
If the ocean all around your little boat is roiling, it's full of waves, tossing you on its surface — and the roiling green liquid inside your blender might turn out to be a delicious smoothie, despite its strange color. The adjective roiling comes from the verb roil, "move in a turbulent way," which has an uncertain history. One origin might be the Middle French rouiller, "to rust or make muddy." |
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| 5521 |
touchstone |
a basis for comparison |
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Use the noun touchstone to describe a basis for comparison. For example, a filmmaker's touchstone might be her all-time favorite movie; she wants her movie to be that good or similar to it in some way. |
Touchstone as it is defined today comes from an actual stone. In the late 15th century, gold and silver was rubbed, or touched against black quartz — the touchstone — to determine the purity of the metals. This was done by looking at the color of the streaks left on the stone. This is why a touchstone, in the figurative sense as it is used today, is a measuring tool. |
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| 5522 |
cauterize |
burn, sear, or freeze using a hot iron or electric current |
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To cauterize is to seal off a wound or incision by burning it or freezing it, usually with a hot iron, electricity, or chemicals. Metaphorically, cauterize means to make less sensitive to feelings and emotions. |
Cauterize is usually a medical term. In surgery, using an electrical tool to cauterize the incision seals off blood vessels, resulting in a cleaner operation that heals more easily. Extreme cold, electricity, and chemicals are also used outside the body cauterize, or "burn off," warts and vessels that cause nosebleeds. |
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| 5523 |
one-sided |
favoring one person or side over another |
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One-sided means only showing a single side of a complicated issue, or being biased. A newspaper article is one-sided if it presents just one opinion about a controversial topic. |
When television news gives a one-sided version of the facts, it's impossible for a viewer to get a clear picture of what's going on, especially when most political subjects have so many differing opinions. Another, much less controversial meaning of the adjective one-sided is simply "having only one side." You might be pleased to realize that your math test paper is one-sided, with questions only on the front. |
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| 5524 |
logy |
sluggish and slow to react |
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If you're logy, you're slow and listless, not reacting quickly. Most coffee drinkers start the day off in a logy state, before they've had their first cup. |
Hot, humid weather makes some people logy, and so does missing an hour or two of sleep. When your dog wakes from the anesthesia after having his teeth cleaned at the vet, he might be logy and groggy for a while before he can walk in a straight line. The adjective logy, coined in the US and primarily used in North America, is fairly uncommon today. The root may be the Dutch log, "heavy or dull." |
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| 5525 |
blab |
speak (about unimportant matters) rapidly and incessantly |
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To blab is to gossip about or reveal a secret you promised to keep. You might accidentally blab to your dad about your brother getting in trouble at school. |
A reporter could take you by surprise and get you to blab about your movie star neighbor, and it might be hard for a little kid not to blab about the birthday gift he's giving his sister. Another way to blab is simply to talk a lot: "I sat there and listened to him blab about all the famous people he knows." Blab comes from the Middle English blabbe, "one who does not control his tongue." |
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| 5526 |
saucy |
improperly forward or bold |
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You can use saucy to describe someone who likes to cause trouble, but usually in a playful and funny way. Saucy is also a good word for a person who really likes to flirt. |
In the novel Oliver Twist, the character the Artful Dodger goes to court for stealing. During his hearing, the ten-year-old screams, “I am an Englishman; where are my rights?” Saucy words from a saucy child. A saucy comment makes people gasp because it’s surprising and a little dangerous, like talking about witchcraft in front of a priest. Saucy also describes a person who flirts with very sexual language, which can be fun, unless your grandparents are nearby, which is awkward. |
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| 5527 |
fourfold |
four times as great or many |
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If your salary increases fourfold when you get a new job, it means that your income is four times larger than it used to be. |
Use the adjective fourfold when something is four times as big, or when it's been multiplied by four. You're almost always going to see fourfold accompanied by the word increase. For example, making class sizes smaller and school days longer might result in a fourfold increase in test scores. Or sticking to your pledge of not buying fancy coffee drinks could lead to a fourfold increase in available pocket change each week. |
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| 5528 |
odorous |
having a characteristic aroma |
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Anything that has a strong scent can be described as odorous. Usually if you say something is odorous you mean that it smells unpleasant — like an odorous blue cheese made from unpasteurized milk. |
The adjective odorous comes from the Latin odorus, meaning “fragrant.” Typically, you wouldn’t say, “those roses you sent me are so odorous!” Although that comment could be literally correct, the implication would be insulting to the giver of said roses. More common uses of odorous might include: odorous gym mats, odorous garbage can, odorous gas fumes — you get the picture. Or rather the stench. |
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| 5529 |
insubstantial |
lacking material form |
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Insubstantial is an adjective that means lacking form, substance or nutritional value. If you're really hungry, a bowl of clear broth will seem pretty insubstantial. |
If there is insubstantial evidence to convict an accused criminal, he will be set free. In the office, insubstantial expenses should be paid out of the petty cash draw. A thin blouse is too insubstantial to be worn in this cold weather. And a candy bar makes an insubstantial lunch — a sandwich and fruit would be more nutritious. |
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| 5530 |
processed |
subjected to a special treatment |
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Could you live off a diet of white bread and canned soup forever? You're a fan of processed food then — i.e., food that's undergone a special treatment or procedure to change it. |
When people are processed, the same rule applies: what goes in is different than what comes out. When the army processes you during recruitment, you enter a long-haired civilian and come out a shaven headed soldier. When the U.S. government processes your citizenship application, you start as an immigrant and come out a newly-minted citizen. Processed: the opposite of natural or original. |
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| 5531 |
regression |
returning to a former state |
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When you experience regression, you "go back" in some way. If you've been trying to break your sugar habit but one day eat several pieces of cake, that's regression. |
Remember that the suffix -ion is added to a verb to make it into a noun, making regression the noun form of the verb "to regress." We can find regression, meaning "the act of going back," as far back as the late 1300s, from the Latin regressus, which means "a return." When you see all your old friends (and enemies) at a school reunion, you might experience regression and start acting like your younger self. |
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| 5532 |
ancillary |
furnishing added support |
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If you use the adjective ancillary to describe your position you are subordinate or supporting something or someone else. |
The adjective ancillary originally meant "relating to maidservants" from the Latin, but the element of a female servant has fallen away and now the word merely refers to a position as helpful or subordinate. An example of how something in medicine can be ancillary is after you have surgery you may also take a drug to aid healing — the drug would be considered ancillary to the surgery. One could also argue that in the United States the vice-president takes an ancillary role to the president. |
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| 5533 |
perturbation |
the act of causing disorder |
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When you're on an airplane with your friend who's terrified of flying, you'll be able to sense her perturbation, even if she doesn't say a word about how scared she is. The noun perturbation means "anxiety or uneasiness". |
Perturbation means "a state of agitation," or it can refer to whatever's causing the anxiety. Your brother's weird haircut could be the perturbation that's upsetting your mom at Thanksgiving dinner. It usually means a personal feeling of upset or nervousness, but perturbation can also be a physical disruption of some kind, like a perturbation in a river that makes the water become choppy and dangerous. In astronomy, perturbation is a change caused by the gravitational pull of a celestial body. |
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| 5534 |
incompatibility |
being unable to exist or work in congenial combination |
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She wants kids, he doesn't? She's married to him, he's married to his work? That's incompatibility right there: the inability of two sides to exist in a harmonious relationship with each other because of their different outlooks and beliefs. |
It's not just relationships between people that are characterized by incompatibility, though that's the most common use of the term. Different objects and ideas can be, too. Being tone deaf is incompatible with being a good singer, for example, and if anyone's ever tried to run a Mac program on a PC they know all about the incompatibility of different computer systems. |
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| 5535 |
cataclysm |
a sudden violent change in the earth's surface |
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The hurricane battered the coast, causing the city to flood, and tens of thousands of people were stranded without food or water. When an event causes great suffering, we call it a cataclysm. |
Cataclysm comes from the Greek word kataklysmos which means "a deluge or flood." So saying something was “a disaster of cataclysmic proportions” is particularly apt when you're talking about a tsunami. Still, people use the word cataclysmic to describe non-watery disasters, too, like stock market crashes, painful breakups, and failed grammar tests. |
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| 5536 |
symbiosis |
the relation between two interdependent species of organisms |
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Symbiosis, a noun, tells about the relationship between living things that helps all of them stay alive, like the symbiosis between bees that eat nectar from flowers that get cross-pollinated when the bees move from one to the next. |
To correctly pronounce symbiosis, accent the third syllable: "sim-be-OH-sis." The prefix syn comes from the Greek word "together" and bios means "life." So symbiosis means "a living together." Things that live in symbiosis depend on one another, like the clown fish and anemone that protect one another from ocean predators, or the symbiosis between a dairy farmer and one who grows hay, trading milk for hay bales that feed the cows. |
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| 5537 |
politic |
marked by artful prudence, expedience, and shrewdness |
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If you are politic, you are smooth and diplomatic. You'd probably make a good politician. |
Being politic is being polite and agreeable. Screaming and yelling is not politic. Speaking quietly, making apologies, and giving compliments are all politic things to do. When you want something, being politic is the way to go. It can definitely help to remember that politicians are good at getting what they want — they are shrewd and very politic. |
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| 5538 |
assertive |
aggressively self-assured |
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If you are upfront about what you want and bold in devising a plan that helps you get it, you could be described as assertive, meaning you act with authority and confidence. |
English offers many ways to describe getting what you want — demanding, insistent, and pushy are a few of them. People who are assertive aren't as aggressive as those who are demanding and pushy, and they can negotiate a little better than those who are insistent. Use assertive to describe someone who is self-confident enough to make bold statements and forceful actions. The word can also be applied to nonhuman things, like policies and strategies. |
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| 5539 |
achievable |
capable of existing or taking place or proving true |
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If it is achievable, it can be done. When setting goals for yourself it is critical that you honestly assess whether or not they are achievable, otherwise you are doomed to failure. |
If you achieve something, it must have been achievable. Things that are considered achievements usually require some dedication, skill, perseverance or intelligence. Things that may or may not be achievable, or possible, include solving global warming and world hunger. If you want to fly to the Sun on homemade wings, check with Icarus on whether or not that’s achievable. |
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| 5540 |
ace |
a playing card in a deck having a single pip on its face |
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An ace is a playing card with the highest value in a deck. There are four aces in a full deck of cards, each with a single heart, spade, diamond, or club pictured on it. |
Ace can also describe someone who's excellent at a particular skill: "He's an ace at making homemade jam!" In tennis, an ace is a point scored on a missed serve, and in golf it's a hole in one. When you ace something, you do a great job: "Just get in there and ace that math test today!" The earliest meaning was "one at dice," from the Latin as, "a unit, one, or a whole." |
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| 5541 |
expeditious |
marked by speed and efficiency |
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Anything expeditious is speedy and efficient. People like shortcuts because they are expeditious. |
If you can do things quickly and well, then you're good at being expeditious. In math, there are often many ways to get an answer: the quickest method is the most expeditious. There might be many ways to get home from school, but the fastest is the most expeditious. But there's more to being expeditious than just speed — you have to get a good result too. If you solve a problem quickly but get it wrong, that's not very expeditious. |
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| 5542 |
lush |
produced or growing in extreme abundance |
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Lush describes something growing in abundance, like the lush green grass that covers the lawn in the spring. |
Lush usually describes thick healthy plant growth, like the jungles of the rainforest that were so lush you couldn't walk through without chopping down branches. (Then it wasn't so lush anymore...oops!) Lush also means "plush" or even "extravagant" — like a thick shag carpet, music with lots of layers, or a bedroom wallpapered in velvet. Plants full of juice are lush, which is perhaps why a person who drinks too much alcohol is called a lush. |
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| 5543 |
mold |
the distinctive form in which a thing is made |
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That green fungus growing on your bread is called mold — use it as a science experiment if you want to, but you definitely shouldn't plan on eating it. Mold grows where there is damp, decaying organic matter. |
A mold is also a container that certain foods or materials — like gelatin, chocolate, wax or concrete — can be poured into. When the food or material sets, it will keep the shape of the mold. If you pour red and blue gelatin into molds shaped like stars, you'll have a great patriotic dessert for the Fourth of July. As a verb, mold can mean to influence. Good teachers mold their students' interests and passions. |
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| 5544 |
gruesome |
shockingly repellent; inspiring horror |
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Gothic novels, horror movies, and crime dramas don't shy away from showing gruesome scenes of death, pictures that inspire fright and repulsion. Synonyms include "ghastly," "grisly," "loathsome," and "macabre." |
Once upon a time, English contained a variety of words related to gruesome. The verb grue meant "to shudder," just as its Middle Dutch source gruwen did. Grueful and grueing also conveyed the sense of shivering with horror and disgust. All of these variations have been lost leaving us only with gruesome. Texting while driving has caused many gruesome accidents that you might not want to hear the gruesome details of. Although if you like gruesome movies, you might want to know. |
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| 5545 |
inundation |
an overwhelming number or amount |
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An overabundance of something is an inundation. If you got an inundation of requests for your famous chocolate cupcakes, you better get baking! |
If you advertised a free piano in the local newspaper, you might get an inundation of emails in response, and your picnic on the grass could be ruined by an inundation of ants. Inundation can also refer specifically to a flood of water, like when a riverbank is at risk of inundation after several days of heavy rain. This makes sense as the root word in Latin is inundationem, "an overflowing." |
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| 5546 |
avant-garde |
radically new or original |
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The term avant-garde refers to innovative or experimental concepts or works, or the group of people producing them. Pushing boundaries with his development of Cubism, Pablo Picasso was part of the early 20th-century art world’s avant-garde. |
In French, avant-garde means the “vanguard” or the “advance guard” — basically the people and ideas that are ahead of their time. Usually it refers to a movement in the arts, like Dadaism, or in politics, like anarchism. Avant-garde can also be used as an adjective to describe something that’s cutting-edge. You might have enjoyed that avant-garde dance piece in which the performers threw marshmallows at each other, even though it was confusing at times. |
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| 5547 |
chance upon |
find unexpectedly |
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If you just happen to run into an old friend, you can say you chance upon them. You weren't planning to see them; it was a complete coincidence. |
When you discover something, you chance upon it: "I was surprised to chance upon a place that serves cheese fondue." And when you accidentally meet someone, you chance upon that person: "Did you chance upon any other Americans on the cruise?" This verb is a slightly old fashioned way to say "run into" or "come across." |
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| 5548 |
innards |
the organs in a body, collectively |
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Your innards are your stomach, intestines, and other abdominal organs. Catching a fish is fun, but gutting it, or removing its innards, is less fun. |
The slang term innards is sometimes used to mean "the parts of the digestive system," and other times refers more generally to any of the inside parts or organs of a human or animal body. Innards was coined in the 1800s, originally spelled innerds, from a dialect form of inwards, and meaning "the bowels." |
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| 5549 |
quondam |
belonging to some prior time |
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Use the adjective quondam if you need a fancy way to describe something as belonging to an earlier time. You might describe your quondam, or former, Latin tutor to your current Latin tutor, for example. |
English has many ways of saying "former," including quondam, which is the word of choice if you want to sound a bit literary. You may be able to impress a quondam teacher, date, or employer with it. The word quondam comes directly from Latin, with the meaning of "formerly," and it's been used in English since the 1530's. |
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| 5550 |
knowledgeable |
alert and fully informed |
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Someone who is knowledgeable is highly educated and well versed in a particular subject. Making it your life goal to become knowledgeable about naked mole rats might not win you the Nobel Prize, but it might be fun. |
It’s interesting to note the shift in meaning of the adjective knowledgeable from when it was first recorded in the 1600s and now. Originally, knowledgeable was spelled without the second -e, and meant “capable of being known, recognizable.” Now, though, we use the adjective to describe that which has or displays knowledge. If you're well-read and alert, you're knowledgeable about the ways of the world. |
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| 5551 |
residual |
relating to or indicating a remainder |
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Residual describes what remains after most of something is gone. It’s an almost formal word for what’s leftover. If you’ve gotten over your breakup but you still have the urge to kick your ex, then you have some residual bitterness. |
Residual comes from the Old French root word residu, which means "a remainder." That's why residual can be something that is left behind, like the residual grime on your kitchen counter from wiping it with a dirty sponge or residual feelings of guilt that remain after you dumped your girlfriend because you were rude. A residual is also a payment to a performer, writer, or director of a television show every time the commercial airs; it’s a kind of royalty. |
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| 5552 |
gauze |
bleached cotton cloth of plain weave used for bandages |
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Gauze is a loosely woven, almost translucent fabric that's used to bandage wounds. If you get a bad burn, a doctor might clean it and cover it with gauze. |
In medicine, gauze has several uses. Sterile gauze is usually kept in a sealed package, to ensure that it's perfectly clean. It can be used to clean cuts, scrapes, and burns, and also acts as a large bandage. There is also a non-medical fabric called gauze that's used in light, warm-weather clothing. The word's origin is mysterious — one guess traces it to the Arabic gazz, or "raw silk." |
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| 5553 |
hodgepodge |
a motley assortment of things |
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A hodgepodge is a random assortment of things. A dorm room might be furnished with a hodgepodge of milk crates, antique mirrors, and a poster of a kitten hanging on a branch with one paw. |
Hodgepodge is a funny-sounding word for a somewhat funny occurrence — a grouping of things or people that don't fit together. If you made a stew with bacon, oatmeal, and chocolate cake, you’ve made a hodgepodge (and a bellyache waiting to happen). The piles of stuff stacked in attics tend to be a hodgepodge. British people call it a hotchpotch. A hodgepodge can also be called a mishmash. |
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| 5554 |
colossus |
someone or something that is abnormally large and powerful |
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The original colossus was an enormous statue that was supposed to have guarded the ancient Greek island and city of Rhodes. Now, though, we use the noun colossus for someone of huge importance, reputation, or influence. |
In the world of American music, Louis Armstrong is a colossus. He invented or perfected many of the elements of what we now call jazz — there's probably no figure of greater importance in that field. Even the second most important athlete in the world seems small in comparison to the colossus that is Muhammad Ali. He is, quite simply, the greatest. In the ancient world, Rome was an imperial colossus. Few nations could rival its strength, size, or colossal growth. |
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| 5555 |
regalia |
paraphernalia indicative of royalty or other high office |
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Regalia is clothing worn for formal functions by people who will be in the public eye. If you see Miss America at the grocery store, you might not recognize her because she's not wearing her pageant regalia. |
Regalia looks like regal and in fact, can refer to things owned by members of royalty that convey their official positions. Crowns, sashes, scepters, tiaras? Regalia. The prince's riding boots and the duchess's bath robes? Nope. Technically, regalia is a plural word, from Latin (the singular would be regalis) but it can be used with a singular or plural verb: Here is Queen Elizabeth's regalia. Her regalia are exquisite. |
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| 5556 |
picayune |
small and of little importance |
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The adjective picayune refers to those things that are so small, trivial, and unimportant that they're not worth getting into. Why focus on the picayune details, when it's the larger ideas that are the real problem? |
There are several newspapers in America called the Picayune, because they see it as their job to comb through even the minor details of the story to get to the truth. Hear the word "picky" in picayune (though they're not related)? That's one way to remember it. A picky person is picayune. Airline disaster investigators spend their lives rummaging through the debris, knowing that it might be the most picayune detail that leads them to understand the cause of a crash. |
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| 5557 |
debar |
prevent the occurrence of; prevent from happening |
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To debar is to officially bar, ban, or exclude someone from doing something. Debar can also mean to prevent something from happening. If you have a hat club, you can debar anyone who’s not wearing one. |
If someone is barred from entering, they are prevented from entering. Oddly enough, to debar them means the same thing. If you're debarred from a school, you can no longer attend. If a politician is debarred from office, they've been thrown out. You can also debar events. Eating well and exercising can debar many health problems. This kind of debarring means the same as averting. People try to debar negative things from happening. |
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| 5558 |
fusty |
stale and unclean smelling |
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Use the adjective fusty to describe something that's covered with dust and smells a little old and musty. Your grandmother's attic is probably full of fusty knickknacks. |
Fusty is perfect for describing anything from a slightly mildewed quilt at the back of your closet to your brother's camping gear, forgotten in the trunk of his car for months and smelling a little ripe. You can also use it to talk about an antique idea or attitude, like your uncle's fusty, outdated opinions on the roles of men and women. The Old French root of fusty is fusté, "tasting or smelling of the cask," from fuist, "wine cask." |
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| 5559 |
scalawag |
a deceitful and unreliable scoundrel |
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A scalawag is a lying, no-good rascal. Scalawags are not to be trusted, but sometimes they’re a little bit cute. A scalawag would take the cookies right off your plate! |
This funny, old-fashioned word refers to people who are deceitful and untrustworthy. Scalawags are up to no good. Someone who steals your wallet or lies to your face is a scalawag. Scalawags play tricks and break laws, but they don’t do serious crimes — a murderer is much worse than a scalawag. A scalawag can also be someone who is only mischievous and playful, like that kid who took your cookies. |
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| 5560 |
gloss |
the property of being smooth and shiny |
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A gloss is a shiny finish on an object. It’s also an explanation about a word or phrase. Right now, you’re reading a gloss on the word gloss. |
Gloss has a number of meanings, so it’s a good idea to read our gloss on this word. Gloss can refer to the shine or polish on a smooth surface. A gloss can also be a definition or explanation. A book may have glosses that explain what unusual or technical terms mean. Sometimes gloss has a negative sense: if you leave out important information when discussing something, you could be accused of glossing over those details. |
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| 5561 |
transfiguration |
a striking change in appearance or character |
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If your teenage cousin was only seven the last time you saw her, you might describe her as having undergone a transfiguration, or an enormous physical change. |
When a person's appearance changes dramatically, that's one kind of transfiguration. A magician changing a dove into a bouquet of flowers also performs a transfiguration. The word shows up frequently in religious writing as well, describing a more spiritual kind of change. In fact, the origin of transfiguration is mostly religious. While the Latin root, transfigurare, means "change the shape of," transfiguration was first used in English to mean "the change in appearance of Christ." |
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| 5562 |
demo |
a visual presentation showing how something works |
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A demo is what you give to show how something works. You might give a demo of your fancy new espresso machine to your weekend guests, so they'll know how to use it. |
Demo is short for demonstrate or demonstration. It can be a verb, as when a tech company demos its new tablet or laptop. It's also a noun: "The demo of that software was pretty interesting." In the music industry, a demo is a practice version of a song, meant to show a record label or music venue what a performer's music sounds like. This meaning's been around since the 1960s, while earlier it meant "a political demonstration." |
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| 5563 |
encyclopedic |
broad in scope or content |
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Something that's encyclopedic includes everything — it's vast and complete. Your encyclopedic knowledge of insects means you can identify every single bug you come across. |
You're most likely to find the adjective encyclopedic describing the word knowledge. If your knowledge about any subject is encyclopedic, it means you know as much about it as an encyclopedia — a book crammed full of information — could tell you. In fact, encyclopedic comes from encyclopedia, a modern Latin word that's based on a misreading of the Greek enkyklios paideia as "general education." The phrase actually means "training in a circle." |
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| 5564 |
cyclic |
marked by repeated series of events |
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The adjective cyclic describes something that happens so regularly, you can predict it, like the cyclic trips to buy notebooks and sneakers when preparing for a new school year. |
Accent the first syllable in cyclic: "SICK-lick." Something that is cyclic follows a cycle, a sequence in which things begin and end in a predictable rhythm. Cycle comes from the Greek word kyklos, meaning "circle, wheel, any circular body, circular motion, cycle of events." So something that is cyclic shares that same pattern. |
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| 5565 |
ransack |
search thoroughly |
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When you ransack, you rifle through things, steal some of them, and leave a huge mess behind. If neighborhood dogs got into a cupcake shop, they would probably ransack it. |
You can use the verb ransack to describe a careful search — you might ransack your backpack looking for your car keys, for example. Marauding armies, feral cats, burglars, and other troublemakers are often described as ransacking towns, rooms, gardens, or shops, especially if they take things and leave disarray in their wake. The word ransack comes from the Old Norse rannsaka, which has a similar meaning but is literally "search the house." |
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| 5566 |
infestation |
the state of being invaded or overrun by parasites |
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An infestation is an invasion of insects on a place like a house or an attack by insects on a plant. |
If you're scared of bugs, you're not going to like learning about an infestation, which is a huge amount of insects going where they're not supposed to be. If a house is full of cockroaches or other bugs, that's an infestation. One or two bugs doesn't count: an infestation means lots of bugs are invading, and it's a huge problem. Also, when plants are attacked by lots of swarming insects, that's called an infestation or plague. |
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| 5567 |
skew |
turn or place at an angle |
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To skew is to turn or place at an angle. When you build a house of cards, you must slightly angle, or skew each card, so structure will stand up. |
From the Middle English skewen ("swerve"), this verb was born to describe things in the physical world. Nowadays, though, we encounter it more informally: If you're in advertising, you might skew (target, aim) your commercials toward a particular demographic. Even before that, you may collect some statistical data on your intended audience, and then make sure that data is accurate, because bad or irrelevant info might skew (distort, inaccurately depict) the results of your research. |
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| 5568 |
acclimatize |
get used to a certain environment |
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When you get used to a new situation or climate, you acclimatize to it. People who travel to very hot countries in the summer find it takes quite some time to acclimatize to the heat. |
The verb acclimatize is usually followed by the word "to," and while you can use it to essentially mean "get used to the weather," it can also refer to new situations. A new student will acclimatize to her new school, and an African immigrant will need to acclimatize to many unfamiliar conditions in the US. Acclimatize comes from acclimate, and in many cases has replaced it — both come from a French root, acclimater. |
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| 5569 |
bedraggled |
limp, untidy, and soiled |
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If you're bedraggled, you're dishevelled, limp, and tired. Many people are a bit bedraggled after a very long plane flight. |
New parents who spend much of the night awake with a crying baby often look a little bedraggled, and so do travelers and students during finals week. Bedraggled people who haven't gotten enough sleep and aren't quite as pulled together and polished as they might like to be. Bedraggled is an 18th-century word, from the now-obsolete verb bedraggle, combining be and draggle, "make wet and dirty" or "lag behind." |
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| 5570 |
dominance |
the power or right to give orders or make decisions |
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When you have power over others you are said to have dominance. For years, the British Empire had dominance over much of the world, ruling vast stretches of Africa, India, and Asia. |
In packs of animals, the males will often fight to determine dominance, i.e., who is top dog. Or top lion. This happens in classrooms too, with the teacher needing to establish dominance over unruly students. If your football team has dominance over its league, it means they usually beat—or dominate—most of the other teams in the league. |
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| 5571 |
backlash |
a movement back from an impact |
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When many people react against something in the same way, you can call it a backlash. A backlash against government policies can result in mass protests. |
When people get angry enough about something — or just tired of hearing about it — the result can be a backlash. An influx of refugees to a city can cause a backlash against immigration, and the popularity of a particular style of music might eventually cause a backlash against it. A true backlash involves many people acting together. The original, 1815 meaning of backlash was "recoil between parts of a machine." It wasn't until the 1950's that the figurative meaning came into use. |
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| 5572 |
smear |
smudge or soil by smudging |
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To smear something is to smudge or blur it. You might literally smear your pen-and-ink drawing, or figuratively have your reputation smeared by getting caught in a lie. |
You can also smear things physically by smoothing them onto another surface, like when you smear lip balm on your mouth or smear cream cheese on your bagel. When you smear a person, however, you cause them real harm by hurting their reputation badly. A politician might smear an opponent by falsely claiming they lied about where they went to college, for example. That kind of smear can be hard to erase. |
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| 5573 |
drudge |
a laborer who is obliged to do menial work |
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A drudge is someone who works very hard, especially at a job that is boring. To drudge is to work hard. |
One thing just about everyone has in common is complaining about work. Drudges have a little more to complain about than others: a drudge is someone whose job is difficult but isn't very interesting. Factories and coal mines are full of drudges: diligent folks doing work that isn't super-interesting. Such work is often called drudgery. Also, when you're working hard at anything, you can call it drudging. We all drudge when we have something to do that we would rather avoid. |
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| 5574 |
blueprint |
something intended as a guide for making something else |
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A blueprint is a guide for making something — it's a design or pattern that can be followed. Want to build the best tree house ever? Draw up a blueprint and follow the design carefully. |
The literal meaning of a blueprint is a paper — which is blue — with plans for a building printed on it. You can also call other guides or plans blueprints. The way you do your homework every night could provide a blueprint for your little sister’s study habits. A business plan is a blueprint for a profitable business. Religions and philosophies provide the blueprint for many people’s lives. A blueprint helps you figure out what to do. |
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| 5575 |
slush |
partially melted snow |
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Slush is messy melted snow, a mixture of ice and water. If you forget to wear your waterproof boots, you'll want to watch out for the slush as you walk through the city in February. |
Slush forms when snow melts slightly, leaving behind a substance that's similar to snow, but wetter. A sweet, icy drink is also a slush or a slushy, while a "slush pile" is a heap of manuscripts and letters that are sent, unsolicited, to a publisher. And a "slush fund" is either an extra, backup bank account, or a secret one full of illegally obtained money. One thing is for sure: slush is messy. |
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| 5576 |
serial |
pertaining to or occurring in or producing a series |
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Serial means arranged in a series. If you get a serial number with your new phone, that's a number assigned to the phone when it was made, to distinguish it from all the other phones. |
Serial has nothing do to with breakfast (that's cereal). It means "in regular succession." If you make a deposit into your savings every week without fail, those are serial payments. You might not recognize grandma after her serial plastic surgeries. A serial killer kills multiple times in similar ways. If you publish a magazine that comes out periodically, you could call it a serial. And your favorite recurring show on TV is a serial too. |
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| 5577 |
divisive |
dissenting with the majority opinion |
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If you say something that is intended to make people angry with each other, your words are divisive. If you want to avoid divisive talk at your family's Thanksgiving dinner, it's probably best to avoid discussing politics. |
The adjective divisive is related to the verb divide, which means "to separate things or pull them apart." Divisive things divide. That's why it's best to avoid potentially divisive topics like politics if you believe you are in the company of people who have differing opinions. Don't confuse divisive with decisive, which means "able to make decisions" and "unmistakable, beyond a doubt." |
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| 5578 |
eat away |
wear down or erode |
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To eat away is to gradually wear away or destroy, the way salt water will slowly eat away at the wooden pilings holding up a dock. |
Sharply carved granite along a rocky shore is evidence that the sea will eat away at anything that spends enough time with waves crashing on it. In addition to corrosive substances like salt water and acid, an emotion like regret or anger can figuratively eat away too: "I'm done being mad at my brother. That negative emotion never bothers him, but it eats away at me." |
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| 5579 |
simulacrum |
a representation of a person |
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A simulacrum is a fake version of something real. A wax museum is full of simulacrums of famous people. |
Simulacrum comes from the Latin word simulare meaning "to make like" and is related to words like simulate (to imitate) and similarity. A simulacrum might look like a person, but it's usually a sculpture. Also, a simulacrum can be a representation that's not very good. If you say, "This video game is only a simulacrum of playing football!" that means it does a poor job of copying the game. |
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| 5580 |
rant |
talk at length in a noisy, excited, or angry manner |
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A rant is an argument that is fueled by passion, not shaped by facts. When the shouting starts on talk radio, or when a blog commenter resorts to ALL CAPS, you're almost certainly encountering a rant. |
Rant comes from the Dutch ranten, "to talk nonsense." Rave is a close synonym — in fact, "to rant and rave" is a popular expression. When rant is used as a noun, it means something like tirade. The first recorded usage of rant is from the end of the sixteenth century, in Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor. By the middle of the turbulent seventeenth century, the name Ranters was used as a catchall pejorative for various groups of radical Christian dissenters. |
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| 5581 |
thin-skinned |
quick to take offense |
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To be thin-skinned is to be sensitive, especially to criticism and slights. Thin-skinned people are quick to take offense. |
If your skin is literally thin, soft, and tender — like a baby's — than you're going to be hurt more easily if you get scraped or cut. Similarly, a thin-skinned person gets emotionally hurt more often than most people. If you're thin-skinned, you take criticism, rejection, disappointment, and failure very hard. Being left out of anything could be perceived as a major insult. If you forget a thin-skinned person's birthday, they’ll probably hold a grudge. |
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| 5582 |
crisp |
tender and brittle |
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Something that's crisp is thin, dry, and breakable. Unless they're stale, most crackers are crisp. |
Gingersnaps are crisp, and so is toast — in fact, crisp often describes food, although crunchy snow and dry, brown leaves are also crisp. To crisp something is to cook or dry it until it's brittle, and when a voice is crisp, it's abrupt and no-nonsense. A crisp fall morning is fresh and cold. In Old English, crisp meant "curly," from the Latin crispus, "curled." The "brittle" definition is probably imitative, the word sounding like its meaning. |
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| 5583 |
unfathomed |
situated at or extending to great depth |
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When something is unfathomed, it's so deep or far away that it hasn't been explored. There is a huge expanse of the ocean floor that remains unfathomed. |
You can use the adjective unfathomed to describe quite literally places or objects that are too deep to reach or investigate. In writing, it's almost always the ocean or the sea that's described this way, since the deepest areas of these are still mostly unfathomed, even today. You can also use it figuratively: "I can't understand the unfathomed depths of his poetry." A fathom is a unit of measure mostly used for water. |
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| 5584 |
palpitation |
a rapid and irregular heart beat |
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A palpitation is when your heart beats quickly and irregularly. It's also any kind of shaky, quivery motion. |
You know how your heart goes a mile a minute when you're excited? Then you've felt palpitations: that's when your heart beats fast and out of rhythm. Palpitations can be nothing serious or they could be signs of heart trouble. Also, a palpitation is any type of shaky motion, such as quivering or trembling. People with Parkinson's disorder have a lot of palpitations, and we all have palpitations — such as shaky hands — when we're nervous. |
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| 5585 |
dishonorable |
lacking integrity; not deserving of respect |
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Something dishonorable is embarrassing or shameful. If you get a dishonorable report card, it probably means your grades could've been better. |
The adjective dishonorable often describes a soldier's discharge from the military — a dishonorable discharge means the enlisted member has been found guilty of a crime by a court martial. Its opposite is an honorable discharge, when a solider in good standing leaves the military. You act with dishonorable behavior when you bully someone or act cruelly. Honorable comes from the same Latin root as honor, honorem, "dignity or reputation," and dis- here means "lack of." |
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| 5586 |
interdependent |
mutually reliant |
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When objects or people are interdependent, they come to rely on each other for survival. As business becomes more and more international, the world is increasingly interdependent, with countries needing each other's help to survive. |
Interdependent comes from the Latin word inter meaning "among, between," and dependere which means "to hang from, be dependent on." When two people are interdependent, they have a sense of dependency between them. Married couples are often interdependent. They rely on one another — whether for income or child care or love — to get by. |
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| 5587 |
spendthrift |
someone who spends money prodigally |
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A spendthrift person is reckless and wasteful with his money. If you're a spendthrift, you might find yourself in debt. However, it might be fun to have a spendthrift friend who likes to treat you to expensive lunches and lavish gifts. |
Spendthrift was created by sticking two opposite words together: spend and thrift, which means “savings, wealth.” So a spendthrift spends all of his savings. Spendthrift people are the worst nightmare of retirement planners and Scrooges all over the globe. So unless you want to be called a spendthrift, think twice about your next purchase. |
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| 5588 |
liquefy |
make a solid substance into a fluid, as by heating |
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When you turn a solid into a liquid, like when you set an ice cube in the sunshine and watch it melt into a puddle of water, you liquefy it. |
You can liquefy a solid by heating it until it melts, and you can also say the substance itself liquefies. A jar of coconut oil that's hard and solid in the refrigerator will liquefy if you leave it on the counter on a warm summer day. The Latin root of liquefy is liquefacere, "make liquid," from liquere, "be fluid," and facere, "to make." |
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| 5589 |
selfless |
showing concern for the welfare of others |
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When you're being selfless, you're thinking of other people before yourself. Selfless is the opposite of selfish. |
If you're selfless, you think less about your self, and more about others — you're generous and kind. Being selfless is similar to being altruistic — another word for giving to others without looking for personal gain. If you give time, money, or things to other people without expecting something in return, that's selfless. Most people would agree that the world would be a better place if there were more selfless behavior. |
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| 5590 |
sluggish |
moving slowly |
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When you are feeling draggy — positively slug-like — you are sluggish, or slow. If cookie sales are sluggish at your bake sale, you are selling very few treats. |
Just about anything can be sluggish. An old computer that takes forever to load a piece of software is sluggish, as is a car that can't quite make it up a big hill. And who isn't sluggish in the morning before the first cup of coffee?! Picture a slug moving its heavy little body across a basketball court... Still going? Yes. It will take that slug forever to get to the foul line at the sluggish pace it's moving. |
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| 5591 |
nip |
sever or remove by pinching |
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A nip is a tiny bite, a cold feeling, or a strong taste on your tongue. It’s also a verb for pinching or biting something, but not always in a bad way. |
Being nipped now and then isn’t a big deal. If a puppy nips your finger, no worries. The cold morning nip when you get out of bed is uncomfortable, but put on socks and you’re fine. Nipping can be a good thing sometimes, like in the phrase “nip it in the bud,” which means stopping a poor behavior or activity when it first starts. A nip can also mean a small sip of something, like hot chocolate — which is a good idea if you’re feeling a nip of a cold draft. |
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| 5592 |
indecisive |
characterized by lack of resoluteness |
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If you’re indecisive, you have a hard time making decisions. When you finally do make a decision, you may not be confident about it, or you might change your mind. |
Another definition for indecisive is not definitely settling something, like when election results are too close to call or some result has been called into question. Several historic American elections have had this happen in the recent past, and in that case, the election result remains indecisive until a recount has been finished or until one party gives a concession speech. |
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| 5593 |
harmonize |
bring into accord |
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When you harmonize different opinions or ideas, you bring them to some kind of agreement. It's challenging to harmonize the different interests of a whole classroom full of children, but that's part of what a good teacher does. |
When senators from different parties work together on a bill, they need to harmonize their different expectations and and priorities before they can come up with a good compromise. Another way to harmonize is to blend two singing voices or two instruments in a way that sounds pleasing. This is the oldest meaning of the word, which ultimately comes from the Greek harmonia, "concord of sounds" or "agreement." |
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| 5594 |
defile |
make dirty or spotty, as by exposure to air |
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When you defile something, you make it dirty or make it lose its purity. Think of fresh new snow covered in cigarette butts. The butts defile the winter wonderland. |
For something to be defiled, it first must be pure. You can't defile a garbage dump or a messy room. Defile is often used in a religious context. If you were to burn a copy of the Bible or spray-paint the walls of a church, it could be said that you defiled the holy book or place. |
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| 5595 |
comatose |
in a state of deep and usually prolonged unconsciousness |
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Being comatose is being in a coma, unconscious and unable to communicate, often for long periods of time. A bad illness or unexpected accident or injury — especially to the head — can make you comatose and trapped inside a body that isn't working. |
Comatose comes from the Greek kōma, "deep sleep." When you're in a deep sleep, your body is still and you don't respond to things around you. Being comatose means being in that sleepy, unresponsive state and not being able to get out of it. A much less serious use of this adjective is as a description for getting really tired while doing or watching something, like when you feel comatose after a chemistry lecture — assuming chemistry's not your thing. |
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| 5596 |
quicksilver |
heavy silvery toxic univalent and bivalent metallic element |
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Use the noun quicksilver when you need a more poetic way to talk about the element known as mercury. If you look closely at an old-fashioned thermometer, you can see the quicksilver inside it. |
It's more common to refer to this metal — the only one that is liquid at room temperature — as mercury, but it's also correct to call it quicksilver, which describes the properties of the element very well. Quicksilver is liquid, silver colored, and is fascinating to look at. The word comes from the sense of quick that means "alive;" the Latin root is argentum vivum, which is literally "living silver." |
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| 5597 |
loathsome |
highly offensive; arousing aversion or disgust |
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Loathsome things are things people hate — so much they make you want to throw up. |
Something loathsome is disgusting, distasteful, foul, revolting, and yucky. It's probably gross and awful, too. Some loathsome things are even repellent and nauseating. Other times, this word has a more general meaning. A corrupt politician is considered loathsome because he has no morals. A murderer is loathsome because of his crimes. Anything you think is horrible could be called loathsome. |
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| 5598 |
dispirited |
showing no enthusiasm |
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Dispirited means being down in the dumps or depressed. Losing his girlfriend and job on the same day could make someone dispirited — feeling gloomy and absolutely miserable. |
You could describe people who are dispirited as having no "spirit." Whether they've broken up with someone they loved or failed to get a promotion they've been working hard to earn, they feel sad, blue, and lack any sort of enthusiasm. |
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| 5599 |
fishy |
relating to or resembling cold-blooded aquatic vertebrates |
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Anything fishy smells, tastes, or resembles a fish in some way. Suspicious people and situations are also called fishy. Since this word has two meanings, context is key. |
If you say something is fishy, it probably means you think something is suspicious. If you’re sitting next to someone eating a tuna sandwich, though, you could just mean you smell a fishy odor. Fishy usually refers to situations that seem suspect or shady. A guy looking over your shoulder while you use an ATM is fishy. A student looking at her arm for answers during a test is fishy. Anything fishy is suspicious — somebody’s up to something. |
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| 5600 |
aerate |
fill, combine, or supply with oxygen |
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To aerate something is to put air into it. When a pastry chef whips cream, she aerates it, filling it with air until it's light and fluffy. |
Gardeners sometimes aerate soil with special spikes, allowing air to penetrate the surface and helping lawns or plants get more oxygen. If you aerate water or juice, you carbonate it, resulting in a fizzy soda. Cooking, baking, aquarium maintenance, and chemistry are just some of the activities that occasionally require someone to aerate some material. In Latin, aer means "air." |
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| 5601 |
disdainful |
showing arrogant superiority to those one views as unworthy |
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Disdainful means scornful and arrogant. To be disdainful is to act mean and superior. |
If you're acting haughty, imperious, lordly, overbearing, prideful, sniffy, supercilious, or swaggering, you're acting disdainful. The great Michael Jordan was known to be disdainful of his opponents — and even teammates who couldn't keep up with him. Arrogant people with their nose in the air are disdainful. This can also have an even harsher sense, meaning contemptuous. Either way, that person who gave you the disdainful look doesn’t like you (or at least something you did) very much. |
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| 5602 |
acerbity |
a sharp bitterness |
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A lemon in your mouth, a mean-spirited neighbor, a roomful of sarcastic people: these are examples of acerbity, a type of harsh bitterness that can leave you stunned. |
The Latin word acerbus means “sour-tasting,” and that is acerbity in a nutshell: sour. Many foods have acerbity, like limes and pickles. Acerbity can also be a personality trait, like a professor who snaps at you if you talk in class. In Charles Dickens’s novel A Christmas Carol, the character Ebenezer Scrooge is a great example of acerbity. He is a bitter, stingy businessman who won’t help anyone but himself. Don’t worry; he learns his lesson in the end. |
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| 5603 |
memorialize |
be or provide a monument to a person or an event |
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When you memorialize something, you honor it or do something so it will be remembered. If you want to remember a summer trip taken with friends, you could make a photo album full of the pictures you took to memorialize it. |
The word memorialize often is used in relation to someone or something that has passed away or even to a group of connected individuals who have perished. You might see a monument, for example, that memorializes victims of an earthquake, meaning pays tribute to them. You can also memorialize someone in a speech, meaning you tell about the person's life and describe how he or she has affected others. |
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| 5604 |
levitate |
cause to rise in the air and float |
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To levitate is to float in the air, defying gravity. It also means to cause something to do that. With a magnetic force — or a magic wand — you might be able to make your teacher levitate above your classroom. |
Levitate comes from the Latin levis, meaning “light.” Something that is light can levitate easily. Magicians levitate things like pigs and snowmobiles and women as part of their shows. In architecture, certain structures can be raised or suspended so as to appear to levitate. |
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| 5605 |
detestable |
offensive to the mind |
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Anything that's so hateful or disgusting that you can't bear to think about it is detestable. Many little kids find all green vegetables to be utterly detestable. |
It's pretty common for people to find hate speech detestable, as well as stepping on slugs in bare feet and the pungent smell of garbage. The verb detest means "hate" or "strongly dislike," and the adjective detestable brings in an element of disgust or offensiveness. The Latin root, detestabilis, means "abominable," from detestari, "curse or express abhorrence for." |
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| 5606 |
ramshackle |
in deplorable condition |
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Is your house in terrible condition? Does the roof leak? Is it half tumbling down? Congratulations! It's ramshackle — in other words, in terrible condition and barely holding together. |
If you think there's a similarity between a place that's been ransacked and a place that's ramshackle, you'd be right. Ramshackle comes from ransackle, an old nineteenth century term for ransack. Although ramshackle is usually intended as a negative term, that's not always the case. Sometimes it can imply a certain cute picturesque quality. Buildings, places, and even some objects such as cars can be considered ramshackle. |
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| 5607 |
apogee |
the farthest point in an orbit around the Earth |
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For an object in orbit around the earth, the apogee is the point that is highest or furthest from the earth. Early satellites had low apogees, so it wasn’t long before they burnt up in the atmosphere. |
Apogee comes from two Greek words meaning “away” and “earth,” so it’s specific to things orbiting the earth. If you’re talking about something orbiting the sun, the equivalent word is aphelion (“away” + “sun”). Because apogee denotes the highest point something reaches in an orbit before falling back, it can also figuratively refer to other highs. For example, "Child stars sometimes reach their apogee by 20, and there's nowhere to go but down from there." |
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| 5608 |
quadruple |
having four units or components |
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When something is made up of four parts, you can describe it using the adjective quadruple, like a young gymnast's quadruple somersault. |
A common use of quadruple is in the medical term "quadruple bypass," which is a type of heart surgery that involves all four chambers of the patient's heart. You can also use quadruple to mean "four times as many," as when you order a quadruple-shot latte, with four shots of espresso. The Latin root word quadruplare, "make fourfold," comes from the suffix quadri-, or "four." |
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| 5609 |
nuzzle |
gently rub or push one's nose or face against something |
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To nuzzle is to affectionately rub your nose and face against someone (or something). It's hard to get out of bed in the morning when your cat lies down on your chest and nuzzles you. |
A mother might nuzzle her new baby's head, and a horse will nuzzle a person's hand — hoping for an apple or sugar cube. In the fifteenth century, this word instead meant "to bring the nose to the ground," from the verb nose, "pry or smell with the nose." The current meaning was influenced by words like nestle and the now-obsolete "nursle," meaning "to nurse." |
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| 5610 |
structured |
having a definite and highly organized system |
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If you're happiest when your day is planned out, with lists of things to do, and a tightly-packed schedule, then you like living a structured life. When something is structured, it's arranged according to a specific plan. |
Structured is an adjective that comes from the noun structure, which is something that's been built or put together — usually, we think of a building being a structure. Anything that has been put together in an organized, deliberate way can be described as structured. Clothing designers sometimes call certain garments structured when they are carefully tailored and deliberately shaped (like a blazer), rather than loose and flowing (like a long, unfitted skirt). |
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| 5611 |
debonair |
having a sophisticated charm |
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Someone debonair is charming or suave. They have good manners, and they probably look good too. |
This French word has a fancy feel to it, and it is a fancy kind of word. Being debonair is a specific form of being charming that applies mostly to men. When you're debonair, you impress women, other men, and pretty much everyone with your manners, wit, and style. Debonair a little bit of an old-fashioned word. Old movie stars like Cary Grant were often called debonair, but not many people are today. |
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| 5612 |
assortment |
the act of distributing things into classes of the same type |
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An assortment is a collection of things that aren't the same. An assortment of chocolates might have some that are filled with coconut, caramel, or nuts. Yum. |
An assortment is a bunch different things all together whether they’re the same sort or not. An assortment of nuts is a bunch of different nuts, such as cashews, peanuts, and almonds. If you have books, candy bars, action figures, photos, and paper clips on your desk, you have an assortment of things. A store that sells a wide variety of products offers an assortment. If you love choices, assortments are for you. |
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| 5613 |
allusive |
characterized by indirect references |
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Allusive means implying or indirectly suggesting something. If you broach the subject of your friend's strange hair cut in an allusive way, you hint around without ever directly referring to it. |
Modern dances are full of allusive movements and gestures — they symbolize or suggest deeper meanings. Poetry is often quite allusive too, using symbols and vague impressions rather than straightforwardly addressing a topic. It's easy to confuse allusive with elusive, which is pronounced the same way but means "difficult to find or achieve." |
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| 5614 |
frisk |
search by running the hands rapidly over the clothing |
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To frisk someone is to search them, usually for weapons. It’s typical for a crime show to portray a police officer frisking a suspect. |
The purpose of frisking is to find out if someone is carrying a particular kind of item. The person doing the frisking may be looking for weapons or a recording device. Another meaning of frisk is more light-hearted: “to play in an enthusiastic manner.” Kids running around a playground are frisking. If you say there’s frisking going on in a nearby park, you might want to clarify which meaning you’re indicating. |
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| 5615 |
chasten |
censure severely |
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To chasten someone is to correct him or her, often with the use of some pretty steep punishment. Chasten can also mean "to restrain." Either of these actions may be necessary when someone isn't behaving like they're supposed to. |
The verb chasten is often used with the verb "to be" as in "be chastened." If students are caught writing graffiti on the bathroom wall, you can expect them to "be chastened" by both the school and their parents. Chasten is related to the word chastise, meaning "to punish severely." Both words can be traced back to the Latin root castus, meaning "morally pure." So keep yourself on the straight and narrow when it comes to morality and you can avoid being chastened. |
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| 5616 |
crusade |
a series of actions tending toward a particular end |
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If you go on a crusade against vegetables, you are waging a long-term battle against leafy greens. A crusade is a passionate struggle against something or someone. |
In the 11th through 13th centuries, Roman Catholics attempting to win control of parts of what they considered the Holy Land (currently Israeli, Jordanian, Lebanese, and Palestinian lands) waged military battles against the Muslims who controlled the land. These battles are called the Crusades. The word crusade carries with it the feeling of a violent and vigorous fight. So if someone is on a crusade to do something, they mean business! |
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| 5617 |
disavowal |
denial of any connection with or knowledge of |
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A disavowal is a strong denial of any knowledge about something. You might use it to get across the point that you have no idea how that window got broken. |
Disavowal contains the word avow, which you can use to mean "declare openly"; it's kind of the positive version of the negative disavowal. While an avowal essentially says, "yes indeed!" a disavowal is not only saying, "no," but is also implying, "I have no idea what you're talking about." |
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| 5618 |
gimmick |
any clever maneuver |
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A gimmick is a trick intended to attract attention. If you lure crowds to your bake sale by having cute football players handing out samples in front of your booth, that’s a gimmick. |
A gimmick is often used by businesses to sell a product. As a sales gimmick, your local bank might offer free microwave ovens to people who open new savings accounts. A TV show may air a live episode as a gimmick to get people to watch the show. The word sometimes has a slightly negative connotation — there’s often some flashy trickery involved in a gimmick and it doesn’t always add value to what’s being sold. |
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| 5619 |
blue blood |
a member of the aristocracy |
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A blue blood is an aristocrat. Blue bloods come from privileged, noble families that are wealthy and powerful. |
The word blood has long referred to family ties: people you are related to share the same blood. One specific type of family is composed of blue bloods: members of the aristocracy. Blue bloods have high social status. Shakespearean plays about kings, queens, princes, princesses, and other nobles are all about blue bloods. In America, families like the Kennedys and Bushes qualify as blue bloods. |
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| 5620 |
sang-froid |
great coolness and composure under strain |
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If you have sang-froid, you can keep your cool, even under stress. Your feathers aren't easily ruffled. |
This foreign-sounding word is another way of saying "poise under pressure." We borrowed it from French, where it literally means "cold blood." Great athletes who do well in the last two minutes of a game have sang-froid. James Bond definitely has sang-froid. You better have sang-froid when you're taking the SATs. If you're worried, nervous and starting to crack, you've pretty much lost your sang-froid. |
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| 5621 |
insulation |
reduction of the transmission of sound, heat, or electricity |
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Insulation is the process of keeping heat, sound, or electricity from spreading. It's also the material used to do so. If you can hear your neighbor snoring at night, you might need better sound insulation. |
Your thermos of hot chocolate stays warm when it's freezing outside because the thermos provides insulation. Similarly, the insulation in an ice chest keeps your sodas and food cool at the beach, even when you're being scorched by the sun. Insulation can also refer to a state of being detached or isolated. If you stay at home and avoid TV, the internet, and phone calls, you are in a state of insulation. |
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| 5622 |
marrow |
network of connective tissue filling the cavities of bones |
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The soft stuff inside of a bone is called marrow. Many people cook with marrow from beef bones and consider it a delicacy. |
Dogs love to gnaw on bones, trying to get at the marrow inside, and many soups and other recipes call for marrow, which is tender and fatty. Human beings, of course, have marrow inside their bones as well, and certain diseases can be treated by marrow transplants. From this biological kind of marrow comes a figurative meaning of marrow — the essence of something. You might say, "This sentence represents the marrow of the novel." |
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| 5623 |
legitimize |
sanction or make legal |
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When you legitimize something, you officially approve it, or make it legal. For example, a 1967 Supreme Court case legitimized interracial marriage in the United States. |
The verb legitimize is very similar to legalize, although there are some slight differences between the two. When you legalize something, you also legitimize it — it's permitted, or allowed. But when you legitimize something, it doesn't always involve the legal system. For example, your teacher might legitimize open-book tests or your boss could legitimize bringing dogs to work. |
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| 5624 |
perquisite |
an incidental benefit for certain types of employment |
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Perquisites are the benefits or "perks" that come along with a job. Free air travel for air hostesses? Free company car for corporate execs? Free pork for politicians? That's right, they're all perquisites. |
Not to be confused with prerequisite, which happens about ninety-nine percent of the time. A prerequisite is something that must occur before something else can happen. A prerequisite of getting a job, for example, is passing the interview. Of course, for some people to take a particular job, a prerequisite is that there are suitable perquisites or privileges that come with a particular position. |
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| 5625 |
ineffective |
not producing an intended consequence |
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Use the adjective ineffective to describe something that doesn't work quite the way it's supposed to. You might complain about your ineffective guard dog, who wags his tail and licks everyone who comes to your house. |
When you're ineffective, you're unable to accomplish something you're trying to do. You might realize that you're an ineffective babysitter when you can't get the kids to go to bed. Ineffective comes from the Latin prefix in, "not, or opposite of," added to effective, whose Latin root is effectivus, "productive." When something's unproductive, inefficient, or incapable, it's ineffective. |
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| 5626 |
satiated |
supplied, especially fed, to satisfaction |
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At the end of a big Thanksgiving meal, there's no doubt you'll feel satiated or have your appetite fully satisfied. In fact, that last slice of pumpkin pie might even push you into the realm of stuffed. |
The word satiated comes from the Latin satiare, meaning "fill, full, satisfy," which is precisely how a person who is satiated feels — full and satisfied from a good meal. There's nothing better than a hearty home-cooked meal to leave you satiated with a full belly. Other things, besides food, might leave you satiated as well — like a good movie or finishing a challenging task. |
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| 5627 |
half-baked |
insufficiently cooked |
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You can use the adjective half-baked to describe your sadly underdone cupcakes, or in a figurative way to criticize your brother's crazy business idea. |
When something's half-baked, it's just never going to work. If your plan for moving to Iceland is half-baked, it means you haven't thought the whole thing through. This metaphorical meaning came from the original definition of half-baked, literally "baked halfway" or "underdone." If something's half-baked, nobody wants to eat it — it's useless. An idea or plan, likewise, is half-baked if isn't worth wasting time on. |
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| 5628 |
unreliable |
not worthy of trust |
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Someone unreliable can't be trusted to do something. Things can be unreliable too, like a bike with a wobbly wheel. |
The word "rely" is a clue to what unreliable means. When you can rely on something, you can count in it — it's reliable. On the other hand, you'd better not count on an unreliable person. People can be unreliable because they're dishonest, always late, bad at their job, or just inconsistent. Things can be unreliable because they're broken or old. A train schedule can be unreliable if the trains are never on time. Unfortunately, there's a lot of stuff in life that's unreliable, so be careful. |
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| 5629 |
mesmerized |
having your attention fixated as though by a spell |
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If you’re mesmerized, you are so fascinated by something, you can’t look away. The mesmerized look in your eyes reveals that watching hockey seems to put you in a trance. |
Pronounced "mez-mur-ized," the adjective mesmerized describes being held in place by something — not physically — but by extreme interest in what you see or hear. Great movies keep you mesmerized or almost hypnotized with giant images and sounds. Being mesmerized almost feels like you are in a spell, as some people feel when looking at celebrity gossip and photos online. |
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| 5630 |
multifarious |
having many aspects |
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A person or thing with many sides or different qualities is multifarious. The Internet has multifarious uses, museums are known for their multifarious art collections, and Hindu gods are associated with multifarious incarnations. |
You can use the adjective multifarious to describe anything that has a lot of sides or aspects, and the 16th-century roots of the word come from multi-, or "many," parts or expressions. Comic actors who can morph their faces into a 1000 different looks are multifarious, and parents who can run businesses, coach soccer leagues, and tell good stories are pretty multifarious too. |
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| 5631 |
lucent |
softly bright or radiant |
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Lucent things shine or glow with light. On a clear night, the full moon is lucent in the sky. |
The literary word lucent essentially means "luminous" or "radiant," glowing with a soft, bright light. You're most likely to encounter it in a poem or novel, describing the stars or white flowers in the dusk, or someone' s beautiful pale face, but it sometimes has a "clear or lucid" meaning as well. It comes from the Latin lucentem, from lucere, "to shine." |
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| 5632 |
misanthropic |
hating mankind in general |
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A misanthropic person does not like people and expects the worst of them. It would be misanthropic of you to say that every human being is a greedy, selfish liar. |
The Greek word for human is anthropos and misein means "to hate", so to be misanthropic is hate humans, to consider them bad or wrong. Being misanthropic is more than just a bad mood, it's a way of looking at the world. Your misanthropic uncle, who has lived alone for decades and despises babies and kittens, seems to have taken a liking to you. This causes you some concern. |
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| 5633 |
illogical |
lacking in a correct relation of reason |
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When there's no good reason or explanation for something, don't fret; chances are it's illogical — meaning that it has no rational explanation behind it. |
The word logic has origins in the Greek root logos meaning "reason, idea, or word." But slap the prefix il- in front of it, and suddenly the word reverses its meaning. Illogical? Check out other words with the same prefix, like illegitimate and illegal, and you'll quickly see that the prefixil- in front of a word starting in "l" means "not." Suddenly the meaning of illogical isn't quite so illogical after all, is it? |
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| 5634 |
inhibition |
the action of forbidding |
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When you have inhibitions, you're self-conscious and maybe a little anxious. A shy child at a birthday party might have fun only after abandoning her inhibitions and joining a game of musical chairs. |
An inhibition is a force that prevents something from happening—and often comes from you yourself. Shy people are often said to suffer from inhibitions. Some inhibitions are good, such as the one that prevents us from choking the life out of people we dislike. Other inhibitions, like the ones that prevent someone from ever enjoying himself, are not so great. |
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| 5635 |
pedal |
a lever that is operated with the foot |
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Anything you push with your feet to control a machine, vehicle, or instrument is a pedal. When you use a sewing machine, you push the pedal with your foot to make the needle move up and down. |
When you see the letters ped, something related to the foot might just be afoot. Pedestrians walk around by foot, and a pedicure is when your tootsies get the spa treatment. Those letters don’t always relate to feet, but it does with pedal, the noun or verb. The controls on the floor of your car are pedals, and if you put the pedal to the metal, it means you press as hard as you can on the gas pedal. Woohoo! |
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| 5636 |
titular |
existing in name only |
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You might say you’re the boss man in your household, but if everybody else in the family ignores you, 'boss man' is probably a titular position for you. In other words, it’s just a title. There’s no power behind it. |
We get titular from the Latin word titulus, meaning "title." Nowadays, it means that you hold an official title but don’t have any power or responsibility along with it. The Queen of England is a titular head of state. She doesn’t actually govern. A titular director doesn’t direct. Titular can also mean referencing the title. If you're playing the role of Dave in the play All About Dave, you're playing the titular role. |
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| 5637 |
fetid |
offensively malodorous |
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If you want to understand the true meaning of fetid, leave your sweaty gym clothes in your locker for a few days. Fetid is a fancy way of saying that something smells really bad. |
From the Latin word meaning "stinking," this adjective has been in use since the early 15th century, which was a particularly fetid time in history — showers, laundry detergent, and deodorant had not yet been invented. Here's an easy way to remember it: "the fe(e)t (d)id stink." It's sometimes spelled foetid. |
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| 5638 |
inconsolable |
sad beyond comforting |
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Someone inconsolable can't be comforted because they're extremely sad and despairing. |
To console someone is to comfort them with kind words, hugs, or otherwise. When someone is inconsolable, they’re so upset that all the words and hugs in the world are ineffective. An inconsolable person can't be consoled. People are inconsolable after horrible things happen, like the death of a family member or a friend. Some people are inconsolable after losing their jobs or suffering disappointments. If you're depressed, you could be inconsolable. This is a strong word for extreme sadness. |
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| 5639 |
musky |
resembling the smell of an odorous perfume |
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A musky smell might make you close your eyes and smile, or it might make you leave a room. Either way, it’s a very strong and sweet odor that's hard to ignore. |
Musk is a scent that deer secrete to convince a mate to cuddle with them, and so a musky odor often does the same for humans. But not always! A woman wearing musky perfume might inspire you to ask her on a date, but sometimes rotting fruit smells musky as well. Hard to know whether smelling musky is a good or bad thing. If you can’t decide, just go scent-free. |
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| 5640 |
purview |
the range of interest or activity that can be anticipated |
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The range or scope of something is its purview. If you are a professional race car driver, performing surgery is way outside your purview. |
Anything inside a range of interest or activity is within a purview. A supervisor is in charge of certain workers — other workers are outside her purview. The surgeon general deals with medical issues: the defense budget is outside his purview. When a business expands, it's trying to increase its purview. If you go to the dentist and ask her to paint a picture of your tooth rather than extracting it, you're likely to discover you've gone way beyond her purview. |
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| 5641 |
liege |
a feudal lord entitled to allegiance and service |
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Since modern populations often ignore aristocracy (except in the case of tabloid coverage), many words once used for royalty are now unusual and obscure. Such is the case with liege. If you refer to someone as "my liege" you are probably playing a game. |
Ah, the Medieval era, where we find the word liege as we know it, a term used by underlings for the lord of their land. The word was probably of Germanic origin, derived from the Medieval Latin laeticus. In an interesting etymological twist, the word at one time meant a leader of a band of free men — pretty much the opposite of its eventual meaning as a feudal lord. The word is not used much today, except in jest (see Python, Monty). |
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| 5642 |
synopsis |
a sketchy summary of the main points of an argument |
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Synopsis is a noun meaning summary. Instead of reciting every line of the Shakespeare play you were assigned to read over the weekend, it might be more helpful for your classmates if you give them a synopsis of what happened. |
The ancient Greek word synopsis means “general view.” Synonyms include abridgment, as in a shortened version of a book, and brief, which is a legal word, and sketch, which is a quick outline of a story. Other synonyms include abstract, compendium, digest (the noun form), and conspectus. |
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| 5643 |
wellness |
a healthy state of wellbeing free from disease |
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Wellness is the opposite of illness. When you're healthy and not suffering from any diseases, you're enjoying a state of wellness. |
It might seem like the phrase "health and wellness" is a little repetitive, but the two terms have increasingly distinct meanings. Since the middle of the 20th century, wellness has become the popular term, especially in alternative medicine, to describe health that includes a balance of body, mind, and spirit. |
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| 5644 |
engulf |
flow over or cover completely |
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Engulf is a verb that means being completely surrounded, soaked, or covered. Fire, snow, smoke, flood waters, or even violence are a few things that could engulf you. |
Suppose an amusement park had a ride called Into the Whirlpool. Sounds like one for thrill-seekers who aren't afraid of water. Riders should expect to get lost inside, fully absorbed by the experience. The word engulf comes from the Old French word golfe, meaning "whirlpool," and the prefix en-, meaning "in or into." Riders of Into the Whirlpool should expect to feel engulfed — surrounded by water and completely covered. |
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| 5645 |
curb |
the act of restraining power or action or limiting excess |
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The hard thing about learning how to parallel park is trying to get the car close enough to the curb without hitting it. A curb is the edge of the sidewalk beside the road. |
When you're using the word curb as a noun, it's the raised edging beside a street. When curb is a verb, it means to restrain or hold back, like when you curb your impulse to laugh while watching a badly acted play. Curb comes from the Latin word for "curve," curvus, which describes the shape of a restraining strap on a horse's head — in the fifteenth century, this band was called a curb. |
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| 5646 |
heretical |
departing from accepted beliefs or standards |
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Something that departs from normally held beliefs (especially religious, political, or social norms) is heretical. If your family is resistant to change, they may consider your idea of making pancakes for dinner to be completely heretical. |
Heretical is the adjective form of the noun heretic, which comes from the Greek word hairetikos, meaning able to choose. What is considered a heretical point of view can change over time. Examples of positions that were once considered heretical but are now accepted as facts include: the Earth is round, the Earth circles the Sun, and a little bit of chocolate is actually good for you. |
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| 5647 |
kernel |
a single whole grain of a cereal |
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Whether it’s the kernel of a pistachio nut or the kernel of wisdom in a story, kernel can refer to the center or essential part of something. |
The word kernel traces back to the Old English word cyrnel, which is related to corn. If you have ever eaten corn on the cob, you ate the kernels. Popcorn is made by heating corn kernels until they explode, or "pop." Like these examples, sometimes kernel means "a small bit" or "single piece," as in a story someone tells you that couldn't possibly have happened as described, but still has a kernel of truth about human nature. |
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| 5648 |
huffy |
quick to take offense |
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Don’t get all huffy, or offended or irritated, just because you didn’t know this definition. Like the wolf who huffed and puffed, anyone who’s huffy is easily upset. |
If everything you say to your sister seems to make her mad or hurt her feelings, you could say, "Stop being so huffy!" A huffy person might blow the hair off her forehead and stomp away. Don’t get mad, but Huffy is also the brand name of a cool bicycle. This adjective has been around since the 1600s, from huff, which first meant "exhale," and later "bluster with indignation." |
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| 5649 |
offhand |
with little or no preparation or forethought |
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The adjective offhand describes a remark or comment that is made without previous thought or preparation. If you are at a wedding, you may want to make a few offhand but nice remarks about the newlyweds. |
As an adjective, offhand can mean careless, brusque, or inconsiderate. You may frequently have to remind young children that offhand comments about people's looks or intelligence can hurt their feelings. Offhand can also be used as an adverb, meaning without thought or planning. You may not be able to say offhand, but do you have any idea how many people are in your class at school? |
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| 5650 |
legislating |
the act of making or enacting laws |
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Creating or enacting laws is called legislating. Everyone thinks they know how to govern a state or the country. If you are a lawmaker, you are probably tempted a million times a day to say, "Leave the legislating to people who know what they are doing!" |
Legislating has legislate as its base word. Both words are related to legislation, which has at its roots the Latin word lex, meaning "law." If you are constantly talking to your constituents, people may begin to wonder when you have time to do the legislating that needs to be done. However, if you don't talk to your constituents, the people are sure to say you are out of touch! |
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| 5651 |
cosmopolitan |
composed of people from many parts of the world |
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Your Aunt Eleanor, who's lived in six different countries and speaks four languages fluently, might be described as cosmopolitan, or comfortable and familiar with different cultures and people. |
People who are cosmopolitan have an air of glamour surrounding them, a sense that they've seen a lot of the world and are sophisticated and at ease with all different kinds of people. Places can also be described as cosmopolitan, meaning "diverse," or bustling with lots of people of varying nationalities. Any way you use it, cosmopolitan implies a sophistication, which might explain why both a well-known alcoholic cocktail and a famous women's magazine are both named after the word cosmopolitan. |
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| 5652 |
symmetrical |
exhibiting equivalence or correspondence among constituents |
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Something that is symmetrical has corresponding similar parts: in other words, one side is the same as the other. |
If you can draw a line down the center of something and get two similar halves, it’s symmetrical. Shapes like squares and circles are symmetrical. Unless you've had a serious injury like losing a limb, the human body is symmetrical. Some people think that faces that are more perfectly symmetrical are more beautiful than other faces. On the other hand, an eye patch tends to look kind of cool, even though it makes a face unsymmetrical. |
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| 5653 |
incision |
the cutting of or into body tissues or organs |
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An incision is a surgical cut. A doctor uses a scalpel to make an incision in a patient's skin. |
An incision usually refers to a cut that's made during surgery, like an abdominal incision made by a surgeon during a gall bladder operation. A decorative or artistic cut can also be called an incision, such as a cut in carved wood or marble. Incision can also describe the power of sharp observation, like the incision of your friend who can always tell when you're upset, even when you try to hide it. |
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| 5654 |
farrago |
a motley assortment of things |
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A farrago is a pile of odds and ends or a random assortment of stuff. |
If your teacher said your paper was a farrago of thoughts, that's not good: a farrago is a disorganized mix of things that don't fit together. Farrago sounds more formal than hodgepodge or mishmash, but it means about the same thing. A flea market usually features a farrago of antiques and old junk. And kids get a farrago of treats — chocolates, lollipops, the occasional box of raisins — on Halloween. |
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| 5655 |
tally |
the act of counting; reciting numbers in ascending order |
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A tally is a continuous count of something, like the number of words in a document, or the number of favors your best friend owes you. To tally is to add up, like keeping the score of a game. |
The word tally has to do with counting. It comes from the Latin word for “stick” because people used to keep a tally by marking a stick. Tally can be the total, or the act of adding it all up. If you count the bikers riding by, your count is a tally. As a verb, tally is used for keeping score. Two friends playing basketball need to tally the points after each basket so they don't lose track. |
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| 5656 |
miscellany |
a collection containing a variety of sorts of things |
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Miscellany is a collection of different sorts of things. If organization is not one of your strong points, your purse may contain a miscellany of surprising items. |
Miscellany comes from the Latin for "mix," and a miscellany is a mixture of things. If you don't clean your car out very often, there may be a miscellany of relics in the backseat: a flip flop left over from your last trip to the beach, a few stale French fries, your last report card, and maybe a magazine or two. |
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| 5657 |
dominating |
offensively self-assured or exercising unwarranted power |
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If something is dominating, that means it has a powerful and commanding position. If your team is dominating on the basketball court, you're not only winning, you're outplaying your opponents. |
Dominating comes from the root word dominate, which comes from the Latin word dominari, meaning "to rule, to govern." When you're a dominating presence, you're self-assured and clearly in charge of your environment — possibly even to the point of being bossy. An object can be dominating too, such as that tall church in the distance that's dominating the landscape. |
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| 5658 |
obligatory |
required by compulsion or convention |
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Obligatory describes something you do because you have to, not because you want to. When you buy a car, you have to fill out the obligatory forms. In many homes, saying please and thank you is obligatory. |
Obligatory derives from the verb oblige, as in "after she was so nice, I felt obliged to take her a present." Some people feel burdened by lives of common obligation, giving presents, returning phone calls, eating birthday cake, attending religious services––none of which they feel any real desire to do. |
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| 5659 |
spectacular |
sensational in appearance or thrilling in effect |
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Spectacular is both a noun and an adjective. The noun spectacular refers to a big, beautiful production, like a play or musical performance that has a huge cast and many dance numbers. |
As an adjective, spectacular has the same quality of being over-the-top, like a spectacular restaurant with excellent food, celebrities at all the table and a gigantic waterfall along one wall. If something is spectacular, it seems like a rare feat, a real stop-and-stare moment. That's why it can also be associated with drama, or making a spectacle or scene, like a spectacular argument you witness out on the street. |
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| 5660 |
equivocal |
open to two or more interpretations |
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Try to remember that uncertain means equivocal and certain means unequivocal. That's a tricky movement the un- is making, and a lot of people get stumped. |
From the Latin aequus 'equal, the same' + vocare "to call," equivocal describes when something is too close to call. Whose hand first touched the last brownie on the plate? We asked everyone but the answers were equivocal. |
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| 5661 |
effortless |
requiring or apparently requiring no work |
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Something effortless is easy to do — or at least appears that way. Great basketball players make scoring three-point shots look effortless. If you always know just what to wear, you have an effortless sense of style. |
Effort is the work it takes to do something. Moving a couch and staying on a diet both require effort. If something is effortless, it takes no work at all to do. For example, lifting a feather is effortless. Writing may be effortless for some people, but difficult for others. Also, some things just look effortless. A great musician might make playing guitar sound effortless, but years of practice probably went into it. Experts make difficult things seem effortless. |
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| 5662 |
reassign |
move somebody to a different position or location of work |
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The verb reassign means to move someone or something to a new location, department, or position. If your department was in the Cincinnati office but then your boss moved you to the Chicago office, you were reassigned. |
Reassign is a combination of re-, meaning "again," and assign, which is from the Latin word assignare, meaning to mark out. Today reassign is often used in work-related discussions to indicate a transfer. If your boss says, "I'm going to reassign you to the Peterson project," you may be flattered that your boss thinks highly enough of you to put you on such a high profile project. But when reality sets in, you realize that your boss just assigned you tons of extra work for a cranky client. Congrats! |
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| 5663 |
deterrence |
a negative motivational influence |
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A deterrence discourages you from doing something. An invisible electric fence is an excellent deterrence for dogs who like to roam outside the yard. |
You can influence someone's actions by promoting certain behaviors and discouraging others. And it's the discouragement part where deterrence comes in. A deterrence makes you reconsider doing something — usually bad things like stealing or skipping school — because you know the penalty will be harsh. Deterrences make you afraid to try something. So many homeowners hope that a security alarm will be a deterrence to burglars. |
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| 5664 |
ghoulish |
suggesting the horror of death and decay |
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Ghoulish things are scary or morbid. A ghoulish sense of humor favors jokes about death and gore. |
An interest in other people's misfortune could be called ghoulish, and so could a fascination with deadly car accidents or plane crashes. The horrified feeling you might get when you think about death is the essence of something ghoulish. This adjective comes from ghoul, an evil spirit, from the Arabic ġūl , a mythological corpse-eating demon. |
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| 5665 |
jumble |
assemble without order or sense |
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When you jumble something, you throw a bunch of items haphazardly together. For example, many people jumble many random things in a kitchen junk drawer. |
Use the verb jumble to describe what happens when you scramble or mix things up. Some kids, for example, jumble their Lego toys together in a big bin, while others like to sort the pieces by color or size. You can call the mix of items itself a jumble too. In the early 1500s, jumble meant "to move confusedly," and it was probably modeled on stumble. Later that century, it came to mean "mix or confuse." |
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| 5666 |
protean |
taking on different forms |
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When Picasso is described as a protean genius, it means that not only was he brilliant, but he changed the way he worked many times. Protean means able to change shape. |
Proteus was a Greek god who could tell the future, but when he was asked a question he didn't want to answer, he would change shapes. With someone or something protean, you get all the power of shape-shifting, plus some of the menace of a god you cannot control. |
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| 5667 |
decamp |
leave suddenly |
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When you decamp, you leave or depart very suddenly, or in secret. If your rent in Brooklyn keeps going up, you may decide to decamp to New Jersey. |
Use the verb decamp when people scram — especially when they relocate a household or a business to a new location. You'll probably be disappointed when your favorite pizza place decamps to another neighborhood, or if your best friend's family decamps to Canada. The word was originally a military term, literally meaning "leave camp," from the French décamper, from des-, "apart or away," and camp, "open space for military exercises." |
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| 5668 |
hawkish |
disposed to warfare or hard-line policies |
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Someone who's hawkish is in favor of going to war with other countries. The president's hawkish advisors will frequently recommend military solutions to conflicts. |
In politics, the adjective hawkish is useful for describing people, groups, or political parties that consistently prefer the war option for reacting to problems around the world. A hawkish politician, also called a hawk or war hawk, might vote in favor of continuing a military operation instead of ending it, for example. This word dates from the 1960s. |
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| 5669 |
acquiescent |
willing to carry out the orders or wishes of another |
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The adjective acquiescent describes someone who willingly carries out the wishes of others. If you say "yes" to every request for help, you may have an acquiescent personality — or the word "no" just may not be in your vocabulary. |
Acquiescent comes from the Latin word acquiescere, which means to remain at rest or become quiet. The root quies is also the origin of the English word "quiet." Acquiescent people are sometimes thought of as quiet and mousy because they tend to do what you ask without protest. Try not to take advantage of these people by saying things like "Give me the last piece of cake," or "Do you mind walking my dog?" |
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| 5670 |
upsurge |
a sudden or abrupt strong increase |
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An upsurge is when there's a sudden rise of something's strength or size. Hordes of people walking around your town with cameras might be due to an upsurge in tourism, for example. |
News shows often announce that there's an upsurge of crime or an upsurge of available jobs in public education. The noun upsurge is most often used in this figurative way, rather than to talk about something literally surging up, like stormy waves. These are more likely to be described as a surge, which is actually the root of upsurge — a surge is a "high, rolling swell of water," from the Latin surgere, "to rise." |
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| 5671 |
wobble |
move sideways or in an unsteady way |
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When things wobble, they teeter or rock unsteadily back and forth. A brand new bike rider is bound to wobble a little bit when she's pedaling down the street. |
A cafe table might wobble annoyingly until you prop up one leg with folded paper. And, when you first step off an amusement park ride, your legs might wobble for a while. Your voice can wobble too, or tremble, especially when you're upset or nervous. People wobble figuratively too: "When politicians wobble on important issues, it's hard to trust them." |
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| 5672 |
flighty |
guided by whim and fancy |
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If you're flighty, you're flaky and a little bit thoughtless. Flighty people change their minds and plans at the drop of a hat. |
Flighty people are unreliable and irresponsible — they often forget appointments, show up late, and change their minds about important things at the last minute. If you need help with something important, don't count on a flighty person for help. The original meaning of flighty, in the 1500's, was "swift" or "speedy." By the late 1700's, it had come to mean "fickle or frivolous," and was often used to describe skittish horses. |
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| 5673 |
tidy |
marked by order and cleanliness in appearance or habits |
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Use the adjective tidy for something that is neat and clean. If your desk were more tidy, you would be able to find your computer. |
Tidy (or tidy up) also means “to clean up” and is also a noun for a container for small objects, like scraps or sewing materials. These senses of tidy have a formal or even old-fashioned note. (We’re more likely to say clean, organize, or bin now in everyday conversation.) A less informal use is as an adjective, meaning “large.” If you can put the word tidy before your profit or the sum in your bank account, it’s a good thing. |
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| 5674 |
equilateral |
having all sides of the same length |
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A shape is equilateral if all the sides are the same length. |
In geometry class, people learn about many shapes, such as triangles and squares. A square is equilateral, because all of its sides are the same length. A rhombus is also equilateral — its sides are also the same length. A triangle can be equilateral too, but not a scalene triangle, which has three sides of different lengths. The word equal should help you remember what equilateral means. You can also use it as a noun for an equilateral shape. |
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| 5675 |
prance |
to walk with a lofty proud gait, often to impress others |
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When you prance, you swagger around with exaggerated, proud movements. If you've seen many rock concerts, you've seen people prance around onstage. |
When people prance, they're showing off, strutting for the benefit of their audience. Horses prance too, with a gait that's also a little artificial, using high, springy steps. You might prance a little when you run up on stage to accept an award, and a show horse might be equally inclined to prance as it moves past the judges. The horse gait definition is the original meaning of prance, and it probably comes from the Middle English pranken, "to show off." |
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| 5676 |
frazzle |
exhaust physically or emotionally |
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To frazzle is to tire or wear someone out. Traffic jams and looming deadlines tend to frazzle people. |
Frazzle is a funny-looking word, but it means something not-so-funny: being exhausted, physically or mentally. Parents are frazzled by their children crying and running around. A difficult job like serving as a police officer is extremely frazzling. Doing anything that takes a mental, emotional, or physical toll is frazzling. When someone feels tired, they will often say "I'm frazzled!" |
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| 5677 |
supposititious |
based primarily on surmise rather than adequate evidence |
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Supposititious is a fancy word for "based on guesswork." The word is most often used in a legal sense. If a piece of evidence is supposititious, then it's basically hypothetical. It doesn't have any hard facts to back it up. |
As the sound of the word suggests, supposititious is related to the more common supposition, meaning something uncertain or unconfirmed. Supposititious also has a slightly different and less common meaning of something that has been substituted illegally for something else. If you ask for Champagne in a bar and you get a glass of sparkling white instead, that is truly one supposititious beverage. |
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| 5678 |
inviolate |
(of a woman) having the hymen unbroken |
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If something’s inviolate, it’s sacred and must be protected. If you make an inviolate promise to your sister to never reveal her secret superhero identity, it's one you must honor and take very seriously. |
Inviolate comes from the Latin word inviolatus, made up of in-, meaning “not” and violare, meaning “violate.” So inviolate describes something so sacred or pure that it must not be violated. It can be used to describe fundamental principles or rights, such as the inviolate right of free speech, but it can also describe things that must be kept safe and pure. You might believe that the natural coastline outside your city should remain inviolate and not be developed. |
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| 5679 |
sedate |
characterized by dignity and propriety |
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Sedate means to be calm, but if a doctor sedates you it means you've been administered a tranquilizing drug. Most surgeries require some form of sedation, but to be sedate in day-to-day life means composed, quiet, and serene. Not necessarily unconscious. |
To be sedate when dining with the Queen means that you behaved with dignity and solemnity. To be sedated when dining with the Queen means that you were face down in the bread pudding and drooling onto the tablecloth. The medical sense of the word is to be tranquilized, either to calm your nerves after a shock or in preparation for surgery. Socially, to be sedate is to be serene, quiet, and composed. |
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| 5680 |
transference |
the act of moving something from one form to another |
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Transference occurs when something carries over from one thing to another, like the transference of data between computers. |
Use transference to describe the act of passing something from one person or situation to another, such as a transference of power that occurs when a new leader takes over. Students of psychology may already know it as a clinical term that describes redirecting feelings from one person to another. For example, someone experiencing this kind of transference might view a teacher as a father figure, especially if his or her father isn't around much. |
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| 5681 |
frigid |
extremely cold |
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Like the North Pole on the coldest day of winter, frigid is an adjective that means extremely chilly. It applies to both temperatures and personalities. |
Frigid comes to us from the Latin frigidus, meaning “cold, chill, cool” or “indifferent.” That explains why it's used to describe both arctic weather and someone's particularly unfriendly demeanor. So the inside of your ice box is certainly frigid, but so is a stern boss who refuses to smile or say hi when you hop in the same elevator. His glare is so emotionally frosty that it freezes you in your tracks. |
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| 5682 |
remiss |
failing in what duty requires |
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If it's your turn to bring in the coffee and donuts for your early morning meeting, and you forget, then your co-workers can say that you were remiss in fulfilling your responsibility to keep them awake with sugar and caffeine. Don't expect to get much done at your meeting. |
The adjective remiss is often used in the phrase "remiss in one's duty." The principal was remiss in her duty to tell parents about the incident at school. After the parents heard about it from their kids, the principal received several angry phone calls wondering why the school had been locked down for loose farm animals. |
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| 5683 |
prod |
to push against gently |
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A teacher might use a verbal prod when students aren't participating in class. A prod is an encouragement, like the threat of a quiz. Just hope the teacher doesn't use the kind of prod a rancher uses to keep cattle moving! |
Prod can also be a verb that refers to a soft poke or a nudge, like when you prod someone in the ribs with your finger. It can also describe verbal encouragement that's used when you want something or want to know something. For example, you might prod your sister into helping you do your math homework. |
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| 5684 |
inattentive |
showing a lack of awareness, concentration, or care |
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Someone who's inattentive isn't paying enough attention. An inattentive lunch companion might spend the whole meal texting on his phone. |
Inattentive people are sometimes distracted, like an inattentive babysitter who loses track of the kids he's watching at the playground. You can also be inattentive simply through indifference or boredom — if you're inattentive at the opera, you're not paying attention to it because you're not interested in it. Inattentive tacks the "not" prefix in- onto attentive, from the Latin root attendere, "give heed to" or "stretch toward." |
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| 5685 |
reflexive |
referring back to itself |
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Something reflexive is completely involuntary. You can't help it. You might give a reflexive scream of fright if a bat flies in your face. |
The adjective reflexive has two very different meanings. Something that's done automatically, without thought, is reflexive. Things that refer to themselves can also be called reflexive, especially certain parts of grammar, as in this sentence: "I took extra time to prepare myself for the test." Because myself refers back to I, it's a reflexive pronoun. There's even a reflexive genre of writing, metafiction, which can be described as "fiction about fiction." |
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| 5686 |
comely |
according with custom or propriety |
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Comely means attractive or appropriate. A comely girl is pretty. A comely hairstyle is flattering. If your manners are comely, it means you know the right way to act to put people at their ease. |
Comely is related to the word becoming, in the sense of something's being attractive and appropriate––you're comely wearing that becoming blouse, the way she told the story was becoming to a comely young lady. Comely is the opposite of the similar-looking homely, which means plain-looking, almost ugly. |
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| 5687 |
wipe out |
use up (resources or materials) |
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To wipe out is to completely deplete or use up. If you wipe out your grandmother's entire batch of brownies, it means that you eat every single last one of them. |
You might wipe out your life's savings gambling in Las Vegas, or — more positively — wipe out your credit card debt by paying a little each month for a year. In either case, you've erased or eliminated something. Sometimes wipe out is used to describe a truly terrible event, as when a disease wipes out a country's population of songbirds. |
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| 5688 |
anticipatory |
in expectation |
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Anticipatory describes the feeling you get when you know what’s coming. It can also describe something that happens because something else is going to happen later — like that anticipatory excitement you feel the night before a big party. |
Anything anticipatory has to do with realizing something beforehand, or anticipating. It’s related to the feelings you get while waiting and preparing for something. Sometimes the worst part of being sick isn’t the feeling itself, but the anticipatory anxiety about getting sick again. It’s not the same as a sixth sense, but Spiderman’s spidey sense is anticipatory because it alerts him to future danger. |
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| 5689 |
dramatize |
put into a form intended for performance |
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To dramatize something is to put it in dramatic form (like a TV show or movie) or make it seem more dramatic, using exaggeration. |
Anytime you see a movie or TV show about real events, the actors are dramatizing what really happened. If you slipped on the sidewalk and hurt your knee a little but later made it sound like the most tragic event in the history of humanity, you're guilty of dramatizing what happened. To dramatize in that way is to exaggerate and embellish — it's something that we all do occasionally. |
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| 5690 |
unswerving |
going directly from one point to another |
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Something that's unswerving follows a direct path. Because an unswerving person or thing never turns aside, the word is also commonly used to describe steadfast loyalty, like a dog's unswerving devotion to its master. |
The adjective unswerving often describes loyalty. Your best friend's unswerving loyalty to you, for example, feels secure and dependable — you know she'll always be there for you. You can also use the word more literally, when you talk about something moving in a straight, unswerving line, never making a turn or detour. The verb swerve is at the root of unswerving — originally, it meant "to depart," but by the fourteenth century its meaning was "to deviate from a straight course." |
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| 5691 |
mediated |
acting or brought about through an intervening agency |
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When you argue with your friend and your disagreement is mediated, that means a neutral person has stepped in to help the two of you negotiate or come to an agreement. |
Two kids fighting on a playground might need their dispute to be mediated by a calm grownup. Unfortunately, many of the fights that need to be mediated are between leaders of countries or feuding groups of fully grown adults. The Latin root of mediated is medius, or "middle," which makes a lot of sense when you imagine a referee standing in the middle of two angry soccer teams. |
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| 5692 |
bamboozle |
conceal one's true motives from |
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To bamboozle is to hoodwink, lead by the nose, or pull the wool over someone's eyes — you're tricking or fooling them. |
Bamboozle may sound like a funny word, but anyone that's ever been bamboozled could tell you it's nothing to laugh about. A bamboozler lies and pretends to be a good guy, all the while plotting to empty your bank account or steal away your promotion. Con men are professional bamboozlers. Some people think advertisers are bamboozlers, since they're constantly trying to trick you into buying something you probably don't need. |
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| 5693 |
ratiocination |
the proposition arrived at by logical reasoning |
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Take your time and think things through logically. That's what it means to use ratiocination to solve a problem. |
To correctly pronounce ratiocination say, "rat-ee-oh-seh-NA-shun." Ratiocination uses reason or logic to figure something out. It might involve determining probabilities, syllogisms, even mathematical formulas, or simply following all the steps in a process that you believe will lead you to the correct or best answer. Ratiocination is the opposite of taking a wild guess or just "going with your gut." |
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| 5694 |
regenerate |
reestablish on a new, usually improved, basis |
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Starfish are famous for their ability to regenerate, or regrow, a lost arm. Anything that revives in this magical way can be said to regenerate. |
While the verb regenerate can literally mean "produce anew," it can also describe what happens when something is fixed up, made "like new." An argument that's often made for bringing a new company, sports complex, casino, or other enterprise to a depressed area is that it will regenerate the town economically, bringing it back to life. In Latin, regeneratio means "being born again." |
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| 5695 |
mandatory |
required by rule |
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In the US, attending school through the twelfth grade, driving on the right side of the road, and obtaining a social security number are all mandatory. The phrase "mandatory requirement" is redundant. |
A mandatory action is something that is required, obligatory, or compulsory. Like letting your Great Aunt Edna pinch your cheeks or passing gym to get your diploma. Mandatory is often used in opposition to optional. If you want to compete with the swim team at school, weeknight practices are mandatory, meaning you have to go, though the Saturday dawn swim practice remains optional, meaning it's up to you. |
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| 5696 |
arctic |
extremely cold |
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If the weatherman warns of arctic conditions, get out your thermal underwear, hats, and gloves. It's going to be cold. The word arctic describes frigid and inhospitable weather. |
The word arctic refers to the Arctic Circle — the North Pole and the land that surrounds it — which is the northernmost major circle of latitude on the Earth. When you think of the word arctic, imagine the weather at the North Pole, cold and windy, suitable only for hearty animals and mythical toy-making elves. Bundle up for the arctic blast heading down from Canada towards the U.S.! |
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| 5697 |
conniving |
acting together in secret toward a fraudulent or illegal end |
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Someone conniving is calculating, scheming, and shrewd — in other words, sneaky and up to no good. |
Do you know anyone who is always trying to get away with things? Do they constantly look for ways to get out of trouble or work? Those kind of people are conniving. This is a word for secretive, shifty behavior. However, being conniving isn't the worst thing in the world — it's negative, but you probably wouldn't say a murderer is conniving. It's usually reserved for con men, shady business moguls, and manipulative social climbers. |
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| 5698 |
prescriptive |
pertaining to giving directives or rules |
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Prescriptive things have to do with giving rules or directions. Prescriptive advice tells you what to do. |
When the doctor writes a prescription, he or she is telling you to get a particular drug and take it. Similarly, anything prescriptive involves telling people what to do. People are prescriptive when they're sure of what’s right. "You have several options" is not prescriptive, but "You should do this" is very prescriptive. A bossy person is very prescriptive. |
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| 5699 |
rebirth |
reincarnation |
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A rebirth can be a literal reincarnation — being born for a second time in a new body — and it can also mean a brand new beginning, like the rebirth of swing dancing in the 21st century. |
If you're convinced that after your goldfish died, it was born again in the form of a crow, you believe in rebirth. Many religious traditions include the concept of rebirth. Even if you're not sure about reincarnation, you might describe a renewal or revival this way: "She's hoping for a rebirth of film photography," or "The money from his dad resulted in the rebirth of his business." |
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| 5700 |
bounteous |
given or giving freely |
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Things that are bounteous are plentiful and generously given. Your friends might celebrate your birthday by bringing you a bounteous armful of flowers. |
Farmers planting their crops in the spring hope for a bounteous harvest in the summer, and the very best elementary school teachers have bounteous amounts of affection for children. Bounteous things are found in great abundance. The word's original, fourteenth century meaning was "full of goodness," from the noun bounty, or "generosity." The Latin root is bonitatem, or "goodness." |
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| 5701 |
peevishness |
a cranky, irritable, or petulant feeling or disposition |
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Peevishness is crankiness or irritability. Your constant peevishness might make it difficult for you to make friends. |
If you're having one of those days when everything seems to irritate you, what you're feeling is peevishness. It's easy to criticize other people's peevishness — like when your sister snaps at you for chewing gum loudly and criticizes the way you eat your food — but everyone experiences it from time to time. Peevishness comes from the adjective peevish, and its origins are a bit uncertain. What is known is that the Old English root, peyvesshe, means "perverse, foolish, spiteful, or insane." |
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| 5702 |
discernment |
the cognitive condition of someone who understands |
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Discernment is the ability to make a smart judgment about something. If you're voting for Student Council President, you need to use discernment to pick the best candidate. |
The noun discernment describes a wise way of judging between things, or a particularly perceptive way of seeing things. If you can understand something that's somewhat hidden or obscure — if you figure out the themes of a confusing movie, for example — you're using discernment. It comes from the Latin word discernere, meaning "separate." Discernment separates what's important or true from what's not. |
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| 5703 |
dictatorship |
a form of government in which the ruler is unconstrained |
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A dictatorship is a government or a social situation where one person makes all the rules and decisions without input from anyone else. |
Dictatorship implies absolute power — one person who takes control — of a political situation, a family, a classroom or even a camping expedition. In government, a dictatorship leaves no room for input from anyone who is not the top guy or gal. The noun comes from the late 14th century Latin word, dictare, which means to "repeat or say often." In a dictatorship, one person keeps repeating the same command: "My way or the highway." |
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| 5704 |
impalpable |
not perceptible to the touch |
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Impalpable describes a feeling that, though real, you can’t logically explain. If you don't know why you love peanut butter and banana sandwiches so much, maybe your reasons are impalpable. |
If you’ve ever used the words “I can’t quite put my finger on it” to describe something that you have observed but can't really explain, then you already have a good idea of what impalpable means. Impalpable traces back to the Latin word palpabilis, meaning “that may be touched or felt.” Combine that with the prefix im-, and the word gets its meaning of something that can’t be perceived by normal senses. |
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| 5705 |
amass |
collect or gather |
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Amass means bring together or assemble. It can be a real shock to enter a room and see your amassed friends shouting "Surprise!" |
Although the word amass should not be confused with "a mass," as in the thing you never want to hear has been found on your lung, they both derive from the Latin massa "lump." When you think about it, this makes sense. Whether soldiers or cancer cells, things that come together to form a whole — in this case, a tumor or an army — are amassed. |
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| 5706 |
assorted |
of many kinds purposefully arranged but lacking uniformity |
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An assorted group of things are different from each other. Assorted presents could include a gift certificate, a bike, and a stuffed animal. |
This is a word for things that aren't like each other but are in the same grouping anyway. Assorted books are on many different topics. Assorted candies are a bunch of different candies; a bag of Milky Ways can't be assorted. This word is all about difference and variety. An assorted group can also be described as miscellaneous, mixed, motley, or sundry. |
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| 5707 |
impoverishment |
the state of having little or no money |
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Impoverishment is the state or fact of being extremely poor. A neighborhood's impoverishment is sometimes obvious from its many abandoned buildings. |
You can use the noun impoverishment to mean "poverty," and also the act of forcing someone into poverty. A despotic government's impoverishment of its own people can be a way to control the citizens. A situation can also cause impoverishment, such as a serious illness and lack of health insurance. The verb impoverish, or "make poor," comes from the Old French empoverir, "to make poor," from povre, "poor." |
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| 5708 |
beguiling |
highly attractive and able to arouse hope or desire |
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Beguiling is an adjective that means "highly attractive and tempting," like the beguiling model/actress on the cover of a celebrity magazine. |
Beguiling is often used to describe a person, like a beautiful girl, but can also be used when referring to a place or an inanimate object, like an Italian sports car. But be careful — sometimes beguiling things are meant to trick you, like the beguiling salesperson who acts like a friend, only to make a sale. In fact, beguiling contains the word guile, meaning "deceit, fraud, ruse, trickery." |
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| 5709 |
anneal |
bring to a desired consistency by heating and cooling |
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When you anneal metal or glass, you heat it and then cool it in order to make it less brittle and more malleable. |
Metallurgists — engineers who specialize in the properties and uses of metals — have to know a variety of methods used to anneal different kinds of metals. You can also anneal glass, to make it stronger and to help keep it from shattering. |
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| 5710 |
munificence |
liberality in bestowing gifts |
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Munificence is the quality of being extremely generous, like showering your girlfriend with lots of expensive gifts and candy on Valentine's Day. |
Munificence comes from the Latin word, munificentia, which literally means "present-making." Santa Claus shows great munificence every year by bringing presents to children, even if sometimes they've been naughty. Munificence can refer to any kind of generosity or ease in giving. A millionaire who donates time and money to help support the less fortunate shows munificence. Of course, munificence is easy for those with millions! |
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| 5711 |
harmonious |
exhibiting equivalence or correspondence among constituents |
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Things that are harmonious go together nicely, like notes in music or people that work well as a team. |
The idea of things being harmonious comes from music — when certain notes sound good together, they are harmonious. But this concept applies to many other things and people, too. You could say pieces of art that look good next to each other are harmonious. A basketball team that shares the ball and gets along well is harmonious. Anytime people get along, they're being harmonious. In a totally harmonious society, there would be no war or hate. |
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| 5712 |
senility |
the state of being infirm with age |
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Senility refers to mental deterioration that often comes with old age, as in severe memory problems. If you find your shoes in the fridge or accidentally call your son by the dog's name, you may wonder if senility is kicking in. |
Senility is related to the word senile, which itself is from the Latin word senilis, meaning "old age." There are subtle differences between senility and Alzheimer's disease, which causes memory loss as well as emotional and behavioral changes. If you suspect someone you care about is experiencing senility or Alzheimer's disease, you should consult a physician because treatments may be available to help slow the process. |
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| 5713 |
propagate |
multiply through reproduction |
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To propagate is to be fruitful and multiply, by the usual routes of reproduction, or by spreading something around — like a rumor. |
Propagate comes from the Latin word propagare, which means to "reproduce plants, breed." Plants love to propagate, especially when someone with a green thumb starts off with a jade plant stem in water and ends up with a garden full of the succulents. Plants aren't the only things to propagate like bunnies: In the movie Twelve Monkeys, a virus propagates quickly, killing almost everyone in the world. Sound and light can also spread, or propagate, through the air. |
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| 5714 |
philippic |
a speech of violent denunciation |
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A philippic is a bitter rant against someone or something. Unfortunately your impassioned philippic condemning your parents’ midnight curfew rule only resulted in you being grounded for a week. |
The word philippic originates from the Greek word philippikos, the name given to the speeches of the famous Greek orator Demosthenes, who warned the Athenians against Philip II of Macedon. The Greeks didn’t listen to Demosthenes, however, and then Philip and his son Alexander the Great ended up bringing all of Greece under Macedonian control. Too bad for the Athenians! |
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| 5715 |
syllabus |
an integrated course of academic studies |
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A syllabus is a document that outlines everything that will be covered in a class. A syllabus for World Domination 101 might include: strategies for brainwashing the masses, creating an army on a budget, cultivating absolute certainty, and so on. |
The noun syllabus comes from the Late Latin word syllabus, meaning “list.” When you teach a class you may be required to make an outline of what you will expect the students to do in your class. That’s the syllabus. A syllabus could vaguely mention the topics that will be covered each week or it can be a detailed synopsis of every reading assignment, homework expectation, and exam question. Syllabus style is the teacher’s choice. |
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| 5716 |
grumpy |
annoyed and irritable |
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When your friend suggests a restaurant but you’re in a bad mood so you say “That’s a stupid restaurant” — even though you don’t really mind it — then you’re being grumpy, meaning irritable or grouchy. |
There are all kinds of reasons for feeling grumpy: maybe you’re tired or annoyed or you have a headache. Whatever the cause, when you’re grumpy you just want to sulk in a corner. Even though it’s a negative word, it’s a pretty gentle one. When you're grumpy, you’re not mad or mean — you’re just unpleasant for the moment. But don’t tell someone who’s grumpy that he's being grumpy . . . He likely won’t respond kindly to that. |
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| 5717 |
clumsy |
lacking grace in movement or posture |
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Someone clumsy is a klutz. They're awkward, ungraceful, and walk like they have two left feet. Something hard to handle — like a huge box — is also clumsy. |
A badly told story is told in a clumsy way, and a couch that's hard to move clumsy to carry. But mostly being clumsy is embarrassing. Dropping things, tripping a lot, and stumbling are all examples of clumsiness. Clumsy people usually aren't too good at sports or dancing. And you certainly don't want a clumsy surgeon. Most people are a little clumsy when they're teenagers — growing so fast makes it hard to be sure of yourself physically. |
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| 5718 |
supportive |
furnishing assistance |
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To be supportive is to give help or assistance, or to hold something or someone up. If your parents are supportive of your dreams to become a chef, they might enroll you in cooking classes. |
Supportive is a snuggly word. Anything that supports you, or embraces you and holds you up is supportive. It can be physically supportive, like a girdle that holds your belly in, or emotionally supportive like a loving family or solid network of friends. A parent paying for a child's college bills is supportive financially. Things can be supportive, too — posts holding up a building are supportive. Being supportive is a good thing. |
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| 5719 |
plaudit |
enthusiastic approval |
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As its sound might suggest, plaudit is indeed related to "applaud" and "applause." In fact it's really just a fancy way of saying "praise" or "acclamation." |
Plaudit is used more in a literary sense than in spoken English, and particularly applies to the reception of a work of art, most notably a play. In fact, the word comes from the Latin plaudite, loudly uttered by Roman actors at the end of a play and meaning "applaud!" Kind of like cue cards for game show audiences now. |
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| 5720 |
abhorrent |
offensive to the mind |
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Many people find cruelty toward animals abhorrent, that is, they think it's detestable, obscene, repugnant, repulsive, and offensive to the mind. In other words, they really, really don't like it. |
When you think of abhorrent, think of horror, as in something so vile and loathsome that you can only react to it in horror. In fact, the word abhorrent in Latin means “to recoil (back away) in horror.” Note that the ending is spelled -ent with an e, not an a. Maybe the a found abhorrent so abhorrent that it didn’t want to appear in it a second time. |
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| 5721 |
gag |
a restraint put into a person's mouth to prevent speaking |
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A gag is a piece of cloth that's tied around a person's face to keep them from speaking or being heard. Cartoon bad guys often tie up their victims and put gags over their mouths. |
To use a gag for shutting someone up is to gag them. Both the noun and verb forms of gag can also be figurative: "Her government is trying to gag her by censoring her," or "The lack of a right to free speech in some countries is a gag." Another way to gag is to retch, or begin to vomit. The root of gag is probably the Old Norse gag-hals, "with head thrown back." |
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| 5722 |
gabble |
speak (about unimportant matters) rapidly and incessantly |
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When you gabble, you talk so fast that you can barely be understood. A nervous public speaker might gabble for several minutes before she's able to get her point across. |
If you're gossiping about a neighbor and suddenly realize he's standing behind you, you might gabble for a while from the sheer awkwardness of the situation. Your grandmother might declare that she doesn't understand the music you like, saying, "They don't sing — they just gabble!" Gabble is a noun, too, meaning the sound itself: "See? It's all just gabble!" Gabble has a Dutch root, gabbelen, which is imitative — it sounds just like what it means. |
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| 5723 |
inebriate |
make drunk (with alcoholic drinks) |
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If a party host wants to inebriate her guests, she'll serve them many alcoholic drinks. In other words, she'll try to get them drunk. |
Use the verb inebriate to describe what happens when someone or something intoxicates a person. If you realize that your lemonade is inebriating you, you probably accidentally ordered an alcoholic drink that tastes like lemonade. You can also use inebriate to describe something that's beautiful or thrilling: "There is nothing like watching the sun rise over the mountains to inebriate me." The Latin root, inebriatus, simply means "to make drunk." |
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| 5724 |
squeeze |
press firmly |
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When you squeeze something, you put pressure on it. If you squeeze your toothpaste from the bottom up, you'll get the most out of your tube. |
The word squeeze has to do with force or pressure. When you squeeze something, like an orange, you are crushing it to extract juice. When you squeeze into a pair of jeans, you're forcing yourself into them. When you give someone a squeeze, you're giving them a tight hug. And when you're in a squeeze, you're in a tight spot, or a bind. |
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| 5725 |
enfeeble |
make weak |
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To enfeeble is to make someone or something very weak or fragile. Your governor's budget cuts might enfeeble the state's public school system. |
If an illness weakens you — makes you feel frail and shaky — it enfeebles you. Aging enfeebles us, and the lack of Vitamin D in the winter also enfeebles many people. You can also say that making it harder for people to vote enfeebles the democratic process. The verb enfeeble combines the prefix en-, "cause to be," with feeble, with its Latin root flebilis, "that is to be wept over." |
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| 5726 |
scoff |
laugh at with contempt and derision |
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To laugh at someone with scorn is to scoff at them. People have scoffed at many great inventors, saying their products would flop because the public wouldn't be interested in things like the light bulb, the personal computer, or the pet rock. |
The verb scoff is often followed by the word at ("scoff at the idea, scoff at the statement, scoff at the notion"). The verb can also mean to treat with contempt or to mock. Naysayers scoff at all kinds of theories, and grouchy old men tend to scoff for the heck of it. |
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| 5727 |
gravel |
rock fragments and pebbles |
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Gravel is very small, irregular pieces of rock and stone. Your gravel driveway might crunch under your boots as you walk to the mailbox. |
Roads, paths, walkways, and yards are all sometimes paved with gravel, which is a relatively inexpensive material to use for marking areas and preventing the growth of weeds and other plants. Gravel is more rough and rocky than sand, and smaller than stones. The word gravel comes from the French word gravele, "gravel or sand," which in turn comes from grave, "seashore or sand." The ultimate Proto-Indo-European root may be ghreu, "to rub or grind." |
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| 5728 |
substantive |
having a firm basis in reality and therefore important |
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When you talk about substantive change, you mean change that really makes a difference. After a substantive discussion, you will have an in-depth understanding of what you are talking about. |
When something is substantive, there is a lot of there there, be it meaning or volume of things. The word brings a serious tone. While it is often used to talk about problems and their solutions, a big steak dinner could be called substantive as could a very long piece of writing. In any case, you use it when there is a lot of substance involved. |
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| 5729 |
rotund |
spherical in shape |
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Rotund describes anything that's plump or round, like a teapot or your chubby Aunt Agnes. |
Rotund describes someone who is round in shape, or obese. It's not a compliment. That's why it's probably okay to call Santa Claus rotund, but not your neighbor — at least not to his face! It's fine to call round things rotund, however, like a rotund vase full of flowers, which particularly makes sense when you know that the root of rotund is the Latin word rotundus, meaning round, circular, like a wheel. |
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| 5730 |
impersonation |
pretending to be someone else |
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Impersonation is when someone pretends to be another person. If you pretend to be your twin brother all day at school, that's impersonation. |
There are a few different forms of impersonation — some of them are harmless, like comedians who use impersonation to mimic the voices and mannerisms of famous people, or actors who play historical figures in movies. Other kinds of impersonation are harmful, including when a thief takes someone's identity (including Social Security number and bank information) in order to steal their money. Impersonation has the Latin roots in-, "into," and persona, "person." |
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| 5731 |
voluptuous |
displaying luxury and furnishing gratification to the senses |
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Voluptuous describes a woman that's large — but in all the right places. Voluptuous is a curvy compliment. |
A skinny woman is the opposite of voluptuous. Being voluptuous means being a little fleshy and curvy, especially in the chest area. But voluptuous doesn't only apply to body types. A house that's luxurious, lavishly decorated, and full of delicious food is voluptuous. Any use of voluptuous means there's a lot going on. For some reason, most fashion models are not voluptuous at all — they're thin as a rail. |
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| 5732 |
lens |
a transparent optical device used to form images |
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A lens is a curved transparent device that bends light, like the lens of eyeglasses or a contact lens you’ll need if the natural lens in your eye needs help. Cameras have a lens, too. Smile! |
In an eye, the lens — which is behind the iris — helps focus light on the retina so you can see. It's a lot like the lens in a telescope or camera, which also focuses light and helps form images. You can also use the word lens as a metaphor for how you see things. If you look at sports through the lens of medicine, you might study injuries to players. All these lenses help you see or perceive things. |
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| 5733 |
outstrip |
go far ahead of |
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While outstrip might make you think about undressing, it really means outdoing. If the productivity of your garden outstrips your neighbor's, expect the neighborhood to come calling for fresh vegetables. |
If one thing outstrips another, it exceeds it or goes beyond it. When you outstrip someone during a race, you pass them. When one company’s profits outstrip another’s, they make more money. When the productivity of one nation outstrips the neighboring nation, they will have a bigger Gross National Product. |
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| 5734 |
rendition |
a performance of a musical composition or a dramatic role |
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A rendition is an interpretation, performance, or translation. Whitney Houston's rendition of the Star Spangled Banner is still used at games today; Roseanne Barr's is not. |
This word comes from the Old French rendre, which means “to deliver, yield.” So if you want to put your spin on a song or poem or your favorite movie monologue, go ahead and deliver your rendition of it. But know that in modern times this word has also been used as a noun, describing the secret capture and interrogation of a terror suspect in a foreign country that has less strict human rights laws. |
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| 5735 |
grouch |
show one's unhappiness or critical attitude |
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A grouch is a cranky person who complains a lot. You could describe your grumpy old Grandpa as a grouch. |
Use the noun grouch when you're talking about someone who's habitually in a terrible mood. If your usual bus driver is a grouch, he's probably always yelling at his passengers. You can also use grouch as a verb, to describe what a grouch does: grumble and gripe. The word grouch was originally 1890s United States college slang that might have come from grutch, "to murmur or complain." |
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| 5736 |
pedigree |
the ancestry or lineage of an individual |
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The noun pedigree refers to the genetic background of an animal, although it is sometimes applied to people as well. A purebred dog, for example, comes with a verified pedigree, a list of all past parentage. |
The preoccupation with pedigree isn't new -— the concern for human pedigree can be seen in the Bible, where generations are meticulously recorded. Pedigree, referring to a genealogical chart, appeared in 1410 from the Anglo-French pe de gru, meaning "foot of a crane," referring to the chart’s tree — like lines, which looked like the print of a crane's foot. The importance of pedigree extends to animals such as dogs and horses, with breeders careful to follow the animal's lines to assure "purity." |
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| 5737 |
clamorous |
conspicuously and offensively loud |
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Clamorous means super loud and obnoxiously crying out. If you find yourself in the midst of a pack of clamorous groupies going nuts over a celebrity sighting, you'll need to put your ear plugs in. |
Clamorous comes from the Latin root clāmōr, meaning "shout." If you're a clamorous person, you're not just loud, but you're also kind of aggressive about it. Town hall meetings with touchy subjects on the agenda tend to be clamorous affairs, as do championship playoffs, arguments between siblings, and daytime talk shows. |
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| 5738 |
profane |
grossly irreverent toward what is held to be sacred |
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Profane language is the kind that gets bleeped on TV. The word profane can also describe behavior that's deeply offensive because it shows a lack of respect, especially for someone's religious beliefs. |
The Latin root profanus means "unholy," and that's where it all started. If you take the Lord's name in vain, you've profaned Him and probably made your religious mom pretty angry too. Don't even try the profane curse words so vital to a truly great hip-hop track but perhaps not recommended for dinner with Grandma. |
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| 5739 |
burlesque |
a theatrical entertainment of broad and earthy humor |
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In contemporary usage, burlesque is a playfully nostalgic form of striptease — think fans and feather boas rather than explicit nudity — but this is just the latest form of an ironic style of entertainment dating back to medieval times. |
Burlesque comes from burla, Spanish for "joke." Comedy has always been an essential part of burlesque art, but it's comedy of a particular kind. Burlesque is satirical, and it uses exaggeration that can be extreme. Early examples of burlesque in English literature can be found in the Canterbury Tales. By the eighteenth century, the word was used to describe often risqué parodies of serious operas or plays. Burlesque became associated with striptease in the music halls and vaudeville theaters of nineteenth-century America. |
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| 5740 |
acknowledgment |
the state or quality of being recognized |
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When you recognize or admit the truth of something, you make an acknowledgment. Your grumpy friend who never gets enough sleep? He needs to make an acknowledgment of what his late nights are doing to his mood. |
Other kinds of acknowledgments give credit where it's due. Research papers that quote other people's words or ideas contain acknowledgments that name the source. Publicly thanking someone is another kind of acknowledgment. Award winners at the Oscars and other ceremonies often rattle off a big list of names, acknowledgement for their contribution to the winner's success. |
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| 5741 |
invulnerable |
immune to attack; impregnable |
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Something that's invulnerable is impossible to damage or injure, like the strongest, most rock solid concrete fort reinforced with steel bars. Or Mother Theresa's reputation. |
From the Latin invulnerabilis, meaning “not wounding,” came the English invulnerable, an adjective meaning invincible or immune to attack. Some people look to vaccines to make them invulnerable. Others use body armor. Philosopher Henry David Thoreau, on the other hand, relied upon music: “When I hear music, I fear no danger. I am invulnerable." |
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| 5742 |
jocose |
characterized by jokes and good humor |
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Your friend Robert who always makes funny observations and light-hearted quips? He’s jocose, meaning he's good humored and jokes around a lot. |
Latin may not seem like a lot of laughs sometimes, but it is responsible for injecting a little humor into English words that have their origins in jocus, the Latin word meaning "joke" or "jest." Jocose, jocular, joke — they all come from jocus. Jocose first came into English in the seventeenth century as a way to describe something that’s characterized by a playful, merry humor. |
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| 5743 |
uncultured |
lacking art or knowledge |
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Someone who is uncultured is ignorant or uneducated, particularly about the arts. If you spend all day watching soap operas and you've never read a book, seen a play, or visited a museum, you might be uncultured. |
Some believe that what really separates man from beast is culture, the desire to learn about and understand the relationship between people and the surrounding world, the need to form communities, make art and play games. If you're a cultured person, you visit museums, attend concerts, read books. You are interested in the world, and open to new experiences and ways of looking at things. If you're uncultured, you do none of those things. |
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| 5744 |
individualized |
made for or adjusted to a particular person |
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If a friend gives you a gift that only you will like, that gift is individualized — made especially to fit your personality and no one else’s. What a thoughtful friend! |
Inside individualized is the word individual. So, just like a unique individual, when something is individualized — it is one-of-a-kind. A parent might cook you an individualized meal of your favorite foods, and at a carnival you can get an individualized cap with your name printed on it. A synonym is personalized, and it takes personal knowledge of a person to give them anything individualized. |
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| 5745 |
addled |
confused and vague; used especially of thinking |
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To be addled is to be fuzzy in the head, a little foggy and confused. When you're addled, you're having trouble thinking. If your favorite movie star walks by and says hello, you might be too addled to say hi back. |
Sometimes it's hard to think and you feel slow and befuddled. When your brain feels like it's stuck in some mental mud, you're addled. People are addled for many reasons. When you first wake up, you probably feel addled. Drinking too much makes people feel addled. A confusing situation can make you feel addled. Being in love, star struck, drunk, sleepy, or sick can make you feel addled. Avoid big decisions and important tests when you’re addled! |
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| 5746 |
unbecoming |
not in keeping with accepted standards of what is proper |
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Use the adjective unbecoming when a person does something that's awkward or inappropriate, like using foul language at your grandmother's tea party. |
Sometimes the word unbecoming means "unattractive," as in the sentence, "Her enormous black clothing and heavily applied makeup were extremely unbecoming." Behavior that is unattractive, especially in a particular setting or with certain people, can also be unbecoming. It's unbecoming to burp loudly at the opera. If it's impolite or unseemly, it's unbecoming. The word stems from becoming, which means attractive or tasteful. |
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| 5747 |
overstate |
enlarge beyond bounds or the truth |
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To overstate is to exaggerate or place too much importance on something. Your parents may overstate the dangers of driving on icy roads to scare you into being extra careful. |
If you want your brother to help you move some furniture, you might overstate how much your back hurts. And, if you're ready for lunch but your friend is dawdling, you'll be tempted to overstate how cranky you get when you're hungry. More seriously, politicians have been known to overstate the threat of terrorism or other dangers in order to gain support for a bill or a candidate. |
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| 5748 |
zoom |
the act of rising upward into the air |
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Zoom zoom! This is a word for things moving quickly, either up or in a line. When you hear zoom, think fast. |
Zoom is a word that can be a sound effect, a noun, or a verb. In comic books, you might see a spaceship taking off with a word bubble saying ZOOM!. Fast cars can zoom; airplanes can zoom. You could say, "In one zoom, we were in the air!" Zooming can also mean to move while making a low humming noise that sounds like zoom. Like boom, zoom is a fun word: it's hard to say Zoom zoom! and be in a bad mood. |
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| 5749 |
baffling |
hard to comprehend, solve, or believe |
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If something is baffling, it's completely confusing or mysterious. You might find your friend's hatred for the taste of chocolate utterly baffling. |
A good mystery novel begins with a baffling crime — one that seems at first nearly impossible to solve. You might also find your math homework baffling or wander around the baffling snarl of streets in a city with no idea where you are. The earliest meaning of baffling was nautical, describing winds blowing in all directions. It comes from the verb baffle, which first meant "to disgrace" before it came to mean "to confuse." |
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| 5750 |
crumple |
gather something into small wrinkles or folds |
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Crumple is a verb that means to become wrinkled or creased. Your face might crumple over time as you age, or you might crumple a piece of paper before tossing it in the trash. |
Crumple comes from the Old English word crump meaning "bent, crooked," and it can describe something that has buckled or collapsed. If you're jumping up and down on a cardboard box, it'll eventually crumple under your weight and fold in on itself. Make sure you don't confuse crumple with the similar looking crumble, which means to break apart into small fragments. If you crumple something, it stays in one piece — it's just wrinkled or folded. |
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| 5751 |
repletion |
the state of being full |
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Repletion is a condition of being completely full of something. Your repletion at the end of a meal probably means you'll skip dessert. |
Repletion is experienced by people who are full or satisfied by the amount of food they've eaten, but it can also describe other kinds of fullness. You might have a satisfied sense of repletion after being showered with praise — in other words, you're feeling utterly satiated with compliments. Being replete means being full, filled, or well-supplied, and both words come from a Latin root, repletus, or "filled." |
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| 5752 |
abatement |
the act of making less active or intense |
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An abatement is a deduction, or lessening. If you start bluntly telling people what you think of them, you might see an abatement in their friendliness toward you. |
Abatement comes from the French word for batter, but abatement doesn’t usually have a negative sense––abatement reduces something, but doesn’t beat it to a pulp. Many cities offer tax abatements to reward businesses starting up in areas they want to develop. If your heat doesn't work, you could sue your landlord for a rent abatement, since you shouldn't have to pay rent for days you don't have heat. |
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| 5753 |
jocularity |
a feeling of facetious merriment |
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A state of cheer or good humor is jocularity. It takes a certain amount of jocularity to tell a really good joke. |
Someone who has the quality of jocularity is playfully funny — a jokester or clown is known for his jocularity. A teacher's jocularity can transform a boring history class into something fun. Jocularity, the adjective jocular, and joke all stem from a common Latin root, iocus, or "joke." |
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| 5754 |
scintillate |
emit or reflect light in a flickering manner |
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The verb scintillate means to twinkle or glow, as in a flickering light. You may find it romantic to sit on the deck overlooking a lake on a clear night, where you can enjoy the scintillating stars in the sky and the reflection of the moon on the water. |
Scintillate means to be sparkling and lively. Scintillate has its roots in the Latin words scintillare, meaning "to sparkle," and scintilla, meaning "a spark." The verb scintillate is related to the adjective scintillating and the noun scintilla. If you enjoy witty repartee, people may say your conversation scintillates with humor and they enjoy how you are so clever. |
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| 5755 |
abrogation |
an official or legal cancellation |
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Abrogation is the act of canceling, nullifying, or repealing something, almost always in an official or legal context. |
To abrogate something is to repeal or cancel it, so abrogation is the act of repealing or canceling. This is mainly a legal term. Abrogation occurs whenever an old law or rule is abolished, like when slavery was outlawed. The abrogation of a lease means it is no longer valid and binding. The annulment of a marriage — which legally wipes out the marriage, as if it never happened — is also a type of abrogation. |
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| 5756 |
simplistic |
characterized by extreme and misleading lack of complexity |
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It would be simplistic to say that people who get good grades study more. This answer doesn't account for the complexities of how we learn and are tested. When something is simplistic, it is overly simple. |
When your mother tells you to just ignore a bully, you might find her advice simplistic. How can you just ignore his insults? She might also tell you that he probably doesn't have a good home life, or is jealous of you. These too will sound simplistic. The fact is, sometimes there is no simple answer to a problem, and all attempts to solve it quickly will be simplistic. |
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| 5757 |
conglomeration |
a sum total of many heterogeneous things taken together |
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Conglomeration is a fancy word for a bunch of stuff brought together. People, companies, ideas, and other things can group together in conglomerations. |
If you ever want something and you're asked why, you could show off your vocabulary and say, "I have a conglomeration of reasons!" That means you have a bunch of reasons that may or may not be connected. A huge mob of people could be described as a conglomeration — which sounds nicer than "mob." The "with" should be a reminder that this is a word that brings things or people together. In the dictionary, you'll find a conglomeration of words — like "conversation" and "concert" — that use con- to suggest a bringing together. |
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| 5758 |
anathematize |
curse or declare to be evil |
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The verb anathematize means to completely condemn, something you would do to a mortal enemy or a truly horrible person. |
If you've decided that your math teacher is just plain evil, you might anathematize him, or curse his name. The word anathematize comes from anathema, which means something you really hate. When you anathematize someone, you declare your hatred for that person. The root word is the Greek anathematizein, which means "to denote something to be evil." |
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| 5759 |
abrasion |
erosion by friction |
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An abrasion is a scrape. An abrasion can happen to a person, as in a skinned knee, or to an object, as in what you get when you apply sandpaper to wood. |
The noun abrasion comes to us from the Latin abradere, which means “scrape away” or “shave off.” Any area that shows evidence of scratching or scraping can be called an abrasion, like that spot on the front bumper of your car from when you cut it too close pulling into the gas station. Abrasion can also mean the process of friction causing scratches, as in: "the abrasion of everyone sliding chairs on the floor left terrible marks." |
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| 5760 |
expurgate |
edit by omitting or modifying parts considered indelicate |
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To expurgate is to censor. Usually, people talk about expurgating bad words from something written or on TV. |
On TV, if you hear some words bleeped out, those words have been expurgated. In print, we can expurgate by using dashes ( — — ) or random characters like %&$#. Sometimes we can expurgate just by rewriting something so that the entire sentence with the naughty parts is gone, or by putting it into mild words. When it comes to things children read or watch, there's often the difficult question of what to expurgate and what to leave alone. |
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| 5761 |
eat up |
use up (resources or materials) |
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You can use the phrase eat up any time you're talking about something — or someone — who uses up or consumes resources, especially at a rapid pace. |
You might decide to buy a gas-electric hybrid car if you prefer a vehicle that doesn't eat up gasoline. Airplanes also eat up fuel, and an expensive hobby like skiing can quickly eat up all of your savings if you're not careful. Eat up can literally mean "eat everything" as well, like when your grandmother sings out, "Eat up!" as she serves you a big plate of her famous broccoli casserole. |
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| 5762 |
toothsome |
extremely pleasing to the sense of taste |
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Toothsome describes something that's absolutely delicious, like a bite of your famous flourless chocolate cake. |
You can use the adjective toothsome when you need a new way to say "yummy" or "scrumptious" or "tasty." It's a word that seems to come up often in restaurant reviews: "The hamburger was overcooked, but the accompanying French fries were quite toothsome." This is the earliest meaning of toothsome, from the 1560's — later it came to also be used for describing a pretty girl. |
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| 5763 |
commonplace |
completely ordinary and unremarkable |
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Something commonplace is ordinary. It can also be something dull and unchallenging or tired and clichéd. Coffee shops in cities are commonplace, so are berets in Paris. You see them all over the place. |
Things that are common can be found all over the place — they're commonplace! The word is a literal translation of the Latin locus communis for "general topic." Commonplace things and behavior are ordinary. For example, a commonplace job is a boring, mind-numbing task. It’s humdrum and unglamorous. A commonplace word or saying is a cliché — it's so common that it becomes meaningless and annoying. |
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| 5764 |
transferable |
capable of being moved or conveyed from one place to another |
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If something can be transferred from one person to another, it's transferable. That's good news, if you're talking about front-row tickets to the Mariah Carey concert. |
One way that anthropologists decide whether a group has a "culture" is by determining whether the skills and habits they practice are transferable from one generation to the next. For example, chimps are known to teach their young how to use twigs to fish for grubs. That means the skill gets passed on — it's transferable. In the legal or financial sense, transferable refers to something the value of which can be passed from one person to another. Remember: those airline tickets aren't transferable: only you can use them! |
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| 5765 |
corrosion |
erosion by chemical action |
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Corrosion is the process by which something deteriorates because of oxidation, a chemical action that creates oxides that flake away from the base. |
When you see a rusty, shoddy looking car, corrosion is the culprit. Although the word is most often associated with the physical breakdown of a metal through rusting, the erosion of rock by wind and water is a form of corrosion. The word can also be applied to other situations, like the corrosion of a once-strong friendship. There could be corrosion of relations between two countries. Whenever something's being worn down or eaten away, you can call it corrosion. |
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| 5766 |
muted |
in a softened tone |
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Something muted has a softened tone or quieted sound. When you try to listen through the wall at what someone is saying, it's really muted and mumbly, even if you put a glass to your ear. |
When you mute the TV or computer speakers, all of the sound goes quiet, but something described as muted is just toned down or turned down. When you whisper you speak in a muted voice; it's not completely quiet or no one would hear you, but it's quiet enough to muffle the sounds or secrets you share. Muted colors don’t stand out as much as bright ones. Beiges and soft grays are muted, and they're great for showing off bright contrasts like a turquoise scarf or red tie. |
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| 5767 |
connubial |
relating to marriage or the relationship between spouses |
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Use the adjective connubial to describe something that relates to marriage or to the relationship between spouses, such as connubial bliss or a connubial argument about who will take out the trash. |
Accent the second syllable in connubial: "ka-NEW-bee-ul." The Latin prefix con- means "together" and nubilis means "marriageable," which itself comes from nubere, meaning "take as husband." Nubere is also responsible for the word nubile, which was coined in the 1640s to describe a woman who was considered "marriage material." Today, it refers to a young, attractive woman." |
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| 5768 |
economical |
using the minimum of time or resources for effectiveness |
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Someone who is economical avoids wasting things, like money or food. So if someone sees you wrapping up a bite of food that could be part of tomorrow's lunch, don't let him call you "cheap." Tell him you are economical. |
The adjective economical often describes someone who is frugal with money, but the word can apply to those who avoid wasting resources of any kind. An economical speaker, for example, avoids wasting words and doesn’t talk any more than is absolutely necessary. Someone who is economical with his time gets things done efficiently, just as an economical dishwasher uses the precise amount of water and electricity. |
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| 5769 |
unqualified |
not meeting the proper standards and requirements |
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If you're unqualified for something, you're not cut out to do it, often because you don't have the skills or knowledge you need. A dog trainer is most likely unqualified to perform brain surgery. |
The adjective unqualified is good for describing someone who isn't fit for a task or job. You wouldn't want an unqualified dentist to fill your cavity, and an unqualified babysitter might not even know how to change a diaper or put a bandage on a scraped elbow. Another way people can be unqualified is when they lack some necessary document — you're unqualified to teach in a public school, for example, without a state teaching certificate. |
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| 5770 |
vagabond |
a wanderer with no established residence or means of support |
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A vagabond is someone who moves around a lot. Picture Boxcar Willie, bandana on a stick thrown over his shoulder, going wherever the breeze takes him. |
Vagabond can also be an adjective, a nomadic tribe is a vagabond one, or the person who moved eight times in two years is living a vagabond life. It's from the Latin word vagabundus (from vagari, "wander") which means "inclined to wander." So — if you were born a ramblin' man, you might just be a vagabond. |
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| 5771 |
psychedelic |
producing distorted sensory perceptions and feelings |
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Psychedelic originally described drugs — especially LSD — that made users experience bizarre, mind-bending sounds and images, real and imagined. Soon psychedelic was also used for music, art, and colors that seemed to fit a drug-induced haze. |
Psychedelic art is wild, vivid, and might make you a little dizzy, like an electric pink tie-dyed t-shirt or a scene of phosphorescent green poodles in high heels, hiking the Alps against a purple-plaid sky. Psychedelic rock is heavy on electronic sounds and intricate instrumentation, in the style the Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, and the Beatles’ Sgt. Peppers album. The word, dating from the 1950s, comes from the Greek psyche, “soul, mind” and delos “clear” — just what psychedelic isn’t. |
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| 5772 |
gross |
lacking fine distinctions or detail |
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Get ready, because gross has a few different meanings. When something is gross, it's disgusting. The noun, a gross, is the complete amount (before expenses), and the verb "to gross" is to bring in money. |
Two things will tell you which meaning is the right one with a word like gross, the part of speech and the context. If you're talking about awful, sickening, vile things such as dissecting an animal or filthy behavior, you're looking at the adjective gross. Ew! That guy is gross. If you're talking about, say, how much money a movie made, that's the noun gross. That was the biggest gross in history! Likewise, the verb to gross is to pull in money. The bake sale grossed 29 bucks! But remember, the gross is how much you made in total, not how much you cleared — the "net" or "profit." |
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| 5773 |
merge |
mix together different elements |
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The verb merge means to seamlessly join something. For example, when you merge onto the highway, you need to smoothly join the traffic, forgetting everything you learned riding the bumper cars at the fair. |
If two or more things become one, they merge. If your favorite deli, The Cheese Stop, merges with a sandwich shop called Chez Lui, the two restaurants might also merge their names, becoming Chez Cheese. You can also use merge when things only appear to blend. You know it's time to go to sleep when the words in your book begin to merge together. |
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| 5774 |
entourage |
the group following and attending to some important person |
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You know that group of people — friends, assistants, bodyguards — that are always surrounding you everywhere you go? That's your entourage! |
Entourage comes from the French word entourer, meaning “to surround,” and means "the people who surround someone." It's also pronounced like a French word, ending with the soft sound “razh” (not “rage”): "ON-too-razh." The size of a pop star's entourage might grow with every hit record she releases. You know you've really made it when your entourage won't fit in one limo. |
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| 5775 |
enquiry |
an instance of questioning |
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The noun enquiry is a British spelling of the word "inquiry." Both words mean the act of asking questions to gain information. If you are in London, you can make enquiries about the opening times of the many museums there. |
Although enquiry is now considered the variant spelling in the United States, it was the original English spelling of the word that comes from the Old French word enquerre. The noun also means a systematic investigation, usually undertaken for the benefit of the public. If you discover pollution in your local river, the government may open an enquiry into the source of the pollution and ways to clean it up. |
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| 5776 |
remonstrate |
argue in protest or opposition |
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Remonstrate means to call someone on something that's wrong. If your mother yells at you in public, you might call this getting chewed out. She might call it remonstrating. Either way, it's embarrassing. |
Remonstrate has its roots in a Latin verb meaning "to show," and it used to mean "to make plain." Which is why remonstrate is a word that puts the glow of respectability on the action of yelling at someone or telling them that they're wrong. The sense is that the person remonstrating is the victim — they're just making the injustice plain. |
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| 5777 |
putrid |
of or relating to the process of decay |
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You know that science experiment that used to be lunch that is now rotting in the back of your fridge? Because it's decomposing and stinks to high heaven, you can call it putrid. |
The adjective putrid describes something that is rotting and has a foul odor, but it can also describe anything that is totally objectionable or exceptionally terrible. Something that is morally corrupt or evil can also be described with putrid: "The putrid politician took kickbacks for his vote at work and cheated on his wife at home." |
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| 5778 |
flak |
artillery designed to shoot upward at airplanes |
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If you’re taking flak, chances are you’re in a bad situation and taking fire from an enemy. Flak can refer to criticism — or worse, shots from an airplane. |
Flak came into English as an abbreviation for the German word Fliegerabwehrkanone, meaning 'aircraft-defense gun.' (Yikes! No wonder they abbreviated it.) If you’re dealing with a lot of flak, you’re either in a fighter plane over enemy territory drawing shots, or you’re dealing with a volley of criticism that seems like antiaircraft fire. If you show up late for work for a third day, you’ll probably take some flak from your coworkers — they’ll take verbal shots at you. |
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| 5779 |
atmospheric |
relating to or located in the mass of air surrounding Earth |
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Something that's atmospheric is related to a planet's atmosphere, or the gases that surround it. Atmospheric pollution can sometimes cause asthma and other breathing problems. |
All planets have an atmosphere, layers of gas that are held close to them by their gravitational pull. The atmospheric conditions on Earth have allowed many life forms to develop, but global warming is a serious atmospheric problem that is getting worse. Every planet has its own unique atmospheric makeup. The adjective atmospheric comes from atmosphere, which stems from the Greek root words atmos, "steam or vapor," and spharia, "sphere or globe." |
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| 5780 |
reversal |
the act of switching the order or place of |
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A reversal is a change of decision or direction, often to the opposite. You liked history, but thought you'd major in business because there were more jobs. Then you took an economics class and hated it. So in a reversal, you majored in history after all. |
In legal terms, a reversal is when a high court decides the decision of a lower court is incorrect and should be overturned. In a reversal, the Supreme Court overturned the guilty verdict of the lower court, and the prisoner was set free. A setback or a change in circumstances for the worse is also a reversal. If you make poor investments, you may suffer a reversal in fortune and go from shopping for designer clothes to shopping at thrift stores. |
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| 5781 |
ad hoc |
for or concerned with one specific purpose |
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If you call an ad hoc meeting of your knitting buddies, it means the meeting was formed for one particular reason — to knit. Anything ad hoc is either done for one specific purpose, or in an impromptu, last-minute way. |
Ad hoc comes from the Latin words meaning "for this." Often the term is used as a criticism, in the sense that something done ad hoc is done hastily and can be ill thought out, serving only to address a problem in the short term. Government programs are often described as ad hoc, for example. But the term can also imply a sense of ingenuity, of impromptu brilliance, or of something happily care-free and devoid of fuss. Like your ad hoc knitting event! |
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| 5782 |
bumble |
walk unsteadily |
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To bumble is to move or speak in an awkward, fumbling way. You might bumble your way through your first dance performance, tripping over your own two feet. |
When you bumble, you walk unsteadily or speak with a stutter. You can also bumble something, or completely mess it up. An inexperienced teacher might bumble her attempts at managing a huge class of middle school students, and you might worry that you'll bumble your first interview as a radio reporter. Bumble was first used in the 1500's, and it's probably an imitative word, or one that sounds like what it means. |
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| 5783 |
rapprochement |
the reestablishing of cordial relations |
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Rapprochement is the reestablishment of a happy relationship or arrangement. A peace treaty between warring nations is a kind of rapprochement. |
People who usually get along sometimes come into conflict: formerly allied nations go to war, friends feud, and spouses divorce. If a conflict ends and the parties go back to being on good terms, they achieve rapprochement. This term is most often used in international politics — for example, when two countries make peace after a long war, that's rapprochement. The word means "reunion" or "reconciliation" in French, and its root is rapprocher, "to bring near." |
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| 5784 |
cranny |
a small opening or crevice |
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A cranny is a little crack or narrow opening, Many cats like to settle themselves into any cranny they can find. |
A rock wall is full of crannies where you can fit your fingers and feet as you climb up, while a tree's crackly bark provides crannies for insects to hide in. It's pretty common to see the word cranny accompanied by nook: "When you vacuum the living room, don't forget about all the little nooks and crannies!" Cranny is a diminutive of the Old French cran, "notch or fissure," from crener, "to split." |
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| 5785 |
primal |
having existed from the beginning |
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The adjective primal describes something that's essential or basic, like the primal urge to protect yourself and your family from harm. |
The Latin root of primal is primus, which means first. If your friend talks about his primal self, he means the most basic, important part of who he is. You can think of this as a first priority, just as the primal urges of all animals is survival. Primal can also describe something that's original, or at its earliest stage, like a primal or primeval forest, the most ancient example of that kind of terrain. |
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| 5786 |
conveyance |
something that serves as a means of transportation |
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Conveyance is a formal word that can mean either the transportation of something from one place to another, or the vehicle that does the transporting. |
Conveyance is a rather archaic — or old-fashioned — way to describe a mode of transportation. It's easy to imagine someone in the 1800s asking for a horse and carriage as their conveyance to a friend's house. Today, we'd skip the formalities and simply jump in the car and drive there ourselves. In its less common usage, a conveyance is a legal document that transfers ownership of a property from one person to another. |
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| 5787 |
integrated |
formed or united into a whole |
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Things or people that are integrated have been brought together, so that they live or work together. They're no longer apart or segregated. |
When something is integrated, it's united — different things are now together, especially things that used to be apart. Schools haven't always been integrated in this country. At one point, kids were assigned to different schools based on their race, until education became integrated. Computer programs are integrated when they work together well with other programs. If a doctor and pharmacist have access to the same files, then their records are integrated. Integrated things are together. |
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| 5788 |
differential |
a quality that distinguishes between similar things |
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Things that show a difference or act in different ways can be described as differential. You and your sister may get differential benefits from eating a vegetarian diet. |
You're most likely to come across the adjective differential in scholarly or scientific writing — it's really just a more formal way to say "different" or "differing." Sociological studies or articles often describe differential circumstances or outcomes, like the differential effects on various children of being raised with one parent. The Latin differentia is at the root of differential — it means "diversity or difference," and it comes from differre, "to set apart." |
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| 5789 |
fend |
try to manage without help |
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If you get along on your own, with no assistance from another person, you can say that you fend for yourself. |
A solo hiker on the Appalachian Trail fends for herself, managing the challenges without help. When the verb fend is used this way, it is almost always followed by "for oneself" or "for himself" or "for herself," and it's been in use since the 1600's. It originated as a shortened form of the verb defend, from the Latin root defendere, "to ward off, protect, or guard." |
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| 5790 |
covetous |
immoderately desirous of acquiring something |
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To be covetous of something is to want it and to be a little jealous of anyone who has it. The advertising industry’s goal is to make you covetous of the things that other people have — that way, you'll buy them. |
If you feel the desire to own an object, specifically something that your friend owns, you are covetous of it. You might be covetous of her new high-speed digital camera. There is a commandment in Christianity about not feeling covetous toward your neighbor’s spouse: this could apply to a situation when you might find yourself attracted to your friend’s girlfriend, boyfriend, husband, or wife. Best to smother those feelings, if you want to keep that friendship. |
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| 5791 |
uncontrollable |
incapable of being restrained or managed |
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Uncontrollable things can't be managed or influenced. An uncontrollable three-year-old can be a handful, while a politician with an uncontrollable desire for power can be dangerous. |
If you fly off the handle at the smallest irritation, snapping angrily at the people around you, you have an uncontrollable temper. And when you and your best friend burst into giggles in the middle of chemistry class, it's uncontrollable laughter that's going to get you in trouble. When something is controllable, it can be restricted or restrained. Add the "not" prefix un-, and you've got something uncontrollable. |
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| 5792 |
upstanding |
meriting respect or esteem |
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The adjective upstanding is good for describing someone who is a good and honorable person, like your trusted best friend. |
A person with a reputation for honesty and strong morals can be called upstanding. The word is often paired with citizen, especially when someone's talking about a public or well-known figure: "Everyone knows the high school principal is an upstanding citizen." Its root is Old English, and the earliest meaning was literally "standing up." It wasn't until the 1860's that upstanding gained the meaning of "honest and respectable." |
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| 5793 |
solecism |
a socially awkward or tactless act |
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Ever snore at the opera? Burp at the dinner table? Forget your mom's birthday? Probably all three, right? Well, don't worry. Instead of just screwing up, what you did was commit a solecism. Sounds kinda neat that way, huh? |
The origin of solecism comes from the ancient Greek word meaning "speaking incorrectly," and solecism does have another meaning that's more specifically verbal. If you say something incorrectly, or make a grammatical error in writing, that's also a solecism. It can be just as mortifying as burping at the dinner table. Well, almost. |
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| 5794 |
aegis |
armor plate that protects the chest |
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To be under the aegis of an organization is to be sponsored or protected by them. For instance, you were under the aegis of the Peace Corps when you were living in Swaziland. |
The noun aegis comes from the Greek word Aigis, which was the name of Zeus’s shield. That’s Zeus, the most powerful Greek god, who probably had a pretty tough shield, even though it was made of goatskin. To say that something or someone is under the aegis of another is basically saying that they have the strength of Zeus on their side. Or, at least, whoever is protecting them will be as Zeus-like as possible in their support. |
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| 5795 |
warp |
bend or twist out of shape |
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To warp is to bend, twist, or otherwise become misshapen. Wooden furniture left outside in the rain will often warp from the moisture. |
Getting wet makes some things warp, while plastic has a tendency to warp in the hot sun. Sometimes people use the word colloquially to mean "have a bad or distorting influence on," as when a politician insists that video games warp kids' minds. In weaving, the warp is all of the threads running one direction — the ones that are woven over and under the warp are called the weft. |
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| 5796 |
constituent |
one of the individual parts making up a composite entity |
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Constituent means part of a whole, as in "we'll break this down into its constituent parts." The word comes up often in political contexts: constituents are the people politicians have been elected to represent. |
To understand constituent, look at constitute, which means to make up. A politician's electorate is constituted of individual constituent voters. Chex Party Mix is constituted of a delightful mix of constituent parts: Chex cereal, pretzels, cheese doodles and those little orange stick things no one has a name for. |
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| 5797 |
perverse |
deviating from what is considered moral or right or proper |
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Something that's perverse is deviant — it's not completely acceptable, and it may be even a little strange. Your perverse sense of humor probably makes some of your friends laugh while others just look uncomfortable. |
Something perverse is unusual, possibly somewhat weird, and even immoral, like that time the odd kid in class announced that a love poem was really all about lovingly poisoning squirrels and no one sat next to him for a week afterwards. That kid's perspective was perverse. Perverse can also mean "stubbornly contradictory" or "perverted." The word originally meant "wicked," from the Latin perversus,"turned away or askew," and figuratively, "turned away from what is right." |
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| 5798 |
pomposity |
lack of elegance from being puffed up with vanity |
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The noun pomposity means super-sized self-confidence. A person who thinks he or she is better than every else suffers from pomposity — and everyone in that person's life suffers, too. |
Pomposity, pronounced "pahm-POSS-ih-tee," isn't just for arrogant people. Things can have this unpleasant quality, too. For example, the pomposity of an award ceremony that presents the winners and judges as the most important people who ever lived will leave viewers cold. Language can also be a victim of pomposity — when someone says, "We dined at our beloved little bistro," another person would say, "We ate at our favorite neighborhood joint." |
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| 5799 |
dilate |
become wider |
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To dilate something is to make it wider. When the light fades, the pupil of your eye will dilate, meaning it looks bigger. |
The verb dilate comes from the Latin word dilatare, which means “enlarge” or “spread out.” When something stretches, expands, or becomes wider, it is said to dilate. Usually the word dilate is used when the opening of something circular becomes larger, but every so often you might hear someone refer to the need to dilate someone's understanding of quantum physics, global warming, livestock breeding, or any other topic. |
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| 5800 |
magnetic |
of or relating to or caused by attraction for iron |
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Things that are magnetic are attracted to metal. Also, people with charisma are called magnetic. If everything is attracted to you, whether you’re a refrigerator door or a rock star, you’re magnetic. |
Magnetic literally refers to something that attracts metal, like iron or steel. Refrigerator doors are magnetic, so magnets stick to it. Also, someone who is very popular and attracts people has a magnetic personality. A powerful speaker who attracts many fans has a magnetic way of speaking. Magnetic people make you want to get closer, like you’re being pulled by their magical magnetic force. Both senses of magnetic have to do with attraction. |
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| 5801 |
detritus |
loose material that is worn away from rocks |
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There aren't many things more depressing than walking on a beautiful beach and discovering a stretch of it that's covered in detritus. Detritus means trash or debris. |
Usually, detritus refers to waste or junk of some kind, but it can actually mean any accumulation of material, not only man-made stuff. Loose gravel, silt, and sand can all be called detritus, and so can decomposed organic matter, like piles of dead leaves. The Latin word detritus literally means "a wearing away." |
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| 5802 |
ruffle |
stir up (water) so as to form ripples |
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A ruffle a pleated piece of decorative fabric often used as trim on clothes, like the ruffles on a pirate’s shirt. To ruffle is to make someone lose their composure. Argh. |
The word ruffle is mysterious, but it might be from the Low German word ruffelen which means "to wrinkle." A ruffle on the bottom of a dress is like a fancy wrinkle. To ruffle someone is to upset them, and they’ll need to get straightened out. Often, this word is used in the expression "ruffle their feathers." Hearing bad news will ruffle most people's feathers. An unruffled person and an unruffled shirt will both be smoother. |
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| 5803 |
snoop |
watch, observe, or inquire secretly |
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When you snoop, you poke around in someone else's business. A teenager might snoop in her sister's room, looking for her diary. |
You snoop when you rustle through someone's garbage looking for love letters, and if you spy on your neighbor through the curtains, you also snoop. In fact, if you spend enough time doing this, you'll be called a snoop — a sneaky busybody. The earliest meaning of snoop, "to go around in a prying manner," comes from the Dutch word snoepen, "to pry." |
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| 5804 |
vaporize |
turn into gas |
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To vaporize is to evaporate and turn into gas. If you're watching a sci-fi movie, it probably means to vanish quickly or be utterly obliterated by a phaser gun. |
As the structure of the word suggests, vaporize means "turn into vapor." Sometimes this means just turning into gas, like when boiling water turns into steam and rises into the atmosphere. Other times, something more concentrated is left behind, like when maple sap is boiled down into syrup. And in the greenhouse (or grocery store produce section), to vaporize is also to spray your green things with a light coating of mist. |
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| 5805 |
fluent |
expressing yourself readily, clearly, effectively |
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To be fluent in something — like a language or an instrument — is to be able to use it smoothly and effortlessly. |
It takes many years and lots of practice to become fluent in a second language. But when you're finally fluent, you can understand it, speak it, and write easily in it. One French class won't make you fluent — gaining fluency takes years. You can also be fluent in other things that you've practiced and mastered, like cello or computer programming. If you're doing something in a way that makes it look easy, you're fluent. |
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| 5806 |
combative |
having or showing a ready disposition to fight |
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Someone combative likes to fight, whether with fists or words. |
See the word combat in combative? That's a clue to this word's meaning. Since combat is a type of fighting — usually in war — anyone described as combative likes to fight or just can't help getting in fights. A frequent barroom brawler is combative, but so is someone who is always starting arguments. Using swear words and constantly contradicting people could be considered combative behavior. People who are combative are also often described as hostile, angry, or pugnacious. |
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| 5807 |
nil |
a quantity of no importance |
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Use the word nil to mean "zero," especially when you're talking about scores in a sporting event: "the final score was twelve-nil." |
Saying nil instead of zero or nothing is much more common in Britain than in the United States. In the U.S. you might hear a tennis score include the word nil, while in the U.K. it's a common term for cricket and football scores as well. There's also a common British medical usage, "nil by mouth," a doctor's instruction not to eat or drink before surgery. Nil is a contraction of the Latin word for "nothing," nihil. |
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| 5808 |
fabrication |
the act of making a product from raw materials |
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A fabrication is something made up, like a lie. Telling your boss that the subway broke down when in fact you just forgot to set your alarm is a fabrication. |
The word fabrication was originally used to talk about manufacturing or construction, and it referred to the act of assembling something. Tires and steering wheels are necessary materials for automobile fabrication. Nowadays, the word fabrication is usually used to refer to the act of coming up with a story out of thin air. In this sense, a book of fiction is a fabrication, as is the lie you tell your girlfriend to explain why you forgot her birthday (again). |
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| 5809 |
underrate |
make too low an estimate of |
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To underrate something is to underestimate its value. If critics underrate a great movie, they don't give it enough credit for its brilliant acting and well-written script. |
If most people underrate the Polish restaurant in your neighborhood, they'll be pleasantly surprised once they give it a try. High school football players tend to underrate the importance of gracefulness in their sport, and your math teacher may underrate the amount of time it takes you to do your calculus homework. The verb underrate has been around since the 1640's, although back then it was generally spelled with a hyphen: under-rate. |
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| 5810 |
symptomatic |
relating to sensations experienced by a patient |
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Anything symptomatic relates to the symptoms of a disease. If you're symptomatic, you might be sick. |
A symptom is a sign of a disease or illness. Symptoms of a cold include a stuffed nose and cough. So if you have a cough, you're symptomatic. Being symptomatic means you're showing symptoms of something. Sometimes you can be symptomatic and not have an illness: the doctor might not be sure why you're having headaches, for example. |
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| 5811 |
seamy |
morally degraded |
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Things that are seamy have lost all morality. Your mother wouldn't approve of you going to a seamy video arcade, especially not if you went with a group of seamy people. |
The seamy people at that video arcade could also be called "sleazy" or “a bad crowd.” A house that’s falling down could also be seamy, and so is the bar on the corner where not even your uncle will go. If you find yourself in a seamy situation, the best thing to do is get out before you find yourself turning seamy, corrupted by the seamy folk lurking about. |
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| 5812 |
wasteland |
an uninhabited wilderness that is worthless for cultivation |
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A wasteland is someplace that's empty and desolate, with no sign of life or growth. An area may be a wasteland because of toxic materials in the soil, or due to climate conditions like strong winds. |
You can't grow anything in a wasteland, despite all that open space — typically, the soil doesn't have enough nutrients for plants to survive. Sometimes a barren area with limited biodiversity is called a wasteland, though a few species do grow there. A neglected urban area, like an empty lot or a playground that's unused and in disrepair, might also be called a wasteland. T.S. Eliot's most famous poem, "The Waste Land," alludes to a wasteland from Arthurian legend. |
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| 5813 |
freak |
a person or animal that is markedly unusual or deformed |
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Freak is a not-so-nice noun that refers to either a person who expresses such an intense obsession with something that it resembles addiction, or a person or animal that is monstrous and deformed. |
Synonyms for freak, when used to describe something or something abnormal, include anomaly, chimera, misshape, and oddity. Weirdo is slang for freak, and regular is its antonym. People who ardently adore a particular type of music, like heavy metal, or who have many piercings or identify with a subculture, are often labeled freak. A freak occurrence, on the other hand, is not necessarily a bad thing, but connotes something irregular or unexpected. A freak of nature can lead to thunder-snow, and a freak accident can lead to, well, a missing ear or toe. |
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| 5814 |
shaky |
vibrating slightly and irregularly |
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Something shaky is trembling — or just feels like it. When we're not confident, we feel shaky. |
Being shaky is something that happens to us all. The first day of a job or class can make anyone feel shaky — even the teacher or boss. When you get extremely nervous, your hands might literally shake. That's not fun, but it might help you remember what shaky means. A building in an earthquake and a tree in the wind can also be shaky. One person we hope is not shaky — in either way — is a surgeon. |
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| 5815 |
precipitant |
done with very great haste and without due deliberation |
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A precipitant is a cause or reason for some event. So if you skip your Biology test on March 17th, your parents might deduce that your enjoyment of the St. Patrick's Day parade was a precipitant of your actions. |
See the pre in precipitant? Since pre means "before," you can remember that a precipitant always comes before something else. Precipitant can also mean "hasty" — a precipitant marriage is one where both parties marry too quickly. Not to be confused with percipient, meaning someone with unusual sensitivity and understanding of people and events. A percipient person would never skip his Biology test. |
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| 5816 |
constrict |
squeeze or press together |
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To constrict is to squeeze uncomfortably. If your new turtleneck sweater constricts your neck, the sweater is probably too small. |
When things constrict, they become narrow or make something else become narrow. A boa constrictor kills its prey when it constricts the animal's body until it can no longer breathe, and a necktie that's tied too tightly constricts your neck. In medicine, certain conditions or medications can constrict openings such as airways or blood vessels, sometimes dangerously. The Latin root is constringere, "to bind together or tie tightly." |
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| 5817 |
tasty |
pleasing to the palate |
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Things that taste great are tasty. You could describe your favorite foods, from doughnuts to baked ziti, as tasty. |
While tasty basically means the same thing as yummy or flavorful, it implies a less serious compliment than the word delicious, for example. Potato chips are tasty, and so are grilled cheese sandwiches and soft serve ice cream cones. They're pleasant and appetizing, but not necessarily the most amazing food you've ever eaten. Tasty once had a secondary meaning of "elegant" or "tasteful." |
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| 5818 |
lag |
hang or fall in movement, progress, development, etc. |
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When you can't keep up with your fellow marathon runners, you can say that you lag behind them. |
The word lag describes a kind of slowness or delay. As a noun, it means a slowing: "The coach was disappointed by the lag in her swimmers' best times that day." When you lag behind someone, you fall back or don't measure up. A student who struggles with math, for example, might say that his grades lag behind his best friend's. In the 1550s, lag meant "last person." |
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| 5819 |
remorseful |
feeling or expressing pain or sorrow for sins or offenses |
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The adjective remorseful is good for describing someone who is really, really sorry — like a teenager who borrows his parents' car without asking and drives it into a tree. |
Someone who feels remorseful has usually done something that he or she now feels guilty about. A defendant at a murder trial might be remorseful, and so might a little girl who has accidentally stepped on her cat's tail. The word remorseful means "full of remorse," and remorse comes from the Latin word remordere, "vex," or literally "to bite back." A popular phrase in Medieval Latin was remorsus conscientiæ, or "a biting back of one's conscience." |
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| 5820 |
tincture |
a substances that colors metals |
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A tincture is a trace or indication that reveals the presence of something. In pharmacology, a tincture is type of medicine extracted from a plant in an alcohol solution. |
There are many meanings to the word tincture, but most of them involve something that leaves a trace or residue. A barrel-aged drink could have a tincture of oak. After a breakup, seeing an old flame could leave a tincture of sadness. When making drugs, a tincture is created by soaking a plant in an alcohol solution: traces of the plant are absorbed into the alcohol, creating medicine. The root is the Latin word tinctura, "act of dying or tingeing." |
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| 5821 |
batch |
a collection of things or persons to be handled together |
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A batch is a completed group, collection, or quantity of something, especially something that's just been made. You might, for example, bake a batch of cookies to take to your new neighbor. |
A company that makes soap might deliver a batch, loaded on a truck, to a new store in Vermont, and if you manage a bakery you might declare, "That's it! This is our last batch of gingerbread until next year!" In computer lingo, a batch is, similarly, a group or collection of records. The Old English root, bæcce, means "something baked," from bacan, "bake." |
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| 5822 |
preempt |
acquire for oneself before others can do so |
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If everyone at the lunch meeting is vying for the last roast beef sandwich, but you grab it first, you preempt your colleagues from getting it. Let them eat liverwurst. Preempt means to displace or take something before others can. |
Preempt combines the Latin prefix prae- "before" with emere "to buy." Think old-fashioned land grabs, midnight madness sales, and seating at concerts. It can also mean to replace one thing with another that’s more important. For instance, if the president is speaking or the football game is running long, brace yourself; the network just might preempt your favorite show. |
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| 5823 |
effervesce |
become bubbly or frothy or foaming |
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When things effervesce, they fizz and froth like a carbonated drink. Champagne is a well known sweet wine that effervesces. |
Anything that bubbles in a foamy, frothy way can be said to effervesce. Soda poured over ice in a glass effervesces, and waves on a beach sometimes effervesce as they break, leaving tiny bubbles on the sand. Things that are bubbly or carbonated are effervescent — and both words come from a Latin root, effervescere, "to boil up or boil over," combining ex, "out," and fervescere, "begin to boil." |
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| 5824 |
civilized |
having a high state of culture and social development |
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Someone who is cultured and polite — who knows to put his dinner napkin on his lap — is civilized. So could you please behave in a civilized manner and get your feet off the dinner table? |
Civilized is an adjective that describes the very opposite of barbarity. A civilized person is polite and courteous; he knows how to say "please" and "thank you." A civilized group of people is characterized by being socially and technologically advanced. Both dinner parties and fancy computer gadgets are signs of a civilized people. That friend of yours who likes to show people how he can belch the entire alphabet? Maybe not. |
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| 5825 |
orbit |
the path of a celestial body in its revolution about another |
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To orbit is to follow a circular or elliptical path around a central body. Usually a planet, moon or satellite is described as orbiting, but a child who has too much sugar can sometimes orbit around his parents in an annoying fashion. |
Orbit comes from the Latin orbita, “course,” or “track.” The verb orbit is the act of revolving around another object, usually on a circular or elliptical course. Many planets, moons, stars, meteors spacecraft and other objects in outer space orbit around each other. Electrons also orbit around the nucleus of an atom. The noun orbit is the path the object in orbit takes: "The Earth’s orbit around the Sun takes one year to complete." |
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| 5826 |
propinquity |
the property of being close together |
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Ah propinquity, a word meaning "proximity or physical closeness." Your propinquity to someone in a conversation will affect whether you can smell his breath or not. |
Propinquity had a brief moment in the sun on a television show in the 1950s called Dobie Gillis. There was an episode in which the nerdy girl, who was in love with Dobie Gillis, decided to get him to love her back. How? Propinquity! And so she explained it to him, over and over and over, theorizing that just being near someone long enough would tip them over the edge into love. Sadly for her, it didn’t work, but everyone who has ever seen or heard of the episode has the meaning of propinquity burned into their brain. |
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| 5827 |
expansive |
able or tending to extend in one or more directions |
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Expansive is all about being able to grow or get larger. An expansive piece of land is large, an expansive mind is one that is always thinking of the big picture, an expansive vocabulary is one that holds lots of words. |
Warning: don't confuse expansive, "large," with expensive, "high priced." They differ by only one letter but mean very different things. A Big Mac may contain what McDonald's advertizes as an expansive all-beef patty, but it isn't expensive food. |
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| 5828 |
propagation |
the act of producing offspring |
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If your dog is about to have puppies, then she's is engaged in the propagation of dogs, the creation of new life to further the species. |
Propagation has two main uses, both having to do with multiplying something. If it's used in relation to creatures, that means that the creatures are multiplying — having kids. A synonym for this is procreation. We also propagate ideas. Use propagation for anything that multiplies and spreads through larger and larger numbers or spaces — from the propagation of weeds in your garden to the propagation of belief in the divinity of snowmen. In physics, propagation is wave movement. |
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| 5829 |
plentiful |
existing in great number or quantity |
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If something is plentiful, there is a lot of it. Also, plentiful things yield large amounts of something, like an abundant farm. Apples are plentiful in a plentiful year on an apple farm. |
Plentiful is an adjective to describe “many” or “a lot.” It’s plenty for “very much” and -ful for “full of” so plentiful is full of very much! It’s a word for “large amounts.” If you have plenty of potato chips, you have a plentiful supply of chips. Also, something that has or produces great amounts can be called plentiful. A tree that spawns many apples is plentiful. |
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| 5830 |
stodgy |
excessively conventional and unimaginative and hence dull |
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The Queen's guards outside Buckingham Palace might seem stodgy (or stuffy and stuck-up), but they are only doing their job. |
Stodgy is an adjective to describe anything dull, out-of-style, or even hard to digest. Just your luck getting stuck sitting next to stodgy Aunt Irma at Thanksgiving! From the looks of her stodgy moth-smelling clothes to her stodgy or dull conversation, chances are it will be a long meal. Just hope the mashed potatoes are light and fluffy. |
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| 5831 |
lark |
any of numerous birds noted for their singing |
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A lighthearted, fun episode is a lark. You could describe the wonderful day you spent with friends exploring little fishing towns along the coast of Maine as a lark. |
Often unplanned, a lark can happen when you are feeling adventurous. You might decide on a lark to audition for a reality show — and be picked! The act of trying something new like this can also be called larking. A lark is also a kind of songbird. Using lark to describe carefree fun might come from 1800s sailors' slang, skylark, to describe playing in the rigging of the ship, up high like a lark. |
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| 5832 |
handicap |
being unable to perform due to physical or mental unfitness |
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A mental or physical disadvantage, such as blindness or a missing leg, is a handicap: something that disables you in some way. Handicaps can also be imposed artificially to even out the odds in sporting events. |
A sporting handicap might be a faster horse carrying an extra weight, or a better golfer having a few strokes added to her score to make things more competitive. Sometimes fate imposes a handicap, as when bad weather handicaps your travel plans, or a strike handicaps the subway system. Handicap comes from the term hand in cap, an ancient British practice in which two bettors placed their money into a hat held by a neutral third party before a bet. |
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| 5833 |
proponent |
a person who pleads for a cause or propounds an idea |
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Proponent means someone who is in favor of something. You might be a proponent of longer vacations, but your parents are proponents of a longer school year. |
If you’re in favor of long school vacations, you’re pro or "for" long vacations. The prefix pro- also carries the meaning of “forward,” “ahead,” or “before.” All of these senses are at work in proponent: someone who suggests (puts forward) an idea or who is in favor of an idea. A proponent proposes an idea or advocates for a proposal or a proposition. |
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| 5834 |
matte |
not reflecting light; not glossy |
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Matte things aren't shiny, but instead have a somewhat dull or flat surface. When you print out a photo, you can usually choose between a glossy or matte finish. |
The matte surface of your new refrigerator doesn't reflect your image the way your old shiny stainless steel one did, and your grandmother's excessive use of face powder gives her skin a matte look. Wall paint can be purchased in different finishes, ranging from matte (or flat) to glossy. The French root is mat, "dead, dull surface," from the Old French meaning, "dull or dejected," which may stem from the Latin mattus, "maudlin with drink." |
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| 5835 |
encompass |
include in scope |
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Encompass means to contain. When you see the word, picture a campus which encompasses lecture halls, a football field, a medical center, a dining hall and some parking lots. |
Encompass can be used when talking about anything that contains something else. A lecture on Edward Hopper might encompass all aspects of his life and art, a work of art could encompass many techniques, and a policeman's jurisdiction may encompass an entire state. The continental U.S. encompasses 48 states. This entry encompasses many examples of the word encompass in use! |
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| 5836 |
piebald |
having sections or patches colored differently and brightly |
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Use the adjective piebald to describe something that has different colored patches — especially black and white patches. If you own a piebald horse, you could name him Spot. |
The adjective piebald is a combination of pie and bald. Pie was the original name for magpie a common European bird known for its black and white coloring. Bald did not mean hairless, but meant a white patch, especially on the head (think bald eagle). So something piebald has a combination of black and white coloring and still mostly refers to horses, although the word can refer to other multicolored things. |
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| 5837 |
differentiation |
a discrimination between things as distinct |
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Differentiation is how someone or something is set apart from others. If you make a differentiation between one brand of toothpaste and another, you point out how they're distinct. |
You can see the word different in differentiation. The -tion ending tips you off that differentiation is the noun form of different: differentiation refers to the differences themselves. Suppose two very similar movies come out at the same time. The studios will work to achieve differentiation in the films' trailers, with one highlighting the chemistry between the romantic leads and the other showing moments of slap-stick comedy. |
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| 5838 |
baroque |
relating to an elaborately ornamented style of art and music |
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Something baroque is overly ornate, like a paisley red velvet jacket with tassels, or music that has a lot going on and might include a harpsichord. |
Anything with a complicated design can be baroque but it also refers to a style of art, music, and architecture from 17th Century Italy (and is then sometimes capitalized). Although it has roots in the Portuguese word barroco meaning "imperfect pearl" not everything baroque is imperfect. Caravaggio and Rubens are considered baroque painters, and baroque composers include Vivaldi, Bach, and Handel. Although rococo and baroque both describe something over-the-top, sticklers will save baroque for something with heft and use rococo for lighter designs, like that velvet jacket. Historically, Rococo comes after the Baroque period. |
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| 5839 |
punctilious |
marked by precise accordance with details |
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A punctilious person pays attention to details. Are you always precisely on time? Is your room perfectly neat? Do you never forget a birthday or a library book's due date? Then you are one of the punctilious people. |
The adjective punctilious, pronounced "punk-TIL-ee-us," is related to the Italian word puntiglio, meaning "fine point." For someone who is punctilious no point is too fine, no detail too small, to be overlooked. The word is often used to describe people, but it can be used more broadly to apply to observations, behavior, or anything else that is characterized by close attention to detail. |
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| 5840 |
flimsy |
a thin strong lightweight translucent paper |
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You can describe weak, thin, and fragile things as flimsy. Onion smells are strong, onion skins are flimsy. Blaming onions for making you cry during a sad movie, that's a flimsy excuse, when there are no onions in the theater. |
A flimsy object and a flimsy objection or excuse are both without weight and are easy to knock down. You can see right through a flimsy curtain, and you can see right through a flimsy lie. If a tent or house of cards is flimsy, it will fall down with a slight breeze, and if your story isn't convincing anyone, it's probably weak and flimsy enough to flatten, too. |
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| 5841 |
budge |
move very slightly |
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To budge is to move — but just a little bit. People can budge physically from where they're sitting or standing, and people can budge from opinions and positions too. |
If a bunch of your friends are sitting on a bench, and they're taking up too much space for you to sit, you could ask them to budge, meaning "Move over!" If you hate eggs and refuse to eat them no matter how they're cooked, you are refusing to budge from your anti-egg policy. Budge is most often used in a negative way, as in "I won't budge" or "They wouldn't budge." This word often applies to stubborn people. Since budge means to move just a tiny bit, what's the big deal? Someone who accuses you of not budging is basically saying you should. |
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| 5842 |
crafty |
marked by skill in deception |
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If people call you crafty, they probably mean you are sly and a little deceptive. Then again, they could be saying that you are really good at knitting, beading, or turning old t-shirts into funky pillowcases. |
The adjective crafty comes from the Old English word cræftig, which meant “strong” or “powerful,” but the meaning of crafty these days has to do with being skilled at getting what you want through manipulation, deceit and trickery. Dickens’ Artful Dodger, the con-man from "Oliver Twist," is crafty. Handmade items, and sometimes the people who make them, can also be called crafty, like your crafty sister who always makes you unique birthday gifts. |
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| 5843 |
glamorous |
having an air of allure, romance and excitement |
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Movie stars look glamorous when they walk down the red carpet in their designer gowns. Glamorous means full of glamour, beauty, and excitement. |
Glamorous comes from the Scottish gramarye meaning "magic, enchantment, spell." See a glamorous woman walking down the street and you might be captivated or enchanted by her beauty. A person can appear or act glamorous. An event like a really over-the-top party can be glamorous. Or a lifestyle that one chooses for herself can be glamorous, full of parties and swanky events. |
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| 5844 |
permissive |
not strict in discipline |
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Being permissive is the opposite of being strict. Permissive parents let their kids stay up later and have more sweets. |
A permissive person is a little more lenient or loosey-goosey with the rules. A permissive teacher is easier on the students and lets them get away with more. A permissive coach will cut players slack during practices and games. Laws can be permissive too — about drugs, guns, and other things that could be tightly controlled. A permissive society is one with more freedom. When a situation is permissive, there's permission to do more things. |
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| 5845 |
abide |
dwell |
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Abide means to be able to live with, or stand. If you can't abide with something, it means you can't stand it. If you can abide it, it means you can live with it. |
An old definition of abide is 'to live'––think of abode, as in dwelling. If you abide by the rules, it means you live with them, and you will follow them. If you can't abide your sister's shrill violin playing, it means you can't live with it, you can't be in the house when she's practicing. You abide something you don't like, like your teacher's long stories about math. It's not a pleasant experience, but what choice do you have? |
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| 5846 |
calibrate |
make fine adjustments for optimal measuring |
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The word calibrate means making precise measurement. For example, you might want to calibrate your bathroom scale now and then to be sure it’s adjusted for exact weight. Or calibrate it to read five pounds light. We won't tell. |
To find the origin of calibrate, we must look at its root, caliber, which appeared in the late 15th Century Middle French as calibre, meaning "a degree of importance." Linguists trace that word to an Arabic beginning, the word qalib, which referred to a mold for making bullets. That meaning seems to have carried over to our word, the verb calibrate, which first meant to measure the range of a projectile such as a bullet or shell. |
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| 5847 |
hardy |
having rugged physical strength |
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Hardy means tough––if you're hardy, you don't get tired easily and can endure hardship. People who don't catch cold often attribute this fact to their coming from hardy farming stock. |
Before 1200, hardy indicated boldness and daring in battle and was probably influenced by hard. Warriors are hardy: they’re brave and strong and don’t easily tire. Plants and animals can also be hardy if they can survive harsh weather or poor growing conditions. When planting a lawn, you should pick hardy species of grass, which will survive droughts and come back after long, cold winters. |
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| 5848 |
prosody |
the study of poetic meter and the art of versification |
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Prosody is the rhythm and sounds used in poetry. Kids who can freestyle rap fit the prosody of their words to a rhythm that's already laid down. |
Prosody can also mean the study of the rhythms and sounds of language, and sometimes you can talk about the prosody of prose. It's about where the emphasis falls in the words and how those work together. When you read great writers like Alice Munro aloud, you will see that their prosody, as much as anything, is what carries the story forward. |
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| 5849 |
elephantine |
of great mass; huge and bulky |
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Something elephantine is huge, bulky, and a little clumsy, much like an elephant. Riding a bicycle in a rainstorm while trying to hold an elephantine super-sized soda is a bad idea. |
An elephant is one of the largest animals in the world — even the babies weigh more than most people! So, things that are also enormous can be called elephantine. Other big animals — like whales — are elephantine. A cake that could feed fifty people is elephantine. If you owe a lot of money, that’s an elephantine debt. Elephantine things can also be unwieldy and bulky or just plain huge. Anything elephantine is extra-large. |
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| 5850 |
insubordinate |
not submissive to authority |
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If you want to be insubordinate, go ahead and break the rules, ignore orders, and act like a disobedient rebel. |
Words that have similar meanings to insubordinate include "rebellious" and "mutinous." But while insubordinate people don't follow orders, rebellious folks openly defy them and mutinous groups try to overthrow the authority that created them. When baseball player Jackie Robinson objected to racial discrimination in the Army in the 1940s, he was accused of being insubordinate. He was court martialed, but found innocent and acquitted. |
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| 5851 |
perpendicular |
intersecting at or forming right angles |
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Two lines that form a T are perpendicular to each other. They meet at a right angle. A person who is standing is perpendicular to the earth. |
Perpendicular is used to describe lines, angles and direction. In geometry a perpendicular angle is 90 degrees, a perfect L. On a compass, East and North are perpendicular to each other. The term can be used more generally to describe any steep angle. You might talk about a ski slope that is nearly perpendicular. That's impossible; gravity would make you fall off a 90-degree angle. But if it's close enough, no one's really measuring. |
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| 5852 |
unfeigned |
not pretended; sincerely felt or expressed |
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Feign means to fake, or pretend, so unfeigned means sincere. If you greet a friend with unfeigned joy, she'll know you are happy to see her. |
Unfeigned is a delightful word, pertaining as it often does to young, innocent, and trusting people––the ones who cannot hide their feelings. Who wants fake laughs when you can have unfeigned laughter? Or fake tears when unfeigned sorrow is so much more affecting? When spelling unfeigned, remember the poem: "'i' before 'e,' except after 'c,' or when sounding like 'a,' as in 'neighbor' or 'weigh'." Or unfeigned. |
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| 5853 |
unbelievable |
beyond understanding |
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The word unbelievable describes something that is beyond understanding, like the idea, until the Middle Ages, that the earth might actually be round. |
Unbelievable refers to something that seems incredible (Did you hear the story about the guy who was rescued after being stranded at sea for 6 months on a sailboat?), but it can also refer to something that's so unlikely, so improbable, that you're probably not going to be convinced by it (Hey, did you hear the story about the guy who was rescued after being stranded at sea for 6 months with only a log to keep him afloat?). |
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| 5854 |
link |
connect, fasten, or put together two or more pieces |
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Before it was the universal word for traveling around the Internet, link was just a connection or a device that connects things, like the links in a chain. |
Much of what humans do in their day-to-day life involves looking for links — or relationships between people and things. When there is a link, that means two things are connected — such as "the link between smoking and lung cancer." Some people even create links, like butchers who make sausage links and website developers who hyperlink the sites you visit to ensure that you spend far too much time clicking around the Web. |
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| 5855 |
contort |
twist and press out of shape |
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To contort something is to bend or twist it out of its original shape. Faces are often said to contort with one particular emotion or another. |
In general contort refers to something that is fairly adaptable and can return to its previous shape. A face, after it has contorted with rage, for example, will return to its normal expression (unless you've done something really bad.). If you bend or twist your sister's doll, you "break it" rather than "contort it." |
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| 5856 |
acclivity |
an upward slope or grade, as in a road |
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An acclivity might be something to dread if you ride a bike a lot. An acclivity is an uphill slope, so you’ll have to pedal a little harder to get to the top. |
The word acclivity traces back to the Latin word acclivis, meaning “ascending,” which is a combination of ad-, meaning “toward,” and clivus, meaning “slope.” If you encounter an acclivity, it’s going to be all uphill until you get to the top. The opposite of an acclivity is a declivity, which has a similar Latin origin. In the case of declivity, it’s the de- prefix, meaning “down,” that moves things in the opposite direction and gives it the meaning of “downhill slope.” |
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| 5857 |
concourse |
a wide hallway in a building where people can walk |
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The wide, open area that's either inside or in front of a building is called a concourse. A concourse is often located where many paths or hallways meet. |
Many kinds of buildings have a concourse, including train stations, airports, hotels, and shopping malls. Concourses are large enough for many people to congregate there — and this crowd or gathering of people can also be called a concourse. A movie star visiting a small city might find himself surrounded by a huge concourse of fans asking for autographs. The Latin root is concursus, "a running together," and the word's original sense was "the flowing of a crowd of people." |
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| 5858 |
splurge |
indulge oneself |
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To splurge is to indulge yourself. You can also go on a splurge if you spend a lot or act extravagantly in another way. |
Anyone might have a cupcake. If you have 10 cupcakes, that's a splurge. When you go on a splurge or are splurging, it usually applies to money. Splurging happens when you see a lot of things you want — or even one very expensive thing — and buy it, even though you might not be able to afford it. When you splurge, you're going wild in some way. A splurge is sometimes called a binge. |
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| 5859 |
involvement |
the act of sharing in the activities of a group |
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Involvement is the act of participating in something. Even if you do nothing but drive the getaway car, you will be held to account for your involvement in a crime. |
Involvement is useful because it is not specific. If, over the course of many years, you play and then coach football, you might refer to the time of your involvement in the sport. If you are engaged in a love affair, you might say, without going into too much detail, that you and your lover are involved and refer to the affair as your involvement. |
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| 5860 |
conservatoire |
a schoolhouse with special facilities for fine arts |
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A school that specializes in teaching students how to perform or compose music is called a conservatoire. |
Use the noun conservatoire to describe a music school — you might also call it a conservatory. Some conservatoires focus exclusively on teaching music, while others combine music instruction with academics, drama, or dance. The word conservatoire is French, and it comes from the Latin root conservare, which means "to preserve." Originally, a conservatoire was a "hospital for foundlings in which musical education was given." |
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| 5861 |
deadpan |
deliberately impassive in manner |
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Use the word deadpan to describe someone who uses no expression when speaking, such as the deadpan way some comedians deliver even their funniest jokes — which can make them even funnier. |
Deadpan dates to 1928, when pan was slang for "face." So if you seem to have a "dead face" as you say something, it means your face looks very blank — no energy or animation. Deadpan is associated with sarcasm, and like sarcasm, if you use it for comic effect, there's a risk your audience won't pick up on it. Nevertheless, deadpan humor can be funny and popular — witness the success of deadpan humor in the sitcom Seinfeld. |
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| 5862 |
bewitch |
cast a spell over someone or something |
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To bewitch is to cast a spell on someone with witchcraft or to capture their attention in another way. You might bewitch someone with your beauty or with your potion. The choice is yours. |
The word witch is a big clue to what bewitching means. In a Halloween story, if a witch casts a spell over someone to control them, that's an example of bewitching. Bewitching happens in the real world when something captures your attention or attracts you. A fascinating storyteller bewitches you. When people fall in love, they bewitch one another. |
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| 5863 |
raze |
tear down so as to make flat with the ground |
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Raze means to tear an object down to the ground. Before a real estate developer can raze a family's home to build another skyscraper, he's going to have to cut them a big check. |
Raze is most often used to refer to knocking buildings down for construction projects, but it can also describe tearing down other objects. You can raze the sand dunes in order to make the beach perfectly flat. Raze comes from the word rasen, meaning "to scrape or erase," and it sounds similar to the word erase, which can help you remember its meaning. If you raze something, in a way it has been erased — it no longer exists in its previous form. |
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| 5864 |
churning |
(of a liquid) agitated vigorously; in a state of turbulence |
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Use the adjective churning to describe a liquid that's being powerfully moved around. A boat on a churning lake will be tossed around on its surface. |
A churning sea is the result of a violent storm that blows against the water and produces large waves. You could even describe your churning stomach when you're incredibly nervous about giving a speech or making a presentation. In either case, there's an intense kind of agitation going on. The root of churning is the Old English cyrin, related to cyrnel, or "kernel," which describes the way churned cream looks grainy or gritty. |
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| 5865 |
thoughtfulness |
kind and considerate regard for others |
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Someone who considers other people's feelings has the quality of thoughtfulness. It takes real thoughtfulness to comfort a friend who's recently lost his pet cat. |
When you remember to bring doughnuts for everyone at work, that's thoughtfulness, and it's thoughtfulness that inspires you to send your grandmother a thank you note for your birthday gift. Another kind of thoughtfulness describes deliberate thinking before doing something. It might, for example, require some thoughtfulness to figure out how to hook up your new TV. The word comes from the adjective thoughtful, which originally meant "moody or anxious," but came to mean "considerate" in the 1850's. |
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| 5866 |
hector |
be bossy towards |
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To hector is to boss around or verbally bully someone. An older brother might hector his little sister until she hands over part of her Halloween candy. |
When you bombard someone with words, nagging and badgering until you get what you want, you hector. A teacher might feel the need to hector a class that consistently forgets to hand in homework assignments, and a playground bully might hector another child to give him her lunch money. The verb hector comes from the character in Greek mythology — Hector — who rallied the Trojans to keep fighting. |
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| 5867 |
gleeful |
full of high-spirited delight |
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If you're gleeful, you're delighted or joyful. The sound of children's gleeful laughter is one sign of a successful birthday party. |
When you feel gleeful, you're more than happy: you're exuberant and joyous. A friend's gleeful face tells you she's gotten great news or heard a hilarious joke, and gleeful kids will sometimes even scream with joy. In the 17th century, the alternate adjective gleesome competed with gleeful — both come from an Old English root, gliu, which means "mirth, play, sport," and also "music" and "mockery." |
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| 5868 |
sibilant |
of speech sounds forcing air through a constricted passage |
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Something that’s sibilant has a hissing sound, like when the librarian says, “Shhhhhhhh!” |
Sibilant entered English in the 17th century from the Latin word sibilant-, meaning “hissing.” When you listen to a foreign language that’s full of hissy “es” or “sh” or “zzz” sounds, those sounds are called sibilants. The sound is made by forcing air out toward your teeth. Try it: say “sash.” That’s a sibilant. As an adjective, use sibilant to describe something characterized by that hissing sound. Your sibilant whisper probably will be heard by the librarian. |
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| 5869 |
deadlock |
a situation in which no progress can be made |
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Use the noun deadlock to describe a standstill, as when two people or sides cannot move beyond a disagreement. |
Deadlock can also mean a game that results in an unbreakable tie or a stalemate, like when you are in a five-hour thumb-wrestling match with no winner. You can easily remember the meaning of this compound word, by thinking about its two word parts — dead + lock. The first appearance of deadlock was in The Critic, a play by Richard Brinsley Sheridan: “I have them all at a deadlock, for every one of them is afraid to let go first.” |
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| 5870 |
trance |
a psychological state induced by a magical incantation |
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If your eyes are open but you're not fully awake and in control, you may be in trance. Someone might have hypnotized you, or just a glimpse of your latest heartthrob might send you into a trance. |
Trances don’t have to be magic or mysterious — when you avoid facing your problems head-on, you’re creating your own trance. President Obama once said, speaking of America's decades-long dependence on foreign oil, "We cannot keep going from shock when prices go up, to trance when they go back down." He meant that when prices rise, we all complain, but when they fall, we forget we ever had a problem and refuse to change a thing. |
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| 5871 |
badger |
sturdy carnivorous burrowing mammal with strong claws |
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Badger is to bother. Persistently. On and on. Without stop. Relentlessly. Over and over. Endlessly. It comes from the name of that chipmunk-like animal that burrows into the ground. |
If you badger someone, you get under their skin. A badger is an animal that digs tunnels under ground to keep warm. To badger can also mean to persuade someone through constant annoying efforts. You might badger your mom to add another hour to your curfew or badger your friend to give you a turn with a video game he has been hogging. |
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| 5872 |
banality |
a trite or obvious remark |
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A banality is a trite, boring, or overused remark. That includes clichés like "life is short" and your basic small talk about the weather. |
Banalities are sayings that almost everyone uses, and because they're so well-known, they've lost all their power. These expressions are clichéd and many people find them annoying. "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade" is one good example. When you're writing or speaking, you're much better off trying to find fresh language because one tends to hear the same old banalities again and again. |
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| 5873 |
orison |
reverent petition to a deity |
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An orison is a prayer or plea to a deity. You might make an orison if you wanted your sick mom to get better. |
Some words are considered archaic — meaning they are not in common modern use. Such a word is orison, which means a prayer. Today, you'd be surprised to see the word outside of a poem or some liturgical reference. This comes from a Latin word meaning to speak, and it means to speak to God. It's a poetic word Shakespeare used in Romeo and Juliet, when Juliet says, "I have need of many orisons" as she prepares to deceive her parents. |
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| 5874 |
sneak |
to go stealthily or furtively |
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The word sneak has many shades of meaning, but all involve doing something in a secretive or stealthy way. If you sneak home after midnight, that means you’re quietly creeping into the house so no one will hear you. |
In addition to moving furtively, sneak can also mean doing something secretly or slipping something in. You might sneak a cookie when no one is looking, or you might sneak your brother into a concert. You could even sneak a glance at that cute guy in your math class — you do it when you think no one will notice. Sneak has a noun form that describes a furtive person — someone who does a lot of sneaking. |
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| 5875 |
accretion |
an increase by natural growth or addition |
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The process of increasing can be called accretion. Although you may say that stalactites "grow" from the ceilings of caves, they actually form from an accretion of limestone and other minerals. |
So what's the difference between an addition and an accretion? Addition implies adding to something that already exists, such as an addition to the cast (when a new actor joins an existing show). The noun accretion, on the other hand, implies an accumulation that causes increase, such as "an accretion of frost on the windows" or "an accretion of plaque on your teeth." The latter, of course, is why the dentist always begs you to floss and brush. |
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| 5876 |
bewail |
regret strongly |
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The verb bewail means to lament or express great sorrow. When your big brother or sister starts kindergarten, you may bewail the fact that they can't play with you all day anymore but you'll be excited when you get to go to school also! |
The verb bewail is from the Old Norse word væla, meaning to lament. The prefix be- is added when you want to make something stronger or more intense. So bewail means to greatly lament and when compared to bemoan, a word with similar meaning, bewailing would be louder and more intense. You can bewail the death of a friend, but if you bewail a minor irritation like a broken nail, people will accuse you of being overly dramatic. |
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| 5877 |
esophagus |
the passage between the pharynx and the stomach |
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The esophagus is the muscular tube that conveys food from the pharynx at the back of the mouth to the stomach. The esophagus is sometimes called the gullet. |
Humans and other vertebrates have an esophagus. The word comes from the Greek word oisophagos, which means gullet, from the roots oisein, meaning to carry, and phagein, meaning to eat. In British English, the spelling is oesophagus. You should always chew your food thoroughly because you don't want it to get stuck in your esophagus on the way down, unless you're a heron and can swallow fish whole. |
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| 5878 |
suppuration |
the discharge or formation of pus |
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Suppuration is the process of pus forming. If you can't remove a tiny splinter from your finger, over time some suppuration may occur around it. |
Use the noun suppuration when you need a nice clean medical term for the formation of pus, the white substance that sometimes oozes from a sore or a pimple. Suppuration can happen because of an infection or skin irritation. The Latin root is suppurare, "to form or discharge pus," from sub, "under," and pus, which literally means "matter from a sore," and figuratively, "bitterness or malice." |
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| 5879 |
benignant |
pleasant and beneficial in nature or influence |
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Someone who's benignant is goodhearted and kind. Your favorite teacher in elementary school was probably the most benignant of them all. |
When you're describing a lovely, warm person you can call her benignant, or even describe someone with a particularly sweet face as looking benignant. Another way to use this adjective is as a less common way to say "benign," or not harmful, especially in a medical sense — a benignant tumor, for example, is one that won't hurt you. Benignant, in fact, comes from benign, simply adding the ant on the model of malignant, or "dangerous, infectious, or cancerous." |
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| 5880 |
shackle |
a restraint that confines or restricts freedom |
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Handcuffs are shackles. So are those leg irons some prisoners wear when they appear in court. In other words, a shackle is a restraint, either physical or psychological, that restricts movement. |
We generally think of shackles as some sort of heavy metal cuff that is used to keep prisoners in check. But shackles don't have to be physical. Ignorance can be a shackle, so can an abusive family member, or the economy. In those cases, shackles are an external force that keep you from doing or being everything you want to. You can't see those shackles, but they can be every bit as confining as the metal cuffs. |
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| 5881 |
betrayal |
the quality of aiding an enemy |
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Betrayal means "an act of deliberate disloyalty," like when your friend told other people all your secrets. What a betrayal! |
Betrayal's root is betray, which comes from the Middle English word bitrayen — meaning "mislead, deceive." Betrayal has to do with destroying someone's trust, possibly by lying. If you start dating your best friend's girlfriend behind his back, that's an act of betrayal. Betrayal can also mean "helping an enemy," such as a person who gives secret information to a country that is at war with his or her own. |
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| 5882 |
dysfunctional |
impaired in function; especially of a bodily system or organ |
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Dysfunctional describes something that doesn't work the way it should. If you know all the printers at the school computer lab are dysfunctional, it's better to print your book report at home. |
Dys- means "bad," and function means "proper purpose," so when something's working badly, it's dysfunctional. For example, your toaster that always burns the toast is dysfunctional. The word dysfunctional is often used to describe relationships or even whole families whose ways of relating to one another are mentally harmful or are so complicated that nothing feels easy or natural about them. |
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| 5883 |
canonical |
conforming to orthodox or recognized rules |
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If something's canonical, it follows a principle or rule, usually in a religious or church-related situation. It is also used in mathematics, music and can refer to something reduced to its most basic form. |
The word canonical is from the root canon, with both evolving from the Latin cononicus, or "according to rule," a meaning applied to religion during the Middle Ages. However, the definition of "rules" also applies in other areas as well. In mathematics, the word is used to describe an equation reduced to its most basic form. In canonical music, a melody line is repeated at intervals throughout a piece. Perhaps the most familiar of these is Pachebel's "Canon in D." |
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| 5884 |
everyday |
commonplace and ordinary |
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Something routine or ordinary is called everyday. Your everyday chores, your everyday clothes, your everyday activities — these things make up everyday life. |
The adjective everyday describes the common things that you generally do as part of a regular day — doing the dishes in an everyday task — but it can also have the sense of “ordinary,” like the casual everyday clothes you wear when you’re not doing anything special. Make sure you spell everyday as one word: everyday. Every day, which carries the more literal sense of something that’s done every day, is spelled as two words. |
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| 5885 |
activate |
put in motion |
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To activate something is to start it off, trigger it, or set it in motion. A villain in a late-night movie might say, “Activate the robot chickens!” And then you’re free to activate your remote and change the channel. |
To activate something is to make it active. It’s not just for bad guys — when you activate a credit or library card, you can start using it. When a coach activates a player on a sports team, the player enters the game. If someone activates a bomb, you should run. If the pancakes you’re cooking burst into flames, you’ll probably activate the smoke alarm. And you should run. |
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| 5886 |
feisty |
showing courage |
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Feisty is a word for someone who is touchy or quarrelsome. It can also mean to show and have courage. |
If you're huffy or thin-skinned, you're feisty. Feisty people often seem to be itching for a fight. On the other hand, this has a more positive meaning. It may also describe a courageous or spirited person, especially one who is smaller or an underdog. A small boxer knocking out a huge opponent is feisty. Little dogs barking at huge dogs are feisty in both senses: they're being brave, but they're also a little too quick to open their yaps. |
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| 5887 |
gradient |
a graded change in the magnitude of something |
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The gradient of a surface is its slope. If you're a daredevil and you're looking for a road to fly down on your skateboard, you'll want to find one with a fairly steep gradient. |
In mathematics, the gradient tells you how steep a line in a graph is. In physics, when you say gradient, you're talking about how quickly something changes from one point to another. The word comes ultimately from the Latin gradus "step," and a gradient gives you a measure of the "steps" by which something changes. |
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| 5888 |
staunch |
firm and dependable especially in loyalty |
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As an adjective, staunch means firm. You might want to go to that concert Friday night, but your parents' staunch opposition prevents you. |
Staunch is sometimes used as a verb to mean "to stop the flow of a liquid," but most usage books will tell you it's better to use the word stanch for the verb. Think of a soldier stopping and standing still, and you will understand the connection between the two meanings. The adjectival form should make you think of "stand," as in “stand firm,” or "take a stand." It comes from the French estanche meaning “watertight” and the Latin stanticare, which is probably from stans for “stand.” |
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| 5889 |
collaborative |
accomplished by working jointly |
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The adjective collaborative describes something accomplished by working together with others. With a collaborative effort, a big job can be completed in very little time. |
When you collaborate, you cooperate, or join forces, with other people — working on a project, brainstorming ideas, even assigning responsibility for who will do what. So something that has these qualities is collaborative. From playing in a band to making a movie, feeding the students at a school to building a house, when you work toward a shared goal, it's collaborative. |
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| 5890 |
animadversion |
harsh criticism or disapproval |
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Animadversion is a harsh, critical comment––or even a public censure. You don't hear it very often, but in Puritan times, dressing in bright colors and swearing would bring many animadversions down upon you. |
Animadversion comes from the verb animadvert. In Middle English, animadvert meant simply to pay attention or "turn your mind to" something (animus means "mind," ad- "to," vertere "turn"). Anyone with parents can understand how a word that means "pay attention" can turn into a word that means "criticize." |
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| 5891 |
approximation |
a rough calculation of quantity or degree or worth |
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An approximation is a rough estimate or guess at something. When you write a budget for the month, you're making an approximation of how much you're going to spend. You can't be certain of the exact amount. |
Like approximately or proximity, approximation comes from the Latin proximus which means "nearest." An approximation is the nearest estimate you can get without having the precise size or measure of something. It's a ballpark figure. When you set out for work in the morning, the amount of time you give yourself to get there is an approximation. Depending on traffic and weather, you can never know exactly how long the trip will take. |
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| 5892 |
textual |
relating to or based on writing |
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Anything textual has to do with writing. A textual analysis, comparison, or interpretation, has something to do with what is in a particular piece of writing (or text). |
Textual comes from the Latin word textualis, the adjective form of textus, ("text"). If you see the word, it is always related to some written material. This word is most commonly used in the study of religion, literature, philosophy, or the law — any field requiring the careful examination of various texts. A textual tattoo is one that features writing instead of an image. |
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| 5893 |
subjugation |
forced submission to control by others |
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Subjugation is like oppression or conquest: one group takes control over another and forces them to do as they're told. |
Subjugation is one of many types of injustice in the world. It has to do with one group of people dominating another group by taking away their freedom. When slavery was legal in the U.S., that was a clear-cut case of subjugation: African-Americans were forced to live without rights, under the control of their white owners. To remember this word, think of its Latin root subjugat, which means "brought under a yoke." |
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| 5894 |
ceremonious |
characterized by pomp and stately display |
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When people are involved in a ceremony, they often behave in a solemn way, exhibiting the respect they feel for the ritual. Their behavior can be described as ceremonious. |
Don't confuse ceremonious with ceremonial. Ceremonial means "by ceremony." If, after signing a peace agreement, two presidents exchange a ceremonial handshake in front of reporters, that's different from the ceremonious manner they maintain while doing so. |
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| 5895 |
transpose |
change the order or arrangement of |
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If you transpose something, you change the order. You could transpose the phrases in that first sentence by writing, "You change the order if you transpose something." |
In music, you also transpose when you change the key. When a song is a little high for you, you can transpose it to bring it down into your natural range. In math, to transpose is to move something from one side of an equation to another. In the equation x + 3 = 2y, you can solve for x by transposing the 3 to the other side of the equation, which will change its sign and give you x = 2y - 3. |
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| 5896 |
psychotic |
characteristic of or suffering from a severe mental disorder |
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As an adjective, psychotic describes something that is of or related to an abnormal mental condition often characterized by delusions or hallucinations. Psychotic episodes, for example, are periods of mental instability when people lose contact with reality. |
Psychotic is based on the Greek word psykhe, which means mind. As a noun, psychotic is a person suffering from psychosis — that is delusions, hallucinations, or any mental state that includes a loss of reality. Although the noun officially refers to the medical diagnosis, it is sometimes used as a slang to refer to anyone behaving in an erratic manner: "Your friend is a total psychotic! He was jumping on the tables at lunch and shouting song lyrics." |
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| 5897 |
psychiatric |
relating to the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders |
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The adjective psychiatric is good for describing things related to mental illness and its treatment. |
Use psychiatric when you're talking about the medical specialty that helps people with emotional or mental disorders. You could talk about a psychiatric nurse, a psychiatric hospital, or psychiatric drugs, for example. Any time you see a word that begins with psych you can be sure it has to do with the mind, since psykhe is "mind" in Greek. The suffix iatreia means "healing or care." |
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| 5898 |
aureole |
the outermost region of the sun's atmosphere |
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In art, the circle of light painted or drawn around the heads of religious figures to indicate their divine nature is called an aureole. It comes from the Latin word aureus, which means golden, and aureoles are often created in golden hues. |
The meaning of the noun aureole has extended to mean anything that resembles the sort of artistic circle of light that surrounds something. The term is frequently used when describing hair. If you have light-colored hair, in the sunlight, it may look like your head is surrounded by a shimmering aureole. The luminous circle around the sun visible during a solar eclipse is also called an aureole. |
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| 5899 |
dampen |
lessen in force or effect |
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To dampen something is to stifle it, to lessen its effect, or to moisten it. Getting a cold will dampen your enthusiasm. |
This word has several related meanings, most of which make something less effective or powerful. Using a towel will dampen it in the sense of getting it wet, but dampening goes beyond things that are damp (wet). A silencer on a gun dampens the sound of the gun. Bad news will dampen your mood, bringing it down. Boxing gloves dampen the force of punches because they cushion the blows. Anything dampened has been weakened and brought down a notch. |
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| 5900 |
infliction |
the act of imposing something (as a tax or an embargo) |
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Infliction is when you subject someone to a difficult or unpleasant experience. The infliction of pain on a little kid who needs to get a shot is not fun for him or for his parents. |
The noun infliction is good for talking about imposing something negative on someone. You might describe a bully's actions against a smaller child as including both the infliction of pain and the infliction of fear. The Latin root of infliction is inflictionem, or "a striking against," from inflictus, "to strike or dash against." It's important not to confuse infliction with affliction, which means "something that causes pain," but isn't done on purpose. |
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| 5901 |
captivate |
attract; cause to be enamored |
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To captivate means to attract others, fascinating or enchanting them. Some people are able to captivate with wit and charm, others with physical beauty, still others with intelligence. |
Notice the similarity between the verbs captivate and capture. Both come ultimately from the Latin captus "taken captive." Still, while both words mean some sort of hold on someone, capture sounds harsh, as though a trap has been set, while captivate is a softer, more attractive word that suggests there might be a willingness to be caught. Robert S. McNamara, a former U.S. secretary of defense, said, "Coercion, after all, merely captures man. Freedom captivates him.” |
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| 5902 |
retroactive |
affecting things past |
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The adjective retroactive refers to something happening now that affects the past. For example, a retroactive tax is one that is passed at one time, but payable back to a time before the tax was passed. |
The Latin word retroagere, an ancestor of the adjective retroactive, means "drive or turn back," and goes along with the meaning of the word. Sometimes governments pass rulings that are set as if they were in effect before the ruling was even made, and that means they are retroactive. On the bright side, you might be awarded a salary raise that is retroactive, meaning you'll get paid more for work you did in the past. And, retroactive fads in clothing keep vintage clothing stores in business. |
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| 5903 |
garbled |
lacking orderly continuity |
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A garbled message makes no sense. If you get a bad phone connection, your friend's message might sound garbled. Or, if you have rewritten the same sentence numerous times, its message might also be garbled. |
When you were young you may have played the game telephone, where one student thinks up a line, whispers it to his neighbor, who whispers it to his neighbor, and so on, down the line. At the end, the last person to receive the message shouts it out; it usually has nothing to do with what the first person said: it has been garbled along the way. Most of the change is accidental, the price of being human and imperfect — you hear "dope" rather than "hope." Besides messages, facts can get garbled — remember the history test where you wrote 1960 instead of 1860? |
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| 5904 |
deport |
expel from a country |
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To deport is to kick someone out of a country. Deporting is also to deliver a person to the authorities of another country. Although you might like to deport your little brother from your room, it’s something governments do. |
Governments have the power to deport. When you're deported, you get thrown out of a country, often because you were there illegally. This type of deporting is similar to exiling. Another form of deporting is even harsher: sometimes a person is not only tossed out of one country, but handed over to the government of another country. This is also called being extradited, and it usually happens to people wanted for a crime in the second country. |
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| 5905 |
pelt |
the dressed hairy coat of a mammal |
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A pelt is an animal's skin, fur and all. If you are wearing a fur coat, you are really wearing a pelt (hate to break it to you). |
Another meaning of pelt is to throw something at someone — over and over again. Attacking armies might pelt the enemy with bombs, and there's always some kid in the back of an elementary school classroom who tries to pelt his classmates with spitballs. Either way, there is an attack or bombardment involved. If you dare to wear an animal pelt in front of an animal rights activist, you might just get pelted with a tomato. |
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| 5906 |
avaricious |
immoderately desirous of acquiring something |
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Someone who is avaricious is greedy or grasping, concerned with gaining wealth. The suggestion is that an avaricious person will do anything to achieve material gain, and it is, in general, not a pleasant attribute. |
The Latin verb avēre, meaning "to crave" provides the groundwork for the word avaricious and its definition as "greedy or covetous." The adjective is applied to anyone who "craves" great wealth, and suggests that desire for personal gain is an overriding influence in the avaricious person's life. The widespread quality of this selfishness was cleverly noted by Voltaire, who wrote, “Men hate the individual whom they call avaricious only because nothing can be gained from him.” |
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| 5907 |
sanctimonious |
excessively or hypocritically pious |
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The sanctimonious person sounds like a hypocrite when he preaches to a friend about the evils of drugs, while he drinks one beer after another. |
Sanctimonious is a twist on the words sanctity and sacred, which mean holy or religious. A sanctimonious person might think he's holy, but their attitude comes across more like "holier-than-thou." Though sanctimonious people might try to act like saints, their actions are far from pure or holy, which just makes them sound like hypocrites. |
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| 5908 |
consanguine |
related by blood |
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Use the adjective consanguine to describe two people who are biologically related to each other. For example, a grandmother and her grandson are consanguine. |
Consanguine is a fancy way to say "related." People who are connected through marriage or adoption are not consanguine, because they aren't genetically related to each other, but mothers and children, uncles and nephews, and brothers and sisters are all consanguine. A more common word with the same meaning is consanguineous, and both words come from the Latin consanguineus, which means "of the same blood." |
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| 5909 |
connote |
express or state indirectly |
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Often your body language can connote or imply how you feel without you having to saying it directly. For example, if you fold your arms and look away from someone as he speaks to you, you are connoting your discomfort. |
When you act a certain way to show how you feel rather than just outright saying it, you're connoting or suggesting that emotion. Words can often connote or suggest certain meanings or ideas. The word turbulent connotes the image of a bumpy ride on an airplane, for example. Connote is also used in formal logic. If A connotes B, then for A to be true, B has to also be true. |
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| 5910 |
variant |
something a little different from others of the same type |
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A variant is another version of something. You could say chimps and apes and gorillas are variants in the primate family. |
Words often have variants, spellings that vary from region to region or country to country. The British colour and the American color are variants. When a movie or TV show is remade or casts a new actor — like with the string of James Bonds — you could call those movies variants. Where there are variants, there is variety — things aren't all the same. |
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| 5911 |
indisposed |
somewhat ill or prone to illness |
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The adjective indisposed is a slightly formal way to describe someone who's feeling sick. You might call your boss to tell her that you can't make it to work because you're indisposed. |
When you're a bit under the weather, you're indisposed, particularly if you're ill enough to stay in bed and miss work or school. Another meaning of indisposed is unwilling — you're able to do something but refuse to do it. You might say, "I'm indisposed to visit my cousin because she's always so mean to me." Around 1400, it meant "not prepared," and by the mid-fifteenth century, "deceased" or "dead." The Late Latin root word is indispositus, "without order or confused." |
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| 5912 |
align |
place in a line or arrange so as to be parallel or straight |
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To align means to bring something into a straight line, or an easy agreement. If you always park on an angle and people are leaving mean notes on your windshield, learn to align the car with the parking space. |
Align comes from the French a, meaning "to" and ligne meaning "line," and it means to bring something into line with something else. This can be literal. If you are hanging a painting, you'll want to align it with the window frame. The line can also be metaphorical. If you run for office, your political opinions will need to be aligned with those of your supporters. |
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| 5913 |
demote |
assign to a lower position; reduce in rank |
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To demote someone is to move them into a less important job. Your coffee shop boss might demote you to wiping tables if your attempts to froth milk and pull espresso shots continuously fail. |
When your employer demotes you, she assigns you an easier task or even an entirely new, lower-ranked position. You may even earn less money. In the military, to demote is to move a soldier down in rank, usually as a punishment. The opposite of demote is promote, which came first. The prefix de- gives the word a sense of "down" or "down from." |
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| 5914 |
nerd |
a student ridiculed as being boringly studious |
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If you hesitate to tell other people everything you know about computer programming, it might be because you're afraid they'll think you're a computer nerd, or someone with a single-minded interest in computers. |
The noun nerd is used to describe someone who is an expert in one particular thing, like computers, grammar, or "Star Wars" movies. Nerd can also mean someone lacking social skills, or a geeky, awkward person. The word nerd was popularized in the 1950s after showing up in the 1950 Dr. Seuss book "If I Ran the Zoo." A Dr. Seuss nerd would be sure to know this fact. |
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| 5915 |
trickery |
the use of cunning actions to deceive someone |
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When tricks of any kind are used to fool or deceive someone, especially for financial gain, that's trickery. |
If you suspect that a cute kid has scammed you out of twenty dollars, you have every right to accuse him of trickery. Trickery is using pretense or sleight of hand or fast talking to cheat a person out of some amount of money, the way a card sharp or a con man might do. The earliest use of trick was in this negative sense — a mean ruse or cheat. Trickery simply adds the Middle English ery to the end to form a new noun. |
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| 5916 |
undefined |
not precisely limited, determined, or distinguished |
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If something is undefined it's not clear, such as your undefined vacation plans. You know you want to go somewhere during the third week of August, but you just don't know where. |
You can tell just by looking at it that undefined means "not defined." But you might be surprised that the root define comes from the Old French word defenir, meaning "to end, terminate, determine." In this case, define carries the meaning of "determine," but in a sense "end" and "terminate" apply as well. When you define something, that's the end of it — no more wondering. So if something is undefined, it's not yet determined. |
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| 5917 |
stingy |
unwilling to spend |
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If you are looking to describe someone with a Scrooge- or Grinch-like tendency to pinch his pennies, then stingy can be your adjective of choice. Or, if you are looking to describe something you have too little of — like a 43-second coffee break — you can use stingy as well. |
The adjective stingy (pronounced with a soft "g") is likely derived from the adjective stingy (pronounced with a hard "g"), which means "biting, sharp, or stinging." Although stingy is usually used to describe an ungenerous or miserly person, stingy can also be used to describe a larger entity: "People were no longer able to buy homes due to the stingy lending policies of the banks." |
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| 5918 |
slick |
made smooth by e.g. ice or grease |
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Slick means smooth or slippery, but it can also describe a smooth, effortless style. How did that Girl Scout talk you into buying so many boxes of cookies? It must have been her slick sales pitch. |
A great salesman is often described as slick — he or she seems more like a friend than someone trying to sell you something. Things that are smooth and glossy can also be called slick, like the surface of a glass table or an icy patch on the sidewalk. Slick is also a verb, meaning "to smooth," like when you slick back your hair. The oldest meaning of slick is shiny, and in the 1620s, it was even the name of a kind of cosmetic. |
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| 5919 |
punctuate |
insert marks to clarify meaning |
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Most commonly, punctuate means to insert standard marks (like periods, commas, and exclamation points) into written sentences. |
You punctuate sentences to give the reader additional information, such as when a sentence ends, whether or not that sentence is a question, and when a series of words might be a list. You can also punctuate, or emphasize, your words by shouting them or making them ALL CAPS. Occasionally, this verb can also mean "interrupt periodically," as when your cat walks back and forth across your keyboard, punctuating your writing with "shjkpl;" and "pohjxz." |
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| 5920 |
riddle |
pierce with many holes |
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What's a question or problem that requires a bit of thought before you answer? It's a riddle, of course. The verb riddle can mean to speak in a puzzling fashion, though that use is not very common. |
The word riddle might put you in mind of such brain-teasers as "Why did the chicken cross the road?", but riddles actually have a distinguished history in English literature going back to the 10th century. Today, you often find riddle used to mean a hard problem or question to figure out. Is it a riddle to you why you have to go to school? In an unrelated use, if something is riddled with holes, there are many holes in it, quite possible from bullets! |
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| 5921 |
fictional |
related to or involving imaginative literary work |
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Something fictional has been invented, most likely for a book, play, or movie. But if you're really self-centered, you might think a fictional story is actually about you. |
As the adjective form of fiction, fictional covers all the creative fabrications that arise out of a person's imagination, which might then enter a novel, a screenplay, or some other form of storytelling. While fictional characters may be based loosely on real-life people, they never actually existed. In the movie "Citizen Kane," Orson Welles transformed the real newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst into the fictional Charles Foster Kane. Hearst never went around whispering "Rosebud." |
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| 5922 |
self-righteous |
excessively or hypocritically pious |
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A self-righteous person thinks their beliefs and morals are better than everyone else's. If you're quite sure the charity of others pales in comparison with yours, you might be self-righteous. |
Join the Old English words self, meaning "one's own person," and rightwise, meaning "virtuous," and you've got somebody who thinks very highly of their own morality. A self-righteous person thinks they can do no wrong, and goes about with a "holier-than-thou" attitude, judging and scrutinizing everyone else. A fur designer may view PETA activists as self-righteous when they picket his fashion show. You may consider a friend self-righteous when it comes to musical taste. |
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| 5923 |
synthetic |
a compound made artificially by chemical reactions |
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Something made of artificial material, not natural items, can be described as synthetic. Some football stadiums have synthetic grass, and a leisure suit from the 1970s might be made of synthetic fabric. |
The adjective synthetic usually describes things created by chemical synthesis (synthetic compound, synthetic drug, synthetic material), but it sometimes describes an emotion that is feigned or not genuine. A person who exudes only synthetic friendliness probably isn't someone you want to hang out with, for example. |
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| 5924 |
adaptable |
capable of fitting a particular situation or use |
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Something that is adaptable can change to fit its environment, whether that environment is natural or social. The level to which a species is adaptable to changing surroundings is an important factor in the study of evolution. |
Let’s look at the Latin word adaptāre, from the root aptus "fitted." The ad- means "to, while the aptare means "join." Since 15th-century medieval French, the word adapt has come to mean "to fit in or adjust." So something adaptable is something that "fits in or adjusts." An example of an adaptable creature is the arctic fox, whose fur changes from dirt-dark in summer to snow-white in winter, to better blend in with its surroundings. |
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| 5925 |
intrusion |
entrance by force or without permission or welcome |
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An intrusion is a deliberate move into someone else's territory — either literal or figurative. When your sister interrupts your conversation with that girl from math class, that's an intrusion. If someone breaks into your home, that's also an intrusion. |
First used in the late 14th century, the noun intrusion derives from the Latin word intrudere, which combines the prefix in-, meaning "in," and trudere, meaning "to thrust, push." If someone reads your diary, that's considered an intrusion of privacy. Ordering a Muslim woman to take off her veil would be considered an intrusion on religious beliefs. You may remember intrusion used in science class to describe molten rock that forms in an earlier rock formation. |
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| 5926 |
decrepit |
worn and broken down by hard use |
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That building falling down on the corner of your block? It's decrepit. So is the old man who lives there, if he is weak from age. Decrepit means broken down by hard use. |
Decrepit implies that something or someone is a weak, and run down — practically falling apart. It's really not a nice word to use about a person. If you are trying to say the same thing about a person, but more nicely, you might use the word, feeble, which means weak, but not disastrously falling apart. |
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| 5927 |
intemperate |
excessive in behavior |
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If a climate is intemperate, its temperatures might be extreme. If a person is intemperate, his moods might be extreme. Being intemperate is all about avoiding moderation. |
Intemperate is a combination of the prefix in- meaning "not" and the Latin temperantia meaning "moderation." When you are intemperate, you are not doing things in moderation; you lack self-control. It's often a word used when describing the tendency someone has to indulge excessively in liquor. An alcoholic is intemperate — overindulging and depending on alcohol. |
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| 5928 |
deportment |
the way a person behaves toward other people |
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Deportment has to do with how you behave and present yourself. Being polite, well-dressed, and soft-spoken shows excellent deportment. |
People say you shouldn't judge by appearances, but how you present yourself — your deportment — matters. How you dress, speak, look and carry yourself is all part of deportment or demeanor. If you're polite, helpful, and smile a lot, your deportment is friendly and kind. If you're constantly swearing and shouting, your deportment is negative and hostile. |
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| 5929 |
tyrannical |
characteristic of an absolute ruler or absolute rule |
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A tyrannical ruler wields absolute power and authority, and often wields that power unjustly, cruelly, or oppressively. |
First used in the 1530s, the adjective tyrannical stems from the late-14th-century word tyranny, meaning "cruel or unjust use of power," which has origins in the Greek work tyrannos, meaning "master." Tyrannical rule is the opposite of democratic rule, which places the power in the people, the majority of whom makes the decisions. Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Joseph Stalin are three examples of the 20th century's most tyrannical dictators. |
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| 5930 |
interrogation |
an instance of questioning |
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An interrogation is a question or an intense questioning session. Police do interrogations of suspects all the time. |
Have you ever heard someone say, "What is this? An interrogation?" People say that when they feel like they're being questioned a little too much. An interrogation can mean a single question or a series of questions. Police stations usually have interrogation rooms for questioning suspects. When someone is doing an interrogation, they're looking for answers, and it's usually about something very serious. |
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| 5931 |
fey |
suggestive of an elf in strangeness and otherworldliness |
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Have you met someone who speaks like they’re casting spells and has a distant look in their eyes? That’s a fey person, someone who seems like they come from another world, kind of like an elf. |
There’s a fey girl, let’s call her Faye. Fey Faye is not an elf nor a witch, but she seems supernatural in a vague way, and her voice sounds like a magic flute. Fey comes from the Old English word fǣge, or literally “fated to die soon,” which refers to that odd good mood a person is in right before they die. Don’t worry, that definition isn’t used anymore, and fey Faye isn’t dying. But she is kind of spooky. |
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| 5932 |
faint-hearted |
lacking conviction or boldness or courage |
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Someone who's faint-hearted is fearful or frightened. If a haunted house advertises itself as "not for the faint-hearted," it's probably really scary. |
If you're generally faint-hearted, you tend to be a little timid or anxious, easily scared or overwhelmed. A faint-hearted person might choose not to go on the steepest roller coaster or watch the scariest horror films. Faint-hearted was first used in the fifteenth century, and it combines the original meaning of faint, "lacking in courage," with hearted, or "at heart." |
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| 5933 |
lurch |
move suddenly or as if unable to control one's movements |
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To lurch is to suddenly move — usually forward. If you are on a ship that lurches a lot during a storm, you may find your body lurching in one direction and your stomach going in the opposite one. |
The verb lurch can refer to any abrupt movement, but it often has the sense of a sharp turn up, down, or sideways. If you invest in the stock market, you have to be prepared for sudden losses and gains as the stock market can lurch up or down on a whim. The verb also means to make sudden jerking movements when walking, as if you cannot control your movements. |
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| 5934 |
mockery |
showing your contempt by derision |
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The noun mockery means ridicule or making a fool out of someone. Mockery of your history teacher is unwise just before she grades your mid-term exams. |
Mockery is making fun of or mocking someone or something. The act of mockery often involves copying someone's behavior or speech, making it look absurd, like a parody. For example, comedians often get laughs with mockery, by pretending to be famous politicians and exaggerating the way they talk or gesture. The expression "to make a mockery of" means to make something appear foolish or absurd, even if that’s not the intent — like a trial that “makes a mockery of justice.” |
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| 5935 |
lop |
cut off from a whole |
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To lop is to cut a chunk of something off. You could lop off your long hair, or lop off the top of a Christmas tree to make it fit in your living room. |
You can physically lop things, like when you lop the brown branches off of your ailing rose bush or lop off the bottoms of your jeans to make shorts. There is a figurative way to lop too, as when an editor decides to lop the ending off a story. Or, if you choose to drive to work instead of riding your bike, you can lop an hour off the time it takes to get there. |
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| 5936 |
toilsome |
characterized by effort to the point of exhaustion |
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Something is toilsome if it's really difficult, requiring exhausting or boring effort. Shoveling a foot of heavy snow out of your neighbor's long driveway is toilsome. |
The adjective toilsome is archaic — it's hardly ever used anymore. It's a shame, because it's a good way to describe monotonous or strenuous work, like your toilsome math homework or your sister's toilsome job on a construction site. At the heart of toilsome is the verb toil, or "work," from the Old French toeillier, "drag about or make dirty," which is probably rooted in the Latin word tudiculare, "crush with a small hammer." |
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| 5937 |
traditionalist |
one who adheres to time-honored views |
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A traditionalist wants things to stay the same. If you prefer vinyl albums to MP3 players, you just might be a traditionalist. |
The noun traditionalist describes a person who believes the old ways are best, like a traditionalist who favors writing letters over sending emails. Sometimes, though, traditionalist describes someone so rigid that any new idea sounds like a bad one, like the traditionalist attitude that kept some American colonists from joining the Revolution. |
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| 5938 |
poltroon |
an abject coward |
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A poltroon is a coward. Poltroons have a lack of courage and fortitude. |
Poltroon is an old-fashioned word for a type of person that exists in every time period: a coward. If you behave in a way that shows no courage or confidence, you're acting like a poltroon. In movies, the villains are often poltroons who are sneaky and devious instead of brave and straightforward. A hero is the opposite of a poltroon. Poltroons can be described as craven and abject, but most of all, cowardly. |
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| 5939 |
muddle |
make clouded as with sediment |
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A muddle is something that's messy and confusing. If your bedroom looks like a hurricane just hit it, you might describe it as a muddle. |
Oftentimes, we create the muddles in our lives, so it’s appropriate that muddle can be used as a verb meaning “to mix up” or “confuse.” Conveniently, though, the word muddle also describes a way out of difficult situations; to muddle through a troublesome task is to somehow figure it out, even if you don’t quite know what you’re doing. It has been suggested that muddle comes from an old Dutch word meaning “to make muddy.” |
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| 5940 |
hefty |
of considerable weight and size |
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Something that's hefty is big and heavy. When you have to lug a hefty suitcase around, it helps if it has wheels. |
Hefty objects are large and bulky, and you can describe people as hefty when they're big and brawny and strong. When you buy a hefty bag of dog food for your hefty bull mastiff, you might want to ask a hefty young employee if she'll help you carry it to your car. Hefty comes from heft, which means both "to lift" and "weight or heaviness." |
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| 5941 |
standardize |
cause to conform to a norm |
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To standardize something is to make it fit a certain guideline or requirement. If a school decides to standardize its grading system, it makes sure every teacher gives grades in exactly the same way. |
Use the verb standardize to describe what an organization or company does when it makes a product or rule conform to a certain model. Often, to standardize things is to make them all exactly the same. When a city standardizes all its playground equipment, every park begins to look alike, with the same slides, swings, and sandboxes. |
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| 5942 |
predominate |
be larger in number, quantity, power, status or importance |
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Of all the social networks, one predominates. Facebook is by far the biggest and most influential. When someone or something predominates, it's the largest or most powerful of all. |
You'll probably already have noticed that the verb "dominate" makes up a good part of predominate, and in fact these are very similar words. To predominate means to be the biggest or most plentiful or most powerful of all. Of course, you want to make sure that you're talking about like things when you're using predominate. In the debate about guns, the most logical voices are rarely the ones that predominate. |
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| 5943 |
inkling |
a slight suggestion or vague understanding |
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Is someone yapping on and on and you only have the vaguest idea of what they're talking about? Then you understood just an inkling — a glimmer, a fraction — of what they were saying. |
Inkling can also mean a sly suggestion or faint implication. If someone drops a hint you're not wanted they've given you an inkling you're not wanted. The word comes from the medieval English word inclen, which suitably enough means "to utter in an undertone." In other words, what's really being said is in between the lines of what's actually being said on the surface. By now you've probably got the inkling that inklings can be sneaky things. |
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| 5944 |
fragility |
quality of being easily damaged or destroyed |
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Fragility is a state of being delicate or breakable. The fragility of your grandmother's juice glasses might make you nervous about taking even one sip. |
An object's fragility makes it likely to get broken or damaged, and a person's fragility means that he's not physically strong. New parents are often worried about the fragility of their newborn baby, and being sick can emphasize a person's fragility. Another way to use the word is to mean "vulnerable" or "sensitive." When something's delicate or frail, you can call it fragile, and both words stem from the Latin root fragilis, "brittle or easily broken." |
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| 5945 |
celluloid |
flammable substance used in motion-picture and X-ray film |
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Celluloid is a type of plastic that’s transparent and flammable. Until recently, most movies were filmed on celluloid. |
Celluloid is a name for film used in shooting movies. Because of its use in making films, this term came to stand for movies in general. Its days in the projection room are now pretty much finished — due to the rise of digital filming — but the figurative meaning lives on, wherever stars aspire. For example, you could say a TV actor was making the move from the small screen to celluloid. Besides movies, celluloid is used in shooting x-rays. |
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| 5946 |
enticing |
highly attractive and able to arouse hope or desire |
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Something enticing is exciting and intriguing. Enticing things are tempting and make you want to have them. |
When a thing is enticing, it's kind of like it's saying "You want this, don't you? Yes you do!" The goal of almost all advertising is to be enticing — to try to entice you to buy the product. Any small glimpse or snippet of something that you like is probably enticing. Menus are another thing that are supposed to be enticing — you should want to order the food. If a movie trailer isn't enticing, then it didn't do its job. |
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| 5947 |
rube |
a person who is not intelligent or interested in culture |
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Rube is an insulting word for a person considered uneducated or uncultured. Your average country bumpkin is also a rube. |
Calling someone a rube is another way of saying, "You sound like an idiot and you don't know what you're talking about." This word implies a lack of sophistication, manners, education, and culture. Rubes are usually from rural areas, and they’re also known as bumpkins, hayseeds, hicks, yahoos, yokels, and hillbillies. This is an insulting word, so use it cautiously — though it's probably fine to use it jokingly with your friends. |
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| 5948 |
endorsement |
the act of approving |
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An endorsement is a form of public support or approval. Endorsements are given to politicians and products. |
If you give something an endorsement, you're basically saying "I approve of this person or product." Celebrities give politicians an endorsement if they think you should vote for them. When celebrities do commercials for products, those are also endorsements. If someone puts their fame or name behind something, they're endorsing it and giving their approval. That goes for checks, too: when you sign one you've just written, you've endorsed it. |
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| 5949 |
galactic |
of or relating to a star system |
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Galactic things relate to a galaxy, a complex system of stars, especially the one in which we live. The very middle of our galaxy can be called the galactic center. |
When something's described as galactic, it usually has something to do with astronomy. The adjective is good for talking about the characteristics of our galaxy, or specifying that something exists within our galaxy. Galactic can also be used informally to simply mean huge: "Did you see the size of their house? It's galactic!" The word, along with galaxy, comes from the Greek phrase galaxias kyklos, "milky circle." |
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| 5950 |
invigorate |
give life or energy to |
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Invigorate means to give strength or energy to something or someone. If you're the new cheerleading coach, you can invigorate the team by bringing them your exciting new cheers, and the team’s growing popularity will invigorate them even more. |
When you invigorate someone, you inspire, you breathe life into them. One of the best ways to invigorate another person is with your own enthusiasm — when you're animated and energetic, it seems to rub off on others. You might need to invigorate yourself when you first wake up in the morning, with a cup of coffee or a shower to get you going for the day. The word invigorate comes from the Latin in, "toward" and vigorare "make strong." |
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| 5951 |
outstanding |
of major significance or importance |
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Something outstanding stands out for good reasons. Your outstanding presentation captured everyone's attention; unfortunately, so did the tear in the seat of your pants. |
An outstanding performance of any kind will impress people, but there's one meaning to outstanding that most of us would rather avoid: that which remains unpaid. Outstanding gift ideas can lead to outstanding debt. Your outstanding mood was ruined when you saw the size of your outstanding credit card balance. |
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| 5952 |
aspirant |
an ambitious young person |
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Ambition is the name of the game for an aspirant, a young person who sets her sights on rising to the top in her chosen field. |
Every young person who wishes on a star for fame and fortune is an aspirant. Used mostly as a noun, the word also works as an adjective — describing the desire to move up the corporate ladder, to receive national recognition for saving the world, or to achieve success on the Broadway stage — whatever one aspires to: "The aspirant dancer had to start her career as an understudy to the prima ballerina." |
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| 5953 |
irritable |
easily annoyed |
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If you're feeling on edge, like the smallest thing could bother you or make you lose your temper, you are irritable. Did I say something wrong? |
Irritable means "easy to irritate or bother." If you have irritable skin, you get a rash from just about anything. An irritable person is not easy-going and often not very easy to be around. You might feel like you're "walking on eggshells," or being extra careful not to upset your brother when he's in an irritable mood. Is there anything I can do to make you less irritable? Fetch your favorite blanket? Maybe I'll just go away now. |
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| 5954 |
vertebra |
one of the bony segments of the spinal column |
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A vertebra is one of the little bones in your spinal column; there are vertebrae up and down your back. |
Your whole body is full of bones, and one of those types of bones are vertebrae: the bones in your back. These bones are very important because they protect your spinal column, which allows your brain to communicate with the rest of your body. A serious back injury could damage a vertebra, resulting in pain or spinal damage. If you bend over and then straighten up slowly, you can feel yourself rising one vertebra at a time. |
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| 5955 |
cuddle |
hold close, as for affection, comfort, or warmth |
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To cuddle is to embrace in a loving, affectionate way. If you're having a terrible day, you probably wish you could just go home, get in bed, and cuddle with your cat. |
Cuddle might come from the Middle English couth, "known" — after all, you only cuddle with those you know. Or, cuddle may have started as baby talk that caught on. When you cuddle, you give a snuggly hug to make yourself or another person feel loved or comforted. As a noun, cuddle describes the time of the embrace, like having one last cuddle before leaving for a long trip. |
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| 5956 |
phantasmagoric |
characterized by fantastic and incongruous imagery |
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Something phantasmagoric features wild and shifting images, colorful patterns that are continually moving and changing. |
The Greek word phantasma, meaning "image," is the ancestor of phantasmagoric, a word you can use to describe anything so weird it doesn't seem real. In the 1960's, the word was linked with psychedelic drugs that created illusions. This word can definitely apply to a movie with bizarre images, quickly changing scenes, and colors and music that are disorienting. If a romantic comedy suddenly includes werewolves and killer robots, it just became phantasmagoric. Anything phantasmagoric is extremely weird. |
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| 5957 |
savvy |
the ability to shrewdly understand or judge things |
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You are known as someone with a lot of business savvy, but only because you've managed to keep your staggering debts a secret. Which is actually pretty savvy. Someone who is savvy is shrewd and perceptive. |
Most English words stem directly from other European languages, like French and Latin. Not savvy. It comes from the West Indies, a twist on the French savez vous? — “Do you know?” Savvy was first recorded in its adjective form in 1905. Synonyms for the noun form include acumen, discernment, grasp, perception, and sharpness. |
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| 5958 |
clutter |
a confused multitude of things |
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The word clutter can mean a messy jumble of objects. The disorganized clutter of shoes, hats, shirts, belts, jackets, and pants makes it impossible to find a thing in your closet! |
Clutter can describe all those disorderly random things in your purse, but it can also refer to the random echoes that show up on a radar screen. The echos mix with other desired signals and can make it hard to track everything. As a verb, clutter is what you do when you fill up a space with a crazy mix of objects. You may clutter up the attic when you finally clean out that closet! |
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| 5959 |
tactless |
lacking what is considerate in dealing with others |
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To be tactless is to either be rude (without manners) or inept (without finesse). Either way, it's awkward. |
Since people with tact are polite and respectful, tactless people are the opposite: rude and ill-mannered. Interrupting is tactless. Wearing a baseball hat in church is tactless. Not holding the door for someone is tactless. This word has to do with other graces besides social graces too. Being clumsy or lacking in judgment can also be called tactless, and an employee who constantly botches his job and never understands why is also tactless. |
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| 5960 |
agog |
highly excited |
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The word agog means with great excitement and interest. When you’re falling over yourself with excitement and curiosity to see who’s coming up the red carpet next, you’re agog about celebrities. |
At Christmas time, you are probably agog to see what's in all the beautiful presents. An easy way to remember what agog means is to think of it as goggle-eyed, which it sounds a bit like. When you’re agog, you’re goggle-eyed with excitement about something, whatever that happens to be. In truth, the word has nothing to do with goggle-eyes, but instead relates to the Middle French word en gogues which means "full of mirth, good humor, and joyfulness." |
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| 5961 |
flamboyant |
tending to attract attention; marked by ostentatious display |
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Flamboyant means elaborate and ostentatious. When you think of flamboyant, think of Las Vegas showgirls: feathers, sequins, three-inch heels, enough make-up to disguise any irregularity. |
Flamboyant means showy, and though we often roll our eyes at it, it's not a hateful thing. Liberace was flamboyant. So was Elvis. The word comes from the French flamboyer, to flame. Think of passion and pageantry all rolled into one, and you'll have a good idea what flamboyant should mean at its best. If that doesn't do it for you, think of a man playing a shiny white grand piano at a rock concert, wearing a white satin jump suit and 8-foot wide, fully-feathered wings. See? Flamboyant. |
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| 5962 |
immanent |
inherent; existing or remaining within |
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Something immanent is inherent in and spread throughout something else — it's innate, intrinsic and inborn. Philosophers might debate about whether generosity is an immanent trait or something that people are taught. |
In addition to referring to something inherent or intrinsic, the word immanent can also describe something that is totally mental. Both meanings of this word have to do with internal things. Sometimes, immanent means a quality that is essential to something. Psychologists claim the need to love and be loved is an immanent trait of human beings — we all have it. Some people think there is an immanent spirit or force in nature. Also, immanent things are ideas and feelings that only exist in your mind — they remain within. If you keep your ideas to yourself, they’re immanent. |
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| 5963 |
phonograph |
a machine that plays records |
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A phonograph is a record player, an old-fashioned machine that plays music recorded on an engraved disk. The phonograph was the first machine that could both record and play sounds. |
Thomas Edison invented the phonograph in 1877, and it evolved first into the gramophone and then the record player or turntable. Phonographs are distinguished by the large horns through which music is broadcast. A record revolves on the phonograph's base, and when the stylus or needle is placed on top, it vibrates and reproduces the recorded sounds. The word comes from the Greek roots phono, "sound," and graph, "instrument for recording." |
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| 5964 |
contamination |
the state of being corrupted by contact or association |
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Contamination is the unwanted pollution of something by another substance. When a nuclear power plant leaks radiation into the atmosphere, for example, it causes a contamination of the surrounding area. |
Contamination can also be used to refer to abstract ideas and concepts rather than to just physical things. The French complain that the increasing adoption of English words is a contamination of their linguistic heritage, and many parents today think rap music is a contamination of the public culture. |
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| 5965 |
docket |
a temporally organized plan for matters to be attended to |
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If someone asks you what’s on your docket for the day, she really just wants to know what you’re doing today. Likewise, if someone complains that he has a full docket, he’s saying that he is very busy. |
While docket, as used above, is another word for agenda or schedule, it is most commonly used to mean the calendar for a court of law, specifically, the schedule of pending cases. In the United Kingdom, a docket is a list or label affixed to the outside of a package detailing what is inside. |
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| 5966 |
victuals |
a source of materials to nourish the body |
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Victuals are anything that can be used as food. Even that plate of mystery meat that the lunch lady just gave you could be considered victuals. |
You won't hear many people these days talking about packing their fridge with victuals. Actually pronounced "vittles," it's an old fashioned word for food that sounds like it belongs in a black and white western movie. And it certainly has some dusty roots — word nerds can trace victuals all the way back to the Latin words for "nourishment," "livelihood" and "sustenance." |
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| 5967 |
blasphemous |
grossly irreverent toward what is held to be sacred |
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Blasphemous is an adjective that describes profane words and actions, especially when they are connected to something religious. If you draw Jesus Christ wearing lipstick or call Buddha a fat slob, you're displaying blasphemous behavior. |
Blasphemous comes from a Greek word that means “evil-speaking,” but actions as well as words can be blasphemous. Spitting on a cross, drawing pictures in the Qur’an, tripping a rabbi—all of these are rude in general, but because they combine a sacred religious person or thing with rude behavior, they're also blasphemous. Beyond religion, any attack on something you cherish is blasphemous, like when your best friend says your celebrity crush is ugly. Such blasphemous words! |
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| 5968 |
beginner |
someone new to a field or activity |
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A beginner is someone who's brand new at something. In swimming lessons, a beginner practices putting her face in the water and blowing bubbles. |
If you're a beginner, you're a novice or an amateur — in other words, you're still learning. When you're learning to drive, you're a beginner and probably need the help of an instructor while you drive carefully around your neighborhood. A beginner at speaking French might be able to say a few phrases and know some basic vocabulary words. The earliest meaning of beginner, from the 14th century, was "founder," or "person who establishes an institution." |
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| 5969 |
opprobrious |
expressing offensive reproach |
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Opprobrious is a heavy-duty word to describe something taunting or shameful. Opprobrious words criticize in a mean, hurtful way. |
Opprobrious comes from the Latin opprobare which means "to reproach or taunt." If someone is being opprobrious, she's being abusive and mean. Insults are opprobrious, while constructive criticism is not. No one wants to be treated in an opprobrious way. We can also use this word for bad behavior that causes shame — someone cheating on a test is opprobrious. Opprobrious actions are disgraceful, ignominious, and inglorious. |
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| 5970 |
scrape |
cut the surface of; wear away the surface of |
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To scrape something is to scratch or remove its surface. If you scrape your knee, you'll probably need a Band Aid. |
You can scrape the toe of your favorite boots, or scrape your arm on a branch. This might cause a scrape on your skin or your shoe, a mark that shows. There is also a kind of scrape you can hear, like the scrape of a chair on a floor, and the kind of scrape, or awkward situation, you suddenly find yourself in. People also scrape things together, or gather up as much as they can find. |
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| 5971 |
wearisome |
so lacking in interest as to cause mental fatigue |
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Anything that's boring, tedious, or so dull that it puts you to sleep can be described as wearisome. Long bus rides and long classroom lectures can both be wearisome. |
The adjective wearisome is good for describing things that seem to last forever, that require repetition, or that are otherwise both boring and mentally exhausting. Always being told "Be careful!" by your parents can be wearisome, and typing data into a computer all day is also wearisome. The original, fifteenth century meaning of wearisome was "weary" or "tired," but it quickly came to mean "making one weary," from the Old English root werig, "tired." |
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| 5972 |
predicament |
an unpleasant or difficult situation |
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If you're engaged to get married but suddenly fall in love with someone else, you have gotten yourself into quite a predicament. A predicament is a difficult, confusing, and unpleasant situation. |
The Greek word that predicament originally descends from means "a state of being." Which makes sense considering the words that sound like predicate are all about states of being––predict, or say what's going to happen in the future, and predicate the second part of a sentence that's led by the verb. Think of predicament as an unpleasant state of being. |
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| 5973 |
snide |
expressive of contempt |
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Snide means insulting or contemptuous in an indirect way. If your friend is wearing too much purple eye shadow and your other friend whispers to you, “What? Was she in a car wreck?” that’s a snide comment. |
Snide remarks are the kinds of things people say with a sneer on their face. When you leave a movie theater and your friend says, “I can’t believe someone was actually paid to write that screenplay,” he’s being snide. Instead of saying, “That movie was terrible,” he's expressing his disdain in a more underhanded and indirect way. |
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| 5974 |
tousle |
disarrange or rumple; dishevel |
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To tousle is to mess up. The disadvantage of riding in a flashy red convertible is that the wind might tousle your careful hairdo. |
This old verb with a solid English pedigree has earned the right to only a part-time job after its 600 years of service to the language. Though it means "to make untidy," it's a rare writer these days who applies it to anything but hair — and then usually only by way of the adjective tousled. The origin is Germanic, and tousle is closely related to both tussle and tease. |
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| 5975 |
spiteful |
showing malicious ill will and a desire to hurt |
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When you're spiteful, you act in a mean way, with a desire to hurt someone. If your little brother was driving you crazy, you could calmly ignore him — or you could give him a spiteful pinch. |
If you act or speak with the desire to hurt, bother, or infuriate someone, you are being spiteful. You could deliberately hurt someone's feelings or embarrass them with your spiteful words, or you could watch a jealous child give her friend a spiteful shove. The Latin word despectus, or "scorn or contempt," became the English despite, later shortened to spite, or "a desire to hurt someone." |
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| 5976 |
tonic |
a medicine that strengthens and invigorates |
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A tonic is something, sometimes a medicine, that makes you feel better or restores you to health. Before doctors prescribed drugs, crooked salesmen sold all sorts of dubious tonics. |
Tonic was used to describe all sorts of concoctions that were supposed to make you feel better or livelier. Some helped and some didn’t. Coca Cola was originally marketed as a tonic — back when it is said to have contained cocaine as well as loads of caffeine. These days we might describe a weekend at the beach or a brisk walk as a tonic, meaning it will refresh you. Others might flee to a gin and tonic — an alcoholic drink. |
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| 5977 |
cultured |
marked by refinement in taste and manners |
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A cultured person usually enjoys art, music, expensive restaurants, and other things considered fancy or educated. |
An old lady sipping tea with one pinkie sticking out, wearing a flowered hat, and listing to Brahms (the classical composer) would be many people's idea of someone cultured. A cultured person is also called refined, genteel, civilized, and cultivated. Cultured people have good manners and etiquette. However, being cultured is in the eye of the beholder, because there are so many different cultures in the world. It's difficult to be cultured in more than one culture. |
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| 5978 |
degenerate |
a person whose behavior deviates from what is acceptable |
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If something degenerates, it gets worse, like a food fight that degenerates to an all-out spaghetti-throwing war. Degenerate can also describe an immoral person — or the behavior of such a person. |
Whether used as a verb, noun, or adjective, degenerate carries a sense of making worse or decline — not living up to the standards set by your ancestors — or becoming unlike the people of your race or kind. People who are degenerate, or who exhibit degenerate behavior, are often set apart from others, in part out of fear that their influence will degenerate the morals of the impressionable people around them. |
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| 5979 |
favoritism |
an inclination to privilege some person or group |
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A teacher who shows a clear preference for a particular student might be accused of favoritism, or favoring one person over others. |
The noun favoritism can simply describe the habit of preferring one particular person or group of people, but it often implies that it's done at the expense of other people. Your grandmother practices favoritism if she clearly likes one of her grandchildren best, and a politician is guilty of favoritism if she gives tax breaks to one group but not to others. The word favorite is at the root of favoritism, from the Latin root favere, "to show kindness to." |
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| 5980 |
epistolary |
written in the form of letters or correspondence |
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Any correspondence or communication written in the form of a letter or series of letters is said to be epistolary. |
They've gone out of fashion now, but in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the "epistolary novel," written in the form of fictional letters to and from various corespondents, was all the rage. One of the most famous such novels (or at least part epistolary) is Bram Stoker's "Dracula." Epistolary is related to the word epistle, a fancy term for "letter." |
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| 5981 |
jab |
poke or thrust abruptly |
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When you jab someone, you poke that person. No one on the school bus wants to sit next to the kid who tends to jab people in their ribs with his sharp elbows. |
You might accidentally jab a man on the elevator with your umbrella, or jab your annoying brother on purpose when he's talking with his mouth full at dinner. Another kind of jab is a quick, sharp punch, especially the kind you make in martial arts. The word comes from the Scottish job, "to strike, pierce, or thrust," which in turn is rooted in the Middle English jobben, "to jab or thrust." |
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| 5982 |
outgoing |
at ease in talking to others |
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The adjective outgoing describes someone with a friendly, easy personality. Your outgoing friend might not understand how hard it is for shy people to speak in front of an audience. |
If you're the only member of your outgoing family who is reserved, you might feel silent and invisible in their sociable midst. People who are outgoing are perfectly comfortable in social situations. A completely different meaning of outgoing describes someone who is departing, like an employee who will soon retire, or an outgoing club treasurer who isn't running for re-election. |
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| 5983 |
ascendant |
tending or directed upward |
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Something that's ascendant is increasing its power or status. An ascendant political party is one that captures more and more seats in Congress with every election. |
Things are ascendant when they're growing in importance. It's common to use this adjective to describe people or groups that have already achieved a lot of power and whose influence continues to grow. Ascendant was originally a term in astronomy, although today it's used in astrology to mean the sign of the Zodiac rising in the east when someone's born. The Latin root is ascendere, "to go up," but also figuratively "to rise," or "to reach." |
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| 5984 |
causal |
involving an entity that produces an effect |
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Have you ever heard the saying "One thing leads to another"? When one thing is known for certain to cause another thing, then the first thing can be called causal. |
Causal is a variation of the word cause, which should be a clue to its meaning. A cause is what makes something happen: the notebook flew across the room because you threw it, so your throwing it was causal. If a bolt of lightning set a statue on fire, the lightning was causal for the fire. Sometimes, we don't know what caused something, so we don't know what was causal. But if you can figure out "Who did it?" or "What did it?," then you've found what's causal. |
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| 5985 |
cosmos |
everything that exists anywhere |
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The cosmos is the sum total of everything — pretty big. It's hard to wrap your mind around the cosmos, as it extends far beyond the Milky Way, or far-off galaxies, or even our own universe. |
Cosmos is originally a Greek word, meaning both "order" and "world," because the ancient Greeks thought that the world was perfectly harmonious and impeccably put in order. We now use cosmos without the idea of perfect order. Now it means, "all of creation," and particularly on the scale of the stars, the planets, the black holes, the other universes, and all the stuff we don't know about. It's also, totally separately, the name of a pretty, flowering Mexican herb. |
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| 5986 |
disrespectful |
exhibiting lack of regard; rude and discourteous |
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Disrespectful words and actions are rude and show a lack of respect. If you want to "dis" someone, be disrespectful towards them. |
You probably know that respectful things show consideration, kindness, and appreciation. Disrespectful things do the opposite. Swearing at your grandmother is disrespectful. Burping loudly in church is disrespectful. For a business to ignore a religious holiday could be considered disrespectful. This is a word with a lot of grey area: what is disrespectful to one person may be just fine to another. Disrespectful behavior can range from blatant rudeness to just not acting impressed or awed by something others hold sacred. |
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| 5987 |
deprivation |
the disadvantage that results from losing something |
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A state of deprivation means something is missing, and the situation is serious. If you're suffering from sleep deprivation, you haven't slept in a long time. |
If you know the word deprive — meaning to keep something away from someone — then you’re close to knowing what deprivation means. It describes the state of not having something. Poor people experience a lot of deprivation: poverty keeps them from having enough food or shelter. Plants experiencing water deprivation will shrivel up and die. If you’re grounded your parents might impose video game deprivation, although this word is usually reserved for when you’re lacking something really serious. |
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| 5988 |
luxuriate |
enjoy to excess |
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To luxuriate is to enjoy yourself extravagantly or to an extreme degree. Luxuriate can also mean to thrive, like a plant that grows wildly. |
A luxury is something expensive and unnecessary, like eating at a fancy restaurant. To luxuriate is to enjoy yourself in a similar way, not necessarily by spending a lot, but by enjoying something to the fullest. Lying in the sun for hours is luxuriating. Reading in the bookstore for hours is luxuriating. Also, luxuriating is a type of prosperous growth. A banana tree that yields a lot of bananas is luxuriating: it's thriving and growing. |
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| 5989 |
gilded |
made from or covered with gold |
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Something gilded looks like gold, whether it is or not. If you've heard the expression "all that glitters is not gold," it's especially true of anything gilded. |
You might have first heard the word gilded in the name of an historical period in the U.S. known as The Gilded Age; the name suggests that the appearance of wealth concealed actual poverty. Gilded is often used to point out illusion in this way, but if no illusion is intended, it need not be a negative word. I think the gilded doves in your painting are especially lovely. |
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| 5990 |
epicure |
a person devoted to refined sensuous enjoyment |
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We call a person who truly loves food—food at the highest levels—an epicure. Occasionally, you might find the word epicure used for a person who loves something else, but an epicure is usually someone who delights in fine food. |
Epicurus was the Greek philosopher whom we credit with thinking the most about cooking and food. So any time you see the word epicure, remember that that person follows the philosopher Epicurus and therefore loves food. Being an epicure ain't cheap. Most fine restaurants these days will charge you an arm and a leg for a meal good enough to satisfy a real epicure: a good bottle of wine alone could cost the choosy epicure a couple of Benjamins ($100 bills). |
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| 5991 |
spark |
a small fragment of a burning substance |
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A spark is a small, glowing particle that's either thrown off of a fire or that starts a fire. Your dad might tell everyone to stand back from the bonfire so they don't get burned by a spark. |
Sparks are burning fragments that pop up off a fire, but they're also bright flashes, like the sparks of light reflecting off your sunglasses or electrical sparks given off by an engine. Some small thing that promises to grow larger is yet another kind of spark — you might notice a spark of anger within yourself when you see someone being treated unfairly, for example. The word spark comes from the Old English root spearca, "glowing or fiery particle thrown off." |
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| 5992 |
flinch |
draw back, as with fear or pain |
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To flinch is to react to pain by wincing, pulling away, or cringing. Often it's used to describe a person who shows a moment of weakness or fright: he was so tough, I thought he'd never flinch, but snakes really freak him out. |
To flinch is to pull away suddenly or recoil when something frightens or hurts you. People flinch at different things. Needles, for example, cause some people to flinch, while they're not even noticed by others. If you can withstand something awful without showing it, you're likely to hear someone say "Wow! You didn't even flinch!" Think of it as a combination of flee and pinch. If you don't flee when you get pinched, you don't flinch. |
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| 5993 |
tangled |
in a confused mass |
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Tangled is an adjective that describes a confused mass. You're likely to hear tangled used most often when referring to hair. If it's tangled, you can't brush or comb through it. |
Other than discussing hair, tangled can be used to refer to anything that's jumbled up and confused. Like that tangled pile of wires behind your television and computer that you keep tripping over. Tangled can also mean something highly complicated or intricate, like the relationships between ex-wives, ex-husbands and stepchildren in a family. The word tangled is most famous for being included in a well-known literary quote from Sir Walter Scott's poem, "Marmion" — "Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practise to deceive." |
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| 5994 |
paean |
a hymn of praise |
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A paean is a hymn of praise or thanksgiving. You might sing a paean in church, where many hymns extol the greatness of God. |
Paean was originally a song of praise for Apollo, or Paian as he was sometimes called. You can now use paean to mean any song of praise, regardless of the deity, or to mean a formal expression of praise, like a eulogy. At your mother's birthday dinner, it might be nice for you and your brothers and sisters to write and sing a paean to her good-natured love and support of you over many years. |
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| 5995 |
garner |
assemble or get together |
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To garner means to gather or earn. If you want to run for office without belonging to a political party, you must garner enough signatures — usually a few thousand — to get onto the ballot. |
The word garner comes from the Latin granarium which means "store-house," usually for grain. The current use of the word carries with it the sense of something being stored up. It’s not only that you can gather enough yes-votes to overcome the opposition, there is the sense that all the things you have garnered have some weight of their own. In its other use, garner means “earn” or "merit." Think of movie stars garnering Oscar nominations for their excellent work. |
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| 5996 |
haphazard |
dependent upon or characterized by chance |
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Anything haphazard is random, disorganized, slipshod, or hit-or-miss. A tent erected haphazardly might look more like a big nylon bag of dirty laundry than a place to sleep. |
Ever heard the expression "I'll hazard a guess?" In it, the word hazard means "chance," as in "take a chance." Think of the hap in haphazard as short for "happen." Combine hap- and -hazard and you get something that happens (or appears to have happened) by chance. If you approach a math problem with haphazard reasoning, you're likely to get it wrong. |
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| 5997 |
parvenu |
a person who has suddenly risen to a higher economic status |
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A parvenu is an upstart, somebody who's suddenly rich but doesn't fit into his new social status. If you're a parvenu, people might also describe you as "nouveau-riche" or an "arriviste." Maybe it's not quite so insulting in French. |
The Beverly Hillbillies, a sitcom from the 1960s, featured the Clampetts, classic parvenus, who struck oil on their backwoods West Virginia swampland. They arrive at their mansion in Beverly Hills, dressed in overalls, in their pick-up truck, with their shabby furniture strapped on top. As parvenus, they don’t fit in — to say the least. Parvenu is from French, and it's the past participle of parvenir, "arrived." |
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| 5998 |
rambling |
spreading out in different directions |
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The adjective rambling means confused and long-winded, the way you could describe your grandfather's endless rambling stories of his childhood. |
Rambling always means indirect and a little confusing, which can be a negative quality in a classroom lecture or movie plot — but when you're talking about a path through the woods, rambling is a charming way to describe it. You might love to hike through the woods on rambling trails that twist and turn. Rambling comes from the verb ramble, "walk or stroll," which is a variant on the older verb romen, "to walk, or to go," and related to "roam." |
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| 5999 |
initiate |
set in motion, start an event or prepare the way for |
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If you press the red button, you'll activate weapons of mass destruction and initiate a global war. As a verb, initiate means to start. As a noun, initiate (short "a") means to be part of a group. |
Initiate is a tricky little devil because you pronounce the last bit one way as a verb (i-ni-she-ate) and another when it's a noun (i-in-she-at). If you're an initiate, you've been introduced to a field of study, an activity, etc. You can be a novice or a veteran. To initiate is to begin, pioneer, or broach a topic. You might say, "Let's initiate the swearing-in ceremony so our new initiates can join the Rule-Breakers' Club and still get home without missing their curfews." |
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| 6000 |
meddlesome |
intrusive in an offensive manner |
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A meddlesome person gets in your business in a way that's totally annoying. In other words, they meddle. Respect people's privacy by not being meddlesome. |
In Yiddish, the word "yenta" is used for people who interfere in other people's business. A defining quality of the "yenta" is that they're meddlesome. You could say that someone who's meddlesome gets "in the middle" of your business, if that's the way you like to remember words. Just remember that the spelling is different from "middle." I don't mean to be meddlesome, but you'd be well advised not to confuse the words "meddle" and "middle," even if one helps you remember the other. |
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| 6001 |
vituperation |
abusive or venomous language to express blame or censure |
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Vituperation is a noun that refers to critical, abusive language. It's always a messy scene when a political debate slips into vituperation. |
Vituperation is from the Latin root words vitium, meaning "a fault or defect," and parare, meaning provide, which combined to make vituperare meaning "disparage." Vituperation can also be used to refer to feelings of bitter resentment and deep-seated antipathy toward another — like your vituperation toward the meter maid who just placed that ticket on your windshield. |
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| 6002 |
unpredictable |
unknown in advance |
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When something's unpredictable, it doesn't happen at expected times or it can't be predicted. If trains were unpredictable, they wouldn't follow a set schedule and you'd never know when one would arrive. |
The adjective unpredictable can also describe something that's unexpected or not known in advance. Your soccer team's skill level might be wildly unpredictable — from game to game your coach never knows what you guys will do. It can be an insult if someone calls you an unpredictable person. That means people can't rely on you for things, such as consistently good work or keeping your promises. |
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| 6003 |
predatory |
living by preying on other animals |
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Predatory animals are those who kill and then eat — in other words, "prey on" — other animals. Hawks, lions, alligators, and human beings are all predatory animals. |
Predatory is also used when one party victimizes another for personal gain. For example, businesses are often accused of "predatory practices" when they take advantage of senior citizens, the uneducated, or people who simply don’t understand the specifics of the loan or insurance policy they're signing up for. This is why it’s important to read the fine print of business documents. |
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| 6004 |
bounce |
spring back; spring away from an impact |
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Bounce is a word for an up and down movement or recovery — like a ball's bounce on the pavement or the stock market's rise after a crash. |
Bounce can be a noun or a verb. A basketball player bounces a ball on the floor and it springs back into her hand. Trampolines have a lot of bounce in them; that's why they are fun to jump on. Good dance music makes you want to bounce up and down. The phrase “bounce back” describes how you might recover after a bad situation. Did you slip and suffer a painful bounce on the floor? Some hot chocolate will help you "bounce back." |
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| 6005 |
gush |
flow forth in a sudden stream or jet |
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On hot summer days, city kids will sometimes open a fire hydrant and let the water gush into the street. Things that gush come streaming out. |
Water can gush out of a hose or a drinking fountain, and you can also call the jet of water itself a gush. A more figurative way to gush is to talk enthusiastically about something — you might gush when you're describing your favorite teacher. Gush comes from the twelfth century English word gosshien, originally "make noises in the stomach," and later "pour out." Gush is an onomatopoeic word — it sounds like what it means. |
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| 6006 |
recapitulation |
a summary that repeats the substance of a longer discussion |
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A recapitulation is a short summary. At the end of an hour-long speech, you should probably give a recapitulation if you want your audience to remember anything you’ve just said. |
A recapitulation, or "recap," is a summary, review, or restatement. The purpose of a recapitulation is to remind your reader or audience of your main points. There's no new information in a recapitulation, just the same information in a smaller, more condensed form. The prefix re- is a signal that a recapitulation involves repeating something. |
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| 6007 |
censorious |
harshly critical or expressing censure |
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Censorious, an adjective, describes people who are so critical, they find something wrong in everything. Do not let censorious guests come to your next dinner party! |
Censorious, pronounced "sen-SOAR-ee-us," comes from the Latin word censura, meaning "judgment." Someone who is censorious judges everyone and everything, ruining everyone's good time with harsh criticisms. The sky is too blue. Your dog is too friendly. The zebra has too many stripes. You get the idea. A censorious person makes others say, "So...is there anything you do like?" |
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| 6008 |
truncated |
cut short in duration |
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Truncated is an adjective that means "cut short," like a truncated picnic, caused by the sudden downpour. |
The word comes from the root truncate, which is of Latin origin, and means "cut off." When an object is truncated, its end or point is cut off, like a truncated arrow that is safe for kids to play with. Truncated can also refer to something that ends earlier than planned — everyone was angry at the truncated concert until they learned that the singer had broken his leg when he fell on stage. |
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| 6009 |
spruce |
any coniferous tree of the genus Picea |
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Spruce is a verb that means you pay special attention to your personal appearance, especially your grooming and clothing. If you want to spruce up for a wedding, you'll need to rent a tuxedo and do something with your hair. |
Spruce can also mean that you're making something else look better. You might spruce up the living room before your girlfriend's visit by vacuuming, throwing away all the trash, and putting away the dishes you left sitting around. Spruce is typically used in combination with the word up: spruce up. Spruce's use as a verb possibly originated from "spruce leather," which was used to make a popular type of jacket back in the 1400s. |
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| 6010 |
suave |
having a sophisticated charm |
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To be suave is to be smooth, polite, and a little bit cool. Men can be suave and debonair, especially the ones riding horses on the covers of romance novels. |
Suave is from the Latin word suavis which means "agreeable." To be suave is still to be agreeable — a suave person knows how to work the room, and you might want to appear suave and sophisticated when you meet your sweetie's parents. Although it's an old fashioned compliment, suave has morphed into something meaning a little bit cheesy. Suave men know how to talk to the ladies — mustaches, cologne, and ridiculous come-ons could be involved. |
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| 6011 |
draught |
a serving of drink (usually alcoholic) drawn from a keg |
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If you're chilly, you might close a window that's letting in a draught. Draught is the British spelling of the word draft. |
The noun draught is pronounced exactly like draft, and it also shares most of the same meanings. A cold burst of wind, a swig or a serving of a drink, the act of pulling a heavy load, and the depth of a ship below the surface of the water: each of these can be called a draught. It's easy to confuse the British draught with drought, which means "a shortage of rainfall" and rhymes with "out." |
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| 6012 |
cautionary |
serving to warn |
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When something is cautionary, it’s meant to be a warning to you. Your parents might be fond of telling cautionary tales, like the one about the girl who got electrocuted sticking a knife into the toaster. |
While driving, look for cautionary signs warning you of potential danger: falling rocks, kids crossing, hidden driveway. You might use cautionary words: “Watch your step! There’s glass all over the floor!” Don’t confuse cautionary with cautious, which means trying to avoid danger. Tell a cautionary tale about someone drowning because he swam too far out into the ocean and an overly cautious kid might decide never to swim again. |
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| 6013 |
knuckle |
a joint of a finger when the fist is closed |
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Your knuckles are the joints in your fingers that are farthest from your fingernails. When you clench your hand into a fist, your knuckles are especially prominent. |
A knuckle is the part of your hand that makes it possible to move a finger freely, and if someone offers you a "knuckle sandwich," you should politely decline, since they're actually planning to make a fist and punch you in the mouth. To knuckle is to rub with the knuckles, like when you knuckle a bit of sand out of your eye. The root of knuckle is the Proto-Germanic knuk-, "bone." |
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| 6014 |
normalize |
cause to conform to a standard |
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If it's out of whack, totally crazy and absolutely bizarre, it should probably be normalized, or put back into a normal state. |
Something that's been normalized has been put back to normal, whether you're talking about the weather pattern or your sleep habits. Someone who likes to keep things in order is probably a fan of the word normalize. Stock brokers, for example, hate it when the stock market takes them on a wild, unpredictable ride; they'd much rather have things normalize and settle down. |
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| 6015 |
musing |
deeply or seriously thoughtful |
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Use the adjective musing to describe something that's reflective or thoughtful, like your musing diary entry or a clown's sad, musing facial expression. |
When you ponder or contemplate, you muse, and anything that appears this way can be described as musing. You might love your English teacher's musing responses to students' questions or grow bored by a French film's slow, musing quality. You can also use the word as a noun meaning "period of reflection," although it's most often written as the plural musings: "This book is nothing but the author's musings about his cat." |
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| 6016 |
waste |
use inefficiently or inappropriately |
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If waste is useless, then to waste is to fritter away. Don't waste time putting your waste paper in the waste basket, just chuck it in the recycling bin. |
As a noun, waste, meaning “desolate regions” stems from the Old English westen, meaning “a desert, wilderness.” Later, it came to imply a “useless activity,” and even later than that, “refuse matter,” or “trash.” As a verb, waste “devastate, ruin,” comes from the Latin vastare, “to lay waste.” It later adopted the sense of “spend or consume uselessly.” It can also mean “to kill.” The poet E. E. Cummings said, “The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.” |
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| 6017 |
duality |
a classification into two opposed parts or subclasses |
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As hinted at by the word "dual" within it, duality refers to having two parts, often with opposite meanings, like the duality of good and evil. |
If there are two sides to a coin, metaphorically speaking, there's a duality. Peace and war, love and hate, up and down, and black and white are dualities. Another term for a duality is a dichotomy. Duality has technical meanings in geometry and physics. In geometry, duality refers to how points and planes have interchangeable roles in projective geometry. In physics, duality is the property of matter and electromagnetic radiation to be understood best through wave theory or particle theory. |
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| 6018 |
anterior |
of or near the head end or toward the front plane of a body |
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The anterior of anything is the front — in humans, it's the area toward the head of the body, opposite of the posterior. Anterior can also refer to something that came before, as in "anterior to the discovery of vaccines." |
The word anterior is one of those words that are spelled the same in English today as they were in their Latin origins. It still has the same meaning — "former" or "before." You can remember that by remembering that the prefix ante- means "before." Emily Dickinson once wrote, "Love is anterior to life, posterior to death, initial of creation, and the exponent of breath." |
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| 6019 |
lambent |
softly bright or radiant |
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Lambent is a word describing a type of light that is subdued or soft. A lambent glow is not a bright, blinding light. |
Lambent comes from a Latin word meaning "lick," and that fact may help you remember the word: lambent lights or flames aren't solid or powerful. The light is flickering — almost like the licking of a snake's tongue. Lambent light flickers or shines softly. It's not a powerful or overwhelming light. A candle in a dark room is a great example of a lambent light. Lambent light is better for setting a mood than lighting up a room brightly. |
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| 6020 |
scamper |
run or move about quickly or lightly |
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To scamper is to move in a hurry. You and your friends might scamper to catch the bus, or your kitten might scamper to catch a mouse. |
The verb scamper describes something that's moving in disorderly haste, often out of fear or excitement. You might notice that chipmunks scamper the instant your dog goes outside. You can also use scamper as a noun, when you talk about your death-defying scamper across town in an effort to be on time for your first day of work. Scamper was a very popular word in the late 1800s. |
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| 6021 |
typify |
embody the essential characteristics of |
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To typify is to represent what is typical of something or someone. You might say that screaming and door slamming typify your spoiled cousin if that kind of behavior is exactly the kind of thing she usually does. |
Something that's characteristic of a group of people typifies them. You might observe, for example, that studying late on a Friday night typifies your college friends who are math majors. You could also say that sunny days and cool nights typify autumn in New England, since that's the typical weather for that particular place and time. The root word is Greek — typos, which means "dent, impression, mark, figure, or original form." |
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| 6022 |
extermination |
the act of getting rid of by killing off |
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When an entire group of living things is killed, that's extermination. If ants have taken over your entire kitchen, marching across the counter and up the sides of the cabinets, you might have to resort to extermination. |
If you smack just one mosquito, it's not extermination — a whole group must be destroyed in order to call it extermination. Spraying pesticides on your lawn to eradicate every dandelion is extermination, but if you do that you might be contributing to the inadvertent extermination of honey bees too. This destructive noun comes from the Latin exterminare, "drive out, expel, or destroy." |
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| 6023 |
aura |
distinctive but intangible quality around a person or thing |
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You know that intangible glow, that certain magical something that your mom gives off? Get your glasses fixed and you'll see the aura emanating from her head isn't her special powers — just your bad eyes. |
You may have heard the noun aura used to describe the atmosphere surrounding something magical, like a fairy, or around a living being, like the calm vibes emanating from a meditating yogi. But did you know that it can refer to the sensation — one of coolness or bright light — that’s experienced before the onset of a seizure or migraine? Aura can also apply to the force that some people believe radiates from living organisms as an indicator of their unique essence. |
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| 6024 |
comeback |
a quick reply to a question or remark |
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A comeback is a quick, witty reply. “Your mama” is a lame comeback but a popular one. It's also a return to prominence after a break, like an athlete who retires and then makes a comeback by returning to the sport. |
If someone insults you, and you say something back that turns the insult around, that's a comeback. Nice job. Another comeback is when someone — especially in entertainment or sports — comes back after being gone. If a popular singer leaves music for a few years and then returns with a hit song, that's a comeback. In the song “Mama Said Knock You Out,” LL Cool J starts by saying, “Don’t call it a comeback, I been here for years!” |
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| 6025 |
sobriquet |
a familiar name for a person |
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If people start calling you "Mac" because you like to eat macaroni and cheese for every meal, then you not only have a strange diet, but you also have a sobriquet — in other words, a nickname. |
Sobriquet is derived from the French word soubriquet. Sobriquets are often but not always humorous, so in order to pronounce this word, you might want to remember that the last syllable rhymes with play. Sobriquets are usually given to you by other people, but you can choose one for yourself if you want. If your name is Jennifer and you tend to introduce yourself as Jen, this also qualifies as a sobriquet. |
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| 6026 |
deface |
mar or spoil the appearance of |
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If you deface something, you've blemished or disfigured it in some way. For example, graffiti can deface a statue. |
The de- in deface should be a clue that this is a negative word, but the face part could be confusing. This word uses face in a different way than usual — as if everything had a face. Think about regular faces for a minute — and how weird and silly someone would look with mustard all over their face. Not a great look, right? That's why we use deface when a building, a painting, a window, or anything that has been ruined in a similar way. Throwing a cup of coffee on a valuable painting ruins the face of the painting — so we say it's been defaced. |
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| 6027 |
statecraft |
wisdom in the management of public affairs |
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The ability to be a savvy and effective political leader is statecraft. If the President isn't skilled at statecraft, he or she will have a hard time accomplishing anything. |
A lot goes into statecraft, which is sometimes called "the art of governing." Political experience, diplomacy, and leadership skills are all essential to statecraft. The ultimate goal of statecraft depends on who is practicing it; for some it's power and for others it's world peace. The word statecraft has been used in English since the 17th century. |
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| 6028 |
sordid |
foul and run-down and repulsive |
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Describe a person's actions as sordid if they are so immoral or unethical that they seem dirty. Think of the worst parts of a bad soap opera! |
Sordid comes from the Latin word sordes "dirt." Something that is filthy or run down such as a neighborhood or someone's living conditions can be called sordid, but it is usually used figuratively to mean immoral or dishonest. If you want to hear the sordid details of someone's actions, it's because they were extremely dishonest or sexually immoral and also because they were supposed to be kept a secret. |
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| 6029 |
downplay |
understate the importance or quality of |
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To downplay something is to act as if it's not very important. If you're trying to convince your friends to play poker with you, you might downplay the fact that you're an experienced and competitive player. |
Politicians who depend on contributions from oil and gas companies tend to downplay the environmental effects of their products, and a boy who wants a trampoline for his birthday might downplay the possible dangers when he talks to his parents about it. Downplay is a relatively recent addition to the English language, dating from the late 1960s. |
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| 6030 |
exaltation |
the elevation of a person, as to the status of a god |
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If the Prize Patrol showed up at your door with a check for a million dollars, you'd probably be overcome with a feeling of exaltation or overwhelming happiness. Chances are slim, so don't bank on it. |
Exaltation comes from the Latin exaltare meaning to "raise aloft." When you're in a state of exaltation, your emotions are raised aloft and you're swept away in happiness. Exaltation is also the term for praising someone really highly or raising someone in rank, and for a group of larks, and in astrology, the place in a planet's orbit of maximum influence. Fly an exaltation of larks above the ceremony of your exaltation to Minister of Vocabulary. |
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| 6031 |
antediluvian |
of or relating to the period before the biblical flood |
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Antediluvian means "before the flood" — that is, the Biblical flood with Noah's ark. Generally, though, the word is used — often humorously — to describe something really, really old. |
In popular language, antediluvian is almost always used to exaggerate how comically, ridiculously old and out-of-date something is. You may laugh at your parents' antediluvian ideas of what's proper for going out on a date. And how about those antediluvian computers they still insist are fine! When the word was coined in the seventeenth century, however, it was meant literally. Back then, the science of reconstructing the Earth's history used the Bible as a frame of reference. |
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| 6032 |
unaware |
not having or showing knowledge or understanding |
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Unaware is simply the opposite of "aware." If you are unaware, you have no idea what's going on. |
To be unaware is to be totally incognizant (but not incontinent). To be "caught unawares" means you were caught off guard or by surprise. Either way you've got your head in the clouds about something. Now some people might say that ignorance is bliss, but the guy in the crosswalk who was unaware of the bus barreling down on him at full speed might disagree. |
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| 6033 |
disrepute |
the state of being held in low esteem |
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Disrepute is when a person or a group has a really bad reputation. A mean prank played by just a few football players, for example, might bring the entire team into disrepute. |
If you damage your reputation or dishonor your family in some way, you've fallen into disrepute. The noun is especially useful for describing the loss of esteem for a group, team, or organization: "The scandal sent the entire sport of kickboxing into disrepute." It stems from repute, the general opinion or reputation of something, which comes directly from the Latin word repute. |
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| 6034 |
circumnavigate |
travel around, either by plane or ship |
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Circumnavigate means to travel around in a big circle. When you circumnavigate the world, will you do it in a boat or a hot air balloon? |
Circumnavigate breaks down to circum-, "around," and navigare, "to navigate." It was first used in the era when sailors were trying to find new lands they didn't know about, and so the "around" in question was the trip around the entire earth. We also use circumnavigate to describe going around something that's too hard to go through, like when you circumnavigate the massive crowds in Times Square on New Year's Eve. |
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| 6035 |
deviate |
turn aside; turn away from |
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If something turns off course or is diverted, it deviates from the expected or the norm. Deviating from explicit recipe directions is never a good idea, unless you want inedible food or a kitchen fire. |
The verb deviate can refer to divergence from a predicted path or road ("the airplane's route deviated from the flight plan"), but it can also refer to a divergence from normal behavior or expectations. When women demanded the right to vote, their behavior was considered shocking and deviated from the expectations of the time. |
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| 6036 |
ravish |
force (someone) to have sex against their will |
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If you are ravished by a piece of music, you are overcome with intense feeling while listening to it. The older meaning of ravish is to overcome by physical assault (especially sexual assault) and is still sometimes used. |
Ravish is a verb of contrasts, having two meanings that, while both dealing with emotional issues, are polar opposites — the first being to fill with joy, the second being to assault and violate a woman against her will. The history of ravish began with the negative connotation — that of seizing by violence and carrying someone, usually a woman, away. It comes from the Latin rapere, although the meaning wasn't always sexual violation — the idea of rape didn't appear until the mid-15th century. |
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| 6037 |
prate |
speak about unimportant matters rapidly and incessantly |
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To prate means to talk on and on about something. While it may be interesting to hear about other people’s vacations, when they prate about them until the wee hours, it becomes intolerable. |
There are more than a few instances where the famous have discouraged prating. Nursing great Clara Barton discouraged prating about “moral influences” when she encouraged a cigarette and a good, stiff glass of whiskey for Civil War soldiers. Herman Melville warned against mocking a lover’s wounded heart, saying “the stabbed man knows the steel; prate not to him that it is only a tickling feather.” |
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| 6038 |
peak |
a V shape |
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Use the word peak to refer to the pointy top of something, such as the jagged peak of a tall mountain or the tapered peak that forms when you beat egg whites for a recipe. |
Peak is one of those words that can play a variety of roles in a sentence. The noun peak can refer to something that is a literal highpoint, like that snow-covered peak over there in the distance, but you will also hear it used to refer to more abstract high points, such as a time of greatest success (“at the peak of your career”) or top performance (“the stock price reached a peak over the summer”) or highest level (“the peak of the flu season”). The word also has a verb form (“Don’t peak to soon”) and an adjective form (“peak productivity”) that carry similar meanings. |
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| 6039 |
incubate |
grow under conditions that promote development |
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When a chicken sits on an egg, it incubates it. To incubate means to keep something safe and warm so that it can grow. |
The word can be used metaphorically to mean to keep something safe in order for it to have time to grow. You incubate a plan or an idea before bringing it into the world, or, metaphorically speaking, hatching it. Premature or particularly small babies are placed into an incubator when they are born. This warm, clean environment helps them to grow. |
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| 6040 |
dent |
an impression in a surface (as made by a blow) |
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A dent is a gouge or hollow that's left in a surface after some kind of blow. If you hit a soup pot with a hammer, it will leave a dent. |
Car accidents, whether they're serious or just fender benders, often result in dents. If you fall off your bike, you may get a dent in your helmet, and a mishandled package might be delivered to your door full of dents. There's also a figurative kind of dent, a reduction in amount: "You barely made a dent in that oatmeal — aren't you hungry?" Dent comes from Middle English, originally a variation on dint, "a blow dealt in fighting." |
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| 6041 |
deflate |
release contained air or gas from |
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To deflate is to let the air out of something. If you deflate the tires on your brother's bike, he won't be able to ride it until he gets them pumped up again. |
You can deflate anything that's full of air or another gas: an air mattress, an inflatable sled, a helium balloon, or the tires on your car. When something, like a hot air balloon, empties of air, you can also say it deflates. Figuratively, a person can also deflate when they are suddenly drained of self-assurance or cheer: "Hearing him criticize me in front of the class made me deflate." |
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| 6042 |
morass |
a soft wet area of low-lying land that sinks underfoot |
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A morass is a mushy, muddy patch of ground that you might find in a bog. In other words, it's something you probably don't want to get stuck in. |
The noun morass comes from the Dutch word moeras, meaning "marsh" or "fen." More metaphorically, just like its synonyms mire and quagmire, morass refers to anything that bogs you down, overwhelms you, and hinders your progress — like red tape, for example. You might refer to a "political morass" when the government cannot seem to pass legislation. Whether a morass is physical or metaphorical, it's a sticky mess you'll most likely want to avoid. |
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| 6043 |
repulsion |
the act of repelling an attack; a successful defensive stand |
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Repulsion is getting grossed out. If the thought of great green globs of greasy grimy gopher guts makes you recoil in horror, then you've experienced repulsion, or an intense aversion to something. |
Where there's repulsion, there's disgust. Maybe gagging. Perhaps a few screams. In physics, repulsion describes how two magnets with the same charge jump away from each other, kind of like how most of us leap from the table when mom puts down a plate of Brussels sprouts. |
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| 6044 |
plenary |
full in all respects |
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If something is full or complete, you can describe it as plenary. When you get to be a teenager, your parents can give you plenary responsibility for your siblings when they go out. They pay pretty well to boss the kids around! |
Although the adjective plenary can be used to describe anything that is full or complete, it most often describes a full meeting session, as in a political meeting or a board meeting. The school board met in a plenary session today to discuss the purchase of land for a new high school. When you got asked to be the plenary speaker at the board meeting, you made sure to put it on your resume right away. |
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| 6045 |
compression |
applying pressure |
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Whenever something is squished together, compression takes place, like a tight bandage around your sprained ankle — the compression helps protect it from further injury. |
Compression comes from the Latin word compressare, meaning “to press together.” Compression is an important part of how car engines function: fuel and air are compressed then ignited and that makes the power that turns the wheels. Compression can also happen to your day's schedule, such as when a snow storm causes school to start late, a schedule compression means that you have all your classes but they are shorter. |
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| 6046 |
compulsive |
caused by an irrational motive for repetitive actions |
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Compulsive people have irresistible urges to do certain things, like a compulsive gossip who simply cannot keep a secret. |
If you're compulsive, you can't stop yourself from doing something, like compulsive counting of the sidewalk blocks on your way to school. There is sometimes an upside to compulsive behavior — like a compulsive desire to be the best hockey player, which makes you work hard to make it happen. Someone who has compulsive tendencies can be called a compulsive, the noun form of the word. |
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| 6047 |
inescapable |
impossible to avoid or evade |
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Something that's inescapable is impossible to get away from. A reluctant swimmer may stop trying to talk his mom out of making him go to swimming lessons once he realizes that learning to swim is inescapable. |
Any force or occurrence or duty that you just can't avoid is inescapable. Feeling angry at people you love sometimes is inescapable, and children growing older is also inescapable. The adjective combines the prefix in, or "not, the opposite of," with escapable, which comes from the Vulgar Latin word excappare, literally "get out of one's cape," or "leave a pursuer holding just one's cape." |
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| 6048 |
amends |
something done or paid in expiation of a wrong |
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So you blew the surprise party by mentioning it in passing to the birthday girl. Now, you have to do something to make amends, or reparations, to the boyfriend who worked all day to set up the party. |
When you make amends, you mend something you have damaged, like a deal, or relationship. Maybe, your cupcake shop was panned by a food critic in the paper, but he never went to your store, he went to that awful cupcake shop across the street. The critic should make amends by printing a retraction. |
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| 6049 |
ceaseless |
uninterrupted in time and indefinitely long continuing |
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Someone who is on a ceaseless quest for the world’s tastiest French fry will never stop searching until they find it, in all its greasy glory. Ceaseless is an adjective that means “never-ending” or “uninterrupted.” |
The verb cease means “to stop,” so ceaseless refers to something that never stops. You might listen to the ceaseless sound of crashing waves at the beach, or you could say that the Internet is a ceaseless source of information. Ceaseless can also refer to things that only seem like they go on forever; it’s often used in the phrase “seemingly ceaseless.” During a blizzard you might complain about the ceaseless snow, even though the snow will eventually stop. |
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| 6050 |
indecent |
not in keeping with accepted standards of polite society |
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Things that are indecent are obscene, indelicate, or offensive in some way. If you run around the mall naked, you’ll get in trouble for indecent exposure! |
Indecent describes things that are not decent — the prefix -in often means “not,” like how independent means “not dependent.” Decent things are morally sound, so indecent things are offensive. Swearing is considered indecent. Indecent often means rude. A joke might go over well with your friends but is considered indecent when told to a teacher. Not everyone will agree on what’s indecent, but we all agree that you should keep your clothes on at the mall. |
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| 6051 |
dashing |
lively and spirited |
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Someone who's dashing is stylish, with a certain bold, attractive spirit. Your dashing uncle might charm and impress your friends with his stories of travels around the world and his fashionable outfits. |
Characters in old books are frequently dashing — adventurous and gallant, like a dashing hero on a white horse or a dashing pirate seeking his fortune at sea. The adjective dashing is almost always used to describe men, and for that reason it's a bit old-fashioned. In the 18th and 19th centuries "to cut a dash" meant "to act brilliantly" or "to give a showy appearance," and dashing came from this meaning. |
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| 6052 |
alimentary |
of or providing nourishment |
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Use the adjective alimentary to describe something that provides nourishment, like an alimentary meal of vegetable soup and whole-grain bread. |
Alimentary comes from the Latin word alimentum which means "nourishment." If something nourishes you, it helps you thrive and even grow stronger. So, alimentary foods are those that offer good nutrition to keep you going, like a bowl of oatmeal with walnuts and raisins. Not alimentary? A chocolate donut — though it may be delicious. |
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| 6053 |
testy |
easily irritated or annoyed |
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You might feel a bit testy before taking a test, but the words test and testy are unrelated. Feeling testy means being peeved, annoyed, or irritated. |
The adjective testy is associated with being irritable and on edge. If you find yourself frustrated and becoming impatient, you might make a testy remark like “What the heck is taking so long?” If a family member is acting particularly cranky over breakfast, you might say, “Well, aren’t you testy this morning!” However, a comment like that could be met with a testy reply such as “Mind your own business!” |
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| 6054 |
nonpartisan |
free from party affiliation or bias |
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Nonpartisan words and actions don't show allegiance to any political party. They're politically neutral. |
In the United States’ political system, it often seems like politicians only do what's best for their party: the Democrats or Republicans. Politicians are partisan when they act in favor of their party. To behave in a nonpartisan way is to put politics aside. A nonpartisan bill wouldn't be good just for one party: it would be good for the whole country. Politicians who are nonpartisan stop worrying about elections for a minute and get some things done. |
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| 6055 |
eject |
put out or expel from a place |
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It’s good to eject yourself from a burning spaceship (if you happen to have an escape pod and a nice small planet to land on), but if a teacher ejects you from class, well that’s not so good. |
Eject comes from “jectere,” the Latin word meaning throw, but the “e” means out. If you want to say, “throw the rascals out!” in only one word, you should choose, “eject!” The opposite of eject is inject. Thinking about the nurse throwing the measles vaccine into your arm makes that doctor’s visit seem a little less friendly. |
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| 6056 |
codify |
organize into a system, such as a body of law |
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To codify is to arrange information in a logical order that others can follow. Legislators may try to codify, or gather and organize, all laws related to a particular issue. |
When you look at the word codify you can probably guess that it's related to the word code. Warriors live by a code. Building inspectors check that a building and its systems are up to code. Hockey players use "the code" to determine when — and why — to fight on the ice. All of these codes are clear to the people who use them because someone in the past made an effort to codify the various rules into an organized system. |
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| 6057 |
heartrending |
causing or marked by grief or anguish |
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Something heartrending is heartbreaking: it causes grief and sadness. |
The heart is the organ associated with emotions, and to rend something is to tear it, so heartrending things tear up your heart: not literally, but because they make you sad. The death of a friend or loved one is heartrending. Getting a terrible disease like cancer is heartrending. A tragic story can be heartrending if it makes you feel for the people involved. Anything that makes you cry is probably heartrending. |
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| 6058 |
artful |
not straightforward or candid |
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To be artful is to do something skillfully, especially in a cunning way. A con man must be artful. |
To be an artist requires skill and talent: it's not easy to make art. Similarly, doing something in an artful way takes skill. A chess player is artful in escaping an opponent's attack. A politician is artful in appealing to different groups of people. This word also indicates that the skill shown is a little cunning or sneaky. In movies, villains are often artful, as they tell lies or hatch schemes. Often, artful is the opposite of straightforward. |
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| 6059 |
boor |
a crude uncouth ill-bred person lacking refinement |
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A boor is a crude, rude person. Boors lack sophistication and manners. |
Boors are worse than boring; they’re offensive and repulsive. To be a boor is to be an obnoxious, unsophisticated oaf. A boor would swear in church. A boor would talk too loudly on the train. A boor would get too drunk at a wedding reception. Boors lack manners and taste. When a boor is around, other people want to leave. If you have self-control and culture, you’ll never be accused of being a boor. |
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| 6060 |
intersection |
the act of meeting at a point |
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An intersection is a point where two lines or streets cross. |
There are two places you're most likely to find intersections: in math class and in traffic. In math, an intersection is the spot where two lines cross. Those lines share this common point. The center of the letter X is an intersection. The same is true for streets: the intersection of Clark and Huron is where those streets cross. From the intersection, you can choose to travel down either street. When you're trying to get somewhere, it's helpful to know the major intersections. |
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| 6061 |
satirize |
ridicule with witty language used to convey insults or scorn |
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When you cleverly make fun of something, you satirize it. Political cartoons, for example, satirize current events and politicians using clever drawings and captions. |
When a writer criticizes something using humor, she satirizes it. Playwrights and filmmakers often satirize ridiculous social customs by reflecting them in exaggerated ways, for example. Ideally, when an artist satirizes society, she hopes to encourage positive changes by making people feel ashamed or embarrassed. The root of satirize is the noun satire, which in classical Latin meant a kind of poem that "ridiculed vice or folly." |
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| 6062 |
arouse |
call forth, as an emotion, feeling, or response |
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Although the verb arouse basically means "to wake up," it is usually not accomplished with an alarm clock. A patriotic song might arouse your love of country, and a new idea might arouse your imagination. |
The word comes from an Old French word meaning "stir up, awaken," and anything that arouses your mind or heart can awaken something in you; for example, the prospect of an exciting experience may arouse your sense of adventure. Arouse can also be used with negative feelings. A sneaky look might arouse your suspicion, or rejection might arouse a sense of bitterness. However, usually, arouse carries with it a sense of excitement, of bringing something to life. |
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| 6063 |
conceptual |
being or characterized by ideas or their formation |
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Something is conceptual when it deals primarily with abstract or original thoughts. A conceptual plan is one in an early stage. To make it work, you'll need to flesh out the details. |
Conceptual art is art in which the concept seems more important than the physical aspects of the artwork. In New York's Museum of Modern Art, you can see Marcel DuChamp's conceptual piece, "Bicycle Wheel," which is a bicycle wheel mounted on a stool. Why is this art? The concept, or idea, behind it is that everyday objects become art when looked at outside of their uses. In general, when something is conceptual it takes a bit of thought to figure it out. |
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| 6064 |
pertinacity |
persistent determination |
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Pertinacity is a quality of sticking with something, no matter what. It's a type of persistent determination. |
People who have pertinacity won't give up, and they stick with things doggedly. Pursuing a difficult career requires pertinacity. Pertinacity is a mix of courage, conviction, and a little stubbornness. Pertinacity requires a strong will and self-confidence. Pertinacity can also be called perseverance, persistence, and tenaciousness. Pertinacity is related to the word tenacity, which is also a quality that combines determination and commitment. |
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| 6065 |
indiscriminate |
failing to make or recognize distinctions |
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Nuclear bombs are indiscriminate, as are earthquakes. They affect everyone in their path rather than picking or choosing. When something is indiscriminate, it makes no fine distinctions. |
A dog who eats everything could be said to have indiscriminate taste. If you walk into a store and buy the first pair of pants in your size, no matter what they look like, you are an indiscriminate shopper. Usually though, you'll hear the word used to describe violent acts or natural events because these things do not have a specific target. They affect all people without considering the differences in their lives. |
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| 6066 |
meditative |
deeply or seriously thoughtful |
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The adjective meditative is good for describing something that's reflective or deeply thoughtful. Your favorite movies might be quiet, slow-paced, and meditative. |
When you reflect on your life or an important decision, you are meditative, and anything that involves this state of mind can be described the same way. A yoga studio often has a meditative feeling about it, and good, thoughtful advice is usually offered in a meditative way. The root of meditative is the Latin word meditat, or "contemplated," which in turn comes from a Proto-Indo-European root that means "to measure, consider, or advise." |
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| 6067 |
precipitous |
extremely steep |
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A sharp, steep drop — whether it's in a stock price, a roller coaster, or a star's popularity — could be described as a precipitous one. Put simply, precipitous means perilously steep. |
Look closely and you'll spot most of the word precipice (a sheer, almost vertical cliff) in precipitous. Now imagine how you'd feel standing at the edge peering over, and you'll grasp the sense of impending danger that precipitous tends to imply. Precipitous declines in sales lead to bankruptcy. Precipitous mountainside hiking trails are not for the acrophobic. It can describe an ascent, but precipitous is most often used for things going literally or figuratively downhill. |
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| 6068 |
inhibited |
held back or restrained or prevented |
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If something is inhibited it's held back or kept from doing something. An inhibited infection is kept from spreading, possibly by antibiotics. |
We often use the word inhibited to describe someone’s behavior, especially if that person is self-conscious about doing something, but it also describes the simple fact of being restrained. If you washed your pants in hot water and they shrank and you could just barely squeeze them on, your movement would be inhibited. The Latin root of inhibited is inhibere, "to hold in or hold back." |
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| 6069 |
computing |
the procedure of calculating |
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Computing is the act of calculating something––adding it up, multiplying it, or doing more complex math functions to it. Computers are named for this process, because they can compute faster than most people. |
The verb compute comes from a Latin word for pruning. You can think of it like cleaning up piles of data to get a clear result. If you run a shop and have lots of figures, for items sold and returned, and money paid for salaries and overhead, then you'll have to do some computing to know how much money you actually earned that day. It's also a type of engineering. |
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| 6070 |
sere |
having lost all moisture |
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You can describe something that is dried up, withered, or without moisture with the adjective sere. The desert climate, for example, is sere, as is your skin after a day in the wind. |
Sere’s shriveled and withered meaning crops up in things like Shakespeare's Macbeth ("My way of life Is fall’n into the sere, the yellow leaf;" 5:III), or in archaic references to Sere-month (August), but it isn't frequently used in modern conversation. The variant spelling of sere is sear, which has other meanings that see more modern use. |
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| 6071 |
barrack |
lodge in buildings used to house military personnel |
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A barrack is a building where military personnel live. It’s usually used in the plural, as barracks. It’s also a verb — when soldiers lodge in barracks, they barrack there. The word sounds like “bear-ick.” |
Barrack comes from the Spanish barraca for "soldier's tent." Now it’s more than a tent. Barracks are the buildings where soldiers, commanders, medical staff, and anyone else affiliated with the military lodge. Many barracks are temporary buildings that can be taken down quickly and reassembled elsewhere. Other barracks are more sturdy and permanent, but the people who barrack (stay there) are always people in the military. |
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| 6072 |
thieve |
take unlawfully; steal |
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When someone steals something, they thieve. Your dog thieves when he puts his paws on the kitchen table and quietly grabs your cinnamon toast. |
You're more likely to encounter the adjective thieving than the verb thieve, but it's a perfectly good way to say "take illegally." Your brother might think it's perfectly acceptable to thieve a few gummy bears from the candy store where he works, although the store's owner might have a different opinion. At the root of thieve is the Old English þeof, or "thief." |
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| 6073 |
deductive |
relating to logical deduction |
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Deductive thinking is based on logic and the facts. A good detective can use deductive reasoning to find a killer. |
If you want to know how to be deductive, read a Sherlock Holmes book or watch the show "House" (about a clever doctor who is based on Holmes). Both Holmes and House are masters of looking at the facts — which are often confusing — and making deductive conclusions. Thinking deductively involves critical thinking and careful attention to detail, not guessing or making things up. That's why being deductive is one of the best ways to crack a case. |
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| 6074 |
mesh |
an open fabric woven together at regular intervals |
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Use the word mesh for fabric made of loosely woven fibers. A butterfly net is made of mesh, and so is a window screen. |
Some mesh is made from string or fabric, like a fishing net or a mesh sports jersey, while other mesh is metal or plastic, like a tea strainer. In either case, it's woven loosely enough that there are small holes throughout its surface. Another meaning of mesh is "harmonize" or "work well together." In the fourteenth century, it was spelled mesche, and it meant "open space in a net," from the Old English word for net, max. |
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| 6075 |
depiction |
representation by drawing, painting, etc. |
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A depiction is a true representation of something, like the depiction of life as a Jewish teenager in hiding during World War II in Anne Frank's "The Diary of a Young Girl." |
The word depiction comes from the Latin word for "painting or description," depictionem. If a portrait really looks like you, it's a good depiction — the painter or photographer has done a great job. Another way to give a depiction of an experience is to tell or write about it in so much detail that it's like your audience is really there. Actors who portray real people work hard to make their depictions as true as they can. |
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| 6076 |
domesticated |
converted or adapted to use in the home |
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Domesticated means trained to live or work for humans, i.e. pets and farm animals. For centuries humans have believe that dogs are domesticated wolves, but DNA testing reveals that they are in fact a different species. |
Domesticated comes from domus, the Latin word for home, which is easy to remember — instead of a "roof over our heads" think of your "home as a dome." Domus gives us not only domesticated (adapted to the home or the farm), but also domestic (cooking and cleaning are "domestic" chores), a domestic (someone like a maid who works inside a home as a paid employee), and domicile (a building that serves as a home). Thus domesticated means an animal tamed to live in your home — or, as some women like to joke, a man. |
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| 6077 |
caper |
a playful leap or hop |
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A goofy little joke or prank, a crime, or a ridiculous adventure is called a caper. For example, your quest for an American newspaper turned into a caper that took you all over the Irish countryside. |
Caper originates from the Italian word capriolare, meaning “jump in the air,” and indeed, one meaning is "frolicking play or light-hearted dancing." Little kids like to caper at family parties — it gets them tons of attention. Other kinds of capers might get you jail time because a caper can also be an outlandish crime spree, or a wild activity. Finally, capers are the very flavorful pickled flower bud found in Mediterranean cooking. |
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| 6078 |
airy |
open to or abounding in fresh atmosphere |
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An airy place is full of fresh air. Other airy things are either light like air or without substance like air. |
Air surrounds us, and it has a lot of meanings. If a place is described as airy, that means it's full of fresh air. An open stadium is airy, while a stuffy apartment is not. If a house has lots of open windows, it's airy. Also, an argument that has no substance can be called airy, because there's nothing to it. Light things are airy too: a flimsy, light dress or a low-fat dessert could both be called airy. |
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| 6079 |
misrepresent |
describe or present falsely |
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If you deliberately mislead someone — for example, by lying about your work experience at a job interview — you misrepresent yourself, or paint a false picture of who you are. |
The verb misrepresent can be a relatively gentle way to say "lie," or it can mean more of a bending of the truth. You might misrepresent the reliability of an old car you're trying to sell or accidentally misrepresent an author's intentions in a school book report. The word itself is built from the Old English prefix mis-, which means "bad or wrong," and represent, or "depict, describe, or symbolize." |
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| 6080 |
abridge |
lessen, diminish, or curtail |
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So the editor wants to cut your epic 800-page history of the stapler to a 150-page summary instead. Don't cry — he just wants to abridge your masterpiece, trimming it down to the more readable essential elements. |
Synonymous with abbreviate, condense and cut short, abridge comes from the Latin word abreviare, which means "to shorten." Although it's usually used in reference to wordy texts, one can also abridge or shorten a piece of clothing; a miniskirt is just an abridged version of the old floor length hoop skirt, for example. But abridging something isn't always good: If your civil rights are abridged, they've been lessened in some way. |
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| 6081 |
plush |
characterized by extravagance and softness |
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Things that are plush are luxurious and a little over the top. A bedspread made of mink fur would be considered plush. |
Plush originally referred to a rich, soft type of fabric, and it’s now used to describe anything extravagant. A plush lifestyle is one only the wealthy can afford, with expensive restaurants, obedient servants, and fancy furniture. A plush living room is full of paintings and decorations. Someone who dresses in a plush way only buys the finest, most expensive clothing. Plush living is lavish living. |
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| 6082 |
ceremonial |
marked by pomp or ceremony or formality |
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When an occasion is extremely formal and full of rituals, you can call it ceremonial. Your cousin's fancy wedding and your friend's bar mitzvah are both ceremonial events. |
The ritual of a new queen being crowned is ceremonial, with its pomp and formality. The way your family celebrates Thanksgiving might feel ceremonial to you as well, if everyone takes it very seriously and sticks to firm rules about what food to eat and who carves the turkey. Ceremonial originally described a purely religious ritual, from the Latin caerimonia, "holiness or sacredness." |
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| 6083 |
fleck |
a small contrasting part of something |
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A fleck is a small patch that is different and stands out from the background, like the flecks of green in your blue eyes. A fleck can also be a fragment of something, like the flecks of peeling paint you might see on the floor in an old building. |
The noun fleck can describe a color or a spot of light that stands out, like a fleck of orange in a brown and white plaid, or the little bits of light reflected off a sequined top. It can also describe a particle, such as a fleck of dirt you track into your house on your shoe. Fleck can also be a verb that means dotting or marking something with little spots, like when you fleck paint on the wall to produce a random dotted effect. |
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| 6084 |
stave |
one of the slats of wood forming sides of a barrel or bucket |
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A stave is the crosspiece between the legs of a chair or a wooden slat forming the side of a barrel. In music, it's the five lines you write notes on. |
Stave comes from the word staff, as in a walking stick. You're most likely to encounter the word stave if you're learning woodworking. If someone "staves in" a door, they've broken a hole in it. You also might hear the idiom "stave off," which means to hold off for a short time. |
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| 6085 |
remuneration |
paying for goods or services or to recompense for losses |
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When you politely refuse your neighbor’s offer of remuneration for your efforts with the lawn, you may have made a mistake. Remuneration refers to payment for a service, so the neighbor was basically offering you cash. |
If it makes you uncomfortable to talk about your wages, you can use the word remuneration instead — the word has a remote sound to it that makes it seem like you aren’t talking about money even though you are. It’s a formal way to refer to payment for work or other services. You might see this word in contracts, policies, and other official documents that refer to payments. |
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| 6086 |
earthy |
of or consisting of or resembling the soil |
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The adjective earthy runs the gamut from "crunchy" to "crude." You could use earthy to describe bohemian fashion or a vulgar comedian. Just don't use it to describe our planet. |
Adding one letter y to earth changes earth's status from a noun to an adjective. And what a versatile adjective it is! You could use it in a more literal way, like the "earthy smell" coming from the vegetable garden. Or, you could use it in a more figurative way — like to describe someone who wears Birkenstock sandals and grows her own bean sprouts. Earthy can also be used to describe someone who tends to be gross or vulgar, but this use of the word is somewhat euphemistic. |
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| 6087 |
replete |
filled to satisfaction with food or drink |
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Replete means full, often in a satisfying way. "The library was replete with bound first editions, and Lucy, a bookworm, was happier there than any place else." |
Replete shares a root with the word plenty. When you have plenty of cookies and cake, you can say your table is replete with goodies. Another cousin of replete is replenish. When your cabinets are bare, you go to the store to replenish them. When you unpack your groceries, your pantry is replete with essentials. |
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| 6088 |
immature |
not yet fully developed |
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Use the adjective immature to describe something that is not fully grown: “Elizabeth rescued an immature sparrow that had fallen from its nest during the storm.” |
When used in a general sense, immature describes something in an early stage of development, such as an immature fruit tree or an immature political system. When applied to people, however, immature is often used to describe someone who behaves in a childish way. So if your 42-year-old brother spends the entire holiday weekend playing video games and then throws a temper tantrum when you ask him to help with the dishes, the word you’re looking for to describe him is probably immature. |
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| 6089 |
penetrate |
pass into or through, often by overcoming resistance |
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To penetrate is to force into or pierce through. If the fog is thick as pea soup, your flashlight won’t penetrate it. If you stubbornly ignore good advice, people might say nothing can penetrate that thick skull of yours. |
We get penetrate from the Latin word penetrare, which combines penes ("within") and intrare ("to enter"). Penetrate crops up most often to describe entering or permeating. Blaring music penetrated every corner of the dorm and we wondered how anyone could study with that racket. Penetrate can also mean to decipher or understand: "Careful study allowed us to penetrate the mysteries of Pig Latin." Finally — no surprise, given its Latin roots — the word can be used to describe sexual intercourse. |
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| 6090 |
untainted |
(of reputation) free from blemishes |
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Something that's untainted has not been spoiled or contaminated. After a flood, a homeowner is lucky to find papers and photos that are untainted by the mildew that covers most of his things. |
While untainted can describe things that are physically unspoiled or free from contaminants, it's more common to use the adjective to talk about the character of a person or group. A candidate with an untainted reputation has no record of controversy, and a town that's untainted by chain stores might have a more charming, old-fashioned character. The moral sense of the word — "pure," in a religious way — was the earliest meaning. |
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| 6091 |
awash |
covered with water |
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When something's awash, it's doused or covered with water. If your canoe is awash with seawater, it's time to start bailing. |
A beach might be awash during high tide, and your beach cottage could be awash after a tropical rain. The decks of a boat are often described as being awash during a storm, flooded with water. Things can be figuratively awash, too: "The movie premiere was awash with photographers and fans." Awash was originally a nautical word meaning "flush with," from the 15th century meaning of wash, "land alternately covered and exposed by the sea." |
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| 6092 |
clod |
a compact mass |
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A clod is a lump or chunk of something. You begin the process of making a bowl by throwing a clod of clay onto a potter's wheel. |
Clod usually describes a mass or ball of dirt: "She intended to plant vegetables in her yard, but found the soil was full of hard clods and stones." An annoyingly awkward person can also be called a clod: "He always says the wrong thing — he's such a clod." The word comes from clot, which originally meant "a mass," and comes from the German Klotz, "lump or block." |
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| 6093 |
disown |
cast off |
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To disown someone is to reject them. If you disown your brother, you refuse to have anything to do with him: not only do you not speak or have contact, but it's as if he's no longer related to you. |
When one person disowns another, it's because of some terrible argument or deep-rooted conflict. Although it's uncommon to disown another person, when it happens it's usually a family member who's cast off. Your mom might threaten to disown you after you drive her car into the mailbox, but she's probably not serious. Disown takes the root word own, meaning "to have or to hold," and adds the Latin prefix dis, "not" or "do the opposite of." |
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| 6094 |
poke |
thrust abruptly |
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A poke is a jab or a sharp push, usually with something thin or pointed, like a finger, a stick, or even an elbow. |
The main idea behind a poke is a prodding action that creates a depression or hole, as when you poke someone in the ribs with your finger. It can also mean a quick, sharp movement, like when a turtle pokes its head out of its shell. Still, the word often has a less-than-pleasant feeling to it, like something not really dangerous but still annoying. We often say a tolerable experience is "better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick." It can also take on a more figurative meaning — when you "poke your nose into someone else's business," it means that you are intruding in another's private matters. |
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| 6095 |
prorogue |
adjourn by royal prerogative |
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Prorogue is a technical way of saying "put off" or "delay." Usually, it describes something a government body does: when a congress or parliament prorogues, it's putting off business for a while. |
Prorogue comes from the Latin word prorogare meaning "to stretch out." When you stop a meeting and decide to meet again at a later time, this "stretches out" the work being done. Remember that prorogue is close to prolong, which means pretty much the same thing, but without a break. |
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| 6096 |
refinement |
the result of improving something |
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Do you know which fork is for your salad and which one is for dessert? Then you have some refinement — good manners and taste. |
Things that go through a process of refinement have been refined; they've lost their rough edges. For people, this means they have good manners, and for substances like oil and sugar, it means that their impurities have been removed. With refinement, things and people become more acceptable: the sugar's refinement makes it appropriate to serve at a fancy party, and your refinement makes you a perfect guest there. |
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| 6097 |
surgical |
of or relating to a medical operation |
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Things that are surgical have something to do with an operation performed by a surgeon, or something done with the level of precision a surgeon exercises. So, you could wear surgical scrubs or conduct a surgical strike. |
A surgical resident is a doctor who's learning to specialize in performing surgery, and the surgical wing of a hospital is the area where surgery is performed. Because what a surgeon does requires such precision and care, the adjective is also used to describe anything done carefully: "Surgical bombing is supposed to be much more precise, with narrow military targets." |
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| 6098 |
kiosk |
small area set off by walls for special use |
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A kiosk is a small booth or stall. Shopping malls and airports have retail kiosks that sell all sorts of things, ranging from cookies to cell phones to sunglasses to perfumes to newspapers to . . . well, really almost anything! |
You're probably familiar with retail kiosks, since they always seem to be located in highly visible areas of the mall, but there are other types of kiosks as well. Information kiosks provide helpful items to tourists, such as maps and pamphlets. You might also see electronic kiosks where you can buy tickets or get various types of information through videos or interactive presentations. |
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| 6099 |
cadre |
a nucleus of military personnel capable of expansion |
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A cadre is a group of specially trained people prepared to lead or instruct others. Examples could be a military unit, a group of scientists, or a band of insurgents. |
Just looking at the "re" at the end of cadre suggests the word has some French roots, and so it does. The word, stemming from the Latin quadrum, meaning "a square," also meant "framework." This idea of a frame or border came to suggest the word as meaning a small group that creates the framework for a larger one, much like a picture frame. Your cadre of rebels consists of two cats and a stuffed bear . . . at least they'll be good at keeping secrets. |
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| 6100 |
recess |
a state of abeyance or suspended business |
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Recess is a break from doing something, like work or school. Almost everyone looks forward to taking a recess — even if you don't have access to monkey bars. |
Recess comes from the Latin word recessus, meaning "a going back, retreat." You may have heard children talking about recess as their favorite part of school. This meaning of the word refers to the break in a school day for children to play, usually outside in a playground. As a verb, recess means to take a break at the end of a session — usually in a court proceeding: "The judge announced the court would recess until the following day." |
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| 6101 |
investiture |
the ceremonial promotion of a person to an office or rank |
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Investiture is what happens when a government official, a judge, or a head of state is formally put into office or promoted to a higher rank. The investiture of a king is an elaborate, lengthy ceremony. |
The noun investiture is good for describing the process of naming a judge or a church bishop, for example, to office. Investitures tend to include ritual ceremony and the symbolic transfer of a position from one person to the next. In the US, Supreme Court justices are invested with the position — which literally means "clothed in the official robes of office." Both words stem from the Latin investire, "clothe in" or "cover." |
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| 6102 |
transplant |
transfer from one place or period to another |
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Use the verb transplant to describe what you do when you move a cactus into a bigger container, or what a doctor does when she places a donor organ — like a kidney or lung — into the body of a patient. |
When you transplant your favorite rose bush, you carefully dig it up and re-plant it in another spot in the yard, maybe one that gets more sunlight. You can also use the word as a noun to describe the act of doing such a thing: "The liver transplant was a success." The word's origin is simple: the Latin trans, or "across," plus plantare, which means "to plant." |
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| 6103 |
dissension |
disagreement among those expected to cooperate |
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You can use the noun dissension for situations where people just can't agree or get along. There is often dissension between labor unions and governments vying for funds, or even between siblings — vying for attention. |
A dissension is a disagreement, or difference of opinion, and the meaning hasn't changed since the word first came into use in French in about the 12th century. Sometimes a dissension is simply a brief and easily resolved disagreement, and at other times it might last for thousands of years. People in the Balkans have had centuries of religious dissension, alternating with periods of peaceable coexistence. |
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| 6104 |
allot |
give out |
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When you allot something, you are giving out portions: “Becky was able to allot five snacks per employee, but in the afternoon some workers sneaked back into the break room for more.” |
Be careful not to mistake allot for “a lot” (a large number), which has a similar spelling and the same pronunciation. Use the verb allot when you need to describe the act of assigning portions of something — be it snacks, time, or blame. The word is often used in the sense of an official group, such as a government or a corporation, dividing up and distributing small portions of something desirable, such as funding, shares, or land: “Zenitech Corporation was able to allot land rights to four groups in the area.” |
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| 6105 |
susceptible |
yielding readily to or capable of |
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If you are susceptible to something such as infections or earaches, it means you are likely to become sick with these things. |
Have you ever received something you don't want? Well, with susceptible meaning "likely to be influenced or affected by" that is probably going to be the case. If you're susceptible to flattery, and someone wants something from you, all they have to do is give you a compliment or two and you'll do what they want. Material that's susceptible to cracking won't be in good condition for long. |
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| 6106 |
progeny |
the immediate descendants of a person |
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Progeny means "offspring" or "children." You and your brothers are the progeny of your parents, and your cat's new litter of kittens is her progeny. |
Synonyms for progeny include descendants, product, and offspring, so you're also your grandparents' and great-grandparents' progeny. And, if your pet goat has babies every spring, you'll get to raise dozens of her progeny. Plants have progeny too — blow the fluffy seeds of a dandelion in your yard and its progeny can multiply, summer after summer, until your lawn is full of cheerful yellow flowers. |
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| 6107 |
rake |
a long-handled tool with a row of teeth at its head |
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If it’s fall and the yard is covered with leaves, you'll want to get out the rake, a long-handled tool with a row of tines. Either that, or get out the excuses and leave the leaves where they lie. |
Rake has several senses, including to use a rake to gather leaves or smooth soil. Rake can also mean to search something — the way police may rake through a crime scene for clues or the way you may rake through a messy desk to find a pencil. A rake is also a slanted plane — it's often used to refer to a slanted stage in a theater. In high society, a rake is an immoral man. |
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| 6108 |
adolescent |
a juvenile between the onset of puberty and maturity |
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Adolescent is just a fancy word for teenager — someone who is no longer a child but is not yet an adult. The word can also be used as an adjective. For example, a particular clothing line might be geared toward adolescent girls. |
This word refers to all things related to teens — teenagers are adolescent, and the adolescent stage is after puberty and before adulthood. Since adults don't have a high opinion of teenagers, this word is also an insult. Movies full of fart jokes and immature shenanigans are called adolescent. If one adult says to another "You're acting very adolescent" that means "You're acting childish." Adolescent means something close to juvenile, another word that refers to young people and childish people. |
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| 6109 |
bromide |
a trite or obvious remark |
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A bromide is a common saying or proverb that is obvious and not that helpful, like "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade." |
Some people love to say things like "Follow your dreams" and "Love takes hard work." Such trite, clichéd sayings are bromides. A bromide isn't very helpful or specific, and people tend to say them over and over again. The word bromide comes from the chemical compound made of the element bromine and another metal. This kind of bromide was historically used as a sedative, a medicine that dulls your senses, just as figurative bromides are boring and dull. |
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| 6110 |
rickety |
inclined to shake as from weakness or defect |
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Something rickety — like an old shack — is shaky and likely to fall down because it's fragile. |
Some buildings are sturdy, solid, and strong. Others are rickety: rickety things might blow over from a slight breeze. Rickety things are poorly designed or have just become rickety because of aging. Rickety things tend to shake, which is a sign they might fall apart any second. If you put a heavy load in a rickety cart, you might lost your load! |
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| 6111 |
disruptive |
characterized by unrest or disorder or insubordination |
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Anything disruptive is loud, chaotic, and disorderly. Disruptive things disturb people and upset the applecart. |
Have you ever heard a teacher tell a loud student "Stop being disruptive"? Things that are disruptive tend to disturb others. Kids whispering in class can be disruptive. A screaming baby on a plane can be disruptive. If you're trying to play baseball and it starts raining, that's disruptive as well. When you're trying to do something and a surprising event screws everything up, it can probably be described with the word disruptive. |
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| 6112 |
aboriginal |
having existed from the beginning |
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The native, indigenous people of a country are often called aboriginals. In Canada, the First Nations — Inuits and Métis — would be considered aboriginals. |
The adjective form of aboriginal is used to describe anything related to the native, indigenous people. You may visit a museum that has an exhibit of aboriginal art; or, if you're a linguist, you may study aboriginal languages. The adjective can also be used to describe something that is indigenous to a place and existed there from the beginning, such as "an aboriginal forest" that consists of old, old trees. |
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| 6113 |
churn |
a vessel to separate butterfat from buttermilk |
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A churn is a container that you fill with cream and then agitate until the cream becomes butter. You may have only bought butter at the store, but your ancestors probably used a traditional plunger-type churn to make their own. |
The verb churn means to mix cream until it turns into butter, separating out the buttermilk. You can make your own butter by churning it in a jar if you don't have a churn, shaking heavy cream until it becomes solid. To churn can also simply mean to agitate, like a boat might churn in a turbulent ocean, or your stomach might churn with anxiety about your big test the next day. |
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| 6114 |
sac |
an enclosed space |
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A sac is a hollow space or container. While any pocket or pouch can be called a sac, the word usually refers to a small enclosed space that occurs in nature, like a spider's egg sac or a squid's ink sac. |
You might put your groceries in a sack, but without the “k” a sac is smaller and attached to a plant or animal. Human fetuses grow inside an amniotic sac, and seed plants produce pollen inside sacs as well. Since the mid-1700s, sac has been used to mean "biological pocket," from the Latin root word saccus, or "bag." If you’re not sure which sac to use, it’s almost always the other one unless you’re in biology class. |
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| 6115 |
boring |
so lacking in interest as to cause mental weariness |
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As an adjective boring describes something (or someone) that is tedious, dull, and lacking in interest. As a noun, boring refers to the act of drilling a hole, or the hole itself. |
When a geologist's powerful drill makes a boring into the earth, you can remove a sample and learn about the history of our planet just by seeing what's contained in the boring's layers. Of course, if you aren't interested in that kind of thing, you might find a two-hour lecture on the subject a bit boring. |
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| 6116 |
occupational |
of or relating to the activity or business |
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If it has anything to do with your job, your work or your career, then you can describe it as occupational. |
Take the "al" off of occupational and you're left with occupation. So this adjective describes anything related to your occupation — you know, the professional work that keeps you occupied. You might hear people talk about "occupational hazards" — which can range from paper cuts to falling trees, depending on if you make a living filing or lumber-jacking. |
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| 6117 |
secular |
someone who is not a clergyman or a professional person |
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Secular things are not religious. Anything not affiliated with a church or faith can be called secular. |
Non-religious people can be called atheists or agnostics, but to describe things, activities, or attitudes that have nothing to do with religion, you can use the word secular. Public schools are secular, but Catholic schools are not. Grocery stores are secular; a synagogue is not. If there's no religion involved, then you're in "the secular world" — as people sometimes call everything that exists outside of religion. |
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| 6118 |
chore |
a specific piece of work required to be done |
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A chore is a duty or task you’re obligated to perform, often one that is unpleasant but necessary. Washing the dishes is a chore, and so is completing a homework assignment you aren’t excited about. |
Sometimes a thing that you wanted to do can become a chore if it ceases to be fun or interesting. Maybe Napoleon felt that conquering nations had become a chore by the time he was defeated in the Battle of Waterloo. The noun chore dates from the 18th century, when there were fewer appliances and more household tasks that needed to be done. |
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| 6119 |
dalliance |
the act of delaying and playing instead of working |
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A dalliance is a playful flirtation, one that might lead to a casual romance. The king's public dalliance toward the lady in waiting shocked everyone in the court except for the queen. |
First appearing in Middle English, the noun dalliance stems from the verb dally, meaning "to waste time, to act playfully, especially in a flirtatious way." Dalliance often describes a casual flirtation — generally something short-term and not very serious. Your aunt may blush when you mention her dalliance with the rugby player she met that time in Dublin. Dalliance can also refer to goofing off when you should be working. Your coworker's continued dalliance can result in missed deadlines. |
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| 6120 |
vulgar |
of or associated with the great masses of people |
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Someone who's vulgar has bad taste, and could also be called unrefined or unsophisticated. Your snobby neighbor might mutter about your family's vulgar taste if you paint your house with rainbow stripes. |
From the Latin vulgus, meaning "the common people," vulgar is an adjective that can describe anything from the sexually explicit to the merely ugly and crass. Many people believe that there's an important difference between things that are sexually frank and things that are vulgar. "Erotica" can be beautiful and even highbrow, while "pornography" is crude and vulgar. My friend Arnie loves the lights and glamour of Times Square, while Cintra finds all the bright-colored, corporate logos to be vulgar. |
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| 6121 |
faux |
not genuine or real |
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Faux means fake, or imitation. If you love the look of diamonds but can't afford one, get a faux diamond ring. |
Faux is a French word that has crept into our lexicon, because faux in French means "fake." Now if we have the words fake, imitation, and false (all of which are good synonyms), why use faux? For fashion, dahling. Use faux to talk about faux fur, faux gemstones, or to make fun of a "faux pas," which is French for "no-no," widely used among the witty international set when someone does something gauche (French for "clumsy"). |
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| 6122 |
modulate |
fix or adjust the time, amount, degree, or rate of |
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Is your friend's voice so high-pitched that people are starting to stare? Sweetly ask, "Can you modulate your voice, please? To modulate is to change the pitch of something. |
You can modulate things other than sound — it still refers to something that's being adjusted. Schools might modulate the number of students in the hallways at the same time by having each grade level start and end each at a different time. Traffic lights can modulate the number of cars that pass through an intersection in a certain interval. Computer modems modulate signals to allow computers to transfer information. In fact, modem gets its name from modulate/demodulate. |
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| 6123 |
physiognomy |
the human face |
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The word physiognomy means the look of your face. When traveling in Italy, you may be struck by the wide eyes and pleasing physiognomy of the Italian people you meet. |
The reason physiognomy sounds like it should be something you study in school right after biology, geometry, and astronomy is that people used to think that it was a science by which you could tell someone's character through their facial features. If you've ever read any Nancy Drew stories, you will know how this plays out––anyone with "shifty eyes" is not to be trusted. |
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| 6124 |
dumbfounded |
as if rendered speechless with astonishment and surprise |
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When you're dumbfounded, you're amazed. Being dumbfounded is an extreme form of being surprised or caught off guard. |
Being dumbfounded is not something that happens every day: this is a word that means something similar to astonished and gobsmacked. Only things that are extraordinary can dumbfound you. This word plays on an older meaning of dumb that means unable to speak. When you're dumbfounded, you're so astounded and shocked that you can't even speak. Save this word for occasions that are truly unusual and amazing. |
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| 6125 |
physique |
constitution of the human body |
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Physique is a word used to describe the form or shape of the human body. |
Physique, pronounced "fiz-eek", is a more formal way to say "body." A person can have a muscular or well-toned physique. Often the word is used to describe a muscular or well-sculpted body. Do you have a hard, toned physique or a marshmallowy one? They both have their appeal. |
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| 6126 |
unprovoked |
occurring without motivation or incitement |
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Something that's unprovoked is done for no good reason, with no real cause. A slap across your face is unprovoked if you did nothing to make the slapper mad at you. |
President Franklin D. Roosevelt famously described the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese, which brought the US into World War II, as "unprovoked and dastardly." A military action that isn't reacting against a previous attack is unprovoked, and a furious outburst from your friend is also unprovoked if you gave him no reason to be angry. Unprovoked comes from the verb provoke, to deliberately incite anger or annoyance in someone. The Latin root is provocare, "call forth or challenge." |
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| 6127 |
systemic |
affecting an entire structure, network, or complex of parts |
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Something that's systemic affects all parts of something. If every dog at doggy daycare has fleas, it's a systemic problem. |
The adjective systemic is often used to describe diseases or disorders; a systemic illness affects your whole body or an entire system — like your digestive system. Any kind of system can experience systemic problems. For example, crime is a systemic problem in a community because it affects everyone from individuals to families, businesses, and tourism, just to name a few groups harmed by the problem. |
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| 6128 |
animadvert |
express blame or censure or make a harshly critical remark |
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When you animadvert upon something, you criticize it openly and harshly. A high school debater might animadvert on the subject of the death penalty, for example. |
The verb animadvert is a great word to use when you need a formal way to talk about a public condemnation of something or someone. A tourist might animadvert upon the entire country of Italy after a disappointing vacation there, or a politician might take advantage of a public forum to animadvert on the issue of high taxes. The Latin root word is animadvertere, "to notice or take cognizance of," or "to censure, blame, or punish." |
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| 6129 |
firsthand |
received directly from a source |
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Anything firsthand is directly experienced, so your firsthand knowledge of the new math teacher's purple hair comes from the fact that you've seen it with your very own eyes. |
When you get information from someone who saw something happen or heard something said, that's firsthand evidence. And anything you see or hear yourself is also firsthand. Your summer job might be a firsthand look at what farming is really like. Interviewing a witness to a crime gives a police officer firsthand testimony about what exactly happened. This word, coined around 1690, comes from the idea that the maker of something is its first hand. |
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| 6130 |
flexible |
able to bend easily |
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Something that is flexible is easily bent without breaking. The flexible drinking straw was invented in the 1930s by a man who saw his daughter struggling to drink a milkshake with a straight paper straw. |
The word flexible can refer to bendable physical objects or to intangibles like a person's mind, which can be changed. It can even refer to work environments that can adapt schedules and benefits to fit a worker's individual needs. Being physically flexible usually means good health, with no pain in movement. In all, it's great to be flexible, to be able to bend without breaking and bounce back, ready to keep going. |
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| 6131 |
cache |
a hidden storage space |
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Cache sounds like what it is, a stash, and sometimes people — usually the criminal type — have a cache of stolen cash. |
Often the phrase "weapons cache" is used of a bunch of hidden guns or weapons that have been hidden or stored away, which is logical, given that the French verb cacher means "to hide." Sometimes things aren’t really hidden but are stored away out of sight for use later. Computers even cache data and directories to retrieve when needed. So a cache is anything from a stash of cash to a store of information on reserve. |
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| 6132 |
barb |
a point facing the main point making an arrowhead or spear |
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Whether it is a spike on the wire atop a security fence or a mean remark someone said about you, a barb can hurt. When you encounter either kind of barb, you should stay away. |
Barb comes from the Latin word barba, which means “beard.” Beards offer protection from things like cold and wind, but as Mommy found out when she kissed Santa Claus, they can also be quite scratchy. Perhaps this is why, when it comes to talking about beards, some people speak nothing but barbs. |
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| 6133 |
forego |
do without or cease to hold or adhere to |
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If you forego something, you choose to give it up. If you forego dessert after dinner, you are skipping dessert. |
The verb forego (also spelled forgo) literally means “to go by.” In common usage it means “to abstain” or “do without.” You might forego smoking cigarettes as a New Year’s resolution. Forego can also mean “to precede,” or “go before.” This verb is often seen in its past participle form, foregone, in the phrase “foregone conclusion,” meaning a predetermined conclusion. |
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| 6134 |
variegate |
make something more diverse and varied |
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To variegate is to make something more irregular, especially its color. You can variegate your yard by planting different colors of blooming flowers all over it. |
When you variegate your life in some way, you make it more interesting and varied. While it's more common to see the adjective variegated, particularly when people talk about dappled or streaked color, you can use the verb to talk about diversifying or mixing things. You can variegate your education, for example, by studying many different subjects. The Latin root, variegare, means "diversify with different colors." |
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| 6135 |
specialty |
an asset of special worth or utility |
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A specialty is someone's strong suit or area of expertise. A restaurant’s best dish would be its specialty. If you love baking muffins, make that your specialty. |
Magic Johnson was a great overall basketball player, but his specialty was passing the ball to teammates and getting assists. A specialty is a skill, strength, or asset someone has because of hard work. A doctor can have a specialty such as cardiology. A restaurant will usually have a specialty, which is a unique meal they're known for making. Just like special things have something unique or great about them, specialties are something a person or place does well. |
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| 6136 |
mediocre |
moderate to inferior in quality |
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Mediocre is an adjective that means "merely adequate" or "of only ordinary quality." A "C" is a mediocre grade for students who are fair to middling. |
The roots of the adjective mediocre are from the Latin medial, "middle," and ocris, "mountain." If you think about it, the middle of a mountain is neither up nor down and neither here nor there — just somewhere in between. The definition of mediocre is "of ordinary quality," "merely adequate," and "average." Another word that shares the same root is mediocracy, which means "government run by mediocre people" — an all-too-common condition. |
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| 6137 |
mogul |
a very wealthy or powerful businessperson |
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If you’re the type of person who likes to be in charge, you may have dreams of becoming a mogul — that is, a powerful businessperson. |
Mogul is a variant of the word Mongol, which we often use to refer to the empire once led by the famous (or infamous) Genghis Khan. The Mogul Dynasty conquered India in the 16th century, and remained in power for hundreds of year. As a result, the word mogul became synonymous with "leader" or "ruler." |
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| 6138 |
irreverence |
a mental attitude showing lack of due respect |
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Look into the word irreverence and you'll see the verb revere, which means to admire, worship, or look up to. Irreverence, then, is the opposite: viewing something as not worthy of admiration. |
The thing about irreverence is that you display it towards things that normally would call for reverence, such as a leader, a teacher, or a superstar. It's useless to show irreverence towards, say, a stray dog or a friend who's failed their driver's test the second time. Reserve irreverence for situations in which the object of your irreverence would normally inspire reverence. Addressing the president as "Dude" is the height of irreverence. |
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| 6139 |
dishonest |
deceptive or fraudulent |
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Someone dishonest is corrupt: a cheater, a liar, or a fraud. Dishonest folks shouldn't be trusted. |
If you know that being honest means to tell the truth and be straightforward, then you can probably guess that being dishonest means to tell lies and be crooked. Liars are dishonest. Criminals are dishonest. Some lawyers and politicians have a reputation for being dishonest, as do commercials that will say anything just to get you to spend your money. Besides people, certain actions are dishonest, like forging someone's signature. When you see the word dishonest, think "Untrustworthy!" |
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| 6140 |
aromatic |
having a strong pleasant odor |
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If something is aromatic, it smells good. Think fragrant roses, Middle Eastern spices, freshly cut grass, spring rain, leaves burning in fall. |
Aromatic derives from the Greek aromatikos for “sweet spice.” It is related to aroma, but there is one key difference between the meanings of the two words. While aromatic means "having a pleasant smell," Aroma means just "smell"––that smell could be pleasant, or it could be the nastiest, mustiest, old-cheesiest smell on the planet. Say, "What is that pleasant aroma wafting from your kitchen?" or "What is that aromatic smell?" and you'll be saying the same thing. |
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| 6141 |
elective |
not compulsory |
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Something that's elective is optional — you can choose to do it, or not. An elective course in school is one you take because you want to rather than to fill a particular requirement, although you still get credit for it. |
You can take elective classes in high school or college. In fact, the word elective is sometimes used as a noun, to mean "optional class." Also, if someone has elective surgery, that means he’s getting an optional operation, like a nose job or a face-lift. In either case, nothing is required or compulsory — it's a free choice. The word comes from the Latin electivus, by way of eligere, "pick out or select," which is also the root of election. |
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| 6142 |
impassioned |
characterized by intense emotion |
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If something is impassioned it's filled with or demonstrating intense emotion. Anything can be impassioned — speech, a play, a conversation, a novel, or even you. |
Impassioned comes from the Latin word passionem, meaning "suffering or enduring," and originally referred to the suffering of Christ on the cross, known as "The Passion." In other words, impassioned had a sense of trauma and anguish associated with it and only later did it come to describe happier feelings as well. Whatever the emotional feeling behind impassioned, it's still a word that suggests profound feeling and sincerity on behalf of the user. |
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| 6143 |
cogitation |
attentive consideration and thought |
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Cogitation is meditation or deep thinking. Big decisions should be made after cogitation. If people bug you while you’re thinking, impress them by telling them to wait until you’re done with your cogitation. When you’re done, you might shout, “Eureka!” |
This word — like the similar cognitive — has to do with thinking. Cogitation is an example of thinking, especially deep thinking. If someone is trying hard to remember something, they are deep in cogitation. Most people find cogitation easier in a quiet place, like a library. Engaging in cogitation is the opposite of acting rashly without thinking. If you like to ponder or mull things over, you enjoy cogitation. Cogitation means something similar to reflection and consideration. |
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| 6144 |
portmanteau |
a large travelling bag made of stiff leather |
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A portmanteau is a large suitcase. The word comes from French porter "carry" and manteau "mantle, or cloak" — so it's what you carry your clothes in. Or, a portmanteau is a word made by combining two other words. |
You might remember portmanteau from Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass, where Humpty Dumpty explains to Alice the portmanteau word, in which "two meanings are packed up into one word." So, according to Humpty Dumpty, slithy means "lithe and slimy," and mimsy is "flimsy and miserable." You can make your own portmanteau words, and here are some examples for inspiration: smog (smoke + fog); brunch (breakfast + lunch), sitcom (situation + comedy), and infomercial (information + commercial). |
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| 6145 |
deregulate |
lift the authoritative rules on |
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Deregulate is a verb that means to take away the rules. When someone deregulates a soccer game, the game could become a muddy wrestling match without any rules to keep things on track. |
You’ll notice the word regulate at the end of deregulate. Regulate is also a verb, and it means to “control something by rules.” To deregulate something, you take away the rules. If you deregulate a game of pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey at your little sister’s birthday party, you could end up with a tail on your face. |
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| 6146 |
protuberance |
something that bulges out or projects from its surroundings |
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A protuberance is something that sticks out, like a swelling or a lump or a bunion on your foot. A protuberance doesn’t have to be hideous; it could be your nose on your face or a knot on a tree. |
The late Latin word prōtūberāre meant "to swell," coming from the prefix pro, which means "forward," and the root word tūber, meaning "swelling." And "root word" is appropriate here, since a tuber is a thick, fleshy part of a root, like a potato. And that should help you remember how to spell the word protuberance. Don't you love it when a word's meaning and its spelling work together? |
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| 6147 |
putrefaction |
the process of decay caused by bacterial or fungal action |
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If you suspect that something in your yard is in a state of putrefaction, there's probably something stinky and rotten out there. |
The relatives of this word in English all resemble it and fit neatly into one meaning category, "rotten." The mother of them all is putrid, from Latin putris, "rotten." This leads to putrefy, which means "make rotten," and finally putrefaction, the process of rotting or a state of being rotten. The ending is -faction rather than -fication on the pattern of many nouns that have Latin facere in their pasts: benefaction, malefaction, and liquefaction — to name a few. |
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| 6148 |
unconvinced |
not persuaded or certain that something is true or reliable |
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If you're just not buying it, you're unconvinced. When it comes to music, people will often try to sway you to their way of thinking — that a band is THE band — especially if you remain unconvinced. |
The word unconvinced has convince as its base. The latter is from the Latin root words com, which is an intensifier, and vincere, which means "to conquer." The prefix un means "not." So unconvinced is "not conquered" or "not persuaded." If you are unconvinced that taking the new job is a good move, why not ask for more money or a corner office? |
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| 6149 |
surmount |
get on top of; deal with successfully |
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If you surmount a challenge or difficult situation, you're not just getting over it. You're outdoing yourself, exceeding expectations, and overcoming the task at hand. |
This word comes to us from the Old French verb for mount, or climb. Maria sang "climb every mountain..." in The Sound of Music. But she could have just as well meant "surmount every obstacle" — because to surmount means to both reach the highest point of something, like a mountain, and to totally overcome a mountain-size problem. |
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| 6150 |
dainty |
something considered choice to eat |
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Dainty means tiny, delicate, and lovely, so you could describe a little china tea set as dainty, and you could also call the tiny cakes on the little plates dainty. |
The original meaning of dainty, back in the 1300s, was "choice morsel of food," and it's still used that way to talk about a delicacy or a treat. More often, dainty is used as an adjective to describe something that's delicate and lovely. It's a compliment, unless it's used sarcastically to mean "someone who acts ridiculously prissy." An example would be to say, "Sorry I hurt you when I barely brushed against you. I didn't realize you were so dainty." |
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| 6151 |
frailty |
the state of being weak in health or body |
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Frailty describes a quality that's shared by a sick kitten, an elderly man, and a shoddily built go cart. They all have a delicate weakness or vulnerability and seem to require some kind of care. |
The Old French fraileté, or "weakness" is the root of frailty, and it in turn comes from the Latin word for "fragile," fragilis. What's interesting is that "fragility" was used in the 14th century to mean a kind of moral, rather than physical, weakness. Today frailty can be used this way too, to describe a state of having shaky — or fragile — morals. |
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| 6152 |
seismic |
subject to or caused by an earthquake or earth vibration |
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For the ancient Greeks, "seismos" meant an earthquake. Later on, when the study of earthquakes became a science, anything seismic meant anything related to the study of the pressures in the Earth's crust. |
The English language has a long and proud tradition of stealing scientific words and applying them in all sorts of ways that scientists probably wish they didn't: Darwinian, tempestuous, evolutionary — to name but three. It's the same with seismic, which is now far more likely to be applied to political or psychological turmoil than anything to do with the earth opening up and molten hot lava spewing out. |
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| 6153 |
fidgety |
nervous and unable to relax |
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Someone who's fidgety is jittery, restless, or anxious. It's pretty common to be a little fidgety before a big test or a job interview. |
A nervous airplane passenger might be fidgety, and a young child on the same flight could be fidgety simply because she's bored and itchy to move around. Fidgety comes from fidget, "move nervously," which in the late 1600s was the fidget, or the fidgets "uneasiness," from a now-obsolete verb, fidge, "move restlessly." |
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| 6154 |
lingual |
pertaining to, resembling. or lying near the tongue |
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Something that's lingual has something to do with tongues — it's near a tongue, looks like a tongue, or is caused by a tongue. The lingual side of your teeth is the side closest to your tongue. |
If you fall and bite your tongue, you suffer a lingual injury, and when you brush your tongue after finishing with your teeth, you could call it a lingual cleaning. Because speech sounds are formed with the help of the tongue, things related to language are also lingual. A skilled lingual learner is good at picking up languages, for example. The Latin root, lingua, unsurprisingly, means "tongue." |
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| 6155 |
minimize |
make small or insignificant |
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The verb minimize describes making something smaller or less serious. It typically refers to something negative that is being reduced, like when you eat at home instead of in restaurants to minimize expenses. |
To correctly pronounce minimize, accent the first syllable, which gets the short i sound: "MIH-nuh-mize." Minimize looks like minimum, which has the same spelling and meaning in English and Latin: smallest. To minimize something is to reduce it to its smallest amount — in size or importance. Other related words include minimal, miniscule, minute, and mini. |
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| 6156 |
facial |
of or concerning the front of the head |
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When you describe something as facial, it has to do with the face. Your facial expression is the smile — or frown — that you happen to be wearing on your face. |
Your facial features are made up of your eyes, nose, mouth, cheeks — everything that together comprises your whole face. When you use the word facial as a noun, it means a spa treatment that usually includes a deep cleaning and moisturizing of the face. You might decide to get a massage and a facial at the fancy resort hotel where you're spending a relaxing week. The Medieval Latin root is facialis, "of the face," from facies, "figure, appearance, or countenance." |
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| 6157 |
clot |
a lump of material formed from the content of a liquid |
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A clot is a mass of coagulated blood. It's your body's way of repairing itself, stopping blood from flowing and beginning to heal a wound. |
You can use the noun clot for any liquid that forms a solid lump or mass, though it's usually a medical term specifically related to blood. Some clots are useful, like the ones that form on skin that's been cut, while others — like those that occur inside blood vessels — can be harmful. Clot can also be a verb, meaning to clog or coagulate. The root is the German word Klotz, which means "lump or block." |
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| 6158 |
fiat |
a legally binding command or decision |
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You might think a fiat is just an Italian car, but it actually means a legal, authoritative decision that has absolute sanction. |
From the Latin for "let it be done," the word fiat is a binding edict issued by a person in command. It can gain an almost Biblical aura of authority, like a movie Pharaoh saying, "So let it be written, so let it be done." So let it be a fiat. |
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| 6159 |
blur |
confuse or make unclear |
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To blur is to make or become unfocused and fuzzy. Crying hard can cause your vision to blur until you wipe your tears away. |
Heavy smog or early morning fog can blur your view of the city, and two candidates' similar views can blur the differences between their political parties. In both cases, things become indistinct and hazy. You can also call the haze itself a blur: "The whole day was just a blur after the exciting news I got in the morning." In the 16th century, blur meant "smear on the surface of writing." |
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| 6160 |
liberation |
the act of freeing someone or something |
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Liberation means the setting free of someone or something. Wild animals raised in captivity are often unprepared for their liberation when they are released back into the wild. |
You'll notice right off the bat that liberation is related to the noun liberty — as in "liberty and justice for all." The difference is that liberation refers specifically to the act of being made free, of going from having no freedom to having it. Famous moments of liberation include Europe's liberation from the Nazis, the slaves' liberation from slavery in the U.S., and South Africa's liberation from the oppression of apartheid. |
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| 6161 |
percolate |
cause to pass through a permeable substance |
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When something percolates, it spreads gradually. If the news of your victory in the spelling bee spread slowly through your entire school, you could sit back and enjoy watching it percolate. |
When a liquid percolates, it's filtered through something, and when an idea percolates, it's filtered through a group of people. Percolate often refers specifically to coffee, which is brewed by mixing ground coffee beans with hot water and filtering them through paper — in other words, coffee percolates. The Latin root is percolatus, which comes from per, or "through," plus colare, "to strain." |
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| 6162 |
infringement |
an act that disregards an agreement or a right |
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An infringement is a minor offense that involves breaking a rule or a law. If your sister takes a chapter from your book and publishes it as her own, you could sue her for copyright infringement. |
An infringement can result in legal penalties if you’re breaking a law, as in the case of a copyright infringement or a patent infringement. An infringement can also be a violation of a rule or an agreement that applies in a specific situation. In that case there are no legal consequences, but there are still penalties. If the referee sees an infringement of the rules during your soccer game, he’ll penalize your team by awarding your opponents a free kick. |
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| 6163 |
filthy |
disgustingly dirty |
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Filthy is a dirty word. Sure, you can say it aloud in public, but it means "dirty" — like your dirty laundry pile by the end of the week. |
The joy of filthy really lies in the limitless range of its usage. Just about anything can be filthy, not just your dirty socks. You can have filthy living conditions, or wear filthy clothes, but it's also used to refer to something morally or ethically odious, too: "filthy liar," "filthy language," and so on. It can also indicate envy or outrage on the part of the user, as in our favorite use of the word, "filthy rich." Now that's a use of filthy we'd be happy to put up with. |
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| 6164 |
indiscreet |
lacking discretion; injudicious |
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Someone indiscreet lacks discretion and doesn’t know when to keep things on the down low. Going to see your ex-girlfriend’s band with your new girlfriend would be indiscreet. |
An indiscreet person would blab your secrets to everyone. An indiscreet person is loud, inappropriate, and thoughtless. While being discreet implies caution, being indiscreet is wild and careless. An indiscreet boss will correct your mistake in front of everyone, humiliating you. If you commit a crime and are indiscreet by running from a bank robbery with marked bills flying out of your pocket, you’re much more likely to get caught. |
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| 6165 |
varmint |
any usually predatory wild animal considered undesirable |
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Varmint is an informal word that means "wild animal" or "critter." Your uncle Bob might see a mouse and yell loudly, "Get out of my kitchen, you varmint!" |
You won't be surprised to encounter varmints during a walk in the woods, though you probably don't expect to run into them in your bathroom or at the library. A pesky animal is most likely to be referred to this way, like a raccoon that keeps knocking your trash cans over. You can also call a human a varmint, especially if it's someone who's driving you crazy. Varmint, since the 1500's, has been an American slang version of vermin. |
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| 6166 |
imperil |
pose a threat to; present a danger to |
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One thing can imperil another when it threatens to be harmful. For example, an approaching storm with hurricane-force winds might imperil the geraniums you just planted in your front yard. |
A city's budget cuts might imperil a school's ability to hire new teachers and buy supplies. The lack of money, in other words, is a threat to schools. Likewise, a factory's refusal to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions will imperil the air quality nearby — and ultimately, imperil the health of the whole planet. The word imperil comes from in and peril, meaning "danger." |
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| 6167 |
idyll |
a short poem descriptive of rural or pastoral life |
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An idyll is a short period in which everything is wonderful. You could say a cruise you took with your family was an idyll in an otherwise difficult year. |
In its more formal sense, idyll describes a pastoral interlude or a poem set in nature––an idealized, or idyllic, version of nature where you are drinking champagne under the apple trees, and no one has stepped in cow manure or walked through poison ivy. |
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| 6168 |
tease |
mock or make fun of playfully |
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To tease is to pick on someone or to give false hope. You can tease your little sister by saying "nanny nanny boo boo" or by holding a cookie just out of her reach. |
Tease, a modern spelling of the Old English taesan “pluck, pull apart" is now associated with the act of harassing. You can still use tease as a verb, though, to describe the act of backcombing your hair to give it volume. But more commonly, tease refers to messing with someone. There’s an old proverb, “Patience when teased is often transformed into rage,” which means if you tease someone a lot, you might get your booty kicked! |
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| 6169 |
locus |
the scene of any event or action |
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The center or source of something is known as the locus. A shopping mall is usually a locus for teenagers. |
In addition to being a hub or hotspot, locus has specific meanings when used in math or science. In math, a locus is when a set of points all meet at a designated location: a circle is the locus of points equal in length from one given point. In genetics, the locus is the location of a certain gene on a chromosome. A locus is where things are happening. Washington, DC is the locus for politics in the U.S. |
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| 6170 |
veneration |
a feeling of profound respect for someone or something |
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Veneration is similar to worship or respect: we feel veneration for things and people we adore and are devoted to completely. |
This is a strong word. The main meaning is for a type of religious zeal: if you unquestionably believe in your religion, then you feel and show veneration for your god and beliefs. Also, veneration can apply outside religion when you have enormous respect for something or someone. Great people like Martin Luther King or Mother Theresa inspire veneration. If you feel a combination of awe and love for someone, you are full of veneration. |
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| 6171 |
mutually |
in a shared manner |
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When you do something in cooperation with another person, the two of you do it mutually. You and your sister might, for example, mutually decide to skip the family reunion. |
You can use the adverb mutually to describe an action or a connection that you share with someone. If you have a mutually competitive relationship with your best friend, it means that both of you feel a sense of rivalry. And when a decision is mutually beneficial to everyone in town, it helps every single person equally. The root word is the Latin mutuus, which means "reciprocal, or done in exchange." |
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| 6172 |
cuckold |
a man whose wife committed adultery |
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A cuckold is a man who has been betrayed by his wife. If your wife cuckolds you, she is cheating on you with a different man. |
This is an old-fashioned word you can find in many Shakespeare plays, though cuckolding is certainly older than Shakespeare and will always exist as long as there are marriages. A man can't cuckold a woman: only a wife can cuckold her husband. By sleeping with another man, she makes her husband a cuckold. |
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| 6173 |
luxurious |
furnishing gratification to the senses |
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The adjective luxurious describes something that is of very high quality or expensive taste, like your luxurious living room filled with the softest rugs and gorgeous furniture hand-crafted in Italy. |
In the 14th century, luxurious didn't mean what it does today; it meant "lascivious, lecherous, unchaste." What happened? The invention of bling for one thing, and the rise of a culture that celebrates material pleasures. Today, luxurious translates as exclusive, comfortable, expensive and superior in quality, like a luxurious home featured in a magazine about rich people and their favorite things. |
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| 6174 |
skulk |
avoid responsibilities and duties |
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Skulking is cowardly. It means hiding out, either because you're trying to pull something off in secret, or you're trying to get out of doing something you're supposed to be doing. |
If you cut school, it makes sense to do it in the style of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," and enjoy yourself. Will the punishment be worse than if you skulk around town, avoiding teachers and people your parents know, not doing anything you really want to do? In spy movies, there are always bad guys in hotel lobbies, skulking about, hiding behind open newspapers. |
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| 6175 |
connive |
form intrigues (for) in an underhand manner |
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To connive is to plan or plot to do something illegal or wrong. Conniving is considered dishonest and cowardly. |
If someone accuses you of conniving, that's definitely not a compliment. Conniving usually occurs in secret, and people who connive are up to no good. Criminals planning a bank robbery are conniving. Crooked politicians looking for a bribe are conniving. Villains connive, and conniving is associated with conspiracies and dishonesty. The opposite of conniving is being honest and straightforward. |
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| 6176 |
indelicate |
slightly indecent, offensive, or improper |
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Indelicate things are offensive or rude. If you tell an indelicate joke to your sweet, old-fashioned great-grandmother, it'll make her blush. |
Many people would consider the question, "How much money do you make?" to be an indelicate one — it's tactless to ask it. Dirty jokes are indelicate because they're in bad taste, likely to offend someone. The adjective indelicate uses the "not" prefix in- along with delicate, which here means "tactful and considerate." |
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| 6177 |
finalize |
put the last touches on |
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When you put the finishing touches on something, such as agreeing on a specific time and place to meet your friend on Saturday, you finalize your plans. |
The word finalize is relatively new, and often people choose to use the words conclude or complete instead, maybe because finalize seems a little fake to them. In the 1920s, an Australian writer took the word final, meaning the very last, and the suffix -ize, and stuck them together to make finalize. Before long it showed up in dictionaries, and the invention of the word was finalized. |
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| 6178 |
energetic |
possessing or displaying forceful exertion |
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Energetic describes someone who has lots of get-up-and-go. When you decide to jog alongside the bus instead of taking it to work, you are energetic — so energetic that it tires the rest of the commuters out just watching you. |
Energetic comes from the Greek, energetikos, meaning “active.” When you are energetic, you're active with enthusiasm and excitement to spare. Energetic describes those little kids you babysit, who never sit still and force you to play hide and seek. Energetic can also mean a powerful focused effort, where you work hard to achieve something. The energetic bond between the men was formed after months of training together in the military. |
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| 6179 |
unresolved |
not explained or answered |
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The word unresolved may describe an argument that has not been solved, a question that remains unanswered, or a decision that not been made — like the title of "Checkers Champion" after a tie game. |
The word unresolved is used for a situation that lacks a resolution, or ending. It can also describe unaddressed emotions, such as anger or sadness, as in the unresolved issues you have toward your hamster ever since it bit your finger. The word unresolved can also be used to describe musical dissonance — if you hear a chord in a symphony that makes you think the song isn’t over, the chord is probably unresolved. |
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| 6180 |
prune |
cultivate, tend, and cut back the growth of |
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To prune means to clip, crop, cut back, and weed out. Pruning usually happens to overgrown trees and bushes, but can also be helpful for wild eyebrows and guest lists that are too long. |
You may have also heard of another form of prune: the kind you eat. But other than dried plums, the word is generally used in verb form to describe giving something a much needed trim. Gardeners prune plants, cutting back dead branches and weak parts so they can thrive and grow better. Companies prune budgets to cut back on unnecessary spending. And you might need to prune your baseball hat collection if you're running out of places to put them. |
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| 6181 |
bungle |
make a mess of, destroy, or ruin |
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Saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, dropping something, tripping and falling: these are some classic bungles — and they’re always embarrassing. |
Bungles are bummers, it’s true. Ever said something awkward in front of a grandparent or dropped a cake on someone’s lap? Those are bungles — accidents that make you blush. Bungle can also be used as a verb when someone acts like a fool or simply messes everything up, as in “The teacher bungled her lecture because she left her notes at home,” or “My bungling dad fell into the punch bowl. Again.” |
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| 6182 |
usurpation |
wrongfully seizing and holding by force |
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Usurpation means taking someone's power or property by force. Locking the teacher outside of the classroom and taking charge of math class is a form of usurpation. |
It may help to remember the word use when thinking of usurpation, which is what happens when you take someone's power or belongings and use them for yourself. When Shakespeare's Macbeth kills King Duncan and replaces him by usurping the throne, that is an act of usurpation. Stealing a person's personal information in order to open up a credit account in his name also counts as usurpation. |
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| 6183 |
depraved |
deviating from what is considered moral or right or proper |
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Depraved is the way to describe perverse behavior lacking moral decency. It's hard to be depraved when you spend your days defining words at your computer, but the mind does wander. |
Some would argue that morality is a subjective thing, so one man's depravity is another man's good time. Generally speaking, however, depraved is the "go-to word" when describing perverts and serial killers. Some rock stars seek out a depraved reputation, but it's mostly for show — they can be as dull as the rest of us. |
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| 6184 |
persona |
a personal facade that one presents to the world |
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Your persona is the public image you present to the world. When T.S. Eliot wrote in "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" about preparing "a face to meet the faces that you meet," he had the persona in mind. |
In ancient Latin the word persona meant "mask." The word also can refer to a character played by an actor. While a persona is not considered a lie or a falsehood, its meaning implies that it is only part of the truth. Like all masks, there is "real" person beneath. Often a performer will take on a persona to express certain parts of himself: the rapper Eminem also goes by the name Slim Shady to express his darker self. |
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| 6185 |
keepsake |
something of sentimental value |
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A keepsake is an object that has senitmental value, like a locket that belonged to your grandmother. |
In one of the Batman movies, Bruce Wayne keeps the pearls his mother wore the day she was murdered. Those pearls are a keepsake: something that has great meaning because of its association with a person. Many parents keep pictures their kids drew as keepsakes. If you loved a job, you might have a keepsake from it. Souvenirs from fun vacations are keepsakes. A keepsake is something we keep for the sake of the people and events we want to always remember. |
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| 6186 |
surrogate |
someone or something that takes the place of another |
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Someone who acts as a surrogate takes the place of another person. If a celebrity leaves her seat to use the restroom in the middle of a big Hollywood awards ceremony, a surrogate will take his or her place until she returns. |
Surrogate comes from the Latin word surrogare, which means "to put in another's place," or "to substitute." An uncle might refer to his niece as a surrogate child if they are very close, especially if he doesn't have his own biological children. Since 1978, surrogate has also been used to describe a woman who carries and delivers a baby for another person or couple. |
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| 6187 |
philanthropic |
of or relating to charitable giving |
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Something given to help others is philanthropic. Money, household items, giving your time and energy to a cause — all can be philanthropic contributions. |
Philanthropic, pronounced "fill-an-THRAW-pick," comes from the Greek word philanthropos "loving mankind, useful to man." Philanthropic organizations work to help people, running their operations by relying on resources donated by people who are able to give. Many charities, museums, universities, cultural centers, and scientific institutions rely on philanthropic support to pay their bills. |
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| 6188 |
harass |
annoy continually or chronically |
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When you harass someone, you bother them to the point of exhaustion. It’s not that each attack is so severe, it’s the constant small attacks that wear someone out. If you harass your boss for a raise, you might end up getting fired instead! |
Harass probably comes from the Old French word harer meaning "to set a dog on." Think of someone being hounded when you use this word. You can harass your parents with questions or requests, but in turn, they can also harass you to clean your room! While this is annoying, it's much worse if you are harassed in the sense of being verbally abused. The bully at school who harasses some poor kid will be subject to disciplinary action if a complaint is filed. |
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| 6189 |
invoice |
an itemized statement of money owed for goods or services |
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An invoice is an itemized statement of the money that's owed for goods or services. If you buy books online, they will usually arrive with an invoice telling what books you bought and how much they cost. |
Invoice comes from the French verb envoyer, which means to send, and "send" is a verb often used with the noun invoice, like when the online bookstore sends you an invoice. The same sense occurs when you use invoice as a verb. If you tell someone to invoice you for work you've done, you're asking them to send you a bill. |
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| 6190 |
scourge |
something causing misery or death |
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A scourge is a whip — or anything else that is punishing and dreadful. You could confront "a scourge of corruption" or "a scourge of hunger." |
As a verb, scourge means to cause suffering. Not surprisingly, it comes from the old French word meaning "to whip." A dictatorship could scourge and oppress its citizens, and an infectious disease could scourge an entire community. When you see scourge, think "suffering." |
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| 6191 |
rove |
move about aimlessly or without any destination |
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To rove is to wander around, often aimlessly. You may like to rove at work or school, but chances are you’ve probably got somewhere you’re supposed to be. |
Roving can be a way of life. Someone who roves may not have a permanent home, and he or she may wander from town to town in search of food or work. Rove can also refer to other types of wandering. A roving reporter wanders the streets looking for people to interview. At a crowded party, your eyes might rove around the room as you look for someone you know — or someone you’d like to meet. |
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| 6192 |
extinguish |
put out, as of fires, flames, or lights |
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To extinguish something means to put an end to it, and get rid of it completely. Water can extinguish a fire; nasty smells can extinguish your appetite. |
Extinguish comes from the Latin word for quench, but while we might think that quenching something, say our thirst, is good, the word extinguish often has sinister overtones. In a genocide, one group tries to extinguish another — too quench their hatred, by killing everyone in the other group. |
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| 6193 |
interchangeable |
permitting mutual substitution without loss of function |
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Things that are interchangeable can replace each other easily. Interchangeable objects or people can be substituted, and no one would know the difference. |
Some things cannot be switched: if you replace spoons with forks, people are going to have trouble eating soup. Other things are interchangeable: if you switch them, nothing will be lost. Gadgets that are interchangeable can be substituted easily: they're exchangeable or standardized. If two workers are interchangeable, they could do each other's jobs. Two interchangeable words mean almost the exact same thing and could be used in the same way. Interchangeable things are versatile, useful — and, most importantly — "switchable." |
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| 6194 |
voltage |
the rate at which energy is drawn from a source |
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Voltage is a measure of electrical energy. If you've got a high-voltage personality, people may use another electrical metaphor and describe you as "a live wire." |
Someone calculates voltage by determining the difference in electrical charge between two points in a circuit. When you travel, you'll want to make sure you bring along adapters to plug into the various sorts of electrical outlets you'll encounter around the world. Your chargers and all your electrical gear should have dual voltage capability, so they can work on electrical currents of 100 volts to 240 volts. |
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| 6195 |
preventive |
tending to hinder |
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Anything preventive hinders or stops something, especially diseases. |
When you prevent something, you stop it from happening. Likewise, anything preventive is used to ward off a bad outcome. Wearing a warm coat is preventative: it keeps you from getting cold. Saving your money is preventive because it will keep you from the poorhouse if you lose your job. Most often, this word is used in medicine. Preventive (or preventative) measures keep you from getting sick. Stretching before a workout is preventive, because it can keep you injury-free. |
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| 6196 |
predetermine |
establish beforehand |
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The verb predetermine means "determine in advance," like when you predetermine how much money you will spend on your friend's birthday present to make shopping easier. |
Predetermine comes from the Latin word praedeterminare, from prae, meaning “beforehand,” and determinare, meaning “limit, settle.” When you predetermine things, such as who will bring the food and music to a party, things run more smoothly than if you left it to chance. Another meaning of the word isn't so positive — if the organizers of a contest predetermine that their friend will win, this isn't fair to the other participants. |
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| 6197 |
module |
an inherent cognitive or perceptual power of the mind |
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A module is an individual part that combines with other components to make different things. You might have one module that's a cube, and another that's a slab of wood. Two cubes and a slab could make an end table. |
In space exploration, module can refer specifically to one of the lunar modules used for landing on the moon during the Apollo space missions. Two astronauts used a module to descend to the moon from the orbiting Apollo spacecraft and to return when the moon mission was complete. More recently, the Space Shuttle delivered several modules to the International Space Station, which is built on a modular design. |
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| 6198 |
lunge |
the act of moving forward suddenly |
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To lunge is to move forward suddenly, often in a thursting manner. A parent might lunge to grab a runaway child. |
Lunging is not usually a graceful movement. A lunge is quick and desperate. If it suddenly rains, people will lunge to get under an awning. In football, when the ball is hiked, the linemen lunge at each other. Lunging always involves moving forward. |
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| 6199 |
desecration |
blasphemous behavior |
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Desecration is a type of behavior that disrespects the sacredness or holiness of something. Words and actions that are offensive to a religion could be considered acts of desecration. |
Swearing in church is a type of desecration. Destroying a tombstone is a type of desecration. Depending on the religion, taking God's name in vain could be considered desecration. This word means something close to blasphemy or sacrilege. Sometimes, desecration is used in non-religious contexts, when an idea people care about is treated disrespectfully. |
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| 6200 |
constructive |
tending to improve or promote development |
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If you have a constructive idea about how to improve society, you should share it. Something that is constructive brings about improvement and growth. |
Constructive is an adjective associated with encouraging development, physical or otherwise. It is the opposite of destructive, which means "tending to destroy." If you are a constructive member of a community, you are a positive force, interested in building up and improving your community. You’ll often hear this word used in the phrase "constructive criticism," which refers to helpful criticism intended to encourage improvement. Negative criticism, in contrast, is just intended to show a person they're wrong. |
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| 6201 |
tame |
brought from wildness into a domesticated state |
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If something is tame, it cannot surprise or injure you. It’s predictable. Tame can be used as an adjective or verb. A circus lion is tame (adjective) because it’s been tamed (verb). A “lion-tamer” beat the wildness out of it. |
Sometimes tame isn’t fun — and not just for the bears who ride bicycles under the Big Top. Tame isn’t appealing when you’re going on a rollercoaster or seeing a fireworks display. If a friend tells you a concert is tame, will you rush out for tickets? Tame, however, is not all bad. Some people take anger management courses to learn to “tame their tempers.” Others work to “tame their tongues” after hurting another person with a careless comment. |
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| 6202 |
mired |
entangled or hindered |
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When you're mired in something, you're stuck or entangled in it. You can't get out. |
Sometimes, being mired means to be literally trapped in the mire, which is like a swamp or muck. But usually when people are mired, it's in something less icky but equally hard to get out of. You could be mired in six hours of homework. Congress could be mired in discussions that are going nowhere. A bad relationship could be mired in arguments. When you're mired, it feels like you're sinking in quicksand. |
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| 6203 |
sprout |
produce buds, branches, or germinate |
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A sprout is a small growth on a plant — a little new bud. Other things can sprout too: kids are constantly sprouting (growing). |
The key thing to think of when you're trying to remember the meaning of sprout is growth — as a noun, a sprout is a new growth of a plant, and as a verb, to sprout means to grow. Sprouting mainly applies to height and to the young, whether you're talking about plants, people, or things. An older person who gains fifty pounds is growing but not sprouting. |
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| 6204 |
extraction |
taking out something |
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Extraction is the action of removing something. For example, when the dentist yanks out your rotten tooth, the extraction is complete! |
In addition to this wince-inducing meaning, the noun extraction is the process of separating out something from a chemical mixture or compound. Take decaffeinated coffee — the caffeine is removed by extraction, so you've got science to thank for not being jittery after breakfast. Extraction can also refer to your family background. If you are of Greek extraction, for example, your family history can be traced back to Greece. |
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| 6205 |
unpalatable |
not pleasant or acceptable to the taste or mind |
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Use the adjective unpalatable to describe something that tastes really bad, like a glass of unsweetened lemonade. |
Food is unpalatable if it tastes or smells terrible, but other non-edible things can also be described this way, if just thinking about them makes you cringe. You might find it unpalatable that some people starve while others have much more than they need, for example. Unpalatable is the antonym of palatable, meaning "good-tasting." It all started with the Latin root word palatum, meaning "roof of the mouth." |
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| 6206 |
size up |
look at critically, searchingly, or in minute detail |
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To size up is to evaluate or critically assess something or someone. When a chess player sizes up her competition, she makes a judgment about what kind of player she might be facing. |
If you're giving a speech, it might help to size up your audience before you decide to include your infamous corny jokes. And part of what happens during a job interview is that the interviewer sizes up the applicant, attempting to figure out what kind of worker they'd be. You could also size up the sofa your brother bought, guessing whether or not it's likely to fit through the front door. |
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| 6207 |
absorption |
a process in which one substance permeates another |
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Absorption describes the process of absorbing or soaking up something: Sponges are good at water absorption; dark colors are better for heat absorption. |
Because the words absorption and absorb are so closely related, there's a tendency for people to try to spell absorption with a second B instead of a P, but don't fall for it. Remembering the correct spelling is going to take total absorption in studying — meaning you'll have to be totally focused and occupied with learning it. |
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| 6208 |
crooked |
having or marked by bends or angles; not straight or aligned |
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Something crooked is not straight, like a trail through the woods, or your cousin's unfortunate set of teeth. |
Crook is a Middle English verb meaning "bend," which comes from the Norse for hook. So crooked means "bent out of shape or curving around sharply." A picture hanging diagonally on the wall is crooked, and so is a hunchback's spine. We also use crooked metaphorically to talk about being bent out of moral shape, so to speak. A crooked politician is dishonest and takes bribes, and crooked businessmen steal from unsuspecting clients. |
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| 6209 |
span |
the distance or interval between two points |
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Any distance between two things is called a span. These end points can be physical, like the span of a rope between two trees, or they can be more abstract, such as the span of time between five and six o'clock. |
Span comes from the Old English spann, the width of the stretched-out hand, measured from thumb to little finger. It came to refer to various other measurements, such as the distance across an arch. The first reference to a length of time came in the late 16th century, and the phrase "attention span" first appeared in 1922 (as "span of attention"). |
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| 6210 |
whirlpool |
a powerful circular current of water |
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When two water currents meet, they sometimes form a swirling, circular whirlpool. There are some small but very strong whirlpools at the bottom of Niagara Falls. |
The way water moves in a circle as it drains out of your bathtub is a smaller version of what a whirlpool looks like in a large body of water. Whirlpools can be dangerous for swimmers and small boats, although larger ships aren't at any real risk of being sucked into a whirlpool, even a particularly large and powerful one — which can also be called a maelstrom. |
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| 6211 |
reckoning |
problem solving that involves numbers or quantities |
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A reckoning is a calculation or number you estimate. You might say, "By my reckoning, there are now seventeen kids in the bouncy house, which might be a few too many." |
The act of counting or tallying can be called a reckoning, and so can a person's opinion on something. You could describe an ancient astronomer's reckoning that the Earth was at the center of the universe or your own reckoning that guests should never stay more than three days. The Old English gerecenian is the root of reckoning, to count, recount, or relate. |
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| 6212 |
tipple |
drink moderately but regularly |
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Use the verb tipple when you want to show that someone drinks moderately but regularly. During Prohibition in the 1920s it was illegal to tipple but today you can tipple almost anywhere — as long as you are 21. |
As a noun, a tipple is an alcoholic drink. Your usual tipple may be a glass of wine with dinner, but at a summer barbecue your tipple may be beer. From tipple we also get the noun tippler — a person who drinks regularly but moderately. Experts aren't sure where the word tipple comes from, but it may be from a Norwegian word, tipla, which means to drink slowly. |
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| 6213 |
locution |
a word or phrase that people use in particular situations |
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Your southern-born friend's habit of saying "y'all" when she's talking to her family could be described as locution — it's a word she habitually uses in particular situations. |
A person's style of speech — certain words or phrases she tends to use — is her locution, especially if it's specific to a particular place or group of people, like teenagers or French Canadians. You can also use the noun locution when you're talking about the way a person pronounces words. If someone tends to "beat around the bush," or tell a story in a roundabout way, you can call that circumlocution. |
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| 6214 |
impersonate |
pretend to be someone you are not |
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Impersonate means to pretend to be someone you're not. If you impersonate a bank teller in order to gain access to the money in the vault, you better hope nobody at the bank asks you any questions. |
Impersonate comes from the Latin in and persona, meaning "to invest with a personality." It often is used to describe someone posing as someone else for criminal purposes, but you can also impersonate someone for comedic effect. You may have seen actors on television do this. They impersonate politicians and celebrities by wearing wigs and makeup and try to match the famous person's mannerisms and way of speaking as closely as possible. |
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| 6215 |
topical |
pertaining to the surface of a body part |
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When some information or news is current and of immediate interest, we say it is topical. This might be a news story or a bit of gossip, or just a subject that is of current importance. If it's "now," it's topical. |
There are several meanings of the word topical, but one clue can help you remember them all: that inside word "top." You often hear newscasters refer to the "top" stories of the day—they’re current, and that makes them topical. That same little word "top" can help you remember the medical meaning of topical: pertaining to the surface of the skin. A cream applied to the "top" of your skin is a topical medication. Remember that clue, and you'll be "tops" too. |
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| 6216 |
sober |
not affected by a chemical substance, especially alcohol |
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This adjective means the opposite of playful or drunk. When attending a funeral, you are expected to be sober in both senses. |
The most common meaning of sober is "not drunk" — people who drive need to be sober. Sober sounds a lot like somber, and it often means sad and quiet too, or sometimes too serious. Another meaning is to be logical or realistic about something. Sometimes sober means drab: a grey station wagon is a more sober vehicle than a hot red convertible. All of these meanings are quiet and restrained — unlike a person who has had a lot to drink. |
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| 6217 |
naturalize |
make into a citizen |
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To naturalize is to make someone a citizen of a country or to adapt to living in a new place or enviroment. |
Naturalizing has several meanings that are all variations on the idea of becoming native. When an immigrant is naturalized, they become a full citizen of a country. Other types of naturalizing also involve foreign people or things fitting in. A foreign term — like adios — is naturalized because many English-only speakers use it. When something or someone is naturalized, they've learned to live and fit in somewhere new. They now fit in naturally. |
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| 6218 |
intimidating |
discouraging through fear |
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Someone or something that causes fear is intimidating. Bullies are intimidating. |
Anyone or anything that is fearsome, daunting, or terrifying could be called intimidating. Looking at a huge list of vocabulary words is intimidating. Any difficult job can be intimidating. Lots of people find public speaking intimidating. Climbing into the mouth of a volcano and trying to take a photograph for National Geographic would be extremely intimidating, because you could die, and if you don't, what if your pictures aren't that good? |
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| 6219 |
patronage |
the business given to an establishment by its customers |
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If you give a store or business your support (financial or otherwise) as a customer or client, you are giving them your patronage. Great philanthropists are often known for their patronage, or financial support, of the arts. |
In the days of classical art, composers like Bach or painters like Michelangelo were supported by patrons, whose patronage, or financial support paid the artists' ways. Patronage is still an important part of our world, but you have to be careful: If your senator is accused of political patronage, people are accusing that senator of exchanging jobs or other favors in return for political support. This is not a good thing. |
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| 6220 |
distaste |
a feeling of intense dislike |
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When you're disgusted by something, or simply dislike it, you have a distaste for it. You might have such a distaste for the smell of meat cooking that you only go to vegetarian restaurants. |
Some people have a distaste for living in the suburbs, while others feel distaste at the thought of living packed into a large city with millions of other people. You might have a distaste for the sport of boxing, while your boxing-loving cousin's distaste is for ice dancing and synchronized swimming. When something's just not your taste — you don't care for it — you can say you have a distaste for it. |
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| 6221 |
caveat |
a warning against certain acts |
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A caveat is a warning. When someone adds a caveat to something they’re telling you to beware — maybe what they’re telling you comes with certain conditions or maybe there’s something dangerous lurking. |
When your new friend gives you directions to her house, and then says, “The caveat is that when it snows the driveway turns into an ice rink,” she's warning you that your travels could be dangerous. Caveat is also a legal term for when a lawyer asks for a break in proceedings. If a lawyer issues a caveat, she's filing a formal notice to suspend a trial until her client gets a hearing. |
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| 6222 |
offensive |
unpleasant or disgusting especially to the senses |
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Offensive describes rude or hurtful behavior, or a military or sports incursion into on opponent's territory. In any context, "on the offensive" means on the attack. |
Although offense and defense are opposites, offensive and defensive aren't always. Defensive can mean anxiously challenging of all criticism. Offensive can mean not just attacking someone or something, but belching, insulting people, or otherwise not respecting common standards of behavior. |
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| 6223 |
scold |
censure severely or angrily |
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When you scold someone, you (often angrily) point out and criticize some fault or error. If you forget again to clean up your room, your mom might scold you for it. |
Scold can also be used as a noun to describe a person who irritates people by finding fault in everything. Your great aunt Merna, who during the holidays complains about her gifts, criticizes your weight, says the turkey is too dry, and the stuffing is soggy? She's a scold. Maybe she's cranky. Which brings us to the other way we can use scold as a verb: to grumble, grouch, or generally express one's crankiness. This latter meaning has more to do with the attitude of the scolder than the faults of the one being scolded. |
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| 6224 |
intermediate |
lying between two extremes in time, space, or state |
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Use the adjective intermediate when you find yourself in that in-between stage, like after you complete an introductory class but before you are ready for the advanced stuff. |
The word intermediate comes from the Latin intermediatus, tracing back to intermedius, which combines inter-, meaning “between” and medius, meaning “middle.” So you can see that intermediate describes something or someone in the middle, between two distinct phases, like an intermediate swimmer who has mastered the basic strokes but isn't yet ready to join the racing team. |
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| 6225 |
responsive |
reacting to a stimulus |
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People who are responsive are alert and aware — they've giving responses. The least responsive people in the world are people in deep comas. |
Responsive has several meanings, but they're very similar. If someone just came out of a coma and starting saying anything at all (or even started blinking), you'd be happy at how responsive they are. A person who has enthusiasm is more responsive than someone who is quiet and seems bored. Things other than people can be responsive too: a plant is responsive to sunlight, and the fire department is responsive to a fire. Anything that is alert and quick to react is responsive. |
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| 6226 |
pierce |
penetrate or cut through with a sharp instrument |
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If something pokes your hand, you will probably look at your hand to see if it pierced the skin. To pierce means to go right through, especially with something sharp. |
Pierce has several meanings, but they all involve something sharp penetrating something else, like scissors through a plastic bag or a pen through a pocket. You can also pierce confusion by saying something that makes everything clear. Another meaning has to do with sound. Much like a knife, a sharp sound can pierce the silence and a loud, high shriek will pierce your ears. |
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| 6227 |
paladin |
someone who fights for a cause |
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The noun paladin means a champion of a cause. If you are a paladin for animal welfare, you probably spend your free time volunteering at the local shelter and take part in fundraisers that help keep it going. |
Anyone who fights hard for something they believe in can be called a paladin, although the word has old-fashioned associations. While the French word paladin means warrior, it was used specifically starting in the late 1500s to mean "one of the 12 knights in attendance on Charlemagne." As time went on, its meaning grew to include any chivalrous or heroic person. |
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| 6228 |
entree |
the principal dish of a meal |
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Go to a fancy restaurant and take a look at the menu. If you decide to order the chicken, you've just selected your entree. |
Entree, pronounced "ON-tray" and sometimes spelled entrée, is another word for main course, at least as it's usually used in this country. Sometimes people talk about having an entree into society, or into some club. When it's used in those contexts, it usually means you have someone who's going to smooth the way, introduce you, and allow you to enter. |
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| 6229 |
hypnotize |
induce a state that resembles sleep in |
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When you hypnotize someone, you draw him into a mental state that is receptive to suggestion. If you are looking to break a bad habit like cigarette smoking, ask someone to hypnotize you. |
To hypnotize is to induce a calm, focused state in one's self or in another person. The state is called hypnosis, and a person who can do this for someone else is a hypnotist. The word hypnotize comes from the Greek hypnotikos, "inclined to sleep or putting to sleep," and popular ideas of hypnosis reflect a kind of half-asleep state. In reality, when you hypnotize someone, the person remains awake and intently focused. |
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| 6230 |
inflated |
enlarged beyond truth or reasonableness |
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If it's puffed up and overrated, it's probably inflated — a simple adjective that means blown out of proportion or exaggerated. |
Think of a balloon. You blow and blow, and it gets bigger and bigger. Sometimes if you blow too much it takes on a distorted shape, or even explodes. Now use that same imagery, but swap the balloon for someone's ego or the price of U2 concert tickets. Both personalities and prices can get inflated beyond reasonableness — the personalities with pretentious hot air and the prices with unnecessary cost. |
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| 6231 |
hitch |
to hook or entangle |
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A hitch is an obstacle or hindrance. You might be late because of a last minute hitch, like waiting for a family of ducks to cross the road. If things go well, they go off without a hitch. |
The word hitch has a gazillion meanings — it’s a hook, a limp, short for hitchhiking, slang for getting married — but the most common meaning is that a hitch is a little problem. If you’ve packed a picnic and then it rains, the weather is a hitch in your plans. Hitches include hang-ups, snafus, impediments, and other things that interfere. Often this term is used in the phrase "without a hitch" for things that go smoothly. |
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| 6232 |
celestial |
relating to or inhabiting a divine heaven |
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What is the difference between a celestial being and a celestial body? The first is something living such as an alien or an angel, whereas the latter is an inanimate object such as a star or a planet. Both, however, are from the sky. |
The word celestial is primarily used to describe things that have to do with the heavens such as angels, spirits, stars and planets. It does not come from words meaning God or soul though, but from the Latin word for sky caelestis, which also gave rise to the word ceiling. So really, all you have to do is look up and you'll remember what celestial means — whether you're inside or outside. |
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| 6233 |
unadorned |
not decorated with something to increase its beauty |
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Something unadorned has no decorations or frills. It's plain, like a room with nothing on the walls or a person wearing purely functional clothes and no accessories. |
To adorn something is to decorate it or to dress it up. If something is unadorned, it lacks decorations. An unadorned Christmas tree is just a plain old pine tree. If a woman’s face is unadorned, she’s not wearing makeup. The unadorned truth is the plain truth, with no nonsense. This word means about the same as undecorated, and it can often mean dull. But that’s a matter of taste. |
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| 6234 |
depravity |
moral perversion; impairment of virtue and moral principles |
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Depravity goes beyond mere bad behavior — it is a total lack of morals, values, and even regard for other living things, like the depravity of a serial killer. |
You can see the verb deprave in depravity. To deprave is to make something bad, often to the point of moral corruption, like the parental fear that a bad influence will deprave their good kids. So, depravity is behavior that is morally corrupt or otherwise deemed wicked. Don't confuse depravity with deprivation, meaning "being denied something that is necessary." |
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| 6235 |
circulate |
move through a system and return to the starting point |
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To circulate is to move continuously in a specific circuit, often in a circle. A ceiling fan circulates cool air around the room on a warm day. |
Blood circulates through your body, pumped from your heart through veins and arteries — your circulatory system — and delivering oxygen to your tissues. This system is closed, meaning the blood stays in your body, bringing oxygenated blood back to your heart. People circulate when they move around a room at a party, chatting with different people, and rumors circulate when they're passed in a circle, from person to person. Circulate comes from the Latin circulare, "to form a circle." |
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| 6236 |
niggardly |
petty or reluctant in giving or spending |
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While this looks like a certain racial slur, it's really just a way of saying meager, stingy or ungenerous. If you get a niggardly share of cake, it means someone gave you a very small piece. |
This word is so close to a nasty racial slur that people have gotten in trouble for using it correctly. The words are not related in any way, they just sound alike. If you use the word niggardly, and someone is taken aback or offended, they either misheard you or don't know what they are talking about. In this situation, aim for generosity. Don't be niggardly with patience and understanding of their ignorance. |
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| 6237 |
impulsive |
without forethought |
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If someone is impulsive, it means that they act on instinct, without thinking decisions through. If you worked for an entire year to save money for a car and then suddenly decided to spend it all on an outfit instead, that would be an impulsive purchase. |
Impulses are short, quick feelings, and if someone is in the habit of acting on them, they're impulsive. When stores stock chocolate at the checkout line, they are hoping you will impulsively decide to buy it. When you call the person you have a crush on after promising yourself all day to maintain an air of dignified reserve, that's impulsive behavior. We might also call impulsive behavior whimsical or capricious. |
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| 6238 |
despicable |
morally reprehensible |
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Stealing the last piece of food from a starving child goes way beyond mean. It's despicable — a vile and harmful act. |
Mean, nasty, and scummy are synonyms of despicable, but they don't fully convey the awfulness of despicable. A man who lies to get a promotion meant for his co-worker would be considered mean. But the despicable man — the one who is so awful and worthless that he deserves to be despised — is the one who burns down the office building and frames his co-worker for it. |
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| 6239 |
pasture |
a field covered with grass and suitable for grazing |
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If your cattle are feeling hungry, you should let them pasture, or graze, in a grassy field known as a pasture. Pasture is both a noun and a verb associated with grazing animals. |
As a noun, a pasture is a field where animals such as horses and cattle can graze, or feed. Pasture can also refer to the grasses or other plants that grow in a pasture. As a verb, pasture means "to graze" or "to release animals into a pasture for grazing." You also might hear this word used in the idiom "Put out to pasture," which means "to retire someone," usually because of old age. |
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| 6240 |
aftermath |
the consequences of an event |
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The aftermath of a car crash might include a broken fender, a sprained rib, and a lecture from a police officer. The consequences of an unpleasant event make up its aftermath. |
The math in aftermath does not refer to adding or subtracting numbers, rather it is related to a Germanic word for mowing, or harvest. If you have been mowed down by a class of excited first graders, the aftermath might be a bruised knee, a headache from all of the squealing, and red face from embarrassment. |
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| 6241 |
stipulation |
an agreement made by parties in a judicial proceeding |
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If all stipulations aren't met, the deal's off. By not reading the contract's fine print, you overlooked the stipulation that you perform in a clown suit. At least you can juggle. |
The Latin root of stipulation is stipulat-, meaning “demanded as a formal promise.” The judge might allow you to go free, with the stipulation that you never again go swimming in a public fountain. A nightly foot massage could be one of many stipulations detailed in your “dating agreement.” Right or left tonight? |
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| 6242 |
diagnostic |
concerned with identifying the nature or cause of something |
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Anything diagnostic has to do with disease, especially figuring out which one a patient has. |
If your doctor wants to run diagnostic tests, then she isn't exactly sure what's wrong with you — so the tests will help diagnose you (figure out what's wrong). The TV show House is all about diagnostic tests: it features illnesses that are unusual and hard to determine. But anything diagnostic is trying to figure out what's wrong. A writing test could be called diagnostic if it's trying to determine how good or bad your writing skills are. |
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| 6243 |
teeming |
abundantly filled with especially living things |
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Teeming means completely full, especially with living things. If your grandmother's apartment is teeming with cats, she sure has a lot of them. |
Any time something (or someplace) is filled with life, it's teeming with it. A gorgeous purple garden in the south of France might be teeming with lavender plants, and you might describe the crowded state fair grounds as teeming with people. The Old English root teman means to give birth to, and this used to be a common meaning of teeming — being fertile or pregnant, or producing young. |
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| 6244 |
minimal |
the least possible |
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Minimal means the smallest possible, or the least — as in, "She passed the test with minimal studying." Minimal can also mean simple, as in "The apartment had a minimal decor scheme: white walls, no art, a simple black couch." |
When there is "minimal supervision" at a slumber party, few grownups are present. When you spend the "minimal amount of money" on a trip, you won't be staying at the Ritz. If you grew up with minimal contact with one of your parents, you barely saw or spoke to them. If you like to keep things simple, you might call yourself a minimalist, or a believer in minimalism. |
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| 6245 |
pursuant |
in conformance to or agreement with |
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Pursuant is used mainly in a legal sense to say something's in accordance with a particular law, ruling, or request. It's followed by the word "to." So you might say, "Pursuant to the judge's request, we'll provide additional testimony." |
Pursuant sounds a bit like pursue, and has a related meaning in the sense of "following" — but in this case it's an agreement or ruling that you're following. Pursuant comes from the French word pursuer, meaning "to follow with hostile intent." Over time the word lost its sense of hostility — unless of course you're angry when the lawyer tells you that pursuant to the investment policy, you can't withdraw all your money and run away to Paris. |
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| 6246 |
aggravate |
make worse |
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People who chew with their mouths open often aggravate the people near them, meaning that they exasperate their neighbors. |
One trick for remembering the meaning of aggravate is to recall that it rhymes with one of its synonyms, irritate. When you irritate, you aggravate. Younger brothers often aggravate their older brothers, because they find it entertaining to get a reaction out of them. Aggravate is also used is to mean "make worse." For example, if you have an old knee injury, it's probably best not to climb Mount Everest, because you might aggravate the injury. If your house is in foreclosure, calling your banker an ugly name is likely only to aggravate the situation. Try a little sweet talk instead! |
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| 6247 |
deplorable |
of very poor quality or condition |
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Deplorable is an adjective used to describe something extremely bad or unfortunate, like the deplorable destruction and loss of life in Japan after the earthquake and tsunami. |
Deplorable comes from the French word déplorer meaning "to give up as hopeless," meaning something is so bad, there is no hope of improvement like the deplorable actions of the arsonist who burned down the museum filled with priceless antiques. Deplorable can also describe something that is of terrible quality or unhealthful, like the deplorable state of the area under your bed — is that a moldy sandwich under there? |
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| 6248 |
fuss |
an excited state of agitation |
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If you are making a fuss, settle down! A fuss is a state of excitement, and it's usually about something not worth worrying or "fussing" about. |
Most fusses are types of commotion. If someone makes a fuss, they're overexcited and in a tizzy over something, like someone who can't stop asking questions. Another fuss is angrier: you might say "What's the fuss?" if you hear two people yelling at each other. A fuss is also any kind of hubbub or whirlwind of activity, like a huge crowd swarming toward a sale. Parents tend to fuss over their children. Someone who fusses is worrying too much. |
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| 6249 |
malevolence |
wishing evil to others |
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Malevolence is a nasty, wicked, evil quality. When you're full of malevolence, you wish harm on others. |
Translated from the Latin, malevolence means to wish for bad things — to have ill will. What sets malevolence apart from other kinds of hatefulness is that it implies a deliberate wish for evil. A small child might be mean out of anger or spite, but probably not out of malevolence. Malevolence requires more thought: it's a deeper, more profound kind of badness often associated with devils and villains. |
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| 6250 |
profuse |
produced or growing in extreme abundance |
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Profuse is a word for a lot of something or even way too much — a profuse rainfall is a serious amount of rain. |
This word has to do with extravagance or abundance. If you're bleeding profusely, you're bleeding a lot. If you lavish profuse gifts on your pet, you might have too much money on your hands. When you give someone profuse praise, you're probably laying it on a little thick. If you’re a farmer and your crops are profuse, that’s great because you have a lot of crops. Anything profuse is happening in great amounts. |
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| 6251 |
compassionate |
showing or having sympathy for another's suffering |
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If you are compassionate, you feel other people's pain and struggles as though they were your own. Compassionate people are often moved to work to end the suffering of others, perhaps by feeding the hungry or educating the poor. |
Compassionate comes from the Old French noun compassion, which means "sympathy, pity." The adjective, pronounced "cuhm-PASH-uh-nuht," means "sympathetic," like a compassionate friend who shares in your joys and sadnesses, wanting the best for you. As a verb, compassionate, here pronounced "cuhm-PASH-uh-nate," means "pity," as in your ability to compassionate with stray dogs and cats. |
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| 6252 |
careworn |
showing the effects of overwork or suffering |
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A person who's careworn is so tired that it shows on her face. New parents who have been up all night with a crying baby often appear careworn. |
Nights of interrupted sleep, working a late shift, and traveling a long distance can all make you a bit careworn. Simply fretting or worrying about something is another way for your expression to be careworn. The word emerged in the 19th century, from care, with its Old English root caru, "sorrow or anxiety," and worn, from its sense of worn out, or exhausted. |
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| 6253 |
instigate |
provoke or stir up |
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When you instigate something, you start it, but the word carries conflict with it. If you are suspended for wearing a political t-shirt, the incident might instigate days of protest by students and faculty. |
Instigate comes from the Latin word instigare "to incite." People who are instigators often begin trouble but then back off and let others break the rules. If you instigate a food fight in the cafeteria, you might throw the first spoonful of mashed potatoes, but then you stop and let all the other students carry on the chaos. When something is instigated, the outcome tends to be unknown. The plan you instigate might not lead to the desired result. |
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| 6254 |
calamitous |
having extremely unfortunate or dire consequences |
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A calamitous event is one that leads to a catastrophe — like the calamitous crashing of your parents' car into the garage door. |
Calamitous is an adjective that is generally used to describe events, and these events are disastrous or destructive. A failed election can be a calamitous event for a politician, especially if he loses by a landslide. Ever heard of Calamity Jane? She was known for her wild, calamitous behavior in the Wild West during the 19th century. Steer clear of anyone with a name like Calamity. |
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| 6255 |
loiter |
linger, remain, or wait around for no apparent reason |
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To loiter is to hang around a place with no real purpose, usually somewhere where you are not welcome — like under the “No Loitering” sign at a convenience store. |
If you’re a dawdler, or a loafer, then you are probably inclined to loiter from time to time. The verb loiter is similar to “hang out,” but it has a more negative connotation and is sometimes associated with acting illegally. You might hang out at your friend’s house watching movies, but you would loiter by the vending machine at school when you are supposed be in class. |
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| 6256 |
circumstantial |
suggesting that something is true without proving it |
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Circumstantial is a word that refers to specific details about something: in other words, about circumstances. Circumstantial evidence might implicate someone's guilt, but it certainly doesn't prove them guilty. |
The word circumstances refers to the facts of your life: everyone has different circumstances. So the word circumstantial refers to the specific details of some situation. This word is most often heard in the term circumstantial evidence, which you may have heard on a TV crime or trial program. Circumstantial evidence might lead a detective to suspect someone's guilt, but eyewitness testimony may be needed to convince the jury. |
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| 6257 |
hankering |
a yearning for something or to do something |
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A hankering is a strong desire for something. If you have a hankering for pizza, you really want some pizza. |
This is a folksy, informal word that means about the same thing as yearning. When you have a hankering, you want something. Often, people use this word for food, as in "I have a hankering for sushi!" You could have a hankering for football season, a new pair of shoes, or a trip to the beach. Anything you want could spawn a hankering. This word is related to a sense of hanker that means to want or crave something. |
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| 6258 |
formulation |
the act of inventing or contriving an idea or explanation |
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A formulation is a mixture of ingredients prepared in a certain way and used for a specific purpose. For example, if you are sick, you may need a formulation of a combination of antibiotics. |
If you devise or conceptualize an idea, you can also refer to this act with the noun formulation. If you are a scientist, you may be widely recognized for your skillful formulation of a plan to eradicate a disease. If you are a parent, you may congratulate yourself for the formulation of a plan to get your kids to actually go to bed on time. Of course, the flaw may be that when you conceptualized the plan, you assumed that the kids would cooperate and not want a drink of water every five minutes. |
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| 6259 |
numbness |
partial or total lack of sensation in a part of the body |
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Someone with numbness has no feeling in some part of her body. You might, for example, experience numbness in your foot after sitting with it tucked under your leg for an hour. |
The noun numbness is good for describing what happens when you lose physical sensation, either temporarily or permanently. Numbness can be a symptom of various illnesses and conditions, but it can also be the result of sitting in an awkward position. You can also use the word to talk about an emotional lack of feeling. The death of your dog might make you experience a kind of numbness, losing your interest in the world around you. |
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| 6260 |
interpolation |
the action of interjecting an action or remark |
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An interpolation is an interruption or an addition inserted into something spoken or written. If you’re telling someone about the wild day you had, and your best friend keeps interrupting you to add details, that’s interpolation. |
Notice how interpolation looks a lot like interruption and interjection? It means something very similar. If you tell a story and then add some new parts, those are interpolations. If someone else adds new parts as you’re telling the story, that’s interpolation, too. Many ancient books have had new interpolations added every time they were printed. All interpolations add something to the original. |
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| 6261 |
spasmodic |
occurring in spells and often abruptly |
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Something that is spasmodic is experiencing a fit, a loss of muscular control. If you are spazzing out, you are spasmodic. |
A sudden fit or involuntary contraction of the muscles is called a spasm; thus spasmodic means to behave in such a way. Spasmodic is also commonly used to refer to a violent emotional outburst — for example, your parents might be spasmodic when they discover you're really majoring in partying, not medicine, at college. |
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| 6262 |
marvelous |
extraordinarily good or great |
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Something marvelous is unusual, wonderful, and almost miraculous. Finding a bag of gold would be marvelous by any standard. |
Something that's decent or even simply good isn't marvelous. A marvelous thing needs to be really stunning, exceptional, or hard to believe. Marvelous things make people marvel at them — they're amazing and a little shocking, like a miracle. Winning the lottery would be marvelous. Finding out that ice cream is actually good for you would be marvelous. And if you want to make someone feel extra nice, tell them their new hat looks marvelous. |
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| 6263 |
residential |
of or relating to the act of dwelling in a place |
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In the same way that an “industrial area” is a place of industry where people work, a residential area is made up of houses and apartment buildings — places where people reside. |
Residential is an adjective that expresses a relationship with homes, apartments, or any place where people live. You might refer to a residential building, a residential neighborhood, or a residential block. Something that is deemed “for residential use” is designed for use at home or rather than for business or commercial use. |
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| 6264 |
cozy |
enjoying or affording comforting warmth and shelter |
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The adjective cozy describes being comfortable and warm, like when you feel cozy curled up on the couch under a soft blanket, in front of a roaring fire. |
"Isn't this cozy?" If you hear these words, you might be in a friendly, casual place where everyone feels welcome. Or, perhaps you are in a small cabin that is warm and dry as they rain pours down outside. Or you have just stumbled upon the judge of a writing contest having dinner with one of the aspiring novelists — cozy can also mean "scheming." And as a noun? A cozy is a padded cloth used to keep a teapot warm. |
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| 6265 |
wasteful |
tending to squander |
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Someone who's wasteful uses and disposes of things carelessly. A wasteful child might eat two bites of yogurt and then throw the rest of the container away. |
You can be wasteful with your money, spending too much of it on unimportant things. Some people are wasteful with food, ordering too much at a restaurant and leaving most of it on the plate. It's possible to be wasteful with almost anything that you squander without thinking about, including electricity or heat or even your own creative energy. The Latin root of waste is vastus, "empty or desolate." |
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| 6266 |
lamentation |
the passionate activity of expressing grief |
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Lamentation usually occurs when someone dies or a tragedy occurs. At the funeral, you could hardly hear the speaker above the wails of lamentation. |
From the Latin lamenta, meaning “weeping” or “wailing,” lamentation means more than just shedding a few tears. Lamentation is when grief pours out. If you lose a nice pencil that's no cause for lamentation, but if you lose all your money in a stock market crash, that might be. If someone tells you you'll be late to your own funeral, you can always say: “At least I'll get to enjoy the lamentation!” |
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| 6267 |
coerce |
to cause to do through pressure or necessity |
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You can bring a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. You can coerce — or pressure — someone to attend your office holiday party, but you can't make him have fun. |
If you're at a point where you feel like you need to coerce someone into doing something, it might be more civilized to just give up. To coerce is to manipulate, use aggressive arguments, pressure unfairly, or threaten — really, this isn't very civilized behavior, is it? Handy synonyms for this verb include force and pressure. In a gangster film, you might hear a character say he "put the squeeze" on someone — another way of saying he coerced them. |
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| 6268 |
blockade |
a war measure isolating an area of importance to the enemy |
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A blockade is an obstacle that stands between you and something you're trying to reach. After a robbery, police might set up a blockade around the neighborhood to catch the thief. |
Anything that impedes or halts progress is a blockade. If you join the military, you might find yourself building a blockade to confine your enemies and isolate them from the outside world. If you think of the root of this word, block, then you've pretty much got the meaning right there. If you don't want your little sister to disturb the house of cards you're building in my room, you can take lots of pillows and make a fort to use as a blockade to keep her from wandering in and knocking everything over. |
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| 6269 |
corroboration |
confirmation that some fact or statement is true |
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If you tell your boss you couldn't go to work because you were sick and then produce a doctor's note, that's corroboration — a fancy term for "evidence" — something that backs up a statement or a theory. |
Corroboration is probably the kind of word you wouldn't use in casual conversation; you would more likely use proof, for example. It's generally used in a more technical or formal sense, regarding a legal case, perhaps, or a scientific experiment, as in: "Physicists today are finding increasing corroboration that Einstein's theories were correct." |
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| 6270 |
ecological |
characterized by the interdependence of living organisms |
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Anything ecological relates to the science of ecology, which is the study of how living things and the environment do their thing. |
If you're interested in issues like preserving rain forests, saving endangered species, and keeping drinking water safe, you're interested in ecological issues. Ecological things have to do with how plants and animals relate to each other, in good and bad ways, in specific environments — from the impact of floods on river insects to how smog harms humans. Just about anything people do has an ecological impact — for better or worse. |
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| 6271 |
scope |
the state of the environment in which a situation exists |
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Business people like to use the word scope because it specifies the extent of their responsibilities. Once you know the scope of a project, you can decide if you're qualified and how much time it will take to do it. |
If your boss gives you a new task and you don't want to do it, tell him or her it's not within the scope of your duties. A scope is also a device used to see something in the distance. You'll find one on shotguns, submarines, radars and the like. You can use scope as a verb meaning "to look out or around." When you and your friends go out, you probably scope out a few places to see where the action is. |
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| 6272 |
rebound |
spring back; spring away from an impact |
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To rebound is to come back from a slump. You might rebound from an illness, or your country might rebound from an economic recession. |
Like many words that start with the prefix re, rebound involves something happening again. In this case, to rebound is to bounce back to a previous state or condition. If you gain 20 pounds and then lose it, you rebound. If the stock market crashes and then returns to a healthy level, it rebounds. |
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| 6273 |
backfire |
a loud noise made by the explosion of fuel in an engine |
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Use the word backfire when you talk about the sound a car makes when a small explosion in its exhaust system pops — sometimes as loudly as a gunshot. |
Hearing a car's backfire can make you jump, because it makes a sharp, shot-like sound. A backfire is usually caused by unburned fuel, and it can be accompanied by a burst of flame and a brief loss of power in the vehicle, as well as a fairly loud noise. The word comes from an American English term that originally referred to a fire deliberately set to slow the progress of a prairie or forest fire. |
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| 6274 |
exhume |
dig up for reburial or for medical investigation |
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When you see your mysterious neighbor digging around in his backyard, you may wonder if he’s trying to exhume something. Chances are he’s only digging up potatoes — when you exhume something, it means you’re digging up a corpse. |
The word exhume traces back to the Latin word exhumare, a combination of ex-, meaning “out of,” and humus, or “ground.” That meaning holds true today: when you exhume something, you dig it up out of the ground. The word almost always applies to the removing of a previously buried corpse, such as law enforcement officials who exhume a body to perform an autopsy or collect evidence related to an investigation. |
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| 6275 |
booth |
a small shop at a fair; for selling goods or entertainment |
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A booth is a temporary table, tent, or area that you set up in order to sell something. You might have a cupcake booth at a school craft fair, for example. |
You might stop at an information booth in a tourist town, or or shop for records at a music booth in your local flea market. You can use the noun booth for any small, impermanent stall, kiosk, or stand. Another kind of booth is the cozy, private seating area at a restaurant that often has high walls and benches around a table. Booth has an Old Norse origin, the word buth, which is rooted in búa, or "dwell." |
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| 6276 |
delineated |
represented accurately or precisely |
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Delineated describes something that has been clearly portrayed or accurately represented. Read a love letter in which your admirer’s feelings are delineated, and you don’t have any doubt how the author feels about you. |
The word delineated can describe something — like a diagram or map — that was literally drawn clearly. More often, you will hear the word in relation to something less tangible — like how a character in a novel is delineated, or depicted, by an author, or a politician who gave a speech in which her position was delineated, or defined. You might try to remember the word delineated by thinking of it as something with clearly defined lines. |
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| 6277 |
elfin |
small and delicate |
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Someone who's tiny and a bit fragile can be described as elfin. Your grandmother might be especially proud of her little elfin feet. |
Small people and children are often described as having elfin faces, particularly if there's a mischievous spark in their eyes. If your friend's ears are unusually petite — and rather adorable — you can describe them as elfin. The word clearly comes from elf, and it's sometimes used to mean "relating to elves," though it more commonly means "tiny like an elf." Edmund Spenser first used the word elfin in his 1590 epic poem, "The Faerie Queene." |
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| 6278 |
annotation |
the act of adding notes |
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Annotations are simply notes or comments. If you have trouble understanding Shakespeare, you may want to buy a copy of "Hamlet" with annotations on each page that explain all the vocabulary words and major themes. |
The word annotation comes from the Latin root words ad, meaning "to," and notare, meaning "to note." The act of adding explanatory notes to something is also called annotation, as in "Your friends might be amused by your annotation of the text, but I don't think the professor will accept "No one knows and no one cares!" as a reason for why the protagonist acted the way he did." |
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| 6279 |
drift |
be in motion due to some air or water current |
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If you get my drift, you get the basic meaning of what I'm saying. Or, if you move around without a seeming fixed destination, you are said to drift — whether you're a snowflake or just a wanderer. |
Interestingly, the verb to drift can be used either approvingly or disapprovingly. We rather admire the freedom of certain objects that drift, such as snow drifts or drift wood, but applied to people we're a bit more critical: we tend to harbor suspicions of the carefree Gypsy or nomad, hence the moral criticism (and danger) inherent in the term drifters. |
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| 6280 |
calumny |
a false accusation of an offense |
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Use the noun calumny to characterize verbal attacks that are meant to destroy reputations or friendships. You've probably seen political ads during election time that rely on calumny to move voters. |
Calumny comes from the Latin word calvi, meaning "to trick, deceive," which is why it can also describe falsely accusing someone or quoting them out of context with the intent to do them harm. Some political candidates use this tactic against opponents in the hope that voters will be tricked into thinking that the accusations are true. |
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| 6281 |
aggressive |
characteristic of an enemy or one eager to fight |
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Someone or something aggressive shows a lot of energy and has a strong impact. After the aggressive salesman stopped them again on their way through the mall, the couple got aggressive and replied in a loud, made-up foreign language until he went away. |
Being aggressive often means being physical or showing force, but it is equally powerful as an adjective reflecting a forceful determination to get something done. An aggressive football player may tackle everyone in sight to get a win, while a driven student might tackle a project or problem head-on with aggressive determination to improve their grade. Aggressive comes from the Latin aggress-, "attack," and being aggressive shows an intention to attack bodily, mentally, or verbally whatever gets in the way. |
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| 6282 |
convergent |
tending to come together from different directions |
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If you're a Red Sox fan and your cousin loves the Yankees but you both agree baseball is a wonderful game, that's a convergent idea — in other words an idea that brings you together. |
Convergent applies to anything that is arrived at from different paths, not just an idea. Two trains, for example, arriving at the same station from different directions are said to be convergent; or two species of animals inhabiting the same environment that grow more and more alike in habit are also said to be convergent. The opposite of convergent is divergent — as in a Red Sox fan and a Yankees fan arguing about which is the better team. |
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| 6283 |
interface |
a surface forming a common boundary between two things |
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Think of an interface as a "face-to-face," a place where things, or people, or people and things (like you and your computer) meet. Any common boundary or area of convergence can be an interface. |
Used as a verb, interface means to merge or mingle, bonding and synthesizing by communicating and working together. The word interface is comprised of the prefix inter, which means "between," and face. In the 1960's, when computers first began to be commonly used, the word became familiar and now can simply mean “to meet.” Although "Shall we interface over coffee?" still feels a bit awkward. |
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| 6284 |
compact |
closely and firmly united or packed together |
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A compact is a signed written agreement that binds you to do what you've promised. It also refers to something small or closely grouped together, like the row of compact rental cars you see when you wanted a van. |
As a verb, compact means "to compress or squeeze together," like how the garbage truck compacts your bags of trash. Compact, the adjective, describes something that is tightly packed together, like your luggage that is so compact it fits in the overhead compartment. Compact can also describe a brief summary, like a compact explanation of how the universe began that lasted only 10 minutes! |
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| 6285 |
invert |
turn inside out or upside down |
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When you invert something, you turn it upside down, whether it’s an idea or a test you place face-down on your desk when you are finished. |
Invert comes from the Latin word invertere, which means "to turn." For example, you might invert a cake pan, turning it upside down on a plate in order to remove the cake. Or if you have a long-standing belief, say, that cats make bad pets, spending time with a really great cat may make you turn that belief upside down, inverting it. And you might even get a cat of your own! |
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| 6286 |
mesa |
flat tableland with steep edges |
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A mesa is a flat-topped hill most commonly found in the Southwest part of the U.S.. Its sides are steep all around so that it looks like a massive table. |
Mesa comes from the Latin mensa meaning "table," which is very much what a mesa looks like. A mesa is formed when the weaker horizontal rocks around a big formation start to erode and fall away, leaving stronger rocks standing in a flat-topped hill. Grand Mesa in Western Colorado is the largest mesa in the world, with an area of 500 square miles. That's bigger than all of Hong Kong! |
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| 6287 |
thunderstruck |
as if struck dumb with astonishment and surprise |
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When you’re thunderstruck, you’re dumbfounded by something. Only something very shocking can leave you thunderstruck. If you walk by a statue in the park and it starts talking to you, you’ll probably be thunderstruck. |
If you were struck by lightning, it would stop you in your tracks. That unlikely event is the inspiration for this word, which involves more of a shock to the mind. When you’re thunderstruck, you’re amazed and stunned. The news that you’re pregnant could leave you thunderstruck. An incredible news story could leave you thunderstruck. This is a strong word for when your mind is truly blown. |
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| 6288 |
centrist |
a person who takes a position in the political center |
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A centrist is someone who has very moderate political views. Most centrists are against any big political shifts — either to the left or to the right. |
Some politicians like to describe themselves as centrists because it makes them sound very reasonable and balanced. In reality, centrists are rare in politics, since people tend to have strong opinions about issues including taxes, the size of government, and inequality. Centrist comes from the French centriste, ultimately from the Latin centrum, "center." |
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| 6289 |
certify |
provide evidence for |
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To certify is to provide proof for something or to license someone, like a lawyer. You can certify a lawyer or certify that someone’s insane. Either way, when you certify something, you make it official. |
To certify is to have evidence that something is true, to make certain. If you certify that you own a house, you prove it's yours. Vouching for a friend can certify that the friend is a good person. Professionals like lawyers, doctors, and accountants must be certified. Being certified assures others that the person is qualified. Certify also refers to declaring someone legally insane, so make sure your doctor is certified by the medical board, not the loony bin. |
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| 6290 |
murky |
clouded as with sediment |
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Something that's murky is dim, gloomy or hard to see through clearly. Think of the dark fog around a haunted house or the cloudy, muddy water in a swamp. |
Rarely used before the 17th century, this adjective came about by adding a "y" to the word murk. Murk itself evolved from myrkr, a Norse word for "darkness.” Things that are murky are unclear; that goes for murky, sediment-filled lakes, shady business deals, and arguments that don't seem to make any sense. |
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| 6291 |
flutter |
flap the wings rapidly or fly with flapping movements |
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Flutter means to move back and forth rapidly. Flags flutter in the wind. Leaves flutter to the ground. Flutter also exists as a noun—you might feel a flutter in your heart when you're excited. |
To remember flutter, think of the children's rhyme, "See the butterfly flutter by." Flutter is often paired with "flit," to describe the way that birds and insects fly––they flit and flutter. It can also be used to describe indecision—someone who can't make up their mind might flutter between two choices. |
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| 6292 |
lounge |
sit or recline comfortably |
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It's hard to lounge, or recline comfortably, in the lounge, or waiting area, of an airport terminal. Maybe they shouldn't call it a lounge. |
Lounge comes from the French s'allonger meaning "to lounge about, lie at full length." Whether you're talking about a room with seats in a hotel made for waiting, or a nice comfy sofa, or the act of reclining comfortably, lounge has everything to do with making yourself comfortable in one spot for a while. It also means to hang around in an easy way, the way you might lounge around the poolside area in a luxury hotel. |
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| 6293 |
jaundice |
yellowing of the skin from an accumulation of bile pigment |
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Jaundice is a medical condition that causes a slight yellowing of the skin. Many newborn babies are diagnosed with slight jaundice and need to spend time in the sunlight every day for a few weeks. |
A patient with jaundice looks a little yellow, a condition that's caused by excess pigmentation due to deficiencies in the liver or bile duct. One common medical cause of jaundice is hepatitis, a liver condition. Another meaning of jaundice is the distortion of opinions due especially to envy or resentment: "I hope my winning another acting award won't jaundice your feelings about being in plays." The Latin root is galbinus, "greenish yellow," a color once associated with bitterness and envy. |
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| 6294 |
slump |
fall or sink heavily |
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To slump is to fall or slouch down. It's also a downturn in performance — a struggling ballplayer and a sinking economy are both in a slump. |
There are many kinds of slumps, but they all involve things going downhill. If you slide down in your chair, you slump. Other slumps are less physical. If a successful quarterback starts losing games and throwing interceptions, that's a slump. The original meaning of slump, back in the 1670s, was "fall or sink into a muddy place," while the more figurative meanings came much later. |
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| 6295 |
modernize |
make repairs, renovations, revisions or adjustments to |
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To modernize is to adjust or improve something, especially in a way that uses new technology. You might modernize your grandmother's kitchen by buying her a microwave and an espresso machine. |
When you modernize something, you bring it up to date. You could modernize your office by buying new computers, for example, or modernize your antique car by installing seat belts and a stereo. At the heart of modernize is the adjective modern, "relating to the present time" or "up-to-date." In Shakepeare, the word modern is often used to mean "ordinary," although today there's more of a sense of "the very latest technology." |
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| 6296 |
aggravation |
action that makes a problem or a disease worse |
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An aggravation is something that makes a situation or condition worse. Getting hot and sweaty might result in an aggravation of your poison ivy rash. |
An aggravation of symptoms in a hospital patient is a bad sign — things are becoming more serious. Another, less formal way to use the noun aggravation is to mean something that annoys or bothers you. You might say, "Having to take the bus is such an aggravation — I'd much rather drive my car." The Latin root of aggravation is aggravare, "make heavier," or "increase in oppressiveness." |
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| 6297 |
slacken |
become slow or slower |
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To slacken is to loosen the tension on or tightness of something. If you slacken the clothesline any more, the clothes will be on the ground next time you hang out the wash. |
Slacken, in the "to loosen" sense, can also be used figuratively. Because you have been so responsible, we're going to slacken the rules about curfew on non-school nights and let you stay out an hour later. Slacken also means to slow down or make less active. If you are in a sprint race, you won't want to slacken your pace until after you cross the finish line or you might not win. |
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| 6298 |
bile |
a digestive juice secreted by the liver |
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In medicine, bile is a fluid secreted by the liver and used to help breakdown fats. Because it used to be associated with anger, feeling your bile rise is the same as feeling mounting anger. |
How did bile get linked to anger? Pre-modern doctors believed there were four basic substances to the human body, called humours, one of which was yellow bile that controlled anger. It doesn't, but when you feel angry, you'll still hear that you have to swallow your bile. |
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| 6299 |
jubilate |
to express great joy |
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When you jubilate, you celebrate or express much happiness about something. Winning a big award makes most people jubilate. |
While it's more common to hear the noun jubilation, or "joy," you can use the verb jubilate when you talk about showing that joy. Your parents might jubilate on the occasion of their wedding anniversary, and your whole town will probably jubilate at the news of a new, fancy public swimming pool. The original meaning of jubilate was "make a joyful noise," from the Latin root jubilare, which means both "to call to someone" and "to shout for joy." |
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| 6300 |
quasi |
having some resemblance |
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Use quasi when you want to say something is almost but not quite what it describes. A quasi mathematician can add and subtract adequately, but has trouble figuring out fractions. |
The adjective quasi is often hyphenated with the word it resembles. Quasi-scientific ideas are ideas that resemble real science, but haven't been backed up with any real evidence. A quasi-religious person may attend church services, but he doesn't take much interest in what's being said. Get the idea? It's a great alternative for "kind of." |
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| 6301 |
decadent |
marked by excessive self-indulgence and moral decay |
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If your friend vacations in lavish hotels, wears thousand-dollar shoes, and refuses to eat cheese that costs less than $20 an ounce, you might say her lifestyle is decadent. |
A decadent is a person who has fallen into a state of moral or artistic decay. Typically, though, we use decadent as an adjective to describe wasteful indulgence or extravagance. Celebrities who find themselves unable to manage sudden fame and fortune sometimes go overboard, throwing million-dollar parties, living the fast life, turning to drugs and alcohol. And because they're famous, we read about them and their decadent lifestyles in the tabloid papers. |
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| 6302 |
browse |
feed as in a meadow or pasture |
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To browse is to look casually for whatever catches your eye, rather than searching for something specific. Window shopping and scanning the newspaper for interesting headlines are forms of browsing. |
You can browse in a store, a library, or browse the Internet (with — what else? — an Internet "browser"). When it comes to reading material, browse means the same as peruse. Back in the 16th century, though, this verb was used in reference to animals feeding on, or grazing on, the buds of trees. |
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| 6303 |
quaver |
give off unsteady sounds |
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A quaver is a trembling or shaking sound, especially in a person's voice. When you give your first speech in front of a crowd, don't be surprised to hear a quaver in your voice. |
The nervous or emotional tremor in a person's speaking voice is one kind of quaver. It's also a primarily British term for an eighth note in music. To quaver can mean both to speak in a trembling voice, or to sing in a similar way, with a little warble or trill. The fifteenth century meaning of quaver is "to tremble or vibrate," and it's related to the earlier cwavien, "to shake," from the Low German word quabbeln, "tremble." |
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| 6304 |
cleft |
a long narrow opening |
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If you're looking for an indentation or opening in something, you're looking for a cleft (noun). A person with a cleft (adjective) chin has a little dent in the middle of their chin. Most superheroes have one. |
Superman is known for his ability to leap tall buildings, his crush on Lois Lane, and the cleft in his chin. For some reason, that cleft is supposed to make him look strong. Some clefts are not so nice. A cleft palate is an upper lip with a deep indentation in it that should be fixed by a surgeon. You may know the verb cleave, which means to cut down the middle. If you cleave something but don't finish the job, you've probably left a cleft in it. |
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| 6305 |
dolorous |
showing sorrow |
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Dolorous is not a woman's name (that's Dolores), it is an adjective that describes someone showing great sadness. If your friend Dolores is crying about a lost puppy, you could call her dolorous Dolores. |
Music written in a minor key can have a dolorous effect. It sounds really sad, and can make you feel the same way. Dolorous shares the same root with the word, condolence, an expression of sympathy with someone's sadness. Both of these words come from the Latin word for grief, dolor, which in current Spanish happens to mean pain. |
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| 6306 |
diversion |
a turning aside |
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A diversion can be something that takes you off the course you are on, like a detour while you are traveling, or a game of tennis that takes you away from the stress of work. |
The noun diversion and the verb divert are related. Both have to do with a change of focus or direction. When you want a break from something, many diversions are welcome, like a rousing game of “twenty questions” on a long car ride. Conversely, some diversions are unwelcome, like when the guy next to you is texting during your French midterm. |
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| 6307 |
swap |
exchange or give in exchange for |
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The word swap means you give something in exchange for something else. In the medieval ages, a farmer would swap — or exchange — his cow for his neighbor's horse. |
First used in the 1590s to mean "exchange, barter, trade," as a noun swap can mean an equal exchange. You might do a clothes swap with one of your friends in the hopes of perking up your wardrobe. As a verb swap describes the act of exchanging something for something else. You might swap oil for applesauce when baking brownies to make this treat healthier. In computer science swap means you move a piece of a computer program into memory. |
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| 6308 |
flip |
turn upside down, or throw so as to reverse |
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To flip is to turn or toss upside down, like flipping a mattress over. People flip out when excited, and a flip remark is disrespectful. |
There are many types of flips and flipping. Gymnasts who turn themselves upside down are doing flips. Turning a pancake over is flipping it. Any quick, light motion can be described as a flip, like a quarterback flipping the ball to a receiver. When someone is extremely excited — and usually mad — they flip out. Also, flip comments are casual, quick, and disrespectful. |
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| 6309 |
appendage |
a part that is joined to something larger |
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Use the noun appendage to describe something that’s attached to something larger. Your arm is an appendage to your body. |
Appendage often describes body parts, either on humans or animals. If it’s something that sticks out — like a finger, tail, or leg — chances are it can be called an appendage. The word can also be used figuratively to refer to something that’s associated with something larger or more important, like a husband who’s a mere appendage to his famous wife. In this sense, the word takes on a negative connotation: the appendage is not important. |
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| 6310 |
spoil |
make a mess of, destroy or ruin |
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When you spoil something, you destroy it or ruin its quality. If you spoil a surprise, you tell the secret you were supposed to keep. |
When you spoil something, you mess it up, like spoiling someone's good mood by bringing up a painful memory. Food can also spoil, or become unsafe for eating, and you can spoil a child by always giving him everything he wants, making him unable to cope when things don't go his way. The word spoil comes from the Old French espoillier, to plunder. In fact, things taken by force are called spoils, like the spoils of war. |
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| 6311 |
shoddy |
of inferior workmanship and materials |
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Shoddy refers to poor materials or quality. Maybe you passed on buying a house because it leaned in an odd way and various and sundry parts were falling off. Sounds like both the materials and workmanship were shoddy. |
Shoddy originally referred to something that looked high-quality but wasn’t. Later, a certain type of cloth made with leftover pieces and rags was called a shoddy. While shoddy often refers to materials or workmanship, questionable ethics can also be referred to as shoddy, as in the shoddy principles of a slumlord or the shoddy morals of someone who steals from their friends. |
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| 6312 |
trinket |
cheap showy jewelry or ornament on clothing |
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The word trinket refers to an inexpensive, flashy ornament or piece of jewelry. A rhinestone brooch to pin to your jacket is a showy trinket that won't break the bank. |
Trinkets aren't always made to be worn like jewelry. The word trinket can also refer to novelty items such as silly magnets with sayings on them or keepsake spoons. If you've ever stopped into a store at the airport that sells goods like keychains, mugs, and buttons, then you've seen trinkets. Trinkets are often purchased on a vacation — they're small enough to stick into your pockets before you board the plane home. |
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| 6313 |
indebted |
owing gratitude to another for help or favors |
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When you’re indebted to someone, you owe that person something. It could be that you owe money, or it could be you’re just grateful for a nice thing the person did. |
You probably notice a big chunk of the word indebted is made up of the words “in debt.” If you’re indebted to someone you are indeed in debt — for either money or gratitude. You might be indebted to your credit card company, meaning you owe them money. Then you might be indebted to your mom when she gives you a small loan to pay the bill, meaning you owe her gratitude for bailing you out. |
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| 6314 |
dilatory |
wasting time |
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Something dilatory creates a delay. If you are a high school student, once in a while you might have used dilatory tactics if you forgot to do your homework. |
The adjective dilatory comes from the Latin root word dilator, a noun that means someone who puts off things, or a procrastinator. If you are always late to appointments, people may accuse you of being dilatory, especially if they think you don't have a good excuse. |
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| 6315 |
stray |
wander from a direct course or at random |
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Little Red Riding Hood strayed from the path and ended up getting eaten by the Big Bad Wolf. When you stray, you wander off without paying attention to where you're going, and sometimes you get in trouble. |
Stray can be used as a verb or as a noun. Your attention may stray when you're tired and listening to a very boring lecture. You may be the kind of person who brings home strays, the dogs and cats that have wandered away from their homes and are lost and hungry. When you're organizing your sock drawer and you've got one sock without a mate, you might find the stray sock left behind in the dryer. |
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| 6316 |
counterfeit |
not genuine; imitating something superior |
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A counterfeit is a fake or a forgery. If you painted an uncanny copy of the "Mona Lisa" and tried to pass it off as the original, you'd have a counterfeit on your hands. |
An exact imitation of anything — a work of art, a ten dollar bill — is a counterfeit, and the act of creating the fake copy is the verb to counterfeit. You can also describe the forgery using the adjective form of counterfeit: a counterfeit Rolex watch. In Old French, the word contre, "counter or against", together with the word faire, "to make," joined together to mean "to make in imitation," which led to our counterfeit. |
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| 6317 |
standstill |
a situation in which no progress can be made |
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When anything comes to a standstill, it stops moving, either literally coming to a motionless stop, or ceasing to make any progress. |
If you and your brother try to agree on what kind of pizza to order, but your negotiations come to a standstill, it means that neither one of you will budge or compromise, and you've reached a dead end. During rush hour on a busy highway, traffic often comes to a standstill — it simply stops. This "cessation of movement" meaning came first. |
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| 6318 |
attendant |
a person who is present and participates in a meeting |
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An attendant is someone present at a meeting or event. A flight attendant, for example, tends to the needs of passengers on a plane trip. |
The word attendant has to do with being present. An attendant on a flight is present to help you if you need anything. An attendant event is one that happens in the presence of another event. In other words, it can mean "accompanying." An illness can have attendant symptoms that go along with it. Remember that the word ends in -ant. |
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| 6319 |
painstaking |
characterized by extreme care and great effort |
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If you notice that painstaking is composed of pains and taking, you already have a pretty clear sense of what this adjective means: to be painstaking is to be so careful—so meticulous, so thorough that it hurts. |
Painstaking is most commonly paired with detail — in fact, writers might like to avoid the phrase “painstaking detail” as clichéd. In contemporary usage, the agony implied by the word often seems to be shared by both the person who makes a painstaking effort and the person confronted with the fruits of that labor: “Gertrude’s ability to appear politely interested was tested as her dinner companion related his painstaking attempts to establish himself as the true heir to the British throne.” |
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| 6320 |
amplify |
increase the volume of |
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The verb amplify means to crank up the volume. Speakers amplify, or raise, the volume of the noise coming through a microphone so that everyone at the rock show can hear. |
Amplify comes from the Old French word amplifier meaning "to enlarge or expand." It refers to making a sound “expand,” but it can also crank up something like a disagreement — if you spread rumors, you might amplify an argument. It can “enlarge” an idea — if you don't realize how bad your health is, your doctor might amplify your test results by explaining them to you in simple, and possibly frightening terms. |
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| 6321 |
venomous |
extremely poisonous or injurious |
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An animal that is venomous produces poison. Also, people act in a venomous way when they are cruel, evil, or deliberately harmful. |
Both senses of venomous have to do with poison. The first meaning is literal: if a venomous snake bites you, you could die. Venomous animals are extremely dangerous, and their bite requires immediate medical attention. For people, being venomous is a little different. Spreading lies is venomous. Stealing someone's significant other is venomous. Anytime someone is being destructive on purpose, it's venomous. For people, venomous means something close to villainous — being venomous is like spreading metaphorical poison. |
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| 6322 |
holler |
call out loudly |
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When you holler, you yell a little too loudly and abruptly. A kid stuck in a tree might holler for help until someone shows up to help him climb down. |
Holler is an informal verb, useful for those times you call out or shout. Your teacher might holler at the class if she gets angry enough, and you might holler at your sister to get out of your room at least once a day. A holler can also be a dip or depression in the land, a hollow. The word dates from the 17th century, a colloquial form of hollo, a variation on hello. |
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| 6323 |
improper |
not suitable or right or appropriate |
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Improper words and actions are inappropriate. They're not suited to the occasion or done in polite company. They’re just not proper! |
Surprise! Improper is the opposite of proper. Something that’s improper goes against what people think is right. This could be a matter of politeness. For example, not giving up your seat for an elderly person is improper. Or it could be more serious, like going to school with no pants on. It could also be something uncool like meeting your best friend’s boyfriend for coffee without telling her. All improper things are wrong in someone's eyes. |
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| 6324 |
cantata |
a musical composition for voices and orchestra |
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If you ever listen to classical music, you’ve probably heard a cantata — a piece of religious music made for voices and instruments. |
Johann Sebastian Bach was a famous composer of cantatas. He wrote hundreds, and you’ve probably heard them played at weddings, in a church, at a party thrown by a king (or in car commercials). The word comes from the Italian cantare, which means “sing,” and the singers are the focus of a cantata — whether it’s one person or a whole choir. Cantatas are often based on religious writing, but can be inspired by poetry and literature as well. |
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| 6325 |
numb |
lacking sensation |
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Numb is an adjective that describes a lack of sensation. After skiing all day, your toes might be numb from the cold. You'd feel numb for hours after hearing that your favorite band broke up. |
People can feel numb in terms of their feelings and emotions. For example, if you've had your heart broken lots of times, you start to become numb — the breakups don't upset you so much. Numb can also describe being so frightened that you can't move, like being numb with fear when you saw the bear near your campsite. Numb can also means "to make insensitive," like when the dentist numbs your gums so you won't feel any pain. |
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| 6326 |
fretful |
nervous and unable to relax |
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Someone who's fretful can't relax. You might be fretful — upset and fidgety — if you're waiting to hear whether or not you've been accepted into a competitive summer music program. |
You may be fretful because you're worried about a friend, you're waiting for news, you're incredibly irritated with your little brother, or simply because you're an anxious and restless person. The word at the heart of fretful is fret, a verb meaning "worry" which is rooted in the Old English fretan, "to eat or devour." From this, fret grew to mean "being eaten away by worry." |
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| 6327 |
vacillating |
uncertain in purpose or action |
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If someone can't make up their mind, you can call that person vacillating. A vacillating student might not know whether to commit to a major in electrical engineering or in art history. |
The word vacillating comes from the Latin vacillat- meaning "swayed." When you're having trouble sticking to a decision, you can be described as vacillating — meaning that you are swaying between two choices. The spelling of vacillating can be tricky to remember. But vacillating, like its definition "uncertain," has the letter c in it. And to remember the two ls, think about the word's meaning, wavering between two choices. |
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| 6328 |
lease |
a contract granting use or occupation of property |
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To lease something is to borrow it in exchange for money. If you lease a car from a dealer, for example, you make payments and you get to drive the car, but at the end of the contract you have to give it back. |
As a noun, a lease is both the thing you are contracting to rent (the car itself is a lease) and the contract spelling out the terms of use — in other words, a rental agreement. Be sure to check the fine print on your apartment lease to avoid any unpleasant surprises when you move out — like owing money for painting over that hideous wallpaper in the living room. |
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| 6329 |
tributary |
a branch that flows into the main stream |
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A tributary is a branch that flows into the main stream, like the White River, the Arkansas River, the Yazoo River and the Red River — each a tributary of the mighty Mississippi. |
The noun tributary is related to the word tribute and both come from the Latin word tributum, meaning “a thing contributed or paid.” Long ago, a tributary was someone who was forced to pay a person or group in return for protection — namely from those who received the tribute. Today, a tributary is a smaller body of water that flows into a larger one or a contributing factor in something that happens |
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| 6330 |
meditate |
reflect deeply on a subject |
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When you meditate, you silently calm or focus your mind for relaxation or spiritual reasons. People who meditate regularly can put a stop to racing thoughts, making them less distracted. |
When you meditate, you focus on your breathing while sitting calmly. Some people mediate to reduce stress, while others see it as part of their spiritual practice. Meditate can also be used to describe any deep thinking you do, like when you meditate on what to say to a friend who is feeling sad lately. The Latin word for "ponder," meditari, is the root of meditate. |
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| 6331 |
hunch |
an impression that something might be the case |
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When you pose for pictures with short friends, you hunch over so you don't tower above them — you scrunch up your shoulders, bend your knees, and try to look smaller. |
You can also have a hunch, which has nothing to do with scrunching. When you have a hunch about something, you think it might be true. Your dog bolts over the fence, and you have a hunch he's heading for the neighbor who feeds him pâté. Hunch is an odd word of unknown origin, which seems to have originally meant "to push or shove" — to nudge. |
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| 6332 |
muffle |
deaden (a sound or noise), especially by wrapping |
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To muffle is to quiet a sound, usually by wrapping it with something. If you try to speak with a scarf over your mouth, your voice will be muffled. |
When a hitman puts a silencer on a gun, he's muffling the sound of gunshots, since muffling makes things quieter. Usually, muffling involves wrapping something around or putting something over a noisy thing. Muffling dampens, tones down, deadens, and dulls. Also, if you hold down your emotions and don't express them, you're muffling them. Muffling keeps things quiet. |
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| 6333 |
cliche |
a trite or obvious remark |
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If you've heard an expression a million times, chances are it's a cliche. |
Cliche, also spelled cliché, is a 19th century borrowed word from the French which refers to a saying or expression that has been so overused that it has become boring and unoriginal. Think about the expressions "easy as pie," or "don't play with fire," or "beauty is skin deep." These are all cliches. A plot or action sequence in a film or novel can also be called a cliche if it has become dull and predictable through overuse. |
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| 6334 |
monotone |
an unchanging intonation |
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Monotone is a droning, unchanging tone. Nothing can put you to sleep quite as effectively as a teacher talking in a monotone. |
The Greek word for "one tone" is monotonia, which is the root for both monotone and the closely-related word monotonous, which means "dull and tedious." A continuous sound, especially someone's voice, that doesn't rise and fall in pitch, is a monotone. When someone speaks in a monotone, his voice is flat and boring — plus listeners don't know how the speaker is feeling when everything sounds the same. |
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| 6335 |
bonanza |
a sudden happening that brings good fortune |
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An unexpected increase in tourism to a small town could be a bonanza for the locals. Bonanza means "a sudden opportunity to make money." |
Bonanza is a noun that means "a sudden rush of wealth or good fortune," but in a more scientific sense it means "a rich source of a precious metal." So, if you happen to strike gold in your backyard, that would be a bonanza on both fronts. "Boom towns" that sprung up during the California Gold Rush were created by a bonanza. More casually, bonanza can mean something like "a big to-do," or an extravaganza. |
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| 6336 |
trespass |
enter unlawfully on someone's property |
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To trespass is to illegally enter someone's property or overstep your bounds in another way. |
Have you ever seen a "No trespassing" sign? If so, you probably know it means "Keep out" and that trespassing is to go somewhere unlawfully. If you break into a store that's closed or enter a stranger's yard, you're trespassing and could be arrested. Also, trespassing refer to other types of stepping over boundaries. If you lie to a friend, that's a type of trespassing. Taking advantage of someone is trespassing. Both kinds of trespassing are violations. |
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| 6337 |
gear |
a toothed wheel that engages another toothed mechanism |
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The noun gear refers to several things. First, it’s the equipment we need for a sport or event. A gear is also a wheel with teeth that interlocks with another gear to transmit motion in a machine. |
The background of gear as "equipment" dates back to around 1200 and comes from the Old Norse gervi, "apparel." The word gear in machinery became common in the early 19th century, although there is evidence that the word came to mean "toothed wheel" as early as 1520. Gear entered English slang around 1951, meaning something stylish. This use was popularized in the 1960s, under the influence of British pop music. |
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| 6338 |
stern |
of a strict bearing or demeanor; forbidding in aspect |
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You know when you've done something really wrong, and the person who gets you in trouble has that unforgiving look on his face? The best word for that look is stern, meaning "strict" or "severe." |
Stern, strict, severe, harsh, unforgiving — they all more or less mean the same thing, which is very tough and exacting, with a little helping of seriousness thrown in for good measure. What does this have to do with the stern of a boat, also known as the rear area? Um, nothing? But it's good to know about that meaning too, since it could come in handy some day when you're giving directions on a ship. |
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| 6339 |
junction |
an act of joining or adjoining things |
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The noun junction refers to a meeting or a joining of some kind. If you live at the junction of Main and State streets, then your house is where those two streets meet. |
Junction often refers to the point where streets or railway lines come together, but it can describe other things that are joined, especially things that are in motion or transmit other things. For example, your body has nerve junctions — the places where your nerves come together. You may go swimming at the junction of two rivers. Junction can also refer to something that connects things, like a junction you use to connect electrical cords. |
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| 6340 |
formative |
minimal language unit that has a syntactic function |
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Formative is a word that describes something that made you who you are. You might call your adolescence your formative years because that time period had such a strong influence on the rest of your life. |
The word form means “to shape.” Something that is formative is capable of shaping or molding something or someone. A formative experience is one that strongly influenced you, like the first time you went to the beach and decided, from that day, that you wanted to become a world-class surfer. Formative can also describe an organism that is able to form new cells. In linguistics, the noun formative is a small language unit that can help shape or form a word. |
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| 6341 |
disruption |
an act of delaying or interrupting the continuity |
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A disruption is a major disturbance, something that changes your plans or interrupts some event or process. A screaming child on an airplane can be a disruption of the passengers' sleep. |
A break in the action, especially an unplanned and confusing one, is a disruption. A sudden thunderstorm is an unwelcome disruption of an outdoor wedding ceremony, and a flat tire on an elaborate float will probably cause a parade disruption. When you disrupt something, you upset it or mess it up. In Latin disrupt means "broken into pieces," from dis, "apart," and rumpere, "to break." |
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| 6342 |
coherence |
the state of sticking together |
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When something has coherence, all of its parts fit together well. An argument with coherence is logical and complete — with plenty of supporting facts. |
Coherence comes from a Latin word meaning “to stick together. When you say policies, arguments and strategies are coherent, you’re praising them for making sense. Scientists are always looking for coherence in data to support their hypotheses. And coaches are always looking for coherence in their teams, so they don't fall apart. |
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| 6343 |
posterior |
located at or near the end of a structure |
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Use the adjective posterior to describe something that's in the back. It’s often used in anatomy — a posterior cerebral artery supplies blood to the back of the brain, and the tail is on the posterior of a fish. |
The prefix post means “after,” and things that are posterior come after the things in the front. The opposite of posterior is anterior, which refers to the front, usually of body parts. You can also use the word posterior to jokingly refer to the part of your body that you sit on — your backside. Posterior is also a formal way to say later in time. |
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| 6344 |
matured |
fully ripe; at the height of bloom |
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Something that's matured is fully developed, at its peak of being alive and mature. Your dad's matured rose garden is full grown, blossoming with beautiful flowers. |
In a garden, plants that have grown to their full height or fruit that's ripe are matured. An idea or plan that you've been working on until it's perfect is also matured, once it's truly finished. Children get more mature, but humans are never at a point where they are considered done the way plants and animals have. There's always room for improvement. The Latin root is maturare, "to ripen." |
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| 6345 |
forbid |
command against |
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When you forbid something, you refuse to allow it. You might have heard your parents say things like, "I forbid you to play ball in the house!" or "I forbid you to have any more parties when we're not home!" |
Forbid comes from the Old English word forbeodan, meaning "forbid, prohibit." Forbid can also mean "prevent" or "keep from happening." The spare tire on your car will forbid you from driving any faster than 40 miles an hour — any faster and the car will shake. You may have heard forbid used in the expression "God forbid . . ." This refers to something you hope will not happen, so much so that you're asking God for a little help. |
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| 6346 |
foreword |
a short introductory essay preceding the text of a book |
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Many students tend to skip the foreword at the beginning of a long novel, or go back and read it later. |
Use the noun foreword for an introduction that comes at the start of a book. A foreword is usually written by someone other than the author and it gives information about the critical reception of the book, personal history of the author, or some other extra detail of interest to the reader. The word foreword combines fore, "before, or first" and word, and it's closely connected to the German word for "preface," Vorwort. |
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| 6347 |
aggrandizement |
the act of increasing the prestige or power of something |
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Aggrandizement is the act of enlarging or expanding something's power or status. It's hard sometimes to tell if politicians run for office in order to help their communities, or just for their own aggrandizement. |
Aggrandizement is the noun form of the verb aggrandize, "to increase the power or reputation of something," and it usually implies that there's some exaggeration going on. If your friend spread the story of how you had saved a drowning child at the beach, when actually you'd only yelled for the lifeguard, and if you didn't correct him or set the story straight, you'd be participating in the aggrandizement of your reputation. |
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| 6348 |
reclaim |
reassert one's right or title to |
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To reclaim something is to get it back. If a divorced couple remarries, they reclaim their marriage. |
To claim is to declare or take ownership of something. To reclaim is to retake something lost. An injured quarterback must reclaim the starting position from his replacement. Two countries fighting over territory may lose and reclaim an area of land. A bank can reclaim a house if you don't make mortgage payments. Reclaim comes from the Old French reclamer, "to call back," which is rooted in the Latin word reclamare, "cry out against, or appeal." |
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| 6349 |
rebuff |
a deliberate discourteous act |
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If you rebuff someone, you reject or snub him. You might decide to rebuff a classmate's invitation to the dance after hearing him gossip meanly about a friend. |
Although the verb rebuff is a somewhat old fashioned one to use for social relationships, it's still common in the world of diplomacy. One country's rebuff of another might start a war, or end peace talks, or otherwise reverberate through the world of international relations. You can also use rebuff as a noun — deliberately ignoring your sister's text message is one example of a rebuff. The Italian root word, ribuffo, combines ri, expressing opposition, and buffo, "a puff." |
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| 6350 |
disuse |
the state of something that has been neglected |
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Use the noun disuse to describe a condition of not being used. After years of disuse, you won't be surprised when your dad's motorcycle doesn't start. |
The word disuse implies at least a bit of neglect, and it can also mean that something has become obsolete or old-fashioned: "Typewriters fell into disuse after personal computers became available." You'll often find the word used in the graceful phrase "fall into disuse." The word comes from a Latin root, dis, which means "lack of," added to the word use, and it's been around since about 1400. |
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| 6351 |
imbalance |
a lack of harmony or evenness |
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An imbalance occurs when you have too much of some things and too little of others. If you put so much pepper in your soup that you can't taste the other spices, then you caused an imbalance in your flavoring. |
It’s easy to remember the meaning of imbalance when you break the word into parts. You might recognize the prefix im- as a way to say “not.” Combine that with the familiar word balance, and you come up with something that is decidedly out of whack, or not balanced. It means that something is out of proportion, such as a trade imbalance between nations, meaning the amount of goods they sell to one another is not equal. |
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| 6352 |
usher |
someone employed to conduct others |
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That guy who guided you to your seat? He's called an usher. You most often see ushers at movie theaters and weddings. |
An usher is someone with the job of helping people find their seats. At the movies, ushers take your tickets and tell you where to go. At some theaters and sports venues, the ushers might actually take you to your seat — they usher you there. If you're an usher in a wedding party, it's your job to walk guests down the aisle and to their seats. The doorkeeper at a courtroom or legislative chamber is called an usher, too. |
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| 6353 |
parlance |
a manner of speaking natural to a language's native speakers |
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The noun parlance means the manner of speaking and using words. Your 15-year-old will tell you that you are definitely not fluent in the parlance of teenagers, no matter how cool you think you are. |
Parlance comes from the French word parler, meaning "to speak." The noun is often used to refer to the jargon or slang a certain group or industry uses. If you work in the sciences, you'll be familiar with the parlance of scientists and be familiar with such jargon as "goodness of fit" and "iff", which means "if and only if". But if you are not a scientist, you may stumble when you first come across such terms. |
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| 6354 |
consort |
keep company with; hang out with |
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If you keep company with someone, you are consorting with them. "The students tended to consort only with other students from similar backgrounds. The staff wanted to break them out of their comfort zone, so they organized games to force them to mingle and meet new people." |
Consort is usually followed by the preposition with, and sometimes the verb consort is followed by the phrase "with the enemy." The military frowns on consorting with the enemy in a war. Her best friend accused her of consorting with the enemy when she walked home with another girl. As a noun, the term consort refers to the spouse of the reigning monarch. Prince Albert was called the prince consort because he was married to Queen Victoria when she ruled Great Britain. |
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| 6355 |
menacing |
threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments |
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Something that is menacing is threatening or suggestive of coming danger. If you’re backing away slowly from something, you can probably use the adjective menacing to describe it! |
Menacing means “threatening” — whether it’s on purpose or not. A menacing tone is intended to scare you, but that menacing raincloud isn’t actually trying to ruin your day. Menacing can describe the behavior of a menace, but only the mean or dangerous kind — not just a pest: "The raccoon that always knocks over your garbage can is a menace, but it's not menacing (unless it also chases you around your house)." |
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| 6356 |
unearthly |
suggesting the operation of supernatural influences |
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Unearthly describes something supernatural — a person or object that seems to come from another world. Unearthly beings are usually mysterious and can sometimes be scary, like the aliens you might see in a science fiction movie. |
When unearthly was first used in the early 1600s, it meant "heavenly, sublime," a combination of un, meaning "not," and earthly. Unearthly can still be used is to describe something spiritual or having to do with the soul. If you feel an unearthly presence while walking in a cemetery at night, it might be a visitor from "the other side." |
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| 6357 |
collateral |
accompanying; following as a consequence |
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It's what you promise to give someone if you don't repay a loan, like the car you put up as collateral when you take a loan out from the bank. As an adjective, collateral can refer to something indirect or off to the side, like collateral damage. |
Collateral is the watch you put on the table in a poker game, or the shoes you trade in at the bowling alley. If you pay back your debts, you get your goods back. As an adjective, collateral describes something indirect, like collateral damage (non-soldiers inadvertently killed in war) or collateral relatives such as your second-cousin-once-removed that your mother keeps bugging you to call. |
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| 6358 |
enchant |
cast a spell over someone or something |
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To enchant is to cast a spell over someone, like a witch might do. It also means to attract or catch someone's attention in a less mystical way. |
Enchanting has a few meanings, but they all involve seduction. A witch or warlock enchants people they wish to influence through magic spells. A real person enchants in different ways: through jokes, good looks, and charisma. Not only people, but also engrossing songs or shows can be said "to enchant." |
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| 6359 |
remunerative |
for which money is paid |
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When something is remunerative, it means people get paid for it. Your job is remunerative, and if your research into new farming methods leads to a big government contract, then that also could be called remunerative. |
Remunerative can also mean that something generates a lot of money, like the remunerative ice cream truck that appears at the park entrance on the hottest days of summer. In Latin, munus and muner- mean "gift." Re- means "again," emphasizing that the reward keeps coming, whether it is a weekly paycheck or something that continues to generate sales, like the ice cream truck. |
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| 6360 |
stomp |
walk heavily |
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When you stomp, you thud your feet down heavily as you walk. An angry teenager might stomp down the hall and slam the door to his room. |
A little boy in big cowboy boots might stomp around the house enjoying the sound of his heels against the floor, and an awkward marching band could stomp heavily down the street playing the theme from "Rocky." You can also use the word stomp to describe a specific kind of stamping dance. This meaning has been around since about 1912, from popular jazz slang. The earlier stomp was simply a variation on the word stamp. |
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| 6361 |
duplicate |
a copy that corresponds to an original exactly |
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Duplicate describes something that's an exact copy. If you tend to accidentally lock yourself out of your car, it's a good idea to carry a duplicate key with you just in case. |
The word duplicate is useful when you're talking about a copy of something, like a duplicate of your birth certificate that you keep in a file, or a duplicate driver's license that you apply for after losing the original one. The verb duplicate is pronounced differently, with a long a sound, and it means to make a copy of or to multiply times two. The Latin root, duplicatus, means "to double." |
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| 6362 |
squint |
partly close one's eyes, as when hit by direct light |
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You squint when you squeeze your eyes almost shut. If you are trying to see something far away, you will probably squint while you strain your eyes to see more clearly. |
When the sun shines brilliantly through the car windshield, the driver will squint, or squeeze her eyes almost shut against the bright light. This is probably a good moment for the driver to grab her sunglasses! You'll squint when a light is suddenly turned on in a dark room, and you might also squint when you're trying to read tiny type on a food label or medicine bottle. The expression on your face, and the action of doing this, are both called a squint as well. Squint comes from the now rare adverb asquint, or "from the corner of the eyes." |
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| 6363 |
innovator |
someone who helps to open up a new line of technology or art |
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Innovators innovate — that is, they create new ideas or ways of doing things. The Wright brothers were the ultimate innovators: they were the first to fly. |
The Unites States has a reputation as a country of innovators because, for generations, many of the world's most exciting new ideas came from its people and companies. Alexander Graham Bell, Henry Ford, Mark Zuckerberg: these are just three of the innovators who pioneered whole new technologies and industries. No one had thought the way they did before. Anyone who blazes a trail into new territory can be an innovator — athletes, artists, business people, and chefs, to name just a few. |
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| 6364 |
reverberation |
a remote or indirect consequence of some action |
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A reverberation is an echoing sound. When you bang on a big piece of metal, you can hear the reverberation even after you stop banging. |
The repeating, often low, booming sound that follows the strum of an electric guitar or the thump of a drumstick on a cymbal is called reverberation. It's frequently described as sound that lingers beyond the original noise. You can also use the word to describe something else that lingers, like a feeling or an effect: "The reverberations of the war lasted for decades." Originally, reverberation was "reflection of light or heat," from the Old French reverberacion, "great flash of light." |
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| 6365 |
quavering |
(of the voice) quivering as from weakness or fear |
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A quavering voice is shaky and a little unclear. People's voices are often quavering when they're tired or afraid. If you’re about to cry, you might speak in a quavering voice. Quavering voices are a little bit pitiful. |
When someone's voice quavers, it becomes unsteady, a little like a stutter. You can describe such a voice as quavering. If you're about to sing on stage for the first time, you might have a quavering voice until you get comfortable. If a big angry person yells at you, you might respond in a quavering voice. Inexperienced public speakers often speak in a quavering way, too. This word (like tremulous) describes the speech of those who are weary, afraid, or faltering. |
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| 6366 |
aloofness |
a disposition to be distant and unsympathetic in manner |
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Aloofness is a noun meaning a state of being distant, remote, or withdrawn. Someone showing aloofness might be shy, or just really doesn't want to be around people. |
Aloofness is from the adjective aloof — originally a nautical term. The lee side of a ship was the sheltered side, but in a storm, if the wind was blowing your ship toward shore, you wanted to steer toward the loof (or weather side) of the ship, so that you weren't forced into the shore. Thus literally trying to keep your distance from shore by steering a loof, which gave rise to the more figurative meaning of being distant. |
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| 6367 |
brochure |
a small book usually having a paper cover |
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An organization wishing to advertise its products or services will often create a brochure, a small booklet or folded paper giving brief details about what it's selling. It usually includes illustrations and is made to be eye-catching and easily read. |
Small booklets or pamphlets used to be stitched together, and from that stitching we get the word brochure, which comes from the French verb brocher, "to stitch," and thus means literally "a stitched work." The word enters English in the mid-18th century. Today brochures of many pages are usually stapled. A common style of brochure is a single sheet, often folded in thirds to make it the right size to fit inside an envelope. |
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| 6368 |
fawn |
a young deer |
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A fawn is a young deer, but it's also a verb meaning to try and win favor by flattering. You might fawn over Bambi if you want to hang out with the cute and fuzzy gang. |
As a verb, fawn either refers to an attempt to get on someone’s good side, or, oddly enough, to give birth to a deer. If you're a human, fawning is an age-old art that might get you what you want but can be very unattractive. If you ever come into possession of a great fortune, watch out for sudden friends who want to fawn over you and shower you with presents. They probably have dollar signs in their eyes. |
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| 6369 |
tabulate |
arrange or enter in rows and columns |
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To tabulate information is to organize it into a table. If your friend borrows money from you every week, you might want to tabulate what she owes you. |
Tabulating is a way of processing information or data by putting it in a table. This doesn't mean the kind of table you eat off of, though. It refers to a table, or chart, with rows and columns. When tabulating, you might have to make calculations. Someone who enjoys tabulating financial information might make a good accountant. |
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| 6370 |
parcel |
a wrapped package |
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A parcel is a part of something, or a division. It can also be a package or a collection of things wrapped together. |
Parcel comes from the Anglo-Norman word for "part." Often when we use parcel to mean a part, we're talking about land, which is divided into definable (and purchasable) tracts. As a verb, parcel means to divide something into parts, just as after trick-or-treating you might parcel your candy stash into piles of chocolates, peppermints, or toffees. If you're selling the family farm, you might parcel it into four small plots. |
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| 6371 |
partisanship |
an inclination to favor one group or view over alternatives |
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Your partisanship is your tendency to support a particular group, cause, or viewpoint over another. |
While partisanship is a good quality to have if you're campaigning or rallying for a political candidate — because you believe so strongly in the person — there are some times when partisanship isn't appropriate. A judge, for example, should be neutral and not take sides, and might be accused of partisanship if she seems to favor one cause or political party. The word comes from the early Italian partezan or partigiano, "member of a faction," with its root of parte, "part or party." |
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| 6372 |
exultant |
joyful and proud especially because of triumph or success |
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Use the adjective exultant to describe the triumphant feeling you get when you succeed at something. The kids who win the Little League championship game will be exultant. |
The kid who's elected sixth grade president will feel exultant, and so will a singer who's just given the performance of her lifetime. Exultant describes an excitement that's a combination of pride, happiness, and triumph. The word exultant comes from the Latin exsilire, "to leap up," from the prefix ex-, "up or out," plus salire, "to leap." In other words, when you're exultant, you're jumping for joy. |
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| 6373 |
disobedient |
unwilling to submit to authority |
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Someone who's disobedient doesn't follow the rules. If your dog won't sit, stay, or heel, you can describe her as disobedient. |
When you refuse to obey someone in authority, you're disobedient. A frustrated substitute teacher might describe the entire second grade class as disobedient, and you may try to train your cat to use the toilet but find her to be a disobedient pet. The word comes from combining obedient — with its root of oboedientem, Latin for "obey," — with the prefix dis, or "do the opposite of." |
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| 6374 |
elucidation |
an act of explaining that serves to cast light on |
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An elucidation is really just a fancy name for an "explanation." Sherlock Holmes revealing his deductions to Dr. Watson is a classic example of elucidation. |
Because of its suggestion of complexity, elucidation is a word often used in a scientific or educational context: scientists will elucidate their latest theories to the public or a college professor will elucidate some complicated theorem to their students. You need to be wide awake for an elucidation. There's often a test to follow. |
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| 6375 |
migratory |
(of animals) moving seasonally |
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Animals that change locations with the seasons are said to be migratory. Ruby-throated hummingbirds are migratory. They spend winter in the warmer climate of Mexico, Central, and South America and then return to the eastern United States in the spring. |
People who move from place to place in search of work are said to be migratory. The adjective is often used in combination with the noun workers. In the United States, migratory workers travel from state to state to help bring in the harvest, often with whole families traveling together. After a cold winter, you might want to be a bit migratory yourself: you could move south to Florida in the winter and return north to Ottawa each spring. |
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| 6376 |
shun |
avoid and stay away from deliberately |
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If you purposely stay away from someone, you shun that person. A sensitive baker may ask why you are shunning her cookies. |
Although the verb shun means to deliberately avoid anything, it has a specific meaning in certain groups and communities. In this case, it means to ostracize or expel from that group or community. The Amish, for example, may shun members of their order who repeatedly ignore the beliefs and rules of Amish society. The word may also be used in more casual group settings. After many attempts at being polite, you and your friends began to shun the obnoxious woman who never let you get a word in edgewise. |
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| 6377 |
untouched |
emotionally unmoved |
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Something untouched has literally not been touched (like the untouched spinach on your plate), or has not been emotionally moved (like the hardened criminal who remains untouched throughout his victim's testimony). |
If you're not moved to some emotion, you're untouched, and if your dog doesn't eat his dinner, you'll see an untouched bowl of kibble still sitting there in the morning. You might find it hard to remain untouched by the fresh, white, untouched snow. This adjective comes from touched, which can mean "emotionally moved" or "physically affected." Add the "not" prefix un-, and you get untouched. |
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| 6378 |
exalted |
of high moral or intellectual value |
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Use the adjective exalted to describe something (or someone) that is raised in rank, value, or power. Which group has the most exalted status at your high school depends on who you ask. If you ask music kids, they may say marching band. If you ask a football player... |
Exalted goes back to Latin exaltare, combining ex "up" and altus "high." You may not have an exalted position at school — maybe you're even one of the peons who isn't going to have a full-page spread dedicated to their achievements in the yearbook — but you'll always have an exalted role in your family, where your quiet humor and up-for-everything attitude brings your siblings together. |
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| 6379 |
condense |
cause a gas or vapor to change into a liquid |
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When you condense something, you cut it down and trim it. You may love every word of your 1000-page novel, but you'll have to condense the plot into a 2-page summary for your editor. |
When you condense something, you make it smaller and more compact. If you condense your wardrobe, you get rid things and keep only what you wear most. When a gas or vapor turns to liquid, it condenses. When you take a long, hot shower, the steam condenses in your bathroom, your mirror clouds up, and everything gets damp. Condense comes from Latin con-, “completely” and densus, “thick, dense." |
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| 6380 |
mortification |
strong feelings of embarrassment |
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If you've ever gone an entire day with your fly unzipped, not realizing until after you've given a speech in front of a huge audience, you know what mortification feels like. |
Mortification is the feeling of being completely humiliated. The word mortification has its roots in the Latin word for "death," mors. The original meaning of mortification was religious; in Christianity the meaning is "putting your sin to death". In Christian practice, this has varied from denying oneself pleasurable things, like certain foods, to inflicting physical pain on oneself. The religious reason for this kind of mortification is to cause the "death" of sins — or desires — of the body. |
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| 6381 |
finale |
the closing section of a musical composition |
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If you decide to leave the theater early to beat traffic, you’ll miss the finale — the exciting final part of a theatrical performance. |
Perhaps to ensure that audience members stay until the end, many musical and theatrical pieces end with an elaborate flourish known as the finale. (If it’s truly spectacular, it might even be called a “grand finale.”) Appropriately, the pronunciation of finale contains a final flourish that you just can’t miss: the letter e, which you might expect to be silent, is pronounced. The last two syllables of finale rhyme with alley. |
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| 6382 |
trailer |
a large transport conveyance pulled by a truck or tractor |
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A trailer is a wheeled vehicle that can't move on its own — it needs to be pulled by a car, truck, or other vehicle. Some bike-riding parents tow their small children behind them in bicycle trailers. |
The trailer you might put a boat on, hitching it to your truck, trails behind the vehicle that's pulling it. Another meaning of trailer is a film preview or advertisement that theaters show before a movie. It might seem strange to call it a trailer when it comes first, but the earliest trailers, at the start of the 20th century, came after the movie, trailing it. |
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| 6383 |
sprain |
twist suddenly so as to wrench |
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To sprain one of your joints is to twist it suddenly. The result is a sprain, in which the ligaments have been injured. Don’t go hiking in high heels because you might sprain your ankle. |
A sprain — which occurs at joints such as the wrist, elbow, or knee — happens when the ligaments are turned quickly and painfully. After the initial pain, a sprain will swell up. Spraining something is difficult, but things could be worse — a sprained knee will heal quicker than a broken bone. |
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| 6384 |
muddy |
soft and watery, of soil |
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Muddy is a verb that means to make dirty with mud. You might muddy up your mom's white shag rug if you don't take off your dirty hiking boots before you walk inside. |
The meaning of muddy is easy to remember: just look at the root word mud and think about smearing it on something. Muddy is also an adjective that describes something that's dirty and messy. When you're a child, you often end up looking muddy after playing outside, because you've been splashing in puddles and playing in the leaves. Muddy can also describe soil that's waterlogged, like your vegetable garden after a big rainstorm. |
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| 6385 |
emptiness |
the state of containing nothing |
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Has your girlfriend left you? Your boss fired you and your dog run away from home? Then you're probably feeling a state of emptiness, a condition of meaninglessness or futility. Cheer up, you could try writing a country music song. |
Although the emotional sense of emptiness is the most common, it can also mean a literal state of physical emptiness -— as in "the emptiness of space." Either way, emptiness might seem like a pretty bad thing, but consider the Bhuddist understanding of the term, for whom emptiness is in fact the ultimate virtue: “Emptiness which is conceptually liable to be mistaken for sheer nothingness is in fact the reservoir of infinite possibilities,” said the famous Japanese teacher, D. T. Suzuki. |
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| 6386 |
hazard |
an unpredictable phenomenon that causes a certain result |
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If something is a hazard, it is a potential source of danger. Balloons are fun, but they're a hazard for little kids who might put them in their mouths. |
If you play miniature golf, you have to watch for hazards on the course — obstacles like the sand trap beside the dinosaur or the water hazard just past the windmill. As a verb, hazard means to take a risk, especially for the chance of a good return. You might hazard your chances at the roulette table or hazard a guess — that is, risk making a guess when you aren't certain. |
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| 6387 |
suffocate |
deprive of oxygen and prevent from breathing |
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When you suffocate, you struggle for breath, either because you’re being choked to death or because you’re in a stifling room. You can also suffocate in a figurative sense anytime something is restricted. |
Suffocate can also mean to die from lack of oxygen. If you’re a miner who gets trapped in a collapsed mine, you'll likely suffocate. Less seriously, if the ventilation system is turned off in your school, you might feel as though you'll suffocate. And if your art teacher insists that you produce Dadaist paintings, you may feel that she's trying to suffocate your talent. |
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| 6388 |
cadaver |
the dead body of a human being |
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A cadaver is a dead human body used in scientific or medical research. If you are dead, you are a corpse, but if Dr. Frankenstein robs your grave so he can use your body for research, you become a cadaver. Umm... congratulations? |
Cadaver comes from the Latin verb, cadere, which means “to fall." Its English origins refer to soldiers who died in battle, i.e. the fallen. Dissection of a cadaver is a major rite of passage for medical school students––some have been known to run from the room and throw up — though most surprise themselves. |
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| 6389 |
bask |
expose oneself to warmth and light, as for relaxation |
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To bask in something is to take it in, receive its warmth, or bathe in its goodness. On the first warm day of the spring, you may bask in the sunshine. When you win the Pulitzer, you bask in your own glory. |
In Shakespeare’s “As You Like It,” Jaques says: “...As I do live by food, I met a fool; Who laid him down and bask'd him in the sun,; And rail'd on Lady Fortune in good terms...” That was most likely the first time bask was used in the way that we most often use it now: to bask is to warm yourself, either literally or figuratively, in the glow of the sun, good fortune, happiness, or a job well done. |
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| 6390 |
exterminate |
kill on a large scale |
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If your house becomes infested with cockroaches, mice, or even ants, you might have to exterminate them. It is certainly not a pleasant process, but often quite necessary. |
To exterminate means "to kill off or destroy completely." Notice that it includes the word terminate which means, “to end.” It is usually used in reference to insects or rodents, but also unfortunately in reference to people or groups of people. It is just a coincidence that this verb shares a syllable with termite — a bug that often has to be exterminated before it eats through the wood of your home. |
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| 6391 |
rapturous |
feeling great delight |
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If you're blissfully happy, you're rapturous. You could describe your purring cat rolling around in catnip as rapturous. |
The adjective rapturous is great for describing someone who's delighted, like the rapturous excitement of a room full of teenagers at their favorite pop star's concert, or the rapturous look on a child's face when she opens her birthday present and finds exactly what she had hoped for. The root word of rapturous is the Latin raptus or "a carrying off," and until the mid-1600s, that's exactly what rapture was used to mean. |
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| 6392 |
cadence |
the accent in a metrical foot of verse |
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The word cadence has its own lovely cadence — rhythm of sound as it's spoken. |
Cadence has come to mean "the rhythm of sounds" from its root cadere which means "to fall." Originally designating falling tones especially at the end of lines of music or poetry, cadence broadened to mean the rhythms of the tones and sometimes even the rhythm of sounds in general. Think of the cadence of the marching band at a football game or the cadence of the crickets on a warm spring night. You can remember the "fall" idea by thinking of one of the only words that contains it — decadence — which has the prefix de- at the front to mean down, or downfall. |
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| 6393 |
chemical |
produced by reactions involving atomic or molecular changes |
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A chemical is any mix of raw elements: hydrogen + oxygen produce the chemical water. Water is created by a change in the chemistry of hydrogen and oxygen atoms — a chemical change. |
Be cautious of the negative reaction people have to chemical substances. Chemicals often bring to mind deadly substances, such as asbestos or deadly chemical weapons. But many chemicals are part of our everyday life. Our lives would be drastically different without chemical compounds — think of the infection that would result if we didn't have the chemical hydrogen peroxide for cleaning out cuts. |
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| 6394 |
furor |
an interest followed with exaggerated zeal |
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A furor is a strong and sudden reaction, often negative and shared by many people, such as the furor that erupted when Coca-Cola replaced its beloved soft drink with "New Coke" in the 1980s. |
Like the Latin word furia, which means "passion," a furor involves strong emotion. Not all furors are negative — sometimes a furor is just a fad or a craze that seems to come out of nowhere, like the rubber bracelets every kid in school seemed to start wearing at the exact same second. That bracelet furor? It all started with kids getting excited and saying they just had to have them. |
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| 6395 |
stir |
move an implement through |
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To stir is to mix something up. You can literally stir cake batter with a spoon, or figuratively stir someone's emotions by writing them a heartfelt letter. |
You can stir muffin batter with a wooden spoon, and stir in a cup of blueberries. When people stir, they start to move after being still or asleep: "It was only five o'clock, but he could hear the kids start to stir." And when something stirs you, it brings up some emotion: "That music always stirs up my sad memories." Stir shares a root with the Old Norse styrr, "tumult or disturbance." |
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| 6396 |
abnegate |
deny or renounce |
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The verb abnegate means to deny or renounce something. Scientists abnegate the existence of little green spacemen from Mars. |
The verb abnegate also means to surrender a position of power. If you serve on too many committees, you may need to cut back. You could abnegate the treasurer position for P.T.A., in order to have more time to serve as president of Band Boosters. What's the difference between abnegate and abdicate? Both mean to renounce power or authority, but abdicate is usually reserved for higher offices of power. The king abdicates the throne. The CEO, who gives up day-to-day responsibility? He abnegates responsibility. |
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| 6397 |
deduction |
the act of removing a part from the whole |
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If you get a tax deduction it means you get to reduce the amount of your income that is subject to tax. If something's on sale, you might get a percentage deduction from the original price. Deduction means taking away, or an amount taken away. |
If you're a fan of Sherlock Holmes, you already know that the process of logical deduction helps to solve crimes––you take away the information you do know to deduce the answer to what you don't. In figure skating, every mistake on the ice results in a point deduction––the judges take points away. |
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| 6398 |
inconclusive |
not putting an end to doubt or question |
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If something's inconclusive, that means it doesn't lead to a conclusion or a resolution. Inconclusive often describes scientific results. If your data about a flu outbreak is inconclusive, then your results don't prove anything. |
A good way to remember the meaning of inconclusive is to look at the root word conclusive, which means "definitive, decisive, and convincing." When you add in- — which means "not" — to the front of conclusive, you get a word that means "not definitive." When something's inconclusive, it doesn't resolve your questions and leaves room for debate. If you're a detective, the last thing you want to hear is that your evidence is inconclusive. |
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| 6399 |
abasement |
depriving one of self-esteem |
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Abasement means humiliation or disgrace. Losing an important football game because of several stupid mistakes might result in abasement for the whole team. |
The noun abasement is good for describing the feeling of shame or disgrace that overcomes people who do something embarrassing or dishonorable. A political scandal or huge election loss can result in abasement for an entire party, and tripping and falling in the middle school cafeteria can cause a thirteen year-old's abasement. Abasement and its related verb, abase, come from an Old French root, abaissier, "diminish, or make lower in value or status." |
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| 6400 |
inveigh |
complain bitterly |
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Picture an old man banging his fist on the dinner table, inveighing against the evils of teenagers being allowed to listen to music and dance. Inveigh means to rail against something with hostility and passion. |
Related to vehicle, inveigh comes from Latin in- + vehere "to carry." During the Vietnam War, war protesters held rallies where young men burned their draft cards and inveighed against the imperialist motives by which our country was being driven and the war's escalation without its ever being properly authorized in Congress. |
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| 6401 |
dodge |
a quick evasive movement |
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To dodge something is to avoid it. In dodge ball, players dodge the balls being thrown at them. |
Dodging is making quick, sudden movements, usually to avoid something. You have to move quickly to dodge a flower pot that's falling from a ledge. In football, running backs are good at dodging defensive players. Politicians do a lot of maneuvers and manipulations to dodge blame, and plenty of people dodge responsibility for something they're supposed to take care of. So any kind of evasion strategy is a dodge. |
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| 6402 |
auditory |
of or relating to the process of hearing |
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If you describe something as auditory, it is related to the process of hearing. If someone says "Surrender Dorothy" and you hear "Where's the laundry," you have an auditory problem. |
The word auditory is based on the Latin word audire, meaning to hear. If you have an auditory processing disorder, you may have trouble discerning conversation in a noisy room, or hear a ringing sound at all times. Some teachers think there's something wrong with their students' auditory capacity, but actually they're just being ignored. |
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| 6403 |
presentiment |
a feeling of evil to come |
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Do you ever have the feeling that something bad is about to happen? That’s called a presentiment. |
The word presentiment comes from the Latin word præsentire, meaning “to sense beforehand.” Some people call it a "gut feeling." For example, if you leave for a trip and something doesn't feel right, you may chalk it up to just being nervous. But later, when your flight is cancelled and you lose your luggage, you may remember that little twinge — the presentiment that something bad was about to happen. |
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| 6404 |
pitiable |
deserving or inciting a feeling of sympathy and sorrow |
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Pitiable describes something that's pathetic or miserable. After learning about the pitiable conditions of schools in parts of rural India, you might decide to donate supplies to them. |
Just looking at pitiable gives you clues to its meaning. Pity is a feeling of sorrow for someone or something else, so something that's pitiable is worthy of pity. There's often a little bit of scorn thrown in, like the pitiable amount of cereal your stingy grandmother pours in your bowl at breakfast. In this case, there's some blame cast on the grandmother because she chooses to give so little cereal. |
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| 6405 |
rational |
consistent with or based on or using reason |
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Use the adjective rational to describe people or ideas that operate according to logic or reason. While your brother has an artistic temperament, you have a rational one. |
Rational comes from the Latin word rationalis, meaning reasonable or logical. If you're rational, you do things based on logic, as opposed to impulse or whimsy. The original meaning in English was of something endowed with the ability to reason. Before we knew how smart some animals like dolphins are, writers liked to distinguish rational human minds from the supposedly irrational, instinctual minds of animals. |
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| 6406 |
rotary |
describing or moving in a circle |
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Anything rotary has a circular form, like an old-fashioned phone. A rotary is also a traffic circle. |
Just as the Earth rotates around the sun, rotary objects move in a circle or orbit. A rotary telephone has a circular dial that turns, and a rotary mower has a cutting blade that moves in a circular motion. A type of street where traffic flows in a circle — sometimes called a roundabout — can also be called a rotary. The word stems from the Latin word rotarius, "pertaining to wheels," from its root word rota, or "wheel." |
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| 6407 |
knockout |
a blow that renders the opponent unconscious |
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In the sport of boxing, a knockout is a blow that sends one of the boxers to the mat, unable to continue fighting. If you are down and can't rise before the ref counts to ten, consider it a knockout. |
In full-contact fighting sports, including boxing, karate, and kickboxing, the ultimate goal is a match-winning knockout of the opponent. Not all boxing matches end this way, but a knockout is the most exciting (and dangerous) way for a match to end. This word is also used to mean "gorgeous person," so if someone tells you you're a knockout, you can be sure they mean it as a compliment. |
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| 6408 |
ennoble |
give a title to someone |
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To ennoble someone is to make them a Lord or a Baroness — to bestow a noble title upon them. The Queen of England has the power to ennoble people, turning Paul McCartney into Sir Paul McCartney, for example. |
One way to use the verb ennoble is to mean, literally, "make someone a noble or a member of the nobility." It can also mean "bestow or lend dignity to" or "make dignified." You could say, "Reading great books ennobles the mind," or "Treating others with kindness ennobles a person." Ennoble comes from the Old French ennoblir, from the prefix en-, "put in," and the Latin root nobilis, "excellent, superior, or splendid." |
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| 6409 |
companionable |
suggestive of friendship or amity; friendly |
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Someone who's companionable is close and friendly. A companionable dog stays right by your side, a loyal pal. |
It's fun to talk to a companionable person — they tend to be warm and good-natured. And our best relationships are the ones that are the most companionable: your grandparents might say the secret of a long, happy marriage is to make it a companionable one. A companionable silence is comfortable and relaxed. The word stems from the Old French compagnon, "fellow, mate, friend, or partner." |
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| 6410 |
apostasy |
rejecting your religious beliefs, political party or cause |
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If your lifelong Republican-voting grandfather suddenly decides to register as a Democrat, some of his conservative friends may consider his change in politics to be apostasy, or rejecting what has been a strong belief and adopting a new one. |
When you abandon a set of beliefs, especially when they're religious beliefs, you can be accused of apostasy, which in some countries is actually illegal. It's taken seriously by many churches, since the rejection of a church's ideas can be seen as a criticism of the entire organization. Over time, the meaning of apostasy has grown to include non-religious examples, like your grandfather's political switch. |
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| 6411 |
argumentative |
given to or characterized by a tendency to dispute |
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If you're argumentative, you have a tendency to quarrel or squabble. An argumentative classmate always finds a reason to disagree with the teacher's viewpoint. |
You'd probably enjoy being on a debate team if you're naturally argumentative. Argumentative people always seem to come up with an argument or difference of opinion. When it first appeared in the 15th century, argumentative simply described anything having to do with arguments, from the Latin root arguere, "make clear, make known, or demonstrate." By the 1660s, it had also come to mean "fond of arguing." |
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| 6412 |
connivance |
agreement on a secret plot |
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If your principal overlooks cheating on standardized tests because it makes his school look better, he is guilty of connivance, or allowing an unethical act to take place. |
If your siblings conspire to play a prank on you, you could say they are conniving to trick you. If your mother knew about it, but chose to allow the act to happen, you'd probably be pretty angry at her connivance. Or you could follow the old saying, "Don't get mad, get even!" |
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| 6413 |
flowery |
of or relating to or suggestive of blossoms |
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Something flowery either looks, smells, or feels like flowers. You might wear flowery perfume or write a flowery poem starting with "Roses are red..." However, flowery is not a compliment when it comes to writing. |
If a blanket has a lot of pictures of flowers on it, it's flowery. If a scent reminds you of flowers, it's flowery. Flowery things make you think of flowers in some way. Also, flowery things are full of intricate details, maybe a little too full of them. A flowery speech might have many figures of speech but very little content. A flowery building design has lots of little touches and details. Flowery can mean something close to ornate. |
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| 6414 |
unaccompanied |
being without an escort |
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When you show up on your own at a social function, you are unaccompanied, meaning you’ve got no date. |
Use the word unaccompanied to describe someone who is "flying solo," meaning without a date or companion. You may have seen signs on doors of stores that say "No unaccompanied children allowed." This means kids need to have an adult with them, presumably because the store is full of breakables. In music, if you play or sing a solo, you are unaccompanied by other musicians or singers. If you perform that solo while at a party, without a date, then you’re unaccompanied on both levels. |
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| 6415 |
chaste |
abstaining from unlawful sexual intercourse |
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If you belong to a chastity club, you might have to take a pledge to be chaste until marriage. Chaste can be defined as "pure and virtuous," but basically it means "not having sex." |
This word is related to the Latin source of the verb castrate "to remove a man's testicles," so it's definitely related to sex. And chaste is from the same Latin source as the noun caste "a Hindu social class separated from other classes." So the word chaste means no sex, and the word caste means pure and virtuous. |
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| 6416 |
pied |
having sections or patches colored differently and brightly |
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Pied means colorfully jumbled. If you're looking at kittens, you may see solid black ones, solid white, or ones with lots of different patches of color. You'd call a patchy one pied. |
Pied was first used to refer to magpies’ black and white plumage. Later, pied came to refer to an order of friars known for their black and white robes, and even later, pied came to refer to a jumble of typefaces in a printed document. Now, pied can indicate anything having two or more colors. Someone with multicolored articles of clothing can be said to be pied, as in the Pied Piper of Hamlin. |
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| 6417 |
sarcastic |
expressing or expressive of ridicule that wounds |
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Sarcastic humor mocks or ridicules, usually by saying the opposite of what is actually meant. The talent-show judge who rolls his eyes at your dancing, smirks, and says, "You ought to be on Broadway" is a sarcastic person. |
Sarcastic comes from the Greek word sarkazhein, which literally means "tear the flesh." Maybe that's why we also refer to our talent-show judge's remark as "cutting." When someone's being sarcastic, sometimes it's the tone, facial expression, or body language that let you know — like when our talent-show judge says exaggeratedly, "Great job! I almost confused you for Pavarotti," as he gives you a thumbs-down. |
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| 6418 |
crusty |
having a hardened outer part as a covering |
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The adjective crusty is good for describing something that is crisp on the outside, like a loaf of French bread. |
You can describe something with a crunchy outer layer and a softer inside as crusty, but you can also use the word to mean "crabby" or "ill-tempered." Your mean old neighbor who yells at kids to get off his lawn is crusty, for example. While the literal meaning is older, this "cranky or surly" meaning has been around since the 1500's. The root of both is the Latin crusta, "rind, crust, shell or bark." |
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| 6419 |
socialize |
interact with others |
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When you socialize, you participate in activities in a group setting. If you have been studying alone for some time, you might take a break at the coffee shop to socialize with some friends. |
You can socialize somebody else, or educate her in social patterns. Parents socialize their kids through their upbringing, and clubs often socialize their members through a uniform. If you want to hang out with motorcyclists, you might want to dress in leather. It is also possible to socialize institutions, where benefits are open to a wide section of society. If voters socialize medicine, that service becomes available to all at government expense. |
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| 6420 |
decent |
socially or conventionally correct; refined or virtuous |
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The adjective decent means sufficient or acceptable. The local diner you like to frequent may not serve a four-star breakfast, but it probably has decent food. |
Though the concept is a little dated, people of "decent society" are socially correct. They don't break the law, behave rudely, use impolite language, or wear inappropriate clothing. Decent can also mean "nice": Holding the door for a woman with a stroller is the decent thing to do. Lastly, decent can also mean "appropriately clothed" (or just "not naked"). If a stranger is knocking on your door, you're probably not going to answer it until you're decent. |
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| 6421 |
phony |
fraudulent; having a misleading appearance |
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Whether you're talking about your attitude, a gigantic diamond, or that obnoxious guy's claims that he knows everything about quantum physics, you can use phony to say that something’s not real. |
Use the adjective phony to describe anything that’s fake. If you’re making phony money in the basement, you’ll be in trouble if you get caught using it. Phony has a noun version with a similar meaning. If you say someone or something is a phony, then you’re saying it isn’t what it pretends to be. Someone who’s a phony isn’t sincere, like your classmate who pretended to be your best friend just to try to steal your boyfriend. |
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| 6422 |
prevailing |
most frequent or common |
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Something that is prevalent or most common can be described as prevailing. The prevailing opinion in your family might be that your cousin Bob who sleeps in his closet is certifiably insane. |
The adjective prevailing comes from the Latin words prae, meaning before, and valere, meaning to be strong or have power. The English word maintains that sense of strength and predominance. If you live a couple of miles north of a pig farm, and the weatherman says that the prevailing winds will be from the south and gusty, it's probably a good day to keep your windows closed. |
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| 6423 |
fret |
be agitated or irritated |
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When you fret, you worry so much about something that it eats away at you. Many people fret about taking standardized tests, but really, they're nothing to sweat. |
Fret comes from the Old English word freton which means to devour like an animal. When you fret over something, it consumes your thoughts. If you tell your mother to not fret about you while you're at a sleepover camp, you're telling her to not worry about you too much. Sometimes it means to be agitated though. When you're waiting for the results of an exam, you might fret and wring your hands. In a totally unrelated meaning, a guitar player calls the raised lines on the neck of the guitar that help him play correctly frets. |
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| 6424 |
switch |
device for making or breaking the connections in a circuit |
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If you and your friend are seated separately on an airplane, you can always ask a stranger if they will switch seats with you. To switch is to change or exchange. |
Switch can be a noun or verb, and in most cases it has the meaning of change. You can switch classes, political parties, or the radio station. Sometimes if you switch something with someone, they take yours and you take theirs — as in an exchange or trade. However, there is one unrelated and frightening meaning for the word. In the olden days, a form of punishment was to be hit with a thin, flexible, piece of wood called a switch. |
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| 6425 |
super |
a caretaker for an apartment house |
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When something is extraordinary, it’s super, like a movie that couldn't possibly be better or the super grade you got on your test: A+. |
The adjective super is an abbreviated use of the prefix super-, which comes from the Latin super-, meaning “above,” “over,” or “beyond.” Super is another way to say "the best" — you are above the rest. Super can also describe something that's really big: the supermarket came along after little neighborhood shops; supermarkets are huge in comparison. |
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| 6426 |
parasitic |
relating to an animal or plant that lives in or on a host |
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The adjective parasitic is mainly a scientific term for talking about an organism that lives on a host, taking what it needs to stay alive while often injuring the host. |
By their nature, ticks, leeches, and lice are all parasitic; they live off their hosts. You can also use the word parasitic more metaphorically, to describe a person who takes without giving anything in return. A thirty year-old man who lives with his mother, eating her food and not paying rent, could be described as parasitic, since he survives by sponging off another person. Parasitic comes from the Greek word parasitos, "eating at another's table." |
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| 6427 |
durability |
permanence by virtue of the power to resist stress or force |
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Durability is when something lasts a long time. The durability of your favorite pair of hiking boots keeps them from wearing out even when you've walked many miles in them. |
Use the noun durability to describe the quality of permanence or strength that keeps something working or holds it together. Your parents' thirty year marriage has durability, and your sturdy old car that keeps on running mile after mile also has durability. The Latin root word, durabilis, means "lasting or permanent," and comes from durare, "to last or harden." |
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| 6428 |
leaven |
a substance used to produce fermentation in dough |
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Leaven, as a noun, is that which causes transformation. It’s the source of yeast that makes your bread rise, it’s the risen bread, and it’s anything that changes the nature of something else. |
Coming from the French verb levare, which means “to raise,” leaven changes everything. It makes dough go from flat to loaf, and it’s also the term to describe the risen dough before it’s baked. And leaven can be anything that causes transformation — "Winning the lottery will be the leaven that allows you to travel the world." Additionally it’s a verb: "When you bake bread, you leaven the dough to make it rise." |
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| 6429 |
radiate |
send out rays or waves |
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When something radiates, it sends out waves or rays. The sun radiates light and warmth. |
If your house has a radiator, that might help you remember this word, because the radiator radiates warmth. Radiating is a concept that applies to anything that emits rays or waves. People camping make a fire so it can radiate light and heat. Our bodies radiate some heat, but not nearly as much as something as hot as a stove. If a nuclear reactor is damaged, it could radiate dangerous nuclear energy — or radiation. |
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| 6430 |
vibrate |
sound with resonance |
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When you feel something vibrate, it trembles and shakes. A mild earthquake, for example, might make your chandelier vibrate. |
A hummingbird's wings vibrate, and so does an electric toothbrush. That extremely rapid back-and-forth movement is what happens when something vibrates. Something can also vibrate in a more musical, resonant way — the sound of an organ might vibrate through a church, for example. The root is the Latin word vibratus, which means "move quickly to and fro or shake." |
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| 6431 |
deduct |
make a subtraction |
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To deduct is to remove or take away some amount. If your boss deducts money from your paycheck because you're always late to work, she subtracts it. |
When taxes are withheld from your salary, your employer deducts them to pay your contribution. Each time you use a debit card, it deducts the amount you spend from your bank account. A different way to deduct is to come to a reasoned, thoughtful conclusion, or to deduce. The two words were once interchangeable, while now it's more common to use deduct to mean "remove a portion," and deduce to mean "infer logically." |
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| 6432 |
intriguing |
capable of arousing interest or curiosity |
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Intriguing things or people arouse curiosity and have an indescribable draw. If you find the night sky intriguing and enjoy pondering the limitlessness of the universe, you should consider becoming an astronomer. |
When this adjective was first recorded in the 1600’s, anything intriguing had something to do with “tricking, deceiving, or cheating.” It wasn't until much later that intriguing lost its sinister sense and became simply a word to describe something with alluring mystery. Synonyms for intriguing run the gamut from captivating and delightful to riveting and titillating. |
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| 6433 |
peevish |
easily irritated or annoyed |
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When you're peevish, you're easily irritated and grumpy. Everything seems to get under your skin. |
Know someone who always seems annoyed, grumpy, cranky, or irritated? That person is peevish. Some people are peevish in general, but most people can be peevish about certain subjects — we all have a pet peeve. Lots of people get peevish about language: like using the word like all the time as verbal filler. Being peevish is almost always considered a form of pettiness — it's not a good thing. When you're peevish, you're not really looking at the big picture. |
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| 6434 |
frenzied |
affected with or marked by mania uncontrolled by reason |
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The adjective frenzied describes something wild, excited, or rushed. You may have a frenzied morning when you've overslept and need to get lunches made, the dog walked, and the kids off to school within the next fifteen minutes. Run! |
Frenzied is from the word frenzy, which itself is from the Latin word phreneticus, meaning "delirious." Words related to frenzied include frantic and frenetic, but frenzied isn't necessarily bad. If you're a rock star, you may enjoy a frenzied crowd at your concerts, and you feed off the energy and adoration you get from them. If it's your first time on stage, however, that same frenzied crowd may send you into a panic. |
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| 6435 |
communication |
the activity of conveying information |
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Good communication is at the heart of good relationships. Communication is the process of giving information or ideas to someone, as by using words, actions, or sounds. |
In the plural form, communications has a few specialized meanings: a field of study, a profession, or a system involving the sending of information to people by the use of technology such as radio or satellite. In these senses, communications can be used with a singular or plural verb. The noun communication is from Latin communicare "to share, participate" (from communis "common") plus the suffix –ion "an act or process." |
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| 6436 |
gallantry |
the qualities of a hero or heroine |
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Gallantry is an old-fashioned word for brave behavior in a man, especially on the battlefield. |
Another meaning for gallantry is an extreme form of courtesy and respect towards women, often referred to as chivalry, and the two words are used interchangeably. The most famous examples of gallantry and chivalry can be found in the stories of the mythical King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, who were always fighting other knights for the favor of a fair princess's hand. |
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| 6437 |
dexterous |
skillful in physical movements; especially of the hands |
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If you're dexterous, you're good with your hands. To be dexterous is an essential trait for knitters and sleight-of-hand magicians. |
The adjective dexterous often refers to skill and agility with the hands, but it can mean any skillful or clever physical movement. A kid's dexterous ball handling and footwork can aid him on the soccer field. Dexterous can also be used to describe mental skill and agility — like the dexterous handling of an uncomfortable situation at work. |
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| 6438 |
retrieve |
get or find back; recover the use of |
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When you retrieve something, you bring it back. Lots of dogs love to retrieve tennis balls, bringing them back to you over and over again. |
You might retrieve your cell phone from the car, or the toys a baby throws repeatedly on the floor. You can also retrieve a memory from the recesses of your mind, or struggle to remember someone's name and then suddenly retrieve it. A retriever is a dog that's bred to bring things back — in fact, this is the word's earliest use, from the fifteenth century. The Old French root is retreuver, "find again," from re-, "again," and trouver, "to find." |
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| 6439 |
seniority |
higher rank especially by reason of longer service |
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Seniority refers to being ranked higher in an organization since you have been there longer. Who has seniority in a high school? The seniors of course! |
You know how older people are called senior citizens or seniors? That should help you remember what seniority is: the longer someone stays within an organization, the more they have of it. A new worker has hardly any seniority. Someone working at a job for 20 years has a lot of seniority. Having seniority is like having a higher rank or status. |
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| 6440 |
purposeful |
serving as or indicating the existence of a goal |
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Something purposeful is done on purpose: it's meant to achieve an aim. |
Lots of things happen accidentally or randomly, but other things have a purpose. Such things can be called purposeful. Going to college, starting a family, giving to a charity, and adopting a dog are all purposeful acts. People have a reason for doing them, and they want to accomplish something specific. Purposeful things are thought-out and intentional. |
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| 6441 |
pommel |
strike, usually with the fist |
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A pommel is the rounded knob on a horse's saddle that a rider grips with one hand. The raised front of the saddle itself can also be called a pommel. |
Some saddles, particularly the modern western type, have a metal grip at the front, known either as a horn or a pommel. Other saddles don't have this knob, but instead have a raised front edge that's also called the pommel. When pommel is used as a verb, it means "beat or strike repeatedly," a variation on the word pummel. The Old French root is pomel, "rounded knob," from the Latin word pomum, or "apple." |
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| 6442 |
traitorous |
having the character of, or characteristic of, a betrayer |
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If you can't be trusted to keep your best friend's terrible secret, she's going to start thinking of you as traitorous, or completely unfaithful and unreliable. |
A traitor is someone who betrays the trust another person has put in him, and the adjective traitorous describes this tendency. It is traitorous when a double agent sells her country's secrets to another government: and the traitorous person risks spending her life in prison or even being executed. It's also traitorous to tell your parents that your brother broke the kitchen window, if you've sworn to him that you'll keep his secret. |
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| 6443 |
despotic |
having the characteristics of a tyrannical ruler |
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A ruler who governs with an iron fist, caring little for the welfare of the people, can be called despotic. Dictators and tyrants are often described as despotic. |
Despotic is the adjective form of the noun despot, which means "tyrannical ruler." If you live under despotic rule, you probably have few rights and may fear your government. Use despotic to describe rulers that rely on brute force (or the threat of it) rather than the rule of law to keep order. Even if you're not the emperor of your own small kingdom, you might be a despotic boss, intimidating your employees. Might you consider switching to benevolence instead? |
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| 6444 |
energize |
cause to be alert and active |
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Energize means to raise the energy level of something. If your really boring teacher suddenly starts throwing M&Ms to every student with a correct answer, he will energize the classroom. |
Ever seen the Energizer Bunny––the one who "keeps going and going and going?" It's because he's energized by long-lasting batteries that he has the energy to beat that drum over and over. Someone who's feeling low on energy might be reenergized by a cat nap or a candy bar. |
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| 6445 |
lather |
the froth produced by soaps or detergents |
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A lather is the froth soaps and detergents produce. Lathering also means to soap yourself up, and a lather can be a state of extreme agitation. |
When you're taking a shower, you make the soap frothy: this is a lather, and you're lathering when you create it. Rubbing soap on your body is also called lathering. Since lather is a stirred-up form of soap, it can also apply to emotions that have been stirred up. Someone upset is in a lather. Getting in a lather usually results from worry or anger, and it's an unpleasant state of mind. |
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| 6446 |
elliptical |
rounded like an egg |
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The word elliptical is derived from the oval shape known as an ellipse. Many comets have an elliptical orbit around the Sun that brings them closer at some times and farther away at others. |
The adjective elliptical refers to the shape of an ellipse, which is an elongated circle, stretched into an oval. While it is a mathematical shape, it also is used to describe a way of speaking that cuts out extra, unnecessary language. When this style is used (say in a poem an elliptical style) — because it doesn't shed any light on the meaning — it sometimes makes the work obscure and hard to interpret. |
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| 6447 |
pulmonary |
relating to or affecting the lungs |
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Pulmonary means of or relating to the lungs. A pulmonary specialist is a doctor who treats lung problems. |
Once you know that pulmonary means "relating to the lungs," you know pretty much all there is to know. It will give you a lot more insight into whatever doctor's visits are coming up, because you will know that your pulmonologist is your lung doctor, your pulmonary artery is the one carrying blood to your lungs, and if you have a problem with pulmonary circulation, it means that you aren’t getting enough blood to your...you guessed it, lungs. |
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| 6448 |
jot |
write briefly or hurriedly; write a short note of |
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When you jot something, you write it quickly. You might jot down a friend's email address on the back of your grocery list. |
It's most common to use the verb jot with down: "Hang on, let me jot down the appointment time." It's a good word to use when you're writing a brief note, a phone number, or a list — especially when you're doing it in a hurry. The earliest meaning of jot is "a tiny bit," which comes from the Latin word jota, an alternate spelling of the Greek iota, the smallest letter in the alphabet or the smallest amount of something. |
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| 6449 |
impudent |
improperly forward or bold |
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An impudent person is bold, sassy, and shameless. If you want to get into a fancy nightclub and you tell the bouncer, “Let me in, I’m much more beautiful than all these ugly losers in line,” that’s impudent behavior. |
Impudent comes from the Latin combination of im, meaning without, and pudens, meaning shame. We often call someone impudent if they’re disrespectful, snotty, or inappropriate in a way that makes someone feel bad. If you know someone has just lost all their money on the stock market, don’t be impudent and ask them how they’re going to afford gas money for their yacht. |
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| 6450 |
temperamental |
subject to sharply varying moods |
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If your moods change quickly and dramatically, people might describe you as temperamental. If you weren't so temperamental, maybe your friends would open up to you more. Did I say something wrong? |
The adjective temperamental can also be used to describe objects that behave unpredictably. A temperamental air conditioner can make for a long, hot summer. Fortunately, you're not temperamental or you might have smashed it to bits by now. The second “e” in temperamental gets swallowed so that it sounds like "temp-ra-MENT-al" (four syllables). |
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| 6451 |
impertinence |
the trait of being rude and inclined to take liberties |
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You have to be sure your teacher has a good sense of humor before you criticize the way he dresses, otherwise you might be scolded for your impertinence. Impertinence means "being rude, insolent, or inappropriately playful." |
Impertinence seems like a word that was invented for adults to use when they're complaining about rude or disrespectful kids. Sometimes you might think you're being funny or playful, but what you're saying can come across as impertinence to someone who expects to be treated with respect. The Latin root is impertinentem, or "not belonging." When someone shows impertinence, they act in a way that doesn't belong, or fit the situation. |
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| 6452 |
ramble |
move about aimlessly or without any destination |
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You ramble when your talking or your walking goes on and on and on. And on. You’re in no hurry to make a point or get to your destination — if there is one at all. |
The word ramble comes from similar roots as roam. They both mean wander, but they’re often used a little differently. You might roam around on vacation to relax or find adventure. If you’re a shark, you roam the deep sea for food. On the other hand, if the person on the plane next to you chatters nervously and can’t stop, you wish they wouldn’t ramble on like that. |
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| 6453 |
perseverance |
the act of persisting |
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Perseverance is not giving up. It is persistence and tenacity, the effort required to do something and keep doing it till the end, even if it's hard. |
Perseverance originally comes from the Latin perseverantia and means to abide by something strictly. This makes sense, because if you're doing something in spite of all the difficulty, you're being strict on yourself. Sailing around the world and climbing Mt. Everest are acts requiring perseverance. Even things like learning a new language require perseverance and daily practice. |
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| 6454 |
implant |
fix or set securely or deeply |
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When you implant something, you place or embed it solidly: you might implant marbles in the damp concrete of a newly poured sidewalk, for example. |
There are a couple of different ways to implant something — the first is to physically fix an item deeply, the way you might implant a croquet wicket in the ground. A more figurative way to implant is to settle an idea into someone's mind. You could accidentally implant a fear of highway driving in your younger brother's mind, for example, by telling him stories of traffic accidents. Implant comes from the French word implanter, "to insert." |
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| 6455 |
turmoil |
a violent disturbance |
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Mashed potatoes flew in one direction, peas in another. Kids were standing on chairs. The principal was shouting, but no one listened. "Food fight!" the seniors cried. The cafeteria was in a state of turmoil. |
Turmoil rhymes with boil––think of the way that boiling water moves, and you'll understand what turmoil looks like. It refers to confusion, chaos, violent disturbance. The economy can be in turmoil––the markets behaving erratically, people losing their jobs, and no one understanding why. |
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| 6456 |
lawful |
conformable to or allowed by a legal code |
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When something's legal, or the rules allow it, you can call it lawful. It's lawful to plant a tree in your yard, but it's not lawful to dig up a tree in the city park. |
Things that are lawful are allowed or permitted, like driving after you've gotten your drivers license or baking your neighbor a cake. Neither of these things is prohibited by law, so they're lawful. You have a lawful right to build a cabin on land you own, and it's also lawful to put up a fence. The adjective comes from law, which has an Old English root, lagu, "ordinance, rule, regulation, or a district governed by them." |
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| 6457 |
dastardly |
extremely wicked |
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Someone who's dastardly is a scoundrel or a cowardly bad guy. The villain in a fairy tale is almost always dastardly. |
Use the adjective dastardly to describe a person or action that's underhanded and mean. Criminals, pirates, and bullies are all frequently called dastardly. An unprovoked military strike is also often described as dastardly, referencing President Franklin Roosevelt's famous 1941 speech after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which he called an "unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan." In the 1500s, dastardly meant "dull," from the now-obsolete dastard, "one who is lazy or dull." |
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| 6458 |
alloy |
a mixture containing two or more metallic elements |
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You may have heard of aluminum alloy on a car. What that means is that there is another metal mixed in with the aluminum, to save money and/or to strengthen the wheels. The wheels are an alloy (a mix), rather than pure. |
In addition to indicating a dilution of one metal with another, alloy can refer to the dilution of a feeling or a quality. Knowing that you look awesome in your Halloween costume would be an alloy to the embarrassment of showing up to a party where you are the only one in a costume. |
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| 6459 |
precedence |
status established in order of importance or urgency |
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Notice the verb "precede" in the noun precedence, and you'll be able to remember that precedence is the act of preceding, of coming before — either in time or in rank. |
When you're stranded without food or water, the search for water should definitely take precedence over the search for food, since you'll die of dehydration long before you starve. When deciding where to seat people, restaurant owners give precedence to the famous and rich: making them happy will be good for business. Which things take precedence over others depends on what you think is more important. "Age before beauty," I always say. |
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| 6460 |
prim |
affectedly dainty or refined |
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Prim means polite, straight-laced, even twee. Many characters in Jane Austen novels are prim and proper. |
Prim describes someone who is so concerned with being proper it becomes almost fake. If you go to the beach on spring break wearing a Victorian bathing costume, you're being prim. Clothes can be prim, too, like that long wool swimsuit. If you're feeling crazy, you can use prim as a verb meaning, "to purse your mouth into a prim expression" — like how you prim your lips when you look down your nose at someone using the wrong fork. |
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| 6461 |
beau |
a man with whom one has a romantic relationship |
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A beau is an old-fashioned term for "boyfriend." When your great-grandmother was young, she probably had a beau. |
Beau means "handsome" in French. Pronounce it the same way the French do, with a long o: "boh." The word recalls more innocent times, when gentleman courted their ladies and skirts barely rose above ankle level. You'll hardly ever hear beau used today, unless you're watching a movie, play or television drama set in the past. |
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| 6462 |
touchy |
difficult to handle; requiring great tact |
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Things that are touchy are hard to handle — not literally, but to talk about. Touchy subjects make people upset. |
There are a lot of touchy topics in life. Religion is a big one, since people have such different yet strong beliefs. Racism and sexism are touchy. Politics can be touchy. Asking someone how old they are or what they weigh are very touchy questions. Something is touchy is you need to handle it with kid gloves — or maybe avoid the topic altogether. People often use euphemisms — soft, evasive terms — for touchy subjects, to make discussing them easier. |
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| 6463 |
theatrical |
of or relating to the stage |
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If something happens on a stage, you can describe it as theatrical. Even reading a grocery list out loud can be theatrical, if you do it in dramatic voice with an audience watching. |
An actor who works on Broadway rather than in Hollywood is theatrical, and a play can be described as a theatrical production. If it happens in a theater, or is related to theater, it's theatrical. You can also use the adjective theatrical to talk about behavior that seems like it belongs on a stage, like a little boy's melodramatic weeping when he discovers a cheese sandwich in his lunch instead of peanut butter and jelly. |
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| 6464 |
stiff |
incapable of or resistant to bending |
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Stiff things don’t bend or move easily. Dead bodies and tree branches are often stiff, and your back might feel stiff if you sit for too long. But to stiff the wait staff is to skip the tip. Bad idea. |
If a doorknob is stiff, it won't turn smoothly, and if the smile on your face is stiff, it’s frozen and unnatural looking. When a person is stiff, they are artificial and unrelaxed — unless they're "scared stiff" or "bored stiff." A regular guy is a working stiff. Another colloquial meaning of stiff is "to underpay, or to cheat.” Also, a stiff drink has a lot of alcohol. A dead body is sometimes called a stiff, but it’s rude. |
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| 6465 |
laurel |
a small aromatic tree with shiny dark green leaves |
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A laurel is a wreath worn on the head, usually as a symbol of victory. If you see an image of Julius Caesar, chances are he's wearing a laurel. |
A laurel is a type of wreath — circular, made from leaves and branches — worn on the head in ancient times. The laurel is a symbol of victory that lives on in the phrase "Resting on one's laurels." When you rest on your laurels, you're happy with previous successes but not doing much to continue succeeding. You've gotten lazy and complacent. |
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| 6466 |
comparable |
able to be described as similar |
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Use comparable to describe two things that are alike. If you are offered two jobs with comparable salaries, you might take the one where the weather is nicer. |
Comparable can also mean exactly what it looks like: things you are “able” to “compare” are comparable. When you say that comparing two things is “like comparing apples and oranges,” you're saying the two things in question are not comparable. When you pronounce this word, remember that, unlike with “compare,” you emphasize the first syllable and swallow the first “a”: COM-pra-ble. The sounds of the two words aren't really comparable. |
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| 6467 |
impoverished |
poor enough to need help from others |
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Impoverished describes being really, really poor, either from having no money or being in bad health. A person who lives on the street is impoverished, and a country may become impoverished after a devastating war. |
Impoverished comes from the Old French word povre, which means “poor,” and you can almost see the word poverty inside impoverished. Living an impoverished life means that your finances and health are not in good shape, and in fact you could die because you can’t support yourself. A corrupt and greedy government makes its citizens impoverished, and too much pollution will create impoverished soil that isn’t healthy enough to grow delicious vegetables. |
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| 6468 |
ease |
freedom from difficulty or hardship or effort |
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Ease means to lessen or release, often making something possible in the meantime. When you put someone at their ease, you lessen their discomfort. When you ease into a chair, you gently release yourself into it. |
A life of ease means you do not have to struggle to make money. Your dad might be mad if you pierce your nose, but eventually, with time, his anger will ease and he will ease up on you. Your older siblings' behavior will ease the way for you to do things that frighten your parents without their overreacting. |
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| 6469 |
tarnish |
make or become dirty or spotty |
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To tarnish is to become dull or discolored. Silver tends to tarnish easily, which is why your mother is always having you polish the family silver. |
As a noun, a tarnish is the dull layer of corrosion that sometimes forms on metal items, usually the result of the metal reacting to oxygen in the air. Metals are most likely to tarnish, but so can anything that once felt sparkly and bright but has lost its luster — even you. If the new kid just beat you in chess, your reputation as the best chess player in your class has started to tarnish. Better not lose again! |
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| 6470 |
specialized |
developed or designed for a particular activity or function |
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Someone or something specialized has a specific purpose or function. A podiatrist is a specialized doctor. With months of specialized training, a person could learn to walk over hot coals. Good thing that there are doctors specialized in fixing feet. |
The word specialized comes from special. Something special is important, notable, or unique in some way. A specialized hammer is made for one, specific purpose. A specialized teacher has expertise in a particular subject. NASCAR drivers use specialized cars, and assemble-at-home furniture comes with specialized tools. The opposite of a specialized thing is a general thing, which could be used in many circumstances. Something specialized is tailored to one job. |
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| 6471 |
expiration |
a coming to an end of a contract period |
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Expiration is what happens when a lease or contract — or a period of time — has ended. The expiration of your library card means you need to sign up for a new one. |
You might notice that your container of yogurt is marked with a date — it's the expiration date, or the day the product is no longer fresh enough to be sold or eaten. Other things with expiration dates include magazine subscriptions, rental agreements, and drivers' licenses. All of these are a sort of contract that eventually ends, or expires. When you breathe out, that's technically also expiration, from the Latin expirare, "breathe out," or "breathe one's last breath." |
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| 6472 |
bantering |
cleverly amusing in tone |
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Bantering is how you can describe clever chit-chat. If you are out to flirt or impress, using a bantering tone is always a good bet. |
There's generally a flirtatious element implied if the banter is between a man and a woman, but anyone can banter. Most male buddy movies consist of nothing more than bantering dialogue. If you really want to impress that waiter or waitress with your fancy vocabulary, try saying "How do you like my persiflage?" It's a fancy name for banter. Of course, they may hit you over the head if they don't understand, but that's the risk of using a bantering tone. |
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| 6473 |
generalize |
draw from specific cases for broader cases |
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To generalize is to use specific examples to make broader points. Generalizing makes large points, though they aren't always necessarily true. |
When someone says "in general" they're talking about what things are like in the big picture or overall. Similarly, generalizing takes small examples and uses them to make bigger points. Saying that all teens are selfish because you know a few selfish teens is generalizing. Saying all adults are uptight is an example of generalizing. Unfortunately, generalizing can be dangerous. Stereotyping is a form of generalizing. Sometimes it’s better to stick to specific examples and to avoid generalizing. |
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| 6474 |
complimentary |
expressing praise and admiration |
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If you say something complimentary, like "Grandma, that plastic flower looks so pretty in your hair," you are flattering, praising or admiring someone. |
"Resembling a compliment" is one way to define the word complimentary, when you use it in the sense of giving praise. A second meaning of complimentary is "free." If your hotel includes breakfast with the price of your room, they may call it a complimentary breakfast. It's easy to get complimentary confused with complementary, which sounds exactly the same but means "filling in or completing." |
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| 6475 |
scatter |
cause to separate and go in different directions |
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If you hear someone shout "Everybody scatter!” that person wants everyone to spread out and leave the area. Scatter is a verb that means "to separate suddenly and spread out in different directions." |
Scatter is sometimes used as a noun to refer to something that has been scattered. If you have clothes strewn all over your room, you might say there is a scatter of clothes on the floor. More commonly, though, scatter is used as a verb meaning “to spread about.” You might scatter grass seed on your front lawn in the spring. Scatter can also mean “break up or disperse.” The police, for instance, might scatter an unruly mob or gathering. |
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| 6476 |
merciful |
showing or giving forgiveness |
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Use the adjective merciful to describe someone who has compassion for other people, especially when he is in a position to punish them or treat them harshly. |
If you're caught cheating on a math test, your best hope is that your teacher will be merciful, or that she will forgive you for what you've done. Forgiving someone or relieving a person's pain are both merciful acts. The word merciful also has religious connotations which come from the root word mercy, used since the 12th century to mean "God's forgiveness of his creatures' offenses." The origin is the Old French merci, "pity or thanks." |
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| 6477 |
applaud |
clap one's hands or shout to indicate approval |
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To applaud is to show approval, encouragement, or appreciation. You can applaud by clapping your hands at a performance, or you can applaud with just your mouth, as when you tell someone "I applaud your decision to start exercising." |
The verb applaud goes back to the Latin verb applaudere, "to clap," and it came into English use in the 15th century. Part of the word applaud is laud, which means "praise," and laud is close in spelling to loud. When you applaud, you give loud praise by clapping you hands together. If you really like what someone is doing and want to pat them on the back for it or show encouragement, you might just say "I applaud your efforts." |
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| 6478 |
iridescent |
varying in color when seen in different lights |
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Iridescent is an adjective that means lustrous and pearly, giving off a brilliant sheen like an oil slick or, well, a pearl. |
Iridescent came to be in 1796, when some enthusiastic word maker took the Latin word iris, which means "rainbow," and morphed it into an English word that describes anything giving off a luminous, rainbow sheen or that changes color in the light. It's a great descriptive word — if you can resist the urge to spell it with an extra "r." |
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| 6479 |
embodiment |
a concrete representation of an otherwise cloudy concept |
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The embodiment of something gives concrete form to an abstract idea. A flag is the embodiment of a country. |
When you talk about embodiment, you're talking about giving a form to ideas that are usually not physical: like love, hate, fear, justice, etc. A gavel is the embodiment of justice; a wedding ring can be the embodiment of love. The word body in embodiment is a clue to its meaning: this is a word for giving a body to things that usually don't have one. |
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| 6480 |
spawn |
the mass of eggs deposited by fish or amphibians or mollusks |
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Technically, the mass of small eggs laid by animals like fish, frogs, mollusks is called spawn. But the word has been borrowed to mean offspring, or the act of making them in general. |
When someone is in league with the devil, a preacher might refer to them as “Satan’s spawn.” Your dad probably find something satanic in the kids next door when he refers to them as the neighbor’s spawn. Bill Gates’ programming project in college spawned Microsoft, a multi-billion dollar industry giant. |
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| 6481 |
scholarly |
characteristic of a learned person |
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Someone who's scholarly is a serious student. You can describe your studious friend who's always working on a research paper or reading a huge book as scholarly. |
Use the adjective scholarly when you talk about a person who is focused on learning — in other words, a scholar. You can also describe things that relate to studying or knowledge as scholarly, like a scholarly article in a journal or a scholarly atmosphere in a library. The Old English word scolere, or "student," is the root of both scholar and scholarly, from the Latin word for school, schola. |
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| 6482 |
confounded |
perplexed by many conflicting situations or statements |
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When you're confounded, you are confused. A confounded student might struggle with one question on a math test for twenty minutes. |
If a bird flies into your house through an open window and flaps around in a befuddled panic, it's confounded. A confounded taxi driver might take you in circles around your destination, and a confounded American might find himself unable to communicate with French waiters in Paris. Another, more British way to use the adjective confounded is as a mild oath, to emphasize annoyance: "I can't take any more of your confounded noise!" |
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| 6483 |
distasteful |
highly offensive; arousing aversion or disgust |
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Things that you find disagreeable or unpleasant are distasteful. A distasteful movie might disturb you so much that you leave the theater before it's over. |
While certain kinds of food might be distasteful to you — overcooked vegetables, for example — you can find non-edible things just as distasteful, despite the taste within the word. This adjective uses the sense of taste that means "preference" or "tendency to like something," along with the prefix dis-, "not" or "the opposite of." You can, for example, find things like greed and cruelty to be just as distasteful as overcooked broccoli. |
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| 6484 |
wholesome |
characteristic of physical or moral well-being |
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Anything wholesome is good for you. Hopscotch is in most cases a wholesome game, since you can't get into much trouble while hopping up and down on the concrete. |
Wholesome foods are the ones that your body appreciates, the ones that help you stay healthy. Marshmallows and corn chips aren't what you'd call wholesome, but organically grown fruits and vegetables are. Wholesome can also apply to other things. If you project a wholesome image, other people see you as a decent, moral person, somebody who's trustworthy and not living a secret life of crime. The word wholesome comes from the Old English hal, meaning "healthy." |
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| 6485 |
bewilder |
cause to be confused emotionally |
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To bewilder is to amaze, baffle, dumbfound, flummox, perplex, or stupefy. When you bewilder people, you confuse them. |
Bewilder is a fun-sounding word for confusion-causing. A complicated math problem will bewilder many students. A magician's tricks should bewilder the audience. Mystery stories should be a little bewildering, at least until the end. Sometimes, being bewildered has a more emotional element. If someone you know died in a freak accident, that would bewilder you in a very sad way. |
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| 6486 |
raft |
a flat float that can be used for transport |
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A raft is a vessel or structure that's made to float on water. You might have an inflatable raft you use for floating around your backyard pool. |
Rafts come in many forms, from soft and squishy to wooden and permanent, like the rafts built on lakes for swimmers to rest on and dive off. Other rafts are mobile — they're small, flat boats meant for transporting people or goods across a river, for example. If you raft, you travel by raft. Experts guess that raft comes from the Old Norse word raptr, "log." |
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| 6487 |
insecure |
lacking in safety |
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Insecure means either lacking self-confidence or lacking security. An insecure person might constantly doubt their own intelligence. An insecure building is an easy target for even the most bumbling burglar. |
Break insecure down to its basic parts and you've got in, meaning "not," combined with secure, meaning "safe": not safe. This understanding of the word emerged in the 1640’s. It wasn't until 1917 that people began to use insecure to describe delicate, unsure egos. Today it's used to describe everything from easily cracked safes to uncertain futures. |
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| 6488 |
presentable |
fit to be seen |
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When someone is presentable, they're clean and tidy and generally pulled together. They're prepared for interacting with other people. When you first roll out of bed in the morning, you rarely feel very presentable. |
Before you head off to school or work, you'll want to glance in the mirror to make sure you're somewhat presentable. For some of us, this means a shower, a hair dryer, makeup, and carefully chosen clothing, while for others it means trading pajamas for a comfortable pair of jeans. Since the early 1800s, presentable has meant "appearing suitable" or "fit to be seen." Before that, it had a purely legal meaning, "liable to be charged with wrongdoing." |
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| 6489 |
mime |
an actor who communicates entirely by gesture |
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A mime is a performer who uses exaggerated facial expressions and body movements — instead of words — to communicate with his audience. |
You may have seen a mime pretending she's trapped in an invisible box, using gestures to make it appear that she is pushing against walls and a ceiling. Many mimes also wear clown-like makeup, wear simple clothing, and refuse to speak. You can use the word mime as a verb as well, to describe what you do when you imitate your least favorite teacher for the amusement of your friends. The Greek root word is mimos, "imitator, actor, or buffoon." |
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| 6490 |
humbug |
something intended to deceive |
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Humbug is language that's either deceptive or just ridiculous. Either way, it's verbal garbage and inspires people to mutter "Bah! Humbug!" — just like Scrooge did in "A Christmas Carol." |
Humbug is one of many words in English for language that can't be trusted. Humbug is like snake oil: it's deceptive, tricky, and meant to put one over on you. There's a slightly different type of humbug that refers to nonsense: speech or writing that's silly, pretentious, or just empty. When someone is talking a lot but saying nothing, they're talking humbug. |
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| 6491 |
induction |
the act of bringing about something |
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After a baseball player's induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame, his name remains on the wall there for life. Induction is something that begins a process or a series of events. |
In college, you rush a fraternity, become a pledge, and then receive a pin at the induction ceremony. The word has a meaning in an electrical context as well. When two wires touch each other, they conduct electricity. When the current passes wirelessly between two conductors, it's called induction. |
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| 6492 |
healthy |
free from infirmity or disease |
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Healthy means having good health. It's the opposite of sick, but also can mean "doing well" in a general sense. You can have a healthy attitude, or be served a healthy portion of food. |
Health is one of the most fundamental human concerns. The ubiquitous "How are you?" is often asking after a person's health. To remember healthy think of the proverb: "Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy and wealthy and wise." |
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| 6493 |
possessive |
serving to express or indicate the act of having |
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Being possessive means you're being a little selfish about people or things in your life: you're clinging to them tightly and saying "Mine!" |
Being possessive isn’t a good thing — possessive people are usually insecure and controlling. For example, you're being possessive of your pooch if you won't let anyone else play with it. A friend might be possessive of you if they get jealous when you hang out with other people. But in grammar, possessive is less creepy: a possessive word indicates ownership, like the word “dog's” in the sentence "Your dog's bowl just spilled on the carpet." |
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| 6494 |
recurrent |
happening again and again |
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Do you dream again and again that you are flying? If so, you could say that you have a recurrent dream of flight. Recurrent means something that happens repeatedly. |
The word recurrent comes from a Latin word meaning "to return or come back." A recurrent dream, good or bad, keeps coming back. You'll hear this word used often about abstract things like dreams, thoughts, and in literature, themes. For instance, the theme of a motherless child finding its way in the world is recurrent in pop culture and literature. |
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| 6495 |
revered |
profoundly honored |
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If someone is revered, it means he or she is held in deep respect and devotion. Religious leaders, saints, and martyrs are often considered as revered. Celebrities? Not so much. There's a touch of the other worldly about revered. |
The origins of revered reveal something about its slightly scary, awesome nature. It comes from the Latin word revereri, meaning "to fear," and the addition of the "re" at the beginning is an expression of intensive force, so the word literally means "to greatly fear." People whom are revered are not necessarily those we feel most comfortable around; we are too busy holding them in awe. |
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| 6496 |
wedge |
something solid that can be pushed between two things |
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A wedge is a block of wood that keeps a door propped open, or a problem that pulls people apart, like the jealousy that drove a wedge between two friends. |
Wedge means "triangle-shaped." Pieces of pie are wedges. So are tortilla chips. In some parts of the country, a sandwich on a long roll is called a wedge, or a wedgie, while in other places, it's a hoagie or sub. Just about everywhere, the wedge you get in the schoolyard means your underwear are pulled up between your butt cheeks, which is consistent with the verb form of wedge: to squeeze into a tight space. |
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| 6497 |
dross |
worthless or dangerous material that should be removed |
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Things that are a total loss — really worthless or damaging — are dross. That gunk between your teeth that comes out when you floss? You could call that dross. No one wants it, and it's harmful if it stays. |
While dross is a noun for stuff that's physically left over or useless, like the nonmetallic stuff left when metal gets refined, it's also used for people and forms of art. A really bad movie can be called dross, and a low or despicable person can be dross. Debris, or trash, is another form of dross. "Searching the backyard for unexploded fireworks — the dross of Chinese New Year celebrations — was a tradition for the kids and a safeguard for the dogs." |
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| 6498 |
capability |
the quality of being able to do something |
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A capability is something a person or a thing is able to do. It's hard to find a cell phone that doesn't include other capabilities, like taking pictures or storing MP3s. |
Inside the word capability is the word ability. Note the fine distinction between them. If you have an ability, it means you know how to do something. If you have a capability, it means you have the power to do something. Buying uranium gives a country the capability of making nuclear weapons, but first they need scientists with the ability to do the work. |
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| 6499 |
deceitful |
marked by deliberate deceptiveness |
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Do you like to tell lies? Then you're deceitful — someone who's untrustworthy, two-faced, or fraudulent. |
Being called deceitful is not a compliment: deceitful words are misleading and deceitful people tend to lie or deceive others. You can say a corrupt business is deceitful, and a two-faced politician is deceitful. A deceitful story is meant to trick you in some way, and a deceitful friend is no friend at all — they're someone you shouldn't trust. Deceitful is the opposite of honest. |
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| 6500 |
encomium |
a formal expression of praise |
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An encomium is a fancy word for a formal speech or piece of writing that warmly praises someone or something. |
Encomium comes from the Greek word enkomion which, in a nutshell, is to honor someone or something at a party in a poetic speech. It used to refer to the song for the winner of the Olympic Games, sung at a victory celebration. You might hear an encomium at a retirement party, after you publish a fabulous book, or even at a funeral (a eulogy, or speech at a funeral about the person who died, is a kind of encomium). It's pronounced with a long O, en-CO-mium. |
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| 6501 |
licentious |
lacking moral discipline |
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Someone who is licentious behaves or speaks inappropriately, usually in regards to sex. |
What some might call a licentious senior citizen, others would simply refer to as "a dirty old man" (or woman). We usually talk about licentious behavior, but there also can be licentious photographs. Besides being inappropriate, licentious behavior is also usually regarded as immoral. If at all possible, therefore, licentious is a description you should seek to avoid for yourself. |
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| 6502 |
botch |
make a mess of, destroy, or ruin |
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If you botch something, you make a mess of it or you ruin it. If you totally botch your lines in the school play, you stammer and stutter your way through the whole thing. |
Interestingly, the word botch originally meant the opposite of what it means today. The Middle English word bocchen meant to mend or repair. As a noun botch means an embarrassing mistake or something that is done poorly, especially due to lack of skill. If they've never painted before, your friends working on set design might make a complete botch of the scenery for the play, which might involve repainting the whole thing. |
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| 6503 |
sly |
marked by skill in deception |
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When you're sly, you're crafty, cunning, tricky, and wily. Being sly is being deceitful, though not in the worst way. |
If you're good at lying, you're quite sly: people who are sly are good at pulling one over on other people. Being sly helps you get away with things. If you made a mess in your house but got your parents to blame the dog, that was sly. Being sly means you're not being honest, but this word has kind of a harmless flavor to it. Someone who killed someone and lied about it would not be described as sly. Slyness has to do with smaller, sneakier, more harmless kinds of lying. |
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| 6504 |
repudiation |
rejecting or disowning or disclaiming as invalid |
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Repudiation means the act of claiming that something is invalid. If there were a repudiation of all the math test scores because of widespread cheating, you'd probably have to take the test again. |
Repudiation comes from the verb "repudiate," which is rooted in the Latin word repudiare, meaning to divorce or reject. If you show something is false, you have made a repudiation of that thing. Until the repudiation of the claims, people thought that heroin was a harmless ingredient that could help ease a cough. General belief in the safety of cocaine and cigarettes had similar repudiations. |
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| 6505 |
advantageous |
giving a benefit |
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The adjective advantageous is useful for talking about things that are beneficial, or helpful, like when you find an advantageous spot to hang your yard sale sign — a spot where all the passing cars can see it. |
Anything that creates an advantage is advantageous. You could describe your decision to throw a huge party as advantageous for your social life, or the cooking class you took as advantageous to the success of your catering business. If it helps you get what you want, or is generally useful, it's advantageous. The root is the Old French word avantage, which means "advantage, profit, or superiority." Anything that assists in your pursuit of these things is advantageous to you. |
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| 6506 |
strain |
exert much effort or energy |
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The noun strain is a stretch, effort, or exertion. You can strain your ankle, or your little brother can strain your patience. |
This word has many, many meanings. Athletes strain their knees, which strains the emotions of their fans. Usually, you have to strain a little to accomplish anything, like getting an A in math. A strain may also be a line, like a line of ancestry, of thought, or a melodic line in music. Maybe you have to strain to hear the quiet flute in an orchestra. Another meaning is to pass something through a filter, like tea leaves. |
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| 6507 |
economize |
spend sparingly or avoid waste |
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To economize is to be frugal — to be careful not to waste anything, including money. You may need to economize on heating oil, keeping the temperature in your apartment on the nippy side during the winter. |
Giving a kid an allowance is one way to teach her to economize, spending it carefully in an attempt to save some and make the rest last. Unless money is no object, most people need to economize to some extent, being frugal and avoiding waste. In the 17th century, to economize was "to govern a household," from economy, at the time "household management," from the Greek oikonomia, "household management or thrift." |
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| 6508 |
seedy |
shabby and untidy |
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When a place is seedy, it's sleazy, run-down — not the kind of place you'd take your mom. The East Village of New York was once known for being seedy, but now it's safe for children of all ages. |
It's a mystery how the word seedy came to mean darkly rundown, slummy, and seamy, but it probably came from the appearance of flowers after they've shed their seeds. That's when they start to lose their color and eventually die. You'll find seedy used to describe places like dive bars, brothels, and those sections of town where dealers ply their drugs. Certain writers, such as Dennis Cooper and even Charles Dickens, are fascinated by the seedy underbelly of life in big cities, in scenes populated by wretched people and other outcasts. |
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| 6509 |
defenseless |
lacking protection or support |
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Someone who's defenseless is vulnerable and unprotected. Babies need to be taken care of because they're completely defenseless. |
A brand new chess player is somewhat defenseless against an experienced player, and a kitten is defenseless without its mother's fierce protection. Con men sometimes target people they see as defenseless, like the very elderly. The word defenseless dates from the 16th century, combining defense, "action of guarding or protecting," from the Latin defendere, "protect," and -less, "without or lacking." |
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| 6510 |
incriminate |
suggest that someone is guilty |
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Is your homework in shreds and the dog chewing something? Then you can incriminate poor Fido for eating your homework. To incriminate someone (or some dog) of a crime, is more than just accusing them; it's offering some evidence they're guilty. |
To incriminate someone is to show or prove their guilt with "incriminating evidence." Some famous historical examples of incriminating evidence: When President Nixon declared "I am not a crook," those pesky Watergate tapes suggested otherwise. Or when Lady Macbeth couldn't stop washing her imaginary blood-stained hands? Hmmmm.... Pretty incriminating. |
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| 6511 |
disparaging |
expressive of low opinion |
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When you are disparaging, you express negative, low opinions in order to lower someone's reputation. Your friend will probably not appreciate it if you make disparaging comments about his girlfriend. |
In its original use, disparage meant "to marry unequally," and it was considered a disgrace if a very wealthy son married, say, the kitchen maid. Nowadays we use disparaging for any derogatory or belittling expression or comment. If just won an Olympic gold medal, it's just rude and unnecessary to be disparaging about the silver medalist in an interview. Making disparaging remarks about your wife's cooking is unlikely to result in better food. She'll just get mad. |
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| 6512 |
effectual |
producing or capable of producing an intended result |
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Effectual means good at achieving the results you want. The most effectual method for avoiding cavities? Brush, floss, lay off the candy, and see your dentist every 6 months. |
Wait, aren't effectual and effective basically the same adjectives with the same meaning? Well, generally speaking, yes. But if you want to get really nit-picky, you might note that effectual actually describes something that produces the desired result, but in a big way. Effective simply gets the job done. No one is going to call you out for using either word interchangeably though, as long as it's done effectually. |
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| 6513 |
seer |
an observer who perceives visually |
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A seer is someone who can see the future. Nostradamus is considered a seer because he predicted everything from the Great Fire of London to the French Revolution. Oh, and the end of the world. |
See the word see in seer? Seers can see into the future. Prophets, fortune tellers, and tarot card readers are seers. Seers are part of many fictional stories, especially fantasy stories that might include witches and goblins. However, this word can be used for anyone who is good at predicting things, such as a political, financial, or sports analyst. Seers are also called oracles and visionaries. As for Nostradamus, let’s hope he was wrong sometimes. |
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| 6514 |
stink |
smell badly and offensively |
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When things stink, they smell terrible. If you throw food scraps in your kitchen trash can, it will eventually start to stink. |
You can say that something stinks — your dog's breath, or your brother's feet — and you can call the offensive odor itself a stink. Figuratively, something can stink even if it doesn't literally smell bad: "I'm sorry, but that movie you recommended really stinks. It's awful." The Old English root is stincan, "emit a smell of any kind, or exhale." |
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| 6515 |
exigent |
demanding immediate attention |
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When you describe something as exigent, you are saying it requires attention: it can't be ignored. |
Exigent, which means "demanding attention," comes from the Latin for "driving out." If there's a runaway train driving straight at you, that's an exigent situation — not a good time to stop and write a poem. When circumstances become exigent, it's time to act. When exigent questions arise, an answer is necessary. You can also use exigent for a person who demands attention, usually by complaining. If you've ever worked as a waiter, you've surely dealt with an exigent customer. |
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| 6516 |
congenital |
present at birth but not necessarily hereditary |
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Congenital refers to something present at birth but not necessarily inherited from the parents. Babies with heart disorders developed in utero can live long and productive lives, in spite of their congenital birth defect. |
Congenital derives from the Latin genus, to beget. Something that is present at one’s begetting, during fetal development, or at birth is congenital. Fetal alcohol syndrome, which develops in fetuses if their mothers are drinking heavily while pregnant, is a congenital disorder. You might also use congenital to describe something seemingly inborn "a congenital sense of humor," or a "congenital faith." |
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| 6517 |
hypnotism |
the act of inducing a state that resembles sleep |
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The act of putting someone into a hypnotic trance is called hypnotism, and it's usually done by a hypnotist. |
Some doctors use hypnotism to help patients break bad habits and addictions like smoking. There are also hypnotists who work as entertainers, using hypnotism to put volunteers into mesmerized states and then suggesting they do silly things to make the audience laugh. The original term was neuro-hypnotism, coined in 1842 by Dr. James Braid, who was an early researcher and practitioner of hypnotism. |
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| 6518 |
pander |
yield to; give satisfaction to |
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If a campaigning politician wants to pander to a crowd of pet owners, he might deliver a speech while embracing his own pet poodle. To pander is to appease or gratify, and often in a negative, self-serving way. |
The word pander began its infamous history as the name of various characters. Pandaro was a character in Boccaccio’s Filostrato. Pandarus was a character in Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde, as well as in Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida. These literary works all tell the tale of star-crossed lovers, and the namesake of pander is, essentially, a go-between whose motives don't seem entirely pure. |
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| 6519 |
infraction |
a violation of a law or rule |
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When you break school rules about gum chewing, you commit an infraction. An infraction is a petty crime or a minor breaking of rules. |
When you think of the word infraction, think that your offence has just crossed the line into wrong. Something like a parking ticket is an infraction. When you commit an infraction, you're not knee deep in wrong, you've just dipped your toe into wrong to see what it feels like. A misdemeanor is a more serious crime such as theft, and murder is considered a felony, the most serious of crimes. |
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| 6520 |
undiminished |
not lessened |
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When something is not lessened, it is undiminished. You might be hoping that the pain in your ankle will go away but find that even after a day of rest the pain is undiminished. Probably time to see a doctor. |
To diminish means to lessen. If you were stranded on a desert island you might worry about diminishing supplies of food. If you had endless supplies of rice but nothing else, it would be pretty surprising if, after eating nothing but rice for a week, your love for the grain was undiminished. |
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| 6521 |
smooth |
having a surface free from roughness or irregularities |
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Something smooth is free of roughness, stubble, or other imperfections that you can feel with your hands. If your wooden table is giving you splinters, use a sander to smooth it down and make it smooth. As you can see, smooth works as both a verb and an adjective. |
Smooth has lots of interesting uses: Caught in a wind storm? Better smooth out your hair when you head inside. Got a friend who's good with the ladies? Try imitating his smooth moves. Need help to smooth out a dispute between two friends? Invite them out for coffee and offer to help them smooth out their differences. Some pianists prefer ivory keys to plastic because they're less smooth, and their fingers don't slip. The best dancers can move smoothly from one move to another. |
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| 6522 |
idolize |
love unquestioningly and uncritically or to excess |
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To idolize is to admire someone too much. A twelve year-old might idolize a pop star, for example, wallpapering her bedroom with photos of him and screaming loudly throughout his concerts. |
You can idolize someone you've never met, like a famous actor, and you can also idolize a friend or family member. A boy who idolizes his father adores him unquestioningly, believing that everything he does is admirable. Another way to say idolize is worship, and both words have a religious origin. In the case of idolize, the root word is idol, or "image of a god used in worship," from the Late Latin word idolum, "image or form." |
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| 6523 |
harmful |
causing or capable of causing damage |
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Things that are harmful hurt people, or are likely to hurt them. Listening to loud music through headphones can be harmful to your hearing. |
Harmful is an adjective that comes in handy when you're talking about things that cause injury to someone or damage something. Burning coal can be harmful to the environment, and eating too much candy can be harmful for your teeth. Harmful words can hurt someone's feelings and harmful actions might put them in danger. The Old English hearm, "hurt, evil, or grief," is at the root of harmful. |
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| 6524 |
pretend |
make believe with the intent to deceive |
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To pretend is to act as if you're someone else. If you pretend to be your mother for a phone conference with your math teacher, try putting on her high heels to help you get into character. |
When children or actors are pretending, it's fine, just playing. But if you pretend to someone who doesn't know you're just playing, you're likely to be condemned for it. No one likes it of you pretend to be a good member of the community just so people won't suspect you when you steal things from their houses. You might pretend you went to Harvard to impress someone, but if he finds out you didn't, he'll be very unimpressed. |
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| 6525 |
booster |
someone who is an active supporter and advocate |
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If you’re a big fan and promoter of something or someone, you're a booster. Go team! A booster provides support, like a kid’s booster seat, a follow-up dose of medicine, or a booster rocket that launches the Space Shuttle. |
Boosters of teams, groups, or organizations often form official clubs to coordinate their fundraising and event planning. Another kind of booster is an engine or rocket that's the first stage of launching a space vehicle into orbit. And in medicine, a booster is a second (or subsequent) dose of a vaccine that helps the initial dose work better. All of these boosters assist, encourage, or boost in some way. |
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| 6526 |
unrestricted |
not subject to or subjected to limiting |
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When something is unrestricted, it means there are no restrictions placed on it. A restriction is a rule about a way that something can be used. |
If your parents give you a generous allowance with the restriction that a portion of it must be donated to charity and another portion saved, you might end up with less money than a friend who has a smaller, but unrestricted, allowance. |
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| 6527 |
stifling |
characterized by oppressive heat and humidity |
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Something stifling makes you feel suffocated. If your mother insists on accompanying you on your first date, that will probably feel stifling. |
Stifle comes from the Middle English word stuffle, which means to kill by cutting off air. If a dictator's stifling of popular protests, is the action he takes to prevent them from happening. A really hot movie theater is stifling, as is an environment where you never get any space to yourself. Either way, if something is stifling, it's preventing something else from living freely and fully. |
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| 6528 |
droop |
sink or settle from pressure or loss of tautness |
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To droop is to limply or loosely hang downward. Have you ever seen the long, floppy ears of a basset hound hanging down? Those ears are drooping. |
When things droop, they're loose and hanging down. On a day without wind, a flag will droop. If you are sad or embarrassed, your head might droop a little. Evidently, drooping your head when you’re feeling down is something people have been doing for a long time. Droop is also related to the words drop and drip. |
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| 6529 |
turbulent |
characterized by unrest or disorder or insubordination |
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Turbulent means chaotic, disordered, characterized by conflict. A time of war is a turbulent time for a country. If your family moves and your parents get divorced, you might call that a turbulent period in your history. |
This adjective also commonly describes unstable or violent movement in the atmosphere, or in oceans and rivers. When the pilot comes announces turbulent air or turbulence ahead, get ready for the plane to bump and shake. Turbulence has another specialized sense when describing an uneven flow of a liquid or gas. |
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| 6530 |
probation |
a trial period during which one's abilities are tested |
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A probation is a period of time when a criminal needs to be on their best behavior: they're not in jail (yet or anymore) but they have to do certain things demanded by the court. |
Being put on criminal probation is like getting a second chance before more serious penalties apply: you might have to pay a fine, do community service, or be monitored to make sure you don’t get into any more trouble. Some criminals are released from jail early and put on probation. People also talk about probation for non-criminal issues: there could be a probation period for joining a club, when they check you out before deciding to let you in. |
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| 6531 |
fester |
ripen and generate pus |
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To fester is to grow and spread, not in a good way. When a cut gets infected it starts to fester and smell bad. Emotional wounds stink too, like when you hold on to anger or pain until it starts to fester and explodes. |
Fester is a verb describing what happens to a wound or a sore that gets worse and has liquid, or pus, oozing out. Infections cause cuts, broken bones, and diseases to fester. Dead bodies can fester too — as they decompose. Things that fester have a decaying odor, and bad feelings can have a decaying effect on friendships and the heart. Letting bitter emotions fester often leads to their getting worse. |
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| 6532 |
downcast |
filled with melancholy and despondency |
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If you're feeling sad, gloomy, blue, low, grim, depressed, or melancholy, you probably don't care if there could possibly any more synonyms for the way you feel. Rest assured that there are, and one of them is downcast. |
Downcast most frequently describes a person's mood: downhearted, down in the mouth, down in the dumps, just plain old down. It can also refer to the direction in which something is pointed — down. Your eyes, for instance, gazing downward, are downcast. And many times when your eyes are looking that way, it's because you're feeling that way. |
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| 6533 |
incarnate |
possessing or existing in bodily form |
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Incarnate means “having a bodily form.” If you encounter someone who pulls off butterflies’ wings for fun, you might describe that person as “evil incarnate.” |
The meaning of incarnate is precisely what its Latin roots suggest. The prefix in- means “in” and caro means “flesh,” so incarnate means “in the flesh.” The word can be used in positive or negative situations, but it always describes an unusual, possibly miraculous instance in which something that can’t normally be seen or touched assumes a bodily form. For example, the Christian religion was founded on the belief that Jesus was God incarnate. |
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| 6534 |
elevate |
raise from a lower to a higher position |
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Elevate means to raise, either literally or figuratively. Think: elevator. At the end of the track meet, the team elevated their trophy for everyone to see. Their mood could only be described as elevated. |
If you get promoted, you might be elevated to the rank of vice president. Having elevated levels of cholesterol in your blood means that your levels are high. In the 1950s the Pop Art movement suggested that art can be found all around us, elevating the design of a can of soup to the level of high art. |
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| 6535 |
impeccable |
without fault or error |
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The adjective impeccable describes something or someone without any flaws. A stand-up comedian needs impeccable timing for his jokes to work. |
The adjective impeccable refers to something or someone without marking or error — but it can also mean to be spotless or clean. The word comes from the Latin impeccabilis and means "to be sinless," which is also one of the senses, now outdated, in English. You can see how "clean" comes from "sinless." Because of the messy nature of picnic food, it is highly unlikely that you would leave with your clothing still as impeccable as when you arrived, especially if you like mustard and ketchup! |
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| 6536 |
observant |
quick to notice; showing quick and keen perception |
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If you're observant, you’re paying close attention to the details. If you're really observant, you would notice the little blob of mustard on your boss's jacket and brush it off for him before he goes to his business dinner. |
Your mother may be so observant that she notices every bit of dust you miss when you vacuum. But if you're so observant that you notice every coin on the sidewalk, you might soon have enough money saved to buy your mom a robo-vac. Observant can also mean that you're careful to follow laws and customs to the letter. If you’re an observant Jew or an observant Catholic, you’re following your religion’s rituals and practices very strictly. |
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| 6537 |
deportation |
the expulsion of a non-citizen from a country |
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Deportation is the act of throwing a foreigner out of a country, whether they are a resident or an intruder. |
If you've ever heard that someone was deported — expelled from a country — then you can probably guess that deportation is the act of that happening. Deportation can involve a resident of a country who is tossed out because of a crime. Often, deportation happens to people who enter a country illegally and are caught. A citizen of a country is usually safe from deportation. Deportation means something close to exile. When you see the word deportation, think “Goodbye.” |
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| 6538 |
routine |
an unvarying or habitual method or procedure |
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A routine is like a habit or sequence that doesn't vary. There are daily routines and dance routines, and maybe even daily dance routines. |
Something routine isn't unusual: routine things happen all the time. Most jobs have a routine — things that must be done on a regular basis. People often get surprised by things that aren't part of their routine, or "shake up their routine." Computer routines are predetermined and predictable. Singers and dancers also have routines — the planned performances they've (hopefully) been practicing. |
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| 6539 |
brooding |
deeply or seriously thoughtful |
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When you're dwelling on something, you're brooding about it — this can be thoughtful or morbidly obsessed. |
When you're brooding, you might be depressed about something you just can't stop thinking about—like the lead character in Hamlet. Brooding can also mean you're being extremely thoughtful, contemplative, meditative, musing, reflective, or ruminative — those are all good things. You have to look at the context to see if someone is brooding in a positive or negative way. This is also a word for what chickens and other egg-laying animals do: sitting on eggs to help them hatch. |
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| 6540 |
theoretical |
concerned with hypotheses and not practical considerations |
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Something theoretical is concerned with theories and hypotheses — it's not necessarily based on real life or meant to be applied to real life. |
Theoretical things are based on theory and ideas, while practical ones are based on practice. Theoretical thinking can be really helpful when you're trying to imagine something or problem-solve, but your theories should always be tested out in the practical world. As philosopher Bertrand Russell said, “The theoretical understanding of the world, which is the aim of philosophy, is not a matter of great practical importance to animals, or to savages, or even to most civilized men.” |
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| 6541 |
commiseration |
feeling of sympathy and sorrow for the misfortunes of others |
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Commiseration refers to feelings of sympathy for other people. If a friend's pet dies, you will probably want to express your commiseration. |
If you are feeling commiseration for someone, they are probably going through difficult times. We feel commiseration when others suffer or feel pain and we understand that pain. We commiserate with them. The Latin root com- means "together with." Just as communication and community are words involving getting people together, commiseration is about feeling other people's pain. |
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| 6542 |
impale |
pierce with a sharp stake or point |
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The verb impale means to pierce an object with a sharp stick. When you're preparing shish kebabs, you impale chunks of marinated vegetables and meat on pointy metal skewers and then cook them on a grill. |
Impale comes from the Medieval Latin word impalare, which means "to push onto a stake." Impale can also mean to kill by piercing with a stake or spear. Legend has it that the only way to kill a vampire is to do exactly that: impale him with a wooden stake through the heart — and then stuff his mouth with garlic and chop off his head, too, just to be sure. |
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| 6543 |
diabolic |
showing cunning or ingenuity or wickedness |
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Use the adjective diabolic to describe someone who acts in a terribly cruel way. A diabolic boy might pick up a cat by its tail and swing it around. |
When people are diabolic, they're evil. The horrible dictator who has thousands of civilians killed commits a diabolic act, and people who abuse children are also diabolic. The bad guy in a fairy tale is always diabolic. You can use diabolic interchangeably with the slightly more common diabolical. Both words have a Greek root, diabolikos, which means "devilish" and comes from diabolus, or "devil." |
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| 6544 |
corpus |
a collection of writings |
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A corpus is a collection of writings. If you tend to never throw anything away, you might have your entire school corpus, from your first scribbled words to your high school English essays. |
The written works of an author, or from one specific time period, can be called a corpus if they're gathered together into a collection or talked about as a group. You could discuss the corpus of Dr. Seuss, for example. Corpus sounds a little like corpse, and that's no coincidence; corpus means "body" in Latin, and though it's come to mean specifically "body of work," the two words are closely related. |
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| 6545 |
glint |
a momentary flash of light |
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A glint is a brief flash or flicker of light. You might enjoy gazing at the glint of light on the water as you lie on the beach in the summer time. |
You can use the word glint as a noun or a verb: your brother's braces might glint in the afternoon sun, and freshly fallen snow sometimes glints under streetlamps at night. Glint is a Scottish word, first coined in the late 1700s, that comes from the Middle English glenten, "gleam, flash, or glisten." Its ultimate root is Scandinavian, possibly from the same root as the word glass. |
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| 6546 |
residue |
matter that remains after something has been removed |
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Residue is anything that's left over when a substance has been removed, like the grease left over on a frying pan. It can also mean, simply, "remainder." |
When residue refers to a liquid, it’s what’s left at the bottom of a bottle, a pot, or a can after the rest has been poured out. Legally, the residue is the remainder of the money in an estate, after bills and taxes have been paid. So if your millionaire aunt leaves you her estate, but didn’t pay any bills for the last ten years, you may not get much residue! |
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| 6547 |
biotic |
of or relating to living organisms |
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The prefix "bio-" refers to "life," and the suffix "-ic" means "like" and makes a word an adjective, so you can figure that biotic describes something lifelike, as in "Evolution is simply biotic adaptation." |
As with so many scientific terms, the word biotic derives from the Greek biotikos, meaning "pertaining to life." Any ecosystem consists of the biotic entities — the living organisms — along with their physical environment, and the study of that ecosystem centers on the impact of one element on the other. Pioneer ecologist Aldo Leopold once said, “A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.” |
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| 6548 |
glaring |
shining intensely |
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Whether it's a bright light or a fault, glaring things are obvious. You just can't miss them. |
Something glaring is obvious to everyone. Sometimes, there's a glaring light that's in your eyes, such as the glaring beams of the sun. Other times, it could be a glaring fault. For example, if you're a very short basketball player, your height is something everyone knows you have to overcome: it's a glaring problem for that sport. Things that are glaring in this way are almost always bad: there aren't any glaring ice cream cones or puppies. You can't avoid looking at things that are glaring, but you wish you could. |
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| 6549 |
attenuated |
reduced in strength |
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Attenuated is an adjective that describes something that has faded or weakened. |
Attenuate is a verb that means something has been made thin or less, at which point it can be described as attenuated. A strong drink might be attenuated once water or ice has been poured into it. Similarly, the sound of your neighbor's party will become attenuated if you just shut your window and put in your ear plugs. |
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| 6550 |
regal |
belonging to or befitting a supreme ruler |
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Even though he was homeless, Dan had a regal bearing. Regal is an adjective that describes things that appear to be royal. |
There are several synonyms for regal, but they all have slightly different meanings. Reserve regal for those instances when the person or thing truly seems like it wants to be the queen, actually is the queen, or looks like it might belong to the queen. My French teacher has a truly regal bearing: she stands stick-straight, with her chin in the air, and acts as though she's the queen and we're her court. A regal attitude from a trembling Chihuahua is the height of irony: that little bugger couldn't rule a cat-box, let alone a whole country. |
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| 6551 |
sanctioned |
established by authority |
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If something’s sanctioned it’s officially approved. Now that your mom has finally come around, watching football with your friends on Sunday is a sanctioned ritual. |
When something’s sanctioned, it’s been approved by an authority, like your mom or your school, or it follows established rules or traditions. Eating ham on Easter might be a sanctioned tradition in your family. The word can also be used to say that something has been approved or authorized in a legal sense. You may read about a sanctioned treaty that has been signed by all members of the United Nations. |
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| 6552 |
renovate |
restore to a previous or better condition |
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To renovate means to renew or rebuild so that something is in good condition. When you move into an old house, you will probably want to renovate the kitchen and bathrooms. |
Most usages of the word renovate revolve around buildings and architecture. During a generation change in a neighborhood, retired people move out and young families move in. They want to give new life to the old house they have bought so they renovate it by painting, redoing the floors, etc. If you renovate a historic building, you restore to its original splendor. Think of this sense of renewal if something renovates your spirits. |
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| 6553 |
depot |
a station for loading and unloading passengers or goods |
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A depot is a place where things are stored in large quantities for future use. Your office might have a depot in the back where supplies are stored. |
Depot came into English from the French word dépôt, meaning "a deposit, place of deposit." A depot can be a place like a warehouse where items are temporarily deposited, but we also use it for a train or bus station. In this case, think of it as a place where a many passengers are being temporarily housed. Your bus trip might require you to get off one bus at a big depot, and transfer to another. |
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| 6554 |
ultra |
far beyond the norm |
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Use the adjective ultra to describe something extreme, like your ultra strict parents or your own ultra radical political views. |
If your sister is ultra uptight and your English teacher's syllabus is ultra traditional, it means that both of them hold unusual opinions, far outside of the normal range. Neither would be a good fit for your own ultra relaxed philosophy of life. Ultra means "beyond" in Latin, and its meaning of "outside the norm" comes from the French word ultra-royaliste, or "extreme royalist." Eventually, it was shortened to just ultra, to describe any extreme opinion. |
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| 6555 |
obscene |
offensive to the mind |
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Obscene describes something that is morally offensive in a sexual way. It's never a good idea to use obscene language at school. |
Certain films, books, magazines, and other forms of entertainment are considered obscene because they portray sex in a very frank way that some people find vulgar and lewd. Obscene material, language, and jokes are considered taboo in polite society. Obscene can also be used to describe something repulsive — like when your friend ate an obscene number of snails at the Bastille Day bash. |
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| 6556 |
clog |
any object that acts as a hindrance or obstruction |
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A clog is a blockage, or something that gets in the way. A clog in your kitchen sink might mean you have to call a plumber before you can wash your dishes. |
A clog obstructs water from flowing through pipes, and it can also be figurative, like a clog in your city's restaurant inspection system that makes it impossible for people to open new cafes. When clog is a verb, it means to cause such a hindrance. A completely different kind of clog is a heavy, wooden-soled shoe. In the 14th century, a clogge was a "lump of wood," and the verb first meant, "hinder with a block of wood." |
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| 6557 |
mastery |
great skillfulness and knowledge of some subject or activity |
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Mastery refers to having great skill at something or total dominance over something. If you are fluent in French, you have a mastery of the language. If you win every game of chess, you show a mastery of the game. |
Mastery is from master, who is someone knowledgeable about a subject, like a master painter. Masters are also people with power — butlers sometimes call their employer master. Mastery refers to a similar power or ability. Beethoven showed mastery in composing. Shakespeare displayed mastery in writing. Apple has had mastery over the field of computers and smartphones. Often, both senses are mixed: if someone has mastery over a field skill-wise, they probably have mastery in terms of dominance too. |
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| 6558 |
irreproachable |
free of guilt; not subject to blame |
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Use the adjective irreproachable to describe something or someone blameless or not deserving of criticism. It can be annoying, but your parents strive to give you irreproachable advice when they tell you, "Study hard in school," and not "Party on!" |
The adjective irreproachable comes from the Old French word reprocher, which meant "to blame." With the addition of the prefix ir-, meaning "not," and the suffix -able, meaning "capable," we get the English meaning of "not capable of being blamed." It is the rare politician who has an irreproachable reputation. So if your background is not irreproachable and you run for office, be prepared for the press to dig up all the skeletons in your closet. |
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| 6559 |
superpower |
a country that can influence events throughout the world |
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The noun superpower is good for talking about a very powerful country, especially one that's strong enough to influence the way other countries act. |
When one country dominates the world politically, that country is called a superpower. The United States is considered to be a superpower, and throughout most of the twentieth century, so was the Soviet Union. Political scholars have their eye on China to emerge as the next superpower in the world. Officially, one step lower than a superpower is a great power, which has slightly less influence in the world. |
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| 6560 |
fluctuating |
having unpredictable ups and downs |
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Fluctuating describes something that has unpredictable ups and downs. Fluctuating often refers to changing numbers or quantities of something, like fluctuating stock prices that go up and down. |
The word fluctuating originated in the 1600s, coming from the Latin word fluctuatus, a form of fluctuare, which means "to undulate." If something is fluctuating, it's unstable — it can swing back and forth. When the weather is fluctuating that means it can change at any moment, dumping snow on your town one minute and then producing warm weather the next. Moods, demand, morals, prices — anything that has unpredictable shifts can be described as fluctuating. |
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| 6561 |
leaden |
(of movement) slow and laborious |
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Something leaden moves in a heavy, slow way. After a sleepless night, your leaden feet will walk more sluggishly than usual to the bus stop. |
Dull, heavy things can be described as leaden, like a dense, boring novel full of leaden dialog or your fatigued, leaden legs at the end of a full day's hike up a mountain. If something is the color of lead — a dull gray — that's also leaden, like the leaden, stormy sky. Finally, things made of lead are quite literally leaden, the word's original meaning, from a Germanic root meaning "heavy metal." |
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| 6562 |
immortalize |
make famous forever |
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When you immortalize something, you praise it in a way that's meant to last forever. You could immortalize your favorite pop star, for example, by carving a huge statue of him out of marble. |
The existence of Disneyland and Disney World has managed to immortalize the image of Mickey Mouse, especially the silhouette of his ears. Through the years, many artists have chosen to immortalize US presidents through public art like the Lincoln Memorial and Mount Rushmore. The verb immortalize comes from the adjective immortal, or "living forever," with its Latin root, immortalis, "deathless or undying." |
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| 6563 |
supplant |
take the place or move into the position of |
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Kate was out sick for a month with mono, and when she came back to school, Jessie had supplanted her as the funny girl at the lunch table. Supplant means to take the place of. |
Being supplanted is something that often happens to ideas or ways of thinking. Encouraging children's freedom has supplanted old ideas about children being better seen than heard. After a shocking upset at Wimbledon, a new tennis player has supplanted the reigning champion. |
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| 6564 |
coterie |
an exclusive circle of people with a common purpose |
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Have you noticed how so many of the best TV shows concentrate on a group of friends who seem to mesh together perfectly, to the exclusion of all others? This, then, is a coterie, an exclusive group with common interests. |
The modern spelling and meaning of coterie developed in the 18th century from a French word rooted in the feudal system. When the farmers working the land of a feudal lord established an organization, they were called cotiers, or "tenants of a cote" (think "cottage"), and that idea of a select group led to the word coterie. There's just something so French about the idea of exclusivity, isn't there? |
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| 6565 |
commencement |
the act of starting something |
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A commencement is the act of starting out, or blazing a new trail. |
The suffix -ment makes the word commencement a noun — a thing, an activity, a start. The word can be used for the beginning of anything, from a business meeting to a vacation trip to a marriage. Anything that begins has a moment of commencement. That's why a graduation ceremony is called a commencement — a graduate is embarking on a new life, and the commencement ritual marks the official beginning of that life. |
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| 6566 |
reckon |
expect, believe, or suppose |
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Reckon means guess, or imagine, and is often used by rural types in Hollywood movies who say things like "I reckon I'll be moseyin' on." |
Reckon means guess or think, as in "I reckon he's put his nose where it don't belong one too many times.” If reckon sounds odd, that’s because it's mostly gone out of style. When used to talk about prediction, it's a little more common, as in "Who do you reckon is going to win the Super Bowl?" Still, it sounds a little old-fashioned. Many people use the word just for fun. Saying "I reckon" sounds more humorous than "Yes." |
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| 6567 |
mash |
to compress with violence, out of natural shape or condition |
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When you mash something, you crush it. You might, for example, mash a marshmallow by stepping on it. |
Recipes for banana bread almost always include an instruction to mash some bananas — in other words, you need to squish and press on them until they no longer look like bananas. A bully might mash your carefully constructed sandcastle, crushing it down to the beach. The word mash seems to be related to mix, both probably rooted in the Proto-Indo-European meik, "to mix." |
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| 6568 |
vulnerability |
the state of being exposed |
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Vulnerability is the quality of being easily hurt or attacked. Some seniors think it's funny to pick on the ninth graders because of their vulnerability. |
Vulnerability comes from the Latin word for "wound," vulnus. Vulnerability is the state of being open to injury, or appearing as if you are. It might be emotional, like admitting that you're in love with someone who might only like you as a friend, or it can be literal, like the vulnerability of a soccer goal that's unprotected by any defensive players. |
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| 6569 |
consuming |
very intense |
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If you have a passion for art, and making it is all you can think about or do, your passion for art is consuming. It is intense and almost overwhelming. |
Picture a fire burning in a fireplace. The fire consumes the logs you have put in it. It completely devours them in order to burn. When something, a passion or a drive, is consuming, it dominates a person's life like that fire, and in a sense, it devours their energy and attention. Your consuming desire to travel might cause you to study abroad for a semester or even move to Europe. |
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| 6570 |
antechamber |
a large entrance or reception room or area |
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An antechamber is an entryway or a small room that leads into a larger one. If you visit a friend who lives in a mansion, her butler may ask you to wait in the antechamber while he summons her. |
You're most likely to come across an antechamber in a very grand building or home — in most houses, a similar room would probably be called a "foyer" or a "hall." Sometimes the area where you wait before entering a museum or office is called an antechamber, but it's more often just a "waiting room." Palaces and crypts and pyramids often have antechambers. The word comes from the French antichambre. |
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| 6571 |
apparel |
clothing in general |
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Apparel is just another word for what you wear. Hopefully the apparel you wear to work — suits and heels — is very different from the apparel you wear on the weekends — pajama pants and bunny slippers. |
The noun apparel got its start from the Latin apparare, meaning to “prepare, make ready,” or ad-particulare, meaning “to put things together.” In the mid 13th century it evolved into a verb meaning “to equip.” It wasn’t until the next century that people began to use apparel as both a verb meaning “to attire” and as a noun meaning garments or clothing. Said 17th century British writer Thomas Fuller, “…Apparel shapes: but it's money that finishes the man.” |
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| 6572 |
dissect |
cut open or cut apart |
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When you dissect a frog in science class, you cut it open to look at its inner organs. To dissect is to break something down to look at its parts. |
Dissecting something allows you to look at it closely and understand it better. If your soccer team loses a match, you might want to dissect the game afterward to try to find exactly how and when things went wrong. Television analysts will often dissect a political speech to understand what was really being said, how true the statements were, and how well it was done. |
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| 6573 |
cavil |
raise trivial objections |
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If your only cavil to your family's trip to Disney World is that you don't like airline food, you're not representing the anti-Mickey side of the argument very well. A cavil is a small or petty objection. |
Cavil is not a word that comes up all that often. You can replace it with the more commonly used word quibble and still have the same meaning. If you cavil over a restaurant bill, you argue about the minute, unimportant details of who owes what –– like whether your portion of the bill is $10.00 or $10.50. |
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| 6574 |
capillary |
a minute blood vessel connecting arterioles with venules |
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You are probably most familiar with the word capillary as a minute vessel that transports blood to larger vessels in the body, but a capillary can actually mean any tiny tubelike device that moves a liquid from point to point. |
Capillary comes from the Latin word capillaris, meaning "of or resembling hair." The meaning stems from the tiny, hairlike diameter of a capillary. While capillary is usually used as a noun, the word also is used as an adjective, as in "capillary action," in which a liquid is moved along — even upward, against gravity — as the liquid is attracted to the internal surface of the capillaries. |
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| 6575 |
billow |
a large sea wave |
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Something billows when there's a fluid or blowing motion, such as the air filling a curtain at an open window, or smoke billowing from a fire. |
This word originally meant a wave, and that image should help you remember its current meaning too. The word usually suggests movement and growth, such as waves building and crashing. There are certain clouds that look like ocean waves, and so are called billow clouds. If you have a big shirt, the wind might make it fill with air and billow. Balloons are billowed when you inflate them. Billowing can also mean to move with difficulty — slowly. |
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| 6576 |
composite |
consisting of separate interconnected parts |
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A composite is something made up of complicated and related parts. A composite photograph of your family might have your eyes, your sister’s nose, your dad’s mouth, and your mother’s chin. |
Composite comes from the Latin for "putting together." It can be used as a noun or adjective. If you and five friends put together a map showing all the places each of you has ever lived, you’ve created a composite. You could also describe it as a composite map of your lives. Composite is also the name of a family of plants that have many little flowers wound so densely together that it just looks like one flower. |
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| 6577 |
confiscate |
take temporary possession of a security by legal authority |
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To confiscate means to take away temporarily for security or legal reasons. It implies an act by an authority upon one of less power. If you use your cell phone in class, the teacher might confiscate it for the day. |
Confiscate derives from the Latin confiscat, meaning "to store in a chest, or give to the treasury." In school, if the boys begin throwing pencils at each other, the teacher will confiscate them and "store” them in her desk. She’ll return them, however, when the boys need to take the test. That’s assuming they have not blinded each other beforehand. |
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| 6578 |
pulpit |
a platform raised to give prominence to the person on it |
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If you go into a church and see a minister speaking from a high platform, he's speaking from the pulpit. |
Pulpit was originally used to refer to the platform in a church that a preacher speaks from, but we often use it metaphorically for any kind of preaching, whether it's religious or not. If someone is trying to tell everyone else how to live, they're speaking from the pulpit, whether they're preaching the embrace of root vegetables or warning us that we will be attacked by aliens. |
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| 6579 |
splice |
join the ends of |
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As noun and verb, splice refers to the overlapping or interweaving of two ends of something to create the strongest possible attachment. |
The earliest records of the word splice are from the early 16th century, when it was borrowed from the Middle Dutch verb splissen, used by sailors for joining ropes end to end by interweaving their strands. In 1912, the infant motion-picture industry took over the word splice to refer to the cutting and joining of film in the editing process. In 1975, scientists found they could alter genes by cutting and adding chunks of DNA, creating the science of gene splicing. |
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| 6580 |
crossroads |
a crisis situation when a critical decision must be made |
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The noun crossroads is great for describing a point in your life when you have to make an important decision, like when you need to choose whether to attend college or backpack across Asia. |
Though a literal definition of crossroads might be something like "the point where two roads meet," it is more often used in a figurative way, to mean a situation that requires some important choice must be made. The word crossroads has been used to title dozens of songs and albums over the years, and it's known in folk mythology as an otherworldly place — between two worlds — where spirits tend to congregate. |
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| 6581 |
parsimony |
extreme stinginess |
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Parsimony is a noun to use when you are watching your money very carefully. So you're not just saving your pennies for a rainy day — you're clipping coupons, re-using dryer sheets, and refusing to pay full price for anything. |
It's not a bad thing to engage in a little parsimony. Related to an ancient Latin word meaning "to spare," parsimony keeps your checking account in the black and your retirement plan well funded. But get a little too parsimonious and you might start to look like Uncle Scrooge — an old miser who learned the hard way that practicing extreme parsimony doesn't win you love and admiration. |
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| 6582 |
fairness |
conformity with rules or standards |
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Fairness is the quality of making judgments that are free from discrimination. Judges, umpires, and teachers should all strive to practice fairness. |
Fairness comes from the Old English fæger, meaning "pleasing, attractive." This makes sense given that the word is also used to describe physical beauty. Fairness can refer to someone's good looks, or if someone is very pale and blond, you might notice the fairness of her complexion. When someone shows fairness is making a decision, he is pleasing all parties involved and offering a solution that is attractive to everyone. |
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| 6583 |
atrocious |
shockingly brutal or cruel |
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Atrocious is a great word, but there's nothing good about its meaning or its synonyms: horrible, ugly, abominable, dreadful, unspeakable, and monstrous, to name just a few. |
The adjective atrocious is descended from the Latin atrox, which means "fierce" and "cruel." We hear this word all the time when something provokes horror (like a massive earthquake), when something is exceptionally bad or displeasing (like the worst movie we've ever seen, and the worse acting), or when we see something shockingly brutal or cruel (like an act of terrorism). |
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| 6584 |
unwary |
not alert to danger or deception |
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Someone who's unwary isn't careful — in fact, an unwary person might be a little bit reckless. When your unwary cousin travels to China, he might end up being overcharged for a rickshaw ride. |
When you don't know the potential dangers or challenges that lie in front of you, you're unwary. While unwary people aren't overly suspicious or cautious, they run the risk of being taken advantage of or even getting hurt. To be wary is to be very watchful or cautious — it comes from the Old English root wær, "prudent, aware, or alert," and unwary combines it with un, or "not." |
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| 6585 |
repellent |
serving or tending to cause aversion |
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How can you tell that something is repellent? You dislike it so much, you want nothing to do with it. If something is repellent, it is highly offensive or disgusting. |
To correctly pronounce repellent, accent the second syllable: "ruh-PELL-unt." Being repellent is sometimes a good thing, like when you're camping — your water-repellent tent gets you through a rainstorm and bug repellent keeps you free of itchy bites. The word originates from the Old French word repeller, meaning "to drive away, remove." |
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| 6586 |
aggregation |
the act of gathering something together |
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An aggregation is a collection, or the gathering of things together. Your baseball card collection might represent the aggregation of lots of different types of cards. |
Aggregation comes from the Latin ad, meaning to, and gregare, meaning herd. So the word was first used to literally mean to herd or to flock. Now it's just refers to anything herded together in a collection or assemblage. If you work in a lab, for example, you may be charged with the aggregation of samples prior to experimentation. |
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| 6587 |
noticeable |
capable of being detected |
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Something that is noticeable is apparent or easy to be noticed. If the change in your report cards is noticeable, let's hope it’s because your grades went up! |
It’s easy to remember noticeable, by thinking of it as able to be noticed. Noticeable also means deserving of being noticed, or notable, like good manners or good work habits. Other noticeable things are just easy to spot, and not always in a good way. That piece of spinach between your teeth the entire time you were having lunch with your boss? “Don’t worry; it was hardly noticeable." |
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| 6588 |
stitch |
a link or loop made by sewing, knitting, or needlework |
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When a needle pulls thread through fabric and into a loop, that's a stitch. Every quilt, no matter how elaborate, starts with a single stitch. |
You can stitch a design on a pillow, or stitch up a hole in your jeans using stitches. Doctors sometimes stitch up patients' skin, too — if you cut yourself badly enough, you might need stitches. Another kind of stitch is a painful cramp in your stomach or side: "I stopped running when I got a stitch." If someone says, "I haven't got a stitch to wear," they're short on clothing. And being "in stitches" means laughing uncontrollably. |
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| 6589 |
suspension |
the act of hanging something from above so it moves freely |
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A suspension is a temporary stoppage. If you receive one in school, you temporarily can't attend classes and if the referee gives you one, you have to sit out for the rest of the game. |
If there is a suspension of diplomatic relations with another country or a suspension of sales of a product, these things are stopped too. When you are suspended in mid-air, you are hanging above the earth unable to use your feet. Think of floating like this as another sense of suspension. In your car, the suspension system stops the bumps in the road from knocking you around. In science, suspension is when particles that should sink are made buoyant by another substance and float, like bubbles, off the bottom of a vessel. |
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| 6590 |
undue |
not appropriate or proper in the circumstances |
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When something isn't appropriate or justified, you can describe it as undue. For example, an undue delay in a hospital waiting room can be dangerous for someone with a bad injury. |
Something that's undue isn't warranted or, often, fair. The phrase "undue delay" is a common one, and it means that someone has to wait way too long for something, whether it's a building permit or a dentist appointment. The adjective has come to mean "excessive," from its original definition in the fourteenth century as literally "not owing" or "not payable." |
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| 6591 |
immersion |
the act of wetting something by submerging it |
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Immersion is the act of dipping something in a substance, completely covering it. It might be something physical, such as plunging your body into water, or metaphorical, such as becoming totally immersed in a project. |
The Latin background of immersion includes the root mergere, "to plunge." The idea of immersion as a physical submergence came first and the idea of something being absorbed in a situation came about later. The idea behind immersion is that of complete coverage, whether that be by water, as in Baptism, or by attention, as in "immersion learning," an idea for learning a language trademarked in 1965 by the Berlitz company. |
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| 6592 |
paltry |
contemptibly small in amount |
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A paltry amount is so small it's not even worth thinking about. In the novel "Oliver Twist," when Oliver is given a paltry amount of gruel — not nearly enough — he asks, "Please, sir, can I have some more?" |
Paltry is a laughably small amount — the waiter might chuck a paltry tip in the garbage. If you have only 50 cents in your bank account, it's such a paltry amount, you may as well be broke. It can also mean "not worth considering" or "not important." If you keep breaking your promises, your friends will get sick of your paltry excuses. |
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| 6593 |
clown |
a person who amuses others by ridiculous behavior |
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A clown is someone who makes people laugh, like the guy with the red nose and oversize polka dotted tie. It can also be an insult — a rude buffoon can be called a clown. To clown means to act goofy. |
The clowns found at circuses and birthday parties usually wear makeup and big shoes, but funny people in regular clothes are often called clowns, too, as in the class clown who tells jokes in school. Also, someone obnoxious can be called a clown, as in “that clown wrecked my car!” Acting like a clown in any way is clowning. A teacher trying to get the attention of kids who are fooling around might say, "Stop clowning around!” |
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| 6594 |
shrink |
wither, as with a loss of moisture |
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Shrink is the informal word you can use to talk about a therapist. Talking about your problems with her can hopefully help you shrink them, or make them smaller. |
The word shrink is related to the Swedish skrynka meaning "to wrinkle." Think about what happens to a lone forgotten fruit at the bottom of your fridge drawer. After a while, it begins to wrinkle or shrink. Clothes washed in hot water tend to shrink, so be wary of the setting on your washing machine. The use of shrink as referring to therapists started as late as the 1960s — with the idea of a psychologist being a "head-shrinker." |
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| 6595 |
desist |
choose not to consume |
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You can use the verb desist as a way to say "stop" or "cease." Instead of yelling "Cut it out!" the new neighbor asked the tween girls to desist from playing any more loud, screeching music from that long-haired boy-band. |
If you want to insist that someone stop doing something, the word desist is a solid choice. It's often used as part of a legal order called a "cease and desist," which forces an action to come to a halt. "Cease" is a synonym for desist, so using the two together says "stop it!" loud and clear — and kind of redundantly. "If she will desist from camping on the lawn in front of the star's Hollywood home, she won’t be arrested." |
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| 6596 |
bash |
hit hard |
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To bash is to hit something hard. You might stand up suddenly on a sailboat and bash your head on the mast. |
Marching band drummers bash their drums with mallets, and terrible drivers bash their bumpers into trees. You can also figuratively bash another person by saying terribly critical things about her. When bash is a noun, it means either "a hard hit or blow," or "a loud, festive party:" "Welcome to my bash! Don't bash your head on the piñata." |
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| 6597 |
vitriol |
abusive or venomous language to express blame or censure |
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Vitriol is harsh, nasty criticism. You may have deserved some blame when the cake didn't rise, but the head chef's stream of vitriol was unnecessary. |
Back in the day, vitriol was the name for sulfuric acid, which burns through just about anything. So think of vitriol as language so mean-spirited and bitter that it could eat through metal: "As a divorce lawyer, you were familiar with vitriol, but nothing prepared you for the time you wore a Red Sox cap at Yankee Stadium." |
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| 6598 |
oscillation |
a complete execution of a periodically repeated phenomenon |
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Oscillation is the process of moving back and forth regularly, like the oscillation of a fan that cools off the whole room, or the oscillation of a movie plot that makes you laugh and cry. |
Oscillation is from the Latin word oscillare for "to swing," so oscillation is when something is swinging back and forth. Rumor has it if you trace the word back far enough, you get to the word for “a little face” of Bacchus, Greek god of wine, people used to hang up in vineyards to swing in the breeze. When there's oscillation, something is going back and forth, like a hanging sculpture going to and fro in the backyard. |
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| 6599 |
acoustic |
relating to the study of the physical properties of sound |
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Acoustic means having to do with sound. In concert halls, acoustic panels direct the way sound moves. An audio engineer is trained in acoustic design for music recording. |
If you prefer the softer sound of acoustic rock, it means you like rock played on acoustic instruments. These include the guitar, violin, 'cello, viola, or harp––anything really that does not rely on electrical amplification to be heard. If a room has good acoustics, it means sound travels clearly and consistently through the space, and it's good for concerts. |
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| 6600 |
curdle |
go bad or sour |
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When things curdle, they turn from liquid gradually to solid, forming clumps along the way. If you leave milk out of the refrigerator long enough, it will curdle. |
When a liquid curdles, it forms curds, or lumpy solid masses. In some cases this is deliberate, as when you make cheese or tofu. Other times, you might accidentally let something curdle, like a custard or sauce, or a forgotten container of cream at the back of your refrigerator. Curdle was originally crudle, from crud (later curd), "any coagulated substance," or "congeal." |
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| 6601 |
resonance |
having the character of a loud deep sound |
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If you have a loud, deep voice, then your voice has resonance, and if your words are powerful and meaningful, then your words have resonance, too. Something with resonance has a deep tone or a powerful lasting effect. |
Resonance is the quality of being “resonant,” which can mean “strong and deep in tone” or “having a lasting effect.” If your voice has resonance, you might consider a profession that involves public speaking. Perhaps you'll become a politician and deliver speeches that have a lasting effect, or resonance, with your audience. Rooms that intensify sound, like many gymnasiums, can also be said to have resonance. |
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| 6602 |
coordinated |
dexterous in using more than one set of muscle movements |
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Bridesmaids' dresses are often coordinated in color or style. Bridesmaids who can do every line dance in heels are really coordinated. Coordinated means to be unified, or physically able to perform complex moves. |
When you say that someone is coordinated, you mean that they are able to get their muscles to work in sync. Can you pat your head and rub your stomach at the same time? If so, you are coordinated. The word comes from the Latin prefix co- meaning "together" and ordinare meaning "order." When something is coordinated, all the parts operate together in sync as a unit. A coordinated attack comes from many sides all at once. |
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| 6603 |
vixen |
a female fox |
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A vixen is a female fox. Or it can be a woman with a temper. If you really want to insult a woman who is a little short on patience, call her a vixen. She won’t like it. |
Somewhere along the line the word vixen came to mean a hot-headed or ill-tempered person. Nowadays vixen is often used as a derisive term for an unpleasant or mean woman. Vixen also gets used frequently in descriptions of female film characters. In this way it doesn’t really mean that the character is bad tempered. As slang, to call someone a vixen means that she's sexy and flirtatious, a label she may or may not like. |
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| 6604 |
bail |
money forfeited if the accused fails to appear in court |
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Bail can be a verb or a noun. When you bail (verb) someone out of jail, you post money, also known as bail (noun), to assure the authorities that person won't try to run away before going to trial. |
As a noun, bail means bond money. This comes from the Middle English word bayle, for "captivity." As a verb, the idea of "bailing out" comes from the later word baile, which means “dipping out,” a meaning you can use when you are trying to empty something flooded. If your boat has a leak, you should bail it out (then plug the leak). When you bail, in the colloquial sense, you escape in some way. |
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| 6605 |
delinquent |
a young offender |
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The adjective delinquent describes something that is past due or people who are negligent in doing their duty. If you are delinquent in paying your delinquent library fines, you won't be able to check out any more books. |
You may have heard the term juvenile delinquent, which refers to a young (juvenile) person who gets in trouble, often with the law, but people of any age can be delinquent. A delinquent landlord is one who doesn't make repairs. A delinquent tenant is one who does not pay his rent. |
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| 6606 |
ashen |
anemic looking from illness or emotion |
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Use the word ashen to describe the pale face of someone who is shocked and upset. Your best friend might look ashen when he hears that his favorite baseball team traded its star player. |
The adjective ashen was first used to describe ashes, the powdery substance left over when something burns, but it soon came to mean things that have the same pale, lifeless color as ashes. Like wood or coal that starts out brown or black and loses all color in the ashes that remain, things that are ashen are pale, washed out, or even colorless. Ashen is most often applied to the complexions of those facing stressful situations. |
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| 6607 |
whine |
a complaint uttered in a plaintive way |
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When you whine, you complain in a pitiful, annoying way. Your younger sister will whine if your piece of cake is bigger than hers. |
Whine is both a noun and a verb. The verb means "to complain bitterly." Kids tend to cry or even yell when they whine, though most adults settle for constant griping and an unwillingness to let it go already. "Poor me" and "It isn't fair" — these are common whines. Whine can describe a high-pitched, screeching noise, like the squeak made by an old, broken machine. |
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| 6608 |
disorder |
a condition in which things are not in their expected places |
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Disorder is a lack of order — in other words, chaos, clutter, and general disarray. |
If everyone in your class is yelling and throwing things, there's no order: there's disorder. If all the library books are out of order and thrown sloppily on the shelf, that's disorder, too. If you mess or mix something up, you're disordering it. Many medical conditions and diseases are also called disorders, like post-traumatic stress disorder. Whenever there's disorder, something is wrong or out of whack. |
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| 6609 |
downpour |
a heavy rain |
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A downpour is a rainstorm, especially a very heavy one. If you get caught unexpectedly in a downpour, you'll wish you brought an umbrella. |
A downpour is exactly what it sounds like: torrential, pouring rain. A downpour, even one that's brief, can cause flooding in streets and basements. In some parts of the world, there are whole seasons that regularly bring downpours, while other places experience droughts so severe that people wish for a downpour. The word has been in use since the mid-19th century. |
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| 6610 |
arbitrarily |
in a random manner |
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Something said or done arbitrarily is done randomly or without much thought — like when you arbitrarily eat whatever happens to be on the buffet table at your cousin's wedding. |
The adverb arbitrarily describes something that's done haphazardly, based on random chance or on your own whim of the moment. If you go to a movie and know nothing about anything that's playing, you might arbitrarily choose one — based on the titles, the look of the posters, or on nothing at all. When there's not much reason behind your actions, they're done arbitrarily. |
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| 6611 |
haughtiness |
overbearing pride evidenced by a superior manner |
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If you are shy and have a hard time talking to others, people might wrongly interpret your quietness as haughtiness. Haughtiness is thinking a lot of yourself and not much of others. |
The word haughtiness originally comes from the Old French adjective haut meaning "high" and later developed to mean having a high estimation of yourself. When you think of the word, imagine a Queen riding by on a horse, chin upturned, not paying any mind to her subjects below. Her Highness might as well be called Her Haughtiness up there. |
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| 6612 |
cavernous |
being or suggesting a large dark enclosed space |
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If something reminds you of a cave or cavern in size, shape, or feel, you can describe it with the adjective cavernous. Your cavernous basement is huge, damp, and dark, but fortunately there are no bats down there. |
Cavernous, "cavern," and "cave" all come from the same Latin root word cavus, meaning hollow. Anything that's vast or deep can be described as cavernous, like your favorite professor's cavernous knowledge about the subject of 17th century literature. As a medical or anatomical term, cavernous refers to something that is porous, particularly when it's filled with tiny blood vessels. |
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| 6613 |
decorate |
make more attractive, as by adding ornament or color |
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Putting up paintings, stringing up lights, and getting some flowers are all ways to decorate a house. When you decorate, you make things look better or at least more interesting. |
Even an attractively furnished home can be decorated for a holiday or party. That means you dress up your house to celebrate the special occasion. Decorate is also used to describe certain kinds of success. A famous athlete might decorate a gym with trophies and championship rings. We say a person in the military, like a general, is decorated when he or she is given medals for bravery or other accomplishments. |
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| 6614 |
straddle |
sit or stand astride of |
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When you straddle something, you're sitting on it with one leg on each side — like straddling a horse or a fence. |
Unless you're using an old-fashioned side saddle, you straddle a horse when you ride it. Gymnasts learn how to straddle the parallel bars, basically doing the splits on them. But if someone says you're "straddling the fence", it means you're doing a different kind of splits: you're not taking a side and refusing to commit. In finance, straddling means you want to leave your options open to buy or sell. |
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| 6615 |
excess |
the state of being more than full |
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Excess is too much of something, like big-time overindulgence. Eating to excess makes your stomach hurt, and spending to excess means you can't pay your credit card bills. |
Excess comes from the Latin word excessus meaning, "go out, going beyond the bounds of reason," like eating and spending in excess. (Not so reasonable.) Although it spends most of its time as a noun, it can also be an adjective to describe "more than is required or needed," like when excess water spills over the top of the bathtub, or those excess pounds spill over the top of your jeans. |
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| 6616 |
resistant |
disposed to or engaged in defiance of established authority |
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Being resistant means to be immune or impervious to something. A vest that's resistant to bullets is bullet-proof. |
Anything resistant has a certain power — specifically, the power to resist or fight off — something else. This word is often used medically, like when someone is resistant to a virus: that means they can't get the virus. You can also be resistant to someone's jokes, meaning they can't make you laugh. A raincoat should be resistant to water. If it's not resistant, that's a pretty bad raincoat. All resistant things are like a shield that something can't get through. |
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| 6617 |
effective |
producing or capable of producing an intended result |
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If your email outlining a plan to reduce office paper waste resulted in a 20 percent reduction in paper use, that means your plan was effective: it did what you wanted it to do. |
The adjective effective has many shades of meaning, but you'll usually see it describing something that's able to produce a desired goal. Effective traces back to the Latin word effectivus, from efficere, meaning “work out, accomplish,” and that meaning still holds true. Something effective gets the job done. As President, hopefully your policies are effective. We also use effective for something real and in effect, like the effective price of gas, or your effective grounding. |
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| 6618 |
visibility |
quality or degree of being able to be seen |
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Use the noun visibility to describe how well you can see something, like the great visibility from the top of a mountain on a clear day. |
In addition to meaning "how well you can see," visibility can also mean "how well others can see something." So, the reflective stripes on your running pants give you visibility in the dark because they help other people see you. Another kind of visibility is being in the public eye, like an actor whose visibility helps him land roles in movies and promote the causes he cares about, like literacy or helping endangered animals. |
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| 6619 |
liquidity |
the state in which a substance exhibits a readiness to flow |
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Liquidity refers to a state where something is in liquid form, like water. It can also refer to having cash or access to cash. Liquidity means things are flowing. |
Although liquidity refers to…surprise! being a liquid, it’s usually used in a financial sense. Financially, liquidity refers to having access to cash or things you can sell and turn into cash. In other words, you have good cash flow. Liquidity can also apply to any situation that is marked by fluidity or runniness. You hope your new swimming pool is in a state of liquidity, and that you have enough financial liquidity to pay for it! |
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| 6620 |
iterate |
to say, state, or perform again |
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To iterate is to repeat, as in to say or perform something again. If you loved the high school drama club’s performance of the “Three Little Pigs,” encourage them to iterate the musical so you can see it again. And again. |
Iterate comes from the Latin word iterare for "do again, repeat.” Iterate is a transitive verb, so you have to iterate something. A successful play or concert will usually iterate a performance, so more people can see it. People often iterate a point, by repeating, they hope others will understand it better. Politicians often iterate key points. The word reiterate is more familiar, and means something very similar — to repeat something for emphasis. |
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| 6621 |
disquiet |
a feeling of mild anxiety about possible developments |
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If you feel a sense of disquiet, you're worried or anxious about something. Disquiet at the dinner table means that everyone feels upset or on edge. |
You can use the word disquiet as a noun or a verb. A feeling of disquiet might fill you as you walk slowly through a truly spooky haunted house. You can also say that a low, frightening sound coming from the room ahead disquiets you. The word dates from the 1500s, a combination of dis, "lack of" or "not" in Latin, and quiet, from the Latin root quietus, "calm, at rest, or free from exertion." |
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| 6622 |
brace |
a support that steadies or strengthens something else |
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A brace is a support that helps to steady or strengthen, and to brace is to prepare for something hard. So brace yourself for that impromptu meeting with your boss if you haven't been performing well. |
We all know the braces that straighten teeth and keep injured knees in line. But in verb form, brace means to bolster or steady. “Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather,” said John Ruskin, the English writer and cultural critic. He means the wind supports us with its uplifting powers — although those living in tornado country might disagree. |
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| 6623 |
earmark |
give or assign a resource to a particular person or cause |
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To earmark something is to set it aside for a specific purpose. If you’re saving money to spend it in a particular way — whether it’s for college or a fancy new pair of shoes — you have earmarked that money. |
Originally, an earmark was a mark on the ear of an animal — such as a sheep — that indicated ownership. Similarly, when government officials earmark a resource, they're indicating what the resource will be used for. Earmarking is usually about money. $10,000 could be earmarked for cancer research. A grant could be earmarked for a children's hospital. Earmarking is a way of stating how something will be used. |
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| 6624 |
inefficient |
not producing desired results; wasteful |
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Inefficient things waste time, money, or other resources. Your old inefficient dishwasher uses much more water and electricity than a new model would. Shame on you. |
Inefficient businesses have trouble making money and growing, and an inefficient city bus system might transport just a few passengers at a time. If your car is inefficient, it gets terrible gas mileage and is expensive to drive. If something is efficient, it's productive and inexpensive. Inefficient has the opposite meaning, which is clear from the "not" prefix in-. |
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| 6625 |
intake |
an opening through which fluid is admitted to a tube |
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The act of consuming food can be called intake. A veterinarian might advise you to limit your dog's intake of pizza crusts, for example. |
While the process of eating can be called your intake, unless you're a militant dieter who weighs every ounce of food you consume, you're most likely to hear the word intake in a hospital or doctor's office. Caregivers might be concerned about a patient's intake of calories if he's very sick, or a dietitian might recommend an elderly woman increase her intake of calcium. |
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| 6626 |
enliven |
make lively |
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High school students who are throwing a dance in the gym might enliven it with balloons and streamers. In other words, they might try to cheer the room up. |
When you enliven something, you make it more lively, colorful, or exciting. Your friend who is the life of the party can probably be counted on to enliven the dullest gathering, and a sprinkle of curry powder can enliven a dish of plain roasted vegetables. The original meaning of enliven, from the seventeenth century, was literally "to bring to life," as when a doctor re-starts a patient's stopped heartbeat. |
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| 6627 |
ooze |
pass gradually or leak or as if through small openings |
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The beauty of the word ooze is not only that it's both a noun and a verb but also that the word sounds like what it means. The ooze on the bottom of the pond oozed between your toes. |
When something oozes, it seeps out slowly in an unappetizing way. Cheese sauce oozes out of the container. Sludge oozes out of a treatment plant. Cream oozes out of a tube. Whatever is oozing is referred to as ooze. After an oil spill, a cleanup crew has to clean up the ooze that collects on the shore. It can also be used to describe someone's behavior if it's especially awful. A person who is really bad, for example, can be said to ooze evil. |
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| 6628 |
heighten |
make more extreme; raise in quantity, degree, or intensity |
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When you heighten something, you increase it or make it more intense. If you want to heighten awareness about homelessness, you might write an article for your local newspaper. |
Extreme weather can act to heighten people's concern about climate change, and publicity for a good cause can heighten awareness of the ways college students can volunteer their time. A movie director might heighten the tension in a scene by using scary music and dramatic lighting. In all of these cases, something is intensified or increased. The oldest, fifteenth-century meaning of heighten, however, was "to exalt, honor, or raise to a high position." |
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| 6629 |
affiliation |
the act of becoming formally connected or joined |
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An affiliation is an official connection to something. To have an affiliation to something is to be affiliated with it. The Tea Party pretty clearly has an affiliation with the Republican Party. |
You can be connected to all sorts of things, but to have an affiliation is to have an official connection. A local church might have an affiliation with a larger religious organization. A bunch of small groups might share an affiliation with a larger one, as in the case of baseball teams and the leagues they belong to. Often you'll hear politicians denying any affiliation with certain groups, places, or companies, because they want to appear neutral. If you have an affiliation with something, you're likely to pay it extra attention. |
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| 6630 |
licit |
authorized, sanctioned by, or in accordance with law |
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Licit things are allowed or legal. Riding your skateboard down the street in your neighborhood is probably licit, but riding it down the subway escalator probably isn't. |
The adjective licit isn't as common as its opposite, illicit, or "forbidden" — although the two words are often used together, as when someone talks about or compares licit versus illicit drugs or licit versus illicit actions. In Latin, the root licitus means "lawful," and it's closely related to license, which means "permission or freedom to do something." |
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| 6631 |
oral |
using speech rather than writing |
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The word oral means having to do with the mouth or speaking. When you give an oral report in school, you stand in front of the class and talk. |
Use the adjective oral to describe something that's spoken aloud, like an oral exam or an oral history passed between generations through bedtime stories. Oral is also good for referring to other things you do with your mouth — your dentist may drive you crazy talking about "oral hygiene," or keeping your teeth clean. The roots of the word oral go back to the Latin word for "mouth," which is os. |
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| 6632 |
puritan |
someone who adheres to strict religious principles |
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If your brother calls you a puritan, then he’s saying you’re very moral — possibly too moral. He’s implying that you’re intolerant and look down on others who don’t have your standards. |
The Puritans were a group of English Protestants that formed in the 16th century to bring about religious reform. The Puritans wanted to “purify” the church by following intensely strict religious principles, which earned them the name Puritan. Puritan can still refer to the religious group — in that case it’ll have a capital “P” — but nowadays you’re more likely to hear it used to describe someone who follows a strict moral code and shuns almost all pleasures. |
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| 6633 |
publicize |
make known to people as a whole |
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When you publicize something, you let the whole world know about it. The president might hold a press conference to publicize a new policy, or you might use Facebook to publicize your new relationship status. |
To make something very widely known, or to make an official announcement about it, is to publicize it. Companies publicize new products and sale prices, and politicians publicize the missteps and bad policies of their opponents. The verb publicize was first used at the beginning of the twentieth century, combining public, with its Latin root of publicus, "of the people, common, or general," and the verb-making suffix ize. |
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| 6634 |
anesthetic |
a drug that causes temporary loss of bodily sensations |
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The next time you go to the dentist, make sure you know the word anesthetic. This drug causes a temporary loss of feeling, making it your best friend if the drill has to be used. |
The word anesthetic traces back to the Greek word anaisthēsia, from a combination of an-, meaning “without” and aisthēsis, meaning “sensation.” If you take an anesthetic that’s what happens: you are temporarily without sensation, meaning you feel no pain. A general anesthetic causes temporary unconsciousness and is often used during surgeries. A local anesthetic numbs just one area, such your mouth or a finger. |
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| 6635 |
fax |
duplicator that transmits the copy by wire or radio |
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A fax is a machine that sends a scanned paper copy using a telephone line, and it's also what you call the document itself. When you send someone a fax, their fax machine prints it out for them. |
You might need to send a fax when you're signing an important document long distance: for example, a lease or loan agreement might need to be signed, scanned, and sent as a fax. The word is a verb, too: "I'll fax that to you right away." It's short for facsimile, "exact copy," from the Latin root fac simile, "make similar." The growth of the Internet means that faxes aren't used as often as they once were. |
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| 6636 |
dough |
a flour mixture stiff enough to knead or roll |
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Dough is a thick mixture of flour and other ingredients that can be kneaded, baked, and eaten. Bread dough needs to rise before you bake it in a hot oven. |
Many baked goods begin their lives as dough, including bread, rolls, and some cookies. Dough is stiff enough that you can shape it, pull pieces off of it, stretch it and knead it. Informally, dough can also mean "money." If your friend says, "I make so much dough waiting tables!" he probably means money, not cookie dough. The word comes from an Indo-European root that means "smear" or "knead." |
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| 6637 |
anteroom |
a large entrance or reception area |
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An anteroom is a small room or entryway leading to a larger area. You might wait with a tour group in an anteroom before beginning your tour of a castle. |
You can use the word anteroom as a fancy, old-fashioned way to say "waiting room" or "vestibule." Museum visitors might pause in an anteroom before entering a large gallery, and the butler in an old movie might say, "Please wait in the anteroom." Another word for an anteroom is an antechamber — in fact the French root of both is antichambre, from the Latin anticamera, "room in front." |
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| 6638 |
enlighten |
give spiritual insight to |
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To enlighten someone means to explain something clearly to him. If your friend is behaving strangely but insists she has a reason for it, you could ask her to enlighten you. |
Enlighten comes from the metaphor that ignorance is a state of being "in the dark," and that knowledge is illuminating. We use enlighten as a verb meaning to clear up, to remove confusion. Light is also a powerful metaphor for spiritual insight. If you have a great revelation about the divinity of the world, you could say you have been enlightened. The era known as the "Age of Reason" is also called the Enlightenment. |
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| 6639 |
transmitted |
occurring among members of a family usually by heredity |
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Something transmitted is passed or sent from one place to another. Transmitted messages or signals, for example, might be sent by one person and received by another. |
Start with trans-, which shows up in many words having to do with travel or movement. Something that's transmitted travels from one point to another. A transmitted message might be sent via smoke signal, and transmitted information about your whereabouts can be conveyed through your cellphone. Your blue eyes are evidence of transmitted genetic material. Transmitted, though, is best used for things you can't hold or touch. For those, use transported. |
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| 6640 |
perplex |
be a mystery or bewildering to |
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To perplex someone is to amaze, baffle, bewilder, dumbfound, flummox, mystify, or puzzle them. Perplexing things are hard to understand. |
If you're perplexed, then you're confused. Different things perplex different people. In football, a tricky defense will perplex a quarterback. Complicated formulas can perplex math students. When people do weird things, it can be perplexing. Anything hard to understand might perplex you. Perplexing also means to make something more complicated. So when you see the word perplex, think "Huh?" |
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| 6641 |
nutritious |
of or providing nourishment |
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Nutritious describes food that's good for you. Brown rice and kale are nutritious, but jelly beans, sadly, are not. |
Something that provides nutrients — vitamins, minerals, and protein, for example — is nutritious. Our bodies need nutritious food to grow, heal, and stay healthy, however much we might crave tasty, non-nutritious snacks. The adjective nutritious comes from the Latin word nutritius, "that nourishes," which in turn comes from the root nutrix, "nurse." |
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| 6642 |
wiggle |
move to and fro |
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To wiggle is to move something back and forth. When you dance, you probably wiggle your hips. If you wiggle them too much, your mother might wiggle a finger at you and say "Settle down!" |
Young children wiggle loose teeth until they fall out. Sometimes, if your mom is trying to hold your little brother still, he'll wiggle out of her grasp and run off. Have you ever come across a rule that you don't want to follow? If so, you've probably tried to find some wiggle room, or little ways you could get out of doing what you don't want to do. |
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| 6643 |
inductive |
inducing or influencing; leading on |
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Inductive is a way to describe something that leads to something else, so when applied to reasoning it just means you collect information and draw conclusions from what you observe. |
Logical types may already be familiar with the word inductive as it relates to reasoning. Inductive reasoning is a way to make sense of things by making specific observations and then drawing broad conclusions based on those observations. For example, if you break out in hives every time you eat something with buckwheat flour but you’re fine eating other types of flour, you might use inductive reasoning to conclude you get hives from the buckwheat flour. |
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| 6644 |
slim |
being of delicate or slender build |
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Anything slim is thin or narrow. So, your sister may be considered slim, and you could also have "a slim chance" of winning the lottery. |
Slim people are slender, and slim things are usually delicate, like a slim watch band. You can also use slim to describe a margin or a chance: "There was only a slim likelihood that the home team would win this game." Back in the early 1800s, to slim meant "to do one's work carelessly," and in the seventeenth century, the adjective was also used to mean "sly or crafty." |
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| 6645 |
assiduity |
great and constant diligence and attention |
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When you do something with assiduity, you really focus your attention on it. If you work with assiduity on a research paper, you're sure to get an A. |
If you've ever watched professional tennis, you've seen players focus with assiduity on their game. Diligent students, serious chess players, and successful businessmen all make great use of their assiduity to get what they want and do their best work. The noun assiduity has been around since the fifteenth century, and it comes from the Latin assiduatem, or "continual presence." |
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| 6646 |
beset |
assail or attack on all sides |
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Beset means to attack from all sides––an invading army will beset a castle, or you might find yourself beset by a devastating storm. |
Beset also has a very different meaning: to decorate or encrust with jewels or other ornamentation. If you are attending a ball, you may choose a gown that is beset with silver sequins, just be careful that you don't end up looking like a giant disco ball. |
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| 6647 |
equate |
consider or describe as similar or analogous |
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When you equate one thing with another, you say that they are both the same. You might equate indulging in a hot fudge sundae with giving up on your body entirely, but I would disagree. |
To equate means to make things equal, and it’s a useful word because this is something people do all the time. They equate strong political views with fascism, they equate having lots of money with good taste, and they equate popularity with goodness. Remember, though, that just because you equate one thing with another does not mean that they really are the same! As you have no doubt noticed, equate has the Latin root equ that means "equal, level," so look there if you need a reminder as to its meaning. |
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| 6648 |
clump |
a grouping of a number of similar things |
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A clump is a "bunch" or a "cluster." If you're a gardener, the last thing you want to see is a clump of weeds growing in the middle of your newly groomed lawn. |
Essentially, a clump is a grouping. You might see a clump of sheep grazing in a field or you might throw a clump of clothes into the washing machine. Clump can also mean lump, like when you find a clump of grass stuck to your shoe. As a verb, clump means "to gather," as in "a flock of birds clumped together in a tree." |
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| 6649 |
ill-natured |
having an irritable and unpleasant disposition |
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Someone who's ill-natured is cranky and disagreeable. Most fairy tales have at least one ill-natured antagonist, an evil stepmother or a ferocious ogre. |
Mean and nasty people are sometimes just plain ill-natured — it's not in their nature to be generous and cheerful. Your ill-natured cat probably scratches anyone who tries to pet her. Bad kitty. This unfriendly adjective combines ill-, "badly" or "not well," with natured, from nature and its "innate disposition" meaning. The Latin root is natura, "natural character or quality." |
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| 6650 |
tethered |
confined or restricted with or as if with a rope or chain |
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Tethered describes something that's tied up, like a horse that's tethered to a fence or a dog that's tethered to the person who is walking it. |
Whenever you confine a person or an animal to keep them in one place, they're tethered. A bank robber might leave his hostages tethered together in the vault, and you might keep your fence-jumping dog tethered to the porch when she's out in your yard. The root word is the Old Norse tjoðr, tether, which was used only as a noun to describe the rope that ties animals until the late 15th century, when the verb form developed. |
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| 6651 |
scare |
cause fear in |
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Scare is a verb that means frighten or intimidate. You might be embarrassed to admit that you don't want to go to the beach with your friends because of how much seagulls scare you. |
Questions on a test you're unprepared for might scare you, and so might a barking dog. To scare is to spook, startle, or cause fear, and what scares your best friend most (like losing his job) might not be what would scare you more than anything (like discovering a huge snake in your shower). You can also use scare as a noun, as in "It gave me such a scare when all my friends jumped out and yelled, 'Surprise!'" |
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| 6652 |
hectic |
marked by intense activity or agitation |
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Things that are hectic tend to be happen quickly and all at once — that's why a hectic day makes people nervous. |
Think about a calm, beautiful island with the sun shining and nothing to do but read a book. That kind of peacefulness is the opposite of hectic. When things get hectic, people sometimes say things are getting crazy or bananas: events are happening too fast for us to keep up, so we tend to get agitated or even angry. Because there's so much work to do, being a student is often a hectic job. |
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| 6653 |
shiny |
reflecting light |
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Shiny describes something with a smooth, glossy surface. If you want to see your reflection in the glass table, you'll have to polish it to keep it shiny. |
Something shiny has a shine, a brightness that comes from reflecting light. Are you into shiny new cars, or shiny diamonds? Or do you like shiny, happy people? Good synonyms are lustrous, sheeny and glossy. |
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| 6654 |
vivify |
give new life or energy to |
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When you vivify something, you bring new excitement or life to it. If you decide to liven up your boring apartment by painting the walls every color of the rainbow, you can say that you're trying to vivify your home. |
You might vivify your family's meals by experimenting with exotic spices or vivify your school by hiring circus performers to ride unicycles up and down the halls. The Latin root word of vivify is vivus, or "alive," which is also the origin of the closely related word vivid. |
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| 6655 |
gull |
aquatic bird having long pointed wings and short legs |
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You know those birds that hang out by the ocean, and grab your sandwich if you aren't paying attention? Those are gulls, also known as sea gulls. Gulls are found in every continent, including Antarctica. |
The noun gull has two very distinct definitions. Gulls are shore birds, of course, but lesser-used meaning of the word is "a person who is easy to fool." Your little brother might be a gull if you can trick him into doing your chores along with his own. You may know the related word gullible, which describes a willingness to believe anything, without questioning whether it is true. |
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| 6656 |
bully |
discourage or frighten with threats or a domineering manner |
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You might still have terrifying dreams about the bully who harassed you on the playground in second grade. A bully is someone who intimidates people, usually those who are weaker or smaller. |
The classic example of a bully is a mean kid in a schoolyard who hassles or beats up younger students. While a child or a teenager can be a bully, so is anyone who uses power or strength to scare or harm other people. The word bully has gone through a mysterious evolution, from the 1530s when it meant "sweetheart," through the 17th century's meanings of "fine fellow," then "blusterer," and finally "harasser of the weak." |
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| 6657 |
trill |
a note that alternates with another note a semitone above it |
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If you're fluent in Spanish, you are probably able to speak with a trill, or a fluttering r sound. |
Many languages include a trill in their pronunciation, the sound of a consonant spoken while the tongue vibrates in a very specific way against the teeth or roof of the mouth. To pronounce this sound is also to trill. The word originally referred to a vibrating or warbling sound made by a singer, from the Italian word trillio, "a quavering or warbling," and it's also often used to describe the sound a bird makes. |
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| 6658 |
gloomy |
depressingly dark |
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Gloomy means "dark and dreary." A cloudy day, a sad song about lost love, your downbeat mood after your team loses a big game — all of these can be called gloomy. |
Have you ever been called a Gloomy Gus? If so, you must have been acting depressed or sulky. But you aren't the first to be called that — after all, Gloomy Gus was a comic book character who first appeared in 1904. By the 1940s, this nickname caught on, describing — and possibly adding to the misery — of those who are less happy-seeming than the people around them. |
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| 6659 |
unrelated |
lacking a logical or causal linkage |
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Unrelated is a good way to describe things that aren't connected or linked in any way. You might insist that your dented car bumper is unrelated to your neighbor's smashed mailbox. |
Things that have no connection are unrelated: your excellent test grade is unrelated to the shoes your wore on the day you took it, and your inability remember the name of the movie you just watched is unrelated to the fact that the sun is shining. You can also describe two people who aren't in the same family as unrelated. The Latin root is relatus, a past participle of referre, "bring back." |
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| 6660 |
assign |
select something or someone for a specific purpose |
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To assign is to specify something or someone for a specific purpose. If your sisters fight over whose turn it is to sit in the front seat, your parents may have to assign turns. |
The verb assign also means to transfer legal rights. You assign the deed to your house to new owners when you sell it. If you sort things into categories by characteristics, you are assigning them categories. When you make a budget, you assign each expense a category. Food and housing, for example, may be essential living expenses and medicine and doctor's visits may be health care. Chocolate gets its own category. |
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| 6661 |
commute |
a regular journey to and from your place of work |
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A commute is a journey you take from home to work and back again. You might enjoy your subway commute because it gives you lots of time to read. |
Your commute is your trip to work, and the verb commute describes making that trip — like your preference to commute by public bus. Another meaning of commute describes changing the length of a judicial sentence, like when a judge commutes someone's time in jail. You can see this meaning in the word's origin — the Latin word commutare, meaning "to change altogether." |
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| 6662 |
burdensome |
not easily borne or endured; causing hardship |
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Something that's burdensome is very difficult or tiring. It's better to weed your garden regularly, rather than put it off until it becomes an exhausting, burdensome task. |
Some summer jobs are easy and relaxing, like your laid-back dog walking business — other jobs are much more burdensome, like babysitting a large family of kids or lifeguarding at a pool where people keep nearly drowning. Something that's a burden, a physical load or a duty that weighs heavily on you, is burdensome. The Proto-Indo-European root means "to bear" or "to carry," and also "to give birth." |
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| 6663 |
revert |
go back to a previous state |
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While revert means to return to something earlier or to go back, it's often used wrongly in combination. If you're buying the older version of the game, you might say you're "reverting back," which is like saying "go back back." |
Revert has been around since the early 14th century, and it has changed little in meaning from the original "turn back" and "return." You can revert to a simpler way of life or revert to bad behavior. Software users might revert to an older version of a program with fewer bugs. Though rare in modern use, some international English speakers do use "revert back" for "reply" in writing and e-mail, but most of the time, using revert with "back" is redundant, or repetitive. |
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| 6664 |
superfluity |
extreme excess |
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A superfluity is an excess or abundance. When you encounter superfluity, there's too much of something. |
When something is superfluous, it's unnecessary or redundant: there's already enough of it. Likewise, superfluity is too much of something. If your friend is a shopoholic and spends all of her time at the mall, you probably encounter superfluity in her closet — since she has more clothes than she will ever wear. The Latin root word is superfluus, which is used figuratively to mean "unnecessary," but is literally "overflowing." |
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| 6665 |
subtlety |
the quality of being difficult to detect or analyze |
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Subtlety is the quality of being understated, delicate, or nuanced. You can really appreciate the subtlety of your gothic friend's art if you can distinguish among many different shades of black. |
The Latin root of subtle and subtlety originally meant "finely woven" and was used to describe fabric. The subtlety of an argument is in the fine weave of the words and thoughts that it is made up of. When translating, you often lose the subtleties of the original language, the interlacing of word, idea and connotation. When you're trying to persuade your parents of something, subtlety might get you further than outright demands. |
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| 6666 |
streamline |
contour economically or efficiently |
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When you streamline something, you're simplifying it to make it more efficient or profitable. |
When you think of streamlining, think of a bunch of streams coming together to form one stream. This word is about taking something complicated with a lot of parts and turning it into a simpler, sleeker thing. When companies streamline, they cut staff and reorganize to make the business run more smoothly and make more money. When an engineer streamlines a car design, he takes out all the unnecessary parts and makes the engine more efficient. |
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| 6667 |
sensitivity |
responsiveness to emotional feelings |
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Sensitivity has many shades of meaning but most relate to your response to your environment — either physical or emotional. Sensitivity to cold means you’re quick to notice the slightest chill — in the air or in another person’s actions. |
A sensitivity to pollen means you’re sneezing any time it’s in the air — you just always seem to react to it. It’s the same with emotions — sensitivity means you pick up on the feelings of others. If you have great sensitivity to your classmates, then you’re aware of their needs and behave in a way that makes them feel good. If you introduce a new policy with sensitivity, that means you consider how others will react to it. |
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| 6668 |
interference |
the act of hindering or obstructing or impeding |
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Interference is something that is in your way. If the sound of your sister's band practicing keeps you from getting your homework done, that’s interference. |
Governments are sometimes accused of interference in other countries' affairs. If your neighbor’s in a civil war and your president sends in troops, your country may be accused of interference in that country's internal affairs, If all you hear on your radio is static, you’ve got interference — something is blocking the clear signal. And when a football player blocks another player, that's also interference. The Latin roots of interference are entre-, “between,” and ferire, “strike.” |
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| 6669 |
external |
happening or arising outside some limits or surface |
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If, as a kid, you didn’t get what you wanted on your birthday, you were probably told that external, or outward, things can’t bring happiness. (It’s a noble idea, but it’s still up for debate, at least in some circles.) |
External contains the prefix ex- meaning “out of.” It shares this prefix with a number of other words including extraterrestrial (meaning “outside of Earth’s limits") and exclude (meaning “keep someone out”). The opposite of external is internal; again, as you’ve probably been told, it’s the internal things that really matter. What we’re wondering is: Does that include the leather interior in our dream convertible? |
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| 6670 |
courageous |
able to face and deal with danger or fear without flinching |
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If you are a courageous person, you face danger or stand up against the odds without flinching. Known as "The Man without Fear," Daredevil is regarded as a very courageous superhero. |
The adjective courageous derives from the Old French word corage, meaning "heart, innermost feelings, or temper." In fairytales, the courageous knight battles the fire breathing dragon to save the princess. In recognition of their courageous actions, soldiers who have been wounded or killed while serving are given the Purple Heart medal. |
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| 6671 |
convalescence |
gradual healing through rest after sickness or injury |
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When someone has been severely hurt or very ill, they must go through a period of convalescence during which they rest and recuperate in order to regain their strength and health. Convalescence varies depending on the severity of the problem. |
The Latin convalēscere means "to regain health." The actual period of convalescence is from when you first get sick until your complete recovery. Convalescence for an illness is often accompanied by various medicines, the most effective of which often include TLC and hot chicken soup. Playwright George Bernard Shaw once quipped, "I enjoy convalescence. It is the part that makes the illness worth while." |
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| 6672 |
distinguishable |
capable of being perceived as different or distinct |
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Something that's distinguishable can be detected or observed, especially as being separate or different from something else. The one chocolate sea salt doughnut in the box will be easily distinguishable from the plain doughnuts. |
In some people with color blindness, red isn't distinguishable from green — in other words, it can't be perceived as a different, separate color. You might complain that the policies of your city's new mayor, despite her promises, are barely distinguishable from those of her predecessor. The verb distinguish is at the heart of this adjective, and it comes from the Latin distinguere, "to separate between." |
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| 6673 |
backdrop |
scenery hung at back of stage |
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A backdrop is the scenery that hangs behind the actors in a play. You might help to paint the backdrop for your school's production of "The Sound of Music." |
The backdrop is an important part of a theater production, since it provides a setting for a play or sets a mood for a musical performance. If you're watching a local version of "Oliver!" the backdrop might be designed to look like a London street scene, for example. The noun backdrop comes from US theater slang, from a combination of back and drop around 1913. |
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| 6674 |
execration |
hate coupled with disgust |
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The noun execration means an angry denouncement or curse. A protester's furious execration of the police might end up getting her arrested. |
Use the word execration when you talk about something that's yelled or muttered angrily. When you declare, "May the god Apollo strike you down for saying that!" it's an execration. The person at whom you hurl the execration can also be called an execration, or an object of condemnation. The root word is execrari, which means "to hate or curse" in Latin. |
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| 6675 |
plod |
walk heavily and firmly, as when weary, or through mud |
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When you plod, you walk slowly, heavily, and deliberately. You might need to plod through the snow to get to the bus stop on time. |
Plod evokes a difficulty in walking — like when you trudge through mud or walk slowly up a steep hill. You might plod home at the end of a long day, or plod through an overgrown field on a hot afternoon. You can also use plod figuratively, to mean "work on something boring or monotonous." The origin of plod is unknown, but it may have come from the sound of feet on the ground — the sound you make when you plod. |
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| 6676 |
therapeutic |
tending to cure or restore to health |
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Whether you’re talking about a therapeutic drug or a therapeutic exercise plan, something that is therapeutic helps to heal or to restore health. |
The adjective therapeutic can be traced all the way back to the Greek word therapeutikos (from therapeuein, meaning “to attend” or “to treat”). Although the word relates to healing or soothing, therapeutic isn’t reserved only for drugs or medical treatments. You’ve probably heard particular activities referred to as therapeutic, which just means that doing that activity makes you feel rejuvenated. You might consider shopping for shoes, for example, to be a therapeutic activity — at least until the credit card bill arrives. |
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| 6677 |
entwine |
wind or twist together |
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To entwine is to twist and tangle or weave together. When you hold hands with someone, you entwine your fingers together. |
A long-haired girl can entwine flowers in her curls, and she might love it when her pet snake entwines around her arm. When you knit a scarf, you entwine different colors of yarn together. There is also a figurative way to entwine: "Ever since I met you, I knew that our lives would entwine together!" Entwine combines the prefix en-, "make," and twine, "twisted strands," from the Old English twin, "double thread." |
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| 6678 |
flirt |
talk or behave amorously, without serious intentions |
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If you're interested in someone romantically, you might flirt with them, which means to chat them up or tease them in a playful way. |
Flirting is an indirect and fun way to let your crush know you're interested, like a seductive line or a few coy words. Or if there's a girl you've had your eye on, you might make a point of walking by her desk and saying hello every morning. But even if you don't have a love interest, you can still flirt. Driving carelessly is flirting with disaster: it's almost like you're toying with the idea of getting into an accident. |
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| 6679 |
trusting |
inclined to believe or confide readily |
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If you're trusting, you tend to believe what people tell you. A trusting friend will tell you her deepest secrets and trust that you'll keep them to yourself. |
Use the adjective trusting to describe people who always see the best in others. A trusting child believes everything you tell him and follows where you lead. A trusting dog will follow your commands and stick by your side. The verb trust means "to believe or have faith," and both words come from the Old Norse traust, "help or confidence," and are closely related to the Old English treowe, "have faith or confidence." |
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| 6680 |
solidify |
become firm |
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To solidify is to make something solid, like water becoming ice, or a plan becoming more concrete. If you’re meeting a friend, you should solidify the plan before you go and decide where and what time to meet. |
To solidify is to become a solid, like lemonade solidifying into a popsicle, or dissolved sugar solidifying into yummy rock candy. Also, this word can apply to non-physical things. If a couple gets engaged, they're solidifying their relationship. Getting a promotion could solidify your career. Anything becoming firmer or more real is a type of solidifying. In any sense, whatever gets solidified becomes stronger. |
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| 6681 |
portrayal |
any likeness of a person, in any medium |
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If you like the way an actor played the role of Abraham Lincoln, you might praise his portrayal of the sixteenth president. |
Use the noun portrayal to describe the representation of someone, either in the form of a dramatic character, a spoken description, or even a photograph or painting of the person. You can also talk about the portrayal of an object or idea: "Dorothea Lange's photographs are an accurate portrayal of the Great Depression." The Old French word portraire, "to draw or trace," is the root of portrayal. |
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| 6682 |
understate |
represent as less significant or important |
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One way to think about the verb understate is as the opposite of "exaggerate." If you want to make something seem smaller or less important than it really is, you're likely to understate it. |
If you don't want your grandmother to worry about you, you might be tempted to understate, or downplay, the trouble you've had finding a new job. Business owners might understate their financial problems when they're applying for a bank loan, and a new student might understate her experience speaking French so as not to embarrass her inept French teacher. |
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| 6683 |
indistinguishable |
exactly alike; incapable of being perceived as different |
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If you can't tell the difference between two things, they're indistinguishable — they appear the same. Although their parents can tell them apart, identical twins are indistinguishable to most people. |
It's easy to see which of two bills is worth twenty dollars and which is Monopoly money, but a professionally counterfeited bill is indistinguishable from a real one. One of the earliest uses of this word was by Shakespeare around 1600, when he gave it the meaning "of indeterminate shape." The definition evolved, first to "not clearly perceived," and then finally to "incapable of being told apart." |
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| 6684 |
tart |
tasting sour like a lemon |
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A tart is small pie filled with fruit or custard, with no top crust, like the cherry tarts you bought at the bakery. |
As an adjective, tart describes a sour taste, like lemon, or harsh words, like your friend's tart reply to a question that makes her mad. In the 19th century, tart was British slang for "pretty woman." Some believe it is a shortening of "sweetheart." But by the end of that century, tart described a prostitute, something many language scholars trace back to the tart that you get at the bakery. |
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| 6685 |
vengeful |
disposed to seek revenge or intended for revenge |
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Hope that there's no one out there who has vengeful feelings toward you, or wants to get back at you for something that you've done to them. A vengeful person is out for revenge. |
You might have noticed that the words vengeful and revenge look somewhat similar. That's because their meanings are. The word vengeful is used to describe the feelings of revenge someone has toward another person or group who has done them wrong in the past. Think about Hamlet or Ben-Hur — those dudes were certainly vengeful. |
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| 6686 |
raucous |
unpleasantly loud and harsh |
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Raucous means unpleasantly loud, or behaving in a noisy and disorderly way. It can be hard to give an oral report in the front of a classroom when the kids in the back are being raucous. |
Raucous is often used to refer to loud laughter, loud voices, or a loud party, all of which can be harsh or unpleasant. Near synonyms are strident and rowdy. This adjective is from Latin raucus "hoarse." Think of raucous as people whose hoarseness can't come on too soon. |
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| 6687 |
fop |
a man who is overly concerned with his dress and appearance |
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If you know someone who's obsessed with how he looks and what he's wearing, you can call him a fop. If you're a fop, you make sure you're always well dressed. |
A fop spends hours grooming himself in front of the mirror and spends a lot of money on nice clothes. You might also call him a "dandy" or a "clotheshorse." The word fop meant "foolish person" in the mid-1600s and was probably related to the now-obsolete verb of the same name, meaning "make a fool of." By 1670, a fop was a fool who was focused specifically on his clothing. |
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| 6688 |
merchandise |
commodities offered for sale |
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The noun merchandise refers to things that can be bought or sold, like the merchandise that's for sale at your local record shop, or the merchandise sold by sidewalk vendors in a big city. |
When you go into a store, you're surrounded by merchandise, whether it's food, clothing, or books. Goods that can be bought or sold are merchandise, and so are items connected with a particular movie or music group — like the t-shirts you can buy at a rock concert's merchandise booth. Merchandise is also a verb, meaning "to promote or advertise" — "Retail stores merchandise goods using displays, signs, or mannequins." |
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| 6689 |
excruciating |
extremely painful |
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Something that’s really intense or painful is excruciating. If you go skiing and break your leg in several places, the ride from the slope to the hospital will be excruciating — unless you're unconscious, too. |
Excruciating doesn't just hurt. It feels like torture. This adjective actually comes to us from the Latin excruciatus, which means “to afflict, harass, vex, torment.” Extremely painful injuries are certainly excruciating, but sometimes so are tedious tasks or long waits: Watching the old lady in front of you pay for her groceries one nickel at a time can be just as excruciating as 4 broken ribs, especially if you're in a hurry. |
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| 6690 |
likelihood |
the probability of a specified outcome |
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The likelihood of something means the odds that it will happen, or how likely a particular outcome is. Your likelihood of winning the lottery is pretty slim. |
If you figured out the likelihood of winning the lottery before you bought a scratch ticket, you might end up spending your money on something else. Likelihood indicates probability or chance. The likelihood that you'll convince your stubborn dog to get in your car completely depends on how many dog treats you've got in your pocket. |
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| 6691 |
enterprising |
marked by initiative and readiness to undertake new projects |
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If you are enterprising, you are creative and show initiative. Were you the kid who bought candy before school and sold it during school at a profit? If so, you were an enterprising little one. |
Though it has the word, enterprise, in it and is often used to describe people who set up businesses to fill a need, enterprising can be used for any kind of display of creative initiative. Kids who decide on their own to build a skate park are enterprising, as is a dance company that is able to perform a piece on a shoestring budget. |
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| 6692 |
dextrous |
skillful in physical movements, especially of the hands |
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If you're dextrous, you're graceful and skilled. A dextrous magician can wave her hands around and appear to pull a rabbit out of thin air. |
When you're dextrous, you have a physical skill — you could be a dextrous football player or a dextrous bass guitarist. You can also describe someone as dextrous who's a quick or clever thinker: "Her jokes are hilarious because she's really verbally dextrous." You can also spell this word as dexterous, and both versions have a Latin root, dexter, "skillful." |
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| 6693 |
transnational |
involving or operating in several countries |
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A transnational company operates in more than one country. A transnational chain of coffee shops, for example, might have cafes in the United States, England, Spain, and China. |
Use the adjective transnational to describe companies, policies, languages, or anything else that exists in several nations at the same time. A transnational human rights law could affect every developed country in the world, for instance. Another way to say transnational is international or multinational. The definition of the Latin prefix trans, however, gives a clear clue to the word's meaning: "across, beyond, or to go beyond." |
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| 6694 |
rationale |
an explanation of the fundamental reasons |
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The rationale for something is the basic or underlying reason or explanation for it. This noun (pronounced "rash-uh-NAL") is usually used in the singular: What was the rationale behind his decision to quit? |
The related adjective rational means "based on facts or reason" or "having the ability to think clearly." An example of a rational rationale? You add extra baking soda to pancake batter under the rationale that if you want them to be fluffier, you need more rising agent. Rationale is from Latin, from rationalis "relating to reason," from ratio "calculation, reason," from rērī "to consider, think." |
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| 6695 |
approachable |
easy to reach |
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Celebrities who are friendly and easy to talk to are often described as approachable. It means they are nice and open, so you can easily approach them and say hello. |
A text is approachable if a reader feels like it's easy to understand and connect with. Approachable also describes how you approach, or get to a location. If your school is located deep in the woods, it might only be approachable by one road. In the winter, that road had better stay plowed or your school won't be approachable by anyone at all. |
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| 6696 |
prejudiced |
showing bias or bigotry or influenced by preconceived ideas |
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If you've decided that you don't like or trust someone before you've actually met them, you're prejudiced. It's unfortunately common to have prejudiced views of people who are different from you. |
It's prejudiced to have negative opinions about people because of their gender, religion, skin color, or the language they speak. It's equally prejudiced to say things like "She can't be very smart — her family is poor" or "They are so old, there's no way they'll think this movie is funny." Each of these statements reveals an unfair, preconceived idea of what someone is like based on one personal characteristic. |
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| 6697 |
disregard |
lack of attention and due care |
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If everyone at the city council meeting tends to disregard anything that's said by the eccentric gentleman with the parrot on his shoulder, it means that no one pays any attention to him. |
To disregard something is to ignore it, or to deliberately pay it no attention. Sometimes the word is used to mean "neglect," implying that something important is not being taken care of. Disregard can also be a noun; you could complain that your family has a complete disregard for your privacy when they gather outside your bedroom door to eavesdrop on your telephone conversations. |
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| 6698 |
antecede |
be earlier in time; go back further |
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When one event antecedes another, it comes first. In an election year, party primaries typically antecede the general election. |
You can use the verb antecede to mean "come before" or "occur earlier." A more common word with the same meaning is precede. You could say that in your cookie recipe, creaming the butter and sugar together antecedes adding the flour. The word comes from the Latin antecedere, "to go before," from ante-, "before," and cedere, "to yield." |
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| 6699 |
lob |
propel in a high arc |
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When you lob something, you throw it up very high. If you lob a baseball from the outfield to the pitcher, you hurl it in an arc that ends right where the pitcher can catch it. |
If you propel an object in an arc, you lob it — a soldier might lob a missile at the enemy, and a protester might lob a rock at a crowd. Tennis players can lob a ball by hitting it up and over the net. Today the noun lob means a throw (or hit) that follows an arc, but in the 14th century a lob was a "lazy lout," and in the 16th century it was "a lumpish thing." |
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| 6700 |
stubborn |
tenaciously unwilling to yield |
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Use the adjective stubborn to describe someone who is not open to new ideas or ways of doing things, like your uncle who refuses to listen to any music made after 1990. Stubborn is the opposite of flexible. |
The Middle English version of stubborn carried the sense of “untamable, implacable,” and there’s still a hint of that in how it is used today. A stubborn person holds on to a view or an attitude, refusing to change — to the point of being unreasonable. Things can also be stubborn, like a stain that no amount of scrubbing can clean or a medical condition that, even with treatment, doesn't improve. |
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| 6701 |
portent |
a sign of something about to happen |
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While you might love crows, your father will shudder when he sees them if he superstitiously believes they're a portent — a sign or warning — of death. |
A portent is an omen of something momentous, which can be good, but is more often negative. You can use portent to mean a magical foretelling or symbol, but you can also use it to talk about something real, the way you could describe big, dark storm clouds as a portent of a thunderstorm. |
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| 6702 |
rigor |
excessive sternness |
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When a school boasts of its academic rigor, it means its students learn a lot and work really hard. Rigor means thoroughness and exhaustiveness––the gold standard for a good teacher. |
You may have heard of "rigor mortis"––which is a medical term describing the stiffness of a body after death. Rigor used to mean stiffness outside of the corpse context, i.e., sternness. The word changes meaning along with our changing standards for what we want teachers to be. |
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| 6703 |
degeneration |
the process of declining from a higher to a lower level |
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Degeneration is a process of decline. Anything that’s getting worse is going through degeneration. A grand old mansion that’s now abandoned and covered with weeds is in a state of degeneration. |
When something degenerates, it gets worse in some way, like a house that’s slowly sinking in the mud. This process of decline is called degeneration. The word is from the Latin word degenerare which means "to be inferior to one's ancestors.” Ouch. Now degeneration refers to anything in a state of decline, such as a friendship that was strong and now barely exists. |
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| 6704 |
registration |
the act of enrolling |
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Registration is the act of enrolling in something, like a school. There is also registration for voters and drivers and people attending a conference. |
In life, there are some things anybody can do at any time; for other things you have to go through registration first. Registration is the process of signing up or enrolling in something. Colleges make students go through registration to sign up for new classes. There is a registration process for voting: if you haven't registered, you can't vote. Registration usually involves some paperwork and waiting in line. No one enjoys registration, but it's something we all have to do. |
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| 6705 |
stagnation |
a state of inactivity |
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Stagnation is the state of being still, or not moving, like a sitting puddle of water where stagnation attracts mosquitoes. |
The root of stagnation is the Latin word for "standing water," stagnatum. The stagnation of water can be a serious problem in parts of the world where mosquitoes spread diseases like malaria, or where there is a shortage of drinkable water. There are also other kinds of stagnation, or inactivity — like a struggling country's economic stagnation or a writer's mental stagnation that results in writer's block. |
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| 6706 |
stockpile |
something kept back or saved for future use |
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A stockpile is a large amount of something that you save for later. If you're worried about running out of your favorite flavor of bubble gum, you might decide to keep a stockpile of it. |
If you hear the word stockpile on the news, it's probably referring to weapons which are accumulated and saved by a country that might need to use them some day in the future. You can use stockpile to describe the actual cache of weapons and also as a verb, to describe the act of storing them. The word was originally a mining term that literally described a pile of ore. During World War II, stockpile became a more general term. |
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| 6707 |
flawless |
without a weakness or defect |
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Flawless is an adjective that means "without any imperfections," like your flawless vocal performance — not one mistake. That's why the choir teacher gave you an A+. |
In flawless you can see the word flaw, which means "a fault." So something that is flawless is free of faults, perfect. If you've never gotten in any kind of trouble, your record is flawless. Antique car collectors look for that flawless model — no dents, dings, or signs that anyone had even sat in it. |
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| 6708 |
pronouncement |
an authoritative declaration |
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A pronouncement is an official announcement, like the kind politicians make. It’s formal and comes from someone in charge. The mayor of your town might make a pronouncement about the importance of not littering. |
When you make a pronouncement, you're certain about what you're saying and say it with authority. A school principal's pronouncement about not running in the halls might be broadcast over the intercom so everyone can hear it. A big brother might make a pronouncement about what’s for dinner. Feel free to ignore him, but not the principal or the mayor, unless you want to get in trouble. Pronouncement comes from the Latin word pronuntiare, "to proclaim or announce." |
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| 6709 |
twain |
two items of the same kind |
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If you want an old-fashioned way to talk about two things, use the noun twain. You might lament that your pair of dogs was divided in twain when you had to give one of them away. |
The word twain is hardly ever used these days, so you're most likely to see it in an old book of poetry, or in the phrase "never the twain shall meet." This saying means that two people — or groups of people — are so unlike each other that they'll never manage to see things the same way. The origin of twain is the Old English word for two, twegen. |
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| 6710 |
midway |
at half the distance; at the middle |
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Anything midway between two points is halfway between them. A midway is also a place at a carnival where sideshow entertainment is located. |
Being midway is being at a midpoint or the center. If you're halfway between home and school, you're midway between those two places. At the end of sophomore year, you're midway through high school. Another type of midway is part of a fair or carnival. On the midway, you'll find sideshow amusements such as a bearded lady, a snake charmer, or someone swallowing a sword. |
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| 6711 |
electric |
using or providing the flow of charge through a conductor |
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Things that are electric are either powered by electricity — like a battery-operated flashlight — or produce or transmit electricity — like an electric generator. |
The word electric, indicating something charged with electricity, was used long before electricity was fully understood or harnessed as a form of power in the nineteenth century. In the seventeenth century, for example, materials like wool that produced sparks of static electricity when rubbed were termed electric by scientists, and the figurative meaning of the word was also used. Figuratively, electric can describe something exciting or brightly colored, as in "electric atmosphere" or "electric green." |
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| 6712 |
combustible |
capable of igniting and burning |
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Combustible means "able to catch fire," like matches or the extremely dry forest floors that people sometimes forget are combustible — until they go up in flames. |
When the adjective combustible first entered the English language in the sixteenth century, it was used to describe things that burn easily. The word soon came to apply not only to objects that ignite but also to tempers that are prone to "catch fire" easily. If you’ve ever been around a person who has a combustible temper, you can understand the connection. |
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| 6713 |
counseling |
something that provides direction or advice |
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When you go for counseling, you're getting advice to help you make a decision or figure out what to do. Before getting married, you and your intended may see your minister for counseling about how to have a happy marriage. |
Usually counseling takes the form of talking with someone who has experience or training in specific areas where you need help. For example, if you need financial counseling, you'll find an expert in managing money. People who go to therapy with a psychologist or psychiatrist, to get help with whatever is bothering them, may also refer to that therapy as counseling. Counseling comes from the Latin root consilium, meaning "advice." |
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| 6714 |
pagan |
a person following a polytheistic or pre-Christian religion |
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You could be considered a pagan if you don't believe in religion or you worship more than one god. |
The original pagans were followers of an ancient religion that worshiped several gods (polytheistic). Today, pagan is used to describe someone who doesn't go to synagogue, church, or mosque. It could be that they worship several gods at once, or they have no interest in a god at all. Religious people sometimes use pagan as a put-down to describe the unreligious as godless and uncivilized. |
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| 6715 |
favorable |
encouraging or approving or pleasing |
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The word favorable describes something positive or promising, such as a two-thumbs-up movie review or the perfect conditions for golf. |
When things are going well, or in your favor, they’re favorable. Favorable is an adjective that describes approval or good conditions for something. If you wrote a book, you’d want the reviews to be favorable. If the weather is favorable, it's sunny out and perfect for a picnic. If you wanted to go swimming, thunderstorms would be unfavorable: they would ruin your plans. Favorable situations make us smile. |
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| 6716 |
estimable |
deserving of respect or high regard |
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Something or someone estimable is worthy of respect and admiration. Many U.S. presidents might be described as estimable, though it depends on who you ask. |
This is a word for people who deserve respect. A hardworking scholar who has written several books might be estimable. Things can be estimable, too. You might describe an impressive book, restaurant, or film as estimable. Estimable is related to esteem, which can be used to mean “regard highly.” Being estimable is the opposite of being disgraceful. |
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| 6717 |
pillory |
a wooden instrument of punishment on a post |
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A pillory is a wooden frame with cutouts for someone's head and hands. Long ago, people found guilty of a crime could be sentenced to be locked in a pillory for a certain amount of time for punishment but also for public humiliation. |
The verb pillory means to be punished by being locked in a pillory, but references to this form of punishment are historic and it is no longer used — you might see references today to someone in a pillory in a cartoon. As a modern verb, pillory means both to criticize harshly and to expose to public ridicule. Someone who is caught doing something immoral may be pilloried and people who believe they have been unfairly criticized say they have been pilloried, but often only after they've been exposed! |
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| 6718 |
regimen |
a systematic plan for therapy |
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A regimen is a systematic plan for some kind of therapy. If your doctor tells you to eat more vegetables, cut out potato chips, exercise, and take vitamins, he is prescribing a regimen for better health. |
It's easy to confuse regimen with regime, which means a ruling government. Both words involve things that you follow. If you wash your face twice a day, apply medicine to your acne, and use a special lotion, that's your "skin-care regimen." A skin-care regime would be armed dermatologists taking over the government. |
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| 6719 |
glorify |
praise or honor |
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To glorify is to praise or honor something or someone to an extreme degree. |
If you like someone, you might compliment or praise them, but glorifying takes that a step further. When something is glorified, it is praised to the highest degree possible. It seems right that great people like Martin Luther King and Gandhi are glorified. It can seem odd when athletes are glorified just for playing a game. Often this word is used in a negative sense. For example, a movie with lots of explosions could be said "to glorify violence." |
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| 6720 |
pile |
a collection of objects laid on top of each other |
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A pile is a heap of stuff that keeps accumulating, like the dirty laundry in the back of your closet, or Uncle Scrooge’s money. |
Pile can be used as a noun or a verb. If you pile rocks on top of each other, you will eventually have a...pile of rocks. Unlike the word stack, pile implies that your heap of stuff is fairly messy. It can also mean cram. When eight people pile into a car with only five seats, they’re likely to be pretty much squashed. |
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| 6721 |
discouraged |
lacking in resolution |
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If you work and work on a project and never seem to make any progress, you may feel discouraged, meaning your enthusiasm and optimism have been replaced by doubt and negativity. |
If you’ve ever felt discouraged, you won’t be surprised to learn that the word’s French origins refer to courage that has being taken away. The adjective describes people who no longer feel that good things will happen, such as discouraged job-seekers, who despite sending hundreds of applications to prospective employers, never get any responses. They may have "lost the courage" to keep looking for work. |
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| 6722 |
smirk |
smile affectedly or derisively |
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A smirk is specific kind of smile, one that suggests self-satisfaction, smugness, or even pleasure at someone else's unhappiness or misfortune. |
Smirk can function as either a noun or a verb: "Wipe that smirk off your face. Don't smirk at me, buddy: you're gonna get yours next!" A smirk implies you think you're better than the person you're smirking at. Ever heard of the term "service with a smile"? Yeah, well, there's a reason it's not "service with a smirk." |
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| 6723 |
entrails |
internal organs collectively |
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Use the word entrails when you want to refer — in a not too gory way — to the internal organs of a person or animal, particularly a dead one. |
If the inner parts of an animal are exposed, you can call them its entrails. The organs, particularly the intestines, are collectively known as an animal's entrails, and it's more common to refer to them this way if they're visible or removed from the body. Sometimes the noun entrails is used to mean the inside of something else, like the entrails of a street that's been dug up and exposed. The Latin interanea, or "internal," is the root of entrails. |
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| 6724 |
adhesion |
the property of sticking together |
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Dab some Krazy Glue onto a surface and you'll see how powerful its properties of adhesion, or stickiness, are. Similarly, someone who sticks to a cause no matter what has a really strong adhesion or commitment to that cause. |
Adhesion comes from the Latin adhaesionem meaning "a sticking to," a translation that perfectly captures that adhesive quality. Objects can be characterized by their adhesion — like Scotch tape or Velcro. Similarly, when you see a group of protesters camped outside the Capital fighting for a cause, it's their adhesion (or dedication) that keeps them stuck there rain or shine. In medicine, adhesion is used to describe abnormal bands of scar tissue that might form after a surgery. |
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| 6725 |
scrimmage |
practice play between a football team's squads |
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A scrimmage is a practice — not an official game — in American football, hockey, and in other team sports. |
You might think of football when you hear the word scrimmage, because the ball is placed on the "line of scrimmage" at the start of a play. A scrimmage is also a practice between two squads. You can also use scrimmage as a verb for other types of practicing. A basketball player might scrimmage by shooting one hundred free throws, for example. Originally, scrimmage was a variation on the word skirmish, and meant "a confused struggle between players." |
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| 6726 |
confused |
unable to think with clarity or act intelligently |
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If you are confused about something, you can't think clearly. If your new friend keeps impossibly showing up in different outfits, you'll be confused until you discover she has an identical twin. |
Confuse is a modern verb, the old form being confound which means "to bring to ruin or disorder." When you are confused, what's ruined is your sense of the order of things. If you return to a city where you used to live, and a dog grooming store has replaced your apartment and a dump has replaced the park, you'll feel emotionally confused. If you think that Tom is Harry and Harry is Tom, you've confused them in your mind. |
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| 6727 |
muscular |
having a robust body-build |
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If you're strong and athletic, with powerfully developed muscles, you can describe yourself as muscular. |
Weight lifters are muscular, and so is the Incredible Hulk. If your grandmother has worked as a cattle farmer her entire life, she is probably pretty muscular too. Anyone with strong muscles can be described as muscular. In the 1600's, the word simply meant "pertaining to muscles," but by the mid-1700's, muscular specifically referred to well-developed muscles. The root word is the Latin musculus, which, oddly enough, means both "muscle" and "little mouse." |
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| 6728 |
excessive |
beyond normal limits |
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Excessive means beyond what is typical or normal. When something is excessive, there's way too much. |
Excessive refers to something that is extra — usually in a negative way. A 90-second drum solo in a two-minute song is excessive. Getting down on your knees and kissing someone's feet to thank them for a favor is excessive, unless they gave you their firstborn. Often this means something that exceeds the bounds of good taste, or is extravagant and inappropriately expensive. You should dress up for dinner, but wearing a ball gown to a diner is excessive. |
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| 6729 |
stag |
a male deer, especially an adult male red deer |
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A stag is another word for a buck, or a male deer. If you spot a family of deer in the woods, the stag is the one with the largest antlers. |
There are different terms for male deer, depending on the species, and stag usually describes the largest types of deer. Stags are also commonly seen in paintings of deer hunts. Another way to use the word stag is as a verb meaning "go without a date," especially to a formal party or dance. In the mid-1800's, a "stag party" was a group made up only of men, a term that came to mean a bachelor party. |
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| 6730 |
commonwealth |
a political system in which power lies in a body of citizens |
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A commonwealth refers to any group of people organized under a single government, particularly a republic. If you live in the United States of America, you live in a commonwealth. |
Comprised of the roots common, meaning "belonging to all," and wealth, meaning "happiness or riches," the word commonwealth originally referred to the government of England from 1649 to 1660. Nowadays, a commonwealth has come to mean any government in which all people involved have a say, or a loose formation of nations with a shared loyalty. It is also the official designation of a few states including, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia and some U.S. territories. |
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| 6731 |
surge |
rise and move, as in waves or billows |
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A surge is a sudden strong swelling, like a tsunami wave that engulfs the land. Although a surge offers a fluid image, anything can experience a sudden surge, including emotions, political support, or an angry mob. |
The original Latin word surgere, meaning “to spring up or rise,” serves as the basis for the word surge, which refers to a great sudden growth or swelling. If you are watching a sad movie and you experience a sudden surge of emotion, do you quietly reach for a tissue, pretend something's in your eye, or simply weep and sob with reckless abandon? Yeah, me too. Christmas shopping can be dangerous when there is a surge of interest in one toy and desperate shoppers surge into stores trying to grab it up. |
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| 6732 |
bribe |
payment made to corrupt a person in a position of trust |
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You pay a bribe to get someone to do something they wouldn't do otherwise. It's usually dishonest and often criminal. |
Bribes can be utterly corrupt and illegal — like when you offer a bribe to a politician so she'll make a decision in your favor. On the other hand, a bribe can be somewhat benign — like when your mom bribes you with an ice cream if you play with your little brother. When you bribe someone, you can say you're "greasing their palm." |
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| 6733 |
occupancy |
an act of being a tenant |
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Occupancy is the act of owning, renting, or taking possession of a building. When you and your family move into a new house, you are taking occupancy of that home. |
You're probably most familiar with the word occupancy from signs in auditoriums and concert halls that state the room's "maximum occupancy." A maximum occupancy of 100 means only 100 people can safely fit inside that room at one time. A single-occupancy hotel room is meant for one person. The opposite of occupancy is vacancy––when no one is in possession. Hotels let you know when they have a vacancy by flashing a sign. |
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| 6734 |
concentrate |
make denser, stronger, or purer |
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Concentrate means to make something stronger, denser, or more focused. If you concentrate your energy, for example, you become more powerful! Concentrate your efforts at digging, and you'll plant that shrub a lot faster. |
You may have seen the words "frozen concentrate" used to describe orange juice. That can of frozen orange goo is the juice in its purest, most condensed form — the concentrate — and it's much stronger and sweeter than the juice you'd drink. Another meaning of the verb concentrate refers to your mental focus. You might need to concentrate on what you're reading in order to understand it. When you concentrate, you strengthen your focus to shut out distractions. |
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| 6735 |
reverential |
feeling or manifesting veneration |
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When you're reverential, you treat someone or something with a lot of respect. You might speak about your beloved kindergarten teacher in a reverential voice. |
To talk about someone in a reverential way or treat a family heirloom with reverential care is to act out of a deep, almost solemn kind of respect. The adjective reverential comes close to implying worship — a devoutly religious person feels reverential toward God, for example. It's rooted in the Latin word reverentia, "awe or respect," from revereri, "to stand in awe of, fear, or be afraid of." |
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| 6736 |
avow |
to declare or affirm solemnly and formally as true |
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When you avow something, you say it openly for the whole world to hear. If you're a witness in a trial, you'll be asked to take an oath in which you'll avow that you'll tell the truth. |
A simple way to remember the meaning of avow is that it sounds and looks a whole lot like "a vow," to which it's closely related. At the end of almost every wedding, the couple takes their vows, in which they avow their commitment to each other. To take a vow is to avow the things that you say in that vow. Be sure that you mean what you say when you avow something, because people will hold you to it. And don't mutter or mumble. That's no way to avow something. |
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| 6737 |
hammock |
a hanging bed of canvas or rope netting |
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A hammock is a rope or canvas bed that hangs from a stand, two trees, or another support. You might enjoy reading a book while lying in a hammock under a shady tree. |
Most people use hammocks to nap or relax, rather than sleeping in them all night, and many kids enjoy swinging back and forth in a hammock. In some cultures and special situations, hammocks have been used for regular sleeping — for example, hammocks were once commonly found on ships, providing sailors with easily portable beds. Hammock comes from the Spanish hamaca, a variation on the Taino hamaka, "fish nets." |
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| 6738 |
glossy |
reflecting light |
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Something that is glossy is something that shines or is attractive. Things that are glossy reflect light, like certain types of lipstick. Glossy paper is smooth and has a shine to it, like the paper of most calendars. |
The word glossy sounds a little bit like the word glassy, which is a good way to remember it. Things that are glossy sort of look like glass, meaning they have a shine to them. After your teeth are cleaned, they'll hopefully look glossy. When you print photographs, you can choose a glossy finish — that’s when the image looks shiny and smooth. In that instance, the opposite of glossy is matte, a sort of rougher finish that doesn’t reflect light. |
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| 6739 |
provident |
giving something useful for the future |
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If you are provident, that means you plan carefully for the future. You have your Christmas lights up in early December, you have a well-stocked pantry, and you have some savings tucked away just in case. |
The word provident traces back to the Latin word providere, meaning "foresee, provide." The word can be used to describe someone who looks into the future — foresees the future, in a sense — and makes decisions based on future needs. It’s often used to describe a thrifty individual who denies himself something today in order to save up for tomorrow, but it can describe actions as well — such as a provident decision that ends up preventing ruin down the road. |
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| 6740 |
military |
the armed forces of a nation |
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Ten, hut! So you'd like the definition of military? Yes, Sir! The adjective military is used to describe anything related to the armed forces or soldiers. |
Stemming from the Latin word for "soldier," military is a word that goes hand in hand with war. It's the military that protects a country's interests, lead by generals and powered by brave soldiers. When used as an adjective, military describes anything that's related to, well, the military: salutes, campaigns, uniforms, etc. |
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| 6741 |
sepulchral |
of or relating to a sepulchre |
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Something that reminds you of death is sepulchral. A dreary, misty graveyard at night usually feels sepulchral. |
A sepulchre is a tomb or a crypt — a kind of stone room meant for burying a dead body. Something that's sepulchral reminds you of a sepulchre, either because it looks or feels like an actual tomb, or simply because it makes you think of death or dying. An empty building might be sepulchral, or a gloomy gathering. The Latin root word is sepelire, "to bury or embalm." |
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| 6742 |
tote |
carry with difficulty |
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A tote is a bag or basket used to carry things. Toting also refers to lugging things around. |
If you ever go to a conference, there's a good chance you might be given a tote, which is also known as a tote bag. Totes help people carry around conference materials, and they can be used to carry all sorts of things, including clothes for a trip or groceries at the store. Also, carrying things around is called toting. Usually, toting refers to carrying things around with difficulty. A giant box is hard to tote around. |
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| 6743 |
pact |
a written agreement between two states or sovereigns |
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A pact is a treaty or other agreement between parties, and it's usually written. Countries can have pacts or you can make a pact with your friends, promising each other that you'll all show up for the spelling bee. |
A pact is a formal agreement. The 1955 Warsaw Pact, for instance, was Eastern Europe's answer to NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization), with communist countries pledging mutual aid in case of foreign aggression. You may also come across the word compact, which is pretty much the same as a pact. The word pact comes from the Latin pactum, meaning "something agreed upon." In Roman times, one kind of pact was the marriage pact you signed when you got married. |
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| 6744 |
misapprehend |
interpret in the wrong way |
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Misapprehend is a verb that means to misunderstand. One place you definitely don't want to misapprehend instructions is on the plane when you're getting ready to skydive for the first time! |
The word misapprehend is sometimes used as a synonym for the word misunderstand, so you can use it in a similar way, but more for misunderstanding meaning than mishearing. Since apprehend means to grasp or catch, misapprehend can likewise mean to not grasp knowledge or information. For example, if someone is speaking in scientific lingo about acrocentric chromosomes and locus heterogeneity, and you don't understand what they're talking about, you might ask them to clarify in different terms so you don't misapprehend what they're saying. |
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| 6745 |
hypnotic |
of or relating to a state that resembles sleep |
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Hypnotic things either relate to hypnosis — putting people under spells — or anything that is mesmerizing or spellbinding. |
You know how hypnotists put people under spells and then make them quack like a duck, or do something equally silly? Hypnotic things relate to hypnosis — like a hypnotist's calm, entrancing, hypnotic voice — or other things that tend to grab people's attention in a similar way. The voice of a powerful public speaker could be described as hypnotic. Great music that you can’t turn off could also be considered hypnotic. Anything hypnotic has a powerful hold on your attention. |
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| 6746 |
sensational |
relating to elementary awareness of stimulation |
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Something sensational gets your attention. It's either amazing or a little trashy — like a sensational tabloid story. |
Sensational things cause quite a sensation — usually a feeling of curiosity or interest. Sensational events and sensational people keep you watching and listening. A guy juggling seven flaming bowling balls is sensational. A super popular new song is sensational. But this word does have some negative connotations, as it often describes news stories that have little merit other than their shock value. "Sexy Starlet Visits Fertility Clinic!" is a trashy kind of sensational headline. |
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| 6747 |
social |
living together or enjoying life in communities |
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If you are social, you like to be around people. A social butterfly is someone who is social or friendly with everyone, flitting from person to person, the way a butterfly might. |
The word social comes from the Latin socius meaning "friend." When you're being social, you're everyone's friend. Go to a social, or mixer, and you might make a lot of new friends. Stand in the corner pouting, however, and you're being anti-social. Humans are described as social beings — ones that tend to move or live in groups together, like penguins! |
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| 6748 |
ardor |
feelings of great warmth and intensity |
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Are you inspired to write love poems to your crush? Sprinkle rose petals in her path? Then you're feeling ardor — an intense kind of warmth and fervor most often associated with love. |
The Brits spell ardor with an extra vowel, so you'll often see this word written as ardour. But on either side of the pond it's a noun that brings to mind Pepe Le Pew and his fervent pursuit of the female species. But ardor isn't always about love. It's perfectly platonic to be "an ardent supporter" of a certain cause, or show eagerness and ardor in your approach to anything. |
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| 6749 |
ladle |
a spoon-shaped vessel with a long handle |
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A ladle is a large spoon with a deep bowl for scooping and serving soup and other liquids. If you make clam chowder, it might be messy to serve it without using a ladle. |
The serving implement is called a ladle, and you can also use this word as a verb: "Will you ladle some of that tomato soup into my bowl?" The Old English version was hlædel, from hladan, "to load," plus the "tool" suffix -le (like in thimble or handle). |
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| 6750 |
protrude |
extend out or project in space |
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Protrude means to stick out. A gravestone protrudes from the ground, a shelf protrudes from a wall, a lollipop stick protrudes from your mouth. |
From the Latin prō- "forward, out" + trūdere "to thrust," protrude often describes coastlines where rocks stick out into the water. Prō- gives us protrusion "something that sticks out," and protuberance "something that grows out of something else"––a goiter, for example, or a nose. |
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| 6751 |
reliant |
depending on another for support |
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To be reliant is to depend on someone or something. When you're reliant on a person, you need that person. |
There are a lot ways people and things can be reliant. Kids are reliant on their parents for food and shelter. We're all reliant on the police to keep us safe, but the police are reliant on the government for funding. Being reliant is about being dependent. If you can do without something, you're not reliant on it. When you feel like you don't need other people, you can say you're self-reliant. |
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| 6752 |
repository |
a facility where things can be deposited for safekeeping |
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Think of a repository as a storehouse, a place where things are kept until needed. A silo is a repository for animal feed, and a trivia buff's mind is a repository for useless information. |
The noun repository has a somewhat formal ring to it — why not just call a storehouse a storehouse, right? Think of a repository as somewhat more important and imposing than just a place to dump stuff. It has more of an air of authority, like the things stored there could change the world. Consider nuclear waste — would you rather store it in a dump or a repository? I don’t know about you, but I'd prefer the latter—sounds safer. |
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| 6753 |
thaw |
become or cause to become soft or liquid |
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When things thaw, they're coming out of deep freeze and warming up. You can thaw a chicken, and a chilly friendship can thaw too. |
Anything that thaws is warming up after a frigid or chilly period. The weather thaws when spring hits, especially after a bad winter. When you take food out of the freezer, it thaws. When you have an unpleasant relationship with someone, that can thaw too. A warm, friendly gesture from one person to another can be a sign that their cold relationship is thawing. When you think of thawing, think "Warming up." |
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| 6754 |
racket |
a sports implement used to strike a ball in various games |
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If you're carrying a racket and wearing a sporty visor, people will guess that you're on your way to play tennis. A racket has a handle and a rounded frame laced with strings, and it's used to hit a ball. |
A racket is used to play tennis, badminton, or squash, and it can also be spelled racquet. Another definition of racket is an unpleasantly loud noise; if your neighbors were playing horrible, loud music, you could yell out the window, "Stop that racket!" Informally, the word racket also means "illegal scheme," especially for making money. The French word requette means "palm of the hand," and racquet originally referred to a tennis-like game played by hitting a ball with the hand. |
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| 6755 |
spout |
gush forth in a sudden stream or jet |
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A spout is the narrow opening in the edge of a container that makes it easier to neatly pour its contents. A pitcher's spout helps you direct your orange juice into your glass. |
Some spouts are indentations or lips, and others — like the spout on a teapot — are tubes. Another meaning of spout is "gush suddenly in a stream." If you filled your teapot too full, tea might spout from its spout. When someone figuratively spouts, she talks in a loud, animated way. The verb form of spout came first, from a Proto-Germanic root that also spawned the Middle Dutch spoiten and the Swedish sputa, both also meaning spout. |
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| 6756 |
disentangle |
separate a twisted mass |
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When you disentangle something, you free it from a snarl or tangle. If you have long hair and pierced ears, you've probably had to disentangle an earring from a curl of hair. |
Something that becomes tangled or twisted needs someone to disentangle it — you might disentangle your kitten from a length of yarn, or disentangle your jacket from a thorny bush when you're hiking through the woods. You can also disentangle someone figuratively, helping them get out of an uncomfortable or difficult situation. Tangle is at the heart of disentangle, from the fourteenth century word tagilen, "to involve in a difficult situation." |
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| 6757 |
weave |
pattern or structure of a fabric |
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Weaving involves lacing strips of fabric, string, or some other material together to make something. You can weave wool to make a rug, or weave the details of a story together to make a great book. |
While weave originally only meant to make cloth by interlacing material, it later came to also mean more generally “combine into a whole.” Think of a spider and how it weaves its web, or of how some songs expertly weave in unexpected elements, like the sound of a siren or the waves crashing. You can also use weave to describe a swaying motion, like that of a car darting through traffic when it’s trying to move ahead. |
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| 6758 |
plurality |
the state of being more than one |
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In an election with three or more candidates, where no one gets more than half of the votes, you would win if you had the plurality. |
The word plurality first appeared in the 14th Century as "the state of being plural." The meaning applied to an election emerged in the United States around 1828, referring to a group of candidates where none has an absolute majority over the others. We can also use it to express a multitude of anything. For example, the United States is a nation with a plurality of races and religions. Here, plurality gives you the idea of a large, undefined number. |
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| 6759 |
joint |
junction by which parts or objects are linked together |
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Whether it’s the bones making up a skeleton or the wooden sections on your breakfast table, the point where two things come together is called a joint. |
The noun joint came into English through the French word joindre, meaning “to join.” Use joint to describe the point where two things connect, or join. A joint on your body allows for movement — you can look at your finger to see how that works. As an adjective, joint means "combined," like a joint gift to someone that was purchased with money combined from two or more people. |
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| 6760 |
hermit |
one retired from society for religious reasons |
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You hear about hermits more often than you meet one, and that’s because a hermit is someone who likes to be alone, far from people, sometimes because of their religious beliefs or maybe because they simply want some privacy. |
Hermits like living solo, alone in the woods, up in a mountain, or sometimes they live in a city without hardly ever leaving their apartment. The root of the word is the Greek erēmos, meaning “solitary.” A life of solitude isn’t for everyone, but a hermit chooses it for any number of reasons. For example, being able to honor their religious beliefs more fully or hating all of humanity are two possible motivations to become a hermit. |
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| 6761 |
damages |
a sum of money paid in compensation for loss or injury |
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Damages are the official amount of money awarded to the winner in a law suit. If you're hurt in a car accident that's another driver's fault, you may end up collecting damages. |
The legal term damages usually refers to money that's owed or received to compensate someone for a loss or an injury. If a business owner's negligence — not clearing ice from a sidewalk, for example — causes you to be injured, you can sue her for damages to pay for your broken arm and the days of work you had to miss. Sometimes a court awards "punitive damages" as well, which are specifically intended to punish the defendant. |
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| 6762 |
excursion |
a journey taken for pleasure |
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An excursion is taken more for pleasure than for practical reasons. Your business trip, when you spent most of the week waiting in airports and adjusting to different time zones, does not count as an excursion. |
The Latin root for excursion is excurrere, meaning "to run out." So if you run out for a bit to get some fresh air, you've gone on an excursion. If you leave specifically to buy milk from the corner store and end up swimming in a stream, you've probably taken an excursion into the woods. |
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| 6763 |
stem |
cylinder forming a long narrow part of something |
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Sometimes stem means to originate; other times it means to stop something at its source. You stem the flow of a river, but you can also observe that a river’s flow stems from a spring. |
To remember stem’s meaning think of the stem of a plant––it’s where a plant begins but also where you pluck it from the ground. Once teachers realized that the students’ anger stemmed from the overload of homework, they stemmed the rebellion’s tide. |
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| 6764 |
evade |
avoid or try to avoid fulfilling, answering, or performing |
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When you evade something, you escape it. You could evade a police chase by slipping into a secret alley, or you could evade your mother's questions about the missing cookies by slipping into another topic. |
Other things people like to evade? Death. Taxes. Creepy ex-boyfriends. The verb evade comes from Latin roots ex ("away) and vadere ("to walk"), meaning literally "to walk away or to escape." Definitely what you want to do with creepy ex-boyfriends. |
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| 6765 |
mutation |
a change or alteration in form or qualities |
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A mutation is a genetic change that causes new and different characteristics, like the mutation on the dog's DNA that makes its tail shorter than its ancestors' tails. |
Mutation comes from the Latin word mutationem meaning "a changing." You might recognize this root in related words like mutate, mutable, and mutant. We often think of mutations as changes in an animal's genetic structure, but there are other kinds of mutations. For example, if an architect designs an award-winning building, her later designs that are similar might be called mutations of that one. |
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| 6766 |
depicted |
represented graphically by sketch or design or lines |
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If your brother is depicted as a couch potato in your autobiographical novel, it means that you described him in a certain way, so that he came across as a lazy TV watcher. |
The adjective depicted means "shown or represented." A person or thing can be depicted in a particular way through a description, a drawing, a photograph, or any other artistic medium. Whenever a vivid picture of something — like life in Victorian England — is presented, that thing is being depicted. The Latin root depictus comes from the prefix de, meaning "down," and pingere, "to paint," and it means "to portray, paint, sketch or imagine." |
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| 6767 |
bulk |
the property possessed by a large mass |
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Don’t be intimidated by the bulk of the dictionary on your desk. If you look in it, you’ll see that bulk is a small word used to talk about large things. |
Bulk has a variety of meanings that all involve something large, like the bulk of a ship in the harbor, or the excess bulk of your overweight cat. Bulk can also mean “majority,” as when the bulk of your diet is tater tots and guacamole. You can expect to put on a lot of bulk if you eat like that. |
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| 6768 |
severance |
the act of cutting |
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A severance is the ending of a connection or relationship. A terrible argument between you and your cousin could turn into a all-out feud and eventually a complete severance between the two branches of your family. |
The noun severance implies a separation or cut of some kind, like a severance between your father and the political party with which he has become disenchanted. If you cut off relations with a person, group, or organization, you've initiated a severance. The phrase "severance pay" means the deal a company offers to an employee who's being fired. Severance comes from the word sever, "to cut," whose origin is the Latin separare, or "separate." |
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| 6769 |
sympathize |
feel or express compassion |
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When you sympathize, you care about how someone else feels during a time of trouble. If you sympathize with your brother, whose best friend is moving away, you understand why he's feeling sad. |
When you sympathize, you care, so you might sympathize with the victims of an earthquake in a foreign country or a child who's waiting for her turn on a merry-go-round. Sympathize comes from the Greek sympathes, have a fellow feeling for. It's sometimes confused with empathize, which means putting yourself in someone else's shoes, rather than simply caring about them. |
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| 6770 |
seizure |
the taking possession of something by legal process |
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A seizure is the act of taking by legal process or force, such as the seizure of evidence found at the scene of a crime. |
A seizure is the act of seizing — a forceful action in which an object or person is suddenly taken over, grabbed, removed, or overwhelmed. It's not something you want to happen. Criminals may think the seizure of a wealthy person can bring them a fortune in ransom money. Another kind of seizure is the kind caused by a misfire of electrons in the brain, causing a loss of control of the body. It too is an unwanted taking over by force. |
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| 6771 |
ornamentation |
the act of adding extraneous decorations to something |
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Ornamentation can refer to materials or features used for decoration. The ornamentation in a fancy mansion might include crystal chandeliers, silk curtains, and thick carpets. |
In addition to referring to materials for decoration, ornamentation can also mean the act of decorating or the state of being decorated. If your friend is constantly redecorating her room in extravagant ways, she probably enjoys the process of ornamentation. A heavily decorated house is in a state of ornamentation. However it’s used, ornamentation involves making things look prettier — or at least more elaborate. A single object used for ornamentation can be called an ornament. |
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| 6772 |
shack |
small crude shelter used as a dwelling |
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A shack is a small, rundown building used as a shelter. To shack is to live somewhere. If you tell your parents you want to shack up with your best friend, prepare to get grounded. |
A shack is a tiny, crude shelter that one person might be living in. It’s not well maintained, and it probably has peeling paint and a leaky roof. A shack is a big step below a house and a small step above a refrigerator box. To shack is to live somewhere, especially somewhere that's not nice. Shacking up is kind of like crashing on someone’s couch, or living somewhere temporarily. |
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| 6773 |
certificate |
a document attesting to the truth of certain stated facts |
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A certificate is a paper or document that proves some fact. Your most prized possession might be the certificate you got when you became a black belt in karate. |
Your fastidious friend might need to check the health inspection certificate before she'll agree to eat in a restaurant, and you'll need a copy of your birth certificate before you can apply for a passport. A certificate certifies or documents the fact that you are who you say you are, that you're licensed to drive, or authorized to practice dentistry, for example. You can trace the word certificate back to the Latin certus, "sure, fixed, settled." |
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| 6774 |
inglorious |
deserving or bringing disgrace or shame |
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Something inglorious is shameful or disgraceful. An inglorious end to a politician's career might include evidence that he bought people's votes and lied about his educational background. |
You could call World War II a generally inglorious period in Germany's history, or talk about a southern US city with an inglorious record of bias against African Americans. And if your favorite basketball team loses every game, they have an inglorious season. Inglorious adds the "not" prefix in- to glorious, from its Latin root gloriosus, "full of glory" or "famous." |
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| 6775 |
uneven |
not fairly matched as opponents |
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Uneven is the opposite of uniform and predictable. If the road is uneven, it's bumpy and rough, and you’ll have to dodge the potholes. |
If your performance as Hamlet is uneven, your "To be or not to be" might be brilliant, but you mumble through "Get thee to a nunnery!" If the economic recovery is uneven, it's not the same in every sector — maybe manufacturing and exports are picking up steam but the housing market is still lagging. If your soccer team of skinny 12-year-olds is up against a team of beefy 16-year-old giants, it's an uneven match and likely to be ugly. |
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| 6776 |
rash |
imprudently incurring risk |
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A rash is something that spreads like wild fire — red itchy skin or a series of unfortunate events. It can also describe an impulsive, wild decision. |
As an adjective, rash has meant "quick, vigorous" since the 1300s by way of Scotland. The meaning shifted to "reckless" a few hundred years later, and can still be used that way — a "rash decision" is a sudden, not well thought out one. Rash, the noun that no one wants on their skin, came a few hundred years after that, but from the French word rache which at some point meant "ringworm." Ringworm still gives us a red, itchy rash. Fun! Rash can also mean a lot of unpleasant things happening in a short amount of time, like robberies or earthquakes. |
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| 6777 |
booty |
goods or money obtained illegally |
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Booty is treasure — money, jewels, and the like — obtained by criminal means, especially plundering or pillaging. If you're in the Caribbean on vacation, you could spend some time looking for buried pirate booty. |
Although booty originally meant stolen goods from war or pirating activities, the term is now sometimes used more generically to mean any riches or treasure. Although you may feel as though you plundered your own bank account to buy new clothes for yourself, all the booty you brought home from the mall might make you decide that it was worth it. |
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| 6778 |
hanker |
desire strongly or persistently |
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To hanker for something is to crave it, or really want it. On a hot, sunny afternoon, you might hanker for a tall glass of sweet iced tea. |
People often hanker for relatively meaningless things, like chocolate cake or a nap or a new pair of shoes, but you can also hanker after more important things, like a long-lost friend or a new job. If you long for it, you hanker for it. The word's origin is a little fuzzy, but one good guess traces it to the Middle Dutch hangen, "to hang," from the idea of "hanging around" or "lingering." |
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| 6779 |
indestructible |
not easily ruined |
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Something that's indestructible can't be broken or destroyed. Your indestructible winter boots last year after year, stomping through snow and ice and salt without ever falling apart. |
Things that are indestructible last for so long that it seems impossible to break them. Your relationship with your best friend might feel indestructible if your bond is strong and true, and your junky old car might also seem indestructible if it never dies no matter how many miles you drive it. The word indestructible comes from Latin roots, the prefix in, or "not," and destruere, "tear down or demolish" or literally "un-build." |
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| 6780 |
syndrome |
a pattern of symptoms indicative of some disease |
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When you and your friends hang out together, you call it a party. When symptoms of an illness hang out together, they call it a syndrome. If you receive an invitation, politely decline. |
Syndrome comes from a Greek word that combines the root “to run” (dramein) with the prefix “together” (sun-). When many or all of the symptoms for a disease “run together,” that's a syndrome. You can also use syndrome in a figurative way to describe a type or pattern of behavior. If you have the “I'll do it tomorrow” syndrome, you put off doing a lot of things. At least you got around to reading about syndrome today. |
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| 6781 |
discomfit |
cause to lose one's composure |
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To discomfit someone is to make them feel uncomfortable or upset. An easy way to discomfit another person is to use the age-old, childish trick of ignoring them. (Of course, we’re sure you would never do that, right? Right?) |
If you make someone blush, sweat, and generally want to disappear, you’ve discomfited her. Centuries ago, discomfit was used to mean “destroy completely in battle” — an experience that surely left the defeated armies feeling something more than mere discomfort. Some scholars have suggested that the contemporary meaning of discomfit arose due to confusion with the word discomfort. Don’t be discomfited by choosing the wrong word; use this word to mean “embarrass.” |
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| 6782 |
wedlock |
the state of being a married couple voluntarily joined |
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The noun wedlock means marriage; you might describe your newly-married sister as "entering the magical state of wedlock." |
Wedlock is an old-fashioned word for matrimony, the state of being married. It comes up most often in the phrase "out of wedlock," when gossipers are describing a baby born to unmarried parents. Even though wedlock sounds like it would have a root meaning of "locked into marriage," it actually comes from the Old English wedlac, from wed, "pledge," and lac, which denotes action. |
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| 6783 |
delineation |
a drawing of the outlines of forms or objects |
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Delineation is the act of representing something or describing it. The portrait you paint of your best friend is a delineation of that person. |
A delineation can refer to any kind of pictorial representation of something else, like a geometric sketch or a map of a city. A delineation more generally means any kind of accurate or vivid portrayal of something else. So, a lively summary of a book that makes the listener feel she read it herself can be a delineation. Telling someone else what you dreamed about last night is a delineation of that dream. |
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| 6784 |
jolt |
move or cause to move with a sudden jerky motion |
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To jolt someone is to disturb them or make them jump. A jolt is sudden and jarring. |
Jolting disturbs or surprises people. If you surprise someone and they jump up a little, you jolted them. Alarm clocks jolt people out of sleep. A sudden crack of thunder could provide a jolt. The unexpected barking of a dog could jolt you. Jolting is quick and not very pleasant. A jolt jars and stuns you. Some jolts are more serious: crashing your car jolts the people in the car violently. |
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| 6785 |
mythological |
based on or told of in traditional stories |
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Anything mythological is related to a fable, legend, or other traditional story. As much as some of us don’t want to admit it, mythological creatures aren't real. |
A mythology is a collection of traditional stories about characters such as deities, heroes, and fanciful creatures. Anything related to a mythology is mythological. Creatures such as unicorns and the Kraken are mythological, as are elves, dragons, and goblins. This word applies to beings and events that can't be verified by facts. Something mythological can also be described as mythic, mythical, or mythologic. |
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| 6786 |
mire |
a soft wet area of low-lying land that sinks underfoot |
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A mire is mushy ground like quicksand, so if you feel yourself trapped in a sticky situation, consider yourself mired. One gets mired IN something — like in a dispute or in a love triangle. |
Mire still has its original, though less-used, sense of a slushy, muddy bit of land that gives way underfoot, also known as a quagmire. One of the most famous mires in literary history was the one haunted by the Hound of the Baskervilles in Conan Doyle's classic. Have the fibs you told your beloved come back to haunt you? You're stuck in a mire then, a treacherous situation it's going to be pretty hard to squirm out of. |
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| 6787 |
disintegration |
separation into component parts |
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Disintegration is when one thing splits into parts or just ceases to exist. When something is destroyed, broken up into pieces, or falls apart on its own, that’s disintegration. |
If you know that integration brings things or people together, you won't be surprised that disintegration means things are coming apart. Disintegration is what happens when a company breaks into smaller companies or when a band splits up. Often, disintegration is physical — a bomb could cause the disintegration of its target. The decomposition (rotting) of a body is an example of disintegration. When something radioactive decays, that's disintegration, too. Disintegration is when it all falls apart. |
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| 6788 |
irreconcilable |
impossible to bring into accord |
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Your dad wants Mozart in the car and you want Eminem? That's an irreconcilable difference right there — two tastes or ideas or preferences so different from each other there can be no compatibility or middle ground. Diplomacy can't help, only headphones. |
Where would divorce lawyers be without this lovely word irreconcilable? Their clients don't just have differences with their spouses, they have "irreconcilable differences" — in other words, demands or points of view so distant from each other they can never be bought together. Bye-bye marriage, hello legal fees. |
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| 6789 |
raillery |
light teasing |
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Use the noun raillery to describe a kind of joking or gentle teasing. There will probably be a bit of raillery between elementary school students on a field trip bus, for example. |
If you engage in raillery, you make fun of someone — but lightheartedly, not in a way that would cause offense. The raillery between good friends or siblings might include laughter and teasing, or a joking banter back and forth. To rail is to complain, although its Middle French root, railler, means "to tease or joke," possibly from the Old Provençal word ralhar, "to scoff or to joke." |
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| 6790 |
vogue |
a current state of general acceptance and use |
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If something is the latest vogue, it is the latest fashion. When your new hairstyle catches on, it's in vogue — or if it becomes unpopular, it’s not. |
Anything trendy or popular — an activity, fashionable clothing, a home decorating style, board games — can be called “in vogue.” If you notice everyone scrambling to collect, say, robotic hummingbirds, you'll know that they are the vogue item. You might think that tall boots are no longer in vogue, and you notice a lot of short skirts showing up in Vogue magazine. Vogue — the magazine — often decides what fashion is in vogue. |
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| 6791 |
accessory |
a supplementary component that improves capability |
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Whether we're talking about a fog light for your boat or just a nice hat to go with your boating outfit, an accessory is something you add to something else to make it better. |
An accessory can be any piece of clothing that you wear or carry as long as it isn't part of the main outfit. You can also use the word to refer to someone who helps someone else commit a crime. So the guy who distracted the old lady while another guy grabbed her purse? He was the accessory to the theft of an accessory. |
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| 6792 |
enlightenment |
education that results in the spread of knowledge |
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Enlightenment is education or awareness that brings change, such as your enlightenment about nutrition that leads you to throw out every last bit of your family's junk food. |
In Hinduism and Buddhism, enlightenment is also sometimes called "awakening" — after all, the name "Buddha" means "the awakened one." Not all enlightenments are spiritual: your enlightenment about environmental issues, for example, can awaken you to new ways of conserving resources like water and electricity. The Enlightenment started in the 1700’s, a historical era defined by a focus on reason and science. |
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| 6793 |
idealize |
consider or render as the best or most appropriate type |
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When you idealize something, you think of it as being much better than it really is. You might idealize your beach vacation, completely forgetting that it rained almost every day. |
If you idealize your favorite teacher, you imagine that he's even more wonderful than he actually is. Many people tend to idealize marriage, believing that simply being married will make them and their partners blissfully happy all the time. To idealize is to take an ordinary, flawed thing, and turn it into something ideal. In fact, ideal, or "perfect," is at the heart of idealize, with its root of the Latin idealis, or "existing in idea." |
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| 6794 |
hem |
the edge of a piece of cloth |
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When kids grow taller, their parents sometimes have to let out the hem in their pants so they'll be long enough. The hem is the very bottom, folded edge of a piece of clothing. |
Most of your clothes have at least one hem in them — at the ends of your sleeves, the bottom of your skirt, or along the edge of your t-shirt. When a person sews a hem, whether he's making a dress or a pair of curtains, he folds a very small amount of fabric under two or three times and stitches along the edge in a straight line. In Old English, the word hem means "a border." |
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| 6795 |
temporary |
not permanent; not lasting |
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Use the adjective temporary to describe something that is not permanent. "Oh my goodness! That's a tattoo," your mother might shriek. You might tell her not to worry, since it's only temporary, and will wear off in a few days. |
The adjective temporary is used to describe something that isn't permanent or lasts only a short time. Its roots are in the Latin word tempus, meaning "time or season." An employee who isn't a permanent addition to the staff is temporary and in this use, the word is often shortened to temp. The lull in the wind and rain is only temporary, because you know you are in the eye of the storm. |
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| 6796 |
emission |
the act of causing to flow forth |
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An emission is something that's been released or emitted into the world. Car exhaust, burps, and radio broadcasts are all examples of emissions. |
Technically, an emission is anything that's been released out into the open. But more often it refers to gases being released into the air, like greenhouse gasses or emissions from power plants and factories. Anytime your body emits something (sweat, drool, gas), it's also considered an emission. Be careful not to confuse this word with the closely spelled omission — that's something that's been left out. |
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| 6797 |
immoderate |
beyond reasonable limits |
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Something that goes way overboard or is excessive is immoderate. Immoderate exercise can lead to pulled muscles and sprains. |
If someone's behavior is unreasonable or extreme, you can call it immoderate. Immoderate spending results in arms full of shopping bags and a whole lot of credit card debt, and immoderate eating at a huge breakfast buffet can give you a stomach ache for the rest of the day. Immoderate is the opposite of the adjective moderate, which means calm or restrained. Both words have the same Latin root, moderatus, "within bounds, or observing moderation." |
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| 6798 |
expel |
eliminate |
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Getting expelled from a school is a step beyond suspension. It means that you are asked to leave and never come back. In other words, you have been kicked out. |
More benignly, expel can mean discharge: if you're having a water-fountain spitting-fight, you are hoping to expel water from your mouth in the direction of your opponent before they can get you. But don't do this; you won't get expelled from school, but the germs in your body will be expelled all over your friends. |
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| 6799 |
dismissal |
the sending away of someone |
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The act of sending someone away or firing them is dismissal. Your friend's dismissal from the pizza place where he kept dropping the dough on the floor means he's looking for a new job — preferably not in food service. |
When a school bell rings at the end of the day, signaling that students can leave, that's one kind of dismissal. Bad news from a boss that the company is laying you off is also a dismissal, and when a judge rules that a trial is over and the case has been dropped, it's yet another kind of dismissal. The word comes from dismiss, "send away," from the Latin root dimittere, "send different ways" or "break up." |
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| 6800 |
interlace |
spin, wind, or twist together |
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To interlace is to weave, tangle, or twist things together. When you hold hands with someone, the two of you interlace your fingers. |
When you do sit ups, you interlace your fingers behind your neck and bend your knees, and if you learn how to make a basket, you'll interlace strips of rattan reeds or willow branches. You can also use this adjective to mean "intersperse," as when you write a short story and attempt to interlace dialogue between paragraphs describing the action. Interlace combines inter-, "between" and the verb lace, "fasten, entwine, or braid." |
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| 6801 |
provisional |
under terms not final or fully worked out or agreed upon |
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Something provisional is temporary, in the sense that it's only valid for a while. You'll often hear provisional used to describe things such as governments, elections, contracts, and agreements, all of which can change into something permanent. |
People who go camping take provisions, which means supplies for the trip. This can be helpful when you're trying to use provisional properly. Remember that those provisions are, well, provisional—they're only supposed to last until the campers get home, where the real food is waiting. If you're in a rush to start filming, you might consider giving your star a provisional contract, so that you can at least get started. You'll have time to replace the provisional one with a permanent one while you film. |
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| 6802 |
glisten |
be shiny, as if wet |
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Glisten is a verb meaning that something looks shiny, like it's wet. Rocks on the beach glisten in the sun. And your sister’s prom dress, covered in sequins, no doubt will glisten under the disco ball. |
The word glisten can also be used metaphorically. After you tossed and turned throughout the night, in the morning, you could see the perfect solution glisten right in front of you. As a noun, a glisten is a bright shine. When you are driving into the setting sun, the glisten of the sun on the hood of the car makes it hard to see. |
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| 6803 |
emergence |
the act of coming out into view |
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An emergence is when something comes into view — like the emergence of a seedling in a garden or the famous emergence of Punxsutawney Phil on Groundhog Day — which is supposed to show how soon spring will "emerge." |
Emergence is a noun that goes back to the Latin root emergere, meaning "bring to light," and it came into English in the 17th century. Just as something comes to light or shows up where there was darkness or nothing before, an emergence happens — like new technologies such as the emergence of e-readers. Pronouncing emergence is the same as pronouncing emergency but without the long e sound at the end. |
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| 6804 |
remittance |
a payment of money sent to a person in another place |
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A remittance is a payment that gets sent somewhere else. If you get a bill in the mail, you will usually have at least a week to send your remittance. |
To "remit" is to send money or make a payment and what you send is called remittance. Buying anything from a website involves a remittance — usually from a grownup's credit card, just as keeping your cell phone going requires a regular remittance to cover minutes and messages. If you go on a trip and run out of money, you might need an emergency remittance for a plane or train ticket to get home. |
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| 6805 |
insurmountable |
not capable of being overcome |
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The adjective insurmountable describes some barrier that is incapable of being overcome. The Great Wall of China was meant to be an insurmountable deterrent to would-be invaders. |
Although the adjective insurmountable can be used to describe an actual physical barrier, it most often refers to a less tangible challenge. "The runner was disheartened because her competitor had an insurmountable lead in the race." "Because of insurmountable difficulties, the school's fall party had to be canceled. The water heater burst, raining gallons of water down on the gym, and flooding it. Since it was not a swimming party, the school wasn't able to clean up the mess in time to host the party." |
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| 6806 |
restrain |
hold back |
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Restrain means to hold yourself back, which is exactly what you'd have to do if, after weeks of dieting, you found yourself face to face with a dessert case filled with pies, cakes, and cookies. |
Restrain can also mean to restrict or hold back someone else, to prevent someone from doing what they're intending to do. Prison guards have to restrain a prisoner who is trying to attack one of his fellow inmates. That prisoner might even be put in handcuffs — a kind of restraint. You can restrain yourself, for example if you're watching a Broadway show and suddenly feel the urge to sing along. Your fellow audience members would be grateful for your restraint, especially if you've got a terrible voice. |
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| 6807 |
inclusion |
the act of making a part of something |
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Inclusion is the act of including someone in something, like a school, club, or team. |
If you are familiar with the word include — meaning to make someone or something a part of something larger — then inclusion should make sense. You might be happy at your inclusion on the school's volleyball team. The inclusion of an actor in a movie is exciting. When there's a new President, people wait and see who will earn inclusion in the cabinet. In biology, an inclusion body is a very small body found within another on the cellular level. |
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| 6808 |
dismayed |
struck with fear, dread, or consternation |
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When you're dismayed, you're aghast, or shocked by disappointment. Your dismayed teacher's face showed that she expected the test grades to be much higher. |
Dismayed describes feeling appalled or distressed. The word implies a sense of being let down, the way you'd feel if your favorite baseball team lost the World Series, or if your birthday present wasn't the ticket to France you'd hoped for, but was just a pink sweater. You can also feel dismayed when expecting more from someone, like being dismayed to see your environmental science teacher throwing recyclables in the trash. |
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| 6809 |
vend |
sell or offer for sale from place to place |
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When you vend, you sell something — for example, you might have a table at a crafts fair where you vend your line of hand-knit dog clothing. |
Typically, the verb vend is used when the seller is on the move in some way, setting up a stall in a street fair or hawking homemade cupcakes out of a minivan at high school football games. Another way to use vend is specifically "to sell something out of a machine," like the kind you put a dollar in and get a bag of chips in return. The Latin root is vendere, "to sell." |
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| 6810 |
villainous |
extremely wicked |
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To be villainous is to be evil, wicked, and despicable, like a bad guy in a movie or a villainous bus driver who sees you but doesn’t stop. |
Villains in stories are the bad guys, like Superman's enemy Lex Luthor or a mobster in a crime movie. Real-life bad people are also called villains, and anything evil is villainous. To murder someone is villainous. To steal a lot of money is villainous. This is a strong word for actions that are deliberately harmful and awful. You can’t be villainous by accident. The opposite of villainous is heroic. |
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| 6811 |
illusion |
an erroneous mental representation |
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An illusion is something that isn't real. It may look real, but it's actually fake — just a crafty construction or fantasy. Like the old rabbit-out-of-the-hat trick practiced by magicians around the globe. |
An illusion is an act of deception. Some optical illusions are pretty cool to watch, but an illusion can also point to an erroneous belief or false perception of reality, which is where you start getting into hallucination territory — seeing things that aren't there. You can give the illusion that you’re fascinated by your professor’s lecture by chewing on your pencil, furrowing your brow, and making sure to nod enthusiastically every so often. |
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| 6812 |
miscellaneous |
having many aspects |
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Something miscellaneous is made up of an odd bunch of things — things you might not expect to go together. A breakfast bar, a DVD, and a credit card bill are miscellaneous items that may be in your backpack. |
The word miscellaneous comes from the Latin word miscere, meaning “to mix.” You might have heard the expression “a mixed bag,” which applies when you don’t quite know what you’re going to get. That’s true of a bag of miscellaneous objects, too. You might pull out socks and a stick of butter — two things that don’t seem to go together. Similarly, miscellaneous can describe something with many variations, like a person who expresses herself in many different ways. |
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| 6813 |
triple |
having three units or components or elements |
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Triple means to multiply by three. If you triple the number two, you get six, and six is the triple of the number two. |
In triple, you see tri which means three. You see this prefix in tricycle (three wheels), tripod (three legs), and triplet (three siblings born at the same time). To triple is to increase threefold, just as to double means to increase twofold, quadruple fourfold and quintuple fivefold. In each of these pairs, the former word is Latin based and the latter has Old English origins. |
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| 6814 |
depressed |
filled with melancholy and despondency |
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When stocks are depressed they are worth less than they should be. When people are depressed they are sad and lack energy. Depressed means down in spirit or value. |
While you'll often hear people say they are depressed, mostly they mean they are sad. If you are clinically depressed, you have a sadness and hopelessness that has physical effects and no logical reason behind it and you can't seem to shake it either. If someone calls their town or region depressed, they mean that the economy in that area is not good — in that place jobs are hard to find, and have been for quite a while. Sad, right? |
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| 6815 |
vet |
a doctor who practices veterinary medicine |
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You are a vet if you served in the Armed Forces, or if you went to veterinary school and now give medical care to animals. |
The noun vet is short for either veteran (of the Armed Forces) or veterinarian (animal doctor). As a verb, vet means "to carefully examine beforehand." For example, your boss might ask you to vet people's applications before calling them for interviews, just to make sure they have the right experience for the job. Medically speaking, when a doctor vets you — or an animal — medical care is given. |
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| 6816 |
fade |
become less clearly visible or distinguishable |
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When things fade, they gradually become less clear or more faint. When you wake up after having a strange dream, its details quickly begin to fade unless you write them down right away. |
Dreams usually fade once you wake up, and sunlight begins to fade toward the end of the day. Sounds can fade too, as when the music you can hear from a passing car begins to fade as it moves down the road. Disappointments in life can make your hopes and dreams fade, and the smell of cut flowers will eventually fade as well. The Old French root word, fader, means "weaken, wilt, or wither." |
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| 6817 |
caliber |
diameter of a tube or gun barrel |
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Caliber is a kind of measurement that can describe either the level of a person’s ability or the diameter of a gun barrel. Your dad might be a high-caliber marksman, especially when using his .22 caliber rifle. |
Caliber describes the level of ability a person has achieved in a profession. For example, you probably wouldn't want to hire a low-caliber plumber when the toilet breaks. The caliber of an institution or a program describes the height of its standards. You might be planning to attend the high-caliber veterinary program at your state university. Caliber is also the measurement of the width inside a gun barrel, and its corresponding bullets. |
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| 6818 |
exultation |
the utterance of sounds expressing great joy |
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"Woohoo!" That's an expression you might shout in exultation or extreme happiness. On New Year's Eve, Times Square is bursting with exultation as people shout and sing joyfully to ring in the new year. |
Exultation comes from the Latin exsilire, which means "leap out or up." Think of leaping for joy and you've pretty much captured the sentiment of exultation. This word is used to describe a kind of triumphant joy, the kind you might see at the end of a football game when the winning team is pumping their fists, cheering and dumping Gatorade all over their coach. |
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| 6819 |
primer |
an introductory textbook |
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A primer gets you ready for what comes next. You could use one kind of primer when you are learning to read, or another kind when you are preparing to paint a room. |
Any way you use the word primer, it's a first step or preparation for something else. There's primer you use before painting, and an engine primer that prepares a machine to be started. In these examples, primer rhymes with timer. When primer describes an introductory textbook, it rhymes with dimmer. In the 14th century, a primer was a prayer book. This word comes from primus, the Latin word for first. |
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| 6820 |
choke |
struggle for breath; have insufficient oxygen intake |
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When you choke, you are suddenly unable to breathe, often because something is stuck in your throat. Your dad's rude joke might make you gasp and choke on your grilled cheese sandwich. |
You might choke in a smoky room, or choke on a grape that's lodged halfway down your throat. In either case, your body can't get enough oxygen. People also choke up with emotion, figuratively choking on their sobs. Likewise, a child might complain, "This scarf chokes me!" — it's uncomfortably tight, but he's not literally unable to breathe. When the weeds in your garden outnumber the vegetables, you can also say they choke, or crowd, your plants. |
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| 6821 |
combine |
put or add together |
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When you put things together, you combine them, creating one out of several. In some cases, the different items blend their properties and cannot be divided again, while in other cases the combined items can be picked out separately. |
In Latin, the prefix com- means "together," and bīnī means "two by two." These were combined to create the word combīnāre, or "to unite." Comedian Dave Attell offers a good use of the verb combine (cum-BINE): What're the two things they tell you are healthiest to eat? Chicken and fish. You know what you should do? Combine them, eat a penguin. Hiram Moore's combine (the noun is pronounced COM-bine) was a machine that combined reaping, binding, and threshing into one machine, saving farmers a lot of work. |
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| 6822 |
scrap |
a small fragment of something broken off from the whole |
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A scrap is a little leftover bit of something. You might jot down notes on a scrap of paper, or you might toss a scrap of food to your happy dog. |
A scrap is typically a small item that originally was part of something larger, like a scrap of fabric that was once part of a larger piece. Scrap can also describe something that’s no longer useful. For example, you might take scrap metal to the recycling center. A final meaning of the noun scrap is "fight," as in "I got into a scrap with my brother." Scrap also has a verb form that means "discard." When you scrap your plan to move to the Bahamas, that means you’re abandoning the plan. |
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| 6823 |
worthless |
lacking in usefulness or value |
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If you have your antique pearl necklace appraised by a jeweler and learn that it's a worthless fake, you'll be terribly disappointed, since something that's worthless has no monetary value. |
Use the adjective worthless to describe something that has no use or isn't worth any money. Your old broken-down car, a stamp collection with no value, and your no-good roommate who never cleans and won't pay his share of the rent could all be described as worthless. The roots are the Old English words weorð, "equal in value to," and leas, "devoid of." |
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| 6824 |
submerge |
put under water |
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When you go swimming, you submerge your body in water. If your head is out of the water, it is not submerged — it's just wet. |
To really soak a washcloth, you should submerge it in a basin of water. It is said that the word submerge was invented by William Shakespeare. We don't know that for sure, but we know that its appearance in the play Antony and Cleopatra is the first recorded time the word was written, and therefore read, by anyone. |
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| 6825 |
cheat |
defeat through trickery or deceit |
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To cheat is to use sneaky, unfair methods to get something you want. No one's going to want to play with you if you always cheat at mini golf. |
Some people cheat at cards, and others cheat during math tests by copying from the student beside them. In either case, they're trying to succeed using underhanded tricks. You can refer to someone who does this as a cheat as well. Cheat comes from the Old French escheat, a legal term for the state taking someone's property when he or she dies without heirs. This practice was resented, and it came to mean "confiscate unfairly." |
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| 6826 |
contingent |
determined by conditions or circumstances that follow |
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The adjective contingent can be used to describe when something can occur only when something else does first. Making money is contingent on finding a good-paying job. |
When something is contingent it means that the possibility of an event or situation depends on another happening or being true first. For example, sometimes people want to buy a new house but they make the purchase of the house they want to buy contingent upon someone else buying their old house first. That way they don't end up owning two houses! |
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| 6827 |
sullen |
showing a brooding ill humor |
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A bad-tempered or gloomy person is sullen. Sullen people are down in the dumps. |
If someone is dark, dour, glum, moody, morose, or sour, they're also sullen. Teenagers are often described as sullen, especially when they're being grumpy and silent. You often hear about "a sullen silence," which is when someone is quiet, but obviously in a lousy mood. If a sullen person is talking, they're probably not saying much, and they might not be doing much beyond grunting. A sullen person isn't much fun to be around. |
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| 6828 |
miraculous |
peculiarly fortunate, as if by divine intervention |
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A miraculous occurrence can be providential or heaven-sent, or just peculiarly fortunate and appropriate. In any event, as the word suggests, it has the character of a miracle. |
The adjective miraculous has origins in the Latin word miraculum, meaning "object of wonder." It's often used to describe religious happenings, such as a direct answer to one's prayer. In a more secular context, a "miraculous comeback" is when a football team that's down by 30 points at halftime ends up winning the Super Bowl. |
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| 6829 |
astir |
on the move |
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Someone who's astir is awake and moving around. When you check on a sleeping baby, you can describe her as astir if she's up and crawling in her crib. |
If your family wakes up early in the morning, you can say they're astir before the sun comes up — or your dog might always be the first one astir each day. You can also use the adjective astir to describe an excited kind of movement: "The whole classroom was astir after the news of tomorrow's pizza party." The earlier phrase was on the stir, from the Old English styrian, "to stir, agitate, or incite." |
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| 6830 |
brawny |
possessing physical strength and weight; rugged and powerful |
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Someone brawny is bulky and muscular. Most football players are brawny. |
Brawn refers to muscles and physical strength: people often contrast brains and brawn. Therefore, if someone is brawny, they have large muscles and are quite strong. Many athletes are brawny, especially ones such as weightlifters and football players. Tennis players and jockeys are usually smaller and not so brawny. A brawny person is big, strong, rugged, and tough. If you'd like to be brawnier, go to the gym. |
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| 6831 |
overture |
orchestral music at the beginning of an opera or musical |
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An overture is a piece of music played by an orchestra at the beginning of an opera or play. When an overture begins, the actors take their places and wait for the curtain to rise. |
The noun overture can also mean "a suggestion or approach designed to get a reaction." Your romantic overture of singing to your girlfriend in the restaurant was met with an embarrassed stare. An overture can also be an event that comes first, like your story about how the after-school program has helped hundreds of kids, an overture to the plea for donations you made next. |
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| 6832 |
protective |
intended or adapted to provide safety of some kind |
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Anything that's protective safeguards or watches out for something (or someone) else. Protective gear keeps you safe from physical injury, and a protective parent cares for and worries about their children. |
When you work with dangerous chemicals or toxic substances, it makes sense to wear protective masks or gloves, and a new bicycle rider is smart to wear a protective helmet. The first time you bring your new puppy to the dog park, you're likely to be protective of him, keeping him safe from bigger, older dogs. The Latin root of protective is protegere, "to cover in front, or to protect." |
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| 6833 |
instill |
impart gradually |
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Parents work hard to develop, or instill, positive beliefs and values in their children. Interestingly, there's no corresponding word for when parents pass down their bad habits. |
Instill comes from the Latin verb stillare, meaning "to drip." For some people, this word provides an apt metaphor for the way that parents and teachers cultivate understanding in young learners, patiently introducing wisdom "drop by drop." (Of course, for others, instill conjures up the image of a persistently dripping faucet that just won't be quiet.) |
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| 6834 |
empty |
holding or containing nothing |
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If you're an optimist, you're happy that your glass is still half full. If you're a pessimist, you can't help but notice that 50% of your glass is now empty — that is, it contains nothing. |
Empty comes from an Old English word meaning "at leisure," or in other words, "unoccupied." Over time, the sense of that meaning changed from "not at work" to "devoid of contents." By the tenth century, any container that could be filled or full could also be emptied or empty. As the word continued to evolve, it developed a more figurative sense. If you feel sad and lost, you might say that you feel so empty. If you want to go to the movies and your parents say, "No, but maybe tomorrow," you probably consider that an empty promise, one that will never be fulfilled. |
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| 6835 |
appealing |
able to attract interest or draw favorable attention |
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The adjective appealing describes someone who is able to attract interest or is easy to like. For example, your easy sense of humor and way of making people feel comfortable make you appealing to friends old and new. |
If you are appealing, people want to be around you. It might be that you are really nice, or a good listener, not to mention have good looks. Actors who are appealing tend to get a lot of parts because filmmakers know audiences will flock to see them, just as an appealing description of a dish on a menu will lead more people to order it. This something is appealing, it is — or will be — popular. |
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| 6836 |
pestilence |
any epidemic disease with a high death rate |
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Pestilence means a deadly and overwhelming disease that affects an entire community. The Black Plague, a disease that killed over thirty percent of Europe's population, was certainly a pestilence. |
Pestilence is also one of the four Horseman of the Apocalypse in the book of Revelation (which is part of The Bible). When pestilence rides into town, you want to be somewhere far, far away. Whereas a person gets the flue, a nation experiences a pestilence. A disease that causes widespread crop damage or animal deaths can also be called a pestilence. |
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| 6837 |
dandy |
very good |
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A man who is very concerned with how he looks can be called a dandy. The term is rather old-fashioned — it was commonly used to refer to such men in the 1800s, like the famous dandy Beau Brummell. |
As an adjective, dandy means excellent. If you think your new car is dandy, you're excited to own such a great car. In modern use, dandy is often used sarcastically, with just a small change in wording or emphasis: "My new car is just dandy. It's broken down twice today already!" The word dandy is also frequently used in the phrase "fine and dandy". |
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| 6838 |
consultation |
the act of referring to something to find information |
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A consultation is a conference or meeting at which opinions are exchanged or advice is prescribed. If one doctor says your severe blueberry allergy is cured, you might want a consultation with another doctor before indulging in the forbidden fruit. |
Stemming from the Latin word consultationem, which means to “consult, ask counsel of, or reflect,” a consultation usually involves a lot of questions and hopefully expert answers. Consultations happen before big decisions have to be made, such as talking with a realtor before buying a house or conferring with master yogi before attempting a head stand. |
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| 6839 |
goggle |
look with amazement |
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When you goggle, you stare with wide-open bug eyes. You might goggle at a monkey riding a unicycle down the main street of your town. |
You may have heard of goggles — those large, plastic glasses that you use to protect your eyes while you are skiing or using a blowtorch. You might look like you are wearing goggles when you goggle at something. If you are looking for a new way to say "What are you looking at?!" Try: "What are you goggling at?!" |
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| 6840 |
steady |
securely in position; not shaky |
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The adjective steady describes something that is firmly fixed in position. If you have to climb up on your roof, you definitely want to have a steady ladder. Otherwise, you risk ending up in the bushes instead of on the roof. |
The adjective steady can also describe something that isn't going to fluctuate wildly. If you have a steady income from a salary, you bring in approximately the same amount of money each month. If you are paid on commission, on the other hand, you may make Midas look poor in some months and beggars look rich in others. As a verb, to steady means "to make something steady" (big surprise): You can steady a wobbly table by sticking a matchbook under its shortest leg, or you could steady a nervous dog with a reassuring pat. |
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| 6841 |
repair |
fix by putting together what is torn or broken |
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To repair means to fix or mend something so that it is in good working order again. If you forget to put oil in your car and you blow the engine, it's going to cost you an awful lot to repair it. |
Not only does repair describe the act of fixing something, it can also be used as a noun for the fixing itself, as in “Who did the repair on this house? It looks terrible!” In a totally different meaning, if you repair somewhere, you return back to or go to a place for rest or shelter. If you're outside and it begins to rain, you might want to repair to the house where it's dry. |
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| 6842 |
bait |
something used to lure fish or other animals |
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People who go fishing aren’t the only ones to use bait. When you hold a yard sale, place your best stuff closest to the sidewalk — to serve as bait. Bait can be anything from the worms that hide a hook to a stereo that tempts shoppers to stop and browse. |
Bait can also mean the act of getting someone or something to do what you want. For generations, students have baited their teachers into wasting class time with a question about a personal interest or obsession: “This talk about integers is very fascinating, Mr. Green, but what do you think about last night’s Penguins game?” Bait comes from the Old Norse, word beita — “to cause to bite.” Asking Mr. Green what other Viking words he knows might be interesting, and provide bait for his next off-topic musing. |
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| 6843 |
arena |
a large structure for open-air sports or entertainments |
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If you're watching a college basketball game in person, chances are you're in an arena — a building specially designed for sporting events and large-scale rock concerts. |
There's not much difference between an arena and a stadium, although an arena is enclosed and a stadium sometimes has an open roof. Football is usually played in a stadium, while basketball and other sports typically hold their games in arenas. The word arena originally meant "place of combat," and it's sometimes still used this way. Its root is harena, a kind of sand that was supposedly used on the floor during ancient Roman battles to soak up spilled blood. |
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| 6844 |
shadowy |
filled with shade |
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The adjective shadowy is good for describing things that are mysterious or hard to see, like a dim figure in the fog or the social rules of a typical middle school. |
Indistinct or faint objects are shadowy, whether they're distant people standing in a dark alley or birds you can barely see against the choppy surface of the ocean. You can also describe something that's ghostly or unreal as shadowy. A shadowy room or a shadowy figure brushing past you would both be insubstantial and vaguely spooky. The root of shadowy is the Old English word sceadu, "shade, shadow, or darkness." |
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| 6845 |
vertical |
at right angles to the plane of the horizon or a base line |
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Vertical describes something that rises straight up from a horizontal line or plane. A telephone pole or a tree can usually be described as vertical in relation to the ground. |
The walls of your house — unless there's some terrible problem — are vertical. They rise straight up from the foundation, at a ninety degree angle. When you're standing up, you're vertical, as opposed to when you lie down in a horizontal position on the couch. The terms vertical and horizontal often describe directions: a vertical line goes up and down, and a horizontal line goes across. You can remember which direction is vertical by the letter, "v," which points down. |
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| 6846 |
esteemed |
having an illustrious reputation; respected |
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If lots of people respect you and you're known around town as a wise and intelligent person whose opinion matters, then you're esteemed. |
Esteemed comes from the verb esteem, which means "to think valuable." If you are esteemed, then people think you're a valuable person to have around, and have a lot of respect for you. If you're hosting a dinner party with a special guest, an elderly man who has traveled the world and written many books, you could introduce him as your esteemed guest. |
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| 6847 |
ingredient |
a component of a mixture or compound |
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An ingredient is one part of a mixture. For example, if you're making chocolate chip cookies, flour is just one ingredient you'll need. |
Ingredient comes from the Latin word ingredientem, meaning "that which enters into." It's not just for cookies. If you're in the lab mixing a chemical compound, you carefully add one ingredient after the next and record the results (and hope nothing blows up). It's also an element or factor of something, such as how that song you wrote has all the ingredients to be a sure-fire hit! Remember that it ends in -ent, since often what you Eat has ingrediEnts. |
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| 6848 |
enlarge |
make bigger |
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When you enlarge something, you make it bigger. If you build a huge addition on the side of your house, you enlarge it. |
You can enlarge a sand castle by dumping another bucket of sand on it, or enlarge your hairdo by curling and teasing it. When a photographer enlarges a photograph, she blows it up, or prints a much larger copy of it, and you can also enlarge an idea, or someone's understanding of it, by clarifying or explaining it. The Old French root of enlarge is enlargier, "to widen, increase, or make larger." |
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| 6849 |
sentimental |
marked by tender, romantic, or nostalgic emotion |
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Call a person sentimental if he or she is led more by emotions than by reason. If you have a sentimental attachment to a favorite stuffed animal, you'll probably even bring it to college with you. |
Sentimental describes a person who relies on emotions more than reason, or a novel or film that is overly emotional. Derived from the Latin verb, sentire "to feel," sentimental always implies that the emotions are involved a little too much. If you do something for sentimental reasons, you are only doing it because of an emotional attachment. |
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| 6850 |
basin |
a bowl-shaped vessel used for holding food or liquids |
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A basin is a container that holds water and is used for washing, but you probably just call it your bathroom sink. |
You can think of basinas something shaped like a bowl. If you're going for an old-fashioned ring, say "wash basin." If you’re in England, you might use a basin for cooking. The word basin also has various geological senses, particularly a depression in the ground or ocean floor. A basin is also the spot where a river drains — like the famed Mississippi River Basin. That’s one big bowl! |
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| 6851 |
snout |
a long projecting or anterior elongation of an animal's head |
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An animal's long, protruding nose is often called a snout. The tricky part, though, is that not all long animal noses are called snouts. |
An elephant has a very long nose, but we don't call it a snout, we call it a trunk. A horse's nose is rarely referred to as a snout, because it's really their whole face that's long. Birds have beaks. Most dogs have a snout, except for pugs and boxers and other dogs with smashed-in faces. Bears have snouts, as do rats. Do yourself a favor, though, and never tell a person that they have a snout, no matter how large their nose is. Believe it or not, snout may actually be a cousin of the word snot: that should help you remember it! |
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| 6852 |
boredom |
the feeling of being tired of something tedious |
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Boredom can make you do crazy things, like watching terrible old game shows on television or eating the bag of chocolate chips you find in the freezer. The feeling of being bored or uninterested in what you're doing is boredom. |
Everyone experiences boredom sometimes. The feeling that nothing catches your interest, that everything's dull and flat, sums up the state of boredom. Too much time on your hands can result in boredom, and so can the tediousness of doing the same thing over and over again, like a dreary task at a job. The word boredom comes from something called a "boring tool", a kind of drill that works slowly and repetitively; around 1768, bore, meaning "be tiresome," became a popular slang term, and boredom followed. |
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| 6853 |
affiliated |
being joined in close association |
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If two things are affiliated, they are closely associated or connected with one another. When you join a cause, you become affiliated with it and what it represents. You learned to choose your battles more carefully after becoming affiliated with the "Save the Pigeons" campaign. |
Coming from the verb "affiliate," the adjective affiliated shares its history, starting with the Latin stem affiliare, meaning "to adopt." As such, we "adopt" the ideals and goals of groups with which we join and become affiliated. You could be affiliated with a particular church or temple. As a celebrity, you are affiliated with a number of charities. There is also a legal meaning, whereby a mother can affiliate a child, or declare its paternity. |
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| 6854 |
pry |
be nosey |
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To pry is to try and find something out that is none of your business. We all hate people who pry, sticking their nose into our personal affairs, and it is an annoying and disrespectful habit. |
We are taught as children to ask questions, but sometimes those questions are used to pry, or peek into someone's private business. A nosy person will peek into some else's life the same way one might use a crowbar to pry open a crate (though — alert! — that pry has a different origin). Our word is thought to come from a word related to the Old English verb beprīwan, "to wink," which evolved into the Middle English prie, "to peer in," which gives us today's meaning. |
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| 6855 |
trivial |
(informal) small and of little importance |
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Something that is trivial is not important or significant, such as the trivial details you shared with me about your trip to the post office this morning. |
Trivial can also describe something that isn't deep or meaningful, like a trivial movie that you'll forget about after the credits roll. It comes from the Latin word trivium: tri means "three" and via is "road." So a trivium is a "place where three roads meet," meaning a crossroads — just something ordinary. So something that is trivial is not worth remembering; it just isn't important. |
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| 6856 |
unfit |
below the required standards for a purpose |
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If someone is unfit, they're not qualified. You're unfit for a job as an ice cream truck driver if your only driving experience has been steering a bumper car at an amusement park. |
Farmland can be described as unfit for planting if it's been leached of nutrients, and a babysitter might be accused of being unfit if he gets distracted and loses track of his charges on the playground. In either case, the unfit thing or person doesn't meet the necessary requirements or standards. Another way to be unfit is to be out of shape or in poor physical condition. Fit can mean both "suitable" and "in good shape." |
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| 6857 |
infatuated |
marked by foolish or unreasoning fondness |
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Think he has no faults? Blush when he walks by? You are infatuated. When you are infatuated, your crush is so severe that it's pretty darned foolish. |
Infatuation comes from the Latin infature which means "to make a fool of." You can be infatuated with a person, but you can also be infatuated with an idea: "Nick was so infatuated with the idea of knighthood that he wore a suit of armor to the prom, and asked to be called 'Sir Nicholas the Brave.'" |
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| 6858 |
hallow |
render holy by means of religious rites |
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To hallow is to bless, consecrate, or render holy by means of religious rites, especially significant religious places or the relics of saints. |
As a noun, hallow means "saint." The word for our popular holiday Halloween is a shortened form of "All Hallows' Eve," or "All Saints' Eve," which precedes All Saints' Day. In the verb form, the synonyms bless and sanctify are more commonly used these days, but hallow still appears in such phrases as "hallowed ground" (ground that's been blessed) and the Christian "hallowed be Thy name" (a phrase from "The Lord's Prayer," where hallowed means "revered"). |
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| 6859 |
aide-de-camp |
an officer who acts as an assistant to a more senior officer |
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An aide-de-camp is a military officer who assists another officer with more seniority. An aide-de-camp is a military assistant. |
Many English words come from the military, and many others come from French. This word comes from both, as it's a French term for a military assistant. Just like assistants in other fields, the aide-de-camp will provide the senior officer with whatever is needed. This term also gets a fair amount of work as a general term for an assistant to a powerful person in any organization. Any supervisor or leader may have an aide-de-camp who helps them out. |
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| 6860 |
panegyric |
formally expressing praise |
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A formal, high-minded speech can be described with a formal, high-minded word — the word panegyric, which is a very elaborate tribute to someone. You could consider most eulogies as panegyrics. |
It stands to reason that the original use of the word panegyris, from which panegyric derives, was to describe a public gathering in honor of a Greek god. The Latin, L. panegyricus, altered slightly to mean "public eulogy," which around the 16th Century shifted to the French panégyrique, which meant "laudation." In any case, the word today stands for high praise given in a speech or tribute as highfalutin as the word itself sounds. |
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| 6861 |
repulse |
force or drive back |
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To repulse something is to repel it or drive it back. When you repulse your sister, you disgust her. When you repulse the enemy in battle or someone in conversation, you force them back or make them turn away. |
Repulse is related to the word repel, and they mean similar things: to repulse an advance — romantic or warring — is to repel, or fend off, its advance. To repulse someone by being disgusting is to be repellent. You could repulse a person's attempts at conversation if you repulse him by picking your nose. Repulse is now most frequently used in the gross-out sense, but Jane Austin often had her characters repulse each others’ attempts at conversation or civility. |
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| 6862 |
uninjured |
not hurt physically or mentally |
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Uninjured means not hurt. If the quarterback in a football game gets slammed into the ground, everyone hopes he gets up uninjured. |
Uninjured requires a specific context to make any sense. If someone asks you how you're doing this morning, you're probably not going to say, "Oh, you know, I'm uninjured." But if you're involved in dangerous work or in any situation where injury is possible, "I'm uninjured" is a meaningful statement (and a great relief). So we only use this word when it's possible for you to get injured, or it looks like you have been. |
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| 6863 |
peerless |
eminent beyond or above comparison |
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Do you ever feel like one of a kind? Then maybe you are peerless, a word for someone (or something) unique, excellent, and superior. |
Peerless is a variation of peer — a word for folks in the same boat as you, or at least the same class. A teacher's peers are other teachers, but if she's a much better teacher than anyone, you could call her a peerless teacher. One of the many compliments given to Michael Jordan is that he was peerless. Amazing, one-of-a-kind people like Picasso, Gandhi, and Shakespeare are considered peerless. The rest of us have a lot of peers. |
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| 6864 |
smash |
hit violently |
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To smash something is to hit or throw it so hard that it breaks or is hurt. It's important to pay careful attention while you're driving so you don't smash into the car in front of you. |
A running child can smash into her friend and knock her down, and an angry chef can smash a plate by throwing it on the floor. In the latter example, there's the additional meaning of "break into pieces." A smash can be a car accident, but it can also be a "great big success," like a TV series that starts slow but turns out to be a smash. This "hit" meaning dates from 1920s reviews of Broadway plays. |
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| 6865 |
operational |
pertaining to a series of actions for achieving a result |
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If something is operational, it’s up and running and ready to go. If you’ve been waiting for a new skating rink to open, you’ll jump for joy when it’s finally operational. |
When something is operational, it's ready to use or is already in use. Don’t get on an elevator that’s not fully operational unless you like getting stuck. Any gadget being used is operational. If someone calls you and you pick up and talk, then both phones are operational. If the compost bin you’ve been working on is operational, go ahead and throw in the banana peels. Operational things are functional. If your skates are operational, lace up and go! |
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| 6866 |
dental |
of or relating to the teeth |
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The adjective dental describes things that have something to do with teeth. Dental floss is the waxed string you use to clean between your teeth. |
A dental hygienist is the dentist's assistant, the one who cleans and polishes your teeth. When your dentist's office calls to remind you about your appointment, they might say, "You have a dental cleaning scheduled for next week." In phonetics, a dental is a sound that's made with your tongue touching your top teeth, like th-. In Middle French, dental means "of teeth," from the Latin dens, "tooth." |
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| 6867 |
misdemeanor |
a crime less serious than a felony |
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A misdemeanor is a minor offense, rather than a serious crime. A minor infraction like keeping a library book for years or stealing a pack of bubblegum would be considered a misdemeanor. |
A crime like murder is serious, a felony that can land the person who commits it in jail for a long time. A misdemeanor, on the other hand, is a far less serious offense. Commit a misdemeanor such as petty theft, and you might not get more than a slap on the wrist. |
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| 6868 |
peaceful |
not disturbed by strife or turmoil or war |
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Peaceful describes something calm and tranquil, not at war. The ocean seems peaceful when the waves lap gently at your feet, and a country can be peaceful when it's not fighting anyone. |
Peace comes from the Latin word pax meaning, "tranquility, absence of war." Add the suffix ful which means — you guessed it — "full" and you have something full of peace, like a protest where nobody gets hurt. It refers to being passive, committed to nonviolence, like Martin Luther King Jr.'s peaceful protests during the Civil Rights Movement. It's also the mellowness that inspired the Eagles to sing, "I got a peaceful, easy feeling that you won't let me down." |
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| 6869 |
betrothal |
the act of becoming engaged |
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A betrothal is an engagement, a promise to marry. If you want to sound fancy when you’re about to get married, just mention your betrothal, preferably to a duke or duchess. |
This 19th century word has roots meaning “faith” or “constancy,” and those meanings still hold — a betrothal is a promise to remain faithful and constant by getting married. A betrothal is basically a fancy word for an engagement. This word is slightly old-fashioned, and it also has an official, sophisticated flavor to it. After a proposal has been accepted, a couple will announce their betrothal to their friends and family. The couple is then betrothed to each other. |
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| 6870 |
perfume |
a toiletry that emits and diffuses a fragrant odor |
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That delicious mid-summer smell in the middle of a rose garden? You can call that its perfume. |
If you apply scented oil to your neck and wrists before leaving your house every the morning, you know what perfume is. Another kind of perfume is one that doesn't come in a bottle, like the smell of your mom's cinnamon rolls or the salty fragrance of the ocean after a storm. The earliest use of perfume in English specifically meant "the smell of something burning," and the Latin root is smoky as well: fumare means "to smoke" and per means "through." |
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| 6871 |
preference |
the right or chance to choose |
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If you have a strong liking for something, you have a preference for it. You might have a preference for apples, but there are some days when you're stuck eating a banana instead. |
If you grant favors to one person over another, then you are showing a preference or bias. The United States often gives preference to traditional allies like Britain or Canada. In your science class, it's clear that the professor has a preference for certain students and calls on them more often. Preference also refers to a choice or the right to choose — your friend might have a strong preference for which movie you'll see tonight. |
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| 6872 |
roam |
move about aimlessly or without any destination |
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When you wander without a plan or a specific destination, you roam. Your cat may stay close to your house when you let her outside, or she may roam around the neighborhood all day. |
Dogs and kids on bikes tend to roam in packs, looking for food or fun, while a tiger in the zoo roams aimlessly around his enclosure. Book characters' eyes sometimes roam, too, or glance over a scene without stopping: "Her eyes roam across the group, but there are no familiar faces." Experts have tried connecting roam to "pilgrimages to Rome," but there seems to be no relation between roam and Rome. |
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| 6873 |
oddity |
eccentricity that is not easily explained |
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An oddity is anything strange or unusual. Wearing ear muffs during a heat wave would be considered an oddity, because most people wouldn't do that. |
Anything odd is weird, strange, unusual, or bizarre. Oddities are things like that. Calling good friends "sir" would be an oddity, since that word is usually used in formal situations. Oddities can also be objects, especially unusual objects or souvenirs someone might collect. |
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| 6874 |
unendurable |
incapable of being put up with |
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When you can't tolerate something, it's unendurable. The vintage camper your parents bought might smell so terrible that it's unendurable. |
Use the adjective unendurable to describe situations that are truly impossible to bear, like the unendurable pain of losing a beloved friend. You can also use the word to emphasize the negative qualities of something: "This math class is unendurable — I'm transferring to modern dance." When you can endure something, you can stand it, even if it's hard. Endure comes from the Latin indurare, "make hard" or "harden the heart against." |
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| 6875 |
hike |
walk a long way, as for pleasure or physical exercise |
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To hike is to walk a long way at a leisurely pace. You might love to hike in the woods on weekends. |
When you hike, you walk for pleasure, often in a wooded or hilly area. The trip itself is also a hike, whether you hike the Appalachian Trail or climb a local hill. Another meaning of hike is "to increase," as when the library decides to hike the fees for late books. Hike has been around since the 1800's, when it was spelled hyke, but its origin is uncertain. The "walk vigorously" meaning is older than the "raise or increase" meaning. |
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| 6876 |
rivet |
a heavy metal pin used to fasten two pieces of metal |
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A rivet is a metal fastener, a bolt-like device that holds together two pieces of metal or fabric. The round metal fasteners on your favorite pair of jeans are rivets. |
Older buildings with metal frames like the Eiffel Tower are held together with rivets, and so are some bridges and military vehicles. Furniture upholstery often involves rivets, too. When you use a rivet to fasten, you can say you rivet — and similarly, to hold attention or captivate is also to rivet. The Old French root is river, "to clench or fasten." |
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| 6877 |
misinterpret |
construe wrongly |
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When you misinterpret something, you get it wrong. If you misinterpret another driver's wave as a friendly hello, you're probably missing the fact that he's trying to tell you one of your headlights has blown. |
Misinterpreting can be fun or embarrassing on a personal level––you can, say, misinterpret a boy's interest in your friend, and think he want to go out with you. But it can be devastating on an international level. During the Cold War, the US and the USSR had to be very careful about sending signals about nuclear readiness––the cost of misinterpreting could be a nuclear war. |
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| 6878 |
divination |
the art or gift of prophecy by supernatural means |
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The idea that you can see the future by supernatural means is called divination. When your friend tells your fortune by reading the tea leaves in your cup, she claims to have the power of divination. |
The prediction or prophecy itself that's given through the act of fortune telling is also called divination. A psychic's divination that your aunt will soon start a family is much less impressive if your aunt is obviously pregnant. You can also use divination to refer to someone's unusual intuition, like a child who seems to know by divination when someone is feeling sad or upset. |
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| 6879 |
damaged |
harmed or injured or spoiled |
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Something that's damaged is harmed or ruined. Wrap your dishes in newspaper and place them neatly in a box so they aren't damaged during a move. |
Damaged comes from the French dommage meaning "loss caused by injury." A politician who loses popularity after making uncouth remarks during a speech has damaged his reputation. Like a shattered mirror damaged during a fall, the harm done is irreparable, or beyond repair. |
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| 6880 |
stutter |
speak haltingly |
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If you've ever heard a young child stammer and trip over his words, you know what it means to stutter. |
Use the verb stutter when someone gets stuck on certain word sounds, either because she's speaking too quickly or eagerly, or because she has an actual speech disorder, also called a stutter. The word itself is somewhat onomatopoeic — a word that sounds like what it means — with its repeated t sounds. Stutter is thought to be related to the Middle Low German word stoten, "to knock or strike against," which is the way a stutterer's words sometimes sound. |
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| 6881 |
obstruction |
any structure that makes progress difficult |
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An obstruction blocks things, like a roadblock prevents drivers to enter a street or a piece of food cuts off your windpipe. |
All types of obstructions block things. If you put a shelf in your doorway, that would be an obstruction: people would have a hard time getting around it. In football, offensive linemen try to be obstructions: they stand between the defense and the quarterback. Legally, if someone lies to the police or withholds evidence, they are an obstruction to justice, because they're preventing the police from doing their jobs. All obstructions are impediments; obstructions are in the way. |
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| 6882 |
dude |
an informal form of address for a man |
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Dude is a slang greeting term between men, meaning "guy" or "man." For example: "Dude! So, like, what's up?" It's been popularized by movies and TV shows, and has a distinctive whiff of American West Coast hippie culture to it. |
In the American nineteenth century dude had another life as a term for a dandy — a particularly well-groomed and fancily-dressed young man. From this came the term of dude as meaning a big city dweller unfamiliar with the ways of the Wild West. When such types came out West to enjoy the rugged life, they stayed in "dude ranches," basically resorts or spas, not real working ranches, and the term is still around today. |
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| 6883 |
proficiency |
the quality of having great facility and competence |
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If you have proficiency with something, you are pretty good at it. If you have proficiency with Spanish, you can understand and communicate well in that language. |
Proficiency, pronounced "pro-FISH-en-cee," comes from the Latin word proficere, meaning "accomplish, make progress, be useful." If you have achieved proficiency in something, you have done well at gaining a skill. However, having proficiency doesn't make you an expert. Still, proficiency is something to be proud of — it means you have worked hard, and if you keep going, you probably will become an expert. |
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| 6884 |
drill |
a tool for making holes in hard materials |
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A drill is a power tool that's used for making narrow holes or sometimes for pushing screws into wood or other hard material. The word is also a verb to describe the action a drill performs. For example, a dentist might drill into your tooth if you have a cavity. |
A carpenter's drill can be held in one hand, while an oil drill is a large rig that hollows out holes in rock through which oil can flow. To drill is to bore holes in a hard surface, and it's also to teach something by repeating facts over and over: "I hate math, because my teacher just drills multiplication tables." Drill has a Dutch root, drillen, "to bore a hole, turn around, or whirl." |
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| 6885 |
husky |
deep and harsh sounding |
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If your voice is low and gruff, it's husky. A deep, gravelly voice is husky, and you're husky if you have a large, muscled, heavy body. You might even be a husky person with a husky voice. |
When husky is a noun, it's a northern breed of dog that's bred to pull a sled. Your Alaskan Husky could have a husky bark, and your voice might be the result of a bad cold, or it just might be the normal way you speak. The husky that describes a voice comes from husk, in the sense of "dry as a husk." The husky dog's root is from 1850s Canadian English, hoskey, "Eskimo," or "Eskimo dog." |
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| 6886 |
abdominal |
relating to or near the middle region of the body |
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Anything abdominal relates to the midsection of your body, just below your chest and above your pelvis. Abdominal muscles are sometimes called “abs” and they’re the muscles in your abdomen. |
All abdominal things relate to the belly area. If your stomach hurts, you have abdominal pain. Sit-ups are abdominal exercises. Do enough sit-ups and you'll have washboard abs because the rippled muscles look like, well, a washboard. Any stomach surgery is a type of abdominal surgery. Sometimes abdominal is used as a noun that’s short for abdominal muscle. |
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| 6887 |
summit |
the top or extreme point of something |
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What better place for the mountain-climbing summit than on the summit of the mountain. A summit can mean either a meeting between people who are interested in the same subject or the peak of the mountain. |
Although originally meant to describe a meeting between the heads of state, summit can be used to describe any gathering of people who care deeply about the same topic. If, for example, you are the captain of your chess club, you might attend the upcoming Chess Club Summit, at which new rules of the tournament will be discussed. Moreover, while summit also means the very top of a mountain, summit can be used metaphorically to mean a variety of heights, such as the summit of a career, an industry, or any kind of major effort. |
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| 6888 |
recital |
a public instance of repeating something prepared in advance |
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The hardest part about piano lessons is having to give a recital, or to demonstrate what you've learned in front of an audience. |
You can also use the noun recital to describe the telling of a story. Your uncle might be famous for boring people at parties with his recital of youthful Boy Scout adventures, for example. In the 1500s, recital was strictly a legal term, the "statement of relevant facts," but the musical meaning had come into use by the 1800s. The root is the Latin word recitare, "repeat from memory." |
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| 6889 |
journeyman |
a skilled worker who practices some trade or handicraft |
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A journeyman is someone who's advanced beyond being an apprentice, but who works for someone else. A journeyman who works for a stone mason is fairly experienced at masonry. |
If you're a journeyman, you're a person who is skilled at a trade or a craft, possibly one who began as an apprentice to an experienced artisan or worker. As a journeyman, a glassblower or stone carver or carpenter has enough skill to do the job well, but hasn't gone into business for herself yet. Journeyman comes from the Vulgar Latin root of journey, diurnum, "day," and man, "person." |
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| 6890 |
cold-blooded |
having a body temperature that is not internally regulated |
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A cold-blooded animal has a body temperature that varies along with the outdoor temperature, and a cold-blooded person is someone who seems to feel no emotions. Your pet lizard may love you, but she's still cold-blooded. |
During a hot, sunny day, a cold-blooded animal like a snake experiences a rise in body temperature, which it can only moderate by finding a shady spot to hide. When the sun goes down at night, a snake's body temperature falls. Cold-blooded people, on the other hand, regulate their body temperature even when it's chilly outside, like other warm-blooded animals. They're cruel and unfeeling, though. This meaning comes from the old-fashioned belief that blood temperature rises with emotion. |
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| 6891 |
distortion |
a shape resulting from being deformed |
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A distortion is a change, twist, or exaggeration that makes something appear different from the way it really is. You can distort an image, a thought, or even an idea. To say that I never take out the garbage is a distortion of the facts. |
The heat from the highway creates a distortion in the way objects in the distance appear: They wiggle and dance. The heat creates a wavy distortion in the air that shakes up the image of the things beyond it. Things are the way they are: to change them is to distort them or to create a distortion. Some guitar players prefer distortion: they plug their instrument into amps and pedals that twist and stretch the sound so much that you might not even recognize its source as a guitar. |
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| 6892 |
daub |
an unskillful painting |
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Whenever you smear something on a surface, you are daubing. Abstract Expressionists may have been able to daub a canvas with paint and sell it for millions, but you probably wouldn’t be so lucky. |
Daub can be used as a verb or as a noun, and is derived from the Old French debaur which comes from the Latin dealbare “to whiten.” It is also used to describe the process of covering a surface with an adhesive substance such as plaster, mud or grease. However, in its noun form, it means a smear of something. When you are ordering "a bagel with a smear," you could impress the guy at the deli by asking for "a daub" instead. |
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| 6893 |
ghostly |
resembling or characteristic of a phantom |
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Something ghostly looks or sounds like a ghost — strange and chilling. A ghostly figure appearing out of the fog can seem slightly unearthly. |
Distant, ghostly music sometimes echoes through an empty subway station, and ghostly voices can often be heard in stairwells or hallways, seeming to come from nowhere. Even your neighbor's glowing TV screen can appear ghostly on a dark night. The Old English root of ghostly is gastlic, which means "spiritual, holy, or not of the flesh," and also "supernatural." |
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| 6894 |
swine |
stout-bodied short-legged omnivorous animals |
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A swine is a pig or a big ol’ nasty hog. Swine have short legs, thick bodies, and they eat just about anything. If someone acts like a pig, call him a swine. |
Although it’s old fashioned, the word swine comes in handy if you need another word for hog, like if you’re really into writing poems about pigs. Swine — which is also the plural form, like fish — are common farm animals. Some are eaten as bacon, some are kept as pets. Swine themselves are omnivorous, so they'll eat meat, vegetables, or, well, garbage. |
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| 6895 |
reproductive |
producing new life or offspring |
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Anything reproductive has to do with creating babies or other new life. If you get a pair of pet rabbits but soon have twenty, then you know those bunnies are in good reproductive health. Congratulations. |
When animals have babies, they reproduce. Anything related to reproduction can be described as reproductive. There is sexual and asexual reproduction — dandelions that pop up all over the yard are being reproductive all by themselves. Scientists who study reproductive habits of animals analyze how they bear offspring. Fertility doctors help people who are having reproductive problems. When people fight for reproductive rights, they want the freedom to decide when and how they have babies. |
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| 6896 |
adjunct |
something added to another thing but not essential to it |
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Adjunct means something added on, but not part of the whole. An adjunct professor is someone who is hired by a college to teach but isn't a full member of the faculty. |
This is a word you can figure out by taking it apart. From ad- "to" and -junct "join" (think "junction"), you can see that this is about joining something to another. "During lunch, Tim always sat at the girls' lacrosse-team lunch table, and they joked that he was an adjunct member of the team." |
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| 6897 |
marauder |
someone who attacks in search of booty |
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A marauder is someone who roams around looking for things to steal. You might hear news reports about a marauder breaking into cars in your neighborhood. |
The word marauder entered English in the 17th century, from the Middle French word maraud, meaning "rascal." Even in modern times, if you’re a marauder you’re certainly a rascal — probably even a criminal. A marauder doesn’t target a victim and plan a crime — instead a marauder is on the move looking for opportunities to rob people or steal things. Marauders often travel in groups, looting whatever they can. |
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| 6898 |
cognizance |
having knowledge of |
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When you have cognizance, you have knowledge of something. Your cognizance of the English language is growing with every new vocabulary word you learn. Just don't flaunt your cognizance too much, or your friends might call you a "know-it-all." |
Cognizance can be used to refer to more than just school-based learning (like vocabulary words). It can also mean that you have awareness, or notice certain things. Your cognizance of where the exits are located in the movie theater could save your life in a fire. The noun cognizance can also refer to your state of consciousness: "You passed out from the smoke, but when you woke up you had the cognizance to know who you were and where you were." |
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| 6899 |
dictation |
an authoritative direction or instruction to do something |
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If your boss asks you to take dictation, then she’s going to say stuff out loud that she wants you to document in writing. When she begins dictation make sure you write down everything she says — no doodling. |
If you’re a famous writer you might hire someone to take dictation so you can just speak and someone will write or type what you say. Dictation can describe the process of documenting spoken words, or the written words themselves. If you see an old movie with a man in a suit telling his secretary, "take this down," he's about to give dictation. A dictation can also be a command, like your dad's dictation that you mow the lawn. |
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| 6900 |
convulsion |
violent uncontrollable contractions of muscles |
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If you see someone have a convulsion, it can either be scary or funny, depending on whether it's caused by a medical condition or a really funny joke. A convulsion is a jerking, uncontrolled movement. |
When a person has a convulsion, it appears as a sudden, violent movement of the body. Convulsions most often happen as a result of a medical condition or illness like epilepsy, but you can also describe a jerky, irregular movement as a convulsion, even if it's caused by hiccups or laughter. A political upheaval or social turmoil can also be called a convulsion, if it's abrupt and violent. The Latin root word is convulsionem, which means "to tear loose." |
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| 6901 |
speckle |
a small contrasting part of something |
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A speckle is a dot or dash of something — you might think you've painted the living room without spilling any paint, only to find a speckle of purple in the middle of the rug. |
Young children pouring their own cereal often leave a speckle of milk on the counter no matter how careful they are. You can also use speckle as a verb meaning "to scatter" or "to dot." For example, you could describe the black spots that speckle your cat, or talk about the stars that speckle the sky. Speckle most likely comes from the Old English word specca, "small spot or speck." |
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| 6902 |
intercede |
act between parties with a view to reconciling differences |
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When you intercede, you try to help people work out their differences or achieve something, like when you intercede on your friend's behalf to encourage your boss to hire him, or when feuding friends ask you to intercede, guiding them to sort out their differences. |
The verb intercede comes from the Latin root words inter, meaning "between," and cedere, meaning "go." Acting as a go-between is exactly what you do when you intercede. Maybe you are the peacemaker, or you play matchmaker, or you just bring people to work out their problems. Sometimes people pray that God will intercede in their lives, meaning bring change that improves a situation. |
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| 6903 |
hive |
a structure that provides a natural habitation for bees |
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A hive can be a home for bees. It’s also a whole bunch of something moving around — like a hive of eager students — which is related to the fact that so many bees live in a hive. |
The word hive is most recognizable as a place where bees live, but it can be a verb that means to move together as one, like a swarm of bees. It can also describe storing a lot of things in a confined space, the way bees are packed into a hive. You might hive your stamp collection in boxes in the attic, but if bees have built a hive in the eaves you won't be able to get to them. |
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| 6904 |
beaming |
radiating or as if radiating light |
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If an object is beaming, it's glowing with light, but if a person is beaming, they're more likely to be smiling brightly. |
Your car's beaming headlights or the beaming eyes of your cat, glowing in the dark, are bright and radiant. That's where the other meaning of beaming, cheerful and bright, comes from. A beaming smile glows and shines with true joy. Beaming comes from the verb beam, "emit rays of light." |
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| 6905 |
incomprehensible |
difficult to understand |
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If your poetry is incomprehensible, it's difficult to understand, and it might be impossible to explain. Could be you're a genius! Could be you're just not very good at poetry. |
Incomprehensible originates from the Latin incomprehensibilis: in- ("not") and comprehensibilis ("perceptible, evident, intelligible"). Many unfamiliar customs or rituals seem incomprehensible from a distance, for example, the early Chinese practice of foot binding, in which girls tightly bandaged their feet to prevent them from getting bigger. Similarly, future generations may find today's Western high-heeled shoes incomprehensible, leading them to ask, "What in the world were they thinking?!" |
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| 6906 |
radioactive |
exhibiting or caused by emissions in nuclear decay |
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When an object gives off a certain kind of energy, like the sun or an x-ray machine, it can be described as radioactive. |
The adjective radioactive is a scientific term for a particular type of energy-emitting substance or thing. Radioactive energy, or radiation, is made up of active particles or electromagnetic waves. Nuclear waste is radioactive, but so are more ordinary things, like cell phones and the food we eat. The French word for it is radio-actif, which was invented by Pierre and Marie Curie, who combined radiationem, Latin for "a shining" with actif, French for "active." |
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| 6907 |
simpleton |
a person lacking intelligence or common sense |
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A simpleton is an idiot — a person without much common sense or intelligence. |
This is one of many words — such as moron, dummy, and dimwit — that insult a person's intelligence. A simpleton is the opposite of a genius. However, the word simple implies more than lack of intelligence; it suggests being innocent or naive too. So a simpleton could be considered a hillbilly or yokel as well as a dullard or dunce. |
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| 6908 |
proffer |
present for acceptance or rejection |
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If you present something for acceptance or rejection, you proffer it. Say your mom is under so much stress she forgets her own birthday. You may want to proffer her some advice, like, "Quit that job." |
What's the difference between proffer and offer? If you say you "proffered" something to a friend, it suggests a spirit of generosity and it signals that your friend was welcome to accept or reject it as he saw fit. In other words, proffer is usually a little more polite than offer. To remember this, think of the following equation: p[oliteness] + offer = proffer. |
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| 6909 |
eruption |
the sudden occurrence of a violent discharge |
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An eruption is an explosion of steam and lava from a volcano. This word is also used for other explosions, such as "an eruption of emotions." |
If there's an eruption of a volcano, you don't want to be anywhere near it. When a volcano erupts, it spews a huge amount of lava, ash, and steam into the air. If you were angry at a friend but held your tongue for a long time, then suddenly started yelling in anger, that's an eruption too. The sudden spreading of a disease could be called an eruption. Eruptions are quick, huge, explosive, and dangerous: they're never good news. |
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| 6910 |
avatar |
the manifestation of a Hindu deity in human or animal form |
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You might know this word from video games, where you create an avatar to represent you on screen. An avatar is something that embodies something else. |
In Hinduism the different gods can take many different forms, and when they took human forms, the human was their avatar. Eventually, the word avatar came to mean the embodiment not just of a god, but also of any abstract idea. If you have a cool head, you might see yourself as the avatar of reasonableness in a fight. Video game avatars are sort of a reverse of the first meaning––a physical entity (you) form becomes something abstract (a video game guy). |
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| 6911 |
excommunication |
cutting a person off from a religious society |
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The noun excommunication is a formal way of describing what happens when someone gets kicked out of his or her church, for good. |
Excommunication is really a kind of banishment, a punishment that's handed out by a church when one of its members breaks some important church rule. The Latin root is excommunicare, meaning "put out of the community," which is just what happens when a person is excommunicated. The term is used most often in churches whose traditions include the concept of communion, as another Latin meaning of excommunication is "to expel from communion." |
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| 6912 |
imperishable |
not subject to destruction or death or decay |
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Anything imperishable is made to last, like a marble statue or true love. Imperishable things endure. |
To perish is to die. Things that are imperishable don't. You may have heard of perishable food, the kind that will go bad eventually, like fresh fruit or a ham sandwich. Imperishable foods will always be fine to eat, like a bag of dried beans. There can also be imperishable ideas and beliefs, like imperishable hope or imperishable truth. Certain heroes like James Bond seem to be imperishable, especially in the movie Never Say Die. |
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| 6913 |
allegorical |
characteristic of or containing a short moral story |
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The story about the dog who sees his reflection in a lake, thinks it's another dog, then drops his bone in the water trying to snatch the reflected bone, is allegorical. Allegorical means containing a moral or hidden meaning. |
Allegorical stories and plays use concrete ideas as symbols for deeper or layered meanings. Folk tales and fables are often allegorical. Visual art, like paintings, can also be allegorical, with religious or even political messages symbolized by painted figures. The Greek word for allegory, allegoria, comes from allos, "another," and agoreuein, "speak openly. So if you speak of one thing, but mean something else, that's allegorical. |
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| 6914 |
essence |
the choicest or most vital part of some idea or experience |
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Essence is whatever most sums up the heart and soul of something, its truest most indispensable qualities. The essence of Las Vegas is poker chips and dreams; the essence of Johnny Cash is black clothing and country music. |
Essence can be a physical detail, or, just as commonly, the abstract idea or meaning of something. The essence of Lady Chatterly's Lover might be its revolutionary eroticism, or the essence of religion its devotion to God. Essence can also mean the concentrate obtained from a flower or plant for flavoring. If you've chewed strawberry-flavored bubblegum you're probably amazed at how it truly is the very essence of strawberries. |
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| 6915 |
sear |
become superficially burned |
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To sear something is to quickly cook or burn its surface by applying intense heat. When making beef stew, the color and flavor are usually better if you sear the meat first. |
Sear comes from the Old English word searian which meant “dry up” or “wither.” Typically, the verb sear now refers to burning or scorching something with heat, but if you see the phrase “wind-seared,” it means that a place — or something left in that place — has been withered by exposure to the elements. An unpleasant image can be seared into your memory, meaning you can't forget it. |
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| 6916 |
calendar |
a system of timekeeping that defines divisions of the year |
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A calendar is a chart that organizes the year into days, weeks or months. It's also a list of appointments or activities, like the calendar for the club that lists when the bands are playing. |
A calendar might hang on your refrigerator, where you can scribble your appointments on the squares. If you have something scheduled every day of the week, your calendar is full. In that case you might keep track of your dates with a calendar on your computer (or phone). Don't misspell it with an er ending, or you're referring to a machine that presses cloth. If you remember that "DAys" are in calenDArs, then you'll know to end it with a DAr. |
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| 6917 |
feminist |
a supporter of equal rights for women |
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A feminist is someone who supports equal rights for women. If your brother objects strongly to women being paid less than men for doing the same job, he's probably a feminist. |
If you believe that women should have the same political, social, and economic rights as men, you are a feminist. It has absolutely nothing to do with putting down men or boys in order to elevate the status of women. The word feminist comes from feminism, which originally meant simply "being feminine," or "being a woman," but gained the meaning "advocacy of women's rights" in the late 1800s. |
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| 6918 |
petite |
very small |
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If something is petite, it's tiny. Your mom might be so petite that she needs to sit on a telephone book when she drives the car. |
The adjective petite is used to describe a small woman. When you call someone petite, it's usually meant as a compliment — implying that she is dainty and adorable. Many clothing stores offer petite sizes for women who are short. The word petite is the feminine form of little in French, and sometime in the 1700s it became used frequently in English literature to describe those who are small in stature. |
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| 6919 |
mutual |
common to or shared by two or more parties |
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If the feeling is mutual, both of you feel the same the way, like a mutual admiration society. Mutual means shared. In finance it is used to describe trusts or funds that pool the money of many investors to buy securities. |
Mutual is a word to describe something two people or groups share. Nations will engage in a policy of mutual support; co-workers make a mutual effort; two businesses reach a mutual understanding. It's a good thing, being mutual. Mutual consent means you and your partner agree to do something together, be it composting your refuse in the backyard or dressing in furry mascot costumes for kicks. If something is mutual, it's okay with everyone involved. |
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| 6920 |
livery |
uniform worn by some menservants and chauffeurs |
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A livery is a place that will take care of your horse, for a fee. You will mostly see this use now in historic novels — especially the kind where a cowboy rides into town and stables his horse at the livery. |
The noun livery also refers to a uniform sometimes worn by male servants, like doormen, footmen, and chauffeurs. Your cousin works for a prominent and wealthy family, and he is required to wear the livery of that family when he is on duty. He isn't allowed to say where he works, but he calls his boss, "Your Highness." |
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| 6921 |
program |
a series of steps to be carried out |
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A program is a sequence or plan. At your niece's dance recital you may be dismayed to discover that her piece is 19th on the program. Settle in! |
Program comes from the Greek for "public notice." When you go to the theater, you'll be handed a program with the names of the play and the performers. We call television or radio shows programs, especially if they’re on regularly. If you're trying to get in shape, you'll need an exercise program. To program is to plan or organize something, or to write the code and execute the commands that make computers work. |
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| 6922 |
flicker |
flash intermittently |
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To flicker is to flash on and off at random. If your computer screen is flickering right now, you are probably having trouble reading this. |
Something that is flickering is flashing on and off in an unpredictable way. A fluorescent light may flicker for a while before it stops working. A flicker is also a quick flash or burst of light, like a glint or a spark. Similarly, flicker can refer to a sudden and short-lived feeling. A child opening a present might have a flicker of excitement before realizing that the box contains only tube socks and underwear. |
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| 6923 |
swear |
to declare or affirm solemnly and formally as true |
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When you take an oath about something, you swear to it, affirming its truth. Ironically, if you utter an oath, such as a curse word or obscenity, you also swear. Do you swear to put a quarter in this jar for every time you swear? |
The two separate meanings of swear come from branches of the same etymological tree. Both meanings have ties to Old Norse sverja, but sometime in the Middle English, the word became on one hand sweren with the meaning "to promise," while another version, swerian, became "to curse." Both might come from the idea of an oath being connected to a deity, but while one referred to truth, the other went to the dark side, negatively invoking a sacred name. |
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| 6924 |
jug |
a large bottle with a narrow mouth |
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Many people buy their milk in a jug, a large container with a handle and a small opening at the top. |
A jug usually has a fairly small spout or mouth at the top; a gallon milk container is one kind of jug, usually made of plastic. Other jugs are made of clay or glass. In some countries, beer comes in a jug, and in others water is collected and carried in a jug. Earthenware jugs can actually be played as musical instruments, often in a jug band — the player blows across the opening and holds the jug at different angles. |
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| 6925 |
exclusive |
admitting or accepting only a particular group |
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Exclusive means with limited access. The only way you might get reservations at one of the most exclusive restaurants in Los Angeles is to become friends with the maitre d', or become famous. |
By its nature, something that is exclusive leaves people out, or excludes them. You would think this was a bad thing, since excluding people is not very nice, but by being exclusive, things like clubs, restaurants, and resorts become all the more desirable. Exclusive can also mean sole or only: The company became the exclusive soda vendor at the new stadium. The local newspaper got an exclusive interview and broke the news. |
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| 6926 |
neurosis |
a mental illness that makes you behave in an unusual way |
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If you feel overly anxious and worried, that is a sign of neurosis: a mental illness with no particular cause. |
Depression, tension, irritability, and nervousness are all symptoms of a mental or emotional disorder called neurosis. When you have a neurosis, you worry so much that it makes life difficult. The difficult thing about neurosis is there’s not something specifically wrong, like with a broken leg or type of cancer. Neurosis is a mental-health issue that can be minor or very serious. It's also very common, and many comedians have made fun of their own neurosis in their work. |
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| 6927 |
environs |
the area in which something exists or lives |
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The environs are the areas surrounding a specific place. If you want to go to Boston and its environs on vacation, you might spend time in downtown Boston, but you may also visit Cambridge, Braintree, and Lexington. |
In general, the environs are the areas surrounding a particular place or location. Environs is a plural noun taking a plural verb, and it comes from an Old French word, environer, meaning to enclose, surround, or encircle. When you book your hotel reservations, you should make sure the environs around the hotel are safe. No matter how clean the hotel is or how good the breakfast, you wouldn't want to stay in an area where you would be leery of going out at night. |
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| 6928 |
verge |
the limit beyond which something happens or changes |
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Think of an edge, a border, a boundary, and you are thinking about the verge, the point where something begins or ends. |
We talk about a nervous person being on the verge of a breakdown, or about a scientist being on the verge of a major breakthrough, but the British have another good physical meaning: they call the strip of grass that borders a walkway the verge, giving you a clear mental picture that goes beyond the abstract. |
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| 6929 |
single-handed |
without help from others |
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If something is completely independent, with no help from anyone, it's single-handed. Your solo hiking expedition, for example, is single-handed. |
Use the adjective single-handed to describe something that's unassisted, or that's achieved without aid from other people. Your single-handed campaign for school president is undertaken without anyone's help, and your mom's single-handed parenting was done on her own. From the 1400's, the word single was used to mean "unsupported by others," and single-handed first came into use around 1700. |
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| 6930 |
strip |
take off or remove |
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The verb strip has many shades of meaning, but most of them involve removing something. Someone may strip you of your power or you may strip off your clothes. Whatever it is that you strip, it’s gone. |
When you strip something, you leave it bare. Strip can refer to removing a covering — like your clothes or like when you strip your sheets from your bed. Robbers may strip your car of all valuable items. And you might need to strip off a coat of paint before you start painting the front door. When used as a noun, strip could be something in a long, narrow shape — like an airstrip or a strip of material. |
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| 6931 |
instructive |
serving to enlighten or inform |
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Instructive means "useful and informative." Say you're visiting Paris and looking for the Eiffel Tower when a friendly Parisian native helpfully stops to draw you a map. "Merci," you say. "This map is very instructive." |
In English, anything that informs or enlightens is instructive, but in the Finnish language there's something called the instructive case, which is a whole separate way of saying "by the means of." An example would be a sentence like "I traveled here by horse," which you would say differently than any other kind of sentence you might utter. You would also be speaking Finnish, so the information would only be instructive to Finns. |
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| 6932 |
manna |
food that God gave the Israelites during the Exodus |
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Use the noun manna when you talk about the miraculous supply of food that the Bible describes God providing. In Exodus, the desperate Israelites received manna just when they most needed it. |
While the meaning of manna comes from the Old Testament of the Bible, you can use it to describe something unexpected, especially if it feels like a miracle. You might, for example, say, "The doughnuts my coworker brought in this morning were like manna from heaven." Manna has a Greek root that comes from the Hebrew man, and although it literally means "substance exuded by the tamarisk tree," it's almost always used to refer to God's nourishment in the Bible. |
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| 6933 |
ridiculous |
incongruous or absurd |
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Did you just say that you could toss a rubber chicken over an ocean? Don’t be ridiculous, because ridiculous words are hard to believe, and they will make others laugh at you, not always in a good way either. |
The adjective ridiculous comes from the Latin word ridere, which means “to laugh,” but it’s also related to the word ridicule, which means to mock in a cruel way. A mocking and cruel laughter, that’s a common reaction to ridiculous situations. However, there are all different kinds of ridiculous, like seeing a fish holding an umbrella while riding a bike. |
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| 6934 |
lecturing |
teaching by giving a discourse on some subject |
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The noun lecturing refers to giving an instructional talk on some subject — usually in front of a class or a group of people. Despite your lecturing, the safety rules have not sunk in for this driver's ed class. Too many of the students still think it's okay to roll through a stop sign. |
Lecturing has lecture as its base word. It's from the Latin word lectura, meaning a reading or lecture. Lecturing can mean an instructional talk or it can take the form of a stern, one-sided talk. Your kids may be used to the lecturing you do at home, but that doesn't mean they like it. If you notice they roll their eyes every time you start a sentence, you may want to consider dialing back a little on the lectures. |
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| 6935 |
instrumental |
serving or acting as a means or aid |
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Instrumental music involves just instruments — no singing. But you could also say that the conductor is instrumental to — or a critical part of — an orchestra's success. |
If you like instrumental music, you dislike vocals. An instrumental song is one without a singer, and there can be instrumental passages of any song, where the band just plays and the singer is quiet. But this word also means something like useful. You could say that Martin Luther King was an instrumental part of the civil rights movement because he was such an important part of it. |
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| 6936 |
opposite |
being directly across from each other |
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Oh no! That crazy man is back again and coming right towards us! Quick! Run in the opposite direction! Go the other way! |
Opposite is an adjective that describes something found on the exact other side of a space—or even an idea. You say "black," I say "white": we're on opposite sides of the debate. You might notice the similarity of opposite to the nouns opponent and opposition or to the verb oppose. An opponent is someone you are matched against. To help remember opposite, think of a tennis match: two players oppose each other from opposite ends of the court. |
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| 6937 |
stellar |
being or relating to or resembling or emanating from stars |
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Meaning outstanding, wonderful, better than everything else, stellar is a word of praise or excitement. Thomas Edison invented many things, but his stellar achievement might have been the light bulb. |
Stellar literally means "like a star." When it comes time for your debut on Broadway, you will sure hope that the reviews say that you delivered a stellar performance. You could also use stellar to talk about actual stars, of course, or you could even blend the two: enjoy the stellar beauty of your beloved under the stellar light of a moonless night. |
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| 6938 |
designate |
design or destine |
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To designate is to give something a specific status. If you designate your house an opera-free zone, it means that you've officially declared that no opera is allowed to be played there. |
To give a person or thing an official status is to designate it as something, like when you designate a meeting place if members of your group get lost at the amusement park. Sometimes, it can carry responsibility or an assignment, like when your teammates designate you as the captain. It can also show a category, like when you designate certain books to the humor section of the bookstore where you work. |
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| 6939 |
viand |
a choice or delicious dish |
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A viand is something really delicious. The grilled cheese sandwich at the diner near your house that’s better than any other grilled cheese sandwich in a 400 mile radius? That’s a viand. |
Viand comes from the Old French word viande, meaning “food.” A viand is something so good you’ll think about it for weeks after you eat it. Your grandmother’s Thanksgiving turkey might be a viand, or maybe the hot chocolate you drink after sledding is a viand. No matter what you consider delicious, you’re lucky if you’re eating a viand. |
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| 6940 |
delete |
cut or eliminate |
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The author looked at the computer screen in horror. With one keystroke she had deleted her entire manuscript. Delete means to erase. |
Delete has its roots in Latin and was first used to mean destroy. In modern usage, delete means to remove completely. Delete used in writing means to edit by removing, often done by drawing a line through the text to be deleted . This process is also called “blue-penciling,” due to the use of the blue colored pencil that some editors use. |
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| 6941 |
confederation |
the state of being allied |
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When a group of people or nations form an alliance, it is called a confederation, allowing each member to govern itself but agreeing to work together for common causes. Perhaps the best-known confederation was the South during the U.S. Civil War. |
The noun confederation comes from the early 15th Century, meaning “an agreement.” Confederation is similar to the word "federation," but with important differences. Whereas a federation has a strong central government, a confederation is more of an agreement between separate bodies to cooperate with each other. The European alliance could be called a confederation, while the United States is a federation. |
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| 6942 |
wrestle |
the act of engaging in close hand-to-hand combat |
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If you decide to wrestle on a team in high school, you'll be grabbing your opponent and trying to fling him to the ground while he tries to do the same to you. You might want to consider the ping pong team instead. |
Athletes wrestle wearing uniforms and helmets, and they follow very specific rules. Others wrestle more spontaneously — a bar bouncer might have to wrestle with an unruly patron, or a parent might need to wrestle a squirming toddler into her car seat. Yet another way to wrestle is with an idea or a problem, a kind of mental struggle. The Old English root, wræstan, means "to wrest," or to yank something out of another person's grasp. |
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| 6943 |
obtainable |
capable of being acquired |
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When something is obtainable, you can get your hands on it. Most information is easily obtainable or gettable on the internet these days. It's just a click away! |
Obtainable comes from the Latin obtinere meaning to "hold, take hold of, acquire." When something is obtainable, you are able to take hold of it. On Black Friday, a good deal on a plasma TV is obtainable, you just have to be willing to wake up at the crack of dawn and stand in line to get it. |
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| 6944 |
specter |
a ghostly appearing figure |
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A specter means a ghostly apparition, a ghost itself, or simply an idea that people find frightening. You can give yourself nightmares if you listen to too many stories about ghostly specters appearing in dark windows. |
Specters as fears are the kind that tend to loom on the edge of our minds, lying dormant for awhile, then raising their ugly heads. It can be hard to sleep if you think too much about the specter of a terrorist attack, or the specter that your blabbermouth cousin might spill the beans to your parents about the night you two took your dad's car without asking. The word can also be spelled spectre. |
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| 6945 |
intricacy |
marked by elaborately complex detail |
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The noun intricacy means a quality of being complex or elaborately detailed. You could compliment the intricacy of your friend's complicated hairdo. |
A delicate piece of jewelry, twisted with decorative strands of silver, can be admired for its intricacy, and an overly complex piece of legislation might be criticized for its intricacy. You could also talk about the intricacy of the universe, or the intricacy of the human body. Intricacy comes from the Latin root word intricatus, which means "entangled." |
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| 6946 |
peregrine |
a powerful falcon formerly used in falconry |
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A peregrine is a fairly common type of raptor, or hunting bird. While peregrines are about the size of a crow, they are much fiercer predators. |
You can also call a peregrine a peregrine falcon. In falconry, the training of hawks and falcons for hunting, peregrines are popular. These birds are found everywhere on earth with just a few exceptions. The word peregrine has a Latin root, peregrinus, "coming from foreign parts" — these birds tend to be caught during migration rather than taken from the nest. Peregrine is also used to simply mean "migratory" or "foreign." |
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| 6947 |
trustworthy |
worthy of trust or belief |
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Trustworthy describes something you can believe in — it's completely reliable. Your favorite newspaper can be trustworthy — they always print the truth — and people can be trustworthy too. You only tell your secrets to a trustworthy friend. |
Breaking apart the word trustworthy gives you a clue to its meaning. It combines the common word trust, which describes something you can rely on, and the word worthy, which describes something that deserves respect. So something — or someone — that's trustworthy deserves your trust. In an election, you'll likely vote for the most trustworthy candidate because you believe she'll keep her promises. If you're trustworthy, that means you're reliable: you do what you say you're going to do. |
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| 6948 |
proportionate |
being in due magnitude or extent |
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When things are in proportion, they are proportionate — their relative magnitudes are in balance and make sense the way they are. When the punishment fits the crime, it's proportionate. |
Artists, designers, architects, and plastic surgeons are all people who care deeply about whether things are proportionate. After all, if you give someone a nose job and their nose turns out too small, it won't look proportionate. And that's just in the visual sense. The old adage "No use crying over spilled milk" is just a way of saying that tears aren't proportionate to such a minor accident. Tears are proportionate when you crash your car, lose your fortune, or don't get into college. |
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| 6949 |
skid |
a plank used to make a track for rolling or sliding objects |
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Whoopsy daisy! Those new fuzzy socks make it easy to skid, or slide unexpectedly, across the wood floor. |
Does skid sound Scandinavian? Because that's where etymologists think the word came from. It makes sense, since there's all that ice up there. The Vikings were most likely skidding around way before snow tires and anti-lock brakes came about to stop all the slippery fun. But a skid that gets out of control is never any good — that's why when someone's life slides into the dumps, you can say they "hit the skids." |
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| 6950 |
ostentation |
pretentious or showy or vulgar display |
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Ostentation is a pretentious or showy display (gaudy or flashy), usually designed to attract attention. Ostentation is a woman in a fur coat, covered in diamond jewelry, boarding a gold-plated private jet. |
The noun ostentation stems from the Latin word ostentationem, meaning "vain display." It is often associated with material items that showcase one's wealth and luxury. Ostentation might come to the minds of the other parents if you drive a Lamborghini to drop your kids off at school. A movie star's gas-guzzling, 400-foot yacht may also be considered by many as a symbol of ostentation. |
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| 6951 |
incorporated |
formed or united into a whole |
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Incorporated can be easily incorporated into your vocabulary. If something is introduced into a larger whole, like when you add a set of sit-ups to your work-out routine, you can say it is incorporated. |
You may recognize part of the Latin root corpus, meaning "body," in this English word. Essentially, incorporated means "formed or added into a body." This word is often used when new elements have been added to something that already existed, like when new clothes are incorporated into a person's old wardrobe. On a slightly different track, incorporated can also be used when a corporation, or company, is formed. |
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| 6952 |
zoological |
concerning the study of animals and their properties |
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Anything zoological is about animals. It’s logical that you’d use the word at a zoo, where critters and beasts hang out. |
This is an easy word to remember if you think about zoos. In fact, zoo is short for Zoological Gardens, the first of which was created by the London Zoological Society to house the society’s wild animals. Zoo comes from the Greek word for animal, zoion, plus -ology for “the study of” and then -ical, an ending that makes the word an adjective. If you’re describing something that has to do with the study of animals, zoological is your word. |
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| 6953 |
extradite |
hand over to the authorities of another country |
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When a government extradites someone, it delivers that person to another country or state, usually to be tried for a crime. Treaties between countries often require them to extradite suspected criminals. |
You might hear about a criminal attempting to hide in one country, only to have its government extradite him back to the place where he committed the crime. While individual countries sometimes resist the pressure to extradite suspects, treaties between countries often encourage them to do so. The verb extradite comes from its noun form, extradition, which was likely invented by Voltaire from a combination of the Latin ex, "out," and traditionem, "a delivering up or handing over." |
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| 6954 |
whimsy |
an odd or fanciful or capricious idea |
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Whimsy is what a person who's a dreamer and out of step with the real world might have lots of. People who are full of whimsy are odd, but often fanciful and lovely, like Harry Potter's friend Luna Lovegood. |
Whimsy is also a whim — something you do just because you want to. If you find a postcard of Alaska and take that as a reason to move there, that could qualify as whimsy. Whimsy is irrational, but playful. If you decorate your house with whimsy, you may have a wall decorated with butterflies and giant daisies with googly eyes, and a couch trimmed with peacock feathers and vinyl. It's amusing and witty, and you’re a master of whimsy. |
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| 6955 |
massage |
kneading and rubbing parts of the body |
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When someone rubs your muscles to help relax them, that's a massage. Feels good, doesn't it? When someone tells you how great you are to gain favor, they massage your ego. Not bad, either. |
The word massage has a mysterious background, possibly coming from the Arabic massa, meaning "to touch," finding its way to 19th Century France by way of Napoleon. Would you accept a foot massage from Napoleon? Or, it might have worked its way to France from India, where amassar carries the meaning "knead." The year 1913 saw the first massage parlor, which was really a brothel. Today massage is a recognized form of physical therapy and is, of course, practiced by amateurs too. A little to the left, please. |
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| 6956 |
merciless |
having or showing no forgiveness |
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Use the adjective merciless to describe someone who acts in a cruel, heartless way. You could accuse your rabbit-hunting brother of being merciless. |
Merciless is the antonym, or opposite, of "merciful." If a person shows no mercy or pity, she is merciless. This can describe a cruelly violent person, or it can be more figurative: "The torrential rain was merciless, pouring down on the wedding party as they ran to take cover." The root word is mercy, which comes from the French merci, "reward, gift, or kindness." |
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| 6957 |
plunge |
dash violently or with great speed or impetuosity |
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Plunge is a noun and a verb related to diving, falling, and sinking. A "polar bear plunge" is when people plunge into freezing cold water for charity or, inexplicably, for fun. |
As a noun, plunge means “a brief swim” or “a fall.” As a verb, plunge has a variety of definitions. Plunge can mean “to devote yourself fully," as you might plunge into a job by working day and night. Similarly, if you plunge into a good book, you don't let anything distract you from your reading. Plunge can also mean “fall abruptly.” Someone’s reputation might plunge after a scandal, or the stock market might plunge when investors react to bad news. |
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| 6958 |
upstart |
a person who has suddenly risen to a higher economic status |
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An upstart is someone who's cocky and arrogant, and who doesn't show much respect for other people. |
There are many ways of starting up trouble — one is by being an upstart. Upstarts are people who are full of themselves and dismissive of others. Often, an upstart is a young person or newcomer. A new employee who acts like he knows more than everyone else is an upstart. An arrogant rookie on a sports team is an upstart. In the 1500s, upstart and start-up were both used to mean the same thing, "one newly risen in importance." |
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| 6959 |
transmission |
communication by means of sent signals |
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Transmission is the act of transferring something from one spot to another, like a radio or TV broadcast, or a disease going from one person to another. |
The noun transmission comes from the Latin word transmissio, which means “sending over or across, passage.” The transmission of a message is the delivery of the message. Transmission can also be a communication sent out by radio or television, while the transmission of a disease is the passing of that virus or bacteria between people. A vehicle’s transmission is the part of the engine that uses the energy created by the burning fuel to make the axle turn. |
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| 6960 |
hurl |
throw forcefully |
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When you hurl something, you throw it hard. You might hurl your shoe at a horrible bug if it suddenly scuttled across the floor. |
If you hurl a rock at a glass window, it will probably break, and if you hurl your trash in the direction of a garbage can, it may or may not land inside. The verb hurl implies some force behind your throw. The earliest English version was hurlen, which in the thirteenth century meant "run against each other or collide." It probably comes from the Germanic root hurr, which is also the root of hurry, and means "rapid motion." |
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| 6961 |
culinary |
of or relating to or used in cooking |
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Culinary means having to do with cooking or the kitchen. If you go to culinary school, you're learning how to cook, most likely because you want to work as a chef. |
If you have a culinary streak, you might love cooking for your friends or maybe just watching cooking shows on TV. If your culinary repertoire includes nothing beyond tuna sandwiches and mac-and-cheese out of the box, you have a lot to learn, culinarily speaking! |
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| 6962 |
lookout |
the act of looking out |
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The neighborhood kids might use a tree house as a lookout, from which they can keep an eye out for the local bully. |
A lookout is usually so high that a person can see for a long distance in many directions when she stands on or in it. Armies sometimes use lookouts to scout for approaching troops, and navy ships include a lookout at the top of a tall mast, also called a "crow's nest." Lookout can also be spelled as a hyphenated word, "look-out," and used as well to refer to the person whose job it is to stay in the lookout and keep watch. |
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| 6963 |
bequest |
a gift of personal property by will |
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When you receive some kind of gift, be it money or property, through a will, that gift is known as a bequest. Your aunt left you a bequest of the earrings she always thought you admired. |
The noun bequest is something one arranges to give away after death, sort of a gift from beyond the grave. Basically, putting a bequest in a will is a way of making sure the right person will get certain goods after your death. If you are very wealthy, universities and charitable organizations may court you in an attempt to gain bequests for their institutions. |
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| 6964 |
unified |
formed or united into a whole |
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When people or groups are all on the same page, working for the same goals and doing the same thing, they are unified. |
Just like the word United in Unified States, unified is a word that means being together. Unified is the opposite of divided. In boxing, there are often a bunch of champions, but every so often, the champions fight to produce a unified champion — one champion everyone agrees on. A similar word is union — a unified group of workers with the same goals, who work together to achieve those goals. People tend to get more done when they are unified. |
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| 6965 |
disrespect |
an expression of lack of regard |
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To disrespect someone is to act in an insulting way toward them. When you disrespect people, you think very little of them. |
Disrespect is all about not showing respect. Actually, it's about showing the opposite of respect, by acting rude, impolite, and offensive. Talking back to your teacher is showing disrespect for her authority. Not giving up your seat to an elderly person is an act of disrespect. So is ignoring the customs and culture in a foreign country. The slang abbreviation dis comes from disrespect and means the same thing. |
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| 6966 |
tycoon |
a very wealthy or powerful businessperson |
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If you are meeting with someone who is considered a tycoon in his industry, keep in mind that he is very successful and probably accustomed to high-stakes negotiations. |
Tycoon is derived from the Japanese word taikun, which means “great lord or prince.” This noun made its way to the West in the mid-19th century and originally referred to the shogun, or military leader, of Japan. It was also used in reference to Abraham Lincoln to indicate that he was an important man. Now, tycoons are generally understood to be unusually successful heads of business or industry. |
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| 6967 |
functioning |
performing or able to perform its regular purpose |
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Something that is functioning is working — doing what it's supposed to do. A functioning refrigerator keeps your food cold. A functioning television shows a clear picture. A functioning group gets things done in an orderly and timely fashion. |
A function is the purpose that something is made for. A flashlight's function is to light up. But if it's not functioning, or working properly, you might need to change its batteries or buy a new one. If your car can get you from point A to point B but the engine sounds like it's going to die any minute, you might say that it is "barely functioning." Sometimes people use the word functional to mean the thing as functioning. |
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| 6968 |
depreciation |
a decrease in price or value |
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Depreciation is when the value of a currency is lowered. The depreciation of the U.S. dollar when compared to the Euro, for example, means that you'll pay more for things in Europe at the current exchange rate. |
Depreciation is from the Latin word depretiare, which means to lower in price, with the roots de, meaning "down," and pretium, meaning "price." If something goes down in value, then the amount of the decrease is called depreciation. If, for example, you buy a car for $10,000, but a year later it is only worth $8,000 due to wear and tear, then the depreciation on the car is $2,000. |
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| 6969 |
dabble |
bob under so as to feed off the bottom of a body of water |
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You dabble when you are a little bit involved in an activity, such as an art form or a hobby. Maybe you only dabble in mystery novels, but you are very knowledgeable about comic books. |
The word dabble can also often relate to water. It can mean “to splash playfully,” or “to get just a little wet.” A bird can also dabble in water by dipping its bill into it. Each of these meanings of dabble is often followed by the word in. For example, a duck may dabble in the water (and then dribble a few drops afterward from its bill), and you may dabble in shrubbery art. |
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| 6970 |
legalize |
make legal |
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| 6971 |
disbelief |
doubt about the truth of something |
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When you express disbelief, you make it clear that you don't believe something is real or true. Your reaction to your little brother's stories about fairies is likely to be disbelief. |
You'll probably encounter a lot of disbelief if you go around telling everyone you saw a UFO. You'll feel a sense of disbelief yourself if you learn you've won the lottery. In both cases, it just doesn't seem possible or real. The belief part of disbelief comes from the Old English word geleafa, "belief or faith," which evolved into bileave before becoming belief. The prefix dis- means "not" or "the opposite of." |
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| 6972 |
emotional |
of or pertaining to feelings |
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If it has anything to do with feelings like happiness or anger, then consider it emotional. A co-worker who cries at the drop of a hat is overly emotional. |
If someone says "Stop being so emotional!" they're telling you to calm down because your feelings are out of control. When you're emotional, you're feeling lots of feelings, or emotions: happy, sad, afraid, lonely, mad. An emotional speech makes you stand up and cheer. An emotional movie tugs on your heartstrings. The opposite of emotional is logical: logical things have more to do with your head, while emotional things are all about your heart. |
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| 6973 |
glitter |
the quality of shining with a bright reflected light |
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A glitter is a sparkle or flash of light. To glitter is to gleam or shine, as if glistening with moisture. |
Glitter isn’t just shiny stuff you use in craft projects. When used as a noun, glitter can refer to any kind of gleam, glint, spark, or flash of light, like the flicker of a firefly at night. This word can also be used as a verb. An ornate golden goblet glitters brightly — as does anything coated in a thick layer of glitter. |
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| 6974 |
unintentional |
without deliberate intent |
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If an action is lacking a specific intent or plan, it can be described as unintentional. If you didn't mean to burp during Thanksgiving dinner, it was unintentional. |
If you grow an unintentional watermelon plant in your yard, it means you didn't plant it on purpose. It may be an unintentional result of last month's epic watermelon seed spitting contest. A little boy might cut his own hair into an unintentional Mohawk, and your wrong turn in an unfamiliar city might result in an unintentional visit to the zoo. The root word is the Latin intentionem, "a stretching out, straining, exertion, or effort," plus the prefix un, or "not." |
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| 6975 |
gnaw |
bite or chew on with the teeth |
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To gnaw is to bite or chew. Your favorite food might be corn on the cob, because you love to gnaw along each row of kernels. |
To gnaw also means to deteriorate or wear away as if by gnawing with the teeth. In Arches National Park, the weather has gnawed away at the rocks creating beautiful formations like arches, bridges, and balanced rocks. In this sense, to gnaw can be used even more figuratively. Something might gnaw at the back of your mind — something you were supposed to do, although now you can't quite remember what it was. |
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| 6976 |
torpedo |
a long cylindrical self-propelled underwater projectile |
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A torpedo is a type of missile or bomb fired underwater. To torpedo is to attack with torpedoes. |
Torpedoes are cigar-shaped projectiles that are used to attack other submarines or boats. The word torpedo comes from the name of a kind of electric ray that numbs you with its sting (torpediniformes). Torpedoes can also be used to attack a target on land. When a submarine fires torpedoes, they're torpedoing the target. Torpedoes explode upon impact, and they're very powerful weapons. |
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| 6977 |
sorrowful |
experiencing or marked by or expressing sadness |
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Use the adjective sorrowful to describe a sad feeling, especially when it involves grief or loss. You feel sorrowful when you lose someone you love. |
Sorrowful is a melancholy adjective: when your heart is broken, you are sorrowful, and when your beloved cat dies you're also sorrowful. There is a sense of permanent loss behind the word sorrowful. It comes from the sense of being "full of sorrow," and the ultimate root is the Old English word sorg, which means "grief, regret, trouble, or care." |
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| 6978 |
slender |
having little width in proportion to the length or height |
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Something slender is slight, or skinny. A young colt is slender compared to the full grown horse it will grow into. |
Slender can be used in both positive and negative ways. If someone tells you you have a slender figure, you'll probably be happy, unless you're going for muscle-mass. A slender portion of potatoes will not cheer a hungry growing boy. If you don't know much about something, you can say your knowledge of it is slender. And if you become an artist, get used to living on a slender budget. Now that's a nice way to put it. |
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| 6979 |
ambush |
concealing yourself and lying in wait to attack by surprise |
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An ambush is a sneak attack. To ambush your enemy, hide and wait for him to come near and then pounce on him. |
In war or in backyards, an ambush is a great way to surprise someone. Ambush comes from a Latin word meaning “to place in a wood,” and hiding in the woods behind a tree is a classic starting point for an ambush. The actual attack is called an ambush, but ambush is also a verb, so you can ambush your mom by dropping water balloons on her head from a tree. Please don’t tell her where you got that idea. |
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| 6980 |
privileged |
blessed with special advantages |
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When you're privileged, you enjoy some special right or advantage that most people don't have. You could be privileged to live in a lighthouse and have a spectacular view of the bay. |
People can be privileged in many different ways, but it always means that they're getting some unusual deal that others probably envy. You can be privileged because you have plenty of money and get to travel the world, or you can be privileged to know interesting people who inspire you. Another meaning of privileged is private or exclusive, as in privileged information that's only available to a few people. |
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| 6981 |
maneuver |
a military training exercise |
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You maneuver your way through a crowd, a bureaucracy, traffic, or traffic cones. You can maneuver a car or a piece of machinery. Army maneuvers are highly coordinated movements of troops, supplies and machinery. |
If you're wondering if the opposite of maneuver is woman-euver, wonder no further. It isn't. Although maneuvering often involves a man on the move, the man- comes from the Latin manus meaning "hand." Maneuver reached English via the French manœuvre meaning "tactical movement" — an interesting maneuver in its own right. |
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| 6982 |
microscopic |
so small as to be invisible without a magnifying device |
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Skin cells, bacteria, and some kinds of algae are all microscopic, or too small to see without a microscope. |
Use the adjective microscopic to describe things that are so tiny you can't see them. The word is a scientific term if you literally mean "can be seen with a microscope," although people use it sometimes to mean "really small," as in the phrase "Wow, your feet are microscopic." Mikros means "small" in Greek, and the scope part of the word comes from the Greek word skopein, "to examine." |
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| 6983 |
affirmation |
the act of asserting or stating something |
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An affirmation is a big fat YES, an assertion that something is true. |
Affirmations can show up in court, or taped to the walls of people who need reassurance. In court, it's a judgment from a higher court that agrees with one from a lower one, or something a religious person who doesn't want to take an oath can use. Quakers use affirmations on the stand instead of swearing, because they always speak plainly. It means to assure, or agree, so you might find affirmations like "You're awesome!" or "Lookin' good" taped to the mirror of people who need to chin up. |
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| 6984 |
fiendish |
extremely evil or cruel |
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To be fiendish is to be cruel or evil. You might choose not to watch horror films — or soap operas — if you're not a fan of seeing people do fiendish things to each other. |
Fiendish behavior is terrible and vicious, and fiendish people behave without kindness or conscience. An informal, less serious way to use the adjective is to mean "complicated or difficult." You might, for example, describe your fiendish calculus exam or rave about the fiendish plot in your favorite book. Fiendish comes from fiend, "evil spirit," with its Old English root feogan, "to hate." |
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| 6985 |
famished |
extremely hungry |
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Did you just order a double cheeseburger with large fries and a liter-sized milkshake? Either you have a death wish or you're extremely hungry — famished that is. |
Tracing the roots of famished leads us to the Middle English word for "starve." So it's no wonder famished means absolutely starving or totally ravenous. Just think of all those poor famished people in the Middle Ages, with only porridge and vegetables to eat and not a fast food chain in sight. It's enough to make you cry...or reach for another french fry — depending on how famished you are. |
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| 6986 |
pestilent |
likely to spread and cause an epidemic disease |
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When something is pestilent, it's contagious and often deadly. At one time, polio was considered to be a pestilent disease in North America. |
Something harmful that spreads — whether it's an illness or violence or a really bad idea — can be described with the adjective pestilent. The rise of poverty in some places, or the spread of chicken pox among preschoolers, are both pestilent. The Latin origin is pestilentem, which comes from pestilis, "of the nature of a plague," with its root of pestis, "deadly contagious disease." |
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| 6987 |
condescend |
behave in a patronizing manner |
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A snooty waiter might condescend to serve you dinner at a fancy restaurant, meaning that he'd consider himself far too important to carry out the mundane task of delivering your hamburger and fries. |
You might have noticed that condescend contains the word descend, meaning to move down from a higher place. You can think of condescend as lowering yourself to do a task that you feel is far beneath you. Kings and queens would never condescend to do their own laundry at the palace, for example. If they even knew how to do the laundry, you can be sure they'd do it in a condescending, or superior, way to let everyone know that housework is no task for a monarch. |
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| 6988 |
matted |
tangled in a dense mass |
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Matted things are snarled into a twisted mat. If you never brush your long hair, it will become matted and soon you will be in dreadlocks. |
Silky hair easily becomes matted, and so does the fur of long-haired animals. Many sheep are covered with a dense, matted wool that is sheared off every year and spun into yarn for making sweaters and blankets. The adjective matted comes from mat, which originally meant "tangled mass," from the Late Latin matta, "mat made of rushes." |
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| 6989 |
rubble |
the remains of something that has been destroyed |
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The pile of crumbled debris that's left over after something breaks or collapses is rubble. Famous scenes of rubble include the fallen Twin Towers on September 11 and the remains of the Haitian capital after the 2010 earthquake. |
Rubble rhymes with "bubble," but when a bubble bursts, it just dissolves into liquid, while rubble is piles of rock, concrete, brick, and other remains that are a very physical reminder of destruction. Rock slides create rubble from rocks, and natural disasters and explosions create rubble from buildings, cars, and trees. Unfortunately, rubble is usually heavy and can trap people or things beneath it, as when bodies are found in the rubble of a fire or earthquake. |
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| 6990 |
appall |
strike with disgust or revulsion |
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That tattoo on your lower back is likely to appall your mother. Just like her pink hair once appalled your grandmother. To appall is to shock and disgust. |
Appall comes from an Old French word meaning "to make pale." If a gory scene in a movie appalls you, you're likely to turn pale. The word appall always carries with it the feeling of disgust. You might be shocked by a loud noise, but in order for it to appall you, it would probably have to come along with a really foul smell or a gruesome scene. |
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| 6991 |
hint |
an indirect suggestion |
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A hint is a slight indication or clue. Your mother might hint at the fact that she doesn’t like your shoes, while your grandmother will just come right out and say that they’re ugly. |
If you’re a journalist following a lead, you’ll prefer that your source give you all the facts, rather than just a hint. A hint can be an indirect suggestion and it is also a very small amount — maybe you take just a hint of sugar in your coffee. As a verb, hint is an intimation or subtle suggestion. It’s also something you drop, like when you hint that you want a particular video game for your birthday. |
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| 6992 |
excuse |
a defense of some offensive behavior |
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An excuse is an explanation for something that went wrong. When we give an excuse, we're trying to get someone to cut us some slack. |
When you finish dinner and ask, "May I be excused?" you've used one of many meanings of this word. It’s generally a reason for behavior: A note from your parents saying you have a doctor’s appointment can excuse you from school for the day. If your dog is sick, he has an excuse for barfing in the house. But be careful — making excuses can get awfully close to whining. |
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| 6993 |
violate |
fail to agree with; go against |
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Violate is a verb that describes actions that show no respect for people, laws, property, and customs. Drivers violate the law when they fail to stop at red lights, and people violate your privacy when they eavesdrop on your personal conversations. |
Violate comes from the Latin word violatus which means "to break," as in a promise or oath. As members of our society, we make unspoken promises — to follow all laws, to help people if we can, or at the very least, not hurt them. So when we violate — laws, property, people's abilities to live safe, peaceful lives — we break the promises that come with being lawful citizens. |
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| 6994 |
speculative |
not based on fact or investigation |
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Speculative describes very risky and unproven ideas or chances. You might have great ideas about starting your own business but your plans are speculative until you earn money from them. |
Speculative describes abstract ideas — usually with high risk — that often come with excitement and expectation too. A speculative investment could mean putting lots of cash into a business or real estate property hoping it will make money later. Anything speculative is based on prediction: whatever it is hasn't happened yet. |
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| 6995 |
summons |
a request to be present |
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A summons is a request or order for someone to show up, especially for legal matters. You could get a summons to testify at a trial, for example. |
When you summon someone, you're requesting the person to join you, essentially saying, "Come here!" Similarly, a summons asks for someone to appear. This could be a friendly request or invitation, like a summons to join some friends for a road trip, but the most common type of summons is official and legally binding. If you receive a summons to appear in court, you have to show up. Ignoring that kind of summons is a crime. |
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| 6996 |
balm |
preparation applied externally as a remedy or for soothing |
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If your lips are cracked and dry, lip balm will make them feel better. A balm is a soothing substance with a consistency somewhere between solid and liquid. |
The ointment-like consistency is part of what the word balm means. It comes down from the word, balsam, which is a gummy substance that comes from trees. You can use the word metaphorically too. If your mother's cooking always makes you feel better no matter how bad things get, you can say her home cooking has been a balm for you in trying times. |
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| 6997 |
stubble |
short hairs growing on a man's face when he has not shaved |
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Stubble is the prickly hair that grows back after being shaved. You might find stubble on a man's chin or on a woman's leg. |
Stubble is a very specific kind of hair: hair that's been shaved but has grown back a little bit after a few days. On a man's face, stubble isn't quite a beard yet: the hair is short. Stubble feels rough, and it can be itchy. Although some men like the stubble look, most men usually go one way or the other: grow out a beard or shave the stubble off. You can also have stubble anywhere hair has been shaved. |
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| 6998 |
nerve |
a bundle of fibers running to organs and tissues of the body |
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A nerve is a group of fibers that send sensation or physical feeling to the brain. Back pain can sometimes be caused by a damaged or pinched nerve. |
Your body depends on your nerves for sensing pain, heat, and cold — not to mention making it possible for you to move your muscles. You can also use the word nerve to mean bravery or daring: "She didn't know if she'd have the nerve to skydive when she was finally up in the plane." In the 1500s, to nerve was "to ornament with threads." All of these come from a Latin root, nervus, "sinew, tendon, cord, or bowstring." |
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| 6999 |
proctor |
someone who supervises (an examination) |
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A proctor keeps an eye on students who are taking a test to make sure they don't cheat. The invention of the cell phone has certainly made proctors' lives tougher. |
For college entrance exams, students are often supervised by a professional proctor, while in less official situations, like a pop quiz, the proctor is usually the teacher herself. Proctor is both a noun and a verb, so you might say that a proctor's job is to proctor, or make sure no test-takers' eyes are straying. The Latin root word is procuratorem, which means "manager." |
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| 7000 |
thrash |
give a beating to |
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When you thrash someone, you beat them — literally, with your fists, or figuratively, by winning a game or competition. |
You can describe your game plan for a chess match this way: "I plan to thrash that show-off in just ten moves." You can also threaten to physically thrash someone, like a neighborhood bully who's been known to thrash much smaller kids. Thrash was originally a sixteenth-century variation on the word thresh, which means to separate grain from wheat or another plant by beating it. |
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| 7001 |
lessen |
decrease in size, extent, or range |
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To lessen is to make smaller, to reduce, or to weaken. A high school football coach might try to lessen head injuries by improving the quality of the team's helmets. |
If your cold symptoms lessen, it means you're sneezing and coughing much less and can probably go to school. If the value of your Pez collection lessens, it means those plastic candy dispensers can't be sold for quite as much money on eBay. And your friend might recommend that you take a yoga class or learn to meditate, especially if she thinks you should lessen your stress and anxiety. |
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| 7002 |
apoplexy |
a loss of consciousness from the lack of oxygen in the brain |
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Apoplexy is a sudden and often fatal fit resulting from blood vessels bursting in the brain. The 19th century character Madame Bovary became a widow because of it. Today, we generally call it "a stroke," but apoplexy sounds way better. |
Although apoplexy as a specific medical term is not such a common term now, the word apoplectic certainly is, meaning furious and red-faced with uncontrollable rage (so called because its symptoms of flushed red face and loss of bodily control mimic those of apoplexy). Often used humorously — apoplectic is how you might describe your parents when they see your grades — though there's nothing funny about a real apoplectic fit. |
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| 7003 |
hysterical |
characterized by a state of violent mental agitation |
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Hysterical means "marked by uncontrollable, extreme emotion." If your favorite sports team wins a championship, you might get hysterical and started weeping and screaming all at once. |
Hysterical comes from the medical Latin word hystericus, which described a female neurotic condition, thought to be caused by a dysfunction of the uterus. Hysterical is still used today by psychiatrists, though in a broader way, to describe someone suffering from a psychological stress condition. Hysterical can also mean "extremely funny," even more so than hilarious. |
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| 7004 |
hatch |
a movable barrier covering an entrance |
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A bird such as a hen that sits on eggs to incubate them can be said to hatch the eggs. Then, when the chick emerges from the egg, you can also say it hatched. |
Humans don't hatch eggs like birds do, but they can still incubate and then hatch a plan, invention, or idea. You may hatch a plan to surprise a friend for her thirtieth birthday party, but to ensure you don't end up with egg on your face, you should verify your friend isn't actually twenty-nine for the third year in a row! As a noun, a hatch is a trapdoor or other opening in the floor, ceiling, or wall that allows access. |
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| 7005 |
guerrilla |
a member of an irregular army that fights a stronger force |
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If your brother says he’s going to become a guerrilla, don't worry, he's not planning to become a hairy animal. Guerrilla fighters band together in a small underground army, usually trying to overcome a larger and more organized force. |
Guerrilla and gorilla are pronounced the same — which makes it easy to remember how to say guerrilla — but they have different meanings. In Spanish, guerra means "war," and guerrilla means “little army.” Guerrilla fighters tend to work in small groups and use ambush and sabotage to surprise stronger, more traditional forces. You’ve might have heard of Che Guevara, a famous guerrilla fighter who was involved in the Cuban Revolution. |
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| 7006 |
beget |
generate children |
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To beget means to generate something, usually children, and it can be used to refer to the role of either a mother or a father. |
If we analyze the word beget, we get the prefix be-, which tends to intensify the meaning of the following verb, and get, which means to cause something to enter one's possession. The word is usually used to refer to having children, although it can be used to refer to anything that generates something else — for example, an inspiration can beget a brilliant idea. |
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| 7007 |
accredited |
given official approval to act |
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When you're accredited in your profession, you've shown that you meet certain standards. Schools and colleges are accredited by various educational organizations, dentists are accredited by the American Dental Association, and other professionals are accredited by their own organizations. |
The key to accredited is the word in the middle: credit. If you give someone credit, you praise them and recognize something they've done. Accredited is similar: If you’re a school or a doctor or another kind of professional, being accredited means you've been tested and evaluated by an outside person or committee and these specialists agree that you meet the standards of that profession. When people hire you, they can be assured that you know what you’re doing. |
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| 7008 |
insertion |
the act of putting one thing into another |
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An insertion is when you put something into another thing, like the insertion of a key into a lock, or the insertion of a comment into a conversation. |
You probably notice that the noun insertion contains the verb insert, meaning “put in.” An insertion is something that’s put into something else. It can be used literally to describe, for example, the insertion of a page in a binder, but it also can be used more figuratively. For example, the insertion of the president into office happens every four years. And your brother may constantly make insertions into discussions he knows nothing about. |
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| 7009 |
autumnal |
of or characteristic of or occurring in the fall |
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Anything autumnal has to do with autumn: the fall season. Pumpkins are a popular autumnal food. |
This word has to do with anything related to or associated with autumn. Sweater weather is autumnal. Pumpkin spice tea is autumnal. Leaves changing colors are autumnal. Halloween is an autumnal holiday. If you feel a chill in the air in August, you could say that's a sign of autumnal weather coming. Because of the mild weather, many people enjoy autumnal weather more than any other season's weather. |
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| 7010 |
intermingle |
mix or become mixed |
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Things that intermingle get mixed up with each other. Tall grasses and daisies might intermingle in your parents' backyard, but your parents may choose not to intermingle with their neighbors. |
When kids from diverse backgrounds intermingle in school, they learn more about people who are different from themselves, and when several different flavors intermingle successfully in a recipe, the taste is complex and delicious. Intermingle intermingles the prefix inter-, "among or between" and mingle, from the Middle English myngen, "to mix," from a Proto-Germanic root meaning "to knead together." |
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| 7011 |
incomplete |
not total or final |
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Something incomplete is missing a part or unfinished. Incomplete things are not whole. A football pass that falls short is incomplete and so is an outfit without a shirt. A bridge to nowhere? Incomplete. |
Incomplete describes things that are missing something. A chess set with a lost piece is incomplete. Incomplete also means “unfinished,” like that incomplete bridge to nowhere. People often feel their lives are incomplete until they do something like have a family or make a certain amount of money. You might get an incomplete grade for a class if your teacher is going to let you make up work you missed. When something's incomplete, part of that thing is missing or undone |
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| 7012 |
remorseless |
without mercy or pity |
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A person who is remorseless doesn't feel any guilt. If you're remorseless, you don't feel bad at all — even if you've done something terrible. |
When someone is remorseless, that person has no feeling of pity for people who have been hurt. If you're remorseless, you have no conscience — essentially, you're cruel and ruthless. A remorseless killer doesn't care about her victim, and a remorseless critic doesn't worry about hurting someone's feelings with his harsh words. Remorse is regret, and it's rooted in the Latin word remordere, "to vex or disturb," or literally, "to bite back." |
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| 7013 |
compunction |
a feeling of deep regret, usually for some misdeed |
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When you feel compunction you feel very, very sorry, usually for something you did to hurt someone or mess something up. When you feel no compunction, you're not at all sorry. |
The noun compunction comes from the Latin verb compungere, meaning “prick sharply.” When you feel compunction, you feel a sharp prick of your conscience. The word compunction is often used in the negative in phrases like “without compunction” or "no compunction." You might say that the burglar acted without compunction when he stole your baseball card collection. |
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| 7014 |
unsuitable |
not meant or adapted for a particular purpose |
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Something that's unsuitable doesn't work well or is out of place. A kitchen knife is unsuitable for sawing firewood. |
You can use the adjective unsuitable to describe something that isn't well suited for a use: flip flops are unsuitable shoes to wear in a blizzard. It's also a good word for something that's disappointing or undesirable: "No, that guy in the clown suit would be a completely unsuitable boyfriend for me." At the root of unsuitable is the meaning of suit, "be agreeable or convenient," that's thought to come from "provide a suit of clothes." |
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| 7015 |
principled |
based on objectively defined standards of rightness |
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If you decide to take a lower grade rather than cheat on a test, you are making a principled decision, or one that is based on moral rightness. |
Most people have a set of principles or basic moral rules that they follow. These might include not stealing, not cheating, and treating people as you would like to be treated. Decisions made following these rules are principled, as are people who follow their principles often. If you take a principled stance on censorship, your defend or refute it actively based on your convictions. |
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| 7016 |
altitude |
elevation above sea level or above the earth's surface |
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The noun altitude refers to how high something rises: “The high altitude of the Himalayan mountain range slowed the progress of the hikers.” |
Whether it refers to how high a plane is flying or to the height of a landform, the word altitude is used to describe an object’s elevation above a particular reference point. Altitude is typically measured from sea level, which is the average level of the sea’s surface. Something that is far above sea level — such as Mount Everest — is said to have a high altitude. Something closer to the ground — such as a plane approaching for landing — is said to have a low altitude. |
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| 7017 |
miserable |
very unhappy |
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Miserable goes way beyond sad — it means absolutely wretched. Someone who's miserable feels absolutely awful. |
If you were caught in the pouring rain, missed your own birthday party, and then got food poisoning, you wouldn't just feel bad. You'd be miserable — which means exceptionally unhappy. Victor Hugo's novel, Les Miserables ("The Miserable Ones"), is the story of people who live a wretched life filled with death and unhappiness. You might want to bring some tissues if you're heading to the musical! |
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| 7018 |
rattling |
quick and energetic |
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A rattling is a quick, often unsteady, burst of sounds. The sound of a rattlesnake is a good example of a rattling. |
You know how a baby rattle sounds? That kind of quick collection of sounds can be called a rattling. A rattling is disjointed and fast. Some machines — like a car engine — make a rattling sound when they're broken. The rattling of a rattlesnake’s tail is a sign you could be in serious danger from this poisonous snake. Sometimes a doctor will hear a rattling in the lungs that indicates a respiratory illness. A rattling can also be called a rattle. |
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| 7019 |
tantalize |
harass with persistent teasing or baiting |
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When you tantalize people, you torment them in a specific way — by showing them something they want but can’t have. You could tantalize people with cavities and nut allergies by eating pecan pie in front of them. |
The word tantalize comes from a Greek story about a guy named Tantalus who was so evil that the gods of the underworld came up with a special punishment just for him (they were really good at that). They put him in a pool of water that drained away every time he bent down to drink. There was also a tree above his head that whisked away its juicy apples every time he tried to pick one. So, it only makes sense that to tantalize someone is to torture them with what they cannot have. |
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| 7020 |
compilation |
the act of putting together |
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A compilation is a collection. You might have enough fascinating stories about compasses to publish your own compilation of the best. You'd have to find some other compass enthusiasts to buy it though. |
Coming from the 15th century Latin compilationem “that which is compiled,” a compilation is a grouping or anthology of similar items. A music compilation brings together different artists and songs on a playlist. One can gather essays on a similar topic to organize a compilation for a book. And as President Franklin D. Roosevelt noted, the Constitution itself is "the most marvelously elastic compilation of rules of government ever written.” |
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| 7021 |
pulsate |
expand and contract rhythmically |
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Things that pulsate throb with a regular, rhythmic beat — like the piped-in music at a trendy discotheque. |
Music can pulsate, electromagnetic waves can pulsate, and your head can pulsate when you have a splitting headache. When someone takes your pulse by placing fingers on the inside of your wrist or on your neck, they're counting your heartbeats by feeling the blood pulsate through your arteries. |
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| 7022 |
contagion |
an incident in which an infectious disease is transmitted |
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Have you ever noticed how when one person yawns, the people around him tend to do so as well? This phenomenon can be described as a contagion, the spreading of an emotional or mental state (in this case, fatigue). |
Contagion can apply not only to the spread of emotions but also to the spread of disease. If you’re feeling sick, you should stay home to reduce the risk of contagion. (Be sure to use the word contagion when you call in sick; it’s a great opportunity to impress people with your vocabulary.) Contagion is akin to the word contagious, an adjective describing things that spread from person to person, like certain diseases... and yawning. |
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| 7023 |
intensify |
increase in extent |
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To intensify is to increase the intensity, force, or power of something. If you snap a selfie and the colors aren't intense enough, you may be able to intensify them with a photo editor. |
You can see the word "intense" in intensify, which clues you in to the meaning of the verb. When you make something more intense, you intensify it — make it more of whatever it is. Believe it or not, a pinch of salt can actually intensify the sweetness of the sugar in a cake. It makes it even sweeter. Storm chasers never know whether a tornado will continue to intensify or begin to abate as they approach — and the difference could mean life or death for them. |
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| 7024 |
absolution |
formal redemption as pronounced by a priest in penance |
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Absolution is a religious concept for purging someone of sin, granting them absolution. The word is used for other kinds of forgiveness too. |
When you sin or make a mistake, you usually want absolution — which is like forgiveness. In many religions, if you confess your sins, you can be granted absolution: the sin is forgiven, forgotten, wiped clean. Usually, the sinning person has to do some kind of penance to atone for the sin to achieve absolution. Absolution is a serious concept: if you jaywalked, you probably won't worry about absolution. If you killed somebody, absolution is going to be more important. |
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| 7025 |
exploited |
developed or used to greatest advantage |
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Something that's exploited is fully taken advantage of. Fear is probably the most commonly exploited emotion used by directors of horror films. |
Exploited talents are ones that have been put to good use. And resources that are exploited are being used advantageously. However, this word is quite often used in a more negative way, to mean "used in a victimizing way." In some countries, exploited children are forced to work long hours in bad conditions. When animals are used to test shampoo, most people agree these critters are also exploited. |
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| 7026 |
exclusion |
a deliberate act of omission |
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An exclusion is an instance of leaving something or someone out. If you love someone to the exclusion of all others, he or she is the only one for you! |
Exclusion is closely related to some words that have a positive or negative feel. The word exclusive implies something is high-end, desirable, and not for ordinary people. If someone is excluded, on the other hand, it means that someone has been deliberately and painfully left out. Exclusion is more neutral. The department store that advertizes a big sale often states at the bottom of the ad that "some exclusions apply." |
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| 7027 |
chat |
talk socially without exchanging too much information |
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When you chat, you have a brief, casual conversation. You might chat with your mail carrier when she delivers a package to your door. |
If you're in a talkative mood, you can chat with your roommate, the bus driver, your boss, and a drugstore cashier all before lunchtime. The conversation that happens when you chat is also called a chat: "Let's sit down and have a chat sometime this week." The earliest meaning of chat was "frivolous talk," which now is more likely to be called chatter or chitchat. |
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| 7028 |
savory |
pleasing to the sense of taste |
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Something savory is full of flavor, delicious and tasty — usually something that someone has cooked. In the world of cuisine, savory is also often used to mean the opposite of sweet, or salty. |
The easiest way to remember savory is that it rhymes with flavory — which is not a real word, but should be. Interestingly, the word unsavory — which is clearly the opposite of savory — is almost never used to describe food. If some a dish doesn't taste good, it, well, isn't good-tasting. If something is unsavory, then it's probably a person or situation that seems morally questionable. So, save savory for delicious food and save unsavory for things, people and ideas deserving of the adjective. |
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| 7029 |
disheartened |
made less hopeful or enthusiastic |
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When you're disheartened, you feel discouraged or let down. It's easy to become disheartened if the grades on your report card don't reflect the hard work and dedication you exerted. |
You might be disheartened to read about the high unemployment rate in the newspaper, or disheartened by the way your carefully constructed rocket ship cake flopped. When you feel your spirits sink or your courage fail, you're disheartened. The first recorded use of the word dishearten showed up in Shakespeare's play Henry V, where he invented it to mean the opposite of hearten, or "encourage." |
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| 7030 |
infuse |
fill, as with a certain quality |
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To infuse is to steep something in a liquid to extract the flavors from it. You'll impress your friends with your cooking if you infuse rosemary and thyme in broth and then use the liquid to marinate chicken. |
To infuse also means to inspire or fill with a certain quality. You goal might be to infuse your writing with such humor that your readers laugh until they cry. The medical meaning of infuse is to introduce a medicinal therapy through a patient's vein. When you're badly dehydrated, doctors may need to infuse you with fluids. The Latin root infusus means "to pour into." |
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| 7031 |
radiance |
an attractive combination of good health and happiness |
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Radiance is a type of glowing: either from a light source like the sun or a healthy, beaming person. |
The sun radiates lights, and bright objects that give off light rays have a quality called radiance. The sun's radiance can be felt the strongest in the afternoon. We use lights for their radiance: they brighten rooms and streets. Also, if someone is happy and healthy, we can talk about their radiance. A sign of radiance in a person is a wide smile, and pregnant women are often said to have a glow or radiance because they’re full of life. |
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| 7032 |
scurvy |
a condition caused by deficiency of ascorbic acid |
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If you are a pirate who doesn't get to shore very often to shop for fresh fruits and veggies, you might suffer from scurvy, a disease caused by vitamin C deficiency. |
Scurvy has some alarming symptoms: your gums become soft and tender and your teeth fall out. Scurvy has become a rarity in most parts of the world, but in regions where food is scarce and malnutrition common, it's still a problem. The unpleasant associations of the word also make it a colorful (and archaic) way to describe something low-down and miserable, as in "that was a scurvy trick you played on me, you dastardly cur!" |
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| 7033 |
revolutionist |
a radical supporter of political or social change |
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Whether you’re overthrowing a government or protesting an unjust law, you could be called a revolutionist, someone who works for political or social change. |
A revolutionist is someone who wants to change the world — not just sitting around talking about it, but actually doing something to bring about change. Like its synonyms revolutionary and radical, a revolutionist is someone who questions authority, maybe by taking part in a demonstration to protest a government policy or by otherwise pointing out thing that he or she believes is wrong with society — then acting to try to fix it. |
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| 7034 |
importunity |
insistent solicitation and entreaty |
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Importunity is when you beg someone to do something. "Please, please take me to the mall!" is probably something said by many teens with importunity. |
The adjective importunate describes a plea that is so persistent or demanding that it becomes annoying. You can use the noun importunity to describe an example of this kind of pleading. You might ask for a bite of your friend's dessert with importunity, moaning about how hungry you are and how deliciously fudgy her chocolate cake looks. The root of importunity is the Latin importunitatem, which means "unsuitableness or incivility," and comes from importunus, "unfit or troublesome." |
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| 7035 |
ventilation |
the act of supplying fresh air and getting rid of foul air |
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Ventilation is when you let fresh air into a place, or air a room out. |
If you've ever been in a stuffy, hot room and said, "Someone open a window!" you know what it meas to need ventilation. Ventilation airs out an indoor space by letting fresh air in and stale or smelly air out, and it's more effective if you open several windows on opposite sides of the house or building. A fan in the window can also aid ventilation. The root word is the Latin ventulus, "a breeze," which comes from ventus, "wind." |
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| 7036 |
ruddy |
inclined to a healthy reddish color |
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Ruddy is used to describe something that is reddish — like the color of red hair, tomatoes, or your cheeks on a cold winter's day. |
Ruddy is commonly used to describe someone's complexion. In this case, it describes a healthy, reddish glow. Your skin might have a ruddy tone from working outside. You may hear someone use ruddy as a negative adjective, as well. In Britain it is a substitute for words like bloody or darn: "The ruddy door is stuck again. I'm going to take an axe to it!" |
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| 7037 |
virile |
characteristic of a man |
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You'll often hear the word virile referring to a manly, powerful man, because the word means having physical strength and other typical masculine qualities. |
When you think of a virile man, you imagine a tough, strong guy who's full of energy, vigor, and sexual potency. He's definitely not a wimp. Men admire him and women want to be with him. Superman is one guy who could easily be described as virile. The Man of Steel, with his muscles rippling under the "S" emblazoned on his costume, has superhuman strength and charm. That's why Lois Lane can't keep her eyes — and hands — off him. |
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| 7038 |
decoy |
something used to lure fish or other animals |
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A decoy is a fake version of something used to play a trick or lead you into danger, like the cork duck decoys hunters put on the pond to make the real ducks think it's safe to stop by. |
Decoy most often refers to bait used for trapping or killing an animal, but it can be any object or plan used to lead someone or something into trouble. Fisherman use worm decoys on their lures to catch fish, just like police use people as undercover decoys to catch criminals. While etymologists aren't positive, they suspect decoy comes from the Dutch kooi, which means “a cage.” So think of luring a mouse into a cage with a big slice of decoy cheese. |
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| 7039 |
revue |
a variety show with topical sketches and songs |
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If you like singing and dancing, you might enjoy seeing a revue, or a theatrical show featuring a lot of performers with a variety of talents. |
The noun revue is somewhat old-fashioned, and this type of entertainment is more likely today to be called a "variety show." Revues were particularly popular in the early part of the 20th century, until the mid-1930s, and audiences attended them both for the funny, topical sketches as well as to see women dancing in scanty clothes. The earliest meaning of revue was "show presenting a review of current events." |
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| 7040 |
commendable |
worthy of high praise |
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If something's commendable it deserves whatever praise it receives. When you developed a car that could run on solar power, that was a commendable accomplishment. Now, it's time to move from Seattle. |
Coming from the verb "to commend," commendable can find its roots in the Latin commendāre, meaning "to praise." So, it only makes sense that someone who has done some commendable deed should get praise for it. American author James Branch Cabell once wrote: "While it is well enough to leave footprints on the sands of time, it is even more important to make sure they point in a commendable direction." |
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| 7041 |
bar |
a rigid piece of metal or wood |
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If you bar a college student from entering a bar because he's too young to drink, it means that you prevent him from going into an establishment that serves alcoholic beverages. |
Bar is one of those handy words with many different meanings. There's the kind of bar where you order coffee or a drink. There is also the bar that a bartender keeps close at hand in case she needs a weapon when patrons get rowdy — like a long piece of metal. And when you bar something, you make it inaccessible in some way. The word bar comes from the French word barre, which means "beam, gate, or barrier." |
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| 7042 |
fruitless |
unproductive of success |
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Fruitless things are futile or pointless. If your search for your missing car keys is fruitless, you don't find them no matter how hard you look. |
You can call a fruitless search a wild goose chase — despite your efforts, you're unsuccessful. If you spend a fruitless afternoon applying for jobs, you end up without a single offer, and if your attempt to get your dog and cat to be pals is fruitless, they end up hating each other just as much as they ever did. The adjective fruitless comes from the sense of "unproductive" or "without profit," like a fruit tree that doesn't grow any fruit. |
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| 7043 |
inherited |
occurring among members of a family usually by heredity |
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Inherited means "handed down to you by your family." If your inherited traits include your red hair, freckles, and stubbornness, it means older people in your family also have them. |
Something you receive from your parents, grandparents, or other family members is inherited, whether it's a personality trait or a house in the Catskills. Some things are inherited genetically, like blue eyes, and others are inherited legally, like money or property you receive as an heir when someone dies. The Latin root is inhereditare, "to appoint as heir." The meaning changed in the 14th century to "receive, to be the heir." |
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| 7044 |
individuality |
the quality of being a single thing or person |
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Whether it’s eating breakfast for lunch, learning Celtic step dancing, building birdhouses from popsicle sticks, showing off your shark tattoo, or speaking with an Australian accent on Tuesdays, all of these things can express your individuality, meaning what makes you unique. |
Use the noun individuality to refer to the sum total of characteristics that make up a particular individual. Individuality consists of the good, the bad — and even the crazy — that make a person distinct. The word can be describe the state or value of being unique, like the members of a group whose individuality makes for lively discussions, or a having your car painted a special color — neon green, perhaps? — to express the owner's individuality. |
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| 7045 |
legion |
a large military unit |
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A legion is a horde or a large number of people or things. It was originally a term for a military unit. |
In Roman times, a legion was a large unit of men in the army, and the word is still used in many militaries. However, it also means a whole bunch of people doing anything. If someone has many fans, you can say legion of fans or legions of fans, but either way, that's a lot of fans. There are legions of stars in the sky. When you see legion, you can be sure there's an awful lot of something. |
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| 7046 |
mentality |
a habitual or characteristic attitude of the mind |
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A mentality is a way of thinking or the ability to think and learn. If someone says you have the mentality of a kindergartener, that's great if you’re in kindergarten, but if you're in tenth grade, they're probably calling you immature. |
An obvious part of the noun mentality is the word "mental," which means "of the mind." How your mind works is your mentality, either in a way that's measured in school or testing, or in the way you think about things. A learned way of thinking comes from experiences; for example you might have a competitive mentality at mealtime because you share a table with nine brothers and sisters. |
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| 7047 |
interwoven |
linked, laced, or locked closely together |
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When things are knitted or laced together, they're interwoven. Baskets are traditionally made with interwoven strips of straw, bamboo, or palm. |
When you look closely at cloth, you can see it's made up of interwoven fibers, and a bird's nest is an equally amazing construction of interwoven twigs, leaves, and feathers. Hold hands with someone you love, and your fingers may be interwoven. Figuratively, two things like excitement and fear might also be interwoven, or linked together. This adjective uses the prefix inter-, "between or among," and the past participle of weave. |
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| 7048 |
prognosis |
a prediction of the course of a disease |
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If you come down with an illness, you might ask your doctor what your prognosis is. A prognosis is a prediction about the course of a disease. |
Prognosis comes from the Greek pro- "before" and gnosis "knowledge." It means to know beforehand, but keep in mind that it is only a probable outcome and not a sure thing. Financial analysts frequently change their prognosis of the economy as they hear each piece of good or bad economic news. And if the weather prognosis is sunny and dry, but you see dark clouds forming, you would be wise to pack an umbrella. |
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| 7049 |
flush |
rinse, clean, or empty with a liquid |
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When you empty something out with a liquid, you flush it. You might also be flush with cash, meaning you have a lot of it. Just don't flush that cash down the toilet! |
Your face can flush, and the sky can flush at sunset when it glows with shades of pink. You can also use flush as an adjective to mean "lined up" or "level," like when you hang a medicine cabinet in your bathroom, making sure it's flush against the wall. Yet another meaning of a flush is a peak or boom — a professional poker player might describe her period of winning game after game as a flush. |
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| 7050 |
ecstasy |
a state of elated bliss |
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If you’ve ever been so happy that the rest of the world seemed to disappear, you’ve felt ecstasy — a feeling or state of intensely beautiful bliss. |
Ecstasy will make you want to write poetry. It happened to John Donne, whose poem “The Ecstasy” is about the feeling of the whole world vanishing when he looks into his lover’s eyes. Sometimes artists see an epic landscapes that caused such ecstasy that they had to turn it into a painting. Ecstasy can mean a feeling or it can also be a state of being, so you might say, “I’m in ecstasy because this pumpkin pie tastes so delicious!” |
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| 7051 |
implicated |
culpably involved |
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Someone who is implicated in something is shown to be somehow involved in it. The word is often used in a negative sense, suggesting an involvement in something wrong, with the person being implicated by the facts of the case. |
The Latin word implicātus, which means "folded in," is the past participle of implicāre, meaning to interweave ideas or objects. In the 17th century, the word referred to a general entanglement in a complicated situation. By 1797, the definition had come to focus on the idea of criminal involvement, suggesting someone "folded in," or involved, in a crime or scandal. Today, the word implicated is not necessarily tied to crime, but it's generally negative. |
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| 7052 |
careless |
marked by lack of attention or consideration or forethought |
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When you're careless about something, you're not giving it much attention or consideration. If you're careless about mowing the lawn, you might mow over your mother's prized daffodils without even noticing. |
When you say, "I couldn't care less" about something, you're probably going to be pretty careless about it, too. If you couldn’t care less about your homework, then you'll approach it in a careless manner, without much thought or concentration. Careless is negative, but it’s a little less so when it means effortless and unstudied, the way you might bat away a bug with a careless swat. Interestingly, the root meaning of care is "grief," so careless is "without grief." |
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| 7053 |
specialize |
become more focused on an area of activity or field of study |
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To specialize is to narrow down your focus, in your studies or profession, to a specific field. If you love playing the accordion, perhaps you should specialize in polka music. |
If there’s a subject you think is special, specialize in it! For example, doctors start to specialize in medical school, when they study something specific such as podiatry (feet) or cardiology (hearts). Other professionals also specialize in smaller parts of larger fields, like lawyers who specialize in corporate law, or writers who specialize in TV comedies. |
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| 7054 |
sensual |
marked by the appetites and passions of the body |
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Sensual means physically pleasing. It often is used in a sexual context, but is not exclusively sexual in meaning. |
Sensual has to do with the five senses, but it comes with a hint of lewdness, a suggestion of sex. Although you could have a sensual meal or experience that doesn’t involve romance, if you want a word that refers to the five senses without any unsavory connotations, use its cousin sensuous. |
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| 7055 |
subconscious |
just below the level of awareness |
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Subconscious describes something that is just below your awareness, like at a subconscious level hoping your friend's boyfriend breaks up with her — you didn't even realize you felt that way until it happened. |
If you are aware of something, you are conscious of it, like being conscious of your tendency to talk too much when you are nervous: you watch for it and try to control it. Most words that start with the prefix sub- are something “under” the root word: something subconscious is under or below your awareness. Maybe in time, it will surface — you might get to the root of why you get so nervous in the first place. |
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| 7056 |
moderation |
the quality of avoiding extremes |
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Eating foods in moderation is a key to maintaining a healthy diet. That means you have a little bit of everything, rather than gorging, say, on steak and ice cream. |
The word moderation describes a middle ground often in either behavior or political opinions. When a politician tries not to be too extreme to the left or right, he is using moderation to hold a middle ground in the hopes of getting as many voters as possible. Moderation can also be the act of tempering an extreme. Try a moderation of your coffee habit, and cut down from 8 cups a day to 2. |
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| 7057 |
scent |
any property detected by the olfactory system |
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A scent is a smell. Every house has a particular scent that is recognizable to people as belonging to that house. |
Scent comes from the Latin sentire meaning "to feel, perceive, sense." The word was originally used in reference to hunting dogs, who track down animals by their scent. If you "pick up a scent," then you have a clue about something. If you wear a perfume, then you leave your scent in the air as you pass. Use scent instead of smell if you want to talk about a distinctively nice odor, like the scent of fresh-cut grass. |
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| 7058 |
wile |
the use of tricks to deceive someone |
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The noun wile is good for describing a particular kind of deviousness, but its plural form is most commonly used. |
Your charming brother might use his wiles to talk your parents into loaning him money again and again. You can describe your cousin's knack for getting exactly what he wants through slyness and trickery as his wile. Language experts can only guess about the origin of wile, though many believe it's related to the Old Norse vél, or "craft." Others think there may be a connection with the Old English word for "wizard," wicca. |
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| 7059 |
judicial |
expressing careful judgment |
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If your situation has anything to do with the administration of justice or involves a judge, then it's officially judicial. And you should probably get a lawyer. |
Judicial comes to us all the way from the Latin word judex, which means — you guessed it — "judge." But while judicial is most often used when describing legal proceedings, it can also be used to describe anyone who has to judge something in a fair way. Film critics are expected to give judicial reviews, just as the Miss America pageant judges must be judicial when assessing the swimsuit competition. |
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| 7060 |
quadrangle |
a four-sided polygon |
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A quadrangle is a four-sided polygon, like a square or rectangle. On a college campus, the quadrangle could be the grassy rectangular space between dorms, where co-eds throw Frisbees and flirt. |
Most college campuses have at least one quadrangle, a rectangular public area made cozy by surrounding buildings. The college quadrangle is almost always referred to as the quad, and this has been true since the 1820s when it became popular slang at Oxford University. The Late Latin quadrangulum, or "four-sided figure," inspired the word quadrangle. |
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| 7061 |
testimonial |
praise of a person or thing as worthy or desirable |
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A testimonial is like a personal recommendation. If you give a testimonial on behalf of a restaurant, then you really like that restaurant. |
If you've seen the word testimony — meaning spoken evidence in court — then you might have a clue to the meaning of testimonial. Like testimonies, a testimonial is evidence or proof of something good: getting an A in math is a testimonial to your math skills. Testimonials can also be a spoken or written endorsement of something: You might write a testimonial about the awesome cupcakes on your favorite bakery's website, for example. |
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| 7062 |
banquet |
a ceremonial dinner party for many people |
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It’s customary to celebrate Thanksgiving with a banquet, or elaborate feast — along with the requisite bickering between family members. |
If you sat down to a banquet in the earliest sense of this word, you’d surely be disappointed. Banquet comes from a French word meaning "bench," and originally a banquet was a small snack — something you could eat while sitting on a bench. If a particular family member isn’t cooperating at your next holiday meal, consider having him dine in this traditional fashion, on a bench somewhere far from the dining room table. |
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| 7063 |
commemorate |
call to remembrance |
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To commemorate something means to remember something and by doing so to honor it, as in “We would like to commemorate his many years of past service by presenting him with this lovely gold watch.” |
The word commemorate has a pretty clear echo of memory in it, so it can help to keep it in your mind just by noticing that. You might also notice that you’ve seen the word before, either in late-night infomercials or in various advertisements in magazines, when they talk about commemorative plates, or stamps, or coins: little things that are supposed to honor events or people by recalling them to our collective memory. |
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| 7064 |
impressive |
making a strong or vivid mental image |
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Something that is impressive stands out because it is really good. Some of the most impressive college application essays are those that reflect on past events that shaped who the writer is today. |
When you impress someone, you show that you are special or that what you did is praiseworthy. So something that's impressive does just that, like the impressive feat of running a marathon every week for a year. The earliest meaning of impressive was "capable of being easily impressed," from the Latin word impressus, "imprint or stamp." By around 1775, the meaning had changed to "making a strong impression on." |
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| 7065 |
scorn |
lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike |
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Scorn is open disrespect for someone or something. It can also be disrespect coupled with feelings of intense dislike. |
The noun scorn describes your feelings of disdain when you encounter something you view as worthless or inferior — like, for instance, a talk show that gets all its facts wrong. Use the verb form for those times when you’re actively expressing scorn. You might scorn a politician who spends $100,000 on travel while claiming to work hard promoting middle-class values. |
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| 7066 |
mellow |
having a full and pleasing flavor through proper aging |
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When something becomes mellow, it gets softer or more relaxed. People are often said to mellow with age, meaning their aggressiveness, their sarcasm, and their short temper have given way to a more easygoing, genial manner. |
Wine and other foods mellow just like people, and can be described as "having mellowed" when they reach a full and pleasing flavor, without sharpness. The laid-back quality of jazz pieces like John Coltrane’s “My Favorite Things” is often described as mellow. Sometimes the musicians who play them are mellow too. When people are slightly and pleasantly intoxicated, they often claim to be feeling mellow, having attained a relaxed and agreeable state without even having to grow old. |
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| 7067 |
unearth |
recover through digging |
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To unearth something is to dig it up. You could unearth a coffin, or even a tee shirt buried in the bottom of a drawer. |
To put something in the earth is to bury it, to unearth it is to take it back out. When digging in the yard you’ll probably unearth creepy-crawlies and, with luck, a lost treasure will surface. To bring anything hidden “into the light” is to unearth it. You can unearth the secret affairs of your lover, you can unearth the lies of a corrupt government, and you may even unearth a child’s secret candy stash from under the mattress. |
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| 7068 |
abnormal |
not typical or usual or regular |
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If you get a snowstorm in the middle of July, you could say that you are experiencing “abnormal weather.” Something that is abnormal is out of the ordinary, or not typical. |
Abnormal is a combination of the Latin prefix ab which means “away from,” and the English word normal. It essentially means “not normal,” or "unusual.” Abnormal implies that whatever is “not normal” is also undesirable. However, abnormal is sometimes used in a positive context. The phrase “abnormal intelligence,” for instance, usually refers to someone with especially high intelligence. |
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| 7069 |
segment |
one of several parts that fit with others to make a whole |
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A segment is one of several pieces that together create a whole. You could offer a segment of your orange to your girlfriend as a Valentine's Day gift. She’ll probably enjoy the orange, but she may break up with you. |
Lots of things can have segments. You can talk about a segment of a talk show, a segment of a sphere, or the segment of students in your high school who want to join the Drama Club — the ones singing and dancing in the cafeteria every day. You can also use segment as a verb: when you chop down that oak tree in your front yard, you have to segment the trunk into smaller pieces for firewood. |
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| 7070 |
vapor |
a visible suspension in the air of particles of a substance |
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When something that is normally liquid — like water — becomes a visible, gas-like substance floating in the air, it's a vapor. |
The fog that often settles across your town in the mornings is one kind of vapor. Mist is also a vapor, as is your frozen breath when you can see it on a cold winter day. The Latin root word is vaporem, "exhalation, steam, or heat." |
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| 7071 |
efficiently |
in a manner that wastes no time or effort |
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If you do something efficiently, you do it productively and quickly. When your dentist efficiently examines your teeth, you are grateful because he does a good job and it's all over quickly. |
The adverb efficiently has origins in the Latin word efficere, meaning "work out, accomplish." Efficiently can describe any action that's done without wasting time, effort, or materials — and still manages to produce the desired outcome. Today people are using power, fuel, and water more efficiently to conserve natural resources. As a project manager, you efficiently manage your projects so they stay on schedule and under budget. |
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| 7072 |
cull |
remove something that has been rejected |
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To cull means to select or gather. If you decide to make a literary anthology, you must cull the best possible stories and then arrange them in a pleasing manner. |
When you use cull as a verb, the things you gather can be the good or bad ones from a group. In your garden, you can cull the good vegetables for dinner, or the rotten ones for the compost pile. In fact, often no judgment of quality is made, as when you cull information from the Internet for your next research project. The sorting through will come later. However, if you use the word as a noun, a cull is a selection of things you intend to reject, often in reference to a group of animals. An outbreak of a disease such as foot-and-mouth disease can cause authorities to order a cull of farm pigs. |
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| 7073 |
stealthy |
marked by quiet and caution and secrecy |
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Use the adjective stealthy to describe something or someone that is marked by secrecy, even sneakiness. Ninjas are stealthy, moving quietly and cautiously, which makes them excellent spies. |
When something is done in a stealthy way, the motivation is almost always to escape from being noticed. If your cat is walking so lightly that you can’t hear her footsteps, she's not necessarily being stealthy on purpose, she’s just a graceful cat. However, if you see your cat creeping forward toward a mouse, trying not to scare it away before she can pounce, then she's definitely being stealthy. |
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| 7074 |
bust |
a sculpture of the head and shoulders of a person |
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If you bust something, you have broken it. A bust can also be a statue of someone from the shoulders up. Be careful to not bust a bust on your next field trip! |
Several meanings of bust are pretty discouraging. You might describe your business as bust if it's totally out of money, for example. Or you might threaten your younger sister, "If you bust my ceramic unicorn, you're in big trouble!" There's also the kind of bust that might sit on your piano, like a bust of Mozart or Bach — a statue of a person's head and upper shoulders. This is the oldest meaning of the word, from the Italian busto, "upper body." |
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| 7075 |
shady |
sheltered from the sun's rays |
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Any place that's protected from the glare and heat of the sun is shady, as in a "shady nook." But as its darkened nature implies, shady has the equally popular meaning of "suspicious, dangerous, or deceitful." A "shady character" is up to no good. |
The metaphorical meaning of shady has long been embraced by slang. Since at least the 1950's, the phrase "got it made in the shade" means having a great and easy life or job (picture eastern sultans being shaded by servants holding giant leaves). The rap sultan Eminem calls his evil alter-ego "Slim Shady," conjuring up a devilish suggestion of the Prince of Darkness himself — someone who definitely lives in a shady neighborhood. |
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| 7076 |
accumulate |
get or gather together |
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To accumulate means to gather, usually in large quantities. Let's hope your boyfriend is not the type to accumulate girlfriends. |
The root of accumulate is cumulus which means "mound" or "heap." You might have heard of cumulus clouds, those big fluffy clouds that look like giant piles of whipped cream. Think of these heaping helpings of clouds when you think of accumulate. The money in your savings account accumulates interest, though these days you won't accumulate much wealth that way! Police accumulate evidence until they have enough to charge someone with a crime. |
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| 7077 |
overhaul |
make repairs, renovations, revisions or adjustments to |
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To overhaul is to completely renovate, making major changes in order to repair. A few shutters and a new coat of paint won't come close to fixing that old, boarded-up house — it needs a complete overhaul. |
Back in the 1620s when the word was coined, overhaul described examining a fishing net to make sure there were no tears or big holes that would keep the fisherman from getting a big haul, or large amount of fish. Today, an overhaul is usually the result of such a close examination — like the overhaul that some people want to make to American public schools, or the overhaul an old car needs to keep it on the road. |
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| 7078 |
medley |
a musical composition consisting of a series of songs |
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If you can't decide which of three songs to play, why not play a medley? A medley is one piece of music, made up of passages from other songs. |
Medley comes from the Old French word medlee which meant — eek! — hand-to-hand combat. There are times, like when watching the Academy Awards, that a really long medley accompanied by, say, mimes, might make you want to engage in battle, but a better way to remember this word is that it is related to the word, meddle, which means to get mixed up in someone's business. |
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| 7079 |
lively |
full of life and energy |
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If you’re feeling lively, you might whistle a tune, go for a brisk jog, or strike up an amusing conversation. Lively means "active, spirited, and energetic." |
Lively is an adjective derived from the noun "life," and it basically means "full of life." A lively party is exciting and entertaining. A lively person has an energetic personality, is always on alert, and prefers being active as opposed to just hanging around. Note that a "lively discussion" isn’t necessarily a happy discussion; it could be a spirited or even heated conversation where all parties are actively involved. Lively means the opposite of sluggish or dull. |
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| 7080 |
sanguinary |
accompanied by bloodshed |
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When something is sanguinary it involves a lot of blood or, at least, the pursuit of blood. Vampire movies are sanguinary: Romper Room is not. |
If you're familiar with French, then you'll recognize the French word for "blood," sang, in sanguinary. And if you do, then you'll have no trouble remembering the meaning, "having a bloodthirsty quality." Movies have become increasingly sanguinary. Why all the blood and gore? What happened to good old-fashioned suspense? |
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| 7081 |
towering |
of imposing height; especially standing out above others |
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Towering things are extremely tall, like the towering skyscrapers in New York City or the towering redwoods in northern California. |
Use the adjective towering to describe gigantic things that loom over everything (or everyone) else. There's the towering basketball player in your yoga class who is at least a foot taller than the other students, and the towering addition your neighbor is building on his house — the one that will block your view of the lake. The verb tower means "to rise high," from the Latin for "tower," turris. |
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| 7082 |
fumble |
feel about uncertainly or blindly |
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If you're a football fan you know all about the agony of the fumble — the clumsy handling of the ball that makes you drop it or lose possession. |
Fumbling is an uncoordinated movement that can involve your entire body, not just your hands. Witness the poor parent of a newborn trying to fumble with a diaper on at three in the morning. Fumble has a more metaphorical meaning as well, meaning to mess up or mishandle. Politicians are often accused of fumbling the major issues. |
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| 7083 |
copse |
a dense growth of trees, shrubs, or bushes |
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A copse is a thicket of bushes or a small stand of trees. A copse of trees can provide a good hiding place during a game of hide-and-seek. |
If you go to your local garden shop and ask about how to take care of your copse, you may get some blank stares, as it's not a word you'll find much in everyday use. The word first appeared in the late-sixteenth century, as a shortened form of coppice, a word still used in British English, referring to an area with trees or shrubs that are periodically cut back to the ground so that they grow back thicker. |
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| 7084 |
secondary |
being of second rank or importance or value |
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Something secondary is second most important. This can also refer to things that are not important at all. |
If you have a primary duty, that's what you need to do first. Secondary duties must be done next, since second is a form of the number two. You could say your secondary goal at a job is to get experience, if your main goal is to make money. Also, people will sometimes say, "This is our goal. Everything else is secondary." That means other concerns are trivial or unimportant. Either way, secondary things never come first. |
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| 7085 |
physic |
a purging medicine |
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These days, asking the pharmacist for a physic to relieve your constipation will probably get you a blank stare; it's an old-fashioned, rarely-used term for "laxative." |
Physic comes from the Latin word for "study of nature," so it's unclear how it came to mean a "purging medicine." An almost-synonym is "cathartic," although that word is usually used to describe an emotional purging- like a good cry- rather than physical one. Don't confuse physic with physics, the scientific study of the interaction between energy and matter, or psychic, someone who can read minds and see the future. |
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| 7086 |
contestant |
a person who participates in competitions |
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A contestant is someone who competes in a game or contest. Contestants in many beauty competitions need to demonstrate a talent, like singing or dancing, as well as look pretty. |
If you're a contestant on a TV game show, you might have to answer trivia questions, and if you're a debate contestant, you need to argue your case clearly. You can also be a contestant in a sporting competition or on a reality show. Contestant comes from the verb contest, from the French contester, "oppose," which has a Latin root, contestari, "to bring action." |
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| 7087 |
defection |
withdrawing support or help despite allegiance |
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Is your team so bad you have begun supporting a rival team? Then you're guilty of defection — the act of shifting your support to a new cause. |
Most people won't thank you for your defection. No matter how much you might believe in the new sports team, or political party, or whatever, defection is generally used as a critical term. Defection implies a lack of character — as you can tell by looking at its Latin roots, which come from the word defectionum, meaning "desertion, revolt, failure." Clearly, no one likes a defector. |
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| 7088 |
barbed |
having or covered with protective quills, spines, or thorns |
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Something that's barbed is sharp or spiky. Barbed wire has very sharp points at intervals along its length, to keep animals or people in (or out of) a yard. |
Roses are famous for their sweet blossoms and barbed stems. A fish hook is also barbed, with a sharp spike on its end. You can use barbed figuratively, to describe cruel or biting words: "Her barbed comment made it clear how angry she was after the practical joke he'd played on her." The root of barbed is the Old French word for "beard," or "something beardlike," barbe, from the Latin barba, also "beard." |
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| 7089 |
supplement |
an additional component that improves capability |
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A supplement is something added to something else. Nutritional supplements add vitamins and minerals to the ones already included in the food you eat. |
If a zombie army wants to increase its ranks but is running out of bodies, it might supplement its troops with mummies. If the zombies put out their manifesto and then realize they left out an important point, they might supplement the manifesto with a press release. That press release could also be referred to as a supplement. |
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| 7090 |
pendant |
an adornment that hangs from a piece of jewelry |
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If you’re wearing a necklace with a large gold heart on a delicate chain, then you have a pendant, an ornament that hangs on a chain. |
The word pendant traces back to the Latin word, pendere, meaning "to hang," which tips you off that pendant is a word describing something that hangs, like an ornament that hangs on a chain or a type of light that hangs from the ceiling. As an adjective, pendant means "held from above," like the pendant rock formations that hang from the cave's ceiling. |
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| 7091 |
intensive |
characterized by a heightened level or degree |
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Intensive describes things that are extreme, highly dramatic, or just plain thorough. An intensive chemistry course meets six days a week for five hours a day. If you're in intensive care, you're getting close medical scrutiny, 24/7. |
Intensive is intense, which comes from the Latin for “high strung,” plus –ive, meaning “having the qualities of.” It’s an adjective that cranks up whatever it modifies. Doing too many intensive activities can make you high strung indeed, like taking that intensive chemistry class or participating in an intensive study on the effects of sleeplessness by staying awake for four days straight. That might get you put in intensive care. |
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| 7092 |
celibate |
abstaining from sexual intercourse |
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A person who refrains from being sexually active is celibate. "They dated for three years in high school but committed to staying celibate until marriage — something they were grateful for after breaking up and marrying others when they got older. |
While celibate comes from a 17th-century Latin term for "unmarried," today it's used for all people who don't engage in sexual activity. Priests and nuns vow to remain celibate as part of their religious commitments, and many youth groups and religious organizations promote staying celibate until marriage. As a noun, a celibate refers to one who practices celibacy — like the priests and nuns we mentioned. |
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| 7093 |
gobble |
eat hastily without proper chewing |
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To gobble is to eat quickly — really quickly. When you gobble your dinner, you hardly even chew your food. |
You’ve probably been told that gobbling your food is impolite. However, maybe you can get away with it if you impress your dining companions with some interesting facts about this word’s history. Gobble comes from an Old French word meaning “a mouthful” or “a lump.” It’s related to gob, a slang term for “mouth” in the UK. |
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| 7094 |
resin |
a viscous substance obtained from plants or simple molecules |
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Resin is a sticky substance that oozes out of trees including fir and pine trees. Because resin is insoluble in water, it's useful as a base in different kinds of glue and varnishes. |
Resin can be found in many materials from varnishes and cement to incense and other therapeutic products. Musicians add resin to the bows of their string instruments to help them get a little more friction. Ballet dancers coat the bottoms of their slippers in resin powder for a similar reason — to keep from slipping on the floor while they dance. |
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| 7095 |
piteous |
deserving or inciting a feeling of sympathy and sorrow |
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If something's piteous, it makes you feel pity and concern. The piteous cries of the orphaned kittens under your porch might convince you to climb under there and gather them up so you could feed them. |
Use the adjective piteous when you want to describe something that deserves your feelings of compassion and sympathy. A baby's cry, a miserable facial expression, and a pleading voice can all be piteous if they make you feel bad and want to help. The root word of piteous is the Latin pietas, meaning dutiful conduct or compassion. In Medieval Latin, it became pietosus and meant both merciful and pitiful. |
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| 7096 |
internal |
located inward |
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The adjective internal describes something on the inside. If you're tempted by a second piece of cake, you may have an internal battle with yourself over whether you should eat the cake or not. |
Internal can also describe something that takes place within a country or a group. You pay your taxes to the Internal Revenue Service, and politicians argue about how to spend your tax dollars when they discuss the country's internal affairs. You may have to write internal reports for your boss––reports that aren't supposed to be seen outside the company. |
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| 7097 |
ware |
articles of the same kind or material |
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Ware is a particular type of item — luster ware is a kind of ceramic with a shiny metallic finish. Fiesta ware is a brand of colorful tabletop china that first became popular in the 1930s. |
The word shows up as a suffix, too — software, silverware, dinnerware — where it means articles of the same type or within the same category. A warehouse is a place where goods or raw materials are stored. When the word's plural, it means merchandise — when you display your wares in your shop, you're showing what you've got for sale. |
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| 7098 |
prone |
having a tendency |
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If you're prone to doing something, it means you're likely to do it, have a habit of doing it, or are susceptible to it. People who are prone to getting the flu every winter should probably get a flu shot in the fall. |
The second meaning of prone is "lying face down," and the Latin root is pronare, "to bend forward." This is a handy way to remember both meanings: if you tend to wait to start your term paper until the night before it's due, you are prone to procrastination — you bend toward it. If you stay up so late you fall asleep face down in the book, you are now prone at your desk. |
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| 7099 |
partition |
separation by the creation of a boundary that divides |
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A partition is something that divides space. When your younger brother decides to stop bathing, setting up a partition between his side of the room and yours seems like a good idea...until you realize your partition is not air-tight. |
Partition can be used as a noun or as a verb. As a noun, it usually refers to a physical barrier between spaces. As a verb, to partition is to separate into sections — like to partition an office space into different work spaces. One can also partition something that does not involve physical space — like when you partition school life from home life, you are splitting your life into two parts that don’t intersect. |
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| 7100 |
determinate |
supplying or being a final or conclusive settlement |
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Do you have a determinate personal budget? Welcome to the club. So do most people, unless you happen to be Warren Buffet or Bill Gates. Anything determinate has a fixed limit to it. |
Slightly differently, determinate can also refer to something that has a clearly visible limit of form. For example, although no two snowflakes are ever exactly alike, they all share a certain "determinate form," that is they all have six arms. |
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| 7101 |
frantic |
marked by uncontrolled excitement or emotion |
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When a mother loses her child, she's frantic. She's a crazed sort of agitated and goes on a frantic search for her child. A scene is frantic if there's lots of action with little order. |
Frantic is related to frenzy and both were originally ways to describe mental illness. Hundreds of years ago, if you were frantic, you were stark raving mad. Today, frantic implies fast wild movements or a desperate attempt to do something. On Christmas Eve, the scene at the mall was frantic with shoppers desperately searching for their last few gifts. And a wild party would only be called frantic if the police were called and everyone rushed to get away. |
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| 7102 |
meritorious |
deserving reward or praise |
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Anything that's deserving of praise or a reward could be described as meritorious. |
Meritorious things deserve a lot of merit, usually because they were very brave or noble in some way. If you saved a person from drowning, that's meritorious. Firefighters and doctors have meritorious careers because they're dedicated to helping people. Giving money to charity is meritorious. When something is meritorious, it deserves praise and thanks. |
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| 7103 |
mobile |
moving or capable of moving readily |
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When something is mobile it can move or be moved easily. If you walk to the end of the block talking on your cell phone, you are a mobile being using a mobile device. |
A mobile is something you hang over a crib to entertain the baby, or a scale model of the universe. In 1940, the word mobile was first used to refer to a house that could be easily moved — a mobile home. If someone says to you jokingly that they "are not mobile," it means that their car is not working. It will be hard for them to be upwardly mobile, or to improve their social status, if they don't get mobile and get to work soon! |
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| 7104 |
tuberculosis |
infection transmitted by inhalation or ingestion of bacilli |
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Tuberculosis is a contagious and deadly disease. It mainly affects the lungs, but it can spread to the rest of the body. When a character from 19th century literature coughs into a blood-speckled hanky, tuberculosis is often to blame. |
Tuberculosis — often called TB — is a serious disease that is now rare. Whew. When someone catches tuberculosis, which is transmitted by tubercle-bacillus through the air, lesions called tubercles grow in the lungs, causing serious health problems. If not treated, the disease can spread throughout the body. TB shows up in a lot of old literature and operas – the Romantic poet John Keats wrote poems about TB and died at age 25 from the disease. |
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| 7105 |
leaflet |
a small book usually having a paper cover |
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A paper advertisement or a folded brochure is called a leaflet. To spread the word that your band is playing tonight, you could hand out leaflets. |
Most leaflets are free, part of their purpose being to attract an audience or customers, or to spread specific information or propaganda. You can also use this word to mean "small section of a leaf," particularly on a "compound leaf," which is made up of several leaflets, like the leaf of the ash tree. This botanical meaning is the original one — the "pamphlet" meaning arose in the 1800s, from leaf, or "page of a book." |
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| 7106 |
gauntlet |
a glove of armored leather that protects the hand |
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A gauntlet is a glove covered in steel that was worn in suits of armor, but it also means punishment or, when "throwing down the gauntlet," a challenge. |
Gauntlet comes from the Old French word for "glove," which was thrown down as a symbol of a challenge. “Running the gauntlet” is an old military form of punishment in which the victim runs between two rows of men wearing armored gloves, who beat him as he passes through the lines. Today, if someone makes you run the gauntlet, they won’t really strike you with armored gloves, but they'll probably make you do something miserable. |
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| 7107 |
don |
teacher at a university or college |
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To don means to put on, as in clothing or hats. A hunter will don his camouflage clothes when he goes hunting. |
What is the opposite of don, an old-fashioned word meaning "to put on?" Doff another old-fashioned word meaning "to take off." These two words have something else in common - both are contractions from the 14th century English expressions do on and do off respectively. Don your boots before going out in the snow and doff them when you come inside again! A don is also a Spanish nobleman and a dean of a college at Oxford or Cambridge, but these meanings come from the Latin dominus meaning "master." |
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| 7108 |
animate |
make lively |
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At its most basic, animate means simply alive, while inanimate means not living, not moving around. But animate also means spirited, or brought to life. |
Animated cartoons are what we think of as pictures come to life: animation. Animate derives from the Latin anima "life, soul, spirit." When you seem particularly filled with life, or high-spirited, if you laugh loudly, or use broad gestures, you're animated. |
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| 7109 |
magnify |
increase in size, volume or significance |
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To magnify is to make something bigger, whether in size or in significance. |
A magnifying glass makes things look bigger and when anything is magnified, it gets larger in some way. If your hunger is magnified, you've gotten hungrier. Wearing a heavy coat on a hot day will magnify the heat: you're feeling hotter and hotter. Also, non-physical things get magnified. The press could magnify a story by discussing it over and over, making it a bigger story than it was originally. All types of magnifying make things bigger. |
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| 7110 |
accession |
the act of attaining a new office or right or position |
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Accession is the act of advancing into a position. Being elected class president is a kind of accession. |
Accession originally referred to a queen or king taking the throne. From the Latin term, accessionem, meaning "joining or increasing,” accession may refer to the gaining of access to any formal position, group, or right. It can also mean “agreement” — think of it as “joining in.” Accession may also refer to property — either something that increases your original collection, or the right to all of your property even through growth — such as the golden egg your new hen laid. |
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| 7111 |
confection |
a food rich in sugar |
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A confection is a food loaded with sugar. Chocolate layer cake, strawberry lollipops, and vanilla bonbons are all confections. Yum! |
Do you have a sweet tooth? Then you love confections, which are sweet treats such as cakes and candies and all manner of food that’s full of sugary deliciousness. The candy aisle is loaded with confections. Bakeries sell confections too, like cupcakes. A confection is almost always a delicious dessert. Just make sure you eat your vegetables before you eat any confections! |
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| 7112 |
reinforcement |
an act performed to strengthen approved behavior |
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Reinforcement is a way to learn and remember things, like a student who repeats the facts he has studied for a test over and over, or the ways we praise children when they share their toys or say "please" and "thank you" — reinforcement of the good manners we want them to use. |
You’ll often hear the word reinforcement used in relation to a building or other structure that gets additional mechanical support, but the word can be used in a broader sense as well. In addition to strengthening walls, reinforcement can refer to the strengthening or propping up of an argument or a particular point of view. For example, if you show up in class every day and ask questions, that adds reinforcement to the notion that you’re a diligent student. |
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| 7113 |
blight |
any plant disease resulting in withering without rotting |
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A blight is a disease that hurts plants and makes their leaves wither. It can also affect neighborhoods. Urban blight refers to a part of the city where things are falling apart. |
Blight rhymes with bright, but it’s the opposite of sunshine; instead of making plants grow, it cripples them. The Irish Potato Famine was an example of a blight. In 1845, more than a third of the potato crops were ruined. The plants turned black and their leaves dried up and people who relied on potatoes for most of their meals also withered and experienced extreme hardship and hunger. You might want to think of it this way: a blight makes people — or plants — fight for their lives. |
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| 7114 |
lean |
incline or bend from a vertical position |
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If you lean on something, you incline your body against it, like the way you lean against a wall while waiting in line. If you lean on a person, you rely on her for moral support, like the way you lean on your best friend when you're feeling sad or worried. |
If you’re tired, lean back in your chair. If you’re broke, lean on your family for financial help. But something can lean all by itself, if it’s not standing straight. The famous Tower of Pisa leans at an angle of about 4 degrees. As an adjective, we use lean to describe something skimpy or lacking excess flesh. When you're experiencing financial difficulty, you could say you're going through lean (not prosperous) times. |
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| 7115 |
customary |
commonly used or practiced |
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Something customary is done according to practice. When a bride walks down the aisle, it's customary for everyone at the wedding to rise out of respect. |
Every culture has its own customary traditions. In American culture it's customary for a child who loses a tooth to put it under her pillow and wait for the Tooth Fairy to arrive. In Greece, on the other hand, it's customary to throw a child's lost tooth onto the roof for good luck. Customary can also reference habitual things a person does, like taking your shoes off when you come home, or writing in your diary before bed. |
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| 7116 |
fascinate |
attract; cause to be enamored |
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Anything that sparks your interest or makes you wonder has the ability to fascinate. If you catch someone's interest, and then hold it, you fascinate them. Be careful. |
The word fascinate actually comes from Latin and French words meaning "witchcraft," and although these days fascinate is used under much tamer circumstances, there is some sense in the word that the person's appeal is not quite normal: there might be a spell-like quality to his or her charms. Thus, the word is often used to describe a new love. On the other hand, you might find the study of exotic beetles fascinating. To each his own. |
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| 7117 |
loathe |
find repugnant |
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If you loathe someone or something, you hate them very much. You might not choose to eat raw carrots if you dislike them, but if you loathe them, you might have a hard time even having them on your plate. |
This word suggests a strong feeling of disgust. Near synonyms are abhor and detest. The verb loathe descends from Middle English lothen, from Old English lāthian. The related adjective loathsome means "hateful or disgusting," and the adjective loath means "not willing to do something," as in "I'm loath to cheat on a test, but I don't see what choice I have." |
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| 7118 |
immoral |
deliberately violating principles of right and wrong |
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Use the adjective immoral to describe a person, group, or situation that intentionally goes against accepted ideas of what is right, like a government that attacks its own people, or a friend who steals your favorite spatula. |
Morals are the principles we follow that help us know the difference between right and wrong. When someone is immoral, they make decisions that purposely violate a moral agreement. Immoral is sometimes confused with amoral, which describes someone who has no morals and doesn’t know what right or wrong means. Someone immoral, though, knows the difference and does bad stuff anyway, like that so-called friend who takes your utensils. |
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| 7119 |
diligence |
conscientiousness in paying proper attention to a task |
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If you practice diligence, you are a hard and careful worker. Do you have the diligence to read all the collected works of Henry James? Of course not. Nobody has, but a couple of his early novels won't hurt. |
Here's a tip: never buy anything big, like a house or a car or a boat, without first exercising what lawyers call "due diligence" — that is, a real degree of care and attention and effort, not to mention a close reading of the small print. Diligence may help you realize the Brooklyn Bridge is not actually yours to buy, or that your potential neighbor has 112 cats living next door. |
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| 7120 |
gall |
a digestive juice secreted by the liver |
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Gall describes something irritating, like someone very rude. If you barge into a bakery and cut in front of a sweet old lady, then you have gall. |
If someone has gall, they're irritating. In fact, as a verb, gall means "to irritate" like new tight jeans that gall your thighs. Gall is "bile," too, like what's in a gall bladder. Back in the days of Hippocrates, if the four humors of the body were out of whack, it affected your spirits. If you had too much bile, or gall, then you'd be aggressive or depressed. It's also a noun for "deep feeling of ill will." |
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| 7121 |
vanilla |
any of numerous climbing plants having fleshy leaves |
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Vanilla is the flavor for food — such as ice cream — that contains extract from the vanilla plant. This word also describes things that are boring or plain. |
If something is called vanilla — such as coffee or a milkshake — it's usually flavored with vanilla extract or the seeds from a vanilla pod. Vanilla is the most common flavor of ice cream. This word has another, slightly insulting, meaning: a vanilla movie is plain and kind of boring. A vanilla song is on the blah side. Maybe it's because vanilla food tends to be white and plain that we use this word for other things that are bland. |
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| 7122 |
betroth |
give to in marriage |
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The verb betroth means to give to in marriage. In the really olden days, your parents might betroth you to someone you barely knew and you'd be expected to marry this virtual stranger. |
Since arranged marriages are becoming more rare, betroth has taken on the more general meaning of pledging to be married. If your boyfriend says, "Want to get hitched?" and you say, "Excellent idea!" then you are betrothed. Betroth is from the Middle English word betreuthe, which itself is from the roots bi-, meaning "thoroughly," and trowthe, meaning "truth" or "pledge." |
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| 7123 |
typography |
the craft of composing type and printing from it |
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Use the noun typography to describe the art of putting words into print. You might admire the typography of a concert poster that uses an elegant font, for example. |
When typography began, the process involved choosing the letters, arranging them, and printing with a press on paper. Today, almost anyone can practice typography by using a computer to design and print flyers, magazines, posters, and more. Don't confuse typography with its near-homonym, topography, which is a branch of Earth science. You'll recognize typography by the Greek typos, which means "dent or impression." |
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| 7124 |
condemnation |
an expression of strong disapproval |
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Condemnation is the act of declaring something awful or evil. If your little brother does something unspeakably awful, express your condemnation so he will learn not to do it again. |
Condemnation comes from the verb condemn, "to strongly disapprove." You might criticize something that you still think is worthwhile, but if you express condemnation, that’s laying a heavy moral blame. Condemnation is used in law, and means the same thing as sentencing; you might have heard a judge say “I condemn you to ten years of hard labor.” Also, a very dangerous building will be sealed up and deemed uninhabitable by an act of condemnation. |
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| 7125 |
brine |
a strong solution of salt and water used for pickling |
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Water that contains salt is called brine. You can always tell when you are close to the ocean, because you can smell the brine and hear the sea gulls. |
Brine is also a salty solution used to pickle or preserve foods. If you want to make pickles, you have to soak cucumbers in brine for several days or even weeks before canning them. As a verb, brine means to soak in a salty solution. If you live in the southern United States, you might brine watermelon rind and okra, which may sound strange to someone from Michigan's Upper Peninsula who's more familiar with brining eggs. |
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| 7126 |
rivalry |
the act of competing as for profit or a prize |
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Rivalry is the act of competing for the same thing against another person. Your rivalry with your older sister is amusing to the family but very annoying to her. |
Rivalry comes from the noun rival, the person you compete against. Often a rivalry starts when people want the same reward — and their talents are just about equal. Your rivalry for the lead in the play at the local theater isn't between you and George Clooney — it's between you and the other guy who also had a great audition. |
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| 7127 |
perturbed |
thrown into a state of agitated confusion |
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Imagine a couple of snakes getting loose in a pet shop, and the manager running around trying to round up the snakes and calm down the customers, and you'll picture a perturbed person. Perturbed means flustered and confused. |
When you're perturbed, you're upset by something, and rattled enough by it to be thrown off your usual calmness into a state of confusion. In astronomy, perturbation is defined as "the effects on a large body when it is subjected to gravitational effects from more than one other large body." When a planet is perturbed in astronomy, it is pulled in different directions by strong forces, which is a great metaphor for what happens to a person who is perturbed. |
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| 7128 |
innkeeper |
the owner or manager of a hotel or lodge |
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An innkeeper is someone who owns or manages an inn. When you arrive at an inn, the innkeeper might be the person who checks you in and gives you a key to your room (and maybe a chocolate on your pillow). |
The earliest innkeepers ran inns in Europe during medieval times. These inns provided lodging, food, and a place for travelers to leave their horses, and an innkeeper managed all of these details. Today in the UK, some pubs call themselves inns, so you might find an innkeeper serving pints there, while in the US an inn is almost always a more charming version of a motel, run by an innkeeper. |
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| 7129 |
discernible |
perceptible by the senses or intellect |
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Discernible means noticeable. If your extra hours training are having no discernible influence on your basketball game, it means your game has not changed. |
You can use discernible in two senses. First, you can use it to describe something you physically see: Because the sky was so clear, the ship was discernible from miles off. You can also use it to describe something you sense or understand: When your younger brother told he was sorry he broke your baseball bat, the truth was discernible in his voice. |
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| 7130 |
inheritance |
hereditary succession to a title or an office or property |
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Any money or property you receive after the death of a friend or relative is an inheritance. Your grandmother might have left you a small inheritance, but she left the bulk of her estate to her Chihuahua, Killer. |
A title that passes with death is also called an inheritance. If the current monarch of Britain dies, the inheritance passes to the next in line for the throne, first to the oldest son. A trait that is passed from parent to child genetically is also referred to as an inheritance. The inheritance of red hair, for example, might be common in your family. |
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| 7131 |
unforeseen |
not anticipated |
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Something unforeseen is something that could not be predicted and was not expected. It's a surprise. |
If something was foreseen, you saw it coming and it wasn't a surprise. Something unforeseen is the opposite: no one saw it coming. Accidents are usually unforeseen events: no one expects to get in a car or bike accident on a given day. Winning the lottery, since it's so unlikely, would be an unforeseen event. If something was unanticipated or out of the blue, it was unforeseen. Unforeseen events can be good or bad, but they’re all surprises. |
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| 7132 |
paternal |
characteristic of a father |
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The word paternal describes anything that has to do with fatherhood, like your dad's paternal habit of giving you advice, always including some "when I was a boy..." tales. |
Paternal originates from the Old French word of the same spelling, meaning "of a father." For example, your paternal grandparents are your father's parents. (Your mom's parents are your maternal grandparents.) Paternal describes your father specifically, or fatherhood in general, like common paternal activities like father-son fishing trips and making sure the guy who is dating his daughter is respectful and sincere. |
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| 7133 |
stout |
having rugged physical strength |
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Stout describes something fat, dependable, or rugged. If someone calls you stout, ask them exactly what they mean before bursting into tears and skipping dinner. It could be a compliment! |
Most supermodels would not want to be described as stout, which is often a nicer way of saying "fat." But a little teapot doesn't mind being "short and stout." Something stout is dependable, too, like your favorite snow boots that keep your feet dry winter after winter. Since it also means "sturdy," if you call that supermodel stout when he prances through the finish line of a triathlon, he'll just pump his fist in agreement. |
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| 7134 |
prescribe |
issue commands or orders for |
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To prescribe is make orders or give directions for something to be done. These days, the word is mainly used by doctors who prescribe medications to take. |
Doctors do a lot of prescribing: they prescribe drugs, rest, exercise, and getting rid of bad habits like smoking. When a doctor prescribes something, he or she is saying, "You need to do this. You should do it." That's the most common use of prescribe, but it pops up anywhere someone is advising or ordering someone to do something. All laws and rules prescribe things — they tell you what to do. |
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| 7135 |
livestock |
any animals kept for use or profit |
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The animals you find on a farm are collectively called livestock. Your herd of dairy goats are livestock, but your toy poodle is just a pet. |
Livestock are distinguished from other animals by the fact that they're domesticated and raised for food or money — if you get wool, milk, meat, or eggs from animals, they're livestock. The word comes from the sense of stock that means "supply for future use" or "sum of money; from the 1500s, this word was also used to mean "movable property of a farm." |
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| 7136 |
antiquated |
so extremely old as seeming to belong to an earlier period |
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Something is antiquated when it is so old that it is no longer useful. If your parents believe that you shouldn't use the Internet when you write papers for school, you might call their ideas antiquated. |
Something is antiquated when it is so old, it's like an antique or recognizable from another era and has the negative feel of being thoroughly outmoded. Things like typewriters, sealing wax for letters, and ideas of proper etiquette all seem antiquated in modern society. Currently, things get antiquated ever faster — 5-inch floppy disks for computers and dial-up modems were very modern fifteen years ago, but now they're antiquated. |
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| 7137 |
activist |
a militant reformer |
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An activist is a person who campaigns for some kind of social change. When you participate in a march protesting the closing of a neighborhood library, you're an activist. |
Someone who's actively involved in a protest or a political or social cause can be called an activist. Demonstrations, strikes, and sit-ins are all ways that an activist might work toward the change she believes in. The root word of activist is the Latin actus, "a doing, a driving force, or an impulse." Someone who acts on what she believes is an activist. |
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| 7138 |
flock |
a group of birds |
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The word flock refers to a group of animals, like birds or sheep, that have congregated together. The flock of pigeons at the park is so tame that they'll eat right out of your hand. |
You can also use flock to mean a congregation of people, like a flock of children at the zoo, or a group of people belonging to a church. As a verb, flock means to gather together as a flock or to move together in a group. You and your friends might flock to the mall when you learn that your favorite singer will be there signing autographs. |
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| 7139 |
inaugural |
occurring at or characteristic of a formal induction |
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An inaugural is a ceremony inducting someone into a new position, especially the President. We also call the President's first speech an inaugural address. |
This word has to do with ceremonies and firsts: an inaugural or inaugural address is the first speech made by a President at a ceremony also called the inauguration. This word is highly associated with Presidents, but it can apply to any kind of official first. An inaugural trip to China is a first trip to China. If you want to make a first sound fancy or important, try inaugural. |
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| 7140 |
replica |
copy that is not the original |
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A replica of something is a close — sometimes exact — likeness. The "Mona Lisa" that you bought at the department store is not the original but a replica of Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece. Sorry, but you can always take it back. |
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, a replica is pure adulation. Someone creating a replica is creating an imitation of the original. The word first appeared in 17th-century Italy, taking its meaning from the word replicare, "to reply or repeat," as used in music. In time, it came to mean a copy, often of a work of art. In a stricter sense, the word refers to a copy created or supervised by the artist of the original work. |
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| 7141 |
infusion |
the act of introducing a modifying element or quality |
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The most common example of an infusion you are likely to encounter in your daily life is your morning cup of coffee. An infusion is the creation of a new substance by steeping another substance in a liquid, usually water. |
Infusion is often misused with transfusion, which has a slightly different meaning. A transfusion, as in a blood transfusion, is the simple addition of one substance to another, without the creation of something new. But a drip feed of medicine, for example, is technically an infusion as it alters the state of the blood. See, you’re halfway to becoming a doctor (or at least a linguist) simply by reading this site. |
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| 7142 |
solicitation |
an entreaty addressed to someone of superior status |
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Solicitation is a request for something, usually money. If you buy a fancy new house, expect a phone call from the local charity with a solicitation for a donation. |
Solicitation comes from solicit, which means "to request," or "to entreat." So solicitation is the act of requesting. There are three kinds of solicitation. One is asking for money, as when your solicitation to your parents to buy you a car. The second is when a prostitute solicits potential customers. The last is when you make a plea to someone with power, to grant a request or favor, like your solicitation to the traffic judge to dismiss your ticket. |
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| 7143 |
bet |
stake on the outcome of an issue |
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To bet is to gamble or risk something valuable against an unknown outcome. Poker players bet on each hand, hoping the cards they hold will beat those of the other players. |
Sometimes you bet money on a sporting event, wagering on the team you think will win and collecting even more money if it does. It's even more common to bet in a figurative way, saying something like, "I'd be willing to bet that the bus will be late again." The money you risk when you bet is also called a bet. The word probably comes from the now-obsolete noun abet, or "abetment." |
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| 7144 |
dominate |
be in control |
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If your basketball team is undefeated, you could say that it was able to dominate the competition. To dominate means to be in control or have the power to defeat. |
Dominate is related to the word domain — which means home. While these words may not seem all that similar, when you are the master of a home or thing, you dominate it. If you get angry, it is wise to not let your feelings dominate you or your actions. Dominate can also mean to be most prominent. If in the woods around your house, oak trees are the most common, you could say that "oak trees dominate the forest." |
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| 7145 |
hedge |
a fence formed by a row of closely planted shrubs or bushes |
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A hedge is a living fence made of closely planted bushes, which, as they grow and get trimmed and shaped, form a wall of green. |
Hedge can also be used as a verb. If you someone asks you a question and you hedge, you're avoiding a straight answer. If you hedge your bets, you're trying to minimize risk or loss — that is, you're trying to cover yourself no matter what happens. If you're not sure, for instance, what your boss's political views are, you can hedge your bets by not revealing yours. |
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| 7146 |
adjoin |
lie adjacent to another or share a boundary |
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Things that adjoin are next to each other or share a boundary. Two adjoining states are neighbors. The United States adjoins Canada. |
Just as the word join suggests togetherness, things that adjoin are together in a specific way. They're adjacent, which means they're butting right up against one other. Two adjoining buildings are connected or next-door neighbors. Two adjoining states share a border. If two rooms adjoin, they are connected by a door or they share a wall. When things adjoin, they have a physical connection. |
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| 7147 |
virtuous |
morally excellent |
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Virtuous is “good” with a halo. If you call someone virtuous, you are saying that person is living according to high moral standards. Someone virtuous is who you want leading your Girl Scout troop. |
When you use virtuous to describe an action, like, "Your decision to cancel your vacation plans when your mom got sick was virtuous," it’s almost as though you’re referring to an ideal of goodness. In past centuries, virtuous was synonymous with virginal. In many 18th century English novels, for example, a woman didn't even have to be all that nice to be called virtuous; it just mattered that she was sexually innocent. |
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| 7148 |
intensity |
high level or degree |
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The way he stared deep into her eyes was making her uncomfortable. For a first date, this was too much intensity. Intensity is the degree, volume, or magnitude of a thing, such as fire, emotion, weather, work, or passion. |
Intensity is a word sometimes associated with passion, fire, and violence. It's used when discussing the level of such things as a love affair or, perhaps, a flame. For example, the intensity of the relationship between Bergman and Bogart in Casablanca was very high. Likewise, meteorologists measure the intensity of tornados on the Fujita Scale. Some things are meant to show intensity, such as performance by a great musician. Other things, such as, say, a blanket...not so much. |
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| 7149 |
melt |
reduce or cause to be reduced from a solid to a liquid state |
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To melt means to fade away slowly and disappear, like a snowman in the middle of the Sahara. |
"I'm melting! I'm melting!" — Those are the feeble cries of ice cubes on a hot summer day and Wicked Witches doused with water by a meddling girl from Kansas. To melt a stick of butter into liquid form sounds like an excellent idea for your popcorn — but perhaps not for your diet. And when your puppy looks up at you with those big brown puppy eyes, your heart probably melts — even if he just ate your slippers. |
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| 7150 |
proletariat |
a social class comprising those who do manual labor |
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Proletariat is an old term for the working class. It was commonly used by Marxists and other people who believed that capitalism had created a class of workers who were exploited by company owners. They called those owners "the bourgeoisie." |
When you use the word proletariat now, your audience might assume that you've arrived in a time machine from the 19th century and you're still angry about the exploitation of workers. So you probably would use the term self-consciously or humorously, as in “The boss just sent around a memo saying no one’s allowed to leave until we’ve finished compiling the report. I guess the proletariat had better forget about making it home in time to watch the kick-off.” |
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| 7151 |
carry |
physically move while supporting, by vehicle, hands, or body |
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When you carry something, you hold it and take it somewhere. When you live in a walk-up apartment, you have to carry bags of groceries up several flights of stairs. |
You carry armfuls of books home from the library, or carry your new puppy when she gets tired on a long walk. You might also carry friends in your car, or carry plenty of cash in your wallet. In any of these cases, you're transporting something. If you're ill and can spread germs to other people, a doctor might say that you carry an infectious disease. The words carry and car share a common Latin root, carrum, "two-wheeled chariot." |
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| 7152 |
transgress |
act in disregard of laws, rules, contracts, or promises |
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When you go beyond the boundaries, either physically or morally, you transgress. A river will transgress its banks as it floods, and students who cheat transgress school rules. |
Transgress sounds like and means nearly the same thing as trespass. When you transgress a rule, you're breaking it. Religions often talk about transgressing: for Christians, breaking a commandment is transgressing against God by violating his wishes. Any transgression is pushing through a boundary: like a neighbor transgressing by letting their dog into your yard: that's a physical and a legal type of transgressing. The dog got into your territory, and the owners broke a rule. |
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| 7153 |
functional |
designed for or capable of a particular use |
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Use the adjective functional to describe something that is made to do a specific job, such as the functional alarm clock feature on a digital stopwatch. |
The word functional comes from the Latin word functionem, meaning "performance, execution." It can also describe whether something is working properly. This is what shoppers at a garage sale want to be sure of before they leave with an old television — they plug it in to make sure it's functional. In this case the opposite of functional is useless. |
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| 7154 |
incredulity |
doubt about the truth of something |
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Incredulity is the state of not believing. I greeted the stranger's story about needing bus fare with incredulity. "I just don't believe you," I said. "The bit about your diabetic cat was a little over the top." |
In Latin, credere means "to believe." You'll see it at the roots of creed "statement of belief," credible "believable," credulous "a person who readily believes," and incredulous "a person who doesn't." |
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| 7155 |
exact |
marked by strict and complete accordance with fact |
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If something's exact, it's precise and completely accurate — as opposed to a guess, an estimate, or an approximation. |
Exact also has the meaning of taking something from someone, often money, and generally only given up with reluctance under the threat of force. The Mob might exact a shakedown from unfortunate businessmen, for example. The word comes from the Latin exactus "exact or accurate," a form of the verb exigere — meaning "to force out or demand," like the Mob demanding its money. |
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| 7156 |
straggle |
wander from a direct or straight course |
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To straggle is to wander in an indirect, meandering way. Lions often go for the small antelopes that straggle behind the herd. |
To straggle is to veer from a route, or to wander aimlessly behind everyone else. If you plan to go to the movies but end up at a store and then a friend's house, you straggled. Straggling is a type of digressing — to straggle is to get sidetracked. In the military, straggling often means to stay on leave too long or be in the wrong position for a battle. When people straggle, they've gone off-course. |
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| 7157 |
corrode |
cause to deteriorate due to water, air, or an acid |
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Corrode means to eat away at and cause to deteriorate, like rust slowly taking over an old bike left out in the rain. |
Stemming from a Latin word that means "to gnaw away," corrode is a verb that usually describes destroying a metal by oxidation or by some other kind of chemical action. Acid is particularly corrosive, or able to corrode things easily. The word corrode can also be used figuratively. Way back when, the grandmas of the world thought rock music would corrode the minds of young people. Thank goodness that didn't really pan out. |
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| 7158 |
mantel |
shelf that projects from wall above fireplace |
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A mantel is a shelf that sticks out just above a fireplace. People often put trophies and pictures on their mantel. |
If your house has a fireplace, chances are you also have a mantel. A mantel is a handy place to display anything you like looking at or want to show off to visitors. Trophies and prizes are common things to find on a mantel, as are pictures of family and friends. If you want people to see something, put it on the mantel. |
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| 7159 |
insure |
protect by a contract of reimbursement in case of loss |
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To insure is to guarantee or protect the monetary value of something with, as you might imagine, insurance. |
We insure, or protect, our homes and cars and other valuables against loss or damage from accidents by taking out insurance policies. To insure is to pay an insurance company regularly so that if something goes wrong, they’ll help cover the costs. Although it’s certainly reassuring to have insurance, the word insure always has a financial aspect. |
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| 7160 |
pit |
a sizeable hole, usually in the ground |
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A pit is a hole in the ground, like the one in Poe’s “The Pit and the Pendulum” that the narrator tries not to fall into. A pit can also be smaller indentation. There’s also a pit hiding inside a peach. |
Pit is a word with a wide variety of meanings. There's the pit you dig on the beach as a moat for your sandcastle, and the pit a hunter digs for trapping an animal. Then there's the sunken area of a performance hall where musicians play, an orchestra pit, and the area that's reserved for certain activity, like the trading pit at a stock exchange. Finally, a pit is also a large, hard seed — like a peach pit. |
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| 7161 |
encircle |
surround or form a ring around |
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To encircle is to surround, or to make a circle around. On the last night of summer camp, the counselors and campers traditionally encircle the campfire and sing songs. |
Prisons are encircled by barbed wire fences, and hot, damp pavement encircles most public swimming pools. When you hug your little sister, you encircle her with your arms. If your tomato plants are growing too tall and flopping over, you should encircle them with twine to hold them up. Encircle adds the prefix en-, "make or put in" to circle, from its Latin root circus, or "ring." |
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| 7162 |
target |
a reference point to shoot at |
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A target is something to shoot at, either real or figurative. If you're an archer, you're aiming for the bull's-eye on the target. If you're selling cars for a living, then you likely have a sales target you need to hit. |
You can hit a target, which is usually a good thing, or, less happily, you can be a target, such as a target of ridicule when you wear that goofy Swiss cheese hat and you aren't even from Wisconsin. As a marketing ploy, you could target Green Bay Packer season ticket holders when you decide to unload that hat. You might find a buyer among them, someone who wouldn't worry about being a target for those who object to silly hats. |
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| 7163 |
advancement |
the act of moving forward (as toward a goal) |
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Use the noun advancement when you talk about something's growth or progress. The advancement of modern medicine has lengthened many people's lives. |
You might describe a society's advancement as a result of new industries and an improved economy. You could also cheer your best friend's advancement in her French class, being moved to a higher level because of her hard work. When you advance, you move forward — either literally or figuratively. Advancement comes from this idea of moving in a positive direction and its Old French root word avancier, "move forward," from the Late Latin abante, "in front." |
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| 7164 |
disclose |
expose to view as by removing a cover |
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Disclose means to reveal or expose information that has previously been kept a secret — like a politician might be forced to disclose his finances or former scandals while running for office. |
When a politician, corporate executive, or celebrity announces that he or she has something to disclose, the public listens. They know that the information they're about to hear was kept secret for a reason. Something incriminating or juicy is about to be revealed, like a secret affair or plummeting company profits. |
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| 7165 |
abhorrence |
hate coupled with disgust |
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Abhorrence is a feeling of hate and disgust. If you have an abhorrence of violence, you probably won't want to watch "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre." |
The Latin ancestor of abhorrence isn't all that different from today's word or its meaning — it comes from abhorrēre, which means "to shrink back from," and it became synonymous with loathing in the early 17th century. Note the similarity to the word horror — a good way to remember the word's meaning. The Polish physicist Joseph Rotblat knew the power of the word when he used it to refer to the "widespread instinctive abhorrence of nuclear weapons.” |
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| 7166 |
recurrence |
event of happening again, especially at regular intervals |
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If something is happening yet again, there's a recurrence of it. Most sports fans hope there isn't a recurrence of last year's losing season. |
If you keep getting a hacking cough, then you're having a recurrence — that cough just keeps coming back. The word recurrence has to do with things that repeat or return, often at predictable times. If your dog barks at the same time every day, your neighbors might complain about the recurrence of noise. A note on using this word: reoccurrence means basically the same thing, but recurrence is considered a more stylish choice. |
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| 7167 |
rifle |
a firearm with a long barrel |
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A rifle is a long, powerful gun that is fired from the shoulder. A soldier is most often armed with a rifle. |
Some hunters use rifles, which fire single bullets rather than the small pellets, or shot, that shotguns fire. A rifle can do more damage and is therefore often used in the military. The name comes from the shape of the barrel, which is grooved — or rifled, from the Old French word rifler, "to scratch or groove." Another meaning of rifle comes from the same root but means "to search through things in a hurried way." |
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| 7168 |
tip |
the extreme end of something, especially something pointed |
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The pointed or tapered end of something is its tip. There's the tip of your dog's wagging tail, the tips of your fingers, or the tip of the continent of South America. |
When you can almost remember someone's name, you might say it's on the tip of your tongue, and when something's just "the tip of the iceberg," it's only one small bit of a much larger problem. Other meanings of tip include "tilt," like when you tip your hat as you stroll down the street, and "gratuity," or the extra money you give a waiter or barber in exchange for good service. |
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| 7169 |
edge |
a line determining the limits of an area |
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The place where something begins or ends is called the edge. If you get too close to a cliff’s edge, you might fall off it. Going to the water's edge is not so dangerous. |
The part of a knife's blade that actually does the cutting is called the edge. Make sure you keep it sharp! This sense of sharpness is the image you want to have for the many figurative senses of this word. If someone speaks to you with an edge in his or her voice, be careful. They might be getting angry. And if you have an edge over someone, think of yourself as a little sharper because you have the advantage. Your years of training will give you the competitive edge over newcomers to the game. If your company is on the cutting edge of 3D technology, it is the industry leader. |
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| 7170 |
orgy |
a wild gathering involving excessive drinking |
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If you have an orgy of presents or snacks or even new ideas, you have so many it's almost obscene. In this figurative use, orgy means an event where there is just too much of a good thing! |
The word orgy comes from the Greek orgia meaning "secret rites" which referred to the secret rites of Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and love-making. An orgy is a gathering of a number of people that involves sex and drinking. You can use the word orgy to refer to any intense, excessive activity. Before school starts in the fall, most kids get to go on an orgy of shopping for clothes and school supplies. |
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| 7171 |
authenticity |
undisputed credibility |
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Authenticity is the quality of being genuine or real. You might question the authenticity of your eccentric uncle's photo of a UFO. |
The word authenticity is the state of something being authentic, or legitimate and true. Authenticity is important when the value of something is dependent on where it came from or how it was made. If you buy a ring said to be worn by Marie Antoinette, you will likely pay a hefty price for it. Before you spend all of that money, you should consult with a historian or experienced jeweler, who will be able to verify its authenticity. |
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| 7172 |
correspondence |
an attribute of a shape or relation |
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Correspondence is a body of letters or communications. If you've ever had a pen pal or an email buddy, you’ve written plenty of correspondence. |
Besides referring to that stack of love letters you've bound up with ribbon, correspondence has a couple of other meanings, too. When you and your friend hold similar opinions about a particular subject, your thoughts are in correspondence, or "agreement." In mathematics, symmetrical objects are in correspondence — that is, they mirror each other exactly. |
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| 7173 |
allowance |
the act of permitting |
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When you're a kid, you might earn an allowance or a sum of money in exchange for doing chores around the house. Your parents' allowance — or tolerance — of your silly behavior will depend on how strict they are. |
An allowance is a quantity of something that's allowed or permitted within a set of rules or for a particular purpose. This could be a weekly allowance you earn as a kid, or it could be the allowance for passengers on a flight to have two carry-on items. To make allowances for someone means to treat someone leniently, or to give them a break. |
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| 7174 |
reflex |
an automatic instinctive unlearned reaction to a stimulus |
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A reflex is an action your body does without your thinking about it, like sneezing, or jumping a little when you dream you’re falling. If you suddenly catch a ball before it crashes into a window, you have quick reflexes. |
When a doctor hits your knee with a little hammer during a physical, it makes your leg kick, even though you didn't consciously make your leg move. The doctor is testing your reflexes — movements that happen without your control. If your reflexes aren't working, it could mean there's something wrong with your body. Putting your hands out when you fall is a reflex. So is laughing so hard you snort. |
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| 7175 |
ire |
anger or hostility toward some real or supposed grievance |
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Ire is another word for "anger." So if you routinely steal your neighbor's newspaper, don't be surprised to be on the receiving end of his ire. |
Ire comes almost directly from the Latin word for anger, ira. While it means pretty much the same thing, ire usually stems from a specific grievance, rather than just general irritation with the world. And if you provoke someone's ire, you're probably going to feel their wrath. Shakespeare used both ire and anger in one famous sentence from his play "Pericles": "Yet cease your ire, you angry stars of heaven!" |
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| 7176 |
match |
a formal contest in which people or teams compete |
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A match is a competition or game, like a soccer match. Another type of match places people together instead of opposing one another. Perhaps you'll find your perfect match on an online dating web site. |
You might cheer at a boxing match or challenge your friend to a tennis match. Another kind of match is a pair of things that go together or are equal: "His zombie costume was a perfect match with his best friend's." There's also the match you strike to start a fire: "She lit the candle with a match." This match has a Greek root meaning "lamp wick," while other matches come from the Proto-Germanic gamakon, "fitting together." |
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| 7177 |
arresting |
commanding attention |
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Something arresting commands your attention. It's stunning, and you can't turn away. |
When the police arrest someone, they capture them. Likewise, when something is arresting, it captures your attention because it is so sensational. An arresting sight — like the Grand Canyon — makes you want to keep looking at it for hours. An arresting song is one you always want to hear. An arresting story is captivating and engrossing. Something arresting is not only entertaining; it's mesmerizing. |
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| 7178 |
chastisement |
a rebuke for making a mistake |
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Chastisement is the act of scolding or punishing someone. If you talk back to your stern teacher, you won't be surprised by the chastisement that follows. |
The noun chastisement usually means a verbal reprimand, like the chastisement a basketball coach might give his team after a terrible loss. It can also describe physical punishment, or a beating — when it's used in the Bible, that's almost always what it means. The Latin root of chastise is castigare, which means "to set or keep right," or "to make pure." |
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| 7179 |
insinuation |
an indirect (and usually malicious) implication |
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An insinuation is a sly way of saying something, usually something insulting. It can also be a way of worming your way into a group or situation. |
"You're dumb!" is an insult. An insinuation is different: it's a way of indirectly saying something. Insinuation evolved from the Latin insinuationem, meaning "entrance through a narrow way.” So an insinuation is like an insult that sneaks in the back door. Mentioning that your cousin could try harder in school could be an insinuation that your cousin’s lazy. Another kind of insinuation is when someone, often through flattery, gets herself accepted by others. Both kinds of insinuations are sneaky. |
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| 7180 |
elastic |
capable of resuming shape after stretching or compression |
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Elastic is the rubber-based material that resumes its original shape after stretching or compression, and anything described as elastic is flexible. |
In 1923 American inventor William H Spencer took elastic one step further, creating the elastic band — the Internet of its day for bored office workers seeking amusement. The properties of elastic have long lent themselves to metaphorical use, so that anything or anyone that's capable of adaptation or is flexible in its nature can be termed elastic. |
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| 7181 |
hamper |
prevent the progress or free movement of |
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Anything that hampers slows progress or makes it difficult to do something. You might think that the presence of your parents hampers your ability to look cool. |
The verb hamper is for those times when normal progress is slow but not shut down completely. Hamper often describes travel during bad weather, like icy conditions that could hamper holiday travel. Hamper means "slow going." You may have heard of noun form of hamper, a container for holding dirty laundry: If your hamper is full, the need to do laundry could hamper your plans of going out and having fun. |
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| 7182 |
concurrence |
the property of two things happening at the same time |
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When things happen at the same time, it's a concurrence. If you pull up at a traffic light and you see your teacher in the car next to yours and your neighbor behind you, it's an unlikely concurrence. |
The Latin root of concurrence is concurrentia, which means "a running together." You can use the noun concurrence to describe things that exist together or at the same time, and also when there's an agreement, especially of results or opinions, like a concurrence of opinions among the school board about spending money on a new playground, or a concurrence in your family about wanting pancakes for breakfast. |
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| 7183 |
daze |
confusion characterized by lack of clarity |
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A daze is a type of confusion, when you have a lack of clarity. When you first wake up, you might be in a bit of a daze, shuffling about the house before your brain really starts working. |
Daze can also mean the feeling of distress and disbelief that you have when something bad happens to you accidentally: "After getting hit in the head by a football, you were in such a daze you couldn't remember where you were." As a verb, daze means to stun. You will definitely daze your father when you tell him that you eloped. |
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| 7184 |
stupefied |
as if struck dumb with astonishment and surprise |
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If something leaves you stupefied it has made you so astonished you can't speak or even really think. When your husband backs over your foot, and then drives back over it trying to get out of the way, and in the process hits the front of the house, you might feel stupefied. |
Stupefied and stupid share a root, but they've come to have slightly different senses. You might call someone stupid if he generally doesn't think well, but when someone is stupefied, that's more like becoming temporarily unable to think. This could be a reaction of astonishment, fear, confusion, or drugs. Opium will make you stupefied, and TV marathons of reality shows might do the same. |
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| 7185 |
integral |
existing as an essential constituent or characteristic |
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Something that is integral is very important or necessary. If you are an integral part of the team, it means that the team cannot function without you. |
An integral part is necessary to complete the whole. In this sense, the word essential is a near synonym. In mathematics, there are integrals of functions and equations. Integral is from Middle English, from Medieval Latin integralis "making up a whole," from Latin integer "untouched, entire." |
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| 7186 |
timely |
done or happening at the appropriate moment |
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If something is finished quickly or on time, then it's been done in a timely manner. Homework, RSVPs, and thank you notes are just a few things that you should be completed in a timely manner. |
Hear that clock ticking? That's the time limit for learning this word in a timely fashion. But the word timely isn't always about speed — being timely can also mean being well-timed or doing something at the most appropriate moment. If you're going for a job interview, it's important to make a timely arrival. And if you bump into friends just when they were wondering how you were doing, then you've made a timely appearance. |
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| 7187 |
gradation |
relative position in a graded series |
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Anything with a bunch of levels or stages can be considered a gradation. In high school, the process of moving from freshman to senior year could be called a gradation, or your position in the series of steps that lead toward graduation. |
Any organization with a hierarchy, set up so that some members are considered better, higher, or more respected than others, has a gradation of positions within it. The military is a great example, with a gradation, or series of steps, from private to general. The root of gradation is the Latin gradationem, which means "ascent by steps." |
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| 7188 |
hallucination |
illusory perception |
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If you see your teacher morph into a dancing elephant, chances are you’re having a hallucination, or an illusory perception. In other words, it sounds like you are seeing things! |
A person experiencing a hallucination perceives things that aren’t really there. A hallucination can involve any of the senses — including sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste — and often results from a mental disorder or a chemical source, such as a drug. |
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| 7189 |
blackguard |
someone who is morally reprehensible |
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In movies, TV shows, and other forms of entertainment, there are often good guys and bad guys. A blackguard is a bad guy. Blackguards are up to no good. |
Originally, a blackguard was a type of servant dressed in black, but the meaning evolved to mean a person who is villainous at heart. This is definitely an old-fashioned word you're most like to see in an older story or play. A blackguard likely won't be guarding anything, but they probably will be doing something evil. |
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| 7190 |
enviable |
causing desire to have something possessed by another |
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Things that are enviable are so good that other people want them. People desire enviable things. |
Enviable things are so desirable that everybody wants them. A high-paying job is enviable. A vacation in the Caribbean is enviable. Winning the lottery is very enviable. Anytime someone does something impressive or buys something cool, it's likely to be described with the word enviable. Also, a sports team with a big lead could be described as being in an enviable position: other teams would like to be in their position. |
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| 7191 |
inveterate |
habitual |
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If you're an inveterate doodler, all your notebooks are covered with drawings. If you're an inveterate golf player, you probably get twitchy if you haven't been out on a course in a week. |
In Middle English inveterate was associated with chronic disease. Now it simply refers to something that is a signature habit with a person. Unless you're an inveterate gambler, drinker or smoker––in which case you're addicted and we're back to talking about being sick. |
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| 7192 |
torrent |
an overwhelming number or amount |
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A torrent is a heavy rain, or the flooding or wildly-running streams it causes, like the torrent that soaks everyone unlucky enough to be out on the street at that moment. |
Because the noun torrent literally means "rushing stream," it is often describes fast-flowing water, like a rainstorm or creeks and rivers that overflow their banks. But the word can also describe any sudden inundation, like a deluge of words or thoughts, like when, in anger, you unleash a torrent of emotional words on your friend. Like a violent storm, you pour those words, not letting up in order to let him or her explain the other side of the story. |
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| 7193 |
delirium |
a usually brief state of excitement and mental confusion |
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Experiencing delirium? Then you're out of your mind and so excited you're hallucinating. Many things can cause delirium, including illness, high stress, and your team winning the World Series after 100 years of trying. |
Delirium means “madness” in Latin, and for good reason. Patients with high fevers or who suffer severe trauma might experience a state of delirium, full of mental confusion and maybe a little hysteria. And if you’ve ever stayed up all night writing a paper or working hard to meet some deadline, you’ve probably experienced moments of delirium, where you feel crazed and hallucinatory, fueled by sleep deprivation and too much coffee. |
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| 7194 |
mystical |
beyond ordinary understanding |
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Things that are mystical are magical or mysterious, possibly having to do with the supernatural or the occult. |
If you like to read fantasy stories, then you've probably read about a lot of mystical people and events. The power of a wizard is mystical — that is, magical, and not real. Witches are mystical. The unicorn is a mystical animal. Religions tend to involve mystical events, like miracles. Magicians try to make audiences believe they have mystical powers. Mystical things aren't real, but in a story or magic act, they can be fun to imagine. |
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| 7195 |
probe |
an exploratory action or expedition |
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If you probe something, you investigate it thoroughly. If you go into business with someone, you might probe her finances to make sure that she has a good track record. |
Although it is usually used as a verb — "the police probed the man’s disappearance" — it can also be used as a noun to describe an information-gathering device. In 1979 the United States launched the world's first space probe into outer space. It was a spacecraft rigged with cameras, which were used to photograph Jupiter and Saturn. |
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| 7196 |
sheathe |
enclose with a protective covering |
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The verb sheathe means to place in a sheath. What's a sheath? Well, that's any kind of protective covering. |
With that extra "e" on the end sheathe gives off a very old English vibe. Perhaps that's because all those knights were often sheathing their swords so as not to scare the fair ladies. Those knights were also sheathed in armor when going into battle or setting off to joust. These days, with medieval armaments in low demand, not much gets sheathed — except maybe the kitchen knives in the knife block or your cat's claws when they retract. |
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| 7197 |
contrasting |
strikingly different |
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When two things appear as opposites, they are contrasting. You might like the contrasting dark and light areas of a painting, with the clash of shades making it more interesting. |
A clue to the meaning of contrasting is the prefix contra-, which means "against": when something is contrasting, it's working against something else. The contrasting colors of the fabric create an unexpected sense of movement, even though they should be working against each other. Two people with contrasting opinions, such as a liberal and a conservative, usually won't get along very well. But once in a while, contrasting world views can spark an exciting exchange. |
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| 7198 |
experimental |
of the nature of or undergoing a trial |
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The adjective experimental is good for describing things that are still in a trial stage. An experimental drug is usually tested in a lab for years before being used on patients. |
Something that's experimental is at an early stage, being observed, tested out, and subjected to experiments as it's being developed. An experimental space craft might be launched and watched from afar as scientists decide what changes to make before it can be used for human space exploration. Experimental medicines are sometimes tested on animals before they're given to people. The 15th century meaning was "having experience," from the Latin root experimentum, "test or trial." |
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| 7199 |
akin |
related by blood |
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If two things are akin, then they're similar or related. A cupcake is akin to a cake and relatives are akin to each other. |
If you know the word kin — a relative — then you have a clue to the meaning of akin. People who are related are akin, but the word goes beyond blood relations. Football is akin to the sport of rugby; baseball is akin to the British sport cricket. Mice are akin to rats, and rats are akin to gerbils, hamsters, and squirrels. Things that are akin are alike. |
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| 7200 |
sap |
a watery solution in the vascular system of a plant |
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To sap something is to drain or deplete something over time. If you sap a maple tree, you drain the liquid inside it to make maple syrup. But if you sap a person of strength, you've rendered him defenseless. |
Whether used as a noun or verb, sap is rarely a good thing. If your energy or will is sapped, it’s not meant lightly; it means you have been exhausted of all your reserve energy, you’re reduced to a shell. If someone calls you "a sap," it suggests you lack strength and character. And if you get sap — the sticky liquid inside a tree — on your hands, good luck getting it off in the middle of a forest without a bar of soap and running water. Yuck. |
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| 7201 |
acclamation |
enthusiastic approval or recognition |
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Acclamation is acclaim or recognition for some achievement. A major league baseball team might have to win the World Series to get acclamation, but a t-ball team might get acclamation simply for finishing an entire game. |
The acclamation you get on opening night might be your main incentive for acting in plays. Likewise, the acclamation they receive while campaigning is probably more attractive to some politicians than the actual work of governing. Acclamation can sometimes take the form of enthusiastic shouting, and in fact the Latin root acclamationem means "a shout of approval." |
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| 7202 |
narcotic |
a drug that produces numbness or stupor |
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Use the noun narcotic to talk about a pain relieving or sleep inducing drug and the adjective narcotic to describe anything that has these same effects. |
Patients who have their wisdom teeth removed are often given a narcotic to ease their pain afterward. A numbing drug is usually just what they need to recover — that and plenty of ice cream. If a hot bath and a cup of tea make you incredibly drowsy, you can say that they have a narcotic effect on you. In the United States, narcotic drugs are illegal without a doctor's prescription — narcotic often has a negative connotation, especially when it's used in news reports. |
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| 7203 |
obstructed |
shut off to passage or view or hindered from action |
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Something that's obstructed is blocked or closed off. If a spelunker — or cave explorer — finds that a tunnel is obstructed, she'll turn around and crawl back the way she came. |
If a passageway is obstructed, you can't fit through, and if your throat is obstructed, there's a piece of food stuck there momentarily. The adjective obstructed shows up a lot in medical terminology, especially when the digestive or circulatory systems are unhealthily obstructed, but you can use it to simply mean "blocked." The Latin root is obstructionem, "a barrier or a building up." |
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| 7204 |
blackmail |
extortion of money by threats to divulge harmful information |
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To blackmail someone is to use secret information to get something from them, usually money. Blackmailing is a crime. |
Blackmail is a type of threat. For example, if a politician's assistant knew the politician was having an affair, the assistant could blackmail the politician by threatening to tell the press. Blackmailers usually want money in return for keeping something a secret, but an employee with dirt on a boss could blackmail the boss to get a promotion. Anyone making threats and demands in return for keeping a secret is engaged in blackmail. |
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| 7205 |
scuffle |
fight or struggle in a confused way at close quarters |
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As both a noun and a verb, scuffle involves a fight. As a noun, it is the clash itself, like a scuffle between sworn enemies. As a verb, it means to fight, like a bully who will scuffle with just about anyone. |
A scuffle is not an organized bout: it is a free-for-all, with fists flying in any and all directions. As a verb, it tells about the act of this kind of wild fighting, like angry kids who scuffle to try to settle their problems, but it can also mean "dragging one's feet while walking." Here, the meaning is not related to fighting, but rather the sound made by those shuffling feet. |
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| 7206 |
seething |
in constant agitation |
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Seething describes anger you can barely contain. If you are seething and something sets you off, you just might explode into a rage. |
Someone who's seething with anger is furious but keeping it a secret. Maybe someone insulted you in front of others and you want to let it go — on the inside, though, you might be seething. Or during the big game, an opponent's harsh words can have you seething, but you want to stay focused on scoring points. Seething sometimes describes something that's boiling over, like a seething pot of soup, and this is also the root of the word. |
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| 7207 |
shrill |
having or emitting a high-pitched and sharp tone or tones |
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A shrill sound is high pitched and sharp, like the squeak of the mouse in your cupboard or the sound of your “eek” when you hear it. |
Closer to a shriek than a trill, a shrill tone is one that might make you cover your ears, usually because the tone is so high and sharp. A high pitched voice, a classroom of excited first graders, or the sound of chalk scraping the board can all be shrill, as can a color or light that looks as sharp and intense as a shrill tone sounds. |
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| 7208 |
generality |
the quality of being widespread or having wide applicability |
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If your mom says, "What have you been up to?" and you reply, "Ah, stuff," you have used a generality. It's the opposite of being specific, of saying, "Well, I shop lifted and picked my nose." |
Politicians speak in generalities––they want to cut the deficit and keep taxes low, but they don't want to tell you exactly how they will do that. Generalities can also refer to conclusions we draw about the world: If you say people at baseball games like to eat hot dogs, you've used a generality. Maybe people at baseball games eat hot dogs because there's nothing else to buy. |
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| 7209 |
irrepressible |
impossible to control |
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Something that’s irrepressible can’t be restrained. If you find yourself constantly looking up the definitions of interesting words, you have an irrepressible desire to expand your vocabulary. You just can’t stop! |
Irrepressible comes from the word repress, which means "restrain" or "reject." If you have a desire to become an actor but are worried about financial security, you might repress your calling for the stage and opt for law school instead. However, some desires are simply irrepressible. If you ignore your urge to be onstage, watch out; we predict that one day you’ll find yourself delivering a Shakespearean monologue to a very confused jury. |
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| 7210 |
loathing |
hate coupled with disgust |
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Loathing is a feeling of complete disgust. Your loathing of the feeling of sand between your toes means that going to the beach isn't much fun for you. |
If you have an utterly disgusted hatred of something, you have a loathing for it. A loathing of green vegetables can result in nutritional problems, and a loathing of little kids would make a person a pretty terrible babysitter. To loathe something is to abhor or strongly dislike it; the Old English root of both loathe and loathing is laðian, to be disgusted with. |
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| 7211 |
rut |
a groove or furrow |
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A rut is a groove in the earth, like an indent caused by wheels. It's also a boring routine that can be hard to break. If you’re stuck in a rut, you’ve been doing the same old thing for too long. |
If you see a groove in the ground, especially one caused by a bike or car, that's a rut. If a rut is deep enough, you could get stuck in it, which may be why the word has another meaning. If your life has become boring, stale, and monotonous, you're in a rut. Someone who works the same job for decades may feel like they're in a rut and need to make a change. |
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| 7212 |
grouse |
popular game bird having a plump body and feathered legs |
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A grouse is a small game bird. But the verb to grouse is different. It means to gripe about how unhappy you are. It's not recommended for most people, because grousing is unattractive. |
People's excitement about the rise of the Internet has been largely replaced by disappointment that it's turned out to be essentially a forum for people to grouse. No disappointment is too small to grouse about on the Internet. Did you stub your toe? Grouse about it in your blog! Did your sister tattletale? Get online and start grousing. "I grouse, therefore I am," might be the motto of the Internet. Oh well: now I'm grousing too. |
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| 7213 |
swell |
increase in size, magnitude, number, or intensity |
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To swell is to expand or grow larger. If your brother's face started to swell after he ate lobster for the first time, you'd probably guess that he's allergic to shellfish. |
You can use the word swell to describe what happens to an injured body part, like a black eye that swells up, or in a figurative way, to describe a feeling of fullness, like when your heart swells with pride at your sister's big music performance. In the 1930s, swell became a popular slang term meaning great or excellent. But it also can describe a wealthy, elegant person, like a group of swells at a fancy restaurant. |
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| 7214 |
productive |
capable of bringing forth, especially abundantly |
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If you're productive, that means you do a lot — you create or produce large amounts of something. A productive worker makes more widgets than the shirker who keeps sneaking out to gossip and drink coffee. |
The word productive often describes a person's capability to do a lot of work, but is can refer to anything that produces a lot. The land in your area might be the most productive in the state, meaning crops grow very well there. Productive can be used more broadly to describe something that produces a positive result. For example, you might have a productive conversation with your mom about your college plans, or you might make a productive investment. |
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| 7215 |
availability |
the quality of being at hand when needed |
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Something with availability is easy to get or to access. If you work at an ice cream shop, the availability of ice cream might make it hard to stick to a diet. |
The noun availability indicates that something is easily obtainable and ready for use. If you are thinking about renting a certain apartment, you might want to ask about the availability of parking spaces in the neighborhood before you sign a lease. You can use availability and accessibility almost interchangeably, as with this sentence: "The accessibility of the Internet has increased the availability of information." |
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| 7216 |
magnate |
a very wealthy or powerful businessperson |
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If you’re a hugely successful businessperson, particularly if you’ve cornered the market in a specific area, you’re a magnate. Magnates are often larger-than-life characters, like that oil tycoon who wears a cowboy hat with his tuxedo. |
Historically, a magnate was a man of noble birth (from the Latin magnus, meaning "a nobleman," or at least someone distinguished by his achievements. In the twentieth century, the stock of a magnate has rather fallen. If you’re vulgar and loud-spoken as well as rich, you’re probably a magnate. Thanks to the legendary movie producer Samuel Goldwyn, all film studio heads are now "studio magnates." |
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| 7217 |
tangle |
twist together or entwine into a confusing mass |
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A tangle is a jumble. You might have a tangle of cords behind your computer or a tangle of complications related to your taxes. Whatever it is, once something is in a tangle, it's difficult to sort out. |
The word tangle likely originated from a Scandinavian source — taggla, in a Swedish dialect, means “disarrange.” Tangle also can be used as a verb: you may tangle your hair as a fashion statement, but then it hurts to comb it out. As a noun, tangle can refer to an argument or a fight between two people: if you're really feisty, people might be warned away from getting into a tangle with you. |
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| 7218 |
drive |
operate or control a vehicle |
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To drive is to operate or travel in a motor vehicle. You can drive a car, a bus, or a go-kart. |
Drive is one of those multi-functioning words with a lot of uses. In a very general sense it relates to pushing, or a push in a direction; drive and go go hand in hand. You could drive across country, drive cattle on a cattle drive, drive a golf ball by hitting it off a tee, drive prey into the open, clean your computer’s hard drive, or drive someone crazy. But do you really have the drive to do all that? |
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| 7219 |
adherence |
the property or act of sticking together |
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Adherence means "sticking to" or "being faithful to," such as your adherence to your diet even when chocolate cake is around, or students' adherence to school rules — they do not use cell phones or music players in class. |
The noun adherence is related to the verb adhere, meaning “to stick.” If something adheres, it sticks it to something, like a bumper stick that adheres to a car or a person who adheres to a plan, not changing it along the way. Adherence describes this willingness to stick or be faithful, like adherence to child labor laws that means young workers cannot work past a certain time on school nights. |
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| 7220 |
brave |
possessing or displaying courage |
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Courageous, dauntless, perhaps a little bit daring, a person who is brave faces dangerous or difficult situations with courage. |
The adjective brave can be used to describe anyone or anything that displays courage, such as a brave firefighter, a brave guide dog, or even brave holiday shoppers. In addition to its adjective form, the word brave can also act as a verb. Use the verb brave when you want to say that someone is facing a dangerous or unpleasant situation courageously: “Only the hardiest skiers were able to brave the icy conditions and complete the course.” Both adjective and verb forms of the word share a common meaning — the sense of having courage or acting fearlessly. |
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| 7221 |
faithfulness |
the quality of being loyal |
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Faithfulness is commitment to someone or something. Faithfulness is especially valued in spouses and in sports fans. |
When a married person is faithful, they stand by their spouse and don't cheat. Faithfulness refers to this quality of being faithful and loyal. A patriotic person is full of faithfulness to their country. Someone who works at one company for decades has faithfulness to that company. People can have faithfulness to ideas too, including religious, political, and artistic ideas. |
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| 7222 |
brand |
a name given to a product or service |
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If your friend buys her jeans based on the brand, it means that the name on the label of her pants is very important to her. A brand is a product name. |
The cereal aisle at the grocery store is a good place to see how many different brands there are of the same product. A company name, or the name it invents for a particular item or service, is a brand. Another kind of brand is the verb that means to mark or name something in a negative way. If you brand your classmate as a bully, you accuse him of bullying and expose his behavior to other people. |
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| 7223 |
stringent |
demanding strict attention to rules and procedures |
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That teacher's demands are stringent — she wants the homework typed in her favorite font, on special paper, and each essay must be exactly 45 lines! |
While the word stringent might seem foreign, if you're afflicted with pimples, you'll know the word astringent. An astringent causes your skin to tighten like it's shrinking your pores. This tightening, constricting feel describes stringent with regard to rules. Stringent safety procedures prevent accidents in a dangerous work environment. And restaurants must adhere to stringent health regulations. |
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| 7224 |
restoration |
returning something or someone to a satisfactory state |
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A restoration is when you bring something back to what it was. A crumbling house that is lovingly-rebuilt in its original style, a king who was kicked off his throne only to get it back — these are restorations. |
Notice the difference between renovation and restoration. If you restore a 1950s house, you use period materials and effects. A renovation might include new things. Restoration always means a putting back: if you've been ill, but get better, you might talk about your restoration of health. |
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| 7225 |
crow |
a black bird having a raucous call |
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A crow is a large, intelligent, black bird with a loud call. Farmers and gardeners set up "scarecrows" to keep crows away from their seeds and crops. |
A crow is glossy and dark, a close relation of the raven, and a large group of crows is known as a murder. When a crow caws, you can also say it crows — and another way to crow is to call out with satisfaction about something: "I'm so proud of the award I just want to crow about it all day long!" The Old English root of crowe is crawe, which imitates the sound a crow makes. |
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| 7226 |
nominate |
propose as a candidate for some honor |
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When you suggest a person for a position in the government, or propose a theme for your school's prom, you nominate that person or idea, especially if it's done in an official way. |
In the United States, political parties hold primary elections and conventions to nominate candidates for president. The word nominate originally meant "to call by name," from the Latin word for "name," nomen , but by 1600 it began to be used to talk about politics. |
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| 7227 |
conquer |
take possession of by force, as after an invasion |
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To conquer is to defeat someone or something, usually with force, like army troops that conquer enemy territory, or your lunchtime hunger which you conquer with a sandwich and cup of soup. |
To correctly pronounce conquer, accent the first syllable: "CON-kur." It comes from the Old French word conquerre, meaning "defeat, vanquish." Use conquer to show you've gained control over something, like doing breathing exercises as the airplane takes off to help you conquer your fear of flying. You'll hear people say they've conquered Mount McKinley, or the Appalachian Trail. It means they've hiked and climbed the whole route, not declared the place theirs alone. |
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| 7228 |
capitalist |
of an economic system based on private ownership |
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Someone who hopes to profit by investing money or financing business ventures is a capitalist. A nation's economy is described as capitalist if it's based on private ownership and profit. |
The word capitalist appeared in 1791, taken from the French word capitaliste. A capitalist is someone who believes in the economic philosophy of Capitalism, a system of privately-owned, for-profit businesses. A capitalist might believe in free enterprise and the individual’s ability to gain wealth through intelligence and hard work. Capitalist can also be used to describe a self-interested, every-man-for-himself approach to the world. |
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| 7229 |
louse |
a wingless, parasitic insect |
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A louse is a tiny insect that lives on the skin of animals and people. If you find a louse in your hair, you'll have to treat your scalp to get rid of any of its friends that might still be lurking there. |
Since they tend to travel in groups, the plural form of louse, lice, is much more common than the singular. Lice are small parasites that live on skin cells, blood, or other tiny bits of some host animal. If you're the host animal, you'll probably have an itchy head, and anyone who borrows your pillow or wears your hat will likely get lice too. A louse, informally, is also "an obnoxious person." |
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| 7230 |
corporate |
of or belonging to a business firm |
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Corporate means having to do with a corporation. Playing golf can be a part of corporate culture. A corporate jet is one owned by the company and used for company business. |
When people refer to corporate as a noun, as in "I have to ask corporate," it's actually just a shortening of "corporate headquarters." People tend to be on their best behavior at work, where money and advancement are on the line. Therefore, corporate behavior is often associated with being eager to please those in authority. |
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| 7231 |
resound |
emit a noise |
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To resound is to echo with sounds, usually loudly. When you sing in the shower, your voice resounds. |
If you remember that re means again, then resounding makes a lot of sense: it's what happens when a sound rings out or echoes. A loud, booming voice is more likely to resound than a little whisper. If you stand on a building, yell your name, and then here it again, it resounded. Resounding is also called echoing, ringing, and reverberating. If you've ever heard a ring announcer, the microphone helps his or her voice resound to the crowd. |
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| 7232 |
placard |
a sign posted in a public place as an advertisement |
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A placard is a sign, especially one that advertises something. You might get a summer job standing on the sidewalk, holding a placard that announces a mattress sale — though it may not be your dream job. |
A concert poster, a storefront notice, a protest sign carried in a rally — each of these is a type of placard. A placard can be as impermanent as a square of cardboard with a scrawled message, and as official as a permanent plaque marking a historic building. The Old French word plaquier is at the root of placard, and it means "to plaster or to lay flat." |
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| 7233 |
infirm |
lacking bodily or muscular strength or vitality |
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To be infirm is to be physically weak. If your great grandmother can't get around without a walker or a wheelchair, you might describe her as infirm. |
The adjective infirm is most often used to talk about elderly people whose bodies don't work as well as they used to — there's an implication of old age in the word. You could also describe an infirm person as decrepit or feeble. Sometimes a person's morals or character are described as infirm, which means you can't count on them to do the right thing. The Latin root, infirmus means "weak or feeble," or alternately, "superstitious or inconstant." |
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| 7234 |
sketch |
preliminary drawing for later elaboration |
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A sketch is a rough or brief outline of something. If you hand in a sketch, instead of your full paper, don't expect to get a very high grade! |
The word sketch can be used when talking about something visual, particularly a drawing. An artist might sketch a friend in an hour, and then go home and take weeks to complete the portrait. A sketch can also refer to a short verbal or narrative account. You might want to give your friend a brief sketch of what happened to you today, instead of boring her with every last detail, including the hours you spent washing and then folding your laundry. |
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| 7235 |
rift |
a narrow fissure in rock |
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Rift sounds like rip, and it's helpful to think of it that way. When there is a rift in a political party over a particular policy, it is like a rip or tear in the fabric of the group. |
Rift has a slightly different sense than break. A group can have a rift without having fully broken apart. A rift can heal, though a break is permanent. A rift can arise between sisters over whose turn it is to do dishes; it can quickly heal when parents promise an ice cream trip when the dishes are done. The Earth's crust has rifts, where it's splitting apart, like in East Africa. |
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| 7236 |
counselor |
someone who gives advice about problems |
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A counselor is the person you can consult in your time of need. Your school guidance counselor may suggest you take Spanish class next school year. Bueno? |
How you define counselor depends on where you are at the time. In court, a counselor is the lawyer who gives clients advice on legal issues and pleads their case in court. During a therapy session, a counselor helps people understand and resolve personal issues. And at summer camp, a counselor is the person who supervises the children's activities and makes sure they stay safe. |
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| 7237 |
transverse |
extending or lying across, in a crosswise direction |
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If something is transverse it goes sideways or at an angle. You might take a transverse path cutting across the park — it's a short cut if you're in a hurry, because you don't have to walk the entire length. |
First used in the 1590s, the adjective transverse comes from the Latin word transvertere, which combines the prefix trans-, meaning "across," and vertere, meaning "to turn." Something that's transverse cuts across something. A doctor may make a transverse incision into a patient's abdomen during an appendectomy. Set between two buildings, a dark alley is transverse to the bustling city street. |
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| 7238 |
superstitious |
showing ignorance of the laws of nature and faith in magic |
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Superstitious describes a belief in chance or magic. If you're superstitious, you may avoid walking under ladders, spilling salt, or passing black cats — all because you think they will bring you bad luck. |
Plenty of people don't think of themselves as superstitious, yet they may do things like knock on wood or refuse to open an umbrella indoors. Or they believe their team will win if they wear their lucky socks. These actions are all superstitious, demonstrating a belief based on magic or luck rather than on reason. The Latin word that superstitious comes from is superstitionem, excessive fear of the gods. |
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| 7239 |
fusion |
the act of melding or melting together |
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Fusion is the process of combining two or more things together into one. If your favorite genres are Westerns and reality dating shows, maybe when you become a TV executive, you'll create a fusion of the two, where competing dates have shoot-outs in saloons. |
The noun fusion comes from the Latin word fundere, meaning melt, so fusion is the act of melting things together. In science, fusion is the process of merging atoms together to create energy. Fusion is also used as an adjective. Fusion cuisine is the combination of at least two different ways of cooking. Fusion music is usually the combination of jazz and rock. |
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| 7240 |
dislocate |
put out of its usual place, position, or relationship |
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To dislocate is to move something out of its correct or regular place, or disrupt it. When a family moves to a new town, it dislocates the kids, and if you throw a bowling ball, you might dislocate your shoulder. |
A hurricane can dislocate boats, beach homes, and sea creatures, and a football injury can also dislocate your shoulder — moving the bone out of the joint in which it normally sits. It's painful to dislocate a bone, and it can be painful in a different way when circumstances dislocate your life. The Latin root is dislocare, "put out of place," from dis-, "away," and locare, "to place." |
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| 7241 |
homely |
lacking in physical beauty or proportion |
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Homely describes someone who's plain or unattractive, like your homely Aunt Agnes or her squish-faced bulldog. |
The adjective homely is a slightly more gentle word than ugly, with a meaning closer to "plain" than "hideous." It's almost always used to describe a less-than-attractive person, and occasionally an animal. If you were British, you'd use homely to mean "cozy and homelike," but in the United States you'd say "homey". Be careful not to confuse homey with homely, or you could accidentally hurt someone's feelings. |
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| 7242 |
resentful |
full of or marked by indignant ill will |
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If you are resentful of someone, you feel ill will toward him, mixed with envy, like when a newer coworker gets the promotion you've been working toward for years. |
The verb resent comes from the word for "feeling," but we only use it to talk about bad, stinging feelings. You might resent having to work late, but if your boss pays you a higher wage for overtime, maybe you’ll be less resentful. When there are clear inequalities among people, it often makes them resentful. Someone who wears themselves out doing heavy labor might be resentful of their boss who never breaks a sweat but earns more money. |
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| 7243 |
insistent |
demanding attention |
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Insistent means "unwilling to let go or back down." If a salesperson is insistent, you may find it hard to walk away without buying something. |
Insistent shares a root with the verb insist: the Latin word insistere, which means "persist, dwell upon, stand upon." If you are insistent, you won't take "no" for an answer, dwelling on your ideas, standing up for your position. Insistent can also mean "demanding attention," like the insistent ringing of the telephone at a busy office or the insistent cries of a hungry baby. |
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| 7244 |
uproar |
a state of commotion and noise and confusion |
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Any kind of noisy disturbance can be called an uproar. A large group of political protesters outside City Hall is likely to create an uproar. |
There's often an uproar in the audience of a rock concert when the band first appears on stage — people cheer and applaud and whistle. An announcement that the neighborhood donut shop is out of donuts could create another kind of uproar, especially if people have been standing in a long line dreaming of crullers and chocolate glazed donuts. Uproar comes from the German Aufruhr, "a stirring up." |
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| 7245 |
clamor |
utter or proclaim insistently and noisily |
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To clamor is to make a demand — LOUDLY. It's usually a group that clamors — like Americans might clamor for comprehensive health care coverage. |
The noun clamor is often used specifically to describe a noisy outcry from a group of people, but more generally, the word means any loud, harsh sound. You could describe the clamor of sirens in the night or the clamor of the approaching subway in the tunnel. |
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| 7246 |
liberate |
grant freedom to; free from confinement |
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To liberate something means to release it from confinement. As the saying goes, "If you love something, set it free," — liberate it. |
Liberate is a powerful verb he verb that has been an important part of the history of the United States. In the Revolutionary War we fought to liberate ourselves from Great Britain, and the Civil War was fought in part to liberate the Southern slaves. As recently as the 1920's, women sought to be liberated from second-class citizen status. Even today, there are rebel groups in foreign countries striving to liberate their people who are denied freedom by their governments. |
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| 7247 |
indicator |
a device for showing the operating condition of some system |
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If you're familiar with the verb to "indicate," then indicator should be no problem. An indicator points to, suggests, or shows something. The arrow on a street sign is an indicator telling you which way to go. |
"It's not the heat, it's the humidity!" In other words, temperature is only one indicator of how it feels outside. Air-pressure, humidity, wind-chill, and cloud cover are other important indicators of weather conditions. You might hear a lot from newscasters about "economic indicators." These are figures, such as the rate of unemployment or inflation, that indicate where we're headed economically. Good or bad, we need reliable indicators if we're going to recover economically. Not all the indicators say the same thing: some say we're going to be OK sooner than others. |
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| 7248 |
immorality |
not being in accord with standards of right or good conduct |
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Immorality is evil, sinful, or otherwise wrong behavior. Immorality is often called wickedness and is a state avoided by good people. |
Since morality refers to things that are right, immorality has to do with things that are wrong — like stealing, lying, and murdering. This is a tricky word, because people have their own idea of what's immoral. We can all agree killing is an example of immorality, but people disagree on whether things such as bad language are truly signs of immorality. Different religions have their own ideas of immorality too, but the word is always associated with wrongness and offensiveness. |
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| 7249 |
scrawl |
write carelessly |
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To scrawl is to write in a quick, barely readable scribble. When you're signing a document, you might scrawl your name across the bottom. |
Doctors are well-known for the way they scrawl prescriptions on a pad, and you can refer to that chicken scratch handwriting itself as a scrawl. It's not easy to read someone's scrawl, which is careless and rushed. The origin of scrawl is (fittingly) unclear, although one guess connects it to the Middle English scrawlen, "spread out the limbs" or "sprawl." |
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| 7250 |
laborious |
characterized by effort to the point of exhaustion |
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Laborious describes something that requires a lot of hard work, such as Victor Frankenstein’s laborious undertaking of digging graves to find monster parts. |
Laborious comes from the familiar word for work, labor, which doesn’t veer far from its roots in Old French meaning "exertion of the body," and from Latin “toil, pain, exertion, fatigue.” Anything that requires blood, sweat, and tears is laborious, and while it’s usually a good thing to work hard, laborious can also describe something over-thought, such as the heavy-handed plot of a bad TV show. Think labor plus boring, said like an old-fashioned English aristocrat: luh-bohr-ee-uhs. |
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| 7251 |
appreciable |
enough to be estimated or measured |
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Movie theater popcorn tastes much better than microwave popcorn. The difference between them is appreciable — that is, you notice it. |
A good way to remember appreciable is to think of the related word appreciate. You appreciate the quality of the popcorn at the movie theater because it is significantly better than what you make at home. Of course, appreciable differences aren't always appreciated. There has been an appreciable improvement in the quality of televisions in the last 20 years, but if you've got an old TV, that isn't much comfort. |
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| 7252 |
overlap |
extend over and cover a part of |
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When things overlap, part or all of one thing covers part or all of the other, like roofing shingles or flat noodles in a lasagna dish. |
Not only can things overlap, but schedules can, too. If you accidentally schedule your doctor's appointment and your dentist appointment at the same time, they overlap, which is unfortunate because you can't be in two places at once. Philosophies and perspectives overlap when they share certain points or ideas in common. |
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| 7253 |
fit |
meeting adequate standards for a purpose |
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"Don't have a fit about it!" someone might snap at you. Chances are you're making a fuss and acting out, characteristics that precisely fit or match what having a fit involves. Chill out. |
When something fits like a glove, it fits just right. When you put a glove on, you fit each finger into its place. The word fit can mean "matching the shape of something" or "being a good match," like two people who meet online and turn out to be a good fit for one another. But its definitions are not always so rosy. If you're really angry and find yourself throwing a tantrum, you're having a fit. |
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| 7254 |
ideal |
something that one hopes to attain |
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An ideal is a model of something perfect or without equal. As an adjective, ideal describes this ultimate standard for excellence, or something that exists only as an idea. |
When we talk about what's ideal, we often refer to a best-case scenario (it would be ideal if you were well-rested before your exam); what we're striving for (it would be ideal for all children to receive an education); or some idea of perfection (the ideal date would be dinner with your favorite movie star). If you have high ideals, you have very strong beliefs about what is good and right, and maybe even how best to save the world. |
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| 7255 |
mediator |
a negotiator who acts as a link between parties |
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A mediator is a person who helps negotiate between two feuding parties. When a married couple is considering getting divorced, they sometimes hire a mediator to help them come to an agreement, and possibly even avoid divorce. |
The word mediator goes back to the Latin word medius, which means middle. A mediator is supposed to remain in the neutral middle rather than taking one side over another, in order to help both sides resolve a dispute. Mediators negotiate between employers and employees, disputing couples, and in schools helping kids work out their conflicts peacefully rather than fighting on the playground or lunchroom. |
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| 7256 |
carnal |
of or relating to the body or flesh |
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Carnal is an adjective meaning "of the flesh." This makes carnal relations a subject that kids want to know more about, but one that both kids and parents may be embarrassed to talk about with each other. |
Another use for carnal is to describe something that is worldly (as opposed to spiritual) — "He didn't have much use for religion, preferring the more carnal pursuits of gambling, drinking, and partying." The phrase "carnal knowledge" is often used euphemistically to refer to sexual relations, but the phrase has also been used in the legal sense to describe a specific sex crime. |
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| 7257 |
untimely |
badly scheduled |
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Something untimely has occurred prematurely, and it's usually not good news. If you hear about someone's untimely death, it must mean it was an unexpected death. |
When something is timely, it happens at the right time. When something is untimely, it means the opposite: it happened at an unfortunate or unexpected time. Usually, this means it happened much too early. The most common use of this term is probably in discussing someone’s untimely death, meaning they died young. Other disasters that happen to young people might be described as untimely as well. |
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| 7258 |
systematically |
in a consistent manner |
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If you do something systematically, you do it in an orderly, methodical way. Someone who systematically records her dreams is careful to write them in a notebook every single morning. |
Use the adverb systematically when you describe something that's carried out in a deliberate way, especially following a plan. You might systematically memorize every word in the dictionary, starting with A and working your way through the alphabet, or watch a toddler systematically pick up one Cheerio at a time from his bowl and throw it on the floor. Systematically and systematic come from a Greek root, systematikos, or "combined in a whole." |
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| 7259 |
berth |
a place where a craft can be made fast |
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A berth is a bed, usually stacked like bunk beds, on a train or a ship. If you're on an overnight train, you may want to spring for a berth instead of sitting up all night. |
You may have heard the phrase "to give someone a wide berth — that means to give them plenty of space. But if you want to use berth as a verb, you better be talking about parking a boat: to berth means to moor or dock a ship. The parking spot itself also happens to be called a berth. So if there's a big storm brewing, you best be sure to berth your boat securely in its berth. |
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| 7260 |
adorable |
lovable especially in a childlike or naive way |
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Tie a pink ribbon around your puppy's neck and push him around in a stroller, and you'll either get worried stares or compliments on how adorable he looks. Adorable means lovable, sweet, and childlike. |
The adjective adorable is mostly used to mean "cute," when someone is describing something sweet or charming, like a baby or a pretty dress. The origins of the word adorable are actually religious; it was first used only to mean "worthy of adoration." The Latin word adorare, "to ask in prayer," is the root of adore, which in the 14th century meant "to worship." It wasn't until the 1880s that adorable began to mean "delightful" rather than "worthy of worshiping." |
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| 7261 |
extremist |
a person who holds radical views |
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Nowadays, we tend to associate the word extremist with "terrorist," and use the two words almost interchangeably to define someone who holds radical political or religious views. |
An extremist can hold views on any subject: if you believe all little brothers should be banned from their siblings' rooms, or that anyone who roots for a different baseball team should be quarantined, then you, my friend, are an extremist. What tends to unite all extremists is their willingness to act, often violently, to realize their beliefs. Little brothers, watch out. |
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| 7262 |
pore |
any tiny hole admitting passage of a liquid |
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That trickle of sweat didn't just miraculously appear — it was secreted out of a pore, a really tiny opening on the surface of your skin. |
When used as a noun, pore means any tiny hole or opening that allows the passage of liquid. In humans, pores are the little holes that bring us such pleasures as armpit sweat and, when clogged, pimples. But when used as a verb, to pore means to concentrate your attention on or devote hours of focus to something: like poring over the overwhelming choices in the antiperspirant aisle. |
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| 7263 |
complicated |
difficult to analyze or understand |
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When things get complicated, they are no longer simple and straightforward. If you are asked a question that would require a long, detailed answer, you might just say, "It's complicated." |
The word complicated came about in the 1640's to mean "tangled" or "difficult to unravel." This makes sense, considering it came from the Latin verb complicāre, meaning "to fold together." Consider that something with many folds is more complicated than something flat. Novelist Robert Ludlum said, "Life is extremely complicated," but Confucius long ago suggested that "Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated." Just having those two opposing viewpoints indicates how complicated life can be. |
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| 7264 |
immune |
of the condition in which an organism can resist disease |
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To be immune to something is to be resistant to it. If you had chickenpox as a child, you should be immune to it now. |
The adjective immune comes from the Latin word immunis, which means “exempt from public service.” If you're protected — or exempt — from disease, injury, work, insults, or accusations, then you're immune. Vaccinations serve to make people immune to certain diseases. Being a diplomat makes people immune to certain legal persecution. To be immune to bullying means that you don’t let the bad behavior of your peers get you down. |
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| 7265 |
get along |
have smooth relations |
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When you get along with someone, you're friendly or compatible with them. A babysitter might promise to take his charges out for ice cream if they can get along with each other for an hour. |
Some brothers and sisters get along well, while others fight like cats and dogs. Countries that are allied tend to get along better than those that are in conflict — think of the Civil War, when the North and the South of the United States didn't get along. You can also use this phrase to mean "progress" or "manage to survive," so you might say, "I could never get along without pizza!" |
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| 7266 |
elementary |
of or being the essential or basic part |
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Things that are elementary are simple or not very advanced, as in elementary school or Sherlock Holmes' famous line, "Elementary, my dear Watson!" |
Remember elementary school? That's an earlier, less advanced type of school than middle and high school. Things that are elementary are simpler — easy enough for a first grader to handle. A puzzle that's a snap to solve could be called elementary. We can also say that something is elementary when it's a basic building block of something else: a good breakfast is elementary to healthy nutrition, for example. |
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| 7267 |
snarl |
utter in an angry, sharp, or abrupt tone |
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To snarl or make a snarl is to growl like an angry dog or speak abruptly and aggressively. A snarl can also be something tangled or confused. |
If you've ever heard a dog growl, then you know what a snarl is: a dog's snarl says, "Back off!" When people snarl, they speak in an angry way that isn't shouting but sounds mean. A human snarl is abrupt, sharp, and unfriendly. Another sense of the word is when something gets mixed up, like if wires get tangled together: that tangle is called a snarl. This meaning comes from the earliest use of snarl, "a snare or a noose." |
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| 7268 |
weird |
strikingly odd or unusual |
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Call something weird when it’s strange, bizarre, or strikes you as odd. Putting peanut butter on pizza is weird. So is most abstract, conceptual performance art. |
Our definition of weird is rooted in Germanic mythology, where the “weird sisters” were three funky-looking goddesses that controlled fate and destiny: We dropped the idea of destiny and clung to how weird the weird sisters looked. In today’s slang we even use weird as a verb, as in “to weird someone out” or make them feel uneasy. |
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| 7269 |
nebula |
an immense cloud of gas and dust in interstellar space |
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A nebula is a massive cloud of gas and dust in outer space. A nebula is sometimes the birthplace of stars, such as the Orion Nebula where new stars — a youthful million years old — are still forming. |
Another example of a nebula is the Crab Nebula — the glowing result of a supernova, noted by Chinese astronomers in 1054 CE. It spans about 10 light-years in length. In biology, a nebula may be a cloudy formation in the eye, or a cloudiness of urine. It also refers to a medicinal preparation put in a nebulizer. When you are talking about more than one nebula (which is probably not that often for the average person), say nebulae. |
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| 7270 |
chaos |
formless state of matter before the creation of the cosmos |
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Chaos is a state of extreme confusion and disorder. Putting a dozen dogs and a dozen cats in the same room would probably lead to utter chaos. |
The word chaos derives from a Greek word meaning "chasm" or "void," which makes sense, given that chaos also refers to the formless state of matter before the cosmos was created. In math and science, chaos describes a system that will develop in wildly different ways with only tiny changes to the initial conditions. "Controlled chaos" is a phrase often used casually to describe something that looks out of control but which functions according to unseen rules or organization. |
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| 7271 |
engrave |
carve, cut, or etch into a material or surface |
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To engrave is to carve into something, especially stone. Sometimes people have messages engraved inside their wedding rings, their iPods, or any other rock-hard surface that can handle it. |
Words are engraved on tombstones to honor the people who died. Grave used to mean “to dig or carve” but no one uses it that way anymore because they would say engrave instead. Anytime a hard surface has a message or picture cut into, it was engraved. Sometimes engraving isn’t physical. A super fun birthday when your long lost grandmother rode in on a stallion could be engraved in your mind forever. Both kinds of engraving leave an impression. |
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| 7272 |
tendency |
an inclination to do something |
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A tendency is an inclination to do something. For example, dogs have a tendency to bark at strangers and the mail man. |
We all have tendencies: things we're inclined to do, or like to do, or just can't help doing. Morning people have a tendency to get up early. Basketball players usually have a tendency to go right or left. Optimists have a tendency to look on the bright side of things; pessimists have the opposite tendency. Other things have tendencies too, like how the stock market tends to go up and down. |
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| 7273 |
polite |
showing regard for others in manners, speech, behavior, etc. |
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Polite means showing regards for others in manners, speech, and behavior. Since you are a polite dinner guest, you thank the host for inviting you and, even though you think the chicken is not cooked to perfection, you tell her you are enjoying the meal. |
The adjective polite comes from the mid-13th century Latin politus, which means "refined" or "elegant." Showing consideration for others, using tact, and observing social norms are the qualities of being polite. The opposite of polite is rude. Because the poet E.E. Cummings thought imagination is most important, he wrote, “Knowledge is a polite word for dead but not buried imagination.” |
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| 7274 |
fraudulent |
intended to deceive |
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Something fraudulent is intentionally false and meant to harm or deceive. That email message from the Sultan of Brunei offering you millions of dollars just might be fraudulent. |
From the fact that the word fraudulent is frequently teamed with the word scheme, you can get the idea that something fraudulent is sneaky, snarky, and just plain wrong. A fraudulent scheme is one designed to gain something at the expense of someone else. It might be small — trying to use an expired coupon — or bigger — lying on your taxes. Whatever its form, planning something fraudulent is cheating, and it's wrong. |
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| 7275 |
dislodge |
remove or force from a position previously occupied |
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To dislodge is to remove something. When you're choking, you need to dislodge the food from your throat. |
When you dislodge, you're moving something from its current position. When sumo wrestlers are going at it, they're trying to dislodge each other from their original positions. Anytime something is stuck and you want it out, it needs to be dislodged. When you're choking, food is lodged in your windpipe. That's a time when you need to dislodge quickly! |
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| 7276 |
anatomy |
the study of the structure of animals |
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If you're studying anatomy you're studying animals’ bodies and you're probably dissecting them, too. You might study the anatomy of a pig to see how it relates to human anatomy. You’ll find that only one of them has a snout. |
Ever heard of Gray's Anatomy — not the TV show, but the 1858 medical textbook by Henry Gray? It’s been revised many times, but it’s still the standard text, with detailed descriptions of the parts of the human body. The word anatomy can apply to anything you're analyzing in detail. If you're writing an anatomy of your piano, you'll describe the parts and how they work. Anatomy goes back to the Greek roots ana, meaning "up," and temnein "to cut." |
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| 7277 |
overboard |
to extremes |
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You can only fall overboard if you're on a boat. If you fall overboard, don't forget your life vest! |
The adverb overboard most often comes up when someone falls in the water. When it's used literally, it very specifically refers to the movement of a person or an object from a boat into the ocean or other body of water. Figuratively, to go overboard means to take something too far — you're going overboard on your diet if you refuse to eat anything that isn't green. |
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| 7278 |
versed |
thoroughly acquainted through study or experience |
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To be versed in something is to know it well and have experience with it. If you’re well versed in Middle English literature, you know that Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales in 1475. Go you. |
Versed comes from the Latin word versari which means basically “to busy oneself, to be engaged.” If you’re versed (sounds like “verst”) in a subject, you’ve busied yourself with it and now you know it well. A history professor is versed in history. Someone with a massive comic book collection is probably versed in superheroes. Sometimes people say a person is well versed instead of versed, but either way, that person knows what they’re talking about. |
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| 7279 |
enclose |
surround completely |
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To enclose something is to surround it or cover it up. An envelope encloses a letter. |
To enclose is to put something inside something else. A crowd of people could enclose a celebrity, or a wall might enclose a garden. In Edgar Allan Poe’s story “Masque of the Red Death,” the Prince encloses his party guests inside the castle walls (along with the Red Death). (Oops!) A box might enclose a present. If you enclose something with a letter, you’re putting it in the envelope, too. |
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| 7280 |
sterling |
highest in quality |
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Sterling is British money, but it also describes anything of very high quality. A sterling report card has all A’s, and sterling manners are needed for a visit with the Queen of England. |
Sterling is a word for British currency, and although the jury is still out, the word sterling may be from the Middle English word for "star," sterre from the stars that appeared in the design of certain Norman (really old British) coins. Sterling can still refer to money, but it also describes something great. A sterling reputation is a flawless, immaculate reputation. |
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| 7281 |
petrify |
change into stone |
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If you scare someone so much they can't move, you petrify them. Petrify is to make something like a stone or to literally turn to stone. |
At the heart of the word petrify is the Latin word petra which means "stone." In the scientific sense, wood petrifies in an environment without oxygen, say when it is buried by lava, and minerals such as silica enter the wood and fill the cells, making it hard as stone. More commonly, something petrifies a person or an animal when it scares them very much. During thunderstorms, the dog is so petrified that it hides under the bed. If you are in a store when it is being robbed, you might be petrified too. |
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| 7282 |
single out |
select from a group |
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To single out is to focus on just one person in a larger group, either for special recognition or treatment. Your art teacher might single out one student each year to show their work at a gallery. |
Even when all of your friends have been misbehaving, your parents might single you out for punishment or criticism. And during World War II, the US government unfortunately singled out Japanese-Americans, requiring them to live in internment camps until the end of the war. A restaurant owner, on the other hand, might single out an important food writer they recognize, giving them extra special service. |
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| 7283 |
proprietary |
protected by trademark or patent or copyright |
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If you own something, especially something of value, then you have proprietary rights. The word is most often used in relation to new inventions or patents. |
Proprietary refers to property: things that are owned by individuals or businesses. People talk about proprietary drugs, proprietary software, and other things that can only be made and sold by those who discovered or created them. A proprietary claim is usually protected by trademark or copyright. When you say you have a proprietary right to something you're saying to everyone else: "Hands off! This is mine." Years ago, owners of small mom-and-pop stores were known as proprietors. |
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| 7284 |
border |
the boundary of a surface |
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When you cross a border from one country into another, you'll need to show your identification papers and maybe a visa to the border patrol officials. |
A border separates one thing from another, most famously countries. Sometimes neighboring countries have border disputes, if they don't think the lines were drawn fairly or if they don't get along. Borders can also be less official. You might want to plant a border of cabbages along your front walk, or you could sew a border of sequins along the edge of your collar. But you'd have to go easy on the sequins, as too many would "border on the garish." |
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| 7285 |
prick |
make a small hole into, as with a needle or a thorn |
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If you pierce your skin with a thorn, needle, or similar sharp object, you prick your skin. The mark it leaves on you is also called a prick. |
You can also use prick to describe the sensation of tears welling — your favorite sad movie might make tears prick your eyes. Your conscience can prick you as well, when it makes you feel uncomfortable about something. Prick is also a vulgar term for a man's penis and a way to address someone (usually a man) who is acting like a total ass. It is best not to use these terms in polite company. |
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| 7286 |
vestibule |
a large entrance or reception room or area |
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A vestibule is a little area just inside the main door of a building, but before a second door. You often find vestibules in churches, because they help keep heat from escaping every time someone enters or exits. |
The noun vestibule, pronounced "VES-tih-bule," probably comes from the Latin word vestibulum, which means “entrance court.” From about 1880 to 1930 vestibules were popular features in new homes because they create an additional barrier that keeps heat or cool air in and street noise out. If you have a vestibule, you can hang coats and leave shoes and gloves there instead of bringing them into the living room, kitchen and so on. |
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| 7287 |
boost |
increase |
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Think of the word boost as meaning "help up." Maybe you need a boost getting over a fence (hmm — are you sneaking in or sneaking out?), or maybe you are feeling low and need to boost your spirits — chocolate, anyone? |
Sometimes words appear that really don't have any clear origins. Boost is one of those words, but it's a fun word, and it's thought that maybe it has some connection to boose, a Scots dialect word that carries the idea of a push. A slang meaning of the word is to sneakily steal, like shoplifting. You gave your cousin a boost into the window, not knowing he was planning on boosting some sneakers. |
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| 7288 |
typical |
exhibiting the qualities that identify a group or kind |
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When something is typical, it is common, regular, expected — hanging out with friends and playing computer games are typical activities of American teens. |
To be typical is to be of a type, meaning that a person or thing has the same characteristics of everyone or everything else in the group, like a typical student, trying to talk the teacher out of giving homework over break. Something that is typical is what you can expect, like reading a guidebook about a faraway country you will visit to learn the typical weather and kinds of food you will encounter while you are there. |
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| 7289 |
challenger |
the contestant you hope to defeat |
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Challengers don’t let things stay the way they are, they go against something already in place, like a rule or the score on the scoreboard. Or they go after the same thing you may want, like victory in a competition or even the parking spot you were waiting for. |
In earlier history, during the Middle Ages, a challenger was mostly a dreaded foe or someone who wanted to fight to the death with a sword. Some challengers want to challenge the truth or rightness of something, and that can be pretty serious too. In modern times, though, the word challenger often describes competitors who want to challenge each other in sports, on TV game shows, or in arguments. These challengers enjoy the challenge itself. |
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| 7290 |
terminus |
a place where something ends or is complete |
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Consider terminus the end of the line. Whether it describes a train station, a goal, or an era — terminus refers to something’s final point. |
Ancient Romans worshiped Terminus as the god of boundaries, even performing sacrifices in his honor to bless objects that marked borders. You probably don’t have to go that far if you just want to use the noun terminus. You can use it as a weighty way to indicate something is at the end of the line, such as the last stop on a bus or train route. It most often refers to the end of a transportation route, but it can also be used more generally to mark the end point of other things — such as a marriage or a project. |
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| 7291 |
session |
a meeting for execution of a group's functions |
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A session is a specific block of time dedicated to something. Court may be in session, or school may be in session, or you just might find yourself enjoying a massage therapy session. |
The noun session also means a meeting of a board or committee to conduct business. The school board, for example, may hold a special session to discuss budget issues. Session can also refer to a gathering of spiritualists at a séance or a meeting with a psychic. You might have a session with a medium who claims she's delivering a message to you from your great-great-grandmother. |
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| 7292 |
outlet |
an opening that permits escape or release |
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Any hole or opening that allows water or gas to get out is an outlet. The place where water runs out of a lake and into a river is one example of an outlet. |
When you need to charge your laptop, you plug it into an electrical outlet, which gets its name from the idea that electricity comes out of it, just as water flows out of a river outlet. Outlet is also used to mean "store that sells discounted goods" and "a way to express yourself emotionally creatively." Dancing might be your outlet, for example — the way you let your feelings and creativity out. |
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| 7293 |
ostensibly |
from appearances alone |
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Ostensibly is an adverb you use to talk about something that looks one way, but underneath there's the hint of a different motivation for that action. |
One day you go to an ice cream shop. Then the next day. And the next. You keep going, ostensibly to buy ice cream, but there’s a deeper reason. The cute person who works there, perhaps? To ostensibly do something admits that the surface reason might not be the only reason. The Latin root words translate as “to stretch in view of,” so imagine that you’re stretching a thin mask over your true intentions. |
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| 7294 |
remit |
send in payment |
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If you send your client a bill for your consulting services, be sure to include your address so he knows where to remit the payment. |
Remit means send back, and it has many uses. If you remit payment, you send it back to the person you owe it to. If you’ve been in prison for five years of a seven-year sentence but you’ve been on good behavior, a judge might remit the remainder of your sentence and let you go free. |
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| 7295 |
shabby |
showing signs of wear and tear |
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The adjective shabby describes something that is threadbare or worn out. Your last apartment was clean, but the furniture and carpets were so shabby that you were embarrassed to invite your friends over. |
The adjective shabby also describes a manner of acting that is mean or contemptible. If you spent your whole childhood treating your younger brother in a shabby way, you can't expect him to be your friend when you're older. In modern slang, if you say something is "not too shabby," you mean that it was good. You might compliment your brother by telling him his soda can sculpture isn't too shabby. |
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| 7296 |
soot |
black powder formed when fuel such as wood or coal is burned |
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The powdery black stuff that's sometimes created when fuel burns is called soot. A chimney sweep's job is to clean all the soot and ash from inside a chimney. |
Soot is mostly made of carbon, and it forms when matter burns incompletely. Engines, burning coal, and house fires are all sources of soot, and soot is a major contributor to air pollution around the world. It's dangerous for people to breathe too much soot into their lungs. Soot comes from a Germanic root that literally means "what settles." |
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| 7297 |
lend |
give temporarily; let have for a limited time |
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When you lend something, you loan it or let someone borrow it. You might, for example, lend your bike to your brother — if he promises to be careful with it. |
Libraries lend people books, and car rental companies lend people cars — in both cases, the item that's been borrowed is supposed to be returned eventually. Another way to lend is to "add a quality to," or "be suitable for." You could say that you think your hat lends you a mysterious quality, or that your trench coat lends itself to walking through a foggy city at dusk. |
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| 7298 |
adduce |
advance evidence for |
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When you adduce something, you offer proof in support of an argument. You might adduce the contents of your nearly empty closet in an effort to get your mom to take you clothing shopping. |
The word adduce comes from the Latin adducere, which means to lead or bring along. If you were a lawyer, you might adduce, or bring forth, a witness in order to help your case. You might also adduce a piece of evidence, like a fact, to help with your argument. You might think of the word add to help you remember the definition of adduce; when you adduce something, you are adding to an argument by offering proof. |
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| 7299 |
revolting |
highly offensive; arousing aversion or disgust |
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Something revolting is disgusting or distasteful; it turns your stomach and can offend your senses. |
Things that are revolting are physically upsetting, like finding hair in your soup or stepping in dog poop. Eating spoiled food is revolting. Also, revolting things can be less physical. Learning that a friend lied to you is revolting. Corruption in government is revolting. Injustice is revolting. Many people find obscenity revolting. If it offends, disgusts, or upsets you, it's revolting. |
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| 7300 |
starring |
indicating the most important performer or role |
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Your attention-grabbing friend might be one who goes through life imagining it's a movie starring her. Starring means being the main character in a movie or play. |
Starring is an adjective that's used when someone's at the center of things, like a concert starring a famous cellist. The Greek word aster became the English word star, which was first used to mean "to be featured in a play" in the 1820s. If you imagine a star shining brightly in the dark night sky, it's easy to see how starring came to mean "being the most important on the stage." |
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| 7301 |
disband |
cause to break up or cease to function |
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You know how rock bands are always forming and then breaking up? When they break up, they disband. The word disband refers to any group or unit of folks who decide to go their separate ways. |
Long before there were rock bands, groups of friends or warriors would band together for protection or companionship. They would become a band of sorts. The prefix dis comes from the Latin word for "apart." So if people come together to form a band — like Robin Hood's Merry Men — then if they disband, they decide to separate and break apart. Groups don't always disband because they want to. Sometimes police officers or government officials disband groups they believe are a nuisance or a threat. |
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| 7302 |
scuttle |
an entrance equipped with a hatch |
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When you scuttle, you move with quick anxious steps, like a bug running for cover when a light is turned on. |
Use the word scuttle when you want to describe running or fast walking that’s characterized by short, hasty steps, like someone or something that tries to hurry — a person who is late for work scuttling through a crowd of slow-moving pedestrians — but can't. It is also found in these well-known lines from T.S. Eliot's poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock": "I should have been a pair of ragged claws / Scuttling across the floors of silent seas." |
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| 7303 |
confidant |
someone to whom private matters are told |
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A confidant is the person you tell your secrets to. Your confidant has all the dirt on you, so don't forget his birthday or he might start talking... |
Confidants are people you trust enough to tell anything, like that you cried during "The Muppet Movie." They might give advice, too. The President has lots of confidants in his inner circle who not only know all about secret government issues, but also give their opinions about what actions he should take. Make sure to spell the word with the ant ending, because confident means something else. Think of confiding in your aunt, your confidANT. |
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| 7304 |
effigy |
a representation of a person |
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In modern usage, effigy most often refers to a likeness, such as a dummy, that is hanged, burned, or otherwise abused when protesting the despised person's actions. |
If you've encountered the phrase "in effigy,” it's probably been in a news report about protesters burning a stuffed figure made to look like a loathed corporate leader or head of state. Since the 18th century or longer, effigies have been destroyed in place of individuals who, as far as the angry crowd is concerned, have escaped justice. Effigy can also refer to a sculptural portrait of the deceased reclining upon a burial monument. |
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| 7305 |
mantelpiece |
a shelf that projects from a wall above a fireplace |
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A mantelpiece is a frame around a fireplace, or a shelf above it. When families celebrate Christmas, they often hang stockings from the mantelpiece on Christmas Eve. |
If you have a fireplace, you probably have a mantelpiece, or a mantel. While some mantelpieces are elaborate and decorative, made of heavy stone like granite or marble, and sometimes extending far up the wall above the fireplace. Others are very simple, made of a plain wooden shelf. The original, medieval mantelpieces were hoods that caught smoke from the fire. |
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| 7306 |
lance |
a long pointed rod used as a weapon |
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A warrior during the Middle Ages most often carried a lance, or a long, pointed spear, as a weapon. |
Throughout history, soldiers mounted on horseback have often carried some variation of a lance — something long and sharp for jabbing at enemy warriors. Lances were carried as far back as ancient Roman armies and as recently as Plains Indians after they were introduced to horses in the eighteenth century. The Latin root word, lancea , means "light spear" or "Spanish spear." |
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| 7307 |
operation |
process or manner of functioning |
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Operation can refer to medical surgery, a military campaign, or mathematical methods, such as multiplication and division. |
Operation comes from the Latin word opus (“work”) and can refer to a whole range of practical activities and work. In driver's education, you learn the proper operation of a motor vehicle. If you’re going to make your lemonade franchise a success, you’re going to have to learn the rules for prudent operation of a business — how to run it — and you’ll also have to figure out the operation of a lemon squeezer. |
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| 7308 |
gain |
obtain |
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A gain is an increase in something, especially something good. You gain knowledge by attending philosophy lectures and reading books. |
When you gain something, you acquire it or add to what you already have. You can gain friends by joining clubs, and you can gain weight by eating ice cream every day. Gain is also a noun, which you can use to talk about what you've gained, like the health gain you get from cutting back on that ice cream. The root of gain is the Old French gaaignier, "to earn, trade, or capture." |
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| 7309 |
inventive |
marked by independence and creativity in thought or action |
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To be inventive is to be creative. Inventive people are good at using their imaginations. |
If you know that inventors create new things, then it makes sense that the word inventive applies to people and behavior that show creativity. Artists are inventive, especially if their work is different than other people's work. Little kids are very inventive: their imaginations have almost no limits. People who copy others aren't inventive, because they're not being original. When people are being inventive, new ideas are flowing. |
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| 7310 |
toxic |
of or relating to or caused by a poison |
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Danger! Hazardous! Do not eat! These are just some of the warnings you'll see on toxic substances — meaning stuff that's poisonous and even deadly. |
Cobra bites, wild mystery mushrooms and strong chemicals are all toxic. So are certain people, if they have particularly mean personalities. Toxic is related to the word toxin, which is a kind of poison. It comes from the ancient Greek word toxikon, which means "poison for arrows." Some toxic arrows could come in handy for those toxic personalities... |
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| 7311 |
condescension |
showing arrogance by patronizing those considered inferior |
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Condescension is an insulting way of talking to other people, as if they were stupid or ignorant. Condescension is rude and patronizing. |
Treating someone with condescension is the opposite of treating them with respect. Condescension is full of arrogant and snooty attitude, and people who practice condescension treat others like inferior idiots. Sarcasm goes well with condescension if you're trying to be a jerk. You can almost hear the word descent in condescension, so think of someone acting all high and mighty, looking down at everyone else. |
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| 7312 |
concerted |
involving the joint activity of two or more |
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If you and your friends launch into singing “Old MacDonald” loudly together, in the middle of the public library, you will all have made a concerted, or cooperative, effort to annoy lots of people. |
Concerted is often used to describe a group effort to achieve a particular goal. As you may have guessed, concerted comes from the word concert. While a concert can be defined as "a group of musicians playing cooperatively," concert can also designate other types of cooperative behavior. If a group of people do anything together — from singing an annoying song to throwing library books at agreed-upon targets — they are acting in concert, or in a concerted manner. |
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| 7313 |
fiery |
like or suggestive of a flame |
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When something is very hot or intense, it's fiery. Fiery can describe a literal blaze, a hot chili pepper, or even a fiery temper. |
Any time there's fire, you have a fiery situation. This word applies to a lot more than flames, though. If you lose your temper easily, you may be called hot-headed or fiery. An intense argument — with two people yelling and carrying on — could be called fiery. Any kind of intense emotion or passion is fiery. If you're a cool customer, you're not very fiery. Also, you could say that hot Indian curry or spicy chicken wings are fiery. |
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| 7314 |
leer |
look suggestively or obliquely |
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A leer is an unpleasant facial expression. A leer means the person doesn't like you, or even worse, does — in a creepy way. |
Leer can also be used as a verb, meaning "to look at someone with a suggestive or rude expression." Dirty old men might leer at every girl who walks by, but another reason to leer is to show scorn, like a dirty look your enemy gives whenever you enter the room. |
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| 7315 |
shed |
cause or allow to flow or run out or over |
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The small, simple building in your yard where you keep tools or gardening equipment is a shed. |
As a noun, shed means "hut," and probably comes from the word shade. But shed is also a verb meaning "to cast off," like when a snake sheds its skin. If your couch is covered in fur, it might be because your dog is shedding. You can shed non-physical things, like a bad habit. Does your cat shed? If so, maybe I should sleep in the shed since I'm allergic. |
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| 7316 |
peril |
a state of danger involving risk |
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If you realize mid-climb that your rock climbing rope is frayed, you might be in peril. The word peril means imminent danger to life and limb. |
Peril comes from the Latin peric(u)lum, meaning danger. Today it's often used in tandem with the word mortal, which relates to death. For example, you're in mortal peril when you're flying down a cliff-side trail on your mountain bike and you hit loose gravel. Peril can also describe dangers of a less physical sort, though it's less common. If your employer sinks your 401K into what turns out to be a Ponzi scheme, he's put your retirement in peril. |
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| 7317 |
gentle |
soft and mild; not harsh or stern or severe |
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Use the adjective gentle to describe something that is soothing or kind, like a person with a tender nature or the soft sound of light rain. |
The word gentle traces back to the Latin word gentlis, meaning “of the same clan,” and at first the world was used to describe people belonging to distinguished families, who were seen as courteous and noble. Nowadays you’re more likely to hear the word used to refer to things that are calm, moderate, and without harshness. The word is often applied to people, but it can be used more broadly to describe anything that is mild, such as "a gentle detergent" or "a gentle reminder." |
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| 7318 |
anarchist |
an advocate of the abolition of governments |
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Should you ever decide to form a club for anarchists, you might want to keep this in mind: Running for club president will make you unpopular, since anarchists prefer a stateless society and distrust ruling powers. |
When the Sex Pistols released "Anarchy in the UK" in 1976, they clashed with Margaret Thatcher's ideal of conservative England. Translated from the Greek, by way of Middle Latin, anarchy means "without a leader," and that's what an anarchist is all about. Given that anarchists reject authority, it's not surprising that there are many types of anarchism, ranging from those that promote the perfect liberty of the individual to those that endorse communist or socialist ideas. |
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| 7319 |
urge |
force or impel in an indicated direction |
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If you have an urge to eat candy, you really want to eat those sweets. Your mother might urge you to wait until after dinner. As a noun, urge means a desire. As a verb, it means to strongly encourage. |
Urge is related to the word, urgent, or 'pressing.' An urge is a pressing want, one that is almost a compulsion, like when you're so frustrated, you have the urge to scream. If you urge someone to do something, you feel strongly about it. You might urge a friend to wear an orange shirt not because you happen to like orange, but because they're walking in the woods during hunting season. |
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| 7320 |
sparse |
not dense |
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Something that’s sparse is thin, not dense. If you’re looking for the perfect place to build a tree house, a sparse forest is probably not your best bet. |
From the Latin sparsus, meaning “scattered,” we get the adjective sparse, which means “few and scattered.” Thinning hair is sparse, as is the population of an endangered species. Or a small and scattered crowd for an unpopular band. Synonyms include dispersed, infrequent, and scanty. Antonyms, on the other hand, include full, lush, and plentiful. |
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| 7321 |
transparency |
the quality of being clear |
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The condition of being clear or transparent is transparency. The transparency of your car's windshield might be affected by how badly your car needs to be washed. |
Something has transparency if you can see through it, like the ice on the top of a frozen lake or a glass. Transparency can also refer to a figurative kind of clearness or openness, which is what people mean when they talk about "government transparency." If you can see clearly, without anything being hidden, what you're looking at (or through) has transparency. Its root is the Latin word transparentem, which means "see light through." |
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| 7322 |
twine |
a lightweight cord |
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Twine is the strong braided string that's often tied around a bakery box or used to secure a Christmas tree to the top of your car. |
Twine can be made of cotton, hemp, or even plastic — it's stronger than string, but thinner than rope. It can be used to stake plants in the garden or to tie up a package of cheese from a deli. Twine can also be a verb meaning "to twist around," the way threads are twisted into a strand of twine. Your cats might twine around each other to sleep, for example. The Old English version was twin, or "double strands of thread." |
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| 7323 |
sheik |
the leader of an Arab village or family |
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In Arabic, sheik is an honorific title, as in a Saudi oil sheik who makes the business news. Sheik also refers to a specific head of a tribe or family, or a leader in a Muslim community. |
In parts of the Middle East, South Asia, and some Muslim areas of Africa, a sheik is a religious leader or cleric. Sometimes it's the way an Islamic scholar is addressed. In Arabic the word is shaykh, "chief" or "wise old man." Women in a royal family, or female scholars of Islam, have traditionally been called shaykhah. Sheik is also spelled sheikh and shaikh. |
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| 7324 |
swamp |
low land that is seasonally flooded |
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A swamp is an area that floods every year because the land is low. Watch out for alligators if you visit Atchafalaya National Wildlife Refuge in Louisiana, the largest swamp in the United States. |
Anyone who has spent time in a busy restaurant kitchen has heard harried chefs cry, "I'm in the weeds!" Such people are in a different kind of swamp — the challenging environment in which too many things need to be done in too short a time. Another way of saying this is, "I'm swamped." Here swamp is a verb that describes being stuck in a seemingly endless situation — you feel like you're stuck in the squishy mud of a real swamp. |
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| 7325 |
terminate |
bring to an end or halt |
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To terminate something is to bring it to an end. Period. Full stop. |
In ancient Rome, Terminus was the God of landmarks, boundaries, and endings. That’s why his annual party took place at the end of the year. You can imagine the guests walking around in their togas, going, “This party is so great, I wish it would never terminate.” Nowadays, terminate can be used to refer to bringing anything to an end — including one's job or a product line: "When the Weird Food Company announces plans to terminate production of its deep-fried chocolate-covered pickle line, it will be a sad day for lovers of strange snacks." |
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| 7326 |
impious |
lacking piety or reverence for a god |
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To be impious is to be disrespectful of god or duty. When someone is being impious they are doing things that their church, synagogue, temple, mosque, school principal, government or parents would find unacceptable. |
When you don’t show reverence for religion or god, you are impious. The adjective impious is related to the word piety, which means religious reverence. To be impious is to be without piety. Being impious is similar to being blasphemous, but it’s a little more passive to be impious, while blasphemy is more actively insulting. Also, when you act out against tradition or dutifulness, you could be considered impious. If you dodge a military draft, you will likely be considered impious. |
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| 7327 |
submit |
yield to the control of another |
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To submit to something means to undergo or accept it. You must submit to a search if the police have a warrant. |
Many of the senses of submit are variations on that first meaning of acceptance. When you submit an application, you formally hand it in to be judged. Similarly, if you put something before an organized group, you submit it. Often websites will have an e-mail address where you can submit questions, comments and suggestions. If you want to paint your room black and your parents submit, they give in to your wish. |
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| 7328 |
authorship |
the act of creating written works |
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If you write something, you are engaged in authorship. If you want a fancy way of asking "Who wrote that letter?" — try, "Who is responsible for the authorship of that letter?" Fancy, indeed! |
Authorship can refer to anything, not just the creation of written text; you can have authorship of a new idea, a new cocktail, a new fashion style — anything. And just as doctors practice medicine, or architects architecture, so writers practice authorship; in other words, authorship also means the actual act of authoring or writing. |
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| 7329 |
incensed |
angered at something unjust or wrong |
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To be incensed is to be beyond mad. It's how you feel when fighting with your cell phone company's customer service representative whose only response is to quote company policy verbatim from a script. |
The Latin root of the word incense is incendere, meaning "to set on fire." Yes, it's the same root for the incense sticks burned in dorm rooms and churches. For this use, however, think instead about burning tempers instead of burning sticks. |
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| 7330 |
resplendent |
having great beauty |
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Someone or something that is resplendent has great beauty and is a pleasure to behold. "She was there, at the base of the stairs, resplendent in her flowing gown and jewels." |
When people or things are resplendent, they are dazzling, splendiferous, glorious, or lovely. The adjective resplendent comes from a Latin word that means “to shine brightly.” The gilded entranceway was resplendent in the golden glow of the afternoon light. When he flashed his resplendent smile, she was helpless against his charms. |
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| 7331 |
establishment |
the act of forming something |
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Kids were more comfortable in school after the establishment of a no-tolerance bullying policy in the cafeteria. Establishment means setting up or something that has been set up. |
In the 1960s, the youth movement took on what they called "the establishment," by which they meant the way society was set up and organized. Their sentiments could be summed up in a word that is rumored to be one of the longest in the English language, if it actually exists: disestablishmentarianism. |
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| 7332 |
contender |
the contestant you hope to defeat |
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Baseball players, boxers, politicians: each is a contender in that they compete or campaign to win something. |
Contender has a slightly different meaning than competitor, often implying a more vigorous, even scrappier, sense of taking on every unexpected challenge. The most famous use of contender is Marlon Brando's quote in the film On The Waterfront. Brando plays a once promising boxer whose career has been ruined by a fixed fight. "I coulda been a contender!" Brando cried, implying he could have been the boxer whom everyone wanted to defeat. |
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| 7333 |
shifting |
changing position or direction |
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The word shifting describes something that is taking a new direction either physically or in thought. If you’ve recently decided that the earth may be round, you are shifting from a flat-Earth viewpoint to a round-Earth one. |
Shifting can be used in several senses, but the constant in all of them is change and movement. For example, shifting can describe moving earth: it is usually a bad idea to build your house on a plot of shifting land. The word can also refer to something that is regularly changing: Your friend whose favorite music regularly alternates from heavy metal to jazz to Chinese opera? She has a shifting taste in music. |
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| 7334 |
litigious |
of or relating to legal proceedings |
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If the haunted house staff treats you with extra care and don't subject you to the worst frights, it might not be because they like you, but because they know you're litigious: you tend to sue people. |
Litigious is the adjective form of litigation, the act of suing someone in court. If a person is called litigious that means they tend to sue people, maybe excessively. If you think that there are too many lawsuits, you think that a litigious culture is not good, but if you think it's important for people to demand compensation for other's people's negligence, then maybe you appreciate litigious behavior. |
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| 7335 |
layer |
a single thickness of some substance or material |
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The noun layer describes a thin piece that's stacked on other thin pieces, like a layer of noodles in a lasagna dish. You can also apply a layer of paint to make your wall color more vivid. |
Layer can also be used figuratively to describe an abstract thickness or barrier. Celebrities are known to surround themselves with managers, agents, stylists, and friends — forming a layer between them and the prying public. Layer can also be a verb. You can layer your bed with blankets on a cold night, as a layer of ice forms on the sidewalks and streets outside. |
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| 7336 |
spare |
more than is needed, desired, or required |
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Spare describes something that is extra. If you have a spare tire for your bike you can replace a flat, and if there's enough change in your pocket you can spare some to patch a friend's tire. |
As a noun, a verb, and an adjective, the word spare has many meanings. A leftover part is a spare, you can spare a life when you save an animal or person, and you have spare time when you finish a project early. If you "spare no expense" you spend lots of money and when you spare a friend's feelings, you keep upsetting details to yourself. And if you have a moment to spare, you have time to share. |
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| 7337 |
aborigine |
an indigenous person who was born in a particular place |
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If you’re an aborigine in a country, that means you were there first. Use the word to refer to someone or something that has been there since the beginning. |
The word aborigine traces back to the Latin ab origine, meaning "from the beginning," and as you might guess, this noun refers to something that has been there from the start. Aborigine is most often used to refer to a native group that has a longstanding historic or cultural tie to an area or country, unlike other groups that may have entered later to colonize the region. If the word is capitalized, it refers to someone belonging to the group of people that first inhabited Australia. |
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| 7338 |
sensation |
an unelaborated elementary awareness of stimulation |
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A sensation is a type of feeling, picked up by one of the five senses. Peppercorns will give you the sensation of a million tiny pinpricks on your tongue. |
A sensation is something from your senses. If you lose sensation in your feet, they are numb and it's time for you to get up and move around to restore blood flow. You can call something a sensation if it is wonderful and astonishing. Your parents will tell you that you were a sensation in the school play. Everyone will want to go see the special-effects movie that critics are calling a worldwide sensation. |
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| 7339 |
defer |
yield to another's wish or opinion |
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Defer means to put off or delay. You can try to defer the inevitable by pushing “snooze” and falling back asleep, but eventually you're going to have to get up. |
If you're excellent at pushing things to a later date and a master at procrastination, then you already know how to defer. But defer can also mean to comply with another person’s opinion or wishes. So when your boss finds out you deferred your work to shop online instead, you should probably defer when she asks you to come in and finish everything up over the weekend. |
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| 7340 |
contiguous |
having a common boundary or edge |
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Use the adjective contiguous when you want to describe one thing touching another thing, or next to it but not actually touching. |
Things that are contiguous are near or next to but not actually touching and yet they are also defined as "touching, sharing a border." You can use this adjective to describe people or things related to and nearby others. It comes from the Latin word contiguus, which means pretty much the same thing, "bordering upon." Because the word has two meanings that are very similar but not always the same it can be a bit confusing. This is an example of what's called "semantic ambiguity," when something can mean more than one thing or a word or phrase is not precise. |
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| 7341 |
exchange |
the act of changing one thing for another thing |
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To exchange means to trade one thing for another. If you and your friend both prefer what the other has brought for lunch, you should exchange lunches. |
Exchange, which is both a noun and a verb, comes from the Latin ex-, meaning "out" and cambiare, for "change" or "substitute." If you're traveling in Europe, you exchange U.S. Dollars for Euros. If you get a really awful outfit for your birthday present, you can go to the store and exchange it for one you like better. The correspondence between you and your loved one is an exchange of love letters. An argument is an exchange of opinions. |
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| 7342 |
robot |
a mechanism that can move automatically |
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A robot is a mechanical creation that can move or act on its own. Science fiction is full of robots. |
Also called droids, Cylons, and bots, robots are certainly the stuff of science fiction stories. But there are plenty of real robots out there in the world, using their mechanical smarts to make life easier. There are robots that can vacuum the rug, dance, perform surgery, clean oil spills, and even build cars. The field of robotics is growing all the time. Maybe someday you'll even have that robot butler so many of us have dreamed about. |
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| 7343 |
piracy |
the act of plagiarizing |
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Piracy is a what pirates do: they steal stuff. If you plagiarize by stealing someone's words or ideas that’s piracy. Argh! |
The original sense of piracy comes from pirates — thieves who hijack other boats, taking what they please. That should help you remember that piracy means to steal someone else's work, usually their words or ideas. A writer who doesn't cite their sources is committing piracy. Piracy is plagiarism, and it is legally and morally wrong. |
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| 7344 |
delirious |
experiencing hallucinations |
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If you're delirious you're uncontrollably excited or a bit crazy, like when you win the lottery and run screaming through the streets, delirious with happiness. |
While we sometimes like to say, metaphorically, that strong emotions make us delirious, this adjective has more grim origins, in the Latin word for delirium or "madness" — in the medical sense, that is. When you're delirious from a high fever or a serious bump to the head, you might become incoherent, hallucinate, or have disturbing dreams. The story of The Wizard of Oz is based on the delirious dream Dorothy has after she bumps her head during a tornado. |
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| 7345 |
rejoice |
feel happiness or joy |
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To rejoice is to be incredibly happy, or to express your incredible happiness. If you just won millions in the lottery, you might rejoice by screaming at the top of your lungs. |
The verb rejoice is like to celebrate but it’s taken to more of an extreme than just a celebration. You might rejoice after scoring the winning goal in a championship game, or you might rejoice when you receive an amazing gift on your birthday. You’ll often hear this word in the phrase “let us rejoice,” especially in some religious settings. |
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| 7346 |
apologize |
acknowledge faults or shortcomings or failing |
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When you apologize you admit that you did something wrong, and you say you’re sorry. The point of apologizing is usually to clear the slate and explain why you did what you did. |
We all make mistakes. Sometimes we even do bad things on purpose. But it can all be okay, so long as we apologize. Apologize comes from the Greek apologizesthai, which might be impossible to pronounce, but which means, “give an account.” When you accidentally run over your neighbor's flowerbed on your bike, you better be ready to apologize. |
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| 7347 |
botany |
the branch of biology that studies plants |
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The study of plants is called botany. Each climate has its own particular botany, so if you study desert growth, you might focus on such plants as cactus and sage, while if you're in the jungle you'd study the lush growth there. |
Someone once said, "Botany is the science in which plants are known by their aliases." Indeed, the study of botany includes learning the scientific names of plants. The origin of the word botany came from the Greek word botane, which means "grass" or "pasture." Since the original meaning focused on the idea of a pasture, it's possible the study of botany came about from herdsmen needing to know what plants were safe for their herds to eat. |
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| 7348 |
accelerate |
move faster |
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Accelerate means to speed up. A car accelerates when you step on the gas. You can accelerate the process of getting a visa if you happen to know someone who works in the consulate. |
The fastest Amtrak trains are called the Acela line, a made-up word intended to suggest accelerate and therefore communicate that these trains are fast. If you are standing close to one when it zooms by, you may find yourself having an accelerated heart rate—they move pretty fast! |
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| 7349 |
implicate |
bring into intimate and incriminating connection |
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The verb implicate means "to connect or involve in something." For example, your cousins might implicate you in the planning of a big party for your grandparents. |
Implicate comes from the Latin word implicare, meaning "to entwine, involve." When you implicate someone, you bring him or her into a group or to pitch in on a project. Implicate can have criminal connotations when it means "to connect in an incriminating manner," like when detectives figure out who drove the getaway car in the bank robbery — that person will be implicated for his or her role in the crime. |
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| 7350 |
aspiring |
desiring or striving for recognition or advancement |
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If you're aspiring, you're trying to be something. If you're an aspiring singer, you're probably out booking as many gigs as possible in the hopes that someone will soon discover you. |
The adjective aspiring describes a person who wants to succeed at a particular goal, often one related to a career. Many aspiring artists move to New York City in the hopes that they'll get into a major gallery and sell their art. Aspiring country musicians move to Nashville to try to land a recording deal. If you're an aspiring politician, you may study political science and intern at the state senator's offices to gain experience and make connections. |
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| 7351 |
arch |
a curved masonry construction for spanning an opening |
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An arch is a shape that resembles an upside down "U." You may find this shape in a carefully tweezed eyebrow or in the famous golden pair that make you hunger for a Big Mac. |
In architecture, an arch is an opening that is often found supporting the weight of a something above it — like a bridge or a wall. In downtown St. Louis, you can visit the Gateway Arch — a freestanding catenary arch that is 630 feet tall and 630 feet wide. As a verb, arch means to make an arch-like shape. "She stretched her back by arching it into a backbend." As an adjective, arch can describe something mischievous or sly: "He teased his friend with an arch comment about his shyness around girls." |
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| 7352 |
mutable |
capable of or tending to change in form or quality or nature |
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Something or someone that is mutable is subject to change. Mutable weather can go from sunny, to rainy and windy, and back to sunny again. |
The word mutable originally had a negative connotation, and it referred to a person, usually a poet, who frequently changed his mind and moods. Mutable has come to mean anything that is capable of changing form or quality. If your favorite restaurant offers seasonal food, the menu is probably mutable with the change in seasons. In science, the word mutable refers to an organism or a gene that, for better or worse, changes its form. |
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| 7353 |
pout |
be in a huff and display one's displeasure |
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When something doesn’t go your way and you get annoyed about it, that’s a pout. And when you let the world know about it by thrusting out your lower lip, you are pouting. Get over it. |
When you pout, you’re expressing annoyance or displeasure. It’s a sulky kind of gesture, one that involves a facial expression more than words — in fact, a pout is often accompanied by a moody silence. The verb form of pout describes the action, and the noun form describes the facial expression. Maybe it's not a coincidence that a pout is also a type of fish. Pouting faces are a bit fish-like in their expressions. |
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| 7354 |
sensible |
able to feel or perceive |
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Sensible means practical and reasonable. If you're wearing sensible shoes, they're sturdy, comfortable, good for walking, and your feet don't hurt. If you're a sensible person, you're level-headed and calm, and you make wise decisions. |
Sensible may not sound exciting — who wants to be like a pair of galoshes, when you can be stilettos? But sensible is the voice of reason, and when you're tooling along in your convertible, you'll be grateful for the sensible 15-mile-per-hour speed limit posted at that sharp turn where the road drops off into the canyon. Sensible comes from the Latin sensibilis, meaning "perceptible by the senses," a meaning that eventually evolved into "having good sense, reasonable." |
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| 7355 |
congest |
become or cause to become obstructed |
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The verb congest means to clog up and become blocked. It is frequently applied to a head cold, when your nose begins to congest. During rush hour the roadways begin to be congested, as they become blocked and vehicles slow down. |
We know that "con-" means "together," and the Latin congestus, which is the source of the word congest, means "collected, heaped up." Something that is congested can certainly be thought of as heaped full of stuff. By 1758, the word had taken on the medical meaning of an "accumulation" — think of your nose during a cold! — and the idea of congest as referring to something "overcrowded" was noted in 1859, giving rise to the idea of overcrowded cities as congested. |
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| 7356 |
donation |
a voluntary gift made to some worthwhile cause |
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A donation is a gift someone gives to a cause they believe in. If you have ever put a dollar into a collection plate or hat, you have made a donation. |
No one has to give a donation; donations are voluntary. In addition to disease research, many schools, arts groups, museums, churches, and groups that help the poor rely on donations. Donations usually take the form of money, but giving anything away to a cause could be considered a donation — like giving books to a library or bringing deviled eggs to a school potluck. |
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| 7357 |
intercession |
the act of intervening, as to mediate a dispute |
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Intercession is prayer or petition in favor of someone else. When you started wearing a cap of the rival baseball team, your baseball-mad family made an intercession to the gods to save your soul. |
An intercession happens when you intercede in something, or act as a mediator or go-between to help solve a problem. Sometimes nations make intercessions in the internal affairs of other nations, if something brutal is happening. In that case, the intercession might involve sending troops, but often intercessions are verbal. If your friend is in trouble, you might make an intercession to try to get her out of trouble, especially if she's not good at explaining herself. |
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| 7358 |
greedy |
immoderately desirous of acquiring something |
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Being greedy means you want more and more of something, especially money. But you can be greedy for just about anything, including food, drink, or fame. |
People who are greedy are a little too interested in having something. Usually, that something is money. Rich people who keep trying to get more and more money are often accused by being greedy. A gluttonous person is greedy for food. If you're obsessed with something and can't get enough of it, you're greedy for it. This is a word for extreme, grasping, devouring behavior. |
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| 7359 |
abduct |
take away to an undisclosed location against their will |
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To abduct someone is to commit the crime of kidnapping person and holding them for ransom. |
Being abducted is one of the worst things that can happen to you. Fortunately, it's very rare. To abduct is to kidnap — to take someone against their will and imprison them. After an abduction, the abductors (kidnappers) may send a ransom note, asking for money. |
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| 7360 |
charter |
a document creating an institution and specifying its rights |
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What do rock gods do when they travel? They charter their own plane, of course. Charter means you rent or lease a particular service or object. Anyone can charter something, though lesser mortals tend to limit themselves to buses. |
Charter comes from the Latin charta, meaning "paper, card or map." As a noun, charter refers to a written document outlining — or mapping — the rights and obligations of a company or organization, or even, in older days, a town or entire colony. New York City was given a charter, for example, by the British monarch in the 17th century, guaranteeing it certain rights in exchange for goods and services. Today corporations still have charters governing their behavior. |
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| 7361 |
stately |
impressive in appearance |
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To be stately is to appear noble and impressive, almost in a larger than life kind of way. You may encounter a stately gentleman or a stately statue. If you do, take a little bow. |
There are a few meanings of stately, but they both refer to people and things that have an impressive bearing. The first meaning has to do with nobility and class. A ceremony honoring a prince is stately, and the music and dress surrounding such events are stately. Stately things convey sophistication and regality. Also, stately can mean statuesque. Someone with great posture and an impressive physique is stately, almost as if they were made by a sculptor. |
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| 7362 |
cater |
give what is desired or needed |
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To cater means to supply food for meetings or celebrations. If you're having a big barbecue party but would rather hang out with your friends than grill, you could pay someone to cater it. |
In Middle English, the food supply in a big household was known as the cates, and so to cater meant keeping the pantry full. These days, caterers don't do pantries. They cook food for many different households or offices. Cater has also come to mean "giving what is desired or needed." You might cater to your grandfather by bringing him tea, reading to him, and laughing at his bad jokes. |
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| 7363 |
pantry |
a small storeroom for storing food or beverages |
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A pantry is an area in or near a kitchen where food is stored. When you buy a hundred boxes of macaroni and cheese that are on sale, you'll need to make room in the pantry for them. |
Not every kitchen has a pantry, a dedicated space for storing food and other supplies. In some cases a pantry is a closet or cupboard with shelves, and sometimes a pantry is an entirely separate room adjacent to the kitchen. The Anglo-French source of pantry, panetrie, means "bread room," from the Medieval Latin panataria, "room of a servant in charge of food or bread." The Latin root, panis, means "bread." |
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| 7364 |
vent |
a hole for the escape of gas, air, or liquid |
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When you vent, you let something out, whether it's hot air or your feelings. If you vent your feelings, you let out a strong and sometimes angry emotion and just say what you think. |
You might vent your rage when your brother once again gets out of doing his chores. You also might vent something to air it out. If it's too hot inside your car, vent it by opening a window. The noun vent refers to a hole that lets air escape. A clothes dryer has a vent that sends hot air outside. A vent in nature is a crack in the earth's surface that lets hot gas and lava escape — like a volcano. |
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| 7365 |
immaculate |
completely neat and clean |
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Immaculate means spotless, pure, and clean as fresh snow on a far-off mountain. Only obsessive cleaners can keep immaculate homes, but it’s a goal we can strive for, like that far-off mountain. |
Immaculate literally means without a spot or a stain. We can use immaculate to describe physical things, like bathrooms or kitchens. But we also use the word metaphorically to describe honor or purity — in the Catholic church, being immaculate means being "free from sin," like the Virgin Mary. Or someone with a pure, exact singing voice could be described as having immaculate pitch. If your home team plays a perfect game, you could say their performance was immaculate. |
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| 7366 |
coincident |
occurring or operating at the same time |
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Coincident describes any group of people, moments, or ideas that seem to work together so perfectly that it’s spooky or beautiful, like it’s part of a big logical plan. |
Coincident is a mix of the prefix co- (meaning “together” and “similar”) and an incident, which means "a noteworthy event." So when you have two similar noteworthy events that happen together, they are coincident with one other. Professional dancers have dance moves coincident with one another. If you immediately know the answer to a question your teacher asks, your knowledge is coincident with the lessons being taught. Congrats, smarty pants. |
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| 7367 |
crush |
to compress with violence, out of natural shape or condition |
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When you crush something, you break it into tiny pieces or crumple it. If you crush the cans in your recycling bin, you'll make more room for more. |
A train can crush a car that's stalled on the tracks, and a person can crush an insect between her fingers. A figurative meaning of crush is to subdue or stop, like when a military dictator's forces crush a rebel uprising. You can also use crush as a noun to mean "an overwhelming number," like a crush of bodies on a packed subway car, or to describe infatuation, like your crush on your attractive neighbor, who also can be called your crush. |
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| 7368 |
separate |
standing apart; not attached to or supported by anything |
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Things that are separate are kept apart from other things. A married couple heading for divorce might eat breakfast at separate tables. |
You can use the adjective separate to describe something that is thought of as different or not related to other things. The adjective is from the Latin prefix se- "apart" plus parare "to prepare." Separate is also used as a verb, pronounced "SEP-uh-rate." Separate is one of the most commonly misspelled words, so beware of the erroneous spelling, seperate. |
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| 7369 |
domesticate |
make fit for cultivation and service to humans |
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To domesticate something is to tame a wild animal or plant so it can live with people. Dogs and cats are called domesticated animals because they live with us peacefully. |
Nobody knows who first domesticated a wolf, but whoever it was was a very important person. If people hadn't started living with wolves, slowly domesticating them and teaching them to get along with people, wolves would never have evolved into today's dogs. We usually talk about how to domesticate animals, but wild plants can be domesticated too. |
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| 7370 |
abode |
any address at which you dwell more than temporarily |
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Your abode is where you live. The Queen of England's abode may be far from humble, but it's the home where she rests her weary crown at the end of each day. |
Though it is often humble, as in, "Welcome to our humble abode," an abode is just a formal way of describing your home. A British solicitor (lawyer) would also use the word abode to describe his office, and if he worked from his home the word would cover both his work and his residence. Interestingly, if you were to substitute the o in the middle of the word for a c, you'd have the first five letters of the alphabet — abcde. |
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| 7371 |
overpower |
overcome by superior force |
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To overpower is to overcome with greater strength. In order to win an arm-wrestling match, you must overpower your opponent. |
The word overpower is often used in situations where great force is used or required against some person or thing. One army might overpower another, or a mugger might overpower his victim. But delicate things, like the scent of a perfume, can also overpower you, especially if they're too strong. Our emotions can also overpower us: we cheer after a home run and swoon when it's love at first sight. |
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| 7372 |
plait |
a hairdo formed by braiding or twisting the hair |
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You might get an odd look if you ask your hairdresser to put your hair in a plait, but she’ll eventually figure out what you want: a braid. |
Plait, which sounds the same as plate, feels a bit like it’s from a bygone era, though the word is still in use today. A woman wearing a hairstyle with plaits might be on her way to meet Lord Something-or-Other, in the hopes of receiving a marriage proposal. Meanwhile, someone wearing a braided hairdo might be preparing for a night on the town or just a trip to the grocery store. |
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| 7373 |
confrontation |
discord resulting from a clash of ideas or opinions |
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A confrontation is an angry disagreement. You might become so irritated about your upstairs neighbor's loud, awful music that a confrontation is unavoidable. |
Confrontation implies hostility, although like a fight, a confrontation can involve actual violence, or just a clash of words. A confrontation often refers to a military encounter involving opposing armies. This meaning became popular after the Cuban missile crisis in 1963. Before that, confrontation was used to mean "bringing two opposing parties face to face," from the Latin word confrontationem. |
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| 7374 |
resist |
withstand the force of something |
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To resist something is to keep it at bay or to fend off its influence or advance. You might not be able to resist the temptation to sneak out to the dance in spite of your parents' objections. |
The verb resist comes from the Latin word resistere, meaning “to take a stand,” or “withstand.” People who are able to put up a wall — be it mental, physical, philosophical, emotional, or otherwise — to defend themselves or their group against a threat can be said to resist. The Amish community is still able to resist the influence of technology. Many a child will resist the suggestion to use a napkin. You might resist a second helping of pie. |
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| 7375 |
glee |
great merriment |
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If you learned that you'd won a trip for four to Disney World, it would be hard to hide your glee. Glee means extreme happiness or delight. |
Anything that makes you full of joy, so happy you could laugh out loud, fills you with glee. If your favorite football team wins the Super Bowl, your glee will make you cheer, and a kid let loose with a ten dollar bill in a candy shop might dance around with glee. In the 1700s and 1800s, a glee was a song written for men's a cappella singing groups, which were sometimes called glee clubs. |
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| 7376 |
classic |
of recognized authority or excellence |
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The noun classic means something that's very high quality, particularly if it has lasting value. The pristine Model T Ford that you keep in your garage is a classic, but the beat up old Honda you drive everyday is not. |
Use the adjective classic to describe something that relates to ancient Greece or Rome. You can enjoy the classic Greek pillars on the outside of your house but still appreciate the modern plumbing on the inside of it. Classic also means excellent, of recognized authority, or definitive. Classic literature, for example, includes authors like Mark Twain and Jane Austin. |
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| 7377 |
respectable |
deserving of esteem |
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Something or someone respectable is honest, good, and proper. Respectable behavior includes things like contributing to charity, volunteering at an animal shelter, and helping your friends study vocabulary. |
Anything or anyone respectable deserves respect for being honorable or moral. If you return a wallet that you find on the street, that’s respectable behavior. People would probably view you as a respectable person. However, if you removed all the money from the wallet before returning it, that’s not respectable. Respectable can also be used to describe to an adequate or large amount of something. If you return the wallet untouched, you might get a respectable sum as a reward. |
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| 7378 |
stagger |
walk with great difficulty |
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If you see someone stagger out of a bar, or walk unsteadily, like he's about to fall, chances are he's had a few too many drinks. |
The word stagger isn't just used to describe the physical action of stumbling. When you're really shocked about a piece of news, it can stagger or shock you. When you want to spread something out overtime, like paying a large bill, you can stagger the payments over time. But, remember that if you fall behind, the debt you fall into might stagger you. |
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| 7379 |
audio |
a transmitted signal you can hear |
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Audio means sound. If you turn up the volume and turn down the bass on your TV, you adjust the audio. |
The noun audio always refers to what you can hear, although there are several different ways to use it. If you covet expensive speakers for your stereo, you wish for new audio equipment, and when someone complains about the sound at a movie theater he might say, "The audio is way too loud." Audio was first used as a prefix, in words like audio-frequency, and came to mean "recorded sound" in the 1930s. |
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| 7380 |
eddy |
a miniature whirlpool or whirlwind |
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An eddy is a whirlpool — what you stare at as a kid when the water is draining out of the bathtub. |
Pronounced exactly like the name, “Eddie,” this word means to swirl in a direction opposite of the current. Any substance like water, fog, smoke, or air can create an eddy, but it is most commonly seen as a term related to water. Books from the "flapper" era of the 1920s often include a description of a nightclub with "an eddy of cigarette smoke above a woman’s head." |
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| 7381 |
systematic |
characterized by order and planning |
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Systematic describes something that is planned out and careful. In your systematic search for your mother's car keys, you start in one room, looking everywhere from bottom to top before moving to the next room. |
Use the adjective systematic to describe things that are orderly and efficient. The Latin root of systematic is systema, an arrangement or system. Think about a multi-step process that you have found the fastest and best way to complete — you do it over and over. You might be systematic about packing for a long trip or the way you travel up and down the aisles at a grocery store, probably with a list in your hand. |
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| 7382 |
grizzly |
powerful brownish-yellow bear of western North America |
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A grizzly is a large North American species of bear also known as a silvertip bear. When you go camping and hiking in the western United States, park rangers might teach you what to do if you see a grizzly. |
The grizzly bear's formal Latin name, Ursus arctos horribilis, came from confusion between grizzly and grisly, or "horrible." Grizzly bears are known for being solitary and having brown fur tipped in white or gray. The adjective grizzly probably arose from these "grizzled" or gray-colored hairs, since it describes appearing aged or old, especially because of graying hair. |
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| 7383 |
sanctuary |
a consecrated place where sacred objects are kept |
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The word sanctuary has religious roots, and can refer to a temple or church, but its use has broadened to include anywhere people go for peaceful tranquility or introspection. Your pickup truck might be your sanctuary if that's where you can clear your head. |
Historically, a sanctuary is the holiest of holy places — a temple or church. Now, it's a word for anywhere a person feels especially safe and serene. People might call their homes their sanctuary, or a beautiful spot in a quiet woods can be described as a sanctuary. It can also be a way to refer to shelter or asylum from political danger, such as: "The forbidding jungle can offer sanctuary to the guerrilla rebels." |
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| 7384 |
inconvenience |
the quality of not being useful |
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An inconvenience is an annoying occurrence that makes you go out of your way, like the inconvenience of a detour that takes you off your usual route, or the inconvenience of the door bell ringing just as you are about to take a dish out of the oven. |
The noun inconvenience, pronounced "in-cun-VEE-nyent," comes from the Latin word inconvenientia, from in-, meaning “not,” and convenient-, meaning “agreeing, fitting.” That meaning still holds true for inconvenience: something that doesn’t fit easily into your life, though it doesn't cause suffering, either. Use it to describe small irritations, like the inconvenience of an airport delay. |
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| 7385 |
false |
not in accordance with the fact or reality or actuality |
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Something that's false is wrong or untrue. If you spread false rumors about a friend, you're telling lies. |
When you read a fact in a textbook that you know is mistaken, you can describe it as false. Giving someone a false impression about your family's pizza place — implying that it's a fancy restaurant when it's really a take-out counter and a pizza oven — means you're giving the wrong idea. False can also mean "fake," as in false eyelashes or a false smile. It comes from the Old French fals, which is faux in Modern French: "false,fake, incorrect, or mistaken." |
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| 7386 |
goodwill |
a disposition to kindness and compassion |
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Use the noun goodwill just the way it sounds, to describe friendliness or helpfulness. Giving your subway seat to an elderly man is a gesture of goodwill. |
Goodwill can also be spelled as two separate words, good will, but either way it joins good, from the Old English word for "virtuous," god, and will, in Old English willa, or "wish." So when you wish someone well — when you feel friendly or compassionate — you have goodwill toward that person. |
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| 7387 |
charitable |
relating to or characterized by voluntary giving |
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Something that's charitable has to do with helping people who need assistance. A charitable act might include volunteering at a soup kitchen or homeless shelter. |
A charitable donation is money you give to an organization that helps needy people — and the organization itself is also charitable. You can also use the word to describe, more generally, someone who's kind and generous, or the quality of giving people the benefit of the doubt: "He always had such a charitable opinions of me." Charitable comes from charity, from the Old French charité, "mercy or compassion." |
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| 7388 |
agricultural |
relating to or used in or promoting farming |
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Something that's agricultural has to do with farming, either growing crops or raising farm animals. |
Your interest in dairy cattle might lead you to attend an agricultural program in college, or you may decide to go ahead and start your own agricultural business instead. Midwestern wheat farmers are in the agricultural profession, and so are small family farmers who grow heirloom vegetables in Maine. The adjective agricultural comes from the noun agriculture, rooted in the Late Latin agricultura, which combines ager, "a field," and cultura, "cultivation." |
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| 7389 |
pump |
a device that moves fluid or gas by pressure or suction |
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A pump is a machine that sucks up liquid from one place and moves it somewhere else, like a gas pump. If you’re pumped about this word, you can put on pumps, pump up the volume, and pump some iron! |
When you use the device called a pump, you pump water or gas. Other things that force some liquid or gas to move, also pump: your heart pumps blood, and your foot pumps the brake of your car when you're stopping on an icy road. If you pump iron, you lift weights. If you’re pumped, you’re excited. “Pump Up the Volume” was a hit song in 1987, so turn it up. A pump is also a woman's dress shoe. |
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| 7390 |
substitution |
putting one thing or person in the place of another |
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The noun substitution refers to the act of replacing one thing with another. Your football coach might make a substitution by sending you onto the field to take over for a player who is tired or injured. |
Substitution comes from the Middle French word of the same spelling, meaning "a putting in place of another." You might notice that substitution contains the root word substitute, and that's a good way to remember the meaning of the word. In school, a substitute is a temporary teacher who fills in when your regular teacher is out — in other words, a substitution has been made until your teacher returns. |
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| 7391 |
avert |
turn away or aside |
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To avert is to turn away or to prevent. You might avert your gaze or avert a disaster — either way, you are avoiding something. |
The verb avert comes from Latin roots that mean "to turn away from." Averting has that sense of deflecting, turning away, or preventing something (usually bad) from happening. You might put salt on an icy sidewalk to avert accidents, or you might avert a toddler's meltdown by supplying a lollipop. |
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| 7392 |
frighten |
cause fear in |
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To frighten is to make someone feel afraid. Your new look — pink hair, tattoos, and piercings — will probably frighten your grandparents. |
If horror movies and haunted houses frighten you, they scare you, and all it might take to frighten your skittish cat is the sound of the vacuum cleaner or coffee grinder. Frighten is the verb form of the noun fright. although originally the verb was also fright. The Old English source is fyrhtu, "fear, dread, trembling, or horrible sight." |
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| 7393 |
commendation |
an official award given as formal public statement |
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If you got a commendation for your brave deeds during the earthquake, then congratulations! A commendation is an award praising someone’s actions. |
A commendation can be an official award for notable action, often given out by a government or other group. A police officer might receive a special commendation for being particularly brave. This kind of commendation is often awarded at a public ceremony. You can also use commendation more broadly to mean "praise," even if it's not official. It'd be nice to tell your teacher she deserves commendation for the good-natured way she has handled your rowdy class all year. |
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| 7394 |
humorous |
characterized by the power to evoke laughter |
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If something is humorous it's funny. Humorous is a fine tone for toasting at your friend’s wedding, but not so much for the reading of someone's last will and testament. |
When we talk about humor, we’re usually talking about something funny. But originally the word humorous had to do with the body’s humors, or moods. If you’re reading a medieval book on medicine, you might find descriptions of humorous maladies. Those aren’t joke sicknesses. But if anyone born after 1700 says something is humorous, it means they think it's funny. |
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| 7395 |
magnetism |
attraction for iron |
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Magnetism is the power to attract. It refers to the attraction to iron and other metals in electric currents and magnets, or to the other kind of attraction — where people want to be close to each other. |
Different kinds of magnetism cause some magnets to attract, while others repel. Magnetism can also be called a magnetic force or magnetic attraction. Chemistry and earth science are two classes you might learn about magnetism in. Outside of the classroom, magnetism can be the force of attraction between people — if you have animal magnetism, don’t worry, a giraffe isn’t going to stick to you, but watch out for people with lovey eyes. |
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| 7396 |
destructive |
causing damage |
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If something causes a lot of damage, you can talk about its destructive force or power. Something is destructive when it really messes things up. |
The word destructive comes from the Latin destruere which means literally to unbuild. In addition to describing a storm or battle, the word can be used for the things people say as well as do. If your mother's comments about your weight cause you to eat more bon bons, you could say that her remarks were destructive to your diet. |
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| 7397 |
rendering |
a performance of a musical composition or a dramatic role |
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Anything that's been interpreted in an artistic form is a rendering — a song, a drawing, a theatrical performance. |
On a more technical note, an architect's drawing or plan is known as a rendering. While we're still architect-related, the coat of stucco placed over the surface of a masonry wall can be a rendering as well. Rendering can also represent the giving of something, as in Gandhi's famous quote, that "We win justice quickest by rendering justice to the other party." Don't associate rendering with the verb rend — which means quite the opposite — "to break apart or destroy." |
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| 7398 |
appreciative |
having or showing a favorable critical judgment or opinion |
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If you do a friend a favor, your friend will probably be appreciative, meaning grateful. Use appreciative to describe words and actions that are positive, either out of gratitude or respect. |
If you know that appreciation is a type of respect and admiration, then you won't be surprised by the meanings of appreciative. Children should be appreciative of everything their parents do to take care of them. We can also say a positive review is appreciative, showing that the critic likes and appreciates the subject of the review. Appreciative words and gestures are always positive and respectful. |
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| 7399 |
designing |
the act of working out the form of something |
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The adjective designing describes those who secretly scheme to get what they want, even if it means cheating others, like the designing group member who tricks everyone else into doing all the work for their shared project. |
You might incorrectly assume designing means "creative," in the sense of a fashion designer, but instead of beautiful clothing, the designing person dreams only of his or her own best interests — before anyone else's. Someone who’s designing plans ahead to make sure things go his way, even if it means lying or making other people look bad. A good synonym for designing is scheming. |
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| 7400 |
mutilated |
having a part of the body crippled or disabled |
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If you describe something as mutilated, it has been disfigured or maimed. After a disaster, it can sometimes be hard to identify the mutilated bodies. |
The adjective mutilated is a gory word that's good for describing maimed or injured bodies. When something's mutilated, it's often harmed in such a way that it's no longer recognizable. A mutilated face might be cut so badly that you can't identify who it belongs to, and a mutilated arm could be crushed so terribly that it no longer looks like an arm. The Latin root mutilare literally means "with a part cut off." |
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| 7401 |
industrious |
characterized by hard work and perseverance |
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If someone comments that you are very industrious, they are complimenting you for working hard and tirelessly. You can have the evening to yourself if you're industrious enough during the afternoon to get your homework and chores done. |
The word industrious is closely related to the word industry, used for both the quality of being hardworking, “He is a model of industry,” as well as a field of business, "the construction industry." It might help to remember the Industrial Revolution, the time when machinery was introduced to the manufacturing world. If you're industrious, you work as hard as machines do! |
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| 7402 |
draw back |
pull or move away |
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To draw back is to retreat or recoil, to physically move back from someone or something. At the sight of the large snake held by a zookeeper, most children will draw back — except for the extreme reptile fans. |
You might draw back from the edge of a cliff once you realize how high up the mountain you've climbed, or draw back from your dog after she's rolled in something particularly stinky. There's also a figurative way to draw back, when you change your mind, deciding to do something different than what was expected: "It surprised me when she decided to draw back from studying music and major in economics instead." |
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| 7403 |
fixture |
an object firmly secured in place, especially in a household |
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A fixture is something that is stuck or "fixed" somewhere, like the plumbing fixtures in your bathroom or the guy who is a fixture in this favorite diner, always sitting in the third booth from the door. |
When a house is for sale, it's generally assumed that the fixtures — the kitchen sink, the fireplace, or a ceiling fan — are included with the house. Fixtures tend to be the objects that are fixed, or securely fastened, in place. A regular patron or customer can also be called a fixture, like the fixtures at the local diner who never fail to show up for the early bird special. Fixture, modeled after mixture, comes from the Latin root fixus, "immovable, established, or settled." |
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| 7404 |
stimulate |
cause to act in a specified manner |
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If the economy is starting to stall, the president can't just sit there. He has to stimulate—turn it on, bring it to life, perk it up. You can stimulate practically anything: a person, a conversation, a mind, or even the growth of a plant. |
Stimulate is often used to describe a physical or sexual sensation, but don't get bogged down in that kind of thinking. Often, a government will try to stimulate economic activity by creating a stimulus package. Or, say, for example, that I'm trying to sell my new song CD. In order to stimulate interest, I need to send out a sample song to all my friends. Unless, of course, my songs are no good. |
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| 7405 |
poise |
hold or carry in equilibrium |
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If you have poise, you are cool under stress. People with poise can handle pressure without showing it. |
If you’re calm while singing the national anthem in front of thirty million people, you’ve got a lot of poise. This is a rare quality people admire. Another meaning is to brace yourself for something difficult, as in: when you hear about a tornado, you're poised for more bad news. You can also be poised as in "on the brink" of something. If you stand on the diving board it could be said you’re poised to take the plunge. |
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| 7406 |
resort |
have recourse to |
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The noun resort means "turning to something or someone else for assistance." You tried everything to figure out your math homework on your own, so asking your dad for help was your last resort. |
Resort, pronounced "re-ZORT," is also a verb that means "to adopt a course of action to improve your situation." It's when you use that last resort: if you can't convince your mom to let you go rock-climbing, you will resort to begging. Resort also means a fancy hotel, usually in a very scenic location, or a place you go often — when your friends didn't know where you were, they checked your resorts: the gym and the park. |
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| 7407 |
gage |
place a bet on |
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A gage is an instrument for measuring, like the gas gage in your car that tells you it's time to fill 'er up. It's also spelled "gauge." |
As a verb, to gage is to place a bet. As a noun, it's something thrown down, like a glove you chuck at someone and challenge them to a duel. As a way of measuring, a gage can refer to the thickness of a needle or a shotgun. You don't need an instrument, though, you might gage how much time you have left outside by looking at the sun. Sticklers use gauge for measuring and gage for duels and bets. |
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| 7408 |
pilot |
someone who is licensed to operate an aircraft in flight |
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A pilot leads the way. An aircraft pilot flies a plane, and a maritime pilot steers a ship. Also, to pilot is to guide to safety, like to navigate a ship out of a harbor or through a sea of zombies. |
Pilot comes from the Greek pēdon meaning "oar." Like an oar that steers a ship, a pilot steers or directs a plane. A pilot can also be a model or basis for others of its kind. A school might launch a pilot breakfast program for a few students before introducing it to the whole school. The pilot episode of a TV show is like a test program produced to determine viewer interest before making a whole season. |
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| 7409 |
cautious |
showing careful forethought |
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Cautious, like careful, means you're on guard. You should be cautious crossing a busy street, or cautious borrowing your sister's new shoes without asking. |
A fusing of caution and ous, the adjective cautiousis the opposite of hasty and rash. It actually comes from the Latin word cautus, which means "careful" or "heedful." Cautious people always take their time, always approach decisions thoughtfully, and never "throw caution to the wind." All that wariness may sound tedious, but as Confucius said, "The cautious seldom err." |
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| 7410 |
grudge |
a resentment strong enough to justify retaliation |
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If you tend to hold a grudge, you don't let it go when you feel someone's insulted or wronged you. I hope you won't hold a grudge against me for bringing it up. |
Grudge comes from the now dead Middle English word "grutch," which meant "to complain or grumble." Someone who bears a grudge might often be grouchy. You can specify a type of grudge: political grudge, personal grudge, etc. You know Grandpa's been holding a grudge against the neighbors for years, but you have to wonder: How long can he hold that shotgun? |
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| 7411 |
slug |
a projectile that is fired from a gun |
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Use the word slug to mean "bullet," "slimy, land-dwelling mollusk," or "super lazy person." If your mom finds you on the couch as often as she finds slugs in her garden, she'll call you a slug too. |
When it's a verb, slug means "hit," so you might say, "That bully's always threatening to slug me." As a noun, slug can also mean "a blow," or "a gulp." But if your little brother is barefoot outside and suddenly screams, "Yuck, I stepped on a slug!" he is most likely talking about the squishy invertebrate that leaves a trail of slime behind it. |
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| 7412 |
compulsion |
using force to cause something to occur |
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Let's say you have a secret. You've promised not to tell, but there's something forcing you to call a friend and spill the beans. This force is compulsion, that urge to do something even though you know you shouldn't. |
If you go back to the Latin, you find compulsus, the past participle of the verb compellere, "to compel." You can see the connection with our word compulsion, which means "something compelling." The word gained a more psychological meaning in 1909 in a translation of Freud’s studies, suggesting a type of neurosis that impels a person to do things in an obsessive manner. |
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| 7413 |
intone |
recite musically; recite as a chant or a psalm |
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To intone is to to chant in a flat voice. When you recite a poem you had to memorize in English class, you're likely to intone the lines without much expression. |
You might intone bad news over the phone, bluntly and unemotionally, and librarians often intone a low command to keep the noise down in the library. People reciting prayers usually intone them as well. In the fourteenth century, the word was entunen, "sing, chant or recite," from a Latin root, intonare, "sing according to tone." |
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| 7414 |
degrading |
characterized by dishonor |
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Degrading describes something that is disrespectful or dishonorable like a degrading comment that angered everyone who heard it. |
The word degrading comes from degrade, which means "to treat someone with contempt." So something that is degrading is cruel, meant to put a person or group down. For example, if you ever heard someone say that all women (or men, kids, or people from a certain place or who speak a certain language or belong to a certain racial group) are "all alike," you have heard a degrading comment. |
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| 7415 |
halo |
a circle of light around the sun or moon |
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A glowing light that circles something, like the moon or a person's head is a halo. Painters of religious art often put a halo around the heads of angels and saints. |
A halo is a symbol of holiness, represented by a circle or arc of light around the head of a saint or holy person. Any circle of light can be described as a halo, even in a non-religious context; sometimes you'll see a glowing halo of light around the moon, for example. The word halo also means "glory or majesty," a symbolic halo rather than a physical one. The Greek halos means "ring of light around the sun or moon." |
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| 7416 |
lazy |
disinclined to work or exertion |
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While lazy actually means being averse to work or avoiding it, it can also be used to describe something slow-moving or unenergetic, like when you stroll down the garden path with a lazy gait, not in a hurry to get anywhere. |
The adjective lazy is thought to come from the Low German lasich, meaning "idle or languid." You were offended at being called lazy, but you just didn't have the energy to defend yourself. After all, who doesn't enjoy a lazy Sunday afternoon? Former President of Poland Lech Walesa once considered the benefits of being lazy when he said, “It's the lazy people who invented the wheel and the bicycle because they didn't like walking or carrying things." |
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| 7417 |
thread |
a fine cord of twisted fibers used in sewing and weaving |
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Thread is a length of twisted fibers (usually three strands together), made from cotton, silk, or other material, that can be used in sewing, quilting, embroidery, and other handicrafts. |
The noun thread can also be used figuratively to refer to different parts of something, like thoughts or a conversation, that are connected as if joined by thread. If you were distracted by a crash in the kitchen, you might lose the thread of your conversation. Thread can also refer to the raised ridge on the outside of a screw or bolt, and you can use thread as a verb when you mean to string or to pass a thread through a needle. |
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| 7418 |
expressive |
characterized by communicating beliefs or opinions |
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Big smiles, loud crying, jumping for joy, and making crazy art are all expressive, which is to effectively show feelings. |
Anything that communicates thoughts or feelings is expressive. Expressive comes from the French word expres for "clear, plain.” It’s easy to read people who are expressive, their emotions are clear. Smiling, laughing, shouting, crying, and pouting are all expressive. So is art, whether it's music, sculpture, or writing. This is a word that applies to things that communicate. If you're not revealing how you feel, you're not being expressive. |
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| 7419 |
plume |
the feather of a bird |
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Think of a large, fluffy, colorful feather and you are imagining a plume, something that can be used decoratively, often in hats or vases, just as it creates a decorative element for the bird it comes from. |
We can trace the present word plume was probably taken from the Old English word plūmfether. Going back further, we can find the Latin pluma meaning "feather" or "down." Plume is often applied to a large puff of smoke or any mass that spreads into the air from a single source. If you see a plume of smoke coming from the chimney, the fireplace is going. If you see a plume of smoke coming from the window, call the fire department. |
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| 7420 |
righteous |
morally justified |
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Do you consider yourself a moral person, who tries to do good and be good? If the answer is yes, you are righteous — in the right. |
Being righteous literally means to be right, especially in a moral way. Religious people often talk about being righteous. In their view, the righteous person not only does the right thing for other people but also follows the laws of their religion. Heroes like Martin Luther King are often called righteous. On the other hand, this word can be a little negative. If you call someone self-righteous, it means they're a little too sure they're right and better than other people. |
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| 7421 |
statistical |
of or relating to the interpretation of quantitative data |
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If you can say it with numbers, then it is probably statistical. Statistical information (or "stats") can tell the chance of rain tomorrow or what percentage or your allowance gets spent on texting. |
Statistics is the science of gathering numerical information in large amounts and using it to make broad deductions — such as the one that famously declared the average British family in the 1980s had 2.4 children. Of course, that was nonsense, and the statisticians later amended it — to 1.6. Statistical answers, as the previous example shows, often need to be taken with a pinch of salt. |
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| 7422 |
calico |
coarse cloth with a bright print |
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You can call anything with bright colors and patches calico like your cute calico cat or your colorful calico quilt. |
There are many fabrics in the world, including silk, cashmere, and denim. Another is calico, which is made from cotton fibers and is printed, meaning it has designs or pictures on it. A calico dress may be printed with purple flowers or have another wild design. Because calico is brightly colored, this word also describes just about anything decorated brightly. As an adjective, calico means something close to motley or multi-colored. A calico design is varied and anything but boring. |
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| 7423 |
angelic |
relating to spiritual beings attendant upon God |
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Many kids look angelic, meaning sweet and cherubic, when they’re asleep. Hard to believe that two hours earlier they were spitting milk at the babysitter and stuffing peas up their nose. |
The adjective angelic can describe anything related to angels or resembling an angel. It can refer to actual angels, as in an angelic choir, which is a bunch of singing angels. Or it can be used to describe someone or something that has the sweet and gentle qualities of an angel. If a choir sounds angelic, it’s a normal choir of people but their voices are so pure and beautiful that they sound like angels. |
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| 7424 |
acquiescence |
agreement with a statement or proposal to do something |
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Acquiescence is an agreement, usually a willingness to go along with what someone else suggests. "Sure, I don't mind," "That sounds like a plan," and "Good idea" — these are all ways to show your acquiescence. |
The word acquiescence, pronounced "ack-we-ESS-sense," comes from the French word of the same spelling. The first record of its meaning as "silent consent" occurred in the 1640s. Acquiescence, in addition to "agreement," can also mean "acceptance without protest." Often when you offer acquiescence, you give in to another person's plan, perhaps because you are afraid to object or you don't have a better idea of your own. |
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| 7425 |
dominion |
dominance or power through legal authority |
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When you are in charge of something or rule it, you have dominion over it. The most famous use of the word occurs in the Christian Bible, when God grants people dominion over other animals. |
If you know the word domination, then you won't be surprised that dominion also has to do with a type of ruling over others. This is an old-fashioned and Biblical-sounding word for having power. A king has dominion over his kingdom. You'd never say the President has dominion, because we live in a democracy. Dominion implies more power than that — even absolute power. A dominion can also be an area or territory controlled by a larger country or state. |
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| 7426 |
chastity |
abstaining from sexual relations |
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If you practice chastity, it means you aren’t having sex of any kind, perhaps because you’re waiting until you get married, or maybe because you believe sex is evil. |
Chastity comes from the Latin word castus, meaning “morally pure,” and preserving your chastity means you are keeping your body pure and free from sexual relations, at least for now. Some religious figures take a vow of chastity so they can focus their thoughts on their faith, while many young people save their chastity for when they fall in love. Heard of a chastity belt? It’s an uncomfortable garment that protects your chastity, whether you want it protected or not. |
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| 7427 |
coil |
a round shape formed by a series of connected loops |
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A coil is a spiral shape or a series of circles, each one inside another. You might see a coil of rope on a dock or coils of hair in a fancy hairdo. |
A snake naturally curls its body into a coil, and the end of a whip after it's been cracked tends to form a coil. To move in this way is also to coil, as when your cat coils around your leg or you coil a necklace around your finger. This verb form is the earliest meaning of coil, from the Middle French coillir, "to gather," with the Latin root colligere, "to gather together." |
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| 7428 |
impersonal |
not relating to or responsive to individuals |
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If you're impersonal, you're neutral — you're not showing your feelings or your preference. If you choose people to be on your team by closing your eyes and pointing, that's impersonal — you're not picking your friends or the best players. |
Impersonal can be good. An impersonal rejection is easier to take than one that specifies precisely why you, in particular, are a reject. But if your class is so impersonal, your teacher doesn't even know your name, that’s not good. A wedding that doesn't include details about the bride and groom would be impersonal and maybe more like a business meeting than a celebration. Impersonal comes from the Latin roots in- (or im-), "not," and personalis, "of a person." |
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| 7429 |
tramp |
travel on foot, especially on a walking expedition |
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Tramp means to walk or stomp heavily. Your midnight tramp to the kitchen for milk and cookies doesn't thrill your downstairs neighbors. |
Tramp comes from the German trampen, for "stamp." If you walk heavily, people will say you tramp, but if you're going on a tramp, that means you're going for a long walk or hike. If someone calls you a tramp, they either mean you're a slut or a hobo — each meaning comes vagrant, or wanderer, and the low-life behaviors associated with vagrants. |
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| 7430 |
irritate |
cause annoyance in |
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To irritate is to cause an unsettling reaction, whether it's of the body or the nerves. You can irritate someone by talking too loudly on your cellphone in public. You can also irritate your skin, causing a rash or redness. |
To irritate is to disturb — either physically or psychologically. When you have an allergic reaction to something, you irritate or disturb the body. When you have an allergic reaction to your kid brother, he is probably irritating you with his annoying habits. And what is the result of something irritating? An irritation of course. |
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| 7431 |
woo |
seek someone's favor |
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When you woo someone, you are being charming because you think that it will make them love you more. You want to win their heart, so you woo them, you flirty dog you. |
Poetry is a great way to woo someone, because who could resist such beautiful words? Wooing requires a romantic heart and a lot of focused attention on the person you desire. But wooing isn’t always just done for love, and you can woo someone because you want their support, like when a rock band woos a record label to release their album, or wooing your grandmother because you need to borrow some money. |
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| 7432 |
successive |
following in order without gaps |
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Successive is a word for things (or people) that follow each other in time. If three presidents in a row were over sixty, you could say, "Three successive presidents were over sixty." |
Successive is a word that comes up often when you're looking at the history of something. Back in the 1960s, eight successive Boston Celtics teams won the NBA championship. In school, if you do very well, you could get an A in three successive math classes. Even though successive has the word success in it, it's not necessarily a good thing: you could also miss ten successive free throws. |
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| 7433 |
hamlet |
a community of people smaller than a village |
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That small settlement you pass through along a country road is not just a cluster of houses. It’s a hamlet. |
You may be familiar with Shakespeare’s famous play describing the plight of the doomed prince Hamlet. Remember the meaning of the common noun hamlet this way: Picture an alternate Hamlet cheerfully living in a small village in the country (a hamlet), without family tension or the need to avenge his father. Does that help? |
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| 7434 |
designation |
the act of identifying something |
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When something has a designation, it has a title or a description that helps you identify it. The “organic” designation on the vegetables you buy lets you know that no pesticides were used in growing the plants. |
Designation can refer to a title, official or otherwise. You may earn the designation “class clown” for your goofiness, or ask your friends to refer to you by the designation, "Madame Super Brain." Designation is also the act of assigning such a title or position, like the designation of your daughter as heir to your estate. Often, designation refers to giving a formal position. The district board may be responsible for the designation of the next principal at your school. |
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| 7435 |
delicate |
developed with extreme subtlety |
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Delicate things, like a flower, a necklace or someone’s feelings are fragile, easily broken and often quite beautiful. |
A delicate situation. A delicate balance. A delicate child. A delicate lace design. A delicate taste. Sometimes the word implies intricate beauty and at other times fragility. Delicate can have negative overtones: A delicate situation is a tricky one. A delicate balance describes an agreement that might turn sour any moment. A delicate child may cry easily. But delicate can also refer to things that are very lovely and hard to reproduce: a delicate lace collar on a dress stands out. A delicate flavor, like pomegranate peach mint sauce, makes salad — or vanilla ice cream — much more delicious. |
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| 7436 |
manual |
of or relating to the hands |
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Something manual is operated by human hands. Before Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, picking cotton was a manual job. Nowadays, farmers might need to read a manual to know how to operate a cotton gin. |
The word manual comes from Latin root words meaning "of the hand," and the adjective form of the word still maintains that meaning — "by hand or of the hands." The adjective definition is also extended a bit to mean something done by hand and not machine, and the implication is usually that it is physical work. As a noun, manual means "an instruction booklet or handbook." |
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| 7437 |
seclude |
keep away from others |
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When you seclude someone, you separate them from other people. A Buddhist monk might seclude himself in a remote place to meditate alone for several weeks. |
Most people use the verb seclude to talk about shutting themselves away from society or keeping themselves separate from others. An eccentric family might seclude itself from the neighbors, for example. The root is Latin, secludere, which means "shut off or confine," from se, "apart" and cludere, "to shut." Originally, seclude was used to mean "to enclose or confine," and by the 1620s it also meant "to keep from public view." |
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| 7438 |
elegant |
refined and tasteful in appearance, behavior, or style |
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Nimble ballerinas and long-legged birds are elegant; dump trucks and walruses usually are not. |
Being graceful and refined are aspects of being elegant. That word first appears in English in the 15th century. It comes, via Old French, from the same Latin source that gave rise to the English word "elect, and it does seem that especially elegant people and things are in a select group. Very stylishly dressed men and women are elegant, and fine restaurants with distinctive delicacies are elegant. Most ordinary places and people can become elegant, though, when dressed up or adorned for special occasions. Even walruses can appear elegant when they're swimming. |
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| 7439 |
disillusion |
freeing from false belief |
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To disillusion is to make someone realize their belief isn't true. If your cousin believes that the Tooth Fairy will come in the night, take her tooth and sprinkle her with fairy dust. It would be too cruel to disillusion her. |
When you disillusion someone, you take away a false belief, or an illusion. Your parents' divorce might disillusion your romantic ideas of marriage, and a political candidate you supported enthusiastically could disillusion if she doesn't follow through on her promises. The disappointment you feel as a result of being disillusioned is also called disillusion, like the disillusion that results when your older sister tells you the truth about the Easter Bunny. |
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| 7440 |
courtly |
refined or imposing in manner or appearance |
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The word courtly has nothing to do with a basketball court or court of law. Rather, courtly things relate to royal courts: they're sophisticated and grand. |
Think about the pomp that surrounds a royal wedding in England, and you'll get a sense of the lavish, expensive, regal nature of courtly things. Nothing courtly is common, cheap, or average. Since kings like the finer things in life, courtly things are similarly extravagant and impressive. |
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| 7441 |
psychological |
mental or emotional as opposed to physical in nature |
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Psychological means mental or emotional rather than physical. After a shock, your problems, and even your physical pain, stem from psychological sources rather than any bodily ailment. |
The word psychological is used to describe things that are primarily mental or emotional, but it can also be used when referring to the field of psychology. You might be interested in studying the psychological issues of teen and childhood in college. Watch out if someone uses psychological warfare on you. He or she uses your own emotions to attack you as when someone tries to guilt you into doing something. |
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| 7442 |
dangerous |
involving or causing risk; liable to hurt or harm |
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Use the word dangerous to describe anything that can potentially cause serious harm, like a snarling pit bull or an icy, treacherous road. |
The earliest meaning of the word dangerous was "difficult or arrogant." When Geoffrey Chaucer wrote "The Canterbury Tales" in the 1300s, he used dangerous to mean "hard to please." Gradually the meaning changed, so that by the late fifteenth century, dangerous meant "liable to cause hurt" or "risky." Just as popular were two other danger-related words that we don't use anymore today: dangersome and dangerful, which at the time could be used interchangeably with dangerous. |
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| 7443 |
moderate |
marked by avoidance of extravagance or extremes |
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A moderate voter is someone who is politically speaking, in the center. In other words, they are not quite left or right, but somewhere in the middle. |
Moderate comes from the Latin for "medium sized," and as a noun and an adjective it means "middle, medium." If you get moderate rainfall, it's not too much and not too little. Goldilocks was known for her moderate tastes. As a verb, it means "to temper," or "to reduce from the extreme." If you moderate your speed while driving, you slow down a bit. If you moderate a discussion, you help two or more people have a reasonable conversation. |
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| 7444 |
attraction |
the quality of arousing interest |
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The charm or special quality of something that draws you to it is its attraction. The attraction of a college might be its sports program, for example, or the attraction of a job might be its high pay. |
An attraction can be a physical force as well as a psychological one — though sometimes, as with love, it can be hard to tell the two apart. Planets have a gravitational attraction to each other, as do opposite magnetic poles. Attraction can also refer to a public entertainment, such as a popular place or a performer or event. You might line up to visit a tourist attraction, or look forward to seeing the main attraction go onstage. |
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| 7445 |
uprising |
organized opposition to authority |
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An organized rebellion, especially against an authority or government — is an uprising. If your entire math class joined together in rebellion against your teacher's unfair grading practices, you could call it an uprising. |
The word uprising is most often used to describe a political revolt, often a violent insurrection against the established rule, but its original meaning was very different. In the thirteenth century, an uprising was a resurrection, or "the action of rising from the grave," and soon after that it meant "an action of rising from the bed." It wasn't until the late 1500's that it came to mean "revolt." |
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| 7446 |
paradise |
any place of complete bliss and delight and peace |
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In some religions, paradise is considered the ultimate destination, but in general, it's any place that is ideal and free from worry. Eden, Shangri-la, or even the corner nail salon — each might represent paradise to someone. |
Paradise comes from the Greek paradeisos meaning "park, paradise, Garden of Eden." The Garden of Eden was a paradise free from all worries until Eve ate the apple that broke the dream. Often when you see advertisements for tourism in the Caribbean, a sense of paradise is evoked by the beautiful images and carefree descriptions. |
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| 7447 |
anthem |
a song of devotion or loyalty |
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Rousing, reverential, sometimes even revolutionary, an anthem is a song that represents the ideals of a group of people. |
Anthem comes from Old English antefn. The original word meant a song sung antiphonally, or in turns by two groups of singers. Today, anthem has little to do with the way the vocals are arranged and more to do with the content of the message. When a group of people sing an anthem, whether it’s the national anthem, or the anthem of your third-grader’s beetle-collecting club, they express their devotion to a cause they identify with. |
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| 7448 |
convalescent |
returning to health after illness or debility |
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A person who's recovering from an illness is a convalescent. As a convalescent recovering from surgery, your grandmother would probably love some company to cheer her and help pass the time. |
Convalescent, as an adjective, can describe the period of recovery or anything related to the process of returning to health, like a convalescent program of physical therapy or a convalescent ward at a hospital. As a noun, a convalescent is a person who is recovering from being sick. The origin of convalescent is the Latin root valescere, which means "to begin to grow strong." |
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| 7449 |
fore |
situated at or toward the bow of a vessel |
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The front of a ship is called the fore, and the back is the "aft." A cruise ship might be so large that your cabin at the ship's fore is almost a quarter mile from your sister's in the aft. |
Fore also refers more generally to something at or near the front, like someone who's at the fore of her profession as a pastry chef. As an adjective, fore also describes things close to the front — your puppy's fore legs are the ones in front. When golfers shout, "Fore!" it's a warning to watch out for the ball, or to "look ahead." |
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| 7450 |
engagement |
a meeting arranged in advance |
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If you are a musician or performer and you arrange for a performance, then you have booked an engagement. You might stand in line for tickets when your favorite comedian books an engagement at the local theater. |
An engagement can also be a general appointment. A previous engagement is the perfect excuse not to go to the opera with your grandmother. An engagement also means an agreement to get married. The news of your engagement might please everyone you know except your fiancé's ex-girlfriend. A military engagement is a hostile meeting of military forces on opposing sides of a conflict. |
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| 7451 |
quit |
put an end to a state or an activity |
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To quit means to stop doing something. You might quit a lousy job or quit eating dessert. |
The verb quit can also mean to leave a place or depart from a location. This meaning isn't used as frequently in conversation now as it used to be, but you can still use it to mean leaving somewhere. For example, if you choose to move from sunny California to Maine because you think you'll like the seasons better, you could say you plan to quit California for a colder climate. |
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| 7452 |
repressed |
characterized by the suppression of impulses or emotions |
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If something is repressed, it's restrained or held in. You may be full of repressed anger toward your brother over that terrifying incident from 4 years ago involving the frog and your hooded sweatshirt. |
The adjective repressed often describes emotions or desires, especially those that could be considered shameful or distressing. When an emotion is repressed, you hold it inside so you don’t have to show how you feel. Sometimes you aren’t consciously aware that you're doing it. You might not even realize that you have a repressed longing for that cute guy in math class. A person who has many of these pent-up feeling is said to be repressed. |
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| 7453 |
leech |
carnivorous or bloodsucking aquatic or terrestrial worm |
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A leech is a kind of worm that feeds by sucking blood from other animals. You might find yourself needing to pull a leech off your leg after swimming in a lake. |
Because leeches are parasites, it's common for people to use the word as a metaphor for someone who sponges off of other people. If you have a friend who is always borrowing money but never pays it back, and who is known for requesting favors without granting them in return, you can call him a leech. The blood-sucking leech was once commonly used by doctors who treated patients by "bleeding" them, a practice that's still occasionally used in medicine today. |
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| 7454 |
abomination |
hate coupled with disgust |
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The noun abomination means a thing or action that is vile, vicious or terrible. For example, if you see a neighbor kick an old blind dog that's done nothing wrong, you might remark, "That kind of cruelty is an abomination!" |
The word abomination comes from the Old French word abominacion meaning "horror, repugnance, disgust." The word abomination can also be used to refer to a person or object you find utterly loathsome and repellent. If you look at someone else as an abomination, that means you are horrified by them, and barely even think they're human. If you hear a friend describing you as an abomination behind your back, you need to find a new buddy right away! |
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| 7455 |
hacker |
a programmer who breaks into computer systems |
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A hacker is a skilled computer programmer who uses her abilities to break into the computer systems of companies or organizations. |
While most people imagine a hacker as a bad guy who steals credit card information, destroys data, or is otherwise malicious and destructive, some hackers break into systems simply to test their security. There are so many hackers today that they've formed a true community and subculture. The earliest use of hacker is from 1983, from hack as "person hired to do routine work," although MIT students in the 1960's reportedly used the word hack to mean "creative prank." |
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| 7456 |
contented |
satisfied or showing satisfaction with things as they are |
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If you're contented, you're happy and not complaining. |
In the early 1900s, a dairy company cleverly used the word in their advertising slogan — "Milk from contented cows." Who wouldn't like to imagine cows without a care, contented and grazing in sunny, green pastures, every now and then emitting a satisfied moo? The company, which is still in business, became known by that slogan, which they used for many years. They even sponsored a radio show called "The Contented Hour," broadcast from 1931 until 1951. |
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| 7457 |
insulate |
surround with material to protect from heat, cold, or noise |
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The verb insulate means "protect from heat, cold, or noise," like when you add an extra layer of clothing to insulate yourself from the cold. |
You can insulate a wall to keep sound out, or insulate your house to keep cold air from getting inside. So, to insulate is to protect against unwanted changes. Sometimes this can mean keeping out the influence or beliefs of other people, like a parent who tries to insulate his children from people who have different cultures or beliefs. You can see this meaning in the origin of insulate: the Latin word insula, meaning “to make into an island.” |
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| 7458 |
sheen |
the visual property of something that shines |
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A sheen is a quality of things that are shiny, usually with reflected light. Anything that shines has a sheen, like satin in candlelight or a beautiful head of hair. |
Shakespeare loved using words in fresh new ways, and he did that with the adjective for sheen (for “beautiful, bright”) in "Hamlet." He used sheen as a noun, and it’s been that way ever since. A sheen is a luster that happens because of reflected light. A well-polished table has a sheen, as does a car that's just been washed. Shined shoes have a sheen. If it’s shiny and beautiful, it has a sheen. |
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| 7459 |
diminutive |
very small |
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Diminutive means small. A diminutive person is short and small. A diminutive word is a "cute" version of a word or name: for example, "duckling" is a diminutive of "duck" and Billy is a diminutive form of the name William. |
A diminutive name or word is formed from another by the addition of a suffix expressing smallness in size: a booklet is a small book, a dinette is a small version of a dining set. The adjective diminutive descends from Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin dīminūtīvus, from Latin dēminuere "to lessen." |
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| 7460 |
synagogue |
the place of worship for a Jewish congregation |
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A synagogue is a Jewish house of worship. |
A synagogue, sometimes called a temple or a shul, is for Jews what a church is for Christians, or a mosque for Muslims, or a temple for Hindus. The word comes from the Greek roots sun "together" and agein "bring" — it's a building where worshipers are brought together. |
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| 7461 |
contemplation |
a calm, lengthy, intent consideration |
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Contemplation is long, hard thinking about something. If you’re writing a book on the meaning of the universe, then you’re going to need to do a great deal of contemplation. |
Contemplate has the word temple in its roots, and originally referred to the kind of thinking you do in a special space set aside for observation. Now we use it to describe any kind of thinking that we spend a long time doing. While clicking on someone’s photos on Facebook doesn’t count as contemplation, usually, you might spend hours in contemplation of your family and your history if you come across a box of old photos in the attic. |
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| 7462 |
diminution |
change toward something smaller or lower |
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When you "dim" a light, you reduce the brightness coming from the bulb. Diminution (not actually related to "dim") is the lessening of something to a smaller size or lower status, as a diminution of your "superpowers" when you wake up from a dream. |
Pronouncing diminution (dim-ih-NYOO-shun) only seems to get harder the more you repeat it, but memorizing the meaning and sounds with "diminish" and "ammunition" helps. If you take away the firepower in a battle, for example, you diminish the ammunition, causing a diminution of the army's power. A diminution is a decrease of size, time, or esteem. Does the word still sound funny? Let's try a diminution, or reduction, of the number of times we say it — starting now. |
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| 7463 |
reserved |
set aside for the use of a particular person or party |
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If you're reserved, you're the opposite of a loudmouth or a cut-up: you're polite, you have a lot of self-control, and you don't show your feelings. |
Reserved can also mean "set aside." If your seats at a concert are reserved, that means they're saved for you. If there aren't any reserved seats — if it's all general admission — you should get there early to get a good seat. |
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| 7464 |
wintry |
characteristic of or occurring in the coldest season |
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If it makes you think of winter, it's wintry. Use the adjective wintry to describe a cold, gray January day. |
The adjective wintry is sometimes spelled wintery. Either way, it describes something that happens in the winter time, or that reminds you of winter in some way. A photograph of your uncle's snow-covered Christmas tree farm shows a wintry scene, and a blustery wind on a February morning will feel wintry. It can also describe a person who is emotionally cool or unfriendly: "Her greeting was wintry, and she refused to shake my hand." |
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| 7465 |
fault |
an imperfection in an object or machine |
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A fault is an error caused by ignorance, bad judgment or inattention. If you're a passenger, it might be your fault that your friend missed the exit, if you were supposed to be watching for it, not sleeping. |
Fault can mean "blame" — as a noun or verb. If you say, "It's my fault," you accept the blame. Well, they can't fault you for telling the truth, at least. A fault can be a shortcoming — everyone has faults because no one is perfect — or a crack in the earth's crust, like the San Andreas Fault. In sports like tennis, a fault is an illegal hit of the ball, usually when it lands outside the playing area. |
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| 7466 |
discontinue |
put an end to a state or an activity |
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To discontinue something is to stop it. If you've grown bored with the magazine you get in the mail every month, you can discontinue your subscription. |
You discontinue things that you want to quit doing or otherwise want to bring to an end. A company also might discontinue a product, or stop making it — you'll be sad if a candy maker discontinues your favorite jelly beans. The word discontinue combines dis-, or "not," with continue, which comes from the Latin continuare, "join together, connect, or make continuous." |
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| 7467 |
declaim |
recite in elocution |
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Use the verb declaim when someone is speaking very passionately against something, like when you declaim having to be home at an early hour. |
Declaim can also describe reciting words aloud for practice. If you're learning a new language, you might declaim a sentence until it sounds clear and natural when you say it. Declaim was originally spelled declame, similar to the Latin word declamare, meaning "to practice public speaking," but later became declaim as its other meaning came into greater use. |
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| 7468 |
remedy |
a medicine or therapy that cures disease or relieves pain |
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A remedy is something that relieves or cures a problem or illness. Aloe vera is a common remedy for sunburn. |
If you're having trouble sleeping, the first remedy you might try is a hot bath and a cup of chamomile tea. If that doesn't help, you may resort to something stronger, like a sedative. If a streetlight shining in your window is part of the problem, you can remedy the situation with some room-darkening shades. But if it's your upstairs neighbors and their all-night partying that's keeping you awake, you may have to consider a legal remedy. |
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| 7469 |
pertain |
be relevant to |
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To pertain is to be relevant or somehow associated with something. If you're a lawyer, you try to find evidence that will pertain to the case and eliminate anything that is not connected. |
Behind the verb pertain lies the Latin verb pertinēre, which means "to be applicable" or "to hold through." If you think the rules of the road don't pertain to you, try explaining that to the state trooper when you get pulled over. Usage note: The word pertain often takes an s at the end, as in "That pertains to this matter," but loses it with a helper: “That doesn’t pertain to it.” |
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| 7470 |
purify |
distill or remove contaminants from |
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To purify something is to remove dirt, chemicals, or anything else that it's contaminated with. You might decide to purify your tap water if it tastes like chlorine. |
While scientists purify various chemicals during experiments, the substance that people most often purify is water. Water needs to be treated before it's safe to drink, and cities purify the water they send out to people's houses. You can also use the verb purify in a figurative way, to mean "make ritually or religiously clean or pure." This is the word's earliest meaning, from the Latin root purificare, "to make pure." |
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| 7471 |
countless |
very many; too numerous to be numbered |
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Countless means more than you could possibly count. If you have countless reasons why you love living in New York, there are so many reasons that you can't list them all. |
Countless is a good adjective to use when you want to emphasize how endless, huge, or immeasurable something is. Your could say that smoke detectors save countless lives each year, or that your principal has tried countless times to ban soda at school, only to be outvoted by the student council over and over. The word dates from the 16th century, from the verb count, with its Old French root, conter, "add up." |
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| 7472 |
respectful |
exhibiting an attitude of admiration or esteem |
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If you’re respectful, you show consideration and regard for someone or something. Be respectful of your neighbors and turn down your disco music when it gets late. |
Respectful is the adjective form of the common word respect, which means a feeling of admiration. So when you behave in a way that’s respectful, you’re doing something to show admiration for another person. You might sit in respectful silence when your teacher enters the room. You can be respectful of situations as well as people. You might be respectful of the democratic process and not complain about not winning your school election. |
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| 7473 |
invariable |
not liable to or capable of change |
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Use the adjective invariable to describe something that's unlikely to change, such as your invariable custom of eating deep-dish pizza every Saturday. |
You can hear the word vary in invariable. Something that varies changes or is made up of different kinds of things. When you add the prefix in-, meaning "not," and the adjective suffix -able, you get an adjective to describe something that's not able to vary or change. Synonyms for invariable include constant, fixed, and immutable. Someone who's invariable in her habits may seem predictable and boring on the one hand, and steady and reliable on the other. |
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| 7474 |
material |
the substance that goes into the makeup of a physical object |
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Material is cloth from which clothes, curtains, or similar items can be created. If you sew your own bathing suit, it's important to make sure the material you use doesn't turn transparent when it gets wet. |
The noun material can also refer to the items or substances used to create something. If you want to build a swing set, you'll need to buy materials like treated lumber, bolts, and screws. You can also use the adjective material to describe something that is worldly rather than spiritual. If you join that religious order, you are supposed to give up your material goods — even your convertible. |
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| 7475 |
snub |
refuse to acknowledge |
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To snub is to ignore or refuse to acknowledge someone. If you want to snub your former best friend, you can refuse to even look at her when you pass in the hallway. |
When you snub someone, you deliver an insult by pretending to not even notice someone that you know. There’s an element of disdain and rejection to a snub, as if you’re too good to even acknowledge the person. As a noun, a snub is that act of cold rejection. Your former friend probably noticed the snub, and she’ll probably snub you from now on. Snub also means "very short," like the nose on a bulldog. |
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| 7476 |
anticipation |
the act of predicting, as by reasoning about the future |
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Anticipation is excitement, waiting eagerly for something you know is going to happen. Someone who has just proposed marriage waits in anticipation for a positive reply. |
Anticipation can be a nervous expectation, like when the birthday party waited in anticipation for Elmer to walk in so they could surprise him. However, anticipation can also mean to be like a Boy Scout: prepared. The weather center's anticipation of the storm prevented anyone from getting hurt. It can refer to something you'd like to prevent from happening, such as "the anticipation of a tax increase next year." Either way, it's a way of looking ahead, just like its Latin roots which mean "to take care of ahead of time." |
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| 7477 |
sacrilege |
blasphemous behavior |
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If you show up to an animal rights rally with a bucket full of fried chicken for lunch, you may be accused of committing sacrilege. You are violating a belief held sacred, at least by some individuals. |
Sacrilege has its roots in the Latin sacr-, meaning "holy." Sacrilege was originally reserved for talking about blasphemous acts that disrespect, violate, or misuse holy traditions or objects. However, today the term sacrilege carries a broader, and lighter, meaning than its origins suggest. For example, it's usually considered sacrilege to root for the out-of-town team that's playing against your home team. Ancient users of this word might think our looser definition is sacrilege. |
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| 7478 |
noteworthy |
worthy of attention |
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If you keep a journal, you probably write the day's most noteworthy events in it, or the most remarkable things that happen to you. |
Something is described as noteworthy when it's worth taking interest in it. Your teacher's enormous new beehive hairdo might be noteworthy to you, while her insight into the history of your town might be less noteworthy. The adjective noteworthy is a compound word made from note plus worthy; in other words, if something's worthy of making a note about it, it's noteworthy. |
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| 7479 |
devastate |
cause extensive destruction or ruin utterly |
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If a storm devastates your town, it comes pretty close to destroying it. To devastate is to cause destruction to or overwhelm. |
Really bad news can devastate a person, or leave them devastated. They are so upset, they feel crushed. A basketball team can devastate an opponent by running roughshod over their defense. The root of the word is the Latin vastare which means to lay waste, which comes from vastus meaning desolate or empty. Imagine a city laid waste after a major earthquake and you've got the picture! |
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| 7480 |
compress |
squeeze or press together |
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The noun compress refers to a pad that's held to your body to reduce pain or symptoms of illness. A washcloth dipped in cold water and pressed onto your forehead to help you cool down is a type of compress. |
As a verb, compress means to squeeze together with a fair amount of pressure. When you compress a sponge to get all the water out, you press it between your palms or squish it between your fingers. Compress can also mean to make something more compact — as with the sponge, when you compress an object it gets smaller. You could even compress a speech by cutting it down into a shorter but equally effective version. |
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| 7481 |
accommodation |
making or becoming suitable; adjusting to circumstances |
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Accommodation is all about making room — it can mean a room or place where you will stay or an agreement about sharing something. |
If the only accommodation at Grandma's is the bunk bed and you and your sis decide to take turns on the top, you've made an accommodation regarding your accommodations. When you are accommodating someone, you are making room for them or special circumstances for them. For example, the student with the broken hand was granted the accommodation of having a scribe write his answers for the test. Always remember that accommodation is an accommodating word — there's room inside for two m's and two c's. |
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| 7482 |
leash |
restraint consisting of a rope used to restrain an animal |
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Dog owners who live in the city need a leash, a rope or cord attached to the dog's collar that helps his owner keep him safe and restrained. |
When you walk a dog, you hold his leash to guide him along the sidewalk and keep him from chasing squirrels into busy streets. The word leash is also useful for describing a figurative kind of guide or restraint: "The teachers at that school keep their students on a short leash when they take field trips downtown." The students aren't on actual leashes, but they are constrained. Leash comes from the Old French word laissier, or "loose." |
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| 7483 |
distressed |
feeling general unhappiness |
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Distressed is an adjective that describes a general feeling of unhappiness, like the distressed feeling you have when your team is about to lose the big game. |
Distressed can also describe feeling stressed out and tired because of worry. You feel worn out and pulled in different directions — which rings true to the word's origin: the Latin word districtus, meaning "drawn apart." Being distressed physically means your body is injured and hurts, and if you've ever seen jeans called "distressed," you know they've been made to look worn and possibly even falling apart. |
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| 7484 |
bashful |
self-consciously timid |
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Bashful means shy or timid. You might feel bashful when meeting a famous actress, a high-ranking government official, or just someone whom you find really good-looking. |
Bashful and shy are similar in meaning, but not quite identical. Bashful often describes people who are shy but friendly. In fact, being bashful is sometimes seen as an endearing quality. So, you probably wouldn't use bashful to describe a quiet, reserved coworker with whom you have little contact; shy would be a better fit. However, bashful is a perfect description for your good friend who unfortunately becomes tongue-tied whenever she tries to talk to strangers. |
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| 7485 |
competent |
properly or sufficiently qualified, capable, or efficient |
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If you are competent, you have the necessary ability or skills to do something. If you can carry a heavy tray of food, and store a table's worth of orders in your head, you are probably a competent waitress. |
The opposite of competent is incompetent––an incompetent travel agent might send you to Bahrain when you requested Britain. But competent on its own can sometimes be a veiled criticism, with the implication that someone competent is just going to through the motions––you'd rather have someone inspired on the job. In legal language, competent describes someone who is able to take part in a trial or sign a contract. |
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| 7486 |
inflexible |
resistant to being bent |
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Something inflexible does not bend easily. A stiff back can make you inflexible, or unable to fold over and touch your toes. A really busy schedule can make you inflexible or unable to bend or accommodate your plans for others. |
Combine the Latin root words in- meaning "not" and flectere, "to bend" and you have the very meaning of inflexible: not able to bend. Ballet is not for the inflexible or those people who simply are not bendy by nature. Compromise also is not for the inflexible, or those who are really rigid or set in their ways. |
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| 7487 |
melodious |
having a musical sound; especially a pleasing tune |
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Use the adjective melodious to describe something that sounds like music, like a babbling brook or a little boy's soft humming. |
Anything that makes a pleasant, tuneful sound can be called melodious, which makes sense when you spot the word melody in melodious. Both have a root in common, the Greek word meloidia, which means "singing, or a tune for lyric poetry." It, in turn, comes from melos, or "song." |
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| 7488 |
liken |
consider or describe as similar or equal |
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When you liken one thing to another, you compare them and point out what they have in common. You might liken your long walk to school to your ancestors' voyage across the ocean to the New World. |
When you equate two things, or emphasize their similarities, you liken them. You could liken your experience at the dentist to torture, or liken your dad's skill at baking pies to that of Rembrandt painting a portrait. Your grandmother might liken her romance with your grandfather to a fairy tale, and you could then liken the day you spent listening to her stories to watching a long, dull movie. |
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| 7489 |
gauge |
an instrument for measuring and indicating a quantity |
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If you ask your friend, "How do you feel, generally, about loaning your car to people?" your intention might be to gauge his reaction before you flat-out ask if you can borrow his car. To gauge is to measure or test. |
The verb gauge means to estimate or measure, while the noun gauge is a tool you can use to make such a measurement. If you've ever seen someone check the air pressure in a tire, the instrument she used was called a tire gauge. The thickness, or diameter, of an item like wire (or the barrel of a gun) is another meaning of gauge. |
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| 7490 |
horizontal |
parallel to or in the plane of the horizon or a base line |
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The opposite of vertical, something horizontal is arranged sideways, like a person lying down. |
When you sleep (unless you're a horse), your body is horizontal: horizontal things are parallel to the ground or running in the same direction as the horizon. If you stack books horizontally, then they're on their side. You hear a lot about horizontal lines in geometry: If you picture a square, the top and bottom lines are horizontal lines. |
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| 7491 |
pitiful |
deserving or inciting compassion |
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Pitiful means pathetic. If you don't even study for your test, you're making a pretty pitiful effort to do well. |
The word pitiful can be used in a range of contexts. Most commonly, you'll see it used as an expression of contempt and pity, the way the word pathetic might be used. You might also see it used in reference to something unfortunate or deserving of pity — like a homeless mother and her child, begging for money on the street. Something pitiful might also be something very small or inadequate. A pitiful attempt, is one that isn't good enough. |
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| 7492 |
disgrace |
a state of dishonor |
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Use the verb disgrace to say that someone has brought shame upon himself. Your brother might disgrace himself at the family reunion by being rude to your Uncle Bob. |
You probably notice that grace makes up a big part of disgrace. Combine this with the dis- prefix, meaning “the opposite of,” and you get a word that involves shame and dishonor. Think of disgrace as a kind of fall from grace — it’s what happens when you do something that causes you to lose favor or damages your reputation. You could disgrace yourself by losing your tennis match badly, or you could disgrace yourself by cheating on an exam. |
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| 7493 |
adjutant |
an officer who acts as an assistant to a more senior officer |
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A general's assistant is his adjutant. The word means someone who serves as a helper to a higher- ranking military officer. |
The root of adjutant, is Latin juvare "to help, support." It sounds a little like juvenile, doesn't it? So think of an adjutant as a young staff officer helping out an older commanding one. The word adjutant can also be used to describe a loyal deputy or follower. If you are the kind of kid who stays at the side of your favorite teacher and does whatever the teacher ask you to, you might be described as that teacher's adjutant. |
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| 7494 |
vouch |
give personal assurance; guarantee |
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If you vouch for someone, you provide evidence or guarantee something on their behalf. If you vouch for your brother, you're saying he's a stand-up type of guy. |
First used in the 14th century, vouch comes from the Latin vocitare, ("to call, call upon, or summon"). Sometimes it can mean offering supporting evidence, as when, for example, you're summoned to court to testify on someone's behalf. If you write a letter of recommendation for a student or co-worker, you vouch for their character and abilities. If you take out a student loan, the government will automatically vouch for you, that is, they'll guarantee the loan will be repaid. |
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| 7495 |
tainted |
touched by rot or decay |
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If something's tainted, it's ruined or spoiled. If you leave milk on the counter overnight, it could be tainted. But a charity that uses its funds to buy board members tropical vacations could also be considered tainted. |
The adjective tainted describes a person or thing that's been touched by rot or corruption. Many think that young minds can become morally tainted by violence on TV. If evidence at a crime scene is handled improperly, it could be considered tainted and can't be used at trial. You've probably heard about foods like spinach and peanut butter being recalled because they have been potentially tainted with salmonella. |
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| 7496 |
intensified |
made more sharp |
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Use the adjective intensified to describe something that has become stronger or faster, like an intensified effort that brought a football team back from near-certain defeat. |
To correctly pronounce intensified, accent the second syllable: "in-TEN-suh-fied." Intensified is the adjective form of the verb intensify, which means "to make stronger, sharper, deeper" or "to heighten." So something that is intensified has been made stronger, sharper, or deeper, or has been heightened, like an intensified search for a missing person. |
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| 7497 |
gurgle |
make sounds similar to bubbling water |
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To gurgle is to make a sound like bubbling or splashing water. Not to be confusing, but when you gargle mouthwash, you probably gurgle. |
People gurgle when they say something (or make a noise) with an accompanying wet, gurgling sound. Your stomach might gurgle too, especially when you're hungry. And liquid itself gurgles, like a stream that gurgles over rocks or sweet iced tea that gurgles from a bottle into your glass. Experts aren't sure if gurgle is an imitative word, from the sound itself, or if it's rooted in Latin. |
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| 7498 |
exhale |
expel air |
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When you breathe, you inhale and exhale. In other words, you breathe in and out. When you breathe out, you exhale. |
If you exhale on a cold winter day, your breath looks like smoke in the frigid air. Yoga classes, with their emphasis on breathing, involve a lot of inhaling and exhaling. When you exhale, your lungs push air out, reducing the carbon dioxide in your body and making room for you to inhale oxygen. The Latin root exhalare combines ex, "out," and halare, "breathe." |
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| 7499 |
clime |
the weather in some location averaged over a period of time |
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Not to be confused with "climb", a clime is a region known for its weather. In the dead of winter, we dream about heading to sunny climes, where we can hang out in shorts. |
The key to remembering clime is that it's so similar to "climate," with which it shares the Greek root klima, "zone." So a clime is a zone that has a characteristic climate. Folks in colder climes think nothing of the kind of snowfall that we down here in the south get all panicked about. But then again, when they come here to our warmer clime, they forget to put on sunscreen; people from one clime can learn a lot from a visit to a different clime. |
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| 7500 |
marred |
blemished by injury or rough wear |
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If something is marred, it’s damaged due to a flaw. If the big football game on Sunday ends with a fight among fans of the opposing teams, commentators will say that the game was marred by violence. |
The word marred can be traced back to the Old English word merran, meaning “to waste or spoil.” Marred often carries with it the sense of spoiling perfection. It can be a flaw that makes something outstanding less than perfect, such as a movie star’s face marred by a scar or a career marred by controversy. |
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| 7501 |
marginal |
at or constituting a border or edge |
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Use the word marginal when something is minimal or barely enough. If you buy lemons and sugar, make lemonade and set up a stand on the street corner, but sell only a couple of glasses, your profits will be marginal. |
Some claim that greenhouse gases have a marginal effect on the environment while others think that they are changing the world drastically. Your parents hope to see more than a marginal improvement in your grades! These are the figurative uses for marginal, which comes from the Latin word margo "edge." Literally, the word is used with things on a border. When you scribble words in the blank edges of your textbook pages, those notes are marginal. |
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| 7502 |
saturated |
unable to dissolve still more of a substance |
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Saturated means drenched and full. When you fish out a slice of bread that’s fallen into your water glass and find it’s disgustingly spongy and waterlogged, it’s saturated. |
Saturated originally meant “satisfied," but by the 1700s it could mean “soaked thoroughly.” In the twentieth century it developed marketing connotations, as in a saturated market — one without room for competition. In chemistry, saturated refers to an organic compound, like a fatty acid, that contains the highest number of hydrogen atoms possible. When it comes to color, saturated means pure, or undiluted with white, grey, or black. |
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| 7503 |
preoccupied |
having excessive or compulsive concern with something |
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When you're preoccupied, you're completely focused on whatever it is that you're doing. It's good to be preoccupied when you're driving, as long as you're preoccupied with the road and not with your cell phone. |
Have you ever been so preoccupied with another person that you couldn't hear or see anyone else when you were in the same room as them? Well, it sounds like you were in love! You can be preoccupied with a person, a place, or even a hobby, like collecting baseball cards or seashells. Preoccupied can also mean that you are wrapped up in your own thoughts, which is good if you find yourself to be the most amusing person in the world. |
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| 7504 |
espy |
catch sight of |
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To espy something is to see it, or glimpse it. If you look through binoculars long enough, you might espy a colorful bird. |
Though you can use the verb espy whenever you want to say "see," "spot," or "notice," it's primarily a literary word that you'll mostly find in books. One character might espy another strolling in a garden, or a pipe-smoking detective might espy a clue behind a parlor door. Espy comes from the Old French espiier, "observe, watch or spy on," from a Germanic root. |
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| 7505 |
champion |
someone who has won first place in a competition |
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A champion is a winner, or someone who's really good at something. If you are a champion chess player, you are a superstar! When crowds sing Queen's "We Are the Champions" at football games, they are celebrating the fact that their team won. |
Champion comes from the Latin word campionem for "gladiator, fighter." Rarr! No need to grab your sword, but a champion is also a person who fights for a cause. If you are the champion of fundraising, you keep pushing to raise money. As a verb, to champion means to protect or fight for something. You champion your little brother by defending him against meanies — no matter what, you are always on his side. |
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| 7506 |
carnival |
a traveling show |
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If you have an annual festival going on in your neighborhood that involves live music, street vendors, and games, you could call that a carnival. |
The word carnival originally referred to a public festival involving general merriment and feasting, often taking place on the street and frequently associated with a religious holiday. Later the word’s meaning broadened to refer to a traveling show that offers similar activities, like a winter carnival or a fair. Nowadays the word carnival is also used figuratively to refer to something characterized by raucous disorder. If, for example, your coworkers ended up heckling your CEO at a company meeting, you could describe the scene as a carnival (although you would most likely NOT see any cotton candy in the board room). |
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| 7507 |
incise |
make a depression in by carving or cutting |
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To incise is to carve or cut into something. You might incise your initials into the old oak tree in your backyard. |
When you incise something, you carve it, often as a way of decorating it. Your grandfather might incise his beloved walking stick with the shapes of birds and trees, for example. It's more common to see this word in its adjective form, incised, but you can use it to mean "cut into a surface," or even "make a surgical cut." The Latin root is incidere, "to cut into or cut through." |
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| 7508 |
healthful |
conducive to good functioning of body or mind |
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Things that are healthful are good for your body, mind, or overall well-being. Your dinner of barbecued potato chips, ice cream, and slices of cheddar cheese might be delicious, but it's not very healthful. |
Something that has a favorable effect on your health can be described with the adjective healthful. Well-balanced meals full of whole grains and vegetables are healthful. A good night's sleep and a long walk in the fresh air are both healthful, because they promote your good health. When you are full of health, however, don't use healthful to describe yourself — instead, use the closely related word healthy. |
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| 7509 |
intellectual |
of or associated with or requiring the use of the mind |
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The adjective intellectual describes something related to or using the mind or intellect. Your creative pursuit of singing in a rock band is different from your intellectual interest in 16th-century drama. |
Intellectual is often used to describe intensive reasoning and deep thinking, particularly in relation to subjects that tend to spark deep discussion, such as literature or philosophy. An intellectual is also a noun for a cerebral or brainy person who engages in deep thinking, like Plato, Albert Einstein, or your classmate who can speak at length about the relationship between French existentialism and ice hockey. |
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| 7510 |
infuriate |
make furious |
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Different things infuriate different people: whatever makes you angry, mad, or ticked off infuriates you. |
Fury is a word for "anger" that should help with this word: to infuriate is to fill someone with fury, i.e., anger. Unless you're new to the planet, you've probably noticed many things that are infuriating: people talking too loudly on their phones, the cancellation of your favorite TV show, stepping in a puddle, someone stealing from you, stubbing your toe. These annoying events could infuriate anyone. Sometimes you might infuriate someone else by accident. Like it or not, we all infuriate someone sometime. |
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| 7511 |
inflect |
vary the pitch of one's speech |
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To inflect is to speak in a way that reflects — and changes with — your mood. After hearing tragic news, you'll inflect what you say with the sadness you feel. |
The changing pitch of your voice inflects your words with meaning, and another way to inflect is to change the form of a word for grammatical reasons, including tense, number, or gender. When you inflect verbs, it's also called conjugation. For example, when you change the verb "to be" from "I am" to "we are," you inflect it. The Latin root of inflect is inflectere, "to bend," and also "to change." |
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| 7512 |
souvenir |
something of sentimental value |
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A souvenir is a keepsake or a remembrance. A telltale sign that someone has visited Paris is the tiny, metal Eiffel Tower hanging from her keychain as a souvenir. |
First recorded in 1775 as meaning “a remembrance or memory,” the noun souvenir stems from the French souvenir “to remember, come to mind.” A few years later, it took on the sense of “a token” of an event or experience. A song by Tears for Fears goes, “Love is a promise, love is a souvenir, once given never forgotten, never let it disappear.” Here, souvenir refers to a feeling, but more often it refers to something tangible, like a memento, gift, or trophy. |
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| 7513 |
sculpt |
create by shaping stone or wood or other material |
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To sculpt is to shape or carve a figure out of a moldable or hard material. You could sculpt a figure of your mom's cat or you could sculpt your biceps by lifting weights. |
Artists who sculpt are called sculptors, and the work of art they make is called a sculpture. You can sculpt out of wood or stone, by carving, or sculpt clay by molding and shaping. You can sculpt metal by heating it and pouring it into molds, or by welding pieces of it together. It's even possible to sculpt with balloons, twisting them into complicated structures or figures. |
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| 7514 |
unbearable |
incapable of being put up with |
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When something's unbearable, you just can't take it. Your neighbor's loud music was always annoying, but when the walls shook until your favorite vase fell and broke you knew it had become unbearable. |
If you look at the adjective unbearable and strip away the prefix un- and the suffix -able, you have the word bear, meaning "to endure." Now put back those add-ons and you end up with a word that means "not able to endure." In other words, you can't stand it. You thought that your job as a police officer was tough until you volunteered to umpire a little league ballgame — the pressure was unbearable! |
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| 7515 |
detective |
a police officer who investigates crimes |
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Whether it's a police detective who investigates crimes or a private detective hired by a husband to uncover his wife's affair, a detective is someone whose job is to find out hard-to-get information. |
Detective comes from the Latin root detectus meaning to uncover or expose. Detectives detect, or discern and uncover the truth, the way a dog might detect an odor and uncover a bone. Sherlock Holmes, perhaps the most famous detective in fiction, used disguises, deductive reasoning and forensics to solve crimes. "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth," he famously said. |
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| 7516 |
visitation |
officially seeing a place for inspection or supervision |
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Use the noun visitation to describe a formal or official visit, like the city health inspector's yearly visitation to your favorite pizza place. |
A visitation often includes some kind of evaluation or inspection, or has some other formal aspect. Meeting with a prisoner might be described as a visitation, and the official scheduled time that divorced parents have with their children are also a kind of visitation. Another meaning of the word is "calamity," or "disaster," especially one of Biblical, plague-like proportions: "The town faced a visitation of unbearably hot temperatures for three weeks." |
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| 7517 |
resign |
accept as inevitable |
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To resign is to quit or retire from a position. You can also resign yourself to something inevitable, like death — meaning you just accept that it's going to happen. |
When people resign, they're leaving something, like a job or political office. Congressmen resign after a scandal. Coaches resign after a really terrible season. Regular folks simply resign when they're ready to go. In those cases, resign is a nicer way of saying quit. Being resigned is another sense of this word — it's a type of acceptance. If your team is losing 80-20, you might as well resign yourself to losing. That just means you aren't in denial. |
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| 7518 |
invisible |
impossible or nearly impossible to see |
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If you are invisible, you can't be seen with the naked eye, but you can do an awful lot of spying. When you do something embarrassing, you often wish you were invisible. |
Germs are invisible, as are odors. A good question to ask someone is whether they would rather be able to fly or be invisible. Flight gives you freedom to travel, but if you are invisible, you have the ability to sneak around and see things you would not normally be able to see. Which would you prefer? |
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| 7519 |
whirl |
the shape of something rotating rapidly |
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A whirl is a quick spin, and when something whirls, it rotates fast. You can also use it to mean "a try." Hang-gliding? Snake-charming? "Sure," you say. "I'll give it a whirl." |
Both whirl and spin are words that mean "turn in circles" but that have also come to mean trying something briefly––you might take a car for a spin or take a turn hiking in the Himalayas. All imply an attitude so free-wheeling, so easy, so devil-may-care that it might make your head spin. Or whirl. |
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| 7520 |
academic |
associated with an educational institution |
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Something that is academic is related to school. Your parents might want to spend less time playing video games and more time focusing on academic pursuits. The noun academic refers to a professor or scholar. |
As a noun or an adjective, academic relates to book learning and not always in a good way. An academic discussion back in Plato's Academy was probably something better than what it has more recently come to mean: a discussion that's academic has no place in the real world; it's not practical. An academic might have a PhD in Robotics but not know how to work the TV. It doesn't have to mean stuffy, though, just related to college — like when you need an academic gown for graduation. |
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| 7521 |
uneasy |
causing or fraught with or showing anxiety |
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Uneasy describes an uncomfortable feeling. You might feel socially uneasy when dining with your girlfriend's parents if they don't like you very much. Your stomach may also feel uneasy at that same dinner and gurgle in an embarrassing way. |
The adjective uneasy has many shades of meaning, most involving mild discomfort. It can refer to a lack of a sense of security. If McDonald's and Burger King team up to develop a new sandwich, that would be an uneasy alliance, because neither side would fully trust the other. Uneasy can also describe causing someone to feel anxious or nervous. If you see someone staring at you mumbling, "That's him, that's the one," you might feel uneasy. |
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| 7522 |
massive |
containing a great quantity of matter |
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Massive means enormous. Obviously, Mt. Everest is massive, but a massive budget cut isn't necessarily big in physical mass; it's something that is imposing in scale or power. A massive budget cut can do a lot of damage. |
Unless someone is referring to your intellect, massive is not a word you want used in a description of your attributes. Massive is a nice one to trot out when huge, gigantic, and enormous sound too over-the-top. Politicians use it often. Massive could also be the best way to describe the wave you surfed on your Hawaiian vacation or the size of the fish you nearly caught on that trip with your friends. |
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| 7523 |
importation |
the commercial activity of buying goods from another country |
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Importation is what happens when goods are purchased from a foreign country to be sold at home. The importation of cars into the U.S. is what makes it possible for you to buy a Honda or a BMW. |
If two countries have a trade agreement, it means they've worked out a deal for importation and exportation. When lobster is shipped from Maine and sold in China, that's exportation, and when macarons are baked in Paris and sold in New York, that's U.S. importation. The noun importation comes from the verb import, which first meant "convey information" and then "bring in goods from abroad," from the Latin portare, "to carry." |
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| 7524 |
motor |
machine that creates mechanical energy and so imparts motion |
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A motor runs your car, whizzes the blender and gets your golf cart going: it's simply a machine that converts energy into motion. |
Coming to us from a Latin word that means "to move," motor is certainly connected to the world of motion. Without the innovation of Ford motors, most of America wouldn't be able to get anywhere today. These days the motor is undergoing some serious revisions, as engineers look for a way to power things with less gasoline and more sunshine. |
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| 7525 |
coquette |
talk or behave amorously, without serious intentions |
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A coquette is a flirt, a girl or woman who knows how to flatter and manipulate men with her charms in order to get what she wants. |
Coquette sounds French, and it is, borrowed into English from French in the mid-17th century. It's the feminine diminutive form of coq, which means "cock, a male bird" — so coquette refers to a little female bird, and, in fact, it's also the name of a kind of colorful hummingbird found in Latin America. If you imagine a coquette as a flamboyant little bird flitting about and teasing the male birds, you'll have a good picture of a coquette. |
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| 7526 |
abominate |
find repugnant |
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When you abominate something, you really, really hate it. You might abominate your curfew, or the substitute teacher for your math class. Picture a preacher telling you to "Abominate sin!" |
Abominate comes from the Latin verb abominari, which comes from ab-, meaning “away from,” and omin, meaning “omen.” You might consider something you abominate –– the sound of nails on a chalkboard, for many –– to be as thoroughly bad as a bad omen itself. You avoid that sound at all costs, the way some people avoid a black cat crossing the street. |
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| 7527 |
consolidated |
joined together into a whole |
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When things are consolidated they're combined so they become stronger or more solid. You might melt two metals together, and when they cool, you'll have a consolidated compound that's stronger than either metal alone. |
When you get married, if you and your spouse put all your belongings together, you might end up with two garlic presses and two electric drills, but you'll have a consolidated household. When you see "Consolidated" in the name of a company, you can expect that the company is made up of several companies that merged. The adjective consolidated comes from the Latin roots con- "together," and solidatus, "make solid." |
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| 7528 |
harvest |
the gathering of a ripened crop |
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The harvest is the time when you reap what you sow. As a verb, to harvest something means that you pick or gather it. You might harvest your sweet corn late in the summer. |
As a noun, harvest means the time of year when crops are ripe and ready to be gathered. The picked crop is also called a harvest: a bumper crop is a plentiful harvest, and a poor harvest is when things didn’t grow as well as expected. As a verb, to harvest something is to gather, trap, or cull it. You can harvest a soybean crop, you can harvest beaver pelts, or you can harvest tissues or organs for transplants. |
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| 7529 |
physiological |
relating to the study of the functioning of organisms |
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Anything physiological has to do with the body and its systems. You might notice that your physiological response to a scary movie includes your heart beating faster and your hands getting sweaty. |
You know that the root word of physiological is phys, which refers to the body (think of those phys. ed. classes you panted through). That root comes from the Greek word for nature. Add the suffix ology, which means "the study of" (see where we're going?), and finally, tack on that little ical. Ta-taa! You have turned the root into an adjective to describe the way your body works. Let's get physiological! |
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| 7530 |
fond |
having or displaying warmth or affection |
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To be fond of something is to like it. Sports fans are fond of sports. Oddly, this adjective can also mean foolish and silly. |
We're all fond of some things and people: the things and people we like. Being fond can mean anything from liking something a little ("I'm fond of that band") to be extremely, almost absurdly interested in something ("He's a little too fond of football"). This word sometimes implies foolishness and absurdity: almost like you love something so much that you've lost your mind. But usually being fond is a good thing: it just means you enjoy something. |
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| 7531 |
ballot |
a document listing the alternatives that is used in voting |
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A ballot is document that lists the choices during an election. When running for office, a candidate’s first goal is getting on the ballot. |
This Italian-derived word has proven remarkably successful by adapting itself to evolving voting technologies. It has been applied to devices used for casting votes from ancient times to the present, whether consisting of pottery, paper or pixels. Any kind of device, whether on paper or a computer screen, can be called a ballot if it lists the candidates and allows you to vote. |
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| 7532 |
panorama |
the visual perception of a region |
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A panorama is a wide, unbroken view, or a picture of one. Pay more for your hotel room in Hawaii and you'll likely get a balcony with a picture perfect panorama of the ocean. |
The noun panorama was coined in 1789 by the inventor and artist Robert Barker to describe “a complete view.” These days you can click the panorama setting on your camera to capture an extra wide vista or scene. Don’t confuse panorama with diorama: They sound similar, but remember that a panorama is the view and a diorama is the viewing device. |
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| 7533 |
accommodate |
have room for; hold without crowding |
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If you accommodate, you are making an adjustment to suit a particular purpose. If you accommodate your brother's demand for the attic room, then you give in and let him take over that space. |
Accommodate entered English in the mid-16th century from the Latin word accommodat-, meaning "made fitting." Whether it refers to changing something to suit someone's wishes or providing someone with something he needs, accommodate typically involves making something fit. You might change your lunch plans, for example, to accommodate your best friend's schedule. Accommodate can also refer to providing housing or having enough space for something. You might need to open up the extra bedroom to accommodate your out-of-town guests. |
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| 7534 |
annoy |
disturb, especially by minor irritations |
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The verb annoy means to bother or irritate. Your habit of constantly talking about your cats might annoy your friends more than you realize. |
When you annoy someone, you really rub them the wrong way. Often, the things that annoy people the most are those that are repeated again and again, like your habit of snorting every time you laugh or the screeching sound that your dishwasher makes day after day. Although the word annoy comes from the Latin phrase esse in odio, "it is hateful to me," its meaning now is less "hateful" and more "bothersome." |
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| 7535 |
supplication |
the act of communicating with a deity |
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Think of a supplication as sort of a prayer, a request for help from a deity. The word carries a sense of awe and adoration with it, suggesting something tentative, even servile, a respectful appeal to a higher power. |
Although it is a noun, supplication comes from the Latin verb supplicare, which means "to plead humbly." While a supplication is often thought of as a religious prayer (it is used 60 times in the Bible), it can logically be applied to any situation in which you must entreat someone in power for help or a favor. Still, it carries with it an aura of religiosity and deep entreaty, and should not be used to describe just any simple request. |
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| 7536 |
indispensable |
essential |
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Indispensable is a strong adjective for something that you couldn't do without. If you have asthma and you're packing for summer vacation, your inhaler is indispensable, unless you enjoy gasping on the beach. |
Something that is dispensable is something you could get rid of, like that box of yogurt covered dried zucchini snacks that's been in the pantry for a year. So if something is indispensable you couldn't possibly go without it, like salt, or for some people, coffee. Chocolate is indispensable for chocolate chip cookies, as is furniture for the adult hide-and-go-seek league. |
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| 7537 |
deposit |
the act of putting something somewhere |
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You are making a deposit when you put money into your bank account. In that sentence, deposit is a noun, but you could express the same action using deposit as a verb. You deposit money into your bank account. |
The verb deposit can be used to refer to anything that you put down or in place. If you're carrying your keys and groceries from the car, you may deposit those items on the counter. Just be careful you don't end up playing "where are my keys" in the morning, if the counter is not your usual place for depositing them. You can also use deposit when nature does the placing. You find a deposit of gold in the mountain rock or there is sediment deposited at the bottom of a river. |
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| 7538 |
obese |
excessively fat |
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Obese means excessively fat. In medical terms, it means you have a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more, at which point your body's excess fat begins to threaten your health. |
In the last third of the 20th century and into the 21st, increasing numbers of Americans are obese, in what health professionals call "an obesity epidemic"; they attribute it to rising portion-sizes, increased consumption of processed food, the demise of family meals, and food marketing, among other factors. |
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| 7539 |
stare |
look at with fixed eyes |
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To stare is to fix your eyes on a subject. As hard as it might be to resist looking at them for long periods of time, it's not polite to stare at celebrities. |
The noun stare is a certain kind of gaze — a long, intense one. The verb to stare is the act of staring, of locking one's eyes somewhere. When one stares at something, one looks at it for a long period of time, often with great intensity and without blinking. That's why one loses a staring contest when one blinks. Try not to stare at people when they're eating. It's rude! A stare is usually more intense and creepier than a gaze. |
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| 7540 |
thud |
a heavy, dull sound |
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To thud is to make the loud sound of something heavy hitting or falling. Tip your chair too far back and your body may thud against the floor. |
Throw an egg off a balcony onto the pavement below, and it will splat, but throw a heavy dumbbell off the same balcony and it will thud — you can call the sound it makes a thud as well. The verb originally meant "to strike, stab, or thrust," from the Old English imitative word þyddan, and the noun was used to mean "blast of wind" in the early sixteenth century. |
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| 7541 |
tuition |
a fee paid for instruction, especially for higher education |
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Tuition is a fee paid for instruction or teaching, usually for higher education. Many students need to get part-time jobs to pay their college tuition. |
The word tuition comes from the Anglo-French word tuycioun, meaning "protection, care, custody." Some people say college protects you from the "real world," at least while you are in school, but tuition is a reality all students face. Tuition can describe any payment made for instruction, however, even for a knitting class. That tuition can probably be covered without student loans or scholarships, though. |
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| 7542 |
inducement |
a positive motivational influence |
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The act of persuading someone to do something is called inducement. If you're training a dog, you might use food as an inducement to make the dog do what you want. This works with some humans too. |
The original meaning of the noun inducement came from the Latin verb inducere, meaning "to lead or persuade." Roman philosopher Seneca said, “There is no evil that does not promise inducements. Avarice promises money; luxury, a varied assortment of pleasures; ambition, a purple robe and applause. Vices tempt you by the rewards they offer.” So you can be seduced to bad behavior by some inducements or encouraged to good behavior by others. Would you like a treat? |
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| 7543 |
abiding |
unceasing |
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Something abiding sticks around, lasting a long time. Abiding is usually used with feelings and memories — as in your abiding love for Elmo. |
Abiding comes from the Old English abidan, gebidan meaning "remain, wait, delay, remain behind." It's a word that's typically used to describe a feeling or memory that remains behind or lingers in your mind a while. You can have an abiding faith in God, or an abiding respect for war veterans or an abiding passion. "Law-abiding citizens" are those people who stick strictly to the law. They always use the crosswalk and pay their taxes on time. |
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| 7544 |
overlook |
have a view of something from above |
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To overlook something is to fail to see it. When planning a party, it's best to write out a to-do list so that you don't overlook any details. |
The verb overlook literally means to look over the top of. The word has come to refer to the act of neglecting something, usually because your focus is aimed elsewhere. You might overlook the cost of car insurance if you’re busy calculating the cost of buying the car and paying for gas and parking. As a noun, an overlook is a space high above ground. You might overlook your curfew if you're busy enjoying an overlook with your date. |
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| 7545 |
worry |
a strong feeling of anxiety |
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The verb worry is an anxious word; it means to be concerned or nervous. If you sent your carrier pigeon out in the morning to deliver a message, you might worry if it hadn't returned by the afternoon. |
When you worry, you feel uneasy — the way you might worry that you've got spinach in your teeth when you're at a job interview. When it's an animal doing the worrying, it takes on a different meaning: a dog will worry a bone — or gnaw on it and play with it, for hours. The word worry comes from the Old English wyrgan, which originally meant "strangle," and changed over the years to mean first "harass," and then "cause anxiety to." |
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| 7546 |
puzzling |
not clear to the understanding |
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Something that's puzzling is confusing, or hard to understand. It might seem puzzling to you that your best friend claims to hate doughnuts. |
People sometimes act in puzzling ways, making decisions that you can't comprehend. You might also come across particularly puzzling questions on a test or quiz — these are the hard ones, taking a long time to figure out and requiring a lot of thought. Puzzling comes from the verb puzzle, whose origin is a bit of a puzzle itself. Some experts guess that it comes from pose, formed the way nuzzle is from nose. |
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| 7547 |
bid |
propose a payment |
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If you make the winning bid on an item, you offer the highest price and get to take it home. Congratulations, and enjoy your new paper weight! |
Bid comes from an Old English word meaning “to offer,” which is right in line with its meaning today. To bid is the act of offering a bid, or more generally to try to get something. With several companies bidding for your services, you have a lot to consider. Tip: go where the weather's warmest. |
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| 7548 |
exhaust |
wear out completely |
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The noun exhaust refers to what comes out of your car's tailpipe. It consists of the burned gases and particulate matter that are created by the engine. As a verb, the word exhaust means to use something up, such as a food supply or your energy. |
The exhaust system in your car is the part that takes the waste created by the car in the form of gas or smoke and expels it through the tailpipe. The noun exhaust appeared in the 19th century, after the invention of the engine. Before that, the word, as a verb, referred only to depleting something, such as a natural resource. Miners deplete a mineral deposit and exhaust the resource. |
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| 7549 |
hobby |
an auxiliary activity |
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A hobby is an activity that you do in your spare time for fun. Your hobby may be putting together model train sets and driving your mom crazy from all the noise. |
In the 13th century the word hobby referred to a small horse or a pony. It later came to describe a toy horse — a hobbyhorse. It’s from the hobbyhorse that the word’s modern sense of “favorite pastime” evolved. A hobby is something that you do for fun — not money — and you typically do it fairly regularly. Collecting stamps, growing roses, reading — any of these can be hobbies. |
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| 7550 |
entrench |
fix firmly or securely |
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To entrench is to secure something firmly. Entrench a tent pole in the ground so your tent doesn't fly away, or entrench yourself at your new job so you don’t get fired. |
Dig a little and see that entrench is from en meaning “in” and trench is from the Old French word trenche for "ditch,” just like the kind soldiers hide in. You don’t have to be a soldier to entrench, though — anytime a person or thing is securely inside something, it’s entrenched. If you entrench a swing set in your yard, it's solid. If a government entrenches a spy in another country, that spy blends right in. |
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| 7551 |
mangle |
destroy or injure severely |
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When you mangle something, you completely destroy it, by ripping, cutting, crushing, or otherwise mauling it into pieces. |
You shouldn't leave your new puppy alone in a room with your favorite shoes because he might mangle them with his sharp puppy teeth. A bad accident will mangle your bicycle, bending it beyond repair, and a paper shredder mangles a document by slicing it up. You can also use the word mangle to describe what happens when your uncle's terrible bluegrass band performs a cover of your favorite classic rock song — they mangle it. |
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| 7552 |
exemption |
an act freeing someone from obligations |
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When you get an exemption, you don't have to do something. In the sixties, some people got exemptions from military service during the Vietnam War. |
We don't often think of being left out as a good thing, but when you use the word exemption, you mean that someone has been excluded in a positive way. Children are exemptions, or deductions, on tax forms; the more children you have the less taxes you pay. Some non-profits are tax-exempt; their exemption means they pay no taxes at all. Exemptions also spare people from fighting in wars and doing some jobs. An exemption gets you off the hook. |
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| 7553 |
pitiless |
without mercy or sympathy |
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Pitiless means "without mercy" or "cruel." Movie critics are often described as pitiless, because if they hate a film, they don't hold back or consider the feelings of the people who poured their hearts into making it. |
The root word of the adjective pitiless is pity. If someone lacks all sympathy or tenderness, you can describe them as pitiless. People who are annoyed that they have to step out of the way of homeless people who huddle against buildings in winter are probably pitiless — they just don't care about the plights of others. How can you tell if your friends are pitiless? They seem bored or annoyed when you are upset about something. |
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| 7554 |
harness |
an arrangement of leather straps fitted to a draft animal |
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A harness is a set of straps that are put on a horse so it can be hitched to a wagon or a carriage. The harness distributes the effort across larger sections of the horse's body. |
Other animals and people can also wear harnesses. Your dog might have a harness for walking, with the leash attaching to the harness and not the collar, keeping the dog from choking itself when it pulls. People wear harnesses for safety, when climbing trees or bungee jumping, for example. As a verb, harness means to control or direct as if with a harness for a specific purpose, the way solar power harnesses the power of the sun. |
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| 7555 |
dictator |
a ruler who is unconstrained by law |
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A dictator is someone who has absolute power — or who at least behaves as if they do by bossing others around. |
In government, a dictator is a ruler who has total control over a country, with no checks or balances to prevent abuse of power. Dictator can also describe someone who acts like that on a smaller scale. When your sister is getting married and your mom makes her order roses instead lilies for the table arrangements and yells at you for addressing the invitations too slowly and insists that all of her coworkers be invited, she’s acting like a dictator. |
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| 7556 |
inconsistent |
displaying a lack of regularity |
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Inconsistent describes something that's varied or irregular. So if you're supposed to floss every day, but you only remember every now and then, your commitment to oral hygiene could be called inconsistent. |
The adjective inconsistent first came into use in the 1640’s, with the sense of “not agreeing in substance or form.” Broken down into its roots, in plus consistent, the word literally means "not consistent." Behavior, results in lab experiments, and your cooking skills could all be described as inconsistent if they are irregular, spotty, and hard to predict. |
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| 7557 |
zoology |
the branch of biology that studies animals |
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If you're fascinated by monkey business or just love horsing around, you might consider a career in zoology — the scientific study of animals. |
According to some usage experts, most of us mispronounce the word zoology. The first syllable of this noun is correctly pronounced with a long o sound, as in toe, rather than the "oo" in zoo. Yet our error is considered acceptable because if you're going to study animal life and behavior, one of the best places to do it is at the zoo. |
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| 7558 |
punt |
an open flat-bottomed boat used in shallow waters |
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A punt is a certain kind of kick, like when a rugby player drops the ball and kicks it before it hits the ground. |
Punts are used in various sports, but you're most likely to see a punt in a football or rugby game. The word punt can be used as both a noun and a verb: "She could punt that ball half way across the field like it was nothing." The root of punt is probably the word bunt, a dialectical variation from the Midlands in England that means "to butt or push with the head." |
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| 7559 |
constraint |
the state of being physically limited |
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A constraint is a limit or restriction. Hopefully your school won't cut the sports or music programs due to budget constraints! |
You might notice that constraint is similar to the verb constrict, as in boa constrictor. A constraint tightens around you like a snake and prevents you from doing what you want. Financial constraints prevent you from buying the latest electronic device. Are you tired of living under the constraint of your parents' rules? Sometimes your worries or feelings act as a constraint. You know that someone has become a close friend when you can talk to them without constraint. |
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| 7560 |
modified |
changed in form or character |
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If something is modified, it has been changed. Only modified trucks participate in Monster Truck Rallies — ones that have had their regular tires replaced with monster tires. |
Modified is the past tense of modify, from the Latin modificare, meaning “to limit,” or “restrain.” Modified anything has been altered. A modified schedule has been reshuffled, a modified diet limits your regular calorie intake, and a modified workout lets you sit on your couch and watch Jack LaLanne sweat. |
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| 7561 |
omnibus |
a vehicle carrying many passengers |
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An omnibus is another word for a bus, as in a large vehicle carrying lots of passengers. Other names are autobus and coach. |
This word has bus in it, and that's the main meaning of omnibus. As a book, an omnibus is collection of articles either all on the same subject or written by a single author. An omnibus of Joyce Carol Oates would fill more shelves than all of Shakespeare’s plays. A third meaning is something that covers a lot of different subjects at once, like an omnibus bill that has legislation about gun control, transportation, and parking meters. |
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| 7562 |
torment |
intense feelings of suffering; acute mental or physical pain |
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By repeatedly trying to make someone miserable you torment them. The noun torment is the result of the verb torment. |
After stealing the old lady's purse, you might expect to be tormented by many sleepless nights. Those nights without sleep will torment (tor-MENT) you. They are your torment (TOR-ment). Perhaps you shouldn't have done that. You'll doubtless notice the relationship between torture and torment. But the subtle difference between them is that to torment someone is to torture them repeatedly. Often this is used metaphorically. For example, calling someone over and over to demand payment isn't actually torture, but it's certainly a way to torment them. |
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| 7563 |
accost |
speak to someone |
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To accost is to approach someone aggressively or confront them in an inappropriate way. |
Accost describes a confrontation — one that's often aggressive in nature. You're likely to be accosted by angry picketers if you wear your finest fur coat to a march against animal cruelty. The paparazzi make their living by accosting celebrities, pushing in close to snap candid photos as the stars leave their limos. The drunk man who accosts his attractive female co-worker at a company cocktail party is looking for more than conversation. |
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| 7564 |
rally |
gather or bring together |
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Use the verb rally to describe that last push to finish a difficult something. When you hit that last mile in the race and are so tired you want to quit, that's when you rally, finding the strength to pick up the pace. |
The verb rally is often used to describe a physical effort that has been renewed, but it can describe anything that involves bouncing back from a setback. For example, if something makes you feel disappointed, you rally to get your positive attitude back. Rally can also describe bringing people together, often to support a cause. The event itself is also called a rally, like pep rally in which students boost the confidence of their team as it heads into the championship game. |
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| 7565 |
jurist |
a legal scholar |
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A jurist is someone who is an expert in details of the legal system. Sometimes the word jurist is used to refer specifically to a lawyer or judge. If you love the law, you might want to be a jurist one day. |
If you become a jurist, you'll be a scholar who has studied the details and theories of law. You might work as a newspaper's legal expert or a college professor. In the U.S., it's common to refer to a judge or another legal professional as a jurist. So you might describe the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court as the top jurist in the country. Jurist comes from the Latin ius, "a right or a law." |
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| 7566 |
inexhaustible |
incapable of being entirely consumed or used up |
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When something is inexhaustible, you'll never run out of it. If your grandfather appears to have an inexhaustible supply of nostalgic stories, it seems like he could tell them forever. |
Unfortunately, if the kids you're babysitting have inexhaustible amounts of energy, they are never going to fall asleep. But if you've got an inexhaustible supply of Disney movies for them to watch, you'll be able to keep them distracted until their parents come home. This adjective combines the prefix in-, "opposite of," and exhaustible, from the Latin exhaurire, "take away, use up, or empty." So when something can't be used up, it's inexhaustible. |
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| 7567 |
severity |
excessive sternness |
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Severity is a plain, no-frills hardness––or the degree of hardness. You might talk about the severity of the northern winter, or the severity of your grandfather's discipline. |
Severity, with its root in severe, has several nuances. It can mean a hardship, like war’s severity. It also refers to an extreme plainness. Think of the severity of Amish life: no phones, cars, or other modern technology. And you might use it to describe your math teacher’s manner: his severity is indicated by his short, clipped sentences, angry stare, and propensity to fail students without mercy. |
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| 7568 |
pare |
strip the skin off |
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To pare is to trim — like when you pare branches on a tree or pare down your expenses to save money. |
Pare comes from the Latin word parare, meaning "to prepare." Think of peeling potatoes, which you might do with a paring knife, or paring your nails so you'll make a neat appearance. In each case, you are trimming something gradually. If you pare down your expectations, you might be pleasantly surprised. |
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| 7569 |
chivalrous |
attentive and honorable like an ideal knight |
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A man who is courteous and attentive to women can be described as chivalrous: “The chivalrous stranger picked up the packages Veronica dropped and held the door open while she entered the apartment building.” |
The word chivalrous originally described gallantry, valor, honor, and courtesy, associated with the medieval code of knighthood. Medieval knights are no longer with us, but chivalrous has survived in modern usage to describe a man — or a behavior — showing courtesy or attentiveness toward women. So the guy holding the door open for you with a flourish may or may not be your “knight in shining armor," but his chivalrous act gives him something in common with the medieval knights of lore. |
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| 7570 |
total |
the whole amount |
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There are many meanings of total, but they all have something to do with completeness. A total is a whole or complete amount, and "to total" is to add numbers or to destroy something. |
In math, you total numbers by adding them: the result is the total. If you add 8 and 8, the total is 16. If a car is totaled in an accident, it has been completely destroyed. A total defeat is a complete and utter defeat with no chance of recovering. The total resources of a company are all its resources, everything it has. |
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| 7571 |
jog |
give a slight push to |
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When you jog, you run at a moderate pace, usually to get exercise. If you jog down the street, you'll pass people who are walking and be passed by people who are sprinting. |
Jog can be a verb, or a noun meaning a slow-paced run: "She moved at a lazy jog around the track, in no hurry to improve her time." A jog is slower than a flat-out run. Yet another way to use the word is to mean "nudge one's memory." A courtroom attorney might hold up a piece of evidence in front of a witness and say, "Perhaps this will jog your memory." |
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| 7572 |
peddle |
sell or offer for sale from place to place |
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When you peddle something, you go out and try to sell it. It's cute when a little kid peddles his homemade birthday cards around the neighborhood, but if an adult did that it might be annoying. |
The classic image of someone who peddles is an old-fashioned "peddler" or "tinker" traveling from village to village selling goods. The verb peddle, in fact, comes from the word "peddler," whose origin is a mystery. Any time you sell something by going from place to place, like selling Girl Scout cookies to all your neighbors, you peddle. |
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| 7573 |
mobilize |
make ready for action or use |
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Use the verb mobilize to describe preparing something — or someone — to spring into action, or to be put into use. You might mobilize the troops, or even your classmates, into action. |
A busy mother might mobilize her kids to grab their lunches and head out to the bus stop on time, and a detective might mobilize her resources before tracking down a wily criminal. Mobilize literally means "make mobile," and the Latin root is mobilis, "movable, pliable, or flexible." |
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| 7574 |
aimless |
drifting without direction |
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If you're aimless, you don't have a destination or a goal in mind. Aimless wandering through a forest might take you in circles, or worse yet, get you lost. |
The adjective aimless is good for describing things that have no particular purpose or plan. You might prefer traveling with a map or GPS, while your best friend likes to drive in an aimless way, turning down dirt roads or exiting the highway impulsively. When you call a person aimless, you probably mean that he doesn't appear to have any ambition: "My brother's an aimless drifter." Aimless comes from aim, "purpose" or "target." |
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| 7575 |
sturdy |
having rugged physical strength |
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Describe something that is firmly constructed or strongly made as sturdy. That house you built was not sturdy at all. It blew down in the last wind storm. Fortunately, it was only a dog house and the dog wasn't in it. |
Physical strength and robust health can also be described as sturdy. Your grandmother is pushing 80, but she is still pretty sturdy if she can beat you at tennis. The adjective sturdy can also describe something (or someone) determined, firm, stalwart, and steady. Hopefully, you and your siblings have a sturdy relationship, so you can withstand all the bickering over who gets to ride shotgun in the car. |
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| 7576 |
annoyed |
troubled persistently |
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Have you ever suddenly walked into a cloud of small bugs that buzz and poke at you? If so, you were probably annoyed. You might also know humans who make you feel this way. |
In the time of Middle English, if you were annoyed by something it was hateful to you. Today, annoyed usually describes a less intense feeling than that, but it's never pleasant. If someone has annoyed you, he or she is on your nerves. If I've annoyed you with this explanation, I apologize. |
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| 7577 |
aroma |
any property detected by the sense of smell |
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Aroma is the word for a fragrant scent, one that pleases the nose in a way that makes you lick your lips. Unlike its foul-smelling cousin the odor, an aroma smells but never stinks. |
Want to know what aromas smell like? Brew a fresh pot of coffee, grill some onions, and fry up a few strips of bacon. Aromas make you drool. You can also use the word to describe things that don't literally smell, yet somehow seem to linger smell-like in the air, like the oppressive aroma of a brutal dictatorship. |
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| 7578 |
bazaar |
a street of small shops, especially in the Orient |
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A bazaar is a market that has rows and rows of little shops selling miscellaneous stuff — like tube socks, velvet paintings, and corn on the cob. |
Bazaar is originally a Persian word, and means "marketplace" all over the Middle East. The word was picked up by the Italians, and spread through Europe and into English. At a bazaar in Istanbul, you'd find food, electronics, clothes — useful stuff. In English, we tend to use bazaar for something closer to a flea market. Although they sound alike, bazaar has no relation to bizarre (the super weird). |
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| 7579 |
infrequent |
not occurring regularly or at short intervals |
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Something that's infrequent doesn't happen very often. Your family might take infrequent trips to Disney World, traveling there every two or three years. |
Things that are infrequent are rare or uncommon. You'd probably be glad to have infrequent run-ins with mean dogs or ugly insects, but disappointed to get infrequent phone calls from your best friend. The adjective infrequent comes from the prefix in, which here means "not," and frequent, or "often," which is rooted in the Latin word frequentem, "crowded or repeated." |
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| 7580 |
forbear |
refrain from doing |
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When you forbear, you hold yourself back from doing something. If you're mad at your best friend, you might forbear to return her text messages for a while. |
If you forbear to giggle during your teacher's stern lecture, that's a good thing. You keep yourself from laughing out loud, even though that's instinctively what you want to do. The Old English root, forberan, means "control one's feelings, or tolerate." A less common way to use forbear is as a noun meaning "ancestor." So if you're refraining from reading about your ancestors, you can say you forbear to learn about your forbears. |
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| 7581 |
jeopardy |
a source of danger |
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To be in jeopardy is to be in danger. Eating three plates of nachos a day may improve your chances of winning your office's nacho-eating contest; unfortunately, it could also put your health in jeopardy. |
Jeopardy is a state of being, so this word is almost always preceded by the preposition "in." The phrase "in jeopardy" is just one of several ways to convey that someone is in trouble. You can also try "at risk," "in danger," or — if you're into idioms — "on thin ice," "out on a limb," or "up the creek without a paddle." |
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| 7582 |
gild |
a formal association of people with similar interests |
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To gild something is to cover it with gold. You gild an object in order to decorate it — or just to show off your wealth. |
From forks to picture frames, gilding can make objects seem ritzy, glamorous, and more valuable. However, some things in life just don’t need a coat of gold. If someone says you are “gilding the lily,” they mean that you are trying to improve on something that is already perfect. |
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| 7583 |
pine |
a coniferous tree |
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If you pine for someone, you desperately want to see them, be with them, or perhaps smother them with kisses. If you're texting your ex-boyfriend over 50 times a day, there's a pretty good chance that you still pine for him. |
In Old English, pine meant "to torture or cause to experience pain," which seems quite fitting if you've known what it's like to pine for something or someone. The verb pine should not be confused with the noun pine, as in the evergreen tree. If you are from the Northeast and find yourself living in the Caribbean, you may pine for the sight of a pine tree, but the lovely weather should ease the pain. |
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| 7584 |
lame |
disabled in the feet or legs |
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You might describe a limping dog that's lost the use of one of its legs as lame, which means "disabled in a leg or foot." |
It's less common than describing injured animals as lame, but you can use this adjective to describe a limping person too. Lame is probably most often used to mean generally weak or pathetic. If your friend threw a Frisbee in your direction and it landed several feet in front of you, you might say, "What a lame throw!" |
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| 7585 |
feat |
a notable achievement |
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A feat is an exemplary, even bold achievement, often an act of great courage or skill. Getting your cat to wear a leash was quite a feat. |
The noun feat developed from the Latin facere, meaning "make do." Today, it gets applied to a deed that's noble or out of the ordinary. Have you ever accomplished amazing feats in your dreams, like flying? If so, I hope you didn't wake up on the roof. Maybe you perform feats of daring in your everyday life, if you're a firefighter or a tightrope walker. If you're afraid of heights, just taking the glass elevator counts as a courageous feat! |
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| 7586 |
defiant |
boldly resisting authority or an opposing force |
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Have you ever seen a picture of a protester who is about to be carried off by police but is still shouting or resisting, fighting to the bitter end? That person is defiant. |
Someone who is defiant is bold, even in the face of defeat. A defiant person is usually fighting a powerful enemy. People who protest in countries controlled by dictators are defiant. Rosa Parks was defiant when she refused to give up her seat on the bus, even though the law at that time dictated that black people had to stand when whites needed a seat. Small children are defiant too, sometimes over nothing more than a request to share their toys. |
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| 7587 |
drop |
let fall to the ground |
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When you drop something, you let go of it and it falls. To drop a football is every receiver's nightmare. If you decide to drop your girlfriend or boyfriend, it will be their nightmare. |
You might drop your dog's leash so she can sprint across the beach, or drop the heavy bags you've been carrying as soon as you walk in your front door. You can also drop to the ground yourself, to avoid being hit by your brother's remote control airplane. A drop is a fall, plummet, or plunge — literal, or figurative: "A drop in profits means we'll have to lay off some workers." |
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| 7588 |
mound |
a collection of objects laid on top of each other |
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A mound is a heap or a pile of material or objects. You can make a mound of clothes by dumping your laundry onto your bed. |
The noun mound is occasionally used to mean "a hill," but it most often describes a manmade pile, like a mound of stones or a mound of sand heaped on the beach, or a mound of snow that you sculpt into a rabbit. On a baseball diamond, the pitcher's mound is the little rise on which the pitcher stands to throw the ball. As a verb, mound means to pile something into a heaped shape. |
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| 7589 |
comedy |
a humorous incident or series of incidents |
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A comedy is funny business — it can be an amusing play or movie with a happy ending, or something that happened that made you laugh. |
A comedy tries to entertain through honest depictions of life, unlike burlesque, which aims to please its audience through satire, or farce, which relies on absurdity. Charlie Chaplin observed, “Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot.” In other words (of disputed origin), "Tragedy plus time equals comedy." When you slipped on that banana peel and broke your nose? Tragedy! But once you got better, you realized it was actually kind of funny. |
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| 7590 |
attach |
be in contact with |
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Use the verb attach when you need to join things together, like a stamp that you attach to a letter. |
When you attach something, you join it or tie it to something else. The word can be used to show physically joining things, like a printer that you attach to your computer, or to show a strong personal connection. For example, you can attach yourself to a political cause or to a group of friends. |
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| 7591 |
seasoned |
aged or processed |
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Seasoned describes a person who has been around forever, doing what they do, and doing it well — throughout the seasons. They have lots of experience, and they can handle just about anything that comes their way. |
To become seasoned takes a long time, because it means you are an old pro — someone who has dedicated years to a specific skill or activity. A seasoned hiker can tell you the fastest path up any mountain, and a seasoned bowler spends hours practicing in order to bowl strikes every time. Seasoned can also describe food that is full of herbs and spices, like the heavily seasoned French fries that seasoned bowlers eat at a bowling alley. |
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| 7592 |
frosty |
covered with a thin layer of ice |
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Something that's frosty is covered with pale, icy frost. If you live in Vermont, your car windshield is probably frosty most winter mornings. |
You can describe the weather as frosty when there's a sharp chill in the air, or you can use the word more literally, to mean "covered in frost," like your frosty front lawn. When a person is frosty, however, she's emotionally cold — haughty, aloof, or even unfriendly. Frosty comes from the Old English fyrstig, "as cold as frost." |
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| 7593 |
grasp |
hold firmly |
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To grasp is to get a hold of something, literally or figuratively. Grasp the grammar textbook with both hands and then read it to grasp the rules of the English language. |
It makes sense that the word grasp means understanding a concept since you are "getting a hold of an idea" just as you would grasp something tangible to hold. Grasp is good for when you're talking about comprehending the scale of something, or the full picture of a multi-faceted problem or idea. You might know that there is going to be a heat wave, but you may not grasp the idea of its relationship to global warming. |
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| 7594 |
detention |
a state of being confined (usually for a short time) |
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Detention is a word for confinement or imprisonment, usually for a short time. It's also a punishment where children must stay after school. |
If you're in detention, you probably did something wrong: you're being confined against your will. The police hold people in detention, and so do military forces. Usually, detention is a short period of confinement, like if someone is arrested and then released. Also, the word is commonly used for an after-school punishment for children who have to stay in detention instead of going home. One thing is true of both kinds of detention: no one wants to be there. |
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| 7595 |
technical |
of or relating to aptitude in a practical skill |
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Technical describes a specific art or science, or training for a particular job. If you have trouble with your new computer, you might call for technical support, but a technical school teaches you a certain craft, like how to weld. |
Technical comes from the Greek tekhno, which means "art or skill." Anything technical requires both art and skill. If you're an Olympic gymnast, you have technical abilities. You might go to a technical school to learn how to be a chef, a mechanic, or a massage therapist. While being technical can be a positive trait, you don't want to overwhelm someone with technicalities. For example: If you're trying to explain how a car works to a kid and you start talking about manifolds, you're getting too technical. |
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| 7596 |
stabilize |
support and make steadfast |
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The verb stabilize means to hold steady or make firm. When you climb a ladder, you should stabilize the ladder before you get on it, otherwise you may get a lesson in the laws of gravity — you know, what goes up comes down! |
The verb stabilize also means to keep from changing or shifting. If you have a fever and your temperature is all over the place, you can help stabilize it by taking aspirin. The verb stabilize was originally applied to ships and the idea that something like weight or the shape of the ship could be used to produce a steadier, or less wobbly, voyage. Now the verb applies to anything that can be made more steady or stable. You might remember how happy you were when learning to ride a bike that you had training wheels to stabilize you. |
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| 7597 |
clinical |
relating to or based on direct observation of patients |
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Something that's clinical is based on or connected to the study of patients. Clinical medications have actually been used by real people, not just studied theoretically. |
When you hear about clinical drug trials, you'll know there are patients taking them and being observed — this type of test can be called clinical research. Another way to use this adjective is to mean "emotionally cold" or "impersonal." If you have a choice between a detached, clinical French teacher and a warm, charming one, you might be more likely to choose the latter. This second meaning of clinical, from the mid-1920s, originally meant "as unemotional as a medical report." |
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| 7598 |
ancestral |
of or inherited from someone from whom you are descended |
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Ancestral things have been around so long that they once belonged to your ancestors, the family members who lived before your grandparents were born. |
Your ancestral home is the place your great-grandparents or great-great-uncle once lived. You can also use this adjective to describe things that someone inherited from ancestors, like your friend's ancestral beach cottage or your mom's ancestral set of silverware. Ancestral comes from the Late Latin antecessor, "predecessor," or literally "forgoer," from the root antecedere, "to precede." |
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| 7599 |
private |
confined to particular persons or groups |
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Something private is something you don't want to share; it's for your eyes only. Your diary entries and your bank account balance might both be kept private. |
As a noun, the lowest enlisted rank is called private. You may enlist as a private but have plans to retire from the Army as a four-star general! Sometimes the adjective private is used as the opposite of public. If you own your own island, it's private property. Alcatraz Island, however, is public property and the site of a museum preserving its past life as a famous prison — former home to Al Capone. |
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| 7600 |
wicked |
having committed unrighteous acts |
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Wicked has two quite contradictory meanings. If something is pure evil, then it is wicked. Think Darth Vader. On the other hand, as an informal slang term, wicked also means excellent — as in "that DJ is wicked, man!" Go figure. |
Other shades of meaning for wicked include something that is playful or enjoyably malicious. Someone might have a wicked sense of humor, for example, meaning it's fierce and takes aim sharply at its victims. Or it can also mean something that, while not actively evil, is still extremely unpleasant. Exams can be wicked, and so can someone's temper or the weather. The word comes from the Old English term wicca meaning "wizard." |
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| 7601 |
smitten |
affected by something overwhelming |
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Smitten means overwhelmed or struck by something, usually love. The way you light up every time the waiter comes over to your table, it’s obvious you’re smitten with him. |
Smitten is related to the verb smite, which comes from the Old English smitan, meaning “to hit, strike, beat.” What do hitting and beating have to do with love, you may ask? Well, when some people fall in love they report feeling as though they've been "struck by lightning." Obviously those people have never actually been struck by lightning, because when you're struck by lightning you don't start saying things like, "Oh, you like the beach? Brad loves the beach!" and, "You have a cat? So does Brad!" |
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| 7602 |
pole |
a long rod of wood, metal, or plastic |
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A pole is a rounded stick or rod, usually made of wood, plastic, or metal. You need a pole for hanging a flag, catching fish, or setting up a tent. |
There are many kinds of poles, from the poles skiers use to balance and push themselves forward to the long, flexible pole a pole vaulter uses to help her jump over a high bar. When someone mentions the North or South Pole, they mean the points on either side of the Earth that mark the ends of its axis of rotation. This kind of pole comes from the Latin polus, "end of an axis" or "the heavens." |
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| 7603 |
inhale |
draw deep into the lungs in by breathing |
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To inhale is to breathe in. It is the opposite of "exhale," which is to breathe out. |
When we inhale, we draw air into our lungs through our noses and mouths. Then we exhale, or breathe the air out again. If we do this slowly, as in yoga or meditation, it can be quite relaxing. However, some things like smoke, toxic fumes, or germs might make us sick if we inhale them. And if we accidentally inhale water while we're swimming, it makes us sputter and cough. This is because our lungs are only interested in good, clean air. |
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| 7604 |
pedestal |
an architectural support or base |
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A pedestal is a base or foundation that supports something like a statue or work of art. Think of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. where a statue of Lincoln sitting in a chair is raised up on a huge pedestal. |
Think of the physical stand or support when you use pedestal figuratively to mean a place of superiority. If you put someone on a pedestal, you honor that person or place him or her above you, as you might a piece of valued art. If you want to knock someone off his or her pedestal, you think that person is too arrogant and you want to do something to humble him or her. |
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| 7605 |
featured |
made a highlight; given prominence |
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When something is featured, it's given a place of prominence. If you're the featured soloist in the Mongolian throat singing concert, your name and maybe your photo appears in the program, and you'll be singing important solos. |
At the grocery store, you're likely to see displays of featured items — new or unusual foods or items with special prices the store manager wants you to notice. Advertising campaigns often make use of a featured character, such as the Energizer bunny or the Geico gecko, and this approach has proven to be an effective way to get consumers' attention. |
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| 7606 |
wise |
having intelligence and discernment |
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The adjective wise describes someone who has experience and a deep understanding. Your wise older sister always gives the best advice. |
When you make a decision based on careful thought and good judgment, you've made a wise choice. If someone calls you a wise guy, though, it's not a compliment: it's likely to be a criticism of your joke at someone else's expense or your rudeness. To wise off (or sometimes, to be wise), has a similar meaning: to talk back or be disrespectful. |
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| 7607 |
strike |
deliver a sharp blow, as with the hand, fist, or weapon |
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At its most basic, strike means to hit. If you strike someone, you hit them with your hand or a weapon. If lightning strikes, it makes contact. If you strike out on a trip, you're "hitting" the road. If you strike gold, you've "struck it rich"! |
Strike can also mean not to hit, as in miss –– as in "three strikes and you're out." That meaning might have evolved from strike meaning to cross off, as in "If you don't come to practice, coach will strike your name from the starting lineup." It might also have led to the idea of a labor strike. If employees want to protest their work conditions, they go on strike, or refuse to work until conditions improve. |
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| 7608 |
imprint |
mark or stamp with or as if with pressure |
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To imprint is to mark or stamp something, like with the name of a publisher. It also can refer to any kind of impression or influence. |
You can imprint or leave imprints — the word is happy as a verb or a noun. You can literally imprint something with a stamp of your initials. You can even make an imprint on a bed just by lying on it. Branding is a type of imprinting too. Also, if someone changed your life, she left an imprint on you. You can hear the imprint (influence) of the blues on any rock and roll song. All imprints leave a mark. |
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| 7609 |
personify |
attribute human qualities to something |
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To personify is to give something lifeless human-like qualities — like when Emily Dickinson wrote, "Because I could not stop for Death, He kindly stopped for me..." |
You can also use the verb personify to show one person embodying another, like an actor attempting to personify Abraham Lincoln in a play about the former president. A person can also personify a value or emotion, as when the founder of a charitable organization is said to personify generosity and selflessness. When you add the suffix -ify (meaning "to make") to a noun, you "verbify" that noun. So personify means "to make into a person." |
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| 7610 |
reverend |
worthy of adoration or reverence |
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Use the noun reverend to talk about a clergy member of a Christian church, as in: "Let's ask the reverend if she'll marry us next week." |
A minister, preacher, or priest can each also be called a reverend. The word is often capitalized, especially when it's used in the form "the Reverend so-and-so." In the early 15th century, it meant "worthy of respect," a meaning that's sometimes still used today, and by the late part of that century it was being used for clergy members too, though it was earliest spelled reverent. |
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| 7611 |
buffet |
piece of furniture that stands at the side of a dining room |
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When you see the word buffet, it's hard not to think "all-you-can-eat." Although the noun can refer to food set out for self-service, buffet also means "a blow, especially with the hand," and as a verb "to strike sharply." |
The two meanings of buffet come from very different sources. Buffet the self-serve meal is drawn from the piece of furniture on which such a meal might be served, a bufet "sideboard" in eighteenth-century French, and is pronounced buh-FAY. The meaning of hitting, however, comes from the Old French word bufe "a blow" or "a puff of wind" and is spoken BUH-fit. If the wind buffets the windows of your house, it can make them rattle in their frames, and if you are buffeted by bad news, you might shake in your shoes too. |
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| 7612 |
superb |
surpassingly good |
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The movie far surpassed expectations. It was superb. That 5-star hotel? Also superb. Anything that goes beyond being great can be called superb. |
Start by noticing that superb contains super, and you're more than halfway to remembering its meaning. The only real difference between super and superb (besides the letter "b") is that something superb is surprisingly or especially excellent. A taco that tastes great might be super. But if it's among the very best tacos you've ever eaten, it's superb. Dinner tonight? Super! How was dinner? It was superb! |
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| 7613 |
objectionable |
causing offense or disapproval |
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Objectionable things are unwelcome or disliked. Your objectionable roommate might leave his dirty dishes everywhere, watch TV with the volume turned all the way up, and keep bringing home stray kittens. |
If you've got a problem with someone's behavior, you can describe it as objectionable. Things like hate speech, bad jokes, and terrible music are all objectionable — obnoxious or even deplorable. In other words, you object to these things. The Latin root of object and objectionable is obiectare, "to oppose" or "to set against," literally meaning "to throw or put against." |
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| 7614 |
tailor |
a person whose occupation is making and altering garments |
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A tailor helps make your clothes fit you better. Similarly, when you tailor something to the needs of others, you are adjusting what you do to best suit them rather than taking a general approach. |
The word tailor comes from the Latin taliare, meaning "to cut." A tailor is someone who cuts and adjusts your clothing to better fit. When you tailor a jacket, you have it taken in to better suit your physique. But tailor isn't used strictly in reference to clothing. For example, a restaurant might tailor an order for a vegetarian by getting rid of the meat in a portion. A teacher might tailor a lesson plan to the demands of her ESL students. |
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| 7615 |
stride |
walk with long steps |
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The noun stride means "significant progress." You might make a huge stride towards making peace with the rival school by hosting a block party and inviting their students. |
The noun stride also means "a step made while running or walking." If you are bored, you can count your strides between home and the bus stop. As a verb, stride means "to walk or run by taking long steps." Elite runners stride, making it look easy. But even if you are a slow jogger, don't give up — you make great strides to improve your health when you exercise regularly. |
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| 7616 |
honest |
marked by truth |
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The adjective honest is perfect for describing someone who tells the truth. If you're always honest, it means you're truthful and sincere no matter what. |
Honest comes from the Latin word honestus, which means "honorable or respected," and around 1300, honest was popularly used to mean "respectable and of neat appearance." We don't use it these days to describe the way someone dresses, but instead how truthful they are, and sometimes to emphasize how simple and straightforward something is, like "good, honest home-cooked food." |
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| 7617 |
mare |
an adult female horse |
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A mare is an adult female horse. If your new horse is a filly, a female baby horse, she'll grow up to be a mare. |
Horse experts have many words to distinguish the age and sex of their animals, from foal, for any newborn horse, to stallion, a full grown male, to colt, a young male horse. Mares are known for being more easy-going than stallions, and because they're equally fast and powerful, they're as likely as males to be used for racing. Another meaning of mare ("sea" in Latin) is "dark areas of the moon," once believed to be actual oceans. |
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| 7618 |
devilish |
showing the cunning or wickedness of an evil being |
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You can describe someone as devilish if they're nasty and cruel, although this adjective is also used for rascally or naughty people, like the devilish kids you babysit. |
A devilish punishment is cruel, but a devilish preschooler simply misbehaves in a playful way. Since about 1600, the word devil has been used to mean not just an "evil, diabolical spirit," but also a "clever rogue." The adjective has followed suit, so you might describe a terrifying movie monster as a devilish creature, while also calling your favorite rascal a devilish creature. |
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| 7619 |
plaza |
a public square with room for pedestrians |
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A plaza is an urban park or square, or another public space where people can walk, sit, and congregate. You might, for example, tell your friend to meet you in the plaza downtown with the big horse statue. |
There are plazas that are mainly open spaces for pedestrians, sometimes including statues, fountains, and benches, like Washington DC's Freedom Plaza or Union Square in New York. Other plazas are more commercial, offering room to stroll and sit but also stores and restaurants. In Spanish, plaza simply means "place," and the earliest plazas were built in Spanish colonies in South America and the East Indies. |
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| 7620 |
evangelical |
of a Christian church believing in personal conversion |
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Evangelical is a word to describe anyone who is super enthusiastic about something. You might meet an evangelical Christian or an evangelical cheerleader, or even an evangelical Christian cheerleader. |
Evangelical is an adjective originally used to describe a relationship to a particular school of Protestantism. More generally, evangelical is used to describe a strict belief in the Christian gospel and an emphasis on personal conversion to Christianity. Outside of church, the adjective evangelical can describe someone who is an extremely enthusiastic or zealous about a particular cause. An evangelical supporter of something will speak passionately and try very hard to get you to convert to their cause. |
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| 7621 |
amaze |
affect with wonder |
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Things that amaze fill you with confusion and mystery — or they just impress you. Either way, amazing things make an impact. |
There are two main meanings to amaze. The first has to do with causing a feeling of puzzlement or awe. An impressive magician amazes people with tricks. Anything impressive can also amaze. A great basketball player might amaze you with a rim-rattling dunk or by hitting dozens of free throws in a row. Things that amaze also astound, astonish, and impress. Amazing things are also awesome: in the old of sense "causing awe" and the recent sense of "really cool." |
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| 7622 |
vacuum |
an empty area or space |
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A vacuum is essentially a great lack of something — a place where virtually all matter, even air, has been removed. It can describe something that's literally empty — or something that just seems that way, like a political vacuum. |
You probably have a vacuum at home. A humble household appliance named after a principle of physics, the vacuum is a device for sucking up dirt off the ground. It works by creating a vacuum — that is, it sucks all the air out of a particular place so that the surrounding atmospheric pressure will flood in, taking with it all the nacho chips, dog hair, toast crumbs, and whatever else you have lying around your house. |
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| 7623 |
morals |
motivation based on ideas of right and wrong |
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Morals are what you believe to be right and wrong. People can have different morals: you might say, "I like his morals" or "I wonder about his morals." |
Your morals are your ideas about right and wrong, especially how you should act and treat other people. Most people would agree that thieves, murderers, and other criminals are lacking morals. A lot of people would say politicians could use some morals as well. Every person has a slightly different set of morals, and different cultures have their own morals as well. You probably get your morals from a combination of your parents, your teachers, your culture, and your religion. |
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| 7624 |
cuckoo |
a bird with pointed wings and a long tail |
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A cuckoo is a type of long-tailed bird that's known for laying its eggs in the nests of other birds. In the summer, you're most likely to see cuckoos in various parts of Europe. |
The famous German cuckoo clock is named for the cuckoo bird, and the cuckoo sound the clock makes each hour imitates the call of the cuckoo. To make this call is also to cuckoo. Informally, you might refer to eccentric or crazy people or situations as cuckoo. Though this informal meaning is credited to American English, the word has been used to mean "stupid person" since at least the 1580s. |
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| 7625 |
pawn |
leave as a guarantee in return for money |
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To pawn something is to use it as collateral when you're borrowing money. When you pawn a necklace at a pawn shop, you get cash in exchange for it with the understanding that you can buy it back later. |
The benefit when you pawn something is getting cash immediately. The down side is that you'll have to pay more money — the amount you borrowed, plus interest — to get your item back. If you aren't able to do this, the pawn shop will sell it to someone else. As a noun, a pawn is the smallest, least powerful piece in a game of chess, or a description of a person who's being used or manipulated. |
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| 7626 |
pollute |
make impure |
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Pollute is a verb that means to make something dirty or impure. You can pollute a river by pouring waste into it, or you can pollute your body by eating way too much candy. |
Pollute comes from the Latin word pollut-, meaning “soiled.” When you pollute something, it's soiled or contaminated, often by something poisonous. You might have heard the word pollution — pollution is the stuff that pollutes the environment. The word pollute can be used more figuratively to describe something that corrupts or degrades. For example, reading articles about celebrity weddings can pollute your mind. |
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| 7627 |
assuming |
excessively forward or presumptuous |
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If someone accuses you of being assuming, he or she thinks you are arrogant or that you take too much for granted. If you take on an assuming tone when you ask for something, people are more likely to feel offended than to be generous. |
A person who is quiet and modest is often described approvingly as being unassuming. That person's conceited cousin, with an inflated opinion of himself and a strong sense of entitlement, is more of an assuming sort. You can also use this word as a conjunction. Assuming we leave at 9:00 a.m. and there is little traffic, we should arrive in the late afternoon. |
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| 7628 |
retrospect |
contemplation of things past |
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In retrospect — that is, in looking back and contemplating the past — we sometimes find ourselves wishing that we had done some things differently. |
Though this word most commonly appears as a noun in the phrase "in retrospect," it can also be used as a verb. The prefix retro- means “back," and spect is a component of the words inspect, spectator, spectacles, and perspective, among others, which all have to do with looking or seeing. So it makes sense that retrospect means to look back in time, or to remember. |
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| 7629 |
exile |
the act of expelling a person from their native land |
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If you are exiled from a place, you must leave and not return. Such punishment is called exile. For example, after he was removed from power, Napoleon lived in exile on the island of Elba. |
The verb exile comes from the Old French word essillier, meaning “banish,” “expel,” or “drive off.” However, some people who live in exile do so happily — and voluntarily — like American citizens in exile in Paris. Don't confuse being exiled with being banned: exile is for countries. If you cause trouble at a restaurant, you might be banned from returning, not exiled. |
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| 7630 |
incoherent |
without logical or meaningful connection |
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Incoherent thoughts don't follow each other logically. Incoherent speech is mumbled or jumbled. Incoherent means that something is difficult to understand because it's not holding together. |
A lot of people use incoherent to mean unintelligible, which is a perfectly fine usage. But it specifically means unintelligible due to a lack of cohesion, or sticking together. An incoherent argument may sound something like this. "I deserve to go to the dance because it is the second Tuesday of the month and my feet are a size ten." The reasons do not follow each other logically and to not even relate. It's an incoherent mess. |
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| 7631 |
constancy |
the quality of being enduring and free from change |
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Something or someone that never changes, that stays the course, and that is more like a rock than a leaf blowing in the wind shows constancy. |
Have you ever noticed how some people change their minds every day? Someone like that isn't showing constancy. In parts of the world where the weather changes frequently, the weather has no constancy, whereas in San Francisco, where it's about 70 and mild for ten months of the year, the weather has constancy. If you take constancy — a good thing — too far, you have stubbornness — an undesirable quality. |
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| 7632 |
immeasurable |
impossible to calculate |
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Something immeasurable can't be measured or quanitified. It's too vast. |
When you measure something, you check how long it is, how much it weighs, or some other measurable aspect. If something is immeasurable, then measuring is impossible. The numbers of stars in the sky is immeasurable: we can't know how many there are. The number of grains of sand on a beach is immeasurable: they can’t be counted. This word means more than a lot. There are a lot of countries in the world, but they're not immeasurable. |
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| 7633 |
cancel |
declare null and void |
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To cancel means to call off or postpone indefinitely. Which is probably what you would do if the hotel you were planning to stay in has an infestation of bedbugs. |
Scrub, scratch, or strike down — those are all other ways of saying cancel. People often cancel plans, deciding not to do something they had already scheduled. In math, if the numerator and a denominator of a fraction have common factors you can cancel the factors out, which means delete them. To cancel a debt means to get rid it. A cancel on a postage stamp is the mark that shows it has been used. |
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| 7634 |
relaxation |
freedom from activity |
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The noun relaxation describes the act of making something less strict. If your boss announces a relaxation of the company dress code, that means lots of happy people will be wearing jeans to work. |
Relaxation carries many shades of meaning. It can describe being free from responsibility, like a relaxation of your usual obligations that comes while you're on vacation. The feeling of rest and peacefulness that can come from this freedom is also called relaxation. It comes from Latin: re- means "again," laxare means "loosen," and the suffix -ation means "the state of." So relaxation is the state of loosening something again. |
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| 7635 |
vulture |
a large diurnal bird of prey feeding chiefly on carrion |
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A vulture is a type of bird — with a bald head and neck — that feeds on dead animals. |
One of the most fearsome birds is the vulture: this bird of prey feeds on almost nothing but dead flesh. Unlike other animals that hunt, vultures go after animals that were killed by other animals or died naturally. Vultures are scavengers looking for corpses. And because of their morbid tastes, vultures are often associated with horror movies and scenes of carnage. |
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| 7636 |
tint |
a variation or slightly different shade of a color |
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A tint is a shade or type of color. You might describe ocean water during a storm as having tints of green and gray. |
After you play with your dog in the snow, your cold cheeks might take on a tint of pink. And an artist might change the color of the sky in a painting with a tint of purple. Tint is also a verb, meaning "shade" or "color very slightly." So rinsing beets will probably tint your white sink. Before it evolved into tint, the word was tinct, from the Latin tinctus, "a dyeing." |
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| 7637 |
daring |
a challenge to do something dangerous or foolhardy |
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To be daring is to be bold, adventurous, and a little nervy. It’s a quality possessed by people who tend to take risks. If someone says, “I dare you,” and you always do, you’re a daring person. |
If you're daring, you dare to do things that are risky and even dangerous. A daring mountain climber goes for the top of Mount Everest, and a daring policeman enters the scariest houses to catch a crook. In comics and movies, superheroes are daring. Even quitting your job to start your own business is daring. The seafarers who first traveled across the globe were daring. Daring people are brave, and daring adventures are pretty exciting. |
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| 7638 |
hilarity |
great merriment |
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Hilarity is that side-splitting, tear-inducing, laugh-until-you-can't-breathe happiness of a romping good time. |
There's usually an atmosphere of hilarity just after the ball drops on New Year's Eve. It's that feeling of cheerfulness — hilaritas in Latin — that fills the room when the clock strikes midnight. If your teacher passes out cupcakes and lets you play games instead of reading aloud, she may have a hard time controlling the ensuing hilarity in the classroom. |
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| 7639 |
innocent |
free from sin |
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You may think your fluffy white cat is just an innocent, or harmless, little kitty, but she shows no mercy when attacking that toy mouse. |
Innocent is an adjective that describes someone or something that is not harmful or at least doesn’t cause harm on purpose. It can also be used when talking about a person who did not commit a crime. “Innocent until proven guilty” is a phrase that means people who have been accused of a crime should be considered innocent, or free of blame, unless a judge or jury decides that they are officially guilty. |
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| 7640 |
preceding |
existing or coming before |
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Something is preceding if it comes directly before. The preceding sentence is not so much a definition of the word preceding as a description of it. |
To cede is to give way, so when you use preceding to describe, say, a person, you’re essentially describing him as the one that just gave way. Previous is a good synonyms. If you are in 11th grade now, you were in 10th grade in the preceding year. And a persistent person will keep asking for something even if "no" has been the answer the 10 preceding times he or she has asked. |
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| 7641 |
impulse |
an impelling force or strength |
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An impulse is a sudden force or desire — this could be an electrical impulse, or an impulse to get some pizza. |
If you act on a sudden feeling or thought, you’re following an impulse. That's like a whim: an impulse isn't something you've given a lot of thought. Another meaning of impulse is an electrical charge or pulse. Electrical impulses are coursing through wires all through your house every day. Both kinds of impulses make things happen. The electrical impulse keeps the refrigerator going, and then you have an impulse to eat all the ice cream in the fridge. |
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| 7642 |
vicious |
having the nature of evildoing |
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Vicious is an adjective that means intentionally harmful or nasty. If you spread vicious rumors about a person, you're telling people things that will hurt her feelings or ruin her reputation. Cut it out! |
If you're described as vicious, you're someone who does brutal things on purpose, out of ill-will towards others, like beating up defenseless puppies or poisoning the drinking water for a town. You're worse than just mean if you are vicious — in fact, you're evil! People (and puppies) will be wise to keep their distance. Other things, like gossip, animals, or cars from horror movies can be vicious, too. |
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| 7643 |
epigram |
a witty saying |
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An epigram is a short, clever remark. One of Oscar Wilde's many memorable epigrams is "I can resist everything but temptation." |
Epigram comes from the Latin word epigramma, which means "an inscription." If you've ever seen an inscription on, say, the back of a watch, you know the writing has to be brief. It won't surprise you, then, that epigrams are very short poems, sayings, or famous quotations, like Benjamin Franklin's "Little strokes fell great oaks," a memorable reminder to keep working toward big goals or to pay attention to little details, the opposite of an epigram from our era: "Don't sweat the small stuff." |
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| 7644 |
scribble |
write down quickly without much attention to detail |
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To scribble is to write something quickly and sloppily. You can also call someone's handwriting, if it's hard to read, a scribble. |
Have you ever made a note of something very quickly, and then later when you tried to read it, you couldn't? That's a scribble. People scribble when they need to write fast. The problem with scribbling—-making a scribble-—is that it’s hard to read. Some people have handwriting that is always hard to read: you can call poor handwriting a scribble. Doctors are famous for their scribbles. The Latin root is scribere, "to write." |
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| 7645 |
lump |
a compact mass |
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If it's hard to determine its shape and otherwise looks like a big blob of something, it's probably safe to call it a lump. |
Jabba the Hut looks like a disgusting lump. So does the growing mound on your noggin where you walked into the glass door. And if you've been lumped together with a bad bunch, you might have been grouped with people indiscriminately. But all lumps aren't bad. Little old ladies put lumps of sugar into their tea. And that choked up feeling you get during a sappy movie? That's just a lump in your throat. |
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| 7646 |
froth |
a mass of small bubbles formed in or on a liquid |
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Froth is the gathering of small bubbles at the top of a drink, like the fizzy froth on the top of your root beer float. |
There's usually froth on the surface of soda, beer, and even coffee drinks like cappuccinos and lattes, which are topped with milk froth. You can use the word froth as a verb as well, to mean "fizz or foam up." Liquid soap might froth in your hands as you wash them, for example, and making candy sometimes involves cooking sugar syrup until it starts to froth. The word most likely comes from an Old Norse root, froða, or "froth." |
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| 7647 |
tearful |
filled with or marked by weeping |
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Before you break out in a full-fledged cry — when you're wiping your eyes and blowing your nose, you're tearful. |
If a person is tearful, he or she is full of tears. Most of them haven't flowed, but you can see them in someone's eyes. If you break out in a full-fledged cry, you're no longer tearful, you're weeping. If something is tearful, there are lots of tears involved. Think about the last time you said a tearful goodbye to a good friend, gave your sister a tearful hug, or witnessed a victim's tearful plea for mercy. |
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| 7648 |
scroll |
a document that can be rolled up (as for storage) |
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A rolled up piece of paper is a scroll. If you write a poem on a sheet of paper, roll it up, and tie it with a ribbon, you can call it a scroll. |
Before books existed, people wrote stories or important information on parchment or papyrus and rolled them into scrolls for easy storage and transport. Sometimes, a scroll would serve as a work of art, a decorated tale that would occasionally be unrolled and displayed. These days, when you scroll through something, you're probably reading it on a computer, moving down the screen. |
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| 7649 |
agonize |
suffer anguish |
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When you worry excessively about something, you agonize about it. The mother of a teenage boy might agonize over his safety when he first learns to drive. |
Agonize can mean to suffer true pain, but it's generally a mental type of anguish. A student might agonize over what to wear the first day of school, and a boss might agonize about how to break the bad news about layoffs to her employees. The earliest meaning of agonize was "to torture," though now it means something closer to "to torture one's self." The Greek root is a grand one: agonizesthai, "to contend in the struggle." |
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| 7650 |
muscle |
animal tissue consisting predominantly of contractile cells |
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Do you have the muscle to muscle your way to the top? Muscle is both a noun and verb associated with strength, power, or the use of physical force. |
In addition to biological muscle, like the biceps in your arms, muscle can refer simply to power or authority, as in “We have the muscle to get the job done.” Muscle can also refer to a hired thug. In a similar sense, muscle is used as a verb to mean “use force.” A bully might muscle someone out of their lunch money, or you might muscle your way through a crowd by pushing people out of your way. |
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| 7651 |
inaccessible |
capable of being reached with great difficulty or not at all |
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Can't get to something you want? It must be inaccessible. If it were accessible, you wouldn't have any trouble finding it. |
This word makes a lot of sense when you think about the word access, which is the ability to get at, use, or have something. Inaccessible things are out of reach. There are a lot of ways this word is used. A building without a ramp is often called inaccessible because people who use wheelchairs can't get in. People can be inaccessible too. If your doctor has office hours only one hour a day every two months, she's really inaccessible. |
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| 7652 |
shy |
timid and lacking self-confidence |
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Making small talk is not much fun for a shy person. Shy means being nervous or reserved around other people, especially in a social situation. |
Someone who's extremely shy might blush or stammer when talking to a group of people. Shy can also mean "tending to avoid," like when someone is "camera shy," or if they "shy away" from being straightforward. The Old English root scēoh, "easily frightened," originally only referred to a horse, and came from a Germanic root meaning "scare." |
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| 7653 |
impression |
a vague idea in which some confidence is placed |
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An impression is an imprint, either in one’s mind or on an object. To make a good impression on your friend's parents, don't let your muddy boots leave impressions on their perfect white kitchen floor. |
The noun impression comes from the Latin word imprimere, which means “press into or upon,” or “stamp.” When you press a coin into a piece of modeling clay there will be an impression, or likeness, of its design in the clay. Another kind of impression is a performance in which you act, talk, move and even attempt to look like another person, like the impression of your teacher that got you into trouble when he saw you. |
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| 7654 |
bruise |
a small injury that results in discoloration |
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If you're just learning to skateboard, you’ve probably got an ugly bruise or two to show for it — those purple and yellow patches you get on your skin where you’ve bumped and scraped. They probably hurt, too! |
You can find bruises at the grocery store, too — those soft, mushy spots on a peach or an apple — and if you drop a tomato, you're likely to bruise it. You can bruise your knee or bruise someone's feelings — if you tell your friend you don't like her novel, you’ll bruise her ego. |
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| 7655 |
radiant |
emanating or as if emanating light |
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The adjective radiant is useful for describing anything that glows with warmth or light. When you open your eyes on a sunny summer morning and see your curtains glowing with sunlight, you can call them radiant. |
Something that shines or glows is radiant, and you can also describe anything that's bright as radiant, like a smile or a powerful emotion ("a radiant sense of happiness"). In science, radiant means "transmitted by radiation," and it usually describes heat, like the radiant heat from an oven. The Latin root is radiantem, "shining," and sometime around 1500 it started being used to describe physical beauty, which Shakespeare did in "Twelfth Night": "Most radiant, exquisite, and unmatchable beauty..." |
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| 7656 |
justifiable |
capable of being shown to be reasonable |
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If something is justifiable, it was done for a good reason and is easily explained or defended. Your fear of gerbils is justifiable, given your experience with the mutant gerbil that ate your neighbor's dog. |
Justifiable means something is "able to be made just," and you'll hear the word often in legal contexts. "Justifiable homicide," for instance, is killing someone in self-defense — a situation where an act that is otherwise criminal is "made just" by the circumstances. You can also use the word in a more positive sense. For example, you can take justifiable pride in winning the race even though you started off running in the wrong direction. |
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| 7657 |
contributing |
tending to bring about; being partly responsible for |
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If you were eating lunch in a school cafeteria when someone yelled, "Food fight!" and instead of hiding under the table you threw your hamburger across the room, you'd be a contributing factor to the ruckus, or something adding to it. |
The word contributing can be used to describe things that help to bring about results, whether positive or negative. If you're a contributing member of your friend's fundraising efforts, it means you're giving her money. If you're a contributing voice in the audience at a noisy rock concert, it means you're screaming your head off. |
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| 7658 |
unintelligible |
not clearly understood or expressed |
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Something unintelligible is difficult to understand, either because the room is too noisy or because the unintelligible thing is too quiet or confusing. |
We use our intelligence to understand things, and something intelligible is easy to understand. Therefore, unintelligible things are hard to understand. A coded message is unintelligible if you don't know the code. A whisper in a loud room is unintelligible. A weird sentence like "The waffles ran away from the Easter basket" is unintelligible because it doesn't make any sense. If you can't hear or understand something, it's unintelligible (and probably frustrating too). |
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| 7659 |
bold |
fearless and daring |
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Someone who's bold is daring and brave. You might show how bold you are by climbing onto the roof of your house, or by speaking up when you see someone being treated unfairly. |
When you act in a bold way, you're taking some kind of risk; you could be risking physical danger, embarrassment, or your reputation. Whatever bold actions you take, they are confident and fearless. The adjective bold can also be used to describe a particular typeface that is thick, dark, and confident. Bold type is usually used to emphasize something strongly in writing. |
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| 7660 |
button |
a round fastener sewn to shirts and coats |
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A button is a small, flat, round object often found on clothing. It can also describe the round disc you press to turn on an electronic device, like the button you push to turn on your computer. |
The noun button also can refer to the little round billboards people pin to their clothes to display their favorite political candidate, band, organization, or saying. Button can also be a verb, which describes the act of fastening buttons, like when you button your shirt. Or if you work at an electronics factory, your job might be to button, or attach buttons to, a cell phone. |
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| 7661 |
steer |
be a guiding or motivating force or drive |
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In defining steer, I would steer clear of complicated examples and just say: to steer is to control which direction one is going. |
Everyone who owns a car has learned to point his car in the right direction using the steering wheel. It's a bad idea to let your five year-old steer; you might end up in a sandbox. But the use of steer doesn't need to be limited to wheels and handle bars. If you have a friend torn between whether or not to go to college, you can help steer her towards the right decision. The President's job is "to steer the Ship of State." |
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| 7662 |
secluded |
hidden from general view or use |
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A secluded place is isolated, away from other people. It's quiet, and there's not a lot going on. |
Sometimes you need to get away from it all to someplace where no one will find you. What you seek is a secluded area where you can be alone. A secluded spot conjures the image of someplace removed from the intrusions of life. A writer might want to be secluded so she can get work done, and a couple might want to be secluded so they can spend time together. When you're secluded, there aren't many other people or distractions. |
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| 7663 |
babble |
utter meaningless sounds |
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To babble is to talk on and on without a particular goal. It might drive you crazy when your little sister babbles endlessly about her favorite video game. |
Babble sounds like Babel, the Biblical tower where everyone was talking in their own language. Everyone was babbling without paying attention to their neighbors, like the kid who won’t stop talking about his trip to the water park three years ago. A stream or a brook can babble, too, but that’s more of a soothing sound of water against rocks. Babies gurgle, because they don’t have enough words to babble yet. |
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| 7664 |
divine |
a clergyman or other person in religious orders |
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"To err is human, to forgive divine" means that everyone makes mistakes, but we should try to be like god and forgive one another. Divine basically means relating to, coming from, or like God or a god. |
Divine also has an old-fashioned and informal meaning of being very good or pleasing, as in "She looked absolutely divine in her blue and white gown." This is an adjective that goes back to Middle English, borrowed from Old French devine, from Latin dīvīnus "divine, foreseeing," from dīvus "god." |
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| 7665 |
exceptional |
surpassing what is common or usual or expected |
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Generally, exceptional is a compliment––"the concert was exceptional" means it was better than what could have been expected. But it can also just mean unusual. "Maria gets to skip gym, but hers is an exceptional case." |
Exceptional begins with the Latin prefix ex- 'out,' because something exceptional stands out in some way. In certain cases, exceptional can mean under-performing. Children with special educational needs are sometimes referred to in this way, as exceptional or special. |
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| 7666 |
vehemence |
intensity or forcefulness of expression |
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Something with vehemence is forceful and energetic. If you passionately believe that your neighbor is mistreating his dog, speak to him with vehemence. |
Vehemence is the quality of being vehement, or powerful. We often describe passionate speeches as having vehemence. You could also describe a violent natural event as vehement. A hurricane sweeps onto coastal land with destructive vehemence. If your dancing style is wild and involves throwing your limbs every which way as fast as possible, then you dance with vehemence. |
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| 7667 |
unscrupulous |
without principles |
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Use the adjective unscrupulous to describe someone who behaves in a dishonest or unethical way. |
Unscrupulous behavior is the unfortunate resort of many ambitious people — it’s the immoral stuff they do to make success more attainable. When you sell someone bad loans, when you hack into your competition's accounts, when you read your roommate's mail for signs of an opportunity with his girlfriend, you're being unscrupulous. |
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| 7668 |
difficult |
requiring great physical or mental effort to accomplish |
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If something is difficult, it requires physical effort or brain power to complete, like climbing Mount Everest, a difficult journey. |
Difficult has Latin parts: dis meaning "not, un" and facilis meaning "easy." So, something that is difficult is not easy, like marathon running. Difficult can also be used to describe a situation or person that is hard to control. For example, if you babysit a difficult child, he or she might run away from you and not obey you. And you might have a difficult time agreeing to watch that child again. |
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| 7669 |
disengage |
release from something that holds fast or entangles |
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To disengage means to "free or disentangle" yourself or some object from another person or object. No, it doesn't mean breaking off your engagement to your beloved — that's "chickening out." |
Does your mind wander when someone (your fiancé, for example) talks to you? Well, your mind can disengage as well, that is, stop paying attention. Disengage has quite a formal, intellectual ring to it, even if used about a situation as physical as two armies "disengaging from combat." It's a technical term, and faintly clinical; the kind of word frequently used by politicians and diplomats. |
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| 7670 |
levy |
impose and collect |
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Use the word levy as you would use the word tax: “When the state government imposed a levy on soft drinks, thousands of citizens took to the streets in protest.” |
The word levy can act as either a verb or a noun in a sentence. The noun levy refers to a charge, such as a tax, fine, or other fee, that is imposed on something. The verb levy is used to describe the act of imposing or collecting the charge. If you need to raise money, for example, you may decide to levy a fine on your family every time you have to make the coffee in the morning. (Be careful though: your family may also take to the streets in protest.) |
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| 7671 |
spur |
a sharp prod on a rider's heel used to urge a horse onward |
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To spur something on is to get it going, to encourage it, to hasten it or stimulate. Cowboys wear spiky metal tools called spurs on their boots to kick their horses and spur them to greater speed. |
Economists talk of lowering interest rates to spur spending. A new source of funding for research will hopefully spur new proposals for research from scientists. An earthquake in China might spur cities in California to a higher standard of earthquake preparedness. You might spur your team on to victory by cheering from the sidelines. |
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| 7672 |
chisel |
an edge tool with a flat steel blade with a cutting edge |
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When you carve a statue from a block of marble, you use a tool called a chisel to cut out the shape. Chisel is the name of the tool and also the name of the action. |
A chisel has a flat, sharp end. To carve using a chisel, you hit the back of it with a hammer or another blunt instrument. Chisel can also mean "to cheat." If someone chisels you out of your allowance, they shaved it away from you bit by bit. |
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| 7673 |
pale |
a wooden strip forming part of a fence |
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After a long summer in the pool and the bright sun, your favorite rainbow-colored beach swimsuit will probably end up pale and faded. Pale means "having little color." |
When something's light colored, you can describe it as pale, like a pale light shining in the kitchen at night, or a person's pale face when they're suffering from the flu. Pale is also a verb that means "to become pale," so you could say that you saw your friend's face pale at the news that her favorite bakery had gone out of business. Don't make the mistake of confusing pale with its homophone, pail, which means "bucket." |
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| 7674 |
unavoidable |
impossible to evade |
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Use the adjective unavoidable to describe something that you can't escape or avoid. Going to your family reunion is unavoidable if there's no way for you to get out of it. |
Obligations are unavoidable, since they are responsibilities that have to be honored. Letting your grandmother pinch your cheek is unavoidable, and paying your rent is also unavoidable. As you get older, it's unavoidable that your knees will get stiffer — there is no way to avoid having this happen. Unavoidable comes from the verb avoid, which is rooted in the Anglo-French avoider, "to clear out or withdraw oneself." |
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| 7675 |
liable |
subject to legal action |
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If you drive into someone's fence, you’ll probably be held liable — legally responsible — for fixing it. Liable can also mean “likely,” usually with something unpleasant: "If you don't brush your teeth, they're liable to fall out." |
When liable refers to legal responsibility, it's used with "for": "You're liable for the court costs" (meaning you have to pay them). When liable means "likely," it's with "to": "If you build your house on that cliff, it's liable to fall into the river," or "That part of town is liable to mudslides." Don't confuse liable with libel, which is a legal term for slander, or saying something false and damaging about someone. |
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| 7676 |
fatigue |
temporary loss of strength and energy from hard work |
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Swimming and playing volleyball at the beach can make you tired and pleasantly wiped out, but long hours filling and emptying a wheelbarrow of dirt on a hot day brings fatigue, a far more draining kind of exhaustion. |
There is a noticeable difference between tiredness and fatigue. You can read a magazine or book before bed and get tired after a while, but if you work on math problems on a computer for a long time, you'll feel fatigue in your eyes, and maybe your brain will start to hurt. The Latin fatīgāre means to "tire out," "to fill to excess or to bursting." Even thinking about the Latin for fatigue brings some mental fatigue. |
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| 7677 |
insurance |
protection against future loss |
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Insurance is a contract where you pay a little money at a time so you can be compensated later, especially in the case of a disaster. |
Many people consider insurance to be making a kind of bet that bad things will happen: that's a good bet to make, because nobody is lucky forever. Legally, you need car insurance to drive. Without medical insurance, a serious illness could leave you broke. Life insurance is important so your family gets support when you die. House or apartment insurance will help if you have a fire. Insurance agents sell insurance policies, and they always have lots of customers. |
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| 7678 |
oration |
an instance of formal speaking |
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An oration is a formal speech given in public. You might give the oration at the big party celebrating your grandparents’ 50th anniversary. |
If you’re giving an oration, make sure you show up prepared. An oration is a speech that’s planned in advance rather than made up on the spot. It usually has a formal tone and is presented at a ceremony of some kind. You probably remember nervously sitting through an oration at your graduation ceremony, or you may have listened to a funeral oration celebrating the life of a famous person. |
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| 7679 |
guidance |
the act of showing the way |
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Guidance can mean steering (like the navigation system in a satellite) or the act of providing direction (like a guidance counselor does). |
Back in the 1530s, guidance started out meaning "the process of directing conduct," similar to what we think of when we think of parents, mentors, or counselors. If you've ever asked a friend for advice on what to wear, you were seeking their guidance. But guidance also applies to physical direction. We might use a global positioning system (GPS) for guidance when we drive. Years ago, sailors relied on the stars for guidance. Sherpas provide guidance to climbers hiking Mt. Everest so they don't get lost. |
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| 7680 |
isolated |
remote and separate physically or socially |
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Isolated means far away from everyone or everything else. The hermit who lives on a remote island is isolated from the rest of the world, with nothing but coconuts and fish to keep him company. |
The word isolated comes from the Latin word insula, which means island. You don't have to be on a remote island to feel isolated, though. Even people who live in big cities can feel a sense of isolation if they don't have many friends and spend a lot of time alone. In addition to remote or set apart, isolated can mean a single event, or incident. The high school students assured their principal that the cafeteria food fight was an isolated incident, promising that it would never, ever happen again. |
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| 7681 |
assemblage |
several things grouped together or considered as a whole |
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An assemblage is a bunch of parts, pieces, or people collected together into an organized group, always for some specific purpose. |
On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech in Washington DC to hundreds of thousands of citizens — an assemblage of people who all wanted to end racism. A computer is an assemblage of wires and microchips. An artist who makes sculptures from trash creates assemblages of recycled materials. The word assemblage is related to assembly — which sometimes refers to a gathering in the gymnasium that you’d like to skip. |
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| 7682 |
astonishing |
so surprisingly impressive as to stun or overwhelm |
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Something astonishing is astounding, staggering, stupefying, amazing, or incredible. It's not something you see every day. |
This is a pretty strong word. A dog shaking hands is not astonishing, but a dog calling 911 for its owner definitely is. Astonishing things are amazing; they blow your mind. When people first walked on the moon, that was astonishing. Miracles are astonishing. If you say, "Holy cow! I can't believe what I'm seeing," you're probably seeing something astonishing. |
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| 7683 |
arrogance |
overbearing pride evidenced by a superior manner |
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Arrogance is overbearing pride or haughtiness. If your friends are constantly complaining about your arrogance, you might want to lose the haughty attitude and try to be more humble. |
Arrogance comes from the Latin arrogans which means overbearing. If you show arrogance, your pride is overbearing and offensive to others. Arrogance can also be attributed to corporations who fail to take consumer opinion into account and to nations that seem to do whatever they want with no regard for other countries. |
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| 7684 |
threaten |
to utter intentions of injury or punishment against |
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Something that threatens makes its danger known. Storm clouds threaten rain, and bullies threaten other kids. |
Unfortunately, there are lots of people and things that threaten — it's a dangerous world. If someone threatens you with violence, you should call the police. The police may then threaten the criminal with arresting them. Nations threaten each other before going to war. You can also say a dangerous situation is threatening, like gloomy weather. Sometimes this word is used more lightheartedly, like if an old friend threatens to hug you to death. |
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| 7685 |
flash |
emit a brief burst of light |
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Ever notice how quick the flash is on a camera? That's how fast other types of flashes are, including the super-fast superhero The Flash. |
Whether you're talking about a flash of lighting or a flash of insight, a flash is quick and bright and sudden. There aren't any slow, long flashes. Because flashes are so fast, the word is often used for anything that happens really quickly: a flash is as fast as a New York minute, the blink of an eye, a heartbeat, an instant, a jiffy, or a split second. |
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| 7686 |
well-being |
a contented state of being happy and healthy and prosperous |
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Well-being is a state of health, happiness, and contentment. Everyone wants to enjoy well-being. |
When things are going well in a person's life, she feels a sense of well-being. Being healthy, happy, and having friends are all signs of well-being, while if you lose your job or becomes seriously ill, others will be concerned about your well-being. People in dangerous jobs like soldiers or police officers often find their well-being in jeopardy. The word well-being is also a philosophical term, especially important in various kinds of moral philosophy. |
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| 7687 |
dramatist |
someone who writes plays |
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A dramatist, or playwright, is a person who writes plays. Tennessee Williams, who wrote "The Glass Menagerie," is an example of a famous American dramatist. |
Using the noun dramatist is actually a pretty dramatic way to refer to a playwright. Its root is the word drama, which comes from a Greek word meaning "to do." So a dramatist is a writer whose works are full of action: stage directions, movement, and lines meant to be spoken by stage actors. If you scramble the letters of the word dramatist, you end up with "amidst art." |
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| 7688 |
declaration |
a statement that is emphatic and explicit |
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An emphatic statement — either written or spoken — is called a declaration. The Continental Congress announced their intention to form a new nation when they wrote the Declaration of Independence. |
To declare is a verb, but when you add the suffix tion, you transform it to a noun. A formal public statement can be called a declaration. You would be making a formal declaration of your love, if you paid to have "I Love You, Alex" put on the big screen at the game. When you travel, you may need to make a declaration — a formal statement — about any taxable items you purchased outside the country when you return. |
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| 7689 |
bankrupt |
financially ruined |
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You might not have any money in your pocket, but it doesn’t necessarily mean you are bankrupt. It takes a legal proceeding for the courts to declare a person bankrupt — or officially unable to pay his debts. |
Despite the word bank in bankrupt, the word can be used to describe an entity that is short of something other than money. A bankrupt nation might not have the natural resources for its people to produce goods. A nearby country that could easily help but chooses not to may be considered morally bankrupt because of its lack of compassion. Or, maybe there is more to the story. That nation might fear that helping another will bankrupt its own shaky economy. (That is how bankrupt can be used as a verb.) |
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| 7690 |
bulge |
swell or protrude outwards |
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To bulge is to stick out, making a bump called a bulge. A leak in the roof might make your ceiling bulge, and a giant feast could make a bulge over your waistband. |
The word bulge comes from the Old French word bouge for "wallet.” A full wallet makes a bulge in a guy’s back pocket. Bodybuilders' muscles bulge out of their bodies. A pimple is a tiny bulge on your skin. For the record, Battle of the Bulge isn’t a diet plan. It was a battle in World War II. Americans called it the Battle of the Bulge because of the way the Allied front line bulged inward. |
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| 7691 |
victual |
any substance that can be used as food |
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A victual is anything that can be eaten. Victuals are food. |
Victual is a fancy word for a very simple thing: any substance that can be used as food. Everything in the food pyramid is a victual, and whatever you eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks are victuals. Words that apply to victuals are eatable and edible. A toddler eating a cigarette butt doesn't quite understand what's a victual and what's not. |
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| 7692 |
entrance |
something that provides access to get in |
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As a noun, entrance means an act of entering or something that provides a way to enter something. You can make a grand entrance when you arrive at a party, as long as you can actually find the entrance. |
Entrance has two pronunciations. If you put the accent on the first syllable, the word is a noun meaning the act of entering or the way into something ("an entrance to the building"). If the accent is on the second syllable, then entrance is a verb meaning "to enchant, charm, or enamor" — "You will be entranced by the movie; the scenery looks so real you will swear it is growing in the theater." |
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| 7693 |
nucleus |
a part of the cell responsible for growth and reproduction |
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A nucleus is often called the brain, or control center, of a eukaryotic cell (that is, a cell with a nucleus). |
The noun nucleus has several senses, though most of them will appear in science. If a biology teacher says nucleus, she is probably talking about a cell (or a group of cells), but a physics teacher would be talking about the center of an atom, or possibly even the center of a comet’s head. Step out of science class, and nucleus likely refers to a core group — like the math fanatics that math club could not function without. |
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| 7694 |
chant |
a repetitive song in which syllables are assigned to a tone |
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A chant is a type of song with a repetitive, monotonous structure. It’s also something sports fans love to do. At the Olympics, some Americans chant, “USA! USA! USA!” |
In addition to being something fans like to yell together, a chant is a traditional form in a lot of religious music. There are Catholic chants, Hindu chants, Jewish chants, and the list goes on. Because of this type of music, “to chant” means “to repeat something in a monotone or repetitive way.” Chants have no harmony or instruments, only a simple rhythm and a lot of repetition. |
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| 7695 |
predictable |
capable of being foretold |
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If you can predict it, I predict you'll call it predictable. In other words, anything that you can see or know before it happens is predictable. |
When she got out the fine china early in Act I, you could just tell the stuff would be smashed in Act III. It was all too predictable. Given the facts of their lives, the end of their relationship was predictable: he was married, and so was she, but not to each other. The roots of the word are fun to analyze: pre- means "before," dict means "to say," and able means, well, "able." Put them together, and you'll see that predictable means "able to be said before (it happens)" or, simply, something you know of before it happens. |
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| 7696 |
annoying |
causing irritation |
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Something that's annoying is upsetting or irritating or otherwise troublesome. When your mom asks you ten times in a row when you're going to clean your room, she's being annoying. But your room might also be annoying! |
Annoying really is a tiresome word, as its roots imply: it comes from the old French word anuier, meaning "to weary or vex," and from the Latin inodiare, meaning — even worse — "to make loathsome." Think about that next time you do something annoying. And don't forget, it's easy to be annoying without even knowing it, as Mark Twain understood when he said, “There is nothing so annoying as to have two people talking when you're busy interrupting.” |
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| 7697 |
sinew |
a band of tissue connecting a muscle to its bony attachment |
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The tendon that connects muscles to bone is also called sinew. The noun is also used to suggest strength and resilience, and is sometimes used as a literary term for muscle, literal or metaphorical, as in “a nation’s sinew.” |
Sinew derives from before 900 A.D., with relatives found in the Dutch zenuw and the Old High German senawa, indicating a Germanic origin, and our present spelling worked its way through the Old English seonowe to become the Middle English sinewe. Aside from its anatomical meaning, the word is often used to present an image of strength and power, evident in filmmaker Ingmar Bergman’s statement, “I write scripts to serve as skeletons awaiting the flesh and sinew of images.” |
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| 7698 |
desperate |
a person who is frightened and in need of help |
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Desperate means "having lost all hope." If you are desperate for food, it means you are starving, possibly about to die. If you are in a desperate situation, it means things are really, really bad. |
Desperate, desparate, or despirate? The word desperate is misspelled often enough that it's the despair of English teachers. Both desperate and despair come from the same Latin verb as despair. Don't mix it up with disparate, a totally different word that means "distinctive, different, various." |
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| 7699 |
hatchet |
a small ax with a short handle used with one hand |
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A hatchet is a little ax used for chopping wood or for hewing a round log into a squared-off shape. If you go camping, you might take a hatchet with you. |
If someone hands you a hatchet and tells you to start splitting a pile of firewood, they expect you to chop each log into smaller pieces. The difference between a hatchet and an ax is that hatchets have short handles and are meant to be held in one hand. Axes have longer handles for two-handed chopping. If someone wants to "bury the hatchet," it's not a threat—they just want to end an argument and be friends. |
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| 7700 |
commune |
communicate intimately with |
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A commune is a group living situation where people share everything. Communes were popular with the peace-loving hippies of the 1960s. |
In Europe, a commune is a small administrative district. But in America, it's a way of life. A bunch of people with similar beliefs might all decide to get a big house and live communally, sharing the cooking, bills, and everything else. You can also commune with something, like nature: that means to be in tune with nature and very receptive to it. To commune can also mean to receive the Catholic communion. |
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| 7701 |
involuntary |
not subject to the control of the will |
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Involuntary describes a reflex or action done without conscious control or will — like a blink, a sneeze, a yawn, or “the giggles.” |
If you volunteered to do it, it’s voluntary. If you didn’t volunteer, but you find yourself doing it anyway, it’s involuntary. This can go for the involuntary hiccups you wrestle with on your blind date, as well as the involuntary task you do at your manager’s insistence. Involuntary gets a lot of blame, but something that is involuntary is not necessarily bad: Breathing is involuntary, but you would probably do it anyway if given the choice. |
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| 7702 |
reasonable |
showing sound judgment |
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Reasonable describes someone or something that's sensible and fair, like your teacher who gives reasonable homework assignments — they don't take you forever to do and they relate to what you are studying. |
If you're reasonable, you have good sense and judgment. A reasonable decision is rational and thought out, like your mom's reasonable rule about not eating crumbly foods in her car. When you describe a store's prices as reasonable, you mean they're fair — not too high. And if you are given a reasonable amount of time to do a project for school, you have no excuse for it being late. |
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| 7703 |
sway |
move back and forth |
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Back and forth...back and forth...back and forth...are you sea-sick yet? The sway, or rocking motion, of a boat is too much for many stomachs. |
People can sway if they're dizzy, tilting from side to side as they walk. On a windy day you can see trees swaying and bending in the wind. Swaying is usually a gentle motion, but if you're easily swayed, you're in trouble. That means you're easily influenced by others. People of power often "hold sway" over their followers, controlling them with the seeming ease of the breeze. |
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| 7704 |
lengthy |
extended in duration |
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Lengthy things are long and drawn out. Your teacher's lengthy lecture might extend far beyond the end of class and leave many people dozing at their desks. |
The adjective lengthy is almost always used to describe a duration of time (or sometimes a long piece of writing), rather than the physical length of something. So long-lasting speeches and endless waits at the bus stop could both be called lengthy, but you wouldn't describe your friend's long hair that way. Lengthy is an 18th century American invention, also adopted by the British in the nineteenth century. |
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| 7705 |
fantastic |
extravagantly fanciful in design, construction, appearance |
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The adjective fantastic has two meanings — extraordinarily brilliant or ludicrously far-fetched. So when your boss calls your suggestion of work-at-home-in-your-bathrobe-Fridays for the whole office fantastic, be sure you know which one he means. |
We get fantastic from the Latin phantasticus, meaning “imaginary.” Sometimes it’s still used that way: If you call a unicorn a fantastic beast, you’re not paying it a compliment; you’re saying it exists only in fairy tales. Most often, though, fantastic means strikingly out-of-the-ordinary. It can be complimentary ("You got an A? Fantastic!") or disparaging ("He was always foolishly unrealistic, but trying to reach the moon using a balloon tied to his bicycle was his most fantastic idea yet."). |
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| 7706 |
relieve |
free from a burden, evil, or distress |
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To relieve is to ease a burden or take over for someone. An aspirin can relieve a headache, and a substitute can relieve the teacher who fell asleep on her desk after lunch. |
Relieve comes from the Latin word relevare meaning "to help" or "make light again." An ice pack might relieve a pain in your elbow, but you can also be relieved of your duties if you get fired (or taken out to lunch). A thief might even relieve you of your wallet. Like thief, relieve is the rare word that actually follows the "i" before "e" rule ("i" before "e" except after "c" or when sounded as "a" as in "neighbor" and "weigh"). Aren't you relieved? |
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| 7707 |
persevere |
be persistent, refuse to stop |
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Use the verb persevere when you want to persist in anything and continue despite difficulties or obstacles. |
The verb persevere comes from the Latin root persevereus which means "continue steadfastly, persist" and that word comes from two others, per- for "very" and severus for "strict." So, today, the connotation of the word is to persist in a methodical way despite obstacles or distractions. You can see the relationship between persevere and perseverate, which means "to persistently repeat something," and that word is a medical term used to describe stuttering. |
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| 7708 |
disgusting |
highly offensive |
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Something disgusting is awful in a way that makes you want to throw up — it's really, really yucky. Nobody likes disgusting things. |
Stepping in dog poo is disgusting — in other words, revolting and gross. Some people think spiders are disgusting; others find meatloaf disgusting; it just depends on what your tastes and tolerances are. If a politician is caught taking bribes, people say "That behavior is disgusting!" If your favorite team loses 20 games in a row, that might seem disgusting. Pretty much anything horrible, terrible, or nasty can be called disgusting. |
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| 7709 |
pathetic |
deserving or inciting pity |
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Something pathetic inspires pity and contempt. If your backhand is pathetic, you probably shouldn't try out for the tennis team. |
These days, when you see the word pathetic, it's pretty clear that it's no compliment. This is an insulting word for things that are so bad they bum you out. A sports team losing ten games in a row is pathetic. Someone who constantly lies, even though the lies are obvious, is pathetic. Trying to dunk a basketball and missing by three feet is pathetic. When something is astoundingly lame or awful, people love to say, "Wow. How pathetic." |
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| 7710 |
starboard |
right side of a ship or aircraft to someone facing the bow |
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The starboard is the right side of a boat or plane. You can also say that anything on the right side of a ship is starboard. |
This word has to do with direction, specifically direction on a ship. The word originated with sea vessels whose right side was used for steering. Since the stars helped sailors determine direction, this part of the ship became known as the starboard. You can also use starboard as an adjective for anything on the right side of a ship. If you ever ride on a boat, you could probably impress the captain by talking about equipment on the starboard side. |
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| 7711 |
immunity |
the condition in which an organism can resist disease |
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Immunity means exemption or resistance. If you're protected against something, you have immunity to it. Your new silver clothes just might grant you immunity from getting thrown in jail by the fashion police. |
In the late 14th century, the noun immunity, which means “exempt from service or obligation,” developed from the Latin immunitatem, which has nearly identical meaning. Break that word down even further, and you get immunis, meaning “exempt, free,” from in "not" and munis, meaning “performing services.” In a medical sense, immunity is “protection from disease.” Your annual flu shot tries to give you immunity from, or make you insusceptible to, the illness. |
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| 7712 |
supervise |
watch and direct |
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If your mother asks you to supervise your little brother and his friends, it means she'd like you to keep an eye on them. |
The verb supervise has origins in the Latin word supervidere, from super-, meaning “over” and videre, meaning “to see.” When you supervise something, it means you oversee the project, managing the people working on it, perhaps by figuring out what needs to be done, assigning the work, and making sure it gets done properly. You serve as the boss when you supervise; other people are the workers. |
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| 7713 |
lizard |
relatively long-bodied reptile with legs and a tapering tail |
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A lizard is a type of reptile that has scales for skin, a long body, a pointy tail, and usually four legs. And they breathe fire. Okay, maybe not that last part, but that would be awesome. |
Lizards can be smaller than an inch long, or massive in size and weight — like the Komodo dragon, which can grow over ten feet in length. A type of lizard called a chameleon can change colors whenever it wants, and the Jesus lizard can walk on water. Most lizards live in deserts or jungles, however the word lizard comes from the Latin lacertus, which means “sea fish” — perhaps because they look like a monster that crawled out of the ocean. |
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| 7714 |
tier |
one of two or more layers one atop another |
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A tier is a level or a layer. If you sit in the top tier of seats at a concert, you can see the whole stage and most of the audience — but you probably have to climb lots of stairs. |
A tier can describe a layer of ruffles on a dress, a section of seats in a stadium, or one layer of a fancy cake. You could also talk about a tier in terms of value or position. For example, the most popular, well-known actors might be considered part of the top tier, getting all the best parts. Tier originated from the Old French word tire: rank, sequence, or order. |
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| 7715 |
train |
educate for a future role or function |
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To train means to teach a skill. If you train your cat to use the toilet, your family will be amazed. |
You can train animals to perform in a circus or roll over, and you can train people to do things like program computers or use an espresso machine. When you instruct someone how to do a task, you train him or her. Other meanings of the word train? A locomotive, like the train that takes people from New York City to Boston or a long piece of material attached to the back of a dress, like the train on a wedding dress. |
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| 7716 |
old-fashioned |
out of fashion |
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Something that's old-fashioned is out of style or from the past. You could call an antique telephone old-fashioned, and you could also describe your elderly grandfather this way. |
Out-of-date clothes, like your aunt's wardrobe of 1980's dresses with shoulder pads, are old-fashioned. Soda fountains, carriages pulled by horses, and typewriters are all old-fashioned as well. These things are either not currently popular, or they're just plain old. There is also a whisky-based mixed drink called an old-fashioned which is still served in many stylish bars and restaurants. |
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| 7717 |
comical |
arousing or provoking laughter |
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Something comical is humorous, amusing, silly, or just plain funny; it makes people laugh. |
When you think comical, think laughter-causing. Stand-up comedians and comic strips intend to be comical. People like to share comical moments: for example, by posting videos of their pets doing comical things, like a dog going bananas in a water sprinkler. Just like the dog doesn't know it's being funny, people are unintentionally comical too. If a person absorbed in his cell phone conversation falls down a manhole, many will find it comical. |
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| 7718 |
bridal |
of or pertaining to a woman who is getting married |
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Use the adjective bridal to talk about a wedding or a bride. A bridal bouquet is the arrangement of flowers the bride carries during a wedding ceremony. |
Usually the word bridal describes anything having to do with a bride, like the bridal veil or the bridal party, or the bride's friends and family. Sometimes bridal refers to the newlywed couple, like the bridal suite they might stay in at a hotel on their honeymoon. Remember, bridal has nothing to do with horses — that's bridle, which sounds the same but means part of a harness. |
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| 7719 |
fabulous |
extremely pleasing |
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If something is so great you can hardly believe it, it is fabulous. You can have a fabulous first date or you can make a fabulous dinner. |
These days, fabulous things are mainly wonderful things, but there's another meaning related to fable: some fabulous things can't — or at least shouldn't — be believed. If you friend claims to be a personal friend of the entire Chicago Bulls, but has never been to Chicago, that's a fabulous story that's probably not true. Also, any story involving a unicorn or wizard is fabulous in a literal sense. A great fantasy story would be fabulous in every way. |
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| 7720 |
attack |
an offensive against an enemy |
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When you attack, you charge or advance violently. It's scary to watch a big dog attack a smaller dog. |
In the military, an attack is an advance of troops or the use of armed force against an enemy. When one little kid attacks another, there usually aren't any bombs or weapons involved, but the idea of force or hostility is the same. You might also attack an opponent in a game, or withstand a verbal attack from a classmate during a debate. The Italian source of attack is attacco, "an attack," from attaccare, "join battle." |
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| 7721 |
aside |
on or to one side |
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If something's aside, it's not in the middle of things — it's off to the side, either literally or figuratively, as with the papers and books you push aside on the couch, to make room to sit. |
When you ignore your conscience, you're pushing your best instincts aside. You can put money aside, to save it for the future. In a play, when an actor steps out of character and speaks directly to the audience, that's an aside. The expression "all joking aside," means "stop kidding around and get serious" as in, "All joking aside, you're not really going bungee jumping, are you?" |
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| 7722 |
attractive |
pleasing to the eye or mind as through beauty or charm |
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Anybody or anything that's attractive is visually pleasing or draws you in. |
Being attractive has to do with attracting others, one way or another. If you're talking about a magnet, that's a literal, physical kind of attraction. For people, being attractive usually means you're beautiful or handsome enough to pull in the attention of others. But having a great personality or a good job are attractive traits, too. If someone offered to give you something valuable for a good price, you could also say, "That's an attractive offer" — meaning it's tempting. |
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| 7723 |
inspection |
a formal or official examination |
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Every year, your car must get an inspection by an authorized mechanic who verifies that it is not a hazard on the road or harmful to the environment. An inspection is an official examination. |
Inspection can also mean "a close look at." If you discover a bug in your back yard, it might require a careful inspection to figure out what kind of insect it is. An idea might sound good, but on closer inspection, you find that it won't work. Think of inspection as someone looking closely at something to determine a set of facts. |
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| 7724 |
cheap |
relatively low in price or charging low prices |
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Something cheap doesn't cost much money. But watch out, because cheap things are also often cheaply made. |
When prices are low, they're cheap: that's a good thing. However, this word is often an insult. Hitting someone who isn't looking is a cheap shot. Things that aren't very well made and use low-quality materials are cheap. When someone — especially a woman — is dressed in a trashy way, people say "You look cheap!" And if you have a stingy Uncle Scrooge in your family, you can call him cheap or even a cheapskate. |
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| 7725 |
embroider |
decorate with needlework |
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To embroider means to decorate with needlework. Picture your great grandmother's pillowcases or Hester Prynne's famous scarlet letter "A" — both of those objects are probably embroidered. |
To embroider refers to a type of ornamentation or needlework, but another usage of the word embroider means to embellish the truth. For example, if a fisherman sitting on the dock tells you about the 38 inch striped bass he almost caught this morning, he may have found a way to embroider the truth. |
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| 7726 |
ignore |
refuse to acknowledge |
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To ignore something is to disregard it. If you ignore the rules of grammar, you're likely to be misunderstood. |
It's easy to see the relationship between ignore and a word such as ignorant. To be ignorant of something is to know nothing about it. A good way to be ignorant about something is to ignore it. In other words, if you want to be ignorant about a certain subject—that is, if you want to know nothing about it—then by all means ignore it. Pay it no mind. |
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| 7727 |
enlist |
join the military |
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To enlist is to voluntarily join the military. You may have seen television commercials or posters encouraging people to enlist. |
There are various ways people end up in the military. Sometimes there's a draft, which selects people whether they want to go or not. Sometimes people enlist, which means they sign up on their own. Enlisting also refers to recruiting or hiring people for some purpose or organization. If you are moving, you might try to enlist your friends to help — good luck with that. |
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| 7728 |
judgment |
the act of assessing a person or situation or event |
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Judgment is the mental ability to understand something, form an opinion and reach a decision. You have great judgment of character, which is why your friends ask you to meet their significant others when things get serious. |
A decision is a judgment, unless you let a coin toss decide for you. Use your judgment to determine how much salt to add, or the safest way home. In court, the judge's official decision is called the judgment, and if you condemn someone, even if you're not a judge, we say you've "passed judgment." If you need to explain many parts of the story before your innocence will be clear, ask your listener not to rush to judgment. |
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| 7729 |
identification |
the act of designating something |
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Identification is what you show when someone wants proof of who you are. When you get pulled over by a cop for speeding, you better have your driver’s license on you as your form of identification! |
Identification isn’t just the card or passport you carry around in your wallet to prove who you are to others. You can also have an identification with a person if you share common beliefs, traditions, or values; then you can say that you identify with that person. Identification can also mean the process of recognizing or identifying something. You may have to wait to adopt that stray dog until the pound has put the pooch through an identification process, trying to see if he already belongs to another family. |
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| 7730 |
orchard |
garden consisting of a small cultivated wood |
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An orchard is a tree garden. If you visit New England in autumn, make sure to stop by a local apple orchard and pick a few baskets to take home. |
From the Old English orceard blossomed our modern-day spelling of orchard, a noun meaning “fruit farm.” But you can also use the word figuratively to refer to something filled with treats or precious content. The US Congregational minister, Henry Ward Beecher, was famous for having proclaimed, “A book is a garden, an orchard, a storehouse, a party, a company by the way, a counselor, a multitude of counselors.” |
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| 7731 |
jockey |
someone employed to ride horses in horse races |
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During a horse race, the riders are called jockeys. Being a jockey is an excellent career choice for someone small. |
Jockeys, usually male, are always small people, weighing less than 120 pounds and generally standing no more than five feet five inches tall. This keeps the horses' total weight light, allowing them to run faster. When jockey is used as a verb, it means "to struggle or compete," like when politicians jockey for dominance or kids jockey to be the first in line for a bouncy house. Jockey was originally a Scottish word for "boy." |
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| 7732 |
award |
give, especially as an honor |
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The noun award refers to a prize of some kind that indicates you’ve done well and achieved an honor. The verb form of award describes giving out one of these honors. So your teacher may award you the Math Genius award. |
Award can be something given out by a court of law. For example, a judge might give you a monetary award when you win a lawsuit. Award can also be something you get when you're the big winner. The state lottery commission might award you $35 when you hit the lottery. Award comes from the Old English word weardian, meaning “guard” — which is exactly what you should do with that $35. |
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| 7733 |
succession |
the action or process of taking over an office or position |
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Use the word succession to describe things that follow one another, as well as the order in which they do so. The Vice President is first in line of succession to be the President and the Secretary of State is fourth. |
Sometimes when a leader dies, the one who rules after him is determined not by law as in the U.S. or blood as in a monarchy but by the dying leader himself. Dictators often groom one of their sons for succession. Figuratively, you can use succession to indicate that one thing after another has come and gone without taking hold. The storefront has been home to a succession of businesses, all of which have failed. Fashions come and go in quick succession. |
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| 7734 |
loom |
a textile machine for weaving yarn into a textile |
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Loom has two distinct meanings. First, it's a tool for weaving. Second, it means to appear or stand over someone in a threatening way. The future loomed grim. The shadow loomed above us. |
A common way we hear loom is in "loomed large," as in, "The specter of getting fired loomed large in Amanda's imagination." Deriving from Low German or Dutch, the word sounds smoky (or misty) and spectral: the Antarctic ice-shelf loomed on the horizon as Shackleton's ship approached the continent. |
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| 7735 |
interpose |
introduce |
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It's annoying when advertisers interpose commercials between segments of your favorite TV show. To interpose is to interrupt by placing something in between other things. |
If you look closely at the word interpose, you'll see inter, which means "between," and pose, which means "position." Don't think of this only in the physical sense though. It can also mean "interject," or say quickly, and also "get involved in." If you want to interpose when another person interposes himself between you and your friend in a long queue, you might interpose, "Hey, no cutting!" |
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| 7736 |
prominence |
the state of being widely known or eminent |
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Prominence has to do with importance. If a band becomes famous, they've come into prominence. |
Prominence is a type of importance: if you put a statue in the middle of a room, you're giving it a place of prominence. In movies, music, and sports, the most successful people have great prominence — they're prominent or famous. Anything that juts out or sticks out has prominence. Whether prominence comes from being widely known or just being hard to miss, you can't really ignore anything or anybody that has achieved prominence. |
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| 7737 |
sorcery |
the belief in magical spells that harness occult forces |
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Using spells, believing in evil spirits, and other examples of witchcraft are all part of sorcery. Sorcery is popular with wizards and witches and anyone else with a bubbling caldron. |
The Latin sors for "fate" shows up in the word sorcery, which is a way to try to affect fate through unnatural, evil ways. If you've checked out any fantasy books or movies, you've probably seen sorcery in action, which is practiced by witches, warlocks, and members of the occult. Turning an annoying neighbor into a ferret would be an example of sorcery. |
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| 7738 |
powerful |
having great force or effect |
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Something that's powerful displays, well, power. Your neighbor who just finished training to be a fireman probably looks much more powerful than he used to. |
We use powerful for many different senses of "strong." A powerful medicine is very effective. A powerful politician has more influence than most politicians. A powerful dog could probably knock you down. If you're reading a book written in folksy Southern vernacular, someone might use powerful to mean "very," as in, "that was a powerful good supper, Miss Jackson," or "you look powerful good tonight." |
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| 7739 |
inflammation |
the state of being emotionally aroused and worked up |
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An inflammation means "setting something on fire." Maybe it's a political movement that suddenly takes hold, romantic feelings, the heat making your shoes feel tight, or someone lighting a campfire. |
Inflammation comes from the root inflame, from the Latin word inflammare meaning "to set on fire with passion." That meaning sounds pretty good, but an inflammation on your face, like a terrible rash, probably isn't going to inflame anyone's passion, at least until the swelling goes down. It probably also causes pain and discomfort. |
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| 7740 |
religious |
having or showing belief in and reverence for a deity |
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Religious, besides meaning "having to do with religion," can also mean "acting as if something is a religion." If you have never missed a broadcast of your favorite TV show for the last five years, then you're religious about it. |
Just as religion is a broad concept with multiple manifestations, the word religious can be used in many contexts. You could literally be describing someone's particular religious duties as prescribed by his religion. If you have a religious temperament, you think about spiritual things a lot. If someone is a fanatic about football, you could describe him as a religious fan. That doesn't mean he thinks the football is God, just that he really, really cares. |
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| 7741 |
inconvenient |
not well timed |
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Inconvenient things are difficult or annoying to do. If someone asks you to help move a couch on a Saturday when you have tickets to a game, that's an inconvenient request. |
If you have to go to the bathroom very badly just as a test is starting, that's inconvenient. If the movie projector breaks in the middle of a movie, that's inconvenient. Other times, things are inconvenient just because they're kind of a pain. It’s inconvenient of your mom to ask you to do chores just as you're ready to go out with friends. Inconvenient things get in the way of what we really want to do. |
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| 7742 |
bloom |
produce or yield flowers |
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A bloom is a flower. You might mark the beginning of spring by the very first bloom you see in your garden. |
The noun bloom is useful for talking about blossoms themselves, but you can also use it as a verb meaning the process of flowering: "Those trees seemed to bloom overnight!" Another meaning of bloom is more figurative, meaning the peak or ideal moment for something. The bloom of your career selling Girl Scout cookies might be one sunny weekend outside the local supermarket. The origin of the word bloom is the Old Norse word blóm, "flower or blossom." |
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| 7743 |
aerial |
existing, living, growing, or operating in the air |
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Things that are aerial are happening in the air: birds, planes, and missiles are all aerial things. |
When talking about things that are literally up in the air, you can use the word aerial. If a country sends planes to bomb another country, that's an aerial attack. In football, the passing game is called the aerial game. Anything light and airy can also be called aerial, and an aerial is a device that picks up radio or TV signals: it plucks them out of the air. So when you see the word aerial, just think "air." |
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| 7744 |
rupture |
the act of making a sudden noisy break |
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A rupture is a break or tear in something that pulls it apart. A rupture can be a literal break, like the one that happens in, say, a gas line, or it can be more figurative, as in a friendship or a business deal. |
The oil spill was less of a spill that it was a rupture: the line leading to the well was severed, allowing the oil to flow into the ocean. Rupture works as both a noun and a verb. You can rupture the silence by screaming your head off, and any number of events in Star Trek can cause a rupture in the space-time continuum. |
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| 7745 |
unload |
leave or discharge |
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To unload is to remove cargo from a vehicle or shipping carton. Unload can also mean to discharge or get rid of something, or to get something off your chest. |
A clothing store might unload (remove) a hundred cartons from the delivery truck, and then unload (unpack) shirts and pants from the cartons. If a carton of clothes is imperfect, the store might send them back or unload (dispossess themselves of) them by selling them cheaply to a factory-seconds outlet. Then the store manager, depending on her mood, might unload on (give a tongue-lashing to) the manufacturer for shipping shoddy products. |
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| 7746 |
boil |
change from a liquid to vapor |
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If you heat water to 212° Fahrenheit, then expect to see it boil — bubbling as it turns from a liquid to a vapor. It's what a watched pot never seems to do! |
If the water is bubbling and roiling, then it's probably boiling. Cooks boil stuff all the time on the stove; geysers and hot springs boil naturally. And if you spill boiled red cabbage on the new white couch, mom's temper might just boil over. So you see boil can be used both literally and figuratively — to depict boiling hot liquids or boiling hot tempers. |
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| 7747 |
departure |
the act of leaving |
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A departure is the act of leaving somewhere. Think about an airport that has departure gates for outgoing passengers and an arrival area for people flying in. |
Since departing means to leave, a departure is an act of leaving. There are many type of departures, such as when you go to the store or take a flight. A departure can be a metaphor too, as in a departure from the norm, like if a TV cop show suddenly turns into a vampire show. If a comedian starts being serious, that's a departure too. This word is also a euphemism for death, as in "a departure from life." |
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| 7748 |
endangered |
in imminent threat of extinction |
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An animal that is endangered is close to extinction — meaning there aren't very many of that type of animal left in the world. |
This word is used mostly to describe animal species that are not doing very well: animals usually become endangered because of over hunting or the destruction of their habitat. Environmental groups and animal-lovers try to help endangered species survive. Outside of the animal kingdom, you can say anything that seems to be dying out is endangered, like good manners, phone booths, or the art of letter writing. |
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| 7749 |
behave |
act in a certain manner |
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The way you act or conduct yourself is how you behave. Teachers and parents often tell kids Behave! |
If you follow rules and get along with others, you behave well, while if you are nasty and rude, you behave badly. Behave can suggest acting in a polite manner, as when you tell a child (or an adult) to behave in public. We usually behave differently in different situations — like when no one is watching. If you tell someone "practice what you preach" you are pointing out that the way they behave doesn't quite match up to their words. |
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| 7750 |
dice |
a small cube with 1 to 6 spots on the six faces |
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Dice are what you roll when you're playing Yahtzee or Monopoly; they are two cubes marked with dots on each side that represent the numbers one through six. |
The noun dice is the plural form of the singular die. Although many people use the word dice when they're talking about a single die, it's actually only correct to call two or more of the dotted cubes dice. You can also use the word as a verb to mean "chop into tiny pieces or cubes." You might, for example, read a recipe instruction that says: "Dice three tomatoes." |
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| 7751 |
enterprise |
a purposeful or industrious undertaking |
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Enterprise describes a readiness to act boldly to get something started, like the enterprise it takes to start a charity with only a dream and a few dollars. |
Another meaning of enterprise is "a business venture," like a frozen yogurt enterprise. It requires a lot of determination, hard work and the steady belief that people will love your yogurt. People will say you show extraordinary enterprise for your willingness to take on such a challenging project, meaning you have initiative and drive. |
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| 7752 |
seize |
take hold of; grab |
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Infomercial salesmen constantly tell you to seize the opportunity to buy their product while you still can. Supplies are limited! After all, everyone will want that solar-powered puppy petter, so you'd better grab the opportunity and buy two! |
You can seize all kinds of things. Seize the day if you are taking advantage of the present circumstances and enjoying life to the fullest. Seize the castle, if you are a feudal lord fighting with your neighbor. Seize the inspiration if you want to tell a moving story. Seize authority if you are overthrowing a small country. Avoid, at all costs, being seized if you are under zombie attack. |
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| 7753 |
groove |
a long narrow furrow cut by a natural process or a tool |
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A groove is an indentation or rut in something — like the grooves on an old record. |
Groove is rooted in an old Dutch word for "furrow" or "ditch." And that's just what a groove is: a carved out line, like wheel ruts in a muddy road or the narrow opening that a sliding door moves in. If you can't "find your groove," you feel off track and out of whack. But when you're "in the groove," everything is working smoothly and you've found a good routine. And if someone says "let's groove!", they want to dance. |
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| 7754 |
protract |
lengthen in time; cause to be or last longer |
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To protract something is to stretch it out. If you have a disagreement with a friend that you continue for weeks and weeks, you are protracting the argument. |
Protract can also mean to draw a plan to scale. Basically when you protract something, you draw it out. You may remember from geometry that a protractor is a device used to draw exact angles. A protractor allows you to protract a plan for the perfect catapult — perfect to use to end a protracted battle. |
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| 7755 |
proclaim |
declare formally |
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"I proclaim the Olympic Games open." Every two years with words similar to these, the Olympic games officially begin. To proclaim is to exclaim or declare. |
When you proclaim something, you are saying it loud and clear and in public. A doctor can proclaim you healthy after you have recovered from a long illness. The panel of judges may have trouble proclaiming the winner in a very tight race. What you are saying out loud can be called a proclamation. Proclamations were once only made by Kings or other ruling leaders which is why the word proclaim has an official feeling to it. |
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| 7756 |
swirl |
turn in a twisting or spinning motion |
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To swirl is to turn in circles or spirals, the way a leaf caught in a whirlpool swirls, or a toy duck swirls in the bathtub as you empty the water out. |
Smoke might swirl up from your campfire, keeping the mosquitos that swirl through the air nearby from biting you. Or you can swirl on a carnival ride that spins you in circles until you step back onto the ground and the world swirls for a while, until you regain your balance. Swirl is a noun, too, as in a swirl of dust. It was originally Scottish for "whirlpool." |
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| 7757 |
darn |
repair a garment by weaving thread across a hole |
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To darn is to stitch up a small hole in a piece of clothing. Instead of throwing your worn-out socks away, you can just darn the holes in their toes. |
When you darn your socks or sweaters, you use a needle and thread to close small holes in the woven fabric. There's even a specific stitch known as a "darning stitch," in which you first weave the thread with the grain of the fabric, and then fill in the other "woven" direction. The result is a sturdy patch made only of thread. Darn comes from the Middle French darner, "mend." |
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| 7758 |
amiss |
in an improper or mistaken or unfortunate manner |
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When things are out of their proper places or not happening the way they should, we say they are amiss. And remember, amiss is as good as a mile. |
The word amiss can be used as an adverb, as in the sentence, "I spoke amiss." Or you could use it as an adjective, as when you think something is wrong or missing — "Something in the room is amiss." Either way, amiss refers to something that is wrong, off the mark, or "missed" (note the connection). Once in a while, the word amiss can imply that something fishy or foul has taken place. In Hamlet, when Marcellus said, "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark," he might as well have said, "Something in Denmark is amiss." |
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| 7759 |
starch |
a complex carbohydrate in seeds, fruits, and pith of plants |
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Starch is the stuff that makes your shirt collar look crisp and fresh. It's also the complex carbohydrate that potatoes and rice — foods that are called starches — have lots of. |
Starch can also be a verb. You can starch your shirt by adding starch, which is a white powder, to the rinse water. You can also get the kind of starch that comes as a spray, which you squirt on your shirt while you're ironing it. Cornstarch, which is also a white powder, is used to thicken sauces or make egg whites stand in stiff peaks when you beat them. |
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| 7760 |
innumerable |
too numerous to be counted |
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Something innumerable can't be counted — there are just too many, like the stars in the sky. Innumerable things are infinite. |
Things that are countless, multitudinous, myriad, numberless, uncounted, or unnumerable are also called innumerable: you couldn't count them if you tried. There are a lot of countries in the world, but they aren't innumerable. On the other hand, the number of drops in the ocean is definitely innumerable. And if you wanted to be really nice, you'd say "Her charms are innumerable!" Even though you could probably count all of her good qualities. |
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| 7761 |
delegate |
a person appointed or elected to represent others |
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Delegate lends an official air to passing off your work. If you don't like cleaning the bathroom, you can try to delegate that task to your little brother. |
A delegate is also an elected official, or the person who is doing the task you delegated them to do. In presidential primaries in the United States, you do not vote for a candidate, you vote for a delegate whose job it is to vote for that candidate at a convention. Be careful with how you pronounce the end of the word. The elected official is pronounced DE-lə-git whereas delegate as a verb should be DE-lə-gāt. |
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| 7762 |
cable |
a very strong thick rope made of twisted hemp or steel wire |
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A cable can be a strong and thick hemp or steel rope, or a conductor for sending electrical or optical signals. |
Cable has a bunch of meanings — ranging from communication cables to steel cables. With new online services that stream your favorite show on demand, cable television may become a thing of the past. If your adventurous kids have convinced you to install a zip line, then you better find a steel cable. In the age of email, chances are you'll never have a reason to send someone an overseas cable. |
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| 7763 |
inhuman |
without compunction or compassion |
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If someone behaves in a way that shows no compassion, you could describe that person and his or her actions as inhuman. A teacher who assigns six hours of homework every night might be seen as inhuman. |
When people talk about inhuman things, they're usually not talking about dogs or Martians — beings that are literally not human. Rather, this word involves humans who show no regard for their fellow humans. Murdering another person is an inhuman act; slavery is an inhuman institution. Inhuman acts can also be described as inhumane, meaning “heartless and cruel.” |
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| 7764 |
provincial |
associated with an administrative district of a nation |
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A provincial person comes from the backwaters. Someone from a small province outside of Provence, France, might seem a little more provincial and less worldly than someone from, say, Paris. |
Something or someone provincial belongs to a province, or region outside of the city. Provincial has a straightforward meaning when describing where someone is from, but it has some other shades of meaning too. Something provincial can be quaint and in a pleasing rural or country style, but it also can imply someone less sophisticated, as in someone with provincial, or simple, tastes. Individuals or groups of people who are considered narrow-minded are often labeled provincial, even if they're from the city. |
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| 7765 |
feigned |
not genuine |
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Feigned is an adjective that means "not genuine," like your feigned interest in your friends' discussion of celebrity hairstyle trends. |
The word feigned, pronounce "faynd," comes from the Old French word feign, which means "pretend, imitate, shirk." Feigned emotions aren't real, and therefore, they are a bit dishonest. You act like you care but you really don't. Maybe you are just being nice, like your feigned enthusiasm for your dad's woodworking projects — you know how much he enjoys it, so why not act interested? |
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| 7766 |
genius |
unusual mental ability |
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Genius is an exceptional talent or skill, something above and beyond the norm. A genius is someone who possesses this brilliance, like a child prodigy who learned the piano at age 3 and played sold-out concerts by age 5. |
Genius comes from the Latin word of the same name, meaning "guardian deity or spirit which watches over each person from birth" or "innate ability." Your genius — your superior talent — at the game of chess could make you a world champion. Your amazing genius would also make you a genius. The word can be used more lightheartedly to describe a natural ability or flair for something. You may have a genius for putting together stylish outfits. |
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| 7767 |
accordance |
concurrence or agreement of opinion |
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Accordance is agreement between people or consensus within a group. A lack of accordance between members of a political party can spell disaster for their presidential candidate. |
Accordance comes from the Old French acorder, meaning "bring to an agreement." When two things are in accordance, they fit together harmoniously. You'll usually see accordance in the phrase "in accordance with," as when you command your kid brother, "act in accordance with my wishes, or face the consequences!" It's most often used to show that someone is following rules or regulations. |
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| 7768 |
slip away |
leave furtively and stealthily |
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To slip away is to quietly leave so that no one notices. If you're not a fan of birthday cake, you might try to slip away from your friend's party before dessert is served. |
You can easily slip away from an extremely boring lecture if you're sitting in the back row. Or you might plan to slip away early from a baseball game, only to get so caught up in the excitement that you end up staying for all nine innings. Another meaning of slip away is "elapse" or "go by," like when a whole summer seems to slip away, and suddenly it's September. |
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| 7769 |
incidentally |
by the way (used to introduce a new topic) |
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Incidentally is a word you use when you've got more to say on a topic or want to transition into a new subject. Think of the word incidentally as a more formal way to say "by the way." |
Incidentally can also mean "by chance" if you want to remark on a coincidence. Sometimes, things just happen by chance, like you and your friend showing up at the same place incidentally. Incidentally, the word ends in lly so don't forget to throw that extra l in there! |
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| 7770 |
doubtful |
fraught with uncertainty |
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When you're doubtful about something, you're not sure about it. You might feel doubtful about the picnic you've planned if the forecast calls for torrential rain. |
Whether you're uncertain, undecided, or suspicious, you can describe yourself as doubtful. You'll be doubtful about your taxi driver's sense of direction when you pass the same building for the third time. You might also be doubtful about whether or not to try skydiving. Doubtful means "full of doubt," and doubt is from the Old French doter, "doubt or be afraid," with a Latin root, dubitare, "to question, hesitate, or waver in opinion." |
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| 7771 |
indistinct |
not clearly defined or easy to perceive or understand |
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Is it hard to tell what someone is saying? Can you not see something clearly? Anything hard to make out is indistinct. |
Indistinct things are fuzzy, unclear, and hard to see or understand. A whisper can be indistinct. A clear, confident speaker is not indistinct. People like to say what a cloud is shaped like, but clouds are generally pretty indistinct — that's why different people will see different shapes in the same cloud. When we're writing, speaking, or drawing, we should try to be distinct, not indistinct — because we want to be understood. |
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| 7772 |
receipt |
the act of receiving |
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You know that slim, white piece of paper the grocery store clerk gives you that lists everything you bought, how much you paid, and the change you received? That's a receipt. |
A receipt is proof you bought and paid for something. At most stores, you need it if you're going to return what you bought. People collect receipts on business trips, so their employers will pay them back for what they purchased while away. Receipt can also be used as a verb, as in, "Are you in receipt of the package I sent you last week?" That's a fancy way of saying, "Did you get the package I sent?" |
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| 7773 |
self-conscious |
aware of yourself as an individual or of your own being |
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Use the adjective self-conscious to describe someone who is ill at ease or uncomfortable with himself. A self-conscious person might worry about how he looks or whether he's saying the right things. |
Being self-conscious goes beyond just being aware of yourself — when you're self-conscious, you constantly question the way you appear to others. You might feel self-conscious when you stand in front of a group to give a speech, or when you're trying out for a movie or a play. The word first meant "conscious of one's own action" when it emerged in the 1680's, and by 1830's it had come to mean "preoccupied with one's own personality." |
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| 7774 |
verse |
a piece of poetry |
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A poem — especially one that rhymes — is called verse. The children's author Dr. Seuss wrote in verse, and the regular rhymes of "The Cat in the Hat" helped generations of children learn to read. |
In music, a verse is a section of a song that's often followed by a chorus. Many people can sing the chorus to "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," but few realize there are also verses, including one that starts, "Katie Casey was baseball mad." Verse comes from the Latin word versus, which means a line of writing and is based on the Proto-Indo-European root wer, meaning to turn or bend. |
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| 7775 |
iris |
colored part of the eye that controls the size of the pupil |
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Your iris is the colored part of your eye that surrounds the black pupil in the center. If your irises are brown, you can say you have brown eyes. |
The job of the iris is to determine how large or small the pupil is, depending on the amount of light available. Your iris protects your eye's retina, by controlling how much light reaches it, and helps you to see. Another kind of iris is a bright flower with long, spiky leaves. Both irises take their names from the Greek iris, "rainbow." |
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| 7776 |
cork |
outer bark of the cork oak |
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Cork is a lightweight material made from the bark of a particular kind of oak tree. Cork is used in all sorts of ways, from flooring to fishing rod handles to bulletin boards. |
When cork bark is harvested from a cork oak tree, it doesn't harm the tree itself — this quality is part of what makes cork a useful, renewable material. It shows up in shoes, insulation, wall tiles, and badminton shuttlecocks, as well as bottle stoppers, which are also called corks. The word is from the Spanish alcorque, "cork-soled sandal," which ultimately comes from the Latin name for the cork oak tree, quercus. |
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| 7777 |
chemistry |
the science of matter |
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Chemistry is the science that tells us what things and people are made of; for example, that water is really H2O, two atoms of hydrogen and one of oxygen. |
Chemistry deals with chemicals and elements, the building blocks of our world. The periodic table, that table of all of earth's basic elements — iron, carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, etc. — comes from chemistry. Chemistry explains how atoms attract each other to become molecules. We also use the term to refer to people who are attracted to each other, either as colleagues, friends or romantic partners. Movie reviewers often say that that romantic leads have "great chemistry" — or not. |
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| 7778 |
decompose |
break down |
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The verb decompose means to break down or decay, like tree leaves that decompose into dirt, or cell phone batteries that decompose, resulting in more frequent charging for the user. |
You know that the prefix de- means "remove" or "undo." And something that's composed is made up of parts. So to decompose is to undo all the parts until they go back to their original state: dirt. Living things decompose. When things like buildings or organizations break down, you typically use words like dismantle or deconstruct to describe the process. |
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| 7779 |
determination |
the act of finding out the properties of something |
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Determination can be a decision, or the focus you need to get something done. |
The sense of determination, as making up your mind about something, finds its roots in an Old French word meaning “decision," such as the judge's determination that the man was guilty, or the panel's determination that the chocolate was too bitter. Usually the decision comes after much consideration and research, like when Copernicus made the determination that the earth revolves around the sun. The word has come to mean also grit, gumption, pluck, persistence: "With hard work and determination, they were able finish the school project on time." |
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| 7780 |
enthusiast |
an ardent supporter of some person or activity |
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When you're an enthusiast, you're all jazzed up about a person or cause. A sports enthusiast is someone who is really passionate and excited about sports. |
Enthusiast comes from the Greek enthousiastēs, meaning "person inspired by a god." While it doesn't retain those same religious connotations today, an enthusiast is someone who is inspired by a cause or person. A candidate running for office will have a group of enthusiasts working doggedly on his campaign. Often your mother is your biggest enthusiast or supporter. Non-profit organizations are always looking for enthusiasts who can make donations and become patrons of their organization. |
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| 7781 |
affectation |
a deliberate pretense or exaggerated display |
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The guy at your local coffee shop who's never left the state but speaks as though he's lived in London all his life? His British accent is an affectation. |
Never confuse affectation with affection — which means “love” or “tenderness.” While affection might not always be genuine, affectation is never the real thing. In fact, affectation is all about faking it. Do you believe the politician cares about poor people, or do you think his concern is an affectation? |
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| 7782 |
affiliate |
join in a social or business relationship |
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An affiliate is a subordinate group or organization associated with a larger group or organization. For example, the American broadcasting company NBC has hundreds of affiliate stations around the country. |
Affiliate comes from the Medieval Latin term affiliat, meaning "adopted as a son," though it's unlikely NBC sees its affiliate companies in quite that way. The word can also be used to describe someone who simply hangs out with someone else a lot, or keeps company with them regularly, whether for business or not. |
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| 7783 |
hail |
precipitation of ice pellets |
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Hail is when chunks of ice fall from the sky. Also, to hail someone is to greet them or say good things about them. Or it can be a way to tell people of your homeland, as in: "I hail from the Moon." |
If twenty third-graders all sent spit-balls up in the air at once, the spit-balls would then hail down on the class. If a presidential candidate has an idea for fixing the nation's woes, many people will hail that idea as the next great panacea. If you see your former prom date walking down the street, you may want to hail him to say hello or, perhaps, you will want to hail a cab and get out of there as fast as you can. |
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| 7784 |
reservoir |
lake used to store water for community use |
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The word reservoir refers to a place where large amounts of water get stored. It can also be used to describe great amounts of other things, such as when you refer to a trivia expert as a reservoir of useless knowledge. |
The word reservoir comes from the French réservoir, which further derives from the Old French reserver, meaning "to reserve." Knowing this, it makes sense that the meaning evolved into a place, either man-made or natural, where water is stored or "reserved," usually for distribution for drinking, irrigating, and generating power. Remembering the related word reserve might also help in both the spelling and pronunciation of the word, as reserve is spelled (and pronounced) with "er," the same as "reservoir." |
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| 7785 |
embroidery |
decorative needlework |
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Embroidery is the act of decorating a piece of cloth with a stitched design. You may have seen large medieval examples of embroidery hanging on the walls of museums depicting flowers and wild animals and the like. |
Embroidery also has a common figurative meaning of something deceptive, or an excessive and unnecessary detail designed to mislead, or simply something vain and foolish (see embellishment.) The great American designer Buckminster Fuller summed up this sense of the word nicely: "Tombs are the clothes of the dead and a grave is a plain suit; while an expensive monument is one with embroidery." |
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| 7786 |
coalition |
the union of diverse things into one body or form or group |
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A coalition is a group of people who join together for a common cause, like a coalition you form with other skateboarders who want to convince your town to build a skate park. |
The noun coalition comes from the Latin word coalitiō, meaning "to grow together." Often, the people and groups that form coalitions have different backgrounds but come together because they share a goal. For example, parents, teachers, business owners, and city council members might form a coalition to build a teen center, just as nations that do not agree on all issues might form a coalition because they all want peace. |
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| 7787 |
coincide |
happen simultaneously |
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When things happen at the same time, they are said to coincide. Often, this is because they're intentionally coordinated––"the bake sale coincided with Parent Day"––but not always. |
Coincide can also mean happen together in other ways. "My mother's views on appropriate teen fashion do not always coincide with mine" is an über tactful way to say she hates your clothes. You could also describe two roads coming together as coinciding––though it's more poetic to talk about when they diverge. |
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| 7788 |
dedication |
complete and wholehearted fidelity |
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Dedication means "committing yourself to something," like your dedication to marathon training that had you running every single morning for four months. |
Dedication can be complete devotion and faith in someone or something, like your dedication to your family, a ceremony in which something is officially named, like the dedication of a new building. Another kind of dedication is a short message written to someone, like the dedication "Happy Birthday, Uncle Fred," which you write inside the book you give him, or something extra added to an autograph, like "To my greatest fan!" |
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| 7789 |
criminal |
someone who has committed a punishable act |
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A criminal is someone who breaks the law. If you're a murderer, thief, or tax cheat, you're a criminal. |
When you think of criminals, your first thought might be of someone awful like a murderer. But this word is a lot broader — Anyone who breaks the law is technically a criminal, even if the crime is just not paying a speeding ticket. You can also talk about criminal activities: things that are illegal. Lots of TV shows are about police officers and lawyers trying to catch criminals who are engaged in all kinds of exciting criminal activity. |
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| 7790 |
impenetrable |
not admitting of passage into or through |
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Impenetrable describes something that's impossible to get through. Whether it's a brick wall or a difficult reading passage, something impenetrable won't let you in. |
Impenetrable comes from the Latin impenetrabilis, meaning "not to put or get into, enter into." Impenetrable, the adjective, has two meanings. When you're trying to learn a subject that is so complicated, so confusing or so detailed that it seems like it's in another language or from another planet, it's impenetrable — like calculus. Or a physical object can be impenetrable, meaning it is impossible to actually enter or get inside of, like that impenetrable nightclub that has bouncers watching every entrance to keep you and your friends out. |
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| 7791 |
merry |
full of or showing high-spirited joy |
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To be merry is to be happy, especially in a fun, festive way. Parties and celebrations are merry, and so are the fun people who attend them. This old fashioned word for “happy” is popular in December when people say, “Merry Christmas.” |
To be merry is to be happy, jaunty, and ready to frolic. A group of people laughing as they walk down the street is a merry gang. Anything merry is festive, often involving games, celebrations, and parties. A merry-go-round makes kids happy as it spins them around. Smiling and laughing are signs of being merry. If you go along your merry way, you walk away happily, maybe even skipping. |
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| 7792 |
reject |
refuse to accept or acknowledge |
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When you reject something, you rule it out or dismiss it. If you're trying to pick a fancy restaurant to go to for your birthday, you'll probably reject the diner you went to just yesterday. |
The verb reject has several shades of meaning Reject can mean to refuse to accept or agree with something. If you don't believe space aliens are living on earth, you reject the idea — you just don't believe it. Reject can also mean to turn down something with contempt. If the "cool kids" in your high school reject you, they'll ignore you in the halls and also show contempt by making fun of you behind your back. |
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| 7793 |
manufacture |
put together out of artificial or natural components |
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To manufacture something, is to make or construct it, usually for industry and sale. Unless you make all your own clothes, a company probably had to manufacture them. |
Manufacture is generally associated with industry and factories. Henry Ford, for instance, revolutionized industry by using assembly lines to manufacture Model Ts. But manufacture can also be used for the natural word, like bees that manufacture honey. Occasionally it use used more generally to mean to construct by putting parts together. And in a pinch, you can manufacture — or make — the truth, which is a creative way to say “lie.” |
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| 7794 |
seclusion |
the act of shutting oneself off from others |
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Seclusion means being separate, and apart from others, in a quiet kind of way. If you want seclusion, try a private island. |
The word seclusion implies privacy as well as separateness. An island with no other islands around it or a cabin in the middle of a forest will offer you seclusion if you need to get away from other people. Some nations have a policy of seclusion — they do not allow people, products, or ideas to cross their borders and enter the country. |
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| 7795 |
envious |
painfully desirous of another's advantages |
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Envious is another way to say jealous or resentful — in other words, you want what someone else has, whether it's charming good looks or the last chocolate frosted donut. |
Once upon a time, envious meant “eager to emulate.” Now a days this adjective is used to describe covetous feelings or a state of painful desire. Envious usually isn't a good thing to be; it's better to let it go and be happy with what you've got. Just remember the words of the wise Greek philosopher Antisthenes: "As iron is eaten away by rust, so the envious are consumed by their own passion." |
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| 7796 |
inventory |
a detailed list of all the items in stock |
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An inventory is an itemized list of everything you have. So you better take inventory of what’s in the fridge before going grocery shopping. Otherwise you'll end up with more jars of mustard that you don't need. |
The noun form of inventory developed in the early 15th century from the Middle French inventaire, meaning “detailed list of goods.” It's most commonly used in retail: a shop's inventory is everything that they have in stock, ready to sell. You can also use inventory as a verb when you want to describe the act of listing out the merchandise or supplies you have on hand. |
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| 7797 |
conflicting |
in disagreement |
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Feeling at odds? In total disagreement? Then you're probably dealing with something conflicting. |
The adjective conflicting is rooted in the word conflict for a reason: When things are conflicting they're in conflict, disagreeing or contradicting each other. Conflicting reports or theories go against each other. Sometimes people get conflicting emotions when they're torn over a really hard decision. And conflicting personalities? They're completely incompatible. |
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| 7798 |
assignment |
an undertaking that you have been told to perform |
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Whether you’re an international spy with a new mission or a high school student with math homework — when you get an assignment, you’d better do it! An assignment is a task that someone in authority has asked you to do. |
The word assignment is just the noun form of the common verb assign, which you use when you want to give someone a duty or a job. When you assign something, that something is called an assignment. The word can also refer to the act of distributing something. If you are distributing new office furniture at work, you might say, “Assignment of the new chairs will begin tomorrow.” |
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| 7799 |
dub |
new sounds added to a soundtrack |
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If your brother is obsessive about doing the laundry, then you might dub him the "Scion of the Spin Cycle" or the "Dean of Detergent," meaning you’ve given him a funny nickname that’s inspired by his personal quirks. |
The verb dub traces back to the French word adober, meaning “equip with armor,” and originally referred to making someone a knight. Dub still carries that meaning, although now it's more likely to describe the giving out of titles of a different kind. Use this word when you give someone a playful nickname or an unofficial title based on some notable characteristic the person has, like dubbing your sister the "Queen of Shoes." |
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| 7800 |
pastime |
a diversion that occupies one's time and thoughts |
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A pastime is any hobby or activity that you do to pass the time. Usually, people enjoy their pastimes. |
When baseball was more popular, it was called the "national pastime," because so many people enjoyed watching or playing it. Baseball is still a major pastime, as are many other sports. Other pastimes include listening to music, playing music, watching TV, playing video games, playing with your dog, and any kind of hobby. Whenever you're awake and not working, you're probably enjoying a pastime. |
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| 7801 |
defect |
a failing or deficiency |
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A flaw in something is a defect. At certain stores you can buy clothes with slight defects. You have to be careful because the defect can be minor, like a missing button, or major, like sleeves of uneven lengths. |
In a person, a defect is an imperfection, which can manifest itself mentally or physically. If you are diagnosed with a heart defect, you will have to seek the advice of specialists. A hearing defect might leave your dad deaf in one ear. If you are becoming forgetful, you can joke that you are developing a mental defect, but if it continues, you'll probably want to have your head examined. |
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| 7802 |
mysterious |
beyond ordinary understanding |
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Something that is mysterious has a secret-like quality that makes it hard to understand or define, like your mysterious answers that made your friends curious about what you were really up to. |
A dark shadow skims across the surface of lake...a strange disease makes a city's inhabitants violently ill...a large, hairy creature is spotted wandering in the woods. These situations are all mysterious because we don't know their causes. You can see the word mystery in mysterious. A mystery is a hidden or secret thing, so something that is mysterious takes effort to understand, unless it is beyond our comprehension. |
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| 7803 |
indulgent |
given to yielding to the wishes of someone |
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Someone who is self-indulgent gives themselves a lot of treats. Parents who are indulgent cave to every desire their child expresses. Indulgent means lenient, or overly generous. |
Indulgent is a word that, here in Puritanical North America, is hard to know how to take. Is it okay to “indulge yourself” as so many spa advertisements suggest? Or is indulgent always associated with excess? You can indulge fantasies of figuring out the answer, or you can give in to an indulgent shrug and move on to another word. |
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| 7804 |
rig |
equip with sails or masts |
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When you rig something, you connect parts in a way that's so crazy it just might work. You could rig your jeans by using a paper clip to replace a button that pops. |
Rig can also describe deceiving people to achieve a certain outcome. Voting multiple times, purposely miscounting the number of votes a person received, even throwing out certain people's votes: these are all ways to rig an election. Outraged people say, "The election was fixed!" This doesn't mean it was repaired; it means it was rigged — fraud played a role in the outcome. |
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| 7805 |
sire |
the male parent of an animal, especially a domestic animal |
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A sire is an animal's father. A newborn foal might look very much like his sire, with a white stripe on his brown face. |
Every once in a while, the word sire is used for a human — your dad is your sire — but it's much more common to find this word describing an animal's male parent. It's also a verb, meaning "to father," as in "My prize pig sires the cutest piglets." In the old days, you'd also use sire to directly address a nobleman or a king. It comes from the Latin word senior, "elder." |
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| 7806 |
realize |
be fully aware or cognizant of |
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When you realize something, you become fully aware of what is happening, like when you realize all the people in your basement who are smiling at you and starting to sing to you are there because it's your birthday. Surprise! |
Realize usually describes the moment your thoughts click, like the moment you close the door behind you, you realize you don't have your keys. You are locked out! So you knock on your neighbor's door. You realize, here meaning that you are fully aware, that she might not appreciate having to help you because she's trying to leave for work. You tell her your new goal is to be more organized. She says, until you realize, or reach, that goal, you better hide an extra key somewhere in your yard. |
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| 7807 |
straightforward |
pointed directly ahead |
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Straightforward means direct in your approach. When you have a favor to ask of a friend, don't beat around the bush––say what you need in a straightforward way. |
If you want to propose marriage, you might go for the straightforward approach, saying, "Want to get married?" over dinner. Straightforward can also mean honest. If you have straightforward intentions, it means you're upfront about what you're trying to do. |
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| 7808 |
lonely |
lacking companions or companionship |
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There are a few definitions of lonely but they all share the same qualities: solitude, the absence of human company, and not a lot of exciting stuff going on. |
If being alone makes you sad, that’s one definition of lonely: the depressing feeling you get when no one else is around. Being alone doesn’t have to be a bummer, and sometimes lonely simply means preferring to be by yourself, like the lonely poet who takes long walks in the woods. Mars is a lonely planet because no life can survive there, and on a cross country trip you’ll drive down many long and lonely roads. |
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| 7809 |
resurrect |
cause to become alive again |
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To resurrect is to bring someone back from the dead. You can also resurrect things that are inactive or out of use. |
If you've ever seen someone bring a dead person back to life in a science fiction or fantasy movie, you saw them resurrect someone. Turning someone into a zombie or vampire is a type of resurrecting, and in the Bible Jesus resurrects Lazurus. Also, this word can apply to any kind of revival. A song can resurrect faded memories. A forgotten project can be resurrected if you start it up again. Resurrecting always involves bringing something back to life. |
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| 7810 |
revenge |
action taken in return for an injury or offense |
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Someone seeking revenge is looking to retaliate for a wrong that has been done. |
Sometimes a word can be used as either a noun or a verb, without changing the spelling. That's the case with revenge. You can take revenge (noun) on someone who hurt you, or you can revenge (verb) the hurt, punishing the person who wronged you. While revenge may be sweet, it usually just leads to more revenge from the other side, and so on. While that makes a good Shakespeare play, it can get pretty wearing in real life. |
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| 7811 |
invent |
come up with after a mental effort |
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To invent is to create for the first time or make up. If you tell your friends that you invented the electric guitar, you are inventing a pretty unbelievable story about your past. |
When you think of the word invent, think of Thomas Alva Edison who invented the long-lasting light bulb, the motion picture camera, the phonograph, and the stock ticker. That's a lot of inventions! You couldn't invent a better story of American ingenuity, could you? |
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| 7812 |
par |
the standard number of golf strokes |
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In golf, par is the average number of times an excellent player needs to hit the ball, either for one particular hole or for the entire course. You might describe the fourth hole, for example, as being par five. |
If a golf course is par sixteen, it takes a really good golfer about sixteen strokes to get her ball into the final hole. From the sports meaning of par, it's come to also mean "average" or "equivalent," especially in phrases like "under par," or "worse than expected," and "par for the course," or "what is normal given the circumstances." This definition actually came first, in the form of the Latin par, "equal." |
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| 7813 |
aggression |
a disposition to behave forcefully and energetically |
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Aggression is hostile, purposely unfriendly behavior that can sometimes be violent. A motorist who shows aggression for another may follow too closely, honk the horn, or otherwise try to intimidate. |
When someone deliberately tries to make another person feel intimidated or threatened, it's an act of aggression. Forceful, unfriendly behavior towards others is one example of aggression, and one country's hostile action toward another is also a kind of aggression. It's been used since the 1600s to mean "an unprovoked attack," from the Latin root word aggressionem, "attack," and in 1912 aggression was first used to mean generally "hostile behavior." |
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| 7814 |
vista |
the visual percept of a region |
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A vista is a scene, view, or panorama. It's what you stop to see when you climb to the top of a mountain, or pull off the road at the "scenic view" rest stop. |
Vista is an Italian word that means "sight" or "view." It's the same in Spanish and is related to the verb avistar, which means "to catch sight of." Hasta la vista! means, literally, "Until I see you!" (or, more simply, "See you later!"). As in Spain and Mexico, we like to name our towns after a vista: Buena Vista ("great scenery"), Chula Vista ("pleasant view"), and Rio Vista ("overlooking the river") are all places in California. |
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| 7815 |
petty |
small and of little importance |
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Petty used to mean just "petite" or "small," but now it's used for things that are trivial and shouldn’t matter much. If you host world leaders and spend more time picking napkins than memorizing names, you're focused on petty things. |
A few neutral meanings of petty are still in use today — such as "petty cash," which refers to a small amount of cash on hand — but most uses of petty since the 16th century are negative, as in "narrow-minded," "trivial," and "of little importance." A "petty argument" is a popular expression, because many people get all worked up over something that isn't very important — a petty concern — that seems much smaller after the heat of the moment. |
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| 7816 |
relative |
not absolute or complete |
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A relative is a person who is part of your family. Parents, siblings, uncles, aunts, grandparents, cousins, nieces and nephews — they're all relatives. |
A relative can be connected to your family through blood or by marriage. If you are a child or grandchild of Maria's, for example, you are a blood relative of her family. If you marry Maria's son, you become a relative by marriage. Relative is also an adjective that means "estimated by comparison," like the steep hill that is tiny, relative to the mountain behind it. |
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| 7817 |
epidemic |
a widespread outbreak of an infectious disease |
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An epidemic is a disease that spreads rapidly among many people in a community at the same time. In the 1980s, the fast-spreading AIDS epidemic transformed life on our planet. |
Epidemic can be used figuratively to refer to something that spreads or grows rapidly: an epidemic of laziness has taken over the tenth grade. This word is from French épidémique, ultimately from Greek epidēmia "staying in one place, among the people." The related word pandemic refers to a disease that spreads throughout an entire country or throughout the world. |
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| 7818 |
mutilate |
destroy or injure severely |
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Mutilate is a verb that means to injure or ruin, usually in a brutal or messy way. If you drop a cantaloupe into a wood chipper, you'll mutilate that poor melon, with chunks of fruit and rind flying everywhere. |
Mutilate can also mean altering an object so it's unrecognizable. Once you mutilate something, it'll no longer resemble its original form. Celebrities who get too much plastic surgery are said to mutilate their faces, because they no longer look like themselves. Mutilate can also describe causing a disfiguring injury. Monsters and evil villains in horror movies tend to mutilate their victims instead of neatly murdering them. |
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| 7819 |
endowment |
natural abilities or qualities |
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An endowment is a gift. It might be money given to an institution like a college. Or, an endowment might be a natural gift, say of a physical attribute or a talent. If you lack the endowment of musical talent, you could play the tambourine. |
To endow means "to give or bequeath," and the background of the word endowment goes back to the 15th Century, where it was used to refer to money or property that is given to an institution. An example can be found in the National Endowment for the Arts, an organization dedicated to providing grants to fund artistic endeavors. Your natural endowments — speed, agility, endurance — make you an excellent soccer player. If only you could wake up in time for practice. |
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| 7820 |
bouquet |
an arrangement of flowers that is usually given as a present |
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A bouquet is an arrangement of flowers. A simple bouquet of flowers from your garden makes a lovely centerpiece for your table or a nice hostess gift when you are a guest. |
The word bouquet comes from the Old French term meaning "clump of trees." Because it would be difficult for a bride to lug a clump of trees down the aisle at her wedding, thankfully the word now means "a small bunch of arranged flowers." Bouquet can also describe the scent of these flowers, or anything that is a blend of scents, like perfume or wine. |
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| 7821 |
unaccountable |
not to be explained |
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People, especially those in leadership positions, are described as unaccountable when they behave as though they don't need to explain themselves, answer to anyone else, or take responsibility for their actions. |
We often complain about the need for "accountability" when our leaders spend our money, oversee our wars, or make confusing new laws without explaining to us what's going on. If there's nothing in place to keep them from being corrupt, we say that they are "unaccountable." Another interesting definition of unaccountable is "unexplainable." Crop circles, Big Foot sightings, and unidentified flying objects are mysterious and unaccountable. |
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| 7822 |
importune |
beg persistently and urgently |
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Sure, to importune is to beg, but use it only when you're talking about going beyond mere begging into more urgent territory. The woman importuned the judge to release her innocent brother from jail. |
The original Latin term actually meant something closer to "to bother." Bear that in mind when you're deciding whether to use importune, because that's the kind of begging you'd want to be talking about when you do. Imagine needing something so badly that you cannot stop asking for it: then you might importune someone to get it. After a year of being importuned, dad let me have the car. |
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| 7823 |
framework |
the underlying structure |
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Framework refers to the initial structure of a building. If you ever wanted to walk through walls, you can get your chance when a new house has just the framework done, because the house will have walls with openings for windows and doors but no plaster or siding. |
From the literal meaning of framework — the initial structure of a building — English added figurative meanings. The noun framework, for example, can be any underlying structure something is built on, so you will see examples like: a framework for solving the problem, a framework for the computer program, and a framework for a new relationship. |
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| 7824 |
authorize |
grant permission or clearance for |
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To authorize is to give official approval or clearance for something. Authorizing can also delegate power to someone. |
Authorities are people with power, and to authorize is to use or grant some of that power to another. A visa authorizes you to visit a specific country. A search warrant authorizes the police to search a house. A doctor's note authorizes someone to miss work or school. Also, authorizing can be a form of delegating powers or responsibilities. The president of a company could authorize a worker to make a particular decision. Authorizing officially allows something to happen. |
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| 7825 |
reunion |
the act of coming together again |
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A reunion usually refers to a gathering of folks who haven't seen each other for a long time. High school reunions are notorious for reuniting middle aged people who are anxious to relive their high school years. |
Since a union is a state of togetherness — like a marriage — a reunion is when people get back together after some sort of separation. This could refer to a political reunification — like the reunion of East and West Germany as one nation — but it's usually smaller in scale. At high school and college reunions, people see friends they haven’t seen for years. A reunion doesn't have to be so official. Seeing any friend after an absence is a reunion. |
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| 7826 |
flow |
move along, of liquids |
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The word flow has many shades of meaning but most involve the steady movement of something. Water can flow in a river, electricity can flow through a wire, and talk might also flow as you sit and chat with friends. |
The verb flow often describes the movement of fluids, such as water or even blood, but it can also describe other things that move in a constant stream. When you get that high-paying job, money might flow into your bank account. Until then, offers for help might flow in when you need to pay your credit card bill. Flow has a noun form as well. You might watch the flow of traffic on the street. |
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| 7827 |
monotony |
the quality of wearisome constancy and lack of variety |
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Monotony is when you have too much of a boring thing: one tone of voice going on and on, one piece of flat music playing over and over, one infomercial droning on and on. There is no variety in monotony. |
Monotony goes back to the Greek root monotonos, which comes from mono-, "single," and tonos, "tone." One tone only equals monotony. A day with a lot of repetition, or monotony, is humdrum. When you get too much of the same boring, one-note thing, you experience monotony. Monotony. Monotony. |
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| 7828 |
colonial |
relating to a body of people who settle far from home |
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The colonial period of United States history occurred before 1776, when America was still 13 colonies under British rule. |
You can use the word colonial to describe an inhabitant of a colony ruled by another country, but you wouldn’t call a painter living in an artists' colony a colonial. On the other hand, ants, which live in ant colonies, are colonial insects. British colonial is a style of furniture the British favored for their houses and tents in India or on safari in Africa — when India and parts of Africa were British colonies. |
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| 7829 |
multiply |
combine by adding the same number repeatedly |
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When you multiply two numbers, you increase the first by the same number that's specified by the second. In other words, when you multiply two by three, you add together three twos. |
When you're doing simple math problems, you can multiply by memorizing lists of times tables — or you can add one number as many times as the second number: four times two is the same as two fours, or eight. Another way to multiply is simply to increase or expand greatly: "If the diner starts serving homemade pie, their profits will multiply." The Latin root is multiplicare, "to increase," from multiplex, "having many folds." |
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| 7830 |
drone |
make a monotonous low dull sound |
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To drone is to make a low, continuous noise that sounds like humming or buzzing. On summer nights, you might hear cicadas drone, and on snowy winter mornings, hear your neighbor's snow blower drone. |
Like animals and machines, people drone too, their voices sounding dull and tedious: "When my history teacher drones on, it's hard to stay awake." Drone is also a noun, meaning the monotonous sound itself, like the drone of a boring lecture; or a male worker bee; or a person who's as unambitious as a worker bee. Finally, there are the drones that fly by remote control, doing surveillance, gathering weather information, and occasionally firing missiles for the military. |
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| 7831 |
ratified |
formally approved and invested with legal authority |
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If something is considered ratified, it has been officially approved. When a constitutional amendment is voted into law, it is said to be ratified, or formally accepted. |
The first known use of ratified in English occurred in the 14th Century. It comes from the Medieval Latin ratificāre, which meant "to confirm or approve." The word ratified is somewhat formal, and is officially used in government proceedings or for contracts or treaties. Still, the idea of something being confirmed or endorsed carries through in Viennese Editor Henry Anatole Grunwald's observation that "Home is one's birthplace, ratified by memory." |
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| 7832 |
refine |
reduce to a pure state |
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When you refine something, you make it better. Whether it's sugar or an essay, refining it requires fixing its flaws. |
You may think you created a masterpiece on the first try. But there's always room to refine. More than just working out the kinks, refining something means you're going to fine tune it, hone it to perfection, and make it more precise. In scientific terms, to refine something means to reduce it down to a pure state. At the dinner table, you can please grandma by refining your manners. |
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| 7833 |
savage |
without civilizing influences |
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A polar bear in a zoo might look like an adorable giant stuffed animal, but if you met a hungry one in its native environment, it would seem more savage — wild and fierce — than cute. |
Describing an animal as savage means that it is true to its wild, ferocious nature, but if you describe a person or the actions of a person as savage, it means "cruel" or "brutal." A place can also be described as savage if it's untamed, uninhabitable, and unwelcoming. When savage takes the form of a noun, it means "a brutal person," and when it's a verb it means "to attack ferociously." Any way you use it, savage is uncivilized and violent. |
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| 7834 |
keel |
one of the main longitudinal beams of the hull of a vessel |
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The keel of a boat is the beam that runs the length of the hull — the body of the boat — and can extend vertically into the water to provide stability. |
A keel doesn't just refer to the stabilization of boats. When you're on "an even keel," you're stable and steady. On a bird, the keel (or breastbone) enables a bird to fly. On the other hand, if you keel over, you're quite the opposite, since you've just gone crashing to the floor. |
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| 7835 |
pretense |
the act of giving a false appearance |
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When you operate under a pretense, you're not being honest. You're pretending. If you say you're going to a party because you’re eager to see your friend, but really you're just interested in the birthday cake, you’re acting on pretense. |
Pretense involves deceiving on purpose, and it's usually something you shouldn’t be proud of. Under the pretense of being a college student, you might sneak into a library restricted to enrolled students. That’s dishonest and deceitful. But pretense isn’t always bad. You might not want to hurt your mother’s feelings, so you make a pretense of loving her tuna casserole, even though you’re trying not to gag on it. |
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| 7836 |
punctual |
acting or arriving exactly at the time appointed |
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When someone says “Be punctual,” that means you better be there on time. Five minutes late won’t cut it. |
Some people seem to follow an appointment clock instinctively. We call those types punctual. They'll check their watch when you arrive three minutes late. The word punctual originates from the Latin word punctualis, which means “a point.” To be punctual, you have to arrive at the right point in time. For your appointment. Get the point? |
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| 7837 |
labored |
requiring or showing effort |
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The adjective labored is used to describe something that is difficult or requires effort to perform. If you are pregnant with triplets by the ninth month your walking will be labored. |
The adjective labored can describe something that is lacking natural ease or style. If you have to recite Shakespeare and you do so haltingly or self-consciously, then you have given a labored performance. If you then become really nervous and start to hyperventilate during a recitation of Hamlet's soliloquy, you will have labored breathing. |
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| 7838 |
cooperate |
work together on a common enterprise of project |
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When you cooperate, you work together. You can cooperate with the police by telling them everything you know about your neighbor’s pet leopard, or your preschooler can cooperate with you by doing everything you tell him to do, now! |
The verb cooperate is originally from the combination of The Latin prefix co-, meaning “together,” and operari, meaning “to work.” The term “co-op” is a shortening of cooperative and is used when people work together (or cooperate) to run a preschool, health food store, or a residence. When you start or join a co-op, be prepared to cooperate with your partners, and remember: somebody has to clean the bathrooms. |
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| 7839 |
clever |
mentally quick and resourceful |
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Clever may seem like a compliment, but this adjective boasts a rather broad range of meanings—from "intelligent" and "imaginative" to "calculating" or "contrived." |
The roots of the word clever, are unknown. It was in use colloquially long before it entered the literary record, and this may be a factor in the word's enduring suppleness. The earliest written examples of clever convey the idea of dexterity — that is, the term was used to describe someone who was good with his hands. Now, clever still means "agile" or "adroit," but it refers to mental, rather than physical, skill. Clever can also be used to describe the products of a nimble mind, such as a "clever scheme" or a "clever device." |
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| 7840 |
grade |
a position on a scale of intensity or amount or quality |
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Grade means "to evaluate or rank," like teachers who grade their students or a food inspector who grades a crop, determining whether it is "food-grade." |
Grade can be both a noun and a verb. The verb form is used when you grade something, meaning you assign it a value. The actual mark assigned is the noun version of the word grade, such as an A or B. The noun grade can be used to indicate the rank or quality of other items as well, like professional-grade cookware. Grade can also describe the slope of a mountain or road, like a steep grade that is dangerous in bad weather. |
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| 7841 |
parade |
a ceremonial procession including people marching |
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A parade is a group of people marching in ceremony, celebration, or protest. Often a parade involves fire trucks, costumed adults throwing candy to children, baton twirlers, and members of the armed forces. |
Parade is also a verb, meaning to walk or march ostentatiously. When your sister first brings home her prom dress, she might parade around the living room after putting it on so everyone can see it. As a noun parade is an event in which a whole lot of people march in the streets — they could be wearing prom dresses, but more likely they're celebrating of a holiday or taking part in a military action. |
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| 7842 |
graceful |
characterized by beauty of movement, style, or form |
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Use the adjective graceful to describe movements that are lovely and elegant. If you watch a yoga class, you'll see a variety of styles, ranging from awkward to graceful. |
Were some people born graceful? From their elegant way they move to their great timing and well-chosen words, being graceful does seem to come naturally to some. For others, it comes with practice and being focused. For example, the discipline of ballet makes dancers graceful — even when reaching for something on a high shelf at the grocery store. |
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| 7843 |
circuit |
a journey or route all the way around a place or area |
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A circuit is a circular path. It could be the circuit of an electric current or the route of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. If you’re promoting your new book, you’ll be making the talk show circuit. |
What all these circuits have in common the idea of tracing a circle. A circuit preacher doesn't stay at one church, but instead travels from church to church, following a particular route. Originally US judges traveled from town to town, too, and today’s division of the country into twelve judicial circuits is a holdover from that era — "the Third Circuit," for instance, includes Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. |
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| 7844 |
insane |
afflicted with or characteristic of mental derangement |
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To be insane is to be mentally ill. This is also a slang word for acting wacky or wild. |
This word has two closely related meanings. People who are insane are suffering from mental illness, which is very serious. When someone commits a crime, it's important to know if they were sane or insane. If they're insane, the penalty is different. Many uses of the word are not so serious. A wild party is called insane, and car salesmen say their prices are insane. A teacher assigning six hours of homework might be told "That’s insane!" |
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| 7845 |
stimulus |
any information or event that acts to arouse action |
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A stimulus causes an action or response, like the ringing of your alarm clock if you didn't sleep through it. |
Stimulus is a word often used in biology — something that causes a reaction in an organ or cell, for example. In financial and economic contexts, a stimulus may be an incentive: the money you spend on your membership is a stimulus for hitting the gym. Though it can be a synonym for stimulant, they are not always used interchangeably. A stimulant is often a chemical or drug that increases activity — think caffeine. For more than one stimulus, use stimuli, not stimuluses. |
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| 7846 |
nutrition |
the organic process of nourishing or being nourished |
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Nutrition is the study of food and drink. If you take a nutrition class, you'll become more aware of the health hazards of junk food. |
Nutrition also has a more general meaning — the source of materials needed to nourish your body, like vitamins, minerals, calories, carbohydrates, fats, and protein. When you study nutrition, you learn the right combinations of these to have great health. You also gain an understanding of how the body uses food to produce energy, grow stronger and repair itself — this process is also called nutrition. |
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| 7847 |
outraged |
angered at something unjust or wrong |
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When you're outraged, you're furious. You might be outraged over the rude treatment you get at a fancy, expensive restaurant. |
When something isn't fair, or offends you, it often results in your feeling outraged. You might be outraged on a friend's behalf after her brand new laptop is stolen, or feel outraged about the treatment of inmates at your state's largest prison. The adjective outraged comes from the noun outrage, with its oldest meaning of "evil deed, offense, or crime." The Latin root is ultra, or "beyond." |
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| 7848 |
lodge |
a small (rustic) house used as a temporary shelter |
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A lodge is an inn where travelers stay overnight. If you’re in need of a night’s sleep while traveling an out of the way country road, you’re more likely to find yourself at a lodge than a fancy or chain hotel. |
A lodge can also be a cabin in the woods; like an inn, it’s usually a temporary accommodation. But if you join your local lodge, you’ll be expected to be a regular visitor, at least at the monthly the meetings. Lodge is also a verb, meaning to stay temporarily, or to give someone a place to stay. If you lodge a toothpick between your teeth, though, you’ll probably hope it won’t stay there too long. |
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| 7849 |
spirit |
the vital principle or animating force within living things |
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If someone tells you you have a sagging spirit, that means your life-force seems to be missing. |
Spirit comes from the Latin word for "breath," and like breath, spirit is considered a fundamental part of being alive. Some people think of the spirit as a presence that's separate from the body, which is why spirit is another word for ghost. We also use spirit to mean "the general mood or intent," like when you tell your former enemy, "I approach you in the spirit of kindness." |
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| 7850 |
surviving |
still in existence |
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Someone who is still living, even after the death of another or the end of a situation or event, is said to be surviving. For example, if a person dies, the husband or wife is "the surviving spouse." |
The Greek philosopher Epicurus said, "You don't develop courage by being happy in your relationships every day. You develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity." The word surviving is the adjectival form of the verb survive, which comes from the Latin vivere, "to live," plus the prefix super-, "over, beyond." The surviving person is the one who manages to go on living after another's death. The word has a legal importance, in that a surviving person may be an heir. |
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| 7851 |
tired |
depleted of strength or energy |
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If you're tired, you should get some rest. If you're tired of being tired, you might need to eat better and exercise more. If you're tired of being told what to do, you should stop asking for advice. |
Tired can also mean that something is old news, or worn out to the point where people don't want to hear it anymore. Although you still find them funny, your co-workers think your impressions of your favorite cartoon characters are pretty tired. |
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| 7852 |
normal |
being approximately average or within certain limits |
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If something conforms to a general pattern, standard, or average, we describe it as normal, but of course that standard can change over time. What's normal today may be "abnormal" in the future. |
The word normal comes from a Latin word normalis, which described something made with a carpenter's square. Something built this way would be normed to have angles that were perfectly aligned and fit a general pattern. This meaning eventually gave us the broader sense of fitting a pattern, standard, or average. Doctors like you to be a normal weight for your height, so you may need to grow taller to make your doctor happy. |
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| 7853 |
devour |
eat immoderately |
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When you've gone all day without eating anything, you'll probably devour your dinner, especially if it's your very favorite homemade lasagna. Devour means to eat greedily and hungrily. |
The meaning of devour has grown to include the consumption of things other than food. If you sit down to start a book and look up ten hours later having turned the last page, you have devoured that book. If your after school job devours all your free time, chances are your grades are going to drop. The Latin root, devorare, means "to swallow down." |
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| 7854 |
vacancy |
an empty area or space |
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Vacancy refers to something being unoccupied. If a hotel has vacancies, there are rooms available. |
Have you ever noticed a store that's boarded up and empty, with signs like "For sale" or "For rent"? That's an example of vacancy: the store has no one in it. An unrented apartment is a vacancy, as is a house with no one living in it. Hotels put up a sign saying "No vacancies" when they have every room filled. It could help you remember what vacancy means if you know that a vacant lot is an empty lot. |
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| 7855 |
nominee |
a politician who is running for public office |
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A nominee is someone running for office. You could be a nominee for student council or for the presidency. |
To nominate is to name or select someone as a candidate for office. In the United States, the primary elections help each party figure out who to nominate to run for office. That candidate is called the nominee. Once a nominee is selected, he or she runs against the sitting president. There are nominees at every level of government. Being a nominee is quite an honor, but it's not the ultimate goal: a nominee could still win or lose the election. |
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| 7856 |
sleeper |
a rester who is in slumber |
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A sleeper is something that succeeds when no one thought it would. That low-tech movie about shark attacks that you shot on vacation and edited in your basement? It could be a sleeper if you market it in the right way. |
You probably know that sleeper can be used in an obvious sense to refer to someone who is asleep. But you also may hear the word used to describe something that becomes an unexpected success, like "a sleeper of a film" featuring unknown actors that ends up becoming the big summer hit. This sense of the word may have originated in the world of gambling in the nineteenth century. When a card player unexpectedly drew a winning card, the card was called "a sleeper." |
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| 7857 |
wager |
the act of gambling |
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To wager is to bet: you might say to your fellow train passengers, "I'll wager ten dollars that we won't get to Chicago on time." |
You can use the word wager as either a noun or a verb, to mean "place a bet" or "the amount of money being risked in a bet." So you could offer a wager at the poker table, or ask if anyone wants to wager on Monday's football game. Either way you use it, wager is a Middle English word that comes from the Old North French wage, "to pledge." |
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| 7858 |
imaginable |
capable of being conceived of |
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If something is imaginable, it's something you can think of or conceive. Often, this means the same as "possible." |
If something is imaginable, then it's possible to conceive it or grasp it with your mind. Since the mind is powerful, a lot of things are imaginable. This word is often used in exaggerations or to make something seem impressive. People will say things like, "That was the worst day imaginable," which means it would be impossible to think of a worse day. If you can think of something, it's imaginable. |
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| 7859 |
hideous |
grossly offensive to decency or morality; causing horror |
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Hideous is a word that means extremely ugly. Anything or anybody that is painful — and a little scary — to look at is hideous. |
This is a strong word. If you have a zit on your nose, you might feel hideous, but you're probably not. Only terrifyingly ugly people and things are truly hideous. In horror movies, the special effects team tries to make the monsters hideous, so moviegoers will be scared. This word can also be a more general term for awful things. For example, you could say the effects of a concussion are so severe that they're hideous. |
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| 7860 |
suburban |
relating to or characteristic of or situated in suburbs |
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Suburban refers to areas just beyond a city’s border. Your parents might have grown up in the city and then moved to a more suburban area after they had kids. |
If you see a lot of malls, plus houses that all look the same, and you're just outside a city, then you're in a suburban area: the suburbs. If you're from the suburbs, the chaos of New York City might be shocking. Suburban areas aren't as busy as urban (city) areas, but there's a lot more going on than in rural areas — farmland. One difference between suburban and urban areas is the urban areas have more cabs and public transportation. |
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| 7861 |
reminder |
a message that helps you remember something |
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A reminder helps you remember something. If you write "don't forget lunch" on your arm every morning, it means you need a reminder to grab your brown paper bag on your way out the door. |
A reminder helps you remember, whether it's an appointment, an acquaintance's name, or a grocery list. You can give yourself a reminder, or write one to another person who's prone to forgetting details. The word's been around since the 1650s, and it came from remind, which originally meant "to remember." Later, remind came to mean "to make someone remember," or "to put someone in mind of something." |
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| 7862 |
strict |
rigidly accurate; allowing no deviation from a standard |
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Strict describes someone who sticks to a particular set of rules. If your math teacher is strict, it means that she expects her rules to be followed to the letter. |
The adjective strict always has to do with rules. Your strict parents enforced rules and expected you to obey them. Your cousin might be a strict vegetarian who always follows her own rules about what to eat. Strict laws demand to be followed, and a strict follower of the First Amendment supports free speech no matter what. The Latin root of strict is strictus, which means "drawn together, tight, or rigid." A rigid adherence to rules is exactly what makes someone strict. |
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| 7863 |
braid |
make by interlacing |
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To braid is to lace or weave together. Hair that has been done this way is in braids. |
Have you ever seen someone with their hair bound together in thick, rope-like arrangements? That hairdo is called braids. Women often braid each other's hair or get it braided by a hairdresser. The longer your hair, the longer your potential braids. To braid hair, you have to weave the strands of hair together: this is also called plaiting, lacing, and interlacing. Other materials can be braided, but the most popular thing to braid is definitely hair. |
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| 7864 |
incline |
lower or bend, as in a nod or bow |
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Something that slopes — that is, something that deviates from the straight horizontal or vertical — can be called an incline. If you like to walk up and down hills, you enjoy walking on inclines. |
The Latin root of the word incline is inclinare, meaning "to lean." As a verb, the word incline can mean to bend, so you incline your head. It can also mean to be favorably disposed toward something and you can think of it as having a bent for or leaning toward something. If the weather is nasty, you may be inclined to stay home to watch a movie with a bowl of popcorn at your side. |
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| 7865 |
fleece |
outer coat of especially sheep and yaks |
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A fleece is a sheep's coat. Or a goat's. Or a yak's. A person's coat can be called a fleece, too, if it comes from a sheep or goat or a yak or even if it just looks like it did. |
You can also use fleece in an informal way to mean cheating someone. Remember how Mary had a little lamb whose fleece was white as snow? Well, it was such a nice, clean fleece that Mary tricked the lamb into trusting her, then robbed him of his fleece and turned it into a bomber jacket and a pair of boots. She totally fleeced him! |
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| 7866 |
ball |
an object with a spherical shape |
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Always round, often bouncy, a ball is a vital part of many games and sports, from soccer to four square to ping pong. |
The most common ball is the kind you hit, kick, bat, or duck and avoid on a playground, court, or field. In fact, most sports involve a ball in one way or another. Another fun kind of ball is a grand party that usually includes dancing, food, live music, and guests dressed up in glamorous clothing. These two meanings have different origins — the "fancy dance" kind of ball comes from a Greek root, ballizein, "to dance or jump about." |
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| 7867 |
plenty |
a full supply |
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If you've eaten your fill at a big meal, you know by your full stomach that you have had plenty. In fact, if you had more than plenty, you might even get the feeling you've had too much! |
The word plenty usually refers to more than just enough, and this comes, via Middle French plenté, from the Latin word plēnitās, "fullness," from plenus, "full, complete." The meaning is apparent in the following quote by English novelist George Eliot: "I think I should have no other mortal wants, if I could always have plenty of music." May you have plenty of what you need, and some of what you want as well. |
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| 7868 |
clamber |
climb awkwardly, as if by scrambling |
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To clamber is to climb awkwardly. Hamlet's Ophelia was said to have been clambering on a weak branch of a willow when she met her "muddy death." It's never a good idea to clamber, let alone on weak willow branches. |
We associate the word clamber far more often with toddlers (than Shakespearean tragedy). Toddlers are known for naturally clumsy, ill-coordinated movements we deem cute not foolish. Suitably enough, the word comes from the delightful and long obsolete Middle English word clamb, meaning the past tense of climb, a word that has all the happy logic of a toddler's imagination. |
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| 7869 |
contrivance |
the faculty of inventive skill |
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A contrivance is a gadget or device that can be used for some particular purpose. The spinning blade of a blender is a contrivance that turns fruits and yogurt into a tasty smoothie. Yum. |
A contrivance is a useful device or tool. It might be assembled or invented, and it's often mechanical, although you can really refer to anything that's made for a specific purpose as a contrivance. The word sometimes also implies a falseness or obviousness, like the contrivance of a spy's very fake-looking beard that's supposed to disguise him, or the contrivance of a novel's complicated, unbelievable plot. |
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| 7870 |
thoughtful |
exhibiting or characterized by careful consideration |
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You are thoughtful if you consider how your actions and words will affect other people’s feelings. It is thoughtful to cook your friend's favorite dish when you invite him over for dinner. |
The adjective thoughtful describes someone who pays attention or considers others' feelings when they speak and act. If your friend is heartbroken about a recent break-up, holding off on gushing about your new love is the thoughtful thing to do. Thoughtful can also describe intellectual depth, like a thoughtful essay on a well-known poem that focuses on a line that other scholars have overlooked. |
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| 7871 |
venom |
toxin secreted by animals |
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We’re pretty sure you wouldn’t drink a mysterious substance labeled “poisonous snake venom,” even if you didn’t know the meaning of venom. However, just to be clear, venom means "poison." Stay away from it. |
Venom is poisonous fluid produced by animals such as snakes, spiders, and certain people. Okay — we take that last one back, sort of. Scientifically speaking, people don’t produce venom, but they can certainly do so in a metaphorical sense. That’s why venom can also be used to mean “malice” or “hatred.” If you encounter someone who seems full of venom, remember that kindness can be a good antidote. (So can a really insulting remark.) |
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| 7872 |
supplicate |
ask for humbly or earnestly, as in prayer |
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If you don’t get the grade you were hoping for on your paper, you could try to rewrite it, or you could meet with your teacher and supplicate. Your humble requests for an ‘A’ may or may not work. |
This verb is derived from the Latin supplicare, “to kneel.” People often supplicate to God for help in the form of prayer, or supplicate to a judge for a lesser sentence. It is usually an earnest petition made to an authority figure and can be perfectly respectable or can be somewhat pitiful, like begging. |
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| 7873 |
gait |
a horse's manner of moving |
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Some people have a very distinct gait, or manner of walking or running, which allows you to recognize them from far away. |
Walking with two legs is a pretty straightforward task, so most of us (with the exception of runners) don’t think about our own gait very often. However, when four legs are involved, the definition of gait becomes more complex. In horseback riding, gait is used to refer to the particular sequence or pattern of footsteps that the horse is using. Well-known gaits include the trot, the gallop, and the canter. |
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| 7874 |
proper |
marked by suitability or rightness or appropriateness |
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Something proper is correct or right. There's a proper fork to use for salad, and a proper way to dress for a wedding. |
Things that are proper fit the situation — they're the right thing to do, because of custom or manners. A swear word is the opposite of proper language. Wearing a hat indoors isn't proper, as your grandparents have probably reminded you. Getting proper medical care means you've received the appropriate medical care. When things are proper, they're correct and suitable: they fit. |
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| 7875 |
illumination |
the quality of providing light |
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Illumination is light. Kids up past their bedtimes have been known to read entire books under their covers using only the illumination from a flashlight. |
Use the noun illumination to talk about light, like the illumination of the moon on the surface of a lake. Illumination can also refer to an understanding or a spiritual awareness, like when a mystery of your faith suddenly makes sense to you. The Latin root is illuminationem, "throw into light" — you can picture the light bulb over a person's head in a cartoon to remember the various meaning of illumination. |
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| 7876 |
adventurous |
willing to undertake new and daring enterprises |
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If you're adventurous, you're eager to try new things and take risks. If you can't wait to go kayaking in the Amazon and you're willing to try that stew with the weird things floating around in it, you're adventurous. |
Adventurous means eager for adventure, and both words come from the Latin for “about to happen” — an adventure always has an element of the unknown. Being adventurous means you’re willing to go where you haven’t been before and do things you’ve never done, even if you don’t know how it’s going to turn out. |
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| 7877 |
arithmetic |
mathematics dealing with numerical calculations |
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Arithmetic is another word for math, specifically the areas of math having to do with numbers and calculating. |
If you're good at adding, subtracting, dividing, and multiplying, then you're good at arithmetic, which is a big part of math. Arithmetic has to do with doing calculations. To answer most math problems, including almost all word problems, you need arithmetic. The most basic arithmetic is 2 plus 2, but as anyone who's ever taken algebra can tell you, it can get a lot more complicated than that. |
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| 7878 |
induct |
place ceremoniously or formally in an office or position |
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Induct is what groups do when they formally accept new members, like the honor societies that, every school year, induct students who meet the qualifications. |
When you induct someone into a group, you formally welcome him or her as a member. The word is typically used to describe official acceptance of a position or admittance into an organization, such as a professional society. It can also be used to describe someone who has formally enrolled in the military. Don't use it for informal joining, though — you wouldn't induct a new friend or be inducted at the gym where you have just started a membership. |
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| 7879 |
suit |
a set of garments for outerwear of the same fabric and color |
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Among many other meanings, a suit is a jacket and pants that match — formalwear for men. Suits are well-suited (appropriate) for some jobs and formal events, like a funeral. |
A suit is also short for a lawsuit — like when you file a suit against a doctor who removed the wrong kidney. A suit is also an appeal to someone who has something you want — like money or affection. In cards, the suits are hearts, diamonds, spades and clubs. If a hat looks good on you, it suits you. In fact, you can say of just about anything you like, "That suits me." Like a well-fitting suit, when something suits you, you enjoy it and feel comfortable with it. |
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| 7880 |
intruder |
someone who enters a place or situation without permission |
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An intruder is someone who enters a place or situation despite not being invited. If a Girl Scout comes to your door to sell you cookies but ends up trying to watch TV with you, you can call her an intruder. |
Some intruders are robbers who break into homes or businesses with the intent to steal things: "The intruder was charged with trespassing, and later was found to have stolen some jewelry and cash." Other intruders might instead invade someone's privacy. Intruder comes from the verb intrude, from the Latin root intrudere, "to thrust in," a combination of in- and trudere, "to thrust or to push." |
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| 7881 |
banner |
long strip of cloth or paper for decoration or advertising |
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As you listen to your guests sing to you on your birthday, you may see a long banner, or sign, hanging from the ceiling and announcing in sparkly letters, "Happy Birthday to You!" |
The noun banner often refers to a long sign that is announcing or advertising something. A banner might declare "Congratulations!" "Free Hot Dogs Here!" or, at a protest, "We're Not Going to Take It Anymore!" Banners have also gone virtual; it's hard to avoid seeing at least one annoying advertising banner across the top of any highly-trafficked website. A banner can also be a flag, as in "The Star Spangled Banner," or a championship banner hanging in a school gym. |
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| 7882 |
hesitation |
the act of pausing uncertainly |
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A hesitation is a pause. If your friend asks you, "Do you like my new haircut?" you'd better make sure there's not a second's hesitation before you answer, "Yes, of course!" |
Hesitation happens when you feel uncertainty or doubt. It can be a pause in speech, a faltering moment before you act, or a silent second of indecision. If your friend's dog is growling and staring you down, but she tells you he won't bite, that feeling that something not feeling right that stops you from petting him is hesitation. The Latin root of hesitation is haesitationem, which means irresolution or uncertainty. |
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| 7883 |
evaporate |
change into gas or steam |
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To evaporate is to fade away or to literally turn into vapor. If you leave a glass of water out and the water slowly disappears, it's not being consumed by elves; it's evaporating. |
People often use the word evaporate metaphorically because it produces a strong image of something disappearing like vapor. When the economy goes through a rough patch, funding for projects like education and the arts tends to evaporate or disappear. Your feelings for a mate might evaporate after you spend too much time with him or her. |
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| 7884 |
progress |
the act of moving forward, as toward a goal |
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The process of advancement and the way things move in the positive direction of improvement is called progress. If you got a B on your last test and a B+ on this one, that's progress. |
If you're moving toward a goal, you're making progress too. On a long trip, it feels like you're barely making progress, but every hour you've driven another 60 miles towards your destination. Or, the news reported recent progress in peace talks between the two feuding nations. Have you ever heard someone say that you can't stop progress? That means that things keep advancing and getting more complicated. Place the accent on the second syllable if you use it as a verb. Let's progress to the next stage. |
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| 7885 |
abandoned |
forsaken by owner or inhabitants |
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There's nothing spookier than an abandoned house that's still full of dusty, decaying furniture. When something is abandoned, it's been cast off or deserted. |
The adjective abandoned describes something that's been given up or discarded. You can use it to talk about a kitten abandoned at an animal shelter, an old car abandoned by the side of the road, or a person's dreams of becoming an opera singer abandoned when they had kids. It comes from the French phrase mettre a bandon, "put someone under another's control." |
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| 7886 |
idol |
a material effigy that is worshipped |
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An idol can be a religious image or a person who people admire and maybe even seem to worship. A statue of a Hindu god is a religious idol, but Madame Curie is an idol to aspiring scientists. |
The word idol comes from the Old French idole for "pagan god," through the Greek eidolon for “reflection in water or a mirror.” In religion, an idol isn’t the real deity but a representation of it. These days, rock stars and celebrities are idols, but so are scientists and writers. If you say Flannery O’ Connor is your idol, you don’t mean you bow down before a statue of the Southern writer, it just means you admire her big time. |
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| 7887 |
staple |
material suitable for manufacture or use or finishing |
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Bread. Milk. Gasoline. Xboxes. What do these all have in common? They're all a staple of most people's consumption — basic products for which there will always be a demand. |
Staple also has the broader more abstract sense of being anything that's popular or necessary. A staple of the political scene is partisan bickering; a staple of Broadway theater is the musical revival. And let's not forget another meaning — those handy little metal clasps that hold things together. Though most people wouldn't consider a staple a staple. |
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| 7888 |
fence |
a barrier that serves to enclose an area |
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A fence is a usually wooden or metal structure that encloses a yard, pasture, or other area. Many people with back yard swimming pools put fences around them to make sure small children don't fall in. |
The difference between a fence and a wall is that you can almost always see through a fence, at least to some degree, while a wall is solid. You can use fence as a verb too: "I think I'll fence my yard in, because my chickens keep wandering off." If someone calls you a fence, though, they mean you're selling stolen goods, and if you fence professionally, you participate in the sword fighting sport of fencing. |
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| 7889 |
narrow |
not wide |
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Narrow means less wide or to make less wide. When you narrow down your choices, you decrease the number of choices. A road might be too narrow for a car. |
When used to describe something physical such as a street or hips, narrow simply means not wide. Similarly, with quantities it means not much like when you win your basketball game by a narrow margin. But if you use it to describe an attitude, it has the negative meaning of not wide or open enough. If you're narrow-minded, you don't see the big picture –– sometimes it means you think in narrow stereotypes. |
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| 7890 |
insert |
introduce |
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When you insert something or someone, you put it into something else. You could insert yourself into a conversation, or you could insert a comma into the sentence you just wrote. |
The verb insert comes from the Latin in-, meaning “into,” and serere, meaning "to join." When you insert yourself into a conversation, you’re joining in, whether your friends want you to or not. Insert can also mean to fit snugly into, or to tuck. You might fit a card into an envelope that fits it perfectly, or insert first one leg and then another into a pair of tights. |
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| 7891 |
regain |
get or find back; recover the use of |
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After you get off of a crazy carnival ride, you'll probably have to regain your balance, or get it back. |
Any time you've lost something and want to recover it, you hope to regain it. If your friend is furious with you because you didn't keep a secret she told you, you'll probably try to regain her trust and as a result, regain her friendship. |
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| 7892 |
beak |
horny projecting mouth of a bird |
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When you see a bird pecking around in your backyard, it’s using its beak to probe the ground for food. A beak is the hard, pointed structure sticking out from a bird’s face. |
The word beak refers to the bill on a bird, which protrudes from the face and is used for eating, grooming, and pecking. You can think of it sort of like the mouth of a bird, only it’s made up of hard, horny material rather than flesh. The word beak is sometimes used informally to refer to a person’s nose, especially if the nose is large, prominent, and protruding — in other word, sort of like a bird’s beak. |
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| 7893 |
finances |
assets in the form of money |
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When you're talking about finances, you're talking about money and things that are worth money: assets, stocks, funds, resources, etc. |
Finances is a fancy word for financial matters — in other words, things having to do with money. Businesses often talk about their finances, meaning how much money they're making or losing, and how their financial future looks. Sometimes, this word is a euphemism: "My finances are spiraling downward" sounds better than "I am flat-out broke." When you're discussing finances, you're talking about every possible aspect of money. |
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| 7894 |
publication |
the act of issuing printed materials |
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A publication is something made to communicate with the public. Publications are usually printed on paper (like magazines and books), but online publications are delivered via the Internet. |
The noun publication comes from the Latin word publicare, meaning “make public.” Publication usually means something is written and made available publicly, but a company or government can submit publications of things like earnings or unemployment indexes that are communicated differently. If you are an aspiring author, publication of your work is, most likely, the Holy Grail you seek. |
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| 7895 |
insolence |
the trait of being rude and impertinent |
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Insolence is a rude, disrespectful act. The teenager's insolence got her in trouble with her teachers. |
Insolence is an act of or the trait of being a jerk, especially to someone you should respect. Insolence is what rude and stuck-up people show off every chance they get. They ignore their parents, walk out on dinner bills, elbow old people out of the way, and tell professors their clothes look cheap. Insolence is a trait to get rid of, not flaunt. Teenagers often embrace insolence when they get to the age when they think their parents are stupid. (It usually wears off.) |
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| 7896 |
collection |
the act of gathering something together |
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A collection is a group of things, often a group created by someone. For example, many kids have a collection of comic books. |
Notice the word collect in collection. If you like to collect — that is, gather — things, chances are you might have a collection of some sort. Some common types of collections are of books, stamps, and dolls. You can also refer to a museum's "collection of art." While you might call a group of people a gathering, you would call a group of rare coins a collection. |
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| 7897 |
sore |
causing misery or pain or distress |
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A sore is a broken patch of skin — something you might put a bandage on — or it's something that gives you pain, like a sore throat, that’s red and scratchy and painful. |
You can have a sore and you can also be sore: if you've just ridden your bike over the Alps, you're probably pretty sore — achy and hurting all over. Maybe you've heard phrases like "Don't be sore at me, boss," from old gangster movies, meaning "don't be angry." A sore point or a sore subject is something you don't want to discuss, like the sensitive topic of your last history quiz, the one you slept through. |
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| 7898 |
syndicate |
an association of companies for some definite purpose |
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A syndicate is a group of corporations working for a common interest. A syndicate might collectively raise money for a real estate project. A syndicate sometimes has a criminal side — it can also describe a similar alliance of gangsters. |
Syndicate entered English in the 17th century from the French word syndicat, meaning "representative of a corporation." The Lloyd's of London insurance group is an early example of a syndicate. Syndicate can also describe an agency that sells the rights to copyrighted material, such as feature articles, to newspapers or magazines. The word has a verb form as well. If you work for a syndicate, you might syndicate the classic "Peanuts" cartoon strip in hundreds of newspapers around the world. |
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| 7899 |
captive |
a person who is confined; especially a prisoner of war |
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A captive is something that has been captured and can’t escape, like a prisoner of war or a panda in a zoo. |
To be captured on the battlefield, and held captive is not so great, but captive doesn’t always describe things that are completely bad, like its synonym, hostage. If you fall in love you might say your heart is being held captive. Ideas that entrance you could be called captivating. Sometimes endangered animals are brought into captivity in order to breed larger populations, and then released into the wild. |
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| 7900 |
branch |
a division of a stem arising from the main stem of a plant |
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A branch can mean the "arm" of a tree, or any other kind of arm––a branch of a bank is a division of the bank. |
Branch also works as a verb. If you play soccer every day after school and you want to "branch out" athletically, you might consider playing tennis. You might turn onto a little road that branches off a main one. A branch of a river is called a tributary. |
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| 7901 |
cult |
a system of religious beliefs and rituals |
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People argue about whether the major religions of the world are just well-established cults — that, age and size aside, they are no different from any group that follows a spiritual leader. |
A cult is group of people defined by a "religious" devotion to something — often a self-appointed leader. Most people view cults as strange and frightening, mostly because cults have, over the years, done some strange and frightening things, including murders and mass suicides. Sometimes, too, you'll see cult used as an adjective to describe something or someone with a small, devoted fan-base. John Water's movies are cult favorites, adored by a select group of film lovers but not by the public at large. |
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| 7902 |
speak out |
express one's opinion openly and without fear or hesitation |
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When you speak out, you boldly and forcefully say exactly what you're thinking. If activists didn't speak out about injustice, discriminatory laws would never be changed. |
When people speak out, they let their voices be heard. A protester might speak out about her opposition to a government's policies, and a teenager might speak out to his parents about his entirely unfair curfew. In both cases, people are direct and open about how they feel and what they believe to be true. You could also say they speak up or say something loud and clear. |
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| 7903 |
distributed |
spread out or scattered about or divided up |
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Something is distributed when it's divided up or spread around, the way cupcakes might be distributed among guests at a birthday party. |
Distributed is a word that's often used to describe the stuff that businesses sell. When a truck pulls up to a convenience store and the driver unloads cases of soda, the soda is being distributed. The driver will go from store to store, distributing all of the soda in the truck between different stores and restaurants. Words and ideas can be distributed too, which is what happens at school when students are lucky. |
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| 7904 |
backward |
at or to or toward the back or rear |
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Backward means "toward the rear" or "behind." It’s the opposite of forward. If you stop peddling your bike on a hill, you’ll start rolling backward. If you count backward from 10 to 1, you probably just hypnotized someone. |
When you go backward, you move in reverse. You might give a backward glance at a person as you walk away. Backward also means "slow," or "behind the times," as in a backward government that doesn't allow girls to go to school. If you wear your clothes backward, then you’re dressing like Kris Kross, the hip-hop duo from the 90s. The Old English roots are on bæc, "back," and -weard, "toward." Backwards (with an “s”) is primarily British usage. |
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| 7905 |
passionate |
having or expressing strong emotions |
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Something that is passionate packs emotion, and possibly romantic emotion. A passionate plea will tug on your heartstrings and a passionate kiss will sweep you off your feet. If you want to stay unmoved, stay away from the passionate. |
If you're passionate about soccer, you can't get enough of it — you've got soccer pennants plastered on your walls, your TV is permanently tuned to the soccer channel, and you probably wear soccer jerseys under your button-down shirt. Passion can also come from intense feelings of love for a person. Be careful — you could be swept up in "a passionate embrace." |
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| 7906 |
fiber |
a slender and elongated substance that can be spun into yarn |
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Almost all fabrics, muscle structures, and even vegetables are composed of some sort of fiber, the noun meaning a long, thread-like substance. |
The word fiber is sometimes associated with moral character in a similar way that it is related to the physical material. The moral fiber of a person might be the thing that weaves together their character to make them the ethical (or unethical) person they are. For example, you might guess that the televangelist who asks for money from the elderly poor, but has a fancy sports car for every day of the week lacks moral fiber. |
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| 7907 |
adventure |
a wild and exciting undertaking |
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An adventure is an exciting and probably risky trip, effort, or undertaking. Let's go explore the jungle! Don't be scared — it'll be an adventure! |
To a kid from the city, a ride on the subway is just another trip across town. To a kid from the suburbs, though, it can be a real adventure — a trip to a strange place with all sorts of strange people, new sights, and surprising twists and turns. If you've ever been to the Great Adventure amusement park, you know that the whole place is designed to make you feel as though you're on a wild, exciting, and thrilling trip — a great adventure. People often go on an adventure hoping something wonderful will come of it. |
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| 7908 |
mania |
an irrational but irresistible motive for a belief or action |
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Mania is an extreme interest, desire, or craze. If you dye your dog's fur to match the colors of your favorite football team, you might be suffering from sportsmania. |
Mania has for centuries been associated with “madness” or “mental derangement.” It's still used in the mental health fields to mean the excitable, overactive phase of bipolar disorder or, as a suffix, to describe a compulsion, such as kleptomania (to steal) or pyromania (to set fires). More generally, it might be used as a suffix to describe enthusiasm, as in Beatlemania (The Beatles) or Pottermania (Harry Potter). |
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| 7909 |
infidel |
a person who does not acknowledge your god |
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Infidel is a nasty way of referring to someone who does not follow the same religion you do. How can you call people infidels and expect them to believe your religion is tolerant? |
Infidel comes to English from the Latin infidelis, which means "unfaithful," although it's almost always hurled at a person of different faith. You can also use the word more lightly to mean someone who doesn't share a common belief or opinion. Cries of "Infidel!" could be heard throughout the dorm when you announced that you didn't root for the local football team. |
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| 7910 |
trump |
get the better of |
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To trump is to outrank or defeat someone or something, often in a highly public way. Safety might trump appearance when you're buying a car, or your desires may trump your brother's when it comes to making weekend plans. |
In the card game bridge, the trump card is the most powerful card in a particular round and defeats all the others — sort of like when your needs or wishes trump someone else's. Originally trump implied a deceptive form of victory involving cheating, but that sense has been largely lost, though it's still around in the term trumped up, meaning something that's been falsely made up. A politician may face trumped up charges that could ruin his career. |
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| 7911 |
mystic |
beyond ordinary understanding |
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Look into my crystal ball; tell me what you see. If there's something about the future, something beyond human comprehension in there, maybe you're a mystic or someone who believes in supernatural realities. |
One of the most famous mystics in history is Nostradamus, who some people credit with predicting events like the French Revolution and the atom bomb. Whether you believe in mystics or not, the word is not just used to describe people. When something is mystic, it has to do with religious mysteries and practices or it simply inspires a sense of mystery or wonder, like the Himalaya Mountains, which some people consider a mystic place. |
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| 7912 |
indescribable |
defying expression |
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Something indescribable is too intense, extreme or unusual to describe. It's beyond words. |
Have you ever noticed how some things are tough or impossible to put into words? Those things are indescribable. The feeling after you win the Olympic gold medal in swimming is probably indescribable. The astronauts who traveled to the moon had an indescribable experience. Some say an incredible athlete like Michael Jordan is indescribable. Of course, nothing is truly indescribable — people describe just about everything. Still, this is a great word for when you feel like words just aren't enough. |
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| 7913 |
need |
require or want |
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A need is something essential: people need food, water, and shelter. When you lack them, you're in need. |
Besides physical needs like sleep, people have lots of psychological needs: like for love and friendship. To pass an exam, you need to study. To lose weight, you need to exercise more and eat less. Drug addicts feel a physical need for their drug — so do smokers. Often, we feel we need things that we actually just want: like a new video game or car. When someone is trying hard to get something, they might say "I need it!" |
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| 7914 |
desperation |
a state in which all hope is lost or absent |
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Desperation is a hopeless state. If you learned that your friend had sold her beloved shoe collection, you'd know she did it out of desperation. |
When you've lost hope or have run out of possible solutions to a problem, you're experiencing desperation. The word implies a reckless kind of frustration. For example, a person who hasn't eaten in three days might steal food out of desperation. The origin of the word traces back to the Latin desperare, "to lose all hope," which is formed from the prefix de-, "without," added to sperare, "hope." |
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| 7915 |
totter |
move without being stable, as if threatening to fall |
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If you spin yourself around until you are dizzy, you will likely totter if you try to step forward. Totter is a verb that means "move unsteadily, as though you are about to fall down." |
To totter is to move in a wobbly, unsteady manner. When a person totters, they look like they are going to fall down. In a boxing match, a boxer might totter after taking a blow to the head. During an earthquake, buildings may totter, or sway, appearing as though they may fall down. Totter can also imply a rocking motion; a playground seesaw, for instance, is sometimes called "a teeter-totter." |
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| 7916 |
aristocracy |
a privileged class holding hereditary titles |
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A person who's "born to rule" belongs to the ruling class, or aristocracy, and is "noble" just by being in the family line — whether they have done anything noble or not. In an aristocracy, a princess who doesn’t visit sick children or clear land mines is still a princess. |
"Rule of the best" or "by a privileged class" are 16th-century Latin meanings for aristocracy. There are examples of the "best" coming from ordinary society, no matter who their parents are, but often the aristocracy is made up of families who start ruling and keep the power in the family generation after generation. Kings and queens, princes and princesses, and dukes and earls, are all titles within an aristocracy, though some really hard-working and noble outsiders may earn a spot in the aristocracy too. |
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| 7917 |
revolutionary |
markedly new or introducing radical change |
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A revolutionary person fearlessly advocates radical change. Revolutionary people and ideas challenge the status quo and might be violent or willing to upset the natural order to achieve their goals. |
Like the word revolve, it's all about turning things around. Revolutionary leaders want to change the world by any means necessary. Before he was the coolest face on a T-shirt, Che Guevara was ready to die for change in South America (and in fact, he did). You don't need to be violent to be revolutionary, just ask Gandhi and Rev. Martin Luther King. You don't even need to be political. Alexander McQueen, John Lennon, and Picasso could tell you that. |
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| 7918 |
revive |
cause to regain consciousness |
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To revive something is to provide it with new energy or life, like when you revive a drooping plant by watering it, or when you revive a boring party by breaking out the karaoke machine. |
Revive comes from the Latin roots re-, meaning “again,” and vivere, meaning “to live.” So, the word revive means “live again.” While the possibility of bringing folks back from the dead isn’t something we’re qualified to comment on, we will note that revive can be used in a sense that’s very close to its literal meaning; specifically, revive can mean “cause someone to regain consciousness.” |
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| 7919 |
spiral |
something wound in a continuous series of loops |
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A spiral is a coil or curl, like the shape of a piece of hair wound around your finger, a Slinky toy, or a corkscrew. |
A curve forming a series of circles that become gradually larger or smaller is one kind of spiral. You can also use the word as a verb when something moves in a spiral shape: "Then the wind died and I watched my kite spiral down to the ground." The origin of spiral is the Medieval Latin spiralis, which means "winding or coiling," from a Greek root: speira, "coil, twist, or wreath." |
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| 7920 |
merger |
an occurrence that involves the production of a union |
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When two companies become one company, they've had a merger. A merger is like a marriage for things other than people. |
It might help you remember merger to think of something that happens on the highway: several lanes sometimes have to merge into one lane. Merging leads to more than one thing becoming one. Words that mean something similar to merger are unification and fusion. Separation and break-up are opposites of a merger. |
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| 7921 |
feather |
a light growth that makes up the covering of a bird's body |
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A feather is one of the soft, fringed plumes that cover the bodies of birds. Some feathers are tiny and downy, while others are large and brilliantly colored. |
Feathers are the main characteristic that separates birds from all other animals. Scientifically, feathers are described as growths or appendages that form on a bird's skin — but this definition can't capture how lovely feathers are. When feather is a verb, it usually means to turn or rotate an oar, paddle, or propeller so that it's parallel to the surface of the water. |
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| 7922 |
poisonous |
having the qualities of a substance that causes death |
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What do arsenic, cyanide, and bleach all have in common? They're poisonous. In other words, if you ingest these poisonous chemicals, you will most likely die or become very ill. |
If something is poisonous, you'd better not eat, drink, inhale, or touch it: it will make you sick. Some poisonous materials can even kill you. Of course, this adjective is derived from the noun poison, which is a toxic substance. You can also calls things poisonous if they're harmful in less physical ways. Spreading lies about someone is poisonous. Betraying a friend is poisonous. What both kinds of poisonous things have in common is that they do damage. |
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| 7923 |
rebel |
someone who exhibits independence in thought and action |
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When you rebel against your parents by dyeing your hair green and staying out without calling, you are acting in a way that questions both their authority and their rules about what is right and acceptable. |
A rebel is someone who fights authority. The story of a rebel often finds its way into books and movies. In the 1950s film "Rebel without a Cause," a teenager rebels against his parents. In the "Star Wars" movies, the Jedi rebel against the Empire. A rebel, whether the cause they are fighting for is just or not, is always the underdog. One pronunciation hint, rebel as a noun has the stress on the first syllable and as a verb on the second. |
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| 7924 |
embark |
go on board |
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When you embark on something, you are starting it — and it's exciting. You might embark on a new career or embark on a trip to the Galapagos Islands. You wouldn't embark on a trip to the grocery store. |
The verb embark can be used specifically to refer to boarding a ship for a journey. When used for general travel, the verb embark often implies a longer journey: "She embarked on a trip around the world." Besides, physical journeys, embark can be used to mean to start other kinds of journeys as well. You might embark on a spiritual journey or embark on the path to enlightenment. Pack well. |
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| 7925 |
trust |
belief in the honesty and reliability of others |
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If you trust someone then you believe that they’re honest and reliable. If you loan your car to someone, you had better trust them to bring it back to you, and in good shape. |
Trust takes many forms. You could trust in something abstract, like the idea that things happen for a reason. If you are naïve, people might take advantage of your trust. A trust can also be a fund or an alliance meant to take care of something. A trust fund gives money to some lucky trustee so that he doesn’t need to worry about employment. A wildlife trust saves land from development so animals can live there. |
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| 7926 |
specified |
clearly and explicitly stated |
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Something that is described as specified is explicitly named or stated. If you assign seats in your classroom, you ask the students to sit in specified seats — according to your seating chart. |
The word specified and several related words, including specify and specific, all have at their roots the Latin word species, meaning "a kind of" or "a sort of." All these words express the idea of naming things explicitly or categorizing them. If you're baking, you should try to use the specified ingredients and amounts or things won't taste right. |
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| 7927 |
sift |
move as if through a sieve |
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To bake a cake, you sift the flour to get out the lumps. When you sift, you separate out one thing from another. |
When you sort through the mail looking for the bills or go through your photos to find that shot of your dog, that’s sifting, too. Detectives sift through piles of evidence when investigating crimes, and you might sift through the hundred applications you get from drummers eager to join your band, to find Ms. Right. When you're at the beach, you can sift sand through your fingers, and you might see big machines that sift the sand to clean it. |
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| 7928 |
accounting |
a system that gives quantitative information about finances |
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Accounting is the act of computing something, usually by dealing with numbers. If you were very good at math in high school, you might think about going into accounting. |
You can see the word count within accounting, which is one way to remember that the word has to do with keeping track of numbers — usually in relation to financial transactions. Balancing your checkbook is a form of accounting. Large firms often hire accountants to keep track of their earnings and spending. Accounting can also more generally mean explaining. Someone who decides to wear shorts to the prom is likely going to have some serious accounting to do! |
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| 7929 |
denomination |
identifying word by which someone or something is called |
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A denomination is a way of classifying things — it names the type or value of something. Denomination often refers to money. For example, $20 bills are of the same denomination. |
When denomination is applied to money, you’ll often hear the terms “lower denomination” or “higher denomination.” If you hand the cashier a $50 bill to pay for your latte, she might ask if you have a bill in a lower denomination — she’s asking for a smaller bill, like a $5 or a $10. Denomination can apply to other things that are categorized by type, such as playing cards or groups within the same religious tradition. |
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| 7930 |
muffled |
being or made softer or less loud or clear |
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A muffled sound is quiet or muted. You might hear the muffled sound of your neighbors laughing through the wall of your apartment. |
If you don't want your brother to hear you cry after you finish a sad book, you might put your covers over your head, so all he'll hear is muffled sobs. And if your math class is giggling at your teacher's strange outfit, your hands over your mouths will produce muffled laughter. Muffled comes from muffle, "to cover," which probably stems from the Middle French mofler, "to stuff," and the Old French moufle, "muff or glove." |
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| 7931 |
socialist |
advocating the state ownership of industry |
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A socialist is someone who supports the political philosophy of socialism, which is a governmental system that advocates community ownership and control of all lands and businesses rather than individual ownership. |
The Latin word socius meant "companion," and led to the Old French word social, from which the word socialist derived. However, the meaning came to be so much more than just "associate." As opposed to a capitalist, a socialist advocates a society based on cooperation rather than competition . Winston Churchill once said, “It is a socialist idea that making profits is a vice; I consider the real vice is making losses." |
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| 7932 |
thump |
a heavy dull sound |
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A thump is a hard, thudding sound, or an equally hard hit or blow, like the thump your older brother gives you when you embarrass him in front of his friends. |
If you drop your backpack full of books it'll make a thump as it hits the floor. And, if your friend starts to choke on his lemonade at lunch, you might want to give him a thump on the back. You can also thump enthusiastically on a drum. Thump is an imitative word, one that mimics the sound of hitting something heavily. It dates from the sixteenth century. |
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| 7933 |
prophesy |
predict or reveal, as if through divine inspiration |
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The word prophesy can mean to predict or reveal something that will happen in the future. Many people use astrology to prophesy, or predict, their future regarding misfortune, wealth, love, and relationships. |
Used as a verb prophesy can mean to deliver a sermon or predict through divine inspiration. A religious leader may prophesy to followers about good, evil, and forgiveness. In ancient Greece, an oracle would prophesy the Greek's future regarding the gods, war, and harvest. Using a crystal ball, a fortuneteller will prophesy, or reveal, aspects of your future such as wealth, love, and death. |
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| 7934 |
thrill |
something that causes a sudden intense feeling |
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Thrill doesn’t refer to any old type of excitement; this stuff is intense. For many people, the experience of riding a roller coaster provides a great thrill, or an intense feeling of excitement. |
Thrill comes from an Old English word meaning “pierce,” suggesting the metaphor of being “pierced by emotion.” Thrill is often used in a strictly positive sense, though it can also refer to the unique combination of terror and pleasure that some people experience in certain situations — for example, when riding death-defying roller coasters or watching frightening flicks (often called thrillers). |
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| 7935 |
basic |
reduced to the simplest and most significant form possible |
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What's basic is what's essential, at the root or base of things. If you've got a basic understanding of differential equations, you can handle simple problems but might get tripped up by more difficult ones. |
You can also speak of the basics. If your kitchen is outfitted with just the basics, you've got some bowls and pots and pans, but you probably don't have an apple corer or a candy thermometer. If you're hitchhiking across the Gobi Desert, you'll want to have the basics of conversational Mongolian down. You've probably heard basic in chemistry class, too: it's the opposite of acidic. A basic solution has a pH greater than 7 and turns litmus paper blue. |
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| 7936 |
feud |
a bitter quarrel between two parties |
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A feud is a long-standing fight, often between two families. In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare describes the lovers' long-feuding families, the Capulets and the Montagues. |
Feuds do not have to be violent—what characterizes them is long-standing hostility. Ethnic groups can sometimes be said to be feuding. Kids in school who refuse to sit at the same lunch table over a period of years could describe their relationship as a feud. |
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| 7937 |
embarrassing |
causing to feel shame or chagrin or vexation |
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Use the adjective embarrassing to describe something that is shameful or humiliating. You probably have a few embarrassing stories that you'd rather not remember, but your siblings are always happy to bring them up at holidays. |
It's really embarrassing how many people misspell embarrassing. The word has two r's and two s's but you might forget and leave one of them out. Imagine how embarrassing it would be if you were winning the third grade spelling bee and got the word embarrassing wrong. You know everyone would be talking about it. How embarrassing! |
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| 7938 |
respect |
regard highly; think much of |
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Respect is a way of treating or thinking about something or someone. If you respect your teacher, you admire her and treat her well. |
People respect others who are impressive for any reason, such as being in authority — like a teacher or cop — or being older — like a grandparent. You show respect by being polite and kind. For a lot of people, taking your hat off is a show of respect. When people are insulted or treated badly, they feel they haven't been treated with respect. You can respect things as well as people. Saying the Pledge of Allegiance shows respect to your country. |
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| 7939 |
dynamic |
characterized by action or forcefulness of personality |
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If a person, place, or thing is energetic and active, then it's dynamic. When things are dynamic, there's a lot going on. |
Even the most exciting rural town won't be as dynamic as a big city: there are just more things happening in a city. Someone with a dynamic personality is probably funny, loud, and excitable; a quiet, mousy person isn't dynamic. You can also talk about the dynamic aspect of music, which has to do with how the music uses dynamics, which means "changes in volume." When things are dynamic, changes and energy are in the air. |
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| 7940 |
aroused |
stimulated to action |
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Use aroused to describe someone who is emotionally stirred up. The crowd at the protest march might be so aroused with passion that you can almost feel it through the television screen. |
Aroused has rouse at its root, an Old French hawking and hunting term that described a hawk ruffling its feathers. Aroused also means sexually excited. Your mastiff is aroused by the neighbor's beagle, who is in heat. You and the neighbor will have to keep the dogs apart for several days or you may end up as "grandparents" to some interesting looking puppies. |
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| 7941 |
prevail |
be larger in number, quantity, power, status or importance |
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Prevail means to successfully persuade someone of something. If you were a Presidential advisor and you convinced him to make a National Day of Pet Appreciation, then you prevailed upon him to recognize pets. |
Prevail can be used for different kinds of success. If you prevail upon someone, you have influence on them. If you prevail over someone, you win. Say you’re a big fan of a losing team. You might cheer, “Despite all odds, we will prevail!” To use prevail there has be some kind of contest. That could be internal, like when you’re on a diet and your desire to eat chocolate cake prevails over your discipline. |
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| 7942 |
shrewd |
marked by practical hardheaded intelligence |
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If you are shrewd in your spending, you can make a small salary go a long way. Use the adjective shrewd to describe a person or thing that is smart or clever in a practical sort of way. |
The word shrewd is from a Middle English adjective formed from the noun schrewe "an evil person, a villain." This Middle English noun is an earlier form of our modern English word shrew. So shrewd and shrew are related to each other. Shrewd doesn't usually have a disapproving or negative tone, but shrew certainly does. |
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| 7943 |
expanse |
a wide and open space or area as of surface or land or sky |
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An expanse is a huge area you can look at all at once. If you climb to the top of a mountain, suggest that your fellow climbers take time to admire the expanse of trees below. |
Expanse looks like the word expand. Both come from the Latin word expandere, meaning "to spread out, unfold." But where did expandere come from? Ex- means "out" and pandere means "spread or stretch." So an expanse is something that seems to unfold before your eyes, or to put it another way, something that stretches out as far as the eye can see. |
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| 7944 |
concluding |
occurring at or forming an end or termination |
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The adjective concluding means "bringing to a close," or "final." If you're writing a mystery novel, you'll want to reveal in your concluding chapter the person whodunit. |
Concluding can mean either "forming" the end of something or "being" the end of something. Often these end up being the same thing, anyway, like the concluding chapter or your mystery novel that comes last and sum everything up, or the concluding remarks ("closing statements") of a trial that wrap up the arguments and come on the last day. |
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| 7945 |
gap |
an open or empty space in or between things |
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A gap is the space between two things. It can be physical (like "the gap between your two front teeth") or philosophical (like "the generation gap" between you and your parents). |
Gap is a small word that packs a lot; it can be used in a straightforward manner: in England, the signs in the subway station say, "Mind the gap" — in hopes that passengers will not wander into the space between the train and the platform. The American retailer, "The Gap," is said to have taken its name from the generation gap. The clothes were designed for teenagers and young adults, and therefore nothing your middle-aged parents would be caught dead in. Times change. |
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| 7946 |
bureau |
an administrative unit of government |
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When you put your socks away, you'll most likely put them in a bureau, or a chest of drawers used for storing clothes. Hopefully you've washed them. |
A dresser or a chest of drawers can also be called a bureau, a piece of furniture with drawers for storing things. Another meaning of bureau is "an office or government agency." These two definitions seem unrelated, but the original meaning of the French word bureau, "cloth covering for a desk" helps explain. Bureau gradually evolved to mean first just "desk" (and eventually "dresser"), and around 1720 it also started being used to mean a room full of desks, or an office. |
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| 7947 |
guarded |
cautious and reserved |
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Someone who's guarded is careful, restrained, and maybe a little bit wary. It's normal for a new rescue dog to be guarded when you first bring her home. |
People tend to be guarded in certain situations — when they're being criticized, or are at a party where they don't know a single person. Others simply have guarded personalities, always starting from a position of cautiousness. Guarded can also literally mean "protected," like a guarded castle, but you'll more often find it describing a restrained person. |
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| 7948 |
celebrated |
widely known and esteemed |
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If something is celebrated, it's famous. Your town's celebrated restaurant — the one everybody knows and talks about — might be a modest barbecue joint. |
A celebrated writer is an important, well-known one, like Ernest Hemingway or Maya Angelou. In your family, a celebrated figure might be the cousin who visits every summer and tells the best stories. As long as someone is talked about and revered by a group of people, they're celebrated. This adjective comes from the verb celebrate and its Latin root celebrare, "to sing praises of." |
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| 7949 |
lawless |
without order or control |
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A lawless society is one without any rules or order. In some respects, the Old West era of the U.S. was a lawless time. |
When you think of old-timey saloons and sheriffs and cowboys, you probably envision lawless bandits riding boldly into town — in other words, criminals accustomed to making their own rules, rather than following any established laws. A lawless city today is one that's in such chaos that order can't be kept, even by police officers. To be lawless is to be without law, which stems from the Old English lagu, "law or rule." |
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| 7950 |
matrimony |
state of being a married couple voluntarily joined for life |
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Matrimony is just a fancy way of saying "marriage." When a couple ties the knot, they are engaging in matrimony. |
You can describe the actual wedding celebration as matrimony, and also the state of being married, although it's a formal word most often used in documents and in the words of the ceremony. The Latin word for matrimony is matrimonium, which comes from combining mater, "mother," with the suffix monium, "action or condition." In the old days, matrimony was basically the same thing as making a woman into a wife and mother. |
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| 7951 |
guard |
watch over or shield from danger or harm |
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A person who protects something is called a guard. You might see a security guard at the mall, a crossing guard on the street outside a school, or a palace guard at Buckingham Palace. |
To guard something is to watch over it or keep it from danger. You should ask someone to guard your backpack when you go to the restroom at the restaurant — or take it with you. The verb guard also means to protect against unintended consequences. To guard against overeating at the party, you could have a light snack before you go, so you aren't as tempted by all the delicious snacks and desserts. |
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| 7952 |
delegation |
a group of representatives |
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A delegation is a group of people who act as representatives of a larger group. If you’re a member of Congress from the Sunshine State, you’re a member of the Florida delegation. |
Ever seen the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games? Each country's delegation enters the stadium as a group, marching behind its own flag. Some delegations are a few hundred people, some are only a few, but each delegation is made up of the athletes and coaches sent to represent their country. You can also use delegation to mean assigning something to someone. While you're in the Amazon, you'll need to arrange with your roommates for delegation of your bill-paying duties. |
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| 7953 |
asset |
a useful or valuable quality |
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An asset is something you have that is positive. It can mean a piece of property, a piece of equipment, an ability, or even a quality. |
"Her facility with math is an asset when it comes to figuring out the restaurant tab. She is an asset to the group." A person's overall financial picture is determined by lining up everything they own in the asset column, and everything they own in the liability (or debit) column. |
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| 7954 |
gentile |
a Christian as contrasted with a Jew |
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Use the word gentile to mean non-Jewish, like the gentile friend you invite to your family's Passover Seder because she's curious about Jewish religious traditions. |
When Gentile is a noun, it's usually capitalized, and it's most frequently used to contrast a Christian with a Jew. There are other religions that use the word gentile to describe a non-believer, including Mormonism and Hinduism. More generally, gentile refers to a person who doesn't acknowledge a particular god or belief. The root is the Latin gentilis, whose meaning of "fellow countryman or family member" changed over time to mean "foreign, heathen, pagan." |
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| 7955 |
prolong |
lengthen in time; cause to be or last longer |
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I don't want to prolong this definition, so I'll keep it short. To prolong is to make something last longer or to stretch it out in time. |
You see the word long in prolong and it's no trick. If you prolong an argument with a sibling, you make it longer than it naturally would be. Prolong always has to do with time. When you stretch your neck or a piece of cloth to make it appear longer, you are elongating, not prolonging, it. |
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| 7956 |
discourage |
try to prevent; show opposition to |
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If your friend is thinking about quitting her job and moving to the Peruvian Andes to raise llamas, you might discourage her by pointing out that she’s allergic to llamas and also afraid of heights. |
When you discourage someone, you try to talk them out of doing something, by pointing out reasons why their planned action would be unwise. The verb discourage has roots in the French word descouragier, which comes from des-, meaning “away,” and corage, or “courage.” So when you discourage someone, you can think of it as taking his courage — or enthusiasm — away. |
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| 7957 |
assure |
inform positively and with certainty and confidence |
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If you assure your boss that you’ll finish your project by Tuesday, you are make a promise or commitment to have it done by Tuesday. |
The verbs insure and ensure look and sound like assure but they aren't synonyms. There is some overlap in meaning — all of them can mean “to make secure or certain” — but assure is generally used in situations when you are referring to a person: “I assure you that I haven’t forgotten about driving you to the airport” or “He called his mother to assure her that everything will be fine.” |
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| 7958 |
considerate |
showing concern for the rights and feelings of others |
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Being considerate is being polite and caring. People like it when you're considerate of their feelings. |
We could all probably be more considerate of others: this word means you're thinking of other people — considering them — and then treating them decently and with respect. It's considerate to say "please" and "thank you" to people. It's considerate to excuse yourself, rather than walking out and slamming the door. Asking someone how they feel is usually considerate. A considerate person is kind and thoughtful — a good person to know. |
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| 7959 |
yarn |
a fine cord of twisted fibers used in sewing and weaving |
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If you want to knit a hat, you're going to need yarn, the thick string made of twisted threads that's used to make sweaters, scarves, socks and other knitted things. |
Yarn is made from fibers, and it comes in many colors. When you knit, you weave yarn with needles and end up with a pot holder or a pair of mittens. Another kind of yarn is a long story that's told out loud. You might, in fact, tell your friend a yarn while you crochet an afghan with yarn. The Old English root word, gearn, means "spun fibers," but it comes from the Proto-Indo-European ghere, or "intestine." |
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| 7960 |
gleam |
a flash of light |
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A gleam is a bright flash of light. If you were lost on a dark, stormy night, you'd be hugely relieved to see the gleam of a roadside diner's sign up ahead. |
Use the verb gleam when something is shining as if it were wet or glinting with light. Your new toothpaste might make your teeth so white that they gleam. You can also describe an emotion that appears briefly as a gleam, like a gleam of hope. And as you hatch a plan to toilet-paper the neighbor's yard, mischief might gleam in your eyes. |
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| 7961 |
realistic |
aware or expressing awareness of things as they are |
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If your friend says she is going to fly on wings made of wax, you might tell her to "be realistic!" What you mean is, "In the real world, that is not going to happen." |
While you might really want to go to an Ivy League college, it's probably more realistic to apply to state schools if your grades aren't that good. A movie can be called realistic if it seems to represent life as it is. Do you ever wonder if reality TV is more realistic than scripted television? The jury is still out on that, but most people agree that if you're being realistic, what matters most about a TV show are its ratings. |
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| 7962 |
pursuit |
the act of following in an effort to overtake or capture |
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A pursuit is a chase or or a quest for something. When a guard runs after an escaping jewel thief, she's in pursuit — while the thief may have stolen the jewels because he was in pursuit of wealth. |
Whether it's a police officer in a car chase or a student working towards a college degree at a university in the tropics, both can be considered in “hot pursuit.” Derived from the Anglo-French purseute, pursuit means the act of pursuing or striving towards goals. In the late 14th century it implied persecution, but things have changed since then. |
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| 7963 |
surrender |
relinquish possession or control over |
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To surrender is to give up control of something to someone else. If you miss curfew, your parents might make you surrender the keys to the car. Okay, it's only a minivan, but it's still cooler than being on foot patrol. |
If you want someone to give up, you might order them to surrender. The witch in the Wizard of Oz wrote "Surrender Dorothy!" in the sky above the Emerald City. You can use the noun surrender when you give up on a task. For example, if you are cleaning the house, but every time you finish a room, the kids mess up another, you can throw your hands up and declare, "I surrender!" |
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| 7964 |
transit |
a journey usually by ship |
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Transit means “journey,” and saying you’re "in transit" means you’re on your way somewhere. Before we had cell phones, one of the upsides of being in transit was that no one could get in touch with you. |
Transit may be familiar to you from the phrase mass transit. While it sometimes seems like “mass transit” is synonymous with “unreliable, crowded and inefficient,” the phrase just means "public transportation." The first instance of transit being used in this sense was in the 19th century, and people have been complaining ever since. Transit is related to the word transition, which refers to a change from one state or condition to another. |
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| 7965 |
supply |
circulate or distribute or equip with |
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To supply the definition of a word is to provide that definition. That's supply used as a verb. If you're talking about the noun, however, then the supply is the thing itself. |
People who think the world is coming to an end generally like to keep a supply of fresh water on hand. Though, if the world did come to an end, you wouldn't need to supply water to anyone, would you? That's a case of supplying a supply. If there is a big enough demand for ping-pong balls, a person could get rich, if they controlled the supply. Having to supply all those balls could be exhausting, though. |
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| 7966 |
ranking |
position on a scale in relation to others |
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Your spot on a scale is your ranking. If your football team has a #10 ranking and you’re playing #1, well good luck. Your class ranking is how you measure up. The student with the highest ranking is the valedictorian. |
All kinds of things have rankings, from the top 100 colleges in the US to a person's constantly updated list of favorite horror movies. Athletes and the teams they play for have rankings too. In the military, someone who has a higher rank, or position, than anyone else who's present might say, "As the ranking officer, I'll command the troops to retreat." |
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| 7967 |
inject |
force or drive (a fluid or gas) into by piercing |
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To inject is to give an injection, or a shot. When your doctor tells you that you need a flu shot, she wants to inject you with a vaccine that will help keep you from getting sick. |
You are most likely to hear the verb inject at the doctor's office. Veterinarians inject dogs each year with rabies vaccines, and sometimes if you're sick enough, a doctor or nurse might need to inject you with antibiotics. You can use inject in a figurative way, too: "I'd like to inject a new topic into this conversation, it's getting so boring." The Latin root is inicere, "to throw in" or "to throw on." |
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| 7968 |
trifle |
a detail that is considered insignificant |
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A trifle is something that's totally unimportant. If your friend is freaking out over which shoes to buy and you call her dilemma a trifle, you're saying she shouldn't get so worked up over nothing. |
Trifle comes from the Middle English trufle, meaning "fraud, joke, trick." You'll usually hear it used to mean "insignificant, trivial." If you write a little ditty to sing at a birthday party, you could say it's just a trifle. As a verb, trifle means "toy with, waste." If you play with someone's feelings without seriously meaning anything, you are trifling with his affection. Trifle is also a sweet, sticky cake. Don't trifle the day away dreaming about trifle. Make some! |
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| 7969 |
pension |
regular payment to allow a person to subsist without working |
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A pension is a regular payment, usually from a company you worked for, that allows you to survive without working after you retire. |
People used to work for the one company, then retired at 65 and receive pensions: regular payments of enough money to live on in old age. Nowadays, not that many jobs offer pensions, and it's hard for companies that do to pay for them, which is why you're likely to hear this word when people are arguing about budget cuts. It's also a verb: if you pension your employee, you give them a pension. How nice of you! |
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| 7970 |
bondage |
the state of being under the control of another person |
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Bondage is the state of being bound, like a slave. If you're in handcuffs, you're in bondage. |
The word bondage has meant "condition of a serf or slave" since the 1300s, the same time the word bond came along to mean "anything that binds." Bondage originated around the time Dante was writing "The Inferno," in which Satan flaps his wings to try and break free of bondage, as he's stuck in ice up to his chest. Most people would like to be free of any kind of bondage, which is why the X-Ray Spex (a punk band from the '70s) yell, "Oh bondage, up yours!" |
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| 7971 |
sulk |
be in a huff and display one's displeasure |
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When you are displeased by something and you let your gloomy mood show, you're sulking. Do you want to bake another cake, or are you going to sulk all day about the one you dropped? |
When you say someone sulks, the tone of the word suggests the person is overdoing it. You wouldn't accuse a widow of sulking at her husband's funeral, because she has a good reason to be sad and gloomy. Instead of sulking because you messed up your tuba solo during the concert, why not put your energy into practice? Or switch to violin. |
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| 7972 |
deception |
a misleading falsehood |
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Deception is a trick or scheme used to get what you want, like the deception you used to get your sister to agree to do all your chores for a month. |
Deception occurs when you deceive, a word that comes from the Latin de- meaning "from" and capere, meaning "to take." When you deceive someone, the result may be taking — like items you don't really need from people willing to give them, believing they are helping you. You may have heard the phrase "take someone for a ride." That's a way of describing deception. |
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| 7973 |
prelate |
a senior clergyman and dignitary |
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A prelate is a high-ranking member of the clergy, such as a cardinal, abbot, or bishop, who has authority over lesser clergy. Both Catholic and Protestant religions have prelates in their ranks. |
The source of prelate is the Latin adjective praelatus, "noble," whose meaning is appropriate to the modern meaning, a high-level church dignitary. The word was applied to those high-ranking clergymen around the beginning of the 13th century, the Middle English coming from the Middle French prelat. As the church's importance increased, so did the importance implied by the word prelate. Ambrose Bierce referred to a prelate as "one of Heaven's aristocracy." |
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| 7974 |
absurd |
inconsistent with reason or logic or common sense |
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Something absurd is really silly, absolutely ridiculous, or total nonsense. Thinking you can wear flip flops and a bikini to the North Pole is an absurd idea, for example. |
If you run into someone dressed in an absurd outfit or watch a movie full of absurd jokes, you'll probably have a good laugh. But find yourself dealing with the absurd; you'll likely be stuck in a depressing existential crisis. The absurd describes a state of being where human life has no purpose and everything is completely irrational. |
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| 7975 |
wave |
(physics) a movement up and down or back and forth |
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The word wave has many different meanings, but they all have to do with an undulating motion or shape. A wave that washes up on a beach has the same kind of back-and-forth movement as a crowd of baseball fans doing "the wave" in the stands. |
Use the verb wave to describe a greeting that includes a hand motion, from the enthusiastic flapping wave of a little kid meeting his dad at the airport to the prim wave of a Queen acknowledging her subjects. In physics, when you talk about a sound wave, there is a similar kind of rise and fall. Two Old English root words of wave are wæfre, "wavering or restless," and wagian, "to move to and fro." |
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| 7976 |
gape |
look with amazement |
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If Bigfoot walked down your street wearing a tutu, you might gape or stare at the man-ape with your mouth open. You'd really gape if the tutu had a gaping, or wide open, hole. |
Gape is closely related to the word, gap, which means a space between things. When you gape at something, there is a lot of space between your teeth because your mouth is open in disbelief. You'll often hear mothers telling children not to gape. The fact is it's rude to stare at someone that way, even if they are a Sasquatch on the way to dance class. |
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| 7977 |
feast |
a ceremonial dinner party for many people |
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A feast is a huge, delicious meal that's served at a party or celebration. You might have a feast to celebrate the last day of school every year. |
You can use the word feast in several different ways. It's good for describing the meal you eat at a party, or as a verb meaning "to eat in celebration." You might feast for several days during your family reunion. You can also use feast figuratively to mean a delight, as when you say, "Your garden is a feast for the eyes, Grandma." The Latin root, festa, means "holidays or feasts," from festus, "festive, joyful, or merry." |
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| 7978 |
cling |
hold on tightly or tenaciously |
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To cling is to tightly grasp something or to stick closely to something, like how wet clothes cling to the wearer. |
Clinging has to do with closeness. A scared child will cling to his parent, holding on tight. People in love cling to one another in embraces. When you're on a roller coaster, it's best to cling to whatever restraint you can. Similarly, things cling to each other when they're hard to separate. Clothes fresh out of the dryer often cling to each other. Strands of cooked spaghetti cling to each other. Stretchy clothing like spandex clings to the bodies of the people who wear it. |
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| 7979 |
ornament |
something used to beautify |
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An ornament is a decoration. You can also ornament something by making it more beautiful or festive. |
The most common use of ornament is probably in Christmas ornaments, which decorate a tree. Similarly, any ornament makes something prettier, flashier, or more festive. When you ornament something, you're beautifying, embellishing, or adorning it. Women ornament themselves with makeup. Men ornament themselves with face paint at football games. People ornament their offices with pictures of their families. Different cultures have their own ways of ornamenting themselves and their homes. If something looks boring, why not ornament it? |
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| 7980 |
destined |
governed by fate |
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Someone who's destined is fated or meant to do something. If your mom says you're destined for a life on the stage, she means that it's certain you'll be an actor one day. |
Being destined for something can be great luck — if, for example, you're destined to be a millionaire. It can also mean something closer to "doomed," as you might be if you're destined to a string of bad luck after breaking a mirror and seeing a black cat run past at the exact same moment. The Old French root is destinée, "purpose, intent, fate, or destiny." |
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| 7981 |
attainment |
the act of achieving an aim |
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The effort put into something and the pay-off when the work is over is called attainment. Attainment of your goal of learning to make the perfect omelet requires breaking a lot of eggs. |
An attainment isn't just handed to you — you have to earn it through skill and hard work. In fact, in slang, attainment is used interchangeably with skill. You might say that the inventiveness and originality of a particular rapper is his attainment, just as his fame, fortune, and respect in the hip-hop community is also his attainment. |
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| 7982 |
marriage |
the state of being a couple voluntarily joined for life |
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Marriage is when two people join together through a legal contract, a religious ceremony, or both. |
In some cultures, marriage is arranged by families, and in others people choose their own husbands or wives if they decide to marry. There are some places where marriage is limited to unions between a man and a woman, while more and more states and countries recognize marriage between same-sex couples too. You can also use the noun marriage to talk about a more figurative link between two things: “The song was a strange marriage of Bavarian polka and punk rock.” |
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| 7983 |
recipe |
directions for making something |
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A recipe is directions for making a dish or dessert, like your mother's award-winning recipe for chocolate chip cookies. |
The word recipe is most often used when talking about cooking. It includes two things: a list of ingredients that you'll need and the steps to take in order to make it. You can find recipes in cookbooks, on Web sites, in newspapers and magazines — or handed down in your family. Other than cooking, a recipe can also be a formula: the recipe for success is hard work, good timing and a little luck. |
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| 7984 |
injurious |
harmful to living things |
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Injurious things should be avoided. They cause pain, harm, and — yes — injuries. Handle with care! |
If you know what an injury is, you have a head start on learning injurious. Anything injurious is dangerous. At a construction site, almost anything could be injurious, if you don't know what you're doing (or even if you do). Falling off a ladder could be very injurious. Even crossing the street can have injurious effects if you're hit by a car. If this word turns up in your diary a dozen times, you're probably in the hospital. |
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| 7985 |
revealing |
showing or making known |
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Use the adjective revealing to describe disclosing something that was hidden, either literally or figuratively. If you ask people if they've ever cheated on a test, you may get revealing answers that tell you whether the person is honest or not. |
Revealing comes from the Latin word revelare, which literally means "unveil," and that word has its roots in re-, meaning "the opposite of," and velare meaning "to cover or veil." It is little wonder that the adjective revealing is often used to describe clothing that leaves little to the imagination. If your daughter's date comes to the door in a revealing shirt with almost every button undone, you might ask him to put on a jacket or else he'll be sure to catch cold. |
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| 7986 |
ungrateful |
not feeling or showing gratitude |
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Someone who's ungrateful isn't thankful or appreciative. Your grandmother might think you're ungrateful if you don't send her a handwritten thank you note for the birthday gift she gave you. |
You are ungrateful if you're unhappy with your neighbor's contribution to your yard sale — a big old television that doesn't work. Your neighbor, in turn, is ungrateful if he accepts the chocolate chip cookies you baked without even saying, "Thanks." The prefix un here means "not," and grateful comes from a now obsolete adjective, grate, "agreeable or thankful," from the Latin root gratus, "pleasing." |
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| 7987 |
recede |
pull back or move away or backward |
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Recede means to pull back, retreat, or become faint or distant. Flood waters recede, as do glaciers, and even abstractions like "panic" and "hope." Think "receding hairline." (That means bald.) |
Cede means to yield. Politicians, after losing an election will "cede the field" or "concede the race." Recede means to yield back. Over time it has collected a sense of fading, or growing faint, as in "The ghostly vision of a woman receded into the fog." |
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| 7988 |
sink |
fall or descend to a lower place or level |
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When things sink, they settle or drop to a lower level. If your kayak has a leak, it might fill with water and sink to the bottom of the lake. |
Things can sink, like a toy octopus descending to the bottom of the bathtub or the sun appearing to sink below the horizon. You can also deliberately sink something, as when you capsize your friend's remote controlled speedboat on purpose. When sink is a noun, it's the water basin in your kitchen or bathroom. The Old English root of both kinds of sink is sincan, "become submerged or go under," from a Germanic source. |
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| 7989 |
adjourn |
close at the end of a session |
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To adjourn is to close a session of something, like at court. People also adjourn when they go to bed. |
When something is adjourned, it's over. This word comes up most often in court. Lawyers and citizens don't have the power to adjourn — to call a recess in the proceedings. Only a judge can adjourn the court. This can also be used in any situation where someone is withdrawing from somewhere, or retiring for awhile. "I must adjourn!" is a fancy way of saying "I'm out of here! I need to get some sleep. See you tomorrow." |
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| 7990 |
reminiscence |
a mental impression retained and recalled from the past |
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A reminiscence is a memory, or the act of recovering it. A visit to your old elementary school may flood your brain with reminiscences––things you hadn't thought of in years coming suddenly back. |
Many people find that when they travel or have quiet time to think, their brain becomes occupied with reminiscence. You can see how close the word reminiscence is in meaning to the word remember––you might think of the word reminiscence as a remembering. |
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| 7991 |
emphatically |
without question and beyond doubt |
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When you say something emphatically, you say it with great emphasis and force, like when you emphatically denied that you took the last cookie. |
Emphatically, pronounced "em-FAT-ick-lee," shares the same origin as emphasize, which means "to stress or put particular importance on something." When you say or do something emphatically, you really mean it. For example, if you emphatically say "no" when someone asks you on a date, that person isn't likely to ask you — or even look in your direction — again. |
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| 7992 |
worried |
afflicted with or marked by anxious uneasiness or trouble |
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The adjective worried describes someone who's uneasy or troubled about something. Imagine worried parents, up late, waiting for their teenager to arrive home from a party. |
Someone with a worried frown on his face always seems concerned. A worried email to your cousin who's traveling in the Middle East expresses your concern for her safety. The root of worried is the Old English word wyrgan, or strangle. It wasn't until the late 1800s that worried was used to describe feeling anxiety. |
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| 7993 |
indifference |
the trait of remaining calm and seeming not to care |
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Indifference is the trait of lacking interest or enthusiasm in things. When you feel indifference for something, you neither like it nor dislike it. |
If you are a person who feels a lot of indifference, you probably say "eh," a lot. You just don't care much. Indifference can be compared to apathy, which means "lack of concern," though apathy is a little stronger: Apathy means you don't care whether your friends call you; indifference means you don't care what movie you end up seeing — you don't have a strong preference for any of the choices. |
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| 7994 |
remonstrance |
the act of expressing earnest opposition or protest |
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A remonstrance is an objection or protest, the expression of earnest opposition. Just like a protest, PETA members might hold a remonstrance outside a fashion show of a luxury fur and leather designer. |
Notable remonstrances include the "Five Articles of Remonstrance" (1610), protesting the Calvinist doctrine of predestination; the "Great Remonstrance" (1641), presented to the English people by Parliament, detailing the "evils" of King Charles I; the "Flushing Remonstrance" (1657), protesting a ban on Quaker worship in what would later become New York City; and the "Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments" (1786), opposing a bill in the Virginia General Assembly that would levy taxes to pay for religious teachers. |
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| 7995 |
triumphant |
experiencing victory |
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If you're triumphant, you're proud of a huge success, like your triumphant victory at your ping-pong tournament. |
Winning an honor or a competition means that you're triumphant. The joy you feel about your win is called described as triumphant. You might flash a triumphant smile at the audience during the curtain call after your excellent performance in the school play. Triumphant comes from the Latin word triumphus, which means triumph, but also describes a procession for a victorious general or admiral. |
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| 7996 |
sanctify |
render holy by means of religious rites |
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To sanctify something is to make it pure or holy. You might see a priest sanctify a church in your neighborhood — that means it’s holy. |
Sanctify often has a religious connotation. If you get married, you might have a religious ceremony to sanctify your union. That means the marriage is viewed as legitimate according to your religion. Sanctify can also mean that something is made free from sin, like when the Pope sanctifies a person. Or you can use it for anything that’s made right or acceptable. Your mom’s support may sanctify the odd outfit you wore to the family reunion. Thanks, Mom! |
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| 7997 |
doctrine |
a belief accepted as authoritative by some group or school |
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Doctrine means a belief or set of beliefs. The idea that a man named Jesus was the son of God is part of the Christian doctrine. |
The policy that President Monroe introduced in 1823, stating that the United States should only mess with European countries that set up new colonies in the Americas was the Monroe Doctrine, and it remained an important part of US foreign policy straight through World War I. Doctrine and doctor derive from the same Latin word, docere, which means "to teach": doctor means "teacher," and doctrina means "teaching, learning." |
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| 7998 |
scorch |
burn slightly and superficially so as to affect color |
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To scorch is to burn something fiercely, to the point where its surface — your face, prairie grass, a steak on the grill — chars or otherwise changes color. |
Although scorch usually refers to burning something (whether it's the sun or a blowtorch doing the burning), that's not always the case. An army can scorch an enemy territory — meaning raze everything in sight, without technically setting it on fire. Scorch can also mean to quickly overpower something or somebody, as in: "We're gonna scorch the other team tomorrow." |
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| 7999 |
plural |
grammatical number category referring to two or more items |
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When you talk about a plural, you're talking about more than one. The plural form of the word "goose" is "geese." |
The word plural comes from the Old French plurel meaning "more than one," which is precisely how you would describe a plural form of something. In grammar, "the plural form" is used to describe more than one person, place or thing. Plurals can be tricky to master for people just learning English. There are the obvious ones where you just need to add an "s." Then, there are others: tooth, teeth; antenna, antennae; mouse, mice. The list goes on. |
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| 8000 |
bombard |
throw bombs at or attack with bombs |
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To bombard is to attack, whether physically (with something like missiles) or metaphorically (with something like questions). |
See the word bomb in bombard? That's a clue to its meaning. When a place is bombarded, an enemy could literally be dropping bombs on it. In the days of stoning, people were bombarded with rocks. A politician getting pestered with questions is also being bombarded. You could say a teacher who assigns a lot of homework is bombarding the class with assignments. Bombarding involves a series of attacks; one bomb or one question can't be described as a bombardment. |
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| 8001 |
warehouse |
a storehouse for goods and merchandise |
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A warehouse is a place where a company stores things they are going to sell. If you order a book online, it is almost certainly shipped from a warehouse to your house. |
When a business has to store a lot of items, they often use a warehouse, or a large building, to keep them safe and organized until they're sold or made into a finished product. You can use the word warehouse as a verb, too: "I need to warehouse all these roller skates, because they're not selling as fast as I'd hoped." Warehouse combines ware, or "manufactured goods," and house. In other words, it's a place to house your wares. |
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| 8002 |
blame |
an accusation that one is responsible for some misdeed |
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Blame is about being responsible for something that's bad or has gone wrong. If you have a headache, you might blame it on the heat, or on not getting enough sleep. |
A person can be to blame for something. Your mom might walk into the house, see a broken lamp and blame you. Often, in official contexts, blame is "assigned" or "placed." A common complaint among younger siblings is, "Why do I always get blamed for everything?" |
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| 8003 |
cloister |
residence that is a place of religious seclusion |
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A cloister is an enclosed garden, usually surrounded by covered walkways. Because such spaces are often featured in buildings that house religious orders, cloister can be used to mean "monastery" or "convent." |
In enclosed religious orders, monks and nuns withdraw from society to devote themselves to prayer and contemplation. In order to provide them with access to the outdoors while protecting them from contact with the secular world, the cloister became a common element of convents and monasteries. When used as a verb, cloister generally loses its religious connotation and means "to seclude" or "isolate." Don't get a lunch detention or you'll be cloistered in the classroom while all the other kids are running around outside. |
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| 8004 |
appropriation |
a deliberate act of acquisition, often without permission |
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Appropriation is the act of taking something, usually without permission, like stealing your brother's french fries when he is momentarily distracted. |
Appropriation originally referred to the taking of private property, usually by the government. Nowadays, appropriation can be positive or negative, but generally refers to taking something and making it your own –- like using melodies from other types of music in your song or your company’s appropriation of new technology to improve their product. Appropriation can also refer to the setting aside of funds by the government for a specific purpose, like for improving school systems or supporting the arts. |
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| 8005 |
spade |
hand shovel that can be pushed into the earth with the foot |
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If you're a gardener, you know that a spade is a small shovel with a short handle. A spade is perfect for planting bulbs and digging up weeds. |
In addition to a small digging tool, a spade is also a suit of playing card — the black one that looks a bit like an upside-down heart. There's even a card game called "Spades" in which a spade has a higher value than any other suit. The two meanings have different roots; the card suit spade comes from the Greek spathe, and the little shovel kind of spade has Proto-Germanic roots that mean "flat piece of wood." |
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| 8006 |
rusty |
covered with or consisting of an oxide coating |
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If your German is rusty, it's like the bike you left out in the rain too many times that turned brown and flakey on the metal parts. Like your bike, your German skills became rusty, meaning they're suffering from neglect. |
You can also describe yourself as rusty: you used to do flips on your skateboard, but you haven't practiced in a while and now you're a little rusty. Rusty can also refer to the color of rust, which is a reddish-brown — a rusty-colored dog, for instance. Anything made of iron or steel that you leave outside in the elements is likely to oxidize and become rusty, covered with rust. |
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| 8007 |
forgetful |
(of memory) deficient in retentiveness or range |
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To be forgetful is to be absentminded. When you're forgetful, things tend to slip your mind. People can be forgetful if they really can’t remember things, or if they’re just not paying attention. |
When you're forgetful, you forget all kinds of things! A forgetful person misses deadlines and forgets about their spouse's anniversary. Forgetful people are often spacy and careless; they're not mindful of what they should be doing. A forgetful gardener might forget to water the plants and go for a walk instead. If you’re late, you’re forgetful of the time. If you’re forgetful, don’t get a pet. Even goldfish need attention! |
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| 8008 |
magnificence |
splendid or imposing in size or appearance |
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Magnificence is when something is incredibly grand, beautiful, or impressive. You might describe the magnificence of a cruise ship, for example, with its elaborate ballrooms and large swimming pools. |
When something makes a huge impression on you, especially for its hugeness or fanciness, it has the quality of magnificence. To a little kid, Disney World has magnificence, while an adult might be impressed by the magnificence of a first class European train car. In the fourteenth century, magnificence implied courage and nobility, as the word comes from the Latin root magnificus, which means both "great, noble, and eminent," and also "splendid, rich, or costly." |
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| 8009 |
marine |
of or relating to the sea |
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If it has to do with the ocean or sea, you can call it marine. Your friend in US Armed Services who is a Marine probably spends a lot of time near the ocean. |
Marine life is everything that lives in the water: plants, fish, sharks, algae, crabs, seahorses, giant squid, and the list goes on and on. When you study things that live in or near the sea, you are either a marine biologist or just really excited about ocean life. If you work in a field that deals with the ocean, boats, sailors or the navy you could be, for instance, a marine meteorologist. |
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| 8010 |
rude |
belonging to an early stage of technical development |
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Rude describes a type of behavior that isn't appropriate and usually isn't very nice, either — like yelling "You stink!" at a children's talent show. |
Rude refers to bad behavior or just plain bad manners. For example, children are taught to say "please" and "thank you" or they are considered rude. A rude person needs a little work — rude also means crude or basic, like a rude cabin out in the woods that barely keeps the rain out. It can be a sudden realization, too. If you wake up and see your breath, it's a rude awakening that the heat's not working. |
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| 8011 |
accomplished |
highly skilled |
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The adjective accomplished is useful for describing someone who's very good at something. You might use it to talk about yourself if you are an accomplished — or highly skilled — sword swallower. |
An accomplished ice skater is someone who can do one of those fancy twirls on the ice, and an accomplished cupcake baker is someone you want to be friends with. Another way to use the word accomplished is to mean "successfully completed or finished." You might say, "I accomplished my goal of climbing the highest mountain east of the Mississippi River." Next up: Everest. |
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| 8012 |
gust |
a strong current of air |
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A gust is a strong, short burst of air. If you're walking around on a brisk, cold day, hold on to your papers tightly — a gust of wind could sweep in and send your notes flying into the air. |
You've probably seen the famous image of Marilyn Monroe standing on a sidewalk with her white dress blowing in the breeze from a subway grate — that might be the most famous gust of air in popular culture. Gust comes from the Old Norse word gustr, meaning "a cold blast of wind." Gust also can be used to describe other things that come on with a sudden burst, like a violent gust of rain or an unexpected gust of sadness. |
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| 8013 |
agent |
a representative who acts on behalf of others |
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When you're buying a house or negotiating your break-out movie contract, it's a good idea to hire an agent to represent you — someone who can keep a cool head and get the best deal for you. |
The suave 007 may be your dream secret agent, but you could find real ones in the CIA, the FBI, and other government organizations populated with agents. Beware the double agent, the spy you think is working for you when he's really working for your enemy. An inanimate object can also be an agent. A chemical agent, like vinegar mixed with salt, can make copper pennies shine. Chemical weapons contain more sinister agents that wreak havoc on their victims. |
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| 8014 |
varied |
characterized by diversity |
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Something is varied when it covers a wide range of things. If you start out eating eggs in the morning, then have a snack of sushi, then pizza for lunch, fresh fruit with your tea, and a beef stew for dinner, you have a varied diet. |
The word varied comes from vary, which means "to change, alter." Think of varied as describing something that has many altered forms or has been changed often. There are many varied ideas on how to improve the economy. The artist has painted in varied styles as his interests have changed. And a varied workout routine will keep you from getting bored. |
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| 8015 |
mob |
a disorderly crowd of people |
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A mob is a big, rowdy group of people. You might avoid shopping at the mall right before Christmas because you can't stand the mob of shoppers. |
A mob might gather around the piñata at a big birthday party or cluster in front of a music venue when tickets go on sale for a hugely popular concert. When people join one of these groups, you can also say that they mob, and "the mob" also sometimes refers to organized crime. You might describe the hundreds of people thronging the county fair on Friday night as a "mob scene." The Latin root, mobile vulgus, means "fickle common people." |
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| 8016 |
disaster |
an event resulting in great loss and misfortune |
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An earthquake, an oil spill, an economic collapse, a party with inedible food and truly awful music: Each of these could be described as a disaster, a cataclysmic event causing extreme suffering, even total destruction. |
Disaster made its way into the English language from Greek. The second part of the word is derived from astron — "star" or "planet," familiar from words like astronomy and astronaut. Dis- is prefix with a meaning similar to "un-" or "mis-," but with clearly negative connotations. Translated literally, disaster means "bad or unlucky star," and it's a relic of a time when astrology was considered a serious science that could predict events — including disasters you might try to avoid — in your life on Earth! |
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| 8017 |
enroll |
register formally as a participant or member |
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If you like clowning around but you're not quite ready for the circus, you could enroll in clown college to perfect your skills. When you enroll, that means you formally add your name to the list — or roll — of students. |
You can enroll in things other than schools or classes, and you can also enroll someone else. You might enroll your Chihuahua in a research project investigating whether dogs like to wear hats, or you could enroll your rude nephew in charm school. The "roll" of enroll goes back to the rolls of parchment that were used in medieval times for writing official documents. |
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| 8018 |
recruit |
cause to assemble or enlist in the military |
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To recruit means to get someone to join something. You might recruit people for the navy or you might recruit members for your quilting group. |
The verb recruit often refers to formally joining an organization or a group, such as the military or a corporation. It can also be used more broadly to refer to getting someone to participate in a cause, formal or otherwise, like when you recruit your friend to help paint your room. As a noun, recruit means "a person who has been recruited." If you just joined the Army, you're a new recruit. |
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| 8019 |
objection |
the act of expressing earnest opposition or protest |
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An objection is a way of saying "No!" to something. People offer objections to things they oppose. |
An objection is a statement of protest. During weddings, you often hear the question "Does anyone object to this union?" If someone did, that would be an objection: they think the wedding is a bad idea. In court, a lawyer says "Objection!" if they think the other lawyer said something unfair or wrong. A little kid who says "I don't want eggs!" is making an objection. Any kind of disapproval is an objection. When there are no objections, people agree. |
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| 8020 |
personnel |
group of people willing to obey orders |
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Personnel is a noun describing a group of people who follow orders, usually at a company. If you have a job, you’re probably considered personnel to be managed. |
The word personnel is also sometimes short for the "personnel department," another name for the human resources or employment office. One of the things they might have in the personnel department is your personnel, which contains your employment records. |
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| 8021 |
papal |
proceeding from the head of the Roman Catholic Church |
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Anything papal has to do to with the Pope, such as papal orders or papal ceremonies. |
The Catholic Church is led by the Pope. His office is the papacy, and anything that is ordered by the Pope or involving the Pope can be called papal. The papal robes are ornamental and beautiful. The power of the Pope can be called the papal authority. Someone who represents the Pope is a papal representative. Anything papal can also be referred to as pontifical or apostolic, since the Pope is considered the modern version of Jesus' apostles. |
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| 8022 |
reconciled |
made compatible or consistent |
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If something is considered reconciled, then it has been settled. A reconciled couple has worked out their differences, and a reconciled bank transaction means that it has been cleared. |
The adjective reconciled is from the verb reconcile, which is from the Latin root words re, meaning "again," and concilare, meaning "to make friendly." You can remember this if you think of a reconciled couple as once again being friendly to each other after a break up. |
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| 8023 |
brutal |
resembling a beast; showing lack of human sensibility |
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Use brutal to describe something beastly and harsh, like training for a triathlon, a really cold winter in the Arctic, or a mean bouncer at a club who throws people out for no reason. |
First used in the mid 15th century to refer to the brutish nature of animals, brutal is now also used to describe other things like human behavior, weather, or even music. “Rock ‘n Roll,” said Frank Sinatra, “is the most brutal, ugly, desperate, vicious form of expression it has been my misfortune to hear.” If someone is brutal, watch out — she's violent and mean. The truth can be brutal, too, if it's something you don't want to hear. |
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| 8024 |
correspondent |
a journalist who supplies stories for news media |
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A correspondent is a reporter who writes or records stories on one topic or from one region. If you're hired as a radio station's financial correspondent, you'll need to do a lot of research on the economy. |
A journalist might work as a TV station's Middle East correspondent or a newspaper's education correspondent. You can also call yourself a correspondent if you're a regular letter or email writer, corresponding, or communicating, with someone. As an adjective, though, correspondent means "matching or agreeing." The word is rooted in the Medieval Latin correspondere, "to answer together." |
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| 8025 |
applicable |
having relevance |
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If something's applicable, it matters in a certain case: it's relevant. If we're going to have rules, shouldn't they be applicable to everyone? |
Is the idea that there's only one correct way to pronounce a word applicable when it comes to applicable? There's some disagreement about this among the experts, but you'll hear people pronounce applicable two ways: with emphasis on “app” or with emphasis on “plic.” So take your pick and use this word confidently wherever it's applicable. |
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| 8026 |
revision |
the act of altering |
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When you make a revision, you go about editing or rethinking whatever it is you're working on. So that paper on Donald Duck's influence in national politics? It could probably use a revision or two. |
The word revision is made up of re, as in "repeat" or "redo," and vision. So you can think of a revision as a redo of your original vision. It's related to the word revise, which is the act of making changes to something original. Just about anything can get revised, from a script that needs rewrites to a wardrobe with some questionable pieces. |
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| 8027 |
fascinated |
having your attention fixated as though by a spell |
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When you're fascinated, you're hypnotized, mesmerized, spellbound, and transfixed — totally absorbed by something. |
There are two ways to be fascinated: You can be fascinated by something happening right now, like an interesting new video game you're playing. Other fascinations are more long term, like a scientist who devotes his life to studying birds because he's fascinated by them. Things that make you fascinated have to be so interesting and so intriguing that it feels like they have a magic grip on your attention span. |
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| 8028 |
soothe |
cause to feel better |
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To soothe is to relieve or to bring comfort. If the pounding in your head is driving you mad, it sounds like you might need an aspirin or two to soothe your headache. |
Soothing is meant to make you feel better, both physically and emotionally. Spend too many hours on the beach without sunblock? You'll need some aloe to soothe that sunburn. Had a bad breakup with a boyfriend? Soothing that broken heart might take something stronger — chocolates, a gabfest with good friends, and sappy movies are usually just what the doctor ordered. |
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| 8029 |
tolerant |
showing or characterized by broad-mindedness |
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If you're tolerant it means that you accept people who are unlike you or put up with stuff you don't like. If you let your roommate play the same awful '80s mix over and over and don't say anything, you're probably a very tolerant person. |
Broad-minded and open thinking is a hallmark of tolerant behavior. An individual can be tolerant, and so can a community or a nation if it accepts people from lots of different cultures or backgrounds. We generally think of tolerance as a good thing, but that doesn't mean being tolerant is easy — not with so many family members, classmates, and colleagues around to annoy us. |
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| 8030 |
seduce |
lure or entice away from duty, principles, or proper conduct |
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To seduce is to lure or entice, particularly away from obligations or proper behavior. Often, seducing leads to sex. |
Seduce means something close to attract, beguile, tempt, and mislead: a beautiful woman could seduce a dude, and a clever criminal could seduce the same dude into a life of crime. A gorgeous day could seduce you from doing your homework. When you're being seduced, it implies you're being tricked a little bit, often into something that's enticing but not so good. The word is used in a famous line from The Graduate: “Mrs. Robinson, you’re trying to seduce me.” |
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| 8031 |
cinema |
a medium that disseminates moving pictures |
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A cinema is another word for a movie theater. If you love films, you probably spend a lot of time at the cinema. |
It's more common to say cinema in Britain than in the United States, but any English speaker will know what you're talking about if you ask, "Want to go to the cinema?" You can also use cinema to talk about the film industry and its history: "This is my favorite film in all of American cinema." The word was first used in 1899, from the French cinéma, which was a shortened form of cinématographe, "motion picture projector and camera." |
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| 8032 |
tick |
a metallic tapping sound |
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To tick is to make a steady tapping sound. When something ticks — be it a clock, a watch, an oven timer, or a metronome — it’s usually a reminder that time is passing. |
The verb tick originally meant "to touch or pat." The current meaning may be related to the sound of a hand patting or tapping a surface. Another kind of tick is a small blood-sucking parasite. This nastier tick has a different root, the Old English ticia. |
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| 8033 |
sterile |
incapable of reproducing |
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A sterile person can't have kids, and a sterile environment is bland and boring. In both cases, sterile means lifeless. |
When you hear about a sterile person, it means they can't have kids: sterile women can't get pregnant, and sterile men can't be fathers. But the concept of sterility applies to things, too. An empty, white room with nothing in it is sterile. And a surgeon's instruments better be sterile — meaning they're free from germs and bacteria. |
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| 8034 |
preserve |
keep in safety and protect from harm, loss, or destruction |
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When you preserve something, you maintain its condition, like trying to preserve your good health by exercising regularly and eating right. |
The verb preserve describes keeping something as it is now, without a decline in quality. It can also refer to keeping something safe from harm, as in “The group worked hard to preserve the regional ecosystem.” When you preserve food, such as fruit, you keep it from rotting. Jellies and jams are preserves, the noun form. A preserve can also be lands set aside, or preserved, as animal habitats. |
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| 8035 |
barge |
a flatbottom boat for carrying heavy loads |
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A barge is a big, flat boat that can transport heavy goods over water. You might see a barge carrying a load of new cars down a river. |
Barges are useful for moving very heavy things along canals and rivers. A typical barge can hold more than a thousand tons of cargo, so it's ideal for bulky, weighty goods. Barge is also a verb, meaning both "move by barge" and "shove forward," as when you barge in the door of a crowded party or barge into your brother's room just to bother him. The root is believed to be the Greek baris, "Egyptian boat." |
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| 8036 |
sovereign |
a nation's ruler usually by hereditary right |
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Put simply, your sovereign is your king or queen. George III was the sovereign of Great Britain and her colonies — including the American ones. At least, he was until a little thing called the Revolutionary War upset everything. |
Sovereign as an adjective can be used to indicate the ultimate power of a state, whether a monarchy or not, as in "Peru exercised its sovereign rights to all minerals within its borders." A sovereign is also a British gold coin with a face value of one pound sterling (with the monarch's face on it). But don't sell it for a pound, because it's worth its weight in gold — quite literally — which is a lot more than a pound is worth. |
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| 8037 |
artistic |
relating to the products of human creativity |
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The adjective artistic describes people who are creative or creations called "art." While you might not consider the sculptor Oldenburg's inflatable toilet as "art," recreating something ordinary in a unique way is very artistic. |
Artistic often describes something pleasing to look at, but you don't have to like everything called artistic. If you make paintings, clay figures, or computer drawings, you're being artistic, because you're creating works of art. If you're creative in a less structured way — say, you arrange everything on your desk by shape and color so it looks nice and you enjoy doing it — that's artistic too. It may not always be "art," but it's still artistic creation. |
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| 8038 |
therapy |
the act of caring for someone |
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Therapy is the act of caring for someone, or the method of caring. If you have a rare disease, your doctor's therapy will hopefully cure you. |
Therapy comes from the Greek θεραπεία, for "healing." If someone tells you she's "in therapy," she's probably talking about a psychological kind of healing. But if she's getting physical therapy, then she's getting help with a bone or muscle problem. If someone suggests an experimental therapy, that's a mode of treatment that's new. Sometimes if something non-medical makes you feel better, we call it a kind of therapy. You might like chocolate therapy, for example. |
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| 8039 |
contemporaries |
all the people living at the same time or of the same age |
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In school, kids are called peers. It's easier to say than contemporaries, but they mean the same thing. Young, old, or in-between, if people are the same age and living in the same era, they're contemporaries. |
You might be wondering what the noun contemporaries has to do with the adjective contemporary, which describes things that happen at the same time or in the present. Both words share a common Latin origin — con, meaning "together with," and tempus, meaning "time." Amaze your friends at the art museum by saying, "In this contemporary gallery, the artists who created the paintings are all contemporaries." |
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| 8040 |
buffalo |
a ruminant mammal resembling an ox |
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A buffalo is a large, ox-like animal with horns and shaggy fur. In North America, a buffalo is another name for a bison. |
There are various types of buffalo around the word, including South Asia's water buffalo and the African buffalo, but the bison is the most well-known type of buffalo in the US. You can also use the word as a verb, meaning "to intimidate," and when it's capitalized, Buffalo is a city in New York state. These various meanings have resulted in the longest sentence in English that uses only one word: "Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo." |
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| 8041 |
congratulate |
say something to someone that expresses praise |
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When you congratulate someone, you give that person praise — or maybe even a party to congratulate him or her on a job well done. |
The word congratulate is linked to the Latin word congratulari, meaning “wish joy.” When you congratulate someone, you wish him or her joy, usually to celebrate an accomplishment or good fortune. Your joy can take the form of verbal praise (“Well done!”), a letter or card offering good wishes, a rowdy high five, or even a big chocolate cake. You can also congratulate yourself for reaching a long-time goal. |
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| 8042 |
drain |
emptying something by allowing liquid to run out of it |
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Most commonly found at the bottom of sinks and bathtubs across the globe, a drain is the hole through which water is carried away. |
If it rains on the day you decided to go to the beach, you could say your plans went right "down the drain." When used as a verb, to drain means "to gradually empty," whether it's a man-made lake that's got to go or some financial obligations putting a strain on your wallet. And that obnoxious guy who's sucking the life out of the party? He's a real drain too. |
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| 8043 |
realization |
coming to understand something clearly and distinctly |
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A realization is the act of becoming completely aware of something. Many children who walk into a circus tent for the first time are struck with the realization that clowns are terrifying. |
A realization is a gradual or sudden understanding or comprehension of something. Another way to use the word realization is to mean the fulfillment of something that was previously only imagined, like the realization of your dream of becoming a pastry chef, or the realization on stage of the play you scribbled on napkins and scraps of paper. Realization grew out of the French réaliser, "to make real." |
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| 8044 |
cowardly |
lacking courage; ignobly timid and faint-hearted |
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Someone who is acting cowardly is showing no courage. A politician who is afraid to tell the truth about his shadowy past can be described as cowardly. |
Use the adjective cowardly to talk about a person whose knees knock together with fear, especially when he or she is afraid of doing the right thing. A famous example of a cowardly character is the Cowardly Lion from "The Wizard of Oz," who pretended to be ferocious but was actually lacking bravery. |
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| 8045 |
dedicate |
give entirely to a specific person, activity, or cause |
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To dedicate is to assign, to commit or to give over. If you dedicate a song you’ve written to a friend, it means the song belongs to them. If you dedicate yourself to a project, it means you give yourself to it. |
Things you may be dedicated to include your family, improving your local park, or attempting to break the world record for making the world's biggest rubber band ball. A dedicated resource is one committed to a specific mission, such as the computer room at your school being dedicated, or given over, to newspaper production every Tuesday afternoon. |
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| 8046 |
sponsor |
an advocate who presents a person |
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A sponsor provides support for someone or something, typically by supplying cash. Because your company is a sponsor for a homeless organization, they provide funding for the annual 5K run to raise money for the shelter. |
The word sponsor stems from the Latin word spondre, meaning "give assurance, promise solemnly." A sponsor might support an important issue such as cancer research or education, or a sponsor might take responsibility for someone. You might be your brother's sponsor so he can join your exclusive chess group. Sponsor has a verb form to describe the action of supporting or leading something. You can sponsor a nonprofit arts organization by donating and participating on the board. |
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| 8047 |
solemnity |
a trait of dignified seriousness |
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Put on a straight face when you think of the word solemnity; it is used for occasions that are all about seriousness and dignity. |
The word solemnity has been around since the fourteenth century helping people describe the mood of occasions ranging from funerals of beloved public figures to ceremonies welcoming United Nations dignitaries. This is the noun form of the adjective solemn, and you’ll often see it used with “of,” as in “the solemnity of the occasion called for hushed voices.” |
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| 8048 |
perturb |
disturb in mind or make uneasy or cause to be worried |
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To perturb is to bug or bother someone by confusing them or throwing them off balance. You can try, but it's almost impossible to perturb the guards outside Buckingham Palace. |
If you're having trouble getting used to the word perturb, you're in luck! It's similar in meaning to the verb "disturb." That's right, to perturb is to disturb, but in a way that suggests you're throwing it off its usual path or routine. The movie Born Free truly perturbed widespread views about animals—people suddenly started seeing them as individuals. If you stare at a person you don't know, it won't be long before you perturb them. |
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| 8049 |
scowl |
frown with displeasure |
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When you scowl you make an angry face. The angry face you make is also called a scowl. Lighten up. |
Scowl is an expressive word: it shares "ow" with frown, and if you say it like you mean it you might end up scowling yourself. Being scowled at is more unsettling than being frowned at. A scowl is like an angry frown you would give someone if you disapproved of them. A frown expresses sadness, but a scowl expresses disdain. |
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| 8050 |
entry |
the act of going in |
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Entry has loads of meanings, most of them concerning going inside someplace and the way you happen to get inside. It can also refer to written records (as in a diary or ledger) or a submission to a contest. |
When you go into the room, you make an entry. The door you go through is also an entry. If you write in your diary about all this, you make an entry in your diary. If you submit your diary page to the "Awesome Writer" writing contest, your submission is also called an entry. And, finally, if you keep a spreadsheet for all your writing contest submissions, don't forget to make an entry (for this entry about an entry via an entry). |
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| 8051 |
scholarship |
profound learned knowledge |
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Scholarship is the research done by academics. Or if you receive a scholarship, you're getting an award that will help pay the cost of tuition at school. |
If you're getting ready for college, chances are you're also looking to see if any scholarships are available. A scholarship is a great thing to get: it means you don't have to pay full tuition to go to a school. Scholarships are awarded for good grades, athletic success, and other accomplishments. Once you get in to school, you'll be engaged in another kind of scholarship — the kind that has to do with research, studying, and higher learning. |
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| 8052 |
emergent |
coming into existence |
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If you have an emergent talent for science, your teacher might bump you up to an advanced science class. Emergent is an adjective that describes something that is emerging, or suddenly coming into existence. |
Emergent means “coming into being.” It's often used in phrases like “emergent technologies.” These are brand-new technologies that we can expect to be widely used in the near future. The Internet, for example, was an emergent technology in the early 1990s. Emergent sometimes implies that what is coming into being is surprising and demands a response. An “emergent disease,” for instance, would send scientists scrambling to find a cure. In this sense emergent is related to emergency. |
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| 8053 |
infernal |
characteristic of or resembling Hell |
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Things that come from Hell, or seem like they do, are infernal. If your father tells you to stop listening to that infernal music, he thinks your tunes are hellish on the ears. |
The word infernal comes from infernus, the Latin word for underground. A related word is inferno which means a really big fire, the kind that you might find in Hell. Although it might be used to describe something really hot or something evil, infernal is usually used when someone is complaining about something they really don't like such as the infernal dog next door that keeps barking. |
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| 8054 |
coincidence |
the property of two things happening at the same time |
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People love to talk about strange coincidences––like you and your mother having the same birthday, or two unrelated families named "The Martins" living next door to each other. A coincidence is something that's not planned or arranged but seems like it is. |
Technically, a coincidence is an occurrence of events that happen at the same time by total accident––like you and a kid from your class at school both visit the Grand Canyon on the same day. Weird. If some guy is stalking you, always running into you wherever you go, this is not a coincidence. That guy has memorized your schedule. |
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| 8055 |
avoid |
stay away from |
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If you avoid drinking coffee right before bed because it tends to keep you awake and makes you jittery, that means that you stay away from coffee at night. |
The verb avoid means to stop yourself from doing something or to keep something from happening. You might avoid the old lady next door who smells funny and always wants to pinch your cheek, or you could avoid a certain dangerous neighborhood in your city by taking a different route when you're walking home. It's easy to get avoid confused with a similar word, evade, which means "to avoid in a particularly tricky or sneaky way." |
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| 8056 |
telephone |
electronic equipment that transmits sound over distances |
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A telephone is an electronic device that you use for conversations over great distances. Telephones used to be fixed to walls and connected by cables, but now most people have cellular telephones, known as cell phones or mobiles. |
A telephone takes sound waves, converts it into electronic signals, and then converts that back into sound waves — pretty neat. Early telephones frightened people because it seemed spooky that someone not in the room (or even the country) could speak to you, but nowadays distant communication seems perfectly normal. If your mother asks you to telephone her, she wants you to give her a call. The word comes from the Greek words for "afar" (tele-) and "voice"(phone). |
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| 8057 |
stunned |
dazed or knocked unconscious by a heavy blow |
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When you're stunned, you're thrown for a loop: either by shocking news or a blow to the head. |
You can be stunned a few different ways, but they all involve a state of confusion. If your mom won the lottery, you'd be stunned. Others might be stunned if their favorite TV show was canceled. Some people are stunned by good news that is kind of amazing, like a NASA flight to Mars. On the other hand, getting whacked in the head can leave you stunned. Getting the wind knocked out of you will do the same. |
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| 8058 |
stony |
abounding in rocks |
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Someone who's stony shows little emotion or sympathy for other people. As your math teacher hands back last week's geometry quiz, her stony face won't seem like a very good sign. |
A face with a stony expression is so lacking in feeling that it is "like stone." The other way to use the adjective stony is to mean "with lots of stones," like when you talk about a stony blueberry field in Maine or a stony path leading up to a lush garden. Stony comes from the Old English stanig, with its root of stan, "rock or gem." |
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| 8059 |
consecrated |
made or declared or believed to be holy |
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When something is consecrated it is declared to be sacred or holy. Many Catholics, for example, believe that bread and wine are consecrated, or made sacred during Holy Communion, becoming the body and blood of Christ. |
The word consecrated is made up of the Latin suffix con-, which expresses intensive force and sacrare meaning "dedicate." Something that is consecrated is intensely dedicated to the point of being declared holy. It's not just bread and wine that people believe to be consecrated. Lincoln mentioned how soldiers consecrated the Civil War battlefield in his Gettysburg Address: "The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.” |
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| 8060 |
filter |
device that removes something from what passes through it |
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A machine or device that removes dangerous or unwanted materials from a substance passing through it is called a filter. A kitchen water filter makes the water safer to drink — and also taste better. |
Cars have many different filters, each of which takes impurities out of air, fuel, or water before it enters the car's engine. Most coffee makers require paper filters that allow brewed coffee to flow into the pot while leaving the coffee grounds behind. Filter is also a verb, meaning to strain or remove particular particles. The Medieval Latin root is filtrum, or "felt," which was used by early chemists to strain liquids, especially when purifying water. |
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| 8061 |
scruple |
an ethical or moral principle that inhibits action |
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Your scruples are what keep you from doing things you consider to be morally or ethically wrong. Your scruples won't allow you to cheat on a test, or steal from your brother's Halloween candy stash. |
The noun scruple comes from a Latin word, scrupulus, which means a small, sharp stone. Some say that the philosopher Cicero first used the word analogously to compare a worry to a small, sharp stone in your shoe that bothers you. From there the word scruple took on the ethical principles meaning. If you are doing something bad, your scruples will bother you — but emptying your shoe probably won't help. |
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| 8062 |
moor |
come into or dock at a wharf |
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To moor is to tie up a ship, as in to moor the ocean liner to the docks. Or, if you're reading Victorian literature, a moor could be a mossy meet-up spot. |
This word of many hats can also be a noun — a moor is mossy land covered in bushes and grass. The spooky dogs in Sherlock Holmes's The Hound of the Baskervilles lurk in the moor. With a capital "M," a Moor can refer to a person descended from Muslims of northwestern Africa. It's usually used as a verb, though, meaning to fasten a boat — probably related to the Old English word mærels "mooring rope." Say the word in a deep voice and it almost sounds like the foghorn on a ship that's about to moor in the harbor on a foggy night. |
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| 8063 |
plow |
a farm tool for breaking up or turning over soil |
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A plow is a large tool used for farming. A farmer drives or pulls a plow across a field to prepare it for planting. |
The large blades of a plow break up the earth, cutting and turning it so it's loose and ready to be planted with seeds. When you operate a plow, you can say that you plow. Boats can plow through water, too — in fact, anything that moves forcibly forward also plows: a car plows through traffic, and figuratively, a student plows through her homework. |
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| 8064 |
taxation |
imposition of charges against a citizen's person or property |
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Taxation refers to the practice of a government collecting money from its citizens to pay for public services. Without taxation, there would be no public libraries or parks. |
One of the most frequently debated political topics is taxation. Taxation is the practice of collecting taxes (money) from citizens based on their earnings and property. The money raised from taxation supports the government and allows it to fund police and courts, have a military, build and maintain roads, along with many other services. Taxation is the price of being a citizen, though politicians and citizens often argue about how much taxation is too little or too much. |
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| 8065 |
creak |
make a high-pitched, squeaking noise |
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To creak is to make a high, groaning sound, like a rusty gate swinging shut. The old, worn floorboards in your house might creak as you walk down the hall. |
Old doors and gates creak as they open, and tree branches creak as they blow around in very heavy wind. The sound itself is also a creak: "The creak of the front door in the silent house made them jump." In the 14th century, to creak was to "utter a harsh cry," and soon afterward it came to mean the same noise made by an object. Creak is imitative — the word itself sounds like a creak. |
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| 8066 |
fruitful |
productive or conducive to producing in abundance |
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When something is fruitful, it's productive — but you don't have to produce fruit in order to be fruitful. You could have a fruitful trip to the mall if you come home with a slew of snappy new outfits. |
There's a famous line from the Bible: "Be fruitful and multiply." That gives you a pretty good sense of the word: fruitful activity multiplies or adds to what's already there, producing more of something. A couple is fruitful if they have children: the more children, the more fruitful. An artist is fruitful if they create a lot of artwork. A business is fruitful if it creates profits and expands. Anything fruitful is productive: it grows and produces, much like a fruit tree. |
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| 8067 |
gospel |
the written body of teachings accepted by a religious group |
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Follow advice like gospel and you're following it as though it was the final word or authority on the matter. |
The word gospel comes from the Old English god meaning "good" and spel meaning "news, a story." In Christianity, the term "good news" refers to the story of Jesus Christ's birth, death, and resurrection. Gospel music is heard in church and sung by a gospel choir. Outside of its application to religion, the word gospel is also used to describe an idea or rule that's accepted as undoubtedly true. |
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| 8068 |
ingenious |
showing inventiveness and skill |
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Something ingenious shows creativity and inventiveness. If someone compares you to Einstein, they're implying that you, too, are ingenious. |
Ingenious comes from the Latin words for inborn talent. It started off meaning someone who was talented or incredibly smart, but has come to mean inventive, or clever. If you can solve 146,392 * 27,453 in your head, people might call you a math genius. But if you come up with a way to turn water into fuel, you will be praised as ingenious. Ingenious can also describe thing, like an ingenious device. |
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| 8069 |
retreat |
the act of withdrawing or going backward |
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The noun retreat means a place you can go to be alone, to get away from it all. A spot under a shady tree might be your favorite retreat from the sun, or your bedroom in the basement may serve as a retreat from your siblings. |
In the military sense, the noun retreat means the withdrawal of troops. The British retreat after the Battles of Lexington and Concord gave the American colonists an early taste of victory during the American Revolution. As a verb, retreat means to back out of something — like a lawyer who is forced to retreat from his argument when the opposing evidence is too convincing. |
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| 8070 |
destiny |
the ultimate agency predetermining the course of events |
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Destiny is what's meant to be, what's written in the stars, your inescapable fate. You might think it's your destiny to own a dog, but your sad goldfish survival rate should tell you that happy pets probably aren't in your future. |
A noun meaning fate, destiny is synonymous with other nouns like divine decree, fortune, and serendipity. There's no avoiding destiny — it's going to happen no matter what you do. But before you get bogged down worrying about what the distant future holds, remember what Winston Churchill said: “It is a mistake to look too far ahead. Only one link in the chain of destiny can be handled at a time.” |
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| 8071 |
anon |
(old-fashioned or informal) in a little while |
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Although the word anon sounds old (it is, it is!), it can still be used today to indicate "soon." If you say, "I hear you calling and I will come anon," the person calling you might still be impatient, but they'll be impressed. |
The word anon can be found as early as the 11th Century, with the Old English word āne meaning "in one," or "right away." The word is considered archaic, and sounds a little pretentious when used today. It fits much better in older literature such as works by Shakespeare. For example, in Romeo and Juliet, Juliet's nurse calls her just as the girl is bidding goodbye to Romeo, and she keeps putting the Nurse off by saying, "I come anon." |
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| 8072 |
deliverance |
recovery or preservation from loss or danger |
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If you’re seeking deliverance, you want to be set free or removed from a bad situation. If you're taken hostage in a bank heist, you might pray for deliverance. |
You probably notice that deliver makes up a big chunk of deliverance. One meaning of deliver is “to set free” — and that’s what deliverance is: the act of setting someone free. Deliverance often has religious connotations, but the word can be used for other kinds of rescue or liberation. You might want deliverance from the hardship of working on your uncle’s farm all summer, or at least deliverance from the smell of manure. |
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| 8073 |
pronounce |
speak or utter in a certain way |
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If you have a teacher who asks the class to call him "Mr. B," it's probably because his name is really hard to pronounce. When you pronounce a word, you sound it out. |
When you say something in a particular way, you pronounce it. The verb pronounce has another meaning, too — "to declare formally." It's not too different from announcing something, but it implies something more official and solemn — just think of the phrase "I now pronounce you husband and wife." |
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| 8074 |
companionship |
the state of being with someone |
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Companionship is when you feel a sense of closeness being with another person. Your grandmother's companionship with her best friend might keep her feeling young and happy. |
You probably experience companionship with your best friend or romantic partner, or maybe even with your siblings. A feeling of fellowship or togetherness is companionship — it's one of the reasons people get married or seek out like-minded friends. The word comes from companion, from the Old French compagnon, "fellow, mate, or friend," rooted in the Late Latin companionem, or "bread fellow," combining com, "with," and panis, "bread." |
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| 8075 |
completion |
a concluding action |
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When something comes to completion, it's finished. In football, a pass that's been caught is called a completion. |
If a wide receiver has a lot of completions, then he had a good day: that means he caught a lot of passes. But if the receiver is out of bounds or drops the ball, then there's no completion. Quarterbacks are judged by their completion rate, too. Off the gridiron, you can use the word completion to talk about anything that's been completed or achieved. Graduation day marks the completion of high school. The completion of a new building or a PhD can take years. |
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| 8076 |
playful |
full of fun and high spirits |
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Use the adjective playful to describe someone who likes to have fun and doesn't take things too seriously. A playful kindergarten teacher makes everything seem like a game, even lining up to go outside for recess. |
A group of cheerful kids playing musical chairs at a birthday party can be called playful, and so can a litter of wiggly puppies. A playful joke might be mischievous, but it's meant in a silly, friendly way. This word has been around since the thirteenth century, in the sense of "full of play." The Old English root word is plegan, which means "frolic, move rapidly, make sport of, or play music." |
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| 8077 |
surround |
extend on all sides of simultaneously; encircle |
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When you think of the word surround, think of something that's around you on all sides, like the trees that surround you in a forest or the people who surround you on a city street at rush hour. |
Sometimes surround describes the position of troops that force the enemy to surrender. You can also surround your property with a fence, or surround yourself with positive people. Both of these offer a way to protect or strengthen the thing in the middle — your house or your well-being. In a movie theater that has "surround sound," the audience feels like it is in the middle of the action because of the speakers placed all around the space. |
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| 8078 |
discount |
an amount or percentage deducted |
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The noun discount refers to an amount or percentage deducted from the normal selling price of something. If you wait until after the holiday, you can often buy goods at a steep discount — just make sure you need all that stuff. |
The noun discount means a reduction in price of a good or service. You can ask the manager for a discount if the item is damaged. As a verb, discount means to reduce the price. The manager can discount the item for you. The verb discount also means to disregard, underestimate, or dismiss. If you are a teenager, people will often discount your opinion — but you should keep expressing it because eventually people will listen! |
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| 8079 |
audit |
examine carefully for accuracy |
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An audit is a thorough counting, review, or assessment of a situation or collection of things. Before baking cookies, you'd better make an audit of the ingredients available to see whether there is enough sugar and butter. |
The most common use of the word audit is with the Internal Revenue Service, which sometimes performs an audit of a taxpayer’s finances to see whether that taxpayer has accurately reported his or her income. It can also be used in this context as a verb. It's easy to get nervous if the IRS is planning to audit you! You can also audit a class if you attend but don't pay for it. Just don't think that you'll get credit towards graduation from that. |
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| 8080 |
gang |
an association of criminals |
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A gang is an association or group of criminals. Often, members of one gang will fight violently with another gang. |
People join gangs for the sense of belonging, as well as for protection by other members. A gang usually claims an area as its territory and defends it against other gangs or unaffiliated criminals. You can also use gang for a group of friends or workers: "A whole gang of us went to the movies together." The Old English root, gang, means "journey." Today's definition comes from the idea of "a band of people traveling together." |
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| 8081 |
huddle |
a disorganized and densely packed crowd |
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In a football game, a huddle is a quick conference before a play. Huddle can also be a dense and disorganized crowd, like a group of people standing under an awning waiting for the rain to pass. |
As a verb huddle means to draw people together or to crouch low or curl up. The word comes from the late 16th century, when it meant “to conceal.” That makes sense. When a burglar comes into your home, you might huddle in the closet so he'll leave without harming you. When your mom comes to see if you’re sleeping, you might huddle under your blankets with your flashlight so she won’t know you’re still up reading. |
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| 8082 |
hark |
listen; used mostly in the imperative |
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Hark generally means to constantly go back to something in the past, but it can also mean "Listen!" — as in "Hark! The herald angels sing!" |
Still complaining about that bad haircut you got last year? Well, don't hark back to it anymore! Hark has an interesting origin: it comes from the term "to hark back," which was the process by which hunting dogs used to retrace the scent of their prey when they had lost it to try to pick it up again. When you complain about that bad haircut for the umpteenth time, just remember you're behaving just like a dog. Maybe that will stop you. |
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| 8083 |
version |
something a little different from others of the same type |
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If the professor says, “Read the complete works of Shakespeare” and you go for the Cliff Notes, you could say you read a short version of the Bard’s work, but really, you're cheating. A version is a specific edition or form of something. |
Version derives from the Latin vertere, "to turn." Think of it as someone taking a turn, as in an adaptation of a work of art or literature. "Can you believe they made an animated version of The Sinking of the Lusitania?" Or someone giving their own account of an event. "Your version of what happened the night we got locked in the storage unit is totally different from mine!" |
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| 8084 |
glare |
be sharply reflected |
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When you drive, you pull down your visors to block the glare, or the blinding light from the sun. The "rocket's red glare" from the national anthem is the bright light you'd see as a rocket shoots through the sky. |
Imagine the twinge of pain you get when you suddenly see the glare of a strong flash of bright light. Now imagine this light coming from an angry person's eyes towards you. This angry look is called a glare. If someone glares at you, be careful you don't get attacked! Glare can also mean the spotlight of public attention. |
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| 8085 |
broad |
having great extent from one side to the other |
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The adjective broad boasts an extensive — you might even say broad — array of subtly different meanings including wide, spacious, far-reaching, vague, and unsubtle. |
It's kind of funny that the word broad can communicate such an expansive range of ideas since expansive is, in fact, a synonym for broad. This adjective can be used to describe actual physical spaces. A broad highway, for example, would be difficult to cross because of all the cars in the many lanes of the road. The word can also be used more figuratively. American history covers a broad range of topics and events. A broad-minded person is open to new ideas, while broad humor aims for a mass audience with obvious gags and stunts. |
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| 8086 |
inferno |
a very intense and uncontrolled fire |
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An inferno is a huge fire that's difficult to control, like an inferno that burns down a whole city block. Inferno also can describe any horrible place where people suffer. |
The Latin word infernus means "of the lower regions." Using inferno to mean "hell" is credited to medieval Italian poet Dante Alighieri. Dante's epic poem the Divine Comedy contains one part titled The Inferno, which tells of a journey through the nine circles of hell full of torture, pain, and imagery of red — flames, boiling blood, and so on. |
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| 8087 |
flaw |
an imperfection in an object or machine |
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A flaw can be a sign of weakness or defect. If you try to make wings and fly off the roof but wind up crashing in the gutter, there's a flaw in your plan. |
In the early 14th century, when the noun flaw was first recorded, it referred to a snowflake or spark of fire. That sense is now obsolete, and now we use flaw to describe shortcomings in either character or object. We all have flaws. It can also describe an intentional mark of imperfection. “You see,” said the dancer Martha Graham, “when weaving a blanket, an Indian woman leaves a flaw in the weaving of that blanket to let the soul out.” |
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| 8088 |
balanced |
being in a state of proper equilibrium |
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If something is balanced, it has equal proportions or a stable sense of balance. A balanced yoga pose is one in which you're not falling over constantly. |
A balanced gymnast won't fall off the balance beam, and a balanced team combines players' skills to form a stable, equitable group. Balanced information in a news report gives you the opposing sides of an issue, and a balanced diet includes some food from all the different nutritional groups. Balanced comes from the verb balance, "be equal with," from the noun form of the word, with its Old French root, balance, "scales for weighing." |
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| 8089 |
lightning |
flash of light from an electric discharge in the atmosphere |
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When you see sudden bright flashes of light in the sky, you're seeing lightning, the release of electricity between clouds or the ground. |
Lightning can be scary, and if it strikes a person, it can kill. You can tell how close the lightning is by how long the delay is between the light and the sound of the rolling roar or crack of thunder that accompanies it. If they're close together, get inside, quick! Because lighting strikes so fast, we use its name for other speedy things, like the lightning-fast service at a good coffee shop. |
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| 8090 |
temperate |
not extreme |
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Temperate means mild, moderate. If you're a temperate person, you are calm, reasonable. If you live in a temperate climate, it's warm and sunny, but not too hot. |
Like other words that sound similar, temperate has to do with measurement and range. Temperatures measure how hot and cold things are and someone with a temper is hot-headed or intemperate, the opposite of this word. A temperate person's life motto is summed up by Goldilocks: not too hot and not too cold, just right. |
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| 8091 |
naturalism |
an artistic movement emphasizing realistic description |
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Naturalism is the belief that nothing exists beyond the natural world. Instead of using supernatural or spiritual explanations, naturalism focuses on explanations that come from the laws of nature. |
Beyond the belief that everything can be explained using nature, naturalism is also a term for a particular style of art and literature from the 19th century. Naturalism refers to a realistic approach to art that rejects idealized experiences. So when you look at a painting that embodies the spirit of naturalism, you'll notice it capturing the real world rather than trying to make things look better than they are. With naturalism: what you see is what you get. |
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| 8092 |
entreaty |
earnest or urgent request |
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"Ain't too proud to beg" is what the word entreaty is all about. When you make an entreaty, you're begging or pleading for something. |
An entreaty is the kind of request you make to King Kong when he's dangling you from the top of the Empire State Building. It's an appeal you make to someone who usually has the power to grant your wish. Entreaty is often used in the plural: "After all my pleas and entreaties, my teacher still gave me a C." |
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| 8093 |
affectionate |
having or displaying warmth or affection |
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Being affectionate is being warm, tender, and loving. A hug is an affectionate gesture. |
Affectionate words and actions show love, liking, or compassion. Kissing on the check, holding hands, and hugging are all affectionate. This word usually doesn't apply to sexual situations: being affectionate is a lot more innocent than that. Parents and children, teachers and students, brothers and sisters — they can all be affectionate to each other. It's hard to fake being affectionate, so we tend to be affectionate to people we genuinely like. |
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| 8094 |
educate |
give knowledge acquired by learning and instruction |
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To educate is to teach, train, or inform someone. Teachers educate students. |
If the word educate makes you think of children, you're not far off. It comes from the Latin word educare meaning to "bring up, rear.” In the 1500s, Shakespeare borrowed it to mean "schooling." These days, any time you're in a classroom listening to a lecture, reading a book, or speaking with a teacher, you're being educated. Teachers educate students all the way from preschool to graduate school. Almost any experience can educate if you learn from it. |
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| 8095 |
fellowship |
the state of being with someone |
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A grant given by a university or foundation to a scholar for research or study is a fellowship. If you get a fellowship to do research on insects, it might bug your colleagues who didn't get one. |
Use fellowship to refer to someone's company or companionship. Your grandmother might prefer the fellowship of people her own age, since they remember the same historic events as she does and know the same songs. A fellowship is also a community of people who share common beliefs or interests. A fellowship of knitters might meet weekly at a cafe in your town to exchange ideas and knit together. |
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| 8096 |
canyon |
a ravine formed by a river in an area with little rainfall |
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A canyon is a deep, narrow valley surrounded by tall cliffs. Because a canyon is often very deep, be very cautious when standing on the rocky cliffs above. |
The noun canyon refers to a deep ravine that has been cut into the earth's surface over a long period of time by erosion from a running river. Also known as a gorge, it usually has very steep walls with rocky cliffs. One of the most famous examples is the Grand Canyon, which was cut by the Colorado River. It's an astounding 277 miles long, up to 18 miles wide, and a mile deep. |
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| 8097 |
procession |
the act of moving forward, as toward a goal |
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A procession of mimes walking through the streets of your town would be surprising and somewhat terrifying. A line or group of people moving together in a deliberate way is a procession. |
You're most likely to see a procession during some kind of ceremony, parade, or festival. A line of cars moving together to a cemetery is a funeral procession, and a bunch of parents pushing babies in strollers in a parade are also a procession. Another meaning of procession is any line or succession of people moving continuously, like a procession of local politicians knocking on your door one afternoon. The root of procession is the Latin processio, "marching forward." |
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| 8098 |
stew |
cook slowly and for a long time in liquid |
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To stew is to slowly cook food, which results in a soup-like food called a stew. To stew also means to brood angrily. |
If you cook something slowly, like beef or vegetables, you stew it. The result of stewing is also called stew, which is usually chunky, like a thick soup. People can stew in another way when it comes to emotions. If your sister sits and worries about something, she stews. The root of stew is the Old French estuver, "bathe or stew." Back in the fourteenth century, stew was also a slang word meaning "brothel or bath house." |
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| 8099 |
cloak |
a loose outer garment |
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A cloak is anything that conceals or hides something, like an over-sized, dark raincoat you wear when you don't want your friends to see you're going to the movies without them. |
As a noun, a cloak is usually a loose piece of clothing that you wear over your other clothes, like a cape or a gown. It especially refers to an outer garment that you might wear while traveling in order to protect your outfit or to conceal your identity. As a verb, to cloak is to conceal or hide something. If you were a famous person who wanted to go out alone, you might cloak your identity with a cloak. |
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| 8100 |
evacuate |
move out of an unsafe location into safety |
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To evacuate is to flee, like how people leave an area when a hurricane is coming. It also means to empty something completely. |
If you have to evacuate your home, something horrible is probably happening, like a natural disaster. People evacuate when something like a tornado or act of terrorism makes their homes unsafe. To evacuate also means to empty completely, in the bathroom-oriented sense of evacuating (emptying) your bowels. Similarly, if a chemist empties and therefore creates a vacuum in a flask, she has evacuated the flask. When you evacuate, you clear out. |
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| 8101 |
skirmish |
a minor short-term fight |
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A skirmish is a small fight — more a dust-up than a full-out battle — and it can refer to a physical fight or just a battle of words. It is definitely confrontational, though. |
Think of a skirmish as kind of a mini-battle, although a military skirmish can end with casualties. Still, although such an encounter can be serious, even the very word skirmish sounds slight, like a stirring of dust in the breeze. Shakespeare referred to the combative nature of his characters Beatrice and Benedick, in "Much Ado About Nothing," as "a kind of merry war betwixt Signior Benedick and her: they never meet but there's a skirmish of wit between them." |
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| 8102 |
occasional |
occurring from time to time |
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When something happens from time to time on an irregular basis, we say it is an occasional occurrence. For example, you might have an occasional lunch with a friend. If your friend ever picked up the bill, maybe it would happen more often. |
Occasional is a few steps removed from the Latin cadere, "to fall." So you might think of something occasional as something that happens "to fall" just whenever it happens to fall. Speaking of falling, Voltaire once wrote, "The best government is a benevolent tyranny tempered by an occasional assassination." An occasional election might do in a pinch. |
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| 8103 |
strenuous |
taxing to the utmost; testing powers of endurance |
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Something strenuous requires all your effort and strength, like a hard workout at the gym or carrying a backpack full of heavy books. |
Strenuous can also describe something done with lots of energy or force. If your boss asks you to do a strenuous task like carry a couch up a flight of stairs by yourself, and you refuse by jumping up and down in protest, you have a strenuous objection to her request. To remember how to spell it, remember that something strenuous requires the strength of two of you! That's why there are two u's in strenUoUs. |
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| 8104 |
blossom |
a flower or cluster of flowers on a plant |
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The flowering part of a plant or tree that will form the seeds or fruit is called a blossom and synonyms include bloom and flower. The noun can also refer to the state of such flowering. You shouldn't miss cherry blossom time in Washington, D.C. |
As a verb, blossom means to produce flowers. Your favorite time of year may spring be when all the trees blossom and the air is perfumed with their scent. The verb blossom also means to begin to flourish and develop. If you are a teenager, you might be waiting to blossom and feel confident in your personality and grow into your gangly limbs. |
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| 8105 |
dispersed |
distributed or spread over a considerable extent |
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The adjective dispersed can describe anything that's spread across a distance. You might use the Internet to stay in touch with your dispersed family, who live everywhere from Maine to California. |
The Latin root of dispersed is dispersus, meaning "to scatter." Anything that's distributed or spread out can be described as dispersed, used either as an adjective or a verb. Seeds that are planted evenly across a huge field are dispersed. When a crowd of people gathered in one place all leave, heading in different directions from where they met, you can say they dispersed. |
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| 8106 |
flare |
a burst of light used to communicate or illuminate |
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A flare is a sudden burst of light. The flare of a lit match in the dark night is strangely beautiful. |
The flare of a flame in the dark is sudden and bright, and the flare of an idea or emotion is similarly intense. A part of clothing that grows wider, like the hem of jeans that flare — and are also called flares. The verb flare also means to burn brightly or suddenly erupt, like a skin rash that flares up in hot weather or your friend's temper that flares when people tease her about her favorite team losing the big game. |
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| 8107 |
glorious |
having or deserving or conferring high honor |
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When something is fabulous and wonderful it can be described as glorious, like the glorious sight of the first flowers in your yard after a long, cold winter. |
The adjective glorious comes from the Latin word gloriosus, which means “full of glory,” or “famous.” What are some glorious things? The Grand Canyon, the Golden Gate Bridge, an Olympian's athleticism, the towering skyscrapers of New York City, autumn sunlight filtering through a forest of changing leaves, and the list goes on. If it is beautiful, amazing, fantastic and awe-inspiring, it’s glorious. |
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| 8108 |
purchase |
acquire by means of a financial transaction |
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When you purchase a pair of shoes, you buy them. If you want to gain purchase, or favor, with new friends, you might tell them about your recent purchase of chocolate, and offer to share. |
Purchase can refer to the act of buying or the thing you bought. In 1803, the United States paid France approximately $15,000,000 for 800,000 acres of land which was called Louisiana, in a transaction known as the Louisiana Purchase. In this transaction, the purchase nearly doubled the size of the U.S. –– the territory purchased comprises about 23 percent of current US land. |
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| 8109 |
sentry |
a person employed to keep watch for some anticipated event |
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A sentry is someone who stands guard or watches against some intrusion or unwelcome activity. Your dog stands sentry over your house, but he would be more effective if he barked at strangers instead of licking their hands. |
The noun sentry came from the French sentinelle, which has a similar meaning. It was in the 17th Century that the word was first associated with someone on a watchtower as a military guard. You could only enter the dreaded ice fortress after sneaking past the sentry posted outside. Don't let his button eyes and carrot nose fool you — he's a sharp one! |
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| 8110 |
goodly |
large in size, amount, or degree |
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A goodly amount of something is plenty of it. If you bake a goodly number of brownies for a bake sale, there are more than enough. |
The adjective goodly can describe a large quantity and also a large size: "You described your house as tiny, but it's actually a goodly size!" You might bring home a goodly amount of spinach from the farmer's market, or take a new job that comes with a goodly increase in salary. Goodly comes from an Old English root word, godlic, "excellent, good, or fair." |
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| 8111 |
imprison |
lock up or confine, in or as in a jail |
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To imprison is to hold someone in a prison or jail. It can also mean to confine them elsewhere. You might imprison a classmate in a locker, for example. |
Cops imprison suspects who can't make bail, and someone could be imprisoned for a long time if convicted of a serious crime. Government agencies like the CIA and FBI also imprison people. However, you don't need a prison to imprison someone: a kidnapper holding people captive in the basement has imprisoned them. |
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| 8112 |
premature |
too soon or too hasty |
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Premature means "not yet ready." Something that is premature arrives early, like a premature baby born before her due date, or the soggy cake you took out of the oven prematurely. |
Premature is a simple word to break down. Pre means "early" or "before," and mature means "done" or "ready." If a decision is criticized as premature, it means that that decision was made too hastily, and probably would have been different if more time had been taken. If someone dies very young, you might say they died prematurely. |
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| 8113 |
secrecy |
the condition of being concealed or hidden |
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Secrecy is a word for a state or condition where things are concealed or hidden. CIA agents and conspirators know a lot about secrecy. |
Since a secret is something some people don't know, secrecy is all about keeping things private or concealed. Being a spy involves a lot of secrecy. When information is important or sensitive, people try to create secrecy. Also, you can say secrecy is a quality people have, like courage. Someone who doesn't gossip has a good sense of secrecy. When all lips are sealed, there's secrecy. |
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| 8114 |
ether |
compound with an oxygen atom linking two hydrocarbon groups |
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Ether is a chemical that used to be a common anesthetic that you inhaled before undergoing surgery. In most countries, doctors have replaced it with less flammable, safer drugs. |
The chemical ether is a colorless liquid that's still used as an anesthetic in some developing countries and as an industrial solvent. The Latin root is aether, which means "the upper pure, bright air". Ether was originally a scientific term for what 19th century physicists called "the fifth element," a substance that was said to fill all space and make up all bodies. In modern times, ether has come to be a literary term that refers to the sky. |
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| 8115 |
track |
a line or route along which something travels or moves |
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If you document your study time and record all your exam scores, then you track your progress in school. In this case the verb track shows that you're following the path of something. The noun track can refer to a path of a more literal kind. |
The noun track can describe a variety of paths, such as the rails that trains chug along, a course that racehorses run, or the big oval course in an ice rink. If you're competing in a five-lap race and you have the fastest speed after the first four laps, you're on track to win the race. In this case the term "on track" is describing a figurative path, one that indicates you're in a good position to achieve what you want. |
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| 8116 |
infinite |
having no limits or boundaries in time or space |
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Infinite describes things that are endless, like the universe, or your uncle's corny jokes. |
Finite means "something with an end," and when you add the prefix, in- meaning "not," you get infinite: something that never, ever ends. If someone has read every single book about pyramids, you might say he as an infinite knowledge of ancient Egyptian culture, even though that's an exaggeration. He will sure stop talking about them at some point. Right? |
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| 8117 |
carve |
engrave or cut by chipping away at a surface |
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When you cut a design into a piece of wood or marble, you carve it. Headstone engravers carve people's names and the dates of their births and deaths into gravestones. |
You might carve your initials into the tree in your backyard, or carve a walking stick out of a large branch. Some artists work by carving shapes from clay or granite, and a chef learns to carve, or precisely cut up, large cuts of meat and poultry. The Old English root word is ceorfan, "to cut, slay, carve, or engrave." |
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| 8118 |
affected |
influenced |
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Something that's affected is influenced or acted upon. If a bottle of ointment says "apply to the affected area," you should put the medication only on the parts of your skin that touched the poison ivy. |
One of the most common vocabulary mix-ups is effect and affect: effect is usually a noun, and affect is usually a verb that means "to influence" of "act upon." Affected is the adjective form of the verb. After a flood, affected homeowners might try to get insurance. A sad movie might leave you deeply affected. The word can also refer to behavior that's done only to impress someone: if you're acting affected, you might use big, fake melodramatic gestures. |
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| 8119 |
improve |
to make better |
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When you improve something, you make it better. For example, you can improve your harmonica playing with practice. |
Be happy when you see this word, because something is getting better — improving. Getting a tutor will usually improve your grades. Sleeping well improves your health and alertness. A haircut could improve your looks. Painters have to decide whether a painting is finished or if it can still be improved. Voters decide which candidate will improve the nation. Sometimes a sick patient will mysteriously improve. The opposite of improve is worsen or deteriorate. |
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| 8120 |
fulfill |
meet a want or need |
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The verb fulfill means to fill a need or want. To fulfill yourself personally means to follow your inner passion, like flute-playing, no matter who thinks it's silly. |
Fulfill can also mean to meet expectations, or live up to a standard. If you fulfill your teacher's requirement of good behavior and good test scores, she'll give you a star. Finally, fulfill can mean to put into effect, or carry out. You'll fulfill the cookie orders when you deliver boxes of those tasty treats to the people who bought them. |
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| 8121 |
fetter |
a shackle for the ankles or feet |
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A fetter is a shackle or chain that is attached to someone’s ankles. To fetter someone is to restrict their movement, either literally or metaphorically. You might feel fettered by your parents' rules, even without the chains. |
A fetter is anything that secures and limits the movement of the feet and legs of a prisoner. To fetter, the verb, could be used literally: the prison wardens would fetter the chain gangs who built many of the railroads in the US., but it usually means something has been done to restrain someone’s behavior: "we finally managed to fetter our sons’ computer use with bribery." |
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| 8122 |
reason |
a logical motive for a belief or action |
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A reason explains why you do something. The reason you go to school is to learn things (and because it's the law). |
Reason usually has to do with thought and logic, as opposed to emotion. If people think you show good reason, or are reasonable, it means you think things through. If people think you have a good reason for doing something, it means you have a motive that makes sense. Reason can also be a verb. You might reason something out, which means that you look at all sides of the issue and then and decide what to do. |
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| 8123 |
mentally |
in your mind |
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Anything that happens mentally is happening in your mind. This adverb refers to brainy activity. If you’re mentally unstable, you need a shrink. |
Just as the adverb physically relates to the body, mentally relates to the mind. A mentally tough person is strong-willed. If someone is mentally unfit for a job, he doesn't have the brains to carry it out. A crossword puzzle can be a mentally challenging task. In the Star Wars movies, Jedi knights can mentally move objects just by willing it to happen. This word covers all the things that happen in your head. |
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| 8124 |
fashion |
the latest and most admired style in clothes or behavior |
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The word fashion has to do with customs and trends. Popular clothes are in fashion. And someone who keeps up with the latest styles is a follower of fashion. |
The most common use of fashion is to describe the hippest, trendiest clothes and music — we say popular things are in fashion. But this word can also refer to a way something is done, as in "We train dogs in a certain fashion." To fashion something means to built it, as in "We fashioned a shelter out of rocks and mud." But that kind of fashioning probably isn't in fashion these days. |
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| 8125 |
sniff |
perceive by inhaling through the nose |
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Smell that cake baking? No? Take a sniff. A sniff is when you take air in through your nose to smell something. |
Dogs sniff a lot. It's how they get to know the world. Imagine this when you see the figurative use for sniff meaning to snoop as in, "The detective was sniffing around for clues." Sniff is one of those words that sound like what they mean. Take a big sniff and listen, you'll see. If you have a cold, and you keep sniffing, you have what's known as the sniffles. |
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| 8126 |
stature |
the height of a standing person |
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Stature can refer to a person's height or the high level of respect with which she is regarded. Your grandmother might be small in stature, or height, but have great stature, or esteem, in her community. |
Stature comes from the Latin word statura, meaning "height, size of body, growth," but today, it also means "a high level of respect gained by achievement." For example, after you win a Nobel Prize, your new stature will bring new fans, more sales of your book, invitations to many exclusive dinner parties, and maybe even your picture on magazine covers all over the world. |
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| 8127 |
customs |
money collected under a tariff |
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Customs are taxes, or duties, that you sometimes have to pay when you import goods from another country. |
When you return home from a trip to another country, you have to clear customs by talking to a customs officer and declaring everything you bought or got as a gift while you were traveling. If you're bringing in a lot of stuff, you may have to pay customs — the duty on imports. Customs are a source of income for a country, and they also provide control over what’s coming in. |
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| 8128 |
grip |
hold fast or firmly |
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To grip something is to hold it firmly. You might grip the TV remote to keep your roommate from trying to change the channel. |
When you want to hold on to something, you grip it. If your hands are strong and you can hold things well, you have a good grip. Grip is also the roughness or texture of something. A steering wheel has good grip if your hands don't slip while driving. This word can be also be used figuratively. If you’re upset, your friend might tell you to “get a grip” — that is, get a hold of yourself. |
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| 8129 |
pretext |
something serving to conceal plans |
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Pretext is a false reason given for doing something. If you catch your mother going through your drawers, and she says she was just tidying up, cleaning was her pretext for snooping. |
Sometimes a government will try to take away its citizens' rights under the pretext of national security. Though pretext sounds like text that comes before other text, the text you see in it is actually more closely related to the word textile, meaning fabric. Its Latin root meant pretty much "to pull the wool over someone's eyes." |
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| 8130 |
revolt |
rise up against an authority |
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Revolt means to rise up against an authority in an act of rebellion. You might see an opposition group revolt against a government, or you might revolt against your oppressive 10:00 curfew. |
Revolt has a noun form as well to describe that kind of rebellious uprising. Your revolt is successful if you get permission to stay out past 11:00. Revolt can also mean to disgust or sicken, either physically or in terms of your sensibilities. Your stomach may revolt at the idea of eating cauliflower again. You could combine the two meanings of revolt if you stage a revolt in the kitchen to stop from having to eat vegetables that revolt you. |
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| 8131 |
curse |
an appeal to some supernatural power to inflict evil |
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When you curse, you say words you wouldn't want your mother or your priest to hear you saying. A curse can also be wishing something awful on someone, like the witch who puts a curse on Sleeping Beauty. |
When you hear "maledizione!" in an Italian opera, somebody's having a curse placed on them. The Italian word tells you just what a curse is — it's a "bad saying" — a really bad saying. Like "May you and all your family have nothing but Brussels sprouts to eat forever and ever!" That would be a curse. As a verb, the act of cursing will lead to getting your mouth washed out with soap. |
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| 8132 |
erupt |
start suddenly |
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A rash, a volcano, applause, violence, all of these are things that are prone to erupt, meaning they suddenly become active. |
The word erupt has origins in the Latin word eruptus, the past participle of erumpere, meaning to burst forth. This lively verb can be used to describe anything that is released in a quick, violent burst, such as a bomb exploding or lava spewing forth from a volcano or even laughter. It can also be used to describe the arrival of things that burst through more quietly (but often more painfully), such as a skin condition or a tooth that’s breaking through one's gum. |
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| 8133 |
dreadful |
exceptionally bad or displeasing |
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Something that's terribly bad is dreadful. Some people love going to the opera, but for others there's no more dreadful way to spend three hours. |
Dreadful means "full of dread," "feeling a sense of dread," or "causing dread." Dread means fear or anxiety. The adjective dreadful can describe something truly devastating, like the dreadful aftermath of a tornado, or something that's awful on a more personal level, like a dreadful blind date. If it's bad, fearsome, or unpleasant, you can call it dreadful. |
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| 8134 |
supremacy |
power to dominate or defeat |
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Supremacy is the state of having the ultimate authority. A ruling king has supremacy over his kingdom. |
When one group dominates another, it has supremacy. One country's army might have military supremacy over another, or your favorite baseball team might gain supremacy in the third game of the World Series, meaning it has power over the other team in the series. Supremacy comes from the Latin word supremus, which means highest. |
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| 8135 |
feudal |
relating to a system where vassals are protected by lords |
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Anything feudal relates to the medieval system of feudalism — where the nobility owned the land while everyone else worked it. It was no fun to be a lowly serf in the feudal system. |
Though it has roots in Latin, the adjective feudal (and its relative feudalism) were created by historians to describe the social system after it actually took place. Feudal may both look and sound similar to feud as in a long standing fight, but it’s not actually related — unless the argument happened to take place in medieval Europe. |
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| 8136 |
rotate |
turn on or around an axis or a center |
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Rotate means to circle around a center point. Wheels on a car rotate, planets rotate, and if you're an ice skater, you rotate on the blade of a skate when you do your spins. |
Rotate can also mean that you take turns performing a job. If you, Jim, and Shelia all got the same amount of votes in the class election, you could rotate the role of treasurer, meaning the position would pass from one to another in a regular pattern. Rotate can also refer to other things that are passed along in a regular order. You might rotate lawn duties with your brother — that means you mow the lawn one week and he mows it the next. |
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| 8137 |
crumble |
break or fall apart into fragments |
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To crumble is to come apart into tiny pieces. If the doughnuts you bring to work crumble before you get there, you co-workers will have nothing but crumbs to snack on. |
Baked goods seem to crumble easily, but other things tend to crumble too: old houses, over time; sand castles; fragile ruins; and art objects made from clay. Anything that falls apart, especially into small bits, can be said to crumble. The root of the word is the Old English gecrymman, "to break into crumbs," which in turn comes from cruma, "crumb or fragment." |
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| 8138 |
helpful |
providing assistance or serving a useful function |
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If you are inclined to assist others in any situation, you are a helpful person. Your actions can also be called helpful, like your helpful habit of doing the dishes every night. |
If you want to be helpful, you find ways to make things easier for others, like holding the door for them. Things can also be helpful — maps, cell phones, dictionaries, and holders for wet umbrellas. Taking good notes and setting your alarm to go off early are helpful tips for days when you have big tests. A discussion is helpful if it teaches you something new or gives you ideas for doing something better. |
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| 8139 |
disturb |
move deeply |
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To disturb is to bother. If you hang a "Do not disturb" sign on the outside of your hotel room door, you want to be left alone. |
Disturb comes from the Latin prefix dis-, meaning "completely" and turbare, meaning "to disorder." To disturb is, in a sense, to completely disorder. When you disturb something, you interfere with its normal function. Along those lines, it's also a word used to describe the interruption of sleep or relaxation. Your alarm disturbs you from sleep every morning. When something disturbs you, it can also cause you emotional anxiety. A horror movie might disturb you with its goriness. |
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| 8140 |
pair |
a set of two similar things considered as a unit |
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A pair is something that comes in a set of two — like a pair of shoes or a pair of tennis players who make great doubles partners. |
Pair can also work as a verb. Think of Noah pairing animals on the ark so he could save their species from the flood. And, along those same lines, the verb to pair is sometimes used to mean reproductive pairing (something pairs of shoes wouldn't dream of doing). |
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| 8141 |
confirmation |
information that verifies |
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A confirmation provides proof that something is true. An example might be when you receive confirmation that your flight will be on time, or you find out that something you thought might have happened actually did occur. |
Confirmation is verification or final proof of something. In the church, confirmation is a rite in which a person if awarded full acceptance into — i.e., confirmed in — the religion, usually presented in a ceremony attended by family and friends. You can see how that ties in with the more general definition of substantiation of a fact or assertion. Confirmation is an obvious derivative of the verb confirm. |
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| 8142 |
minor |
inferior in number or size or amount |
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Something that's minor is considered of low importance — a minor injury is not very serious, and a college student's minor subject is a secondary field of study. Likewise, the star constellation Ursa Major is a larger grouping than Ursa Minor. |
The word minor has retained its spelling from the Latin. There, minor means something "lesser," and is related to the Latin word minuere, which means "to diminish." It is usually used as an adjective, but as a noun it gained the meaning "underage" in the 16th Century, and is now used to refer to children and teens under the age of legal responsibility. It is also used in musical terms to refer to a key that has a flatted third in its scale. |
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| 8143 |
masses |
the common people generally |
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The masses refers to a large, general group of regular folks — the common people of a society. If you’re super rich, you ride around in a private jet while the masses take crowded buses. |
The masses don’t include celebrities, rich people, royalty, or political leaders. The masses are everybody else. People use this term when they need to speak generally about the majority, although it often refers to the lower class. To win an election, a politician must appeal to the masses. Popular movies and music also must appeal to the masses — in other words, they need mass appeal. The word masses is also just plural for any kind of mass. |
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| 8144 |
ascent |
a movement upward |
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If you are moving in an upward direction, that's an ascent, like your quick ascent from new group member last year to president this year. |
An ascent, which comes from the Latin word ascendere, meaning "to climb up," is just that: a climb. An ascent can be physical, like an elevator's journey to the top floor, an airplane's upward motion, or your hike up a mountain. Ascent can also be a figurative climb, like a restaurant's dishwasher's whose hard work made his ascent to executive chef possible. |
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| 8145 |
administration |
the act of governing or exercising authority |
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Use the word administration to describe the group of people running an organization: “University administration declared Wednesday a snow day and sent everyone home early.” |
You’ve probably heard the noun administration used to describe a political group, such as the Bush administration or the Obama administration. It can also be used to refer to the daily activities involved in running a group or a program: “Carla handles the administration of the summer camp.” |
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| 8146 |
overseas |
beyond or across the ocean |
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There's no trick to the meaning of overseas. If someone goes overseas, they've gone "over" the "seas" — to a foreign country. |
When overseas came into use, there were no airplanes, so technically speaking, one traveled "across" or "on" the seas, in a ship. Nevertheless, one was thought to have made it "over the sea," hence overseas. When traveling overseas, make sure your phone works on the network in the country where you're headed. Also, the laws and customs overseas can be very different from the ones we have here, so be careful. What here at home you consider small potatoes legally might be a big deal overseas. |
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| 8147 |
interrogate |
pose a series of questions to |
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To interrogate is to ask someone a bunch of questions. Usually, it’s the police, FBI, or other law-enforcement officials who interrogate suspects, but your father-in-law may interrogate you about your career plans. |
Interrogate comes from the Latin prefix inter-, “between” added to the Latin verb rogare, “to ask.” To interrogate someone is not just asking a few polite questions over a cup of tea. When you interrogate someone there is usually a method to the questioning with a specific mission in mind, like determining a criminal's motive or where she stashed the loot. Your college entrance interview may feel like an interrogation, but their mission is really just to get to know you. |
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| 8148 |
glow |
emit a steady even light without flames |
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To glow is to shine with light. On a clear night when the moon is full, it glows in the sky. |
A nightlight glows in a dark room, and a distant flashlight beam glows like a candle. Other things that glow include fireflies, TV screens, and city lights when seen from an airplane at night. A person's face can also be said to glow, when it's shining and flushed with health or happiness. The radiance of light or pleasure itself can also be called a glow, from the Old English glowan, "to shine as if red-hot." |
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| 8149 |
ply |
use diligently |
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Ply means to work steadily at something. If you've got a lemonade stand and you're busy perfecting your recipe and seeking out customers, you're doing a good job of plying your trade. |
A ship that regularly travels a particular route plies that route. When someone offers you food or drink, often in hopes of getting something in return, they're plying you: "If I ply you with cake, will you take my dog for a walk?" The noun ply is very different from the verb, referring to layers or strands. Four-ply yarn is made up of four strands. Plywood is made of many layers of wood glued together. |
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| 8150 |
hasty |
excessively quick |
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Hasty means speedy and brash. If you try to make a hasty exit after breaking up with someone, you’ll seem like a jerk. |
Hasty, meaning “speedy, quick,” first came onto the scene in the mid 14th century. Later, it found itself paired with pudding to form hasty pudding, a dessert that only takes a short amount of time to make. Note that hasty, unlike fast, has negative connotations. If someone accuses you of having completed an assignment in a hasty fashion, it means your work appears careless. |
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| 8151 |
defendant |
someone against whom an action is brought in a court of law |
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In court, the person who gets sued or accused is called a defendant — they have to defend their innocence or reputation. |
One thing no one wants to be is a defendant: that means someone sued you, which could cost you a boatload of money. Other defendants are accused of crimes, which is even worse, because you could end up in jail. Turn on any TV show about lawyers, and you'll see some of them defending the defendant, and others trying to convict the defendant. Defendants are definitely on the defensive. Another word for a defendant is a plaintiff. |
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| 8152 |
courtyard |
an area wholly or partly surrounded by walls or buildings |
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A courtyard is an area outside a building that's framed and somewhat enclosed by walls. Your friend might ask you to meet her in the courtyard of her apartment complex. |
In cities, courtyards provide small, private outdoor areas. Courtyards are often nestled between buildings, or tucked away behind them. For nearly as long as people have built houses and buildings, courtyards have existed — although in the past, they were used for keeping animals, cooking over an open fire, and sometimes even sleeping. The word dates from the 1550s, combining court, from the Latin cohors, "enclosed yard," and yard, from a Germanic root also meaning "enclosure." |
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| 8153 |
ape |
any of various primates with short tails or no tail at all |
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To ape someone is to imitate them, often in a mocking way. Most people don't like being aped. |
To ape is to imitate, but it can mean a few different things. One type of aping is to blatantly imitate something or someone in every way. That's considered a bad thing because it's so unoriginal — it's a rip-off. Another kind of aping is like a caricature — to ape in this way is a way of making fun or spoofing someone. Either way, you probably don't want to be accused of aping. |
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| 8154 |
inferior |
of or characteristic of low rank or importance |
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You might call something inferior if its quality isn't as good as another, comparable thing, like that kite that you can't get to fly no matter how fast you run back and forth while your friend's kite soars overhead. |
Besides "lower in quality," another meaning of the adjective inferior is "lower in rank or status," the way a corporal is inferior to a general in the Army. The word inferior can also be used as a noun to mean "a person who is lower in rank or status," in which case you might say to your younger brother, "You are my inferior, therefore you should take out the trash." |
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| 8155 |
relieved |
made easier to bear |
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Were you nervous about that math test because you didn't study hard enough? Well, you'll be relieved to learn that it's been canceled. You can relax! What a relief. |
Relieved is the adjective equivalent to the noun "relief." To get relief is to be relieved. At the supermarket, they might have a whole section devoted to pain-relievers. Got a headache? Take a couple and you'll likely be relieved of your pain. Interestingly, you can also use relieved to describe someone who's been fired or had their responsibilities taken away. After one too many unfunny shows, the clown was relieved of his duties: he had to hand in his little red nose. |
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| 8156 |
revolve |
turn on or around an axis or a center |
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When something revolves, it turns on an axis or in an orbit around something else. People who love you probably think the world revolves around you (but really, the earth revolves around the sun). |
Revolve comes from those useful Latin roots re- "again" or "back" and volvere "roll," as seen in evolution, involve, and lots of other familiar words. Picture a revolving door, and you can understand what it means to revolve, or turn in a circular motion. |
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| 8157 |
shroud |
burial garment in which a corpse is wrapped |
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Are the rules of calculus shrouded in mystery to you? The verb shroud means to hide or cover something or someone. The fog might shroud the valley, or that long-sleeved, ankle-length dress might shroud the tan you worked so hard on in Mexico over Christmas break. |
It used to be that corpses were dressed for burial not in person’s best outfit but in a shroud — a garment, often white, made to cover the body. When ghosts, zombies or mummies are depicted in rags, they are wearing the remains of their burial shrouds. If you should hide from them by covering yourself with an abandoned tarp, you will be shrouding yourself from sight. |
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| 8158 |
recreate |
make anew |
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To recreate means to give new life to something, to redo, or remake it. Say you become a billionaire and you grow tired of your mansion, try recreating your childhood home on your estate, so you can retire modestly. |
To recreate literally means to create over. If the mural you painted on the outside of your home was damaged in a flood, you might want to recreate it with waterproof paint. Recreate can also mean reimagine. If you become the principal of your old high school, you could throw out the old subjects and recreate high school education as everlasting game day. Recreate can also mean to play — it gives us the word recreation. |
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| 8159 |
emblem |
special design representing a quality, type, or group |
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An emblem is a design that stands for a group or a concept. If you’re Scottish, your family may have an emblem such as a coat of arms that symbolizes your heritage. |
Many countries have national emblems, which often feature an animal or other elements that represent significant parts of the country’s history. A national emblem is often shown on flags or official documents such as passports. An emblem can also be an object that represents an idea. An expensive skyscraper could be an emblem of greed, for example, or the apple tree you planted in your backyard could be an emblem of hope. |
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| 8160 |
bury |
place in a grave or tomb |
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When you dig a hole in the ground, put an object in the hole, and cover it up with dirt, you bury it. Your dog might prefer spending the majority of his time digging holes to bury his toy collection. |
You can bury something to hide it, or it can be part of a funeral ritual to bury a person who's died. You could also predict that the coming snow will bury the city, or you might bury your face in your hands if you were feeling dejected. The root of bury is the Proto-Indo-European word bhergh, "to protect or preserve." If you bury your money in the yard, maybe you're trying to protect it from thieves. |
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| 8161 |
endurance |
a state of surviving; remaining alive |
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Endurance is the power to withstand something challenging. If you decide to run a marathon, you will need lots of endurance to run over 26 miles. |
The noun endurance contains endure means "suffer or undergo" and the suffix -ance means "the state of." It can be used to describe the physical strength to keep going, as in a marathon or giving birth, but it can also be used when discussing a exhausting mental situation or stressful time — the endurance to bounce back from heartbreak, perhaps. |
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| 8162 |
finish |
come or bring to an end |
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To finish something is to complete it or bring it to a conclusion. If you finished a race, you completed it — even if you didn’t come in first. |
Finishing is about concluding. If you finished a novel, you read the whole thing. Finishing a job means the job is done. This word can also refer to a coating or polish used to make furniture look nicer or fancier. If you say someone has a finished look about them, they don’t actually have a coating or polish, of course — but the effect is the same. They have a clean, cultured, polished appearance. |
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| 8163 |
fan |
a device for creating a current of air by movement |
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A fan cools you by moving the air around you. During the warmest weeks of the summer, it's easier to sleep if you have a fan in your bedroom. |
Some fans are electric: you plug them in and a large blade turns fast and blows air around the room. Hand fans are small enough to hold, and as you wave them back and forth, they send puffs of air over your hot face. To do this is to fan yourself. A completely different fan is the one who follows a sports team or a rock band devotedly: "The fans jumped to their feet and cheered." |
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| 8164 |
incense |
make furious |
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Incense means both "to make angry" and a stick that burns slowly and emits a strong smell. If your new college roommate burns incense in your tiny dorm room, you might get incensed and storm out. |
How can a word that means a substance that is burned for its sweet odor come to mean "make very angry"? Both have to do with the idea of burning, and the Latin root incendere, "to set on fire." A stick of incense must be lit, or set on fire to release its smell. When you are incensed by something, such as your teacher slamming you with homework on the night of the prom, you feel like you are burning with anger. |
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| 8165 |
restricted |
subject to an act of limitation |
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Have you ever seen a door labeled Restricted? If so, you probably know it means "Stay out." A restricted area can only be entered by certain people. |
Anything labeled restricted is not public. Restricted things are private, and only certain people who are authorized can access or use those things. Anything restricted is subject to more rules. In sports, a restricted free agent has to worry about more rules than an unrestricted free agent. Something or someone restricted has to deal with restrictions, which are rules or laws that set limits. |
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| 8166 |
traffic |
things coming and going in a particular locality |
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If you drive during rush hour, you're likely to hit some heavy traffic, and if you get stuck in a big traffic jam, you'll definitely be late. It's not just cars that create traffic — a large number of anything trying to occupy the same space adds up to traffic. |
Internet providers may see a lot of traffic when there's big news and everyone is trying to sign on to find out what happened. Pedestrians also create traffic, like those walking past your new burrito palace and pet costume shop. While your business may be perfectly respectable, you would want to watch out for people who traffic stolen goods and illegal drugs. In that sense, traffic acts as a verb indicating you're trading something, often illegally. |
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| 8167 |
censor |
a person authorized to suppress unacceptable material |
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A censor takes out things that are objectionable or inappropriate, like the censors at the TV networks bleeping out all the bad words in a show. |
To put it simply, a censor judges. Originating in the 1530’s, a censor was originally a Roman magistrate who took censuses and oversaw public morals. Censors today are hired by TV stations, publishers and the government to examine books, films and other material and strip out or flag all the amoral, offensive or otherwise bad stuff. Thankfully, in the U.S. free speech usually wins out over censorship. |
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| 8168 |
public |
not private |
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Something that affects the entire community — whether it's your town, your country, or the world — is public. Climate change, for example, is a public concern, as is finding a clean public bathroom. |
You can use the word public as a noun, when you're talking about a large group of people. You might say that the public is getting tired of the inefficient bus system in your city, or that the new library branch is open to the public. The adjective public is good for discussing things that concern everyone. The Latin root word, publicus, means "of the people, of the state, common, or ordinary." |
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| 8169 |
blind |
unable to see |
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Someone who's blind can't see. People who are blind can often get around easily with the aid of a cane and sometimes a service dog. |
You might get hit by a baseball and end up blind in one eye, or be temporarily blind after a trip to the eye doctor. The word also means "without looking," as in a blind taste test of three different brands of chocolate milk. A figurative way to be blind is to refuse or be unable to see the truth: "He was blind to the reality of the situation." This tendency can be called a person's "blind side." |
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| 8170 |
violent |
acting with great force or energy or emotional intensity |
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Something that's violent involves physical force or emotional intensity. If you hate violent movies, it means that you don't want to watch scenes of people being hurt or killed. |
Physically violent behavior ends in someone getting hurt or something being destroyed or damaged. You can also have violent emotions, like a violent burst of anger toward the slow driver in front of you, and you can use violent to describe something that's visually intense, like a violent orange-colored minivan. The word has gained in force since developing from the Latin word violentia, which means "vehemence or impetuosity." |
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| 8171 |
nervous |
of or relating to a system of sensory apparatus |
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You know that queasy, uneasy feeling you get before a test? That's a nervous feeling. Everyone gets nervous sometimes. |
Being nervous is a major part of life that everyone has to deal with at times. Some people are more nervous than others, but we all get nervous about certain things — for example, having to perform in front of a crowd makes most people nervous. Getting interviewed for a job is a nervous experience. When the stock market keeps going up or down, you could say it's a nervous stock market. Nervous also applies to the body's nervous system, which includes your brain, spinal cord, and the nerves throughout your body. If you think you injured your nervous system, that's a good reason to be nervous. |
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| 8172 |
annex |
attach to |
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An annex is an extension of or an addition to a building. A small room off of a main room is an annex, and attics are another type of annex. |
As a noun, an annex is part of a building or an addition to a main structure, or it can be an attachment, as in "an annex to the current plans." When used as a verb, the word means something a little different. Sometimes annex is used as a nice word for "take" or "grab," as when Nazi Germany took the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia in 1938 and added it to their own territory. In order to annex something to what is yours, you have to take it away from someone else. |
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| 8173 |
territorial |
of or relating to a geographical area |
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If your dog barks whenever someone walks through your yard, it might be because she's territorial, or inclined to protect her territory from trespassers. |
A person — or an animal — who guards or defends the area she considers to belong to her is territorial. You can also use the adjective to describe anything relating to the territory itself. For example, territorial boundaries are invisible lines that mark the division between one country, or territory, and another. The Latin root, territorium, "land around a town," comes from terra, "earth or land." |
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| 8174 |
ancestor |
someone from whom you are descended |
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An ancestor came before. Your grandmother's grandmother and any relative before her is one of your ancestors. |
Ante-, a common Latin prefix, means "before." Cedere is Latin for "to go." So, an ancestor is someone who has gone before us. Evolutionary biologists have advanced the theory that all life on earth descends from a common ancestor. Ancestor can also mean "prototype" or "forerunner." The abacus is a distant ancestor of today's supercomputers. |
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| 8175 |
concealed |
not accessible to view |
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If something's concealed, it's out of sight. People may have concealed motives for carrying concealed weapons. |
This is a word for the many things people like to hide. If the government has a secret agenda, they have a concealed agenda they don't want anyone to know. Magicians use many concealed objects and people to do their tricks. Someone might win a poker game because they concealed their emotions. A concealed ace up your sleeve will help too. Once something is revealed—like an affair or a scandal—it's no longer concealed. |
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| 8176 |
concur |
happen simultaneously |
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To concur is to agree or approve of something. If someone says something you agree with, you can say "I concur!" |
Like many words with con, concur has to do with agreement and being together. When you concur, you agree with someone about something or let them know you approve. "I concur" is a formal (and sometimes humorous) way of saying "I agree!" or "I hear that!" Also, two events that happen at the same time can be said to concur. People are happy when good things concur, like when a birthday and nice weather happen at the same time. |
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| 8177 |
galley |
a large medieval vessel with guns at stern and prow |
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A galley is a long ship propelled by oars, and possibly sails as well. You're not likely to see a galley these days: they were used from ancient to medieval times. |
You may have seen movies portraying old ships with dozens of rowers, lined up on benches. Those ships are galleys. Galleys were used for more than a thousand years, and they played an important role in both war and trade. If someone today says they’ve been in a galley, you can assume they aren’t referring to this kind of ship. They probably mean the galley, or the kitchen area, of a ship or airplane. |
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| 8178 |
conspire |
act in agreement and in secret towards a deceitful purpose |
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When you conspire, you collaborate with others to do harm, or maybe just keep something from happening, like a group that conspires to get tuna melts booted from the lunch menu by urging everyone to order other things. |
You can conspire with someone, meaning you team up with another person to plot against someone else, or you can conspire against someone. This means you devise a scheme to do that person harm. Conspire also can be used in a more figurative sense to describe events that cause problems, like bad weather that may conspire against your picnic plans, or a series of injuries that conspire against a basketball team struggling to make the playoffs. |
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| 8179 |
testify |
give a solemn statement in a court of law |
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To testify is to make a statement or provide evidence, usually in court. Witnesses testify for the prosecution or defense. |
If you've ever seen a TV show about lawyers, you've probably seen someone testifying: putting their hand on the Bible, sitting in the witness seat, and telling what they know about a case. Testifying is serious business, but it doesn't always happen in court: If someone knows you're good at math, they can testify to your math skills. Or if you've been to a restaurant, you can testify to your friends that it has awesome desserts. |
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| 8180 |
racial |
of or related to genetically distinguished groups of people |
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Something racial is related to the characteristics people have because of their genetic or ethnic origins. Racial differences sometimes lead to racial tension. |
Members of the same racial group share a very old genetic connection — their ancestors lived in the same part of the world, and they're distantly related. When people talk about "racial diversity," they mean that many of these groups are represented, for example, in a single city. The noun race is at the heart of the adjective racial, and it comes from Old French, with an Italian root word, razza, "race, breed, lineage, or family." |
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| 8181 |
influential |
having or exercising power |
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If your grandfather worked his whole life in a circus and inspired you to wear clown shoes, you could describe your grandfather as very influential in your life. Something that exerts influence or power can be called influential. |
You could read a deeply meaningful book that becomes influential to you, or there might be an important person in your life who is strongly influential over various decisions you make. The Latin word influentem, "flowing in," is the root of the Old French influence, which described the power was believed to flow from the stars. |
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| 8182 |
fiend |
an evil supernatural being |
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A fiend is a person or monster who has evil plans in their mind. They may try to steal your soul, or perhaps just want to hurt your feelings. Either way, fiends never mean you well. |
The Old English root word for fiend translates to “an enemy, the devil, a demon”: three cruel characters that would delight in causing you harm. Watch out for fiends like them. A less wicked type of fiend is one who loves something so much that it’s scary, like a sugar-addicted jelly bean fiend, or a snowboarding fiend. Fiend is a good example of the “i before e except after c” rule, so follow that and you’ll always spell it right. |
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| 8183 |
entangle |
cause to twist together or be caught in a snarled mass |
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To entangle is to snarl, intertwine with, or get caught in. Too often, dolphins entangle themselves in large fishing nets meant to catch tuna or swordfish. |
If you mean to trip your brother, you can entangle your leg around his, and when long-haired people don't brush it for days, it will snarl and entangle itself. A figurative way to entangle is to get caught up in a complicated situation: "I didn't mean to entangle you in this mess with my roommates!" Entangle's roots are en-, "put in" or "cause to be" and tangle, or "snarl." |
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| 8184 |
flap |
move in a wavy pattern or with a rising and falling motion |
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You're probably familiar with the verb to "flap," which is what birds do with their wings. But as a noun, a flap is a fuss, an argument, or a gossipy feud. |
A big part of the pleasure of reality TV shows is watching how quickly a person can start a flap. A dumb remark, a furtive glance, a missed phone call: any of these things can start the characters bickering. And the flap can go on for an entire season! One way to remember the meaning of the verb to flap is to imagine the sound of many wings flapping. That's the sound a flap might make if you could hear it. The leak from the senator's press agent might have caused a firestorm. Instead it resulted in just a minor flap. |
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| 8185 |
rotten |
having decayed or disintegrated |
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Use the adjective rotten to describe something that is decaying or decayed. If you are like most people, you occasionally have to throw out rotten food — sometimes, it's so nasty you can't even tell what the food was in its original form! |
The adjective rotten also describes something that is very poor in quality. If your car has a flat tire, your dog threw up on the carpet, and your boss yelled at you, you can say you are having "a rotten day." Another use for rotten is to describe something that is damaged by decay. Weather damage can cause boards to rot, so if you are working on an old house, you should especially watch out for rotten floor boards. You wouldn't want to fall through to the basement! |
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| 8186 |
scrub |
wash thoroughly |
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When you scrub something, you wash it forcefully. You might scrub your dirty bathtub with a brush and some bleach, for example. |
When you scrub your floor, you use elbow grease — in other words, you work hard to get the floor clean. You might need to scrub your fingernails after a morning working on your car's engine, rubbing with a nail brush to get the grease off. Word experts think that scrub comes from the Middle Low German word schrubben, which also means "to scrub." |
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| 8187 |
couple |
two items of the same kind |
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If you are hanging out with a couple of friends, you are hanging out with two friends. A couple is a pair or a twosome. As a verb, couple means "to pair or match." |
As a noun, couple means "a pair." If two people are dating, you can refer to them as "a couple." Similarly, two people who are married can be called a "married couple." Two guys playing basketball can be called "a couple of guys playing basketball." As a verb, couple means "to pair or combine," as people on a dance floor might couple or form pairs when the music starts. You can also couple two ideas by combining them. |
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| 8188 |
obligate |
force somebody to do something |
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To obligate is to either force someone to do something or be compelled to do something. You’re obligated to get to work on time if you want to keep your job. |
Obligating has to do with responsibilities. When you have a job, you're obligated to show up and do your work. You could also say the job obligates you to do these things. Obligate, which is about obligations (duties), can be used another way – to commit as security. Money would be obligated, or put up as security. Obligate is not the same thing as oblige, which is like doing a favor. To obligate is meaner, it means “to force.” |
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| 8189 |
harsh |
disagreeable to the senses |
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Harsh means severe or strict, particularly when referring to punishment. It would be a harsh punishment if you got grounded for two weeks just for coming home a little late for dinner. |
There are many shades of meaning for the word harsh depending on its context, but all imply that something is more unpleasant than it needs to be. Harsh lighting hurts your eyes. A harsh disciplinarian gives out punishments that are too severe. Whereas constructive criticism is usually helpful, a harsh critique will only make you upset. The harsh reality of the world today is that millions of people are starving while others have too much. |
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| 8190 |
qualification |
the act of modifying or changing the strength of some idea |
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A qualification is either a condition that must be met or a statement that puts a limit on a claim. Both kinds of qualification are restrictive. |
You know how there are requirements for jobs? You can call those requirements qualifications. For example, a college degree and certain experiences are qualifications for many jobs: without them, you won't even get a job interview. A qualification is also a type of statement that makes a previous statement more specific. If you said "I'm thirsty!" and then added "Not for root beer, though" your second statement is a qualification. Qualifications add a limit to what's been said. |
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| 8191 |
debut |
the act of beginning something new |
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A debut is a first appearance, a launch, or public introduction. So before you make your big debut at the office, check and make sure you don't have spinach in your teeth. |
Perhaps you’ve heard of debutantes making their official debut into society, or actresses and actors making their debut on stage. A fun fact: debut and premiere are often thought to be interchangeable, but they’re not. A debut, as you now know, is a first public appearance. But a premiere, while also a “first,” isn't necessarily live. When a movie opens or an interview is broadcast for the first time, they're called premieres. |
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| 8192 |
overwhelm |
overcome, as with emotions or perceptual stimuli |
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Overwhelm means “give a person too much of something.” If your friend agrees to feed your pet fish while you’re on vacation, don’t overwhelm her with requests by also asking her to do your laundry and wash the dishes. |
While it’s easy to be overwhelmed by chores or complaints, it’s also possible to be overwhelmed by good things — if they occur in large quantities. You might enjoy a stack of pancakes for breakfast, but you'd probably find a truckload of pancakes overwhelming. Sometimes people feel overwhelmed by emotion, and this can be a positive or negative experience, depending on the emotion. For example, you might feel overwhelmed by gratitude if your friend takes excellent care of your fish, but overwhelmed with grief if the fish is accidentally flushed in your absence. |
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| 8193 |
petroleum |
a dark oil consisting mainly of hydrocarbons |
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Petroleum is oil — a fossil fuel that powers many vehicles and other machinery. |
Petroleum is a fancy, technical word for something you've probably heard of: oil, an energy source. Petroleum is also known as crude, crude oil, fossil oil, and rock oil. A lot of petroleum is found in the Middle East, and people are always looking for new sources of petroleum. You have to drill for petroleum, because it's deep inside the Earth. There’s a limited amount of petroleum, so many people worry that we're going to use it all up. |
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| 8194 |
translation |
rendering in another language with the same meaning |
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"C'est un dictionnaire en ligne." Don't understand? Here's a translation for you: "This is an online dictionary." A translation is the written or verbal rewording of something from one language into another that keeps the same meaning. |
A translation doesn't have to be strictly from one language to another; it can be a rewording that makes something easier to understand or less technical in nature, as suggested by the common phrase, "Can you translate that into plain English?" If what is translated takes a written form, as in a book, for example, then the object itself is called a translation. |
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| 8195 |
turf |
the territory claimed by a juvenile gang as its own |
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When you're walking on the perfect green grass of a golf course, you might remark on the gorgeous turf. Turf is the top layer of ground, especially when it's planted with grass. |
From its original meaning, referring to the top layer of soil in which plants are rooted, turf has expanded to include a range of senses. While you might carefully maintain your beautiful backyard turf, your dog might think of it as his turf, barking to defend it from intruders. This sense of turf means "range of influence," or territory. Both meanings of the word come from a Germanic root that originated in a Sanskrit word, darbha, "blade of grass." |
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| 8196 |
tremendous |
extraordinarily large in extent or amount or power |
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Tremendous means extraordinarily large in size, extent, amount, power, or degree. It can also mean really marvelous and fantastic — or really awful and terrible. |
We often use tremendous if something is super wonderful. If someone comes into your office and tells you you just won a big contract and are getting a huge bonus, you might exclaim, “Tremendous!” Tremendous comes from the Latin for "trembling," and is connected with fear. Something tremendous can be big in a terrifying way, like the tremendous noise of an approaching hurricane, or a tremendous tidal wave about to crash on the shore. |
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| 8197 |
protection |
the activity of shielding someone or something |
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Protection refers to keeping something or someone safe. Through protection, we shelter and defend things. |
Since protecting is to shelter from harm, protection is the act of doing so. Children are under the protection of their parents, who keep them safe. The Secret Service is responsible for the protection of the President. Many famous people hire bodyguards, who offer protection. A security guard offers protection to a bank or store. Also, a house gives you protection from the weather. Valuable things and vulnerable people need the most protection. Protection keeps things and people safe. |
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| 8198 |
faint |
lacking clarity, brightness, or loudness |
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Something faint has no courage or vigor. If you suddenly round the corner and see a gang of bullies staring straight at you, chances are you'll feel faint. |
Faint comes from the French feindre, for being cowardly or shirking duties. We usually use it to mean without great strength. If you faint, you pass out, from low blood supply to your brain. If you feel faint, you feel weak. Faint also means dim or vague. If you're staring out to sea, you might see the faint outline of an approaching ship. If you really can't remember the answer to something, say you "haven't the faintest idea." |
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| 8199 |
assembly |
a group of persons gathered together for a common purpose |
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Use the noun assembly to refer group of people meeting up for a mutual purpose, such as a church service. |
Often used to describing a gathering of people, the word assembly can also refer to putting something together, such as a machine or a piece of furniture. No matter if the individual components are people or objects, assembly implies a bringing together. You may be familiar with the term "freedom of assembly," which is considered a basic human right. It means that people are free to peacefully gather together to protest the government, to worship, to hold a public meeting . . . or even to play poker. This allows people to exchange information and pursue mutual goals. |
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| 8200 |
umbrella |
a lightweight handheld collapsible canopy |
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An umbrella is the gizmo used to protect yourself from rain or sun. An umbrella can also be something that groups similar things, like an umbrella organization that protects and serves many smaller organizations. |
An umbrella is that lightweight, collapsible cover that’s handy on a rainy day. People also use umbrellas to protect themselves from the sun. Since an umbrella covers people and things, umbrella is also a metaphor for something that brings unity. An umbrella agency brings together other smaller and related agencies. An umbrella term can be applied to many concepts. To bring things together in this way is to umbrella, as in “The merger umbrellas several companies.” |
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| 8201 |
adjust |
alter or regulate so as to conform to a standard |
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When you adjust to something, you change so that you can fit in, conform, or keep on going. Arriving at a new school almost always requires that you adjust a little. Once you adjust, you'll find you're as happy as you were in your old school. |
To adjust doesn't mean to transform in a major way. It implies small but important changes that make a big difference. If you adjust your speed by just ten miles per hour, you'll get more than fifty more miles per fill-up. You can adjust your hair to make it fancier, you can adjust your lifestyle to make it more sober, or you can adjust your attitude to make yourself less annoying. You used to have to adjust your TV antenna to get a better picture. Ask your mom. |
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| 8202 |
endorse |
approve of |
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To endorse is to give support to someone or something. "I endorse this!" means "I think this is a good thing, and so should you." |
People endorse in many ways. When someone endorses a politician, it means "You should vote for this person, and I'm putting my reputation on the line to say so." When someone endorses a product in a commercial, it means "Go buy this! You'll like it." To endorse is to give support. You can also endorse a check, which means writing your name or someone else's on the back so that you or the other person can cash or deposit it. |
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| 8203 |
antique |
made in or typical of earlier times and valued for its age |
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An antique is an old-fashioned thing, like a lamp from the sixties. Anything antique is old or at least old-ish. |
When you see the word antique, you know you're not going to hear about anything new or young. An antique is a nice, old piece of furniture, that's usually been well taken care of and costs more than something new. Shopping for antiques is called antiquing. Outside of antique shops, calling anything antique means it's out-of-date and useless — so if you wanted to be mean, you could call your grandparents antiques. |
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| 8204 |
relaxed |
without strain or anxiety |
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Most people like to feel relaxed: when we're relaxed, we're not nervous or overexcited. We're cool and collected. Rules are looser when relaxed, too. |
If anyone has ever told you "Relax! Relax!" you probably have some idea of what this word means. People are described as relaxed when they have no worries or stress. Being relaxed is one of the best feelings there is, and it usually leads to other good feelings like happiness and confidence. Restrictions and rules are relaxed when they become less strict. Fittingly, relaxed rules and relaxed people tend to go together, just like strict rules can make people feel nervous and uptight — the opposite of relaxed. |
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| 8205 |
portion |
something determined in relation to a thing that includes it |
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If a friend asks you to invest in her new start-up in exchange for a portion, or part, of the company’s profits, consider the agreement carefully. Remember, a portion of zero is still zero. |
Portion can also refer to the amount of food provided for each person at a meal. If you’re reviewing a restaurant, for example, you'll want to take note of the portion size. In addition, portion can be used as a verb meaning “divide and distribute something.” At birthday parties, we find it odd that the person celebrating her birthday is expected to perform the annoying task of portioning her own cake (perhaps it’s so she can claim the biggest portion). |
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| 8206 |
injured |
harmed |
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If you break your leg, you are injured. If someone caused the break by pushing you off a swing, you are the injured party. Injured means harmed. |
Usually injured means physically harmed, but sometimes you'll see it used with pride. After being yelled at in front of the whole team by your coach, you'll go home with injured pride. Injured shares a Latin root meaning "right" with the word jury. If you are on a jury, you are expected to do what's right. When you are injured, it's just not right. |
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| 8207 |
prospect |
the possibility of future success |
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A prospect is the possibility that something fabulous will happen. After you graduate top of your class at Harvard, for example, your job prospects look great. |
Prospect is from the Latin word prospectus which means a "view or outlook." A prospect is still a way of looking ahead and expecting good things. It's like potential in that it's something that might be but isn't yet. There is also the potential for something bad to happen, but prospects usually look good. In the 1800s, when men in floppy brown hats started saying "There's gold in them there hills!" the noun became a verb — to prospect is to search for gold. Either way, when you have prospects, you have a golden future. |
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| 8208 |
theological |
of or relating to or concerning the study of religion |
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Use the adjective theological to describe things related to religious studies. If you major in religion in college, you can call yourself a theological scholar. |
A theological university is often called a seminary, a school where all the students learn about some aspect of religion. Scholars use the word theology to describe a thoughtful and rational study of religious beliefs, ideas of God, the history of religion, and more. Some theological students become ministers or priests. The root word is Greek, theologia, "an account of the gods." |
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| 8209 |
understanding |
the condition of someone who knows and comprehends |
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To be understanding is to be sympathetic to someone’s woes. Understanding a concept means you get it. Your understanding might be that your mother will always drive you to school if you miss the bus. |
The sum of your knowledge of a certain topic, is your understanding of it. This can change, or deepen as you learn more. But being an understanding person doesn't take a lot of studying — it takes opening your heart to appreciate what someone else feels or experiences. If someone says to you, "I thought we had an understanding," you must have done something unexpected. Here, understanding means "an agreement." |
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| 8210 |
afflicted |
mentally or physically unfit |
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Afflicted means "impaired" or "stricken" and usually refers to a person who is mentally or physically unfit, or has been grievously affected by disease. |
This adjective's Latin root, afflictare, means "to damage, harass, or torment," which may sometimes be a good description of how an afflicted person feels. Those with mental illness may be tormented by voices in their head and thus be unable to distinguish what is real from what is not. Those afflicted by ALS, or Lou Gehrig's Disease, slowly lose control of their muscles and become paralyzed. |
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| 8211 |
oblige |
force somebody to do something |
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To oblige is to do something you have to, because you're bound by either good manners or the law. |
You are obliged to pay back your student loans, or for your portion of the dinner bill. You may also feel obliged to bring a gift if you're invited to a wedding. You can also tip your cowboy hat and be "much obliged" if someone does you a favor. The French phrase, noblesse oblige means basically that "privilege entails responsibility," or that the wealthy are obliged to do something productive in the world and not just sit around polishing their silver spoons. |
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| 8212 |
scoundrel |
someone who does evil deliberately |
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A scoundrel is a person who does deliberately evil things. If your brother hides a fake mouse in your shoe and you therefore almost have a heart attack while getting dressed, you have every right to call him a scoundrel. |
Though the term scoundrel isn’t used as much as it once was, it’s the perfect way to describe someone who breaks the law, has no morals, or someone like your sneaky sibling who loves to play practical jokes. Most villains in movies and on television can be put in this category. Interestingly, though women are quite capable of equally wicked behavior, this particular term is usually reserved for men. |
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| 8213 |
commitment |
the act of binding yourself to a course of action |
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Making a commitment involves dedicating yourself to something, like a person or a cause. Before you make a commitment, think carefully. A commitment obligates you to do something. |
Some commitments are large, like marriage. When you take a job, you're making a commitment to show up and do the job well, and your employer makes a commitment to pay you. There are smaller commitments too. If you said you'd meet a friend at six, that's a commitment — show up or your friend will be mad. You also can speak of commitment as a quality. Staying after school for a study group shows your commitment to good grades. |
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| 8214 |
feverish |
having or affected by an abnormally high body temperature |
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If you're feverish, your body temperature is higher than normal, usually because you're sick. Getting the flu makes most people feverish. |
Feeling feverish is sometimes the first sign that you're coming down with an illness. Feverish symptoms include aches and chills. Another way to be feverish is to be full of excitement or turmoil. A room full of wound-up kids at a birthday party often crackles with their feverish energy. In the 14th century, something feverish caused a fever — it wasn't until the 17th century that the word gained its current meanings. |
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| 8215 |
lumber |
the wood of trees prepared for use as building material |
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Do you move clumsily, heavily and slowly, without a shred of grace? Then it sounds like you might lumber. Sorry to hear that. |
Lots of other words and phrases are associated with our friend lumber. Particularly large or tall people are almost inevitably said to lumber, as the common phrase "lumbering giant," attests. You never hear of a tip-toeing giant, but some of them must. Lumberjack, meaning someone who cuts down trees, is another. Often lumber, in the sense of planks of wood, is interchangeable with the word timber. |
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| 8216 |
premium |
having or reflecting superior quality or value |
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Something that's premium is much better than average — it's excellent, in fact. A premium seat at a rock concert is right up front, with a great view of the stage. |
When premium is a noun, it means the money you pay each month for your car insurance or a charge that's added on top of a standard payment. It also means a prize or reward. As an adjective, premium implies something of superior quality that probably costs more too. Premium comes straight out of Latin, meaning “reward.” It was first used as an adjective around 1925, in the phrase "premium butter." |
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| 8217 |
distinguished |
standing above others in character or attainment |
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Being distinguished is a good thing: it implies good behavior, sharp dress, and an excellent reputation. Distinguished people are respected. |
When we say someone is distinguished, we're expressing respect for them. Usually, someone distinguished is older: distinguished people are wise, accomplished, and professional-looking — and usually have an impressive reputation to match. A teenager can't really be distinguished. They're too young to look the part, and they haven't done enough to earn the title. We admire people who are distinguished. |
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| 8218 |
expectant |
marked by eager anticipation |
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If you're expectant, you're waiting excitedly for something. A throng of expectant fans might wait outside a concert venue, hoping for a glimpse of the band arriving. |
When someone's expectant, they are anticipating something good, eagerly awaiting it. When you're hoping for a call, your expectant glance might land on your cell phone every five minutes, and if you're especially hungry for lunch, you might keep an expectant eye on the clock during math class. Because pregnant women tend to be excitedly waiting for a baby to be born, they're also commonly described as expectant. |
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| 8219 |
pardon |
accept an excuse for |
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If you belch, interrupt a conversation, or leave the table during dinner, you’re expected to say “Pardon me.” Once you’ve requested your companions’ pardon, or forgiveness, you can assume you have it; you don’t need to wait for their response. |
The word pardon often occurs in the phrases “Pardon me” and “I beg your pardon.” (While “I beg your pardon” literally means “I request your forgiveness,” it’s used to indicate that the speaker did not hear what was just said.) Outside of these everyday phrases, pardon is typically used in formal or legal situations. If the president pardons a criminal, for example, the criminal is forgiven in the sense that he or she no longer has to serve the penalty for the crime. |
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| 8220 |
interpreter |
someone who mediates between speakers of different languages |
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An interpreter is someone who translates something to make it understandable, usually spoken language. When your class takes a trip to Russia, you’ll likely have an interpreter to translate Russian to English so you can understand what people are saying to you. |
Need to talk to someone who doesn't speak your language? You'll need an interpreter. Say you're interviewing a Bulgarian diplomat, but you don't speak Bulgarian. The interpreter would listen to a few sentences in Bulgarian and then repeat them in English, and then listen to your English response and repeat that in Bulgarian. We also use interpreter for artists who represent ideas or places in their work. If you paint industrial cityscapes, you're an interpreter of urban life. |
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| 8221 |
mechanism |
device consisting of a piece of machinery |
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Use the word mechanism to describe a process that has been set up to accomplish a particular goal. If you’ve set up a method for dealing with your sister when she annoys you, then you have a mechanism in place for establishing peace with your sister. |
The word mechanism came into the English language in the seventeenth century by way of the Latin word mechanismus, which traces back to the Greek word mekhane, meaning “device" or "means.” Mechanism still carries with it the meaning of “device” and can be used to describe a machine, but nowadays you are more likely to hear it used to describe a process for getting something done, such as "a mechanism for generating revenue" or "a crisis-resolution mechanism." |
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| 8222 |
entrust |
put into the care or protection of someone |
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To entrust is to give someone a responsibility you assume she will fulfill. If you entrust someone with the task of getting you to school on time, make sure she’s punctual. |
To entrust is to let someone take care of something for you because you believe she will protect it. It could be a duty or a thing — you might entrust a nursing home with the care of your parents or entrust an accountant with your finances. Entrust is a verb that needs an object, so you always entrust with or to something. If a friend entrusts you with a secret, she trusts you not to tell. |
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| 8223 |
counsel |
something that provides direction or advice |
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When you give counsel or counsel someone, you give advice. If your neighbor is suing you because your dog keeps eating his begonias, you might seek the counsel of a dog trainer or, if that doesn't work, a lawyer. |
You can get professional counsel — from a minister or psychiatrist or someone else trained in counseling — or you can get counsel from anyone you trust. You can ask your stylish friend to counsel you on your hairstyle, or you could write to Dear Abby for counsel on your lovelife. Counsel is also what you call a lawyer who represents you in court. In your begonia-eating dog case, your lawyer would be counsel for the defense. |
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| 8224 |
alley |
a narrow street with walls on both sides |
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An alley is a narrow street with walls or buildings on both sides, like the dark alley everyone warns you not to walk down alone. |
Alley comes from the Old French word alee, meaning "a path, passage, way, corridor," which itself likely comes from the Latin word ambulare "to walk." That sums up what an alley is — a street that is usually too narrow for cars, though it is easy to walk there. However, alleys are often associated with danger and crime because they don't have much light shining in them, and it is easy for shady characters to hide. |
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| 8225 |
burial |
the ritual placing of a corpse in a grave |
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A burial is the act of placing a dead person in a grave. It's a ritual of respect and closure. If your pet lizard dies, give him a proper burial by digging a little grave in your backyard. |
If you've ever been to a funeral, you've probably witnessed a burial — lowering a corpse into the ground. Though burying a body is physically like burying anything, a burial involves solemn rituals and deep respect. Often, religious services are given as the body goes under, and the family and friends gather at the burial to mourn the dead. A tombstone or other marker is erected after the burial. |
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| 8226 |
appreciate |
be fully aware of; realize fully |
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If you appreciate something, you recognize its value. We can all appreciate how refreshing cold lemonade is on a sweltering summer day. |
The oldest meaning of appreciate is "to know the worth of something": "The parolee appreciated his newfound freedom." A related sense is "to be grateful for something," but this usage can sound wordy. Instead of "I would appreciate your sending me more information," consider: "Please send me more information." The word can also be used (without a direct object) to mean "to rise in worth": "The vintage Corvette would appreciate in value over the years." |
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| 8227 |
deed |
a legal document to effect a transfer of property |
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A deed is an action that you perform with intent, like turning in a lost wallet you find in a store. Definitely a good deed. |
The word deed is often used to describe acts of charity but an action doesn’t have to be good to be called a deed — people go to jail for their criminal deeds. Either way, a deed is something done on purpose. It could be difficult, as anyone who after breaking up with a boyfriend or girlfriend later told friends, "I did the deed," will know. An unrelated meaning of deed is a legal document that shows who owns a building or land. |
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| 8228 |
sue |
institute legal proceedings against; file a suit against |
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If you sue someone, you're accusing them (in court) of doing something wrong or illegal and demanding that they pay for it. Almost every time someone sues, they're looking for money. |
One of the last things you want to hear is "I'll sue you!" People sue for a lot of reasons. If you slipped on the ice, you could sue the sidewalk owner for not putting salt down. If you were in a car accident, you could sue the other driver. Years ago, someone sued McDonald's for scalding themselves on a cup of coffee they said was too hot. Sometimes it seems like people will find any reason to sue. |
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| 8229 |
gleaming |
bright with a steady but subdued shining |
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Teeth in toothpaste commercials are gleaming. They sparkle when the light hits. When you see this word, think of a bright reflected ray of light, on teeth, on water, or in someone's smiling eyes. |
A new skyscraper that reflects light might also be described as gleaming. If you are excited to move to a new place, someone might say that your eyes are gleaming with excitement, especially as you view the gleaming wood floors and gleaming freshly-washed windows of your new home. The word has a clean, glittering, sparkly feel to it. |
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| 8230 |
intolerable |
incapable of being put up with |
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If something is impossible to put up with, you can say it is intolerable. It would be intolerable if your neighbors played their terrible, loud music all night long. |
Intolerable, tolerable, tolerate, tolerant, and even extol all share the same Latin root word tolerare, which means to bear. Intolerable couples that with the prefix in-, which means not, giving the word its unbearable meaning. The Intolerable Acts, for example, were laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774. The American colonists found them unendurable, and they sparked support for the independence movement, which eventually led to the Declaration of Independence in 1776. |
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| 8231 |
error |
a wrong action attributable to bad judgment or ignorance |
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"I'm sorry, sir, there's been some sort of error in the kitchen," is what a restaurant waiter might say to a patron who ordered the fish but was mistakenly served a plateful of worms instead. |
Simply put, an error is a mistake. However, that mistake is more likely due to a lapse in judgment or skill than to an accident. A plane crash that occurs after the pilot mistakenly presses the "pilot eject" button is said to be caused by "human error." A baseball play in which the pitcher throws the ball to second base instead of first because he was distracted by a pretty girl in the stands is an error — one that might cost his team the game. |
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| 8232 |
dissatisfy |
fail to please or meet expectations |
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When you dissatisfy someone, you don't meet their expectations. If you promise your dad a chocolate cake for his birthday, giving him a bran muffin instead might dissatisfy him. |
To satisfy someone is to fulfill what they need or hope for — and when you dissatisfy them, you fail to do that. Your final research paper might dissatisfy your history professor, and an expensive meal will dissatisfy you if you believe you could cook something even tastier at home. Dissatisfy combines dis-, "do the opposite of," with satisfy, from its Latin root satisfacere, "discharge fully" or "do enough." |
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| 8233 |
filth |
any substance considered disgustingly foul or unpleasant |
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Filth is disgusting dirt, grime, or other unsavory material. Filth is dog poop all over the sidewalk, gunk under a movie seat, or even overly sexy stuff on TV. |
You can use the noun filth when you're talking about some grimy substance, like the smelly filth on the bottom of your shoes after you've walked across a cow pasture. You can also call a general state of uncleanliness filth. You might say that the filth in your brother's room makes it impossible to open the door. The Old English root word is fylð, which means "rotting matter." Ew. |
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| 8234 |
furnace |
an enclosed chamber in which heat is produced for a building |
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A furnace is an appliance that heats houses and buildings by burning fuel or circulating hot water. Your furnace might rumble in the basement, sending heat up through your house's radiators. |
Most houses in cold climates have a furnace, to warm their rooms during the chilly months of the year. Furnaces also have industrial uses, like burning trash or extracting ore from metal. If someone says, "It's as hot as a furnace in this classroom!" they mean that it's extremely hot. Furnace comes from the Old French fornaise, "oven," with the Latin root word fornacem, "oven or kiln." |
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| 8235 |
projected |
extending out above or beyond a surface or boundary |
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The adjective projected describes something that is predicted or estimated, or parts of something that extend beyond the rest, like projected pillars that rise above a building's roof. |
The verb project can describe a prediction about the future. When you project something, you analyze the facts you have and use that to create a calculation or estimate of how an upcoming event will turn out. Projected, the adjective form of project, is used to describe such a prediction. For example, if you figure out ahead of time how much you’ll owe in taxes, that amount would be your projected taxes. |
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| 8236 |
horror |
intense and profound fear |
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The noun horror means intense fear, so you can use it when you describe the horror you felt when you dreamed you were flying on a bumpy airplane with a bunch of clowns. |
Horror is a powerful word that refers to a powerful feeling, either of terror, disgust, or shock. You might reel back from the horror of a smelly locker room, or gasp in horror at a gory scene in a movie. Horror can also be used to describe the genre of film that might make you gasp: a horror movie. The Latin word horror means "bristling, roughness, rudeness, shaking, or trembling." |
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| 8237 |
divide |
a serious disagreement between two groups of people |
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When you divide something, you separate it into different parts. A pizza maker may divide a ball of dough into two parts to make two pies, or you might even divide a stick of gum in half to share it with a friend. |
The verb divide can refer to the splitting apart of anything, whether it’s pizza dough, gum, time, a country, or a political group. Math types probably already know that the word also can refer to a mathematical function involving figuring out how many times a certain number contains another number. As a noun, divide means a hostile split between two groups, such as a growing divide between conservative and liberal groups. |
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| 8238 |
imaginary |
not based on fact; unreal |
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Anything imaginary is not real: it only exists in someone's head. We hate to ruin your day, but unicorns are imaginary. |
Our imagination allows us to think of anything we want, and things that only exist in our minds are imaginary. Many children have imaginary friends: people they talk to who aren't real. Mythological beings like dragons, Zeus, and Thor are imaginary. A fantasy about marrying a movie star is probably imaginary, because that isn't likely to happen. |
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| 8239 |
practical |
guided by experience and observation rather than theory |
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A stapler is a practical object––it has a use. A hand-crocheted stapler cozy designed to keep a stapler warm at night? Not practical at all. |
The word practice, in the sense of "doing," is embedded in the word practical, which is all about "doing." "Is it practical?" means, is it good to do this? Does it have a use? Will it work? Silk shoes in a rainstorm? They're just not practical. A London Fog raincoat? Definitely practical. |
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| 8240 |
promise |
a verbal commitment agreeing to do something in the future |
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A promise is an agreement to do or not do something. Also, when you have potential, you show promise. |
If your parents say you can go for ice cream and then it doesn't happen, you'll probably say, "But you promised!" People promise small things, like to visit someone, and big things, like marriage: “Til death do us part” is a promise many people make on their wedding day. Another meaning is to make a prediction, as in, "You'll regret this, I promise!” Also, if you show promise playing the violin, maybe someday you'll play in an orchestra. |
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| 8241 |
designer |
someone who creates plans to be used in making something |
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A designer is a person who plans how something will look. An architect is a designer of buildings, drawing detailed blueprints indicating what the structures should look like and how they should be built. |
The word designer came into English in the seventeenth century meaning "one who schemes." The word soon came to describe someone who figures out how something should look, especially something artistic. If you're reading a newspaper, a graphic designer planned how the text and images should look on each page. You might also be familiar with a fashion designer, someone who comes up with a vision for a garment and creates sketches to show what the finished product will look like. |
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| 8242 |
clasp |
hold firmly and tightly |
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A bracelet is held together by a clasp. A girl who gets a nice one from her boyfriend might clasp her arms around him. A clasp is a fastener. To clasp is to hold tightly. |
In all uses of the word, clasp means to hold together tightly. You want your bracelet or belt clasp to be strong so it doesn't come apart. And when you take a child on a walk across a busy intersection, you clasp their hand tightly. The word is not related to the word clap, but if you clap your hands together, then keep them there, you turn a clap to a clasp. |
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| 8243 |
audacity |
aggressive boldness or unmitigated effrontery |
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If you have audacity then you're one daring — and perhaps reckless — character. Running a red light with three previous tickets under your belt certainly shows audacity. And stupidity. |
The noun audacity developed from the Latin word audacitas, which means “boldness." So someone who shows audacity makes bold moves — and isn't afraid of the consequences. Audacity can be admired or frowned upon, depending how far it's taken and how it rears its head. But as former British Prime Minister and novelist Benjamin Disraeli once said, “Success is the child of audacity.” |
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| 8244 |
celebration |
a joyful occasion for festivities to mark some happy event |
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A celebration is a joyful diversion. Your math class might have a celebration when you learn that the midterm has been postponed for a week. |
A celebration can be a festive party commemorating some joyous occasion, like your grandparents' fiftieth anniversary celebration or your brother's birthday celebration. It can also be a less formal marking of a happy event, like the arrival of your new puppy. Another meaning of celebration is a religious ceremony, such as communion or a bar mitzvah. |
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| 8245 |
treatment |
the management of someone or something |
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Treatment has to do with how someone or something is managed or handled. Hopefully you get the royal treatment when you choose the deluxe pedicure treatment! |
You know how some people treat you with respect but others don't treat you so nicely? You can refer to how people act toward you as treatment. If a restaurant is known for rude treatment of customers, people will stop going there. Doctors also use the word treatment when they discuss a particular medical course of action — such as chemotherapy as a treatment for cancer. The root word is the Latin tractare, which originally meant "drag about," but came to mean "manage, handle, or deal with." |
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| 8246 |
mission |
an operation that is assigned by a higher headquarters |
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A mission is a special quest, one that involves more effort than, say, a trip to the corner store. If you were to drive all around the state searching garage sales for porcelain cats, you could say you were on a mission. |
Mission comes from a Latin word that means “to send.” It was first used by Jesuit missionaries who sent members of their order overseas to establish schools and churches. Foreign travel is still associated with the word. When diplomats and humanitarian workers travel abroad, we often refer to those trips as missions. |
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| 8247 |
tedium |
the feeling of being bored by something |
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Tedium is the state of being really bored while doing something repetitive. You may loathe the tedium of eating dinner with the family — after all, what is more boring than talking to mom and dad, especially if you could be texting friends? |
The noun tedium comes from the Latin root word taedere, meaning to weary of, and that's still what tedium means today: bored and weary of it all. The noun can also mean a tedious period of time — school concerts and assemblies are always two hours of tedium. Tedious is a related adjective form of the word. In order to relieve the tedium of homework, you should pick less tedious tasks, try fencing or painting to add some excitement to the day. |
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| 8248 |
particular |
unique or specific to a person or thing or category |
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As an adjective, particular describes something specific, such as when you prefer one particular type of cereal over another. The noun form means specific points or details, as in the particulars of a police investigation. |
The idea of particular referring to details comes from the Latin particula, which means "particle" or "small part," and in Middle English the word meant something that referred to a single person or thing. You can note that in the phrase "in particular" which means "especially." As in, one breed of dog in particular would suit you best, with your floppy ears and friendly personality. |
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| 8249 |
loosen |
make less tight |
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When you loosen something, you make it less tight. A ballerina, for example, might loosen her tightly coiled hair after dance practice. |
You might need to loosen your belt after eating a huge meal, or loosen your collar and tie after a long day at work. Things sometimes also loosen on their own, like when a dog's collar loosens gradually until she can slip right out of it to chase a squirrel. There is also a figurative way to loosen things, making them less strict, like when a community loosens certain rules or laws. |
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| 8250 |
remnant |
a small part remaining after the main part no longer exists |
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A remnant is something that's left over, once the rest is used up. If you plan to sew a shirt using only a remnant, it might have to be a midriff shirt. |
The noun remnant can also be used to refer to leftover things other than cloth. The origin of the word might help you remember this, more all-purpose, meaning — it comes from the French remanant, which means "to remain." Think of it this way: a remnant is something that remains, or is left behind. For example, the remnants from the ancient battle gave archaeologists clues from which to infer what had happened. |
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| 8251 |
theft |
the act of taking something from someone unlawfully |
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Theft is the act of stealing something. If you've ever taken your sister's sweater without asking her first, then she's right: that's an instance of theft! |
The word theft refers to taking something from someone else without getting permission. Shoplifting is a form of theft, as is embezzling a million dollars from your business partner's Swiss bank account. In the United States, petty theft is the act of stealing anything worth less than $500, like someone's bike or a pack of gum. It's still a punishable crime, but you will get in much bigger trouble if you steal something more valuable, like a car. |
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| 8252 |
agree |
consent or assent to a condition |
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When you agree with someone, you share the same opinion, feeling, or purpose, like when you agree on the movie you will go see on Saturday afternoon. |
If we were living in 12th century France, we might use the phrase a gré to describe things that are favorable or go well for us. This positive outcome is still part of the verb agree, because if people agree with you, your plan or idea is the one that will be used. In grammar, subjects and verbs agree when they are both singular or both plural. For example, "everyone is here" agrees but "everyone are here" does not. |
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| 8253 |
confederate |
united in a league |
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A confederate is an ally — someone who's on your side. Your brother, the artist, might be your only confederate in your goal of studying modern dance in Paris this summer. |
A confederate is anyone who supports you and works toward the same goal with you. When it is used in the context of government or politics, it means "united by a treaty," like two countries that have joined forces against a third. When the first letter is capitalized, Confederate refers to the southern United States during the Civil War, which were confederates in their fight to secede from the rest of the country. |
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| 8254 |
enlightened |
having knowledge and spiritual insight |
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Have you ever thought long and hard about a problem and then, suddenly, experienced an "ah-ha!" moment? If your answer is yes, then congratulations! You were enlightened or in possession of a clear understanding of what was otherwise mysterious. |
The word enlightened comes from the Latin prefix en meaning "in, into" and the word lux meaning "light." Combine these meanings — "into the light" — and you're describing what it is that characterizes an enlightened person: a sense of clarity and understanding. People often seek to be enlightened spiritually, by taking pilgrimages, meditating, or looking to spiritual gurus like the Dalai Lama. |
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| 8255 |
disastrous |
having extremely unfortunate or dire consequences |
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Setting things on fire to see how fast they burn might seem like fun, but it can be disastrous. Something that's disastrous has terrible consequences. |
Any action that can cause serious damage is potentially disastrous, like driving too fast on an icy road or climbing a tree during a thunderstorm. You can also use the word disastrous to talk about something that's merely unsuccessful. You could have a disastrous first date, or a disastrous attempt to house-train your puppy. Disastrous comes from the French désastreux, "ill-starred" or "unlucky." |
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| 8256 |
revival |
bringing again into activity and prominence |
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If something experiences a revival, that means it’s once again popular or important. If a news story mentions a revival in the technology industry, that means the industry, having gone through a slump, is once again thriving. |
Revival literally means "come back to life." An ER doctor might perform a revival of someone whose heart has stopped. We usually use it to mean "returned to glory, importance, or strength." Fresh paint and new flowerbeds might mean your neighborhood is experiencing a revival. If you don't like spiky hair, you may cringe at the revival of the mohawk in fashion magazines. Revival has a religious sense too, referring to a meeting that reawakens religious excitement and passion. |
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| 8257 |
haze |
dust or smoke in the air that causes reduced visibility |
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Haze is the fog or mist that's caused by small particles in the air. There is often a haze hovering over the city of Los Angeles. |
Although the noun haze can describe any kind of misty or slightly obscured air, it usually refers to visible air pollution, rather than just fog. You can also talk about being in a haze when you're confused or disoriented. When you hear haze being used as a verb, it usually means to torment a new, young recruit to a club, group, team, the way fraternity brothers sometimes haze a new member, forcing him to perform humiliating or dangerous actions. |
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| 8258 |
article |
one of a class of artifacts |
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A piece of non-fiction prose written for a publication is one kind of article. |
But a piece of a collection of something is also an article, like an article of clothing. If you're talking grammar, definite and indefinite articles are words, such as a, an, and the, whose purpose is to indicate, specify and limit a noun. An article of faith is something that is firmly believed. And an article of organization or incorporation is a section of a legal document that sets out rules for a company. |
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| 8259 |
affecting |
arousing emotion |
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If the final scene has you sniffling and reaching for the Kleenex, the movie you’re watching could be described as affecting, meaning it makes you emotional. |
You might be familiar with the noun affect, which refers to a feeling or emotion. Affecting is just the adjective form of that word — so you can probably guess that it describes things that provoke strong feelings or emotions. You might watch an affecting basketball game, for example, or see an affecting performance of a play. The feeling caused by something affecting can be good or bad, happy or sad. The key is that it stirs up a strong feeling. |
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| 8260 |
solar |
relating to the sun or utilizing the energies of the sun |
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Does it come from the sun? Is it related to the sunshine? Does it depend on sunny rays of light to function? Then it's probably safe to call it solar. |
The ancient Egyptians worshiped the sun god Ra, shaping their lives around the sun's golden rays and even following a solar calendar. Today sun worship is experiencing a renaissance, as more and more people become interested in harnessing the big star's power for "solar energy." Whatever way you decide to partake in solar enjoyment, just remember to wear sunblock. |
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| 8261 |
terrorist |
a radical who advocates violence against civilians |
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Someone who uses violence, mayhem, and destruction — or the threat of those things — to coerce people or countries into taking a certain action is a terrorist. A terrorist may be motivated by religious fervor, politics, or just plain old-fashioned greed. |
Terrorist has at its root the word "terror," which comes from the Latin word terrorem, meaning great fear. Great fear is exactly what terrorists hope to create so they can manipulate the situation to their benefit. The label terrorist is a subjective one. To the British, the American colonists who destroyed shiploads of tea in Boston Harbor in 1773 were terrorists. To colonists, they were patriots and heroes. |
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| 8262 |
outlook |
an attitude that determines how you respond to situations |
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The word outlook describes a belief about the future. Your outlook on the awful present situation might make your outlook for the future turn grim. |
The noun outlook can also mean the practice of looking out. A guard's outlook on the bank vault must stay watchful and attentive in case there's an attempted robbery. Your outlook on your first job out of college was one of promise and excitement. The word can also mean a characteristic mental attitude that determines how you will handle situations. A pessimistic outlook on life will make you see only the negative. |
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| 8263 |
retire |
withdraw from active participation |
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If you stop working by choice and leave your position or occupation, you retire. If you are lucky, you can retire early in order to sail around the world, but most people can't retire until they are old enough to collect retirement benefits. |
If you go to bed in the evening, you retire. If your younger siblings are being loud and obnoxious, you can retire to the basement to get some privacy and quiet. If something is withdrawn from circulation, it can also be retired. When a beloved player leaves a sports team, often the number assigned to him or her is retired and no one else can use that number. |
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| 8264 |
intelligent |
having the capacity for thought and reason to a high degree |
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Humans? Intelligent! Potted plants? Not so much. Intelligent means smart, or having the ability to process and understand information (including dictionary definitions). |
Intelligent comes from a Latin word meaning "to understand, to gather," and intelligent creatures gather and make sense of information easily. Intelligent also refers to the ability to think. Intelligent objects, like speakers or software, seem to think in the way they react to change. If we’re looking for intelligent life on Mars, we want Martians who can reason. Intelligent also means showing good judgement, like an intelligent decision not to invite all those Martians to your birthday party. |
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| 8265 |
cultural |
relating to the shared knowledge and values of a society |
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The adjective cultural comes from the noun "culture" but has several, subtly different meanings, depending on context. The chief meaning is anything having to do human intellectual or creative output. |
The word cultural is often used as a synonym for "ethnic," as in, "cultural diversity," which means a variety of people. But it also means having to do with the arts and creativity. When you move, you'll want to move somewhere with a vibrant cultural life—lots of museums, libraries, and concert halls. In the middle is a term like "cultural anthropology," which is the study of a population's work, arts, lifestyles, and ways of interacting. |
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| 8266 |
elapse |
pass by |
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When time passes by, you say it elapses. Four years elapse while you are in high school. Nine months elapse while you are in the womb. |
If two weeks have elapsed between your tennis lessons, there has been a two-week lapse between sessions. The word elapse comes from the Latin word elabi which means "to slip away." Time is one of those things that really does tend to slip away, unless you're sitting through a lecture on the nature of time. Then, it might feel like years elapse when really it is just a few minutes. |
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| 8267 |
mind |
that which is responsible for one's thoughts and feelings |
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Your mind is where your thinking happens. If you've made up your mind, you've come to a decision. |
Mind can also mean "pay attention to" or "watch." If someone tells you to "mind your manners," they want you to be polite. If you tell them to "mind their own business," maybe they'll leave you alone. When I ask, "Would you mind if I open a window?" I'm asking if this would bother you. |
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| 8268 |
column |
a line of units following one after another |
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Someone who writes a column for a newspaper provides an article that expresses his or her viewpoint on a regular basis, such as a column about local politics which appears in the Sunday edition. |
If your boss says, “I’m going to give you a column!” you may be getting a regular writing gig, or you may be getting a large pillar typically used to support a building. (You’ll know which it is when you see it.)Column also refers to something that resembles a pillar or stack, such as a column of smoke, or columns of numbers that must be added. Column also describes lines of text that form long rectangles on a page, separated by a thin line of space. |
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| 8269 |
splendor |
the quality of being magnificent or grand |
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The noun splendor refers to something that is magnificent or grand. If your prom was held in a luxurious ballroom with elegant decor, you might note the splendor of the setting. |
The noun splendor has its roots in the Latin word splendere, which means bright. Splendid, splendiferous, and resplendent are all related adjectives used to describe grand, magnificent, and brilliant things. Splendor usually has the connotation of luxury or quality, as in "the splendor of Balmoral castle," or "the splendor of the view at the Grand Canyon." |
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| 8270 |
kindred |
group of people related by blood or marriage |
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Your kindred are your people. If you say are going to visit your kindred during the holidays, that means you are going to visit your relatives. |
The word kindred can be used as either an adjective or a noun. The noun version is somewhat archaic — you are more likely to encounter this word in classic literature than in casual conversation. You may be more familiar with the adjective version of the word, which has gained popular usage in the term “kindred spirit” or “kindred soul,” which is used to describe those who share similar attitudes, characteristics, or beliefs. |
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| 8271 |
scar |
a mark left by the healing of injured tissue |
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A scar is a place where a wound healed but is still visible, or if you're little, it's a mark where a boo-boo was. |
Scar is from the Greek word eskhara, a "scab formed after a burn." Sexy! It's all that and more. Scar can be a noun or a verb — you can have a scar on your knee after your skateboarding incident, and a bad round of chicken pox can scar you. Something scary can scar, you, too, like a horror movie or catching your parents in the act. Scars can be emotional. Take one letter off scare and you're left with a scar. |
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| 8272 |
contemptuous |
expressing extreme scorn |
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If you insult someone or dismiss them in a hateful way, you're being contemptuous. The difference between being hateful and contemptuous is subtle. It involves disdain. |
Being contemptuous of someone or something means that you're combining a deep dislike for them with condescension. To insult someone is a good way of showing contempt, i.e., of being contemptuous. "You disgust me," is one of the simplest and most contemptuous things you can say to someone. "You're stupid," is another. If you can think of something that both hurts a person and suggests that you're looking down on them, you've come up with a contemptuous thing to say. |
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| 8273 |
ability |
having the means or skills to do something |
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Ability is skill or talent. You might have the ability to blow bubbles, or sing in a falsetto, or dance the waltz. Or, just maybe, you have the ability to do all three things at once. Impressive! |
From the Old French ablate "expert at handling (something)," and that from the Latin habilitatem, "aptitude," comes the English ability, a noun indicating the power to act, perform, or accomplish. Capacity is similar in meaning to ability, but note that people have a capacity for doing something, and an ability to do something. |
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| 8274 |
thicket |
a dense growth of bushes |
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A thicket refers to a dense growth of bushes or trees — what you try to avoid by tending to the plants in your backyard. |
The word thicket comes from the word thick, which means close together or dense. If you are "thick as thieves," then you are close friends. A thicket is a growth of trees, bushes, or shrubbery that is very close together, often making it difficult for people to walk through or for Red Riding Hood to find her way out of to Grandmother's. |
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| 8275 |
lesson |
the significance of a story or event |
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When a story has something to teach its reader, it has a lesson. The lessons of many folktales range from "always tell the truth" to "be brave" to "find a prince." |
There are different kinds of lessons, but they're all meant to teach someone how to do something or some new information. In a French lesson, a teacher teaches you the French language, and in a sewing lesson, you'll learn how to make something using fabric and a sewing machine. A typical day at school is one lesson after another. Originally, lesson had two meanings: "something learned by a student" and "a reading aloud from the Bible." |
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| 8276 |
increase |
a process of becoming larger or longer or more numerous |
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The noun increase indicates growth of something that gets bigger in number or volume. When used as a verb, it means the act of growing or gaining more. However it's used, it refers to something that has gotten bigger. |
Anything that can add on can increase. You can increase your speed to go faster, increase your strength by working out, increase your knowledge by studying, and increase your circle of friends by meeting more people. You can work harder to see an increase of profits, and you can prevent an increase in your electric bill by turning out unnecessary lights. And now you’ve increased your vocabulary by learning a new word! |
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| 8277 |
plate |
dish on which food is served or from which food is eaten |
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A plate is a flat dish meant for serving one person's portion of food. It would make perfect sense to eat spaghetti from a plate, but you probably shouldn't use a plate for your soup. |
While plates can be any shape and made of various materials (including plastic, metal, or paper), they're usually round and ceramic. You can also use this handy noun to mean "the amount of food that fits on a plate;" a sheet of glass or metal; a license plate; or a rigid section of the earth's surface. As a verb, plate means "to coat in metal" or "to arrange food attractively on a plate." |
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| 8278 |
abrupt |
exceedingly sudden and unexpected |
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An abrupt decision is one you make suddenly. An abrupt halt is one the Road Runner comes to when reaching an abrupt drop-off—you'd hear brakes squealing. |
Because being abrupt with someone is often a way of showing them that you are angry, you often apologize for the appearance of it. "I'm sorry I was abrupt. I was rushing to get to class." The root of abrupt is Latin rumpere "to break," which also gives us rupture "break" and interrupt "break into." |
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| 8279 |
intimacy |
a feeling of being close and belonging together |
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Intimacy is closeness with another person, like the intimacy that develops between friends as you tell one another your life stories and all your secrets and dreams for the future. |
The noun intimacy comes from the Latin word intimare, which means “impress,” or “make familiar,” which comes from the Latin intimus, meaning “inmost.” Intimacy is a close, family-like connection. There is another kind of intimacy — physical intimacy, which comes from having a sexual relationship, which, one hopes, fosters the other kind of intimacy as well. |
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| 8280 |
careful |
exercising caution or showing attention |
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If you consider all consequences and do a task thoughtfully, take your time and watch what you are doing, you are being careful. Can you ever be too careful? If you're a stunt man, yes. If you're an accountant, no. |
Being cautious has always been wise, and the word careful has been an admonishment since before the Tenth Century. In Old English, the word cearful meant "mournful" or "full of care or concern," the second meaning not too far from our current definition, that of "using care." While we are often warned to be careful about things in our life, Ralph Waldo Emerson observed that "A man is usually more careful of his money than he is of his principles." |
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| 8281 |
crust |
a hard outer layer that covers something |
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The crust is a hard layer that forms on the outside of something, like a loaf of bread. Little kids often like their sandwiches with the crust cut off. |
You’ve probably eaten lots of crusts — bread crust, pie crust — any food that’s hard on the outside and soft on the inside has a crust. Crust is also a verb meaning “to form a hard outer layer.” Crusting happens with more than just food, like when a layer of dirt crusts your clothes after a romp in the mud. The Earth has a hard crust too. Little kids don’t like to eat that either, usually. |
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| 8282 |
farmer |
a person who works growing crops or raising animals |
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A farmer is a person who runs and works on a farm. Some farmers raise a variety of food crops, while others keep dairy cows and sell their milk. |
Farmers work in some aspect of agriculture, growing vegetables, grains, or fruit; or raising animals for milk, eggs, or meat. A small farmer manages a relatively small piece of land, often growing different crops and keeping hens for their eggs, for example. Some farmers own their farms, while others rent the land on which they work. In the 14th century, a farmer was "one who collects taxes," from the Old French fermier, "lease holder." |
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| 8283 |
friar |
male member of a religious order originally relying on alms |
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A friar belongs to a religious order, a group within the Catholic church. A friar is similar to a monk. |
Friars are like monks in that they are devoted to a religious life. The difference is that a friar lives and works among regular people in society, while a monk lives in a secluded, self-sufficient group of monks. The word friar developed in the thirteenth century from the Old French frere, "brother or friar." The Latin root is frater, or "brother." |
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| 8284 |
tragedy |
an event resulting in great loss and misfortune |
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Tragedy is a noun that indicates disaster or bad fortune. It would be a tragedy to lose your job, but an even greater tragedy to fall ill while unemployed and without health care. |
First recorded in the late 14th century, the noun tragedy originally referred to a play with an unhappy ending. About a century later it also came to mean an unhappy event or a disaster. The playwright George Bernard Shaw wittily observed, "“There are two tragedies in life. One is to lose your heart's desire. The other is to gain it.” The comedian Mel Brooks defined tragedy as follows: "Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you walk into an open sewer and die." |
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| 8285 |
apprentice |
someone who works for an expert to learn a trade |
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An apprentice is someone who learns a trade. An apprentice farmer is paid very little but has the chance to learn farming by watching and doing. |
In the old days, becoming an apprentice was the only way to get into many lines of work. Nowadays we think of it more in terms of trades — butchers, bakers, bricklayers, etc. If you do the same thing in an office setting, it's usually called an internship, but the idea is the same — learning by watching an expert. The word can be used as either a noun or verb: You are an apprentice, but you also can apprentice to the barber down the street. |
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| 8286 |
competitor |
the contestant you hope to defeat |
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Competitors are rivals or contenders for the same thing. Two boxers in a ring are competitors, and so are restaurants located on the same block. |
When people compete (in sports, business, or elsewhere), they're trying to achieve the same goal and are therefore considered competitors. Two teams in the same sports division are competitors. Two politicians running for the same office are competitors. And even two guys courting the same gal are considered competitors. Competitors are out to win. |
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| 8287 |
meditation |
continuous and profound contemplation or musing on a subject |
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A meditation is an extended period of thought or concentration. If you practice yoga and you often meditate, you know what meditation is. But any time you focus on one thing for a long time, it's an act of meditation. |
After you've thought about something for a while, you can write about it, and that writing could be called a meditation, too. Beethoven's Ode to Joy is a meditation on joy. If you're easily upset by things, consider meditation. Slowing down your thought process and concentrating on it for a while can make you feel better. Samurai were known for meditating before going into battle. Meditation gave them focus, and focus gave them power. |
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| 8288 |
decrease |
a change downward |
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Decrease means to lower or go down. If you are driving above the speed limit, you should decrease your speed or risk getting a ticket. Students always want teachers to decrease the amount of homework. |
The opposite of decrease is increase, which means to raise. In science, you often are measuring increases and decreases. Is there a decrease in the time it takes water to boil when you begin with water as a liquid rather than water in its ice-cube form? |
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| 8289 |
provision |
the activity of supplying something |
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A provision is a store or supply of something, like food or clothing. This noun can also describe the planning you do for "when something happens." |
We often use this word when we talk about outdoor activities like hiking or camping, or when we talk about outfitting an army in the field, but it basically means "supply." And since provision comes from the Latin word that means to "attend to," you can pretty much guess what the verb form of this word describes: the act of supplying someone else with provisions. In a legal or contractual sense, a provision is a stipulated condition or proviso. |
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| 8290 |
dread |
fearful expectation or anticipation |
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The noun dread describes the fear of something bad happening, like the dread you feel when walking alone on a deserted street in the dark. |
Dread is a feeling of fear, but it can also be the desire to avoid something. For example, many people feel dread at the very thought of speaking in front of an audience. As a verb, dread means "to fear or not want something to happen," like students who did not study and as a result, dread getting their graded tests back. As an adjective, dread means "frightening or terrifying," like a dread monster. |
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| 8291 |
various |
having great diversity or variety |
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Various describes several different kinds of things, like a candy shop that is home to various sweets, from lollipops to chocolate fudge. |
Various comes from the Latin word varius, meaning "changing, different, diverse." If you have various interests, you have a lot of them, and they represent a range — you might love hip hop, movies from the 1940s, fixing cars, and reading fashion magazines. Various can convey a high number, like when you say, "Various people want to get involved with the park clean-up." This means a lot of people want to help. |
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| 8292 |
inevitably |
in such a manner as could not be otherwise |
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If something is totally unavoidable, it is inevitably going to happen. Inevitably, the sun will come up tomorrow. |
The adverb inevitably comes from the negative of the French word for "avoid" or "shun." There are things you can put off for a while, but inevitably you're going to have to deal with them at some point, like telling your family that you crashed the car. No matter how free-spirited you imagine yourself, unless you are independently wealthy, you will inevitably have to settle down and get some sort of job, like writing and editing word definitions. |
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| 8293 |
rouse |
cause to become awake or conscious |
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When someone calls out "rise and shine," they are trying to rouse you, to make you wake up. |
It's thought that the word rouse was originally a 15th-century term used by hawkers for the way the birds shook out their feathers when agitated. That gives a nice mental picture to the word, and it does fit: rouse means to become awake, excited, or just plain keyed up, like those birds ruffling their feathers. Consider that when first roused in the morning, many people have to shake themselves to get ready to face the day. |
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| 8294 |
bored |
uninterested because of frequent exposure or indulgence |
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When you are bored, nothing is engaging you. If you're on a long flight, you forgot your book, and there's no movie, you might become bored. |
The adjective bored comes from boredom, the state of being where nothing is interesting or exciting. If you only understand English, you'll probably get bored quickly listening to German talk radio. It's hard not to be bored by a six hour bus ride on a featureless interstate highway. If you are deeply, spiritually bored by the world, you are suffering from ennui — that's boredom in French! |
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| 8295 |
modification |
the act of making something different |
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A modification is a change or alteration, usually to make something work better. |
If you want to change something — in other words, modify it — you need to make a modification. Lots of things require modification, because they get older or just because they can be improved. A car needs modification — in the form of snow tires — to be ready for the winter. Computer programs need modification all the time, because of new products or viruses. When you think of the word modification, think "change." |
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| 8296 |
trample |
tread or stomp heavily or roughly |
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To trample is to forcefully walk right over something or someone. If you fall down during a footrace, another runner might trample you. |
When you trample, you're stomping or stamping: it's the opposite of walking on tippy toes. A dog might trample a flower garden while chasing a ball, and an angry child might deliberately trample her sister's sandcastle, flattening it with her feet. The verb trample comes from tramp, "walk heavily or stamp," which is rooted in the Middle Low German word trampen, "to tramp, stamp, or press upon." |
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| 8297 |
rage |
a feeling of intense anger |
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Rage is a really intense anger. Some frustrated drivers let their emotions boil over into road rage when another car cuts them off, for example. |
If you're full of rage, you're full of anger — powerful, extreme, sometimes even violent anger. Rage can also be a verb: you might rage against something you hate or as the poet Dylan Thomas pleaded, "Rage, rage against the dying of the light." Things that rage are out of control, like a raging, roaring fire or a wild storm. Another meaning involves the latest, greatest trend — you'd say it's "all the rage." |
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| 8298 |
divinity |
any supernatural being worshipped as controlling the world |
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A divinity is a religious being, like a god or angel. It's also a word for the study of religion, which is studied at divinity school. |
If you know the word divine means holy or sacred, then you have a clue to the meaning of divinity, which can be a god or other religious being. Anything very holy is full of divinity. Divinity is also the subject of religion itself: divinity students are studying theology. But if you're not into religion, don't worry — you can still enjoy divinity, a type of white, creamy fudge made with egg whites that probably goes well with angel food cake. |
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| 8299 |
saddle |
a seat for the rider of a horse or camel |
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A saddle is a leather seat for horseback riders. If you saddle something, you either put a saddle on it or you burden it with something else. If you buy an expensive saddle for example. you may be saddled (or burdened) with debt. |
A saddle makes a horse's rider more comfortable and secure — and if you ever ride a camel, you'll also sit on a saddle. As a verb, to saddle means "to put a saddle on an animal," although it also has the figurative meaning of "to burden." Your excessive spending might saddle you with debt, or your position as the oldest of eight siblings could saddle you with too much responsibility. |
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| 8300 |
studied |
produced or marked by conscious design or premeditation |
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Studied describes a result achieved, not spontaneously, but by calculated and deliberate effort. It will probably take a studied effort to not appear nervous when you give an oral presentation. |
Leaders often do not respond immediately to important events. They get a little background information first so they can give a studied response. When stars have to stand around on the red carpet before the Oscars to have their pictures taken, their smiles become less spontaneous and more studied. Even if you walk past a group of girls with studied nonchalance, they still know that you have noticed them. |
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| 8301 |
feeble |
pathetically lacking in force or effectiveness |
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You know how you feel when you can’t open a jar of pickles? And then grandma walks in and does it in one shot without even grunting? That’s called feeling feeble, or lacking strength. |
In fact, feeble, comes from the Latin word flebilis, which means "lamentable" or "unsatisfactory." But don’t let it get to you. Your puny, inferior muscles are nothing compared to the guy who makes feeble attempts at humor. Lame-o jokes are way more lamentable than inadequate biceps. |
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| 8302 |
utmost |
highest in extent or degree |
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Utmost means "the greatest extent or amount." When you work as part as you possibly can, you do your utmost to accomplish your goal. |
Whenever something is the most, it can be described as the utmost. If a message is of the utmost importance, it's as important as it possibly can be. Any time you want to really want to emphasize that you believe in something more than anything else or truly intend to do something, do your utmost to use the word utmost. |
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| 8303 |
oppressed |
burdened psychologically or mentally |
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To be oppressed is to be exploited or systematically harmed by others. People who have no freedom are oppressed. |
Being oppressed is a negative and unfair condition. The United States was founded because we felt oppressed by the rule of England. African-Americans, Native Americans, women, gays, and other minority groups have all been oppressed by prejudice and unfair laws. So people who are oppressed tend to be angry — and for good reason. Oppressed people tend to fight for their freedom, and they often get it. |
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| 8304 |
infamy |
a state of extreme dishonor |
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Infamy means being famous for something bad or negative. You may be hoping for fame when you get an enormous tattoo of your favorite pop star on your back, but there's a chance you'll end up with infamy instead. |
The noun infamy is most often used to talk about famously evil or terrible people or historical events. The day the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, just before the start of World War II, was described by President Roosevelt as "a day that will live in infamy." Infamy contains the root word "fame," but rather than meaning "the opposite of famous," its meaning is something closer to "fame gone bad." |
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| 8305 |
maintenance |
activity involved in keeping something in good working order |
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If you make sure that your house or car or even a database stays in good working condition, you are keeping up on the maintenance. |
Maintain, the verb related to the noun maintenance, comes from the Latin expression manu tenere meaning literally "hold in the hand," a fitting picture for this word. As well as the upkeep of machines, maintenance can be used with things that need sustaining. The maintenance of law and order is taken care of by the police. When a couple divorces, the husband is usually required to pay maintenance — financial support — to the wife. |
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| 8306 |
procure |
get by special effort |
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In prison movies, there's always a character who is able to procure all sorts of contraband from the inside––magazines, cigarettes, special soap. If you procure something, you get it or bring it about by special effort. |
Procure's synonym obtain is a little formal, but less formal than procure itself. The noun procurement commonly refers to the obtaining of materials and supplies. Procure descends from Middle English procuren, from Old French procurer "to take care of," from Latin prōcūrāre, formed from the prefix prō- "for" plus cūrāre "to care for" (from cūra "care"). |
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| 8307 |
fierce |
marked by extreme and violent energy |
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Fierce is ferocious and forceful, like a lion. When you are fierce, opponents fear you. Despite their loss, the talented JV team put up a fierce fight against the varsity squad. |
Fierce comes from the Latin ferus 'wild animal.' It means strong, proud, dangerous and ready to roar. Fierce can also be used to mean intense. The family was known for their fierce pride. If you have a fierce work ethic, you don't rest until you finish the job. And a fierce storm can really devastate a community. |
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| 8308 |
auction |
the public sale of something to the highest bidder |
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In an auction, items are sold without price tags––whoever bids the highest gets to buy it, whether it’s a painting, a car, or a set of old dishes. |
You can hold an auction, or auction something. You might have seen auction scenes in classy old movies where the characters bid on paintings by politely raising their hands as the auctioneer calls out a price. Auctions aren’t always high-fallutin’, though. Many cities auction off cars they’ve confiscated from drug dealers or thieves. |
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| 8309 |
repentant |
feeling or expressing remorse for misdeeds |
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When people are repentant, they’re feeling or showing remorse. They're sorry and ashamed of something. If you take the last cookie and then lie about it, you’re probably going to feel repentant later, if you have a heart. |
If you’re feeling repentant, you’re ready to apologize because you know you did something wrong. It could be that you kissed your best friend’s sweetheart, or you broke some kind of religious rule that’s making you feel guilty. Either way, the best way to get over feeling repentant is to repent, or acknowledge what you’ve done and promise not to do it any more. |
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| 8310 |
fascinating |
capable of arousing and holding the attention |
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Something fascinating really captures your interest: you can't take your eyes off it or can't wait to learn more about it. |
To a sports fan, a basketball game may be fascinating, including the smallest details, like who got the most assists and what kind of defense was played. Music fans find concerts fascinating. Many people think politics is fascinating — they can't get enough TV and magazine stories about the latest political events. Whatever you think is fascinating, it must really hold your attention: you always want to see and know more. |
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| 8311 |
broker |
a businessman who buys or sells for another |
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A broker is someone who buys or sells for someone else for a commission. You may go to a real estate company to get a broker to help you buy a house. |
In Middle English broker meant "peddler or retailer." Nowadays a broker still sells things — but she's acting as an agent making deals for someone else and collecting a commission for all that work. Used as a verb, broker means to arrange a deal or negotiate. Working for an advisory firm, a broker may convince you to invest in a company — so the broker would broker a business deal. |
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| 8312 |
heart |
the hollow muscular organ located behind the sternum |
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As the heart is the central organ of the human body, so the word heart has come to mean a central location of an organization or system, as well as being used to describe courage and generosity. |
We can see the Germanic influences in the word heart by looking at the Old Saxon herta and the German herz. If we go back even further, however, we see the word also has ties to the Greek kardia, which makes sense when we consider that the prefix cardio refers to the heart. For example, a cardio workout is one that gets the heart pumping harder, and a cardiologist is a doctor of the heart. If someone asks that you "have a heart," however, they are appealing to your sense of generosity not to the blood-pumping organ. |
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| 8313 |
prosecute |
conduct legal proceedings against a defendant |
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To prosecute is to participate in or pursue something to completion, like a government’s intention to prosecute a war. Prosecute is most often used for bringing legal action against an accused person or group. |
Prosecute comes from the Latin, “prosesutus,” meaning “follow after.” The legal sense of the word first appeared in the 1570s. A district attorney will often prosecute, by bringing legal charges and action against a person or group (watch any TV legal drama, and the prosecution will no doubt prosecute eventually). A company may prosecute by suing to protect against damages. Prosecute should not be confused with the word persecute, which means to harass or oppress. |
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| 8314 |
chap |
a boy or man |
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A chap is a guy or a fellow — a boy or man who's a friend, acquaintance, or a friendly stranger. You might ask a chap on the bus if the seat beside him is free. |
You can refer to any male person as a chap, and you can also address him that way: "Hello there, old chap! I haven't seen you in ages!" It's more common in Britain than the US, where the chap will know what you mean but might look at you oddly. Chaps also means a cowboy's leather pants, and when it's a verb chap means to become dry, cracked, and painful from wind or cold. |
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| 8315 |
limp |
walk impeded by some physical injury |
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If you walk unevenly, you have a limp. Maybe you pulled your hamstring at the annual Thanksgiving Day Football Showdown, or maybe one leg is three inches shorter than the other. Whatever the reason, if your gait is off kilter, you limp. |
You can have a limp (the noun), or you can limp (the verb), and both mean that for some reason your legs don’t work quite in synch. Limp can also be an adjective that means "not strong or firm," like your friends' limp response to your invitation to come help paint your house or when your hair looks limp, meaning it's just hanging, with no volume or style. |
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| 8316 |
alteration |
the act of revising |
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The pants are too long, the jacket too tight and the vest is too short. Looks like your suit is in need of some serious alteration, or adjustment. |
No one knows alterations like tailors. All they do is adjust, modify and otherwise alter people's ill fitting clothes. But hemlines aren't the only things that can undergo alteration. Savvy scientists may someday make alterations to genetic sequencing — just like Dr. Jekyll underwent some serious alterations to become Mr. Hyde. |
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| 8317 |
bustle |
move or cause to move energetically or busily |
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A flurry of activity and commotion is often referred to as bustle. If you want to see true bustle in action, just walk through Times Square in New York during lunch hour. |
If it's busy, energetic or moving about at a rapid pace, then it's bustling. Word historians think bustle might stem from an Old Norse word meaning "to prepare." However, it's probably easier to remember bustle by the synonym it's often used with — hustle, as in "the hustle and bustle of a big city." |
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| 8318 |
pier |
a platform built out from the shore into the water |
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A pier is a platform reaching out to sea that can be used as a landing place for ships. If you enjoy sea fishing and don't have a boat, try casting your line from the end of the pier. |
Pier has two meanings. The most common is for the platform, often wooden, that extends over water away from shore, so that ships can dock. Many seaside towns have turned their piers into entertainment districts, with games and places to stroll. A pier can also be a pillar that supports a bridge. |
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| 8319 |
dispose |
give, sell, or transfer to another |
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If you dispose of something, you get rid of it. Don't want that sweatshirt with the clown's face on it? Give it away, throw it out, even sell it — these are all ways to dispose of that awful shirt. |
The verb dispose comes from the Latin word disponere, meaning “put in order,” “arrange,” or “distribute" — like when you dispose volunteers to collect trash at a park. The word of usually follows dispose when it means "getting rid of something." Another meaning is "make willing or open to something," like your childhood love of reading that disposes you to becoming a life-long reader. |
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| 8320 |
disclosure |
the act of making something evident |
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If you make a disclosure, you reveal information not previously known — either because it's new information or because it's been kept secret. Disclosure of new evidence at a trial could reveal that the accused is innocent of the crime. |
The noun disclosure derives from the Old French word desclos, meaning "open, exposed, plain, explicit." If you make a disclosure, you put something out in the open, usually information that was formally secret. After the disclosure of your huge credit card debt, your parents might make you get a job. The disclosure that nicotine is really addictive has motivated many people to quit smoking. The disclosure of one coworker's salary to another could lead to bitter jealousy. |
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| 8321 |
attempt |
make an effort |
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To attempt is to make an effort. You may attempt to read a book, but if you fail, no harm. If you attempt to jump from one building to the next and fail . . . . Ouch. |
The word attempt can also be used as a noun. It's an honest effort to do something. Your attempt to bake a birthday cake may look like a disaster, but the birthday boy will appreciate the effort anyway. The noun attempt can also mean an attack on a person or place, but in this case, it's best to hope that the attempt is not on your life. And never, ever attempt that sort of thing at home! |
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| 8322 |
insult |
treat, mention, or speak to rudely |
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If you insult someone, you have offended that person — either intentionally or unintentionally — through your actions or words. You might insult your host if you refuse to try the dessert he made from pasta, nuts, and chocolate sauce. |
As a noun, an insult means rude words or actions. If you tell the umpire he needs glasses, then you've made a verbal insult. If, after the umpire calls your team out, you make an obscene gesture in his general direction, you've made another kind of insult. Either insult can potentially get you thrown out of the game. |
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| 8323 |
spoiled |
harmed by too much pampering or attention |
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When a person is spoiled, they're damaged by having been given everything they want. Spoiled people are usually pretty rotten. When food is spoiled, it's also rotten—literally. |
Spoiled things and spoiled people are both fairly unpleasant. A spoiled child typically whines for something and gets it, becoming used to that kind of over-indulgent treatment. Spoiled milk smells terrible and tastes even worse. This adjective comes from the verb spoil, meaning "ruin" or "destroy"; the idea was that giving in to a child's every whim would ruin him. |
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| 8324 |
stammer |
speak haltingly |
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To stammer — or to have a stammer — is to speak haltingly and to have trouble getting the words out. A stammer is also called a "stutter." |
Stammering (or stuttering) has a couple of related meanings. A stammer is a serious problem for some people who have great difficulty speaking. They have trouble getting the words out, and their language does not flow. They might get stuck repeating one sound over and over again. This is a difficult problem to overcome. However, we all stammer sometimes, often because we're confused, scared, tired, or unsure of what to say. |
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| 8325 |
submission |
the act of surrendering power to another |
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If a teacher asks for your submission, she might want you to obey her every command like a drone or, on the other hand, she may want just you to turn something in for her approval. |
The noun submission is the act of giving in to a stronger power. If someone winds up in jail, the guards there will demand the prisoner's submission. Alternatively, this word can refer to something that you submit to someone else. If you write an article and send it into a magazine to see if they will publish it, your article would be called a submission. Good luck! |
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| 8326 |
blaze |
a strong flame that burns brightly |
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A blaze is a bright, strong flame. A raging fire is blazing and you can also say other types of shining, like with talent, are types of blazing. |
A fire is a blaze. Fire, when it's going strong and burning bright, is blazing. The greater the blaze, the harder a fire is to put out. You can also use this word for other types of brightness or shining. When Michael Jordan played in the NBA, he blazed across the league. Fashion trends that catch on quickly blaze across the country. If something spreads or shines like wildfire, it blazes. |
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| 8327 |
reel |
a winder around which flexible materials can be wound |
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A reel is a cylinder that can be wound with flexible material like film or fishing line. If you found dozens of reels of old home movies in your grandparents' attic, you'd search for a projector. |
You might find an old movie reel, a reel of copper wire, or a fishing reel. Use the reel on your fishing pole to reel in your fish! Yes, it’s a verb, too. And it’s a lively folk dance — or the music for it — from Scotland (Highland reel), or America (Virginia reel). As a verb, reel also means to sway from dizziness. If an ear infection messes with your balance, you might reel down the hall like you were drunk. |
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| 8328 |
recur |
happen or occur again |
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Have you ever had the same crazy dream night after night? If so, you know that dreams can recur, meaning they repeat, or happen again. |
The verb recur is used to describe something that happens over and over, whether it’s an injury, an argument, or a character who pops up from time to time on a television show. Recur often describes an event that happens repeatedly, but it can also be used to describe something, such as an image or a memory, that for some reason just keeps popping back up in your mind, like self-doubt that recurs every time you worry about something. |
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| 8329 |
suppressed |
held in check with difficulty |
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If something is suppressed, it has been kept secret or forcibly restricted. You may hear rumors about a suppressed report on a politician's activities — it's kept secret, so you don't know the facts. |
It doesn't always take an outside force to make something suppressed — you can do it yourself. You might occasionally have a suppressed feeling of rage. (Psychiatrists, who are in the business of bringing such feelings to light, might frown on this.) Sometimes something that's suppressed is also oppressed — that is, harshly put down or brutally controlled, like a suppressed minority group. Both suppressed and oppressed come from the same Latin word, opprimere, meaning "to press against, or crush." |
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| 8330 |
embarrassed |
feeling or caused to feel uneasy and self-conscious |
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If you trip and spill your drink all over yourself in front of that really cute guy and then you say something stupid, you may end up embarrassed, meaning you feel really silly and awkward. |
Use the adjective embarrassed to describe people who exhibit a red-faced, self-conscious shame. If you’re embarrassed, it's probably a result of a situation or action that makes you look bad or appear foolish, like that time you had the toilet paper stuck on your shoe, or forgot to zip your fly at a big business meeting. Avoid becoming embarrassed over your spelling ability by remembering that the word embarrassed has two "r"s and two "s"s. |
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| 8331 |
awaken |
cause to become conscious |
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To awaken someone is to wake them up. You might awaken your roommate accidentally by practicing your tap dance routine in the kitchen. |
You can awaken another person, and a noise or the smell of pancakes or a scary dream can all awaken you from a deep sleep. You can also use the verb awaken to describe what happens when you wake from sleep: "I awaken every morning with my pillow on the floor." A more figurative way to awaken is to arouse a certain feeling or awareness. For example, a sad movie can awaken melancholy feelings in the most cheerful person. |
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| 8332 |
rugged |
having long narrow shallow depressions in the surface |
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Terrain that is broken and uneven is called rugged. If you want an easy hike, you should stay away from the rugged coastline. That rocky shoreline is definitely for the more experienced hikers. |
The same sense of unevenness applies to other things that are described as rugged. If someone tells a man that he has a rugged face, it's meant to compliment his rough, strong looks. Rugged can also describe something that is steady, sturdy, and strong. Only your rugged constitution will keep you alive in that period of famine between your after school snack and dinner. |
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| 8333 |
contest |
a struggle between rivals |
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A contest is a struggle to determine who's tops –- you might wrestle an alligator in a contest of brute strength versus strategy. You can also enter a contest — a yodeling contest or a cake-decorating contest, depending on your talents. |
If you're being sued and you respond to the court order saying "no contest," you're saying you're not going to put up a fight. When you put the accent on the second syllable, contest becomes a verb, and it means to dispute something. You lost the election for class president, but you think there was something fishy going on at the ballot box, so you contest the results and ask for a recount. |
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| 8334 |
athletic |
relating to sports |
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If you're athletic, you have a natural talent for sports and fitness. You might jump nonstop through a strenuous aerobics class, then go run a few miles, and top it off shooting hoops with the basketball team. |
If you're a champion speed skater, you've most definitely got an athletic build, and while skinny jeans may not look so great on you, you probably look pretty good in running shorts. You know the ancient Greeks loved athletic competitions — after all, they invented the Olympics. Fittingly enough, the word athletic goes back to the Greek word athlein, meaning "to compete for a prize." |
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| 8335 |
supreme |
greatest in status or authority or power |
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If you are the greatest, the most powerful, and the highest, you are supreme. |
The U.S. Supreme Court is the highest court in the land. A supreme being is a god or other higher power. A supreme leader is an all-powerful ruler. Sometimes, when everyone else is driving you crazy, you might daydream about being the supreme leader of your school, office, or maybe the entire country, so you could tell everyone else what to do. Or you might just order a supreme pizza, which usually has every imaginable topping on it. |
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| 8336 |
diminished |
made to seem smaller or less, especially in worth |
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If you drive through a tunnel, you’ll notice that your cell phone reception is diminished. When something is diminished, it’s been weakened or lessened. |
Diminished is an adjective used when something has lost its power, prestige, or worth. The value of a car, for instance, is diminished over time by wear and tear. In some instances, diminished means "belittled," or made to seem like less in the face of something perceived as better or greater. The popularity of a laptop, for instance, will be diminished if a cheaper, more powerful model is released. Leaders and politicians who get involved in scandals often suffer diminished reputations. |
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| 8337 |
embarrass |
cause to feel self-conscious |
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If you embarrass someone, you make them feel self-conscious, awkward, or even stupid. Your mom might embarrass you by inviting your date to check out your childhood photos. |
Embarrass actually has another meaning, but it's very rarely used: to blockade, hinder, obstruct, or stymie. Nowadays, we tend to embarrass one another (and ourselves) by pretty much sticking to the basics: making fun of our friends when they blunder, accidentally revealing secrets in public, confessing our undying love to people who don't even know we exist, and all the millions of creative and frustrating ways we have of making mistakes. |
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| 8338 |
limitation |
an act of restricting (as by regulation) |
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A limitation is something that holds you back, like a broken leg that keeps you off the dance floor during prom season. |
A limitation could also be a rule that restricts what you can do, like needing to be a certain height to ride a roller coaster at an amusement park. It can also be a circumstance that hampers you, like a dead car that keeps you from traveling very far from home. The noun limitation comes up a lot in the law, especially in the phrase "statute of limitations," which dictates how long after a crime someone can be prosecuted for committing it. |
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| 8339 |
germ |
a structure from which tissue can develop into an organism |
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A germ is a tiny life form that spreads disease. Germs are also small things that grow into larger things — whether animals, plants, or ideas. |
Germ is not a technical term, but you've probably heard it used in reference to tiny organisms (such as bacteria) that cause disease. A germ is also any small structure, such as a fertilized egg, that grows into something larger. A seed that grows into a plant is a germ. In some cases, you can talk about ideas as germs. The inspiration for a book or movie can be described as the germ of the project. Germs are small, but they start big things. |
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| 8340 |
arrest |
take into custody |
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To arrest someone is to put them in custody for breaking the law. If you face arrest, your criminal activities will be "at rest" because you'll be behind bars, or in jail. |
Arrest is both a noun and a verb. When you place a person "under arrest," you take them into custody and hold them so they can’t continue breaking the law. A police officer or other agent of the law will arrest a person often by physically taking them away. In addition to the legal meaning, arrest means "stop." To arrest motion is to stop a person or thing from moving. |
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| 8341 |
disposal |
the act or means of getting rid of something |
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Disposal means getting rid of something, or throwing it away. When you go on a picnic, be sure to have a bag for the disposal of your trash afterward, or you will be a terrible litterbug. |
You can use a garbage disposal, a grinder in your sink drain that allows you to wash down certain waste items without causing clogs, for the disposal of vegetable scraps. In addition to meaning "getting rid of something," disposal can also mean "the power or means to accomplish something." If you have a fleet of limousines at your disposal, it's easy to get a large number of guests to a wedding. |
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| 8342 |
alight |
settle or come to rest |
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The word alight has two distinct meanings: it can mean coming down or settling in a delicate manner, such as a bird perching, or it can be a rather poetic way to describe something that’s on fire (or “afire”). |
Just as the word alight has two distinct grammatical forms and meanings, it has two distinct beginnings in the Old English. That period’s word ālīhtan had an original meaning of dismounting, or lightening the load on the horse, and so is the ancestor of the verb we use today that means "to settle or perch." Meanwhile, the word onlīhtan (see the different spelling?) of that same time meant to be on fire, which became our adjectival use of the word. |
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| 8343 |
concentrated |
gathered together or made less diffuse |
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Things that are concentrated have been gathered together in the smallest possible bunch. If you use a concentrated cleaning product, you might need to mix it with water before using it. |
Concentrated often refers to a liquid solution that's very strong, but it can describe anything that's condensed into one area. When you finally clean your bedroom, you’ll have to pick up the clothes that are scattered everywhere so they’re concentrated in the closet. Concentrated can also mean that something is very focused. When your room looks great, it's because you really concentrated on the cleaning. |
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| 8344 |
necessary |
absolutely essential |
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Everyone can agree that certain things are necessary for survival: food, water, shelter. Some people might add chocolate to that list. Necessary refers to anything you can't do without. |
Necessary, cede, and cease all come from the same root, cedere, which is Latin for "to go away" or "to give something up." When something's necessary, you won't give it up. That fudge-covered brownie sundae from your favorite ice-cream shop? It might seem like a decadent treat, but if you're a true chocolate lover you'll insist that it's as necessary as a warm jacket in winter. |
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| 8345 |
revel |
take delight in |
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Revel means to take great pleasure. If you revel in something, you're not just pleased or even excited; you're overwhelmed by joy. |
It used to mean riotous merry-making. Now it means to bask in the self-reflected glow of your own pleasure. You revel in your victory lap after winning the race. Your brother is constantly on your case for being clumsy, so when he knocks down a table filled with glassware, you revel in it. Think of it as a high level of pleasure. |
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| 8346 |
conversion |
the act of changing from one use or function to another |
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Something that is transformed from one state or form to another has had a conversion. The twentieth century saw the conversion from outhouses to indoor plumbing. You may oversee the conversion of your attic into an extra bedroom. |
The noun conversion can be used to describe some very specific transformations. If you exchange euros for dollars, you have made a monetary conversion. If your Canadian friend tells you, "It was warm today! It got up to 28!" and you figure out that 28 degrees in Celsius is the same as 82 degrees in Fahrenheit, then you have made a mathematical conversion. If you change your religion, you've had a religious conversion. |
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| 8347 |
despot |
a cruel and oppressive dictator |
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A despot, is a cruel, all-controlling ruler. For example, a despot does not allow people to speak out against the leadership, nor really want them to have much freedom at all. |
The word despot came into English in the sixteenth century from Old French, but it traces all the way back to the Greek word despotes, meaning "master of a household, lord, absolute ruler." The word is often used to describe someone who abuses power and oppresses others. Obviously, it's not a nice thing to call someone, especially within earshot of the despot who has absolute power over you. |
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| 8348 |
relic |
an antiquity that has survived from the distant past |
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A relic is a fragment from the past — one of Elvis's guitars, an ancient piece of pottery or even an outmoded way of thinking -– that remains behind. Your dad might love his old albums, but to you, they're just relics. |
The noun relic is derived from relinquere, Latin for "to leave behind." A crumbling Roman wall is a relic of a once-great civilization. The superstition that seven years of bad luck will follow if you break a mirror may be a relic of the old superstition that a mirror can trap the souls of those reflected in it. Whether it's an object or an idea, a relic is a remnant of the past. Religious relics are items, such as Buddha’s tooth or St. Anne’s wrist bone, that have been preserved and venerated. |
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| 8349 |
matter |
that which has mass and occupies space |
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Matter is everywhere: anything that has mass and takes up space is matter. Air? Donuts? People? Buildings? Melted butter? All of these, and much, much more, are matter. |
Other kinds of matter don't have a physical form, like a concern, problem, or even something that people think about, like a worrisome money matter, a personal matter, or a movie with a particular subject matter. Matter can also be a verb, meaning "to be important," as in: "Good health matters to me." |
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| 8350 |
insight |
clear or deep perception of a situation |
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When you have an insight, you have a feeling or emotion or thought that helps you to know something essential about a person or thing. |
Insight isn't based on hard facts or evidence. And it doesn't have anything to do with using your senses such as sight or smell. When you gain insight, you are using your intuition, or sixth sense. Insight is formed from the prefix in- plus the English word sight, so this word literally means seeing inward. |
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| 8351 |
sprinkle |
scatter with liquid; wet lightly |
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A sprinkle is a light shower of something, often water. It’s also a verb that means to gently scatter something. A sprinkle of snow won’t cause school to close, but a sprinkle of fairy dust could transport you to a magical land. |
When there’s a sprinkle of rain, you should bring an umbrella just in case it turns into a downpour. A sprinkler causes a sprinkle of water to fall on the flowerbeds, and if it’s really hot, it can be fun to play under. At the Memorial Day parade, the firefighters might sprinkle confetti over the crowd — and if you’re lucky, they’ll sprinkle candy, too. Speaking of candy, a sprinkle is also a tiny treat often sprinkled on your ice cream. |
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| 8352 |
indulgence |
the act of gratifying a desire |
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An indulgence is doing something that you enjoy even if it has negative consequences. Buying yourself something that you don't need, be it a cookie, video game, or diamond necklace, is an indulgence. |
If you allow yourself to eat more chocolate cake or watch more TV than is really good for you, those are your little indulgences. If you spend your life savings on a trip to Tahiti, that’s a huge indulgence. If someone says to you, "Grant me this indulgence," prepare for a long-winded story that tries to convince you of something. Long, long ago the Catholic Church sold something called "indulgences": pardons for sins. |
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| 8353 |
perceptible |
capable of being grasped by the mind or senses |
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Something perceptible is noticeable, even if just slightly. A perceptible noise can be heard. |
You perceive through your senses, and things that are perceptible can be perceived; you can sense them. A flavor is perceptible if you can taste it. A sound is perceptible if you can hear it. The opposite of perceptible is imperceptible, for things that can't be noticed or detected. If you notice a sound, sight, or change, then it must be perceptible. |
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| 8354 |
imperial |
relating to or associated with an empire |
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Imperial carries the implication of royalty, usually pertaining to an empire; the emperor or empress is referred to as "your imperial highness." |
The word imperial has a lofty feel, and though it's often used of royalty, it is sometimes used to refer to anything extremely large or impressive. It was once the name of a large suitcase that was too big to fit inside a coach and so was tied on top. Think of something imperial as being something so upper-class that it's almost to the point of royalty — and sometimes almost to the point of being a joke. |
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| 8355 |
cow |
female of domestic cattle |
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If it lives on a farm, makes a mooing sound, and produces milk, it is probably a cow. |
Most people would immediately identify a cow, the large, cud-chewing female of what is known as "cattle." Cows are typically domesticated farm animals, though the females of wilder bovine relatives are also called cows. The verb form of cow, "to frighten or subdue," comes from the docile nature of most cows — they are fairly easy to intimidate, or easily cowed. The Old English root is cu, from the Indo-European gwous, which might have developed from the sound that cows make. |
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| 8356 |
corpse |
the dead body of a human being |
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Another name for a dead body is corpse. You might hear the word on TV crime shows, but a corpse doesn't have to be a crime victim, just any lifeless body. |
The words corpse and "corps" are often confused, and with good reason — both came from the Latin word corpus, meaning "body," and up until the 19th Century, both referred to a dead person. Around that time, the word with the "e" at the end was established as the word for a person's remains, while the other spelling was relegated to a "body" of people working together or in a military division, and very much alive! |
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| 8357 |
postpone |
hold back to a later time |
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To postpone something is to put it off until later. You can postpone an appointment today and reschedule it for tomorrow. |
Anything you're putting for is being postponed: people postpone things they don't have time to do or just don't want to do. Since doctor and dental appointments are no fun, people postpone them a lot. You can postpone small things, like going to the store or watching a video. The government can postpone big things, like the passing of bills or the invasion of another country. People who procrastinate are constantly postponing. When you see the word postpone, think "Later!" |
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| 8358 |
fain |
having made preparations |
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The old-fashioned word fain describes the feeling of gladly or willingly doing something. You would fain have stayed home, but you had to venture out in the rain. |
Fain comes from the Old English fægen, meaning "happy, glad, or well pleased." When you're fain to do something, you are happy to do it, like when you're exhausted and would fain take a nap. Sometimes fain is also used as an adjective when you're obligated to do something, or when you're happy enough, given the lack of better options: "He was fain to hand over half he lemonade stand money to his little brother." |
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| 8359 |
identical |
being the exact same one |
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When you're looking for exact replicas, don't waste your time on snowflakes or fingerprints; no two are identical, or exactly the same. |
Great mind may think alike, but they'll never be identical. Twins, on the other hand, very well may be — if they've come from the same split embryo that is. It makes sense then, that the word identical has linguistic roots in the Latin word idem, meaning "the same." |
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| 8360 |
compute |
make a mathematical calculation |
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When you solve a mathematical problem, you compute the answer. To compute is to calculate, either literally or figuratively. |
Computers do the math for you, faster than humans ever can. You'll often hear someone say that something "does not compute." This means it doesn't add up, it doesn't make sense. You might compute how long it will take you to get to school or the likelihood that your mother will let you stay out late. |
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| 8361 |
restriction |
an act of limiting |
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A restriction is a limitation or a restraint, like when a size restriction keeps you from jumping on a toddler trampoline and bouncing the smaller kids a mile up in the air. |
Usually a restriction is in place because a limit needs to be set. Common sense would keep you from putting a bowling ball in a paper bag; you wouldn’t need a restriction to tell you not to do it. Sometimes a restriction is the result of doing something bad or misusing a privilege, as when your parents put a restriction on video gaming to limit your time in front of the TV. |
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| 8362 |
environmental |
of or relating to the external conditions or surroundings |
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Environmental is the adjective form of environment, referring to a surrounding area. The word is usually used to refer to our ecology and the forces that act to change it. |
The noun environment, meaning the "state of being environed," first appeared around 1600. The word as referring to our natural surroundings was first recorded in 1827, and the popular idea of environmental concern in an ecological sense first appeared in 1956. In recent decades, the movement toward environmental awareness has grown rapidly. In a 1997 interview, environmentalist Barry Commoner noted that "Environmental concern is now firmly embedded in public life." |
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| 8363 |
alarm |
a device signaling the occurrence of some undesirable event |
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On a clock, the alarm can be set to go off at a certain time to wake nearby sleepers. You should always check the alarm on the clock at a hotel because a previous guest may have it set to go off in the middle of the night. |
The noun alarm refers to a signal that is meant to rouse, alert, or awaken someone. On April 18, 1775, William Dawes, Paul Revere, and several others rode from Boston to Lexington, Massachusetts to raise the alarm that the British were coming. As a verb, alarm means to be filled with anxiety or apprehension. You may become alarmed if your children become too quiet. Never a good sign — they are probably up to something mischievous. |
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| 8364 |
mingle |
bring or combine together or with something else |
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When things mingle, that means they mix together while still retaining their individual qualities. At a club you may hear laughter that seems to mingle with the sound of the band playing in the background. |
Mingle often describes abstract things, like smells or tastes or feelings. The look on your face may mingle compassion and horror when you taste your brother’s attempt at making Key Lime Pie. Mingle can also describe what you do at a social gathering when you move around a lot and talk to many different people. If you’re an outgoing person, at a party you probably like to mingle and talk to friends and also chat with new people. |
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| 8365 |
lobby |
a large entrance or reception room or area |
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A lobby is a large waiting room or reception area. If you're waiting for an appointment in a lobby, maybe you'll get lucky and find a good magazine or even a peppermint candy. |
You'll find a lot of people hanging around in a lobby — which is basically what it’s there for. A lobby is where you meet your friend at the hotel or catch the elevator for your interview. The idea of the "political lobby group" came from the large entrance halls of the legislature, where people hung around trying to influence the lawmakers. So the next time your class tries to lobby your teacher for extra credit, he can thank the halls of congress. |
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| 8366 |
butcher |
a person who slaughters or dresses meat for market |
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The person whose job it is to cut up and sell meat is called a butcher. Your grandmother might go to the butcher once a week to buy pork chops. |
A butcher is an expert at preparing cuts of meat and poultry in a butcher shop or the meat section of a supermarket. You can also call a person whose job is slaughtering farm animals a butcher. Because this is a fairly bloody, gory occupation, the word is also used to mean a cruel, ruthless murderer. It comes from the Old French bochier, "butcher," or literally, "slaughterer of goats," from bouc, "male goat." |
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| 8367 |
special |
adapted to or reserved for a particular purpose |
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Special means "better than ordinary." Like the self-portrait you lovingly painted as a surprise for your sweetie's birthday, something special is distinct, and surpasses the norm. |
Something special is looked upon with affection, surpasses expectations, or has a particular role. It can also be a featured attraction or limited-run occurrence — like when there's a special on television or a special on cheese at the store. Ray Charles said, “Love is a special word, and I use it only when I mean it. You say the word too much and it becomes cheap.” Take this sweet crooner’s advice and don’t wear out special sentiments. |
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| 8368 |
acceptance |
the state of being satisfactory |
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Acceptance is taking something given to you. You might be relieved by your friend's acceptance of your apology for accidentally riding your bike over his foot. |
An acceptance of someone or something is also an indication that you approve of or believe in it (or them). If you dye your hair green and wear a suit made of bear fur, gaining your grandmother’s acceptance may prove difficult if she's a conservative dresser and an animal lover. In legal terms acceptance is language signifying consent to the terms of an offer, leading to the creation of a contract. |
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| 8369 |
industrial |
of or relating to commercial enterprise |
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Something industrial has to do with industry or factories. If you're taking a stroll alone at night, avoid the industrial areas — there aren't many people around after business hours and it can be kind of spooky. |
Industrial, besides meaning "having to do with industry," has also come to mean "tough," capable of withstanding factor wear and tear. If you're carpeting your home, avoid industrial carpet. It's easy to clean but not so soft. An industrial nation is a developed nation with manufacturing as part of its economy. If you work in the industrial sector, as opposed to say the arts sector, you work in manufacturing. |
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| 8370 |
soul |
the immaterial part of a person |
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The noun soul can mean an individual human being, but it can also mean essence of a human being. If you believe the soul is immortal, you believe that even when your physical body dies, some other part of you lives on. |
Soul shows up in various forms in all Nordic and Germanic languages, but no one knows where it originated, just like the whole idea of the soul. Philosophers and theologians have debated the exact definition of soul for ages, but it always stands for that ineffable part of a human unlimited by the body, the grandest, deepest part. Soul music is a popular form of gospel, and if you "have soul," you really feel what it is to be alive. |
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| 8371 |
wrinkle |
a slight depression in the smoothness of a surface |
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If you work to iron a stubborn wrinkle out of your shirt, you're trying to smooth out a crease. A wrinkle is a dent or line where that smoothness is interrupted. |
You might fret about a wrinkle in your skirt or a new wrinkle on your face. Another kind of wrinkle is more figurative: a small complication or problem that arises suddenly. You could describe a torrential rain storm as a wrinkle in your plan to film a sunny scene in your movie, for example. The Old English root is gewrinclod, "wrinkled, crooked, or winding," and it comes from the verb wrinclian, "to wind." |
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| 8372 |
rogue |
a deceitful and unreliable scoundrel |
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A rogue is a sneaky person who has tricks up his sleeve, not like a magician, but like someone who would steal your wallet or cheat at cards. |
Dishonesty won’t get you far in life, unless you are a rogue who survives by lying and exploiting others. The word comes from the Latin rogare, which means “beg,” and while some rogues dress like beggars to get your money, anyone who deceives is a rogue, like the presidents of corrupt corporations who steal from their employees, or that rogue Uncle Marvin who promises you chocolate for washing his car, but afterward tells you he has no chocolate. That rogue! |
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| 8373 |
operate |
perform as expected when applied |
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You'll want to find a skilled surgeon to operate on your hand. Once your hand is working again, you'll be able to operate your buzz saw with ease. |
Operate comes from a Latin root related to opus, "work," and it's a verb that can be used for all kinds of work. Your computer can operate smoothly, the lottery can operate successfully, your school can operate a day care center in some vacant classrooms, and you can operate your vehicle in a safe manner. If you're an unshakable optimist, your friends may say you "operate in a dream world." |
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| 8374 |
faithful |
loyal and reliable |
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Faithful describes someone who is reliable and consistent. If you're a faithful volunteer at the animal shelter, you show up every Saturday and work hard to help the animals. |
A faithful friend is loyal and steadfast — it's no wonder that many people consider their dogs to be their most faithful companions. Though faithful usually describes a person, you can also use it to talk about a particularly reliable object, like your faithful hiking boots. There's another sense of faithful that means "remaining true to," like faithful believers who pray and attend religious services regularly. |
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| 8375 |
likeness |
similarity in appearance or nature between persons or things |
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A likeness is a portrait, or a head-turning resemblance. George Washington’s likeness appears on the dollar bill. A potato might bear an uncanny likeness to my grandfather. |
Likeness has nothing to do with liking someone or something––it’s all about what something looks like. It’s been in use since before the 12th century, when likenesses had to be drawn or painted, rather than snapped with a digital camera. If the only picture you had of your mom was one your brother drew, you would value it more if it was a good likeness, meaning it really looked “like” her. |
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| 8376 |
desirous |
having or expressing an inclination to want something |
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To be desirous of something is to want it. It's like being wishful. We’re all desirous of a safe place to sleep, food, and perhaps a little bowl of candy. |
When you desire something, you want it. Likewise, being desirous is a state of desire, want, and craving. A thirsty person is desirous of liquid. An eager employee may be desirous of a raise and a promotion. Dogs are often desirous of people food. This word can apply to small, momentary wants or deep, yearning needs. |
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| 8377 |
buzz |
the sound of rapid vibration |
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A buzz is a vibrating sound, like the sound a bee makes. Your dog might get nervous in your yard when she hears the buzz of insects. |
Buzz can be a noun or a verb: "My doorbell started to buzz like crazy when everyone showed up for my party." You can also talk about a buzz of activity, a low background noise, or describe the way stunt planes buzz the trees, flying very low. You might tell someone to "buzz off" if you're annoyed with them — this began in 1914 as a way to describe hanging up a telephone — or telling someone to hang up. |
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| 8378 |
mournful |
expressing sorrow |
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A mournful person is someone who is full of sorrow, like a little girl who has just lost her new puppy. |
Mournful is a word that is often associated with someone who has experienced the death of someone close to them. A person would feel mournful if their loved one had just died. Mournful can also describe the expression of sad feelings, like a person dressed in black and sobbing into a handkerchief. You would not be mournful if you had just failed a quiz, but you would be mournful if your twenty-year marriage had just failed. |
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| 8379 |
courteous |
characterized by courtesy and gracious good manners |
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If you are courteous, your good manners show friendliness and concern for others, like your courteous habit of holding the door for people entering a building with you. |
The adjective courteous comes from the Old French word curteis, which means “having courtly bearing or manners.” Courtly described the court — nobles who hung around the castle, the entourage of kings and queens. Their refined manners, not to mention their wealth and power, set them apart from the masses. So courteous behavior is a reminder of the value of good manners. |
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| 8380 |
fringe |
an ornamental border of short lengths of hanging threads |
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If you make cutoffs from jeans, the little white strings around the edges of the legs make a fringe. A fringe is a decorative edge made of hanging strings of fabric. |
You know how fringe hangs on the edge of fabric and clothing? Think of this picture when you see fringe used metaphorically to mean something that is on the outer boundaries of something else. Many cities hold events called fringe festivals that celebrate art created on the fringe of the established art world. A group of people whose beliefs place them on the outskirts of a social group is called a fringe group. And beware of the lunatic fringe — they are the extremists and fanatics of a social or political movement. |
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| 8381 |
popular |
regarded with great favor or approval by the general public |
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The adjective popular describes something that is well-liked or admired by a lot of people. Sometimes when you read a bestselling novel, you wonder why it's so popular. |
Popular comes from the Latin word populus, which means people. Anything that is popular is liked by many people. When you're talking about popular music or art, you may sometimes shorten the word popular to "pop," as in pop music or pop culture. Popular also describes things by or for the people, or the general population, such as the popular vote or a popular revolt. |
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| 8382 |
vest |
a sleeveless garment worn underneath a coat |
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A vest is a sleeveless piece of clothing that's usually worn over a shirt. Your dad might love to wear his favorite striped sweater vest to parties, which is less embarrassing than when he wears the orange furry one. |
There are different kinds of vests, including sweater vests, puffy winter vests, and tailored suit vests, usually worn underneath a formal jacket. Some vests have buttons, and others have zippers or snaps. Some are even bullet proof! When vest is a verb, it means to grant or bestow: "The Queen vests control of the zoos to the Royal Zookeeper." Both meanings of vest come from the same root word, the Latin vestire, "to clothe." |
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| 8383 |
famous |
widely known and esteemed |
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Something famous is well known, usually because it's special or particularly good. Celebrities, historic paintings, and the best burger in town could all be described as famous. |
If something is famous, then a lot of people know about it. If you turn on the television or look at a magazine rack, you'll see plenty of famous people: movie stars, TV stars, musicians, athletes, and politicians are all famous. Lots of people want to be famous, but there are good and bad parts to it. It must be nice to be rich, but being constantly surrounded by fans and photographers can't be fun. |
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| 8384 |
readiness |
the state of having been prepared for action |
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Readiness is a quality of being able or willing to do something. An athlete's readiness for the Olympics has to do with how warmed up she is, whether she's recovered from injuries, as well as her psychological state. |
Your readiness for something usually has to do with how well prepared you are. Your parents might have decorated a room and bought a crib before you were born, in readiness for your arrival. And local police sometimes clear the streets and direct traffic away in readiness for a big parade. Readiness can also mean "willingness," like an eager kindergartner's readiness to learn how to read. |
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| 8385 |
encourage |
inspire with confidence |
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When you encourage someone, you give him or her the courage or confidence to do something, like when you encourage your little brother to play harder by yelling his name from the sidelines of the soccer field. |
The word encourage comes from the Old French word encoragier, meaning "make strong, hearten." When you encourage the tomato plants in your garden, you water them to promote their growth and health. Encourage can also mean to inspire with hope, like when you encourage your friends to try out for the school play by complimenting their singing and acting talents. |
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| 8386 |
mourning |
state of sorrow over the death or departure of a loved one |
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Mourning is a time of sadness because of a loss. When you're in mourning after a loved one dies, it is good to lean on your friends who understand why you are so sad. |
Mourning is an expression of grief or a time of grieving that follows a loved one's death or other serious loss. Depression, confusion, even losing interest in friends and social activities all can occur when someone is in mourning. An old-fashioned meaning of mourning is specifically the black clothing people traditionally wear following a death. Don't confuse mourning with morning, the early part of the day. |
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| 8387 |
dedicated |
devoted to a cause or ideal or purpose |
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When you are dedicated to something, you are devoted to a cause or ideal, like dedicated volunteers at the animal shelter who show up even in snowstorms and on holidays. |
Dedicated contains the root word dedicate, meaning "devoted to one's aims or vocation," like a dedicated staff of workers who work extremely hard. It can also mean "set aside for a specific purpose," like a dedicated desk where family members place their keys, the mail and notes to one another — don't throw your coat on top of that desk or throw those items in a drawer. |
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| 8388 |
rascal |
one who is playfully mischievous |
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A rascal is a scoundrel or a trickster. If your new puppy cheerfully chews on your shoes and chases the cat, you might want to consider naming her Rascal. |
Rascals are mischievous, but their intentions are to have fun, rather than to be cruel. An armed robber is not a rascal, but the class clown is a rascal. The word's origins had a more negative connotation, though: the fourteenth century rascaile meant "low class people," from the Old French rascaille, "rabble or mob." |
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| 8389 |
accessible |
capable of being reached |
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Accessible can mean easy to get to. If the mall is easily accessible, you might be tempted to spend a lot of money on your lunch breaks. |
The "within reach" definition of the adjective accessible does not just refer to physical distance. A person can be accessible if they are approachable and friendly. A celebrity that is accessible probably signs a lot of autographs and grants interviews. The word can also describe something that is easily understood. You might need to read a plot summary of a long convoluted novel — to make it more accessible or easy to follow. |
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| 8390 |
admiration |
a feeling of delighted approval and liking |
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Admiration is the feeling of liking and appreciating, like your admiration of your older sister. You ask her for advice and hope to be just like her when you are older. |
The root of the word admiration is admire, which means "to regard with wonder or approval." People can receive admiration for many reasons, including their beauty, hard work, or intelligence. Often, there is a sense of gratitude or thanks when someone feels admiration. For example, your admiration for a favorite teacher includes an awareness of how much he or she helped you. |
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| 8391 |
prosperous |
in fortunate circumstances financially |
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If you have a new car, a new high-paying job, and some flashy new shoes, then you could be described as prosperous, meaning you have material success that seems like it will continue to grow. |
The adjective prosperous often describes a person or a person’s future, but it can apply to anything that’s experiencing growth and success. Prosperous derives from the Latin word prosperus, meaning “doing well.” Great pronouns of this happy word include golden, well-heeled, flourishing, and thriving. |
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| 8392 |
incur |
make oneself subject to |
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To incur is to get or receive — and usually it's something you brought upon yourself. If you don't pay your credit card bills on time, you'll likely incur lots of fees and some serious debt. |
Generally, when you incur something, that something is undesirable. You can incur penalties, expenses, a parking ticket, or a friend’s wrath, for example. But it's pretty unlikely that you'd incur free tickets to the World Series. Frederick Douglass once famously said, “I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence." |
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| 8393 |
bay |
an indentation of a shoreline smaller than a gulf |
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A bay is an inlet along the shoreline of a body of water. A bay window occupies a similar inlet in a room. When you keep someone "at bay" you hold them off. |
The different meanings of bay come from different origins. For example, the idea of the word as a cove comes from the Latin bāia, while the idea of an opening is a wall is from the Latin batāre, meaning "gape." The word that means a dog's howl, however, comes from the Latin baubari, which means "to bark." Other meanings of this versatile word include a horse with reddish coloring, and a tree with leaves used to add flavor in cooking. There's nothing quite like riding a bay along the scenic bay while listening to the hounds bay! |
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| 8394 |
flex |
cause something to assume a bent or crooked shape |
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When you flex something, you bend or contract it. To appear super tough, you might flex your archery bow while flexing your muscles. |
Things curve and bend when they flex, whether they're human joints or objects made of a bendable material like plastic or soft wood. Another way to flex is to tense or contract a muscle: "The weightlifter flexes her biceps." Experts suspect that flexible came first, from the Latin root flexibilis, "flexible, pliant, or yielding," and figuratively, "tractable, or easily influenced." |
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| 8395 |
scrutiny |
the act of examining something closely, as for mistakes |
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Scrutiny is when you look at something really closely, like when you are checking a test for mistakes. Scrutiny can also be an intense look, like when your mother looks at you — trying to tell if you might be lying. |
Scrutiny comes from the Latin scrutari, which means “to search,” but which originally meant, “to sort trash.” The most common usage of scrutiny is in the phrase “under scrutiny." When your work is under scrutiny, it’s like your teacher is looking for any trash that can be edited out. If your outfit is under scrutiny, your mom is checking to see if your skirt is long enough for school; she’s making sure you don’t look trashy. |
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| 8396 |
knowledge |
the result of perception, learning, and reasoning |
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Why do you go to school? For knowledge, of course. To have knowledge means to know or be aware of things. |
Knowledge is understanding gained through learning or experience. You read a recipe to gain knowledge about baking rhubarb pie. When it burns in the oven, experience gives you the knowledge that you need to stop doing three things at once. Fields like biology, math, art, medicine, and others have huge bodies of knowledge. Knowledge can mean information and also deeper understanding. You can use this word as a disclaimer too, as in "To my knowledge, my sister walked the dog." |
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| 8397 |
suffering |
feelings of mental or physical pain |
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Suffering is the kind of pain you feel when you shatter your ankle and it's what you'll see all around you if you find yourself in the middle of a tornado or an earthquake. |
When you're suffering, you're not happy — in fact, you're quite miserable. The Latin roots that give us suffering and related words paint a vivid picture of what suffering feels like. The word comes from sub-, meaning "below," and ferre, "bear." Suffering is something pressing you down that you have to submit to and bear. It's definitely the opposite of fun. |
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| 8398 |
embarrassment |
the shame felt when inadequacy or guilt is made public |
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When you feel embarrassment, you are self-conscious or ashamed. Embarrassment might keep you from wearing your Statue of Liberty Halloween costume in public. |
Something that makes you blush — like when ten people rush up to tell you how great your tuba solo was or realizing that you left the house in your pajama bottoms — causes you embarrassment. The person or thing that makes you feel awkward and ashamed can also be described as an embarrassment. To avoid embarrassment, remember to double the r's and s's when you spell embarrassment. |
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| 8399 |
eagerness |
a positive feeling of wanting to push ahead with something |
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Eagerness is a characteristic of being excited and prepared to do something. Shooting your hand in the air and shouting, "Me! Me!" when your teacher asks for a volunteer is a good way to show your eagerness. |
A basketball team displays its eagerness by running onto the court at the start of the game, and a puppy's eagerness to lick your face and nibble your fingers is either the cutest thing about it, or one of the many reasons you don't like puppies. Eagerness and eager are both positive words, but in the thirteenth century eager meant "fierce or angry," and it shares a Latin root with the sour word acrid, or "bitter." |
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| 8400 |
nigh |
near in time or place or relationship |
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Nigh is an old-fashioned word that can be used as an adjective or adverb to mean near or nearly. Something that is nigh impossible — like knitting a sweater in one night — will be very difficult to accomplish. |
As an adjective, nigh is an older form of the word "near," both of which are rooted in the Old English word neah. People like to use the word nigh when they talk about the apocalypse: "Repent! The end is nigh." It's most common to use nigh today when you're trying to sound poetic or referencing the archaic or biblical uses of the word. |
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| 8401 |
serve |
devote one's life or efforts to, as of countries or ideas |
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To serve is to perform a role or function. While your co-worker is out sick, you gladly serve as his replacement until he gets better. |
Serve comes from the Latin word for servant or slave, but you can serve people without being subordinate to them. You might serve your family hamburgers for dinner, or serve the tennis ball. If you serve a cause, you devote yourself to it. Bug repellant will serve you well on a summer fishing trip. In prison you serve time. If you're elected Mayor, you'll serve a term of three or four years. |
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| 8402 |
attachment |
the act of affixing something |
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Attachment is a sticky word: an email attachment fastens a file to an email, while someone who has an attachment to email loves email. Attachment brings things together. |
Attachment is a word that's equal parts mechanical and emotional. Many gadgets — such as cameras and tractors — have attachments that allow them to get more done, like a tractor attachment for plowing snow. People have attachments to bands, political movements, sports teams, hobbies, and each other. It's important for babies to develop attachments to their parents — this means they're bonding with their parents. Attachment is a lot like duct tape — it fastens people and things together. |
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| 8403 |
apprehend |
anticipate with dread or anxiety |
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To apprehend is to capture or arrest, as when the police try to apprehend criminals and bring them to justice. You also apprehend a concept when you understand it, grasping or capturing its meaning. |
The verb apprehend has remained much the same since the original Latin, both in form and meaning. It comes from apprehendere "to grasp or seize." The word came to refer to learning — "grasping or seizing with the mind" — but then came to mean "seize in the name of the law" or "arrest" around the 1540s, a meaning that remains to this day. The word can also be used to suggest an anxious feeling about something about to happen. |
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| 8404 |
tourist |
someone who travels for pleasure |
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Someone who visits a city, town, or historic site just for the pleasure of exploring it can be described as a tourist. |
When you travel for fun, you're a tourist. Some local inhabitants of vacation destinations might have a negative image of obnoxious, camera-toting tourists, but really they're just travelers who are curious about different parts of the world. Beaches, amusement parks, castles, and big cities are all places you're likely to run into tourists. The term "tourist trap," or a place that exists only to take tourists' money, was first used in 1939 by the novelist Graham Greene. |
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| 8405 |
accomplishment |
the action of achieving something |
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An accomplishment is something notable that you've done. Graduating from college with honors is an accomplishment. |
First used in the 15th century, the noun accomplishment derives from the Old French word acomplir, meaning "to fulfill, fill up, complete." An accomplishment is something you've completed successfully. The word often refers to a goal that you've achieved. If you're a runner, you'd consider completing a marathon to be a great accomplishment. Gaining a new skill can also be an accomplishment. Speaking French fluently might be an accomplishment that makes you really proud. |
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| 8406 |
stun |
make senseless or dizzy by or as if by a blow |
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To stun is to knock unconscious or to shock. So getting hit in the head with a softball will stun you, but hearing that your favorite band is playing at the prom will also stun you. |
If your cat catches a mouse, it may only stun the little animal and give you a chance to set it free. Being knocked hard enough in the head is generally what it takes to physically stun a person. It's more common for something that's astonishing to stun you, whether it's hearing terrible news or seeing something amazingly beautiful, like the northern lights or the Grand Canyon. Stun, in fact, shares a root with astonish. |
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| 8407 |
tactics |
a plan for attaining a particular goal |
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Tactics are your carefully planned actions for attaining a certain goal. You'll have to come up with some clever tactics if you're going to figure out how to build the fastest race car and win the Girl Scout troop competition. |
Tactics also refers to a branch of military science that deals with planning maneuvers. Military tactics involve organizing troops in certain ways, in various locations, and deploying them according to plan. Your military strategy is your plan of action to achieve your overall goal — sinking the Spanish armada, for instance — while your tactics are the nuts and bolts of how you achieve it — deploying small, agile gunboats. Tactics comes from the Greek root taktos, meaning "ordered, arranged." |
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| 8408 |
promotion |
the act of raising in rank or position |
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A promotion is a raise in pay or stature, or it's a way to raise the profile or attention of something. If you create an advertising promotion that increases sales of spray jeans in a can, for example, you might get a promotion to company vice-president. |
Words that start with pro- usually hint at something positive or forward moving, and a promotion is a moving up or a motion forward. A product promotion pushes the item out in front so it gets more exposure, and a work or school promotion raises your salary or moves you up a grade. If you’re in the military a promotion means a higher rank, with more people under your command, and the same happens if you earn a promotion in a club or organization like the scouts. |
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| 8409 |
acquisition |
something gained |
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An acquisition is something you acquire—a book, a skill or if you are a mogul, a company. It describes things you have purchased, things you have learned, or things you have gotten. |
Acquisition has a formal sense to it. We don't talk about our new jeans as our latest acquisition, unless we are the kind of person who refers to their latest copy of Vogue as their Bible. It is very commonly used to refer to paintings purchased by museums—in fact, large museums have acquisition departments. |
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| 8410 |
alternate |
go back and forth |
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On a checkerboard, black squares alternate with white ones. As a verb, alternate means to do something in turns. As a noun, an alternate is a replacement. |
While the noun and verb seem not to mean the same thing, think of it this way: If you are brought on in a game to be someone's alternate, you are there to take their turn. Alternate can also be used as an adjective, meaning different or other. An alternate view of history is one that looks at the past from an uncommon perspective. Pay attention to the pronunciation of alternate: as a verb the end is pronounced "-nāt" and as a noun or adjective "-nət." |
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| 8411 |
sheet |
any broad thin expanse or surface |
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A sheet is a large, wide amount of something flat, like a sheet of metal or a sheet of paper. When it goes on your bed, a sheet is a similar expanse of fabric. |
The sheets on your bed cover your mattress and lie beneath your blanket or comforter, and the huge windows in your imaginary dream house would require enormous sheets of glass. Sheet music consists of musical notation written on sheets of paper, and a sheet of rain comes down so hard it looks like a solid surface. If it rained overnight and the water froze on the ground, you might say, "Careful, it's a sheet of ice outside!" |
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| 8412 |
hoarse |
deep and harsh sounding as if from shouting or illness |
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A hoarse voice is deep and rough and kind of hard to make out. People get hoarse when they're sick, or when they are calling in sick to work. |
If you're supposed to perform in a play tonight, you'd better hope you don't get hoarse: a hoarse voice doesn't sound the way it should. It's scratchy, gruff, and hard to understand. Sometimes people get hoarse from talking too much. Inhaling smoke can make you hoarse too. On the other hand, some people have raspy, husky, rough-sounding voices that sound hoarse all the time. You could ask them, "Are you hoarse?" They might say, "Nah, I always sound like this." |
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| 8413 |
gigantic |
so exceedingly large or extensive as to suggest a giant |
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Gigantic is an adjective used to describe something that's really big, as though it were made for a giant. You might call a skyscraper a gigantic building, especially if it towers over other buildings nearby. |
As you might imagine, gigantic is derived from the noun giant. Giants were mythical beings that were said to be of immense size and strength. Literally, gigantic means “of or relating to a giant,” but in practice gigantic is widely used to describe almost anything as especially big. If an article of clothing is way too big for you, you could call it gigantic. You might also complain of having a gigantic headache because someone is being a gigantic pain. |
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| 8414 |
remarkable |
unusual or striking |
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Something remarkable is unusual, exceptional, interesting, or excellent. Remarkable things get your attention. |
If you take this word literally, you can figure out the meaning: remarkable things make you want to make a remark about them. They get you talking because they're so unusual or good. Getting a B on a test isn't remarkable, unless you usually get D’s. Getting to meet the president would be pretty remarkable. Save this word for things that are really and truly exceptional. |
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| 8415 |
excellence |
possessing good qualities in high degree |
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Excellence means greatness — the very best. Achieving excellence is never easy to do. |
Excellence is a quality that people really appreciate, because it's so hard to find. Excellence is the quality of excelling, of being truly the best at something. Getting an A+ shows excellence. Michael Jordan's basketball career was filled with excellence. We love Picasso and Shakespeare for their excellence. When you see excellence, you should appreciate the work that went into it. So much in the world falls short of excellence. |
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| 8416 |
resentment |
a feeling of deep and bitter anger and ill-will |
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Resentment, or the strong and painful bitterness you feel when someone does something wrong to you, doesn’t have actual physical weight, but it feels very heavy and can last a long time. Forgiveness is one way to get rid of resentment. |
Sometimes resentment lasts for years. It can be strong and hard to pull out, like an old, gnarled tree root. While resentment over being wronged can come from just one act against you, it also can get stronger over time, as in "your growing resentment might just come from the fact that the team captain always picks you last." It also comes from misunderstandings, like feeling resentment over a dirty look you thought was directed at you but really wasn't. It's usually best to root out resentment early. |
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| 8417 |
learned |
having or showing profound knowledge |
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If you're learned (pronounced LUR-ned), you're highly educated, or you have or show a profound knowledge of some kind. |
The adjective learned comes from the verb learn. You can use it either to describe someone as having a lot of education, like the learned shopkeeper who used to tell you about the Trojan War while you picked out your candy, or to describe something that doesn't come naturally, but has to be learned (in which case it's pronounced LURND). If you reward your dog when she howls, then her howling will become a learned (LURND) behavior. |
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| 8418 |
municipal |
relating to a self-governing district |
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A municipality refers to a village, town, or city that's usually governed by a mayor and council. From this noun, we get the adjective municipal, which you can use to describe something that relates to a town or its government. |
Your town's city council may have offices in the municipal building downtown. If you want to fight city hall, that would be the place to go. Municipal also more generally describes anything related to the town or city itself. If you live within the city limits, for example, your house may be hooked into the municipal water supply, but if you live outside the city limits you may have to have your own well. |
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| 8419 |
veil |
a garment that covers the head and face |
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A veil is a cloth covering the head and face, mostly worn by women. Wedding veils are drawn back when the groom hears, "Now you may kiss the bride." (Or else the groom gets a gauzy mouthful.) |
This is a technical term for part of an embryo or mushroom, but it’s usually a covering for the head and face. Priests wear veils during certain Catholic ceremonies, and a grieving widow might wear a veil at her husband's funeral. To veil also means to conceal something. You could veil your attempt to steal some cookies by turning the TV up loud as a distraction. When something — like a lie — is "thinly veiled," people can see right through it. |
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| 8420 |
remark |
make or write a comment on |
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"If you see something, say something" might translate into, "If you remark something, make a remark." Remark means to notice, and it also means to comment, as in, "Keep your obnoxious remarks to yourself." |
While walking in the woods, you might remark the contrast between the quiet of the woods and the noises of the city. You might make a remark about how loud it is in the city. "It's loud here too," your walking companion might remark. "Listen to all the birds and squirrels." |
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| 8421 |
leak |
enter or escape as through a hole or crack or fissure |
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A leak involves the release of something. It can be a behind-someone’s-back leak of sensitive information, a leak from a milk carton, or a leak in the roof that lets rain water drip in. |
As a verb, leak means to allow light or fluid to escape, or to enter or escape as though through a hole. Light can leak in through the curtains, water can leak out of an almost-closed faucet, or information can leak to the press. A leak is almost always a bad thing — it indicates that something that should be contained has broken out or escaped. |
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| 8422 |
grab |
take or seize suddenly |
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When you grab something, you clutch at it. When a party-goer breaks open a piñata, the other guests usually grab wildly at the candy that cascades out of it. |
You can grab for the string of a balloon as it floats away, or grab your friend in a hug. Another way to grab is to make an impression: "When I hear a marching band, it grabs my attention." A "grab bag" is a random mixture of things, or a bag of goodies you can reach into and grab from. If something's "up for grabs." it's available: "This last piece of pie is up for grabs!" |
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| 8423 |
conviction |
an unshakable belief in something without need for proof |
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A conviction is something certain: a judgment of guilty in court and a strong belief are both convictions. |
In the legal world, when a judge or jury convicts someone of a crime — finding them guilty — this is called a conviction. Prosecutors try to get convictions, and defense attorneys try to prevent them. Also, convictions are beliefs — principles. The United States was founded on many convictions, such as the belief in free speech and separation of church and state. When you have a conviction, you're certain of something. |
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| 8424 |
credulous |
showing a lack of judgment or experience |
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People who believe things easily without having to be convinced are credulous. Sales people are always hoping that someone credulous picks up the phone during a sales call. |
Credulous comes from the 16th-century Latin credulus, or "easily believes." A synonym for credulous is gullible, and both terms describe a person who accepts something willingly without a lot of supporting facts. Calling someone credulous can imply that the person is naive and simple. An individual isn't necessarily insulted by being called credulous, though, because some objects of belief, like religions and unicorns, come with a willing leap of faith for believing in what is unseen. |
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| 8425 |
inhabit |
live in; be a resident of |
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When you inhabit a place, you live there. When actors inhabit their roles, they seem to become the characters, no longer actors reciting their lines. It is like they live the life of the character. |
The verb inhabit comes from the Old French enhabiter, meaning “dwell in.” You can inhabit an actual place, like a home, a cave, or a neighborhood. You can also inhabit an imaginary world, like those who choose to inhabit cyberspace with a made-up persona, telling about experiences that are nothing like the person's real life. Actors who truly inhabit their roles sometimes struggle to return to reality after a movie or television show wraps. |
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| 8426 |
flick |
throw or toss with a quick motion |
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A flick is a quick, short movement, usually coming from the wrist or hand. There used to be a "Flick a Bic" cigarette ad: cigarettes are awful, but starting a lighter is a classic flick. |
The most common flick is probably turning a switch on or off — people flick switches, like light switches. Flicking is also used when describing golfers and basketball players. A fast, sharp golf shot could be called a flick. A quick basketball shot — like tipping the ball in with one second left in the game — is also a flick. A flick can also be described as a quick jerk — not a jerk as in a bad person, but a tiny movement. If you're using your whole body or even your whole arm, you're not flicking. |
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| 8427 |
mortal |
subject to death |
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You are a mortal because you are mortal. This means that you are an individual destined to die because you are susceptible to death. |
The word mortal has one of the most ancient genealogies of any word in English or any other language. It is related to English words like "murder" and "mortuary," and to the French, Italian, Spanish, and Russian words for "death." Something that can kill you can also be described as mortal. If you're in mortal danger, you're in a deadly situation. Action heroes often think they are dealing their enemy a mortal blow, but sometimes the enemy manages to come back to life. People are called mortals because at some point, they die. |
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| 8428 |
feminine |
associated with women and not with men |
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Feminine is the opposite of masculine. If it has anything to do with girls and women, it's considered feminine. |
Anything feminine is associated with females. In American culture, that includes wearing pink, playing with dolls, sporting high heels, and getting weepy during sad movies. Many women find the traditional feminine roles to be sexist and limiting, while many men pick on each other for acting in a stereotypical feminine manner. But ideas about what is feminine are always changing: pants used to only be a masculine thing to wear, for example. |
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| 8429 |
horrid |
grossly offensive to decency or morality |
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Horrid things are absolutely dreadful — they horrify or disgust you. A horrid dream can make you wake with a gasp and lie there with your heart pounding. |
You might cover your eyes during a particularly horrid scene in a scary movie, or skip past the horrid photos of a war zone in the newspaper. Things are also horrid when they're just plain bad: "That wallpaper in your bedroom is absolutely horrid." In the 1400s, horrid meant "hairy, shaggy, or bristling." The word stems from a Latin root, horrere, "to bristle with fear." |
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| 8430 |
monstrous |
distorted and unnatural in shape or size |
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Monstrous is an adjective that describes something gross or shocking. It can refer to the size, shape, or general look of something. If your face or body is monstrous, it's misshapen and horrifying to look at. |
The word monstrous describes something that you'd like to avoid looking at, if at all possible. The word comes from the Latin monstruosus, which means "unnatural, deviating from the natural order, hideous." When discussing size, monstrous means that something or someone is so huge it's frightening. Monstrous can also describe someone or something that's extremely cruel or brutal, like a monstrous dictator or monstrous lies. |
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| 8431 |
triumph |
a successful ending of a struggle or contest |
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A triumph is a well-earned victory. It'll make you pump your fist and yell "Hurrah!" |
Triumph can be a noun or a verb, so you can have a triumph after the big game when you triumph over your opponents. Either way, it's a way to rejoice and a reason to whoop it up. The word comes from the Latin triumphus which is an "achievement, success, procession for a victorious general or admiral." The jury's still out on whether it comes from the Greek thriambos, as a "hymn to Dionysus," but it's fun to imagine that a triumph is a song to the Greek god of party animals. Fittingly, a Triumph is also the name of a motorcycle, a cool car, and a hard rockin' band from Canada. |
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| 8432 |
search |
look or seek |
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To search is to look for something. A search party is a group of people looking for something together. Their search may take a long time. If they're in the army, they might be on a mission to search and destroy. |
Search is one of the many words in English that have taken on a new meaning related to computers. To search the Web, or perform a search is to use a computer to find information on the Internet. The verb search is from Late Latin circare "to travel through," from Latin circus "circle." The original meanings of this verb in English were to dig for something, then, to overrun or occupy by force. |
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| 8433 |
chatter |
talk socially without exchanging too much information |
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To chatter is to talk lightly or casually — to shoot the breeze or chitchat. You might chatter with your workmates about the weather or where you'll eat lunch. |
You probably chatter with your friends all the time without even thinking about it, gossiping or talking about unimportant things. You can call the talk itself chatter too: "The chatter in the cafeteria was so loud I couldn't hear myself think." In the 13th century, it was chateren, from an imitative Middle English root. |
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| 8434 |
struggle |
strenuous effort |
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Something that can only be accomplished with great effort is said to be a struggle. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a leader in the Civil Rights struggle. Alice Paul was a leader in the struggle for a woman's right to vote. |
The verb form of struggle can be used for physical or mental effort. A police officer might struggle trying to detain a criminal or a student may struggle with a difficult algebra problem. If you scramble and climb awkwardly up something, you can also use the verb struggle to describe the action: "They struggled up the icy hill over and over again, so they could keep sledding." |
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| 8435 |
construct |
make by combining materials and parts |
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To construct things is to build them. You might construct a sand castle the next time you're at the beach, or you might construct a theory about why your brother always manages to get away with breaking the rules. |
The verb construct comes from the Latin word constructus, meaning “to heap up.” If you work in construction you're in the business of building things, and you probably construct buildings, roads, municipal parks, and other large permanent structures. Students of psychology are familiar with the noun form of construct, which refers to an abstract concept. Much of psychological theory is founded on constructs — like gender, morality, and intelligence. |
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| 8436 |
vigor |
forceful exertion |
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If your new puppy runs all over the house, jumps on the furniture, and enthusiastically chews up your socks, you may congratulate yourself on your new pup's vigor, or lively sense of energy. |
Aside from mental or physical vitality, the noun vigor can be applied to an imaginative style of thought or expression and also to a forceful intensity. "The jury was not only willing to acquit the defendant, but also nominate him for sainthood, by the time his attorney had delivered, with vigor, an impassioned plea for his client's innocence." |
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| 8437 |
cultivation |
production of food by preparing the land to grow crops |
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Cultivation is the act of caring for or raising plants. Your desire to grow your own fruits and vegetables in the backyard means you'll be engaged in some heavy cultivation. |
The word cultivation is most often used to talk about the ways that farmers take care of crops. However, in a more general sense, the verb cultivate means to improve or train someone or something. You could participate in the cultivation of your little brother by paying for him to take tango lessons and teaching him how to play chess. Or perhaps you might start by simply teaching him how to sip and not slurp his soup. |
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| 8438 |
romance |
a relationship between two lovers |
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Romance is the relationship between two lovers. Is there a romance blossoming between you and your lab partner, or is the assignment so hard you have to work together constantly? |
Romance comes from Roman, and first meant a story translated into French from Latin (the common language of old Rome), usually about the amorous adventures of chivalrous knights, which is how romances came to be associated with love stories. Now it's used to mean a love relationship, in a story or not. The Romance languages are those derived from Latin. If you romance a tale, you exaggerate it, and if you romance a person, you're making advances. |
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| 8439 |
betray |
deliver to an enemy by treachery |
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When you betray someone or something, you provide information whether you mean to do it or not, like the loud growling of your stomach that betrays your hunger or the secret you tell about your friend that betrays her trust. |
When you betray someone or something, you reveal something, like a secret or your true feelings. You may betray your impatience, for example, if you sit at your desk tapping your fingers. There is another meaning of betray that is just the opposite: lie. You betray your friend if you pretend that something is true just to trick him into doing what you want. In this case, betray means the same thing as deceive. |
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| 8440 |
mend |
restore by putting together what is torn or broken |
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When you mend something, you fix it or make it better. If you can mend your broken lamp, then it will shine again. If not you'll have to sit in the dark. |
The word mend was originally used as a religious term, meaning to free a person from sin, usually through repentance and good deeds. Mend has come to refer to fixing something that is broken. A mechanic might mend a broken car, or a seamstress might mend a torn dress. The word also frequently relates health and healing. Someone recovering from a long bout of the flu is said to be "on the mend." But as the song goes, "How can you mend a broken heart?" |
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| 8441 |
speaker |
someone who expresses in language |
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A speaker is someone who delivers a speech or a device that makes sounds louder. The speaker gave a great speech but you couldn't hear it because the speaker was turned off. |
Speaker has a few different meanings, from the person who addresses a group, to the piece of equipment that amplifies sound to someone who is fluent in a particular language. For example, a native Spanish speaker can usually tell if someone learned the language in high school because textbooks don't always include the slang and idioms of everyday speech. |
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| 8442 |
district |
a region marked off for administrative or other purposes |
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Use the word district to talk about a specific part of your city or town. Your school district, for example, is an officially marked area that designates which school students can attend. |
When a government outlines a region of a state, city, or town, that area is called a district. Besides school districts, there are also congressional districts and electoral districts, which are set up specifically for organizing voting and governing. In the 1600's, the word district was used for a feudal lord's territory, and it came from the Latin districtus, "territory of jurisdiction," with its root of distringere, "draw apart." |
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| 8443 |
rumor |
gossip passed around by word of mouth |
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A rumor is a story which may not be true. Everyone may be talking about the rap superstar who stopped for ice cream in your town, but until there's proof that it really happened, the whole thing is just a rumor. |
Are rumors ever true? Of course — sometimes word gets out ahead of time, like when a student overhears teachers talking about the early dismissal before it is announced. When the school closes early, the rumor is confirmed. But many other rumors can never be confirmed, so they stay just that, rumors. True, false, semi-true: who knows? The Latin word rumorem, or noise, is the origin; noise is often all that a rumor is. |
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| 8444 |
punishment |
the act of imposing a penalty |
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Punishment is the penalty you have to pay when you're caught doing something bad. A teenager's punishment for missing her curfew might be helping her dad clean the garage. |
When someone is officially penalized for a mistake or a crime, that's punishment. Stealing a car could result in a punishment involving jail, while pinching your little sister might mean a punishment as mild as sitting in a chair and thinking about ways to be nicer next time. The Latin root of punishment and its related verb, punish, is punire, "punish, correct, take vengeance for, or cause pain for some offense." |
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| 8445 |
choir |
a chorus that sings as part of a religious ceremony |
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A choir is group of singers, often gathered for church ceremonies. If you love to sing but don't fancy a solo turn on a TV talent show, perhaps joining a choir would satisfy you. |
Choir, pronounced QUIRE, comes from the Latin word chorus, which itself comes from the Greek name for a group of singers and dancers. We still use chorus for singing or dancing, but choir is exclusively for singing groups. Although choirs are traditionally associated with church services, they don't have to be. If you love singing but aren't religious, you could start a choir that sings about the glory of donuts. It's also a verb, as in, "I love to choir." |
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| 8446 |
stalk |
a slender or elongated structure that supports a plant |
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A stalk is a long, vertical stem or connecting part of a plant. When you eat celery, do you like the inner stalks, which are paler and more tender, or the tough outer ones? |
As a verb, stalk means to walk stiffly or angrily. If someone insults you, you might stalk from the room and refuse to listen to another word. When hunting, an animal stalks its prey — it follows its quarry stealthily until it's time to pounce. Similarly, if a person stalks you, they follow and watch you. It is very threatening and frightening to the one who is being stalked, and the police should be called. |
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| 8447 |
brain |
the center of the nervous system |
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The brain is the most complex organ in the body, located inside the protective skull. The word can also be used as a verb in the phrase "to brain," which means to injure or kill someone by hitting them in the head. |
The human brain has inspired many idioms, or colorful phrases. Thinking intently (or obsessively) about something means that you've got it "on the brain," and to "pick someone's brain" means to get their ideas on something. A puzzle is a "brainteaser, someone smart is called "a brain," and the person who runs something is said to be "the brains" of the operation. |
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| 8448 |
mighty |
having or showing great strength, force, or intensity |
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Something that's mighty is large and powerful. Mighty Mouse is no ordinary mouse; he's a superhero. It's best not to mess with anyone with mighty in their name. |
A mighty beast in a fairy tale is ferocious and intimidating, and a mighty power in the business world exerts great influence. Colloquially, you can also use mighty to emphasize something, or to mean "extremely." This informal use is especially common in the U.S. South, where a host might say, "We're mighty glad to have you!" Mighty comes from the Old English root mæht, "strength or power." |
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| 8449 |
rescue |
free from harm or evil |
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When you rescue something, you save it from something bad — you come to the rescue. If Muffin, your kitten, is stuck in a tree, you can get out your ladder and climb up to rescue her. |
A rescue is a good thing, much appreciated by people (and kittens). If your house is in foreclosure, you'd be very grateful for the uncle who comes to your rescue by paying your mortgage. Whenever there's an earthquake or other disaster, rescue operations are quickly put in place to find survivors. You can use the word more casually, as in describing how you saunter over at a cocktail party and rescue your friend from a conversation with an insufferable bore. |
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| 8450 |
enact |
order by virtue of superior authority; decree |
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You often hear that Congress is going to enact a new statute, which means that they will make it into a law. But enact also means to perform, like in a play. (Makes you wonder if the lawmakers are actors!) |
Inside the word enact is that little word act, meaning “to do.” That makes sense, because when you enact something, you make it happen. And of course, we know that to act also means to perform, and so enact means “to act out,” like on stage. Now that the new rules have been enacted, you'll have to stop wearing your gorilla suit to work. Even after Labor Day. |
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| 8451 |
engineer |
a person who uses scientific knowledge to solve problems |
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An engineer is someone who possesses the knowledge or expertise to create and implement plans or build machines. Even if you're not an engineer, when you engineer you make plans and solve problems. |
An interesting part of the word engineer is the suffix -eer, which turns a word into one that means someone who does something indicated by the base it is affixed to — a mountaineer climbs mountains, an auctioneer presides at auctions, an engineer designs, coming from the Old French engin, which means "skill or cleverness." If you want to become an engineer, you'll have to study all kinds of mechanical systems, not just engines. |
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| 8452 |
delude |
be dishonest with |
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To delude is to trick or fool, often in relation to yourself. If you delude yourself into thinking your mom's chocolate cake is low in fat, you'll be disappointed to find out it's made with two sticks of butter! |
If you delude someone into thinking something, you are making a fool of them, or making them foolish. The word shares a root with ludicrous which means completely ridiculous. The thing that you foolishly believe is a delusion. Someone with delusions of grandeur has deluded themselves into thinking they are very, very special. |
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| 8453 |
cattle |
domesticated cows as a group |
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Use the word cattle to talk about a group of cows. A farmer might build a new fence to keep her cattle more safely secured in their pasture. |
Cattle usually refers to domesticated cows, almost always a large group of them. If you have a small dairy farm with only three or four cows, you'll probably call them "cows." When you're talking about a bigger operation, they're more likely to be called cattle. In the 13th century, the word simply meant "property," from the Medieval Latin capitale, "property or stock." It took about 300 years before cattle meant "cows." |
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| 8454 |
board |
a stout length of sawn timber |
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A board is a plank or surface, sometimes having buttons or controls. You can cut vegetables on a cutting board, post a flyer on a bulletin board, or cause a power outage on a circuit board. |
The word board frequently finds itself as half of a compound word where the action takes place: You stand on a surfboard, type at a keyboard, or lose on a checkerboard. You can also sit on a board, meaning a team, of directors, or board, meaning stay, at a hotel. If you want to leave your hotel, you may board, or climb onto, your hovercraft. Remember: Being stiff as a board is not the same as being bored stiff. |
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| 8455 |
strife |
bitter conflict; heated often violent dissension |
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Strife is the act or state of fighting or arguing violently. The years leading up to the U.S. Civil War were characterized by great strife between northern and southern states over slavery and the role of a federal government. |
This word applies to major issues and events, such as war and religious conflict: a period of civil strife. Like its Old French source, the original meaning of the English noun strife and the English verb strive had to do with an argument or quarrel. But the verb strive has lost that earlier sense, and now means to try hard to do or achieve something. |
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| 8456 |
greed |
insatiable desire for wealth |
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Greed is an overwhelming urge to have more of something, usually more than you really need. Watching kids at a birthday party furiously grabbing for candy from a piñata, you might find yourself surprised at their greed. |
Greed is often connected with money, a desire to acquire as much of it as possible, but it can refer to that kind of urge toward anything, like food or material possessions. When you see greed, it's an ugly thing, whether you're observing a greedy person or the greed of a huge company that treats its workers badly in order to make more money. Greed comes from the Old English grædig, or "voracious," which means "always hungry for more." |
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| 8457 |
conspiracy |
a plot to carry out some harmful or illegal act |
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A conspiracy is a secret agreement between two or more people to commit an unlawful or harmful act. Conspiracy theorists are people who believe that the government is secretly controlled by power brokers in flagrant violation of the constitution. |
Conspiracy can also refer to the act of planning an unlawful or harmful act: Terrorists might be accused of organizing a conspiracy to overthrow the government. Conspiracy is ultimately from Latin cōnspīrāre "to agree or plot together, literally to breathe together." The corresponding English verb is conspire. |
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| 8458 |
punish |
impose a penalty on |
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To punish is to discipline or penalize someone because they've done something wrong. If you stole the cookie from the cookie jar, someone may have to punish you. Not you? Then who? |
A judge will often punish a guilty defendant with community service or parole — or sometimes even with time spent in prison, if the crime is serious enough. You probably punish your puppy for chewing your shoes simply with a firm "No!" Sometimes people are punished unfairly, like how higher gas prices punish the people who can already barely afford to drive to their jobs. |
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| 8459 |
accidental |
happening by chance or unexpectedly or unintentionally |
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Anything accidental happens by chance or unintentionally. People don't mean to do accidental things. |
An accident is something unforeseen that no one wanted to happen, like a car accident or getting hit by lightning. You can describe anything like that as accidental. Bumping into a stranger could be accidental. Forgetting to pay a bill is accidental. This word covers all the things that no one really meant or planned to happen. There are a lot of accidental events in the world, which is one reason insurance exists. |
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| 8460 |
eloquence |
powerful and effective language |
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Eloquence is powerful, moving, magnificent use of language. Simply put, if you have eloquence, then you're one smooth talker. |
The noun eloquence has roots in the Latin word eloqui, meaning to "speak out". But we're not talking about just any regular speech here. Eloquence is marked by fluency, persuasiveness and the power to stir emotions. The eloquence of your dog trainer’s empowering speech about the need for complementary manicures and pedicures for pets might bring you to tears, for example. |
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| 8461 |
clearing |
a treeless tract of land in the middle of a wooded area |
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A clearing is an area that's open, with no trees, especially one in the middle of the woods or that's been cleared for planting. A clearing at the edge of the forest is a nice place to build a cabin. |
The noun clearing is a good way to describe an open place in the midst of dense growth, like a field or a glade in a forest. Some clearings are created deliberately for cultivating crops or building houses, while others come naturally from fires or droughts. This word first appeared in American English around 1818. |
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| 8462 |
historic |
belonging to the past |
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Something that's historic was important in its day and continues to be studied and remembered, like the historic integration of segregated schools and the historic March on Washington in 1963. |
When you describe something that's historic, it's either the first or the only of its kind. Historic moments are so important or momentous that they'll show up in history textbooks. A building can be historic, and so can a speech or a battle or a disaster. The root word is the Greek historia, "a learning by inquiry or history," although historic specifically means "important in history." |
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| 8463 |
sneer |
a facial expression of contempt or scorn |
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If your smile is contorted with contempt or your upper lip curled with distaste and disdain, you're probably sneering. And you should stop, because it isn't nice. |
Many things can elicit a sneer: a terrible red carpet outfit, a disgusting plate of food, a stupid joke told for the third time. But sneers aren't just meant to show disgust. They're mean-spirited, mocking and often downright snooty. So now that you know the definition of sneer inside and out, resist the temptation to sneer at those who don't! |
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| 8464 |
remove |
take something away as by lifting, pushing, or taking off |
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You can remove your name from a list, remove a stain from a t-shirt, or remove old furniture from your house. Whatever it is, when you remove something, you take it somewhere else or get rid of it completely. |
The verb remove usually means taking something off or getting rid of something. For example, when you take off your coat, you remove it, or when you remove a skillet from the heat, you take it off the burner. Remove can apply to people: a law-breaking politician who is removed from office. As a noun remove indicates distance, such as being at one remove from your cousin, getting all his news from his mother. |
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| 8465 |
researcher |
a scientist devoted to systematic investigation |
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A researcher is someone who conducts research, i.e., an organized and systematic investigation into something. Scientists are often described as researchers. |
Writers of novels that involve a lot of gathering of information––such as Michael Crichton, who writes about biology––hire researchers to help them gather and synthesize material. Other writers turn into researchers themselves, calling up doctor friends to discover interesting ways their characters can die. |
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| 8466 |
approve |
judge to be right or commendable; think well of |
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When you take your new love to meet your parents, you hope that they approve of your choice in partners, but when your date starts eating with his hands at dinner, chances are pretty slim. |
Approve was first used like to mean "prove" or "show"––think, "The proof is in the pudding." Now, approve means to officially agree. You might need the principal to sign off on, or approve, any purchase of new materials for the classroom. Congress can also approve a bill or budget in this way. It’s important to remember that, like apple and appropriate, approve is spelled with a double “p.” |
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| 8467 |
incapable |
lacking ability |
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When — even when you want to go to your friends' party — you're incapable of telling your mother you are going to miss her birthday dinner, it means you just can't do it, and that you're a good person. Incapable means "unable." |
If incapable means "unable," does capable mean "able"? Yes, but capable also can mean good at getting things done in general, while incapable less often has such a general meaning. You would say, "I'm incapable of making a decent loaf of bread." You'd be less likely to say, "I'm incapable in the kitchen." |
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| 8468 |
positively |
in a manner displaying affirmation or certainty |
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Positively is a word that places emphasis on another word or statement. A positively funny joke is an extremely funny joke. |
Some words — like very and absolutely — exist mainly to turn the volume up on other things we say. Positively is like that. If your back hurts, you might say, "It's positively killing me!" If you want to see a movie, you might say, "I absolutely, positively must go." Someone might ask, "Are you positively sure you don't want some cake?" if they can't quite believe you don't want some. People use this word to emphasize a point. |
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| 8469 |
advise |
give advice to |
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To advise someone is to give them advice, or counsel. If you live in Iceland and a friend visiting you from Hawaii asks what he should pack, advise him to bring warm clothes and snow boots. |
Advise comes from a Latin word for vision. We want people to advise us if we think they can see the whole picture better than we can. For this reason, we often seek the advice of trained people. Financial advisors advise their clients on which funds to invest in. Legal advisors advise their clients on the law. To advise can also be to give notice. You should advise your boss of your decision to quit at least two weeks in advance. |
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| 8470 |
mute |
expressed without speech |
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Mute means “silent.” No matter how much you talk to your houseplants, they’ll never talk back; they'll remain mute. |
When used as a noun, mute can mean “someone who isn't capable of speech" or “a device that deadens the sound of an instrument.” Mute can also be used as a verb meaning "to make silent.” One might mute the television by pressing a button on the remote, or one might try to mute a loquacious individual. Unfortunately, the technology for that last option doesn’t exist yet. |
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| 8471 |
recollect |
recall knowledge from memory |
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To recollect is to remember. You might struggle to recollect your high school French but have no trouble recollecting every ingredient in your dad's cinnamon roll recipe. |
If you ask your grandfather to recollect his experiences in high school, you want him to remember some great stories from his youth. The Latin root word, recolligere, means "to collect again," from the prefix re, "again," and colligere, "gather or collect." You can think of recollect as meaning "to gather again from your memory." |
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| 8472 |
reside |
live in |
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The place where you live — whether house, hotel, or mobile home — is where you reside. The President of the United States resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, in a little shack called the White House. |
You can also use reside to refer to the community where you make your home. You may reside in a particular neighborhood, town, or city. The verb reside can also mean to exist as an inherent quality. For example: "The ability to create laws resides in the legislative branch of the government — in this case, Congress." |
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| 8473 |
fury |
the property of being wild or turbulent |
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Violent, angry, and ferocious, fury is a feeling of wild, intense anger. Before you let your fury get the best of you, it's good to take a few deep breaths before you speak. |
Fury is anger times ten — it's unrestrained and maybe a little scary. If you've ever seen a little kid have a raging temper tantrum because it was time to leave the park, you have an idea of what fury looks — and sounds — like. Fury can also describe aspects of nature, like the fury of a hurricane. In Greek mythology, a fury was a spirit of punishment, named for the three Furies, goddesses who punished the guilty. |
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| 8474 |
restraint |
the act of controlling by holding someone or something back |
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Restraint is the act of holding something back. For example, if you exercise restraint over your emotions, you won't burst out into tears in public. |
As you may have guessed from its similar spelling, the word restraint comes from the verb restrain, which in turn comes from the Latin word restringere, meaning "draw back tightly, confine, check." When talking about an object, a restraint is a device used to maintain control of something. For example, if your leg is operated on, the doctors will use a restraint to hold it still. |
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| 8475 |
true |
consistent with fact or reality; not false |
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Things that are true are accurate, honest, and correct. There are many specific meanings, but when something is true, you can believe it. |
This word has many meanings, but they're all pretty much the opposite of false. True statements can be proven or verified — they aren't lies. To sing true is to sing on-key, and a true throw is on-target. The true king is the real king, not a fake. A true friend can be trusted. A true believer really believes in something, like a religion. And when you're true to yourself, you're being honest about what you want and feel. |
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| 8476 |
digit |
a finger or toe, or a corresponding body part |
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If you want to sound smart, you can refer to your finger, thumb, or toe as a digit. Each of the numbers from 0 to 9 is another kind of digit. |
Although your pinkie toe may seem to be completely unrelated to the number three, each is a kind of digit. In fact, the practice of calling numbers digits comes from the digits on your hands — specifically, the habit of counting to ten on your fingers. The Latin root word digitus means "finger or toe," and English borrowed from this to mean "number." |
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| 8477 |
crook |
a long staff with one end being hook shaped |
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A crook is long staff that’s bent at one end, like something you might see a shepherd carrying. A crook can also be a criminal — a person who’s dishonest, or bent, just like the staff. |
The noun crook entered English in the 13th century as a way to describe the long tool with a hook at one end. It later took on the meaning of “petty criminal.” You can use crook as an informal way to describe someone who is dishonest. A crook is typically involved in minor or nonviolent crimes; you wouldn’t use the word to describe a murderer, for example. A con man or someone committing fraud could be called a crook. |
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| 8478 |
carpenter |
a woodworker who makes or repairs wooden objects |
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A carpenter is a person who makes things out of wood. You could hire a carpenter to build you a dining room table and two long benches. |
Carpenters specialize in woodworking, making furniture and buildings from wood and repairing various wooden things. If you wanted beautiful handmade wooden cabinets in your kitchen, you'd hire a carpenter. The word has been around since the 14th century, but it's been a common last name for even longer. It comes from the Late Latin carpentarius, "wagon maker," with its root word carpentum, "wagon." |
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| 8479 |
illegal |
prohibited by law or by official or accepted rules |
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Something illegal is against the law or breaks the rules. If you're reading this in jail, you've probably done something illegal, and if you're not in jail, there's plenty of time to obey the law. |
You can use the adjective illegal to describe breaking the rules, as when you head-butt someone in a game. Acts that go against the law, such as robbing a bank, are also illegal. There is a wide range of things called illegal, from small acts to big ones, but no matter the seriousness, if it is against the law, it is illegal. This adjective also describes people who enter countries without official government approval, they are called "illegal immigrants" or "illegal aliens." |
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| 8480 |
committed |
bound or obligated, as under a pledge to a cause or action |
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If you're committed to something, you're pledged or obligated to do it. If you’ve already jumped out of the plane, you’re committed to your skydive — there’s no turning back! |
When you're committed to a partner as you are in a marriage or a domestic partnership, it means that you're associated with them exclusively and not with anyone else. Often during wedding ceremonies or vow renewals, you will hear the parties recite a phrase confirming that they are committed to each other, such as "I take you...to have and to hold...to love and to cherish, from this day forward, until death do us part." |
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| 8481 |
foolish |
lacking good sense or judgment |
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Foolish people are silly or senseless, and when you do something foolish, it's clearly unwise or irrational. Sitting on the hood of a car while your friend is driving is a foolish thing to do. |
Things that show a lack of judgment are foolish, like cheating on a test or running into the street after a basketball. Foolish decisions at work can cost you your job, and foolish comments can hurt people's feelings. Foolish is a 14th century word that comes from fool, a person who's unwise. The Latin root, follis, means "bellows" or "leather bag." The "silly person" meaning comes from the figurative idea of a "windbag." |
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| 8482 |
purity |
being undiluted or unmixed with extraneous material |
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Something that exhibits purity hasn't been tainted by something morally or physically. Children, fresh snow, and solid gold are all known for their purity. |
Purity comes from the Latin purus meaning "clean, clear, unmixed, chaste." When you're talking about something that is clean and unmixed, you are talking about something characterized by purity. This can refer to someone's character or intentions. It can also describe an object or element. When you're high in the mountains, far from the city's congestion, the purity of the air is a relief to the lungs. |
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| 8483 |
allow |
make it possible for something to happen |
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If you allow your best friend to read your diary, it means you've given him permission to do it. |
The verb allow means to let someone do something. You can allow casually, like when you allow your friend to bite off a few pieces from your candy necklace, or more officially, as when a city government decides to allow dogs to be brought into restaurants. Allow can also be used to mean "admit the truth of," so you could say, "Fine, I'll allow that dogs aren't any dirtier than many people, but it's still strange seeing them in restaurants." |
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| 8484 |
continue |
keep or maintain in unaltered condition |
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To continue an activity is to keep it going, either with or without interruption. If you ask the newspaper to continue delivering your paper while you are on vacation, you want to receive all the news while you’re away. |
The verb continue is related to the word continuous, from the Latin word continuare, meaning “join together” or “connect.” When anything goes on without a break, like the middle school variety show, it continues, uninterrupted. You can also continue something that was paused or set aside. You could, for instance, continue watching the movie that you paused when the pizza was delivered and then continue to drive your parents crazy by texting your friends while watching the movie with them. |
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| 8485 |
fugitive |
someone who is sought by law officers |
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Someone who flees or runs away from the police to avoid capture is a fugitive. "Authorities were looking for three men who escaped from prison today. Authorities believe the three fugitives may be disguised as nuns and advise the public to be careful." |
Although a fugitive can specifically be someone fleeing from the police, the noun can also refer to anyone who is fleeing from an untenable situation. "The family asked for asylum in the United States because they were fugitives from their own oppressive government." As an adjective, the word can mean "fleeing or fleeting." "Many people helped the fugitive slaves to safety." "At night, he was plagued with fugitive thoughts: they seemed important when he woke from sleep, but by morning he had forgotten them." |
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| 8486 |
singular |
being a single and separate person or thing |
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If something is extraordinary, remarkable, or one of a kind, you can say it is singular. A singular opportunity to sing onstage with a rock star is a remarkable opportunity. |
Seeing the single inside singular can help you understand its meaning in the sense of one. In grammar, singular means one, as opposed to plural, which means more than one. But singular’s not always––or singularly––about being unique. Walking through a foggy cemetery might give you a singular feeling––or a feeling that’s odd and peculiar––that ghosts could possibly be real. |
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| 8487 |
reserve |
hold back or set aside, especially for future use |
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As a noun, reserve refers to the quality of a shy or modest person who doesn’t easily express his or her feelings. As a verb, to reserve is to stash something away or to set it aside for future use. |
Reserve can also refer to backup supplies or resources. If a military is running out of ammunition or food, they may have to dig into the reserve to replenish their supplies. Reserve is also used as a verb to mean "obtain in advance." If you’re expecting a big crowd at your sister's dance recital, you might show up early to reserve seats for your family members. You could also reserve a table at a restaurant for dinner after the show. |
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| 8488 |
induce |
cause to act in a specified manner |
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To induce is to move or lead someone to action. A promise of a lollipop can induce a toddler to do just about anything, even sit down and be polite to Aunt Edna. Older kids need something more substantial. |
Some people believe that if you offer someone a large enough sum of money, you could induce them to do almost anything. But a movie heroine might say to the villain, "Nothing could induce me to marry you. Not all the money in the world. Not if you were the last man on Earth!" Induce also means to stimulate the occurrence of something, such as medications used to induce vomiting, or to induce a pregnant woman to go into labor. |
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| 8489 |
fate |
the ultimate agency predetermining the course of events |
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Is it your fate to win a fortune in the lottery and retire young? Better hope so. Fate is like destiny, so that means winning the lottery would be an inevitable outcome. |
The word fate traces back to the Latin word fatum, meaning “that which has been spoken,” and something that's your fate is a done deal, not open to revision. If you feel like something is your fate, you feel it's beyond your control. Fate is often referred to directly, as if it were a supernatural power: “fate tore us apart." It can also describe your lot in life, like if it's your fate to take over the family farm. |
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| 8490 |
innovate |
bring something new to an environment |
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Innovate means to bring something new to something. If you love cranberry seltzers, you might innovate by adding limeade or by making the drink with cran-raspberry juice instead. |
In our culture obsessed with finding the next new thing, the word innovate is very popular––behind every "new and improved" label slapped onto the packaging of some perfectly useful product is some eager beaver buried in the ranks of a company, scheming ways to innovate. |
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| 8491 |
invade |
march aggressively into a territory by military force |
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When you Invade, you aggressively take over or occupy a place. If a country's leader wants to gain more land, the military might invade a neighboring country. |
Not everything that invades is militaristic. Some things that invade are cultural, such as the phenomena of young, stylish people moving into a neighborhood that had never been thought of as cool before. In an instant, new restaurants and shops catering to the newcomers open and soon the area is overrun with people wearing, say, skinny jeans and complicated eyewear. Natives to the area lament, "This place has been invaded by hipsters." |
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| 8492 |
hue |
the quality of a color determined by its dominant wavelength |
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Green, orange, yellow, and blue — each of these is a hue, a color or a shade that's true. A rainbow shows the melting of one hue into another, from red to violet, and all shades in between. |
The noun hue means both a color and a shade of a color. Green is a hue, and turquoise is a hue of both green and blue. Most of the time the word hue refers to colors, but sometimes it's used for shades of meaning or even the tone of a person's face, as in "The speech had a hue of politics — disguised with humor — that turned the mayor's face from a pale hue to red as he laughed." |
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| 8493 |
battalion |
an army unit consisting of a headquarters and companies |
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A battalion is a unit of an army. One battalion usually consists of three of more companies and a headquarters. |
The word battalion sounds a lot like battle, and that's a clue to its meaning: battalions are groups engaged in a battle. Specifically, a battalion is a smaller segment of an army. Within a battalion, there will usually be a headquarters, as well as a few smaller units, which are called companies. The members of a battalion will work closely together, whether they are attacking an enemy or defending a base. Veterans always remember the other soldiers in their battalion. |
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| 8494 |
peculiar |
beyond or deviating from the usual or expected |
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Something peculiar is notably unusual. If your friend starts saying strange things you don't understand, ask her why she's suddenly become peculiar. |
Peculiar comes from the Latin peculiaris, meaning one's own, or personal. In English, it originally meant belonging to one person, private, like your fondness for your peculiar hairbrush. It also had the meaning of something unlike others, special, or remarkable. Eventually we mostly stopped using it for belongings, instead using peculiar to mean unusual or odd. |
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| 8495 |
corresponding |
similar especially in position or purpose |
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Use the adjective corresponding to describe things that are similar or related. Your friends may all have corresponding viewpoints to yours, or you may have friends you like in spite of having different opinions. |
Corresponding comes from the Latin roots cor-, meaning "together," and respondere, meaning "to answer." Aside from its meaning of "having similar function and purpose," the adjective can also mean "related" or "accompanying." Type the corresponding keys on the keyboard to create a keyboard shortcut. If you create a how-to guide, you may want to include corresponding photos so readers can see illustrations as they follow the step-by-step instructions. |
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| 8496 |
kin |
a person related to another or others |
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Some say kin, others "family," or "relatives." Call them what you will, but you’re stuck with those people related to you by blood or marriage. |
When someone refers to their kith and kin, she means her friends and family. Both words date back to Old English, kin reaching back to the 700s. Originally referring to one’s family or race, kin narrowed to refer just to one’s blood relations. Your "next of kin" is your closest family member: spouse, child, parent, or sibling. |
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| 8497 |
fiscal |
involving financial matters |
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The word fiscal resembles the word financial, which makes sense because both involve money. |
This word has to do with anything financial, which is another fancy word for the world of money. When you're an adult, you have fiscal responsibilities like paying rent, buying groceries, and paying taxes. If you put ten percent of your earnings in a savings account, that shows good fiscal sense. Businesses have a lot of fiscal matters to deal with, like paying salaries and trying to make a profit. If you need help with fiscal issues, consult an accountant. |
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| 8498 |
tackle |
seize and throw down an opponent player carrying the ball |
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To tackle a challenge means taking it on, so if you set out to tackle the classics of English literature, you should be prepared spend a lot of time in the library. |
The word tackle can be a verb or a noun, depending on its use. Today, the noun usually means fishing gear, but when it came into the English language it meant the ropes on a ship. If a ship was lurching about on the high seas, you dealt with that challenge by grabbing the tackle and wrestling it under control. Nowadays, people tend to think of tackling running backs and financial fraud, rather than ropes. |
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| 8499 |
imitation |
copying the actions of someone else |
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Imitation means copying the words, facial expressions, or actions of another person. Sometimes imitation is flattering, but often it's just annoying — like when your little brother does it to drive you crazy. |
Use the adjective imitation to describe an object that pretends to be something else. Imitation paintings can be so real looking that it's hard to tell the fake from the genuine article. Some imitations have hung unnoticed on museum walls for years, only being exposed through the use of modern technology. A common proverb is "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery," although museum directors and people with obnoxious little brothers would probably disagree. |
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| 8500 |
proud |
feeling self-respect, self-esteem, or self-importance |
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When you are proud, you are feeling pride, or satisfaction with yourself. The word proud can also mean too much of this feeling––sometimes saying someone is proud is the same as saying they're arrogant. |
It's also possible to feel proud of someone else. If your best friend gets the lead in the school play, you may find yourself feeling as happy for him as if you'd got the lead yourself. When you graduate from college, your "proud parents" will want to be there to watch. The maxim "Pride comes before a fall" plays on the fact that when you are proud of what you have, you are also at risk: having something means you have something to lose. |
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| 8501 |
replace |
put something back where it belongs |
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Is your pen not working? Maybe you need to replace it. To replace is to substitute one thing for another — in this case, to get a new pen and throw the old one away. |
When you see the word place in it, replace makes sense: replacing is putting something new in place of something old. We need to replace most things at some point: light bulbs burn out and batteries run out, while computers, cars, and socks wear out. When something stops working or is just worn out and old, it might be time to replace it. It's natural to worry that your boss might want to replace you — i.e., fire you and hire someone else. Some things in life cannot be replaced, like a winning lottery ticket or a friend. |
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| 8502 |
hound |
a dog used for hunting typically having large drooping ears |
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A hound is a type of dog with big floppy ears, mainly used for hunting. To hound someone is to relentlessly pursue or pester them. When Elvis sings, “You ain’t nothing but a hound dog,” he’s referring to both. |
Hounds are dogs that have traditionally been used for hunting because they are excellent at tracking. Most hounds (like beagles and dachshunds) have drooping, floppy ears. Hounds can also be big and scary like the one Sherlock Holmes investigates in The Hound of the Baskervilles. If people hound, they hunt, too, but just in an annoying way. A man can hound a woman by asking for a date 10 times. A hounding person is persistent and probably annoying. |
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| 8503 |
through |
having finished or arrived at completion |
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As an adjective, through means finished or done. As an adverb it can mean backward and forward, completely, up to and including, or all the way to the end. The preposition through means in and out of. |
Through has lots of meanings. If you finished your homework you might shout — gleefully — "I'm through!" Those people who wouldn't be quiet talked through the entire movie. The first half of the alphabet are the letters A through M. If you've memorized the multiplication table, you know the whole thing through. And, of course, you walk through a door. |
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| 8504 |
worthy |
an important, honorable person |
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Use the adjective worthy to describe the good causes to which you donate a little money each year. Their admirable qualities are what make them worthy. |
Something that deserves respect is worthy, whether it's a charity, a hard working tennis opponent, or a struggle to overcome a disability. If it's worth your admiration or has some inherent value, it's worthy. The word has been around since the thirteenth century, and it was especially common in the 1300's to use worthy as a noun meaning "person of merit." |
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| 8505 |
pulse |
the rhythmic contraction and expansion of arteries |
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The word pulse has many shades of meaning, but most of them involve something characterized by short, rhythmic bursts. If you’re angry, the muscles in your jaw might pulse — meaning they contract quickly in short bursts. |
Pulse can be a noun that describes the rhythmic pumping of blood through your veins and arteries. You’ve probably had a nurse take your pulse as a way to measure your heart rate. Pulse can refer to other things that have a rhythmic beat, like the pulse of dance music or a pulse of flashing light. The verb describes something that throbs, literally or figuratively. Your blood will pulse through your veins, or a busy city may pulse with life. |
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| 8506 |
agitation |
a mental state of extreme emotional disturbance |
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Agitation is the act of stirring things up, like the agitation of a washing machine that moves the water, detergent, and clothes around and gets the dirt out or the agitation of political activists who want people to work together to do something. |
The verb agitation comes from the Latin word agitare, meaning “move to and fro.” Agitation can happen whenever something is physically moved around, like stirring flour, eggs and milk to make pancake batter. Agitation also describes feeling stirred up emotionally — upset — or moved to act, like the agitation of protesters whose signs about unfair hiring practices at a store make many shoppers go somewhere else. |
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| 8507 |
successful |
having succeeded or being marked by a favorable outcome |
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If you win or do well, at whatever it is you do, you are successful. Successful people usually get more money, attention, and praise. |
If you go into business and make a lot of money, you're successful. If you play tennis and finish the season with more wins than losses, you've been successful. If you have a successful pregnancy, you give birth to a healthy baby. Successful is one of those words that covers a great deal of ground; it generally applies to anything, anyone or any venture that ends well. When you see the word successful, think "Winning!" |
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| 8508 |
joyous |
full of or characterized by happiness |
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Someone or something joyous is characterized by joy: extreme, exuberant, deep happiness. If you won the lottery, you’d probably feel joyous. |
Joyous is a strong word for the absolute best moments in life. Weddings and graduations are usually described as joyous occasions. You would feel joyous if you accomplished a lifelong goal, such as earning a gold medal in the Olympics. In other words, joyous goes beyond the simple feeling of happiness you might get from watching your favorite TV show or eating a delicious sandwich — unless of course it’s a really amazing sandwich. |
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| 8509 |
slaughter |
the killing of animals, as for food |
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Slaughter refers to the killing of large numbers of animals or people. When cattle are old enough, they're sent to slaughter and their meat is processed and shipped to stores. |
The noun slaughter was first used in the 1300s and comes from the Old Norse word slahtr, which also described the mass killing of animals or people. A verb form came along later, in the 1530s. You might hear slaughter used to describe the killing of large numbers of people in a war, a genocide, or a massacre. It also can be used figuratively to describe a crushing defeat, like the slaughter of your basketball team by your bitter rivals. |
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| 8510 |
damage |
the occurrence of a change for the worse |
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When you damage something you hurt it in a way that makes it less valuable or useful. Say you throw a baseball and it flies over your friend's head and cracks your dad's windshield. Congratulations, you've damaged your dad's car. |
Damage can also be a noun. That crack in the windshield? It doesn't matter whether you 'fess up or blame your friend or a giant falling acorn. It made the car less valuable and harder to drive, therefore it is considered damage. Another meaning of damage implies the damage done to your wallet when you buy something. In a restaurant, you might hear someone ask "What's the damage?" when the check comes to the table. |
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| 8511 |
precaution |
a measure taken in advance to ward off impending danger |
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A precaution is a careful action you make in advance. You might want to take the precaution of bringing lots of water and sunblock if you're going on a desert hike. |
Precaution means exactly what it sounds like. The prefix pre- means before, and caution means carefulness in the face of danger. People use glasses when they're on a computer as a precaution because there are links to long hours on a computer and vision damage. A fire drill is a precaution so that you know what to do in case of a real fire. Someone who is always careful exhibits precaution. |
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| 8512 |
amazement |
the feeling that accompanies something extremely surprising |
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Amazement is what you feel when you're shocked or astonished by something. When you feel amazement, you can't quite believe what you're seeing or hearing. |
To amaze someone is to shock, surprise, and astonish them. Amazement is the emotion produced by truly unusual and surprising things. A juggler throwing around fire can produce amazement. A child reciting thousands of digits of Pi will create amazement. Parents feel amazement at the birth of their children. This is a strong feeling resulting from incredible events. No one feels amazement about average, boring stuff. |
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| 8513 |
solicit |
request urgently or persistently |
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Solicit means to ask for. It is what those people on the street are doing, when they ask, "Do you have a moment to talk about the destruction of the planet?" They are soliciting donations for their cause. |
Solicit has an official sounding impressiveness to it––doesn't soliciting donations sound better than begging for money? It can also have a more sinister cast. "When the teacher left the room, two girls solicited their friends to throw all the textbooks out the windows, injuring members of the cheer squad below — where they were soliciting signatures for a petition banning smoking in the football locker rooms." |
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| 8514 |
possibility |
capability of existing or happening or being true |
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If something could realistically happen, it's a possibility. So winning the lottery is a slight possibility, but becoming king of the world is not even a remote possibility. |
In one sense, a possibility is an option: "One possibility is that the UFO is just a shooting star." It can also mean more of a potential: "This house might look like an abandoned shack, but it's got so much possibility!" All meanings of possibility share the sense that something is able to happen, or is possible. The Latin root is possibilis, "that can be done." |
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| 8515 |
tyrant |
a cruel and oppressive dictator |
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If you accuse your parents of being tyrants, you are saying they abuse their control of you––they are cruel, overly restrictive of your freedoms, and unfair. A tyrant is a ruler who is cruel and unjust. |
Here's an idea for a game: list all the tyrants in history and vote for the worst tyrant of all time. Don't limit yourself to 20th or 21st century ones like Hitler and Stalin and Saddam Hussein. Maybe put Attila the Hun on your list. You could also name a few minor tyrants in your life, such as your boss or another person with unreasonable demands. |
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| 8516 |
prudence |
discretion in practical affairs |
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Use the noun prudence to describe sensible decisions about everyday life, like the prudence of people who spend their money wisely, saving as much as they can. |
Prudence can also describe the skill of side-stepping trouble or embarrassment, like having the prudence to avoid risks or the prudence to prepare for the unexpected, like packing a change of clothes in case the weather changes or your dinner reservations turn out to be at a fancy restaurant. Prudence comes from the Latin word prudentia, which means "foresight, sagacity." |
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| 8517 |
slumber |
be asleep |
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Slumber means "sleep" — as a verb or noun. If you're a sound sleeper, you might slumber peacefully right through a thunderstorm, your slumber undisturbed. |
To slumber is to sleep, sometimes specifically to sleep lightly or doze. You can slumber in your bed, in your airplane seat, or through your alarm in the morning. Slumber can also describe a peacefulness, like your quiet street that seems to slumber early in the morning. The phrase slumber party was first used in the 1940s to mean a gathering held at night, that usually involves very little slumbering. |
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| 8518 |
creep |
move slowly |
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A beetle creeps along the ground. Moving slowly and silently, it creeps up on you. When you feel the touch of tiny insect legs on your skin, you shudder, because bugs give you the creeps. |
Creep has a long history and a subtle variety of meanings. In its earliest recorded usage, it described the movement of legless creatures like snakes and worms. By the sixteenth century, creep meant "move slowly" and "move with stealth" like when you creep up to your brother to startle him. Charles Dickens coined the phrase, the creeps, to suggest the shuddering sensation you get when you see something gross and scary. A creep is a person who makes your skin crawl, a meaning that has been used in American English since 1935. |
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| 8519 |
expire |
lose validity |
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If something — like milk or a free shipping coupon — expires, it is no longer usable or valid. When you expire, you will be dead. |
The verb expire comes from the Latin expirare, meaning “breathe out,” and the modern use retains that ancient meaning. The expanded, and more commonly used, meaning of expire is that the breath has — literally or figuratively — departed. When you expire your breath, you breathe out; you exhale. Things with a limited shelf life sometimes offer an expiration date that lets you know when they will expire: yogurt, frozen burritos, and even contracts for temporary employment. But some things expire in their own time: life, love, and car batteries. |
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| 8520 |
determined |
having been learned or found especially by investigation |
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Olympic athletes are some of the most determined people you're going to meet. At that level, they've got to be driven to succeed. Otherwise, their opponents will surely beat them. |
If you want to reach your goal, you must be determined to do so. To be determined is to be motivated, driven, or really focused on the task at hand — and that can be something as big as winning a prize or as small as fixing a squeaky door. No matter the task, the folks who get the job done are almost always the most determined. Determined can also mean "decided." For instance, a judge can determine what the sentence will be. If that sentence is "pre-determined," then it's already been decided. |
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| 8521 |
supposed |
required or under orders |
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If you are supposed to do something, it means that you'd better get to it. If you're supposed to go to your grandma's house for dinner, then your grandmother expects you. |
Something that's required is supposed, and something that's assumed to be true — even if it's really not — is also supposed. If you describe someone as your brother's supposed best friend, it means that everyone thinks of him as a good pal, but maybe he's not as loyal as they believe him to be. If higher taxes result in supposed improvements in your city's schools, things may be better, but there's still some doubt about it. |
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| 8522 |
slight |
small in quantity or degree |
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Anything slight is very small. There's a slight chance you'll run into a celebrity in New York City — in other words, don't count on it. A slight is also an insult, like giving someone the cold shoulder. Burr. |
Every meaning of slight stems from the Old Norse for "small or flimsy." If you have a slight build, you're slim with small bones. A slight deviation from your plan is a tiny adjustment. As a verb, to slight means to ignore or be indifferent toward someone; it's also the noun for the act of ignoring. If you direct a movie and the star doesn't thank you in her award acceptance speech, you'll be offended at the slight. |
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| 8523 |
motionless |
completely still |
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If you're motionless, you're completely still, not moving a muscle. Your barber might instruct you to remain motionless while he trims the hair around your ears. |
Anything that's motionless doesn't move — a statue is motionless, and your bike is motionless lying in the driveway until you climb on it and start pedaling. Photographs are motionless, while video records movement. Your new puppy might be a constantly wiggling, jumping ball of motion until she becomes exhausted and falls sound asleep, motionless. Motion, or movement, comes from a Latin root, motionem, "a movement" or "an emotion." |
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| 8524 |
refuse |
show unwillingness towards |
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To refuse is to decline, deny, reject, or resist. If a stranger offers you candy, you should politely refuse. |
As a noun, refuse (pronounced REF-yooss) is food waste, scraps, or garbage. As a verb, refuse (pronounced ree-FYOOZ) means to reject. If you’re mad at me, you’ll probably refuse my invitation to hang out. If your fashion sense isn't up to date, the bouncer at an exclusive nightclub might refuse entry to you. If you’re sick and you need a kidney transplant, your doctor will give you drugs to stop your body from refusing the donor kidney. |
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| 8525 |
manage |
be in charge of, act on, or dispose of |
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To manage is to skillfully handle something. If you can barely manage to keep your goldfish alive, you should probably think twice about adopting those Golden Retriever puppies. |
The verb manage also means to supervise or oversee either things or people at work. You might manage six people at the donut shop, even though you've only worked there for four months. If you carefully manage your donut shop earnings, you should be able to buy that new car next year. Manage also means to cope with or come to terms with. It might seem scary to go to college in another state, but I know you'll manage. |
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| 8526 |
install |
set up for use |
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Use the verb install to mean "set up" or "put in place." You can install new software on your computer, or even install new officers to your honor society. |
The word install traces back to the Latin word installare, from in-, meaning “into,” and stallum, meaning “place” or “stall.” Install has to do with putting someone or something in a chosen place. For example, you might install a solar panel on your roof, install your best friend in a cushy job at your company, or install yourself at the best table in your favorite restaurant. |
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| 8527 |
smite |
inflict a heavy blow on, with the hand, a tool, or a weapon |
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To smite is to strike with a heavy blow. If you’re playing an ancient Norse warrior in a play, you might get to smite your enemy with a club. |
Smite comes from the old English for striking or smearing. You’re most likely to find it reading Biblical stories or mythologies, for example, where the thunderbolt of Zeus smites some misbehaving Greek fellow. The past participle of this verb is the cool word smitten, which is what you say about someone who's fallen head over heels for something or someone, that is, their emotions have been struck. |
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| 8528 |
manufacturer |
someone who constructs or produces something |
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A manufacturer is a person or business that makes goods to sell. If you buy a shirt that has a "made in the USA" label, it means that the manufacturer of the shirt is in the United States. |
You can use the noun manufacturer for any company (or individual) that makes products, but it's most often used for things made on a very large scale, like cars, appliances, and computers. The word comes from manufacture, which as a noun originally meant "something made by hand," from the Latin roots manus, "hand," and factura, "a working." |
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| 8529 |
admission |
the act of letting someone enter |
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If you pay admission, you're paying a fee in order to attend something, like an event or a movie. After you pay admission to the movie theater, you head straight to the popcorn stand. |
The noun admission stems from the Latin word admissionem, meaning "a letting in." It often refers to a fee charged for entry, but it can also describe the process of being granted entry. The university's admission of the new student was welcome news — now he has access to the school's research facilities. An admission can also be a confession that something is true, such as your brother's surly admission that he was the one who popped your bike tire. |
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| 8530 |
wretch |
someone you feel sorry for |
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A wretch is someone who is so miserable and unlucky that you almost have to feel sorry for the person. You might pity the poor wretch who was fired at work over something that wasn’t even his fault. |
Wretch traces back to the Old English word wrecca, meaning “banished person” — so no wonder a wretch is so unhappy! A wretch is in such a bad situation that a sense of pity typically goes along with the word, and you’ll often see the terms “poor wretch” or “unfortunate wretch.” Wretch can also be used more informally to describe someone who’s wicked or hateful, like that ungrateful wretch who complained to the boss when you brought snacks to work. |
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| 8531 |
marshal |
a military officer of highest rank |
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A federal marshal knocks on your door. You panic: a marshal is a law officer. What do you do? You marshal your thoughts, that is, put them in order. |
Marshal derives from the Old French mareschal, for stable officer. The stable officer had charge of the horses, tending to them, putting them in order, readying them for action. If you are a marshal, you're an officer. If you marshal yourself, you get yourself ready, preparing for action. |
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| 8532 |
intrude |
enter uninvited |
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When someone says, “I hate to intrude, but…” you can bet she is in fact going to interrupt your conversation or insert her opinion, even though it isn’t wanted. House burglars also intrude, but they don’t usually announce it first. |
People can intrude in different ways, but it is usually uninvited and also unwelcome. This verb is derived from the Latin, intrudere, in which the in- means “into” and -trudere means, “to thrust.” So people can in intrude by thrusting or forcing themselves into your private life, your personal body space, or your home. Loud music could intrude into your studying. A memory could intrude while you are trying to focus on texting a message. |
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| 8533 |
chronicle |
a record or narrative description of past events |
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To chronicle an event is to record it as it happens, and a chronicle is a record of those events. If your grandmother took the time to chronicle the details of her 1910 journey to Japan, you can read her chronicle today. |
To chronicle something is to describe past or current events. Chronicle is related to chronological and comes from the Greek ta khronika, which means “annals of time.” Events are usually chronicled in the order in which they occurred. The noun chronicle is a record of things that happened — told in chronological order, like the diary you kept in elementary school. It is a chronicle of those years. |
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| 8534 |
battle |
a hostile meeting of opposing military forces |
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A battle is an open struggle, usually between two groups — like a baseball championship game or a food fight. |
The word battle is often used in opposition to war, a series of battles. Perhaps you have heard someone tell you, after winning the first of many dance competitions, "You may have won the battle, but you haven’t won the war!" A battle doesn’t have to occur between two individuals or groups. You may endure an inner battle to cut down on junk food. If you skip those fries for lunch today, then you have won a small battle. |
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| 8535 |
amusing |
providing enjoyment; pleasantly entertaining |
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The adjective amusing describes someone or something that makes you laugh. Something that you find amusing, like your favorite stand up comic, might be less amusing to your easily offended grandmother. |
A pastime that's enjoyably diverting can also be described as amusing, like playing board games on a rainy day. Amusing comes from the verb amuse, which is itself from the Middle French word amuser. Interestingly, amuser meant "to stare at stupidly," and the English word originally meant "to deceive by distraction." The more benign funny and enjoyable meanings didn't arise until much later, but they eventually made the original meaning obsolete. |
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| 8536 |
convenient |
suited to your comfort or purpose or needs |
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If something is convenient, it adds to your comfort, causes little trouble, or is easy to use, do, or reach. If you live close to your job, that's convenient––it's very easy to get there and get home. |
This adjective descends from Middle English, from Latin conveniēns, from convenīre "to be suitable, fit." The basic meaning of Latin convenīre is "to agree, meet, come together," and this is the source of English convene. The opposite of convenient is inconvenient, meaning making trouble or annoyance for you. The corresponding nouns are convenience and inconvenience. |
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| 8537 |
modern |
ahead of the times |
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Modern means contemporary or in the now. A beehive hairdo is not so modern, though depending on the wearer, it could still be hip. |
When talking about time, modern is used to mean what's happening right now. Texting your friends rather than calling them is modern. A modern building is more likely to be made out of glass and steel than bricks. In art, however, modern has a more specific meaning, as it defines a style of art produced from the 1860s to the 1970s and includes everyone from Monet to Miro. To be correct, use contemporary to mean art that is being created now. |
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| 8538 |
shallow |
lacking physical depth |
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The adjective shallow can describe things that aren't very deep, like a shallow puddle, or people who don't have much emotional or intellectual depth, like shallow people who judge others on their looks and how much money they have. |
Shallow likely comes from the Old English word sceald, which means "shoal," the water near a shoreline. So, shallow describes something that is close to the surface — like the shallow roots of a newly-planted tree or a person whose interest in someone or something isn't very deep. For instance, a shallow person might go to the opening of a new art exhibition not so much to see the artworks as meet the wealthy people on the museum's board of trustees. |
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| 8539 |
urgent |
compelling immediate action |
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If something is urgent it requires immediate attention or action. If you break your leg, you'll need urgent attention at the hospital — that means the doctors will tend to you without delay. |
Urgent comes from the Latin word urgentem, meaning "to press hard, urge." You can see that urgent contains the word urge, meaning "to demand or insist." When you get an urgent message, you need to drop what you're doing to deal with it. An urgent need, like hunger, is a pressing one. If you're a music fan, you might know the song "Urgent" by the band Foreigner. The song's lyrics "make it fast, make it urgent" and its frenetic style help define the word. |
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| 8540 |
achieve |
to gain with effort |
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If you achieve something, you've reached a goal. Achievements aren't accidents. If you stumble upon a treasure chest, you haven't achieved something; however, achieving a promotion to become CEO is another story. |
If someone asks you to give an example of the word achieve, you can always reach for Shakespeare's much quoted remark from his play Twelfth Night. In Act II, Scene V, the character Malvolio says, ". . . some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em." Pundits like to throw that quote around when talking about politicians. Of course, they usually disagree about if, when, and how the politician achieved greatness. |
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| 8541 |
comrade |
a friend who is frequently in the company of another |
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Your close friend or associate is your comrade. Teenagers often prefer seeing movies with a comrade or two, rather than with their parents. |
Comrade sometimes refers to a fellow soldier, and it is found in the phrase "comrade-in-arms." Movies about World War II comrades-in-arms often show them risking their lives to rescue each other. Comrade is also the form of address for members of the Communist party. If Joseph Stalin and Vladimir Lenin ran into other at a party, Stalin would say, "Hello, Comrade Lenin!" The root is the Latin camera, or vaulted room, and originally comrade meant someone who shares a room. |
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| 8542 |
brute |
resembling a beast; showing lack of human sensibility |
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His road rage may turn your dad into a brute when he gets behind the wheel. A brute is a person who is as ferocious as a wild animal. |
A violent, savage person can be described as a brute, and so can a wild animal. Someone who's less monstrous but is still unpleasant can also be a brute, and it can be used as an adjective to mean, basically, "brutal." If it's more animal than human, you can call it brute, like the brute power of an invading army. The Latin brutus, "heavy, dull, or stupid," gave rise to brute, which through the 15th century only referred to animals. |
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| 8543 |
final |
an examination administered at the end of an academic term |
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Use the word final when something is over and done with. If you pester your parents too much, they may say, "You aren't going out and that's final!" End of discussion. |
What is the last thing you do at school? You take final exams. Before leaving for a trip? You do a final check of your suitcase to make sure you have everything you need. Then you know you're finished packing. Both final and finish come from the Latin word finis, meaning "end." Now you know why some European movies show fin instead of the end before the credits roll. |
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| 8544 |
stumble |
miss a step and fall or nearly fall |
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To stumble means to nearly fall by tripping or missing a step. When you walk over uneven cobblestones, it’s easy to stumble, so please be careful. |
While stumble often means to nearly fall, it can also mean to make a misstep of a different kind. If you stumble over your words, you speak in a stuttering confused manner. Politicians make so many public decisions that they're bound to stumble — make a mistake — occasionally. When you stumble on rare mushrooms, i.e. come across them unexpectedly, be sure have the species verified before you eat them. |
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| 8545 |
attention |
concentrating on certain features of the environment |
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"May I have your attention please?" When you ask that question, you are asking people to focus their mental powers on you. Whether they do or not depends on your next words. You'll have their full attention if you say, "Here's $100." |
The noun attention can also refer to an interest in something or someone. You probably pay attention in school when your teachers bring up topics in which you are personally interested. You can also shower attention on those you love or indulge. The word also refers to "standing at attention," as in the military — by standing up straight, arms down at the sides, and feet together. |
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| 8546 |
harp |
a chordophone with strings between the neck and the soundbox |
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A harp is a large, stringed musical instrument with a beautiful sound. If you want to play an instrument that's portable, you should choose a ukulele instead of a harp. |
Many orchestras include a classical harp, which is such a big instrument that players usually need assistance to move them. Harps are played from a sitting position, resting on the player's shoulder as she plucks the strings with both hands. A folk harp is often smaller, sometimes sitting on a player's lap. When harp is used as a verb, it means to talk constantly and dully about one topic: "The harpist did nothing but harp on about the weather." |
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| 8547 |
murder |
unlawful premeditated killing of a human being |
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To murder is to kill, and it's illegal. Murder is one of the worst crimes of all. |
While murdering sometimes means mangling something (like murdering a speech you were trying to give) it usually means killing — but not just any killing. If you kill someone by accident or in self-defense, that's not murder. If a soldier kills an enemy, that's not murder. Murder is a planned, illegal form of taking someone's life. If you read a law book, you'll see how complicated murder can be. |
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| 8548 |
loyalty |
the quality of being loyal |
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A person who feels loyalty to a nation, cause, or person feels a sense of allegiance, commitment, dedication toward them. |
Loyalty is — you guessed it! — the quality of being loyal. People demonstrate their loyalty to a sports team by cheering for it, win or lose. People demonstrate their loyalty to a political party by voting only for the people of that party. Brand loyalty is the notion (or hope) that once consumers identify strongly with a particular brand or product, like a car or computer, they'll stick with that brand or maker when it comes time to buy new products. |
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| 8549 |
grieve |
feel grief |
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To grieve is to feel sorrow over something, especially people who have died. |
The most common use of grieve has to do with death: usually there are grieving family members and grieving friends, feeling sadness over the loss of a loved one. You can also grieve over a pet who died, a job you didn't get, or a favorite pair of shoes that were ruined. Usually there's some kind of loss involved, but as long as you feel extremely sad about something that's happened, you're grieving. |
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| 8550 |
calculated |
carefully thought out in advance |
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If you do something in a calculated way, you've given it quite a bit of thought beforehand, and you're very deliberate in the way you do it. |
Sometimes calculated can have a positive meaning, like when you plan ahead and are thoughtful about something. A good electrician takes a calculated approach to wiring a new house. On the other hand, a "calculated remark" could be one that's hurtful or manipulative and was made deliberately by the speaker to get a particular reaction or result. |
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| 8551 |
confide |
reveal in private; tell confidentially |
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To confide in someone is to tell them something privately. We confide in people we trust. |
We all have secrets and subjects that are hard to talk about. When we want to talk about something sensitive, we look for someone to confide in: a person we trust not to blab about our business to the rest of the world. Most people confide in close friends or family, often to get advice. If you tell someone a secret, and then they tell ten of their friends, you made a mistake by confiding in that person. |
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| 8552 |
damp |
slightly wet |
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Something that's damp is slightly wet or soggy. If your shoes are damp when you enter your friend's white-carpeted house, you should probably take them off. |
Damp things are moist. Your lawn might be damp with dew in the morning, and if it's supposed to rain lightly, the weather report might include the word damp. Sometimes damp is a noun, as when your grandmother warns, "Don't go out in the damp without your umbrella!" To damp is to hold back, make soft, or restrain: "Use your hand to damp the sound of the cymbal after you hit it with the drumstick." |
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| 8553 |
becoming |
displaying or setting off to best advantage |
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Something that's becoming is charming, or looks good. It's a compliment — or a sales tactic — if a salesperson gushes, "That dress is so becoming on you!" |
Clothing that's becoming is well-suited to the person wearing it, flattering him and making him look great. You can also use the adjective to mean "appropriate," as when a stern kindergarten teacher scolds, "That behavior is not becoming, boys." In the 13th century, something becoming was "fitting," and by the 1560s it also meant "looking good." The opposite of becoming is unbecoming. |
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| 8554 |
memorial |
a recognition of meritorious service |
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Just as the Lincoln Memorial pays tribute to Abraham Lincoln, a memorial is anything that symbolizes or celebrates someone who died. Every gravestone in a cemetery is actually a small memorial. |
A memorial is a service or statue dedicated to someone who died. A memorial service celebrates the life of the deceased. Something written about the dead person can also be called a memorial, and you could say donating to a dead friend's favorite cause is a memorial to them. If it honors the dead, the word memorial probably fits. |
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| 8555 |
remind |
put in the mind of someone |
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To remind is to cause someone to remember, as when George Orwell writes, "The aim of a joke is not to degrade the human being, but to remind him that he is already degraded." |
In remind, which appears in the early 17th century, the re-, of course, means "again," so the word can be thought of as "to mind again," or "think again," meaning to put something in someone's mind, to make them remember. |
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| 8556 |
weep |
shed tears because of sadness, rage, or pain |
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When you weep, you cry. If you're very empathetic, you might start to weep whenever you see other people weep. |
To shed tears from sadness is to weep. Some people weep rarely, only when they've suffered a true loss or tragedy. Other sensitive souls weep at songs, movies, books, and even sweet stories or pictures. Weep comes from the Old English word wepan, "shed tears or mourn over," which has a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to cry or scream." |
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| 8557 |
foreigner |
a person who comes from another country |
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A foreigner is someone from another country. A foreigner is not from these parts. |
Things that are foreign are different and unknown to people. Likewise, a foreigner is someone from a different country. An American visiting China is a foreigner. A German person visiting Canada is a foreigner. Foreigners are often tourists who check out the sights of other countries. If a foreigner decided to relocate to another country, they become an immigrant and perhaps eventually a citizen. |
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| 8558 |
fortify |
make strong or stronger |
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If you add nutrients to something you fortify it. Food scientists have found ways to fortify cereal, but in addition to vitamins C and D, they usually add a lot of sugar. |
If you strengthen your defenses, you fortify them, perhaps by adding more arms or increasing your defensive walls. Sometimes the defenses you fortify will be tangible and sometimes the word is used metaphorically to mean give courage. If a castle was originally vulnerable to attack, the owner might fortify it by adding a moat — and maybe filling it with crocodiles. If you're nervous about giving a speech, you should fortify yourself with a pep talk first. |
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| 8559 |
grate |
reduce to shreds by rubbing against a perforated surface |
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When you grate something you rip it to shreds, like a pound of solid cheese that you shred for a recipe. |
The verb grate entered the English language in the fourteenth century by way of the French word grater, meaning “to scrape.” Using grate in this sense, you might grate your teeth or grate a carrot, meaning rub or pulverize. By the sixteenth century the word had taken on the additional meaning of “sound harshly” and “annoy.” This evolution makes sense if you think about it: If you’ve ever had anything really annoy you — "grate on your nerves" — it can almost seem as if a cheese grater has been applied to your nerves and is slowly ripping them to shreds. |
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| 8560 |
inflict |
impose something unpleasant |
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When you force an undesirable or harmful event on someone, you inflict it on them. You might prefer that someone inflict some physical pain on you rather than inflict you with the boredom of another trip to the annual flower show. |
The verb inflict comes from the Latin word inflictus, meaning “to strike or dash against.” If you cause anything bad to happen to a person, animal, or even an object, you inflict that badness on them. For example, someone can inflict injuries or suffering on other people or inflict damage on property. We can inflict pollution or over-development on our environment. It's always a negative thing — you wouldn't say you inflict happiness or love on others. |
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| 8561 |
intelligence |
the ability to comprehend |
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Intelligence is your ability to comprehend something, like calculus or why plants grow towards the sun. |
Intelligence comes from the Latin word intelligere "to understand," which makes sense because it refers to someone's ability to understand things. Your intelligence helps you pass math class, learn French, and know that when someone asks you if she looks fat in those pants, always say no. It means smarts, what you need at least some of to get through school. Intelligence has an exciting double life: it also refers to what spies are trying to get, information from the enemy. You can be born with it, or acquire it, especially if you're in the FBI. |
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| 8562 |
apprehension |
fearful expectation or anticipation |
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Apprehension is fear or anxiety about something – you might feel apprehension about an upcoming test. Apprehension is also the capture of a criminal, when they get apprehended, or caught. It can mean “understand an idea” too. Get it? |
Given the crook's record of evading arrest, the chief had real apprehensions about being able to catch him. Eventually though, she activated the whole police force in an effort to ensure the crook's apprehension. And it paid off! They caught him red-handed. But it wasn't until he saw the video of the crime in progress that the guy apprehended just how much trouble he was in. It was that apprehension that led him to make a deal with the district attorney. |
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| 8563 |
rue |
feel sorry for; be contrite about |
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To rue is to feel regret or remorse for something. If that position at the deli ended up involving a reality TV show that made everyone famous, you may rue the day you turned down the job. |
Rue comes from the Old English word hreowan, meaning "to make sorry," and rue can still sum up a lot of sorrow in one small syllable. Rue is a modern verb that often looks back on the past. Shakespeare made famous the phrase "rue the day," meaning you bitterly regret a moment. For example, you might rue the day you had your first coffee if you become hopelessly addicted to it. |
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| 8564 |
profitable |
yielding material gain |
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Things that are profitable make money or are beneficial in other ways. Businesses hope to be profitable in the financial sense, but a profitable relationship is one that's good for everyone involved. |
Profitable started out as a word to describe anything useful, but it hooked up with finance in the mid-1700’s. Profits are measured in money earned beyond expenses, so profitable businesses or transactions make money. A busy restaurant, sold-out concert, and best-selling book are all profitable. People also use this word for situations that are good in ways that don’t involve money. If you learned a lot from something, then it was a profitable experience, even if you didn't make any cash. |
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| 8565 |
rival |
the contestant you hope to defeat |
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A rival is a competitor or contender that you want to defeat, whether in an actual competition or for another goal. It may be a tennis rival or a rival for your true love’s affections. |
There are all types of rivals, but they tend to show up a lot in sports. For example, in college football, the Army and Navy have been rivals since their first meeting in 1890. Something that is able to rival something else is seen as comparable to it in quality, and something that is said to be “without rival” is unmatched, or better than everything else. |
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| 8566 |
courtesy |
a considerate and respectful manner |
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A courtesy is a polite remark or respectful act. Complain about a bad meal, and you might get kicked out. But the common courtesy is usually an apology from the manager and, if you're lucky, a free dinner. |
Courtesy is all about using your good manners, which is why it shares roots with the word courteous. Holding the door open for someone, writing a thank-you note for a gift, and letting the pregnant lady have the last seat on the bus are all courtesies that would make your parents proud. And if something is kindly presented to you free of charge, the gift-giver may say it's "courtesy of" someone special. |
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| 8567 |
nevertheless |
despite anything to the contrary |
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A funny-looking adverb that appears to be made up of three words squished together, nevertheless means “even so" or "all the same.” |
It’s likely that nevertheless evolved from the Middle English neverthelater, a word with the same sense of “despite anything to the contrary” and “notwithstanding.” You might say of your siblings, "Sure we bicker and get sick of each other sometimes. Nevertheless, they’re family and I love them." |
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| 8568 |
numerous |
amounting to a large indefinite number |
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Numerous means very large in quantity. You wouldn’t use numerous to describe how many feet you have (just two), but you could use it to describe the infinite number of shoes in your closet. |
The adjective numerous is related to the word number — which is no big surprise since it basically means "a large number of something." Use numerous to describe a copious or abundant amount that you can't give a specific number for. Numerous fans probably come out for the all-star game, for example. And numerous players wish they made the all-star team. |
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| 8569 |
haul |
draw slowly or heavily |
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To haul is to move or take something, usually big and heavy, and put it somewhere else. If you've ever moved to a new house, then you know that having to haul all your stuff there can really take the joy out of moving into a new place. |
You'll want to reserve haul for situations in which carrying something takes a lot of effort and ain't a lot of fun. You don't haul a sack of feathers, for example. You haul a bag of boulders, or a box of books. Haul is usually a verb, but you can also use it as a noun, when you're talking about lot of something that you caught or won. We went digging for clams—look at our haul! After winning at blackjack, take your haul and hit the road. Don't risk losing it all on roulette. |
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| 8570 |
decay |
the organic phenomenon of rotting |
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To decay means to rot, decompose, break down. Our bodies—anything organic—will decay after death. Broken sidewalks, potholes, graffiti are all signs of urban decay. Tooth decay is something to avoid. |
Decay can also mean decline. Anyone, even a great athlete, must exercise regularly to maintain muscle tone—as soon as you stop, the muscles begin to decay. If the strength of the cable signal coming into your house grows weaker over time, you can complain that it has decayed. |
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| 8571 |
upright |
in a vertical position; not sloping |
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Something that's upright stands straight up. When you sit upright, your back is straight and vertical. Even your grandmother would approve of your posture. |
Most cars have seats that can fold forward or lean back, and then snap upright, back into a normal sitting position; and when you're in class, you're usually expected to sit upright, facing your teacher at the front of the room. Another way to use upright is to mean "upstanding" or "trustworthy," so if your friend finds a wallet full of money and returns it to its owner, you can call her an upright citizen. |
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| 8572 |
sacred |
made or declared or believed to be holy |
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Something sacred is holy, devoted to a religious ceremony, or simply worthy of awe and respect. Jerusalem is a sacred place for many religions, just as Fenway is a sacred place for Red Sox fans. |
Sacred is an adjective used to describe a person or thing worthy of worship or declared holy. It usually appears in a religious context, but an object or place set aside for a particular purpose can also be sacred. Sacred spaces and items are intended to be treated with care and respect — even if it's just your shrine to Brad Pitt. |
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| 8573 |
obvious |
easily perceived by the senses or grasped by the mind |
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Something obvious is plain to see and easily understandable. It was obvious that you didn't enjoy your meal because I found it rolled in a napkin and shoved under the rug. |
There's nothing vague about the adjective obvious — it's right there in front of your eyes! It describes something that's easy to figure out or the most straightforward option. If someone states the obvious, you're likely to respond with a sarcastic "No duh!" or "Thanks Sherlock." If obvious isn't the obvious word of choice, you can try a synonym such as "evident" or "apparent." |
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| 8574 |
pant |
breathe noisily, as when one is exhausted |
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When you breathe hard and fast, you pant. It's perfectly normal to pant after you finish running a marathon — or even after chasing your runaway dog through the neighborhood. |
You might pause at the top of a hill to pant and catch your breath before you continue on your hike. That loud, gasping breath itself is also a pant — but when this noun is plural, it means trousers, slacks, or jeans. Be careful, though — in parts of the UK, pants are primarily women's undergarments. Any pants you wear on you body come from pantaloons, which in the 1600s meant tights. |
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| 8575 |
barely |
in a sparse or scanty way |
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Something barely there is hardly there at all. So a barely dressed person is nearly naked. |
Barely is a word meaning hardly, nearly, scarcely, or marginally. If there is barely a dusting of snow, there is hardly any snow at all. If your team barely won a game, then they came really close to losing. A person who is barely dressed is scantily dressed: hardly dressed at all. If you barely missed an ice cream truck, then you missed it by seconds. This is a word for near misses and close calls. |
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| 8576 |
handle |
touch, lift, or hold |
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To handle something is to control it, the way an elephant handler might handle an elephant, or the way you would use a handle to lift a suitcase. If you're panicking, a friend might suggest you "get a handle on yourself." |
How to get a handle on the word handle? Start with the thumb. Much like the word “thimble” is derived from “thumb,” “handle” essentially refers to an object held "in hand," or placed under your control. Handle can also have a more abstract meaning, such as understanding or grasping a concept. You should be able to handle geometry before you start trig, right? A handle is also slang for a nickname. "What's your handle?" is another way of saying "What's your name?" |
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| 8577 |
cannon |
a large artillery gun that is usually on wheels |
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A cannon is a large gun that fires heavy metal shells or other projectiles. Originally it was attached to wheels and pulled by men. |
More recently, cannon refers to the largest gun on a tank or the automatic guns on a plane. All cannons, however old they are, have basically the same shape — a long, thick tube. Not surprising, then, that the term comes from the Latin word canna, meaning "tube" or "reed." Do not confuse with the word canon, with one n, which is a term of classification, as in its most common usage, "the literary canon." |
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| 8578 |
howl |
cry loudly, as of animals |
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To howl is to make a long, sad, crying sound. You might howl every once in a while, but it's more common to hear wolves and dogs let loose and howl, especially in the presence of a full moon. |
Terribly sad or fearful people howl, and wolves howl to communicate with each other. Your dog might howl at the sound of a passing fire truck, which also makes a noise with its siren that you can call a howl. Before the 1400s, the word was houlen, a word that probably emerged as an imitation of the way a howl sounds. |
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| 8579 |
comfort |
a state of being relaxed and feeling no pain |
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To comfort someone is to give solace or to soothe. You might comfort your brother when his favorite team gets knocked out of the playoffs. |
The verb comfort comes from the Latin word comfortare, which means “strengthen greatly.” To give comfort is to shore up the mood or physical state of someone else. It might take a long time to comfort your mother after her cat disappears. As a noun, comfort is anything that provides satisfaction or a relaxed and easy feeling. You might think that the comfort of your new shoes cannot be surpassed. |
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| 8580 |
disciple |
one who believes and helps spread the doctrine of another |
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A disciple is a follower or a fan of someone. You might consider yourself to be a disciple of your favorite yoga teacher. |
The noun disciple comes from the Latin word discipulus, which means "student, learner, or follower." One of the earliest places disciple showed up was in the Bible, where it means "a follower of Jesus," sometimes specifically one of the twelve Apostles. It's still used that way in religious speech and writing, but it can also describe a serious, dedicated follower or student of a teacher or leader. |
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| 8581 |
bundle |
a collection of things wrapped or boxed together |
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A bundle is a package of things wrapped together. To wrap things together in a compact way is to bundle them. A baby wrapped up in a blanket is a bundle of joy, and if it’s cold outside, bundle up! |
Bundle comes from the Middle Dutch word for bind, which is what you do when you bundle stuff — you bind it together. It also means to wrap in warm clothes. This is a word for things that are tightly packed together. If you get a package in the mail, it's a bundle. If you have knickknacks all over the place, you'll need to bundle them when you move by putting them in a box. |
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| 8582 |
redeem |
exchange or buy back for money; under threat |
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If you redeem yourself, you make up for wrongs by doing something that makes you seem good again, like when after being irritable and snappy with your grandmother, you redeem yourself by bringing her flowers and apologizing. |
Redeem comes from the French rédimer, which means "to deliver," and which in turn comes from the Latin for "buy back." In Christianity you can be redeemed by renouncing your sins. Classic heroes fail and then redeem themselves with valiant acts. But redeem doesn't have to be religious or moral. When you turn in a glass bottle for recycling, you redeem it, just as you redeem your coupon for 20% off your next hamburger. |
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| 8583 |
edition |
the form in which a text is published |
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An edition is a particular version of a publication. A book collector will pay a lot of money for a first edition of an important work (but that probably doesn’t include any of the paperbacks on your shelf). |
Edition can also refer to a book’s format. If you really enjoy reading a particular book, you might want to purchase a leather-bound, gilded-edge edition of it. In addition, edition can designate a particular issue of a newspaper. If you're a fan of crossword puzzles, you know that the toughest puzzle usually appears in the weekend edition. |
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| 8584 |
soldier |
an enlisted man or woman who serves in an army |
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In a war, soldiers are the people who do the fighting, on the ground, in planes, or from boats. Soldier is also a verb that means to serve in the military, or to continue on through difficult times. |
What is an army without soldiers? It’s a bunch of guns on the ground. A soldier is the man or woman who fights for their government and carries the weapons, risking their life in the process. The word comes from the Latin solidus, which is the name of the gold coin used to pay soldiers who fought in the Roman army. To “soldier on” means to not give up even when life is tough, like soldiering on through difficult vocabulary. |
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| 8585 |
earthly |
of or belonging to or characteristic of this world |
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If you believe in an afterlife, you probably realize that making lots of money is only an earthly concern, and not something that matters in heaven. |
Religious believers make the distinction between earthly problems and things that are far more important in the long term. Usually, these earthly worries have to do with material things, like jobs, money, cars, and houses — rather than spiritual concerns like love, faith, and beauty. The word earth is at the root of earthly, and you can think of it as "things that only matter to humans on the Earth." |
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| 8586 |
vengeance |
harming someone in retaliation for something they have done |
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If someone hurts you, you might be inspired to plan an act of vengeance: some type of payback in order to settle the score. Be careful, though, because you might inspire someone to take vengeance on you in return. |
Vengeance is a downward spiral of pain and betrayal, one person hurting another, who hurts another, and so on. You might demand vengeance if your brother throws your favorite jeans into a tree, and your brother might feel the same way after you spit gum in his hair. The phrase “with a vengeance” means to do something with a lot of intensity. Vengeance shares roots with the word revenge, and someone who wants revenge usually pursues it with a vengeance. |
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| 8587 |
so-called |
doubtful or suspect |
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When you say someone is a so-called pacifist, you are suggesting that they are a pacifist in name only. While they are busy making everyone talk about how peaceful they are, chances are they're also bombing villages to dust. |
Using the word so-called is a great way to point out systemic hypocrisy and is a much-beloved tool of street preachers and conspiracy cranks the world over. They might talk about our so-called democracy being in fact a sham, and our so-called democratic elections being rigged by forces beyond our control. |
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| 8588 |
alert |
warn or arouse to a sense of danger |
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Alert! Alert! Alert! Did I get your attention? When you are alert, you are awake and ready. When you issue an alert you give warning, alerting people to, or notifying them of, a concern. |
Alert is one of the rare words that can be used in the same form as a noun, verb, and adjective. In all parts of speech, alert implies preparedness. The word is derived from the French a l'erte which translates to "on the watch." When you hear the word, imagine an alarm going off. The alarm is the alert. When you hear it, you have been alerted and you are now alert. |
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| 8589 |
gallop |
a fast gait of a horse |
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A gallop is a horse's fastest gait, a full-on run. A loud noise might cause a trotting horse to panic and break into a gallop. |
Any four-legged animal can run at a gallop, although the word most often describes horses and ponies. To run this way is also to gallop: "I watched the horses gallop around the track." You can even use the word to emphasize a person's fast and heavy gait: "My little brother has to gallop around the house a few times before he'll go to bed." |
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| 8590 |
gamble |
take a risk in the hope of a favorable outcome |
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When you gamble, you take a risky chance on something. When an entrepreneur invests her own money in her business, she gambles on its success. |
If you approach a stray dog, you gamble on its friendliness, and if you turn down a high-paying job to take a more interesting position, you gamble on it eventually paying off. Another way to gamble is to buy a lottery ticket or place a bet on a poker hand: when you gamble like this, you play a game of chance, risking some amount of money. Gamble is from Old English gammlen, "to play, jest, or be merry." |
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| 8591 |
eternal |
continuing forever or indefinitely |
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If something lasts forever or even if it just feels like it’s going to last forever, you could call it eternal, which means that it goes on and on and will never change or end. |
The Fountain of Youth is a mythical spring of water that rewards its bathers with eternal life, free from sickness and death forever. The Latin root of eternal is aeternalis, translating roughly as “of great age,” and eternal things are really, really old. Eternal can describe an abstract idea that never changes, like the eternal truths of war, or it can describe an annoyance that you wish would end, like the eternal boredom you feel watching a really dull movie. |
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| 8592 |
celebrate |
have a festivity |
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To celebrate means to mark a special day, event, or holiday. You might celebrate a birthday, a religious holiday, or even the anniversary of a famous battle. |
Use celebrate for festive, happy occasions. If the special day, event, or holiday is more solemn or introspective, a verb like observe is often used. After we observe Memorial Day, we look forward to celebrating the Fourth of July. The verb can also mean to honor or praise — "The book celebrated the life of the actress who had given so much to worthy causes." |
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| 8593 |
relax |
make less taut |
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Relax is a verb that describes feeling less stressed out or tense. If you want to relax after a crazy day at school, you might watch TV, take a nap, or do yoga to help you unwind. |
Relax can also refer to behavior that grows less formal or restrained, like a beach wedding where the bride and groom relax the usually formal ceremony by wearing casual clothing. Relax can also mean to become less tight. When you relax your grip on a pen, your hold loosens up. Relax can also refer to something that becomes less severe or strict. If your teacher would relax the attendance rules, you wouldn't keep getting in trouble for skipping class! |
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| 8594 |
removed |
separate or apart in time |
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A person who is described as removed is acting emotionally distant, like he or she has been taken away. |
You can also use removed to mean being far away in time or space from something else, as in "the house was far removed from the city," or "online dictionaries are far removed from what students had available in my day." And finally, if someone is separated by several steps in descent from you, they are removed, as in little Johnny, your twelfth cousin three times removed from Little Rock. |
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| 8595 |
adult |
a fully developed person from maturity onward |
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Adult is noun and an adjective, both of which refer to something mature, no longer a child. A full-grown person is called an adult: they can drink, smoke, vote, and watch R-rated movies. |
If you're still a child, then you are not an adult — that's the noun version. Childish people don't behave in an adult manner — that's the adjective. A child might be scared by the Wicked Witch of the West, but an adult knows she's not real. Learning the difference between real-life and make-believe is one of the upsides of becoming adult. |
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| 8596 |
divert |
turn aside; turn away from |
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To divert means to shift or turn from one thing to another. A magician might attempt to divert your attention as he shoves the rabbit into the hat. |
The police will divert traffic if there has been an accident that blocks the road, and it's a good idea to divert some of your income into a savings account so you don't spend it all. Are you throwing a surprise party for a friend at his house? Have a neighbor divert him for a little while if he comes home early so that you can finish getting ready. While these uses concern physically guiding something to a different location, divert can also be used to mean "distract" or "entertain." If your friend can't stop worrying about her grades, you might want to divert her with the latest school gossip. |
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| 8597 |
spiritual |
lacking material body or form or substance |
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Spiritual things are concerned with sacred matters or religion, affecting the spirit or the soul. Spiritual entities like ghosts lack a material body or substance. |
Spiritual is the adjective form of the word spirit, which comes from the Latin word for "breath," and means the thing that animates life. Spiritual can be used to talk about anything that goes beyond mere physical existence, from ghost spirits to religious feelings. As a noun, spiritual describes a religious song originating in the African-American culture of the American South. |
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| 8598 |
carriage |
a vehicle with wheels drawn by one or more horses |
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A carriage is a vehicle with wheels that's usually pulled by horses. In some cities, you can go for a carriage ride through the park. |
A carriage generally has four wheels and is pulled by two or more horses, while the smaller cart tends to have two wheels and be pulled by a single horse. In Britain, you might hear people refer to the separate compartments of a train as carriages as well, and in some parts of the US it's used to mean "baby stroller" or "grocery cart." The Latin root is carrum, "two-wheeled war chariot." |
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| 8599 |
shiver |
shake, as from cold |
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People shiver, or shake and tremble, when they're very cold. You might shiver in the snow if you forget to wear your winter coat. |
While you are most likely to shiver in the cold, you might also shiver from excitement or even fear. The involuntary shudder our bodies make in chilly weather is a response meant to raise our body temperature to a safe level. Shiver was originally chiveren, from the Old English ceafl, or "jaw." This is thought to be connected to the chattering your teeth do when you shiver. |
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| 8600 |
preach |
deliver a sermon |
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To preach is to deliver a sermon or an otherwise powerful message. You may go to church to hear the minister preach, and you may preach tolerance to your friends. |
Have you ever heard anyone say, "That's preaching to the choir"? That means you're wasting your words on somebody who already believes what you believe. If you're giving an impassioned speech about recycling to an audience dressed in reclaimed clothing and sandals made of old tires, you're likely to be preaching to the choir. The word preach comes from the Latin prae, "before," and dicare, "declare." When you preach, you're not just talking — you're declaring something with conviction. |
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| 8601 |
emergency |
a sudden unforeseen crisis that requires immediate action |
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When there's an emergency, the stakes are high and you may need to act quickly. There's a tornado! Someone's collapsed! The cat's stuck in a tree! It's an emergency! Call 911! |
You can see the word emerge in emergency, and an emergency suddenly emerges — it happens all of a sudden and can take you by surprise. Governments declare a "state of emergency" if there is a disaster that they can't handle, and they need support. If you hear sirens and see flashing lights, there's probably an emergency . . . unless you're in a dance club. |
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| 8602 |
lap |
the upper side of the thighs of a seated person |
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Your lap is the top of your thighs when you sit down, where your cat might sit. Lap can also refer to a trip around a racetrack, or to the act of overtaking a competitor by a lap. |
Lap is associated with a number of idioms. If something "falls into your lap," you have gotten something without making much effort. For example, maybe you discovered a rare fossil in your yard while looking for your lost baseball. If you sold that fossil for a lot of money, you may find yourself now "sitting in the lap of luxury." That’s a wonderful place to be! |
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| 8603 |
exhibition |
the act of displaying or demonstrating |
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An exhibition is a collection of items for public display, like an exhibition of children’s artwork, antique vases, or memorabilia from a science fiction movie series. |
In the 19th century, exhibition was used to refer to a collection of objects, while exhibit designated a single item in an exhibition. Nowadays, exhibition and exhibit are often used interchangeably. Exhibition comes from the Latin ex-, meaning "out," and habere, meaning "hold" — as objects in an exhibition are "held out," or shown, to the public. The h in "hold out" might help you remember to include the h when spelling exhibition. |
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| 8604 |
cycle |
a periodically repeated sequence of events |
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A cycle is a series of events that happen repeatedly in the same order. Or, it is a slang term for a bicycle. If you ride a cycle to work, we suggest putting your clothes through the wash cycle twice — or wear strong cologne. |
We get cycle from Latin cyclus and Greek kuklos, both meaning "circle." So you can see where bi- (two) and tri- (three) + cycle got their names. Nowadays, cycle can be a verb or a noun: You can ride a cycle or you can cycle to the park. The same holds true when you’re talking about a sequence of repeating events: The seasons cycle through spring, summer, fall, and winter. The plant life cycle goes from seed to flower to seed dispersal. |
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| 8605 |
consideration |
the process of giving careful thought to something |
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Consideration is kindness and thoughtful regard for others, or an act of thoughtfulness. Treating others as you would have them treat you (the Golden Rule) is one example of consideration. |
The verb consider comes from the Latin for "contemplate," and hidden in the word is sid,, the Latin root for "star." Originally it meant to examine something very thoroughly, or carefully, as if you were staring at the night sky, contemplating its mystery. If you give something consideration, you think about it carefully, and not too quickly. When you’re making a tough decision, you need to give consideration to all possible outcomes before making up your mind. |
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| 8606 |
evil |
morally bad or wrong |
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Evil is the opposite of good. We usually think of villains as evil — wrong, immoral and nasty on many levels — and heroes as good. |
This word is often reserved for our most terrible crimes and criminals: Adolf Hitler is usually the face of evil in history, while Voldemort is that face in recent literature. Evil can be less extreme, meaning simply anything that brings harm; we can talk about the evils of alcohol or the evils of power. When both major candidates for President seem lame, people often say they're choosing between the lesser of two evils. Not all evils are equally evil. |
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| 8607 |
extreme |
of the greatest possible degree, extent, or intensity |
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Something extreme is far out, either in terms of distance or intensity. Extreme sports are wild or dangerous, and an extreme height is very high. |
When you talk about extreme things, you're talking about things that are very, very...something. An extreme point is the farthest distance from a place. Extreme eating is a type of contest — like hot dog-eating — in which people eat a freakish amount of food to compete with each other. An extreme biker is biking down dangerously steep mountain sides. Anything extreme is pushing the limits and taking things about as far as they can go. |
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| 8608 |
longing |
prolonged unfulfilled desire or need |
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A longing is a strong feeling of need or desire for someone or something. If you're stuck in detention and all of your friends are outside enjoying a sunny day, you might be looking out the window with longing. |
A longing describes an unfulfilled desire. The days might feel long as long as you are longing to see someone you love, if that person is far away. You might be longing for your mother's home-made chicken soup, if you are sick and far from home. Or perhaps you are a pregnant woman, wide awake and longing for pickles and ice-cream at four in the morning. Let's hope there's a twenty-four hour deli open somewhere to help satisfy your longing. |
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| 8609 |
shudder |
tremble convulsively, as from fear or excitement |
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A shudder is an involuntary vibration, usually in your body, or the shaking itself. A cold breeze or an unpleasant memory might make you shudder. |
A shudder isn't always a bad thing. It can mean a pleasurable sensation or tingle that goes through your body, like a shudder of excitement you feel when you see your favorite star on the street. As a verb, shudder means to shake and shiver. Being really cold or seeing something that scares you — a ghost! — can make you shudder. The phrase "shudder to think" means just the thought of something upsets you enough to shudder. |
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| 8610 |
brilliant |
full of light; shining intensely |
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Brilliant describes something super bright, like intense lights at a football stadium, a super sparkly diamond, or the student who graduates from Harvard at age 13. |
Brilliant comes from the Italian word brillare, to "sparkle" like those bright lights, diamonds, and brainiac kid. British people love to say things are "Brilliant!" in the same way Americans say "Awesome!" Brilliant describes anything sparkly, fabulous, or full of light. A bright color is brilliant, too, like the brilliant orange of a setting sun. |
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| 8611 |
lost |
confused as to time or place or personal identity |
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The adjective lost describes anything that can't be found, like your favorite pair of sunglasses that you left on a table at the library and never saw again. |
Beloved hand-knit scarves can be lost, and so can wandering pet goats. A person can get lost in the unfamiliar, winding streets of a strange city. You can also describe someone as lost if they're confused or desperately in need of some kind of help. The origins of the word lost come from the Proto-Indo-European leu, "to loosen, untie, or separate". The meaning "to be defeated," like when you've lost a game or lost a battle, came later, around 1530. |
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| 8612 |
association |
a formal organization of people or groups of people |
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Association has to do with things that are together, whether in a formal group like the National Basketball Association or just two things that are related, like the association between dogs and parks. |
Any time people or things are connected, there are associations. The National Basketball Association is an example of the business meaning of association — a formal organization or group that works together. If you ask, "What is your association with Bill?" That just means, "How are you connected to Bill?" You can also make mental associations — you might make an association between the smell of fresh bread and your grandmother's kitchen, for example. |
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| 8613 |
announce |
make known |
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Announce means to make something public. Companies announce the release of new products, parents announce the marriages of their children, and school administrators announce changes to the day's schedule over the PA. |
Announce has some subtler meanings as well—you might inadvertently announce your attention to go for the basket by looking at it during a game. You might very intentionally announce that you are never eating pizza again, if you want everyone you know to be aware of this. |
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| 8614 |
sect |
a subdivision of a larger religious group |
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A sect is a religious group that exists inside of a larger religion. Think of it as a section of a particular religion. |
Although objectively speaking a sect is merely a subdivision of a larger religious group, the word often carries with it the feeling of a part of a religion that has broken away. It often has a negative connotation in English because it implies that the group departed from what was standard to believe something different or odd. If you are comparing two sects you might talk about their sectarian differences. |
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| 8615 |
aristocrat |
a member of the nobility |
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An aristocrat is someone from the ruling class, usually those with nobility, money, or both. Although not an aristocrat yourself, you may have the odd viscount on your family tree if you go back far enough. |
The word aristocrat comes from the Greek word aristokratia, which itself comes from the root words aristos, meaning "best," and kratos, meaning "rule." So, the aristocracy was the ruling class of (supposedly) the best and noblest people, and an aristocrat was a member of that class. Today the word can also be applied to anyone with superior standing: Count Basie was an aristocrat in the jazz world. |
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| 8616 |
obedience |
the trait of being willing to obey |
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Obedience is behavior that's respectful and mindful of rules and laws. Parents, teachers, and cops all appreciate obedience. |
If you have a dog, you might have taken it to obedience school. Trainers help teach dogs obedience — obeying commands and showing good behavior. For a dog, obedience consists of things like shaking and lying down on command, coming when called, and going to the bathroom outside. People demonstrate obedience when they follow the law, and kids show obedience when they obey their parents and teachers. Obedience is respectful. |
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| 8617 |
thorough |
painstakingly careful and accurate |
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Thorough describes something that is painstakingly complete, like a thorough search for your missing keys in which you look for them in coat pockets, under the table, in the refrigerator — in every single place you can think of. |
Thorough rhymes with "burrow": "THUR-oh." It looks a lot like through but remember thorough is an adjective, so you might use it to describe a thorough investigation or a thorough review. In contrast through is used most often as a preposition — you might look through every drawer, for example, in a search — or as an adverb — you might see a hole in your pocket where coins fall through. |
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| 8618 |
inflate |
fill with gas or air |
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Using your own breath or an air pump, you can inflate a balloon — or anything else you need to pump air into. When you inflate something you fill it with air (or any other gas) to make it expand. |
From the Latin verb inflāre, "to blow into," the word inflate appeared in English in the early 16th century. Although we usually think of the word inflate as referring to blowing air or gas into a balloon or a tire, anything that grows larger, from food prices to an egoist's self-image, can be inflated. When an item becomes scarce, its price is likely to be inflated. |
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| 8619 |
interior |
inside and toward a center |
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Interior commonly refers to the inside of something. When house hunting you might find that the outside of the house is run down, but the interior rooms beautifully renovated. |
If you design the color scheme of a room and pick our furnishings for it, you are an interior designer. If you delve into a characters feelings and emotions, you might describe what you're looking at as their interior. A place that lies far inland from a coast or border is said to lie in the interior of a country. If you talk to yourself inside your mind, you are said to be having an interior monologue. |
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| 8620 |
intervene |
be placed or located between other things |
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From the Latin "intervenire," meaning “to come between,” the verb intervene means just that: to get involved, to jump in the middle of something, to interfere. |
The verb intervene was first recorded around 1600. Since then there haven't been many interventions in its meaning or usage. You should probably intervene in a heated verbal fight between two of your friends before it escalates and gets physical. Especially if they're debating the United States’ habit of intervening in international conflicts. |
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| 8621 |
handsome |
pleasing in appearance |
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If your father is described as handsome, it means he is good-looking, attractive in a classically masculine way. If your mother is also called handsome, it means while she's striking, if not exactly pretty. |
Handsome is always a compliment, an admiring way of describing someone, although it's sometimes used as a way to describe a woman who's not conventionally attractive but is still interesting-looking. You can use it to describe an object as well as a person, in which case you are most likely talking about something that's really well-made, or of an obviously high quality, like a particularly handsome oak dining-room table. Occasionally, people talk about a handsome amount of money or a handsome number of votes; this is a generally admiring way of describing almost anything. |
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| 8622 |
premier |
first in rank or degree |
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Premier is another way of saying “first” or “best” like the premier ice cream store on the block that always has a line snaking around the corner. In a political sense a premier is a head of state. |
As adjective or noun, this word has to do with whatever’s first and foremost. Leaders of countries are often called premiers, since they’re the first, most important people in government — like how we call the President's wife the “First Lady.” If you’re referring to something that started first, is the best, or is the head of a country, choose premier unless first will do! |
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| 8623 |
satisfy |
meet the requirements or expectations of |
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To satisfy is to fulfill or meet a want, need, requirement, or expectation. A brilliant paper on Edgar Allan Poe might satisfy a literature class requirement, and a candy bar might satisfy a craving for chocolate. |
Since there are so many things we need and want, there are lots of ways to satisfy us. Eating a sandwich will satisfy your hunger. Overhearing a conversation could satisfy your curiosity. Going to school should satisfy your desire for knowledge. In college, you'll have to take certain classes to satisfy requirements of your degree. The word comes from the Latin satisfacere, which basically means “do enough.” |
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| 8624 |
indignation |
a feeling of righteous anger |
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Call your anger at an unjust situation indignation. If recess gets canceled for everyone because two students get into a fight, the rest of the student body will respond with indignation. |
Indignation traces back to the Latin prefix in- "not" and root dignus "worthy" and means anger at something that is unfair or unjust. Another word for indignation is outrage. Be careful using these words as they have a bit of a negative slant. A person who feels indignation is a little self-righteous and focused on not being treated the way he feels he should be. |
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| 8625 |
worship |
the activity of cherishing as divine |
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To worship is to show a lot of love and adoration for something. Religious believers worship gods, and people can worship other people and things too. |
Worship is an extreme form of love — it's a type of unquestioning devotion. If you worship God, then you love God so much that you don't question him at all. Going to church is a form of worship — so is prayer. People also use the word worship in other cases. If you love a musician or sports star, you might say, "I worship her!" Or someone might say to you, "Man, you need to wake up and stop worshiping him." |
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| 8626 |
rite |
any customary observance or practice |
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A rite is a ceremony or event that leads to a new phase of life, like high school graduation or a bat mitzvah. |
Rites are rituals. Religions in particular have many rites, which include celebrations and sacraments such as baptism or confession. But people also use this word for any kind of event that signifies moving through a stage of life. For a football player, getting your first touchdown is a "rite of passage." Even a job interview could be considered a rite — it's a traditional ritual, something everyone has to go through before landing a first job. |
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| 8627 |
accident |
an unfortunate mishap |
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An accident is an unfortunate event. By their very nature, accidents are not planned. Rear-ending the car ahead of you, spilling milk, losing your footing on an icy sidewalk — all of these are considered accidents. |
You will most often hear people use accident to describe an unfortunate mistake, like swerving into oncoming traffic or making a sloppy calculation. However, an accident could have a positive outcome as well: "The invention of the chocolate chip cookie was a happy accident, occurring when the cook decided to add the chopped chocolate to the batter without melting it first." |
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| 8628 |
desirable |
worth having or seeking or achieving |
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If something is desirable it is worthy, so many people might want it. If you're hoping for one of the most desirable roles in a play, you have to have an excellent audition. |
Popular. Attractive. In demand. Sought-after. All of these describe things that are desirable. After all, it has at its base the word desire, which describes wanting. The root of desirable is the Latin word desiderare, which means "long for, wish for, demand, or expect." It may have originated from the phrase de sidere, "from the stars." |
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| 8629 |
executive |
a person responsible for the administration of a business |
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An executive is a powerful person who is responsible for making things run smoothly. If you become an executive, you might be in charge of an organization, a business, or even an entire country. |
The executive of a company has the best office and works on ways to make their business more successful. The Medieval Latin root of executive is exsequi, which means “carry out,” and so an executive carries out plans and actions. Executive is also an adjective that describes having the power to make decisions. The president of the United States is the executive branch of the government and is responsible for executing laws that will improve the country for its citizens. |
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| 8630 |
on the table |
able to be negotiated or arranged by compromise |
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When something is on the table, it's an option, especially one that could be negotiated. If someone offers you a job but you haven’t said yes or no yet, the offer is still on the table. |
When two people negotiate something — like a contract — they often do it over a table. When something is on the table, it's up for discussion. If an employer and a union are willing to discuss pensions, then pensions are on the table. If one side won't budge on something, then that topic is off the table. |
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| 8631 |
strange |
unusual or out of the ordinary |
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Anything that is unusual or out of the ordinary can be described as strange, like the strange sight of an ice cream truck pulling up in front of your school and your principal skipping over to it. |
The adjective strange comes from Latin word extraneus, meaning “foreign” or “external.” If someone approaches you speaking with a strange accent, it means you can't identify where the person is from, not that he or she is odd or weird — the newer meaning of strange. But remember, it once was a strange sight to see a person talking on a cell phone; when the unknown becomes known, it is no longer strange. |
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| 8632 |
interested |
showing curiosity or fascination or concern |
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If you're interested in something, you like it and want to know more. If you're snoring through a movie, you're probably not that interested in it. |
If you're interested in something, it has your attention. Some people are interested in sports; others are interested in books. If you like something and want to learn more about it, or just enjoy thinking about it, then you're interested. People can also be interested in things they have a stake in: we would say both the workers and employers are "interested parties" in a labor dispute, for example. |
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| 8633 |
wealthy |
having an abundant supply of money or possessions of value |
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If you have riches you are wealthy. Don't be misled into thinking "riches" means only money — to many people, to have a healthy family and to be surrounded by love is to be abundantly wealthy. |
The Old English word wela, via the Middle English welth, meaning "happiness and prosperity in abundance," is the source of our noun wealth. Although the Middle English wele meant "well-being," the word referred primarily to money and possessions. Many people still feel that way, but Henry David Thoreau offered a different view: "Wealth is the ability to fully experience life." That is, true wealth is having whatever means the most to you. |
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| 8634 |
detain |
cause to be slowed down or delayed |
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When you detain someone, you hold them back, slow them down, or stop them from moving on. If you are detained by the police, you may be late for the big football game, even if you were speeding to get there by the kickoff. |
There are lots of words that contain the root tain, like contain and retain. These come from Latin tenere, which means "to hold." Detain is specifically used when you're talking about holding someone so they can't go anywhere. It's often used in discussions involving the police who detain people who they think might be guilty. But you can use detain, say, when you're explaining why you were late: "I was detained at the office by a conference call that wouldn't end. Sorry." |
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| 8635 |
directly |
without turning aside from your course |
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Directly means "without changing direction." When you head directly for the food at a party, you walk straight to the snack table, without stopping to chat on the way. |
The adverb directly is useful for talking about something you do in a precise, immediate way, without pausing or getting sidetracked. If you land "go to jail" when you're playing Monopoly, you have to go directly to jail, and if you arrive late at the airport, you'll want to run directly to your gate. In the 1500's, directly meant "in a straight line," from the Latin root word directus, "straight." |
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| 8636 |
recollection |
the process of remembering |
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Recollection is either the process of remembering something or a specific memory. |
If someone says, "To the best of my recollection, I never met Ted," they're saying they tried to remember Ted and couldn’t. Basically, your memory is your recollection. You can also say your memories are recollections. You could have a recollection of a baseball game on your birthday. If you know that collecting is to gather things, it makes sense that recollecting is like the process of gathering your memories. |
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| 8637 |
machinery |
mechanical or electrical devices collectively |
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Machinery refers to specific machines or machines in general. A farmer has lots of farm machinery, like tractors and plows. Machinery is also the inner workings of something — the machinery of a society is how a society works. |
You can refer to a group of machines as machinery, such as the machinery in a factory or the machinery in a laboratory. It’s also the inner workings of a particular machine, like the machinery that keeps your computer running. Machinery has to do with how something works or functions. The government, media, business, and family are all part of the machinery of society. The word machinery originally referred to the devices used for creating stage effects in the theater. |
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| 8638 |
publisher |
a person engaged in issuing periodicals or books or music |
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A builder builds. A dancer dances. A publisher publishes — which is to say, oversees the printing, editing and, most importantly, the selling of books, magazines, websites, and even music. |
It's a matter of debate who is more important at a magazine, the editor or the publisher, but I'm sure you could get convincing arguments for either. The editor is in charge of content, while the publisher runs the business side of things and often owns the operation, too. The publisher of a newspaper is often also the owner. When a writer wants to get their book published — printed and sold — they send it to a publishing house, which may become the book's publisher. |
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| 8639 |
lace |
a cord that is drawn through eyelets or around hooks |
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Your grandmother's kitchen curtains might be made from lace, a delicate fabric with twists and loops forming patterns of holes. |
Lace is often used for fancy dresses, special doilies and tablecloths, and decorative accents. You can also use the noun lace to describe the cord your tie your sneakers with, and the verb lace can mean twist or braid or intertwine: "The two friends lace their arms around each other and skip across the playground." Lace is surprisingly related to lasso, a loop of rope carried by a cowboy — both words are rooted in the Latin laqueus, "noose or snare." |
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| 8640 |
psychology |
the science of mental life |
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Psychology refers to the study of human behavior and the human mind, or the mental attitude of a group. Your parents will find it hard to understand the psychology of the teenager. |
Psychology is more than just an academic subject. The word refers to the complex mental workings and states a person, group or activity. Marketers use the psychology of consumer behavior to sell you things you don't need. Some self-help books teach you how use psychology - mental strategies and tricks - on someone in order to win arguments or get ahead. |
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| 8641 |
compete |
engage in a contest or measure oneself against others |
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In sports you compete against the opposing team. At work you compete for a promotion. With siblings, you compete for everything. Compete means to vie for a goal. |
The urge to compete is universal and human, from kids who say "Race ya!," to great athletes who manage to achieve the impossible when faced with a worthy opponent. Some people are more inclined to compete than others. They are viewed as competitive and may be accused of turning everything into a competition. |
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| 8642 |
circumstance |
the set of facts that surround a situation or event |
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A circumstance is the condition in which something happens. Say you were at a business luncheon and you were accidentally fed psychedelic mushrooms in your ravioli, your boss might excuse the weird things you said, given the circumstance. |
Circumstance comes from the Latin meaning the conditions around something. If you are born in a war zone, you're born into a difficult circumstance. If you're making decisions about awarding a scholarship to the most needy person, you'll need information about each candidate's circumstances. If you didn't do your homework because the power was out all night, tell your teacher that under the circumstance, you couldn't see well enough to read. |
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| 8643 |
hesitate |
pause or hold back in uncertainty or unwillingness |
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To hesitate is to pause before doing something, often out of concern or worry. |
If you're playing basketball and have a wide-open shot but don't take it right away, you hesitated. Maybe you felt too much pressure to shoot the ball. When people are nervous or worried, they tend to hesitate. Hesitating while speaking is common. In class, if you're not sure you have the right answer, you'll hesitate. When giving bad news, people often hesitate. Sometimes it makes sense to hesitate and sometimes you just need to do what you have to do. |
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| 8644 |
adore |
love intensely |
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Someone you adore gets put on a pedestal. Considering your fear of germs, when you told me that you had shared a toothbrush — I knew you must adore her! |
Adore comes from the Latin word adorare, meaning “to worship.” So when you adore someone, it's more than just a crush. However, like many words of strong emotion, adore gets used in lighter situations as well. Your aunt tells me you just adore the miniature fruitcakes she sends you every holiday. |
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| 8645 |
obviously |
unmistakably |
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Something obviously true is clearly, totally, unmistakably true. There's just no doubt about it. |
Obviously is a word people use when they are sure of something and sure that it's plainly clear to others. When you get presents on your birthday, you're obviously happy. Dogs obviously like to chase squirrels. The sky is obviously blue. People also use this word when they're being mean or sarcastic. If you didn't know who walked on the moon, a friend might say, "Obviously, it was Neil Armstrong!" |
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| 8646 |
tolerable |
capable of being borne or endured |
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Something that's tolerable is something you're able to live with. The best thing you can say about sleeping in a tent with your younger siblings might be that it's tolerable. |
If you can tolerate something, or put up with it, it's tolerable. You can also use this adjective to mean "good enough" or "adequate." If your waiter asks how your meal is and you answer, "The pizza is tolerable," you're not giving a rave review; you're basically saying, "It's average" or "It's edible, but nothing special." Tolerable comes from the Latin tolerabilis, "that may be endured." |
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| 8647 |
bore |
make a hole, especially with a pointed power or hand tool |
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If your friends fall asleep every time you open your mouth, you might be a bore — someone who makes the people around them bored. |
In 1738, Voltaire wisely wrote, “The secret of being a bore is to tell everything.” But the word bore is less boring than you think, since it can function as both noun and verb. You can bore a hole into something by drilling through it with a tool, and you can also bore people by being excessively dull, repetitive, or tedious to be around. And don't forget the bore of a needle or gun barrel, which is the same as its diameter. |
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| 8648 |
visible |
capable of being seen or open to easy view |
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If you describe something as visible, you are saying you can see it. Certain things are not visible to the naked eye, but that doesn't mean they are invisible, you may just need a microscope or telescope to see them. |
The adjective visible also means obvious to the eye. You'd use this sense if you want to point out obvious flaws in an object such as a car with visible dents and scratches. A third meaning for the adjective is easily available or accessible: You may try to be a visible presence in your kids' lives — although sometimes they would prefer that you blend into the woodwork — so that they know they can count on you and come to you with any problem. |
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| 8649 |
assurance |
a binding commitment to do or give or refrain from something |
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An assurance is a vote of confidence. If you give your friend an assurance that you'll be there, you'd better show up. |
If you pledge to do something or make a binding commitment to do it, you can use the noun assurance. If the bank is going to loan you money to buy a house, they are going to need some sort of assurance that you will repay the loan in a timely manner. If you have confidence in yourself and your abilities, you can also use assurance to describe that — "The baseball team played with assurance, quickly racking up a seven point lead." |
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| 8650 |
spear |
a long pointed rod used as a tool or weapon |
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A spear consists of a long shaft that has a sharp point at one end. You might use one to go spear fishing, but that's about it. Spears are no longer the weapon of choice. |
Spear also refers to the action of impaling something or someone with a spear. “Odysseus blinded the Cyclops by jamming a huge spear into its eye.” In addition to the long-shafted, pointy spear that people throw, spear is the name for the sprout of a plant. In the vegetable world, separate stalks of asparagus are called spears. |
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| 8651 |
office |
place of business where professional duties are performed |
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If you have an office job, it means that you go to work in an office, or a professional business place, every day. |
Your office is the place you work, meeting with colleagues, sitting at a desk, and wearing sneakers on Casual Friday. The President of the United States has an office too, but it's a different kind: his or her office is a position of power. All government officials can be described as holding or taking office, which is when they assume the control and responsibilities that come with their important jobs. |
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| 8652 |
burst |
come open suddenly and violently |
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A burst is a sudden flurry of activity. Bursts of energy are helpful in shoveling heavy snow, but it's better if you work steadily instead of shoveling fast and stopping. |
As a verb, burst is your go-to action word to describe something sudden and energetic happening. It usually means, "to explode outward, with noise" like if you burst into song in the middle of study hall, startling everyone. It also means, “to split open in a violent way due to internal pressure” like an overfilled water balloon. It comes from the Old English word berstan, meaning "break suddenly." |
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| 8653 |
impressed |
deeply or markedly affected or influenced |
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If you're impressed, then you like what you see or you feel like saying, "wow!" People are impressed by brains, beauty, money, and lots of other qualities. |
To be impressed, something has to leave an impression on you — it has to be special or unusually good or particularly emotional enough that you remember it or it stands out. Colleges are impressed by high school students who get straight A's. Some people are impressed by fancy cars and clothes. Lots of people are impressed by famous actors and sports stars. If someone isn't wowed by very much, we say they aren't easily impressed. |
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| 8654 |
hide |
prevent from being seen or discovered |
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You can hide your feelings or you can hide your mom’s birthday present. You can even hide yourself if you need to avoid someone. Whatever it is, when you hide something, you put it out of sight. |
Hide can mean that you keep something secret, like the way you really feel about your dad’s meatloaf. You can also hide something physical. If you spill juice on your white sofa, you can hide the stain with a pillow. Sometimes people hide also — that means the person stays out of sight. A bankrobber will hide from the police, or you might hide from your mom to avoid doing the dishes. |
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| 8655 |
mechanical |
using tools or devices |
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Use the adjective mechanical to describe something related to machinery or tools. If your car breaks down on the same day that your watch stops, you've got a lot of mechanical problems. |
You’ll most often hear mechanical used to describe something involving a machine. A mechanical problem at work might mean the copier has broken down again. Mechanical can also refer to physical forces, called mechanics having to do with how things move, like the mechanical elegance of a pendulum. We also use mechanical for human things that are so tedious, repetitive or automatic that they feel like they're done by machines and not people. |
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| 8656 |
reception |
the act of taking in |
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Reception is the act of receiving, or getting something, or the way it is received. If your book receives a positive reception, it means people receive it well. In other words, they like it. |
A reception can also be a party, such as a wedding reception. A reception area is an office waiting room where visitors are greeted and the receptionist sits. Reception can also refer to the quality of a broadcast signal, as received by a TV or radio. Good reception means a clear, strong signal, and poor reception means you might want to shake or kick the TV screen. A reception is also the act of catching the ball in American football. |
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| 8657 |
human |
a person; a hominid with a large brain and articulate speech |
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Unlike a pickle or a chipmunk, a human is a person. You can identify a human by the two legs it stands on, its upright stature, its high intelligence, and its speech that you'll understand if you're one, too. |
Human was first recorded in the mid 13th century, and owes its existence to the Middle French humain “of or belonging to man.” That word, in turn, comes from the Latin humanus, thought to be a hybrid relative of homo, meaning “man,” and humus, meaning “earth.” Thus, a human, unlike birds, planes, or even divine spirits up above, is a man firmly rooted to the earth. |
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| 8658 |
apparently |
from appearances alone |
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Apparently is an adverb meaning "evidently" or "obviously." After his sixth hot dog, you might say to your friend, "Well! Apparently somebody was hungry!" |
While apparently can mean "plainly" — like, duh — it can also mean "seemingly," which is almost "evidently" or "obviously," but not quite. There's a certain amount of guessing involved, based on appearances. The park ranger who shows up in the morning to examine the path of destruction through your campsite might say that it was "apparently the work of a hungry bear," not because he's totally sure, but because it definitely looks like something the bears around here would do. |
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| 8659 |
despise |
look down on with disdain |
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If the mere thought of a burrito with sour cream in it turns your stomach, you could say that you despise sour cream. You loathe it, abhor it, hate it, and think it's vile. |
Despise dates all the way back to the Latin word despicare, which combines de "down" with specere "to look at." So if you look down your nose at something, you could say you despise it. Nowadays the word gets used a lot to describe things people really, really dislike, too. Note how similar in meaning and spelling despise is to Sylvester the cartoon cat's old favorite catchphrase despicable. Despicable means something worth of being despised. |
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| 8660 |
praise |
an expression of approval and commendation |
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Praise means "admiration or approval," and when you're on the receiving end of it, you feel great. |
Whether it's used as a verb or a noun, praise means "approval." If you enthusiastically praise your dog, he's likely to wag his tail and expect a treat. What you've given him (in addition to the treat) is praise, the noun. In a religious context, the verb praise is interchangeable with worship, as when a minister says, "Praise God." |
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| 8661 |
nonsense |
a message that seems to convey no meaning |
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Nonsense is stuff that sounds like language but doesn't have any meaning, like the phrase higgledy-piggledy-po, or fwumphy-doo. The most famous nonsense poem is Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky." |
Nonsense means exactly what it sounds like: not containing a lick of sense. Nonsense words are made up. But sometimes if you say something in a really confusing way, people will say you're speaking nonsense: even though you're using normal words, you don't make any sense. Sometimes people will dismiss ideas that they don't like by calling them nonsense, but you might know better. Little household knick-knacks that have no purpose are also called nonsense. |
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| 8662 |
concert |
a performance of music by players or singers |
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A concert is a performance by musicians or singers for an audience. If you're in the glee club, you know about singing in concerts, and maybe you've seen your favorite bands in concert, too. |
A concert usually doesn't involve theatrical staging. You can have a concert version of an opera, but that means the singers stand there and sing without sets or props, and without much acting or moving around. Less commonly, concert is a verb (accent on the second syllable), meaning to agree with others on something. That meaning shows up in the phrase in concert — your objections will carry more weight if you act in concert with your neighbors. |
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| 8663 |
disguise |
any attire that conceals the wearer's identity |
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A disguise is something you put on so no one recognizes you. It also can be used as a verb. You can disguise yourself with a wig and mustache; that's a great disguise. |
Disguise can be used anytime you're talking about concealing or hiding something. Most of the time we think of a disguise as something you wear, but you can also disguise your feelings. Criminals might disguise their intentions. You can also use the word to describe something that seems to be one thing, but turns out to be another. You missed the plane, but then the plane crashed. That's a blessing in disguise. |
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| 8664 |
engaged |
having one's attention or mind or energy consumed |
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Engaged means fully occupied or having your full attention. An engaged reader really focuses on the words and maybe even jots down questions or comments in the pages' margins. |
If you're busy or involved with something, you're engaged in it. A formal reply to an invitation to lunch might be, "I'm sorry, I'm otherwise engaged" — meaning you already have plans. Engaged often describes people who have committed to getting married. You can see this meaning in the word's origin, the French word engagier, meaning "to pledge." |
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| 8665 |
canal |
long and narrow strip of water for boats or for irrigation |
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A canal is a long, man-made strip of water used for irrigation or boat access to a bigger body of water, like the famous Erie Canal, which connects the Hudson River to Lake Erie. |
Canal is related to the word channel, and all its different shades of meaning have to do with tunnel shaped spaces that carry liquid from one place to another. Besides man-made irrigation canals, canals that connect boat docks to rivers and oceans, or street-like canals in boat cities like Amsterdam, there are canals in your body, like your nasal canal, or the birth canal you came out of. It's also a verb meaning "to dig a canal." |
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| 8666 |
sermon |
an address of a religious nature |
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A sermon is a speech, usually religious in nature, given by a priest, preacher, rabbi, or other religious leader as part of a service. |
Although most sermons focus on Bible passages, you can use the word sermon more generally to refer to any speech that contains a moral lesson. Sports coaches are known to deliver moving sermons, as are teachers and camp counselors. But if you come in late, after missing your curfew, the last thing you want to hear is a sermon by your mom on the importance of keeping your word. |
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| 8667 |
sane |
mentally healthy; free from mental disorder |
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A sane person doesn't have any screws loose — in other words, they're free of mental illness and in a reasonable state of mind. |
You probably know that the word insane means crazy. Well, the opposite of insane is sane — or not crazy. A sane person is of sound mind and is mentally healthy. Sane people have good judgment, are reasonable, and can tell the difference between what's real and imagined. Whenever someone commits a crime or does something totally outlandish, people usually wonder if they're sane or not. |
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| 8668 |
romantic |
expressive of or exciting love |
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If something is romantic, it isn't very practical, like the librarian's romantic dream of convincing every person in town to read a book a week for life — a great idea that probably isn't possible. |
To be romantic about something can mean that you overlook its flaws and shortcomings. If your romantic ideal is growing all of your own food on a secluded farm, you are probably ignoring the tremendous amount of hard work it will require. Or, if you are romantic about love, you believe the perfect person is out there and in finding one another, all the problems and difficulties of life will melt away. |
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| 8669 |
opt |
select as an alternative over another |
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To opt is to choose. Given the alternative, most kids will opt for a cupcake over a ham sandwich. |
When you're signing up for next semester's classes, you might opt for another history class, or instead opt for advanced biology. Whenever you have more than one alternative, you have the chance to opt for something. You can also opt out of something, or choose not to do it at all. Opt comes from the French verb opter, "to choose," from the Latin root optare, "desire," and it's related to option. |
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| 8670 |
occasion |
an event that occurs at a critical time |
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Occasion means something special––that happens seldom or is notable when it does. On occasion, we sit down together as a family, but not every day, and never for dinner. When Great Aunt Mabel visits, however, we rise to the occasion and stage a large family meal. |
Occasion can also mean a designated time or reason something happens, or it can be an event in itself. I'm giving you your grandmother's ring on the occasion of your graduation from high school. I haven't had occasion to look at it since she died. It's valuable, so only wear it on special occasions. |
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| 8671 |
spite |
meanness or nastiness |
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When your sister told you that you looked terrible in your new tube top, she may have been saying it out of spite, or in a deliberately mean or offensive way. |
The noun spite means "a desire to offend." The word spite can also take the form of a verb, when it's used like this: "He only became a vegetarian to spite his cattle rancher father." Either way, spite implies a grudge, a desire to offend or hurt the feelings of someone by actions or words. |
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| 8672 |
affair |
a vaguely specified social event |
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If your grandfather was so startled by people shouting "Surprise!" at his birthday party that he had a mild heart attack, you'd probably want to just forget the whole affair. An affair is a specific event. |
You can use affair as a kind of shorthand, to mean "that big mess," or "that complicated story I already told you about." Your affair can also mean your responsibility or job, like if your grandmother said, "I don't care about balloons for the party — that's your affair." Another way affair is frequently used is to mean a love affair, particularly if the relationship is brief and intense. This meaning comes from the French phrase affaire de coeur, "affair of the heart." |
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| 8673 |
scandal |
a disgraceful event |
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Scandal is disgraceful events or nasty gossip about people's private lives, like the scandal that erupted when you were seen at the mall with your best friend's girlfriend. |
Just because there's a scandal, it doesn't mean it's always true — being seen with your friend's girl? What the gossips didn't know it that you were buying his birthday present. Some scandals, though, involve public figures who have been found guilty. For example, if a politician is found guilty of taking bribes, that's a scandal that will rock your town, causing outrage not to mention the end of that politician's career. |
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| 8674 |
chase |
go after with the intent to catch |
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To chase is to follow or go after someone or something you want. This activity is called a chase. Dogs chase cats, cats chase mice, and mice are in big trouble. |
The word chase tried to run away from the Old French word chacier for "to hunt or strive for,” but we caught it. Any time you’re trying to get something that’s trying to get away from you, you chase it. Police officers chase criminals, and kids playing tag chase each other all over the yard. You can also chase things that aren't physical, like a dream or a goal. This activity itself is called a chase. |
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| 8675 |
pistol |
a firearm that is held and fired with one hand |
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A pistol is a small handgun. Unlike a shotgun or a rifle, you can hold and fire a pistol with one hand. |
Sometimes the word pistol is used for any handgun, but many people distinguish between the pistol, with its single chamber, and the revolver, which has a cylinder that rotates and holds many bullets. The earliest pistols were used in sixteenth century Europe, and the English word comes from the Middle French pistolet, meaning both "small firearm" and "small dagger." You can also call someone who's full of energy a pistol. |
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| 8676 |
mad |
roused to anger |
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If you're mad about something, you've lost your temper. If you've gone mad, you've lost your mind. |
Just like it's more common to be angry than to be insane, you're more likely to use mad to describe someone who's ticked off than to describe someone who has serious mental problems. If you say you're “mad about” something, you're saying you like it so much it distracts you. |
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| 8677 |
loyal |
steadfast in allegiance or duty |
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If you are faithful and devoted to someone or something, you're loyal. If you refuse to buy milk from anyone other than Farmer Jones, then you're a very loyal customer. |
Someone who is loyal is reliable and always true, like your trusty dog. Loyal comes from the Old French word loial which means something like "legal," but if someone is only loyal to you because the law requires him to be, that's not true loyalty, which should come from the heart, not a contract. A loyal friend supports you all the time, no matter what. You can also be loyal to an idea, like the People's Revolution, or girl-power. |
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| 8678 |
tale |
a story that tells the particulars of an occurrence or event |
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A tale is a story, especially one that's full of creative embellishments. You can read a tale from a book, or tell a bedtime tale to the kids you're babysitting. |
Tales can be true or fictional, but they generally consist of a narrative, with a beginning and an end, made more interesting and exciting with vivid details. Some tales are meant to teach specific lessons (like your family's history or your community's values), while others simply relay a funny story. Tale can also mean "lie," like when your mom asks, "You're not telling a tale, are you?" |
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| 8679 |
schedule |
a list of times at which things are planned to occur |
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A schedule is a plan of things to be done and the time when they will be done. It is the thing you write down in your planner. If you're a student, you probably have your class schedule memorized within the first few weeks of school. |
This noun derives from Middle English sedule "slip of parchment or paper, note," from Late Latin schedula, from scheda "a strip of papyrus," from Greek schida "a splinter of wood." The modern spelling schedule did not become established until the mid 17th century. And the current American pronunciation, patterned on words such as scheme and school, was not in use until the 19th century. |
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| 8680 |
deserted |
forsaken by owner or inhabitants |
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If something’s deserted it’s empty and abandoned. It's fun to spend an afternoon taking pictures of a deserted house with its overgrown yard and mysterious relics, but come nightfall it might feel a little spooky. |
The adjective deserted often describes an empty building that’s been abandoned by its owners, but you can use it for anything that’s remote or without any people around. You might get the chills when you walk down a deserted street at night. Deserted can also describe something that’s much less crowded than normal. On Super Bowl Sunday, the shopping mall might be deserted — everyone is home, watching the game. |
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| 8681 |
gasp |
a short labored intake of breath with the mouth open |
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A gasp is the sound made by a sharp inward breath. After running up a steep hill, your breath will come in gasps. |
When you make the sound of a gasp, you gasp: "It was so surprising to see my lost cat sitting calmly on the front porch that it made me gasp." People tend to gasp when they're shocked or hurt. A "last gasp" is the moment just before someone dies — it can also mean the point of completing or ending something: "It was the last gasp of video stores in my city when that one closed." |
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| 8682 |
rebellion |
organized opposition to authority |
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A rebellion is when you rise up and fight those in power, usually on a large scale. In "Star Wars," the good guys fighting the powerful, evil empire were known as the rebellion. |
If you know that a rebel is someone who fights authority, then you won’t be surprised that a rebellion is something similar. Rebellions can be wars, particularly wars for independence from the ruling government, but many rebellions never come to armed conflict. Most of the time they're wars of words, or even just small-scale rule-breaking that is supposed to make a larger point. Students might wear shorts to school, for example, as a rebellion against the dress code. |
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| 8683 |
delight |
a feeling of extreme pleasure or satisfaction |
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When you like someone, you might say, "She is an absolute delight." You mean you think she's great: a delight is a source of joy, and to delight is to cause pleasure. Babies are particularly good at expressing delight in new things. |
Delight is often associated with an initial impression—one says, "She continues to delight us," to suggest that the first impression continues. The word delight derives from the Latin delectare "to charm," which also gives us delectable, and the same lighthearted sense of pure, uncomplicated pleasure. |
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| 8684 |
fetch |
go or come after and bring or take back |
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To fetch something is to go and get it. "Go fetch!" you might shout after your dog while throwing a stick into the yard. |
Fetch comes from the Old English fatian meaning "grasp." When a dog fetches a bone, it grasps it in its mouth. You can ask your sister to fetch or grab your backpack off the table. If you sell something for a good price, you can fetch, or bring in, a decent amount of money. If you are sick of playing fetch, you might try to fetch a good price for your pooch. |
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| 8685 |
transform |
change or alter in form, appearance, or nature |
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When you transform you change from one thing or state to another. Picture a transformer that changes from a robot to a car. Simple, right? |
Caterpillars transform into butterflies, a forest is transformed by a snowfall, and a city can be transformed by a new government or a changing economy. Transform means a big change in appearance or in essence. The Internet has transformed how we live our day-to-day lives, but you wouldn't say that moving a throw pillow has transformed your living room. |
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| 8686 |
admit |
declare to be true or accept the reality of |
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When you admit something, you confess that it happened. It wasn't easy to admit that you'd broken the vase, but how else could you explain that your hand was glued to it? |
Besides meaning "confess," admit can also mean "let in," like a theater ticket that says "ADMIT ONE." If you admit that you have a bag of popcorn hidden in your backpack, you might not be admitted to the movie. A doorway admits you into a room, and if a room can hold up to 50 people, that room admits 50. You can even use admit for metaphorical entrances, like the way your wild style admits you into high fashion circles. |
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| 8687 |
salute |
a formal military gesture of respect |
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A salute is a sign of respect. A soldier may salute senior officers by raising a hand to his or her head, or you may informally salute a neighbor with a tip of your hat. |
Salute often has a military context, whether used as a verb or a noun. When gladiators showed up for a day’s work at the Coliseum in Ancient Rome, they had to be prepared to die in battle for the entertainment of the emperor. Beforehand, they would address the emperor with the Latin words “morituri te salutant”, which means “Those of us who are about to die salute you.” Many centuries later, the heavy metal band AC/DC would change those words to a song with a much happier sentiment: “For those about to rock, we salute you.” Rock on. |
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| 8688 |
deprive |
take away |
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Deprive means to keep from having. If your little brother gets loud and hyper every time he eats sweets, your parents might deprive him of sugary cereal and candy. |
Deprive can also mean to take away something that someone already had, or feels they deserve to have, like basic human rights. "A crowd gathered to protest the man's imprisonment for a crime he did not commit; they didn't want to allow the government to deprive him of his freedom." The word comes from the Latin, de", which means "entirely," and privare, which means "release from." Put together, they mean to "entirely release from." In this case, the imprisoned man's freedom is being "entirely released," or taken away, and he'll no longer have it. |
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| 8689 |
politician |
a leader engaged in civil administration |
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A politician is a person who campaigns for or holds a position in government. A politician may start a career by running for a local office, like mayor, but could eventually serve nationally — in Congress or even as President. |
Politician can mean someone who identifies with a major political party. Sometimes voters prefer to elect candidates who aren't career politicians, with more allegiance to the party they represent than the people they serve. A general frustration with politicians has resulted in the use of politician to refer to people who act to gain an advantage for themselves. The office politician may lobby the boss to get preferential treatment, for example. |
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| 8690 |
tomb |
a place for the burial of a corpse |
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A tomb is a place where a dead person is buried. Usually, a tomb is under a tombstone, which says the name of the person who died and when they lived. |
We're all going to die, and that means we're all going to end up in some type of tomb: a place where a corpse is buried. Over time, there have been many types of tombs, including the huge, ornate, elaborate tombs of the Egyptians. Other tombs are simpler, involving the simple burial of a box or the cremated remains. |
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| 8691 |
inspired |
of surpassing excellence |
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Inspired is an adjective that describes something of excellent quality. If your singing in a choral concert is particularly inspired, people can hear your voice hitting all the right notes beautifully. |
If something is so extraordinary that it's worthy of being described as inspired, you might think that the gods had something to do with its creation. In fact, inspired originally meant "directly inspired by God or gods." It comes from the Latin in-"in" and spirare "to breathe." Maybe such supernatural power did breathe life into something truly excellent. Or maybe the humans just worked very hard and had a great idea. |
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| 8692 |
surface |
the outer boundary of an artifact or a material layer |
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The surface is the outside of anything. The earth, a basketball, and even your body have a surface. |
A surface is the top layer of something. The surface of the moon is rocky, with a lot of craters, while the surface of the earth has a lot of water. Sandpaper has a rough surface; a balloon has a smooth but rubbery surface. When we use the word surface, it usually means there is a lot of stuff underneath. That applies to our use of surface to mean outward mood, as in "You look happy on the surface, but I know you're angry on the inside." |
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| 8693 |
decision |
a position or opinion reached after consideration |
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To make a decision is to make up your mind about something. To act with decision is to proceed with determination, which might be a natural character trait. |
Decision originally comes from the Latin decidere ("determine"). You make decisions every day: what to wear, what to eat, how to spend your money, who to vote for, what movie to go to. A court judge makes a decision in a trial (and actually "hands down" or "announces" that decision). If judges make the decision in a boxing match, the winner wins "by decision." More loosely, decision can also refer to the outcome of any game or contest. |
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| 8694 |
palm |
the inner surface of the hand |
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Your palm is the inside part of your hand. When you clap, you smack your palms together repeatedly. |
Your palm extends from your wrist to your fingers. You can hold an orange in your palm or rest your palm on your friend's feverish forehead. Palm can also be a verb, meaning "steal" or "hide inside your hand." So a magician might palm a coin in her palm, and a shoplifter might palm a diamond ring in a jewelry store. Palm trees are named for their leaves' similarity to the fingers of a large hand. |
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| 8695 |
existence |
the state or fact of being |
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Existence is the state of being alive or being real. For example, you and your best friend disagree about the existence of Bigfoot if you think it's real and your friend doesn't. |
The noun existence can be used many different ways, but it always has to do with being alive or with simply "being". You can talk about the survival of something as its existence, like your yo-yo club having lost so many members that its existence is in danger. The particular way you live is another meaning of existence; if you live a quiet, lonely life in the country, you could describe it as a solitary existence. |
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| 8696 |
trench |
any long ditch cut in the ground |
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A trench is a deep and narrow hole, or ditch, in the ground, like the kind soldiers on frontlines might dig to give themselves shelter from the enemy. |
A natural trench may also be a deep hole on the bottom of the ocean. The verb trench means to dig or to cut into, but you will most often hear the word as a noun, particularly relating to soldiers. The phrase trench warfare became popular around World War I, when technological advances in weapons changed the way that wars were fought. Today, you may have even own a trench coat, a kind of raincoat first worn by soldiers. |
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| 8697 |
entitled |
qualified for by right according to law |
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The adjective entitled means you have a legal right to something. If you are entitled to your mother's house when she passes away, that means it's written in her will that she gave it to you. |
Entitled is often used in a more casual way, to mean "allowed." For example, volunteers at the park clean-up are entitled to the water and snacks at the pavilion. Sometimes, though, people feel they are entitled to special treatment because they think they are more worthy than others. This usage of entitled came from the mid 15th century, when it referred to giving someone the title of an estate or property. |
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| 8698 |
entertainment |
an activity that is diverting and that holds the attention |
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Entertainment is amusement, usually involving a performance. The clown at a birthday party, a Broadway show, a stadium rock concert, your friends fighting over the last potato chip––these are all forms of entertainment. |
Entertainment is from the Old French word entretenir meaning hold together or support. It was associated with hospitality––when you entertained a guest, you were keeping them happy. From there, it came to mean amuse or distract. The entertainment is the amusement or the distraction––we talk about theatrical entertainment as shows, visual entertainment as the stuff you like to look at, and audio entertainment as mostly music. |
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| 8699 |
global |
involving the entire earth |
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When something is global, it's happening all over the world. It's easy to spot the connection between global and globe. |
When the volcano in Iceland erupted, it quickly became a global event. Sure, things were tough in Reykjavík, but the dust and ash caused airport shutdowns and schedule disruptions around the world. Michael Jackson was a star in the United States from the time he was a little boy, but after he broke up with his brothers and went solo in the 1980s, he became a global phenomenon. There was hardly a country on earth where Michael Jackson wasn't a star. |
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| 8700 |
suitable |
meant or adapted for an occasion or use |
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As suitable means appropriate for the purpose, you can imagine that sneakers are more suitable than high heels at a track meet. |
While suitable always means appropriate for a certain person or situation, sometimes it is not based on fact but merely a matter of opinion. A bicycle is not a suitable mode of transportation during a winter storm because the rider is exposed to the elements. However, the clothing that you think is just fine for school might seem unsuitable to the principal. Unfortunately, he has the final say in that one! |
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| 8701 |
starve |
die of food deprivation |
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The verb starve means suffering or death caused by a lack of food, though people also use it as a dramatic way to say they are hungry, as in, "If we don't start cooking dinner now, I think I'll starve." |
The word starve has origins in the Old English word steorfan, meaning “to die.” It is true that if you don't eat for a period of time, you could starve, meaning die from hunger. Today, starve is also used to describe less severe limitations on food, such as when you tell your friend, "I have to go to lunch now. I'm starving." This is a way of describing discomfort caused by hunger. |
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| 8702 |
familiar |
a friend who is frequently in the company of another |
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When something is so commonplace you know it well, it's familiar. A familiar song might be one that you hum along to without even thinking about it. |
Like family, anything or anyone you're familiar with has been in your life for a while. It can be used in many ways. After six years of Spanish, you'll be familiar with how to conjugate verbs. You and your close friends are on familiar terms. The smell of musty tent fabric is familiar to anyone who grew up going camping a lot, and may bring on a wave of nostalgia. |
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| 8703 |
vow |
a solemn pledge to do something |
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To vow is to make an earnest promise or pledge. People getting married often vow to stick together “till death do us part,” while a presidential candidate might vow to lower taxes. |
You can use vow as both a noun and a verb: A vow is a solemn declaration; to vow is the act of making that promise. Vows are meant to be serious, sacred things, even vows made with the best intentions can be broken. Wrote American short-story writer and poet Dorothy Parker, “By the time you swear you are his, shivering and sighing, And he vows his passion is infinite and undying—Lady, make a note of this: One of you is lying.” |
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| 8704 |
shield |
armor carried on the arm to intercept blows |
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A shield is a cover that protects whatever is behind or beneath it. If you carry a shield you might be a knight, or a traffic cop who likes to flash the badge. |
Ancestors of the word shield include the Old English scild, similar to sciell, or "shell," which suggests the meaning of the word. If you're a turtle, you might use your shell as a shield. But a shield doesn't have to be something physical. Philosopher Soren Kierkegaard once said, "Love is my sword, goodness my armor, and humor my shield." The word can also be used as a verb. You might shield your tender ears from hearing naughty words. Don't worry, shield is perfectly safe. |
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| 8705 |
haunt |
follow stealthily or pursue like a ghost |
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The verb to haunt means to appear as a ghost or some kind of supernatural phenomenon. Ebenezer Scrooge was haunted by the Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present and Future. |
The first recorded usage of the word haunt is in William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a play filled with supernatural characters running around scaring the knickers off each other. As Shakespeare knew, haunting is at its most effective in the passive voice, because there is much more drama in being haunted than haunting. Another use of the word haunt is as a noun, and it means "a place that is frequented often," like a popular hangout. The gym, a bar, a corner: these are all potential haunts. The dentist, the principal’s office, a busy intersection: these are not. |
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| 8706 |
mock |
treat with contempt |
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Imitation may be the most sincere form of flattery, but to mock is to make fun of or mimic someone with contempt, ridicule or derision. "Louise’s favorite pastime was to mock her brother’s inability to sing on key." |
The verb mock — as in the use that inspired the name of the mockingbird — can be simple imitation but, more often, to mock someone is to show disdain through mimicry or parody. As an adjective, mock indicates a fake or a simulation: "The design team made the most fabulous mock Eiffel Tower for our staging of An American in Paris." "His mock gratitude was, at times, unbearable." |
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| 8707 |
toss |
throw with a light motion |
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When you lightly throw something, you toss it. You might toss your lifejacket and backpack into a canoe before climbing in with the paddles. |
You can toss a baseball to your friend in the backyard, or toss your trash in a wastebasket when you're finished with lunch. You can also toss a coin or toss a salad. Another way to toss is to move back and forth — or thrash — like an insomniac in bed or a boat on a stormy ocean. |
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| 8708 |
pledge |
a binding commitment to do or give or refrain from something |
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A pledge is basically very serious formal promise. You can pledge allegiance to your country, you can pledge to keep a secret, and you can pledge a sum of money to a cause. |
Pledge can be used as both a noun and a verb. As a noun, it can be a solemn promise you've made. Or even the person who makes that promise, like the freshman pledges who take an oath to join a fraternity in college. As a verb, it describes the act of promising. “I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people,” vowed Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States. |
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| 8709 |
perfection |
the state of being without a flaw or defect |
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Perfection is a flawless state where everything is exactly right. It can also be the action of making something perfect. |
Since perfect things are without fault or flaw, perfection is a perfect condition — everything is 100% great. Of course, perfection is hard to find. People often use this word as a compliment for something that just couldn’t be better, as in "That red dress matches your red hair to perfection!” Also, if a musician is getting a song down pat, you could say she’s working on the perfection of the song: she’s learning to play it flawlessly. |
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| 8710 |
anxious |
causing or fraught with or showing anxiety |
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When you are anxious, you are very concerned or worried, but it can also refer to when you are quite interested in something. You might be anxious to improve your performance in math class after falling asleep during a big test. |
The word anxious has generally been used to describe when someone is very concerned about something. In medical terms, to be anxious means feeling uneasy and worried but not always with a specific focus. On the other hand, being anxious can also mean that you are very eager. One meaning is negative and the other is positive! |
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| 8711 |
hut |
small crude shelter used as a dwelling |
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If you've ever camped under a wooden lean-to, you know what a hut is — it's a simple, usually temporary shelter that doesn't do much more than keep the rain off your head. |
A hut can be built from many different materials, including wood, stone, snow, or even cardboard. What all huts have in common is a simple design and the intention that it provide a short-term shelter from the weather. Campers, hikers, and skiers often rest or sleep in huts. The word comes from the French hutte, "cottage," which has its root in the Old English word for "to hide," hydan. Hut was originally used in English to describe military dwellings. |
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| 8712 |
moment |
an indefinitely short time |
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A moment is a particular point in time. Some moments you remember forever: like the moment you earned your driver's license or the moment you learned that you passed your organic chemistry class. |
A moment is a short, but unspecified, amount of time. At Thanksgiving, you are supposed to take a moment to be grateful for friends and family. Or maybe you have been asked to observe a "moment of silence" for a national tragedy. Moment can also mean "importance." If you say something is "of little moment," then you are saying it doesn't matter. |
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| 8713 |
wreck |
something or someone that has suffered ruin or dilapidation |
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A wreck is something that's been destroyed. Your hair might be a wreck after a bad day at the barber. Your car might be a wreck after you hit a telephone pole. |
Your house might be a wreck after a visit from 3-year-old twins. You might be an emotional wreck after a fight with your boyfriend. A sunken ship is a wreck, or a shipwreck. When you hit that telephone pole, you’ve had a wreck, and you can also call your mangled car a wreck. When you’re next heading out with the car keys, you mom might say, "Don't wreck the car!,” hoping you’ll bring it back in one piece. |
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| 8714 |
defense |
the act of defending someone or something against attack |
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Defense has to do with protecting something or fighting against an opponent, whether it's national defense, a football team's defense, or a defense lawyer. |
Defense is the opposite of offense. It has to do with defending against all sorts of things: In the military, defense is about protecting a country from attack. In sports, defense is supposed to stop the other team from scoring. A defense attorney tries to prove his client is innocent. A defense can even be an excuse for doing something, as in "In my own defense, I was sleepwalking at the time." |
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| 8715 |
trunk |
the main stem of a tree |
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The noun trunk refers to the main stem of a tree. If you want to make maple syrup, you need to tap the trunk of the maple tree and collect the tree's sap, which can then be boiled into a sticky syrup. |
The torso of the human body, from the neck to the groin — but not including the head, neck, arms, or legs — is sometimes referred to as the trunk. If you have hives on your trunk, you probably itch on your back, chest and abdomen. The word trunk comes from the Old French word tronc, which referred to the trunk of a tree or a headless body. |
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| 8716 |
devotion |
commitment to some purpose |
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If you feel loyal and loving toward someone or something, that's devotion. If your devotion to your pet hamster truly knows no limits, you might splurge on a solid-gold hamster wheel. |
Devotion also means a commitment or dedication to some purpose. Your devotion recycling is noble, but can you wait until I've read the newspaper? The plural noun devotions can have a religious meaning too, meaning prayers offered to God. You heard the minister was hired for his devotion to God, but the fact that he fell asleep during devotions made you wonder. |
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| 8717 |
certain |
established beyond doubt or question; definitely known |
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When you're certain, you're sure about something. When you raise your hand to give the answer, you feel certain that you are correct. |
Certain can mean "definite" or "sure to happen," like getting wet, a certain outcome of not having an umbrella in a rainstorm. It can also refer to a particular person or thing. You can use it avoid explaining something unnecessarily — you might say, "There are certain things I want to do when I get home." To avoid saying someone's name, you can say, "a certain person," as in, "A certain person left the kitchen a mess." |
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| 8718 |
torture |
infliction of suffering to punish or obtain information |
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To torture is to torment or purposefully put someone through intense pain or agony. |
The word torture comes from the word for "harm." It can refer to the deliberate infliction of physical or mental suffering in order to punish or obtain information; the act of distorting something, so it means something it wasn't intended to mean; or extreme mental distress or unbearable physical pain not necessarily inflicted by another. |
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| 8719 |
sharply |
very suddenly and to a great degree |
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If something happens sharply, it occurs abruptly and intensely. You may hear newscasters gloomily reporting that the price of gas is rising sharply. |
The value of your baseball cards might rise sharply, inspiring you to sell a few of them. A car you're riding in can also swerve sharply, jerking suddenly to the left. You can also describe something that's distinct, clear, or detailed using this adverb: "I love how sharply defined the moon is in your photograph." And finally, if someone speaks sharply, they use a voice so harsh and angry that it seems to have a sharp edge. |
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| 8720 |
satisfactory |
giving contentment |
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If something's satisfactory it's okay — acceptable, but maybe not great. When you take a course pass/fail, your grade will be satisfactory if you meet all the requirements and do a reasonable job, or unsatisfactory if you don't. |
Try not to confuse satisfactory and satisfying. If you've cooked a satisfactory turkey for Thanksgiving, your guests aren't getting sick or making excuses to leave the table, but they're probably not asking for seconds either. But if your turkey is satisfying, everybody is complimenting you on your culinary skills and probably sitting back in their chairs with contented smiles on their faces. |
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| 8721 |
eventual |
expected to follow in the indefinite future |
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The adjective eventual is used to describe something that is likely to happen in the indefinite future. If you are a teen, you can't wait for your eventual graduation from high school, but later, you'll look back fondly on those same high school days. |
Eventual implies that the result will occur due to circumstances already set in motion or if a given set of circumstances happens. In other words, eventual is not used to randomly predict the future. You may hope to win the lottery in the future, but you can't talk about your eventual lottery win because you have no way to guarantee your numbers will be chosen — unless you've figured out a way to rig the system. If you have, maybe you should think about your eventual jail time. |
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| 8722 |
pity |
a feeling of sympathy and sorrow for misfortunes of others |
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If you feel pity, you feel sympathy for someone else's suffering. A documentary on prisoners who have been wrongfully convicted might make you feel pity for them. |
Use pity as a noun or a verb. You feel pity for the really bad singer so you try to look attentive, but then you pity yourself for having to suffer through his terrible rendition of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." We also say something is a pity if it's something to be sad about. It's a pity that your computer crashed right after you finished your paper. |
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| 8723 |
wonderful |
extraordinarily good or great |
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Wonderful is better than good — it's even better than great, like your wonderful luck — finding buried treasure on your very first diving expedition. |
When you look at the parts that make us wonderful, it is easy to see that it means "full of wonder," or awe, admiration, even surprise. The giant Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lit up in all its splendor is a wonderful sight — tourists and New Yorkers alike stop to stare. Other things that are wonderful are very personal to you, like wonderful memories of spending time with your grandparents. |
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| 8724 |
dream |
a series of images and emotions occurring during sleep |
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A dream is one of the little movies in your mind that play at night, or a type of hope: you might dream of being a doctor. |
Everyone dreams, and dreams tend to be weird, but the images and sounds that fill your head as you sleep are just part of the meaning of this word. People also have dreams that are kind of like plans and goals: many people dream of being movie stars. A good car runs like a dream. Something too good to be true feels like a dream. If you're acting confused, someone might say, "Stop dreaming!" |
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| 8725 |
attract |
exert a force on |
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To attract is to exert a force that draws something in, like the way a magnet attracts a paper clip. You might know the phrase, "opposites attract." This means you might be drawn to a personality type that is completely unlike yours. |
With attract comes the sense that the pull you feel towards someone or something is not entirely voluntary. It's quite possible to say that you are attracted to someone, but you don't really like them. Low prices can attract buyers into a store they would not normally go into, and standing on a street corner screaming loudly will probably attract quite a bit of attention, but not the good kind. |
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| 8726 |
breeze |
a slight and usually refreshing wind |
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A breeze is a light, cool wind. One of the nicest things about being at the beach on a hot summer day is feeling the gentle breeze off the water. |
The air that blows your hair around and rustles the leaves is one kind of breeze. Another is the task that's easily completed or the job that is practically effortless: "Your dog is so good, walking him is a breeze!" You can also breeze through something that's simple and fast, like when you breeze through a math test, finishing long before your classmates. |
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| 8727 |
entitle |
give the right to |
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Use the verb entitle to mean "give a right to." At some schools, being a senior might entitle students to go out for lunch on Fridays. |
The most common use of entitle is the one you might see on a coupon, like one for a free ride at the state fair that entitles the holder to one free ride on the Octopus of Terror. When you entitle someone, you give them a claim to something, like when you entitle someone the best goalie in Canada, or make someone a member of the noble class, like when the Queen entitles, or gives a title to, a worthy person. |
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| 8728 |
oath |
a solemn promise regarding your future acts or behavior |
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An oath is a promise. If you want to borrow your brother's car, you may have to swear a solemn oath that you will bring it back unharmed. |
An oath is a solemn promise, sometimes made in front of a witness, or a vow in a court of law that you will tell the absolute truth. No matter what the circumstances are, swearing an oath is serious business. That's why it's odd that an oath can also be an angry outburst of obscene words. Your brother might mutter an oath under his breath and clench his fists angrily if you return his car to him with a broken side mirror. |
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| 8729 |
comment |
a statement that expresses a personal opinion |
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To comment is to state your opinion or make a remark on something. Of course, it's good to know when to hold your tongue. Comment on the latest movie? No problem. Comment on the annoying airport security measures while having your baggage checked? Better not. |
A written explanation or criticism is a comment. Your teacher's comments on your paper may thrill you when you do excellent work or unnerve you when you receive the message, "See me!" If you state your opinion, this is also a comment. Politicians talking to the press are fond of the statement, "No comment," which means they don't want to express an opinion — or more likely, they don't want to get in trouble. |
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| 8730 |
entire |
constituting the full quantity or extent; complete |
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Think of the word entire as referring to all of anything. Now think of that "all" as being whole — not broken or lacking in any way. Remember that, and you will have the entire meaning of the word. |
Entire is based on the Latin integrum, which came from the prefix in-, "not," and tangere, "to touch," and thus means "untouched." From there it developed into the 14th-century Old French entier, meaning "unbroken or complete," and then, through Middle English, into our modern word entire. One use of the word you don't see every day is to describe an uncastrated horse — an "entire horse" is a stallion. Gives a pretty interesting picture of the word, doesn't it? |
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| 8731 |
provisions |
a stock or supply of foods |
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If you are going camping, you want to be sure to pack some provisions, meaning food and drink or any other necessary supplies. Water, energy bars, and granola are all good choices. |
Provisions is from the Latin word provisionem, meaning preparation. If you are going on the camping trip, you'll want to make sure that you have all your provisions ready to go ahead of time. American pioneers heading cross country on wagon trains were very careful in figuring out the provisions they wanted to bring––they had to carry food to last them a year. |
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| 8732 |
devote |
dedicate |
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Devote means to give to. If you devote yourself to jump-roping, you might be found in your driveway every free moment of the day practicing. |
Nuns and priests are said to devote their lives to God. A knight in shining armor devotes himself to his lady. If you devote as much energy to your school work as you do to your hair, your grades should improve. If our country devoted to education even half of the resources we pour into defense, we could eliminate poverty. |
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| 8733 |
creature |
a living organism characterized by voluntary movement |
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A creature is a living thing: there are flying creatures, sea creatures, and even imaginary creatures, like unicorns. |
Ever heard of a "creature feature"? That's a horror movie about weird scary creatures and other monsters. But you can call pretty much any living thing a creature. You'll find all kinds of creatures at the zoo, and maybe even a few lurking in your smelly gym shoes. Bears, bugs, birds, and bunnies are all creatures. When you see the word creature, think "It's alive!" |
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| 8734 |
profess |
confess one's faith in, or allegiance to |
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To profess is to declare something, often insincerely. Your joy on the last day of school might lead you to profess that you'll truly miss seeing all the people who annoyed you all year. |
You can profess something and mean it, but more often the verb profess is used when someone lies about their true feelings. You might profess your love of your grandmother's tuna casserole, or profess that you never bite your fingernails, but you're just saying what you think people want to hear. The original meaning of profess described taking religious vows, and came from the Latin word professus, having declared publicly. |
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| 8735 |
corps |
an army unit usually consisting of two or more divisions |
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A corps is an army unit consisting of at least two divisions. This word can also refer to other groups of people, like a press corps, which is a gang of journalists trying to get the scoop. |
Although the word corps comes from the Latin corpus, for “body,” don’t pronounce the p or you’re talking about the kind of body that goes in a coffin. The main meaning of a corps (which is singular despite the s) is a unit of the army. The word applies to other groups, too. A law firm has a corps of lawyers, a doctor has a corps of nurses, and a tiny car could have a corps of clowns. |
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| 8736 |
cheer |
a cry or shout of approval |
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A cheer is what you shout at a sporting event when you cheer your team on, showing your enthusiasm and support. Often there's a lot of cheer or good spirits at these games, unless of course your favorite team loses. |
The word cheer comes from the Old French chiere, meaning "face." When you cheer someone on, you show approval, whether on your face through a smile, or by shouting encouragement. Cheer is also a quality of being sunny or happy. You can cheer someone up by being silly or entertaining. Or, you could raise a glass to them and toast, "Cheers!" |
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| 8737 |
collect |
gather |
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The verb collect describes gathering or bringing something together. Charity organizations often collect warm coats for people in need. |
Other people who want to help those in need seek monetary donations. If you volunteer for a charity, you may collect on behalf of the charity — meaning you get donations. Collect can also refer to getting payment for money that is owed. If you owe money to someone, eventually he'll find you and say, "I'm here to collect." |
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| 8738 |
receive |
get something; come into possession of |
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Receive means to get or accept. On your birthday you might receive many presents. If you have a huge formal party that night, you'll stand in a "receiving line," where you'll greet or receive your guests. |
Unless you're receiving good news or a stiff reprimand, receive can be pretty great. If one of your gifts is a trip to a spa, you might receive the news with pleasure, and then, when you go to the spa, receive several treatments. And remember, receive is one of those words that you have to say "I before E, except after C, or when sounding like "A" as in neighbor or weigh" before knowing how to spell it. |
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| 8739 |
grain |
a cereal grass |
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When carpenters sand a piece of wood, they "go with the grain." Grain is the texture on piece of wood, which often forms long patterns that show the direction in which the tree grew. |
You may have heard someone say "there's a grain of truth to that" when referring to an outrageous story that has a tiny bit of truth to it. A grain can also be a speck or a particle — the tiniest bit of something. Don't confuse this with another definition of grain, the kind you find in your bread — wheat, oats, alfalfa, and so on. Check out all the grains in the ten-grain bread next time you're in the bakery! |
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| 8740 |
national |
of or relating to or belonging to a country |
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National is an adjective that refers to something or someone that belongs to a nation or country. Baseball is the national pastime of the United States. |
The word national describes anything that is common to, shared by, or represents a group of people or a place that is considered a nation, like the national anthem sung before the national pastime of baseball. National statistics provide information about a country as a whole. During times of war, the national mood is usually tense and sad. A national is also a citizen of a nation. You might be called an “American national” if you are an American living in Paris. |
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| 8741 |
residence |
any address at which you dwell more than temporarily |
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The house or apartment where you live is your place of residence. If you're house proud, it means you keep your residence nice and tidy. |
The act of living in a place is also called residence. You might take up residence in an ancient oak tree when the city threatens to cut it down, for example. The official home of a person in a position of power — like a monarch or a president — is also called a residence. The official residence of the British Prime Minister is 10 Downing Street, and the residence of the President of the United States is 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. |
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| 8742 |
suppose |
expect or believe |
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If you suppose you love your girlfriend, you may not be too sure. Suppose means to guess, or think, or imagine something without absolute certainty. Best hold off on the engagement ring until you know for sure! |
Suppose also has the meaning of assuming something hypothetical for the sake of argument. You might ask, "Suppose someone breaks in while I'm away?" Suppose also has the more technical (and often legal) sense of something you must take for granted if some other condition is to happen. Your theory might suppose the victim was home by 8:00. In this last sense, suppose introduces something that's a precondition. |
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| 8743 |
subscribe |
pay as a contribution to a charity or service |
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If you subscribe to something, you sign up to receive it regularly. If you subscribe to the New York Times, it's delivered to your door every morning or you get online access. |
When you subscribe to a belief, you adopt it as your own. You might subscribe to the notion that children should be seen and not heard, or you might wholeheartedly subscribe to your town's proposal to save the wetlands. A less common use of subscribe is to sign your name on something, reflecting the origin of the word, which comes from the Latin subscribere, "to write below," that is, to sign at the bottom of a document. |
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| 8744 |
fasten |
attach to |
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When you fasten something, you close or attach it. You might fasten your coat, closing each snap, when the sun goes down and the air gets chilly. |
People fasten all kinds of things: we all fasten our seat belts when we board an airplane and fasten our bathrobes by tying them in the front. Your ski goggles might fasten onto your helmet, just as your boots fasten onto your skis. You can also say that you fasten your hair with a barrette or fasten a charm bracelet around your wrist. The Old English root is fæstnian, "make fast or firm." |
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| 8745 |
peer |
look searchingly |
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A peer is someone at your own level. If you are a 10th grader, other high school students are your peers. |
Peer comes from the Latin par which means equal. When you are on par with someone, you are their peer. If kids your age are pressuring you to do something you don't want to do, that's peer pressure. In the sport of basketball, Michael Jordan was without peer, no one could equal his talent. When he switched to baseball, he found himself to be among peers again. |
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| 8746 |
plainly |
in a simple manner without extravagance |
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To do something plainly means to do it either in a very simple way or in an obvious way. You might dress plainly when you're just hanging around the house, but your flair for fashion will be plainly visible when you get dressed up for a party. |
If you're plainly asking your mom for money, it's clear to her what you're doing. But if you live plainly, it means you do things in a simple, non-luxurious way. You can also speak plainly, which either means "using simple words," or "bluntly." Certain religious groups, including Quakers, Amish, and Mennonites, have long been associated with the words plain and plainly because they live, speak, and dress so simply. |
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| 8747 |
strive |
attempt by employing effort |
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To strive is to endeavor, reach, or strain for something above or beyond. We strive for self-improvement, a better world, or success in general. |
The Old French origin of this word, estriver ("quarrel," "dispute"), had its 800th birthday not too long ago. Though it shares its roots with strife ("conflict"), it changed over the years (centuries, actually) to describe something more like a conflict with oneself, the attempt to overcome limitations and stay focused on a goal, regardless of whatever quarrels or disputes come up. |
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| 8748 |
baron |
a nobleman (in various countries) of varying rank |
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A baron is a nobleman — a member of the aristocracy. Barons are also important, powerful businessmen with huge influence over their industries. In Britain, a baron is called “Lord,” but in the States, we call them “rich.” |
Barons are members of the aristocracy — wealthy people born into power and influence. How high a baron ranks depends on the country, but the title always carries respect. Similarly, a business leader who is rich, powerful, and influential is a baron. The term is used in phrases such as oil baron and baron of industry. You can also call that kind of baron a big businessman, magnate, mogul, top executive, or tycoon. |
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| 8749 |
pray |
address a deity, a prophet, a saint or an object of worship |
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To pray is to talk to a deity or god. Some people pray by asking for help or guidance. |
Most religious believers pray in one way or another — some pray out loud, thanking God for the things they have. Others pray silently when they're afraid or worried, or in a group of worshipers at a church or temple. You can also pray in a non-religious way, by begging for something: "I pray you'll really listen to my explanation." Pray comes from the Old French preier, "to pray," with its Latin root word, precari, "ask earnestly, beg, or entreat." |
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| 8750 |
improvement |
the act of making something better |
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When there's improvement, something is getting better. Going from a C to an A in math is an improvement. |
If you want to improve something, you've got to make improvements. Lots of people strive for personal improvement: maybe it's losing a few pounds for an improvement in their appearance, or reading more for an improvement in intelligence. Businesses look for improvement in customer service or profitability. Any change for the better or step in the right direction is an improvement. |
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| 8751 |
ridicule |
language or behavior intended to mock or humiliate |
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When you ridicule someone, you mock or make fun of them. They become the object of your ridicule or mockery. Your bad behavior might bring ridicule on your parents, who raised you to know better. |
The word ridicule is related to ridiculous. If you ridicule a friend, you try to make them look ridiculous. But now that isn't very friendly! Both words come from the Latin redire which means to laugh. When you are ridiculed, you are made a laughing stock, but being the object of ridicule is never funny. |
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| 8752 |
execution |
putting a condemned person to death |
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The planning stage of building a tree house is the fun part — the hard part is the execution of your plan. Execution is taking an idea and actually making it happen. |
The execution of a plan is when you put it into effect, like the execution on the field of a football team's game plan. It can also mean the style in which a project is carried out, like a ballet's creative execution. Execution can also refer to the death of a person, either a prisoner who's been sentenced to death by a court of law, or a deliberate, targeted murder, especially when it's done for political reasons. |
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| 8753 |
patience |
good-natured tolerance of delay or incompetence |
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Patience is a person's ability to wait something out or endure something tedious, without getting riled up. It takes a lot of patience to wait for your braces to come off, to deal with a toddler's temper tantrum, or to build a house out of toothpicks. |
Having patience means you can remain calm, even when you've been waiting forever or dealing with something painstakingly slow or trying to teach someone how to do something and they just don't get it. It involves acceptance and tolerance, and is usually easier to have when there's something in it for you at the end. That could be a goal you've been slowly working to achieve, or just lower blood pressure. |
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| 8754 |
indulge |
yield to; give satisfaction to |
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Indulge is a verb that means "to give in to something," like when you indulge your craving for chocolate by eating a big piece of it. |
The original meaning of indulge is "to treat with unearned favor." That's why it doesn't mean the same as reward. Instead, when you indulge, you enjoy or take part in something just because you want to — like indulging in a celebrity gossip magazine: you know you should be doing something more constructive, but you don't care. When you indulge someone else, you go along with whatever they want to do. |
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| 8755 |
formerly |
at a previous time |
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Use the adverb formerly to describe something that happened earlier. A history teacher might explain that the city of Istanbul was formerly known as Constantinople. |
Something that existed previously, or that has changed in some way over time, can be talked about using the word formerly. Your graceful math teacher might have formerly been a professional dancer, and the building where you take fencing lessons could have formerly been a textile mill. If something happened once upon a time, it happened formerly. The origin of the word traces all the way back to the Proto-Germanic formo, or "first." |
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| 8756 |
foe |
an armed adversary |
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A foe is an enemy. Foes can range from an adversary of one person to that of a nation, from “he is my foe” to “they are my foe.” There is also a “that is my foe” who those who are trying to diet know well, aka chocolate. |
A cousin of the word feud (though they don’t get a long of course) foe may refer to a military opponent or a personal nemesis or rival — Lex Luthor is Superman’s foe. Historically, foes often come in pairs — such as the North and the South in the Civil War. The word foe is sometimes used for an opposing concept or a thing — if you are on a diet, chocolate may be your foe. |
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| 8757 |
local |
of or belonging to or characteristic of a particular area |
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The adjective local describes something related a specific place. The potholes on a certain street in Pringle, Pennsylvania, might merit a story in the local newspaper. |
Locate, location, locale — they all look and sound like local thanks to the Latin root locus, which means "place." Something that's local is limited to a specific place, like a particular neighborhood or city. Local also can describe places that aren't, well, places — they're more like areas. For example, a dentist might administer a local anesthetic to numb your mouth when filling a cavity. That means the anesthetic acts only on a specific area of the body. |
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| 8758 |
exceeding |
far beyond what is usual in magnitude or degree |
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The adjective exceeding comes from the verb to exceed, which means "go beyond." The massage was given with exceeding care — it was worth every cent. |
A parent feels exceeding pride at the graduation of a kid. You might also say that they feel "extra," if that helps to clue you into the meaning of exceeding, but it does have a slightly different meaning. If you were to have "extra" pride, then you'd have more than you needed. You might give the "extra" to someone else. To feel exceeding pride, though, means to have more than you might have expected. It's another way of saying something is exceptional in whatever way you mean. |
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| 8759 |
monster |
an imaginary creature usually having human and animal parts |
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Monsters are imaginary scary creatures that lurk in dark places and horror movies. If it's got 3 heads, shark teeth and lives under your bed, then it's probably a monster. |
Monsters are big. Monsters are hairy. And monsters are certainly scary. Think of the Abominable Snow Man, that Loch Ness creature, or even Shrek — even though he's technically an ogre. This word isn't only for the imaginary, though: you could call anything freakish, frightening, or particularly evil a monster, like a cruel murderer or even a really big, violent storm. |
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| 8760 |
tiny |
very small |
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Tiny means very small. Atoms are tiny. Hawaii is tiny, in comparison to the continental US. If you wear a size five shoe as an adult, you could be said to have tiny feet. |
Throughout the world there are stories about tiny mythical heroes, such as Tom Thumb, a tiny baby, who grew into a tiny child then a man so tiny he was no larger than an average man's thumb. One of the things that people love about doll houses are seeing all the artifacts we live with day to day replicated in miniature, or tiny, form. |
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| 8761 |
chiefly |
for the most part |
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Use the adverb chiefly to mean "mostly" or "primarily." You could say your history class is chiefly focused on 18th century American history if all your teacher wants to talk about is the American Revolution. |
If you usually ride your bike to work, you can say, "I'm chiefly a bicycle commuter," and your neighbor's obituary might mention that she'll be chiefly remembered for her work as a civil rights activist in the 1960s. You can also use chiefly to mean "for the most part," when you talk about the contents or composition of something: "My granola is chiefly almonds." The word comes from the Old French chief, "principal" or "first." |
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| 8762 |
shadow |
a dark shape created by an object blocking a source of light |
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A shadow is a dark shape that is formed when an object blocks a source of light. On a sunny day, practically everything casts a shadow — including you. Shadow can also act as an action, like when you shadow, or follow, someone on the first day at a new job. |
Depending on its use, shadow can have negative or positive connotations. Children often play with their shadows and think of their shadows as constant companions, like in the song lyric "just me and my shadow." On the other hand, you could be such a wimp that you fear your own shadow or at least fear what lurks in the shadows. Used as a verb, a spy could shadow you without your knowledge. Or, your faithful dog might shadow you as you pace around the house. You might be sick and tired of living in the shadow of your older sister who always seems to be the center of attention — blocking you from the spotlight. |
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| 8763 |
passenger |
a traveler riding in a vehicle but not operating it |
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A passenger is a person who rides in a vehicle. If you grab a ride home from school with your best friend, you are a passenger in her car. |
Everyone riding in a train, plane, bus, or any other vehicle is a passenger — except the driver, pilot, or crew. A passenger's only job is to ride along. In the fourteenth century, a passenger was simply a "passer-by," from the Old French passagier, "passing, fleeting, or traveling." The first instance of the modern use was recorded in the early 1500s. |
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| 8764 |
senior |
advanced in years |
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You can use the word senior to describe anyone who's older than you are. You might say, "My brother is six years my senior," especially if you want to make him feel old. |
Senior means "older," but it also means "old or aged," like your grandmother, who despite being a senior citizen, continues her skydiving hobby. A senior is also a student in the final year of either high school or college, or an authority: "She holds a senior position in the State Department." The Latin word senior means "older," and it's the basis of respectful terms in many languages, like señor in Spanish and sire in French. |
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| 8765 |
charming |
pleasing or delighting |
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Something charming is usually pleasing or delightful. More rarely, it can be something supernatural. |
Charms are magical objects and something charming puts you under its spell. In most cases, we mean that only figuratively — if you spent a charming evening with friends, it means their company was so wonderful it was almost enchanting. Charming people have a special, almost magical way of making others like them. But if you're talking about a charming witch, you better watch out for her sorcery and magic tricks. |
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| 8766 |
route |
an established line of travel or access |
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A route is a way for travel or movement, the path from point A to point B. A route can also be the method used for achieving a particular result, like going to school and working hard is your route to success. |
Route comes from an Old French word, rute, “road,” “way,” or “path” and the Latin rupta, “broken way” or “beaten way.” A route can be a highway, like Route 66, or all the places you pass through on the way somewhere, like using a map to find the shortest route. As a verb, route means "to send people or things on a particular course," like detour signs that route you through unfamiliar streets or a package that is routed through Cleveland on its way to you. |
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| 8767 |
management |
the act of controlling something |
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The noun management means "the act of directing or controlling things," like your management of five-year-olds that included fun time, quiet time, and clean-up time. |
Management can be the people in charge of running a business, who have employees who report to them, or the work those leaders do. Good management is a combination of people skills, shrewd business plans, and probably a little luck, too. Outside of business, management can describe anything you direct, like the management of your health by eating right, exercising, seeing your doctor regularly, and getting enough sleep. |
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| 8768 |
sole |
the underside of the foot |
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Sole means not shared with others. If it's your sole responsibility to make the chocolate cake for a party, it's all on you. |
Sole comes from the Latin solus, meaning "alone," and it can describe being the only person involved in something, like being the sole member of the Special People Club. As a noun, your sole is the bottom of your foot. If you order sole in a restaurant, you'll get a flat fish that looks like the bottom of your shoe. Although they sound alike, if you order the soul, the waitperson might send you to a church down the street. |
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| 8769 |
encounter |
come together |
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If you run into that cute guy (or girl) from the local deli when you’re at the grocery store and you stop to chat, you’ve just had an encounter, which is a casual meeting, often resulting by chance. |
When you encounter the word encounter, context will tell you if it’s acting as a verb or a noun. The sentence “When Spencer and Susanna encounter a bear on the trail, they stand very still” illustrates the verb form. “The encounter in the subway left her wishing she had stayed at home” shows the noun form. Whether acting as a verb or a noun, the word carries the connotation of “chance meeting." You don’t plan an encounter; it just happens. |
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| 8770 |
medicine |
the profession devoted to alleviating diseases and injuries |
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Medicine is the field (and body of knowledge) that teaches doctors how to help people. Doctors also give medicine to patients. |
Cough syrup, antibiotics, and pills are all forms of medicine. When someone gives you medicine, they are medicating you. People who study medicine become doctors and nurses. Without the field of medicine — which expands all the time — there would be so much more sickness and death. Medicine is devoted to finding out everything about health, illness, and the human body. |
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| 8771 |
presence |
current existence |
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Presence is the state of being somewhere. When you get an invitation that reads "Your presence is requested,” you are being asked to show up. Your style of being there — your demeanor or bearing — is also your presence. |
Usually, presence is a physical thing. Since the 1600s, the word has also meant something otherwordly, a spiritual or divine presence. If you suddenly feel a weird presence in the room, perhaps it's a ghost . . . or just the cat. Use the phrase "presence of mind" to indicate when someone is quick-witted or just paying attention. While your job washing skyscraper windows doesn't require a lot of brain work, it's a good idea to keep your presence of mind while working. |
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| 8772 |
inspect |
look over carefully |
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When you inspect something, you look at it carefully. When you're buying a used car, you should inspect it inside and out, and if you don't know much about what goes on under the hood, you should have a mechanic inspect it, too. |
Inspect means literally "to look into," and includes the Latin root that you find in lots of other words related to "look" — spectacle, respect, and spectator for instance. If you work in a restaurant, you may see a health department official come to inspect the operation, to make sure everything is clean and the food is stored and cooked properly and that the restaurant doesn't have any health code violations that might make your diners sick. |
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| 8773 |
accordingly |
in agreement with |
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Accordingly means in accord with, or in correspondence with something. If you learn that your so-called best friend is spreading nasty rumors about you, act accordingly and stop being her friend. |
Accordingly is the adverb form of accord, which means harmony, or agreement. We often use the phrase "act accordingly," which just means to behave in a logical manner based on what you feel, learn, or are told. If you are half-starved after being lost in the woods for three days, when you come across a house with a full kitchen, you will act accordingly. Accordingly can also mean "therefore." You were hungry, accordingly you ate. |
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| 8774 |
frequent |
coming at short intervals or habitually |
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Use the adjective frequent to describe something done often and at regular intervals. If your family likes to read, you may be a frequent visitor to the library. You may also have frequent arguments with your family about who gets to read a book first. |
The adjective form of frequent also means regularly and often encountered. If you live on the windward side of Oahu, Hawaii, you may experience frequent rain showers. As a verb, frequent means to be a regular visitor or to patronize. You can frequent the trails of the National Parks. You may prefer to frequent locally-owned businesses. |
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| 8775 |
prevent |
keep from happening or arising; make impossible |
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The verb prevent means "to keep something from happening," like when you use a complicated password to prevent hackers from accessing your account. |
Prevent comes from the Latin word praeventus, meaning "to act in anticipation of," like when you shovel the icy, snow-covered sidewalk to prevent people from falling. Prevent can also mean "to make impossible," like when a school locks the doors during a dance to prevent kids from leaving without their parents knowing. |
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| 8776 |
reputation |
the general estimation that the public has for a person |
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Your reputation is the general belief or opinion that other people have about you. If you are considered trustworthy and kind, you have a good reputation. |
Reputation comes from the Latin word reputationem, which means "consideration." It's how people consider, or label, you — good or bad. The noun reputation can also mean "being known for having a specific skill or characteristic." For example, if you have a reputation in snow shoveling, your phone will soon be ringing off the hook with your lazy neighbors calling. |
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| 8777 |
earth |
the third planet from the sun |
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Earth is our home planet, the third from the sun. Life on earth is possible because of its particular climate and the presence of water. |
Earth is the most familiar of the planets, being the one we live on. You can also use the word to talk about the earth you stand on — it's the non-liquid part of our planet, the solid ground. It's also another word for "dirt" or "soil." The Old English root, eorþe also had a double meaning, both "ground or soil" and "the material world" or "the abode of man," as opposed to the heavens. |
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| 8778 |
dare |
a challenge to do something dangerous or foolhardy |
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When you challenge or provoke someone to try something risky, it's a dare. If you accept a dare, you're probably trying to prove how brave you are. |
When you challenge your friend to a dare, you dare him. You might, for example, dare your brother to jump off the garage into a pile of leaves. Another way to dare is to actually be brave: "I admire her so much, because she dares to stand up to bullies." The Old English root of dare is durran, "to brave danger, venture, or presume." If you say, "How dare you?" you're expressing outrage or indignation. |
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| 8779 |
pleasant |
being in harmony with your taste or likings |
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Something pleasant is nice or enjoyable. Usually, a picnic in the park is considered a pleasant activity. |
Pleasant is a word for things that are pleasing: ice cream is considered pleasant by most people. A second meaning refers to a person who is polite or agreeable. People who have good manners, give compliments, smile often are considered more pleasant than someone who screams and curses all the time. This word is often used for weather: clear skies and warm temperatures are signs of pleasant weather. Still, different weather (and other things) will be pleasant to different people. |
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| 8780 |
convinced |
having a strong belief or conviction |
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If you're convinced that the moon is made of cheese, then you completely believe the moon is made of cheese. Let's hope you're not easily convinced of such silly things! |
When we are convinced of something, we really, sincerely believe it. We think it's true. For example, if someone told you the President used to live underground as a mole person, I hope you wouldn't be convinced too easily. Unfortunately, even when someone has convinced us of something, that doesn't mean it's true. Someone who can be convinced of absolutely anything, no matter how untrue, is called gullible. |
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| 8781 |
permit |
allow the presence of or allow without opposing |
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Permit means to allow. When you permit your brother to come into your room, you let him in. (You can always kick him back out if he messes with your stuff.) |
To permit means to let someone do something. It comes from the Latin permittere which means "give up, allow to pass through." You might feel like you "gave up" when you permitted your brother to enter your room. As a noun, a permit is a document that lets you do something — like when you get a driver's permit to learn to drive, or a gun permit to carry a gun, or even a construction permit to build an addition to your house. |
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| 8782 |
confident |
having or marked by assurance |
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If you're confident you are sure about something, someone, or yourself. He was confident he could keep his balance and cross the river on the skinny log, but he wasn't so confident that the log was strong enough to hold him. |
Confident is often a word of assurance. Someone may ask, "Are you sure that's the right way to do it?" and then, just to be assured, they might say, "So, you're confident that's the right wire to cut so the bomb doesn't blow?" Being really sure of something or being sure of yourself is being confident. "He held his head high, but not in an arrogant or show-off way; he was just confident about who he was. He liked himself." |
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| 8783 |
uniform |
clothing of distinctive design worn by members of a group |
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Uniform means the same. If your school has a uniform it means all the kids wear the same clothes. If you are told to make your handwriting uniform, they want your letters to be the same shape and size over and over. |
When you break uniform down, you'll see uni for one, and form, for shape––things that are uniform have the shape. If you are building a Zombie Army, it's more fun to create zombies who are not uniform. Some can wear shredded shrouds, others can wear whatever they find. Some walk just fine, others leave body parts wherever they go. |
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| 8784 |
leaf |
a flat, usually green part of a plant attached to a stem |
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A leaf is part of a plant that's usually green and attached to it by a stem or stalk. In the fall, the leaves of many trees turn various bright colors before falling to the ground. In the spring, trees grow new leaves. Ahhh, the circle of life. |
A plant's leaves are the organs that take part in photosynthesis, which brings it needed nutrients. From this botanical meaning comes another definition of leaf, "a sheet of printed paper or a page in a book." And when you leaf through a book, you turn its pages. You might also "tremble like a leaf," or shake with fear; or "turn over a new leaf," start a new part of your life with new resolutions or attitudes. |
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| 8785 |
servant |
a person working in the service of another |
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A servant works at someone’s home, often doing lowly tasks. You might feel like a servant when your mom insists that you do the dishes before you can do anything fun, but think how she feels cooking dinner every day! |
If you’re a servant, you serve someone else. In that 1930s mystery novel, chances are the rich family had servants to set the table and do the laundry. Nowadays, calling someone who does those things a servant has an insulting connotation. If you think your hard work gets no respect, you might feel like a servant. But people who work for the government like to be called "public servants," because they serve the good of public and not themselves. |
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| 8786 |
instant |
a very short time |
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An instant is a very short time. In combinations like instant coffee and instant replay it means available right away without a wait. |
Instant and moment mean the same thing if you are talking about a particular time in the past like you remember the instant or moment you realized that you had won the lottery. However, the two words are very different when talking about time in the future. "I'll be there in an instant" means you're coming as quickly as possible, whereas if you say "I'll be there in a moment," someone is going to have to wait a bit for you. |
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| 8787 |
startle |
surprise greatly |
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To startle is to jump, like when you're surprised. If you’re sneaking through a dark room and step on a sleeping dog’s tail — you might startle the dog. If she barks, that dog startles you right back! |
A startle is a quick, sharp movement, like a little jump that happens when you’re surprised or suddenly scared. If you sneak up on your mom and say "Boo!" you’ll startle her and she might jump up in her seat (before she yells at you to quit it). Alarm clocks and barking dogs often startle people. The original meaning of startle, around 1300, was "to run back and forth," from the Old English word styrtan, "to leap up." |
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| 8788 |
prophet |
someone who speaks by divine inspiration |
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By the time you finish reading this definition, you will understand what a prophet is. How do I know? Perhaps I am a prophet, someone who can predict the future. Or maybe it’s just a guess. |
The future is a foggy mystery, but a prophet sees beyond that fog to speak about what’s to come. A fortune teller is a prophet, and so is a savvy computer designer who knows how technology will change in ten years. Prophet comes from the Greek word for “spokesman,” which explains another definition of prophet: someone who speaks on behalf of God. Prophet is pronounced the same as profit, and some prophets use their talents to earn lots of profit. |
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| 8789 |
abroad |
to or in a foreign country |
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If you study abroad in your junior year of college, you are going to school in another country. Use abroad when you are talking about going to or from a place across an ocean. |
Abroad really just means in a different country, but it is almost always used interchangeably with "overseas." You almost never hear an American say, "She lives abroad; she's studying in Canada." You might be eager to take a trip abroad. If so, get your passport ready. They won't let you board a plane going abroad without one. |
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| 8790 |
permanent |
continuing or enduring without marked change in status |
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Something that’s permanent is constant and lasting, as opposed to temporary. Think twice about writing in permanent marker or getting a tattoo — both are just about impossible to erase. |
If you wait around for something permanent to change, you'll be there for a long time — maybe forever. That's because the adjective permanent is used to describe something that continues on into the foreseeable future without shifting, moving, or changing at all. You might also come across the noun permanent, which refers to a chemical treatment used to curl your hair. But please know that "perms" aren't really cool anymore. |
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| 8791 |
violence |
a turbulent state resulting in injuries and destruction |
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Violence is aggression, usually physical aggression that causes harm. Beating someone up and attacking a defenseless village are both forms of violence. |
From wars and acts of terrorism to bar brawls, violence is unfortunately very common in the world — and when there's violence, people get hurt. But you'll see a lot of organized violence and acts of aggression in sports: boxing and football are extremely violent, which is why people who play those sports get so many injuries. We can also say that something powerful or wild happens with violence, like a destructive tornado. |
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| 8792 |
glance |
take a brief look at |
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Glance involves quick contact. When you glance at someone you take a quick peek at them. When a knife blow glances off you, it doesn't penetrate, but hits at an angle. |
When you glance at someone, it's often because you don't want to be caught staring. Remember: "Strangers in the night/exchanging glances..." In certain circles, if someone is caught glancing at someone else's girlfriend, he'll find himself in a fist fight, praying only that his beefy opponent will deliver only a glancing blow. |
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| 8793 |
wound |
an injury to living tissue |
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A wound is a serious injury, especially a deep cut through the skin. But things like pride and feelings can also get wounded. |
Wounds are serious: we're talking a lot worse than just a scrape or booboo. Just about all the meanings of this word have to do with being hurt. If you got stabbed, you got a stab wound. Soldiers in battle get a lot of wounds from enemies. If someone told you to shut up, they might wound your feelings. If you slipped in a puddle in front of your friends, that might wound your pride. |
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| 8794 |
erect |
upright in position or posture |
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Erect means "build" or "upright." If you erect a house, you build it. If you stand erect, you hold your body as tall as possible. |
Erect comes from the Latin word erectus, meaning “upright, elevated, lofty” or “eager, alert, aroused.” Erect is a verb, as in, it will take you years to erect your replica of the Eiffel Tower using only gum and toothpicks. Erect is also an adjective, as in something that is tall, firm, straight or rigid, like a half-dead plant that becomes more erect when you water it. |
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| 8795 |
treasure |
any possession that is highly valued by its owner |
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Treasure is usually associated with riches — gold, jewels, doubloons — the stuff contained in pirates' treasure chests. However, you can also treasure things with purely sentimental value — like your pet rock or your blankie. |
The English word treasure comes from the Old French tresor, both meaning "something of great worth." Still, the French tresor sounds so much more luxurious than the English treasure, and that form is the chosen name for an expensive perfume. Worth is relative, though. Going back further, we find that the Latin word for treasury is thesaurus, which is what a book of synonyms is called. Guess the ancients always understood the richness — and worth — of words. |
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| 8796 |
warning |
a message informing of danger |
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A warning is a caution against something dangerous. When there's a shark warning at the beach, the lifeguards will order everyone out of the water. |
When you receive a warning, you get an official advance notice of some impending problem. A crow might caw loudly as a warning when it sees a cat, and a traffic cop might give a first-time speeder a warning instead of an expensive ticket. You can also use warning as an adjective: "The warning light came on in her car as it started to overheat." |
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| 8797 |
assistance |
the activity of contributing to the fulfillment of a need |
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If you see a blind man having trouble crossing the street, offer him some assistance. Lending a hand is just one way of providing assistance. |
Assistance is a noun that means to help or aid. It's the noun form for the verb to assist. Homes for the elderly are sometimes called "assisted living facilities" because they provide assistance to older folks who might need assistance getting in and out of bed, or feeding themselves. If you're in a store and no one is helping you, call a manager and ask for assistance. However, if you like to shop, you probably won't need any assistance spending money. |
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| 8798 |
crisis |
a crucial stage or turning point in the course of something |
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A crisis is a difficult or dangerous time in which a solution is needed — and quickly. For example, the crisis caused by a natural disaster might inspire you and your friends to make a donation. |
The noun crisis comes from the Latinized form of the Greek word krisis, meaning "turning point in a disease." At such a moment, the person with the disease could get better or worse: it's a critical moment. Think of a celebrity whose recent antics generate headlines like "Rock Star in Crisis" — that person needs help that may or may not be sought. At the moment of crisis, things are unstable and maybe even dangerous. |
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| 8799 |
deceive |
cause someone to believe an untruth |
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To deceive means to trick or lie. A crafty kid might deceive his mother into thinking he has a fever by holding the thermometer to a light bulb to increase the temperature. |
Deceive is the trickier cousin of lie. You might lie about why you were late to school. But if you simply don't explain to your mom that you were late in the first place, you are deceiving her. Deceive carries with it a feeling of both craftiness and betrayal. When you deceive someone, forgiveness can be hard to come by. Have you heard of the spelling rule, "i before e except after c" that has so many exceptions? Well, deceive follows that rule. |
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| 8800 |
immense |
unusually great in size or amount or extent or scope |
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Immense means very large in size, amount, or degree. You might describe the ocean as immense, or your homework load, or the slice of cake your brother took, leaving you a tiny sliver. |
This word has an immense number of near synonyms: huge, great, enormous, vast, gigantic, colossal, mammoth, copious, tremendous are a few of the more common ones. If you're having immense difficulty deciding which word to use, just plain "very big" might do. |
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| 8801 |
voyage |
a journey to some distant place |
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If someone tells you "bon voyage!" they mean have a good trip. Voyage means trip in French but in English, we use it to mean a long journey. |
Though voyage is usually used literally to mean a long and exciting journey or a trip that involves sailing such as a cruise, it can be used figuratively as well. Researching your family tree might become a voyage of self-discovery, taking you places you don't expect and teaching you more about yourself than you thought possible. |
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| 8802 |
enjoy |
derive or receive pleasure from |
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To enjoy something is to take delight or pleasure in something: to have fun doing it. Whatever you like or love, you enjoy. |
Saying you enjoy something is a major compliment: it means you like it, and it makes you happy. Some people enjoy sports; others enjoy music. TV, movies, books, video games, sunny days, pets, and exercise are enjoyed by many people. Different people enjoy different things. We can also talk about enjoying as a type of advantage. A tall boxer enjoys an advantage because he has a longer reach than a short boxer. |
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| 8803 |
complain |
express discontent, displeasure, or unhappiness |
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To complain is to express your unhappiness about something. You might complain to your landlord about a raise in your rent, or to the cops about your noisy neighbors. Just don't whine; it won't get you anywhere. |
Speakers of Yiddish will know that complain is often interchangeable with kvetch, which is what you do when you don't like the food or the small portions. But you can complain in a more formal way by, say, writing a letter or even filing a lawsuit. But whether the issue is large or small, do yourself a favor and don't complain too often, or people might stop taking you seriously. |
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| 8804 |
advertise |
make publicity for; try to sell |
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The verb advertise means to publicize a service or product in order to try to get you to buy or use it. If you see people eating delicious-looking chocolate in a television commercial, for example, you'll probably want to buy it. |
You don't have to use television, radio, or print media to advertise something — or even try to sell it at all. In fact, the word advertise can also simply mean to call attention to something. Your neighbors might advertise their lottery win by parking flashy cars in the driveway and having an endless supply of packages delivered to their house. |
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| 8805 |
protect |
shield from danger, injury, destruction, or damage |
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Whether it’s your reputation or your jewelry, when you protect something you keep it safe from anything that might threaten or harm it. |
The word protect came into English by way of the Latin verb protegere, a combination of pro- meaning “in front,” and tegere, meaning “to cover.” When you protect something, in a way you’re covering it or shielding it from harm. Often the word is used in the sense of protecting something, like a valued item or a person, but you can also protect against something. For example, you might get a flu shot to protect against the flu virus. |
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| 8806 |
goal |
the state of affairs that a plan is intended to achieve |
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The goal is the intention of an activity or a plan. In a figurative sense, a goal is the mission of a person or group. A tangible goal could be the net at one end of a soccer field. Your goal is to kick the ball into the net, and then you will have scored a goal. |
Goal used to mean "the end point of a race." When you score a goal during a sporting event, the play does momentarily stop. If your goal is to win the presidency and you are in fact elected, you have achieved that goal. A goal is the reason for your efforts. People set goals in all aspects of their lives, not just in scoring points. "Her goal is to eat 40 cupcakes in one day." Go figure. |
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| 8807 |
roar |
make a loud noise, as of an animal |
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To roar is to make a ferociously loud sound, like a lion or a tiger. If you go to a football game, you'll hear the crowd roar whenever their team scores a goal. |
A wild animal roars when it makes its long, full cry, and a person (or a thing) can emit a similar roar. Your boisterous uncle roars with laughter, and the frustrated substitute teacher might roar angrily at the class. Motorcycles sometimes roar down the street, and a judge might silence a courtroom when she roars, "Order!" Roar can also act as a noun, meaning the sound itself — like the roar of the crowd that drowns out your voice. Roar comes from an imitative Old English root. |
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| 8808 |
sail |
a large piece of fabric used to propel a vessel |
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A sail is the big piece of cloth attached to a mast that propels a sailboat through the water by catching the wind. Part of learning to sail a boat is learning how to use the sails. |
Most sailboats have two sails, the mainsail and the jib or headsail on the front of the boat. When you sail, you pilot the boat, or simply ride on it — you can also say you go for a sail. Additionally, the verb sail is used when something seems to float on the air: "The kite sails high in the blue sky." You "sail through" something when it's very easy and quick. |
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| 8809 |
recommend |
express a good opinion of |
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If you recommend a person or thing is to vouch for them. Recommend can also be to advise. If your doctor recommended an exercise program to you that's changed your life, you might recommend your doctor to your friends. |
Recommend is connected to the verb commend "to praise." They are both spelled with one c and two m's, reflecting the prefixes re- and com-. These verbs overlap in some uses: you can recommend or commend an applicant for employment. But commend is used for special or public praise: "He was commended for bravery." |
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| 8810 |
splendid |
characterized by grandeur |
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Looking truly magnificent today? Then someone (probably British) might stop you to say "Wow! You look splendid, darling!" Thanks the person, because splendid means glorious, fabulous, wonderful, and/or splendiferous. |
Use the adjective splendid to describe something of the highest quality. If you're so lucky as to have someone buy you, say, a Harry Winston diamond, splendid! But splendid doesn't apply only to expensive items such as jewelry, clothing, or art. You can also have a splendid idea, morning walk, or encounter with an old friend. For some, using Splenda in their coffee instead of sugar is, for them, well, splendid! |
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| 8811 |
survive |
continue in existence after |
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To survive something is to live through it or endure it. You can survive a car accident, or you can survive your little brother's four-hour violin recital. |
The verb survive is from the Latin word supervivere, “live beyond,” or “live longer than.” Originally to survive was used in the legal context as in “you survive your wife and therefore inherit her kingdom.” However, nowadays you might say that you were able to survive a holiday at your in-laws’, that your brother survived his first round of job interviews, or that you will never survive another all-day trip to the zoo in ninety degree heat. |
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| 8812 |
elect |
choose by a vote for an office or membership |
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To elect is to choose. A group of citizens may elect the next president, or you may just elect to stay home during the blizzard. |
Most famously, in the political sense, elect means to choose a person for public office, usually via an election. It also means to choose a particular course in life of major consequence. You probably don't elect to drink Pepsi over Coke, but you do elect to study a particular major at college, or sign up for military service. |
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| 8813 |
swift |
moving very fast |
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If you were the first one to reach the finish line in gym class, the coach might have called you swift. Swift means quick or fast-moving. A glance, a current, even a decision can be swift. |
You can use the adjective swift to describe things that move or happen rapidly and smoothly. Deciding to borrow a parent's car without permission could result in swift punishment. Foxes are so swift that if you leave the chicken coop open for a moment, one might slip in. Conversely, if innuendo sails over your head, your friends might say, “You’re not too swift on the uptake, are you?” A swift is also a small bird that looks a lot like a swallow. |
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| 8814 |
future |
the time yet to come |
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A time that hasn’t happened yet is the future. You're reading this in the present, and what you read by clicking on the link for the next screen will happen in the future, i.e., in the time ahead. |
Future goes back to the Latin root futūrus "about to be," and it is a noun or an adjective referring to things to come. When we hope, we are often imagining what will happen in the future. You might dream of becoming a doctor in the future, or you're looking forward to the weekend, just days away but still in the future. Now is the present, yesterday is the past, and tomorrow is the future, the opposite of the past. |
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| 8815 |
expend |
use up, consume fully |
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The verb expend means to use. If you expend all your energy raking the leaves, you may be too tired to play hockey afterwards. Better pace yourself — you'll never get all of the leaves on the ground, after all. |
The verb expend means to spend or pay out. You can expend money, but you can also expend things like good will and time. As a voter, you can vote for or against the city's plan to expend money on a new library building, but the city may be expending voter willingness to support the plan if the building goes over the budget. There is no point in building a library if they can't afford to buy books! |
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| 8816 |
imagination |
the ability to form mental images of things or events |
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Imagination refers to the process of forming images or concepts in the mind, often images of things that are not really there. That shark in your bathtub must have been in your imagination — or was it? |
Often shunned for living in a dream world, imagination is behind unicorns, Big Foot, and excessive daydreaming. But it’s humans’ ability to picture what is not there, and to be resourceful and creative, that is behind many of our achievements. Maybe that’s why Albert Einstein said “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” After all, without a little imagination, we wouldn’t have the pyramids, the space shuttles, or the Star Wars trilogy. |
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| 8817 |
repute |
the state of being held in high esteem and honor |
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A person of great or fine repute is someone who's widely known and highly respected. The word has a stuffy feel, so you're better off describing a cellist as being of great repute than, say, a rapper or comedian. |
Like the words reputation and putative, repute comes from the Latin word putare, which means "consider." And the re? Let's say that the cellist Yo-Yo Ma is widely respected. That means a lot of people consider him to be great. He's considered great not just once but again (and again and again). |
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| 8818 |
reality |
the state of being actual |
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Reality is the way things actually are, not the way you might want them to be. Many TV shows claim to be reality, but they are really just pretend. The only actual reality is the life that happens every day. |
The noun reality harkens back to the late Latin realis, and later to the mid-16th Century Medieval Latin reālitās, referring to legal property matters, with the current meaning of "true existence" not coming about until 1647. Philosophers and scientists often debate about the true nature of reality, and a common philosophy is that a person’s reality is whatever he or she thinks it is. Or, as film director Tim Burton once said, "One person's craziness is another person's reality." |
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| 8819 |
regret |
feel sorry for; be contrite about |
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To regret something is to wish it had never happened. Wish you hadn't reached for that fourth piece of chocolate cake? You regret it. |
Regret is often called a useless emotion, because you can only regret what has already taken place. It's too late to change things, so all that's left to do is regret. Regret can also function as a noun, as in the feeling of regret you have when you realize that you should have been nicer to your kid sister and should have not locked her into the dog crate for the afternoon. You often hear people exclaim "No regrets!" when they talk about their life choices, but we're dubious because who doesn't have at least one horrible outfit in their memory that makes them cringe with a feeling of regret? |
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| 8820 |
exception |
an instance that does not conform to a rule |
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An exception is something that is left out or not done on purpose. An exception to a rule does not follow that rule. |
This word is used for all sorts of things that are not usual or usually allowed. The saying ”i before e except after c,” is about an exception to a spelling rule. If you run every day but take Saturdays off, you're making an exception. If your teacher punishes you for being late even though you have an excuse, she might say, "I'm sorry, but I can't make an exception." When you see exception, think "Something different than usual is happening." |
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| 8821 |
generous |
willing to give and share unstintingly |
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Generous people are the ones who give more than is expected of them. It's generous of your friend to take the couch and let you sleep in the bed when you stay over at her place. She didn't have to do that. |
When you decide to go one step beyond what's expected of you, you're being generous. A generous helping of food is a bigger than expected scoop of mashed potatoes. A generous teacher is one who volunteers to stay after school to help you with your homework. Be generous yourself: don't forget the letter o when you spell the word generous. Just think of it as a generous act, throwing that extra letter in there. |
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| 8822 |
conference |
a prearranged meeting for consultation or discussion |
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A conference is a formal get-together where people talk (or "confer") about a chosen topic, like when your office holds a conference to talk about the problem of snoring during meetings. |
A conference can also be a public meeting arranged for discussion, such as a press conference or a national conference for a particular group. For example, you may no longer have much interest in 18th-century coins, but you still attend the annual conference for coin collectors because it is always held at a hotel in Aruba. A conference can also refer to a sports league, such as for baseball or football. |
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| 8823 |
abound |
exist in large quantities |
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When things abound, there are a lot of them. In spring, birds, flowers, rain, and frisbees abound. |
This word has to do with an abundance of something. In cities like Buffalo, NY, snow abounds. In very hot weather, insects and suntan lotion abound. Dogs are happy at the park when squirrels abound — meaning there are a lot of squirrels. On the moon, rocks abound, but that's about it. |
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| 8824 |
wonder |
the feeling aroused by something strange and surprising |
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When you wonder about something, you want to learn more about it. You wonder why the car is making that noise so you ask the mechanic to explain it. |
Wonder comes from the Old English word wundor, which means "marvelous thing, the object of astonishment." For example, the Taj Mahal is one of the great wonders of the world, so beautiful and magical. But wonders are all around us — anything that amazes and marvels is a wonder, like high-definition television, the Internet, your mom's homemade pizza — though we tend to forget this because we are used to them. |
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| 8825 |
deserve |
be worthy |
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We deserve things based on our actions. For example, many people believe murderers deserve the death penalty. |
Deserve is used in many ways, but it always carries a sense of balance or justice. If someone receives an award for their work, it means they deserve praise and attention. If you deserve a day off, it means you've been working hard and have earned a vacation. If you threw a book during class, you deserve a punishment of some kind. Many laws — and lots of arguments — are about deciding what different people deserve. It's often hard to tell. |
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| 8826 |
conscience |
motivation deriving from ethical or moral principles |
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A conscience is a built-in sense of what's right and what's wrong. That sick feeling in your stomach after you meanly told your younger brother the truth about Santa Claus? That might be your conscience bothering you. |
The word conscience contains the word science, which comes from the Latin word scientia, meaning "to know" or "knowledge." You can think of your conscience as your knowledge of yourself, especially when it comes to your own morals, or your feelings about right and wrong. Pangs of conscience, which feel like an uncomfortable inner voice, are helpful when you're trying to decide the right thing to do in a particular situation. |
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| 8827 |
expected |
considered likely or probable to happen or arrive |
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Something expected is likely to happen: it's probable. During winter, snow is expected. |
When you expect something, you anticipate that it will happen. As people age, they expect some grey hair. Things described as expected are things people know will probably happen. For football players, many injuries are expected. If you have a baby, many changes in your life are expected. For example, it’s expected that the baby will often cry, causing the parents to lose sleep. Expected things are the opposite of surprising things. No one is surprised by an expected event. |
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| 8828 |
defeat |
an unsuccessful ending to a struggle or contest |
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Defeat is the opposite of victory. When you lose, you suffer defeat. When you win, you defeat your enemy. |
This is a word that's all about losing. In World War II, America and the Allies defeated the Axis powers: we beat them. In basketball, Michael Jordan usually defeated his opponents. Any loss can be called a defeat. When you're disappointed or think that nothing is going right, you feel defeated. If you're determined to win, you could say, "I won't accept defeat!" Some people are so stubborn that even though they've obviously been defeated, they won't admit defeat. |
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| 8829 |
beast |
a living organism characterized by voluntary movement |
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A beast is an animal — and usually not a gentle or attractive one. You can also call a person a beast when they're behaving in a crude, savage, or horrible way. |
There are many types of beast in the world: dogs, cats, horses, monkeys, birds, and fish are all beasts. Even tiny critters like bugs are beasts. A beast is basically any living thing, except for plants, because plants can't intentionally move. People can be called beasts too when they behave in a beastly way. A criminal is likely to be called a beast. So is a rude person. Anyone acting in an uncivilized or cruel way is being a beast. |
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| 8830 |
completely |
with everything necessary |
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Use completely to describe something that is totally and utterly...something. A completely ridiculous idea is absolutely crazy and stupid. |
Completely is an adverb that comes from the Latin completus, "to fill up." We use it to mean "entirely" or "wholly." So if a building is completely destroyed, no part of it is left standing. Reading a newspaper story or watching a documentary film completely means you finished it from beginning to end. And doing so can completely change your view on an issue. |
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| 8831 |
unfortunate |
marked by or resulting in bad luck |
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Something unfortunate is something that you wished had not happened — like that unfortunate incident that got you suspended from school. Let's not bring that up. |
Unfortunate can also describe unlucky circumstances. A natural disaster like an earthquake or a tornado will always have unfortunate consequences. You can even use unfortunate as a noun to identify someone or something not favored by fortune — like the unfortunates whose lives were shattered by the earthquake. |
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| 8832 |
declare |
state emphatically and authoritatively |
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If you declare victory, you are ending a war by saying you have won. Hopefully, the other side agrees, or your troops might declare you a fool. To declare is to state clearly and officially. |
In elections, the government body that counts the votes declares the winner. Until the declaration is made, the results are not official. When you are traveling, you might be asked if you have anything to declare. You're not being asked for a statement of your beliefs, rather they want to know if you bought anything taxable abroad. If you hear your grandmother say, "Well, I declare!" you can be sure she is shocked and offended. |
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| 8833 |
husband |
a male partner in a marriage |
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A husband is a married man. Your grandfather might joke that he and your grandmother have been husband and wife for so long because she has the patience of a saint and he is deaf as a post. |
The word husband comes from the Old Norse hūsbōndi, where hūs meant house and bōndi meant dweller. As a verb, husband means to conserve resources and use them frugally. Because of the flooding in the area, roads are cut off and everyone is being asked to husband their supplies. This conservation of resources sense of husband also occurs in the related noun husbandry. |
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| 8834 |
shame |
a painful feeling of embarrassment or inadequacy |
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Shame is a painful feeling that's a mix of regret, self-hate, and dishonor. A good person would feel shame if they cheated on a test or did something mean to a friend. |
Feeling shame — or being ashamed — is one of the most miserable feelings of them all. When you feel shame, you feel like a bad person and regret what you did. If you're trying to make someone else feel bad by scolding them, you're shaming them. People also often say, "That's a shame," when something bad happens — meaning it's sad or a pity. |
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| 8835 |
marked |
easily noticeable |
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Marked is an adjective meaning “clear” or “noticeable.” Filling your living room with pictures of pandas will show your marked appreciation for all things panda. |
The adjective marked can have several senses. In addition to meaning “very noticeable,” it can be used in relation to the noun mark, as in “to show a mark.” You may have also heard the expression a “marked man.” Marked in this sense means to have been chosen for punishment or a bad ending. Trip your opponent in this year’s field day sack race, and you will likely find yourself a marked man at the next contest. |
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| 8836 |
commerce |
transactions supplying goods and services |
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Commerce is the exchange of goods and services. It's business. Competition between cities wanting to host the Olympics is fierce because the games increase tourism and commerce. |
Commerce made its way into English from the Latin word commercium — com-, meaning "together," and -mercium, meaning "merchandise." Business, trade, and retailing are all common synonyms. Commerce doesn't always refer to buying and selling, though, just as the marketplace doesn't always refer to goods and services. Data, information, and opinions, too, can be exchanged and traded, as on the Internet, which is a great place for the commerce of ideas. |
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| 8837 |
gradual |
proceeding in small stages |
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Use the adjective gradual to describe something that happens slowly, bit by bit, like the gradual increase in the amount of daylight in winter. |
Gradual can also apply to the gentle slope of landforms like hills. A gradual incline seems to slowly rise — you may not even realize you're walking up such a hill. Gradual comes from the Latin word gradus, which means "step." Step by step, a gradual hill climbs, while a steep hill seems to leap up into the air. |
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| 8838 |
depend |
be contingent upon |
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To depend is to have confidence in something or someone. You can depend on your most loyal friend to show up for your modern dance performance in the park (although you probably can't depend on her liking it). |
Depend can also mean "determined by or contingent on something else." For example, if rain is in the forecast, your outdoor dance performance may be cancelled; it depends on the weather. Depend is almost always followed by the word on or upon, with upon being more formal. If you're speaking informally, you may drop the on or upon, as in "It all depends how you feel." Your decision to do that will, of course, depend upon your audience. |
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| 8839 |
obliged |
under a moral obligation to do something |
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Someone who is obliged is bound to follow through on whatever is expected of him. Every April you are obliged or expected to submit your taxes. If you don't, the IRS is obliged to charge you with tax evasion. Ouch. |
The word obliged comes from the Latin ligare meaning "to bind." Obliged typically refers to a moral or legal obligation or responsibility. If you're being followed by an ambulance with its siren on, you are obliged to pull to the side of the road and let it pass. In some cultures, women are obliged to cover their heads. |
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| 8840 |
restore |
bring back into original existence, function, or position |
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If you restore furniture for a living, you clean and repair it to bring it back to its original beauty. |
When you restore something, you are simply bringing it back to what it once was. You are not making it better, nor are you adding something that wasn't there. You can restore a damaged reputation, your health, or an old house, though the latter may be easiest of those three to accomplish. If the electricity goes out, you will have to sit in the dark until the power is restored. |
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| 8841 |
vision |
the ability to see |
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If you are getting your eyes checked, a doctor is checking on your vision — or your ability to see. But if you have visions of unicorns romping over rainbows, that's a whole other issue that the eye doctor can't address. |
The noun vision describes how well you can see, but it can also refer to things you may see, but that aren't physically there. Sometimes people claim to have religious visions of God, angels, the Virgin Mary, and so on. The word can also be used to describe something that is lovely: "The bride was a vision in white." |
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| 8842 |
avail |
be of use to, be useful to |
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To avail means to take advantage of an opportunity, the way you'd be crazy not to avail yourself of a chocolate milkshake on Free Milkshake Day at your local ice cream parlor. |
Sometimes avail is used to mean "help," and in that case it can be used in a sentence like "Nothing seemed to avail me, not even winning the lottery." More often though, avail shows up in the company of "oneself of," as in the sentence, "I hope you avail yourself of my advice, because I'm very wise." It might seem like a complicated way to use a verb, but it's one you should avail yourself of if you're hoping to impress someone. |
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| 8843 |
err |
make a mistake |
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When you err, you make a mistake or do something wrong. When a newspaper reporter errs in a printed story, the paper often prints a correction the next day. |
By itself, err, which shares a Latin root with error, is a formal way to say "mess up." The proverb "To err is human, to forgive divine" is an old-fashioned version of "Hey, everyone makes mistakes. Why don't you be the bigger person and let it go?" Err can also mean to go in a certain direction, as in another common saying, "Err on the side of caution," or "Play it safe." |
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| 8844 |
interrupt |
make a break in |
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To interrupt someone is to interfere in their activity, disrupt their conversation, or to disturb their peace and quiet. |
Imaging you're watching reruns of Jeopardy! and your mom interrupts you, threatening to turn off the TV unless you take the trash out. Then your brother interrupts your peace and quiet by shouting answers — wrong answers — at the TV. A special weather bulletin then interrupts your "regularly scheduled program" with a severe thunderstorm warning. And, to complete the job, lightning causes an interrupt (now used as a noun) in the power grid and your electricity goes off. |
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| 8845 |
ignorant |
uneducated in general; lacking knowledge or sophistication |
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If you make an ignorant comment, your listeners might laugh at you, might get mad at you, or they might patiently instruct you in the ways that you are uninformed. |
People can be generally ignorant, meaning that they are uneducated and lacking in sophistication. Or people can be ignorant of specific types of information. In fact, we all are. For example, most of us are ignorant of the particulars of nuclear physics and ignorant about what it takes to be an astronaut. Sometimes people are also labeled ignorant if they are rude, inconsiderate, or narrow-minded. |
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| 8846 |
united |
being or joined into a single entity |
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When two things are so closely linked or attached that they act as if they were a single unit, they are united. Allied countries join together during war, united against a common enemy. |
If several friends are united against a playground bully, they act as one to fight back or scare the bully away. The phrase "united front" shows up a lot in politics, and it usually refers to groups of people or governments banding together to gain strength or resist some negative force. The United States is a single country formed from many individual states that are joined into one. The Latin root, unus, means "one." |
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| 8847 |
career |
the particular occupation for which you are trained |
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You may have to take jobs as a dog walker, cat groomer, and fish feeder before you complete school for a career as a veterinarian. Small jobs in the short term give you experience for a long-term career. |
Career comes from the French carrière, from an older word for "street" or "road." Staying on track for a certain career is like driving a car in one direction on a road, instead of veering in different directions. Maybe the expression "career path" is helpful in remembering that a career is something that progresses, or moves forward on a set path. It can also be used as a verb to describe something moving quickly and uncontrollably, like a car careering into a ditch. |
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| 8848 |
commend |
present as worthy of regard, kindness, or confidence |
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Ever shout "Bravo!" at the end of a ballet or coo "Good boy!" to the dog when he relieved himself outdoors instead of on the rug? Then you know how to commend someone — in other words, to express approval aloud. |
The most common meaning of commend is to compliment. You commend someone when you tell them "Well done!" You can even say "I commend you on your hard work." Back in the days of Charles Dickens, to commend often meant to put (someone or something) in the hands of someone else for safekeeping. Case in point: David Copperfield was out of luck when his cruel stepdad commended him to the equally cruel schoolmaster Mr. Creakle at Salem house. |
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| 8849 |
thought |
the content of cognition |
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Thought is the process of using your mind to consider something. It can also be the product of that process: an idea or just the thing you're thinking about. |
Thought can also refer to the organized beliefs of a period, individual, or group. If you're writing an essay about the Reformation, you'll probably want to summarize early Catholic thought regarding free will and predestination. This word can also be used to describe a personal belief or judgment you can't prove or be entirely certain of. |
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| 8850 |
comfortable |
providing or experiencing physical well-being or relief |
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The adjective comfortable describes something that makes you feel relaxed, like a comfortable couch that makes you want to curl up on it and take a nap. |
In addition to describing things that feel good, like shoes that don't hurt your feet, comfortable can mean "feeling free from stress or worry." If you are comfortable around people, you can be yourself. It can also mean "secure" — a family that, though not rich, lives a comfortable lifestyle, meaning they have considerable savings, or you feeling comfortable speaking Spanish in Chile, meaning you trust your ability to communicate. |
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| 8851 |
convene |
meet formally |
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The verb convene is a somewhat formal way of saying "to bring together for the purpose of a meeting." |
Convene is one of those words that lend an air of formality to a situation. We use it in place of the words "call a meeting" for such situations as government assemblages, court hearings, and conferences. Its meaning can be easily seen in its history — it comes from the Latin con-, which means "together," and the verb venīre, "to come." Imagine, if the syllables had just fit the music, the John Lennon song "Come together," might have been called Convene. |
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| 8852 |
afford |
have the financial means to do something or buy something |
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To afford means you have enough money or time for something. If you only have ten dollars on you, you can't afford to buy a twenty-dollar hat. |
Afford is a verb that has to do with means. You either have a surplus and therefore can afford something, or else you have a deficit and can’t. It can be in the monetary sense: "$100 for cashmere socks? I can’t afford that!” It can also refer to time: “Since my train wasn't scheduled to leave for another hour, I could afford to wait for my sister ten more minutes.” Or even access: “The castle walls afforded a wonderful view of the moat.” |
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| 8853 |
mere |
being nothing more than specified |
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Mere means pure and simple, nothing more and nothing less. If the mere mention of someone's name makes you happy, then just hearing his name — and that alone — is enough to make you smile. |
Mere can have a little irony attached. If you introduce yourself as "a mere student," when you’re announcing your astounding invention, you're contrasting your lowly status with the enormity of your invention. This kind of mere comes from the Latin for "undiluted." Mere has a homograph — a completely different word that's spelled the same — and this mere means a lake or a pond. It’s related to the Dutch word meer — there’s lots of water in Holland. |
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| 8854 |
mercy |
a disposition to be kind and forgiving |
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Compassion leads you to have mercy, which is like forgiveness. If you have mercy on someone, you let them off the hook or are kind to them somehow. |
This is a quality that has to do with compassion, forgiveness, and leniency. If convicted of a crime, you might plead for the judge's mercy, meaning a lesser punishment. When people say "May God have mercy on me!" they're asking for forgiveness. Mercy may be given or received. You might show your little cousin mercy by not forcing him to eat a worm. People jokingly say a bad singer is showing mercy if she ends the show early. |
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| 8855 |
happiness |
state of well-being characterized by contentment and joy |
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Happiness is that feeling that comes over you when you know life is good and you can't help but smile. It's the opposite of sadness. |
Happiness is a sense of well-being, joy, or contentment. When people are successful, or safe, or lucky, they feel happiness. The "pursuit of happiness" is something this country is based on, and different people feel happiness for different reasons. Whenever doing something causes happiness, people usually want to do more of it. No one ever complained about feeling too much happiness. |
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| 8856 |
sacrifice |
the act of killing in order to appease a deity |
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A sacrifice is a loss or something you give up, usually for the sake of a better cause. Parents sacrifice time and sleep to take care of their children, while kids might sacrifice TV time to hang out with mom and dad. |
Though no longer used only in a religious context, sacrifice comes from the Latin sacra and facere, meaning "to perform sacred rites." If you've studied ancient cultures like the Incas, you've probably heard of "human sacrifice," where a person is killed in a sacred ceremony to please the gods. But thankfully those kinds of sacrifices don't happen anymore. |
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| 8857 |
haste |
overly eager speed and possible carelessness |
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When something is done in haste, it's done fast, and often with carelessness. In his haste to finish the paper, he didn't notice he had replaced "taste" with "waste" during spell-checking, so his title became "Foods of Our Home State: What a Waste!" |
The old saying goes "haste makes waste," and when you try to do things too quickly, sometimes you do them wrong or have to do them all over again. You can use the noun haste for things done with extraordinary speed and often in a situation where there's pressure to perform or complete a task. "In her haste to catch the train she ran six blocks, but when she boarded, she noticed she was wearing one blue tennis shoe and one red one." |
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| 8858 |
angry |
feeling or showing extreme displeasure or hostility |
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To be angry is to be furious. People who get angry a lot have a short temper. |
This is a word for a common emotion: being mad or enraged. People get mad all the time, about traffic, homework, parents, children, and even the weather. When you're angry it's hard to think straight: you see red. The sea could be described as angry when its waves ferociously crash the beach. Some synonyms for anger are furious, raging, and tempestuous. If you're feeling angry, you should blow off steam or count to 10 instead of doing something you'll regret. |
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| 8859 |
amuse |
occupy in an agreeable, entertaining or pleasant fashion |
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If you enjoy making people laugh, you like to amuse them, which is a good trait to have as long as you don't amuse people during a math test or other solemn occasion. |
The verb amuse also means to keep busy in a pleasant way. You might amuse yourself during a long driving trip by playing the alphabet game, where you try to find all the letters from A to Z on roadside signs. If you are a passenger on a plane, you could amuse yourself with a movie on your computer. Just don't get them mixed up and try to watch a movie when you are driving. |
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| 8860 |
able |
having the necessary means or skill to do something |
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If you're able to juggle, you'll go far in life. To be able is to have the skill, knowledge, or permission to do something. |
Able is an adjective that describes the ability to do a particular thing, like your friend who's able to ride a motorcycle and your dog that's able to roll over on command. It can also mean very skilled or capable, as when you describe your sister as an able tap dancer. Able comes from the Latin word habilis, "easily handled or apt." The h is silent in Latin, which led to it being dropped from the English able. |
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| 8861 |
neighbor |
a person who lives near another |
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A neighbor is a nearby person or thing. Be kind to your neighbor, for you never know when you will need to borrow sugar, a shovel, or the spare key to your house. |
The noun neighbor, spelled neahgebur in Old English, translates to “near” “dweller” when broken down into its individual parts. It makes sense, then, that neighbor refers to a nearby person, place, or thing. “It’s a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it’s a depression when you lose yours,” quipped Harry S. Truman, the 33rd American president. |
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| 8862 |
security |
the state of being free from danger or injury |
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Security means safety, as well as the measures taken to be safe or protected. In order to provide adequate security for the parade, town officials often hire extra guards. |
A small child will sometimes latch on to a blanket or stuffed animal that gives him or her the feeling of security. Often this word is used in compounds such as a security measure, security check or security guard. The security department in a business is sometimes just called security. If there's a troublesome customer at your work, call security to take him away. In the financial world, a stock or bond is also called a security. |
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| 8863 |
probable |
likely but not certain to be or become true or real |
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If it's probable, then odds are it's going to come true. If rain is probable this weekend, you shouldn't plan a picnic. |
Things that are probable are probably going to happen; they're likely. Meteorologists are always trying to figure out what weather is probable, though they're often wrong. Sportscasters and gamblers try to guess the probable outcome of big games. You can also call a candidate for a job or political office who's likely to get the position a probable — they've probably got the job in the bag. |
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| 8864 |
engine |
motor that converts energy into work or motion |
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An engine is a machine that burns fuel to make something move. The engine in a car is the motor that makes it go. |
Engines power vehicles including cars, trains, airplanes, and boats. While these engines tend to be powered by fuel that's burned, other engines get their power from electricity, which they convert to mechanical energy — fans, power tools, and small appliances all commonly have electric engines. Figuratively, you can also use the word engine to mean "something that's used to bring about a specific result." In your state, for example, tourism might be the main engine of job growth. |
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| 8865 |
communal |
for or by a group rather than individuals |
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Communal and community both come from Latin communis "common, of the community"—if a pool is communal, it can be used by the members of the community that owns it. |
A communal well in a town without plumbing is a great idea. Until it runs dry, everyone can take responsibility for caring for their water source. A communal drinking cup is not such a great idea—accompanied as it is by possible infection. |
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| 8866 |
majesty |
impressiveness in scale or proportion |
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Majesty describes a quality that takes your breath away, it's so impressive. The Grand Canyon has it, and so does a British monarch (supposedly). |
The word majesty brings to mind a luxurious castle, which is appropriate because it is also used to address or refer to a king or queen. The Latin root word is maiestatem, which means "greatness, dignity, or excellence," and people first used the noun majesty to talk about God. It was England's King Henry VIII who decided that majesty would be the official way to address a British monarch. |
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| 8867 |
repeated |
recurring again and again |
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Something repeated happens again and again and again. A dog's repeated bark, unfortunately, is a sound that is continuous — and probably keeping you up at night. |
A repeated sound goes on and on: honking a horn just once isn't what this word is about. If you honk that horn over and over, it can be described as a repeated honk. In music, many sounds are repeated as well. The repeated beat of a reggae band is pleasant, while repeated non-musical sounds — like dog barks and annoying people who say the same thing over and over — get less and less fun the more they're repeated. |
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| 8868 |
instruct |
impart skills or knowledge to |
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This website is designed to instruct visitors about the meaning of words and their correct usage. To instruct is to give instructions, to teach. |
Teachers are often called instructors because their job is to instruct, to give knowledge or instructions. The subtle difference between "teach" and instruct is that you can teach almost anything: concepts, ideas, theories or, say, history. When you instruct someone, you're giving them a set of tools or tasks to do something specific. That's why furniture, toys, and model rocket kits come with instructions: they instruct you how to assemble them. |
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| 8869 |
department |
a specialized division of a large organization |
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A department is one section or part of a larger group, like a company or a school. The philosophy department of a university is just one of many, including English, math, and sociology. |
Your local hospital has an emergency department, as well as surgical and mental health departments, or units. A company might have finance departments and hiring departments, and a town government has public works and fire departments. A "department store" is likewise split into sections. In each case, the departments specialize in one certain aspect of the organization. You can also say, "Making cookies is my department," if you're the person in your family who's the baking expert. |
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| 8870 |
excellent |
very good; of the highest quality |
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Something excellent is very good, great, or high quality: this is one of the best compliments around. |
Words like extraordinary and exceptional are similar in meaning to excellent. This is a strong word used mainly for things, people, and actions that are much better than average. A B+ on a test isn't bad, but an A is excellent. In basketball, making an all-star team is excellent. Being excellent is difficult and people tend to admire it. People use excellent in another, less specific way sometimes. If you want to say "Cool" or "Good" you might say "Excellent!" |
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| 8871 |
committee |
a special group delegated to consider some matter |
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A committee is a group of people who come together to work on a project. Members of a committee commit their efforts to accomplishing a particular task, which can be anything from throwing a party to ending a war. |
You could join the Committee to Protect Groundhogs, Bumblebees and Chickadees (yes, there really is one), or you might aspire to a committee that debates questions of national importance. Committees are often subgroups of larger bodies, and the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Agriculture, which focuses on issues in the farming and poultry industries, is a good example. Committee members become experts on issues in agriculture and the group can then make informed decisions efficiently. |
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| 8872 |
confidence |
belief in yourself and your abilities |
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The noun confidence means "a feeling of trust and firm belief in yourself or others." A person who walks into a room, smiling at everyone and not at all nervous about the speech she's about to give? She has confidence. |
Confidence comes from the Middle French word of the same spelling, which means "firmly trusting, bold." You can have confidence in yourself, another person, your country, even your rain boots — what you put your confidence in will not let you down. Confidence can also mean "in secret," like when your neighbor tells you in confidence that he and his family are thinking of moving away — he doesn't want others to know. |
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| 8873 |
acquaint |
cause to come to know personally |
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When you acquaint yourself with something, you familiarize yourself with it. When you visit a new city, you should acquaint yourself with the layout of the streets so you don’t get lost. |
You can also acquaint yourself with another person, by introducing yourself and getting know them. When you see the moving truck pull in across the street, you might want to run over and acquaint yourself with your new neighbors. The word acquaint comes via French from the Latin accognoscere, which is made up of ad- “to,” or “toward,” and cognoscere “come to know.” |
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| 8874 |
confess |
admit to a wrongdoing |
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When you confess, you admit to doing something wrong. You might feel guilty about eating the entire platter of chocolate chip cookies and confess to your mom before she notices. If she presses charges, you would confess to the cookie crime. |
Confess can be used to describe admitting to committing a crime. If you watch crime shows on TV, you've likely seen detectives trying to get a suspect to confess. Confess can also be used in a religious context. Catholics confess their sins to a priest on a regular basis. Don't confuse the word confess with apology. An apology involves expressing regret about something. When you confess, you're merely owning up to doing it — you might not be sorry. |
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| 8875 |
stranger |
an individual that one is not acquainted with |
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A stranger is someone you don't know or who doesn't belong in a specific place. |
Parents tell their kids, "Don't talk to strangers." That's because strangers are people they don't know, who could be dangerous. Just like strange things are odd or weird, a stranger is unknown and therefore potentially scary. Also, anyone out of place can be considered a stranger. A fireman in a police station is a stranger, and a mascot in a scientific lab is a stranger. Either type of stranger is likely to make someone say, "Who's that?" |
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| 8876 |
injure |
cause bodily harm to |
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Injure means to hurt, physically or mentally. Lose a bet and you might injure or bruise your pride, but lose your footing and you could injure your body instead. |
When a player in a sport is injured, they leave the field to be examined by a trainer or a physician, to see how severe their injury really is. If you slip and fall on the ice, your mom might say, "Are you injured?" She doesn't mean a bruise–––she's talking about a broken bone or a sprained ankle. You can also injure or wound someone else. Insult your mother's cooking or tackle your little brother too roughly to the ground and you'll injure them, either emotionally or physically. |
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| 8877 |
yard |
enclosed land around a house or other building |
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The grassy area right outside a house is a yard. A yard is often surrounded by a fence or marked by shrubs or other plants. As a unit of measurement, a yard is equal to three feet. |
Most suburban houses have both a front yard and a back yard — sometimes side yards too. Yards might have grass, trees, bushes, play structures, gardens, patios, and decks. A completely different kind of yard is the unit of measurement that equals three feet. This three-foot yard comes from a Germanic root meaning "rod or staff," while the yard behind your house has a root that means "to enclose." |
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| 8878 |
scarcely |
only a very short time before |
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Scarcely means just before, hardly, or “almost not.” If you had scarcely made it to bed when the sun started to rise, you are probably pretty tired by now. |
Scarcely may have just made it in the nick of time and by the skin of its teeth, but it’s here now, even if it is just barely hanging on —- which means you can scarcely accuse it of not showing up. Though an ly adverb, scarcely is unusual in that it is not so much a descriptor of its root adjective as a synonym of the adverb form scarce. If you scarcely believe me, look it up for yourself! |
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| 8879 |
warn |
notify of danger, potential harm, or risk |
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When you warn someone, you advise them to be careful or tell them about a problem or danger. If you perform a dangerous stunt, you should probably warn your audience, "Don't try this at home." |
Many traffic signs are meant to warn drivers about hazards, like bridges that get slippery in the rain or bumps in the road. And the purpose of a dog's growl is to warn another dog (or human) that it's stressed or fearful. A warning is a helpful message, no matter what form it comes in, and to warn is to send this message. The Old English root is warnian, "give notice of impending danger." |
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| 8880 |
several |
of an indefinite number more than 2 or 3 but not many |
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Two is a "couple" and more than two or three is several. If you eat four donuts you can say you had several but you may have had too many — especially if you get a stomach-ache. |
Several is a word that shows size or number when you can’t be specific or when you want to summarize. If three, four, or five of you hang out, then you're spending time with several friends. Inviting 30 people over and telling your parents that several friends stopped by would be stretching the truth and you might get grounded. For how many weeks? Possibly several. |
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| 8881 |
excel |
distinguish oneself |
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If you excel at math, you are doing it better than anyone else. You might even be moving so much faster than the rest of your class, you're put into a special, accelerated math program. |
Excel derives from the Latin excellere, which is all about going beyond the high. Someone who excels at the violin might practice five hours a day because they are striving for excellence, meaning outstanding-ness. You could describe their performance as excellent, or fantastic. That doesn't mean you yourself want to practice five hours a day. Excel means to stand out, and some of us are pretty happy standing right where we are. |
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| 8882 |
liberty |
freedom of choice |
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Liberty is a kind of freedom, whether it's freedom from tyranny, freedom from confinement, or simply the freedom of choice. |
The phrase "give me liberty or give me death" is attributed to Patrick Henry, whose 1775 speech persuaded the Virginia colony to raise troops to fight the British in the American Revolutionary War. For sailors and naval officers, liberty means shore leave — a brief vacation on land between voyages. We also use this noun to describe the act of getting a little too familiar or personal with someone, or doing something before we have their approval or permission. |
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| 8883 |
university |
an institution of higher learning that grants degrees |
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A university is a big school where you go to get a degree — maybe even a master’s or PhD. If you’re going to a university, you’re probably on a big campus that also offers housing for students and professors. |
Just like the word universe (“the whole world”), university comes from the Latin word universus, meaning "whole, entire." So think of a university as being sort of a world of its own — an institute of higher education where you live and study. A university generally offers advanced degrees and research opportunities in many fields. Sometimes college and university are used to mean the same thing, but colleges are typically smaller and more limited in scope than universities. |
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| 8884 |
threat |
declaration of an intention to inflict harm on another |
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A threat is an impending danger that has the potential to cause serious harm — it just hasn't done so yet. In The Wizard of Oz, the huge tornado that spiraled across the Kansas countryside posed a threat to the little girl named Dorothy in its path. |
If a huge thug carrying an equally huge knife approaches you in a dark alley and demands, "Your wallet or your life," you feel the imminent threat. Your safety is at risk, especially if you don't hand over that wallet. Threats don't have to be big and scary, though. An extra-large slice of chocolate cake isn't armed and dangerous, but it's still a serious threat to any dieter who's trying to cut calories. Or, you could see a gray cloud as promising the threat of rain showers. |
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| 8885 |
habit |
an established custom |
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Any action that you perform regularly as part of your routine can be called a habit. Flossing your teeth would be considered a good habit. Sucking your thumb would be considered a bad habit, especially as an adult. |
On New Year's people always vow to break their bad habits, but bad habits die hard. The noun habit can also refer to an established custom — like the habit of breaking bread with your family every holiday. On a completely different note, clothing that is worn for horseback riding, or by a nun or monk, can also be called a habit. All good nuns should be in the habit of washing their habits. |
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| 8886 |
attend |
be present |
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The verb attend means to be present, to listen, or give care or attention to. You can attend your family reunion, attend to a project you've been ignoring, or attend to your teacher's voice. |
When you use attend as "pay attention" or "take care of," it's followed by "to." When you use attend as in "attend a party," you don't. If you attend a political rally, you'll want to attend to what the politicians have to say. When you take attendance, you are checking which students have chosen to attend class, i.e. who is in attendance. |
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| 8887 |
mistake |
a wrong action attributable to bad judgment or inattention |
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A mistake is an error, a goof, a slip-up. When you make a mistake, you've done something incorrectly. |
Mistake has a lot of uses, but they all have to do with doing the wrong thing. A mistake in math class will result in the wrong answer, but a mistake with a gun could get someone killed. If you mix up two people, you're mistaking one for the other. When you make a mistake, the best thing to do is admit it and try to make up for it; not apologizing for a mistake is another mistake. |
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| 8888 |
fame |
the state or quality of being widely honored and acclaimed |
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Fame is what you have if you're a celebrity: a lot of people know who you are. A musician's fame might mean she wears sunglasses and a baseball cap to disguise herself when she's in public. |
Movie stars, rock stars, well-known public figures — these are all people who have achieved some amount of fame. You may have a kind of fame in a much smaller sphere: "She won every spelling bee in the state, which gave her some fame at her school." Fame is an Old French word that means "reputation or renown," from the Latin fama, "rumor, reputation, or renown," and also "ill-fame" or "scandal." |
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| 8889 |
companion |
a friend who is frequently with another |
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A companion is one who serves as a friend or partner in something. Whether it’s travel or dinner or card-playing, your companion is the one who does it with you. |
The word companion is a close, um, companion to the word company, and you might as well say that someone you keep company with is your companion. Sometimes, it describes a piece of art or other work that goes with another. For instance, you might read a biography of Emily Dickenson as a companion to her studying her poems. The things go together and complement each other. |
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| 8890 |
doubt |
the state of being unsure of something |
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Doubt is distrust or suspicion. When your kid sister explains that a robber broke in and ate your entire chocolate stash, most likely you feel doubt. |
When you're in doubt, you really can't tell what's true and what's false, whether that's a news story or whether you want to marry someone or whether you'll survive Med school. The Latin root of doubt is dubitāre, "to hesitate, waver," and when you doubt something you're wavering: I think I believe you, but maybe I don't. But maybe I do. But maybe not? One thing not to doubt is the silent b. Pronounce: DOWT. |
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| 8891 |
rapid |
characterized by speed |
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Rapid means happening with great speed or in a brief period of time. Think of Rapid Eye Movement (REM sleep), when your eyes are darting back and forth quickly — trying to follow your fast-paced dreams. |
Rapid comes from the Latin word rapere, which means "to hurry away" or "to seize." If you are first to raise your hand in class with the correct answer, your teacher will be pleased with your rapid response. Your pulse may be rapid after you run a quick sprint, and after a rapid run-up in the stock market you may decide to sell some shares and lock in the profit. |
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| 8892 |
holy |
belonging to or associated with a divine power |
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Something that is sacred can be described as holy, like the Holy Bible. So can anything associated with God, like a holy day that is observed by attending worship ceremonies. |
The adjective holy comes from the Old English word hālig and is related to the German word heilig, meaning “blessed.” There is a relationship between holy and whole, and the religious sense probably developed from keeping believers spiritually whole — and pure. A place, object, or person who has been blessed can be described as holy, meaning "associated with God." |
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| 8893 |
appearance |
outward or visible aspect of a person or thing |
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Your appearance is how you look: your clothes, hair, facial expression, skin tone, and posture all factor into your overall appearance. |
Ever had to go somewhere you didn't want to go? If you stopped by just briefly, you made an appearance. But this word more often has to do with how things look. Your appearance is created by everything people can see, from your hair down to your shoes. Sometimes appearances can be deceiving: maybe you give an appearance of confidence, but you're really nervous inside. The saying "don't judge a book by its cover" means "don't judge by appearances." |
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| 8894 |
remain |
continue in a place, position, or situation |
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To remain is to stay in the same place or situation. You can remain at home instead of going out to the movies with your friends, but that doesn't mean you won't remain friends. |
If things remain the same, they don't change, and if your family remains in the same town, they don't move. When something is left behind, it also remains: "All that remains of my party is a bunch of deflated balloons." In the fifteenth century, remain was a noun too, meaning "people or things left over or surviving." Today we use remainder instead. |
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| 8895 |
impress |
have an emotional or cognitive impact upon |
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Think of the verb impress as "leaving a mark." You might impress a print onto canvas, or you might impress prospective employers in a job interview. Whether that impression will be good or bad is up to you! |
The past participle of the Latin verb imprimere, "to press," is impressus, which evolved in the 14th Century to the meaning "to make a permanent image." That meaning included a figurative meaning of "to impress upon the mind or heart." Impress also means conscription into the military, or taking people to serve against their will — in other words, the draft. |
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| 8896 |
admire |
feel high regard for |
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If you hold someone in high esteem or look up to someone, you admire that person. If you ask four-year-olds who they most admire, they are likely to list their mom, dad, and grandparents — or superheroes and comic book characters. |
The verb admire also means to look at with wonder and pleasure. She stood on the balcony of her hotel for a long time, simply to admire the view of the ocean and the surf as it crashed against the rocks below. I admire the way she volunteers to help at the school and with other charities because she is willing to give her time to good causes. |
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| 8897 |
camp |
temporary lodgings in the country for travelers |
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When you camp, you set up a temporary place to sleep outdoors, often in a tent. Many people like to camp in a beautiful spot, like the mountains or beside a lake. |
Use the word camp to describe what you do when you sleep under the stars, and also the site itself — after a day of hiking, you could say, "Let's head back to camp." You can also talk about your usual group of friends or co-workers as your camp. Political parties are described this way sometimes: "She was popular in the Democratic camp." The root is the Latin word campus, which means "open field, or level space." |
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| 8898 |
crowd |
a large number of things or people considered together |
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A lot of people or things in a large group make up a crowd. The masses of performers with painted faces, big shoes, and squeaky noses filling up the streets during your town's annual clown parade can be described as a crowd of clowns. |
A crowd of people might gather for a party, concert, or demonstration, with the word crowd implying that there's something a little disorderly — noisy or unruly — about the group. Crowd can also mean "the mass of ordinary people," which is the way you're using the word when you say you want to "stand out from the crowd." You want to be seen as a distinct, individual person, rather than part of a larger mass of regular folks. |
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| 8899 |
exclaim |
utter aloud, often with surprise, horror, or joy |
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The verb exclaim is from the Latin word exclamare, which means "to cry out." The English meaning is similar, to cry out, but with the added element of a strong emotion such as fear, joy, surprise. |
In writing, when someone exclaims something, the punctuation mark used to express this vehement outcry is usually the exclamation point: "Stop!" you exclaim when your toddler climbs precariously on a chair stacked with books. "Not in this lifetime!" you cry out when your teenager wants to borrow the new car. You will exclaim "I'm so proud!" when your child graduates college. |
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| 8900 |
escape |
run away from confinement |
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To escape is to break free, to get out of a situation you don’t want to be in. It’s also a noun, as in an escape from a dull party that might involve a ladder and an upstairs window. |
It’s hard to pin down the word escape. An escape can be the act of escaping, like an escape from prison, but an escape can also be a calming retreat, like a vacation that gets you away from the stress of everyday life. As a verb, escape also means, "to fail to experience or know.” If the humor escapes you, you don't find the joke funny. |
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| 8901 |
differ |
be dissimilar or unlike |
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To differ is to be different, or to vary. Your list of favorite movies might differ from your sister's, especially if you like romantic comedies and she likes action films. |
Gas prices differ from state to state, and sometimes even from one side of the street to the other. Opinions on politics can often differ within a single family, and sometimes food preferences differ so much that no one can decide where to eat lunch. The verb differ can mean simply "be unlike," but it can also mean "clash" or "dissent." The Latin root, differre, combines dis, "away from," with ferre, "carry." |
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| 8902 |
destroy |
do away with; cause the ruin or undoing of |
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When your little brother breaks your carefully constructed Lego village into its tiny parts, he destroys it. To destroy is to completely demolish. |
To destroy is the opposite of to construct or to build. When you destroy something, you cause destruction, when you build something, you are involved in its construction. In war, soldiers are sometimes sent on missions to search and destroy. This means their job is to find a target and completely take it out. Destroy doesn't have to be physical though. If you get an F in your math class, that could destroy your dream of going to an Ivy League university and too much criticism can destroy your self-esteem. |
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| 8903 |
imagine |
expect, believe, or suppose |
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To imagine something is to picture it in your head. When we imagine things, we're using our imagination. |
The word image is a good clue to the meaning of imagine, a word for picturing or envisioning things. You could imagine you're a king, an astronaut, a firefighter, or a coyote. You could imagine the earth getting hit by an asteroid. If you can think of it, you can imagine it. Sometimes, imagining means believing or guessing. For example, your teacher could say, "Did you really imagine there would be no homework?" |
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| 8904 |
immediate |
directly before or after as in a chain of cause and effect |
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Something immediate is happening now or right away. If you're in immediate danger, you'd better run or call 911. |
Immediate is a word that pretty much means "now." If you take immediate action, then there's no delay. If you need immediate assistance, you can't wait for assistance. The related word immediately should be a clue, since it also means "right now." If something is happening later, or it happened a long time ago, or you have to wait for it at all, then it's not immediate. |
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| 8905 |
succeed |
attain success or reach a desired goal |
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When you succeed at something, you reach a goal or do really well. If you practice speaking Arabic every day, you are likely to succeed at becoming fluent in this language. |
When you succeed, you achieve the result you hope for, but another way to use succeed is to describe taking over a position. A prince who will inherit his father's kingdom will succeed his father one day, and a new high school principal can be said to succeed the old one. The Latin root of succeed is succedere, come close after. |
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| 8906 |
surprise |
come upon or take unawares |
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A surprise can be an unexpected or astonishing event, such as an ambush or a really great grade on a test you didn't study for. |
Surprise can be a verb meaning to astonish or startle someone, a noun for the unexpected thing, or for the feeling produced by that surprise. It comes from the Latin word for "seize," and originally meant an unexpected military attack. When the novelist Charles Lever wrote in 1841 of "three cavalry regiments, their noiseless gestures and perfect stillness bespeaking at once that they were intended for a surprise party," he meant a surprise attack, not a birthday party. |
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| 8907 |
mine |
excavation from which ores and minerals are extracted |
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A mine is a hole in the earth from which workers take valuable things: coal, diamonds, copper. It is also a bomb that explodes when it's touched, often buried in the earth. |
When you think of mines, think of something beneath the surface or hidden. People mine for gold by sifting through water and rocks. West Virginia is famous for its coal mines. A mine field might describe a field laced with explosives — such as landmines. When people put these explosives in place, they're mining the land. Also, any dangerous situation can be called a mine field. Talking about sensitive subjects — like religion or race — is a verbal mind field for sure. |
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| 8908 |
exist |
have a presence |
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The verb exist means to live, to have reality. Dodos no longer exist because they were hunted to extinction. |
It's not only "live" things that exist. The government exists, as does your fear of heights. Anything that can be acknowledged in the present, exists. Another meaning for the verb exist is to support oneself or survive. If someone doesn't have a job, they may have to exist on unemployment benefits until they find one. |
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| 8909 |
arrive |
reach a destination |
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To arrive is to come to a destination. When you arrive in Paris, the first thing you should do is go and buy a croissant. |
The word arrive generally means to come to a physical destination, like a place. Make sure you arrive home on time for dinner! But it can also be less literal. You can arrive at a conclusion or a decision after much thought. You can also use arrive to mean "achieve great success," though for whatever reason, this specific usage tends to be in the past tense. If you serve champagne and caviar at a party, your snobby aunt might comment, "My dear, you’ve arrived!” In this case, arrive means to come to a place of great wealth or success. |
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| 8910 |
desire |
the feeling that accompanies an unsatisfied state |
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If you're talking about the longings of the heart, use the word desire. When you are studying for a difficult history exam, the desire to be somewhere far away doing something fun might be very strong! |
Desire can be used as both a noun and a verb. Is your boyfriend your heart's desire? Your parents probably desire your punctual appearance at the dinner table every evening. Desire is usually used not just when you long for any old thing, but for something that is associated with giving great pleasure. Thus, you might want to get an A on a test, but you desire a piece of chocolate cake. |
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| 8911 |
might |
physical strength |
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Might is physical strength or power. If you try with all your might to climb a difficult rock wall, it means that you try as hard as you can to get to the top. |
The noun might means a person's power or strength, like the might it takes to get a stuck lid off a jar of salsa, or the impressive power of a group, like a country's military might. Might is also a verb used to express possibility, like when you might go for a walk if it doesn't rain. |
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| 8912 |
introspection |
contemplation of your own thoughts and desires and conduct |
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Introspection means "to look inside," and describes the act of thinking about your own actions or inner thoughts. When you examine what you do, say, think or feel and how it affects your life and the lives of others, that's introspection. |
It's easy to piece together the meaning of the noun introspection. Consider that intro means "within," while spec is from the Latin for "look." So you can tell that the word means the act of "looking within." Introspection isn't "thinking about yourself" in the sense of calculating your own interests; it's more like searching inside in order to understand yourself — what some people mock as "navel gazing." Nineteenth-century philosopher William Godwin once said, “The philosophy of the wisest man that ever existed is mainly derived from the act of introspection.” |
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| 8913 |
antidote |
a remedy that stops or controls the effects of a poison |
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An antidote is a remedy that relieves. So if you get headaches from long bus rides, it's best to travel equipped with the key pain alleviating antidotes: Tylenol, lots of water and soothing music. |
A noun that comes all the way to us from the ancient Greek word antidoton, which means “given as a remedy,” an antidote counteracts or relieves the negative effects of something. You can find antidotes to poison, anxiety, sadness or even a bad day. People tend to think of medicinal cures when they hear the word antidote, but things like meditation, sleep, green tea, exercise or a good hug can all have positive, antidotal affects. |
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| 8914 |
ambidextrous |
equally skillful with each hand |
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Ambidextrous people have the ability to use both hands with equal dexterity. But the ambidextrous probably prefer to write with their right hands, since lefties always smudge what they've written as they drag their hand across the page. |
Coming from the Latin word ambidexter, which means “right-handed on both sides,” ambidextrous describes someone who can use either hand to write, swing a bat or catch a ball. Lucky ducks. In a broader sense ambidextrous means "facile" or "skillful." But when it first came into use in the 1530's, ambidextrous had more sinister connotations with the practice of deceitful double-dealing. |
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| 8915 |
retrospective |
concerned with or related to the past |
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Retrospective means looking back. An art exhibit that cover an artist's entire career is called a retrospective because it looks back at the work the artist has produced over many years. |
Retro- means back, -spect- means look (think: spectacles), so the word means literally 'a looking back.' Many people take a retrospective look at their lives on birthdays or on New Year's Eve to evaluate events and see how well they've met their goals. You could call the yearly evaluation you get from your boss a retrospective review of your work. |
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| 8916 |
introvert |
a person who tends to shrink from social contacts |
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An introvert generally prefers solitary activities to interacting with large groups of people. If you would rather work through your feelings in your diary than have a conversation, then you are an introvert. |
Introvert comes from Latin intro-, "inward," and vertere, "turning." It describes a person who tends to turn inward mentally. Introverts sometimes avoid large groups of people, feeling more energized by time alone. The opposite of an introvert is an extrovert, who finds energy in interactions with others. Introvert can also be a verb, meaning literally to "fold inward," or to "turn inward," as when a child's personality seems to introvert once she starts elementary school. |
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| 8917 |
gerontocracy |
a political system governed by old people |
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A gerontocracy is a society governed by old people. You might see a gerontocracy in a tribe where elders are esteemed for the perspective and wisdom they have acquired. |
If your grandparents moved into your house and started telling everyone what to do, you might be outraged. Daily Metumucil doses for everyone! No loud music or reading of novels written after the First World War! A good thing then, that we live in a culture that worships youth––we're unlikely to be ruled by a gerontocracy. |
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| 8918 |
drowsy |
half asleep |
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Drowsy means sleepy and having low energy. When you’re sitting in the warm sunlight after a big lunch, and you’re so drowsy you can’t keep your eyes open, it’s not the right time to try organizing your desk. |
Ah drowsy, a word that describes slow-moving lions and charming little towns equally well. It has a pleasant association to it, a nice cozy sleepiness, like the sort of feeling you have when you can’t exactly figure out why your eyes keep closing, they just do. Wine makes some people drowsy and a boring documentary will definitely do it to you. Drowsy comes from an Old English word meaning "falling," and has evolved into falling asleep. |
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| 8919 |
massacre |
the savage and excessive killing of many people |
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A massacre is a big bloody mess of killing, and usually for no good reason. Not that there’s ever a good reason for killing, but massacres are especially pointless and gory. |
It’s unclear where the word massacre came from, but possibly it was the Old French word macacre, which means “slaughterhouse.” As a noun, massacre is a brutal slaughter of humans or animals, and it can be a verb as well, like when an army massacres an entire village of innocent people. Pronounce it like MASS-uh-ker, and remember to spell it with an acre at the end, which is how much land is needed to bury the bodies after a massacre. |
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| 8920 |
combustion |
a reaction of a substance with oxygen to give heat and light |
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Combustion means "the act of burning," like the combustion of fallen leaves that, if not extinguished immediately, can result in a forest fire. |
Combustion derives from the Latin word comburere, which means "to burn up." Matches, kindling, paper, and lighter fluid can be tools for combustion. In chemistry terms, combustion is any process in which a substance combines with oxygen to produce heat and light. Cars run because their engines use combustion to get the cylinders to fire. |
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| 8921 |
anguish |
extreme distress of body or mind |
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The noun anguish refers to severe physical or emotional pain or distress. A trip to the dentist might cause a cavity-prone person a lot of anguish. |
We get this word from a Latin word, angustus, which literally meant "narrow" but developed the figurative sense of "distressed" — think of being choked off or forced into a small space. In modern times anguish has been in the English with the parallel and related meanings of "physical torment" and "emotional suffering." Both kinds might be experienced at the hands of a dentist who likes to make his patients squirm in agony. |
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| 8922 |
conceal |
prevent from being seen or discovered |
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When you conceal something, you are keeping it from being discovered: “To avoid another argument with his cousins, Jonathan worked hard to conceal his disappointment at the outcome of the race.” |
The verb conceal can be used to describe the hiding of feelings (as in “to conceal anger”) or facts (as in “to conceal identity”). Conceal also can be used to describe the act of hiding or covering an item to prevent discovery. If you eat the last piece of chocolate cake, for example, you may want to conceal the evidence by removing the icing-stained plate from your room. |
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| 8923 |
grumble |
make complaining remarks or noises under one's breath |
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When you grumble, you complain about something clearly but quietly, in a low mutter. Some people grumble a hundred times a day, about everything from the weather to the traffic to their bad luck at bowling. |
The verb grumble is a great example of onomatopoeia, a word that sounds just like what it means. When you say "grumble" out loud, you're practically already grumbling about something. The origin of grumble is the Middle French word grommeler, or "mutter through the teeth." Just think about the things in life that make you want to mutter through your teeth and you'll probably start to grumble. |
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| 8924 |
inquest |
an inquiry into the cause of an unexpected death |
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An inquest is when a court of law or a coroner investigates the circumstances of a person's death. If a person in your family dies suddenly, you might attend an inquest at the courthouse. |
A death doesn't always require an inquest — they are typically carried out when there is something unexplained or suspicious about the way someone died. The inquest might be a step before a murder investigation, for example. Like a trial, a court inquest typically has a verdict issued by a judge, which might be "natural death" or "accidental death." The Old French root word is enqueste, or "inquiry." |
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| 8925 |
extinct |
no longer in existence |
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Something that no longer exists and has no living representative is extinct. Dinosaurs are extinct. Polar bears may become extinct. Sadly, history teachers who force their students to memorize long lists of dates are in no danger of becoming extinct. |
You often hear of a species being extinct: there are no living representatives of the species left. But extinct also describes something that has gone out or grown cold, as in a dormant volcano "extinct volcano" or a tobacco pipe whose flame has died out "extinct pipe." That’s because extinct comes from the Latin extinguere/exstinguere for "extinguish." Originally extinct referred to fires that died out (were extinguished). Its meaning grew to encompass a family line and then a species. |
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| 8926 |
embezzle |
appropriate fraudulently to one's own use |
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When a person embezzles, it usually means that he is stealing money from his employer. If he is caught embezzling, it probably also means that he will soon be unemployed. |
The word embezzle implies more than simply "to steal." When a person embezzles, he or she takes advantage of an employer's trust for personal gain. Embezzling is a so-called "white-collar crime" which often involves some sort of cover-up, like falsifying financial records or stealing small amounts of money over a long period of time. The word embezzle comes from an Old French word meaning "maltreat or ravage," besillier, and an embezzler can be said to ravage someone else's money. |
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| 8927 |
clientele |
customers collectively |
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Your customers are your clientele. If you own a pet food store, your clientele might be two-footed and four-pawed. |
The noun clientele is often preceded by an adjective to describe the exact type of customer. Little boutiques in upscale neighborhoods probably cater to an exclusive clientele, while the kids' hair salon might have Barney on video to keep the young clientele motionless in their chairs. Regardless of business type, you are always trying to please the clientele. |
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| 8928 |
brittle |
having little elasticity |
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Something brittle is easily broken. Do you have brittle bones? Then no football or rugby for you. |
Besides meaning easily fractured and emotionally cold, brittle is also a type of candy made of cooled sugar. To make peanut brittle, bake the ingredients on a cookie sheet then let the brittle cool into sheets which you break into pieces (and then eat — wreaking havoc with your braces). It's ok to use the adjective brittle freely to describe lots of things that will break easily — such as a heart, a theory, or a poorly equipped army. |
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| 8929 |
salvage |
rescuing a ship or its crew from a shipwreck or a fire |
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To salvage something is to save it...before it's too late. You might try to salvage your damaged reputation by defending yourself, or salvage a burnt piece of toast by scraping off the black residue. |
As a noun salvage is the act of rescuing stuff from a disaster like a shipwreck or fire — or the rescued goods themselves. As a verb, salvage means to collect or rescue that sort of item, or more generally to save something from harm or ruin. If you want to salvage your grade, you need to stop gaming so much and start studying more. |
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| 8930 |
ascend |
travel up |
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To ascend is to move or travel upwards. You've heard about how we ascend to Heaven after we die? Well, that's because Heaven is above us, so we get to go up! |
Riding the escalators in the department store is one way to amuse yourself while your mom does the shopping. You can ascend all the way to 8 (Women's Lingerie) and then descend again, all the way back to the ground floor. Both of those words come from the Latin verb scandere, which means "to climb." It's the prefixes that make all the difference. The a- of ascend makes the word mean "climb up," while the de- of its antonym makes descend mean "climb down." |
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| 8931 |
asterisk |
a star-shaped character used in printing |
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When you're writing something and need to add a quick footnote, an easy way to mark the place where you want to include the extra comment is to use an asterisk, a star-shaped symbol. |
An asterisk is a punctuation mark that you can use to note something in writing, or to stand in for something you've left out. Often a writer uses an asterisk when she wants to add something but doesn't want to include it in the body of the story; the reader sees the asterisk, and finds another one at the bottom of the page beside the note. In Greek, asterikos means "little star," which perfectly describes what an asterisk looks like. |
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| 8932 |
rejuvenation |
restoration to a more youthful, fresh, or lively condition |
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Rejuvenation is the act of making something newly fresh or full of energy. Rejuvenation makes something old seem young again. |
To rejuvenate is to bring renewed life to something old by giving it new vitality, and rejuvenation is the process of freshening something up or reviving it. Painting and making repairs in an old house is an example of rejuvenation. Hiring young, energetic workers can be a type of rejuvenation for a business. Rejuvenation comes from Latin roots, re, or "again," and juvenis, "young." |
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| 8933 |
odor |
any property detected by the sense of smell |
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An odor is anything you can smell — like a scent or an aroma. If you sniff a sour odor in your gallon of milk, you should probably pour it down the sink instead of drinking it. |
Most people are more likely to use the word odor for unpleasant smells, like the odor of your uncle's stinky cigars or the musty odor in your grandmother's attic. You can also use the word odor in a figurative way, to mean a feeling or impression given by something: "The whole bank seemed full of the odor of money and greed." Odor is Latin, meaning "a smell or a scent." |
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| 8934 |
poseur |
a person who habitually pretends to be something he is not |
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"Strike a pose," sang Madonna in her most famous song, "Vogue." But if the pose you're striking is fake, pretentious, or arrogant, you're a poseur. Be yourself: it's cooler. |
It's one thing to be smart, funny, or cool. It's another thing to pretend to be that way: that's the life of a poseur. (Say it in the French way: poh-ZUHR.) It's all too easy to spot a poseur from their ridiculous posing. Why poseurs think that they come across as anything other than fake is beyond me. They must be really insecure to think they need to pretend to be something they're not. Every once in a while, though, a poseur can fake it till they make it. Then they're no longer a poseur. |
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| 8935 |
narcissism |
an exceptional interest in and admiration for yourself |
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Do you have a friend who constantly turns the conversation to themselves, as in "That's great about your winning the award but do you think these pants look good on me?" They're putting their narcissism, or excessive love of self, on display. |
In psychoanalysis, narcissism is erotic gratification derived from excessive love for yourself, and is considered to be a normal developmental stage. The reference is to Narcissus, a beautiful youth in Greek mythology who fell in love with his reflection in a body of water and was changed into the flower narcissus, which grows near water. |
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| 8936 |
dullard |
a person who is not very bright or interesting |
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If something isn’t sharp, it’s dull. This can apply to pencils and people — if you’re sharp, you’re a smarty-pants, but if you’re dull, you’re a dullard. It even sounds kind of dumb, dullard. |
Dullard is an old-fashioned word for a dumb person. If you have to explain to someone how to sit in a chair, you’re probably talking to a dullard (or a toddler). It's rude to call someone a dullard, but we all feel like dullards sometimes, especially when we make mistakes or can't understand something. |
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| 8937 |
sluggard |
an idle slothful person |
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Do you know anyone lazy or slothful? Then you know a sluggard: an idle or sluggish person. |
If you know that sluggish means slow-moving, then you have a clue to the meaning of sluggard. A sluggard is a lazy, sleepy, slow-moving person. A sluggard is likely to oversleep and even snooze through class or work. If you're alert and hard-working, no one will ever call you a sluggard or a slug. Being a sluggard is a great way to fail a class, lose a job, or just fall behind in general. |
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| 8938 |
commuter |
someone who travels regularly from home to work in a city |
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A commuter is someone who has a lengthy trip to work, usually from a suburb to a city. |
Some people are lucky enough to work at home or live very close to where they work. Others are commuters: commuters need to commute — travel — to work. Being a commuter isn't easy, because it might take anywhere from 20 minutes to two hours to get from home to work and then back again, both times during rush hour. Usually, a commuter lives in the suburbs and commutes to the city, where many jobs are. |
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| 8939 |
plea |
a humble request for help from someone in authority |
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A plea is what you make when you're begging for something with a sense of urgency and emotion. While you wouldn't call asking for a hall pass a plea, you could make a plea for justice or world peace. |
Plea also has a legal meaning. When you get a traffic ticket or if you're accused of a crime, you have to enter a plea of "guilty" or "not guilty." A "plea bargain" is when you make a deal with the prosecutor — you may plead guilty to a charge (by entering a guilty plea) that has less of a penalty and, in return, the prosecutor drops the more serious charge. |
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| 8940 |
invincible |
incapable of being overcome or subdued |
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Something invincible is victorious over everything. Disease, death, destruction? No match for something truly invincible. Mere humans who imagine they're invincible, however, will inevitably prove that they're not. |
Invincible comes ultimately from the Latin verb vincere, "to conquer." Many of the uses for invincible are for describing someone or something victorious or unbeatable at what they do. A company can be invincible when it outsells similar businesses for years, a tennis player is invincible after winning all of the majors in a year or a career, and Superman and the Indomitable Snowman are invincible as long as they stay away from kryptonite and the warm sun. |
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| 8941 |
sanity |
normal or sound powers of mind |
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Sanity is the opposite of insanity. When you have sanity, you're mentally healthy and not acting crazy. |
Sanity is a word for having a healthy state of mind — people with sanity don't have any loose marbles. Outside of mental hospitals, people often use this word in an exaggerated way when they've had a stressful, difficult day, shouting "I'm losing my sanity!" But if you actually lost your sanity, you'd need some serious medical attention. Besides, it usually takes more than one bad day to push someone over the edge. |
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| 8942 |
fission |
reproduction of a unicellular organism by cell division |
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Any type of dividing or splitting can be called fission. We often equate it with the splitting of atoms, which is called nuclear fission. |
The word fission has always been used for some type of division, beginning with the Latin fissionem, from the root findere, “to split.” As the word worked its way through history, it was applied to various areas. In 1841, the discovery of cell division was labeled fission, while the application in nuclear physics came about in 1939 with the development of the first nuclear bomb. Ironic — the word can be applied to both creating life and ending it. |
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| 8943 |
encapsulate |
enclose in or as if in a small container |
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To encapsulate something is to sum it up in shorter form — to summarize something. |
When you see the word encapsulate, think about trying to put your comic book collection inside one tiny capsule — all of them wouldn't fit, so you'd have to pick out just your favorites or the most valuable ones. Encapsulating means condensing something down into its most important parts, so you just get the gist of it. Cliff's Notes encapsulate longer books. If you tell a friend about your summer vacation, you better encapsulate it or you'll be there for hours. |
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| 8944 |
hypocrisy |
pretending to have qualities or beliefs that you do not have |
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People who go to church but don't believe in god? People who are vegetarians on a moral basis but wear leather jackets? They are engaging in hypocrisy, or behavior that is different from what they say they believe. |
A hypocrite is a person who practices hypocrisy: what they say is not what they do. The noun hypocrisy descends from the Greek hypokrisis "acting on a stage," from hypokrinesthai "to play a part, pretend," from the prefix hypo- "under" plus krinein "to judge." Many times kids are enraged by their parents' hypocrisy when parents make their children follow rules they don't follow themselves. |
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| 8945 |
mischievous |
naughtily or annoyingly playful |
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If you’re the one making prank phone calls at 3 am and you can’t resist short-sheeting your camp counselor’s bunk, you're mischievous. If your dog likes to decorate your house with streamers of toilet paper, he's mischievous, too. |
You can be mischievous in harmless, playful ways, or you might also use the word mischievous to describe behavior that's more than just a little naughty. If you post online some embarrassing photos of an acquaintance, your more generous friends might describe your behavior as mischievous, although others might accuse you of being downright mean. Keep in mind that the word has only three syllables: MIS-chuh-vuhs. |
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| 8946 |
misogynist |
a misanthrope who dislikes women in particular |
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If you're someone who believes women belong in the kitchen and shouldn't be accorded the same respect as men, you might be a misogynist. A misogynist is a person who hates or doesn't trust women. |
Misogynist is from Greek misogynḗs, from the prefix miso- "hatred" plus gynḗ "a woman." The English suffix -ist means "person who does something." The prefix mis-, a variant of miso- before a vowel, appears in the opposite term misandrist, which is a person who hates or doesn't trust men. The corresponding nouns are mysogyny and misandry. |
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| 8947 |
ail |
be unwell |
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The verb ail means to be sick or unwell — or cause to be so. If you feel a general malaise, someone may ask what ails you, though you may just need a vacation from work or school. |
The verb ail is used for things that are metaphorically unwell or unhealthy. Politicians, for example, will often tell their constituents that the only cure for what ails the country is to vote for them. Ail is used when referring to non-specific illnesses. So you are sick with the flu, or troubled by allergies, but you are not ailing because you know what's wrong. It's when you're sick but it hasn't been diagnosed that you are ailing. |
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| 8948 |
pluck |
pull lightly but sharply |
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To pluck is to pick or pull a single item out of many, like a flower or a hair. As a noun, pluck is energy or enthusiasm, even when things are looking grim. |
Don't pluck only the best cherries off the tree: that's cherry-picking! Before you cook a goose, you need to pluck its feathers. If it looks like your goose is cooked, however, then show some pluck, and figure out a way to save yourself. Some characters who are famous for showing pluck include the Artful Dodger, Little Orphan Annie, and Benji the dog. They all kept their chins up and kept on trying, even when things looked really dark. |
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| 8949 |
fleet |
group of aircraft operating under the same ownership |
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A fleet is usually a large group of ships, but it can be any group of vessels like planes or cars that operate as a unit. A naval fleet is the largest formation of warships. A naval fleet at sea is like an army on land. |
One meaning of fleet comes from the Old English fleot, meaning “ship,” “raft,” or “floating vessel.” Although a fleet is usually a group of ships or airplanes operating under the same ownership, any group of vessels sailing together can be called a fleet, even you and your friends in a fleet of kayaks. Another meaning of fleet originates in the Old English flēotan, which means “moving swiftly.” When it’s used in that way, it’s usually in the -ing form, fleeting. |
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| 8950 |
forgery |
criminal falsification by making or altering an instrument |
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If you painted a copy of the Mona Lisa and sold it to a museum, claiming it was the original, your painting could be called a forgery, and the crime you've committed is also forgery. |
Forgery is a legal word describing a white-collar crime that could involve faking a famous painting, making a false passport that claims you're the King of Swaziland, or copying your boss's signature onto a document. Both the crime of forgery and the sense of forge that means "to make" or "to sculpt" come from the Latin root word fabricare, or "fabricate." |
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| 8951 |
patron |
someone who supports or champions something |
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A patron supports someone or something. A patron of a business supports the business by being a loyal customer. A patron of the arts helps support starving artists — financially, not with food rations. |
The word patron comes from the Latin pater or patr- meaning "father." Think of how a father is supposed to financially support his kids. A patron of the arts is someone who shows his appreciation or support for the arts by donating money to arts organizations. And a patron of the Red Lobster is a frequent customer who can be seen in the same corner booth every Sunday night, noshing on cheddar biscuits. |
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| 8952 |
sheath |
a protective covering, as for a knife or sword |
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A sheath is a protective case for a knife or a sword. The most exciting part of a staged sword fight might be the moment when the hero pulls his weapon out of its sheath. |
A sheath is also a dress that is straight, fitted, and simple. You might advise your Aunt Martha to choose a sheath dress for her third wedding, instead of the white lace gown with the long train. The word sheath most likely comes from the Old English scēath, meaning a divide or a split, like the split piece of wood which originally served as a sword's sheath. |
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| 8953 |
implosion |
a sudden inward collapse |
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An implosion is the abrupt, violent collapse of something large. When an old building needs to be removed to make way for new structures, implosion is often used as a controlled way to destroy it. |
A real scientific implosion happens when the pressure inside and outside of an object vary so much that the object is crushed, or collapses in on itself. This can happen, for example, to a submarine under water or to a collapsing star in the galaxy. The implosion of a building involves careful small explosions that make the middle fall as the sides collapse inwardly. |
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| 8954 |
centurion |
leader of soldiers in ancient Rome |
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A centurion is a kind of soldier in the Roman army responsible for the command of a century, or one hundred, men. |
Centurion lives on in common language as the typical Roman soldier––countless generations of fifth graders have been asked to sketch their costumes. Their resilience in popular imagination may be ascribed to the role the centurion soldiers played in the Christian gospel story of the life of Jesus Christ. |
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| 8955 |
indefatigable |
showing sustained enthusiasm with unflagging vitality |
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Someone who is indefatigable can go on for a very long time without becoming tired. You might not be so happy to have an indefatigable guide on your walking trip––you'll have blisters, but she'll see no reason not to keep going. |
Indefatigable comes from Latin indefatigabilis, formed from the prefix in- "not" plus defatigare "to tire out." Here the prefix de- means "entirely." You can remember the root fatigare because it sounds so much like the English fatigue. |
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| 8956 |
euthanasia |
the act of killing someone painlessly |
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Euthanasia is the act of causing a person's or animal's death, without inflicting pain, to end suffering, like when a veterinarian performs euthanasia on a dog that is in great pain and has no chance of recovery. |
To correctly pronounce euthanasia, remember that it sounds like "youth in Asia." Euthanasia is sometimes referred to as mercy killing, meant to spare a living thing a slow, painful death. Originally a Greek word, euthanasia means "an easy or happy death," as eu- means "good" and thanatos means "death." The use of the word as "legally sanctioned mercy killing" is first recorded in English in 1869. |
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| 8957 |
peccadillo |
a petty misdeed |
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A peccadillo is a minor offense or sin. Parents recognize that their kids have a few peccadilloes: they don't always remember to say please and thank you, don't put their dirty clothes in the hamper, and worst of all, they keep finding the chocolate stash! |
Peccadillo is based on the Spanish word peccado, meaning "sin," with a diminutive added, making peccadillo a small sin. How big a sin is a peccadillo? Well, that depends on whom you ask. The person committing the offense is likely to try to pass off any number of transgressions and mistakes as peccadilloes. If you apologize and are forgiven, it's probably a peccadillo. If your transgression could get you fired, it's probably not! |
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| 8958 |
turquoise |
a shade of blue tinged with green |
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If your favorite color is turquoise, it means that you're partial to a particular bluish-green shade. |
The color known as turquoise comes from the semi-precious gem of the same name. Chemically, turquoise is a mineral made of copper aluminum phosphate, but you're most likely to be familiar with its polished form, especially in rings and necklaces and belt buckles. Interestingly, the word for this traditionally Native American gem comes from a word that means "Turkish," based on its long-ago introduction from Turkey to other parts of Europe. |
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| 8959 |
miser |
a stingy hoarder of money and possessions |
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A miser is someone who hoards his or her own wealth and doesn’t share or spend any of it. If you remember the old saying “You can’t take it with you!” — then you won't end up acting stingy like a miser. |
The most famous fictional miser is probably Scrooge in Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. The image of his shivering with cold while he counts his coins illustrates the misery often associated with misers. To be a miser, your impulse to hoard means you won’t even indulge yourself by spending money for fear of depleting your stash. |
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| 8960 |
irrevocable |
incapable of being retracted |
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If you're on a diet but eat one tiny piece of chocolate, it might start an irrevocable slide into bad eating. Describe something as irrevocable if it cannot be undone or taken back. |
If you break down irrevocable, you wind up with ir "not," re "back" and vocable from the Latin vocare "to call." So if something is irrevocable, you cannot call it back — it is permanent. You must fulfill an irrevocable promise and live with an irrevocable decision. A law is irrevocable if it states within the law that it cannot be nullified. Now that's final! |
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| 8961 |
warmonger |
a person who advocates war or warlike policies |
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A warmonger is someone strongly pro-war. Warmongers favor war above all other options. |
Words with monger in them usually refer to people who sell or promote something, like how a fishmonger sells fish. A warmonger is someone who is constantly promoting war: they always want to invade or attack another country, and they're very loud and persistent. This word is usually an insult, because it suggests the person wants war regardless of the cost and even if it isn't the best option. |
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| 8962 |
chortle |
a soft partly suppressed laugh |
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A chortle is a joyful, partly muffled laugh. If you have a toddler, you will recognize the sound of a delighted chortle, sort of louder and a bit more raucous than a giggle. |
In 1871, Lewis Carroll, who wrote "Alice in Wonderland," coined the word chortle in the poem "Jabberwocky," about a son who slays a monster and comes back to his relieved and happy father: "'O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!' He chortled in his joy." Experts consider the word a blend of the words chuckle and snort and the laugh itself is also a cross between the two. You may chortle in glee if you find out your work nemesis just got a new job in another office — out of state. |
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| 8963 |
abrade |
rub hard or scrub |
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When you abrade something, you scrub it vigorously. To clean your dirty bathtub well, you'll have to abrade it with a scrub brush and powdered bleach. |
When you scour something so vigorously that you remove dirt, grime, or even the surface of the thing you're scrubbing, you abrade it. You might need to abrade your fingers with a nail brush to get them clean after working on your oily car engine all afternoon. The word abrade is related to abrasion — a scrape on the skin — and both words come from the Latin root abradere, which means "to scrape off." |
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| 8964 |
punitive |
inflicting punishment |
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Punitive describes inflicting a punishment. If someone takes punitive action against you, you'll probably whine and complain — you're in trouble and you're about to get punished. |
An easy way to remember the meaning of punitive is that it looks like the word punish — both come from the Latin root word punire, "to inflict a penalty on." Punitive doesn't always refer to a person-to-person punishment, like a mom disciplining a child. It can also describe the unpleasant result of an action on a large scale, like the punitive effect higher taxes will have on the middle class. |
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| 8965 |
stifled |
held in check with difficulty |
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Stifled is an adjective for anything that's been squashed or smothered. You might have a stifled ambition to be an astronaut that you never admitted to others. |
Something stifled is stunted, or prevented from growing. If your mother never let you read books or climb trees, your childhood curiosity might have been stifled. Perhaps your career was stifled because you were constantly daydreaming about being an astronaut, and so failed to do your job well. |
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| 8966 |
aseptic |
free of pathological microorganisms |
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If something is aseptic it is sterile, sanitized, or otherwise clean of infectious organisms. Hospitals make every effort to keep operating rooms aseptic so that patients don’t contract infections after surgery. |
The prefix “a-” almost always means that a word means the opposite of its base. The adjective aseptic, “a-” plus the root “septic,” describes anything that is not septic or is without sepsis. The origin of septic is the Greek word septikos meaning “characterized by putrefaction.” Putrefaction is the rot that happens to flesh after it dies, and when something is aseptic it is free of any rot, filth, bacteria or viruses that could cause disease or death. |
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| 8967 |
holster |
a sheath for carrying a handgun |
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The noun holster looks like holder and that's exactly what it is. Some holsters hold a single item, like a gun, and others are more like tool belts, holding many small items. |
The o in holster is long, so pronounce it like this: "HOLE-ster." Originally, the word described something very specific — a leather case for a pistol. It probably comes from the Old English word heolster (earlier helustr), which means "concealment, hiding place." Today, holsters may hide what they hold, but they always keep things handy. |
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| 8968 |
personable |
pleasant in manner and appearance |
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If you're personable, you're friendly and get along well with other people. Being personable is part of what makes you the star of the sales team — people just seem to like you. |
Someone who's personable can be outgoing, charming, nice, bubbly, amiable, pleasing, or generous, but he doesn’t have to be all of those things — it just all needs to add up to being pleasant. You may be pleasant but not bubbly, and that’s personable. In fact, if you're too bubbly, you might stop being personable and become annoying, which is not personable. |
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| 8969 |
reciprocity |
a relation of mutual dependence or action or influence |
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When two or more people or nations have equal exchanges of goods or services, they are enjoying reciprocity, a situation where each enjoys an equal benefit from the relationship. |
The background of the word reciprocity can be traced to the Latin reciprocus which means, logically enough, "moving back and forth." This is an appropriate meaning for a word that describes a system that moves goods and favors back and forth between participants, sort of a business version of the Golden Rule or, in a different light, the expression "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours." |
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| 8970 |
vigilance |
the process of paying close and continuous attention |
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Vigilance is devoted attentiveness or watchfulness. Security guards and test proctors alike need to practice vigilance. |
Vigilance comes from the Latin word for "wakefulness," vigilantia, and in a medical setting vigilance is still sometimes used to mean "insomnia." A prison guard might be required to maintain vigilance the whole time she's working, always being alert and watchful. |
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| 8971 |
ineptitude |
unskillfulness resulting from a lack of training |
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Ineptitude is a lack of skill, ability, or competence. A doctor would prove his ineptitude at practicing medicine if he mistakenly removed a patient's spleen instead of his kidney. |
Ineptitude and incompetence are synonyms to describe people who have absolutely no idea what they're doing. It's definitely not a quality you'd want in a pilot, who might prove his ineptitude by sending a plane full of passengers hurtling to the ground. Ineptitude also isn't a good quality to have in fields like medicine, where even one careless mistake could be life-threatening. |
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| 8972 |
accrue |
grow by addition |
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To accrue is to accumulate or to keep growing in value or size. If you can accrue enough extra credit to build up your grade, you won't have to take the final exam. |
Early forms of the word accrue were used as early as the 15th century with the meaning "to increase" or "to grow." Many modern uses for accrue involve money or finances, as when you accrue, or earn, interest on a bank account. You can accrue debt too, as interest grows on top of money owed until you pay it back. It's possible to accrue benefits over the time you work somewhere, or you can accrue demerits while you're misbehaving somewhere. |
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| 8973 |
illicit |
contrary to accepted morality or convention |
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Illicit means not allowed by law or custom. It's illegal to kill endangered elephants, but many poachers still engage in the Illicit ivory trade. |
Illicit usually refers to something that is not morally proper or acceptable, such as an illicit love affair. Illicit is from Latin illicitus, from the prefix in- "not" plus licitus "lawful." |
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| 8974 |
topple |
fall down, as if collapsing |
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To topple something is to knock it down. A house of cards can be toppled — so can a government. |
Things can topple in several ways. If a building collapses or falls down for any reason, it topples. If you knocked over another student, you toppled that person. Governments that are overthrown are also said to be toppled. When you see the word topple, someone or something is going down. |
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| 8975 |
floe |
a flat mass of ice drifting at sea |
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An ice floe is a large, free-floating, flat chunk of ice floating in the ocean. Beware: if you're at the North Pole, you could get stranded on an ice floe along with polar bears and other arctic creatures. |
A floe can vary in size from small to giant, but they differ from icebergs in their relative lack of depth. When you spot an iceberg, it’s often just the tip of what’s there, but with a floe, what you see is what you get. The floe edge is where the ice that is still attached to the land, having frozen over the winter months, meets the sea. When the floe edge fractures, the ice floe floats out to sea. |
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| 8976 |
calisthenics |
light exercises designed to promote general fitness |
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Calisthenics is exercise, like jumping jacks or pull-ups, that people do to stay in shape or get in better shape. |
Doing calisthenics usually involves simple movements, like stretching, jumping, bending, and kicking, that don't involve a lot of equipment, if any. Kids in gym class do calisthenics, and calisthenics are helpful to many people, including athletes and people in the military. The push-up is a famous example of calisthenics. Those limber folks on cheerleading squads are masters of calisthenics. A little calisthenics can be helpful in anyone's everyday routine as a way to build endurance and stay healthy. |
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| 8977 |
palate |
the surface of the mouth separating oral and nasal cavities |
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Touch your tongue to the top of your mouth. What you're touching is your palate. Palate is often used when discussing taste in a broader sense, as in: chocolate cake is pleasing to the palate. |
A person with an expensive palate likes only high-priced culinary treats. Someone who tastes slight nuances in food is said to have a well-developed palate, and someone who likes only fancy food is said to have a sophisticated palate. In reality, most taste receptors are on the tongue. But that doesn't sound sophisticated at all, does it? |
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| 8978 |
regicide |
the act of killing a king |
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Regicide is the killing of a king (or queen.) From the Latin regis, meaning "king" and the ancient French cide, meaning "killer." Today it can also be applied to politicians who topple a president or prime minister. |
People had been killing kings and queens (think Cleopatra) long before the term regicide really took off, which was after the execution of King Charles I in England in 1649. The guy had his head chopped off, but a far worse fate awaited those who had signed off in Parliament on the head-chopping. They were hung, drawn, and quartered — i.e., cut up and hanged while still alive. Dangerous profession, regicide. |
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| 8979 |
tamper |
alter or falsify, usually secretively or dishonestly |
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To tamper is to alter or mess with something, usually for a bad reason. Tamper also refers to being nosy about someone's business. Don’t tamper with anything; it’s annoying. |
Tamper involves sticking your nose where it doesn't belong. One kind of tampering involves meddling in other people's affairs. The other kind of tampering has to do with things. If you tamper with financial records, you alter them. Sometimes medicine or food will come with a label that says “tamper proof,” like when a bottle of vitamins is sealed so that you can’t open it until you buy it. |
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| 8980 |
felon |
someone who has been legally convicted of a crime |
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Technically, a felon is anyone who's been convicted of a serious crime, but you can use felon to describe anyone you think has done something terrible. |
For a felon, it's being paraded in handcuffs in front of the public that can be the worst part of being convicted. In some countries, you're considered a felon simply because the king says that you are. Here in the U.S., though, you're innocent until proven guilty, at which point people can call you a felon. My boyfriend took the dog, the TV, and my expensive French sauté pan after we broke up. If you ever run into the felon, please kick him in the shins, and tell him he's a criminal. |
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| 8981 |
bigot |
a prejudiced person who is intolerant of differing opinions |
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A bigot is someone who doesn't tolerate people of different races or religions. If you have an uncle who is a bigot and tells racist jokes at Thanksgiving, you may need to talk to him and tell him it's not okay. |
A bigot can also be someone who refuses to accept other ideas, as in politics. This word was borrowed from Middle French, but the French word is of uncertain origin. In Old French bigot was a term of abuse for Normans, and possibly related to the oath bi got "by God." In English and French, a bigot was originally a hypocrite, a person who claims to have certain moral beliefs but whose behavior doesn't match those beliefs. A bigot was specifically a hypocritical professor of religion, but the connection with the current sense of bigot is not clear. |
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| 8982 |
smolder |
burn slowly and without a flame |
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When a fire is barely burning, it's smoldering. Fires can smolder for days without anyone's knowing, then burst into a conflagration that gets the fire department sirens wailing all over town. |
Smolder is a word that is often used figuratively to describe situations or people's feelings. You might say tensions between the North and South were smoldering for years before the outbreak of the Civil War, or that the taking away tater tots was like oxygen to the students' smoldering dissatisfaction with food at school. |
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| 8983 |
trickle |
run or flow slowly, as in drops or in an unsteady stream |
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To trickle is to weakly flow out of something, like a faucet. A trickle is like a drip. |
There are a lot of ways water can flow, but one type of slow dripping is called trickling. If your shower is only releasing a trickle of water, you're not going to get much of a shower. If it's raining — but only a trickle — you might not need an umbrella. A slightly leaky roof is trickling. A trickle is the opposite of a downpour or flood. Trickling can also be called dribbling. |
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| 8984 |
stickler |
someone who insists on something |
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A stickler is someone who insists that things are done in a certain way. Say you’re getting married and want to write your own vows, but your partner’s mother demands that you have a traditional ceremony. The mother is a stickler for tradition. |
Stickler has its origins in a word meaning umpire, which may allude to a stickler’s bossy nature. Difficult problems or puzzles are called sticklers. It is helpful when remembering the definition of stickler that it has the word “stick” in it. So someone who “sticks” to the rules is a stickler. |
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| 8985 |
benevolence |
disposition to do good |
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Benevolence is an act of kindness or an inclination to be kind. It's the quality of someone who volunteers in a soup kitchen, tutors children for free, and helps old ladies cross the street. |
Helping your grandmother with her groceries is an act of benevolence — as long as she doesn’t pay you a dollar per bag. Letting your little sister have the last helping of ice cream shows benevolence. Benevolence is any kind act, but it can also describe the desire to do nice things. When you’re feeling selfish, you probably won’t show benevolence, but if benevolence comes through in spite of your crankiness, then you know you’re really a good person. |
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| 8986 |
squat |
sit on one's heels |
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If you crouch down very low and sit on your heels, you squat. If you have to talk to a small child, you might have to squat to talk face-to-face. |
The verb squat also means to illegally occupy a building — especially to live in it. If you own vacant property, you need to be careful that someone doesn't decide to squat in the empty house. As an adjective, squat describes someone who is very short and thick. In the movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the dwarfs are depicted as squat little men. |
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| 8987 |
exuberance |
joyful enthusiasm |
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Use exuberance to describe joyful enthusiasm and liveliness. You appreciate the natural exuberance of small children, but you prefer to enjoy it from a distance. |
The noun exuberance comes from the adjective exuberant, which itself came from a Latin word that originally described an overflowing supply of milk from the udder of a cow or goat! The word still means "overflowing," not with milk but with joy and enthusiasm. After your winning home run, the fans ran onto the field and, in their exuberance, carried you off on their shoulders . . . before you touched home plate. |
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| 8988 |
procrastination |
putting off or delaying an action to a later time |
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Procrastination is putting off or deferring an action (usually one we don't want to do) until a later time (usually the last minute). |
Activities that inspire procrastination include work, chores, studying, or anything else we don't feel like doing right now. Activities we choose in our procrastination include surfing the Internet, watching television, reorganizing our pencils, talking on the phone, or sleeping. Great synonyms for this word include dilly-dallying and shillyshally. |
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| 8989 |
truce |
a state of peace agreed to between opponents |
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When two warring sides decide to call it quits, it's called a truce — an agreement to end the fighting. |
When there's a truce, the two sides stop attacking each other, catch their breath, and try to work out a peace deal. A truce isn't a permanent solution: it's more like a time-out. People with other kinds of conflicts talk about truces, too. If you and your sister are in an ongoing battle, one of you could say, "Can we please call a truce?" That means you'll take a break from squabbling, at least for a while. |
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| 8990 |
pitfall |
an unforeseen or unexpected or surprising difficulty |
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A pitfall is a trap or difficulty you didn't see. A possible pitfall for high school seniors is not working hard after they know they've already been accepted into college. |
In 1300, pitfall referred to an animal trap, such as branches laid across a deep hole offering no escape. Since the 1580s, pitfall has come to describe any hidden or unexpected difficulty, and its meaning has expanded to apply to humans. You might encounter a pitfall when trying to use a brand new computer program that's unexpectedly precise. It can even be a habit you don't want to address, like the pitfalls of snacking in front of the television every night. |
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| 8991 |
coddle |
cook in nearly boiling water |
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While it is okay for parents to coddle, spoil, or pamper a young child, it’s a little unnerving when parents coddle, or pamper adult children. And downright weird when adult children wear Pampers. |
Coddle is an old word. Originally, it meant to cook gently in water that is near boiling, as in coddling an egg. It most likely gained its association with pampering and taking care of someone via a drink made for invalids that was prepared by coddling. “Mollycoddle,” a synonym for coddle, originally meant a person who coddles himself, or an effeminate man. |
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| 8992 |
arboreal |
of or relating to or formed by trees |
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If it has to do with trees, you can call it arboreal. Monkeys that live in trees are arboreal. The rings of a tree are an indication of arboreal age. |
The word arboreal comes from the Latin arboreus, which means "pertaining to trees." It's a word that refers not just to animals that live in trees, but also to anything that resembles the branching form of a tree — like a chandelier or a family geology drawn out. It even can be used to describe, as its Latin root suggests, something pertaining to trees. A Christmas tree shop is an arboreal wonderland. There are trees everywhere! |
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| 8993 |
ignoble |
completely lacking nobility in character or purpose |
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Ignoble means not noble, but for those of us that don’t live in feudal England and don’t worry about lords or peasants, ignoble just means base, or low, like that dude in Biology who’s always telling fart jokes. |
Ignoble means low, common, or humble, but we tend to use it to describe the lows of human nature, rather than economically humble people or places. So a picturesquely crumbing rustic cottage or a cool old diner is not ignoble, but perhaps a sketchy roadside bar is. Those that think that the human mind is the treasure of the world disdain ignoble animals like pigs or dogs––after all, they can’t compose lovely poems like we can. |
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| 8994 |
intersperse |
introduce into one's writing or speech (certain expressions) |
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When you intersperse something, you scatter it with spaces in between, the way you intersperse vegetable seeds along a row in a garden bed. |
A wallpaper pattern might intersperse polka dots with bright flowers, and a writer might intersperse colorful details throughout an essay on the sword fishing industry. If you place things here and there, at intervals or leaving room between each item, you intersperse them. The Latin root is interspersus, "strewn or scattered," and in the mid-1500s the word intersperse was used mostly to mean "diversify by introducing things at intervals." |
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| 8995 |
matriculation |
admission to a group, especially a college or university |
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Matriculation is a noun meaning admission to a group, particularly a school. Matriculation is what hopefully follows after you send in your application. |
Though the dictionary sense of matriculation is admission, in practical use matriculation takes place when you enroll at a school. In other words, you can’t just be accepted to complete matriculation; you have to have to enroll, register, and matriculate. If you get a letter from a college or school with a list of what to do before your matriculation, those are the things you need to do before you arrive on campus — like send a big check! |
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| 8996 |
susceptibility |
the state of being easily affected |
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Susceptibility is a tendency to be affected by something. Some people have a greater susceptibility to colds than others. |
A susceptibility is a type of weakness, but a particular kind. If your knee keeps getting injured, you may have a susceptibility to knee problems. If alcoholism runs in your family, you probably have a susceptibility to being an alcoholic yourself. Some people have a susceptibility to spending a lot of money or eating too much. When you have a susceptibility, there's something you can't resist or can't fight off. |
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| 8997 |
ostracism |
the act of excluding someone from society by general consent |
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If you banish someone from society, you've caused that person's ostracism. Quakers, for example, faced ostracism by Puritans in colonial Massachusetts and many of them fled to the nearby colony of Rhode Island. |
Ostracism comes from the Greek word ostrakon, a broken shard of pottery. Athenians used pieces of pottery as a paper substitute in an annual vote in which citizens chose to banish someone from Athens for a period of ten years. The banished person had to leave (or face death) but was allowed to keep his property and could return when his ostracism was up. The vote was often used to get rid of potential tyrants and political rivals. |
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| 8998 |
arabesque |
position in which the dancer has one leg raised behind |
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An arabesque is a position in which a ballerina stands on one leg with the other stretched out behind her. The back leg in an arabesque might be just touching the floor or extended straight up in the air. |
A ballet dancer in an arabesque position is familiar — many ballets include arabesques or arabesques penchée, when the ballerina's legs are at an angle greater than ninety degrees. Another kind of arabesque is a graceful design originally found in Islamic art and later in European art and design. This kind of arabesque resembles vines and leaves, rendered in metal, ceramic, or stone. The word arabesque comes from the Italian Arabo, or "Arab," used to describe Moorish architecture. |
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| 8999 |
ferocity |
the property of being wild or turbulent |
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Ferocity is the state of being ferocious — wild, scary, and fierce. A five year-old girl pretending to be a lion will display her ferocity by roaring and baring her teeth. |
Things known for their ferocity include wild animals, terrifying thunder storms, and fierce battlefield fights. A furious argument can have an element of ferocity, and so can a wild, loud piece of music. The Latin word ferus, which means "wild," is the root of not only ferocity, but ferocious and fierce. Ferocity came directly from the Latin ferocitatem, "fierceness, or wildness." |
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| 9000 |
cantankerous |
stubbornly obstructive and unwilling to cooperate |
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If someone is cantankerous he has a difficult disposition. Take care not to throw your ball into the yard of the cantankerous old man down the street — he'll cuss you out and keep your ball. |
The origin of cantankerous is unclear (it may be at least partly from Middle English contek 'dissension'), but ever since it first appeared in plays from the 1770s, it's been a popular way to describe someone who is quarrelsome and disagreeable. It is usually applied to people, but stubborn animals like mules are also described as cantankerous. Events can be cantankerous too, like a cantankerous debate. Some synonyms are cranky, bad-tempered, irritable, irascible. |
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| 9001 |
fidget |
move restlessly |
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To fidget is to make little movements with your hands and feet. Even if you're nervous during your job interview, try not to fidget. |
The word fidget is related to the Old Norse fikja, meaning "move briskly, be restless or eager." If you are feeling impatient or anxious you might fidget in your seat or fidget with a pen in your hands. A person who fidgets a lot can be referred to as a fidget and so can that quick anxious movement itself. |
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| 9002 |
attune |
adjust or accustom to; bring into harmony with |
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When you attune to something, you adjust to it and become aware of the way it works. A new parent has to attune to a baby's schedule and personality. |
Preschool teachers need to attune to their students' various needs and interests, and when you visit a foreign country it's important to attune to the unfamiliar culture, so that you're both comfortable and respectful. The verb attune is almost always followed by "to," and it often shows up in the form of "be attuned to." Attune comes from tune, "bring into a state of proper pitch." |
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| 9003 |
convoke |
call together |
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To convoke is to call to a meeting, especially a formal meeting. When planning military strategy, a nation's leader might convoke her trusted advisors and top generals. |
Convoke emerged in the 14th century, from the Latin word convocare — "to call together;" the definition stands today unchanged. Use convoke when you are speaking of people or a group being summoned for an official gathering, like the kind the government or a large organization holds. |
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| 9004 |
reticence |
the trait of being uncommunicative |
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Reticence is a kind of reserve, wanting to avoid communication and not wanting to offer any more information than is necessary. |
Reticence is a noun originating from the Latin word reticent, meaning “remaining silent.” Someone charged with a crime might be instructed by their lawyer to show reticence when being questioned by police. As a child, reticence saved you from getting in trouble when mom asked who ate all the cookies from the jar. |
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| 9005 |
trudge |
walk heavily and firmly, as when weary, or through mud |
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To trudge is to walk in a heavy, exhausted way. Your grandpa probably tells you about how he used to trudge six miles uphill through a foot of snow in the brutal cold every morning just to get to school. |
Trudge is also a noun that means a difficult, labored walk. If you take a mile-long trudge through heavy snow or mud, your steps will be slower and it will require more effort to put one foot in front of the other. Need help remembering what trudge means? Say it out loud. Trudge rhymes with sludge — and walking through sludge, or thick muck, would cause you to trudge. |
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| 9006 |
scald |
burn with a hot liquid or steam |
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You could scald yourself if your bathwater is too hot. To scald something is to burn it with hot liquid. However, if a recipe tells you to “scald the milk,” it means to heat it to the moment just before it boils. |
The verb scald comes from the Late Latin word excaldare, meaning “bathe in hot water.” For example, if you scald a tomato in boiling water for one minute, it will be easy to peel. In medieval times, or any era when people protected their castles by pouring hot oil from the turrets, they scalded their enemies. Nice. |
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| 9007 |
telltale |
disclosing unintentionally |
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Something that's telltale accidentally relays important information. A wise parent can tell who ate the last of the birthday cake by the telltale chocolate smudges on the culprit's face. |
The telltale dark circles under your teacher's eyes betray how little sleep he got last night, and a telltale bulge in a shopper's pocket is sometimes enough for a store owner to suspect she's a shoplifter. If it's telltale, its very presence reveals something. A famous occurrence of telltale, although it's spelled with a hyphen, is Edgar Allen Poe's story "The Tell-Tale Heart," about a murderer who imagines he's betrayed by the telltale beating of his victim's heart. |
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| 9008 |
resilience |
ability of a material to return to its original shape |
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Truly, your resilience, or ability to bounce back, is not just admirable, but foolhardy, some might say; who else could have survived an attack by a rabid toucan and then gone on to become a world-renowned bird breeder? |
The noun resilience stems from the Latin resiliens “to rebound, recoil.” As a character trait, resilience is a person’s ability to recover quickly from unfortunate circumstances or illness. Runners who fall during a marathon only to pop back up and dash through the finish line show some serious resilience. Or Silly Putty that can stretch and stretch without breaking, and then come back to rest inside its egg-shaped carrying case — that’s resilience, or elasticity, for you. |
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| 9009 |
jagged |
having a sharply uneven surface or outline |
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Something is jagged when it has an uneven edge or quality to it. Teeth can be jagged, saw blades can be jagged, and the edges of leaves can be jagged. |
Jagged comes from 16th century English/Scottish and originally referred to a cloth, cut in a way so that the edge is not straight, but that is “toothed.” Imagine a tipsy seamstress trying to cut cloth in a straight line, but her sheers stray this way then that. She’s leaving a jagged edge on the cloth. Or perhaps you have a crush on the seamstress, but she is seen kissing another. Here, she’s leaving a jagged wound on your heart. |
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| 9010 |
drawl |
a slow speech pattern with prolonged vowels |
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A drawl is a distinctively slow, drawn-out way of talking that's especially common in the US south. A writer might describe a cowboy as speaking in a lazy drawl. |
A drawl tends to lengthen and extend vowel sounds in particular, so that words like "pet" or "pen" might be pronounced with two syllables, rather than one short one. While the Southern states are best known for inhabitants with drawls, Australian and New Zealand natives are also sometimes said to drawl. The word probably stems from the Dutch dralen, "delay" or "linger." |
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| 9011 |
ruffian |
a cruel and brutal fellow |
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A ruffian is a bully, someone who is violent toward others. Maybe they had a bad childhood, or perhaps they like the sound of people in pain. No matter where they come from, ruffians are best avoided. |
Soccer fans have a reputation for being ruffians. Sure, some are sensitive poetry-reading types, but the ones that get the most attention scream obscenities, break things, and fight each other. Ruffian comes from a Germanic word that literally translates as “scabbiness,” and perhaps ruffians are covered in scabs from all the fights they start. Sometimes a ruffian is a person involved in crime, however, the word is always used to describe someone who’s a cruel, violent jerk. |
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| 9012 |
tepid |
moderately warm |
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Tepid means lukewarm or half-hearted. If the applause for your mime-on-a-unicycle performance was more tepid than enthusiastic, it might be time to find a new hobby. |
Around 1400, the word tepid evolved from the Latin tepidus, an adjective meaning “lukewarm,” which before that came about from the Latin tepere, a verb meaning “to be warm.” Tepid people or things are lukewarm or lacking in enthusiasm or emotion. Bathwater that’s been sitting in the tub for two hours is probably tepid. So was the hug you gave your least favorite ex when you ran into him at the movie theater. |
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| 9013 |
abrogate |
revoke formally |
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Abrogate means to abolish or avoid. When someone cuts in front of you in line, they are abrogating your right to be the next one served. When you cut in line, you are abrogating your responsibility to those who were in line before you. |
The Latin root of this word is made up of the prefix ab- "away" and rogare "to propose a law." What does it mean if you propose a law away? You repeal it, of course, so abrogate means to officially revoke, cancel or abolish. The meaning of this word has expanded a bit since its earliest usage, but it still appears most often in a legal or political context, or when serious rights and responsibilities are being discussed. |
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| 9014 |
talon |
a sharp hooked claw especially on a bird of prey |
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A talon is a large, hooked claw. Although talons are usually associated with eagles, hawks and other birds of prey, you can also use the word to describe the flesh-tearing claws or fingernails of raptors, werewolves or even enraged preschoolers. |
Talons typically belong to predators — the word implies bloody attack. An owl uses talons to stab and kill its prey. A chicken, however, uses claws to pick at its feathers and scratch around in the dirt. You can also pull talons into the conversation to be funny or sarcastic: “Hey! Get your talons off that piece of cake. It’s mine.” |
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| 9015 |
sever |
set or keep apart |
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To sever something is to cut it off from the whole. If your girlfriend breaks up with you on your anniversary, you might respond by severing the blossoms off the roses you were planning to give her. (Just an idea.) |
Sever rhymes with ever, but it looks like the word severe, which means "harsh." The similarity between sever and severe is a good reminder to reserve sever for harsh, unpleasant circumstances. If you’re trimming your fingernails, you might use the word clip, but sever wouldn’t be appropriate. If, however, you somehow cut off your finger while clipping your fingernails, you’re free to use the word sever — or any other word you like — on your way to the hospital. |
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| 9016 |
sodden |
wet through and through; thoroughly wet |
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Pull out your galoshes. When it's been raining for days, there are puddles everywhere, and the grass is thoroughly soaked, it's safe to say the ground is sodden. |
Coming from the Middle English word for "boiled," sodden is certainly closely tied with lots and lots of liquid. Saturated, soppy and soaking, anything that's sodden is drenched to the core and probably a mess. That goes for people, too: You can call someone sodden if they're acting stupid or dull, especially if they've had too much to drink. |
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| 9017 |
mephitic |
of noxious stench from atmospheric pollution |
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Foul-smelling air can be described as mephitic. If you accidentally combine ammonia and bleach when you're cleaning, you will make a mephitic cloud of gas that is not only smelly but is also dangerous to breathe. |
Mephitic comes from the Latin word mephitis, which means noxious vapor or exhalation. Mephitis was also the name of the Roman goddess of foul-smelling gases from volcanoes and swampy areas. She loans her name to the very common North American striped skunk, Mephitis mephitis. If you can remember the Latin name for skunk, you'll have no trouble remembering that mephitic describes air that smells terrible. |
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| 9018 |
sketchy |
giving only major points; lacking completeness |
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Something sketchy is incomplete: it includes the major points but lacks detail. If a political candidate avoids going into detail about her political views, you might say her platform is sketchy. |
A sketch is a quick drawing that doesn't have a lot of detail. That definition should help you remember that sketchy things are incomplete. A sketchy speech from the President will outline some important ideas but be short on specifics. A sketchy plan for the weekend would be "Let's go out to eat." That's sketchy because it has the general idea but no specifics, such as the time or place. |
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| 9019 |
pariah |
a person who is rejected from society or home |
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A pariah is someone that has been soundly rejected by their community. Your constant gossiping might make you a pariah on campus. |
Pariah takes its name from a tribe in Southeast India. The pariahs were drummers, sorcerers, and servants who became untouchables in Indian society because of the unsanitary jobs they did. Pariah maintains this sense of untouchableness. Pariahs are not just unliked, they are avoided at all costs. Imagine how a once popular restaurant could gain pariah status if it fails health inspections three times in a row. |
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| 9020 |
recast |
mold again |
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"Let's start over." That's what someone might say when he or she needs to recast something, meaning "to make major changes that make something seem very different or even brand new." |
When you recast something, you aren’t just improving it slightly — something that is recast typically involves significant changes to the original. As it applies to actors' parts in a movie, television show, or play, to recast a part means finding a different actor to play it. When you recast a metal item, like a piece of jewelry, the item is melted down completely and then remade in a new form. When teachers get blank stares from students, they recast their questions to make them less confusing. |
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| 9021 |
ebullience |
eager enjoyment or approval |
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Bubbly, loud, and enthusiastic, ebullience means "the quality of being cheerful and full of energy." Take a room full of seven-year-olds and add a bunch of adorable puppies, and you'll end up with ebullience. |
The Latin word ebullientem, which ebullience comes from, literally means "boiling over." When you see ebullience, you know it; it's not simply happiness or enjoyment, but those emotions bubbling up and overflowing. |
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| 9022 |
colander |
bowl-shaped strainer used to wash or drain foods |
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Most cooks would agree that a colander is an essential piece of equipment for even the most basic kitchen. It's a bowl, usually made of plastic or metal, with holes in it to allow liquid to drain away from the food. |
Colanders are used for draining anything — for instance, if you're washing fruit, a colander would make the job quick and easy. If you're cooking pasta, you toss the pasta into a pot of boiling water, then when it's cooked, you pour the contents of the pot through a colander, and what's left behind in the colander, drained and ready to eat, is the pasta. |
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| 9023 |
dynamo |
a coil that rotates between the poles of an electromagnet |
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A dynamo creates energy. It’s short for "dynamoelectric machine," which is a generator that cranks out electric currents. If someone calls you a dynamo, don’t get mad, it just means you’re energetic. |
The word dynamo comes from the Greek dynamis for "power." Boom! It’s like dynamite! The inventor of the dynamo-electric machine knew that when he named the device that turns mechanical power into electric current. Dynamos have been used to make power since the 1800’s. Since dynamo is such a snappy name, it’s often used to describe high-energy people, too. Is your room a disaster? Call an organizing dynamo to help you clean it up. |
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| 9024 |
sting |
deliver a sudden pain to |
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Sting most commonly refers to the wound inflicted by a bee or hornet, or to a kind of burning pain, like the brief sting when your doctor gives you a vaccine. A nasty remark can also sting. |
"Float like a butterfly. Sting like a bee!" was Muhammad Ali's famous taunt to other fighters. But insects and boxers aren't the only ones who can sting. When someone says something that's both mean and true, it can sting. Such things are often referred to as stinging remarks. But if you're thinking crime, then a sting is a con-job that takes planning to pull off. When the cops spend months creating a fake crime-ring in order to catch criminals in the act, it's referred to a "sting operation." |
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| 9025 |
cogitate |
consider carefully and deeply |
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To cogitate is a fancy way of saying to think hard about. If you spend a lot of time figuring out exactly how your French teacher does her hair, you are cogitating in order to avoid conjugating. |
Cogitate can be used both transitively or intransitively, which means you can cogitate on something, like your history project or your why your computer never seems to work the way you want it to. Or you can simply sit in your room and cogitate. |
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| 9026 |
indolence |
inactivity resulting from a dislike of work |
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If your boss catches you sleeping with your head on your desk, she's likely to comment on your indolence. Indolence is another word for laziness. |
The noun indolence means a habit of laziness, especially when avoiding work. In the 1600s, indolence was mostly used to mean "insensitivity to pain," from the Latin indolentia, "freedom from pain." About 100 years later, indolence came to have its current meaning, possibly because of the phrase "taking pains," which means "being careful." If you are so careful that you never leave the house, people might think of you as lazy. |
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| 9027 |
pyre |
wood heaped for burning a dead body as a funeral rite |
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Pyre rhymes with fire. It's also a noun for a large pile of stuff for burning. Most times a pyre is part of a funeral — the body is burned on it. |
From the Greek pura or pur, meaning "fire," pyre came into English in the 17th century. Pyr is also the Czech word for "hot ashes." Remember, a pyre isn't the fire itself but the stuff that helps the fire burn, as firewood at a campfire. People and animals are burned on a pyre as part of a traditional funeral ceremony in some countries. |
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| 9028 |
streak |
a narrow marking of a different color from the background |
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A streak is a mark or characteristic. What makes you keep trying to wipe the streak of permanent marker off the white couch — your clean streak or your stubborn streak? |
Like a mark or stain, a streak in a person is a characteristic or strain that runs through them — like a mean streak. The noun streak can also refer to an unbroken chain of events — you’ll want a lucky streak to keep going and a losing streak to come to a quick end. As a verb, to streak means to dash, sometimes without clothes. If you talk a blue streak, you’ve got a lot to say, very quickly. |
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| 9029 |
cornucopia |
a horn filled with fruit and grain symbolizing prosperity |
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A grocery store with a large selection of fruits and vegetables could be said to have a cornucopia of produce. A cornucopia is a lot of good stuff. |
Around Thanksgiving in the United States, you'll often see cornucopias or horn-shaped baskets filled with fruit and other goodies as centerpieces. Originally, a cornucopia was a goat's horn filled with corn and fruit to symbolize plenty. Nowadays, a cornucopia is probably made of some kind of plaster or wicker, but it still symbolizes the same thing — a good harvest season. |
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| 9030 |
protracted |
relatively long in duration |
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Something protracted has been drawn out, usually in a tedious way. Protracted things are long and seem like they're never going to end. |
Anything protracted is lasting longer than you would like. A speech that seems to go on forever is protracted. If an employer and a union can't reach an agreement, there could be a protracted strike. Before a movie, the previews are almost always protracted — they never seem to stop. If something is long and annoying, and there's no good reason it couldn't be shorter, it's protracted. |
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| 9031 |
plaque |
a memorial made of brass |
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A plaque is a sign that memorializes a person or event, such as the plaque on a building noting the person it's named after or the year it was built. |
Plaque comes from the French word for "plate," meaning not a dinner plate, but a little brass or tin plate that can be mounted on a wall. If you take a tour of Civil War battlefields, you'll find that historical societies often use plaques to commemorate soldiers or particular events. Plaque is also a hard buildup in the body, like the plaque on your teeth that the dentist likes to scrape off. |
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| 9032 |
lien |
the right to take and hold the property of a debtor |
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A lien is a claim against the property of someone who owes money. It's pronounced like "lean," which might also describe your meager finances if a lien has been placed on your home. |
When someone doesn't make payments on a loan, the bank may put a lien on that person's property, claiming ownership of that property until the overdue payment is received. The word lien derives from the Latin ligāre, which means "to bind," and you can see that "binding," or tying up a person's property, really does put the owner in a "bind." |
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| 9033 |
credulity |
tendency to believe readily |
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Did you know that if you say credulity ten times fast it starts to sound like orange? If you believe that, then you have a lot of credulity. Credulity means gullibility, or a willingness to believe anything. |
Credulity is a tendency to believe in things too easily and without evidence. If a swindler is trying to sell you fake medicine, then he is "preying on your credulity." This noun is associated with being naïve, gullible or innocent. It shouldn’t be confused with credibility, which means “believability,” although it is often misused in this way. You might hear someone say, “the farfetched plot of that movie strained credulity,” but what he or she really means is “believability,” or “credibility.” |
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| 9034 |
dud |
an explosion that fails to occur |
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Something that doesn't work the way it's supposed to is a dud. A bomb or firework that doesn't explode is one kind of dud. A bad blind date is another kind. |
When a bomb fails to explode, it's a dud. A long-planned surprise party that fails miserably when the guest of honor doesn't show up is another kind of dud. You can also refer to a person as a dud, if he's an utter failure or a complete flop: "The lead actor was a total dud. He couldn't really sing or dance and he seemed nervous." In the 1800s, a dud was "a person in ragged clothing," from dudde, "cloak or mantle." |
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| 9035 |
dolt |
a person who is not very bright |
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Dolt refers a person who isn't very smart. You might be called a dolt if you do something dumb, like stand outside your car complaining that you locked your keys inside — even though the window is wide open. |
Let's be honest — you never want to be called a dolt. And if you're a kind person, you'll never call anyone else a dolt — unless they do something so frustratingly stupid that you can't take it anymore. Dolt probably came from the Middle English word dullen, meaning "to dull, make or become dazed or stupid." To help remember what dolt means, say it out loud, with gusto. With its guttural sound, the word itself sounds not very bright. |
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| 9036 |
parley |
a negotiation between enemies |
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A formal discussion between enemies or opponents is called a parley. A British drummer called for a parley between the British and American armies in 1781, and officers from both sides then discussed the terms of Britain's surrender. |
Parley can also be used as a verb, meaning to discuss or negotiate, such as between enemies or opponents. If your siblings are fighting, you may need to encourage them to parley in another room in order to discuss their differences and hopefully settle the problem once and for all. |
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| 9037 |
incursion |
the act of entering some territory or domain |
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When an army crosses a border into another country for battle, they are making an incursion into enemy territory. An incursion is an invasion as well as an attack. |
Incursion can also be used to describe other things that rush in like an army such as an invasive species into a new region or floodwaters entering your home. When an airplane heads onto a runway it is not supposed to land on, risking airport safety, it is known as a runway incursion. And an incursion of cold air could make September feel like December. |
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| 9038 |
regale |
provide with choice or abundant food or drink |
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You may have heard it said that the fastest way to a person’s heart is through his stomach. So, if you need to please or impress someone, regale them — that is, treat them to lavish food and drink. |
While food is reliable way to regale someone, regale can also involve providing forms of entertainment such as music or storytelling. Regale is akin to the word gala, meaning “a festive party,” and gallant, which can mean “spirited and adventurous” (though gallant can also mean “noble and brave”). If you regale someone with a gala attended by partygoers who are gallant, in either sense of the word, everyone should have a pretty good time. |
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| 9039 |
malinger |
avoid responsibilities and duties |
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When you malinger, you pretend to be sick. If you ever claimed to have a stomach ache in order to stay home from school, you know what it means to malinger. |
The word malinger comes from the French malingre, which can mean "ailing or sickly," but its exact origin is uncertain. One theory says that mal, or "wrongly," suggests the sick person is just faking. Lying about a stomach ache, holding the thermometer near a light bulb, refusing to get out of bed, moaning — these are classic tactics of those who malinger, or pretend to be too sick to do anything but lie around the house. |
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| 9040 |
snare |
a trap for birds or small mammals; often has a slip noose |
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A snare is a trap, usually for small animals, and using a noose. Snare can also mean to trap in general or any type of trap, like the snare of a TV cliffhanger that traps you into watching again. |
If writers are to be believed, we are surrounded by snares. Francis Beaumont implores us to know that “the world’s a snare.” And Hilda Doolittle asserts that “a snare is Love.” Still Soren Kierkegaard lets us know that “the truth is a snare: you cannot have it, without being caught.” Whoever is right, it seems that you can’t escape. A snare is also a type of small drum that rattles, as well as a wire loop used by surgeons. |
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| 9041 |
emote |
give expression to, in a stage or movie role |
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To emote is to express emotion, particularly when you're acting in a film or a play. If an actor doesn't emote, the audience can't tell how he's supposed to be feeling in a scene. |
When people emote, it sometimes appears overdone or melodramatic. Taking a feeling and exaggerating it so that an audience can understand the character's emotions is what actors do when they emote. The noun emotion came first, and the theatrical verb emote followed in the early twentieth century. The Old French root word is emouvoir, or "stir up," from the Latin emovere, "move out, remove, or agitate." |
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| 9042 |
lope |
run easily |
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Some words are fun to say: lope is one of them. It's also fun to think about, as it means to move with a casual, striding gait. Imagine a horse cantering along with an easy lope. A pleasant image indeed. |
Before 1825, the meaning of lope was in the line of a leap or springy jump. This comes from the Old Norse word hlaupa, which sounds like its English meaning, "to leap." This is similar to the Old Dutch lopen, "to run," and the Old English hlēapan, "leap," as well as the Scots loup, all related to the modern meaning: a long, striding gait with a little bounce to it. |
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| 9043 |
expostulate |
reason with for the purpose of dissuasion |
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When you expostulate, you argue strongly against someone doing something. You might expostulate with your little brother, objecting to his plan to jump off the roof into a pile of leaves. |
Someone who expostulates has strong opinions about other people's plans or ideas and a desire to convince them to change their minds. You might expostulate about your town's new law banning dogs from coffee shops, arguing against it in a letter to the local newspaper. Expostulate comes from the Latin root word expostulare, meaning "to demand urgently." The English word still contains this urgency, with an added sense of persuasion and reasoned argument. |
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| 9044 |
requite |
make repayment for or return something |
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You can requite a friend’s kindness by doing your friend a favor or by being kind in return. Requite means "to repay or return." |
To requite something is to return it. However, saying that you want to requite a gift means that you want to give something in return for it — not that you want to return the gift to the store for some quick cash. Requite is often used in the context of love; if you requite someone’s love, you love that person back. Requite can also be used in a negative sense. Someone who wants to requite an injury wants payback for it. |
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| 9045 |
philistine |
a person who is uninterested in intellectual pursuits |
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A philistine is a person who doesn’t think a lot and isn't interested in learning. Your uncle Marvin, who's only interested in eating, sleeping, and watching game shows, could be considered a philistine. |
In the late 17th century, during a conflict in Jena, Germany, between townspeople and students, someone referred to the townspeople as “Philistines.” Since then, philistine has described someone who stands against learning and the arts. And if you don’t start reading the great Russian authors, someone might suggest that you have a philistine attitude toward literature — the word can also be used as an adjective describing a person or thing that displays indifference to the arts and intellectual pursuits. |
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| 9046 |
heretic |
a person whose religious beliefs conflict with church dogma |
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If your friend became interested in Hinduism, with its many gods and rituals, her Catholic mother might be worried that her daughter was a heretic, or a person whose religious beliefs are in contrast to the fundamental beliefs of her church. |
The noun heretic is mostly used in a religious context to talk about someone whose actions or beliefs act against the laws, rules, or beliefs of some specific religion. However, heretic can also be used in a non-religious way to mean "someone whose ideas go against the norm." Say your regular hangout is a cowboy honky-tonk and most of your friends play in country bands; you might be considered a heretic if you announced that your favorite kind of music is actually opera. |
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| 9047 |
supine |
lying face upward |
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You can be described as supine when you're lying face up — for example, your favorite yoga poses might be the supine ones. Someone who is very passive or lethargic could also be called supine — for instance, someone might be supine in the face of continuous threats and insults. |
The adjective supine comes from a Latin word, supinus, which means “thrown backwards” or “inactive.” Whenever a person or animal is lying on its back, belly-up, it is supine. When your hand is open, palm-up, it is also supine. Supine can even describe a person who gives insufficient resistance, or who is lazy and ineffectual. "When Jack refused to object to the landlord’s repeated — and gouging — rent increases, he was supine." |
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| 9048 |
ferment |
cause to undergo the breakdown of sugar into alcohol |
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The word ferment means a commotion or excitement. Consider that the fermentation that turns juice or grain into alcohol is the result of the agitated development of bacteria, and then you can better appreciate the word's meaning. |
While you might be more familiar with the verb ferment, referring to the natural process that produces alcohol, the word is also used as a noun, giving the same type of boiling emotion to people or events. If you keep in mind that the root of the word is fevere, meaning "to boil or seethe," you get a vivid picture of the ferment experienced at a political rally where tempers run high. |
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| 9049 |
festoon |
a decorative representation of a string of flowers |
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A festoon is a decorative string of flowers that you drape across a room, dropping in curves between support points. If you're decorating for Halloween, why not try a creatively spooky festoon of dried roses covered in cobwebs? |
Festoon probably comes from the Italian word festone, for "feast," and if you can imagine an Italian courtyard strung up with flowers and lanterns, then you have a sense of what it means to festoon a place. A noun or a verb, festoon can mean the decoration itself, or the work of putting it up. Festoons don't strictly have to be made of flowers, though they usually are. You can festoon with fabric too, or paper chains. Or cobwebs. |
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| 9050 |
curmudgeon |
an irascible, cantankerous person full of stubborn ideas |
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Old, cranky, and more than a little stubborn, a curmudgeon is the gruff, grey-haired neighbor who refuses to hand out candy at Halloween and shoos away holiday carolers with a "bah humbug!" |
As fickle and stubborn as the type of person it describes, curmudgeon comes to us without a history, its origins undisclosed. It was originally believed to have come from coeur mechant, the French phrase for “evil heart,” but that theory has been long discarded. Don't worry though, you’ll know a curmudgeon when you see one: He’ll be ill-tempered and miserly, eager to shake his fist and spout disagreeable opinions. |
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| 9051 |
benison |
a spoken blessing |
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If you say grace before a meal, you are saying a benison, or blessing. You can also be grateful for the benison of having your family around the table for a meal. |
The word benison shares the Latin root benedictio with the word benediction, a spoken blessing usually over a group, and with the word benefit, a non-religious word meaning good thing brought from something else. In Italy, if something is very good, they say "Bene!" Got the meaning of this word? Bene! |
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| 9052 |
vacillation |
indecision in speech or action |
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Vacillation is when you constantly change your opinion. It also refers to swinging back and forth physically. |
Both meanings of vacillation involve moving back and forth in some way. The first sense is what happens when a person is wishy-washy. If you want to go to a movie, then say you don’t, then say you do after all, that’s an example of vacillation. Politicians who flip-flop are known for their vacillation because they constantly change their opinions. Also, something that is swinging or swaying in the wind is vacillating, so the movement is a vacillation. |
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| 9053 |
atonement |
the act of making amends for sin or wrongdoing |
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When you apologize for doing something wrong, that’s an act of atonement. Many religions have rituals of atonement, such as Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, on which people of the Jewish faith repent for their sins. |
As a religious act, atonement is an effort to make up for wrongdoings so you can be in harmony with a higher power. Look closely at the word: you can break it down to "at," "one," and "ment." Atonement first appears in English in the 1510s, when it meant "the condition of being at one (with others)." About ten years later, the word shows up with a meaning that included “being at one with God.” |
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| 9054 |
macerate |
soften and cause to disintegrate as a result |
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When you macerate something, you soften it by soaking it in a liquid, often while you're cooking or preparing food. |
To macerate strawberries, all you have to do is sprinkle sugar on them, which draws out their juices so they become soft and sweet and deliciously saucy. Macerate is sometimes also used to mean "cause to grow thin or weak," or in other words, to make someone feel like a soft, squishy strawberry. |
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| 9055 |
skiff |
a small boat propelled by oars or by sails or by a motor |
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A skiff is a small boat. If you decide to purchase a skiff instead of giant yacht, you're probably someone who prefers the quiet, simple life. (Or maybe you just didn’t want to spend the money on a yacht.) |
A skiff may be powered by oars, sails, or a motor, but in any of these cases, a typical skiff can carry only a few passengers. Skiff originally referred to a small boat attached to a large ship; the skiff would have been used for communication with and transportation to other large ships and the shore. Winslow Homer, a 19th-century American artist, often portrayed skiffs in his depictions of marine scenes. |
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| 9056 |
boggle |
overcome with amazement |
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To boggle is to amaze, astonish, or overwhelm. Your mind might boggle at all the information your physics teacher writes on the board on the first day of class. |
You'll most likely find this verb in sentences like "My brain boggles at the outfit she decided to wear to the party," or "When you watch this movie, your mind will boggle at the special effects." Along with the even more common adjective mind-boggling, boggle comes from the Middle English bugge, or "specter." Boggle originally meant "spook," or "start with fright." |
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| 9057 |
vacuity |
the absence of matter |
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When you refer to something that is not there, you can refer to its vacuity. A stern teacher who is criticizing an empty-headed English essay might talk about its vacuity, or the absence of any real substance. |
This abstract noun is derived from the adjective vacuous, which means "like or of a vacuum." Vacuity is rarely used to refer to actual vacuums; it is instead used to disparage arguments, morals, and undertakings that lack proper substance. These transferred meanings are more common for the adjective as well. Use them both sparingly: they are nearly always a marker that you have your judgment hat on! |
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| 9058 |
dereliction |
willful negligence |
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Dereliction is a word for neglecting responsibilities. Failing to care for your family or do your job are examples of dereliction. |
If you are letting things go, you are engaged in dereliction. Not mowing your lawn is an example of dereliction; so is not feeding your children. Someone can be fired for dereliction of duty, meaning they have failed to do their job. Dereliction is the opposite of diligence, a quality of people who are hard-working. It might help you to remember this word if you know that homeless people are sometimes called derelicts, implying that they are not able to care for themselves. |
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| 9059 |
mendacity |
the tendency to be untruthful |
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Mendacity is a tendency to lie. Your friend might swear that he didn't eat your secret chocolate stash, but you'll find it hard to believe him if he's known for his mendacity. |
Anyone in the habit of lying frequently has the characteristic of mendacity. People often accuse government officials of mendacity, or being less than honest. You're bound to get frustrated by the mendacity of your friend who's a pathological liar. Mendacity comes from the Latin root word mendacium, or "lie." Don't confuse mendacity with a similar-sounding word, audacity — which means "fearlessness, daring, or bravery." |
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| 9060 |
perspicacity |
the capacity to assess situations or circumstances shrewdly |
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If you devote long hours to the arts of attention and analysis, you might develop the perspicacity required to become a really good detective. |
Perspicacity comes from the Latin word for penetrating sight. If you have perspicacity, you are good at discerning what is really going on where others might only see surface clues. Perspicacity is a quality that many professionals need, from detectives to doctors to therapists. If someone is perspicacious, we might also say they have a "shrewd mind," or a "keen intelligence." |
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| 9061 |
molt |
cast off hair, skin, horn, or feathers |
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When an animal molts, it loses its feathers, fur, skin or maybe even outer skeleton. People don't molt, but plenty of animals do as a normal part of their life cycle. |
Despite the guarantees made by late night advertisements, once a human is bald, he's bald forever. Not so for many animals who routinely lose and gain hair, skin or feathers. Think of shedding dogs and snakes crawling out of their old skins. This is the process known as molting. Insects that molt lose their shells or wings, often a sign that they're entering a different part of their life cycle. |
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| 9062 |
cordon |
a series of sentinels or posts enclosing some place or thing |
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That yellow police tape and group of officers encircling the crime scene? That's a kind of cordon — something set up to guard something. |
A cordon can also mean some kind of ornament or adornment made out of ribbon or cord, usually worn by military folks to signify honor or rank. Not surprising since cordon sounds similar to cord and comes from the old French word for the same thing. But unless you're part of a security team or often dressed in full military regalia, you probably won't come into contact with cordons very often. |
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| 9063 |
subsume |
contain or include |
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Subsume means to absorb or include. A successful company might subsume a failing competitor through a merger, or love may subsume you in the early stages of a romance. |
Subsume is a verb that comes from the Latin words sub, which means “from below,” and sumere, which means “take.” So subsume means “to take from below,” like a sneak attack by some kind of deep-sea creature. Sailors and scuba divers should beware of monsters from the blackest depths waiting to subsume them. |
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| 9064 |
feint |
any distracting or deceptive maneuver |
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Did you ever tell your parents you were going off to school, grabbed your book bag, and headed out the door... only to spend the rest of the day hanging out with your friends? Well, that was a feint, a super sneaky move designed to fool someone. |
Although military and political tactics are big on feints, their most common use is probably in sports — particularly boxing, where opponents are continually trying to fake each other out. As in Dundee's account of an Ali-Frazier match: "Ali feinted with a jab, and Frazier threw one of his own, missing." Not to be confused with faint, meaning "weak or feeble." However, a feint can be deliberately faint, as Ali knew and Frazier found out when the real right hook made contact. |
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| 9065 |
deprecate |
express strong disapproval of; deplore |
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To deprecate is to show disapproval or to make someone feel unimportant by speaking to them disrespectfully, like seniors who deprecate younger students just for fun. |
To deprecate is to diminish, or to oppose, like when someone deprecates your dream of climbing Mt. Everest by calling it "a little walk up a hill." Some people deprecate themselves, which is called being self-deprecating. People who do are self-deprecating play down their abilities because they are humble — or want to appear that way. So if you do climb Everest and you are self-deprecating, you'll say it wasn't such a big deal, even if it was the proudest moment of your life. |
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| 9066 |
retard |
cause to move more slowly or operate at a slower rate |
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To retard something is to slow it down. A lack of fresh fruit and vegetables can retard the growth of a young child. |
This word should be used with a lot of caution. Calling someone who's mentally retarded — or of low intelligence — a retard is considered very offensive by many people. That use should be avoided. On the other hand, this is a harmless word when used as a verb. While skiing, a heavy, bulky jacket could retard your progress down the mountain. Keeping a plant out of sunlight would retard its growth. When you see retard, think slow and "Use with caution." |
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| 9067 |
tautology |
useless repetition |
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Tautology is useless restatement, or saying the same thing twice using different words. “Speedy sprint" is a tautology because sprint already means "speedy running." |
The noun tautology originates from the Greek word tautologos, meaning “repeating what is said.” "From the public view's perspective" is a tautology in which the words perspective and view repeat the same idea. In the study of logic, a tautology is a statement that is necessarily true under any interpretation. "It will snow tomorrow, or it will not snow tomorrow" is an example. No argument here — it's true any way you look at it. |
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| 9068 |
salacious |
suggestive of or tending to moral looseness |
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Something salacious is full of juicy details — but they're the kind of raunchy, lusty, dirty details you probably don't want to hear. |
Implying a certain kind of moral looseness, salacious is often used to describe nasty gossip, obscene reports and steamy tales. Salacious things are usually not fit for general public consumption and probably need some kind of parental guidance warning. Think of the tawdry accounts of some politician's affair with a staffer, or a particularly sex-filled reality show on TV. |
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| 9069 |
mulct |
money extracted as a penalty |
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The meaning of mulct is as nasty as it sounds; it means to fine someone or the money you collect as a result of a fine. No one wants to pay an extra mulct to the city, when it's the city who mismanaged the budget. |
Got mulct? Then somebody took your money. They "milked" you by mulcting you. And the money that they took? That's called mulct, too. Some people believe that there's no difference between being mulcted by the state and being shaken down by the mob. In fact, the word mulct is often used to mean having your money taken unfairly or as a kind of punishment or as extortion. |
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| 9070 |
epistle |
a specially long, formal letter |
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An epistle is a long, formal letter. Several books of the Bible consist of epistles. |
If you're used to emails and text messages, you might be surprised by the idea of the epistle — a letter that is very long and also very formal. An epistle isn't something you dash off in a few minutes while waiting for the bus. Epistles take time and thought to write, almost like doing a research paper. The Bible is full of many epistles — that's where many people have seen this word. |
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| 9071 |
deposition |
the act of putting something somewhere |
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Deposition means the act of putting something aside, whether you're putting aside a ruler, or putting aside legal testimony to be used later in a trial. |
Deposition and the related deposit get a lot of use. At first their meanings seem unrelated––what do mineral deposits on the bathtub drain, putting your life savings in the bank, and a revolution overthrowing a king have in common? All three involve a process where something (minerals, money, king) are being "put down." |
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| 9072 |
nary |
colloquial for `not a' or `not one' or `never a' |
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Use the adjective nary to mean "none," or "not a single one." If you hope for a snowy morning, when you wake up you'll be sad to see nary a snowflake. |
Nary is an old fashioned and informal way to say "not." You might describe your friend's sad, empty book shelves with nary a novel on them, or your bald great uncle, who has nary a hair on his head. The word has been around since the mid-1700s, from never a, which was then shortened to ne'er a, and finally nary. |
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| 9073 |
atavistic |
characteristic of a throwback |
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Are you scared of the dark? It's okay. That is quite a natural atavistic fear — that is, a fear related to an ancient way of thinking or behaving. |
Something atavistic doesn't have to be a feeling; it can be anything that's a throwback to an earlier form of life or way of looking at things. For example, a new building can be atavistic if it contains strong elements of ancient architectural styles. A physical genealogical trait handed down from many generations is also atavistic. For example, the pointed canine teeth in humans, originally used to tear meat apart when hunting, is an atavistic trait in mankind. |
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| 9074 |
distrait |
having the attention diverted especially because of anxiety |
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Distrait means "preoccupied with worry." If you can't concentrate on the hot gossip your friend is sharing with you because you can't stop thinking about what your mom is going to say about the window you accidentally broke, you're distrait. |
The adjective distrait comes from the Latin word distrahere, meaning “pull apart,” which describes what happens to your thoughts when you are distrait. It looks and sounds like distract, another word that has to do with the ability to pay attention. But while anything can make you feel distracted — a noise outside your window, a phone call that comes when you are supposed to be studying — distrait always has to do with worry and anxiety. |
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| 9075 |
foppish |
affecting extreme elegance in dress and manner |
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A man who is constantly checking out his outfit in the mirror might be foppish, or someone who loves dressing up in fancy clothes. |
For some reason, foppish is almost always used to describe men (not women), and that's why the word might make you think of an elegant suit, vest, and tie, and probably some over-the-top details like a flower in a buttonhole and a polka-dotted handkerchief. The word foppish also implies that this guy probably thinks he looks pretty good. |
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| 9076 |
bereft |
sorrowful through loss or deprivation |
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So, they took the thing you most loved, and you're never going to get it back. You've gone beyond just plain grief-stricken — you're bereft. |
The way in which bereft differs just from plain mournful or grief-stricken is in its sense of deprivation or lack. It can be used that way too, for example when you're bereft of words. It's the past tense of bereave, following the same pattern as leave and left. When you see your bereft relatives at a funeral, it's very sad, but if your friend says that their cookie is bereft of chocolate chips, you know they are using exaggerated language to be a little funny. |
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| 9077 |
ensign |
a person who holds a commissioned rank in the U.S. Navy |
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Use the noun ensign when you talk about a Navy officer. An ensign's rank is just below lieutenant and above a non commissioned petty officer or midshipman. |
The lowest ranking commissioned officer in the US Navy is an ensign, and it's a similar position in the British infantry as well. You can also use the word to describe a country's flag or another symbol that represents a particular nation. For example, you might say that a ship displays the Norwegian ensign when it flies the flag of Norway. Ensign is a Scottish word that comes from the Old French enseigne, "mark, symbol, flag, or pennant." |
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| 9078 |
contumacious |
willfully obstinate; stubbornly disobedient |
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That ornery horse that keeps heading back to the barn, no matter how much you coax and pull and try to convince him to stay on the trail? He's showing you his contumacious side, meaning he's stubbornly resisting authority. |
You might hear the word contumacious used in a courtroom to describe an uncooperative witness or someone who willfully disobeys an order given by the court. If you have a glove compartment full of unpaid parking tickets, when you finally land in court your disobedient behavior may cause the judge to tell you that you're a contumacious lout. You'll not only have to pay the tickets, you'll also be slapped with a big fine, and you'll never be contumacious again. |
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| 9079 |
sophistry |
a deliberately invalid argument in the hope of deceiving |
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Sophistry is tricking someone by making a seemingly clever argument, such as telling your mom you must have candy before dinner because if you don't you'll die and then the protein and vitamins won't get eaten at all. |
Sophistry is a word that you hear very little in contemporary life, perhaps because it makes anyone who uses it sound like a Puritanical fanatic insisting that something like gum-chewing is the path to the devil. But we are certainly still surrounded by examples of sophistry––just turn on the TV and watch an ad. You'll see plenty. |
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| 9080 |
impugn |
attack as false or wrong |
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To impugn means to call into question or attack as wrong. If your usually grumpy brother is suddenly nice and sweet, you'll impugn his motives if you're smart — he probably just wants something from you. |
The root of impugn is the Latin pugnare which means "to fight," so when you impugn, you are fighting or attacking, but by saying that something is false or wrong. If a candidate has a record that cannot be impugned, his or her opponent might go for a character attack. If you take pride in your work, you will be especially insulted if someone impugns your professionalism or integrity. |
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| 9081 |
peregrination |
traveling or wandering around |
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If you went backpacking through Europe last summer, you could call your travels a peregrination. A peregrination is a long journey or period of wandering. |
Peregrination comes from the Latin peregrinari, which means “to travel abroad.” A peregrination is a journey or pilgrimage, especially one that's made on foot. This word typically applies to traveling for an extended period of time or over a great distance. So, you wouldn’t call a trip to the grocery store a peregrination. However, if you traveled the globe looking for the world’s best grocery store, you could call that a peregrination. |
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| 9082 |
plaintive |
expressing sorrow |
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Plaintive is an adjective for describing someone or something with a pleading, sorrowful, desperate tone. If you have ever heard the plaintive howl of a wolf, then you know what we are getting at here. |
A plaint, as in complaint, is an expression of sorrow or grief. This word has also been bent a little at the ends to become plaintiff, or complainant—the sufferer—in a lawsuit. So, whether you are hearing a plaintive tone in a courtroom, at a funeral, or in the wild (as in an animal's plaintive howl), you can be assured that someone or something desires something desperately. |
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| 9083 |
slate |
fine-grained metamorphic rock that can be split into layers |
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Slate is a type of gray metamorphic rock that is made up of quartz and other minerals. The rock can be split into thin layers and the slate used for things like roofing tiles. |
In the past when paper was expensive, schoolchildren used slates to do their school work. These were usually made of actual slate rock. Students could practice their writing on the slate with a slate pencil. When they were done, the slate could be erased, which gave rise to the term "clean slate." If you've done things in the past you aren't proud of, you may hope to start over with a clean slate. |
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| 9084 |
stipple |
engrave by means of dots and flicks |
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If you stipple something, that means you add tiny dots of color or texture, such as using a special painting tool to stipple a plain wall with dots of a different color to make it look more interesting. |
The verb stipple came into English from the Dutch word stippelen, meaning "to spot or dot.” Artist stipple paint onto their canvases and from the distance, the dots look like a field of flowers. You can also stipple metal, by poking it with a tool that creates little circular dents — that look like dots — to give it an artistic look. |
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| 9085 |
bedizen |
decorate tastelessly |
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Bedizen means to decorate yourself or something else to the max — in an over-the-top flashy style. Picture big jewels and gold bling. |
Bedizen is used only in written form now, though because so few people know what it actually means you might well get away with saying, "Oh, I like the way you've bedizened yourself today," without getting a slap in the face. In fact, they'll probably take it as a compliment. However, people rarely use bedizen in a complimentary way. From the old Dutch word dizen, meaning "to deck out." |
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| 9086 |
desuetude |
a state of inactivity or disuse |
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Use the noun desuetude to say that something is not active or not being used, like the desuetude of a neglected park, with its overgrown ballfields and broken playground equipment. |
There are two ways to correctly pronounce desuetude: "DES-wuh-tude" or "de-SUE-uh-tude." It comes from Latin: de- means "away, from" and suescere means "become accustomed." So if people or things are not used — out of custom — desuetude is the result, carrying with it a sense of neglect, disrepair, and inaction. |
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| 9087 |
belabor |
beat soundly |
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Belabor means to go at something with everything you've got. When you say, "Don't belabor or agonize over the decision," it means, "Move on." |
Belabor is made up of the Latin roots be and labor meaning "to exert one's strength upon." You can belabor a point by using excessive detail, or you could belabor the obvious by stating over and over what everyone already knows. Belaboring can be a physical attack as well. A person can belabor or beat the living daylights out of you with a club. |
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| 9088 |
virago |
a noisy or scolding or domineering woman |
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A virago is a loud, bossy woman, like your next door neighbor who is always yelling at kids to get off her lawn. |
You can use the noun virago when you're describing a particularly mean and scolding woman. It's not a compliment to call someone a virago, although its origins are much nobler than the shrewish, screechy character it implies today. Originally, a virago was a brave or heroic woman. The root of virago is the Latin word for "man," vir. In other words, a virago used to mean a woman who seemed manly or virile. |
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| 9089 |
Stygian |
dark and dismal as of the river in Hades |
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Something that's Stygian is dark, murky, and probably a little melancholy. Your walk home from the bus stop might feel Stygian on a foggy, moonless night. |
When you describe something as Stygian, you're comparing it to the murky and terrible river Styx, which flows through the underworld in ancient Greek mythology. The word itself comes from the Greek word Stygios, from Styx, which literally means "the hateful." Some related words in Greek are stygos, "hatred," and stygnos, "gloomy." That should give you a good idea of the way a Stygian library, alley, or cave looks and feels — dismal and dark. |
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| 9090 |
expiation |
compensation for a wrong |
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The act of expiation is a way to atone for something you did that was wrong. It was originally used in a religious context, with expiation the way a person could gain forgiveness from a god. |
If you've ever tried to make up for something you did wrong, then you understand the notion of expiation. The idea of atonement stretches across all religions, from Judaism’s Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) to perhaps the most famous example of expiation, the Christian doctrine of Christ dying to absolve the world's sins. You definitely don't need to be religious to seek expiation. People who commit crimes and even make small mistakes seek expiation every day. |
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| 9091 |
picaresque |
(of fiction) involving clever rogues or adventurers |
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Use the adjective picaresque to describe your favorite kind of story, if it involves characters having exciting, dangerous adventures. |
A picaresque novel features clever adventurers, often poor but spunky heroes who live by their wits and come out ahead in the end. This kind of book first became popular in Spain in the 1500s. Well known authors, including Charles Dickens and Mark Twain, later used a picaresque style for some of their work. It's easy to confuse picaresque, "rascally," with its near sound-alike, picturesque, or "lovely to look at." |
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| 9092 |
imprecation |
the act of calling down a curse that invokes evil |
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If you really don't like someone you can shout out an imprecation at them. More than simply the use of bad language (although that can be involved, too), an imprecation is a damning curse wishing them nothing but ill. |
Originally from a Latin word meaning to "invoke evil" or "bring down bad spirits upon." Not to be confused with implication, a similar-sounding word with the completely unrelated meaning of implying something indirectly. These are two very commonly confused words, so be careful. You don't want an imprecation blasted down upon you from someone who really cares about language. |
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| 9093 |
mettlesome |
having a proud, courageous, and unbroken spirit |
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If you're spirited and brave, you're mettlesome. It takes a mettlesome person to hike the Appalachian Trail all alone. |
The adjective mettlesome is a great way to describe someone who's full of pride or courage — although it's also an old-fashioned, somewhat literary way to do it. Many classic children's books feature mettlesome main characters, like Huckleberry Finn and Ann of Green Gables. Though it sounds a bit like the nosy word meddlesome, mettlesome is rooted instead in mettle, "the stuff of which someone is made." |
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| 9094 |
ferret |
a small domesticated mammal with a flexible, elongated body |
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You may be familiar with ferrets, those adorable little mammals that look like cheap minks. Well, the verb to ferret means to act like a ferret: to dig for something until you find it. |
Ferrets are great at digging, so it's no surprise that we acknowledge their skills when we make the verb ferret, which almost always comes attached to the preposition "out." Woodward and Bernstein worked tirelessly to ferret out the names of the guys who raided the Watergate offices. When you're ready, I'm going to ask you to ferret out those two photos from that stack of photo boxes. |
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| 9095 |
duress |
compulsory force or threat |
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Let’s hope you’re never denied food and sleep and forced to sign a confession, but if you are, that's called being under duress. Threats and harsh treatment meant to make you do something you don’t want to do is duress. |
The word duress came into English through French, with origins in the Latin word duritia, which means “hardness.” First used to describe harsh or cruel treatment, duress soon took on the additional meaning of forcing someone to do something, usually through threats. Duress is typically used with the word under, as in a suspect who only signs a confession because he is under duress. |
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| 9096 |
puissance |
power to influence or coerce |
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Puissance is the power to influence what other people do or believe. A celebrity who is extremely popular with teens has puissance to help end problems like bullying just by talking about it in interviews. |
Puissance is a French word that describes being powerful. When you have a strong influence over someone, you have puissance. It's an uncommon but poetic way to describe power, especially the power to convince someone to do something, like an older sibling's puissance. Another meaning of puissance is a show jumping horse's ability to jump large hurdles. |
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| 9097 |
ponderous |
having great mass and weight and unwieldiness |
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When you call Frankenstein ponderous, it's not because he likes to ponder the great questions of life. It's because he moves like a Mack truck, only slower and less gracefully. |
Ponderous also describes a person's manner, or their manner of speaking. If it does, this is a person you will want to avoid. They're solemn, speak slowly about things that are boring, and get to the punchline of a joke about seven years after anyone with half a brain has figured it out for themselves. |
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| 9098 |
salutary |
tending to promote physical well-being; beneficial to health |
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Use salutary to describe something that's good for your health, like the salutary benefits of exercise, laughter, and getting enough sleep every night. |
When you look at the word salutary, you might expect it to have something to do with showing respect to military personnel, perhaps by saluting. In fact, salutary and salute do share a Latin root: salus, which means "good health." When you salute someone, or say "Salud!" before clinking glasses and taking a first sip, you're essentially giving your salutary wish — in other words, hoping a person enjoys good health. |
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| 9099 |
detraction |
a petty disparagement |
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A detraction is the opposite of an attraction––it is something bad about someone or something. If you love peace and quiet and you’re thinking about buying a house, a location on a major road would be a detraction. |
Detraction comes from detract, which means to diminish, or to speak badly of someone or something. If you run for office, it is bad form to spew detractions of your opponent’s character. Unfortunately, this is exactly how many political campaigns work. Detractions can also be interferences. The noise of the party next door might be a detraction from your attention while you’re studying. |
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| 9100 |
suborn |
incite to commit a crime or an evil deed |
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One of the reasons Mafia bosses are so good at avoiding prison is that they know how to suborn witnesses and jurors — that is, to bribe people to lie. After all, it wouldn't be nice if an accident were to happen on the way to court, right? |
Technically speaking, suborn doesn't just mean induce someone to conveniently "forget" something in the witness stand, or otherwise get creative with their imagination. An inducement to any kind of crime is suborning, but by far the most common use is in the legal sense above. Or "witness tampering," as the cops call it. |
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| 9101 |
mince |
cut into small pieces |
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To mince is to chop into tiny bits. Your favorite soup recipe might include directions to mince four cloves of garlic. |
When you dice an onion into very small pieces, you mince it, and when you grind meat very fine to make sausage or mincemeat, you also mince. Another meaning of the verb is to soften, or to express something in a gentle way: "She does mince her words when she talks to shy kindergarteners." The Old French root, mincier, means "make into small pieces," and it comes from the Latin word for "small," minutus. |
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| 9102 |
cavalcade |
a procession of people traveling on horseback |
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If you are traveling with a procession of people on horseback, you are part of a cavalcade. |
The word cavalcade comes from the Latin word for horse, caballus. The word cavalry, which means soldiers on horseback, comes from the same Latin root. So strictly speaking, a cavalcade is group of people on horseback or in horse-drawn carriages, moving together in some kind of ceremony or parade. But cavalcades can include vehicles or people walking, like the motorcycle cavalcades that sometimes accompany a funeral procession. |
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| 9103 |
droll |
comical in an odd or whimsical manner |
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Need a mental picture for the word droll? Think of one of those cute-homely troll dolls — blend those two words together — "doll" and "troll" — and you get droll, a description of a figure that is adorably strange and whimsically cute. |
The word droll comes from the archaic French word drolle, referring to a jolly good fellow. The French word comes perhaps from the Middle Dutch drolle, or "imp." The word came into English as both noun ("funny person, buffoon") and adjective ("funny, quaint, strange") in the 17th century. |
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| 9104 |
crass |
so unrefined as to be lacking in discrimination |
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A crass comment is very stupid and shows that the speaker doesn't care about other people's feelings. In today's day and age, you don't have to wear black to a funeral, but to show up in clown pants is simply crass. |
The source of this adjective is Latin crassus "thick, dense, fat." A similar development of meaning can be seen in English dense in the sense of "stupid, slow to understand," from Latin densus "thick, dense," and in English thick, which can also be used to mean "stupid." |
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| 9105 |
consequential |
having important issues or results |
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Things that are consequential are important — extremely important. Electing a new president and having a baby are consequential. Killing a fly? Not so much. |
It might help you remember the meaning of consequential to think of consequences — the results of something. Consequential events have consequences, because they are hugely important events. A little bit of rain isn't consequential, but a hurricane is very consequential. Slipping on the sidewalk is not usually consequential, but if you slip and end up in the hospital, that is definitely consequential. It's occasionally hard to tell whether something is consequential, at least until some time has passed. |
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| 9106 |
perfunctorily |
in a set manner without serious attention |
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To do something perfunctorily is to do it because you have to, as a formality, often in a careless way. |
A perfunctory action is a formality: you do it because you have to, but you might not care if you do a good job. Similarly, to do something perfunctorily is to get it done without giving it much attention. A referee who does his job perfunctorily probably misses many calls. A teacher who teaches perfunctorily may grade student papers without reading them. A politician may shake hands perfunctorily, since he has to do it so often. |
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| 9107 |
pulchritudinous |
having great physical beauty |
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Even though it looks (and sounds) like it would describe a disease or a bad attitude, pulchritudinous actually describes a person of breathtaking, heartbreaking...beauty. |
Let's be honest: Your opportunities for using this word in casual conversation are probably pretty slim. But, just in case, let's do a quick run-down on the pronunciation: Pulchritudinous: "pul-kruh-TOO-di-nuhs." And one last note about this 15-letter, 5-syllable beast (which may win the award for least-beautiful word meaning "beautiful"): It's only used to describe people. |
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